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Like all great authors, FBI profiler Tatiana Branigan has drawn from personal experience in the creation of her best-selling thriller series. But few realize just how up-close-and-personal those experiences are. Ten years ago her fairy-tale marriage ended, wrecked by a man who has obsessively hunted her and a memory that’s haunted her.
For the past decade Von Branigan has been living out his solitary life estranged from the only woman he’s ever loved and isolated from anyone who might try to reach through the wall he’s built around his heart. He may be inconsolably immersed in feelings of bitterness and still wounded by betrayal, but when the police call and tell him that his wife was attacked by a madman and is in need of refuge, he can’t bring himself to refuse to help her.
Von takes Tatiana back into his home and as time passes and old wounds heal, back into his heart. A grave misunderstanding, a once-in-a-lifetime love, a wife’s sacrifice, a crime of passion, and a second chance for happiness— A Hunted Heart. Editorial Reviews:
From Samantha Sommersby, author of As You Wish
“A heart-pounding, heart-felt suspense romance that will leave you utterly breathless.”
Excerpt:
Von told the sergeant at the desk that he’d received a phone call from a Detective Lester. The sergeant showed him to a small room and said he’d let the detective know he was there.
Trying not to think the worst, Von settled in a chair and waited. After he had been sitting for a few minutes, a large man came in.
“Detective Bill Lester, sir.” A beefy, forty-something giant with a ruddy complexion and a shock of red-blonde hair stepped in front of him with his hand out. He looked like a bar fight waiting to happen.
“Von Branigan,” Von replied, shaking the man’s hand. “Look, what’s...”
The large man handed Von a snapshot. The photo showed a thin, frail young woman laying on a black surface. Her features were pale, her eyes were closed, and blood could be seen around a wound at her temple.
“Can you identify that person, Mr. Branigan?”
Von nodded, swallowing. “Her name is Tatiana Branigan.”
Detective Lester stood. “Wait here, please, Mr. Branigan.”
“Is she...” Von began.
“Please wait here, sir.” The detective left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.
Von’s head was spinning. Had he just identified the body of his wife? Was she dead or alive? I don’t know if I can live in a world that she isn’t living in. There must be something wrong with me. How can I still care so much after what she did?
As he sat, trying to absorb what had happened so far this night, Von began to notice the quiet of the building. He heard footsteps approaching and began to focus on the voices he could hear nearby.
“Go easy, Jim, it’s been a heck of a night.”
Von heard a door open across the hall.
“Bill, it’s bleeding again. I’m gonna check her eyes.” He had to be addressing the detective that Von had just talked with.
“Stop it, Jim. You’re making my headache worse!”
Von sat up straight. A voice that sounded seductive even when she was irate. That couldn’t be...
“Tatiana, you need to be in the hospital. I know you have a concussion. You’re not really recovered from the pneumonia.” Jim sounded very agitated.
He called that woman “Tatiana”! My angel is alive!
“You know I’ll refuse further treatment. What are they going to do for me, Jim?” came her soft-voiced reply. “They can’t put my head in a sling.”
“Tati, I’m going to call that number you gave me. You need someone to take care of you now.” That was Bill, the big detective.
“Bill, nobody at that number wants to care for anything besides my remains. Don’t make me sorry I trusted you.”
What number, my number? Is that what she thinks? And why wouldn’t she think that? I made it pretty clear she wouldn’t be welcomed back, didn’t I?
“It’s only a happy accident you’re not sporting a toe-tag right now, dang it!”
Von wanted to go in there but something made him listen for a minute longer. He waited for the pain of her betrayal to wash over him but he could only feel elation. He needed to get himself together.
She’s alive!
“He could have killed me any time in the last nine years, Bill. He doesn’t want me dead, he wants me to suffer.”
Who is she talking about?
“Up until tonight, Tati, I would have agreed. But you tipped the scales, didn’t you?”
What is he talking about?
“I don’t know what you mean, Bill...”
Von could tell that, clearly, she did too know what he meant.
“Don’t lie to me Tatiana Dmitri Branigan!” the detective barked.
They must be pretty close.
“He’s been torturing you for a decade or so, hasn’t he? Killing you slowly.” Von moved toward the sound of their voices. “But I heard what you said to him before I got up the stairs. You not only asked him to kill you, I think you gave him a reason, didn’t you?”
“What number?” That was Jim again, Von guessed. He’d apparently stayed in the room, whether he could help her head injury or not. Von pushed the door open.
She’s even more beautiful than she was ten years ago.
She wore a long-sleeved dress that flowed over her. It was dark green velvet and came to her ankles. Her long black hair waved and curled just above her elbows. Blood trickled from a cut on her temple.
“Please, don’t call that number, Bill.”
“It’s too late, angel.”
At the sound of his voice, she grabbed for a nearby table.
“Von,” she whispered. She looked as if she were seeing a ghost.
He moved to stand in front of her and cupped her cheeks. Those eyes. Her big gray eyes nearly took up her face. He caressed her delicate jaw with his thumbs. He let his hands slide down her shoulders until he lightly held her forearms. Her whole body shook.
“I thought you were dead, angel,” he couldn’t look away from her, his voice a hoarse croak.
“I am dead, Von.” Her eyes filled with tears and she closed them whispering, “Go home. Please go home.”
“I can’t angel. I can’t walk away from you.”
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