Take one sinfully handsome riverboat gambler, add a smart and stunning madam, and stir them up with murderous foul play and sizzling romance in An Impassioned Redemption.
Self-made woman, Josephine Holland answers to no one.
Owning a successful saloon and bordello, Jo keeps wayward women off the streets. Unlike her girls, she neither needs nor wants any man. That is, until she meets the wickedly attractive and intriguing Jameson Carter.
Jameson Carter plays to win.
From atop his lively riverboat, Jameson rules what he sees, and he has his sights set on one delectable lady. His odds of winning Jo’s affections are suddenly stacked against him, when a sequence of threatening events puts more than his heart in jeopardy.
An unknown foe with a grudge and a trigger-happy finger . . .
With their lives in danger, Jameson hopes to beat the odds and come out on top. Can Jo play the part of Lady Luck and save them both or has fate rolled the dice against them? Find out in An Impassioned Redemption.
An Impassioned Redemption is a Western-themed novella in the Victorian-American series Defiant Hearts. Engaging characters, attention to period detail, and sensual romance, you’ll find it all in this series by USA Today bestselling author Sydney Jane Baily.
What readers are saying:
“Had me reading and holding my breath waiting to see what was going to happen.”
“Loved spirited Josephine, a heroine who could take care of herself!”
“Enjoyable, sexy romance with enough adventure to keep me turning the pages.”
Note: An Impassioned Redemption is a 29,000-word novella, a standalone story featuring secondary characters from Book Three: An Inescapable Attraction.
Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars October 27, 2014
By petula winmill
An Impassioned Redemption: A light-hearted fun read, with good characters and a good dose of who dunnit.
I will be on the look out for more by this author.
5.0 out of 5 stars
By Florencia Fontanon October 20, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
I received an advanced copy and I’m glad I did!!! It’s the first time I read this authror, and I was pleasantly surprised! Fast paced, heart warming, and full of action and romance!! I would greatly recommend this book!! Happy reading!!!
Excerpt from An Impassioned Redemption
“Are you toying with me?” Jo asked bluntly.
Carter was right at her elbow, leaning close, peering down into the water far below. At her question, he turned to look her in the eye.
“No. I’m not.”
Their faces were inches apart.
“Then what are you doing?” She held her breath, waiting for his answer.
“I don’t think you came all the way across the river to thank me. You could’ve done that the next time I came to The Pork and Swallow.”
She blinked. What should she tell him? Certainly not the truth—that she’d lain awake all night, reliving the shock of how close she’d come to being shot by Frank Hirsch. Her life could have ended without warning, just like that. And with that realization had come a sudden yearning to seek out Jameson Carter. Not to thank him, but rather, perhaps, to start something with him. After all, she was in her mid-twenties, and she wasn’t getting any younger.
But how to approach such a subject, she had no idea.
As it turned out, Jo didn’t have to say a word. He lowered his head, and before she could think about it, his lips were on hers, firm, supple, and warm. Her senses leaped with delight for his kiss proved even more pleasing than she’d imagined, and she had quite a fertile imagination.
He tipped his head slightly and fitted his mouth more closely over hers. Unthinkingly, she parted her lips to welcome him, and his tongue slipped between them to stroke hers. Mm, brandy.
Might as well make the first kiss count. Turning more toward him, she slipped her hands up his chest and around his neck. It had been a while, but she remembered how it all worked. Lacing her fingers in his soft hair, which she’d fantasized about touching, she kept her mouth locked to his.
Longing swelled in her as his hands slid from her waist, palmed her backside, and pulled her hips to his. Her blood flashed to a boil, her body seemed to hum, and her bones liquefied. His scent—a blend of man and bay rum—filled her nostrils.
I could get used to this, she thought, but at that moment, Carter pulled back.
“I’ll admit that I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” he rasped, his gruff voice raising goosebumps along her thighs and arms.
She couldn’t help but smile at his honesty, though she guarded her own overwhelming response, and held back the confession that she’d longed for his kiss since the first time she’d become aware of him in her saloon.
“Now what?” she asked, her own voice sounding breathy to her ears. She cocked her head, realizing she was asking herself as much as him.
His eyes darkened, and she knew the instant he’d decided he wanted to lie with her. Of course, he did! What man didn’t? And it would be so easy to give herself over to the desire swirling between them. But a satisfying coupling, even with a handsome and skilled lover, wasn’t enough anymore.
The unexpected thought made her catch her breath. She wanted something more, something she knew she could never really have. And she wanted it with Carter. What a silly notion, thinking he might view her as someone more than a madam, as a woman worthy of a lasting and loving relationship.
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