For Love or Money
by Cathy Perkins
Entangled Publishing - May 2013
Book
Description:
When Holly Price
trips over a friend’s dead body while hiking, her life takes a nosedive into a
world of intrigue and danger. The verdict is murder—and Holly is the prime
suspect.
Of course, the fact that the
infinitely sexy—and very pissed off—cop threatening to arrest her is JC
Dimitrak, who just happens to be Holly’s jilted ex-fiancé, doesn’t help
matters.
To protect her future, her
business...and her heart...the intrepid forensic accountant must use all her
considerable investigative skills to follow the money through an intricate web
of shadow companies, while staying one step ahead of her ex-fiancé. She better
solve the case before the real killer decides CPA stands for Certified Pain in
the Ass...and the next dead body found beside the river is Holly’s.
Book Information
Title: For Love or Money
Author: Cathy Perkins
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Length: 367 pages
Release Date: May 2013
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62266-097-1
Imprint: Suspense
Buy Links:
Holly parked in front of La Boutique,
triumphant she’d found the store without making any wrong turns, and hurried
inside.
“Holly?” Yessica stepped away from
the cash register.
“My book club meeting starts in a few
minutes—we meet at the library—but I have another question. Lillian told me
about Lee coming to see Marcy at the office. About him giving her a letter. Did
she talk to you about that?”
Yessica fidgeted with her rings, then
looked directly into Holly’s eyes. “I realize you’re trying to help, but why
are you doing this?”
Holly went still, wondering what
she’d done wrong. Yessica had talked to her before. “What do you mean?”
“The more I think about it, the
stranger it seems. Why are you looking into Maricella’s death?”
Holly pursed her lips and considered
how to answer. At last she said, “I want to know why.”
At first, it had been to clear her
name and Desert Accounting’s reputation—plus some curiosity—but the more she
learned about Marcy, the more she needed to know how and why Marcy’s
relationship had spiraled out of control.
Yessica tilted her head and waited.
Her expression said, Not good enough.
Holly straightened the brochures
heaped on the counter. If she expected Yessica to open up, she had to meet her
at least halfway. Painful admissions didn’t come easily. “I knew a man in
Seattle…with the same dominance issues. He tried to…” How could she describe
it? Rearrange? Control? “Take over my
life.”
“And?” Yessica demanded.
“You mentioned earlier about Marcy
and Lee meeting at a coffee shop. That caught my attention…I started seeing a
guy that way, too…”
How to explain? Holly sighed. “It
sounds so innocuous. Like anyone else meeting a new guy. We had coffee. I
mentioned to Frank I loved mocha lattes. A few days later, he brought a mocha
latte to my office. I thought it was nice. I was working crazy hours and it
gave me a break and us a chance to talk. He did it again the next week, and
again, it seemed sweet.”
Yessica shifted. “I don’t understand.
How is this connected to Maricella?”
“Frank started coming by every day.
He expected me to stop whatever I was doing and talk to him. He never
considered the fact that I was working sixteen-hour days on a transaction or
that I had a demanding job. It was all about him. And he always brought the
damned mocha latte. It turned creepy and controlling, like he was making
decisions about what I could drink. I mean, what if I didn’t want a mocha? What
if I wanted a double-shot or a decaf?”
She forced her mouth to close. She
sounded crazy.
“Why?” Yessica asked. “You and
Maricella. You’re smart. Pretty. Why would you get involved with men like
that?”
Holly fiddled with the stack of
brochures. “It’s insidious. At the beginning, Frank was charming. Attractive.
Charismatic.” Devon’s comment smacked her. In
the boardroom, Alders was pure charisma.
Damn. She raked a hand through her
hair. “Bottom line? I got away, but it’s made me more sensitive to women
trapped in a bad relationship. In Marcy’s case, I think the police are asking
the wrong questions. That they’re going about this the wrong way.”
Yessica’s lips thinned. After a long
moment, she said, “Maricella was very angry after Lee came to see her. He had
no right to come to her office. She had the paper to make him stay away.”
Yeah, yeah. He walked right through that restraining order and put her in intensive
care. The line from the old song rolled through Holly’s head and she nearly
gagged. No. No country music. She had
to get back to Seattle, home of Nirvana and grunge music. “Did she mention
other papers? Lillian said Lee gave your sister an envelope. Whatever was in it
upset Marcy.”
“Lee made a divorce settlement offer.
It was an insult.”
Gee, what a surprise. Lee tried to
stiff Marcy at the end of their marriage. “You didn’t mention the settlement
offer the other day.”
Yessica’s hands lifted and fell.
“What was there to say? It was another example of what a cabrón he is. Lee wasn’t just a bastard, he was a cheap bastard.
Maricella didn’t sign the divorce papers. Are they important?”
Bio: Cathy Perkins is a member of
the Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America and International Thriller
Writers. She writes predominantly financial-based mysteries but enjoys
exploring the relationship aspect of her characters' lives. Her suspense
writing lurks behind a financial day-job, where she learned firsthand the
camouflaged, hide in plain sight, skills employed by her villains.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest, the setting of FOR LOVE OR MONEY, with her
work-a-holic husband, a 75-pound Lab who thinks she’s still a lap-puppy and a
Wirehair puppy’s who’s intent on digging her way to China. You can learn more
about Cathy on her website http://cperkinswrites.com.
Cathy Perkins is offering a Kindle Paperwhite to one lucky
winner as part of the For Love of Money Blog Tour celebration! Simply fill out
the rafflecopter form provided below for your chance to be entered. J
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