A Perfect Secret
(Rogue Hearts #3)
by Donna Hatch
Adult Historical Romance
Paperback, 348 Pages
December 14 2013
(Rogue Hearts #3)
by Donna Hatch
Adult Historical Romance
Paperback, 348 Pages
December 14 2013
Desperate to protect her father from trial and death, Genevieve breaks off her engagement with Christian Amesbury and marries a blackmailer. After a year of marriage, she flees her husband's violent domination only to have fate bring her back to Christian. Just when she thinks she's started a new life of safety and solitude, her husband tracks her down, stalks her, and threatens everyone she loves.
Still brokenhearted over Genevieve's betrayal a year ago, Christian can't believe she's come back into his life--and worse, that she's done it on the anniversary of his brother's death, a death that haunts him. Though tempted to throw her back into the river where he found her, he can't leave her at the mercy of the terrifying man she married.
When her husband torments Genevieve and puts his family in danger, Christian will do anything to protect those he loves...anything except give Genevieve another chance to break his heart.
My passion for writing began at the tender age of 8 and Iíve been hooked ever since. Of course, I also wanted to be an actress and a ballerina, but one out of three isnít bad, right?
In between caring for six children, (7 counting my husband), my day job, my free lance editing and copy writing, and my many volunteer positions, I manage to carve out time to indulge in my writing obsession. After all, it IS an obsession. My family is more patient and supportive than I deserve.
Excerpt from Chapter 2
“Of course it’s her
concern.” Wickburgh began swinging his walking stick, narrowly missing a
flower-filled vase atop a Chippendale side table. “You see my dear, your father
was about to find the means by which to settle a debt with me.”
Genevieve narrowed
her gaze. “I doubt very much my father owes you a gambling debt since he seldom
gambles.”
“Oh, but he did, a
wager of the worst kind—with fate.”
Papa said more
forcefully, “Genevieve, leave us.”
Genevieve offered an
apologetic smile to her father and cast an open glare at Wickburgh. “I assume
you have vowels to prove this gambling debt?”
“I do, indeed—a
letter that my brother dictated on his deathbed. It only just arrived.” He
withdrew a folded paper and waved it in front of them. “I must warn you
however; it is much more damming than a mere gambling debt. This letter is very
revealing about the part your father played in a mutiny.”
Any other time, she
would have been frightened of this stern man who watched her too closely, too
hotly, but at the moment, her righteous anger overpowered her fear. Her face
flushed in indignation at his horrible lies. “Impossible. Papa would never take
part in a mutiny. He served king and country faithfully for many years.”
She folded her arms,
wishing she were taller and better able to look Papa’s accuser in the eye to
prove he didn’t frighten her. Really, it was difficult to be impressive when
one was barely five feet tall. But she made up for it with what she hoped would
be a fearsome glare.
With a measured
smile, Wickburgh handed her the letter. “Read it for yourself. Quite a
diverting tale.”
She snatched the
document from his hands and read, the blood draining out of her face. The
letter did, indeed, narrate a convincing and condemning story about her father
and his crew mutinying when he’d served as second lieutenant. Surely this
mutiny story was a lie.
She waved the letter
in front of the viscount. “I don’t believe this. It can’t be true.”
Wickburgh gestured
to her father. “Ask him.”
“That won’t be necessary.
My father is a good man.”
Wickburgh merely
watched her with that hungry, possessive stare of his. Genevieve rubbed sweaty
palms down her skirts. She glanced at Papa who had sunk into a chair with his
head in his hands, his shoulders slumped as if utterly defeated. For the first
time, doubt crept in. A knot twisted in her stomach.
“Papa?”
Her father lowered
his hands, staring at the floor. “It’s true.”
Genevieve’s legs
collapsed and she slumped into the nearest settee. This went beyond her
imagination, so far outside of her safe and happy world that she couldn’t think
of what to do.
Her dear papa—the
man who carried her on his back and romped with her in the fields of
wildflowers, who taught her to read Latin and speak French and learn
mathematics even though it was unpopular for girls to be so educated, who doted
on Mama with the care of a nurse—how could he have committed such a terrible
crime? There had to be some mistake, some other explanation.
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- Ends July 20th
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