Dom Brodie is back and doesn't know he fathered a child with the woman he loved and left so abruptly five years earlier.
Amber Pascoe's life is about to change - radically - with the appearance of a man she once loved deeply - only one person knows the answer to the mystery of Dom and Amber's parting - the formidable Emma Candy, who has a lot to lose if the truth ever comes out.
Amber Pascoe doesn't know it but someone hates her - beyond insanity - and wants her out of the picture - for good.
Amber's ordered life is about to take a king hit. Dom Brodie, the father of her son, Jamie, is back and knows nothing of the child.
Why is he back? And why is he so determined to talk with her? Has he learned he has a son? And does he plan to use his vast wealth to take him from her? And why, after four years and so much hurt, is she still drawn to a man she has every right to despise? She is not hanging around to find out.
And now, a sinister deception that once almost ruined her life is now under threat of exposure - and its instigator is running scared - deadly scared. Is it possible that Amber can find her way back safely to her previously happy and unencumbered existence? Or is something more dark and sinister lurking in the shadows, planning her destruction?
Excerpt
"let me talk to you about love, Amber," he snarled. In spite of what you think of me, I loved you - deeply. But you betrayed me. Now my love belongs to another -" he whispered, tightening his grip on her hand. "- to my own flesh and blood...my son."
He released her then and closed his eyes, touching one long finger tip to his temple. When he looked back at her he looked almost sad.
"In this instance," he said quietly, "I have been deprived of being able to offer that love by betrayal and by lies."
He then leaned back in his chair and stared coldly into her shocked expression.
For a long moment, Amber was stunned into silence. Then a memory returned, one where Dom calmly severed their relationship. There was no explanation, just an expression of controlled anger and, at the end of his speech, he simply turned and walked away. She still did not know why.
"That does it she yelled, suddenly, slamming the table napkin she had been fiddling with onto the table. "Let me remind you," she hissed, unaware of heads turning in their direction, "that it was you who walked out on me. You never gave me a chance to tell you I was pregnant."
"And you are saying now that you were going to tell me?" he asked, his eyes glinting icily.
Conscious now of whispers and turning heads, Amber knew it was going to take all her dignity and self control to finish the evening without a fully-fledged fight on her hands.
Deciding on retreat as the best form of defence, she reached for her purse.
His eyes followed the movement.
"I have a solution," he said quietly.
In the act of rising, she paused.
His expression gave no hint of what was in his mind so when he spoke, she almost toppled over with shock.
"We will wed and you and Jamie will return to France with me."
Her eyes almost popped out of her head.
"It will be a marriage of convenience, of course," he explained, calmly, "but at least my son will have two parents and want for nothing."
"Your son?" she spluttered. "Your son?" Anger and desperation vied for prominence as she stared at him in horror.
"Now, get this straight. Jamie is my son. I don't recollect saying I'm about to share him with you."
She was so furious she was having trouble getting her words out. "And I certainly do not recall any proposal of marriage where my consent was asked for. Not that I'd give it if I were asked."
She could hear the blood pounding in her ears as they glared silently at one another across the white clothed table top.
All was silent as, slowly, the realisation that the entire restaurant was watching and holding its breath, dawned on her.
An empathic young nurse driven to help and heal others since childhood after watching her mother languish for months before finally succumbing to cancer, Aziza Lopez abhors cruelty and suffering in any form. When she is assigned comatose patient Davi
