How wonderful to be
welcoming Harlequin Presents author Andie Brock to Get Lost in a Story. I first
met Andie – cyberspacially speaking – during Harlequin’s So You Think You Can
Write competition in 2013. Andie took out second place with her wonderful
manuscript Frozen Lives – which
became her debut novel, The Last Heir of
Monterrato! She’s since published three more novels under the Harlequin
Presents imprint, including the newly released Bound by His Desert Diamond.
Andie Brock has been inventing imaginary friends since the age of four. In those days they tended to be of the sparkly fairy variety whereas now she loves to conjure up gorgeously sexy heroes and spirited heroines and wait for the sparks to fly! Married with three children, Andie lives in Bristol in the south west of England. The family share the house with Pete and Ned, two boisterous young ginger cats. When not writing, or plotting her next romance, or stopping the cats from tearing the sofa to shreds, Andie likes to wander around the local flea markets in search of a bargain or walk along the beautiful beaches of south Devon where she grew up.
Connect with Andie via her website, Facebook and Twitter.
The Plan: Princess Annalina would do
anything to end her arranged engagement... including getting photographed in a
compromising position with a handsome stranger!The Prince: Her mystery man is Prince Zahir Zahani – her betrothed’s brother – and the kiss that sparks unexpected need in them both traps Annalina and Zahir in a whole new kind of royal bind...till death them do part!
The Passion!: Having learned the cost of trusting others, Zahir tries to keep Annalina at a distance. But she challenges him at every turn, and suddenly, giving in to his darkest desires is all Zahir craves...
Read a little, buy the book...
Clasping the cold metal railings, Annalina
stared down at the swirling black depths of the River Seine. She shivered
violently, her heart thumping beneath the tight fitting bodice of her evening
gown, her designer shoes biting into the soft flesh of her heels. Clearly they
had not been designed for a mad sprint down the bustling boulevards and cobbled
back streets of Paris.
Oh
God. Anna dragged in a shuddering lung full of cold
night air. What had she just done?
Somewhere behind her in one of Paris’s most
grand hotels a society party was in swing. A glittering, star-studded occasion,
attended by royalty and heads of state, the great, the good and the glamorous
from the world over. It was a party being thrown in her honour. And worse, far
worse, a party where a man she had only just met was about to announce that she
was to be his bride.
She let out a rasping breath, watching the
cloud of condensation disperse into the night. She had no idea where she was or
what she was going to do now but she did know that there was no going back. The
brutal fact was, she couldn’t go through with this marriage, no matter what the
consequences. Right up until tonight she had genuinely believed she could do
it, commit to this union, to please her father and to save her country from
financial ruin.
Even yesterday, when she had met her
intended for the first time, she had played along. Watching in a kind of dazed
stupor as the ring had been slipped onto her finger, a perfunctory gesture,
performed by a man who had just wanted to get the deed over with and witnessed
by her father, whose steely eyed glare had left no room for second thoughts or
doubts. As King of the principality of Dorrada he was going to make sure that
this union took place. That his daughter would marry, King Rashid Zahani, ruler
of the recently reformed Kingdom of Nabatean, if it was the last thing she ever
did.
Which frankly, right now looked like a
distinct possibility. Anna gazed down at the ring on her finger. The enormous
diamond glittered back at her, mocking her with its ostentatious sparkle.
Heaven only knows what it was worth, enough to pay the entire annual salaries
of the palace staff no doubt, and with money to spare. She tugged it over her
cold knuckles and held it in her palm, feeling the burden of its weight settle
like a stone in her heart. To hell with
it. Closing her fist she raised herself up on tiptoes, leaning as far over
the railings as she could. She was going to do this, she was going to fling this
hateful ring into the river. She was going to control her own destiny.
He came from out of nowhere – an avalanche
of heat and weight and muscle that landed on top of her, knocking the breath
from her lungs, flattening her against the granite wall of his chest. She could
see nothing except the darkness of him, feel nothing except the strength of the
arms that were locked around her like corded steel. Her body went limp, her
bones dissolving with shock. Only her poor heart tried to keep her alive,
taking up a wild, thundering beat.
‘Oh, no you don’t.’
He growled the words over the top of her
head, somewhere in the outside world that, until a couple of moments ago she
had quite taken for granted. Now she panicked she would never see it again.
Bound by His Desert Diamond is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Harlequin.