Vanity and Humility
By Faye Hall
What if vanity threatened to destroy the only love you’ve ever known?
Detective
Ethan Brant is on the hunt for a murderess who is
seducing her victims and stealing collections of diamonds from each one. When
the woman he suspects becomes his father’s newest wife, Ethan’s fears multiply.
He’s determined to protect his only remaining family member, no matter the
cost.
All of his attention
is focused on bringing the guilty party to justice. He has no time for, or interest
in, women. But when he discovers a beautiful, young woman swimming at the lake
on his father’s property he feels an instant attraction.
Cady Eldon’s history
with men taught her it was foolish to lose her heart to one. But when she meets
Ethan, she can’t ignore the fire that burns inside her, making her long for the
feel of his skin against hers. Discovering that he’s a police detective, she
becomes intrigued. Why would a man whose family is wealthy want to live so
humbly?
Her attraction to him,
and her interest in the murder case he’s working on, pulls them together on a
journey north where they become entangled in the manipulative web of the
murderess Ethan is chasing. Ethan and Cady soon learn just how cruel one
woman’s vanity can be and how she will stop at nothing to get the riches she
believes she deserves.
Will their love
survive, or will they fall victim to the greatest sin of all?
*Content Warning: contains sex, strong
language, and some violence
Excerpt
She shrugged,
looking as if her answer was obvious. “My uncle needed an extra set of hands on
the farm, so I offered to help. I don’t think I was very good at it, but I
managed to plant several drills by the end of a single day, and my uncle seemed
happy with my efforts.”
“You actually
worked on the farm?”
She giggled at his
shock. “You needn’t sound so surprised. Anyone would think you’ve never seen a
woman work before.”
“Other than
applying layers of makeup to their faces, I haven’t. More to the point, the
layers of clothing you all wear don’t allow for much of anything. Certainly not
any form of physical labor.”
“That’s why I wore
trousers.”
“You did what?”
She giggled again
as she went to swim past him and toward the bank. He reached out, stopping her.
“I didn’t mean to
offend you. I just found it so hard to believe what you were saying about your
lifestyle up north. You are like no woman I’ve ever known.”
She waded in the
water beside him. “There’s no offense taken, nor was your reaction the reason I
was leaving. I just need to return to the garden before I’m missed.”
Still, he held her
arm, gazing at her beauty. Focusing on the darkness of her eyes, he longed to
drown in them, allowing himself to be consumed by this woman. Usually, he
avoided any contact with the females he encountered, the mere thought of
touching them repulsing him and reminding him of his last encounter with a
woman. But here—now—he longed to pull this woman closer to him, to feel her
skin against his.
“I don’t want you
to go.” The words were being dragged from him, forcing him to make an admission
he never thought to.
She pulled her arm
free from his hold. “Yet I must.”
He watched her
swim to the bank and step out of the water, her undershorts and chemise
clinging to her. She was a shapely woman, her wet garments emphasizing her
every curve, making him hunger for her in a way he never had for any woman
before. Confusion filled him as he watched her pull on her simply styled, blue
dress, quickly hiding her revealed self from his gaze. The few women he’d spent
time with in the past had never created feelings in him as she was now. Usually
he couldn’t wait to be separated from them, but watching as Cady finished
dressing, preparing to leave him, a form of emptiness filled him. He had just
met this woman. He wasn’t ready to be parted from her yet.
Swimming toward
the bank where she stood, he stepped out of the water and quickly pulled on his
trousers before walking up behind her. Only inches separated them, and he ached
to reach out and touch her, but he didn’t want her to think that was all he
craved from her.
“Do you really
have to go?”
Turning to face
him, she continued buttoning her gown. “You actually want me to stay, don’t
you?”
He nodded.
“Why?” she asked.
He reached out to
her, shifting a wet strand of hair back from her face. “Because you’ve stirred
emotions in me I thought were long dead.” His hand dropped back to his side as
he sighed deeply. “The brief past I had with women back in England taught me it
was safer for me to keep my distance from them. I certainly never tolerated
spending any length of time with them, listening to their gossiping. But you’re
nothing like those women, and I find myself craving to share so much more than
these past minutes with you. Listening as you’ve told me about yourself has
been the most interesting evening I’ve ever spent with anyone.”
She raised an
enquiring brow. “And I should believe your interest has nothing to do with you
seeing me half-naked?”
“I found you
fascinating long before you stepped out of the water and I saw you in your
underclothing.” As he watched the slight blush fill her cheeks, her gaze
averted from his, pleasure shot through him. “I’ve yearned to know more about
you since the moment I met you.”
Her gaze slowly
shifted back to his. “Then that’s a feeling we share, but I fear we shall have
to leave our mutual discovery of each other to another time. Right now, I need
to return to the gardens.”
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Vanity and Humility
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Faye Hall
Faye Hall spent
her early years listening to stories about the families – including her own –
who settled townships in and around her hometown in North Queensland,
Australia. The local townspeople,
including her own parents, told her stories of corruption and slavery, along
with family secrets and forbidden love.
Desperate to
remember what she’d been told, along with her already growing love of writing,
Faye began to write about the history of her local area. Never could she have imagined the history of
her small home town in Australia would become a growing list of published
books.
Faye’s passionate
stories combine controversial subjects and provocative encounters as her
characters struggle to survive the lifestyle in early rural townships
throughout Australia. She explores
slavery and abortion, drug addiction and murder, as well as forbidden love and
passionate affairs of the heart.
When she’s not
writing, Faye enjoys sharing a bottle of wine with her husband in their ever-growing
garden, and encouraging the varied interests of their combined family of nine
children.
Connect
with Faye: Website • Facebook • Twitter • BookBub • Tumblr • Pinterest • Instagram • YouTube.
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See you on your next coffee break!
Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx