Masquerade, book one in the Secrets series by Lace Daltyn is a Love and Romance Festival pick #romance #erotic #lovemonth #giveaway
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  • N. N. Light
    • Feb 2
    • 4 min read

Masquerade, book one in the Secrets series by Lace Daltyn is a Love and Romance Festival pick #romance #erotic #lovemonth #giveaway



Title:  Masquerade, book one in the Secrets series  

 

Author: Lace Daltyn                  

 

Genre: Erotic contemporary romance

 

Book Blurb:

 

The world is full of secrets.

 

Drea Fortier, a reclusive philanthropist whose tortured past influences her belief that there can be no happily ever after for her, reaches out to help others in the hope she can transform their pain and give them hope for the future. Drea’s own story, along with that of her assistant, Michael Smith, is slowly revealed throughout the Secrets series.

 

Book One: Masquerade

 

Frigid bitch. The words seep into Beth Ritmour's soul, no matter how hard she tries to deny them. A year after her divorce, they still haunt her. So when a mysterious benefactor offers a solution to her problem, Beth takes a vacation from her job as a dental hygienist and follows a cryptic note to Chicago, where she’s soon ensconced as a waitress at Club Masquerade. Although how she’s going to prove she’s not frigid is hard to figure out when the boss makes it very clear that sex, or any precursors to sex, with patrons or employees is strictly taboo. It’s not an easy rule to follow, especially when one deliciously hot bartender keeps very, very close tabs on her.

 

Excerpt:

 

As the train slowed in equal measures with her heart’s increasing speed, Beth spread the note out on her lap, trying to iron the wrinkles out with her hands, and read again what she had committed to memory.


Take the 08:30 train to Chicago. Tickets await you at the on-call window. It is important that you take only this train. Missing it will end your journey before it starts. Upon arrival, make your way to the address listed on the front of this card. Arrive promptly at 1600 hours.


Further instructions await you there.


Beth twirled an escaped tendril of auburn hair around her finger as she searched the simple missive for clues, and then turned to look out the window. The city was a far sight different from the small community she had come to love. Her apartment looked across the Mississippi River to plains filled with knee-high corn this time of year. Here, concrete towers looked angry and foreboding, and the heat of summer only made them shimmer with sinister intent. It seemed different from when she’d lived here. Was it the city or her that had changed?


The screech of train brakes, along with the pervasive smell of diesel-fueled engines and heated steel rails reminded Beth the train had almost come to a stop. The urge to stay, to let the train carry her through the turn-around and back to her home, cemented her to the seat more effectively than sweaty summer skin on leather. This wasn’t like her. She didn’t take off for parts unknown without a single idea what would happen at the other end. Beth clutched the paper to her chest. It would be easy. Just sit here and let the train take her home. Home was safe.


Frigid. Frigid. Frigid. Her ex-husband Steve’s word flash-froze her intent to flee. She wasn’t frigid. She knew she wasn’t. Still, like she’d written on the application that had kicked off this journey, if you hear the words often enough, you start to believe them. She’d thought him wrong for the longest time. Before Steve, there had been a brief moment filled with passion she couldn’t seem to recapture. The flash of bodies, of dark hair trailing after liquid kisses in a frenzied moment felt branded in her mind, yet her body no longer registered even the slightest reaction, only the lingering pain of loss.


Beth stared out the window, trying not to remember. The only way to prove her ex wrong was to get off the train. They were in the station. She could hear the passengers around her shuffling through the process of gathering their belongings.


She wiped her hands on her new body-hugging jeans and reached for her luggage, walking off the train on unsteady legs into the humid July heat of Chicago.

 

Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):

 

 

 

 

 


What’s your favorite part about being a romance author?

 

The happily-ever-afters. I LOVE when a story ends with happiness and love creating something that makes people smile happily when they reach “the end.”

 

Here’s my tip to add romance to your love life:

 

It’s all about communication and understanding that defines romance for your partner. If you can design a romantic evening the way your partner would want it, whether or not it’s the way you prefer, you open hearts.

 

Giveaway –

 

One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon gift card

 

 

Open internationally.

 

Runs February 1 – 29, 2024

 

Drawing will be held on March 1, 2024. 

 


Author Biography:

 

After years of searching, Lace settled down with a man whose first words to her were

 

“Save me a dance.”

 

That’s all it took. Four little words and she was a goner. Twenty years later, she still remembers that first kiss, standing beside his yellow Ford Mustang cool car. (Yes, it was yellow. “Hey,” Lace says. “It was cool at the time.”) And it still is in her mind and in her heart. That kiss and the future love it represented is the reason she enjoys stories filled with romance and emotion.

 

And dancing. Always dancing.

 

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