Book Excerpt
SEVERAL WILD-EYED WOMEN stood in a
semicircle, their hands pressed against their cheeks or over their mouths.
Annalisse broke for an opening in the rigid line of guests. Her heart stopped
at the sight of Alec administering the Heimlich maneuver to her boss. A cool
clamminess rushed the nape of her neck while she watched Alec’s repeated cupped
fists to Harry’s upper abdomen. Harry’s stoic, ashen face left her woozy.
“Alec, let me help.” Annalisse ran to
Alec’s side.
Harry’s dead weight collapsed on Alec, and
he stumbled to keep Harry from falling on her. Alec slowly laid him on his
back. Lifeless. Not breathing. Annalisse’s suspicions were confirmed. Harry was
sick.
The silk fabric clung to her waistline
while perspiration trickled down her thighs. She sank to her knees and leaned
over Harry’s paunch, loosened his tie, and checked for a pulse at his neck.
Heat from the crowd suffocated her. Open mouthed, she labored for breath.
Westinn’s bedrock, its patriarch, couldn’t leave her. Not yet.
She clutched his shirt and yelled, “Don’t
give up, Harry!” Touching his cheeks, she found them cool. Annalisse scanned
the room. “Is anyone a doctor or EMT?” Vacant stares met her question.
A reel of her first aid training ran through
her head. Annalisse tilted Harry’s head back, looked down his throat and did a
finger sweep. “No food in the airway,” she mumbled. She checked for a pulse
again at the carotid, and, one hand over the other, pressed the heel of her
palm over his breastbone and pumped in short bursts. Counting to thirty in her
head, she huffed after each thrust. Her arms ached and her palms hurt. “Harry,
breathe! Damn it, breathe!”
“Did someone call an ambulance? Where is
it?” Alec checked the Rolex on his wrist and crouched next to her. “When you’re
ready, I’ll take over.”
The irony. Harry had forced his employees
to take the CPR course with no idea he’d be the one in need.
A lonesome siren’s wail pierced her ears
when the vehicle stopped in front of the gallery. Annalisse glanced through the
entrance as the FDNY emergency truck’s blaze red and yellow door opened. The
myriad of blinding lights split the evening. She turned back to her
unresponsive boss and ripped open his shirt, sending buttons flying to the tile
before she continued CPR.
Muffled voices, footsteps, and a metallic
clank sounded from behind. Ambulance attendants rushed through the double glass
doors, banging their gurney along the way. In the cool relief of the air from
outside, she silently said a prayer for Harry.
“I appreciate everyone’s concern, but
please allow the emergency personnel room to do their work.” Generosa swiped
her forehead with the back of her hand. “Hang on, Harry.”
About the Book
Title: Stolen ObsessionAuthor: Marlene M. Bell
Genre: Romantic Suspense
PEOPLE DIE, BUT LEGENDS LIVE ON.
Manhattan antiquities appraiser Annalisse Drury dreams of a quiet life on the family farm among the sheep she loves, when her best friend is murdered. The police assume robbery is the motive because her friend’s expensive bracelet is missing. But the 500-year-old artifact is rumored to carry an ancient curse, one that unleashes evil upon any who dare wear the jewelry created for the Persian royal family—and Annalisse believes her friend is the latest victim.
Weeks later, Annalisse sees a necklace matching the stolen bracelet at a gallery opening. Convinced the necklace is part of the deadly collection, Annalisse begs the gallery’s owner to destroy the piece, but her pleas are ignored— despite the unnatural death that occurs during the opening. With two victims linked to the jewelry, Annalisse is certain she must act.
Desperate to keep the gallery owner safe, Annalisse reluctantly enlists the owner’s son to help—even though she’s afraid he’ll break her heart. Wealthy and devastatingly handsome, with a string of bereft women in his wake, Greek playboy Alec Zavos dismisses Annalisse’s concerns—until his parents are ripped from the Zavos family yacht during their ocean voyage near Crete.
Annalisse and Alec race across two oceans to save his mother, feared dead or kidnapped. As time lapses, the killer switches mode and closes in on the man who’s meant for Annalisse with the lifestyle she wants most.
But when it’s her turn as the hunted, will she choose to save Alec and his mother, or sacrifice everything to save herself?
Author Bio
Marlene
M Bell is an acclaimed artist and photographer as well as a writer. Her
sheep landscapes grace the covers of publications such as, Sheep!, The Shepherd, Ranch & Rural Living and Sheep Industry News.
Ewephoric, her mail order venture, began in 1985 out of a desire for
realistic sheep stationery. A color catalog of non-fiction books and
sheep-related gifts may be requested at www.marlenembell.com or www.texassheep.com.Marlene and her husband, Gregg reside on a wooded ranch in East Texas with their 50 head of Horned Dorset sheep, a lovable Maremma guard dog named, Tia, and 3 spoiled cats who rule the household.
Links
Book Trailer
Author Website
Stolen Obsession Book Page From Website
TWITTER: @ewephoric
FACEBOOK: fb.me/marlenembell
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