Book Excerpts

Rose gripped her cell phone so tightly her muscles ached. “Where are you, Lily?” “At—Nowhere Motel.” A sob caught on the end of the last word. “Help—me.” Lily’s breath rattled, followed by a clunking sound as though she’d dropped the phone. Rose paced the small bathroom at Beacon of Hope. “Lily?” Sweat coated her palms, and she rubbed her free hand against her jeans. Silence taunted her. What have you done? But the second that Rose asked that question, an image came to mind of her friend lying on the dingy gray sheets in the cheap motel, wasted, trying anyway she could to forget the horror of her life. “Lily, talk to me. Stay on the line.” Pulling the door open, Rose entered her room. When she saw her roommate, she came to a...

When you’re desperate, you do things you’d never do otherwise, Ellie Winters thought as she spied the neon sign that might possibly lead to her salvation. American Bar, Hotel Grande Costa. Dressed in a blue satin jump suit, she paused in the doorway to the bar and glanced over her shoulder to see if those two goons—King Kong and Godzilla—were still following her. They were. Her heart beat faster. Her throat went dry. This wasn’t turning out the way it was supposed to. Her new job was supposed to be an adventure in a country she’d never been to. Instead, she felt trapped and that frightened her enough to seek help from a total stranger. Now all she had to do was find that stranger. Ellie moved farther into the room, scanning the dimly lit bar. She had...

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...

“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...