Witness Protection Program – coming October 3 from Rebel Ink Press!

To pass the time while the clothes washed and while she waited for the dryer, which was spinning the Putnam’s laundry, she asked if she could play the piano again.    When she sat down at the keys, Deborah sought escape.   Today she had no desire to sing, just to play so her fingers rippled across the keys like the wind over water.    She played a few classic pieces from memory beginning with The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies by Tchaikovsky and ending with Beethoven’s haunting Fur Elise.   Then Deborah segued into modern favorites like Bridge over Troubled Waters, The Rose and the Beatles’ classic Let It Be.  The music matched her mood and the rain that still fell outside.   Just as she began to play the plaintive notes of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s song Alone Again (Naturally), Cam slid onto the piano bench beside her.

            His big hands danced over the keys with skill and plucked out the brighter notes of Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag.

            “You’ve created a sad mood. Now it’s time for something happier,” Cam mouthed into her ear.  “Play it with me.”

            Her fingers faltered, paused, then moved into the upbeat ragtime rhythms.  They played the rag as a four-hand duet and after a few wrong notes, performed together well, ending with a burst of laughter they coughed up in unison.

            “That’s better,” Cam said as he grinned with approval.  “You play very well but your selections were depressing.”

            “I didn’t know you played.”

            He quirked one eyebrow up. “I imagine there are many things you don’t yet know about me.”

            “I suppose not.” Although the songs she played were somber, her own mood was more reflective than dark.   “I’m a fast learner, though.”

            “Are you?” He turned toward her with interest as they sat side by side on the piano bench, alone in the living room.   She wondered where his aunt and uncle might be but then she heard their distant voices from the kitchen.

            “Most of the time, I am.”

            “Let me see if that’s true today.”

            Cam leaned forward spanning the inches between them and touched his lips to hers, light and soft.   She savored the warmth of his mouth against hers and then he kissed her in earnest, his lips seeking an answer from hers, which she gave, heart fluttering.    She liked the kiss and her right hand strayed out to snag the edge of his flannel jacket to steady her trembling.   His mouth felt softer than she imagined and stirred her so much she swayed.  If Cam hadn’t put his arm around her to keep her, she might have fallen to the floor.

            When the sound of a siren wailed and echoed in the room, she startled until she remembered it was his ring tone.  He pulled away and dug his phone out, his body now at attention, his face sober.  Cam slid off the bench and paced the room, phone to his ear.   He listened more than he spoke while she touched her fingertips to her mouth as if she could catch and somehow keep the lingering sensation of his kiss.

            “I go up to Hickory on Wednesday,” Cam told her when he finished the call.  “That works out so tomorrow I can go with Uncle Otis to the livestock sales up in Mena.”

            Deborah caught the tossed name of a small town and placed it on a mental map.   She possessed a fair knowledge of geography and “up in Mena” placed them in southwestern Arkansas.   If Cam didn’t want her to know that, he never would’ve said it.

            “You just all but told me where I’m at.”

            He nodded.  “I did.   Maybe I shouldn’t have but after watching you cry last night, I thought maybe it would help you to know.”

            It did and it didn’t but she was glad he gave her the information.

            “Thank you, Cam.”

            He shrugged his shoulders, face still serious.  “I’m glad if it helps.  You still seem so sad and I wish I could erase the sorrow out of your eyes.    I’ll tell you one more thing and that’s it for now.   It’s Fort Smith.”

And here’s the blurb for more details:

When a routine trip to the local discount store
turns in to a gunfight,

Kendra Driscoll must face the fact that her witness protection cover is

blown and she’s in federal custody until further arrangements can be made.

Tucked away in a safe house in southern Arkansas, Kendra reverts to being

Deborah Kincaid, for now.

When Timothy Campbell dodges bullets and throws Kendra Driscoll into his

van, he knows better than to mix business with pleasure. Witnesses are

off limits. Period. So why is it then that Cam finds himself impossibly

drawn to the woman he’s charged to protect?

As Kendra gets to know Cam, she realizes he isn’t as unyielding as he looks.

Underneath his gruff exterior, Kendra finds a kind, sensitive man and

soon, she realizes she’s falling in love. And when events turn ugly and

Cam suffers a life-threatening injury, it’s up to Kendra to face her

enemies and deal with the danger for the last time