Shadow of Love

“Love leads to chaos and destruction”.

It’s as simple as that, at least for James McMaster. He had learnt from early on that trust and unconditional love end badly. Both his mother’s failed relationship with his rich and absent father and his mentor’s marriage to a scrupulous and selfish woman taught him the lesson not to carry his heart on his sleeve. The man who had turned James’ life around in the darkest of his teenage years, died alone and rejected. Ridiculous accusations that prompted such ending left James incredulous and furious, the heat of his anger never completely leaving him in the years that followed.

It is impossible to escape the past, his mentor’s suicide and the events that lead to it still very much on his mind. The fate has given him the rare opportunity to finally settle the scores. Avenging Steve Masden’s death is simply too tempting to be ignored.

Emily Beggins knows right away that something isn’t right about her stepsister’s mysterious fiancé. He might well be the most handsome and charming man she has ever met, but there is a certain icy resolve in his eyes that frightens her witless. Behind the impeccable façade and lethal smile, she senses something dark and dangerous. Something that shouldn’t really be there…

Loyalty has always been a big part of her character, even though her life with her stepmother and stepsister had proven far more challenging and difficult than she had ever anticipated. They share enough memories and dirty secrets to bind them together with the invisible thread of guilt and obligations. Saving Sophie from the unknown disaster leaves Emily no choice but to confront the man who had managed to capture her stepsister’s heart in a span of mere days.

Only James isn’t ready to play fair, one sweep of his hand pushing aside any hopes she might have for a happy ending. He knows too much and cares too little to have any sympathy for her or her family.

She has to play by his rules, each step taking her deeper and deeper into his world. Soon it becomes her world too and the lines between black and white blur, nothing certain any longer.

As time goes by the question of how to survive being around James becomes replaced by another, more urgent one.

How will she ever live without him?