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100 pages

English

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Description

Temperance Palmer stumbles upon the man of her dreams in her small desert town that leads to mystery, murder and love.

When Marcus King and Temperance Palmer first meet, they are battling each other in court. At twenty-five, she’s the youngest public defense attorney in her hometown, the small, desert town of Death Hollow in Nevada. He’s the brand-new district attorney fresh out of Portland, charging in to save the day after the previous DA, his grandfather, passed away unexpectedly.

But Temperance’s life unravels, and her world is turned upside down when she discovers her mother has been alive for almost twenty-five years, imprisoned in a maximum-security mental hospital in Utah and carrying a heavy secret about an Irish crime boss. Although Marcus seems to be the man of Temperance’s dreams, he brings with him secrets of his own, along with a mysterious and seductive presence.

Can Temperance handle Marcus’ sly wit and the sexual tension between them? Or will she give into his charming advances?

Sujets

Twins

Heterochromia iridum

Erotica

Mystery

Murder

Romance

Hétérochromie

Fiction

Informations

Publié par	Archway Publishing
Date de parution	01 août 2023
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781665746311
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE SOUL of a WOMAN

LUCIANA DIMITRI

Copyright © 2023 Luciana Dimitri.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-4630-4 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4632-8 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4631-1 (e)

Interior Image Credit: 2023911680

Archway Publishing rev. date: 07/26/2023

I dedicate this, my first book, to my loving children, who have supported me throughout the adventure of writing it. I would not have made it this far in life if it weren’t for them. I love you, Isabella, Damian, and Christian, to the moon and all around the galaxy.
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
PROLOGUE
As Temperance sat drinking her coffee, as she did every morning, she wondered if she could get through the day with a smile on her face. Her best friend, Jenna, the glamour queen around town, had big plans for a fashion makeover for her, which included hair, makeup, clothes, and heels. Temperance was sure a massage would be involved, and also and a face scrub, since she loved those. She had finally given in to Jenna’s nagging, begging, and pleading of her case as if she were one of her clients. Why not? she thought. It had been two years since Marcus died, and she knew she needed to move on, but she didn’t know how. She had tried the grieving technique of eating ice cream and watching sappy movies, had tried new hobbies like yoga, skydiving, and hiking, and had gone to some clubs, but nothing really helped her move on or even cope with Marcus’s death. She had chosen a boring book club because she thought reading would keep her distracted, but it only made things worse, since the group’s leader kept picking romance novels. Everywhere Temperance went, she saw Marcus or something that reminded her of him, her Marcus, her love, her everything.
Being the district attorney in a small town known as Death Hollow in Nevada didn’t come with many perks. Getting this title was a stab in Temperance’s gut, and she had never really accepted the role. She just went with the flow, dealing with lowlife scumbags daily with piles of paperwork on her desk, which Jenna, her paralegal, tried to make sense of. One would have thought that for a small town it would be a bit quieter than a large urban area, but no—it was hectic and swarming with people who had a lot of demons inside them. At least today she wasn’t having to deal with the case that had gotten Marcus killed, a case that the townspeople had talked about every day since it happened. Today people still came up to Temperance either to thank her for all her efforts or to express their sympathy. Still, all the criminals could wait while she took a day off and hung out with her best friend, who had spent most every day with her since Marcus’s death to ensure she was OK.
Jenna was the type of friend who came over even told her not to, her arms full of bags containing ice cream, chocolate, and a bottle of scotch. When she graduated law school, she struggled to find work in town. Having stayed in town to be close to Temperance and her family, Jenna had been working alongside her best friend for years now. At first she had just worked as Temperance’s assistant because on Temperance’s salary, she couldn’t afford to pay Jenna for serving in a higher position. Then when Temperance became the district attorney, Jenna became her paralegal, and what a godsend she was, handling all the paperwork and case files.
A knock on Temperance’s door snapped her out of her thoughts. In walked Jenna, chipper and bubbly like always. “Temperance! What are you wearing? And why are you still in your pajamas?”
Temperance looked down and realized that her definition of pajamas was completely different from Jenna’s. She was wearing sweatpants, a T-shirt, and sneakers on, which was highly comfortable clothing in this weather. Jenna, on the other hand, had on a beautiful blazer, a short skirt, and pantyhose, all of which matched her bright red stiletto heels. Her hair was fiery red—impressive that it was natural. With her green eyes and pouting lips, it was hard for people not to have sexual thoughts about her. Most men who saw her tried to grab her attention, and most women envied her. No matter, though, because she was already taken by another beauty in town known as Beatrice. Temperance was honestly surprised Bee wouldn’t be attending this makeover day, but she figured that with Bee owning the only cafe in town and being a workaholic like Temperance was, she realized it made sense. Beatrice and Jenna had been together so long that Temperance was just waiting for the day when they would announce their engagement and she could help plan a small ceremony for them. Then she could focus on something other than crime.
“Jenna, if we are going to do a makeover, what does it matter what I am wearing? Aren’t my clothes coming off?” Temperance turned around, giving Jenna a smirk to let her know she was toying with her.
Jenna laughed loudly and shooed her best friend out the door. “Good point, Tempy. Maybe you will run into that mystery man we saw last week at the cafe ordering a latte,” she said nonchalantly with a sideways glance to see if Temperance had an expression of interest on her face.
“I’m not interested in anyone or their latte choice, Jenna.” In the back of her mind, Temperance did think that that man was rather attractive in a dark and brooding way. At the cafe last week, she had had a brief encounter with him that was rather embarrassing. When he caught her looking at him, she immediately turned around and, in so doing, knocked her coffee off the counter, spilling it everywhere. Standing there in awe, the man came up behind her to see if she was OK. And there it was—his deep, sensual masculine voice, which seemed familiar to her. His scent was also familiar: cedarwood; it engulfed her and made her freeze for a moment, thinking of Marcus.
“Miss, do you need napkins? Looks like you have quite the mess there.” It was hard not to stare into his dark blue eyes as he stood gaping like a drooling animal. Temperance finally blinked and saw that he was waving his hand in front of her as if to get her out of a trance. His eyes reminded her of those of another person staring at her, waiting for an answer. But this man was quite the opposite of Marcus.
“I am fine, yes. I need napkins, but I can grab them from the counter. I am not normally this clumsy.” Temperance wasn’t sure why she felt the need to explain herself to this broad-chested, tall, muscular man, but she did. Usually, she was composed and put together, but at this moment, she felt like a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl. To her, this man smelled of power, confidence, and danger. He wore country-looking attire—a flannel shirt and dark jeans along with typical work boots. Marcus had been a clean-cut, suit-and-tie man, always looking like perfection. She missed seeing him in his suits, missed seeming him dressed so sophisticated like. For Marcus, everything had to be in order, which had bothered Temperance at first since she was always a hot mess, but she grew to adore it.
“You have some coffee in your locks, just to let you know. Why don’t you tend to yourself in the restroom? I’ll clean up the coffee. It’s no bother at all. I just arrived in town and will be here awhile. I can take five minutes out of my day to help a beautiful woman.” He smiled at her, which made his facial features appear even more gorgeous, tempting her to touch him. She thought that she had better run to the restroom so she could get her shit together.
As she stared at her reflection in the mirror, she noticed that the man was right: she had coffee in her hair and droplets on her chin. The coffee must have splashed up on her without her feeling it. All she could feel now were her hot cheeks and the places on her body that had been close to his when