Excerpt: Accidental Affair by Leslie McKelvey

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Jack Vaughn is sure his life is over as he tumbles down the wooded hillside onto the deserted two-lane stretch of asphalt. Years of work ended with a single gunshot. Yet, it’s not over.

A good Samaritan stops to help him, despite the danger he poses to her.

Laine Wheeler knows better than to stop for strangers on the rural Montana highway near her home, but her conscience won’t allow her to leave an injured man behind.

What she doesn’t know is the man is an undercover ATF agent tasked with infiltrating a domestic terrorist group. His cover has been blown and helping him will put her life in danger.

Though there is an instant attraction, Jack knows that beginning a romantic relationship with Laine would be both unfair and unwise. Yet the farther they run, the harder it gets to ignore the feelings that are surging between them.

Excerpt

Ripley stood in the middle of the two lane highway. He looked left, then right, and then left again, his temper dangerously close to the flash point. He gripped the AR-15 and wished the weapon would snap in his hands. Perhaps the sound of cracking metal and composite would bring his rage down a notch.

“What do we do, sir?” his second in command asked from a good eight feet away.

Ripley turned and looked at the man. The four other soldiers made a pretense of combing the surrounding area, but Ripley knew it was only a pretense. It was obvious their quarry was no longer in the vicinity.

“What do we do?” Ripley repeated. “What do we do?” He fixed the man with a scalding stare. “We find him, that’s what we do, Calember. Is that too much for you to handle?”

Calember returned his stare with one of cool composure. “Satellite might have caught an image, sir. We’ll have to hump it back to base, see if West got a fix.”

Ripley moved till he stood toe to toe with Calember. Then he leaned over until their noses nearly touched. “Call West. Tell him to have an image ready and waiting when we get back. I want to know who picked Vaughn up, where they went, and what they’re having for dinner tonight so we can join them for dessert. Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” said Calember as he pulled a satellite phone out of a pocket. He turned and walked away as he dialed.

Ripley stared down the empty highway and cursed. They’d had him.

“And we’ll have you again,” he said under his breath as he focused down the road. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let one man stop me.”

About the Author:

Leslie McKelvey has been writing since she learned to write, and her mother still stores boxes of handwritten stories in the attic. Leslie read her first romance at 12 and was hooked. When her high school Creative Writing teacher told her she needed to be a novelist, she decided to give it a try. Finally, at the ripe old age of...forty-something...her debut novel, Accidental Affair, made it into print through Black Velvet Seductions Publishing. The publisher has also contracted two more manuscripts, which will follow Accidental Affair shortly.

Leslie is a war-veteran who served with the U.S. Navy during the Gulf War, and she was among the first groups of women to work the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. During her five years tour she was stationed at NAS Miramar and was an F-14 Tomcat mechanic and plane captain. While in San Diego she spent time on the carriers USS Independence, USS Ranger, USS Lincoln, and the USS Nimitz. The final two years of her enlistment were spent on Guam and her squadron frequently deployed to Japan and the Middle East.

She learned everything she knows about firearms and tactics from her police officer husband, who is a weapons expert, range master, and firearms instructor for one of the most highly-respected law-enforcement agencies in the world (and one he wishes her NOT to disclose). He is her biggest supporter and her unpaid consultant on everything law-enforcement and weapons related. She has three boys who keep her very busy and contribute daily to her growing number of gray hairs. Her oldest son is a United States Marine and the younger two have vowed to follow in their brother’s footsteps (OOH RAH!). She spends her off-time (kidding...WHAT off-time?) reading, taking pictures, and sending lead down range (that's shooting, for those who are unfamiliar). One of her favorite scents is the smell of gunpowder in the morning....

Read Leslie's blog.
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