Today I have Diane Burton talking about Brothers & Sister plus her new book Numbers Never Lie
Plus click on the word (rafflecopter) below for a chance to win a gift card
Brothers and Sisters
What’s so special about the relationship between a brother
and sister? From experience—my own, and observing my daughter and
granddaughter—when the girl is older, she tends to be bossy and wants to
“mother” the little brother. I’m sure my younger granddaughter (big sister to
twins) will try to boss them around, too, when they’re old enough to understand.
But, when the boy is older, it’s a whole different ballgame.
At first, he’s protective. But when he gets older and wants to play with his
friends, she’s a pain in the rear. Either Mom says he has to watch her or
little sister wants to tag along.
That was the situation with Jack and Maggie Sinclair. When
Drew Campbell moved into the neighborhood, the eight-year-old boys became fast
friends. Five-year-old Maggie wanted to do everything they did. What a pain for
Jack. Even when he said no, she would tear after them. If he complained, Dad grounded
him he for not protecting her and letting her get into trouble. Then, Dad chewed
out Maggie and told her she had to act like a lady. Jack learned not to tattle,
and Maggie still tried to do everything he and Drew did.
Until it came to baseball. Maggie could outthrow, outrun,
and outbat every boy in the neighborhood. That’s when she became important and
Jack let her be on his team.
When the threesome became teens, things changed. Maggie had
the biggest crush on Drew. Unbeknownst to her, Jack went into protective mode.
He warned Drew not to mess with his sister. At the time, Drew valued his
friendship more than his hormones.
Now adults, their parents deceased, Jack has to take care of
Maggie, even when she doesn’t need his help. She’s an independent woman. When
Jack, an accountant, discovers a problem with an audit, he has to trust someone
with the info. Who does he trust? His sister and his best friend. But when he
couldn’t get hold of Drew, he left the evidence with Maggie. Since it was a
just-in-case scenario, he never thought she would use it
.
NUMBERS NEVER LIE
A
Romantic Suspense
By Diane
Burton
Length:
approx. 80,000 words
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Blurb:
A
shocking secret brings danger to Jack Sinclair and his sister Maggie.
As kids,
they were the fearless threesome. As adults, Jack's an accountant; Drew, a
lawyer; Maggie, a teacher and camping troop leader. Upon returning from a
weekend camping trip, Maggie receives horrifying news. She refuses to believe
her brother Jack’s fatal car crash was an accident. If the police won’t
investigate, she’ll do it herself. Convincing Drew Campbell to help is her only
recourse.
Drew
Campbell was too busy to return his best friend’s phone call. Too busy to
attend a camping meeting important to his teen daughter. Too busy to stay in
touch with Jack. Logic and reason indicate Jack’s accident was just that--an
accident caused by fatigue and fog. Prodded by guilt, he’ll help Maggie even if
he thinks she’s wrong.
Excerpt:
Slinging the
laptop case/briefcase over his shoulder, Jack checked the room assigned to him
for the audit to make sure he hadn’t left anything out. He shut off the lights
and locked the door behind him. He still had much to do. Sure, Ben said he
would finish the audit. That wasn’t the way Jack worked. When he started
something, he always finished.
“Working kinda
late, arncha, Mr. Sinclair?”
Startled, Jack
looked over his shoulder.
The janitor
leaned on his mop. “It’s after midnight.”
“No rest for
the weary, Max.” Jack pocketed his keys.
“You be careful
going home, Mr. Sinclair. Fog was rollin’ in off the lake when me and the
missus drove in to work.”
“Thanks for the
heads-up.” Jack saluted the affable worker and headed down the hall. The doors
to the other offices were closed. Only the cleaning crew remained.
Hazel, Max’s
wife, stopped dusting the receptionist’s desk. “’Night, Mr. Sinclair. You best
be careful. Noticed you parked all the way down at the end of the parking lot.
The light there is out. Saw that when we came in. The company that takes care
of our lights won’t come out ‘til Monday. You want Max to get a flashlight and
walk out with you so’s you can find your car? What with the fog and all?”
Jack forced
himself to smile. In the five days he’d been auditing the books at the plant
near Muskegon, he often worked so late that he ran into the older couple. “I’ll
be fine.”
“’Night, then.
You be careful, now. Ya hear?”
Even before he
pushed open the heavy glass door, he saw that Max and Hazel were right. The
solitary light at this end of the parking lot barely penetrated the fog. Maybe
he should have taken Hazel up on the offer of a flashlight. He wasn’t worried
about finding the Blazer in this pea soup. It would be a wonder he didn’t trip
on the curbs.
The flashlight
on his cell phone. Duh. He should’ve
thought of that. Jack clicked it on, but it only shone a foot or so in front of
him.
He heard a soft
skitter near the dumpster. Rats? He shuddered and clicked his remote. From
fifteen feet away, his head- and taillights barely penetrated the mist.
It would be a
slow drive back to Grand Rapids. He should get a motel room for the night.
Finding a vacancy anywhere along the Lake Michigan shoreline would be next to
impossible in the summer and even more so late on a Friday night.
Weary beyond
belief, he dragged himself to his car. He needed to return tomorrow—make that
later today. He had to do more digging in the company’s files. He couldn’t
believe what he’d discovered so far. This went way beyond anything he imagined.
The implications—
“Jack.”
Startled by the
familiar voice, he dropped the keys. His phone slipped out of his fingers and
skidded away. The fog gobbled up the light, and he lost sight of it. He peered
in the direction of the sound. The figure stepped away from the dumpster’s
hulking shape.
“We need to
talk.”
Numbers Never Lie is available at
Amazon.
About the Author:
Diane Burton combines her love
of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic
fiction. Besides science fiction romance, she writes romantic suspense, and
cozy mysteries. Diane and her husband live in West Michigan. They have two
children and five grandchildren.
Connect with Diane Burton
online
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up for Diane’s new release alert: http://eepurl.com/bdHtYf
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