LOVE, LIES AND A DOUBLE SHOT OF DECEPTION

Title of Book: LOVE, LIES AND A DOUBLE SHOT OF DECEPTION
Genre: romantic suspense
Author: Lois Winston
Website: www.loiswinston.com
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing
Date of Release: 5/29/07
ISBN: 978-0-505-52719-6





PURCHASE LOVE, LIES AND A DOUBLE SHOT OF DECEPTION HERE!

SUMMARY:
Life has delivered one sucker punch after another to Emma Wadsworth. As a matter of fact, you could say the poor little rich girl is the ultimate poster child for Money Can’t Buy Happiness — even if she is no longer a child. Billionaire real estate stud Logan Crawford is as famous for his less-than-platinum reputation as he is his business empire. In thirty-eight years he’s never fallen in love, and that’s just fine with him — until he meets Emma. But Emma’s not buying into Logan’s seductive ways. Well, maybe just alittle, but she’s definitely going into the affair with her eyes wide open. She’s no fool. At least not any more. Her deceased husband saw to that. Besides, she knows Logan will catch the first jet out of Philadelphia once he learns her secrets. Except things don’t go exactly as Emma has predicted, and when Philadelphia’s most beloved citizen become the city’s most notorious criminal, she needs to do a lot more than clear her name if she wants to save her budding romance with the billionaire hunk someone is willing to kill for.

EXCERPT

Winter wonderland, my ass.

The stinging wind whipped at Emma’s exposed cheeks and brought tears to her eyes. Lowering her head, she trudged around the enormous mounds of black snow piled along the curb, searching for a semi-safe path onto the sidewalk.

Finding none, she grabbed a parking meter and hauled herself over the smallest of the soot-encrusted icebergs. Some people would go to any lengths for their morning cup of java, and she was one of them.

As she yanked open the door to Chapters and Verse, the “Spring Movement” of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons greeted her. Someone had a really warped sense of humor. Or hoped the power of positive thinking could affect weather patterns. Still, the music held a reminder that the harsh realities of early February in Philadelphia would eventually give way to sunshine and flowers come late March. Maybe. Last year they’d suffered through
one of their worst blizzards ever the first week in April.

Emma shivered, thoughts of daffodils and crocuses quickly replaced by the chill rippling through her damp body. Shaking the moisture from her hair, she deposited her coat on a chair in the café, then headed for the coffee bar.

“Morning,” said the barista. “The usual?”

“Please.”

With her morning shot of caffeine and sugar in hand, Emma trolled the stacks of books, occasionally pulling a volume from the shelves and sliding it under her arm. She needed the predictability of this daily routine. It helped her get through the rest of the day. Every day.

Why the hell do I stay?

If she had any courage, she’d leave. Sell the house. Move away. Start over. But she couldn’t leave, and her reasons had little to do with a lack of courage. Life in Emmaville was just too damn complex. One part guilt, one part masochism. But how could she leave the only tangible reminder she had of life before everything had turned to shit?

So she stayed, losing herself in work that at least gave her the satisfaction of knowing her efforts helped others. She pushed herself each day until exhaustion overcame her and she fell into nightmare-riddled sleep.

Tomorrow morning the cycle would repeat itself. I’m a twenty-first century Sisyphus, eternally damned to live out an unending punishment for my sins. Not that she had a clue as to whatever sin first condemned her years before, but she’d certainly committed a whopper since then. Whether a sin of omission or commission, it hardly mattered. The result was the same.

Still, what would be the harm in a short escape? She deserved that much, didn’t she? Emma closed her eyes and conjured up a distant memory of a sun-kissed Adriatic coastline. Hell, why not? She opened her eyes and headed for the travel section.

* * *
Logan Crawford’s mind kept drifting back to the events of last night, an evening definitely not worth remembering. Even her name escaped him. Although normally not a problem, this time he was saddled with Candi-Randi-Bambi-whatever-the-hell-her-name-was for the length of his
stay in Philadelphia. As head of the city’s redevelopment office, she was his official escort-slash-liaison, the person assigned to make certain he chose the City of Brotherly Love as the East coast site for his corporate headquarters. And last night Candi-Randi-Bambi, a woman who wore her ambition emblazoned across her surgically augmented chest, made it abundantly clear just how far she’d go to get him to sign on the dotted line. And it was far from brotherly. Or sisterly.

Logan doubted he was the first billionaire businessman she’d bedded in her quest up the corporate ladder, but he’d wager a good portion of his sizeable fortune that he was the biggest -- the wunderkind west coast urban developer who was giving The Donald a run for his money. Only Logan had better hair -- as the media was quick to point out.

With a snap of his fingers, he could provide Candi-Randi-Bambi with an express elevator straight through the glass ceiling, and she knew it.

No fucking way in hell.

Last night when he stared down into Candi-Randi-Bambi’s come-hither eyes, he saw the reflection of a disillusioned, unhappy man. And damn, up to that moment he hadn’t even realized he’d been disillusioned or unhappy. He had wealth; he had power. So what was up with the sudden emptiness and dissatisfaction?

Beryl would say it was because he led a shallow life devoid of emotional commitment. As much as he protested to the contrary, he knew she was right. Maybe it was time to leave the bimbos to Trump.

Struck by the epiphany, he’d bolted from Candi-Randi-Bambi’s bed. They’d used each other. She spread her legs hoping to advance her career; he’d taken advantage of the offer. Sex without emotional entanglements, the pattern of his adult life. He got the release he needed, and the woman got a notch on her bedpost. Only this time it hadn’t worked. After thirty-eight years Logan Crawford realized it was time to grow up. Only damn it, he didn’t have a clue how.

Still reeling from the self-revelation, he’d canceled his morning appointments and headed his rental car north, needing some time alone to think. After driving for half an hour he found himself in a quiet, upscale section of Philadelphia. A bookstore on top of a hill beckoned like a
siren.

For the rest of his stay in Philadelphia he vowed to spend his nights curled up with a good thriller rather than a cheap thrill. Now all he had to do was find one. At the moment he couldn’t even find the damn fiction section in the boundless maze of shelves that wound around the first level of the two story megastore. Lost in the travel section, he spun on his heels
and
--
THUD!

###

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Tags: Plug Your Book!, online book promotion, book promotion, free book publicity, virtual book tour, Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception, Lois Winston, romantic+suspense

THE SEARCH FOR THE MILLION $$$ GHOST by Heide AW Kaminski, Dorothy Thompson, Pamela Lawniczak, and, of course, Henri

Name of Book: The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost

Author(s): Dorothy Thompson, Heide AW Kaminski, Pam Lawniczak and of course, Henri, the Ghostest with the Mostest

Publisher: Mardi Gras Publishing

Date of Release: September 2006 (ebook); April 2007 (paperback)

ISBN: 0978998626

###

Summary:

Eccentric tobacco tycoon Rodger Hawthorne III can have anything his heart desires except his dead wife, Sarah. Feeling responsible for the car crash that killed her thirty years ago, he offers one million dollars to anyone who can find her spirit and bring it to him within one week or the money is forfeited. Six spiritually-challenged—but highly intuitive—women find his ad over the Internet and accept his challenge only to embark on a journey they didn’t quite expect that covers astral traveling, past life regressions and spiritual encounters of the unworldly kind. While this book is lightly based on a true story of a real man who is offering one million dollars to anyone who can prove that spirits exist, this story is purely fictional.

###

Excerpt:

Thank God I'm alive.

Sarah pulled herself from the wreckage. Just moments before, she felt her world coming to an incredible end, finalizing her mortal existence with just one wrong turn. Tossing her long, blonde hair behind her thin, frail shoulders, she looked down at her blood-stained blouse.

My husband will be so disappointed to see me like this.

Both sides of the road were littered with shattered glass and twisted metal. She picked up her step and ambled over to the open field, hoping to catch someone's attention.

Surely someone witnessed the car careening over the edge!

Out of nowhere, men and women gathered around the smoking carcass of steel, watching and whispering. She sensed a connection with them as they peered at her through certain unfamiliar eyes. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and gasped.

Sarah turned around and stared into the face of a kind young woman, identical to the one who frequented her nightly dreams. “I know you, don't I?”

The young woman nodded.

“I've seen you before,” she said.

“Don't be frightened,” said the young woman. “I'm Iro, your spiritual guide. You have many spiritual guides, my love, and I am just one of them.”

The young woman held out her hand and motioned for Sarah to follow her. She's almost floating, she thought as she gazed at the strange young woman who possessed an eerie likeness to someone with whom she had wandered before.

She followed the apparition to the front of the car and pointed to the body of another young girl lying motionless among the twisted metal. She looked down and gasped.

“No!” she cried. “That's not me! It can’t be!”

Iro brushed away the young girl's tears and pointed to a light across from her. A light so bright, it blinded her with its overwhelming beauty and splendor.

“This is the light you may enter now,” she explained. “It is hard for you to understand, but the time has come to leave this earthly plane and enter a new life and a new beginning. This is the ending of this life to which you have become accustomed for the last twenty-two years.”

Sarah looked at the bright beam of light directed at her, pulling her gently. "Yes," she said faintly, tears flowing down her cheeks, “I see it.”

“I know this must be difficult for you, my child,” Iro softly whispered, “but don't worry. You are in good hands now and I will do everything I can to help you. You must not be afraid.”

“But, what about my husband?” Sarah cried. “He will miss me terribly.”

“He will be fine,” said Iro, “for when he needs you, you can go to him.”

“He won't understand!”

“No, he won't understand, but in time he will learn that he needs to go on. More importantly, you need to go on.”

Sarah rose and brushed at her long, white skirt. He gave me this skirt. She fingered the delicate locket trimmed in gold that he gave her on her last birthday. Another present to win my affections when all along it was his love I craved.

Iro walked over to Sarah and held her face in her hands.

“I know what you are thinking, my dear,” she said. “You are saddened. Perhaps it would help if I told you that you have an alternative.”

The bewildered girl looked up into the warm, sea-blue eyes of the woman.

“An alternative?” she asked. “An alternative to what?”

Iro sighed and looked directly into the young girl's eyes. “An alternative to the hereafter.”

Puzzled, Sarah wanted her to go on, yet felt uneasy in her doing so.

“My child,” Iro continued, “there is a world you are not familiar yet, although you have crossed its paths many times and in many lifetimes.”

“The first rule to follow,” she continued, “is to never enter the light until you are ready to do so.”
Iro looked to the heavens and spoke very low, “That is the light of eternity.”

“You are an angel now,” she continued. “Your destiny was mapped out many, many years ago. You have to understand that you have many lives. And in each life, you are to learn important lessons in order to advance into the next realm. In order to do this, you must finish unfinished business on this plane.”

“So you are saying there is more work here to be done?” she asked. “What do I have to do?”

“I cannot tell you that. You have to learn that for yourself.”

Iro crept closer to her and whispered softly, “You will remain on this plane for however long it takes you to complete your soul's journey. When you are done and ready to enter the light, I will come for you.”

“Will you continue to guide me when I complete my soul's journey?”

“My mission is to stay by your side forever. I have been with you since you were created and will continue to light your path with love and guidance in this lifetime and every lifetime that shall follow. It is the path I chose when I crossed over into the light myself many, many years ago.”

“I think I understand now.”

“My love, there's a lot you don't understand. There are many, many lessons to be learned as you go through your life's journey. I have been your mother in your life and you have been mine. I have been in your lives many times. The child which was in your womb was in your past life and shall be in your many lives thereafter.”

“How did you know about my baby?” the young girl asked.

“Please, my child, I am not here to confuse you, only to comfort you. The child you were carrying has become an angel as you have become. That child has been with you all your life, guiding you when you were frightened, comforting you when you were sad and forlorn.”

“I have told you enough for now,” Iro continued. “You will find out this mystery when you find the answers on this plane. This is your soul's journey, my angel.”

“Why can't you tell me now?”

“My dear Sarah, if your existence on the spiritual level is to progress, you must confront each detour and learn to overcome it. Just as in the mortal world where you had to learn lessons, so be it in the spiritual world. You will not attain your highest place in the spiritual realm without learning these things and finding the answers yourself. If you do not learn from them and find the answers, you will remain on this lowly plane and wander the earth forever.

“There is a lot to what I have told you and still more to learn. All will become clear to you after you complete your journey. Immortality is infinite; it has no beginning and no end. We evolve and continue to evolve until we reach the highest level. It is there that you will find eternal peace and happiness.”

The young woman stood and motioned for the girl to come closer.

“Come here, love.”

Sarah rose ever so slowly and walked over to the young woman.

“I love you and am here for you whenever you need me,” she said. “It is not a lonely journey you seek, for I will be with you as I have been before. Now it is time for you to go and fulfill your mission. When it has been completed, I will return for you.”

The young girl smiled, knowingly.

“I will leave you know to fulfill your destiny and when that is done, I will take you to the light to be with your son forever.”

With that, Iro vanished, leaving Sarah to begin her spiritual journey.

###

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You can purchase The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost here!

Tags: The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost, Dorothy Thompson, Heide AW Kaminski, Pam Lawniczak, paranormal romance, ghosts, paranormal

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