Shannon here: Jodie Bailey shares an excerpt from her latest Romantic Suspense, Mistaken Twin. Comment or answer the question at the end of the post to enter the drawing for a copy. Deadline: Dec 29th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Jodie:
Excerpt from Mistaken Twin by Jodie Bailey:
She tugged against him and he let her back up, though he kept his hands at her hips, not letting her get too far. He wasn’t ready to break whatever this connection was, to walk out of this room and into a world intent on tearing her apart.
Lifting the flower charm from where it rested at her neck, she held it on one finger. “Amy wore this all of the time. Never took it off. Anthony gave it to her one Christmas. It’s an…” She smiled a watery smile. “It’s an amaryllis.”
“And now you wear it.”
“Thing is, the only way she’d ever take it off is if she was…” Jenna sniffed. “She’d never take it off.”
Wyatt rested his finger on the charm, her finger warm against his, then he lifted his eyes and let them sweep hers.
She was looking up at him, her gaze intense but more at peace than it had been a few minutes before. The tears had been good for her. Her eyes still held a watery sheen that made them a brighter green than usual, almost otherworldly, a color he couldn’t tear himself away from. A strand of hair caught in her eyelash, making her blink.
Tugging his hand from hers, he brushed the strand aside, then lifted his hand and ran it along her hairline, his fingers brushing the scar he’d noticed at Christa’s. She’d cringed then when he touched it. “Where did the scar come from?”
“Logan.” She said the name flatly, in a matter-of-fact tone, the same way someone would say they’d burned a finger on a stove or bruised their thumb with a hammer.
As though it was normal, no big deal.
No. His whole body ached for her pain, for what she’d endured physically and emotionally at the hands of a man who’d treated her like his property in such a subtle way she hadn’t even realized what was happening until it was too late.
Wyatt wanted to make her pain go away forever. All of it. From her mother’s neglect to her sister’s death to Logan Cutter’s cruelty. “I’m sorry.” His whisper was so low she probably didn’t hear it, but he still had to say it. Somehow, the guilt was his for not being there to protect her even before he’d ever met her. “You are worth so much more than you think you are.” What was the verse his mom had taught him? “So much more than the sparrows God takes care of.” Sparrows. She was like them. Strong enough to fly, yet so, so delicate.
So in need of protection.
Without caring about anything outside of the space between them, he drew her closer with the hand still on her hip and brushed a kiss across the scar, her skin warm beneath his lips.
Her hands slipped from his chest to his cheeks, her palms against his jaw, her fingers splayed at his cheeks. She turned his head toward her until they were forehead-to-forehead, nose-to-nose, so close her breath brushed his lips as she whispered in a way he felt more than heard. “You’re not him.” There was a wonder, a knowing, as though she’d discovered something she hadn’t been searching for.
Wyatt crumbled. He closed the small space between them, his lips brushing hers once, resting for a moment on the soft skin at the corner of her mouth before he slipped back and found her again, offering a promise he would never turn away from as she drew him closer and met him, accepting the safety he offered.
Nothing would every hurt Jenna Clark again. Ever. Not as long as Wyatt had breath in him.
About Jodie: Jodie Bailey writes novels about freedom and the heroes who fight for it. Her romantic suspense, Crossfire, won an RT Reviewers Choice Award and her contemporary romance, Quilted by Christmas won a Selah. She is convinced a camping trip to the beach with her family, a good cup of coffee, and a great book can cure all ills. Jodie lives in North Carolina with her husband, her daughter, and two dogs. Visit her at www.jodiebailey.com
About the book – Mistaken Twin: When someone attacks her at her shop, Jenna Clark knows her secret identity has been compromised. The killer she’s been hiding from has found her…or has he? Police officer Wyatt Stephens vows to protect her, but he doesn’t trust that she’s telling him the whole truth. Is the killer after Jenna, or has he mistaken her for her dead twin?
Question for Readers: In Mistaken Twin, Jenna is concealing a huge secret about her life. If you had a secret, who in your life would you choose to confide in and why?
Come back Dec 24th for Donna Schlachter!
my best friend Julie or my daughter Emily
Thanks for coming by, Shelia! Have a wonderful Christmas!
If I had a secret, I would tell God about it.
He knows all that we do and say, so why not?
Besides, He will never let our secret slip.
I love this answer. So true!
Wow, this book sounds very interesting!
I’d probably go to my sister.
I wish I’d had a sister growing up. My brother wasn’t all that in to girl talk. 😉 Thanks for stopping by!
I would have told my best friend, but she went home a couple of years ago. So now I don’t know who I would tell if anyone. Unless I share it with my friend and God, Yep that’s what I would do.
I’m sorry about your best friend, Pam. I liked the answer Janet said above about telling God because He never spills our secrets. That’s so true.
No one as No one would understand.
It would be my husband.
New author to me and the cover pulls in!
Thank you for stopping by, Karen! They did an amazing job on the cover. It has a Nancy Drew vibe, I think. 🙂
I would confide a secret with my husband, my aunt or my best friend. Those three would be trusted to keep things private.
Those sound like my list!
My husband or my sister. Both are completely trustworthy.
I have a winner! Maddy won the drawing. I appreciate Jodie for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.