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Against the Tide
The Brodies of Alaska #3
The Brodies of Alaska #3
By: Kat Martin
Releasing May 26, 2015
Zebra
Secrets—and safety—melt under a midnight sun…
Liv Chandler is
running for her life, and the cops haven’t been able to do a thing to help. But
there’s one man who makes her feel safe, no matter what…rugged charter boat
captain Rafe Brodie.
To Rafe, Liv is a
beautiful mystery, one he can’t ignore. He means to unearth her secrets, and in
the process, if luck is on his side, maybe the spark between them will ignite.
But Liv’s past is more
dangerous than Rafe could guess, and when his first mate turns up dead, she
fears that she’s next. That there’s something else coming she can’t see. That
even Rafe and the remote village of Valdez, Alaska can’t protect her forever…
Rafe leaned back in the booth as Olivia
walked away. Beneath her light blue apron, she wore black leggings under a
black skirt, and a black turtleneck sweater. She wore black a lot, he’d
noticed, and with her heavy, dark hair, pale complexion, and striking features,
it suited her.
The café was beginning to fill with
customers, both locals and the first of the tourist crowd. Besides deep-sea
fishing, the area offered helicopter sightseeing, wildlife cruises, glacier
cruises, kayaking, hiking, camping, and a jillion other things visitors thought
up to entertain themselves in a place so rich in natural beauty.
By the first of May, as winter slid into
spring, the local hotel and restaurant businesses jump-started into high gear.
So did Rafe’s company, Great Alaska Charters.
His fleet was composed of a
thirty-two-foot Armstrong; a Glacier Craft thirty-five; and his
thirty-eight-foot Mac, all of which worked from April through October,
depending on the weather. Scotty had made a place for himself in the company,
had become an important part of the business, and it was going to be damned
hard to replace him.
Scott Ferris had become Rafe’s right-hand
man, and more than that, a very good friend. There was no easy way to lessen
the personal loss Rafe felt at Scott’s death. He needed to go see Cassie, find
out if there was anything he could do to help her get through her grief.
Rafe knew from experience it was going to
take a helluva long time for her to heal.
He looked over at the tall, slender woman
moving around the café. She was the real reason he had come to the Pelican this
morning. Just watching her eased some of the tightness in his chest. Trim and
lithe, she moved like a dancer, in more of a glide than a pattern of steps, so
light on her feet she was there one moment, then she wasn’t.
With her high cheekbones, wide forehead,
and unusual gray eyes, Olivia was a beautiful woman. Her chestnut hair, twisted
into a knot at the nape of her neck, glinted with vibrant highlights. By
midmorning, a few strands escaped around her face, softening the severe
appearance she seemed determined to maintain.
And there was that mouth. Lipstick was
the only real makeup she wore, a glossy dark red on lips so plump and perfectly
curved they could have been in a magazine ad. That mouth made him think of
dirty sex and taking her to bed, or anywhere else he could have her.
Maybe she could read his mind; maybe she
knew what he was thinking and that was the reason she never waited on him. And
though she was always polite, she spoke tohim only if she had to and rarely by
name.
For the first couple of months after
she’d taken over the business, he’d figured she was just too busy to notice
him. Besides, he was still dating Sally, and he wasn’t the kind of guy who
cheated on a woman he was involved with.
Four months ago, Sally had moved on, and
Rafe had discovered he was glad. He cared for Sally Henderson, but he wasn’t in
love, never had been. He’d told her from the start he wasn’t interested in
marriage. At the time, she’d convinced him she wasn’t either. But relationships
changed, and Sally was ready to settle down.
Sally was ready. Rafe wasn’t.
It wasn’t until after they’d parted that
he started to take an interest in Olivia Chandler. Besides her striking looks
and porn-star mouth, there was just something about her, something that began
to intrigue him. She was always friendly to the other customers, though
according to Nell, she had no close friends outside the people she worked with,
and no family in the area that anyone knew of.
At first he’d told himself he just wasn’t
the lady’s type, but the more she ignored him, the more intrigued he became.
She rarely went to the local pub, he discovered, just kept mostly to herself in
the apartment she lived in above the café. She was a runner, he knew, having
seen her jogging early in the mornings with the big, black-and-brown German
shepherd she called Khan.
Every time he went into the Pelican,
which was often since he was a bachelor and a lousy cook, he watched her, and
eventually a funny thing happened. Over the days and weeks that passed, Rafe
became more and more certain Olivia Chandler wasn’t avoiding him because she
wasn’t attracted to him.
She was avoiding him because she was.
Liv Chandler was a beautiful mystery, one
Rafe no longer intended to ignore. He meant to unearth her secrets, and in the
process, if luck was on his side, maybe he’d discover the fierce attraction he
felt for her was returned in equal measure.
Rafe damned well hoped so.
Rising from the booth, he tossed a dollar
bill on the table for the waitresses’ tip jar and started for the door. Olivia
Chandler was a mystery he meant to solve.
But another mystery needed solving first.
His jaw hardened. Rafe wasn’t about to
let the man who murdered one of his best friends go unpunished.
Whatever it took, he was going to see
justice done.
There are plenty of secrets and lies to keep you wondering how it was all going to play out, even though as the reader you know who the players are. The chemistry between Rafe and Liv is great and the way their relationship progresses is believable. Both Rafe and Liv are likeable characters from the start and remain likeable through the end. As with all small town stories, they have friends and family to help them along the way. Although this is the third book in the series, it can be read as a standalone. Overall, a solid romantic suspense, look forward to the next Brodie finding love when least expected.
ARC via NetGalley
Kat Martin is the New York Times bestselling author
of more than sixty books across multiple genres. Sixteen million copies are in
print and she has been published in twenty-one foreign countries, including
Japan, France, Argentina, Greece, China, and Spain. Her books have been
nominated for the prestigious RITA award and won both the Lifetime Achievement and
Reviewer’s Choice Awards from RT Book Reviews.
A resident of Missoula, Montana, Kat is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. She and her author husband, L.J. Martin, spend their winters in Ventura, California. She is currently writing her next Romantic Suspense. Visit Kat at www.katmartin.com
A resident of Missoula, Montana, Kat is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. She and her author husband, L.J. Martin, spend their winters in Ventura, California. She is currently writing her next Romantic Suspense. Visit Kat at www.katmartin.com
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