Silk and Stone
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- ¥550
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- ¥550
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He was home from prison.
Ten years compressed in the nerve-racking space of a few seconds.
This tall, broad-shouldered stranger was her husband. Every memory she had of his appearance was there, stamped with a brutal decade of maturity, but there. Except for the look in his eyes. Nothing had ever been bleak and hard about him before. He stared at her with an intensity that could have burned her shadow on the floor.
Words were hopeless, but all that they had.
“Welcome back,” she said. Then, brokenly, “Jake.”
He took a deep breath, as if a shiver had run through him. He closed the doors without ever taking his eyes off her. Then he was at her in two long steps, grasping her by the shoulders, lifting her to her toes. “I trained myself not to think about you,” he said, his voice a raw whisper. “Because if I had, I would have lost my mind.”
“I never deserted you. I wanted to be a part of your life, but you wouldn’t let me. Will you please try, now?”
“Do you still have it?” he asked.
Anger. Defeat. The hoarse sound she made contained both. “Yes.”
He released her. “Good. That’s all that matters.”
Sam turned away, tears coming helplessly. After all these years, there was still only one thing he wanted from her, and it was the one thing she hated, a symbol of pride and obsession she would never understand, a blood red stone that had controlled the lives of too many people already, including theirs.
The Pandora ruby.
Deborah Smith is the NYT bestselling author of A Place To Call Home and the Kindle No. 1 bestselling author of The Crossroads Café. Learn more about her books at BellBridgeBooks.com.
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Samantha (Sam) Ryder and Jake Raincrow recognize when they meet as small children that their love will constantly have to fight to survive. Jake's mother, Sarah Raincrow, and Sam's aunt, wealthy and evil Alexandra Vanderveer Lomax, have been archenemies since Alex entrapped Sarah's brother into marrying her and giving her the family's most valued possession, the Pandora ruby. Sam and Jake grow into talented adults: she uses her hands to weave beautiful tapestries; he uses his sixth sense--the gift of his Cherokee heritage--to read minds, hunt for gems and find people lost in the North Carolina hills. The two finally marry. But Alex uses bribes, lies and murder to control Sam and to ruin her relationship with Jake. In attempting to do so, she causes the deaths of many in their families and forces Jake into a 10-year jail sentence. It is not until Jake is free, Alex is dead and the ruby is abandoned that Sam and Jake are able to trust one another and love again. While the pace steadies after an uneven start and intrigue abounds, Deborah Smith's ( Blue Willow ) characters, notably Alex, are at once hollow and overdrawn.
