Possess (Shamed #2) by Laura Marie Altom - Blog Tour & Giveaway

Possess
Shamed # 2

By: Laura Marie Altom

Releasing December 23^rd, 2014

Loveswept

Ella Patton and Liam Stone return in the breathtaking conclusion to the steamy, contentious love affair that began in Control.

Will you marry me? Those four little words should be a dream come true. But for Ella Patton, they’re the start of a waking nightmare. For despite the insatiable desire she feels for Liam Stone, marriage is out of the question—divorcing her abusive husband, Blaine, would be too dangerous to even contemplate. Besides, Ella couldn’t ask for anything more than the life she and Liam share: a scalding hot passion that’s totally outside the bounds of “I do.”

Liam has hit a brick wall. His fortune can’t buy Ella’s freedom from the oppressive monster the law recognizes as her husband. Blaine will take any opportunity to bring Ella back under his authority, no doubt exacting a terrible revenge as punishment for nearly slipping away. But Liam has a force greater than money and influence on his side: Ella’s love. She sparks his most unstoppable determination—and ignites pleasures that no man should be able to possess.

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(from Chapter 1: Liam)

“Just like that? You’re breaking your promise?”

I arched my head back and sighed.

“Funny, how when you said you’d never leave me, I trusted you. Now, I know you’re no different from anyone else I’ve ever loved.”

She started walking, tottering on the packed dirt road, and I let her.

I literally felt frozen. What had she expected? How was I supposed to react upon learning she was still married to a guy twisted enough to have carved a message on her tits? He was fucked. I was fucked. Hell, we were all fucked.

Her crystal-coated gown caught the moonlight.

When she tripped, she fell like a lightning bug stripped of her wings.

I could no more leave her sitting alone and crying in the dirt than I could pretend I’d soon forget her. How could I, when she’d become part of me?

I jogged her way, kneeling alongside her. “I’m sorry. But finding out you’re still legally tied to a monster? It’s not okay.”

She nodded. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know, but realistically, what did you think would happen? Where did you think we were headed?”

“I don’t know—I just thought we were together. Why can’t we be a couple without marriage? Why is it even a big deal? You said you don’t commit.”

True. Which was exactly why this was a huge deal—because she’d turned me upside down and inside out and I couldn’t stand it. She’d emotionally stripped me naked and raw and here I was, left struggling to find my way—only, she was my way. My everything.

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop. I know you didn’t plan this.” Honestly, I’d never even planned on proposing. But then I’d also never seen myself developing an obsession, and like it or not, that’s what Ella had become. “Not gonna lie—this situation sucks, but it is what it is. Garrett will handle it.” I took her hands, drawing her to her feet. “How’s the ankle?”

“Good,” she said with a grim-faced nod.

“Need me to carry you?”

“I . . . can—walk.” Her words tumbled haphazard like falling leaves. I wasn’t convinced, so I called the driver.

In the moments before the limo returned, I took her left hand, drawing down her glove. With it off, I shoved it in my pants pocket. I unwrapped my jacket from my palm to find my cut had stopped bleeding. I tucked the jacket under my arm, then put Ell’s ring where it belonged. “Here’s how this is going down. We’re going to continue as if this talk never happened. We’re going to enjoy our night—our engagement—and in the morning, Garrett will make your ugly marriage go away.”

The limo approached, washing us in the headlights’ harsh glare.

The driver should have found us in an embrace. Instead, Ell and I stood like strangers. After slipping my ring on her finger, I couldn’t even bring myself to hold her hand. None of this was her fault, so why couldn’t I let it go? Why did my body feel heavy with the sensation of having been duped?

Laura Marie Altom is the author of more than forty books in three different genres. Now that her kids are in college, Altom spends her days writing and chasing after a menagerie of pets: a mini long-haired dachshund named Cocoa, a Yorkie named Daisy, a mutt named Sweet Pea, and Domino—a black-and-white stealth cat she rarely sees. She’s happily married to her college sweetheart (go Hogs!), and when night falls, she steals a few romantic moments for herself with her own hunky cover stud.

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