Book Excerpts

Excerpt from His Holiday Family: Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Gideon O’Brien hopped down from Engine Two and assessed the chaos in front of him. Strapping on his air pack, he started toward his captain. A hand gripped his arm and stopped his forward progress. He turned toward the blonde woman who held him, her large blue eyes glistening with tears. She looked familiar, but he couldn’t place where he knew her from. His neighbor’s daughter, perhaps? “My two sons and my cousin—their babysitter—must still be inside. I don’t see them outside with the other tenants.” Her voice quivered. She tightened her hand on his arm and scanned the crowd. “I’m Kathleen Hart. My sons are Jared and Kip. I...

A wave broke and rolled across the white sandy beach, the warm water bubbling around Kyra Morgan’s feet before receding back into the Gulfof Mexico. The sun peeked over the tops of the palm trees behind her, flooding the day with light. Her favorite time, at dawn when all was still right with the world. Before her day began. The screech of a seagull pierced the tranquillity. A momentary disturbance until everything went back to a calmness that she’d needed after spending six straight years establishing Guardians, Inc. into a premier international company of female bodyguards. Drawing in a soothing breath, she relished the scent of the sea mingling with the sweet fragrance of the flowers her dad had planted right before his death a few years ago. This...

From This Day Forward By Margaret Daley Chapter One March 1816 “We are going to die,” Rachel Gordon’s young maid cried out. Rachel looked up at the clouds rolling in. Dark, ominous ones. She shivered and pulled her shawl tighter about her as the breeze picked up. A storm brewed, and she still had several miles to go until she reached her new home in South Carolina. “God willing, we will make it, Maddy.” Fear deepened the lines on Maddy’s plain face. “’Tis like the squall on the boat.” Lightning flashed, momentarily brightening the shadows of the forest. A clap of thunder rumbled the ground. Maddy screamed. The old gelding that pulled the cart—all Rachel’s meager coins could afford—increased its speed, weaving from side to side. Out of control. Determined to be...

“I thought that was taken care of.” Cara Madison gripped her cell to her ear so tightly her hand ached as she hurried toward the foyer of her childhood home to answer the door. Exhaustion clung to her as though woven into every fiber of her being.   The bell chimed again.   “No, the State Department still has some questions,” Kyra Morgan, her employer at Guardians, Inc., said.   “Hold it a sec. Someone’s at the door.”   She peered through the peephole, noting a deliveryman with a package and clipboard, dressed in a blue ball cap, blue shorts and white T-shirt. Probably another birthday present from one of Dad’s friends. She thrust open the door and cradled the cell against her shoulder to keep it...

Excerpt from Trail of Lies   Melora Hudson punched in her alarm code to turn the security system off, then tossed her keys on the kitchen counter. All she wanted to do was sink into a chair and drink a cup of hot tea after her exhausting week. But as she moved toward the kettle on the stove, a sound-something hitting the tiled floor-came from the living room and froze her in mid-stride. Tension whipped through her. Until her cat shot through the doorway and launched himself into her arms. “Okay, Patches, what have you gotten into this time?” His cry-like a baby’s-protested her scolding. Melora cuddled the fifteen-pound white cat against her chest and started for the living room. Just what she needed-another broken lamp or, like the last...

Excerpt from Christmas Bodyguard   “Watch out!” Slade Caulder said through clenched teeth, gripping the door handle on his SUV. Why had he allowed a sixteen-year-old with a permit to drive? Only a few more miles to the ranch-thankfully. “Dad, I saw him coming out. I’ve got everything under control.” When he noticed Abbey sliding a glance toward him, his heart rate shot up even further. “Keep your eyes on the road.” “I’m gonna ask Gram to take me driving next time.” “No.” Although he wished he could let his mother-in-law take over teaching his daughter to drive around Dallas, he wouldn’t. It was his job. The car gained speed. “Don’t go over sixty.” “I’m...