Stephanie Rowe - Darkness Unleashed
Page 33
Clare ran across the muck toward him, stumbling in the slippery footing. "You're crazy!" she shouted, shielding her eyes against the bright floodlights from his truck. But God, she'd never been so happy to see crazy in her life.
"Probably," he yelled back, flashing her a cheeky grin. His perfect white teeth seemed to light up his face, a cheerful confident smile that felt so incongruous in the raging storm and daunting circumstances.
But his cockiness eased her panic, and that was such a gift. It made her able to at least think rationally. She would take all the positive vibes she could get right now.
He held up a nylon harness that was hooked to the steel cord attached to his truck. "If the tree goes over, this will keep you from going over."
She wiped the rain out of her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"We still have to get you over the tree, and I don't want you climbing it unprotected. Never thought I'd actually be using this stuff. I had it just out of habit." He dropped the harness over her head and began strapping her in with efficient, confident movements. His hands brushed her breasts as he buckled her in, but he didn't seem to notice.
She sure did.
It was the first time a man's hands had touched her breasts in about fifteen years, and it was an unexpected jolt. Something tightened in her belly. Desire? Attraction? An awareness of the fact she was a woman? Dear God, what was wrong with her? She didn't have time for that. Not tonight, and not in her life. But she couldn't take her gaze off his strong jaw and dark eyes as he focused intently on the harness he was strapping around her.
"I'm taking you across to my truck," he said, "and then we're going to get your daughter and the others."
"We are?" She couldn't stop the sudden flood of tears. "You're going to help me get them?"
He nodded as he snapped the final buckle. "Yeah. I gotta get into heaven somehow, and this might do it."
"Thank you!" She threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him, clinging to her savior. She had no idea who he was, but he'd just successfully navigated a sheer mud cliff for her and her daughter, and she would so take that gift right now.
For an instant, he froze, and she felt his hard body start to pull away. Then suddenly, in a shift so subtle she didn't even see it happen, his body relaxed and his arms went around her, locking her down in an embrace so powerful she felt like the world had just stopped. She felt like the rain had ceased and the wind had quieted, buffeted aside by the strength and power of his body.
"It's going to be okay." His voice was low and reassuring in her ear, his lips brushing against her as he spoke. "She's going to be fine."
Crushed against this stranger's body, protected by his arms, soothed by the utter confidence in his voice, the terror that had been stalking her finally eased away. "Thank you," she whispered.
"You're welcome."
There was a hint of emotion in his voice, and she pulled back far enough to look at him. His eyes were dark, so dark she couldn't tell if they were brown or black, but she could see the torment in his expression. His jaw was angular, and his face was shadowed by the floodlights. He was a man with weight in his heart. She felt it right away. Instinctively, she laid a hand on his cheek. "You're a gift."
He flashed another smile, and for a split second, he put his hand over hers, holding it to his whiskered cheek as if she were some angel of mercy come to give him relief. Her throat thickened, and for a moment, everything else vanished. It was just them, drenched and cold on a windy mountain road, the only warmth was their hands, clasped together against his cheek.
His eyes darkened, then he cleared his throat suddenly and released her hand, jerking her back to the present. "Wait until you see whether I can pull it off," he said, his voice low and rough, sending chills of awareness rippling down her spine. "Then you can reevaluate that compliment." He tugged on the harness. "Ready?"
She gripped the cold nylon, suddenly nervous. Was she edgy because she was about to climb over a tree that could careen into the gully while she was on it, or was it due to intensity of the sudden heat between them? God, she hoped it was the first one. Being a wimp was so much less dangerous than noticing a man like him. "Aren't you wearing one?"
He quirked a smile at her, a jaunty grin that melted one more piece of her thundering heart. "I only have one, and ladies always get first dibs. Besides, I'm a good climber. If the tree takes me over, I'll find my way back up. Always do." He set his foot on a lower branch and patted his knee. "A one-of-a-kind step ladder. Hop up, Ms.—?" He paused, leaving the question hovering in the storm.
"Clare." She set her muddy boot on his knee, and she grimaced apologetically when the mud glopped all over his jeans. "Clare Gray." She grabbed a branch and looked at him. "And you are?"
"Griffin Friesé." He set his hand on her hip to steady her, his grip strong and solid. "Let's go save some kids, shall we?"
Darkness Possessed
The Order of the Blade, Book Nine
Available Early 2014
Guardian of the Hidden
The Ruined Lords, Book One
Available 2014
Ghost
Alaska Heat, Book Three
Avaliable Late 2013
Prince Charming Can Wait
Ever After, Book Three
Available October 2013
Stephanie Rowe Bio
Four-time RITA® Award nominee and Golden Heart® Award winner Stephanie Rowe is a nationally bestselling author with more than twenty published books with major New York publishers such as Grand Central, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Dorchester and Sourcebooks.
She has received coveted starred reviews from Booklist and high praise from Publisher’s Weekly, calling out her “...snappy patter, goofy good humor and enormous imagination... [a] genre-twister that will make readers...rabid for more.” Stephanie’s work has been nominated as YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.
Stephanie writes romance (paranormal, contemporary and romantic suspense), teen fiction, middle grade fiction and motivational nonfiction.
A former attorney, Stephanie lives in Boston where she plays tennis, works out and is happily writing her next book. Want to learn more? Visit Stephanie online at one of the following hot spots:
www.stephanierowe.com
http://twitter.com/stephanierowe2
https://www.facebook.com/StephanieRoweAuthor
The Order of the Blade Reader's Group
Select List of Other Books by Stephanie Rowe
(For a complete book list, please visit www.stephanierowe.com)
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
The Order of the Blade Series
Darkness Awakened (Book One)
Darkness Seduced (Book Two)
Darkness Surrendered (Book Three)
Forever in Darkness (Book Four, Novella)
Darkness Reborn( Book Five)
Darkness Arisen (Book Six)
Darkness Unleashed (Book Seven)
Inferno of Darkness (Book Eight, Novella)
Available November 2013
Darkness Possessed (Book Nine)
Available Early 2014
The Ruined Lords Series
Guardian of the Hidden (Book One)
Available 2014
Seeker of the Lost (Book Two)
Release Date TBD
The Soulfire Series
Kiss at Your Own Risk (Book One)
Touch if You Dare (Book Two)
Hold Me if You Can (Book Three)
The Immortally Sexy Series
Date Me Baby, One More Time (Book One)
Must Love Dragons (Book Two)
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot (Book Three)
Sex & the Immortal Bad Boy (Book Four)
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
The Alaska Heat Series
Ice (Book One)
Chill (Book Two)
Ghost (Book Three)
Available Late 2013
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Ever After Series
/> No Knight Needed (Book One)
Fairytale Not Required (Book Two)
Prince Charming Can Wait (Book Three)
Available October 2013
The Knight Who Brought Chocolate (Book Four)
Available 2014
Stand Alone Novels
Jingle This!
NONFICTION
The Feel Good Life
FOR TEENS
A Girlfriend's Guide to Boys Series
Putting Boys on the Ledge (Book One)
Studying Boys (Book Two)
Who Needs Boys? (Book Three)
Smart Boys & Fast Girls (Book Four)
Stand Alone Novels
The Fake Boyfriend Experiment
FOR PRE-TEENS
The Forgotten Series
Penelope Moonswoggle, The Girl Who Could Not Ride a Dragon (Book One)
Penelope Moonswoggle & the Accidental Doppelganger (Book Two)
Release Date TBD
Darkness Unleashed
ISBN 10: 0988656639
ISBN 13: 978-0-9886566-3-5
Copyright © 2013 by Stephanie Rowe.
Cover design ©2013 by Peter Davis. Cover design, book layout, and epub creation by Peter Davis. Cover photos courtesy of iStockphoto.com.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, disseminated, or transmitted in any form or by any means or for any use, including recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the author and/or the artist. The only exception is short excerpts or the cover image in reviews.
Please be a leading force in respecting the right of authors and artists to protect their work. This is a work of fiction. All the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel or on the cover are either products of the author’s or artist’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author or the artist.
For further information, please contact Stephanie@stephanierowe.com