This week Ann Jacobs is here to tell us about her Courthouse Connections series! ~NJ
Courthouse Connections—a series of steamy romances
between larger-than-life heroes and heroines, set in a busy city on Florida’s
west coast (my home town).
The series, now up to eight books, the latest of which
will come out soon, began years ago, with a bad-boy hero/criminal defense
attorney who wouldn’t get off my mind--and an idealistic heroine who believed
he was evil incarnate but couldn’t resist him. That book was In His Own Defense.
It spawned seven more books, so far. FRAMED, the latest, finds that first hero
defending the estranged wife of a murdered politician, who just happens to be
the girlfriend of his partner, the firm’s rainmaker. Lanie is innocent, of
course—but for a while, it’s touch and go, as details of her affair with JD
goes public—and years-old secrets come to light.
FRAMED… it’s hot, it’s romantic suspense, it’s look
into how three people’s shameful secrets can come back to haunt them, but also
of how love can triumph in the end. It’s a book that was a long time coming, a
story I’m very excited about! I hope readers will love it, too.
With luck, FRAMED should be released early next month.
Look on my website for pre-order and release
information and buy links, or keep up with me on Facebook or Twitter.
Here’s a short excerpt from FRAMED. It’s the first
time the hero and heroine connect:
Everybody seemed to have paired off after the morning
session, most of the lawyers combining a weekend of continuing education at
this luxurious beach resort on Key West with a mini-vacation with their
families or significant others.
Lanie Winstead sighed. She still had a husband,
legally speaking, even though they’d been separated for over a year. That
didn’t mean, though, that she’d come down here looking for a new significant
other.
The marriage that had begun with her foolish hope that
it might grow into a love match had been over long before she’d moved out of
Wayne’s house and into her own apartment. Adrift, on the cusp of hitting
thirty, she had no immediately pending cases at the Tampa satellite office of
Wayne’s firm. She’d signed up for this continuing education seminar primarily
to occupy time while fulfilling the Florida Bar’s continuing education
requirements.
Over a year ago, Wayne had given his blessing for her
to go her own way while he went his, but she hadn’t taken him up on the
invitation. Lonely in this subtropical paradise, she envied the couples around
her, whose happiness they seemed to take for granted.
Alone. That’s how she felt now, but it wasn’t all that
much different from the way she’d been before the separation, envied for being
married to the popular state senator. All the time she’d felt trapped, forced
to take care that no one would guess they lived separate lives except for the
public moments they shared in the limelight of political rallies and other
media events.
Restless, she finished the fruity drink she’d been
sipping and headed out for a walk along the beach. Unlike some of the
unescorted women she’d talked with during breaks in the seminar schedule, she
hadn’t come alone to troll for a bedmate. Not that she couldn’t, of course. Even
before she’d moved out and asked Wayne for a divorce, they’d both been free to
enjoy sex whenever, however and, wherever they chose—as long as they did it
discreetly.
When she stepped onto the long pier that jutted out
into the Gulf of Mexico, she spotted another solitary soul who’d escaped temporarily
from the seminars. She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was that had
attracted her attention to the big, dark-haired lawyer who looked more like an
NFL player than the successful attorney he was. For whatever reason, though, he
attracted her. Not only had JD Ackerman just given the lecture on torts she’d
attended earlier in the day, Lanie had met the partner in the prestigious Tampa
firm of Winston, Roe and Associates when they’d been introduced a couple of
years ago during a fundraiser for one of Wayne’s reelection campaigns.
Wayne had mentioned the guy being a rainmaker—a torts
specialist whose claim to fame was a recent multi-billion-dollar class action
settlement he’d exacted from a tire company whose executives had cut too many
corners and sold defective products to unfortunate drivers.
She couldn’t deny that an aura of power surrounded
Ackerman He even looked the part—very tall and muscular, like a guy nobody
would mess with. No one could miss picking him out of a crowd, because he had
to be at least six-six, a head taller than most men—and almost all women.
The man exuded competence, but he also had way more
than his share of sex appeal. The overall package—dark-brown hair, chiseled
features, and the way he’d filled out his obviously custom-tailored suit at the
lecture she’d attended earlier—made him a bona fide chick magnet. Lanie had
been tempted to walk up to him and run her fingers through that slightly
mussed, wavy hair, but of course she hadn’t done it.
What drew her to him most now, though, was the
shuttered expression in eyes that reminded her of rich, dark chocolate. She
looked with envy at a fringe of eyelashes women would die to have for
themselves as she moved closer to the spot where he stood. He drew her as if
she were metal and he a magnet too strong to withstand.
It wasn’t just that he looked good enough to devour
whole, casually dressed as he was now in khaki shorts and a pale T-shirt. The
look of sadness in his eyes made her want to gather him in her arms, comfort
him, and wipe away the quiet despair that shadowed his expression.
Lanie stopped beside him at the pier railing and
looked out over the calm, aqua water. A few yards away, a pair of bottle-nosed
dolphins cavorted in the water, apparently oblivious to the gentle waves, the
Gulf tide’s ebb and flow. A pelican swooped across the surface of the water,
dived, and came up with a good-sized fish.
Ackerman turned away from the water and looked at her
as though he’d just noticed he was no longer alone. “You’re Elaine Winstead,
aren’t you? I noticed you at my lecture on torts this morning.”
When he spoke, the deep, compelling tone of his voice
made her glance up and meet his gaze. She thought she detected a slight easing
of whatever it was that had been making him seem so sad, perhaps even the
beginnings of a healthy interest in her as a woman. “Yes. My name is Elaine,
but everybody calls me Lanie. You’re JD Ackerman. I believe we met at a
political event a while back.”
“You’re right. I’m surprised the senator didn’t join you
this weekend. It’s a great place to bring a spouse—almost like a tropical
honeymoon paradise.”
Yes, she imagined it was for most couples, but she and
Wayne had never teamed up for events that didn’t have political significance.
When they’d spent time relaxing together, it had always been to make a point of
togetherness for his constituents. “Wayne and I have been separated for over a
year now, but don’t apologize for not knowing. We’ve tried to keep the split quiet until the
divorce is finalized.”
“I’m sorry. Losing a loved one is difficult, however
that loss occurs.” He paused, as though he were trying to decide whether he
wanted to continue their conversation. “Would you like to join me for a walk
along the beach?” he finally asked, his tone a little hesitant.
“I’d like that.” She glanced at his left hand, saw the
telltale pale circle on his finger that said louder than words that he’d worn a
ring there for a long time and removed it very recently. “I take it you came
here alone, too.”
“I do pretty much everything by myself these days. My
wife died a little over a year ago. We weren’t blessed with children.” His
expression turned bleak, though he obviously tried to mask the pain that
accompanied his comment.
She yearned to reach out and touch him, but she looked
up at him instead. “God, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
He turned to her and rested both hands on her
shoulders. “Please don’t apologize. When I saw you walking along the pier
looking a little bit lost, I felt something other than grief for the first time
since Miriam passed away. Before I spotted you, I’d been thinking how it would
feel to dive into the water, swim and swim and swim until I couldn’t go any
farther—wondering how it would feel to let the Gulf claim me.”
“You were thinking of joining your wife?” Lanie
couldn’t believe that. Not really. JD was too strong, too vibrant…
“No. Not that. I don’t believe in resurrection or life
after death, not really. I was thinking more about—just ending a life I’d begun
to believe was no longer worth living. Does that shock you?”
She’d never known love like he must have lost. To be
honest, she’d never known love at all except the silent devotion of the two felines
Wayne had always complained that she treated like children. For long moments she
held JD’s solemn gaze, trying to formulate an honest reply.
“Yes. No. I don’t know, JD. I’m very glad I came
along, though, if me running into you has helped make you want to stick
around.” She tried for a light tone as she twisted the engagement and wedding
rings Wayne had insisted she keep. The thought hit Lanie that she had nothing
other than casual friendship and perhaps the use of her body to drive away the
pain that still was evident in the faraway look on JD’s handsome face.
Not now, in any case.
“It did. How about that walk? I’m game if you are.” He
dropped his hands off her shoulders and took her right hand in his left as he
adjusted his long stride to accommodate her shorter one.
