Heart Burn
Deep Six East, Book 1
Becky McGraw
What do Italian food and Italian women have in common? They both give Dante Girabaldi heart burn and, with the exception of his mother, he vows to avoid them at all costs. That becomes impossible when the former military pilot and FBI agent's first assignment with Deep Six East is to protect Prada D'Angelo, the Italian Ambassador of Women's Affairs to the U.S.
Straight off the runways of Milan, the gorgeous former model and TV star turned politician has accumulated a string of enemies which includes politicians, a billionaire media mogul and even a prince. Her father wants her protected, but Prada tells him right away she is not going to let him, or idle threats, slow her down. Dante quickly sees she isn't going to let the threats shut her beautiful mouth either and before he knows it, he is working double time to keep her safe while his team figures out who wants her kidnapped or dead.
A trip to Italy may give Dante the answers he seeks, but it will also bring Prada face-to-angelic-face with her enemies. Can he keep her safe in the most romantic, but dangerous, place in the world? Or will the magic of amore distract him and get them both killed?
EXCERPT:
Prada D’Angelo. The name jumped out at him and swirled through his brain
to buzz on his tongue as he wondered how it would feel when he spoke it. He
also wondered if the woman was as exotic as her name. Why did that name sound
so familiar to him? He looked for a photo in the file but found none, so he
perused the information on the intake document, which was on top of the other
papers inside the dossier. Thirty-three, from Milan, in the US for a year,
lived in a residence on Embassy Row in DC.
“No—our contract is with her father,
Arturo D’Angelo, a high-ranking Italian politician. According to him, she
didn’t want him to hire us, but he put his foot down when her assistant
notified him she received a threat last week,” Griff replied.
“Any idea why someone would want to
threaten her?” Dante asked.
“Other than her mouth?” Griff
snorted and his eyes darted to Lou Ellen, who frowned. “I hear from her father
it rarely gets a rest.”
“There was a sexual harassment
scandal of some kind,” Lou Ellen replied, shooting a hot glance at Griff. “She
made public allegations against a very powerful man, which incited other women
to step forward with similar claims. They pressed charges but he was
exonerated. Now, she has pressed charges of her own. Prada has also been vocal
on women’s rights in Italy, which has earned her a few enemies.”
“Why would speaking out for women’s
rights earn her enemies?” Dante asked. American women, and men for that matter,
spoke loudly for equality and were applauded for it.
“Things are still evolving there as
far as women’s rights,” Griff replied with a quick glance at his wife.
“What kind of threats are we talking
about?” Dante asked. “Death threats?”
“No, just one letter with veiled
threats, so far, but her father received a stronger warning regarding her
safety in Italy. He says there are several hard-liners who are not happy with
the waves she’s causing with her political posturing and pressure. She’s called
several politicians out publicly and also mentioned to the press that she might
run for office herself one day, if they won’t help her get things changed.
That’s caused a bigger stir.” Griff replied.
“If she’s fighting for Italian
women’s rights, what is she doing in the U.S?” Dante asked with more than a
small amount of dread for his new assignment building inside of him.
Griff shrugged. “He was
close-mouthed on certain topics regarding her and the situation, but I think he
had her assigned here after the scandal to protect her and to take the
political heat off himself. That’s the way it sounded, anyway.”
There was nothing politically
correct about Dante either. So he could easily see himself getting crossways
with a woman like Prada D’Angelo.
“Just a warning. I, ah, tend to piss
Italian women off. Just ask the ones related to me,” he said with a sigh as he
closed the folder. His sister, his mother and his Nonna before she died, told
him so. So did the woman he’d almost married, the one who put him off of
Italian women for good. The one who’d dug her claws so deep into his heart,
they were still there even though she was long gone. “Are you sure I’m
the right man for this job?”
About the Author:
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Becky McGraw writes happily-ever-afters with heat, heart and humor. A Jill of many trades, Becky knows just enough about a variety of subjects to make her contemporary cowboy and romantic suspense novels diverse and entertaining. She resides in Florida with her husband of thirty-plus years, is the mother of three and grandmother of one. Becky is a member of the RWA, Sisters in Crime and Novelists, Inc.
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