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Diamond in A rose
by Rhonda Lee Carver
Category: Romance/Suspense/Thriller
Description: Rose Donahue wants a peaceful life, but tranquility is the last thing she'll get when the sexy, powerful Detective Clay Walker crashes into her life--literally. Clay holds secrets to her past and it will throw them into a whirlwind of betrayal and intrigue. Chasing after a murderer and a precious blue diamond worth millions, they find themselves encased in more than just a criminal case. They find danger in the form of passion. Will Clay cross the line from protector to lover? Will Rose deny herself the delicious magnetism that draws her to Clay? Love will shine as brilliantly as a fine cut jewel.
eBook Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc./Crimson Rose, 2010 2010
eBookwise Release Date: June 2010
 
5 Reader Ratings:
Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [282 KB]
Words: 61593
Reading time: 175-246 min.
Chapter One
Rose Donahue teetered on the brink of a sexy dream when a noise invaded her semi-slumber. Fluttering one eye open into a slit, she moaned, then rolled in the comfort of the blankets.
Snap. Pop.
Rose sat up.
Blurry-eyed and dazed, it took her a lingering moment to realize danger lurked outside her cabin walls.
Glass shattered and echoed through the darkness. Out of the blankets and off the bed in record speed, her bare feet hit the cold wood floor, her legs almost buckling.
Anxiety did a beeline straight up her spine. She turned and her eyes widened as a shadow passed the window.
What in heaven's name--
She wasn't alone.
Dashing through the pitch-blackness of the cabin, a squeal escaped her clenched teeth as she fell and landed on her hands and knees, face sliding against the floor.
"Damn stool." Rose gave it a push with her foot.
Breathless, she tried to stand, but a tender pain in her knee stilled her. Lowering her hand to the wounded area, she felt no open cuts or bleeding. It hurt, but right now, she couldn't think or concern herself with anything except for the prowler sneaking around outside her cabin.
Forcing air into her lungs, Rose pushed herself off the floor, and listened. A loud creak sounded by the door.
Fear clenched her muscles, turning them into tight, rippled cords. Head throbbing, her mind coaxed her brain to function. She remembered the box of knives she'd placed on the counter.
Starting toward the small kitchenette for a makeshift weapon, the sound of splintering wood rendered her motionless.
A scream wavered on Rose's lips, as all reasoning vanished. The next event happened in blinding velocity. She stared down the nose of a gun as a blinding beam of light pointed in her face.
"Oh. My. God..." The words broke off in ragged breaths as her mind absorbed the situation.
The gun's nozzle pressed into her cheek, the silver glistened in the golden light of the flashlight. A muffled groan burst from Rose's lips as she anticipated the pulled trigger.
"Don't move."
Instinctively, she lifted her hands toward the ceiling, in arrest mode. Sour bile rose in her throat and she swallowed it down. Rose scurried to decipher her situation.
A bone-chilling thought needled into her mind. Could she be as good as dead? She wasn't ready to die. Not when her life began yesterday.
"Who the hell are you?" A man's gruff voice reverberated through the dark, making the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.
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