Smoke and Mirrors
The Gifted, Book 1
Marie Treanor
Marie Treanor
Genre: Paranormal
Romance/Suspense
ISBN: 978-0-9573016-4-1
Number of pages: 241 (epub)
Word Count: 87,000
Cover Artist: Kimberly
Killion (Hot Damn Designs)
Book Description:
Deceit and desire, and a treasure beyond price...
When struggling
Scottish writer Nell Black accepts a one-off job with the police, translating
for an arson suspect from the isolated ex-Soviet republic of Zavrekestan, she
stumbles into a terrifying world of organized crime and paranormal abilities
that turns her whole belief system upside down. Faced with an incomparable
thief, hit men who spontaneously combust, gangsters, drug dealers, British
Intelligence and a fiery goddess, Nell no longer knows who to trust. The man
who saves her life is a criminal to whom deceit is second nature. He has more
smoke screens and more plans in motion than anyone else can keep track of. He
is, moreover, probably insane. Even his fellow gangsters are afraid of him. So
why is he the one man Nell wants to touch her?
Rodion Kosar is in
trouble. His convoluted plans all lead to one goal - the retrieval of his
treasure - and to achieve that, he needs Nell to believe he isn't the bad guy.
He has many reasons beyond his own desires to make love to her. Especially when
a plan goes wrong and he has to play dead before someone really kills him -
either the police, the menacing Russian crime lord known as the Bear, or the
powerful Guardian of the Gifted whom he's defied once too often. Nell's
burgeoning gift of second sight could be his best route to the treasure, and
yet keeping her with him spells danger. For Nell has her own agenda, her own
mission, and she could just as easily cause his final downfall.
Excerpt:
Just walking across the beach and
onto the cliff path made her sweat inside her borrowed oilskins, so she pulled
her raincoat off and let the chilly breeze cool her down. A moment later, she
realised Rodion was striding easily along beside her, and found her voice,
small, hard, and definite.
“You’re wrong on two counts,
Rodion Andreyevich. For the record, I don’t sleep with men on whims, however
tempting they might imagine themselves. And even if I did, that wouldn’t and
couldn’t help you find your treasure.”
For a moment, he said nothing.
She wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d sped up and left the others to make
sure she followed him back to the house. It was the kind of reaction she
usually got to such a speech—a hasty backing off with the unspoken subtext: Whoops. Easy lay’s off. Try someone else.
But Rodion neither broke nor increased
his stride. “What about fun?” he said.
She glanced at him, frowning.
“What?”
He met her gaze in the darkness.
“Do you ever sleep with a man for fun?”
“Do you imagine I close my eyes,
grit my teeth, and think of England?” she retorted, although in some cases, it
had come depressingly close. “Or Scotland…”
“I don’t know. And neither do
you.” His teeth gleamed in the darkness. His fingers touched her wrist, a
glancing, gliding caress that caught at her breath. “Not with me.”
“I have no idea what you’re
talking about,” she said loftily.
“I’ll show you.” Without warning,
he nudged her off the path.
She staggered, but he held her
upright with both hands at her waist, and pushed her two steps farther until
her back came up against a tree. His hands were warm on her waist, and they
stood breast to chest, his hips deliberately touching hers. Between, she could
feel him growing and hardening, and heat flooded her. The heat of embarrassment
and fear and, God help her, a shocking, raging lust.
“Fun,” he repeated. “You and me,
having sex for fun. What would you think of that?”
For the space of several
heartbeats—her heart was beating very fast—she stared up into his stormy blue
eyes. Her stomach lurched, for there was real emotion there. She’d no idea what
it signified, but it was profound, intense, and dangerously exciting.
“Are you actually offering to
show me a good time?” she managed. “After lying to me, getting me shot at,
kidnapping me, and forcing me on a drug smuggling trip?”
“Yes,” he said softly and bent
his head so close she could feel his breath on her lips, her cheek. “What do
you say, Nell? You and me, just for the fun of it.” He began to sway subtly
against her, while his hands stroked her hips through her jeans. His breath
stirred her ear. “I have this feeling—such a warm, sexy feeling—that we’d be
good together. So awesomely good…”
All she could manage was, “You’re
kidding yourself.”
“Am I? I want you very badly,
Yelena Black.”
She closed her eyes, as if that
could blot out the temptation of his soft, sexy voice. It did things to her she
didn’t want to think about.
“Tough. I don’t want you,” she
said brutally.
It didn’t faze him, didn’t stop
his hips from pressing her into the tree or his face from sinking ever closer
to hers. “Yes, you do. I’ve seen it in your eyes when I touch you. I could see
it there now if you’d just open them.”
She opened her eyes and glared.
But he only smiled, and that didn’t help at all. His erection pressed between
her thighs with just the right amount of pressure to be gloriously exciting
without any overt threat. Her whole body trembled, melting against his. Every
time he moved, brushing against her nipples like a caress, she tingled. She
couldn’t break eye contact, didn’t want to, although his own gaze kept dropping
to her lips and back to her eyes, tantalizing, forcing her to wonder again with
new desperation, how did he kiss?
She just bet he’d be good at it.
She was already so aroused, her stomach would do backflips at the first touch
of his lips. If she let it. If she let him.
“Yes, there it is,” he said
huskily. A smile, curiously warm and tender sprang into his eyes. “Don’t look
so alarmed. One kiss and then I’ll stop.” He brought up his hand and traced the
shape of her upper lip with his forefinger.
There was no way she could
explain her real terror, that one kiss with him and she wouldn’t be able to
stop. She tried to speak, but the words dried in her desperate throat. She
grabbed at the tree to stop herself holding on to him and saw the smile flicker
across his face. One kiss and then I’ll
stop. He bent even closer until she felt his breath on her lips, as he
whispered, “If you want me to.”
His mouth closed on hers.
Author Bio:
Marie Treanor lives in Scotland with her
eccentric husband and three much-too-smart children. Having grown bored with
city life, she resides these days in a picturesque village by the sea where she
is lucky enough to enjoy herself avoiding housework and writing sensual stories
of paranormal romance and fantasy.
Marie Treanor has published more than twenty
ebooks with small presses, (Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Changeling Press
and The Wild Rose Press), including a former Kindle bestseller, Killing
Joe. Blood on Silk: an Awakened by Blood novel, was
her New York debut with NAL.
Website: www.MarieTreanor.com
Blog: Marie Treanor's Romantic Theme
Party:
Giveaway:
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Sounds like a lot of excitement!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carrie - I hope so :).
ReplyDeleteDonna, thanks for featuring SMOKE AND MIRRORS on your blog on my release day!
Also, I have to apologize to anyone who tried to buy the book in the earlier part of the day and couldn't find it - I believe there was a technical problem at Amazon, now solved, so the book is now available :).
Marie
This is just one of the books I am going to buy if I win this gc. I can't wait to read it! :)
ReplyDelete