Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

Past Lies releases today!

And I think I’m allowed that exclamation point this morning, hehe

The lies were no protection. Not anymore…

Anna Shrewsbury is trapped.

The whims of her sister control her life. She wants to be free…and she thought her brother-in-law had helped her find freedom with his last act. But instead, she seems to be the butt of one of his infamous jokes.

She now has a half share in a company she doesn’t want, while her childhood home and her promised sanctuary is bequeathed to a man who hates her. And then there’s the deal. She has to live a week with him. A whole week with Zachary Quinn.

For six years, a shield of lies has protected Anna. But in beginning a new life, she must break away from those lies. Be prepared to face Zach’s fury. And his passion…

An excerpt from
Past Lies
© 2007 Kim Rees

Zach laughed. “Anna Shrewsbury not worrying when her next fat cheque would arrive? Hardly likely.”

She would not try to justify her life to him. Let him think what he liked. He saw her as a money-grabbing harridan. Fine. She wouldn’t let something as obscuring as the truth cloud him. She never had.

Anna looked up from the exotic palm sweeping its leaves over the edge of the terrace wall. “What upsets you most, Zach?” Fury burned in her gut. Oh, yes. She had her own arsenal. “That I happily lived off Gregory? Or that you couldn’t buy me?”

She saw a muscle jump in his cheek.

Good. She had broken through his icy control. See how he liked to be insulted.

Anna stalked towards him, her gaze never leaving his, seeing the spark of his anger. The sensible part of her mind screamed at her not to bait this man. But she ignored it. Damn him. And she could damn herself right along with him.

“Because you did think about it, Zach. Once. Six years ago.”

“I don’t buy women.”

His voice was strained, thick with anger. She could see his irritation in his tight jaw, the narrowing of his eyes.

“You offered…” Anna was determined to play the vamp he thought she was. He had no idea how far that was from reality. But then, Zach didn’t care about the truth. “I was only nineteen.” She made a smile curve her mouth and she looked at him from under her lashes. “How was I to know that you were so very wealthy?”

“Stop this, Anna.”

“But then being in Gregory Brabant’s circle, I met so many men.”

“I said—”

“Ones who offered—”

“No.”

The word was a quiet growl. His fingers slid around her neck, her jaw, his thumb pressed against her cheek.

Contact stopped her words.

Hot skin touching hers, the slight rasp of calluses. Her heart skittered. They couldn’t touch. They just couldn’t.

He stroked her, a soft caress slipping over her cheek, edging closer. It was hard to breathe. His thumb caught her lip and she gasped.

Zach smiled and his eyes gleamed. “You melt when I touch you.”

His voice eased over her, the deep pulse of sound finding the throb low, low in her belly. His thumb slowly traced over her burning mouth. Oh God… She should stop this. She had to stop this.

His breath brushed her ear. “You always have.”

“No.”

“So you don’t want me to touch you?”

“I—”

“Here?”

His mouth moved in a brief warm brush over her forehead.

“Here?”

Her eyelid, the spikes of her lashes fluttering against his lips.

“Here?”

So close to her mouth, she could almost taste him. The teasing had fire in her blood. He did this to her. Teased. Played.

Well, no more.

She took his mouth.

His shock lasted a heartbeat.

They stumbled back, Zach hitting the solid, glass wall of the
terrace with a low groan. Half lying against him, her fingers tight in his hair, her other hand worming beneath his jacket, Anna nibbled, tasted, her tongue finding his.

All thought but him had gone.

And his hands, sliding down her body, hitching at her mercifully short skirt. Finding her.

Anna moaned into his mouth.

Zach had burned in her blood for six long years. Finally to have him.

“You’re a piece of work, Anna.” The words were growled in anger against her lips.

For a moment, she froze and something inside her cracked.

Zach had been playing her. Again.