New book: An Ordinary Hero

Romance
March 2, 2017

It’s been a while since I’ve officially released something: I wrote The Wish (a final part to The Billionaire’s Love Story) in December but this isn’t available to buy and is a gift to my subscribers. But I’ve been working on a new series (more on that in a moment) and I have yet to wrap up the Italian Summer series. You might be pleased to know that the sequel to All That Glitters is almost complete!

Now, about that new book! It’s called An Ordinary Hero it is part of a multi-author collection called Hot Silver Nights which features heroes aged 40 and above. This novella will be released as part of a boxed set for the first 3 months and I’ll release it as a single novella in May 2017.

Here’s the cover for the boxed set – I’ll have a different cover for it when I release it as a single book:

Meghan Summers still hasn’t forgotten her high-school ‘almost romance’ with her teacher ten years ago. When the world around her was crumbling, he was the only one to give her comfort.

But when the past suddenly resurfaces and Lance Turner becomes the newest hero in her city, she wonders if life is giving her a second chance.

Here’s an excerpt for you:

Prologue

10 years earlier…

“He can apply his trigonometry to my triangle any time,” gushed Arla.

“What?” Meg asked, distracted. She checked the answer to her differential equations again.

“Mr. Turner,” sighed her friend. “It should be illegal for any school teacher to be that hot.” Her friend had turned all soft and soppy, capable only of staring at their new teacher. He wasn’t new per se. He’d been here over a year, but he was new to them, and he was now taking them for Math. Meghan ignored her and continued to work through the questions they had been set.

“I can’t concentrate,” moaned Arla, and stretched out, knocking over her pencil sharpener. Because the lid to the small plastic casing wasn’t properly on, the mess of pencil shavings spilled like sand onto her book.

“Now look what you’ve done!” Meghan hissed. Arla could be a real klutz sometimes.

“Sorry.” Arla leaned over and tried to push away the shavings with her fingers but ended up making more of a mess.

“Stop!” Meghan cried, aghast.

“What’s going on in that corner?” Mr. Turner’s sharp rebuke slapped them to attention. They stared at him guiltily as his lake blue eyes pinned them to their seats.

“Well?” He asked, still holding a stick of chalk in his dusty fingers. “Sorry, sir. It won’t happen again,” Meghan replied, since Arla had suddenly become mute.

“What won’t happen again?” Mr. Turner snapped, making her jolt. She’d never heard that tone in his voice before. She’d never given him any reason to be angry with her, ever. Her homework was delivered on time, her grades were perfect and she always answered questions correctly. She was a clever and sensible girl who could do no wrong. Arla was usually the culprit.

Mr. Turner was usually laid back and cool but strict. Young looking, and approachable, students sometimes made the mistake of thinking that they could treat him like one of them, but he’d soon set them straight. He had a quiet and commanding way about him. Not heavy-handed, like the Science teachers, but in his own way. The girl students lusted after him, but lean and wiry, wasn’t her type, and, personally, she couldn’t see the fascination.

Right now, his gaze penetrated deep into her, and for a second it felt as if he could see through her. She opened her mouth, but decided her answer would sound too pathetic. “I want you to collect everyone’s sheets at the end of the lesson,” he said, then turned back and continued to write on the blackboard.

She nodded, and swallowed.

“Don’t forget about the test on Friday!” Mr. Turner shouted, when the end-of-lesson bell rang. Book slammed shit, chair legs scraped across the wooden floor and footsteps shuffled frantically as students herded out.

I’ll wait for you by the lockers,” Arla said, rushing passed Meghan who got up dutifully and collected all the sheets from the now haphazardly aligned desks. She shuffled them into a neat pile and walked over to the teacher’s desk. He’d finished rubbing out the blackboard and when he turned around the light dusting of chalk powder fell like loose lint onto his pale blue checked shirt.

“This is all of them, sir,” she said, placing the pile on his desk.

“Thank you.” She turned to go.

“I didn’t mean to raise my voice,” he said, catching her by surprise. She looked back at him. He had the pile of papers in his hand. “I know it wasn’t your fault.”

She looked at him, but said nothing.

“Your test results,” he said, preventing her further from leaving the classroom. “They’ve been inconsistent lately.”

She held her breath.

“You might want to concentrate on the areas that you’re weak in.”

“Yes, sir.”

Chapter 1

Now…

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and his stomach emptied. He heard the screams, shrill, blood-curdling, and rushed around the corner. A student sprinted towards him, her terror-filled eyes bulging. Unblinking. As she bolted towards him, everything else around him slowed down. It was like watching an 8mm movie with the projector playing up and running in slow motion. She screamed again, one long, ear-splitting scream.

And that was when he saw the shooter behind her. His face was calm, with almost a smile. But a smile didn’t belong here. He looked familiar, too, and walked quickly, not running, but moving with serious intent.

He pointed his gun at the girl, and Lance sprinted forward. Time slowed, almost stopped, as she lunged towards him. He grabbed her and spun her around, shielding her body with his.

A sound, small like a firecracker sounded around his ears, and then his shoulder cracked into two, as if a meat cleaver had sliced clean through it.