GABRIEL'S GIFT: A Lost Hearts Christmas Story (6 page)
Read GABRIEL'S GIFT: A Lost Hearts Christmas Story Online
Authors: Christina Dodd
When Kate is threatened by a malicious stalker, she hires a bodyguard, but the cool, blade-sharp intensity of Teague Ramos both menaces & attracts. When her own relentless investigation unlocks dangerous secrets, she & Teague go on a high-stakes chase that may lead to the family she has never known—or into the trap of a ruthless killer.
Gabriel is also featured in the
Fortune Hunters
series. The four books are:
A
crazy family, a wild affair…and the jewel heist of the century.
Breaking into Devlin Fitzwilliam’s mansion to steal a priceless painting is a dangerous move. Getting caught and pretending to have amnesia is madness. Outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and in danger, Meadow must decide who to trust … with her life.
Two eccentric aunts, a series of quirky bank robberies, the madness and forbidden pleasures of Mardi Gras … Nessa can handle all that. Then Jeremiah MacNaught comes to town. He takes too many chances. He asks dangerous questions. And when he goes to Nessa for the answers, they discover an attraction that defies all sense.
DANGER IN A RED DRESS
(Gabriel's story):
Taut suspense unites and concludes both the Lost Texas Hearts and the Fortune Hunters series in one exhilarating climax!
For you collectors, enjoy
LADY IN BLACK
,
a full-length romantic suspense about
a straitlaced lady-butler, a powerful billionaire, and kidnapping, conflict, and steamy sex in the shower…
Margaret Guarneri has found sanctuary managing the home of a rich, elderly man…until the day he receives a threat of kidnapping. Enter Reid Donovan, dynamic, wealthy in his own right, and suspicious of the gorgeous young widow who so diligently cares for his grandfather.
Distrust, extortion, and the shadows of the past drive Reid and Margaret apart. Wild, uninhibited passion brings them together. They must learn to trust each other before they can vanquish a killer…and in the process, they discover a passion more powerful than anything either of them could imagine. But has love come too late for the handsome billionaire and his lady in black?
Buy
LADY IN BLACK
for your Kindle!
In 2014, with
THE LISTENER
, Christina Dodd introduced you to the world of
Virtue Falls
,
Washington
and its wonderful, eccentric characters.
If you knew someone was going to commit a murder, what would you do?
Order
THE LISTENER:
A Virtue Falls Short story, only 99 cents!!
Enjoy an excerpt of
VIRTUE FALLS
, the first full-length novel in Christina Dodd's acclaimed
Virtue Falls series
.
Twenty-three years ago, Misty Banner was slashed to death in her home in Virtue Falls, Washington. Her husband was convicted of the murder. Their four year old daughter Elizabeth witnessed the crime, but has no memory of the killing. Now, two decades later, Elizabeth is back, her ex-husband, Garik has followed her, and trouble is about to find them…
Elizabeth looked into his face. She pushed his hair off his forehead, and whispered, “Garik.” She wanted to say more:
take me, love me, need me
. And she knew he would do all those things. But
talk to me?
Not so much.
“In my truck,” he murmured, “there’s a blanket. We could put it on the seat, and I could take off your clothes and kiss you here” — he touched her mouth — “and here” — he touched her breast — “and…here.” He slid his index finger between her legs and put slow, hot pressure on her clit.
She tilted her head back, seduced, tempted, on the verge of coming, shuddering with … No. Wait. She opened her eyes, saw the green pines trembling against the blue sky — and realized that wasn’t the earth moving for her.
It was
moving
.
“Earthquake,” he said hoarsely. “Earthquake!”
She jumped up, scrambled away from him, gave him room to stand.
He vaulted to his feet, too, his mouth tight with tension, his hands held at ready for battle. But what would he battle here and now? If the walls of the canyon came down, he could do nothing about it.
The walls did fail: plumes of dirt rose up and down the river as landslides bore witness to the instability of the region.
The shaking increased.
Roughly he pulled her close, watching, prepared to move on a moment’s notice.
Two great boulders ripped off the canyon rim and plummeted down the slope. One boulder missed them by twenty feet. The other, smaller boulder bounced into a nearby massive pile of brush. Dust rose. Twigs and branches clattered and broke. The boulder hung there like a bird’s egg in the middle of a nest, then subsided, sliding out of sight and all the way to the ground.
The shaking became trembling, then ceased altogether.
She clung to him anyway, and she remembered the other thing she had so loved about him — when he held her in his arms, she felt safe and cherished.
Then he pushed her back, and looked down at her accusingly, no doubt remembering her assurances about the aftershocks and how she was safe here.
She glanced around, prepared to defend herself … when she saw it. Sprawled on the pile of brush, revealed by the broken branches.
She freed herself, and walked closer, hypnotized by the sight of … bones.
Bones … shattered secrets revealed by this day’s disaster. Bits of flesh clung to these bones, and clothing … a flowered dress, marked by mud and a dark, ominous stain.
Elizabeth knelt by the outstretched, skeletal hand.
The ring was gone from the finger, but she recognized the material of the dress. She recognized the body.
In a calm voice that seemed to come from a great distance, she said, “This is my mother.”
Order VIRTUE FALLS
for your e-reader
or, for you collectors, in
hardcover
!
Readers become writers, and Christina has always been a reader. Ultimately she discovered she liked to read romance best because the relationship between a man and a woman is always humorous. A woman wants world peace, a clean house, and a deep and meaningful relationship based on mutual understanding and love. A man wants a Craftsman router, undisputed control of the TV remote, and a red Corvette which will make his bald spot disappear.
So when Christina’s first daughter was born, she told her husband she was going to write a book. It was a good time to start a new career, because how much trouble could one little infant be?
Quite a lot, it seemed. It took ten years, two children and three completed manuscripts before she was published. Now her
fifty New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels — paranormals, historicals, romantic suspense and suspense — have been translated into twenty-five languages, recorded on Books on Tape for the Blind, won Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart and RITA Awards and been called the year’s best by Library Journal. Dodd herself has been a featured author at the Texas Book Festival
and
a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle (11/18/05, # 13 Down: Romance Novelist named Christina.) Publishers Weekly praises her style that “showcases Dodd’s easy, addictive charm and steamy storytelling.”
Christina is married to a man with all his hair and no Corvette, but many Craftsman tools.
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