Chosen: Part Five (Allure Book 5), page 1
About this Book
My name is Grace Delaney. I was born into this country’s most admired political family. When I was sixteen, the media dubbed me “America’s Princess”. I hate being called that, all the more so since I discovered the terrifying secret hidden behind my family’s glittering public image.
A few months ago, I graduated from college determined to make a life of my own. But now, suddenly, Adam Falzon is in it. The head of an old-world family with a reputation for ruthlessness, he looks like a fallen angel. As attracted as I am to him, I’ve come to suspect that Adam is hiding secrets of his own more deadly and dangerous than I ever want to know. I don’t dare give into my feelings for him.
But I may not have a choice. With every beat of my heart, he is drawing me further into a web of dark desire. My chances of escaping are slipping away. Worse yet, I’m no longer sure that I want to.
CHOSEN is a story of dark romance. It contains scenes of coercion, both emotional and physical, and should not be read by anyone who could find that distressing.
A Note to Readers UPDATED
A huge thank you to everyone who has gotten in touch with me about CHOSEN. I’m thrilled to hear from each of you and to know that you’re enjoying Adam and Grace’s story. Because so many of you have the same questions about this series, I thought I’d put the answers here:
How many books will there be?
My best guess right now (as I finish Part Five) is that there will be eight or nine books in all but the story will unfold in its own time, at its own pace so that could change slightly. I won’t extend it beyond what it absolutely needs and I won’t give it less than it deserves.
Before I started writing CHOSEN Part One, I outlined the entire story so I know exactly where it’s going and how it will get there. Of course, I’m also sure that Adam and Grace will have many more surprises for me along the way. That’s a big part of what makes writing fun even on the days when I’m tearing my hair out. (There are a lot of those!). If you’ve already read Parts One-Three, you know that these lovers are facing tremendous challenges within their own relationship that had such a dark beginning. And you’re aware that they also face threats from both of their twisted, dangerous families. All that has to work out fully in order to bring them to the Happily Ever After ending they deserve. And right there is an answer to another question:
Is this heading toward an HEA?
Yes, it is and if that ruins the suspense for anyone, I’m sorry. But what can I say? I’m just an HEA kind of girl. I honestly don’t think that I’ll ever be able to write a story that doesn’t end well for the two main characters. Of course, what “end well” means exactly remains to be seen.
How frequently will the books be published?
Far too much time elapsed between publication of Parts Four and Five, and I’m truly sorry for that. I’m not much good at sharing personal difficulties because I know that so many people have problems in their own lives; I don’t feel right burdening anyone with mine. The good news is that things are getting better and that I’m back to a much more productive writing schedule. I hope to wrap up the entire CHOSEN story within the next few months.
I write two other romance series--ANEW and ARCADIA--and I’ve put both on hold in order to complete CHOSEN as quickly as possible. At the same time, I’m one of those writers who just can’t let a book go until it’s right. I’d love to be able to say that I can publish one part each month but I already know that isn’t true. The best I can say is that I’ll get as close to that as I possibly can. By the way, you can read samples from ANEW and ARCADIA at the end of this book.
The last question many of you have asked is the one I really can’t answer, at least not completely:
Where did the idea for CHOSEN come from?
Readers have already picked up on some references that call to mind certain powerful political families in the U.S. and elsewhere, and they’re right to do so. In addition, one particular individual--a European aristocrat and financier who I won’t name here--played an unwitting role in shaping the character of Adam. But when all is said and done, everyone and everything that happens in CHOSEN is strictly the product of my imagination. In other words, it’s fiction.
I hope that answers your questions. If it doesn’t, or if you’d just like to get in touch, you can find me on Facebook at Josie on Facebook or email me at josielitton@optonline.net. I’m always thrilled to hear from readers!
And now, on with the story--
Table of Contents
About this Book
A Note to Readers UPDATED
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Sneak Peek at Chosen Part Six
Sneak Peek #1
Sneak Peek #2
Chapter One
“I know you’re upset,” Adam said.
Carried in his arms, held firmly against his hard, unrelenting body, I didn’t even try to answer. My anger and disappointment were still too new and raw. The past handful of days had made me hope that we could overcome the dark, twisted origins of our relationship enough to build a future together. Having that illusion ripped from me left a wound that I feared could never heal.
My silence didn’t deter him. Without pause, he continued along the thickly carpeted hallway to a pair of carved wooden doors that stood open at the far end. Beyond them lay an elegant, high-ceilinged room with a view of the snow-capped Alps sparkling in the mid-morning sun. The beauty of the setting clashed harshly with the ugly pain of my thoughts.
An immense four-poster bed draped in dark burgundy silk stood on a dais. Adam went directly to it and laid me carefully in the center. The ermine blanket he had put around me while we were still on the plane from New York fell open. I clutched at the edges of it, a foolishly protective gesture when confronted by a man who had proven over and over that he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
Pressing a knee into the mattress, he loomed over me, a compelling presence that I had to summon all my strength to resist, even now.
“This was necessary,” he said.
His voice--low, deep, tinged with concern--felt like a caress. Muscles deep inside me clenched as I fought the riptide of emotion he unleashed. He was so near that I could smell the clean, crisp scent of wool, linen and the subtly masculine body wash he favored. My senses flooded with awareness of what lay beneath that civilized veneer. I remembered all too well the flavor of his skin on my tongue as I explored him, our bodies communicating in ways that our minds and hearts seemed incapable of doing.
Staring up at him, I drew a long, pained breath. “I meant what I said; I’ll never trust you again.”
His arctic blue eyes darkened. Catching my chin between his fingers, he forced me to meet his gaze. “If that’s true, I’ll regret it forever. But it won’t change anything. You are mine. I won’t give you up.”
“You’d keep a woman who didn’t want to be with you?” On the face of it, that was absurd. So handsome that he looked like a god walking the earth, richer than Croesus and more powerful that most heads of state, Adam was accustomed to women dropping at his feet. Why would he want one who was more determined than ever to escape him?
“I will keep you,” he said, the stark clarity of his words leaving no doubt that he meant them. Yet his touch was unexpectedly gentle as he stroked the back of his fingers along my cheek, sending a tremor through me that I was sure he felt.
“You have become necessary to me, Grace. As vital as every breath I take. I think of the world without you and I see only darkness.”
My throat tightened but I refused to be moved by his words. Life had long since taught me that only actions mattered and his were reprehensible. Whatever reasons he thought he had, he had no right to take my from my world and my life merely to satisfy his own desires. Not again. Not ever.
Once I could forgive, if only barely, now that I knew that he had acted to right an immense wrong and prevent even more for occurring. But twice? However inadvertently, Adam had provided me with a wake-up call that I couldn’t ignore. His actions were a window into a future and a life that I could never accept, even if a treacherous part of myself was still tempted to do so.
“You have to let me go,” I said, praying that he would listen. “I have responsibilities, things that I must do. There are people who are depending on me.”
I was thinking of Will most of all and of the last conversation I’d had with him. That must have been twelve hours or more ago. What had he thought when I didn’t show up at his apartment? In his drunken, desperate state, what might he have done?
Reflexively, I tried to rise only to be stopped by a firm hand pressing me back down onto the bed.
“Easy,” Adam murmured. “Whatever you need to do, we’ll work it out together. But unfortunately, right now I have a situation that I have to deal with.”
He rose and stepped away. The moment we were no longer touching, I felt bereft. That, more than anything else, sent a wave of pure, clarifying anger through me.
I sat up, my whole body taut with outrage. “You have a situation right here. If you think for a moment that I’ll accept this--”
He smoothed a hand done his silk tie
But not from him; he had admitted as much. The temptation to submit to him--accepting all that he offered of both pleasure and protection--welled up in me again. I fought it with every ounce of strength that I still possessed.
“You have no right to do that! My life is my own. I decide what I do, including what risks I take.”
I was taking one right then, challenging him this way. But I had fought too long and desperately to escape my family’s control. I wasn’t about to accept his.
“You chose me because you were convinced that I was strong enough to survive what you intended to do to me,” I added. “You can’t change your mind about that now and pretend that I’m some sort of frail flower who needs looking after.”
It was a low blow, reminding him of what he had done, but he wasn’t playing fair. I didn’t see any reason to do so either.
His gaze shuddered. I’d seen that look before and knew that it meant. He was closing himself off, withdrawing behind the shield of power and authority that he had assumed at far too young an age. It had warped his nature in certain ways, just as fire warps steel, bending it to the will of the man who wields it.
“If you think I have any doubts about your strength,” Adam said, “I’ll do my best to resolve them the next time we…”
I waited, dreading what he was about to say and the effect it would have on me. Too easily, I remembered how it felt to hold him inside me, my body and passion alike rising to meet the ravenous, voracious rhythm that he set. For all that he could be cold and aloof, he was a fiercely carnal man who drew from me more than I had ever known that I had to give.
But perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised by that. He fucked with the same power that he brought to everything else whether as mundane as walking across a ballroom floor or as savage as besting an opponent in an arena of blood and death. I trembled at the harsh reality of how close I was to being enslaved by him.
“The next time we make love,” he said.
Absurdly, tears stung my eyes. They burned as bitterly as the anger and regret pooling inside me and put a knife edge to my tongue.
“Have we ever? I wasn’t aware. I thought I was just a convenient release for you.”
That wasn’t true, not remotely, but I didn’t care. Not when it got me what I wanted--an open, unguarded reaction.
A dark flush spread over his high-boned cheeks. His eyes glittered in warning. “You aren’t remotely convenient, sweetheart. On the contrary, you’ve upended my life. If I had more time, I’d remind you of just what that feels like.”
Bravado was a poor refuge but it was all I had at the moment. I poked a hand out past the ermine blanket and waved in dismissal. “Then go, take care of your situation. But don’t expect me to be here when you get back.”
I braced myself, remembering his unbridled rage when I had tried to flee from him before. Honesty forced me to wonder if I wasn’t trying to provoke him now. If so, I was quickly disappointed.
He smiled with supremely masculine assurance. “I could chain you to be bed again.” The words were a low, purring growl from deep in his chest. “But I won’t bother. There are only two ways off this mountain. The funicular we arrived on, which is on lockdown and heavily guarded, and a helicopter.”
I thought of the steep ride up the mountain in the cable car that we had just made and glared at him. Clearly, getting back down wasn’t going to be easy but that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t try.
Adam, however, appeared to have dismissed any thought of my doing so. He tilted his head toward the phone on the table beside the bed. “Pick that up if you want something--food, a massage, whatever. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
“Don’t hurry on my account,” I muttered but he was already out the door.
The moment it closed behind him, I was off the bed and across the room. My hand gripped the heavy gold knob, jerking in surprise when I realized that the door wasn’t locked.
An oversight? Adam was too pre-occupied with whatever was bothering him to realize that he hadn’t secured me properly? As appealing as the thought was, I dismissed it at once. He was too damned confident that there was no way off his accursed mountain to worry about a mere door.
I thought of going after him and demanding again that he listen to me but the obvious futility of any such effort stopped me. I’d be far better off taking matters into my own hands.
But first, some basic needs were making themselves felt. A door opposite the bed stood ajar, showing the way to a spacious, lavishly outfitted bathroom. My reflection in the mirror above the sink--pale and hollow-eyed--made me wince. I focused instead on the small array of toiletries on the marble-topped counter, staring at them for several seconds until their significance sank in.
A shaving brush, the handle wrapped in dark leather, next to a matching razor. A polished wooden box that, when opened, revealed a circular bar of shaving soap. Before I could stop myself, I raised it and took a long, deep breath. The familiar scent sent a shock of longing through me.
Quickly, I set the box down and went back into the bedroom. A glance in the adjacent dressing area confirmed my suspicion. Row after row held bespoke suits, tailored shirts, and some more casual but no less elegant men’s clothing.
Despite knowing how angry and upset I was, Adam hadn’t afforded me the privacy of a guestroom. On the contrary, he’d had the arrogance to take me directly to his own bed. The sheer presumptuousness of that steeled my resolve. Without further delay, I opened the door and walked out of the room.
Chapter Two
I was a dozen or so yards down the hallway in the direction of the broad, curving staircase before I noticed the man coming up it. He was as tall as Adam but several decades older with a gleaming bald head and--
I stopped, frozen in place, as the memory I had struggled to hold off ever since I’d awakened suddenly overtook me. The black leather gloves, the prick of the needle in my neck and the voice, falling away into darkness.
“I’m sorry, Miss Delaney, but I have my orders.”
I had seen him again more clearly on the plane. At the same time that I learned who Adam had trusted to retrieve me.
“You’re Rolf.” I blurted it out before I could think better of doing so. Face-to-face with the man whose young niece and nephew, as well as his brother-in-law, had died because of the pathological narcissism of my family, I felt sick.
In the public eye, we Delaneys were a brilliant, charismatic clan dedicated to serving the nation. In reality, we were willing to go to any lengths to protect our wealth and power, including murder.
Instinctively, I took a step back. But there was nowhere to run and certainly not to hide from the toxic mix of shame and guilt that threatened to consume me. At that moment, I wouldn’t have blamed Rolf for anything he might have done.
He stopped just beyond the top of the stairs. His bearing was military; he radiated strength and authority. The dark gray suit he wore appeared as crisp and purposeful as a uniform. I remembered what Adam had told me about the role this man had played in his life and the duty that he owed him in turn.
“Forgive me,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
His response threw me even further off balance. It made no sense coming from a man who had every reason to despise the very sight of me. Yet his gaze held no hint of any such dark emotion. On the contrary, he appeared to be genuinely concerned that he might have upset me.
The absence of his condemnation made my own remorse all the sharper and more painful to bear. Gathering my courage, I said, “I’m the one who should be apologizing. For your sister, her husband, the children, all of it.”
My voice shook. The words could express only a tiny fraction of the revulsion that I felt at what members of my family were responsible for.
