To the Edge
Page 37
He hunched over his arms, hugging himself, shaking uncontrollably, glowering at me through lidded eyes. He snapped when I tried to loosen the bandage around his calf.
“Forget this.”
He heaved himself from the floor to the toilet and from the toilet to the tub and, perching his calf on the ledge, slid into the bath, groaning as he immersed the bulk of his body in the tub, shivering nonstop. A tide of displaced water swelled and spilled over the edges, splashing on the floor and drenching my feet. Within moments, his teeth began to chatter.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to call the ambulance?”
“Sure as shit.”
“I could drive you to the hospital or call the sheriff for help.”
He snarled. “No.”
A tiger trapped in my bathtub might have been a safer bet. A swipe of his paw could take my head off.
Perhaps this was about more than embarrassment. “Ash,” I said. “Why don’t you want me to take you to the hospital or call the sheriff? Are you in trouble?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled. “I’m in trouble all right.”
“With the law?” I said, fearing his enemies as much as mine.
“No, not with the law,” he muttered before he closed his eyes. “With someone a lot more dangerous than the law.”
Don’t miss
THE ASSET by Anna del Mar,
available now wherever
Carina Press ebooks are sold.
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Copyright ©2016 by Anna del Mar
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I’d like to thank my editor at Carina Press, Kerri Buckley, whose patience, guidance, wisdom and wit make the editing process a writer’s dream. She’s a one-woman silver-polishing kit, removing the tarnish as she goes, shining every manuscript she touches until it sparkles.
I’d also like to thank Angela James, who runs a top-of-the-line outfit, Stephanie Doig, who keeps it all going, and Heather Goldberg, Carina Press’s impressive digital marketing coordinator, who juggles a complex process that involves many people, opinions and departments while also keeping finicky authors like me deliriously happy. Thanks also to the countless Harlequin team members who enhance my novels with their work. If publishing was an Olympic sport, Carina Press would win gold.
I’d also like to thank my personal editor, Nancy Cassidy, who gives my novels their first spin and trudges through my first drafts with such grace and skill. Thanks to my alpha readers, who are so generous with their feedback, and also to my hubby, who bears the brunt of my writer’s idiosyncrasies and mental absences. Gratitude to my kids, parents, sisters and friends for putting up with my writing addiction. You guys are such good sports.
And finally, as always, thank you, the reader, for giving my stories a reason to exist.
Also available from Anna del Mar
and Carina Press
The Wounded Warrior Series
The Asset
The Stranger
The At the Brink Novels
At the Brink
About the Author
Amazon bestselling author Anna del Mar writes hot, smart romances that soothe the soul, challenge the mind and satisfy the heart. Her stories focus on strong heroines struggling to find their place in the world and the brave, sexy, kick-ass military heroes who defy the limits to protect the women they love. She is the author of The Asset, At the Brink, The Stranger and To the Edge from Carina Press.
A Georgetown University graduate, Anna enjoys traveling, hiking, skiing and the sea. Writing is her addiction, her drug of choice and what she wants to do all the time. The extraordinary men and women she met during her years as a navy wife inspire the fabulous heroes and heroines at the center of her stories. When she stays put—which doesn’t happen very often—she lives in Florida with her indulgent husband and two very opinionated cats.
www.AnnadelMar.com
Anna@AnnadelMar.com
www.Facebook.com/AuthorAnnadelMar/?ref=hl
Twitter.com/Anna_del_Mar
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If you enjoyed reading this story,
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Clover Greene would sooner crawl into her oven than host family for Thanksgiving dinner. Yet another annual ritual of too much food, serv
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ISBN-13: 9781459294387
To the Edge
Copyright © 2016 by Anna del Mar
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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