Which is just what happens for the heroine in today's new release--and I love this premise. (I've gotta confess to be a bit biased, since I edited the story, but still...)
The book's title is Rachel Dahlrumple (yeah, what a mouthful--imagine the hassles that poor chick got from yucko boys back in the day, right?). And in Rachel's case, the guy grew up to be a most unretchable cop.
Her husband's death is just the beginning of her marital
woes.
Rachel's humiliation over the discovery of her late
husband's affairs turns to fear when one of his mistresses sends her a poisoned
bouquet. But finding the source of the killer flowers is only one step on her
path to solving the mystery her husband left behind.
Deputy Dan Weston is with Rachel when the bouquet arrives,
and he's at her side as she deals with so many of the secrets that come to
light after her husband's death. Dan has carried a torch for Rachel since
puberty and he's not going to let her dead husband's vindictive girlfriends or
his psychotic mother come between them now. But that means finding out who is
sending snakes and poisoned posies before one kills Rachel.
EXCERPT
I looked up at Dan’s expression. All teasing gone. Cop mode.
“I’m a simple person, Deputy Weston. Steady and calm.
Boring. I don’t offend anyone, and no one gives me trouble. Unless you’re
talking about Jose Delgado, who is three weeks late with the last book he
checked out.”
“I don’t think Jose wrote this.” Scowling, he turned the
card so I could read it through the clear plastic.
Black, block letters, innocuous enough, aside from the
message. Ah, yes, the kicker.
Let him go. We want to be together. Start divorce
proceedings. Or better yet, end your pitiful life. Your choice. For now.
Dan’s gaze was glued to my face, which first felt hot, then
cold. My head swam and my breathing wheezed in and out, as ragged as my
stuttering heartbeat.
That bastard. The low down, scheming, rotten, lying, slimy,
vile, despicable…
“Care to revise your statement?”
A few quick blinks brought the deputy back into focus,
though I could feel the airways in my lungs constricting.
“I know who’s going to die, and isn’t going to be me,” I
whispered. “Chinese water torture is too good for him. Splinter those bamboo
chopsticks--the minute he gets home, they’re going under his fingernails.” I’d
learned a few things from my father’s stories of ’Nam. And of course, by
reading about the war. After all, I was a librarian. I’d read nearly every book
on the shelves. Maybe I’d do a search on torture techniques.
The tanned face near mine blanched. “Easy going, ma’am.”
Right. I wasn’t known for saying such things. I wasn’t known
for saying much.
“Well?” I demanded. My fragile world had just vaporized
before my eyes and it was far too soon to see what might be left. If anything.
The only future visible looked like a rapidly expanding black hole.
Someone wanted me dead. But who? My husband? His girlfriend?
Divorce loomed ahead like a huge gaping maw. I wanted to wail, gnash my teeth,
and obliterate something, anything. Of course, I was Rachel the Mouse, so I did
my best to hide the violent urges building inside. Rachel the Meek never, ever,
let loose with her most primitive emotions. She hid them deep, keeping a calm,
submissive, accepting face turned toward the world at large.
“What would you do?”
For the first time I could remember in our long history, Dan
looked directly, and very deeply, into my eyes. The sympathy, sincerity, and
concern on his face hit me. Already overwhelmed from too many emotions boiling
in my heart and head, I had no defense or response for his reply, or the way he
ever-so-lightly caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers.
“Since I’m not the kind of idiot your husband is, Rachel, I
wouldn’t be stupid enough to screw around on the most amazing woman anywhere.
Were I the lucky one to have you, I wouldn’t leave you alone long enough for
you to ever feel abandoned.”
Aside from asthma and allergy, I was a healthy woman. I’d
never, ever, once fainted in my life. But the shocks to my system that night
hit too hard. A poisonous gift, a nasty note, knowledge I didn’t want of my
husband’s cheating ways, and a gorgeous, younger man, telling me he considered
me amazing… The zing I felt in my tummy from his touch did me in.
Black waves engulfing me, limbs losing strength, I slowly
collapsed, Dan catching me at the last moment of consciousness. Like any
nineteenth-century heiress worth her crumpets and tea, I fainted right into his
arms.
Rachel Dahlrumple releases today, and is available wherever ebooks are sold, but will be 30% off this week at the Lyrical Press store.
May your Monday be most livable.
Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!
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