Hi everyone! I’m so excited to finally see CAPTURE THE NIGHT
coming out—it’s one of those stories that I have had in the back of my mind for
years—in fact, the rough draft for it was written a several years ago and only
just now edited for “public consumption”!
Everything I write is set in Texas or Oklahoma, and this was
no exception. I had to figure out a way to get the Prime Minister of Great
Britain to our “neck of the woods” and what better way to do that than to treat
him to a rodeo? But, of course, he didn’t count on the rogue faction of the
Irish Republican Army seeking him out in America for their own brand of
vengeance!
That’s where our hero, Johnny Logan, and the heroine, Alexa
Bailey, come in. Johnny is a 20-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department,
assigned undercover as extra security for the Prime Minister, Brendan Roberts.
When a bloodbath erupts throughout the luxury hotel, Johnny is wounded and
manages to get away through a serving door beside the kitchen.
Alexa Bailey, who has come to Dallas to celebrate her
one-year divorce anniversary, has made an illicit trip to the rooftop to see
the lights of Dallas at night. She seeks sanctuary in the equipment building on
the rooftop, and that’s where she and Johnny meet—he stumbles in bleeding, and
she (of course!) comes to his aid.
It isn’t long before they discover they are not alone in
their temporary haven on the roof…but is the other occupant friend or foe?
The outcome for everyone involved hinges on the mercurial
temper of Kieran McShane, the leader of the small army of IRA terrorists, and
what he decides to do—culminating with a final showdown between Johnny and
McShane high on the rooftop where the story begins—winner take all. Badly
wounded, Johnny’s chances are slim—but there is no choice for him—and time is
running out.
I hope you will enjoy reading CAPTURE THE NIGHT!
BLURB
Alexa Bailey intends to celebrate
her one-year divorce milestone at the luxurious Riverwind Hotel in Dallas.
Instead, she’s plunged into a deadly hostage situation at the hands of a rogue
faction of the Irish Republican Army led by madman Kieran McShane. The roof of
the hotel is her only escape from the seething danger below.
Johnny Logan is an undercover cop
assigned to protect the visiting British Prime Minister. When McShane takes
over the Riverwind, all hell breaks loose and Johnny is badly wounded before he
manages to escape to the roof.
But the relative safety of the
equipment building offers only temporary sanctuary for Johnny and Alexa, and
they soon realize even in that remote haven, they’re not alone. With a small
hostile army occupying the Riverwind, and the lives of the hostages hanging in
the balance, the only thing they can do is try to keep McShane guessing until
help comes.
Has love come too late for Alexa
and Johnny? The clock is ticking, and time is running out. In a wager that means life or death for them
all, Johnny pits himself against McShane in a “winner-take-all” battle high
above the city. Will he be able to save the handful of hostages who are
depending on him to CAPTURE THE NIGHT?
EXCERPT
Johnny lay very still, looking
up at the night sky. The stars tumbled across the velvet darkness like diamonds
tossed from some lucky gambler’s hand. Two hours, he thought, by the position
of those stars, since Billings had died. Been
pushed.
Alexa’s arm came across his
chest in a gentle caress, and he turned his head to kiss the back of her
fingers near his shoulder. She wasn’t awake, he knew, but he wanted to show her
every moment of tenderness allowed them on this, their last night together.
He tried to force his mind to
relax. He knew he needed to sleep. But hell, by dawn he may be dead. It seemed
a waste to sleep these last hours away.
“Are you awake?” Alexa
whispered.
He smiled, realizing how much
he’d wanted her awake with him, wondering if he’d made it happen by the
strength of his thoughts. He didn’t try to turn his head to look at her. Right
now, he wasn’t sure he could. He was spent.
“Yeah. Just thinking, Lex. Just
wishing we had a way of—capturing this night and holding onto it forever—until
it came out right for us.”
He felt her smile against his
shirt. “Johnny, I—I want you to know something.” She came up on her elbow,
looking down at him. “I’m not sorry for being here—wrong place, wrong time I
guess, most people would say. But it was the right time for me—for us.” She seemed almost shy, looking
away from his gaze. “I was married all those years to a man I thought I knew.
Thought I loved. But I never knew what love meant until twenty-four hours ago.”
She shook her head, an ironic smile curving her full lips. “Twenty-four years
I searched for it, Johnny. And in twenty-four hours, I found exactly
what I’d missed—with you.” Her brow furrowed and she glanced at him, then
looked away again, as if the bright mirror of her love in his eyes was too much
to bear.
“I love you.” She gave a
self-deprecatory chuckle. “And I feel like I’m sixteen again.” She moistened
her lips, glancing up at him. “I have nothing to lose at this point by being
completely honest, do I?”
Johnny’s mouth slanted upward.
“Alexa…you have nothing to lose with me—ever.”
The wind teased her hair,
blowing strands of it across her face. “I’ve never felt this way before. Earlier—when we—” she stopped, searching for the words she needed.
“Honesty, Alexa…” Johnny
murmured. “You can say anything to me.”
She nodded. “I know.” She
sighed. “It was…the first time I ever wanted anyone so much.”
She lowered her head, a tear
dropping to wet his shirt. “So, anyhow,” she sniffed, wiping her eyes as she
tried to smile, “I wanted you to know that no matter what happens—I love you. I
know, now, what that means. You showed me, Johnny.”
His heart pounded against his
chest. “Are you tryin’ to tell me something?”
“We don’t know what’s going to
happen. And, even if we do make it out of here alive, you may decide I’m
not—what you want—”
Johnny shook his head. “Stop it,
Lex. I need you to be strong right now. For me, and with me. I
know Richard hurt you, but you’ve got to battle through that.”
He brought his hands up to cup
her face, but she still wouldn’t look at him. “Know that I love you, whether
it’s here or ten years from now. On this roof or—or in the grocery store’s
frozen foods aisle.”
She smiled.
“I’ll never let you go,
Alexa—never. So, you better get used to seeing my face every morning when you
wake up.” He lifted her chin with a finger, leaning up to kiss her, ignoring
the shot of fire that streaked through his side. She smiled, finally—a real
smile—and it was all worth it. Then, she put her mouth to his, and he knew he’d
do anything he had to do to keep her with him—once they got out of this.
Leave a comment and you will be entered in a drawing for a free ecopy of CAPTURE THE NIGHT by Cheryl Pierson.
Too many writers start thinking that all there is to being a successful author is to sit down with their computer or (yes, there are a few left out there) pen and pad of paper and record the words that will create the novel of the century. Only when they get to the point they seek a publisher do many begin to understand there is much more to it. Any publisher or agent these days wants to know what kind of platform an author has, how diverse is it and how much time is the author willing to assertively promote their published work.
The text information may be saved on word documents, either using one document for each item or by saving them one after another like I did for my Family Search tag line, blurb and short excerpt (shown) and my longer blurb. Another page has my long and short bio.
