COVERT KISSES
Sons of Stillwater
By Jane Godman
~*~*~*~*~*~
Interview with Jane GodmanCrystal: Today I have the pleasure of hosting Jane Godman! Welcome Jane! I'm thrilled you could join us today. Would you share a little bit about yourself with us today?
Jane: Although my home is now in England, I was born in Scotland and have lived all over the world, including in Germany, South Africa and Malta. I’m married to a lovely man and have two grown up children and a gorgeous grandson. And, you get hear it here first…another grandchild on the way!
I write paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne and SMP Romance and thrillers for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. I also write erotic romance for Carina Press as Amanda Stewart.
Crystal: Do you have a favorite scene you would like to share with us?
Jane: This scene is a turning point in the book when Laurie, who is working under cover, becomes the target of a serial killer…
The food arrived just in time for her to avoid any further details. While they ate, Laurie turned the talk to what she should see during her vacation. She was an expert at keeping the conversation away from herself. Unwilling to ask too many questions about his business this early in the relationship, she steered Cameron onto the other topic that interested her. She was surprised to find he was quite willing to talk about Carla.
“Can I ask why she was out on the lake at night?”
“Carla was a keen sailor. More than keen. It was her passion. She took part in competitions. She spent every spare minute practicing. The night she died, I was going to a function where I had to stay over. It was a foul night, and there was a storm brewing. She was determined to go out on the lake. There was a big, twenty-four-hour race coming up and she said her night vision was bothering her. I tried to persuade her not to go, to come with me instead.” A corner of his mouth creased in an expression of remembered frustration. “She wouldn’t listen. We argued. If I’d tried a bit harder, maybe stayed home with her…”
The compulsion to touch him was overwhelming. Reaching out, Laurie covered his hand with hers. “You couldn’t have known how it would turn out.”
He turned his hand so he could grip her fingers. “It means a lot, being able to talk about her. Other people tiptoe around me, thinking if they don’t mention her the pain might go away. Dino, as you may have noticed, is the only one who doesn’t.”
“What was she like?” Asking wasn’t just part of the job. She was curious about Carla the person. Carla her cousin.
He smiled. “Well, I think we’ve already established she was stubborn. She was also beautiful, clever, talented and witty. She used to tell me I was lucky to have her and I’d have to work hard every day to keep her.”
“Yet it sounds like she was as devoted to you as you were to her.”
“She was, but that last bit was true.” He tossed back the last of his beer. “Carla had many admirers, including a very persistent secret one.”
Laurie tilted her head on one side, considering that statement. “Persistent and secret don’t seem to go together.”
“Whoever he was, he used to send her an arrangement of red roses in the shape of a heart once a week. No message, no other gifts. Just the flowers.”
“That’s quite sweet, really.”
“Carla thought so, too. I thought it was creepy.” He laughed. “Maybe I was just being macho and possessive.”
“You were together a long time. Did you have any plans to get married?” It felt like an intrusive question, but he’d been open so far and she was curious about why, when he clearly loved Carla so much, they hadn’t made their relationship permanent. His face clouded slightly, and it was clear the question provoked a memory that made him uncomfortable. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Cameron shook his head. “It was the one subject on which we couldn’t agree. Yet it was such an important one. Looking back now, I wish—” He broke off, taking a moment to collect his emotions. “Carla didn’t want to stay in Wyoming, and I could never see myself living anywhere else. I wanted the whole fairy tale. Marriage, kids, big goofy dog, family life, all the things my own folks had. Carla wasn’t the maternal type. Her own childhood had been traumatic.” He hesitated, and she sensed this was a big part of who Carla was. Even though she had learned recently that she was related to Carla, she knew nothing about her early life. Clearly Cameron wasn’t ready to go into details. “We could never meet halfway on it. Now, in hindsight, I think if I’d done it her way, upped and left Stillwater, gone to live in a big city, she wouldn’t have been on the lake that night.”
His eyes were twin pools of anguish. There was a trace of guilt in his expression and something more. A plea for reassurance. Carla just went down a notch or two in Laurie’s estimation. Sure, cling to your independence. Stick to your principles. But at the risk of losing a man who loved you to distraction? A man like Cameron Delaney? No, Carla, I can’t understand where you were coming from. Mind you, her rational mind kicked in, let’s not forget we are talking about a likely criminal mastermind…even though Carla may not have known about that facet of his life.
“I’m a great believer in fate. I think there is a time and a place for everything and, while we control some aspects of our destiny, there are other things that are meant to be.” Her hand was still in his, and she clasped his fingers tighter. “You may never know what it was, but it’s possible there is a reason why Carla was meant to be on the lake that night.”
Cameron didn’t reply, but she thought some of the tension went out of his frame. Looking around, Laurie was amazed to see the restaurant was empty and they were the only ones left. A glance at her watch told her it was close to midnight. How had all those hours passed without her being conscious of them? Cameron settled their tab and escorted her out to the car.
When they reached the vacation village, Cameron walked Laurie to her cabin. This was always the tricky part. Make sure he wants to see you again without coming on too strong. For the first time ever, she felt a pang of regret at that necessity. It would be so easy to give in to her instincts right now and invite Cameron in for coffee. To explore where this attraction might take them. Instead, she rose on the tips of her toes, touched her fingertips to his shoulder and pressed a chaste kiss onto his cheek.
“Thank you for a lovely evening.” Determinedly, she ignored the insistent tingle that shimmered through to her nerve endings as her lips brushed his flesh. His delicious scent invaded her nostrils, and she resisted the temptation to press her face into the warm curve of his neck.
His face was in shadow, but she was aware of his eyes probing hers. “Can we do it again?” Somehow she sensed those words didn’t come easy. Cameron was fighting an internal battle. Whether he was winning or losing wasn’t clear.
“I’d like that.”
When he’d gone, she unlocked the door and stepped inside. Years of training had conditioned her. She scrutinized the room, checking for signs that anything might be out of place. The cabin looked exactly as she’d left it. Except for one thing.
In the middle of the table there was a heart-shaped arrangement of dark red roses.
Crystal: Where did you come up with the idea for your latest release?
Jane: This is the first book in a series, and I wanted to set it in a small town, somewhere that was sparsely populated. The sort of place where everyone knows everyone else. But, when it came to the romance, I wanted to create a situation between the hero and heroine that would be very hard for them to come back from. Laurie, the heroine comes to town to investigate the hero for drug and human trafficking. Can he forgive her for the way she does it?
Crystal: What are you currently working on?
Jane: I’m working on a three book series for Harlequin Nocturne. The heroes are all members of a rock band. Bad boy, hell-raising shifters…what’s not to love?
Crystal: Do you have any special routine that you follow when you are writing?
Jane: I try to get most of my writing done early in the day. I find I’m at my best then, although I’ll write at any time if I have a good idea, or the mood strikes me.
Crystal: Did you have to do a lot of research for this book or any other? If so do you have a fascinating fact that you have learned you would like to share with us?
Jane: My recent fascinating facts have been to do with animal behavior (because my heroes are shifters). Did you know that a tiger sleeps for 18 to 20 hours a day? I was amazed by that. How do they find time to hunt, eat and mate? I can’t write a book in which my were-tiger spends most of his day snoozing…
Crystal: Who are some of your favorite authors that you like to read?
Jane: I have very varied reading habits! Jane Austen to Stephen King and everything in between. My favorite author will always be Georgette Heyer. I love her regency romances and read them over and over. When it comes to my fellow Harlequin authors, I love Karen Anders’ romantic suspense stories and all my fellow Nocturne authors write amazing paranormal romances.
Crystal: Is there a genre you haven't written that you would like to try?
Jane: I sometimes think I have a sci-fi romance in me! But it’s an incredibly difficult genre to write. Like paranormal romance, the world building is key to the story and it has to be perfect. For now, I think I’ll stick with thrillers and shifters!
~*~*~*~*~*~
BLURB:
Coincidence?The beauty who washes up on Mayor Cameron Delaney's private beach eerily resembles his dead girlfriend, Carla. But Laurie Carter, Carla's lookalike cousin, is actually an undercover detective. She's on the job, investigating Cameron's connection to a human-trafficking ring. Laurie knows she must keep her cover—but she's struggling to deceive the man she finds irresistible…
When Cameron discovers why Laurie is in town, he's furious to realize he's being framed—and stunned at his sudden feelings for the lovely agent. But as they uncover the traffickers, a savage serial killer targets Laurie. Can Cameron save the life of the woman he's come to care for…and unmask the threat haunting his family and Stillwater?
Publisher: Harlequin
Pages: 288
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Buy Links:
~*~*~*~*~*~
Excerpt:
Take his breath away.
That was her one and only aim for this first encounter, and Laurie Carter had three things working in her favor as she kept the target in her sights.
First, there was the understated designer swimsuit that molded itself to her curves, while also cleverly drawing attention to the length of her legs.
Then there was the fact that she was wading ashore onto his private lakeside property. As he sprang to his feet from the rock where he had been sitting gazing out across the water, no doubt he was about to point that fact out to her. Laurie did a rapid check, reconciling this man’s physical attributes with the photographs she had carefully memorized. Dark, wavy hair, swept back from a broad brow and worn slightly long so that it curled onto his neck. Deep-set eyes above high, Slavic cheekbones. A hawk-like nose and lips that were contrastingly full. She had the right man. There was no mistaking him. Tall and powerfully built, he moved toward her with the grace of an athlete, a frown line pulling his dark eyebrows together.
Judging the distance between them to perfection, Laurie waited until he was close enough. As she fell into a pretend faint, she saw shock and something more register in the hazel depths of Cameron Delaney’s eyes. Advantage number three was always going to be the one that clinched it. As his reflexes kicked in and he scooped her up into his arms, Laurie let her head flop back, allowing him a clear view of her face.
His exhalation was an audible hiss. Mission accomplished. The fact that she was trespassing on his land had been the thing that made him notice her. The swimsuit had drawn his attention to her curves and kept him looking. Neither of those things had succeeded in driving the breath from his lungs. That had been achieved for one reason only…because she was the mirror image of his dead girlfriend.
~*~*~*~*~*~
That was her one and only aim for this first encounter, and Laurie Carter had three things working in her favor as she kept the target in her sights.
First, there was the understated designer swimsuit that molded itself to her curves, while also cleverly drawing attention to the length of her legs.
Then there was the fact that she was wading ashore onto his private lakeside property. As he sprang to his feet from the rock where he had been sitting gazing out across the water, no doubt he was about to point that fact out to her. Laurie did a rapid check, reconciling this man’s physical attributes with the photographs she had carefully memorized. Dark, wavy hair, swept back from a broad brow and worn slightly long so that it curled onto his neck. Deep-set eyes above high, Slavic cheekbones. A hawk-like nose and lips that were contrastingly full. She had the right man. There was no mistaking him. Tall and powerfully built, he moved toward her with the grace of an athlete, a frown line pulling his dark eyebrows together.
Judging the distance between them to perfection, Laurie waited until he was close enough. As she fell into a pretend faint, she saw shock and something more register in the hazel depths of Cameron Delaney’s eyes. Advantage number three was always going to be the one that clinched it. As his reflexes kicked in and he scooped her up into his arms, Laurie let her head flop back, allowing him a clear view of her face.
His exhalation was an audible hiss. Mission accomplished. The fact that she was trespassing on his land had been the thing that made him notice her. The swimsuit had drawn his attention to her curves and kept him looking. Neither of those things had succeeded in driving the breath from his lungs. That had been achieved for one reason only…because she was the mirror image of his dead girlfriend.
~*~*~*~*~*~
About the Author:
Jane Godman writes paranormal romance for HarlequinNocturne and SMP Swerve, thrillers for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, and steamy historical romance for Samhain Publishing.
Jane also writes erotic romance as Amanda Stewart.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
Ooh, sounds like a great story! Thanks for the interview and excerpt!
ReplyDelete