Title: Thief Of The Heart
Author: Rena Koontz
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Book Blurb:
From the moment he saw Jennifer Roberts, his instinct was to protect her. But she wanted nothing to do with him. In fact, the last thing Jennifer wanted to do that Saturday afternoon was call the police. She didn’t trust them. She’d fallen hard for a cop—the exact person every child is told to run to for safety—and he betrayed her and broke her heart. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. But she has no choice when she discovers her apartment has been broken into and five simple words turn her world upside down: “You called for the police?”
When blond-haired, blue-eyed Max Domer arrives he is ready to protect and serve. It is his motto. It will be her downfall. Max is ready to leave Center City behind, cut all ties and make a fresh start as a detective on the West Coast. There is nothing unusual about the burglary call he catches, except that the woman is stunning and, for some reason, antagonistic toward police. But she’s caught in someone’s crosshairs—her car is stolen, her father dies, and murder comes to her doorstep—and, like it or not, she needs his help.
While Max is on the trail of a master crime ring, the real thief sets about stealing his heart. And Jennifer, who innocently lets her guard down, learns she can’t judge a man by his uniform. They are polar opposites destined to stand together and fight for their future.
Excerpt:
Jennifer Roberts’ life changed on a sweltering Saturday afternoon in July while performing an ordinary household chore that tore a hole in the sanctuary of her world.
The fissure feels irreparable. The jolt is daunting.
The cause—unthinkable.
All of her valuable jewelry, the gems she safely tucked in between her panties and camisoles, was gone. Stolen. Someone rummaged through her underwear drawer, reaching all the way to the back where she kept the real gems concealed in a red velvet jewelry box, camouflaged by the lingerie she cleverly folded and stacked around it.
Her mother’s ring. The cluster of tiny rubies and diamonds set in a white-gold triangle. Her birthstone. The onyx. The angel’s wing necklace.
Her stomach revolted and she ran to the bathroom, hand pressed against her mouth, to discard her breakfast. A stranger had invaded her home. Ignored her privacy. Robbed her of the sense of security her cozy one-bedroom apartment once provided.
She knelt beside the toilet, swiped sweat from her forehead and fought the urge to cry. When? Who? Why?
To her knowledge, she had no enemies. She lived a boring life. All work and no play and Jennifer Roberts was indeed a dull girl. Long hours at the office speaking with people already irritated by confusing insurance claims who relied on her, a claims adjuster, for a successful outcome. These days, they were hours longer than necessary spent chatting with strangers to avoid the silence of these apartment walls and lessen the pain of heartbreak one day—one heartbeat—at a time.
She carved out time for her father every weekend, whether it was a full Friday to Sunday stay or, like today, Saturday night into Sunday. Sundays always belonged to him for church and their traditional Italian dinner. She helped ease his grief and mend his own broken heart. They could chair a lonely-hearts club. He, grieving his wife of more than forty-five years, and her mother’s death compounding her sense of loss and betrayal by a man she loved.
She was over Jimmy, or at least she would be in time. But she’d never forgive herself for being so naïve. She’d been so enamored, so trusting. So blind. A full year of lies that everyone but she recognized. He’d deceived her about his feelings, his intentions, his dreams for a future with her, and taken the one thing she’d pledged to protect. The lesson was the hardest of her life, but she’d never let herself be used like that again.
In reality, Jimmy may have been a liar, but he wasn’t a thief.
So, who robbed her?
And when? Yesterday? Last week? When had she last worn any of those jewels? The lack of a social life also negated the need to dress up and go out. A thief could easily track her comings and goings. Weekdays she drove out of the apartment complex by seven each morning and headed to the insurance office. She didn’t roll back in until at least seven or later on nights when she taught her swim classes.
Three nights a week she spent time at the Y with her “fish kids,” the classes of youngsters she taught to swim. They were a bright light in the otherwise dark tunnel of her life with their toothless grins and corny knock-knock jokes. Thinking about them even now lightened her mood for the briefest of moments.
No one at the YMCA meant her any harm.
Plus she was gone on weekends. She’d never thought about it before, but her schedule rarely varied. Anyone paying attention knew when she came and went.
She rose from the tile floor, wiped her mouth and brushed her teeth. Her mirrored reflection questioned her next move. It wouldn’t hurt to check the drawer again. Maybe she’d imagined the heart-shaped velvet box was missing. Maybe it shifted to the other side and became entangled in her lingerie. Maybe this was all a bad dream.
She yanked the drawer from its cubbyhole and dumped the contents on top of her bed. One by one, she methodically folded and replaced each item inside its wooden boundaries, hoping against hope that one errant item of lingerie somehow obscured the valuables. As the pile diminished, so did her hope. The jewelry box wasn’t there.
Just to be certain, Jennifer searched each of the six dresser drawers, shoving aside T-shirts and tank tops and rearranging a jumble of cosmetics. Nothing.
She plunked down on the bed and dropped her head in her hands. She could call the landlord and report the break-in, but he would insist she call the police. And that was one thing she didn’t want to do.
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What makes your featured book a must-read?
This author knows first-hand the terror of burglars who destroy the sanctity of one’s home and then lurk in the shadows with more devious intentions. It’s not all fiction.
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Open Internationally.
Runs November 12 – November 21, 2024.
Winner will be drawn on November 22, 2024.
Author Biography:
Rena Koontz is an award-winning author who began her career as a newspaper journalist and was recognized by the Associated Press for excellence in reporting. She draws from her street experience to write award-winning, edge-of-your-seat suspense novels. She’s a multi-year award winner with the Florida Authors and Publishers Association. Rena writes about real events she covered as a news reporter in Pittsburgh, PA. and Cleveland, OH., weaving them into intriguing love stories. She never reveals where the facts stop and the fiction begins. Her passions are her husband and her dog. Not necessarily in that order.
Social Media Links:
Website: www.renakoontz.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/RenaKoontz
TikTok: Author_RenaKoontz
Instagram: @rena_koontz