Immortal Billionaire
by Jane Godman
Date of Publication:
November 1st 2016
Publisher: Harlequin
Nocturne
Cover Artist:
Harlequin
Genre: Paranormal
Romance
BLURB
Dark secrets and unquenchable desire collide
in this captivating paranormal thriller…
Connie Lacey lives a nomadic existence.
Alone. Safe. She can't risk being found by the stalker who haunts her waking
nightmares. Until an invitation from billionaire Sylvester de León—to spend
thirty days with him on his private island, Corazón—proves impossibly tempting.
But one look at the gorgeous host's deep blue eyes, and Connie knows there is
nothing safe about this paradise and the aristocratic man who calls it home.
The island is cursed…as is Sylvester himself.
Yet something in him calls to Connie, ignites a desire that's filled with raw,
timeless need. But Corazón has many secrets, each more dangerous than the last.
And in a place where everlasting love, the past and fate intersect, even death
is only a beginning…
Available for Pre-Order
It is easy enough to list in advance,
and with absolute certainty, those things for which we are prepared to die.
Family, country, religion, the one we love, a valued way of life. Until we are
faced with a situation that puts our convictions to the test, we can never know
for sure which of these will hold true. There were many lessons to be learned
during those strange weeks on the island of Corazón, but, for Connie Lacey,
this would prove be the most important.
Four years of running and hiding. Four
years of looking over her shoulder. Of viewing every man she met with
suspicion. Of waking every morning, wondering if today was the day he would
finally catch up with her.
The relief of being offered somewhere
to hide was so huge it drove every other thought out of her head. She had a
brief mental image of herself as a disaster survivor and the man opposite as
the rescue worker who had just draped an emergency blanket around her
shoulders. She resisted the temptation to cling to him, garbling out incoherent
thanks until he was forced to gently pry her hands away. They were the wild
thoughts spinning through Connie Lacey’s mind as she listened to the clipped
tones of the attorney.
With hindsight, she probably should
have paid more attention to the strangeness of the offer he was making and the
diffident manner with which he made it. Gratitude will do that to you, she
decided later. At the time her attention was taken up with grabbing this
opportunity. Nod, smile, and sign on the dotted line. Don’t ask questions that
might make him withdraw this incredible invitation. All she could focus on was
the fact that—for thirty days, at least—she would not have to sleep with a
knife under her pillow.
“You have one week.” She realized Mr.
Reynolds had finished outlining the details of the proposal. “My client will
expect you to be in Florida in exactly seven days’ time.”
Connie swallowed hard. She might have
known there would be a catch. The logistics of getting to Florida posed a
massive problem. Mentally, she reviewed the contents of her wallet. She knew
exactly how much cash was in there. It wouldn’t get her across town let alone
across the country. Before she could speak, Mr. Reynolds reached into the desk
drawer and produced a hefty roll of banknotes. His expression softened slightly
as he passed them across the desk.
“Expenses. For the journey and such
sundry other items as may be necessary.” He cleared his throat with a hint of
something that might have been embarrassment. “My client is a very exacting
man. His guests will, for example, be required to dress for dinner during their
stay on Corazón.”
Darn! And there I was thinking I had
successfully managed to hide the fact that the sole is hanging off one of my
sneakers and this sweater has forgotten what color it used to be.
Connie stuffed the wad of cash into
her shoulder bag with a muttered word of thanks. If an encounter with
Sylvester’s attorney could reduce her to the status of a gibbering wreck, how
on earth was she going to cope with the man himself?
As she got to her feet, Mr. Reynolds
rose and came around the desk. He held out his hand. Surprised, Connie took it.
Instead of the handshake she had expected, he clasped her hand between both of
his. It was an oddly tactile gesture for such an aloof man.
“However this venture may turn out…”
He paused and Connie sensed he was fighting an internal battle. As if the
personal and professional were at war within him. The result felt like his
version of a truce. “I wish you well, Miss Lacey.”
It was only later, when she got back
to her grim, one-room apartment and counted—then, in disbelief, re-counted—the
money, that she began to truly appreciate the gulf between her world and that
of Corazón. What constituted “sundry other items” to Mr. Reynolds was almost a
year’s salary to Connie.
Laughing, she tossed the notes into
the air and briefly contemplated just disappearing with them. To hell with
“second cousin several convoluted times removed” Sylvester and his mysteriously
worded proposition. This money could buy her the freedom from fear she had been
dreaming of. Temporarily, it was true, but even that was so much more than she
had wished for. No more moving from town to town and job to job? No more
looking over her shoulder? Yeah, I’ll take that and deal with the future when
it gets here.
A pang of guilt tugged at her. Backing
out wasn’t an option. She had just accepted Mr. Reynolds’s wretched invitation
and a promise was, after all, a promise. Besides—despite its reputation—she was
intrigued enough by Corazón to want to see it and, even if she admitted it only
to herself, she wanted to meet the legendary Sylvester.
The ease with which Arthur Reynolds, senior
partner in the firm of Reynolds, Prudah and Taylor, had tracked her down was
unsettling. Even if she hadn’t been contemplating answering Sylvester’s
eccentric summons, it would have been time to move on. Goodbye—she experienced
a minor moment of panic as she tried to remember where she was. It had to
happen one day—Farmington, Missouri. The last month has been okay, but it was
never a long-term thing. We both knew it. No hard feelings.
She had a week to prepare for the
journey. With a shrug, she tucked the money away at the back of her closet and
curled up on the bed with a book. Connie could have her belongings packed in an
hour. She’d done it often enough.
Available for Pre-Order
Author Info
Jane Godman writes in a variety of genre.
Many of her stories are heavily tinged with the supernatural and elements of
horror, with haunted characters tormented by dark secrets.
Jane writes paranormal romance for Harlequin
Nocturne. Her Otherworld Series is set in a mystical land inhabited by many
races, including faeries, vampires, lycanthropes, phantoms and gods.
Unfortunately, the constant battles between these warring dynasties threaten to
spill over into the mortal realm.
Jane’s series for Harlequin Romantic
Suspense, Sons of Stillwater, will be coming soon.
Jane also writes steamy historical romance
for Samhain Publishing and her Georgian Rebel Series features compelling heroes
who fight hard for the cause they believe in and harder for the women they
love.
In 2017, Jane has a new paranormal romance
series coming from SMP Swerve.
Watch out for her hot Arctic werewolves!
Jane lives in Cheshire, England, is married
to a lovely man and is mum to two grown up children.
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