Series: The Camelot Rising #1
Authors: Nicole Flockton and Abigail Owen
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Published: 29 January 2018
| Modern-day King Arthur meets Snow White for a surprising happily ever after in this magical mash-up of legends and fairy tales. The victim of an ancient curse, Sasha White has wandered the world alone for centuries. The only way out of this endless, lonely cycle is to break the fabled Immortality Stone, which she’s finally located. Infiltrating Chevalier Jewels as an expert diamond cutter, she’s determined to steal the stone from her employers—the same seven men her wizard father was once sworn to shield. Security expert Derek Arthur has gone undercover in order to catch a jewel thief for his latest, and greatest, client. But all his military training didn’t prepare him to deal with Sasha, the woman Chevalier Jewels assigned as his boss to complete the disguise. The need she ignites within him catches him off guard. Meanwhile, his own powerful secrets are attracting mysterious visions and dangers at every turn. Can an immortal jewel thief and the man hunting her down find trust a way to trust? Or will the evil that separated them long ago continue to deny them their true destiny? |
White Knight Excerpt © Nicole Flockton & Abigail Owen 2017/2018
A brief knock, and she stepped through the massive wood door only to stop short as she caught sight of who sat with Lance at the round glass topped table in the middle of the room.
Derek Arthur.
What. The. Bloody. Hell?
Shock ping ponged around her mind, competing with a heat that coursed through her veins. That damn kiss. Derek sent her a lazy stare with a barely there quirk to his lips, which tightened her nipples in response. He, apparently, wasn’t surprised to see her at all.
Which meant what?
His last name hadn’t been lost on her when they first met. If anything, the association to the man who she admired from afar, had caused her to be particularly snarky with him at the pub that night.
It wasn’t like she could plant a compulsion in him to leave the room. Not that it would work anyway. When she’d tried to send him on his way in the pub, the thought had bounced back to her. Her gift to encourage people to do the opposite of what they wanted over her long lifetime, had helped her out of many a tight situation. Never had she run across an individual she hadn’t been able to compel.
Besides, he’d obviously been invited to this meeting, so it would be weird if he walked out.
She deliberately adjusted her focus away from Derek to the head of Chevalier. Lance waved toward the man beside him, who also stood. “I’d like to introduce you to Derek Arthur.”
Shit. What did she do now? She never had a guy she kissed turn up in her workplace three days later.
Time to suck it up.
She pasted a smile on her face and addressed Lance. “We’ve met.”
Lance raised his eyebrows, glancing between them. “You have?”
“We happened to end up at the same pub after work last Friday,” Derek explained. He held out his hand. “Nice to meet you again, Sasha.”
To give the man credit, he wore a suit well, filling out the tailored jacket with his broad shoulders. Well-polished shoes peeked out from beneath the hem of navy, pin-striped slacks. She’d bet a six-pack lurked under the finely tailored white shirt. In an era when most men wore cargo pants and t-shirts, she had to admit to being a sentimental sucker for a guy in a suit.
Reluctantly, she shook his hand. Her skin tingled at the contact as his large hand engulfed hers. He had nice hands. What would his tanned skin look like against her paler flesh? Heat zinged to her cheeks while at the same time pooling low in her belly, and she quickly extricated herself from his grasp.
What was wrong with her?
“Derek is in security,” Lance said.
“Oh?” Sasha was proud of how her voice didn’t waver over the word even as she swore in her head. Forewarned was forearmed. “I hope you aren’t having trouble with stones going missing with the gem cutters?” she asked her boss.
Lance’s blue eyes intensified, the color darkening as he leaned forward, elbows propped on the modern glass tabletop, fingers laced. “What I’m about to tell you is confidential.”
“Of course.”
“We have a burglar who has been casing the upper floors.”
Deliberately, she widened her eyes. “The vaults? What was taken?”
“And our offices.” He sat back. “Nothing. Yet.”
“Then how do you know—?”
“We didn’t at first, but things would be moved around. Nothing big. A picture was angled differently on my desk, for instance. And a box in the vault had been tampered with, though not opened, as far as we can tell. Nothing was missing. Given the value of the jewels held at this location, we brought in Derek as both investigator and a secondary security expert. He installed a new set of cameras, catching the intruder on video.”
Everything inside her went cold. Video.
“But the thief didn’t take anything?” Sasha glanced at Derek. His calm demeanor gave nothing away.
“No.”
She slid her finger over her bottom lip, a nervous gesture from childhood that she immediately stopped, tucking her hands onto her lap. “I’m still not sure why I need to be involved.”
“Derek has determined the intruder is casing the place. They are planning the theft still.”
“Okaaaaay.” Get to the frickin’ point already.
“He is going to implement additional security, of course. In addition, Derek will be posing as one of the employees.”
The threads of dread tightened to a knot in her stomach.
“We’d like him to pose as your apprentice.”
Some wizard with a twisted sense of humor had to be screwing with her. No way could fate be this cruel. Again, the kiss they shared flashed through her mind. In technicolor detail.
| USA Today bestselling author Nicole Flockton writes sexy contemporary romances, seducing you one kiss at a time as you turn the pages. Nicole likes nothing better than taking characters and creating unique situations where they fight to find their true love. On her first school report her teacher noted "Nicole likes to tell her own stories". It wasn’t until after the birth of her first child and after having fun on a romance community forum that she finally decided to take the plunge and write a book. Apart from writing Nicole is busy looking after her very own hero – her wonderfully supportive husband, and two fabulous kids. She also enjoys watching sports and, of course, reading. |
| Award-winning paranormal romance author, Abigail Owen, grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. She attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite pastime by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing). However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it. No matter the genre, she loves to write witty, feisty heroines, sexy heroes who deserve them, and a cast of lovable characters to surround them (and maybe get their own stories). She currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own personal hero, her husband, and their two children, who are growing up way too fast. Abigail also writes award-winning contemporary romance as Kadie Scott |
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