Shatter
by Joan Swan
Genre: Romantic Suspense (with paranormal
elements)
Heat Level: 3.5/5
Elements/Tags: romance, suspense, paranormal
abilities, conspiracy, firefighters,
Publisher: Kensington
Publishing Date: 12/31/13
Series: Phoenix Rising, 4
Format: Print and Ebook
Words: 110k
Back Cover:
For
seven years, Halina Beloi has been in hiding. But she's never forgotten Mitch
Foster, the long, lean man she had to leave behind. Until, that is, Mitch shows
up with a list of questions and a 9mm in his hand.
All
Mitch knows is that Halina broke his heart and disappeared. But new information
has surfaced implicating her as a player in the deadliest game of Mitch's life.
This time, he's not letting go without answers. Now terror, danger and heat
will fuse them together or shatter the future. . .
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17802744-shatter
Buy Links:
Excerpt:
By the time
he opened the driver’s door, the huge dog was trying to climb into Halina’s
lap. The bottom half of his body was hidden beneath the dash as he sat on the
floorboard. The upper half was draped across Halina, his big head resting in
the crook of her elbow where she had her arm wrapped around his neck. The beast
had to weigh well over a hundred pounds.
His golden
brown eyes sharpened and a low growl hummed in the dog’s throat as Mitch slid
into the driver seat. He paused before closing the door. “Halina, order him not
to bite off my dick off or go for my jugular.”
She turned
her head toward Mitch, but kept the side of her face against the dog’s neck. “Tikhiy,
boy.”
Mitch shut
the door and backed out of the drive. “Where’s the nearest emergency room out
of town? You need to get your head looked at.”
“In more ways
than one,” she muttered. “But I need to get to my storage unit first.”
“What’s in
your storage unit?”
She only gave
him an address in the neighboring town of Bellevue.
Before he searched
for directions, Mitch tapped into an app on his phone and sent a scanned image
of the fingerprints on the glass to Kai, who’d been the one to share this cool
toy. Through his military contacts, Kai would get answers on this guy’s
identity faster than any other source. And the sooner they discovered who their
attacker had been, the sooner they could uncover the root of this danger. The
attacker had said he was the new game in town, but Mitch believed this would
ultimately end at Schaeffer. Just because the man was lying in a military
hospital in Washington DC in a coma didn’t mean he hadn’t put this plan into
action before his accident.
After
retrieving directions from his phone for the storage unit, Mitch set a safe and
sane pace through the mostly sleeping neighborhood to avoid notice.
He was
completely off balance now and needed a million answers to as many questions.
Stopping at the red light marking the intersection of the main road, he rubbed
his eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath to get himself back on track.
His lungs
filled with…Halina—a unique musky sweetness beneath the gentle scent of
perfume. One Mitch had given her so long ago. The very first perfume she’d ever
owned.
Why that
memory hit him like a fist in the solar plexus, he didn’t know. But the gentle
floral scent of jasmine and roses, laced with a hint of leather ambushed him.
His nostrils flared. Fingers tightened on the steering wheel. Gut squeezed a
hot line toward his groin.
The
realization of how easily he reacted to her clashed with the memory of how
quickly she’d taken him down at the hotel and then run, whipping up anger. “Why
did he call you Beloi?”
“Because it’s
my name.”
“Which name?
You went by Sintrovsky when I met you. Same name as your ambassador husband, who
you originally claimed as your cousin.
Schaeffer referred to you as Dubrovsky.
You go by Raiden now.” He slanted her a glance and found her eyes open, but
distant. “Interesting choice, by the way. Now, this guy is calling you Beloi.
How many freaking names do you have? You’ve probably got a split personality to
match every one.”
She rubbed
her forehead near the injury and winced. “You’re not helping this headache.”
“Why did you
tell that guy to let me and the dog go?”
Halina let
out a long, heavy sigh. “I was hoping you’d run so he’d have a reason to shoot
you.”
His gaze shot
to her face again. The little curve of her lips spiked his irritation.
“Halina.”
She winced
and closed her eyes again. “What happened to your sense of humor?”
“What
research was that guy talking about?”
“So many damn
questions,” she said. “Do you not see the blood gushing from my head?”
“You’re not
even bleeding anymore.”
“Do I need
blood pooling beneath my body before you take pity?”
“You may be
in that exact situation if we don’t figure out their next move before they make
it. What research?”
“The genetic
research I was doing at DARPA before I left.” She snapped the words, her voice
harsh, nudging Mitch’s temper.
“Why did you
tell that guy you’d get the research from the house if it’s not there?”
“Because I
could fight him easier inside. And I knew Dex would be out of danger that way.”
Mitch jerked
his head back in surprise. “Dex?”
She rubbed
her face against the dog’s fur. It reminded Mitch of the way she used to cuddle
deep into her pillow. The way he used to watch her sleep, study the beautiful
lines of her face, the curves of her lips, the texture of her skin, the
contrast of her dark lashes on blushed cheekbones. All the time thinking what a
lucky bastard he was.
Now all he
could think of was what a damn fool he’d been.
“Mitch, this
is Dex,” Halina said. “Dex, Mitch.”
The dog
looked at Mitch as if he understood Halina’s words and
whined.
The light
flipped green and Mitch turned onto the main road headed toward the freeway.
“Dex is a dog?”
“What did you
think…?” Her voice trailed off, followed by a soft, throaty laugh that drifted
over his body like a touch. “Oh, okay, that’s funny. You thought he was a
boyfriend, didn’t you? You must be letting your paralegals do your research
again.”
Meet Author Joan Swan:
NY Times and USA
Today Bestselling Author Joan Swan
writes sexy romantic suspense for Kensington (Phoenix Rising Series) and
independently (Covert Affairs Series). She also works as a sonographer at
a top medical facility in San Francisco and lives in magnificent wine country
on the central coast of California with her husband and two daughters.
Website: http://joanswan.com/
Tour Wide Giveaway Details:
Tour Wide
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Tour Stops:
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Other Upcoming Events:
Facebook Event: Wednesday, January 1.
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