Behind the Mask Blog Tour with Carolyn Crane!
TO SAVE HER PROSTITUTE TWIN SISTER
SHE HAS TO SWITCH PLACES WITH HER...
When her
estranged sister is won in a card game by a brutal drug cartel, Zelda knows
what she has to do: take her place. Save her. Focus on infiltrating the shadowy
group--and try not to think about why she left the spying game years ago. She’s
slept with dangerous criminals before; she can do it again.
Hugo
Martinez is one of South America’s most lethal and wanted men, a legendary
mercenary living on a windswept mountain. Even at the height of the war he
wasn’t in the habit of taking women captive, but the American whore has seen
his face. And he and the orphan boy need a cook. He shouldn’t want this woman,
but there’s something so unusual about her…
Meanwhile,
Zelda finds herself falling for her captor…but is he the killer she’s been
hunting all these years?
~~~
About
the Author
I am a RITA-winning author
of romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and other tales of love and adventure
(and erotic & dark romance as NYT
bestselling author Annika Martin). My books have been published by Random
House and Samhain, and I also go the indie route. I work a straight job as a
marketing writer, I love to read in bed and run, I’m passionate about helping
animals, and I make my home in Minnesota with my husband and two cats.
~~~
A note from Carolyn!
Hi! Hey, thank you so much for having
me over to your lovely blog. It’s really nice to be here. Hi everybody!
Okay, I’m here with an excerpt of
my new book, BEHIND THE MASK.
In Behind the Mask, my heroine, Zelda, masquerades as her
sister, a prostitute, in order to save her when she is won in a card game by a
brutal drug cartel…only to comes face-to-face with the legendary killer she
spent years hunting back when she was in the CIA.
In this scene,
she’s getting ready to pose as her sister. They haven’t seen each other for
years.
*****
Zelda rooted
through her twin sister Liza’s suitcase. The thing was pink and orange and
studded with rhinestones in true Liza style. It squeezed Zelda’s heart.
Zelda would
carry it now. She’d do whatever it took to save her sister.
Liza brought
over a pair of fuck-me heels, looking apologetic. Liza had looked apologetic a
lot over the past twelve hours. “They’re a little crazy, but it’s what I’d
wear,” Liza said.
Zelda took them
and ran her finger over one spiked heel, thankful for the closed toes. She
didn’t want Liza to see her toes. The men she needed to fool definitely
couldn’t see them.
“Mikos knows
they’re my favorites, though,” Liza continued. “It’s what I’d wear on a day
like this. To make myself feel better…you
know.” This last in an angry whisper.
Zelda nodded,
glad Mikos would recognize the shoes. A strong visual cue went a long way
toward fooling people, and she’d need all the help she could get during the
twenty-minute limo ride to the airport. Even an active field agent would have a
hard time fooling a shrewd and paranoid drug dealer like Mikos, and Zelda was
six years retired.
Liza insisted that
Mikos had no idea she had a twin, but you had to expect the worst.
“You probably
can’t walk in them.”
“Oh, I can walk
in them.” Zelda had walked in plenty of shoes like that. She put them aside and
grabbed the bottle of red nail polish and shook it, feeling like she might
actually throw up. When she looked up next, she found her twin watching her,
pretty lips parted, eyes sparkling. The look brought her straight back to their
childhood.
They hadn’t
spoken for years, but in some ways, it was as if she’d seen Liza just yesterday.
“When you were a spy, you mean? You
would wear shoes like this when you were a fucking spy? Because, fuck, Zelda!”
“Field agent,”
Zelda corrected for the umpteenth time.
“Fuck,” Liza
said. “You were out chasing bad guys in different countries and wearing
disguises and stuff, so I’m going with spy. All this time I thought you were a
botanist, and instead you’re this spy?”
“I was still
doing some botany as an agent.” Plants could tell you a lot, like whether a
body had been moved and how long it had been there. Forensic botany was how she
got into the CIA.
“So wild.” Liza
was impressed. She shouldn’t be; a lot of spying, especially for the female
agents, was done on your back. She and Liza hadn’t turned out so differently
after all.
“I’m best behind
a desk,” Zelda mumbled, although the truth was that she’d loved being in the
field, loved being out there making a difference. Until a good agent had been
killed because of her.
“You used to say
the CIA did bad things. When we were in high school? Remember? You always had
so many opinions on everything.”
“All the more
reason to get involved. If you don’t like something, change it, right?” She was
shaking the nail polish again, way too vigorously. She forced herself to put it
down. “Tell me the limo ride like a movie. How you see it going in your mind.”
“I’ll show you.”
Liza sat on the couch, draping a hand over the back and crossing her legs. Her
pose was relaxed, cool, and angry all at once. “Because this is how I feel.
Pissed. But not beaten. Don’t sit up all straight and attentive, like you are
right now, or he’ll suspect. This kind of sitting says, ‘I’m fun. I’m the joy
in your life, and you ruined it.’ That’s
how I would be to make him feel bad for handing me over to some creep.” Liza
shifted, looking relaxed and elegant now. “The way you take up space changes
everything.”
God, that big
attitude. That had always been the beauty of Liza—the wild, fabulous twin.
Again Zelda
picked up the bottle of nail polish and shook it, wondering if she could put it
on without trembling.
“Or this.” Liza
shifted into another pose. Liza always had a knack for transforming herself
into the picture of leisure fun.
Zelda didn’t
actually need this lesson. She had Liza down cold—they used to switch places
all the time, but Liza needed to feel like she was contributing.
“Mikos will want
to fuck in the back of the limo,” Liza continued, “but under no circumstances
would I fuck him. He feels bad—he won’t press it. I loved him. If he tries
anything, you tell him, ‘I’m not a fucking poker chip to be lost in a card
game. Some possession to be gambled away like cattle.’” The tears were starting now. It broke Zelda’s heart. Through all
the trouble between them, all the hell of Liza’s drug addiction, she’d never
stopped loving her sister.
“Okay, let me
try.” Zelda changed her posture and mimicked Liza’s smooth tone. “I’m not a
fucking poker chip to be lost in a card game like cattle, Mikos. Some
possession to gamble away. So fuck you,” she added.
“Exactly.
Motherfucker.” Liza grabbed a tissue and dabbed her eyes.
“Here—help me
with this.” Zelda held out the nail polish.
Liza tossed the
tissue and took the bottle, sniffling as she unscrewed the top. She grabbed
hold of Zelda’s fingers. “You’re shaking.”
“Too much
caffeine.”
Liza smiled
uncertainly and drew a thick, gleaming swath of red over Zelda’s fingernail.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Stop
apologizing.”
“I’m done with
all that life, I promise,” Liza said. “I really promise this time—I won’t fuck
up on you again. I’m so, so sorry—”
“Stop it. Look
at me.”
Liza finished a
nail and lifted her gaze.
“I’m your
sister, okay? And seriously, this is a gift. Do you know how great it is to get
inside that cartel right now? Inside Brujos’s ugly, stupid palace? We’re going
to get something we desperately need because of you.”
Liza looked
dubious, but it was true. The Association had never been able to get on the
inside with Brujos and infiltrate his cartel. The timing couldn’t be better. A
nice, juicy file full of damaging intel on Brujos was a bargaining chip they
could use to prevent a serious disaster that was brewing on the other side of
the equator.
“Easy in and
out,” Zelda said. Instantly, she regretted her choice of words. They both knew
she might have to fuck a few bad men before the thing was done. “It’s so
nothing,” she added.
“So nothing.” Liza frowned and
concentrated on the nails. “You are so full of shit.”
Zelda used
Liza’s voice. “You are so full of shit.”
“God, you’re me.” Liza moved on to another nail.
****
Eep!!
Read more: Links for BEHIND THE MASK are here at my
website.
http://authorcarolyncrane.com/the-associates/behind-the-mask/
Thank you so much for having me!
Buy Links for Behind the Mask:
ITunes
All Romance Books
iBooks
Smashwords
Barnes & Noble: COMING SOON
Kobo: COMING SOON
Giveaway
Information
(1) $75.00 gift card to Amazon or Barnes
& Noble (winner’s choice & open internationally)
(32)
Digital Copies of either Against the Dark, Off the Edge or Into the
Shadows (winner’s choice & open internationally)
~~~
Blog
Tour Stops
Monday,
May 18, 2015
Tuesday,
May 19, 2015
Wednesday,
May 20, 2015
Thursday,
May 21, 2015
Friday,
May 22, 2015
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