Leah Braemel and a Giveaway of Deliberate Deceptions

I met Leah last year at the Lori Foster event, and she's a warm, fun lady. Plus, she gives me chocolate…not just any chocolate, Canadian chocolate, which is soooo good. Leah's here to talk about her contemporary Deliberate Deceptions, and does it look like a romance you can did your teeth into! She's giving away a free download of Deliberate Deceptions to one commenter on her blog post. Plus, if you haven't yet signed up for the Silken Rapture Contest and the free Kindle Touch 3-G, do so here.

Welcome today's guest author, Leah Braemel!

Thanks to Beth for inviting me to be part of her Silken Rapture launch. I'm a big fan-girl of Beth's, and her Wicked Burn gave me the permission to give my heroes and heroines a more serious side, to emotionally torture them in order to find their happily-ever-after.

You see, I've been married thirty-three years. I love my husband; he loves me. While some consider us having achieved our 'happy-ever-after', it's not come easily. We've had to find ways to face the challenges life's thrown at us. So when I was writing Deliberate Deceptions, I wanted to explore some of the problems couples can face after they say "I do." When I'd written Chad's character in Personal Protection I had Sam and him fighting about Lauren. Chad had said he'd screwed up his marriage and I knew when I wrote that line that he had to get back together with her. But what had broken them up? Why would a man, whose word meant everything to him, walk away from the woman he loved? I drew on in real life where three friends had struggled with either post-partum depression or the death of a child and their marriages faced a severe test as they dealt with depression, grief and guilt. (Luckily, all three friends are still married in real life.)

So in Deliberate Deceptions, I turned the marital screws on my couple, Chad and Lauren. For various reasons ten years before, of their own making and forced upon them by others, their marriage crumbled, but they never truly fell out of love. Each thought that by walking away, they were doing what the other wanted. But now, Lauren's in jeopardy, and because the man hunting her knows she still loves Chad, Chad's in danger too. Forced to take refuge in a safe house, the couple must face their past (and present) mistakes, and admit they still care for the other if their love has any chance to rekindle.

Whenever I read a story, I want to know that my couple will survive those hard times, the struggles that life throws at us. I think by the end of Deliberate Deceptions, Chad and Lauren have learned from their mistakes. They've earned their Happy-Ever-After.

Chad Miller once had the perfect life—a beautiful baby daughter, a loving wife, a promising career with the FBI. Within a year, he'd lost everything. Making Hauberk Protection a success salvaged his career, but he's never managed to get over the one fateful decision that spelled the end of his marriage. And the death of his child.

For eight years, grief and guilt have haunted Lauren Miller's climb up the ranks of the Light Brigade, a secret international hostage rescue team. Now she's the target of a vengeful ex-Brigade operative who'll stop at nothing to take her down. Even if it means taking out everyone she cares about. Including Chad. Getting him to accept her as his bodyguard? It'll take some fast talking—and faster hands.

Trapped in a remote safe house with Lauren is the last place Chad ever wanted to be. He may finally have the chance to get some answers about why she ran, but with his hard-won defenses crumbling, he's having trouble remembering the questions. In the heat of their rekindled passion, Lauren struggles to keep her professional focus…and keep the secrets that could break his heart all over again.

You can read more about Chad and Lauren in Deliberate Deceptions, and the rest of the Hauberk Protection group, on Leah's website. You can follow Leah on Twitter, or find her on Facebook or Google.

Leave Leah a comment about her post, and qualify to win a copy of Deliberate Deceptions tomorrow morning!