More
Than A Convenient Marriage? by Dani Collins
BLURB:
It started with a signature…
Rich, powerful
and with a beautiful wife to boot, it seems like Greek shipping magnate Gideon
Vozaras has it all. But little does the world know his perfect life is all a
façade…
After years of
disguising her pain behind a flawless smile, untouchable heiress Adara Vozaras
has reached breaking point. Her marriage, once held together by an undeniable
passion, has become nothing more than a convenience.
But Gideon
can't afford the public scrutiny that a divorce would bring and if there's one
thing his harsh past has taught him, it's how to fight dirty to keep what's
his...
EXCERPT:
Gideon Vozaras
used all his discipline to keep his foot light on the accelerator as he
followed the rented car, forcing himself to maintain an unhurried pace along
the narrow island road while he gripped the wheel in white-knuckled fists. When the other car parked outside the palatial
gate of an estate, he pulled his own rental onto the shoulder a discreet
distance back then stayed in his vehicle to see if the other driver
noticed. As he cut the engine, the AC
stopped. Heat enveloped him.
Welcome to
Hell.
He hated
Greece at the best of times and today was predicted to be one of the hottest on
record. The air shimmered under the
relentless sun and it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet. But the weather was barely worth noticing.
The gates of
the estate were open. The other car could
have driven straight through and up to the house, but stayed parked
outside. He watched the female driver
emerge and take a moment to consider the unguarded entrance. Her shoulders gave a lift and drop as though
she screwed up her courage before she took action and walked in.
As she
disappeared between imposing brick posts, Gideon left his own car and followed
at a measured pace, gut knotting with every step. Outraged stung his veins.
He wanted to
believe that wasn’t his wife, but there was no mistaking Adara Vozaras. Not for him.
Maybe her tourist clothes of flip-flops, jeans chopped above the knees,
a sleeveless top, and a pair of pigtails didn’t fit her usual professional
élan, but he knew that backside. The tug
it caused in his blood was indisputable.
No other woman made an immediate sexual fire crackle awake in him like
this. His relentless hunger for Adara
had always been his cross to bear and today it was particularly unwelcome.
Spending the
week with her mother. This ain’t Chatham,
sweetheart.
He paused as
he came alongside her car, glancing inside to see a map of the island on the
passenger seat. A logo in its corner
matched the hotel he’d been told she was booked into. And now she was advising her lover where to
meet her? Walking bold as you please up
his million-dollar drive to his billion-dollar house? The only clue to the estate’s ownership, the
shields welded to the gate, were turned back against the brick wall that fenced
the estate from the road.
Gideon’s
entire body twitched with an urge to slip his reins of control. He was not a poor man. He’d got past envying other men their wealth
once he’d acquired a level of his own.
Nevertheless,
a niggle of his dock-rat inferiority complex wormed to life as he took in what
he could see of the shoreline property that rolled into a vineyard and orange
grove. The towering stone house, three
stories with turrets on each corner, belonged on an English estate, not a Greek
island. It was twenty bedrooms
minimum. If this was the owner’s weekend
retreat, he was an obscenely rich man.
Not that Adara
needed a rich man. She had grown up
wanting for nothing. She had a fortune
in her own right plus half of Gideon’s so what was the attraction here?
Sex.
The insidious
whisper formed a knot of betrayal behind his breastbone. Was this why she hadn’t shared that stacked
body of hers with him for weeks? His
hands curled into fists as he tried to swallow back his gall.
Dreading what
he might see as he looked to the front door, he shifted for a full view. Adara had paused halfway to the house to
speak with a gardener. A truck
overflowing with landscaping tools was parked midway up the drive and workers
were crawling like bees over the blooming gardens.
The sun seared
the back of Gideon’s neck, strong enough to burn through his shirt to his
shoulders, making sweat pool between his shoulder blades and tickle annoyingly
down his spine.
They had
arrived early this morning, Adara off the ferry, Gideon following in a power
boat he was ‘test-piloting.’ She’d been
driving a car she’d rented in Athens.
His rental had been negotiated at the marina, but the island was
small. It hadn’t surprised him when
she’d driven right past the nose of his car as he had turned onto the main
road.
No, the
surprise had been the call thirty-six hours previously when their travel agent
had dialed his mobile by mistake. Ever
the survivor, Gideon had thought quickly.
He’d mentioned that he’d like to surprise his wife by joining her and
within seconds, Gideon had had all the details of Adara’s clandestine trip.
Well, not
all. He didn’t know whom she was here to
see or how she’d met her mystery man.
Why was she doing this when he gave her everything she asked for?
He watched
Adara’s slender neck bow in disappointment.
Ha. The bastard wasn’t home. Grimly satisfied, Gideon folded his arms and
waited for his wife.
BIO
Dani Collins spent twenty-five years
dreaming of writing full time and finally made her first sale to Harlequin
Mills & Boon in May of 2012. She’s still dreaming of making Romance Author
her day job, but for now she writes around work, family, and enough exercise to
keep her out of traction. For more information about Dani, you can visit her
website at www.danicollins.com,
listen to her interview with Nice
Girls Reading Naughty Books, or watch her interview on GFTV.
PURCHASE LINKS
Nook | Kobo | eHarlequin | Mills &
Boon Aus | Mills
& Boon UK | ARe | BooksaMillion
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1 comment:
I enjoyed reading about you and your book, Dani. Can't wait to read it.
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