Summary:Tess Madison walked away from her two-timing fiancé, a multi-million dollar trust fund and a cushy corporate law job to pursue the single life indulging in chocolate and fancy French underwear. But her newly reordered life comes unraveled when she reluctantly accepts an invitation to a dinner party and stumbles upon the host’s dead body. Now Tess is in the middle of a murder investigation pitting her wannabe-boyfriend police detective against Jack Valentine, a man from her past with blue-green eyes and sinful smile that causes her to rethink her self-imposed celibacy.
Tess has many reasons to avoid Jack including the fact that he’s the prime suspect in murder. But Tess doesn’t believe Jack’s the murderer and with an honest attempt to keep her hormones in check, she agrees to represent him. With Jack’s help, she uncovers a 30-year-old secret someone is killing to keep hidden and discovers sensual delights that don’t include chocolate or French underwear. But when her professional and personal relationship with Jack threatens to ruin her career and end her life, Tess has to decide if Jack, is worth the risk
Excerpt:
Chapter One
I think I'm going to puke. Tess
studied her face in the nineteenth-century Louis XV style mirror in Asa
Worthington's foyer. Pale but not green. Still the rolling in her stomach told
her things could get worse. Why she'd let Daniel Showalter talk her into attending
his uncle's dinner party she didn't know. It had disaster written all over it
even before her stomach threatened to embarrass her in front of the town's most
elite family.
Recently, Daniel's actions suggested he
wanted more than friendship. Not that Daniel was a bad guy. He was handsome,
down to earth and Tess loved his parents as if they were her own. But she was
as committed to celibacy as one could get short of joining a convent. She'd
given up on the idea of love ever after, preferring the sensual delights of
chocolate, Marvin Gaye tunes and couture French underwear instead.
But it wasn't Daniel's affection for
her that threatened to ruin the night. It was his uncle. Asa Worthington was a
volatile, intolerant, self-serving man whose gatherings usually involved
patronizing or humiliating everyone in attendance. Even Asa's sister, Helen,
found him so distasteful that she hadn't been to a family function in over
twenty-years.
The night was proving worse
than Tess anticipated when Daniel's cell phone rang calling him back to duty as
a police detective just as they arrived. So she stood abandoned and stranded in
the foyer hoping her lunch didn't reappear and mess up the beautiful Italian
marble floor. The things one did in the name of friendship.
She pushed a tendril of chestnut hair
out of her face and hoped that the glass of water the butler was bringing would
settle her stomach until she could figure out how she was going to get home.
"You look beautiful."
Tess lifted her gaze to find a pair of
brilliant blue-green eyes reflecting back at her through the mirror. She hadn't
thought the night could get worse. She'd been wrong.
Was it too much to hope to go through
the rest of her life never seeing those eyes again or anyone else from her old
life? After all, Jefferson Tavern, Virginia was a long way from Washington,
D.C., not so much in distance as in social importance. There was no reason for
him to be so far from home. Perhaps the man whose reflection she watched move
toward her was an apparition. Maybe the mirror was one of those commonly found
in historic homes in which ghosts appear through the reflection. The only
problem with that idea was that most ghosts in Virginia were from the
revolutionary or civil wars. This man was very modern.
So maybe her brain was as addled as her
stomach and conjured up the vision. Her head was feeling a little foggy.
The only way to find out for sure was to turn around and face him.
Gawd! He was even more stunning than
she remembered. "Jack."
He grinned displaying a single dimple.
"I was beginning to think you forgot who I was."
That was laughable. No one ever forgot
Jack Valentine. Particularly women. Even a woman like Tess who'd given up on
men. He was a romance novel's alpha male come to life; gorgeous, rich,
arrogant, and yet somehow endearing. There was a time she would have liked to
indulge her attraction to him. That time was long gone.
"What are you doing here?"
she asked.
His brows drew together. Clearly he
expected a different reaction. He probably thought she'd throw herself at him
like she did the last time they were together. She wouldn't make that mistake
again.
He gave her an affable smile. "I'm
doing well. Thanks for asking. You look good. Really good."
"Still a charmer, I see."
"You don't believe me?"
She smirked at him. He should have been
a politician the way he could talk and make you feel it was genuine. She didn't
look good compared to when she last saw him nearly three years ago. Aside from
the fact that she felt like the crypt keeper, she'd also put on ten pounds,
which on a five foot three inch frame was significant. "I think you're
being nice to an old friend."
"I'm glad to hear you still think
of me as a friend. I was worried you were still mad about the last time we
-"
"What are you doing here?"
she asked again impatiently.
She saw a flash of annoyance on his
face. It was so fast that she would have missed it if she wasn't staring at his
mesmerizing eyes.
"Asa invited me."
"I didn't know you knew Asa.”
“I don't very well. It's business.”
“You're doing business with him?”
"Not yet. I probably won't."
He shifted, moved closer. "Are you here alone?"
"No...Yes..."
One dark brow lifted.
"I came with someone, but he was
called away," Tess clarified.
"Too bad for him."
"He'll be back."
"Too bad for me."
He was standing close, too close. He
was studying her and she did her best to hold his gaze without giving away her
unease. Or worse, blushing. He didn't need to know that after all these years
he still made her insides flip-flop.
"There you are!" Asa
Worthington’s booming voice echoed through the foyer followed by his immense
body. "Appointed yourself the official greeter of beautiful women,
eh?"
"Only this one," Jack said
maintaining his gaze on Tess.
Asa laughed and like everything else
about him it was large and loud. His blue eyes twinkled with delight as he
reached out and slapped Jack on the back. "That’s what I like about you.
You see what you want and you go after it."
"Tess! You’re here. Good. Where's
Daniel?" Tom Showalter asked of his son as he came to stand next to Asa.
The two men were complete opposites. Asa’s presence in a room remained even
after he left while Tom could go unnoticed in a crowd of two. He was average in
every way from his lackluster mud-colored eyes, to thinning brown hair. It
always struck her as odd that as different as they were, Asa and Tom were good
friends. Perhaps Tom being married to Asa's sister, Helen helped. Or maybe it
was that Tom was Asa's lawyer.
"He got called away as we got
here," she said.
"Oh. Well hopefully he won't be
long. I see you’ve met Jack Valentine," Tom said.
"Jack is thinking of expanding his
business in this area in anticipation of a joint venture we’re
negotiating," Asa said. "He’ll certainly want someone local to
represent him when he does. If Ms. Madison is as good a lawyer as you say she
is Tom, perhaps she’d be up to handling Jack here.“
"I’d enjoy being handled by Ms.
Madison," Jack said, his gaze still on her.
Tess' eyes grew large, then narrowed
with suspicion. It wasn't unusual for Jack to be brazen. What was disturbing
was that it was directed at her. "Have you ever been handled by a woman,
Mr. Valentine?" she said with bravado she didn’t feel.
A wicked smile spread on his face.
"Not one like you."
My Thoughts:
This book was beautifully written. I could hardly put it down! Loved Harte's style of writing!
I loved the mystery in this book. Some books have that problem where the plot and the mystery surrounding it are just too out of left field to be believable, but not this one. I loved every minute of reading this. It was great to keep guessing in my head what was going to happen in the end.
The development of Tess's character throughout the book was also great. I loved how everything seemed real and down to earth. Made for a much more enjoyable read!
I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good mystery romance! I can not wait to read more by Jenna Harte!
My Rating: 4.5 Stars!
Links to Buy:
About the Author:
I've always had a romantic streak. Even as a kid, my favorite characters on TV were almost always happily married and as a twelve-year-old, I'd write stories about them (this was before fan fiction or the Internet were invented).
I love to read romantic suspense or mystery, but am disappointed that romances don't follow up on the happily ever after and mysteries rarely provide the sexy, romantic elements I enjoy. So I decided to write my own.
Like the character of Tess Madison in Deadly Valentine, I love chocolate, old R&B tunes (especially Marvin Gaye) and J.D. Robb books. I haven't yet been able to afford Carine Gilson underwear to know if I love it, but I look forward to finding out.
When I'm not telling stories, I work by day as a freelance writer and blogger. I live in central Virginia with my husband, two teenage children and two cats.
Twitter @Jenna_Harte
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