I’m excited to share an excerpt today! In case you didn’t know, my current work in progress is book 5 in the Beachcomber Investigations series starring dark and dangerous Dane
and shamelessly smart Shana. Beachcomber Trouble is available for pre-order at iBooks now and will be everywhere soon. I expect it will be released on March 31st. Let me know what you think of the cover. I welcome your feedback in the comments.
Dane and Shana will be taking on a new case as the spring ends but before the summer tourists invade Dane’s island haven. Even though they’re back together living in the beach shack, they’re not exactly on rosy romantic terms–as usual. And the new case–it’s big Trouble. Here’s a snippet to get you started and tease your interest–
Excerpt
Staying in shape was getting to be an ordeal—or so Dane’s right knee periodically reminded him. He looked ahead down the pristine length of State Beach, thought briefly about Jaws and kept running. He had one and a half miles to go. Then he’d run the two miles back. May was Dane’s favorite month on Martha’s Vineyard. Warm weather. No tourists yet clogging up the beach.
The vibration of his mobile phone in the pocket of his cargo shorts against his right thigh felt like a relief. He didn’t stop running, but slowed enough to slip it out as it stopped buzzing and went to voicemail. He glanced at the caller ID.
He stopped short in the sand.
It wasn’t Shana. He recognized the number. A cold freeze went through him, the kind that slowed his heart beat to calm him, the kind that demanded he slow the alarmed thoughts bursting in his head.
It was Oscar.
Or someone using Oscar’s phone. He clamped down on the adrenaline. Whoever called him on this line would know it was a call to action.
After one quick glance down the expanse of the waiting miles of the beach, he turned and sprinted back to his Jeep. There was no way to keep his mind quiet on the quick drive back from Oak Bluffs to his beach shack in Vineyard Haven, so he prepared himself for the worst and made a plan.
If the call was from Oscar then he was in trouble. Dane may need to leave the island. Immediately. If the call wasn’t from Oscar, then the trouble was worse. Because that meant someone had compromised him and had contacted Dane in Oscar’s place, using his phone. He would need to leave the island either way. Without Shana. The sharp pain along his shoulder blade signaled the twist of tension at the prospect. He would find out soon enough. He swerved the Jeep into the crushed shell drive, shoved the gear stick into park and jumped out.
Before he finished sprinting to the back steps of his small house, Shana appeared in the doorway and pushed the screen door open. The look on her face spoke volumes. It said she knew there was trouble.
*****
Shana shouldn’t have opened that email. It had been marked private. But it had Beachcomber Investigations in the subject line, so she went ahead. It wasn’t until after she’d read it that it became obvious it was meant for Dane…
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