Author Spotlight - Excerpt from Lost Then Found

Thanks so much for supporting Christina this week while she's been in the spotlight. She's offering a giveaway = a PDF copy of "Lost then Found." Post a comment on the blog today, Saturday, and Sunday and I'll pick one lucky winner out of a hat to win a copy of Christina's novel. The winner will be announced on Monday here on the blog and on the Connections Loop.

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Moderator Steph

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She entered into the small room and Jonas followed, stepping into the dark office. The room had one small window near the top of the wall. A coat of dust blocked out most of the sunshine.

"Thanks for talking to me."

"Hold the thanks." Renee pressed the door closed then turned to face him. Renee jabbed a finger toward a plush chair across the room. "Sit."

Without a word, Jonas complied.

Sweat coated her hands and her stomach clenched. Give her a screaming, profanity-spewing ex-husband of one of her clients instead of an indifferent and calm Jonas Knight. To hide the tremble wanting to buckle her knees, she slid onto the desk and thumped her heels against the marred wooden legs of the hand-me-down furniture.

"All I want to do is help you." Jonas leaned forward, decreasing their distance.

"I can handle a man like Howard." She scooted back a few inches. "And I did. I don't need you showing up here putting my staff and my clients in danger. What if he followed you again? I thought you were better than that." The baiting words flowed from her before thought stopped the spitefulness.

Blankness filled his gray eyes. Jonas steepled his fingers and pressed them against his lips. Renee had always assumed the lack of readable emotions came from being a top-notch skip tracer, not an ingrained personality trait. She learned otherwise, discovering love couldn't...and wouldn't...change it.

She pressed her hands onto the wooden top to stave off the tremor building in her body. "I have no information for you. I want you to stop harassing me. Leading people to me."

His brows rose. "Little dramatic, aren't you? This is not harassment. This is one professional coming to talk to another professional about a common case."

"We have nothing in common."

A hint of an unreadable emotion jumped in his eyes. "We have a lot in common. Denying it doesn't change the fact."

Something fluttered in her heart, and she refused to acknowledge it enough to define it. "We're not here to talk about us."

Jonas settled into the chair and rested one jean-clad leg on top of the other. "Aren't we? Isn't this whole issue about us?"

Renee clenched her hands, knuckles jamming into the desk. Pinpricks of pain traveled up her arms. Why did Jonas turn everything into a battle? "Not on my end. Is it on yours?"

A smile inched up the corners of Jonas' mouth. Her heart fluttered. His smile always affected her. The first time she saw it, he stood in front of the classroom listing his credentials. The grin grabbed her and reeled her in. She focused on the shape of his mouth rather than the words coming out of it. The paper in front of her remained blank, and she had to take that particular seminar again. The next time, she chose a different instructor as the handsome, renegade Jonas Knight distracted her attention and captured her heart.

In three months, he swept her off her feet and to the altar. Her heart had never known such happiness. A memory of her sister's funeral trickled into her mind. Or pain. Jonas had stood beside her, arms crossed, staring into the distance without a flicker of emotion on his face or in his eyes. Renee had needed the feel of his arms around her, to lean on him and gather strength, but Jonas denied her comfort that day. He closed himself off to her, to her parents, to Alex. Her husband turned himself into a stranger the day she needed him most.