Thursday, February 1, 2018

Cover Reveal - Defying Him by Zoe Blake + Excerpt!



Defying his command could be deadly. Defying Him by Zoe Blake is coming soon on February 27th!

Title: Defying Him 
Author: Zoe Blake 
Genre: Dark Romance
Release Date: February 27, 2018
Defying his command could be deadly.

Someone or something is terrorizing the military academy at Buzzards Bay. Investigative journalist Phoebe Wilson is determined to get to the bottom of it, and the last thing she is going to do is let some domineering Marine and his forceful attraction stand in her way.

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Lawson will accept no defiance…even from a beautiful, meddling female. The harder Phoebe fights him, the more determined Michael becomes to bend her to his will.

He knows Phoebe is hiding something and he will use any means necessary to get to the truth.

Warning: This book is edgy, dark and dirty. If the possibility of having your boundaries tested does not appeal to you, then please do not purchase.



Chapter One  

 Hush now, Phoebe, do not you fear Never mind, Phoebe, the Mad Monk is near  

The sickly sweet sing-song voice echoed around her empty bedchamber. Phoebe’s mouth opened, the lower lip trembling, a macabre pantomime of a silent scream. Fear kept her immobile.  

A fear so intense it struck straight through, making her very bones feel brittle and weak. A cold sweat broke out over her brow as she searched the darkness in vain, trying to peer past the moving shadows. Every outline suspect. Every hint of sound, real or imagined, a cry of alarm, but there was nothing. 

Through the distorted glass of her window she could see the burnt orange and crimson glow from the dance of fire as black cloaked figures ran about with torches, the earlier torrential rain doing nothing to dampen the morbid celebration.  

Casting a glance to her left, she could see a faint halo of light surrounding the cracks of the door, through it was the dark outline of a heavy bolt. The door was locked tight. Of course, someone had managed to get into her locked rooms before this. 

It had been a warning. A warning to stay away, to leave this place. A warning she was putting herself in danger. A warning she had ignored. It was a small, single room chamber, just enough space for a bed, desk and cozy chair in the corner. 

Barely larger than a student’s dorm room. Surely she would know if someone had entered the chamber. Leaning over, she flicked the switch to the dome ceiling light. Phoebe both craved the security the brightness would bring and dreaded what it might show.  

Nothing happened. Darkness still reigned. She felt a fresh wave of terror. It took Phoebe a moment to recall she had removed the light bulb herself earlier in case he had tried to search her room looking for her.  

She wanted the darkness to shield her, to hide her from his prying, intense gaze but now she wondered what else the darkness was hiding. Had someone else learned of her true purpose for being there? Learned about the lies she told to get to the truth? 

Again she scanned the darkness. The chamber was silent and still save for the distant shouts and cries from those outside. Maybe she just imagined it?  

Her nerves were already strung tight from hiding from him…from lying to him. It only made sense her imagination would lean towards the dark and forbidding, that her mind would conjure up monsters under the bed and a mad monk specter to go bump in the night.  

Hush now, Phoebe, do not you fear Never mind, Phoebe, the Mad Monk is near  

The raspy voice was definitely coming from inside her bedchamber. Phoebe launched herself at the door, throwing the bolt, she ran into the hallway. She was halfway down the long corridor before the chill of the flagstone seeped through her thin socks. 

In her haste, she had not even grabbed her boots. Throwing a nervous look over her shoulder, the corridor remained empty. The darkness broken by shafts of weak, blood-stained light. 

Its source a row of tall, cathedral windows along one wall, in the center of each, a ruby Red Cross of Saint John, a remnant from the school’s monastic past. 

A luminous full moon shown through each cross, bathing the space in an eerie red glow. Keeping an eye on the empty corridor, Phoebe reached into her back pocket for her phone. Needing a meager sense of safety, she leaned against the cold stone wall, protecting her back.  

She pressed the lower button and waited for the screen to come to life. No bars. The earlier storm must have knocked out what passed for cell service in this remote area. Phoebe didn’t even know who she would call.  

The police? Would they even dare to cross the gates onto the property? Probably not. Worse. They would probably just call him and expect him to handle the situation. 

At that very moment, she wasn’t certain what she was more afraid of…the possible murderer haunting her…or his wrath when he found out she had disobeyed him. One thing was for certain, she needed to keep moving.  

Needed to find someplace to hide. Someplace no one would think to look for her. For a brief moment, she wondered if she dared to return to her chamber for her boots but then thought better of it. She would go to the gymnasium. 

The locker room would be a bright open space and perhaps she could borrow a pair of shoes from one of the open lockers. With at least an immediate plan in place, Phoebe headed off down the corridor, feeling more confident the further she got away from the twisted rhyme and whoever was singing it. 

Stopping before a somber looking portrait of some old man in a white wig who seemed to be staring down at her in disapproval, Phoebe tried to remember where the gym was in the labyrinth of old hallways and buildings.

The moment’s distraction cost her dear. A strong arm wrapped around her middle as a large hand covered her mouth, stifling any hope of a scream for help. The hard, unrelenting form pressed along her back radiated masculine strength.  

Phoebe kicked out as her nails clawed at the hand pressing against her lips. Desperate to escape, she tried twisting and turning her body.  

The band of muscle wrapped tightly across her stomach squeezed harder, pressing painfully into her ribs, cutting off her air. Wrenching her head to one side, Phoebe tried to break his grasp.  

Her stockinged toes scraped along the flagstone for purchase as with his superior height he easily lifted her off her feet. Still she fought. Then she heard a deep, throated chuckle. 

Warm lips skimmed the shell of her left ear. She could feel the faint touch of his breath along the exposed delicate skin of her neck. Inhaling precious air through her nose, she caught the spicy scent of his cologne.  

I warned you what would happen if you defied me, princess. Phoebe’s bright green eyes grew wide at the darkly whispered threat cloaked in an endearment. Her pleas were muffled nonsense from beneath his hand. 

Already light headed from her fevered gasps for breath, she failed to fight when he shifted his grasp to effortlessly lift her over one powerful shoulder.  

You need to learn that no one…no one…defies my command. She could feel him pivot. Just as he crossed a threshold and slammed the door shut behind them, she reclaimed her voice.

The faint echo of her cry was swallowed by the dark shadows of the cold, uncaring stone corridor. 

 ©Zoe Blake 2018



USA Today and International Bestselling Author in Dark Romance We are all attracted to the forbidden, addicted to the rush we get from reading something naughty. 

We love to lose ourselves in the fantasy. The powerful lord who sweeps the lady away to his remote estate to ravish her. 

The cowboy who takes the sassy city girl over his knee to teach her a lesson. The Scottish laird who prefers to make love in the wild. I write those romantic fantasies. 

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