RILED

Kindle 
Paperbacks: Code Name: Rile | Code Name: Rile (Object Series) | Cortez and Kensington (Discreet Series)
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Where duty and desire collide,
Love blossoms in the face of danger as royal intrigue threatens to tear them apart.
Can Cortez and Kensington’s passion overcome the odds stacked against them?

RILE
I’ve sworn to protect the innocent, but Kensington Whitby has me questioning everything I once believed. When the Queen tasked me with her safety, I never expected to fall for the vivacious beauty with royal ties. Now, as we navigate a web of aristocratic plots and madmen’s obsessions, I find myself torn between duty and desire. Kensington awakens feelings I thought had died with my beloved wife. But can I trust my heart when every moment brings new peril? With a deranged Habsburg heir fixated on making her his bride, I’m determined to keep her safe at all costs. Yet as secrets unravel, I wonder: can our love withstand the weight of my troubled past and the dangerous future that lies ahead?

KENSINGTON
I thought my life was destined for tedious aristocratic expectations, but Cortez “Rile” DeLéon showed me a world of passion and purpose. What began as a flight from danger has become a journey of the heart. As we navigate royal politics and deadly obsessions, I find myself drawn to him in ways I never dreamed possible. With enemies closing in and my future hanging in the balance, can I trust the undeniable connection we share? Amidst a whirlwind of intrigue and desire, I must decide if our love is strong enough to overcome the ghosts of his past and the uncertain path before us.

CHAPTER ONE

When I close my eyes, your voice floats through the jet’s white noise and settles on my heart like a cold mist. And then you’re gone. Always gone before I can make sense of the words you so desperately want me to hear. I stop short of crying out for you to say it again, beg like I always do, for you to stay with me and never leave.

I wait for the pain as it claws its way back into my soul. There’s comfort in the familiar. At least I know I can feel…something. My eyes fill with unshed tears, and I murmur your name. Celestina. More than my northern star, you were my sun, my moon, my universe, my guiding light. Without you, I’m lost. So lost.

Forcing my eyes open, I look out the plane’s window as we begin our descent to Mallorca, the island that has become my home because it’s where you rest and will, for all eternity.

I stayed in my seat while the Bombardier taxied from the private runway to the hangar it shared with the much larger planes the DeLéons kept at their disposal. Part of me wished I could tell the pilot to turn around and take me back to Italy.

I stood, stretched my legs, and peered out another window when I saw my valet pull the black 1963 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL out of the same hangar the plane would soon be stored in. I smiled when he lowered the top; it was perfect convertible weather—sunny, but not too hot. May truly was the best month on the island.

I took one step down the plane’s ramp when I was overcome by what felt like a hurricane-force gale, yet the air was still. I gripped the railing with one hand while I rubbed my temple with the other as the message came through, loud and clear.

Kensington is in danger.

Kindle 
Paperbacks: Code Name: Rile | Code Name: Rile (Object Series) | Cortez and Kensington (Discreet Series)
Audio: Buy Direct Audio | Chirp | Spotify | Audible | Listen to an audio sample of Code Name: Rile