The Promise - ABNA 2013 Entry

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) Entry - this eBook is a sample of the first 3,000-5,000 words; it is not the full book. The ABNA contest is operated on Amazon.com only. Visit this entry on Amazon.com to leave customer feedback. To vote for the Grand Prize winner starting May 21, visit www.amazon.com/ABNA. When pastry chef Jane Gray tries to sell a family heirloom, she becomes the unlikely subject of a massive police hunt and fodder for London's salacious tabloid press. Secrets unravel, lies are exposed, and Jane's whole world is torn apart. For years, Jane has been on the run from the madman she suspects murdered her father. Hiding in plain sight amidst London's working class, she struggles to provide a good life for her adopted daughter Pip. After Pip's true identity is revealed, Jane's peaceful, predictable existence is shattered when the Duke of Rutledge demands custody of his niece.Charming and handsome, the Duke's younger brother Finn spends his leisure time between the sheets of London's most beautiful, wanton women. The seasoned rake is perplexed by his growing attraction to demure, virtuous Jane... definitely not his usual type. If she were any other woman, he would simply make her his mistress. Instead, he is forced to consider more honorable means of achieving his desires.It soon becomes evident there is more to Jane than meets the eye. Finn longs to possess the passionate, sensual woman hidden beneath her modest facade. When a scandal rag threatens to print false stories about the Duke and his "love child," Finn offers marriage under the guise of protection, but his true motives are less altruistic. Jane's marriage draws the attention of evil forces. When his beloved wife is threatened, Finn enters London's dangerous underworld in a heart-stopping race to save the woman and child who have become his whole world.