Conned

The cross is the key to a priceless treasure...will it secure their future, or doom them forever?


One year after being shot in Italy, Rachel Sanders travels to Venice in search of the jeweled cross that triggered a heartbreaking family betrayal. Determined to keep the treasure from her mother’s greedy hands, she’s caught off guard by the interference of an irresistibly charming rival. His unexpected offer to work together might be self-serving, but she’s thrown into a precarious situation where she can’t refuse.



Nick Marshall has a family legacy to recover and a score to settle. Anyone with the last name Sanders is fair game—until he meets Rachel. She’s gorgeous, smart, sexy, and doesn’t buy one word of his cover story. When their attraction combusts, each kiss makes his deception burn like acid, and he begins to question his end goal.



But they’re not the only ones after the cross. Ruthless players determined to recover the treasure first put Nick and Rachel’s lives at risk. Despite all the secrets and lies, lines quickly blur between the con and the real deal. Can love survive a double-cross when the mystery is unlocked?


Join the sexy fun of a treasure hunt through Venice – get your copy of CONNED today!


“From the moment the book begins until its exciting conclusion, it’s all blood-pounding chases, near misses with death, and heart-stopping romance.” ~ Adria’s Romance Reviews


EXCERPT:


When he dropped onto the chair opposite her, she lifted her cappuccino for a taste, then set her cup back on its saucer. She sat back in her chair with her gaze steady on his. “What makes you think I’d want, or even need, your help?”

Ah ha. She was thinking about his offer.

He considered what angle to play as he sipped his double espresso. Charming or blunt?

Yesterday, he’d have piled on the charm. She’d appeared more…innocent. Maybe not quite the right word, but the stylish dress, the shoes, her hair, and even the modest make-up she wore, all suggested a level of somewhat high maintenance. Or sophistication. Class.

However, her undetected pursuit of him last night completely contradicted everything on the outside. Coupled with her ambush this morning, he was seeing her in an entirely different light. 

Class, some sass, and not one to have the wool pulled over her eyes. 

He went with blunt. “Because I can help you find the cross.”

To her credit, those blue eyes didn’t give away so much as a flicker of emotion. “What cross?”

He smiled. “Don’t pretend like you don’t already know that answer.”

She sat up a little straighter when he threw her own words back at her. “That’s not why I came to Venice.”

“No?” He set his cup down and leaned forward. “Because sure as shit, you’re not here for no jewelry conference.”

“You listened to my call last night?”

He shrugged.

She lifted her cup for a drink, then set it back down so fast it rattled against the saucer. This time, she did nothing to conceal her emotions. “You and your sister drugged my brother, not to mention the whole fiasco in Rome when you held him and Eva at gunpoint. I’d have to be out of my mind to trust you.”

Ben had obviously filled her in on everything. 

Nick sat back in the chair again, feeling the opportunity slipping through his fingers. “So, don’t trust me. We can still work together.”

Rachel took one final drink of cappuccino, then stood while pulling out her sunglasses. “Sorry, Nickolas. Never gonna happen.”

She strode away, leaving her cup half-full, pastries untouched. He let her go, because this time he didn’t need to tail her so close. The micro tracker he’d slipped inside her bag while holding out her chair would do the work for him. In the meantime, he’d let her stew over what he might know that could help her.

Nick reached across the table for one of her cream puffs and took a bite just as a dark-haired woman in an elegant, white summer pantsuit slipped into Rachel’s empty chair. Instant tension seized his muscles.

~~~

ITALY INTRIGUE SERIES

Kidnapped, Book 1

Betrayed, Book 2

Conned, Book 3