A Darker Shade
Page 24
I tried to smile. “Don’t confuse gratitude with love.”
He shook his head. “I’m not. I swear it. But in case you’re not sure, I’ll hold you to your contract. Stay with us for a year. Let me prove it.”
Unable to speak, I nodded.
“Ah,” he said. “A silent communicator. I have some practice with that.”
And then he kissed me, and it was everything I’d never allowed myself to hope for, and there was no need for words.
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Acknowledgments
I grew up loving Mary Stewart and Stephen King and they are the progenitors of this strange little book. But it’s hard to write a book like this in today’s world, and I have to thank an enormous number of people who helped with it.
My agent, Courtney Miller-Callihan, did not even flinch when I proposed it and did not shy away from the work of shepherding it through its many iterations.
This book was written at a rough time in my own life, and when I first submitted it to Theresa Stevens for editing I am honestly surprised she didn’t send it back to me with “I think you accidentally sent me the rough draft.”
My sensitivity reader—whose name I will not reveal here because if I got things wrong, the blame is entirely mine and I don’t want her to be exposed to the Internet’s scorn—gave me insight I was lacking into Romani culture in America.
Nina, Leanna, Tonda and so many others kept me going when I would have given up. You all are amazing.
And, of course, Mike, who lets me disappear for hours each day into my own separate world. Love you.
About the Author
Laura K. Curtis gave up a life writing dry academic papers for writing decidedly less dry genre fiction. A member of RNA, MWA, ITW, and HWA, she has trouble settling into one lane. While she is best known as a writer of romantic suspense, she has also written contemporary romance novels and short crime fiction. Her first “weird” story was published in 2015’s Protectors 2: Heroes anthology and she knew she’d found a new genre to love.
“It’s easier to sell yourself if you only write in one genre,” she tells people when speaking on branding at conferences, “I just can’t make myself do it.”
While the genre-hopping is natural for someone like Laura who comes from a family chock-full of ADHD, the conference circuit is an outgrowth of her background in education. She’s taught middle school in New York, high school in St. Louis, and college in Texas, and loves speaking to groups about anything and everything.
Also by Laura K. Curtis
Twisted
Lost
Echoes
Mind Games
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Toying With His Affections
Gaming the System