Kindle Edition
Amazon
dawnkunda.com
Category:
Romance
Publisher: amazon
Type: Fiction
Pages: 499
Copyright: September 2018
ISBN-13: 9781732584327
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Falling snow, baby kidnapping, dead bodies, hidden identities, and flying bullets create a slippery landscape of lies, murder, and deceit.
Eva arrives in Ashland, Wisconsin with a broken heart and a full-proof plan to swear off men. They’re not on her agenda.
Nick’s move to Wisconsin changes his profession. Away from death and pain. No responsibility for the life of a woman here.
That’s until Nick finds Eva and her car buried in the snow. Something about her won’t let him stay away.
A message from his former boss feels like a kick in the gut.
Nick needs to keep Eva at a distance as he’s assigned by the US Marshals to apprehend fugitives. Eva doesn’t understand his dismissal and puts herself in danger by befriending the hunted.
Falling snow, baby kidnapping, dead bodies, hidden identities, and flying bullets create a slippery landscape, yet Nick hopes his skilled hands won’t let him down.
Excerpt
Today she worked on her favorite, the baby boys. Celia focused her eyes on the shadows of gray, which contoured the dimples and smile of the young Claiborn. His parents had cooed and laughed while the camera flashed. His original name was Matthew Claiborn. She would’ve named him Harley, or something a little more masculine. Parents didn’t know their babies as well as she did.
Who knew what his name changed to in his new home with his new identity? Bought and paid for.
Her steel scissors followed the outline of his cheek and angled around the nose until the portrait fell to the coffee table amidst other selections. Celia looked down to the pile of cutout photos. That’s enough. Reaching underneath the table, she pulled out a photo frame almost as big as the table and set it on the cushion next to her.
She glanced at the flashing television perched on a glass and stainless steel stand, quite incongruous with the rest of the decor. “She doesn’t deserve him.” Anger boiled in her voice as the afternoon soap dragged her thoughts to the screen. Sinking back into the pre-made dent on her couch, she scowled as she witnessed the slim blonde kiss and gush all over her screenplay-made-perfect boyfriend. Celia grabbed the remote, deliberately pushing the worn “off” button with a vengeance after the “Ken doll” slid a ring over her passion pink nails to seal their love and home for their unborn.
“What a slut.” The screen blackened with a rainbow of light shrinking in the center. Celia’s work needed absolute attention. She wasn’t worried about fame for her photography. Matter of fact, fame would hinder her objective. A few good clients more than sufficed.
Celia had thrown together an office down the hall from her great room. The formality of the office with a few metal bookcases, filing drawers, and black-and-white prints from a little known contemporary artist sporadically covering one wall, gave the room a stiff and uncreative atmosphere in her mind. Soon she’d throw away the cheap prints she had coerced herself to buy from a used art library online. At least the artist didn’t profit from the purchase of used prints. She wasn’t the type who wanted to help another up and coming artist.
The wall parallel to the door depicted her portfolio pictures and nothing else. A select few were taken down and carried to her new photo clients. If they were speechless when they viewed her expertise, the price of her work increased according to the level of awe.
Yet, the great room became her favorite spot to work simply in response to comfort. On an end table Celia had connected her printer underneath a tall and narrow stem of a lamp she hadn’t bothered to turn on. Absently pushing the copy button on her computer, highlighted by the snow falling outside the window to the right, she waited for more baby faces to appear. Such beautiful, yet not innocent faces. The baby she planned, and would conceive if it killed her, would be the most perfect. Better than any. She would print him in color. He would deserve to be portrayed with the color of life. With her customers, she insisted on photography in black and white.
Caught in her reverie of the secret-and-for-her-eyes-only collage she planned to add to a wall in the large office room at the back of her grand house, a ringing phone halted her thoughts. Celia gritted her teeth at the expected interruption. Clenching and releasing her hands, she leaned to the corner of the table where the screen on her cell phone flashed the familiar number.
At the same time, a baby wailed through a nearby intercom.
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