Uncover
Me
Publication Date: August 18, 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Suspense
Synopsis
ELLIE:
All I did was take a few pictures.
I didn't realize I was witnessing a crime.
I was hoping for a kick-ass adventure when I set off on my dream vacation.
Instead, I've fallen in with a ruthless band of thieves.
Kidnapped, bound, and ordered to
submit, I'm stuck on a yacht with a sun-bronzed pirate who caught me
photographing his antiquities-smuggling operation. He doesn't want me tagging
along any more than I want to be here. But that hasn't stopped him from finding
a use for me.
NICK:
She thinks I'm hard-assed. Dominating. Cruel. But I've got a dirty job to do.
It has required months of scheming, a billionaire's yacht, and a shitload of
priceless stolen artifacts.
I'm not about to be distracted by one inconvenient redhead. Even if she is
supremely fuckable and oh-so-sweet when I have her on her knees.
She probably doesn't realize it,
but I'm doing my best to protect her. There are guys here a lot badder than me.
But I can't allow her to mess up my plans. There's no place in my life for
softer emotions, and no space in my body for a heart.
UNCOVER ME is a contemporary
romantic suspense novel with a touch of darkness. Intended for mature audiences.
Excerpt
I shook back my long hair, which was
falling into my face. "People will be looking for me. When I don't check
in with my mother and my friends, they'll call the authorities. You won't get
away with this."
He smiled thinly. "We'll
see."
"The sensible thing would be to
take the yacht into shore and drop me off. I'm a complication that you don't
need."
"The sensible thing would be to
weigh your body down with something heavy and drop you overboard. It's an
option that will remain on the table while I assess what other uses I can put
you to."
The uses I pictured were scary and
degrading. It was nothing but bravado that kept me from curling up in a ball.
"I won't be used by any man, so stop threatening me."
His eyes darkened and he grabbed me,
fisting a handful of my hair. It hurt. "You're frightened and trying to
cope. I get that. But you've landed in the middle of a fucked-up mess, and it's
gonna get worse. Right now, I'm your best hope of staying alive, so don't piss
me off. Do exactly what I order you to do, and maybe you'll survive. Defy me,
and you're dead."
I noted for the first time that
there were dark circles under those large eyes of his, that he was weary and
not quite as much in control as he was pretending to be.
"I don't want you here,"
he went on. "You've no idea what a complication your presence poses. It
would have been far more convenient to shoot you and toss your body into the
sea. Maybe you haven't realized how close you came to endless night."
I felt the sweat break out again.
He'd chanced upon a metaphor that called up my worst anxieties. So I continued
to beat at him, knowing no other defense except attack.
"So I should thank you for
saving my life? Am I expected to lie back, spread my legs, and express my
gratitude? Is that what you mean by obeying your orders?"
He still had the knife in one hand.
He saw me staring at it and his knuckles whitened around the handle. "As a
matter of fact, yes," he said coldly. "If I tell you to strip, you
will strip. If I tell you to spread your legs for me, you will do so. If I
order you to drop to your knees and suck me off, you will do that, too, and
gracefully. If you disobey me, you will be punished."
He grabbed the shirt he'd stripped
off and pulled it over his head. Then he opened the door to the cabin and
exited. I heard the key turn on the outside; I heard him stomp away. Then there
was silence, except for the pounding of the sea, and my own heart.
About the Author
Linda Barlow is the author of 23 novels in various
genres, including family sagas, historical and contemporary romance, romantic
suspense, erotic romance, and general mainstream fiction.
Publishers
have included Doubleday, Dell, Penguin, Warner Books, New American
Library/Signet, Berkley/Putnam, Silhouette and Harlequin. Her books have been
translated into approximately 20 foreign languages.
Her
romances have won numerous industry awards, including the Rita from Romance
Writers of America (1989), Best New Historical Romance Author from Romantic
Times (1986) and a Lifetime Achievement award from Romantic Times. She also
contributed two essays to Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women, a collection of
scholarly essays on the enduring appeal of the romance. This book won the Susan
Koppelman Award for Excellence in Feminist Studies of Popular Culture and
American Culture in 1993.
Linda
is now indie publishing and loving it! She is updating her backlist and writing
new novels, too. The first book to be rewritten and indie-published is the new
edition of her classic historical romance, Fires of Destiny, which was a
finalist for the Rita Award in 1987 (available now!).
Linda
served as President of Novelists, Inc. in 1992 and did two three-year terms on
the Executive Council of the Authors Guild in the 1990s. She was Romance
Writers of America’s keynote speaker at the annual conference in 1989.
When
she is not at her computer writing, she is likely to be reading. She can't imagine
what her life would be like without books!
Author Links
