Andrea Laurence - A Beauty Uncovered

A beastly boss is tamed in this Secrets of Eden book from Andrea Laurence…

CEO Brody Eden is a loner. The brooding billionaire has secrets that he refuses to unveil to anyone…until he meets his new assistant, Samantha Davis. She’s temptation personified, and she’s sitting right outside his door.

Samantha’s never met a man as guarded—and gorgeous—as Brody. She doesn’t want to fall for her boss, but there’s something about Brody…. Beneath his gruff manner, Sam senses tenderness—and an intense passion waiting to be unleashed. And she’ll make it her mission to enter his lair…and his bed.

Brody turned on his heel, ready to return to his office.

“Mr Eden?”

“Yes?” He stopped.

Samantha rounded her desk and approached him. His body tensed involuntarily as she came closer. She reached up to the scarred side of his face, causing his lungs to seize in his chest. What was she doing?

“Your shirt…” Her voice drifted to a stop.

He felt her fingertips gently brush the puckered skin along his neck before straightening his shirt collar. The innocent touch sent a jolt of heat through his body. It was so simple, so unplanned, and yet it was the first time a woman had touched his scars.

Without thinking, he brought his hand up to grasp hers. Sam gasped softly at his sudden movement, but she didn’t pull away when his fingers wrapped around her own. He was glad. He wasn’t ready to let go.

His every nerve lit up with awareness, and he was pretty certain she felt it, too. Her dark brown eyes were wide as she looked at him, her moist lips parted seductively and begging for his kiss.

Dear Reader,

While I was writing this book, the unthinkable happened. Nearly thirty people, mostly small children, were gunned down by a disturbed and dangerous man in Connecticut. Senseless violence happens more often than I would like to believe and I find myself at a loss about what to say or do when it does. This time, I was in the midst of writing a story about a man who’d survived his own brush with violence at the hands of his own father. It seemed like too much of a coincidence to ignore that Brody also grew up in Connecticut, less than fifty miles away from the site of the tragedy. So I decided to do something different this time.

At this point in the letter, I’m supposed to tell you all about how much you’ll love this book and the characters. And I hope you will. Brody’s story was the one I was the most excited to write and Sam is the perfect woman to draw him out of his self-imposed prison. But with everything that has happened, I’d like to tell you that this book is also about survival and perseverance. Brody lived through some terrible things in his childhood. Sam lost her mother suddenly and at a young age. I am sure that there would’ve been times when both characters thought the world was over and considered giving up. Life isn’t always easy, but you have to hang on. Things will get better. Brody and Sam didn’t give up, and in the end, they get their happy ending.

When this book comes out, it will be nearly a year after the Sandy Hook shooting. My thoughts are with the families as they face this grim anniversary and the holiday season without their loved ones. Things will never be the way they were. They will never get their children or wives or mothers back. I wish I could write a happy ending for them, too, but I can’t. I can only hope that, in time, things will get better for them.

Please take the time to hug the important people in your life and tell them how much you love them. Also, consider making a donation to a charity that helps abused or abandoned children. Your kindness may be the very thing that gives a child the hope they need to make it through another day.

If you enjoy Brody and Sam’s story, tell me by visiting my website at www.andrealaurence.com, like my fan page on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.

Enjoy,

Andrea

A Beauty Uncovered

Andrea Laurence

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ANDREA LAURENCEis an award-winning contemporary romance author who has been a lover of books and writing stories since she learned to read. She always dreamed of seeing her work in print and is thrilled to be able to share her books with the world. A dedicated West Coast girl transplanted into the Deep South, she’s working on her own “happily ever after” with her boyfriend and five fur-babies. You can contact Andrea at her website: www.andrealaurence.com.

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To the Victims

of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting—

This book is dedicated to the children who were lost,

the teachers and faculty who died to protect them,

and the families and students who will live with

this senseless tragedy for their whole lives.

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Excerpt

One

“Confidentiality agreement?”

Samantha Davis frowned at her godmother. Agnes had been there for Sam her entire life. She trusted the older woman, who had stepped in as a mother figure when Sam was still in elementary school. And she was helping her get a job when Sam needed it the most. But even then, she didn’t like the sound of this.

Getting up to Agnes’s office had been a feat of its own. Sam was pretty certain there were fewer security measures at CIA headquarters.

What was she getting herself into?

Agnes shook her head and pushed the form across the desk to her. “It’s nothing to really worry about, honey. Mr. Eden is very particular about his privacy. That’s why there are so many restrictive measures to get up to this floor. No one in the building has access except me, Mr. Eden and the head of security. I’m the only one at the company that ever has any personal interaction with him. If you’re going to fill in while I’m on vacation, you will interact with him as well, so you’ll have to sign the agreement.”

An uneasy prickle ran up the length of Sam’s neck. Although she and Agnes were the only people in the room, she felt like she was being watched. Looking curiously around the modern, yet comfortably decorated office, she spied a tiny video camera watching her from the corner. There was a second camera on the opposite wall to capture another angle of the room. Who needed surveillance equipment to monitor their secretary?

If it was anyone but her godmother telling her to take this job, she’d walk right out the door. But Agnes wouldn’t rope her into a bad situation just so she could go on vacation for her fortieth anniversary. It must seem worse than it was.

And yet, she couldn’t put her finger on what was really going on here. She scanned over the confidentiality paperwork with distrust. Brody Eden owned Eden Software Systems. Office solutions and communications. Nothing classified. Nothing that might threaten national security if it was leaked. And yet if she failed to follow the terms of the agreement, she would be obligated to pay a five-million-dollar settlement.