by Anna Lowe
The second his peacock blue eyes met hers, her pulse skipped.
“Hey,” he whispered. “It will be all right.”
That made her feel better, but then the other two men starting lobbing questions at her, and she wavered again. Everything was a haze.
“What happened?”
Something bad. Something she’d rather not remember.
“What are you doing here?”
God, she wished she knew.
Boone shouldered a tall, golden-haired man aside, sheltering her from the onslaught.
“What’s your name?” he asked, so quietly, so gently, she wanted to cry.
Then she really did cry, because she couldn’t remember. The Nina part came out automatically, but after that, she got stuck. Nina… Nina who? She searched her memories and found them horrifyingly blank, like a photo negative left too long in the sun.
“Where are you staying?”
“Who can we call?”
“How did you get here?”
The questions surrounded her like a swarm of hornets, and no matter how she tried, she couldn’t find an answer to any of them. The harder she searched her mind, the more frantic she became. Like a person who’d lost the most precious thing imaginable, she searched the pockets of her mind, one after another and then all over again.
Her mouth opened and closed, but still, no words came. No memories, either.
A boat…two men…shouts…
But she didn’t remember stepping foot on a boat. She didn’t remember anything up to the moment that she’d been pushed overboard.
“What boat? What men?” someone demanded.
She threw her hands over her face, trying to hide the tears as if she still had a scrap of pride to protect. Apparently, she’d been murmuring in tandem with the disjointed images rushing through her mind. She rolled sideways, wishing she could disappear into the couch.
“Back off,” Boone barked, and just like that, the hubbub ceased. His voice was so sharp, so commanding, even she peeked up.
The other men had both taken a step back and looked startled at the command in his voice. They were equals, she sensed, unused to taking orders from each other. Any one of them could have led an elite military platoon, judging by the hard lines of their faces and their wide, no-nonsense stances. But for that moment, at least, Boone outranked them all.
“Back off,” he murmured again, and they did.
He readjusted the towel over her body and patted her arm.
It will be okay, the gesture said. I swear it will be okay.
She closed her eyes and focused on his voice, his words, the only thing keeping her from going over the edge there and then.
“Get me that dish towel,” he murmured. A moment later, he wiped her face with a moist cloth. Slowly. Carefully. Tenderly, almost.
“She fell off a boat?” one of the men asked in a hushed voice that the others matched.
“Got pushed off, she said,” another one corrected.
She wished they would all be quiet and let her pretend Boone was the only one in the room.
“Why would someone push her overboard?”
“Because they want her dead.”
“Why? What did she do?”
Nina wasn’t looking, but she felt their inquisitive glances bore into her skin.
“Why can’t she remember anything?”
She screamed at herself in her mind, wondering the same thing.
“Shock. Fear. Bump on the head?” Someone went through a whole catalog of possibilities. And damn, every one was true.
“So what are you going to do?” one of them asked Boone.
A heavy silence followed, and Nina held her breath. His hand brushed hers uncertainly.
Help me, she wanted to scream. Please help me.
“Let her rest,” he said at length. “Maybe she’ll remember after she gets some rest.”
Rest sounded good. Her body begged for it, and her mind latched onto the idea. All she needed was some rest and everything would come back again, right?
“We have to tell Silas,” someone said.
Nina went tense all over. Whoever Silas was, she was already terrified of him.
“Later,” Boone growled. “I’ll tell him soon. First, I have to take care of her.”
Taking care of had so many meanings, but she concentrated on the positive ones. Like the image of Boone, tucking her into a bed and promising everything would be okay.
“Hang on,” he murmured, picking her up again.
She mumbled a half-hearted protest but immediately melted into place against him. Her chest against his, her arms around his neck. It all came naturally, just the way his arms fitted around her shoulders and knees.
“All you need is some sleep,” he assured her as he walked. “Everything will be okay.”
He carried her back toward the beach, and before she knew it, he was tucking her into a huge, cozy bed. She slipped in like Goldilocks going right for the biggest bed and hugged a pillow tight, wondering if she could ever get to sleep.
A weight settled on the mattress behind her as he sat, stroking her shoulder.
“It will be okay,” he whispered again and again.
Her eyelids drooped. Her body practically sighed. She’d gone from lost and terrified to safe and totally secure. A moment later, she dropped off into a blissfully dreamless sleep.
* * *
That’s just a taste of another great paranormal romance! Get your own copy of Lure of the Wolf to catch the rest of the action, suspense, and romance!
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Desert Wolf: Friend or Foe (Book 1.1 in the Twin Moon Ranch series)
Off the Charts (the prequel to the Serendipity Adventure series)
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Books by Anna Lowe
Aloha Shifters - Jewels of the Heart
Lure of the Dragon (Book 1)
Lure of the Wolf (Book 2)
Lure of the Bear (Book 3)
Lure of the Tiger (Book 4)
Love of the Dragon (Book 5)
Blue Moon Saloon
Perfection (a short story prequel)
Damnation (Book 1)
Temptation (Book 2)
Redemption (Book 3)
Salvation (Book 4)
Deception (Book 5)
Celebration (a holiday treat)
The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch
Desert Hunt (the Prequel)
Desert Moon (Book 1)
Desert Wolf: Complete Collection (Four short stories)
Desert Blood (Book 2)
Desert Fate (Book 3)
Desert Heart (Book 4)
Desert Yule (a short story)
Desert Rose (Book 5)
Desert Roots (Book 6)
Sasquatch Surprise (a Twin Moon spin-off story)
Shifters in Vegas
Paranormal romance with a zany twist
Gambling on Trouble
Gambling on Her Dragon
Gambling on Her Bear
Serendipity Adventure Romance
Off the Charts
Uncharted
Entangled
Windswept
Adrift
Travel Romance
Veiled Fantasies
Island Fantasies
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This is as HOT as her shifter series. For those who want spicy without paranormal, this is a perfect start. I can’t wait to read more about the
se characters.
I’m enjoying Anna’s new series just as much as I do her Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch series.
It’s not my normal genre but I do love Anna Lowe’s romance books because of the great way she writes. I am really happy this book was the same great style.
Uncharted is different from Anna’s Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch but I enjoyed the story just as well.
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