Title Crushed Promises
Author Linda Trout
Genre Romantic Suspense
Publisher The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb
Rebecca Walker loves searching for lost treasure but puts her plans on hold to fulfill her sister’s dying wish of performing on Broadway. She returns home when her father has a severe stroke. While there, she’s determined to achieve her father's lifelong quest for hidden Confederate gold, rumored to be buried nearby.
Former army ranger Roy Maddox blames the accident that took his fiancee's life on her sister, Rebecca. Now Rebecca is back, pretending to care about the father she left behind to pursue her dreams. Despite their differences, they’re drawn to each other.
Will they locate and retrieve the gold, or will they be blind-sided by an outside force who is intent on taking the treasure, destroying them both?
Excerpt
Once on the road, Becca’s mind drifted from the current scenery of the Ozark Mountains with the rock formations and multitude of trees, to Manhattan. Lindsey would have loved the city. The noise, the cramped apartments, the crowds, the smells, the lack of open spaces. It all would have been right up her alley. Especially the numerous theaters and the variety of plays and shows. Despite the fact she had been afraid to go alone, Lindsey would have thrived in the city, adapting quickly and blending right in.
Becca shook her head and refocused on her driving. Slowing for the next curve, bright lights suddenly flashed in her rearview mirror. She would’ve sworn no one was behind her, yet a vehicle, a large pickup from the height of the lights, was bearing down on her. Fast. Surely they weren’t going to pass her on a curve…on this curve. But the vehicle wasn’t pulling into the other lane. Instead, it kept coming directly at her! She sped up a little, but was afraid to go any faster. As if in slow motion, she tightened her fingers on the steering wheel. Any moment now the truck would hit her.
And she would be propelled into the same ditch where her sister’s life ended.
Heart pounding, she flashed back to that night and the sounds of crunching metal, the shattering glass, the piercing scream of her sister from the wreck at this exact spot.
When the jolt happened, she wasn’t as prepared as she’d thought and it pitched her head forward, then back against the headrest as the impact knocked the air from her lungs. Terror roared through her body as the truck backed off, then came up fast. This time she made sure she had a firmer grip on the wheel. She tried to keep her eyes on the road, but kept looking back. To watch the truck as it hit her again.
Closer to the curve, her right front tire dropped off the pavement and she screamed. Determined to maintain control, she fought the car as the loose gravel tugged on the tire, pulling the car closer to the deep ravine. The truck swerved into the other lane. She was terrified the vehicle would ram her from the side, ensuring she’d go over the edge. Instead, they sped past. All she got was a glimpse of a dark vehicle with tinted windows.
Her car bumped over the uneven shoulder. Fighting the steering wheel, she yanked hard to get the tires back on the pavement. She over-corrected and found herself headed for the solid rock hill on the other side of the road. At the last minute she managed to get back in her own lane. Oh, dear Lord, someone tried to run me off the road. The words careened around in her brain in time with her thudding heart.
She slowed down, and a short distance away pulled onto a side road, threw the car into park, and lowered her head to the steering wheel. They deliberately rammed me. Not once, but twice! Why? Her heart pounded against her chest as her hands shook. Had they meant to run her off the road, or just scare her? If the latter, they’d succeeded. Big time.
Her fear gradually morphed into anger. The longer she sat there, the angrier she became. Shifting the car into drive, she spun out, intent on catching whoever was responsible. At the very least she wanted a tag number.
She finally thought to call 9-1-1 but couldn’t take her hands off the wheel to dig the phone out of her purse. Driving as fast as possible on the winding road, she still didn’t catch them. She gave up and headed home. She’d call the police and report the incident when she got there.
When she drove down the lane to Dad’s house, her hands started to shake. Looking suspiciously like the vehicle that hit her, a large black truck sat next to her dad’s pickup. Before she had a chance to react further, a man came from the side of the house headed toward the barn. Fear rippled up her spine. Time for her to leave. Then she recognized him.
Roy.
She climbed from her car and headed toward him. He walked as if he had every right to be there. As if he owned the place. “Hey! What are you doing here?”
He stopped and faced her, his brows furrowed, his back ramrod stiff. “Pardon me?”
“I asked what you’re doing on my father’s farm after dark?”
“Not that I owe you any explanation, but feeding the calves.”
“Don’t give me that! I haven’t been gone that long. You turn them out with their mothers.”
He gave her a dead-pan face that indicated she was an idiot. “They’re orphans.”
“What?” She drew back, then paused as his words sunk in. Good grief, she was an idiot. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. They have to be bottle fed.”
He started to turn away from her when the last fifteen minutes caught up with her and she began to shake violently. Shoot. Why couldn’t she get a grip on herself? The last thing she wanted to do was fall apart in front of Roy Maddox. But he saw.
“Hey. Sorry I scared you. I can announce my presence from now on if you want.” He didn’t sound sorry at all, but at least he apologized.
She crossed her arms over her chest to steady her racing heartbeat and shook her head. “No, it—it isn’t that. Someone tried to run me off the road a few minutes ago. Someone driving a truck a lot like yours hit me from behind a couple times before driving off.”
“Run you off the road?” He looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“What I said. They almost succeeded, too.” Horrified to show weakness of any kind, she found her knees giving way, and she crumpled to the ground.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/2s3kc4a6
Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/ycyrjsbw
Author Biography
An Award-Winning and Amazon paid Kindle sales top 25 Bestselling author, Oklahoma native Linda Trout loves Happily-Ever-Afters. When she isn’t helping her husband remodel their home, she’s outside trying to tame a small portion of their ten-acres (a losing battle). Between her numerous cats, who think they have to help her write, and traveling to various parts of the country, she’s working on her next novel.
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