Publication date: January 12th, 2021
Synopsis:
The flare of a cigarette, the sound of a stranger's voice, and the handsome Irishman in the shadows--I wanted it all, but I wasn't allowed to want.
Ronan was danger and beauty, murder and mercy. To me, he was a mystery, but he was also the only man who ever knew me.
In that single stolen moment before I had to give my life to someone else, I imagined myself with him, the man with scars and bruises. The one who knew what hurting meant far more than I did at that time.
Instead I was given to another man, one who broke my soul right along with my bones.
Through it all, there was always that memory of the man in the shadows, the one who said--not in words--that I was strong, that I could endure, that I was more than just a princess in a ballgown.
Now Ronan is the only man who could keep me safe from two warring families that wanted my blood. The spark that started two years ago burned brighter with each touch, each glance, each kiss. He woke me from the nightmare, giving me life with soft touches and sharp words.
Two years ago, Ronan gave me strength, but he took something in return. I never gave him my heart, but hearts like mine are made to be stolen.
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Excerpt
"Poppy," he said, and then once we were out of the ballroom he grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me down a darker hallway. I fought him, yanking my arm free, only to have him grab it harder in a grip that would leave a red mark on my skin.
I was an expert in such grips.
But still I kept fighting. If this guy was going to hit me, let him. Let him try and hurt me. There was nothing left of me to hurt.
"Poppy, goddammit, stop," he said, and so fast he had a key out. He swiped it through a door, and we were in another room. A dark office with an empty desk. No windows.
All right. Now I was a little scared.
"What are you doing?" I asked, putting my hand over my elbow where he'd grabbed me.
"Did I hurt you?" he asked, watching me touch my skin. God. I not only felt outrageously alone with this man. I felt stupidly naked. This dress was nothing. Where was a suit of armor when you needed it?
I reached behind my back, pressing the doorknob lever, but he was there quick, putting his hand against the door right beside my head, keeping it shut. His breath stirred the small hairs escaping my too-tight bun.
The champagne only gave me so much courage, and I looked, not in his icy blue eyes but at his square chin with its five o'clock shadow. There was a scar there, just beneath his jaw line. It ran a straight line near his ear to nearly the point of his chin. Another jump from a window, I wondered. Or worse. Because Ronan seemed incredibly capable of worse.
"I'm going to ask you again," I said, my voice only a little shaky. "What are you doing?"
"Giving you a second to catch your breath," he said.
"Well, I was leaving, so why don't I just do that?"
He reached over and turned on a small lamp, the golden pool of light illuminated his face. And I'd talked to this man for what? A half hour, total in my life. A half hour over two and a half years. I owed him nothing. I pushed down the lever and pulled open the door.
"You're making a fool of yourself out there," he said, and I gasped in outrage, turning to face him.
"Fuck you."
"It's the truth. And you know it. You can't show them how much they're under your skin."
"What the hell do you know about anything?"
"I know I'm under your skin."
Said skin blazed hot and undoubtedly red. Right. This was the expected embarrassment. The humiliation right on cue. The ice cold look on his face melted and what was left was something so much worse. Something horrible.
Pity.
"Don't," I spat at him. "Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?" he asked.
"Like the rest of them look at me. Like all I am is something to be pitied and whispered about. Something to be used and shuffled around."
"I'm not--"
I shoved him. My hands against his rock-solid chest, and I shoved him. Hard enough he stepped backwards, and everything ignited in me. Everything. I looked at my hands, surprised they weren't flames.
He smiled, as if he could see the chemical reaction rippling through my body. And he liked it.
"I'm leaving," I said. Slightly scared of this. Slightly scared of myself. And him.
"You don't want to leave," he said, stepping closer, and the fire in my hands and my chest exploded between my legs. Desire like I'd never felt, like I'd never been allowed to feel fueled by rage and champagne and his Irish accent rippled all the way through me.
"You don't know a single fucking thing about me," I snarled.
"I know you don't want to be pitied. And I know you just got fucked around pretty good up there in front of a thousand people."
I breathed hard through my nose.
"I think you want to fight," he said, a breath away from me. If I was another person I'd kiss him. Grab him by the silk lapels of his tux and pull that wicked mouth to mine. But I wasn't that person, for a million reasons. His eyes assessed me, and the longer I was silent, standing there burning and wretched, the pity came back.
"Or maybe I'm wrong about you," he said. "You don't have any fight in you. You are exactly what they made you." He reached for the door, and I knew he was going to let me go. Whatever test this was, I'd failed. "I'll make sure you get home."
I smacked him. I smacked him so hard my hand hurt. It burned and tingled. There was a print of my hand on his skin and that was the first time I'd ever done that, and part of me wanted to be horrified, but deep in my fully rioting soul, I was pleased.
So pleased.
The dark wing of his hair fell down over his eye, and he turned to face me, sweeping it back.
"There you go, Princess," he said. "That's what you need." He smiled at me like he suddenly recognized me as kin. Something long lost. But I felt undone. Incomplete. Something had started, a domino tipping over and setting off a chain reaction. And I needed him to complete it.
Or stop it.
Bursting right out of myself, I grabbed his lapels, pulling us into each other. Our bodies collided and sparked.
And I kissed him.
M. O'Keefe is he darker, more dangerous pen name of bestselling author Molly O'Keefe. She is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Everything I Left Unsaid series and the upcoming Stolen Hearts. To find out more visit her website.
