EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
Mercy’s gaze narrowed on the screened doorway with nerve-wracking precision.
The screen door handle jiggled slightly but stopped when it met grinding resistance. Muffled curses followed then a key grated in the lock.
She smothered a moment’s panic as the lock disengaged.
“Eddie?”
No response.
No. No. No, it isn’t him. Something is horribly wrong!
Her instincts sprang to life, and her senses climbed to extraordinary heights. She quickly retrieved her reticule, reaching inside to grab the small pistol she carried there. When her fingers grasped the gun, she exhaled in relief, and then aimed the weapon’s barrel at the cabin door.
Her heart thumped in her ears as the seconds dragged by.
She straightened her spine and cocked the trigger, widening her stance. No one enjoyed being backed into a corner, especially a spy. She’d shoot, if needed, with no regard as to who this man was. Too many lives depended on what she’d stored in her brain. If she wanted to make it to St. Mary’s in time to meet the vicar, she had to live.
The door squeaked on the hinge, opening with agonizing slowness like an ominous fog sweeping over a riverbank.
Que Dios le ayude. It was as if the invader wanted to increase her agony, making her anticipate the intrusion with paralyzing dread.
Her nerve endings shrieked like struggling, cornered rats as the door widened and a man’s long muscular leg prepared to step across the threshold. She held the gun steady, biting her lip in anticipation. Her trespasser wasn’t like anyone she’d ever seen before. His tall black boots and black breeches matched a fine woven linen shirt, over which he wore a dark draping broad-shouldered maroon jacket with intricate gold embroidery at the shoulders and sleeves. His shoulder-length black hair accentuated the distinguished lines of his high cheekbones and an aquiline nose. A black patch prevented her from looking into a pair of earth-shattering blue eyes.
Dios mio, he is formidably handsome. She was in true danger now. Her knees threatened to buckle. An impending swoon clouded her peripheral vision. She wasn’t afraid, per se, but paralyzed by an all-compassing innate awareness that awakened her body. This had never happened before.
She gasped.
He cocked his brow oddly in response, skin tugging cruelly above the left side of his mouth.
She immediately froze. Was the expression painful? Who had scarred the man?
Alarms sounded in her head. Lethal calm resonated from him as his stare left her to search the room with an odd familiarity. Her heart twinged. Was this Captain Blade, the notorious Lord Garrick Seaton? His comfortable stance, the way his gaze stroked the room like a loving caress, filled her with strange misgivings. It was as if he belonged here — not Eddie — not her.
She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
The devilish man moved his left hand across his chest and took a humble bow. “Señorita.”
