by Avery Aster
Now Emma rose above him and Oscar stared up into eyes that were narrow green slits. Her face got right into his. "Know what? I loved the deck. LOVED it."
His heart soared as he read the sincerity, the annoyance, and the love for him in those eyes.
He felt a hell of a lot better now.
Oscar wasn't in the habit of taking care of fragile women, it wasn't his style.
Emma might look delicate, vulnerable, even. But she was one tough cookie and just right for him.
"You ripped my clothes," she reminded him.
"I did. Wanna wear something of mine and I can rip it off you again? Seems only fair."
Her teeth chewed her bottom lip but the dimple flashed.
"You drive me crazy," she said.
"Your body drives me crazy."
And that was God's truth.
Now her green eyes went serious as they stayed on his.
"I love you."
Those three little words made his heart do a crazy skip and shiver.
He rolled her under him, caged her between his arms, his legs.
"Thank you for saying it."
Her arms wound around his neck.
"I love you so much it hurts," she said.
"I love you, sweetheart, so much. I want you in my life, Emma. Forever."
He saw the dark cloud pass through her eyes before they cleared to sparkle into his.
"I'm not sure I can do forever anymore."
His kiss was hard, possessive.
"That's okay because I've got enough forever for both of us."
For an eternal moment those eyes searched his.
She nodded once.
"Okay."
"Okay? Does that mean yes?"
Her eyes went wide and very naughty.
And Oscar wondered what was coming next.
The dimple flashed.
"It means yes I want to be in your life forever. But... there's just this one little thing I need from you..."
His smile split his face.
He'd do anything for her.
"I'm not sure you'll be exactly happy to help me."
His brows rose as his nose nudged hers.
"Anything."
She bit her lip.
"Well... it's to do with my book."
"Name it."
"The baddie in my book is a top chef. Very charismatic. Fantastically creative. And I was thinking that since you're an award winning chef, you'd be the perfect person to ask how poison could be slipped into food..."
# # #
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About CC Mackenzie
C C MacKenzie is a wife, and mother of three, based in South Cheshire, U.K.
Since childhood, she dreamt of writing stories that readers would love, but put those dreams on hold to focus on her family and her careers in finance, fitness, interior design and construction.
'Reckless Nights in Rome' is her first novel in The Ludlow Hall series, followed by book two 'A Stormy Spring' in July 2012, and book three 'Run Rosie Run' published in December 2012. 'The Trouble With Coco Monroe' the fourth in the series was released at the end of May 2013 and a Christmas Story, ‘A Film Star, A Baby, And A Proposal' in December 2013. ‘Desert Orchid’ the first book in The Desert Princes series was released in May 2014 and later that year the ‘The Fall of Jacob Del Garda’ was released. Delicious and Deadly followed in early December and ‘An Affair to Remember’ just before Christmas 2014.
C C MacKenzie is currently finishing several series of contemporary romances in 2015, including ‘A Daddy for Daisy': Book Number 7 in the Ludlow Hall Series.
Books In the Ludlow Hall Series by CC MacKenzie
Reckless Nights in Rome - Book 1: Bronte and Nico (Book 1 FREE)
A Stormy Spring - Book 2: - Becca and Lucas
Run Rosie Run - Book 3: Rosie and Alexander
The Trouble with Coco Monroe - Book 4: Coco and Raphael
The Fall of Jacob Del Garda – Book 5: Gabriella and Jacob
A Film Star, A Baby. and a Proposal – Book 6: A Ludlow Hall Christmas
Delicious and Deadly: Invitation to Eden – Book 8: Oscar and Emma (This Book)
An Affair to Remember – Book 9 – Elena and Marc
(A Daddy for Daisy:Book 7 will be released in 1st half 2015)
Coming Soon: LUDLOW NIGHTS - Book 1: HIS RULES.
Link to My Bookshelf and eStores
http://ccmackenzie.com/cc-mackenzie-ebooks-edistributors/
Excerpt from THE FALL OF JACOB DEL GARDA
THE FALL OF JACOB DEL GARDA
CC MacKenzie
Twin sisters - twice the trouble.
Twelve months after disappearing from Jacob's life, the woman who broke his heart, supermodel Gabriella Dolman, is back. But things have changed. Now Gabriella is a photographer - still fabulously beautiful - but no longer glamorous, and no longer looking for love. Though Gabriella claims she just wants to move on without him, Jacob's pretty certain that her reaction to their red-hot kisses implies otherwise.
Tobin Gillespie believes in taking a stand, and he never turns his back on a challenge. So when his work as a PR guru brings research scientist Sophie Dolman back into his life, her obnoxious behaviour and lethal putdowns aren't enough to put him off - quite the reverse. And the more they clash, the more determined he is to break down the wall around her heart and claim it for his own.
'Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.' MARK TWAIN
Excerpt
Prologue
"I’m sorry, Jacob. But I can’t do this. I can’t go through with it."
Gabriella’s voice was no more than a whisper. Her fiancé's spectacular face swam in front of her eyes. And she blinked rapidly to clear them.
He was simply staring at her as if she’d sprung another head.
They were standing in their home, the penthouse apartment of The Ortiz Prince Felipe Hotel in the island of Bimini in the Bahamas. The spacious rooms were beautifully decorated in soft neutrals, with luxurious splashes of jewel colours on silk cushions, drapes and vivid glass bowls, along with carefully chosen pieces of furniture. Pieces they’d shopped for together. Yet another wedding gift, beautifully boxed with a waterfall of silver ribbon, lay unopened and forgotten on the table between them.
Dark, dark eyes, filled with an intensity that made her heart drum too loud in her ears were riveted on hers.
"I do not understand, querida," he said carefully. His deep voice went rough and he cleared his throat. "You want to postpone our wedding? Or you do not want to marry me, ever?"
Colour rose and fell from high cheekbones leaving him too pale.
Her heart fractured.
Gabriella clung to the back of the chair for support. A corner of her mind registered the fact that her knuckles were bone white.
She wouldn’t think about why her life, her future, with a man she loved so much was lying in tatters. If she thought about it, she’d never be able to go through with this.
Even now the mere thought of the pain and the harm she was inflicting on a man who didn’t deserve either made her wonder if she could do it.
But the alternative was not an option.
And that alternative made her straighten her spine, look him dead in the eye.
Jacob Del Garda was a hard man. In business he gave no quarter, she knew that. But with her he’d been patient and so loving and giving. Dark eyes the colour of burnt chestnuts narrowed into hers, while a crease lined his usually perfect forehead. He had a smooth lean face that complemented the aristocratic carve of his cheekbones
and his long, thin mouth. His nose was slightly aquiline, which had always appealed to her. The hair, raven black and those brooding eyes always made her think of one of those statues of a fallen angel.
She was used to seeing wonderful looking men. In her line of work a carefully maintained body was a given. At twenty-three she needed to workout four times a week to stay lean, healthy, and to keep her body in shape.
A body she’d taken utterly for granted. And a body that had let her down in the worst possible way.
Bitter tears stung again. Oh God, please help her do this.
The buzz in her ears became louder and she forced herself to take a shallow breath.
Her eyes stayed on his. "Ever."
She saw the blow hit him and read a toxic mix of pain, confusion and despair in those dark eyes.
Her legs threatened to give way so she held on tightly to the chair.
Be strong, you can do this, she told herself.
"This is madness, Gabriella." Jacob’s deep voice cracked. The Spanish accent was more pronounced now as he paced and ran a shaky hand over his immaculate hair. He wore a lightweight suit in pale grey, immaculately cut by an up and coming tailor from Savile Row. His crisp shirt was pristine white cotton, the Windsor knot of his silk tie, perfection.
He shook his head.
Dark eyes lasered into hers. "I know I have been busy with the new acquisition. You knew how it would be."
She could almost hear his clever analytical mind clicking through the probabilities of what had gone wrong.
Now he stopped. "You have been quiet and distracted, lost a little weight. But I put it down to nerves. I know you wanted a small wedding." He frowned, rubbed the back of his neck, that strong jaw. He stared hard at her. "Is that what this is all about? I agree things have got way out of hand. My father is enough to drive any sane person crazy. Has he...?"
"No," she said quickly. She adored Don Norberto Juan Ortiz Conde Del Garda . "It has nothing to do with your father. I’m sorry..."
Her voice faded and she wondered why the hell she'd thought she could do this?
She could have written a letter and then run as fast as she could. The thought had crossed her mind more than once. But that would have been sheer cowardice.
Jacob deserved to be told face to face that the future he’d dreamed of, a wife and a family, with her, could never be.
Of course, she could never tell him why because he’d never let her go. He was an honourable man with a highly developed sense of duty. He’d stick by her, of course he would.
But she was the one who couldn’t live with it, refused to even consider giving him a choice in his own future, in his own destiny. She loved him too much to see him suffer, to see him look at other couples, normal couples, living a normal life. To see him wish that he’d chosen differently.
Jacob’s eyes narrowed into dark slits, became so cool that she shivered.
Those eyes missed nothing as they searched her face.
"I know you can handle my father. You can handle anything." But the tone had gone silky now. "Why?"
Gabriella licked parched lips.
"I made a mistake. I’m so sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. But I..."
Her voice broke.
"Stop saying you are sorry," he exploded and moved towards her.
Gabriella flinched from his pain, from the desperation in his voice and took a step back, fear skidding up her spine. If he touched her she would break and never, ever, let him go.
His eyes went wide and she recognised hurt battling through utter disbelief.
"You are scared? Of me?"
Shame scorched her cheeks.
Nausea crawled into her throat.
She was deliberately hurting a good man. A man who would stand by her, she knew he would. And that was precisely why she needed to let him go.
"I would never harm you. How could you even think of such a thing," he said, his Spanish accent stronger as he looked at her as if he’d never seen her before. Now he spoke with great care, enunciating every single syllable, "Gabriella, we love each other. Do we not?"
The deep hurt in eyes now dark with a baffled disbelief matched the fist squeezing the life from her heart.
Sending up a prayer for forgiveness, she lied straight to his face.
"No. I don’t love you," she whispered. And rubbed the incinerating ache below her breast bone.
She’d thought she’d experienced anguish?
It was nothing compared to this.
Hands clenched as his sides, Jacob’s breath came hard and fast, and she watched him fighting a war of attrition to keep it together.
With trembling fingers, she took off her diamond and platinum engagement ring, placing it on the table.
He recoiled as if she’d struck him. "Keep it."
But she merely shook her head and on shaky legs moved past him. "What about the house?" The raw torment in his voice mirrored the spear of agony in her chest.
She stopped, pressed trembling fingers to her mouth to contain the cry lodged in her throat. The construction crew had just broken ground on their new family home, but she couldn’t think of it. Truly, she was in the middle of a waking nightmare, had been for two hellish days, reliving over and over again the exact moment when her whole world had collapsed.
Don’t think about it, not now.
"It’s yours," she whispered. "It’s the least I can do."
"Just like that? That is it? No discussion?"
Rage replaced pain in those dark eyes and Jacob’s fury lanced a heart already in pieces.
Gabriella knew that if she didn’t get out now she never would. The only thing keeping her together was the unbearable knowledge of what their future held. And she drew strength from that.
Picking up her coat and purse, she moved towards the door.
"Stop!" The desperate plea in his tone was edged with a despair that made her pause as her hand gripped the door handle.
She could not bear to look at him.
"The truth, Gabriella. Is there someone else?"
She stiffened, blinking with shock at the accusation, the suspicion, in his voice. Then she realised he’d thrown her a lifeline. What difference would one more lie make? And Gabriella realised there would be no going back. Because the Jacob she knew would never, ever, forgive betrayal.
Her conscience was screaming now, asking her what the hell she was doing?
He would be there for her in sickness and in health. But that was the whole point, wasn’t it? Thank God, she’d found out before they’d taken their vows. He deserved to be happy. Deserved to have a future, to have all the things he dreamed of, things she couldn’t give him.
"Something like that," she said.
His gasp of shock had her open the door.
"Damn you, Gabriella," he said through clenched teeth as his voice finally cracked. "God damn you straight to hell."
Hot tears blinded her, but she didn't turn around to face him.
"I’m already there, my darling," she said so softly he could never hear her.
With a shaky breath Gabriella Dolman straightened her spine and stepped through the door into an uncertain future.
CHAPTER ONE
Running a five star resort and spa was a crazy business.
Especially a Ferranti Hotel and Spa. That’s why Jacob loved it. He loved Ludlow Hall’s unique blend of sophistication, the state-of-the art fixtures, fittings, and of course its history. Along with the gleaming sandstone pillars, the dignified state rooms with their luxurious soft furnishings in heavy silks, and he particularly loved the one thousand thread Egyptian cotton sheets on vast beds.
Jacob pushed back from his desk, leaning back in his ergonomic chair, and took five to simply enjoy the spectacular view, the scent of roses, through the open French doors of his office. The summer had been a scorcher and it looked as if early autumn was going to be a warm one, too. He was going to miss this place. In just under two weeks he’d be back in the Bahama
s enjoying sun, sea and sand.
Ludlow Hall was set in a ocean of emerald lawns and woodland set in hundreds of acres of glorious English countryside. The Hall boasted over two hundred and thirty suites, state, and exclusive bedrooms, not counting the various annexe.
For couples looking for stunning seclusion, with swimming or plunge pools carved out of solid rock, the gleaming glass and oak cottages nestling in the hills ticked the box.
Of course running a place this size, the restaurants, the bars, the spa, and everything else with precision, took talent. Along with a small army of dedicated staff at the top of their game.
Yes, Jacob had to admit that Nico Ferranti ran his hotels and spas with the same verve and the same charisma as his father, Don Norberto Juan Ortiz Conde Del Garda, ran the Ortiz group of luxury hotels. And the job swap for three months was working out well, too. Alexander Ludlow was in the Bahamas running Jacob’s pride and joy, The Ortiz Prince Felipe, one of the top hotels in the world. And Jacob was running Ludlow Hall. Just as Alexander didn’t have carté blanché in the Bahamas - Jacob’s father would never permit that - Jacob didn’t have a free hand running Ludlow Hall. Nico kept a close eye on the comings and goings in his favourite spot, and that was fine with Jacob.
There was something very special about Ludlow Hall, the tranquillity, the peace of the place, that had managed to soothe a tortured soul, even if it couldn’t touch a battered heart. And Jacob wondered now if he was beginning to heal.
But the physical burn, the constant ache, in the region of his heart told its own story.
Twelve months, two weeks, and three days.
He’d stopped torturing himself by counting the hours and the minutes since Gabriella had walked out shattering his life. That type of thinking was a one way ticket to insanity.
It hadn’t taken him long to realise that the shock to his pride, his ego, had prevented him from thinking clearly that day, and for too many days afterwards.
He’d wasted precious time.
Fool.
Most of all he wanted - no, he needed - answers.
Who had she left him for?
When had she met him?
Where had she met him?
And where the hell was she now?
Because Gabriella Dolman had apparently disappeared from the face of the earth.
