Love & Other Lies
Destiny Romance
Destiny Romance
January 20, 2015
Adult, Contemporary Romance
Small town vet Abby Benson has fled to the country to put her shameful past behind her. She’s just beginning to find her feet again when handsome stranger, Rue Thorn, arrives in town and begins to stir things up. Rue is gorgeous, kind and thoughtful and the two share an instant attraction. But convinced he’ll despise her if he learns about her history, Abby reluctantly keeps him at arms length.
Determined to win Abby over, Rue tries to reshape himself as the sort of guy he thinks she might be interested in. And for a while it seems his act is working. But when he finds out that Abby has been lying to him, it isn’t long before everything start to unravel …
A moving story of trust, forgiveness and the power of love from the author of Uncovered by Love and The Playboy’s Dark Secret.
About the Author:
Madeline lives and writes in Melbourne. She is an author with Destiny Romance and Tule Publishing.
Online, she calls madelineash.net home, although she does have capricious blogging tendencies so might not always have fresh tea ready for visitors. That's not to say she doesn't welcome company.
She writes contemporary romance.
Morally Dubious Heroine
Hello, and thanks for having me on your blog!
The heroine Abby in my latest release, Love & Other Lies, is a compulsive liar.
I had the idea for her years ago, but I had to work up the courage to write a morally dubious heroine. From what I’ve noticed, romance readers don’t like heroines that aren’t good for the hero. I’m including myself in that generalisation. I mean, the hero is our man – so the heroine needs to be worthy to receive his love on our behalf ;-)
But Abby called to me, and finally, I wrote her story. Now, I’m so happy that she’s found contentment.
Before writing, I asked myself, what would be the most unsuitable match for a (reformed) compulsive liar? Because I’m not going to make it easy on her. She has a past of lying – she’s got to suffer for love! And along came Rue.
A really, really good guy.
Abby is terrified of screwing up someone’s life again, let alone the life of a decent, honest man. He’s the worst possible man to share chemistry with (and boy, do they share chemistry). He thinks the best of people, so never suspects that she’s hiding a dark secret.
I’m not saying he’s a pushover. He’s just a gorgeous beta hero!
My writing buddies find Abby intriguing and strangely relatable. Despite her morally questionable past of lying, I do feel that she deserves Rue’s love.
Do you have trouble accepting characters whose morals have slipped in the past? Or does it all come down to what motivated them? I’d love your thoughts!
Excerpt:
I’d love to share an excerpt from my latest contemporary romance, Love & Other Lies. This is taken from Chapter Four – until this point, the heroine Abby has managed to avoid the hero’s advances (for a number of reasons). Enjoy!
--
Wednesday morning, Abby checked her watch as she hurried out
of the bakery, paper bag in hand, ten minutes late for work. All Rue’s fault.
If he would stop being seen around town – browsing the market, enquiring about
nature walks, eating lunch with a healing Spindle in tow – everyone would leave
her alone. But this was the third morning in a row that she’d been sidled up to
and asked whether he’d persuaded her yet.
These
people seriously had no shame.
She
slid the change into her wallet and glanced up to see Rue leaning against her
four-wheel drive, parallel parked on Main Street. She halted, stomach hitching.
He was looking away, one ankle crossed over the other, hands in the pockets of
those faded denim jeans. He wore sunglasses, the burnt brown lenses and thin
gold rims working with the dishevelled hair to push him into clandestine
superstar territory.
He’d
been detected. Curious faces peered through shop windows, and Tanya loitered on
the street corner, typing on her phone with eyes set on Rue. When she noticed
Abby, she gave an outrageously obvious wink.
This
was going to necessitate an official change in her working hours.
Abby
hadn’t seen Rue since he’d visited the vet. Two days with nothing but a light
on across the street to show he was still in town. Two days to remember how
darkly she could hurt people and know for absolute certain she couldn’t run the
risk of hurting him too.
As she
considered hightailing it, he spotted her. He pushed off the car and started
towards her. His walk was smooth, assured. The possibility that he was going to
ask her out again sent nerves sprinting from her heart to her toes and back
again.
She
would have to say no.
No to
that determined stare meeting hers as he shoved his shades onto his head. No to
that kind heart and beautiful body. No to everything she wanted. Just no.
When
he was a few strides away, she inhaled. ‘Rue—’
‘Hold
that thought,’ he murmured as he reached her, sliding a hand behind her head
and bringing his mouth down to hers.
Startled,
Abby dropped the bakery bag. His body came closer, hand still cradling the back
of her neck, the other skimming down her waist to tug her fully against him.
Heat and contact met her skin and shot deeper, raging in her chest, tangling in
the base of her stomach. He slanted his head and the warmth of his mouth
shifted, tongue sliding over her bottom lip, not demanding entrance, but
working for it. Working, playing, teasing – whatever he was doing, he did it
like no man had before.
She
could smell his skin. Hear the pounding of her pulse. His thumb caressed the
hollow behind her ear and the tenderness of that touch tore through her body
like a scream.
Deafened
by it, she opened her mouth and drew him in.
His
taste was an ache against her tongue, so pure and perfect that she missed it
even as he pushed deeper. She circled her arms around his middle, holding on,
feeling her breasts and belly and thighs press against muscle. She felt like
she could never speak again and that would be all right, if she could stay
right here. No lies, no restraint, just Rue’s kiss and the truth of her body’s
response.
He’d
probably be okay with that.
Those
wide hands slid down to grasp her hips. Holding her steady, he broke away from
her mouth and kissed up and along her right cheekbone. Abby closed her eyes as
his lips reached her ear, tingles breaking out down her spine.
‘I
hardly know you,’ he murmured, nudging the curl of her ear with his nose. ‘So
how is it that I feel like I’ll always know you?’
She
didn’t speak. Didn’t dare.
‘I can
feel you in my head,’ he said, forehead on her temple. ‘You make me feel like
there’s something urgent I haven’t done yet, and I can’t put my finger on what
it is, but every day that I get closer to leaving this place, I get more
uneasy. So I need to do something about it. About you.’
His
mouth found hers again and it occurred to Abby that everything Rue knew about
her was real. There was a pit of things he didn’t know – but the things he did
know, those were real.
She
had never kissed a man who knew real things about her.
He
pulled back again, tucking hair behind her ear, and her pulse tumbled. ‘You
must like being the subject of gossip,’ she murmured.
His
back was to the street. A sparkle lit his eyes. ‘Observers?’
‘Loads.’
‘All
armed with opinions about such a lascivious public event?’
‘Over-armed,
I imagine.’
‘Friday,’
he said. ‘I’ll pick you up at seven.’
‘About
that—’
‘Okay,
seven-thirty.’ Then, as suddenly as he’d kissed her, he lowered his sunglasses
and turned away, cutting past the delighted spectators. Abby watched his
retreat, breath short. Arousal kneaded at her body from the inside out, like
greedy fingers reaching after him.
As far
as truth went, her response to Rue was absolute. It felt whole and untainted,
pounding hot through her veins. It felt honest.
‘Well,’
she said, accepting her fate. ‘Seven-thirty, then.’
Blitz-wide giveaway (INTL) ~ ends January 29th
- eBook copy of Love & Other Lies
- eBook copy of The Playboy's Dark Secret (a connected book to L&OL, as the heroes are brothers)
- A print copy of Uncovered by Love
- $20 voucher for the online book distributor of their choice (Amazon/iTunes/etc)
material, including Guest Post, provided via Xpresso Book Tours
I enjoyed the excerpt, and I cant wait to read this story.
ReplyDelete