First, don’t forget to enter the Goodreads contest!
And if you go over to the Samhain Romance Book Club Facebook page, there’s a chance to win a $15 Amazon certificate by posting a comment on the post about my new print release.
Blurb:
Philip Drake is immortal by virtue of a psychic power that heals all but the worst injuries. He’s needed every bit of it as a black ops agent, a life so violent that the line between pain and pleasure is tangled up in his head.
When he walks away from the CIA, the last thing he expects is to discover someone stole his DNA to create a race of super-healers. And that the expectant mother is a woman from his past who’d consider it her pleasure to spit on his grave.
One moment, Delilah Sefton is listening to a seriously hot, seriously deranged man giving her some half-baked explanation as to why she’s pregnant with no memory of how she got that way. The next, armed men swarm into her bar, and she and Mr. Sexy-Crazy are on the run.
Safety at the Phoenix Institute is only temporary, but it’s long enough to put the pieces together. A madman plans to steal her son in a plot to take over the world. And to stop him, she must learn to trust the baby’s father—a man she blames for her greatest loss.
Warning: This novel contains fast cars (that are driven), numerous guns (that are shot), a hero who prefers pain over love, and a heroine determined to fight for those she loves.
Four and a half star out of five fromNight Owl Reviews!
“A wonderfully entertaining rollercoaster read that conjures up the fantastical worlds explored in comic books yet provides a romance between unconventional characters.”
Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Samhain Publishing.
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT: This is Philip talking to Alec Farley, the hero of Phoenix Rising, the first book in the series. Philip is less than thrilled that his foster daughter is in love with Alec. They’re very different people, and I love that this scene shows the difference between them. You should be able to read both books independently but this should be fun for those who’ve read Phoenix Rising.
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“You need lessons in extreme.” The firestarter was powerful, smart and he wanted to do the right thing. He’d changed the name of the Resource—which he’d inherited from his adoptive father Richard Lansing—to the Phoenix Institute to signal a new start for the place that had effectively held him captive all his life.
Alec intended to find and help children like him use their power responsibly. It was an excellent, noble goal. But Alec had been raised in a vacuum, essentially isolated from the rest of the world. It made him more than naive on a few subjects.
“Someone is using your DNA to create a race of superbabies, and you think taking an undocumented driving route is extreme? Not to mention the CIA might be monitoring me or you. Whoever kept this genetics lab running after Lansing’s death could be doing the same. And there’s still the matter of those watchers out there from an unknown source that you sensed on the container ship job. Aside from the one mention in Lansing’s notes, there’s no other information. Which tells me Lansing knew something but thought it was too volatile to write down. That’s never good.”
He paused to let the words sink in. Alec shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable.
“If you want to survive to do all this good you talk about, then you have to assume enemies are watching. All the time.”
Alec stared at the car’s dashboard for a while instead of replying. Perhaps the young man was considering what he’d just been told. Or, given his sheltered upbringing, he was checking out the car. Alec loved cars.
“I hate having to think that way.”
“If you want to live long enough to accomplish your aims, you’re going to have to learn.” And you damn well better learn enough to keep my daughter safe.
Alec nodded. “What if my kid is out there, Drake? Not a situation I’ve been trained to handle.”
Philip realized that the boy was truly looking for advice this time. Like it or not, Alec was a permanent part of Beth’s life. Which meant the question should be answered rather than
32Phoenix Legacy
ignored. No one had told him giving advice to a man sleeping with his daughter was part of fatherhood when he’d volunteered.
But here he was.
“We find the child and the mother and we help them. I can’t imagine you’d walk away from the child.”
“Never.” Alec stared at him. “Glad you know that.”
Philip nodded. “A child who’s alive and needs caretaking is a problem that can be solved. It could be much worse. For instance, if you’re too late to help someone and they wind up dead. Can’t fix that.”
Alec nodded.
“Are you worried about Beth’s reaction? She’d take care of any lost child, whether it was yours or even Lansing’s.”
Alec smiled. “We already talked about that. Actually, I think she’s more worried about your reaction than mine.”
“My reaction?” “It brings back the whole mess with Lansing for you.” “He’s dead, it’s over.” “He was your father. And you just smashed a coffee mug
because you were so pissed at him.” “I have plenty of mugs.” Philip shifted into low gear as he
slowed down for a stoplight. “Lansing wasn’t my father. He screwed my mother, then walked out. When I refused to join his unholy crusade as an adult, he hated me. My only reaction to his death is to be glad he’s gone.”
“Something changed when he died. You quit the CIA, you don’t seem to be doing anything, and you might as well live in a cave the way your home is closed up. Not to mention all those empty beer cans all over the place.”
“That speech must have come directly from Beth.” Alec shrugged. “She’s worried about you.” “If she’s worried about my apartment, tell her I like caves.”
The best year of his childhood had been spent living in a makeshift home in a cave. He and Lily had been able to wander away for hours. On their own, in the quiet of the woods, the two of them had had the best times. Once, they’d even laughed after they’d had to run up a tree to escape a bear. Lily had been the only good part of his childhood. Until he’d destroyed their friendship with two shotgun blasts. “And the beer was work.”