Release Blitz - Excerpt & Giveaway - Deceived by Elisabeth Naughton
Deceived
by Elisabeth Naughton
Publication Date: May 15, 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Some doors were never meant to be opened…
I made a fateful mistake. I should never have peeked behind the doors into his forbidden world.
But I did, and now I’m a prisoner. Trapped by the man I thought I loved. The man I once foolishly trusted. The man who, despite his lies and deception, I continue to crave.
He can melt my resolve with one rough, whispered demand, and I feel myself giving in to the desire he still stirs inside me. And yet, if I want to survive, I must find a way to escape. Because if I don’t, I’m afraid I’ll be consumed by a shadowy world that will ultimately destroy me.
Lost forever in his wicked House of Sin…
Forbidden
by Elisabeth Naughton
Publication Date: April 24, 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks
She has no idea what lurks behind the forbidden doors of the House of Sin…
He is temptation. Forbidden fruit. A craving I can’t seem to resist.
I went after him in search of answers, certain he had blood on his hands. Now I’ve fallen prey to his seductive looks and commanding charisma.
I know he is a threat. He’s entwined in a dangerous world I don’t understand. But that doesn’t stop me from aching for his touch, for the taste of his wicked lips.
Before I can truly surrender to the fire smoldering between us, I need to know more. I have to see behind the doors he keeps firmly locked.
I need to discover what he’s hiding in the shadowy world known as the House of Sin…
**WARNING!**
This book is very sexy, very dark, and very addictive! Contains consensual kink and a dark and dominant hero with a dangerous secret.
Excerpt
She stepped around me and headed
for the crumbling stone staircase. “I’ve seen enough.”
I reached for her arm before she
could get three steps away, not wanting to give up on what had been the nicest
moment between us in weeks. “Natalie.”
“Don’t.” She whipped around and
jerked her arm back as if my touch had burned her. “I’m not interested in your
lies. I just want to get to the helicopter.”
“I wasn’t lying. That’s the story
I was told.”
“So it’s your version of the
truth. You tend to have a lot of those.”
I clenched my jaw, hating how she
immediately assumed I’d try to mislead her. But before I could think of a way
to prove that wasn’t my goal, her eyes widened, and she moved further back.
“Oh, I get it now. There is no
helicopter, is there? This was all a ploy to get me out in the jungle so you
could do what?” Her eyes hardened. “Get rid of me?”
My stomach pitched as if she’d
punched me. “Do you honestly think I would do that?”
“I don’t know. You killed that
man in my house.”
“He was trying to hurt you. I was
protecting you. Most people would be thankful someone saved their life, not
pissed off about it.”
“Most people wouldn’t need
protecting from a man like that. He never would have found me if it weren’t for
you.”
“I didn’t lead him to you.”
“No. But he came after me because
of you.”
There was so much hatred in her
voice, I suddenly wondered how I’d ever thought taking her on this stupid hike
would make a difference. Drawing in a calming breath, I brushed a hand over my
forehead and forcibly gentled my voice when I said, “Look, I know you’re still
mad at me—”
“Mad? You think I’m mad?” Her
eyes widened with a fury I didn’t know was in her. “You kidnapped me, drugged
me, forced me into a marriage I never consented to, then you branded me like a
fucking animal. I’m not mad, Luc. I’m furious, and if you think one stupid hike
into the jungle is going to change that, then you’re a bigger piece of shit
than I thought.”
She turned for the steps, and I
felt my grip on what was left of my sanity begin slide. My lungs constricted
with the knowledge I was going to lose her if I didn’t make this right. More
than that, I was going to lose the chance for us, which was even worse.
“I had to get you somewhere
safe,” I said at her back, knowing better than to reach for her right now.
“After you ran from me in Italy, I knew you’d fight me, and I had to get you
out of there quickly without anyone seeing. What the hell was I supposed to
do?”
She whipped back to face me. “You
were supposed to let me go. I didn’t want you anymore.”
I knew she hadn’t. As she stared
up at me with those blue eyes blazing, I knew she didn’t want me now either.
But I still wanted her. And after everything that had happened between us in
Italy, I couldn’t believe that some small part of her still didn’t care for me.
I’d seen it in her eyes. That kind of connection couldn’t be faked, and it
wasn’t something a person could turn on and off like a light.
“I couldn’t do that,” I said
calmly, choosing my words carefully so I didn’t say the wrong thing. “They
wanted to hurt you, Natalie. They still want to hurt you. I was willing to do
anything to keep that from happening including, yes, drugging you, kidnapping
you, and even marrying you because spouses are protected in my family.”
She held up her hand and twisted
it so I could see the ugly tattoo darkening her ring finger. “And this? What
was this? A wedding present so the whole world knows just what kind of loving
spouse you are?”
Regret gathered in my gut.
“That...was a mistake. I might have panicked a little.”
“You panicked?” Her eyes widened
in a fuck-you mock I didn’t miss.
“Oh, you poor thing. That must have been really hard for you. Panicking over
all the disgusting ways you could mark me as your property.”
Frustration welled inside me
because no matter what I said, she was twisting it into something vile. “I
needed a permanent mark on your finger you’d want to keep covered so I could be
guaranteed you’d wear your ring. It was the first word that came to mind
because I knew you’d hate it.”
She dropped her hand. “What
ring?”
I drew a breath for courage. “The
wedding band I haven’t given you yet because I’ve been too afraid you’d chuck
it at my head if I did.”
She was silent for several moments
as she stared at me. And though her eyes were still hard as stone and
flickering with rage, I sensed—or maybe I hoped, I wasn’t sure—a softening at
the edges of all that anger. “Well, that’s the first smart thing you’ve done in
weeks.”
About Elisabeth Naughton
Before topping multiple bestseller lists—including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal—award winning author Elisabeth Naughton taught middle school science. A voracious reader, she soon discovered she had a knack for creating stories with a chemistry of their own. The spark turned into a flame, and Elisabeth now writes full-time.
Elisabeth has penned over thirty books and continues to write in multiple genres. Her books have been translated into numerous languages and have earned several award nominations, including three prestigious RITA® nominations from Romance Writers of America. In 2017, REPRESSED, the first book in her Deadly Secrets series, won the RITA® for best romantic suspense.
Her work has been praised by the Chicago Tribune as being filled with “deadly intrigue, high adrenaline action, and scorchingly hot passion.” Kirkus calls her “a writer talented enough at weaving a yarn to get her readers ensnared in it.” When not dreaming up new stories, Elisabeth can be found spending time with her husband and three children in their western Oregon home, wrangling two needy cats, or chasing after one very rambunctious Dalmatian.
No comments: