Saturday Snippet
This week, it's all about the villains. The bad guy in Because of You was about as nasty as a villain gets. Last month, I sold the sequel! I'm happy to announce that Because You Love Me will release at Samhain on January 24, 2012. But…for today…I'm sharing a snippet from Because of You.
Snippet:
As her friend stepped away, Jessie glanced around at the surrounding woods. She hadn't felt her tormentor's eyes on her during her last visit, but the sensation was definitely here now.
She was tired of playing mouse to this villain's cat and she prayed her intuition was wrong. There was too much to live for now. Her hands instinctively went to her stomach. She wasn't showing yet, but it wouldn't be long.
Please leave me alone.
The future was quickly approaching and she felt the powerful need to escape the past before it arrived.
***
Jessie bid farewell to the real estate agent and climbed into her car. She was disappointed in the houses the realtor had shown her, but the woman assured her there were many more choices. She wanted to buy a house with a backyard big enough for a swing set and room for a child to run around, to grow up.
Discouraged, she tried not to lose heart. There was always tomorrow. Suddenly that idea didn't seem to bother her as much as it used to.
She'd said goodbye to Todd and Stephen early this morning as they'd left for Denver for an innkeeper's convention. They hoped to learn more about the bed and breakfast trade as well as drum up some business and make contacts in the field. She was pleased for her friends. They truly seemed to have found their niche in life and she hoped they would find success.
Driving down the county road toward their ranch, her thoughts drifted to Caleb and the baby. She'd intended to call him this morning, but chickened out at the last minute.
As soon as I get home, she thought. I'll call him the second I get home.
She was anxious to share what she prayed he would think was good news. The problem was she didn't really know Caleb James that well. They'd spent one fun, drunken night together and had spoken on the phone no more than a dozen times. Sometimes Jessie worried that she had built the man up in her mind, made too much of his kindness. He had come to her at a time when she'd been terribly lonely and grief-stricken. He'd made her laugh, made her feel like a desirable woman. Hell, he'd made her feel alive.
She slowed down at a particularly nasty curve in the road, squinting against the brutally bright afternoon sun. She reached up to put down her sun visor when another car came into view. For a split second, she considered the fact that this was the first vehicle she'd seen on the road since leaving the town limits, then she realized the car was on her side of the road and close. Too damn close. She swerved to the right sharply, attempting to avoid hitting the other vehicle. Her actions took her off road and she had only a second to panic as she saw the tree directly in her path.
Her scream was cut short when her car crashed roughly into the large tree. She felt a sharp, hard blow to her head and her surroundings became fuzzy. Her car horn blared nonstop intensifying her pain and she blinked against the grayness at the edge of her vision.
"It'll be okay, Jessie" a man said from beside her. She tried to turn her head, but the action hurt too badly and she gasped at the cruel, throbbing ache.
"Help me," she whispered, fighting not to lose consciousness.
"I'm sorry. I…" the man murmured. His calm tone penetrated her panicked mind as his words drifted away from her. Relief suffused her. Someone was with her. He would help her. She gave up her fight and succumbed to the darkness.
Because of You is available at Samhain, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo, Fictionwise and All Romance Ebooks.
Check out some more snippets by these great authors.
