Blog Tour : An Extract from Rae Shaw's A Chance Encounter
Don't you just love it when you find a female protagonist who is a kick ass female bodyguard? I know I do and that's why The Crime Warp is delighted to host an extract from A Chance Encounter. Thanks so much to the author and to Rachel's Random Resources for this opportunity. But first here's a bit about the novel
A Chance Encounter Blurb
the evasive Jackson Haynes, spikes her curiosity. Who is behind the vicious threats to his beautiful wife and why is he interested in two estranged siblings?
Mark
works for Haynes’s vast company. He’s hiding from ruthless money launderers.
His
teenage sister Ellen has an online friend whom she has never met. Ellen guards
a terrible secret.
For
eight years their duplicitous father has languished in prison, claiming he is
innocent of murder. The evidence against him is overwhelming, so why does Mark
persist with an appeal?
Keen
to prove her potential as an investigator, Julianna forces Mark to confront his
mistakes. The consequences will put all their lives in danger.
Pre-order Link
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08X1PN4VH
US - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X1PN4VH
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57237006-a-chance-encounter
Trailer - https://youtu.be/g2U11opEcqs
Now that your appetite has been whetted ... here's the extract ...
Julianna
Baptiste’s new job as a bodyguard involves driving her boss’s wife, Hettie, to
wherever she wishes. Sometimes the request is urgent, and this time, Julianna
can’t avoid listening into a conversation that rattles her.
Stripped of a layer of
foundation, Mrs Haynes’s heavy-lidded eyes shadowed her alabaster cheeks; a
small part of her renowned beauty lost to exhaustion. A row of strips sealed
the wound on her forehead. She fingered it, tutting to herself. While Mrs
Haynes slipped into the backseat, fussing, Julianna strapped the baby carrier
in next to her. Evey smelt of baby wipes.
Julianna was about to leave the
busy hospital car park when her mobile beeped. She read the text message.
‘We’re to swing by and pick up your husband from the office,’ she told Mrs
Haynes.
‘Why's he bothering...’ Hettie
muttered in dismay, her voice drowned out by the wail of a siren.
Why wasn’t she pleased? Wasn’t it
what she wanted – her husband by her side? In fact, why hadn’t he rushed off to
the hospital already? Julianna was still trying to piece together the Haynes
marriage. She rarely saw them together, since they were apart during the day,
which was when Julianna was assigned to be a chauffeur. Most of the time her
superiors, Gary Maybank and Chris Moran, drove the couple in the evenings. Mr
Haynes was extremely protective of his wife and kids and the level of security
around the Haynes family was high. Julianna had seen the confidential reports
and understood why. She doubted Mrs Haynes had a clue about the constant
threats.
She parked outside the monolithic
building. Mr Haynes strode across the pavement and handed Julianna his laptop
case, which she placed in the boot space next to the baby’s buggy. There was
dried blood on the handles of the buggy.
‘Home, sir?’
Mr Haynes nodded and sat in the
front. The car pulled away and he twisted in his seat to look at his wife.
Julianna caught his expression out of the corner of her eye. Why the scowl?
‘Is she asleep?’ He cocked his
head at the baby carrier hidden behind where he sat.
‘Yes,’ Mrs Haynes said.
‘What happened?’
‘We went for a walk. I tripped,
okay? Stupid heel broke off and I fell against a tree. My phone got smashed on
the way down. The roots had torn up the paving stone and my heel was caught in
the gap.’
The phone would be replaced by
the end of the day. It was a minor inconvenience. Operating a well-oiled
machine was the key to Haynes’s business practices, and his home life.
‘Lara said you were bleeding
everywhere. So, what happened, Hettie?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t …
remember.’
Author Bio
Rae Shaw is a pen name for the author Rachel Walkley.
Rachel is based in the North West of England. She read her first grown-up detective novel at the age of eleven, which proved to be a catalyst for filling many shelves with crime books, which still occupy her home and grow in number whenever she visits a book shop.
As well as crime, Rachel likes to unplug from the real world and writes mysteries that have a touch of magic woven into family secrets.
Social Media Links
https://twitter.com/RaeShawauthor
Follow the rest of the tour
Thank you so much for helping out with my book launch :)
ReplyDelete