A View to a Thrill (Masters and Mercenaries Book 7)
Read A View to a Thrill (Masters and Mercenaries Book 7) Online
Authors: Lexi Blake
Tags: #Venice, #Masters & Mercenaries, #Spies, #Erotic Romance, #BDSM, #Lexi Blake
Praise for Lexi Blake and Masters and Mercenaries...
“I can always trust Lexi Blake's Dominants to leave me breathless...and in love. If you want sensual, exciting BDSM wrapped in an awesome love story, then look for a Lexi Blake book.”
~Cherise Sinclair USA Today Bestselling author
“Lexi Blake's MASTERS AND MERCENARIES series is beautifully written and deliciously hot. She's got a real way with both action and sex. I also love the way Blake writes her gorgeous Dom heroes--they make me want to do bad, bad things. Her heroines are intelligent and gutsy ladies whose taste for submission definitely does not make them dish rags. Can't wait for the next book!”
~Angela Knight, New York Times bestselling author
“A Dom is Forever is action packed, both in the bedroom and out. Expect agents, spies, guns, killing and lots of kink as Liam goes after the mysterious Mr. Black and finds his past and his future… The action and espionage keep this story moving along quickly while the sex and kink provides a totally different type of interest. Everything is very well balanced and flows together wonderfully.”
~A Night Owl “Top Pick”, Terri, Night Owl Erotica
“A Dom Is Forever is everything that is good in erotic romance. The story was fast-paced and suspenseful, the characters were flawed but made me root for them every step of the way, and the hotness factor was off the charts mostly due to a bad boy Dom with a penchant for dirty talk.”
~Rho, The Romance Reviews
“A good read that kept me on my toes, guessing until the big reveal, and thinking survival skills should be a must for all men.”
~Chris, Night Owl Reviews
“I can’t get enough of the Masters and Mercenaries Series! Love and Let Die is Lexi Blake at her best! She writes erotic romantic suspense like no other, and I am always extremely excited when she has something new for us! Intense, heart pounding, and erotically fulfilling, I could not put this book down.”
~ Shayna Renee, Shayna Renee's Spicy Reads
“Certain authors and series are on my auto-buy list. Lexi Blake and her Masters & Mercenaries series is at the top of that list... this book offered everything I love about a Masters & Mercenaries book – alpha men, hot sex and sweet loving… As long as Ms. Blake continues to offer such high quality books, I’ll be right there, ready to read.”
~ Robin, Sizzling Hot Books
“I have absolutely fallen in love with this series. Spies, espionage, and intrigue all packaged up in a hot dominant male package. All the men at McKay-Taggart are smoking hot and the women are amazingly strong sexy submissives.”
~Kelley, Smut Book Junkie Book Reviews
A View to a Thrill
Masters and Mercenaries, Book 7
Lexi Blake
A View to a Thrill
Masters and Mercenaries, Book 7
Lexi Blake
Published by DLZ Entertainment LLC
Copyright 2014 DLZ Entertainment LLC
Edited by Chloe Vale
eBook ISBN: 978-1-937608-29-3
McKay-Taggart logo design by Charity Hendry
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my team—editor Chloe Vale, beta readers Riane Holt and Stormy Pate and the wonderful Liz Berry and Fiona Archer for all the help in getting this book ready to go. I also thank my husband and kids and the amazing Top Griz for his service to our country and for sharing his knowledge with writers.
Table of Contents
Cherished: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella by Lexi Blake, Coming October 28, 2014
You Only Love Twice by Lexi Blake, Coming February 17, 2015
Their Virgin Mistress by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake
An excerpt from The Flame by Christopher Rice
An excerpt from Forbidden Legacy by Mari Carr and Lila Dubois
An excerpt from His to Take by Shayla Black
The village of Norsely, England
Thirty-one years ago
Simon opened the door from the garden. The light of day seemed to fade away as he moved into the house. Quiet. It seemed too quiet, but then he had to be quiet when the tours came through. Every now and then his mother would walk through the hallways with a group of people he didn’t know, telling them all about the house, though she always neglected to show them the best parts. She showed the people the grand parlor, but never the football goals their father had set up for him and Clive. She didn’t even show them the smashing new game room with toys and a table where he could play tennis with his brother.
Though Clive was always tired now.
He ran through the halls, his feet pounding against the wood floors as he moved from light to shadow with each window. His brother used to play a game with him. They would try to jump from the patches of light the big windows made just before afternoon turned to dusk. They would leap over the shadows in between and most often one of them would fall and laughter would ensue, and their father would sometimes join them calling them little monkeys and tickling them until they couldn’t breathe.
“Simon?”
He stopped at the sound of his mother’s voice. He turned and she was standing in front of the hall that led to the family rooms. She never took people down that hallway. It was for them, she said. The rest of the house could be for history, but that wing was their home.
“Mummy.” He raced toward her. She’d been gone all day. They’d all been gone. “Where’s Dad and Clive?”
She got to one knee, and he could suddenly see the lines on her face. She always looked pretty, but there were little black streaks around her eyes now and her mouth had a grim turn. “They’re upstairs. Clive is resting, but your father is packing.”
“Where are we going?”
She shook her head. “You’re staying here, love. You start school in a few weeks. I’ll try to come back to help get you settled, but if I can’t, then Nanny Deborah will make sure you get to school.”
“Where are you going?”
“To London. We’re taking your brother there. Clive is very sick, Simon.”
Sick? Clive always seemed sick. He wasn’t sure how going to London would help, but it was all right with him. He just didn’t want to be left behind. “I can go to London, too. I can help.”
She sniffled and then stood up. “I’m sorry. I think it’s best you stay here, love. It will be very boring in London. When school starts you’ll be busy, so busy you won’t have time to worry. That’s what I want for you. Normalcy. You need normalcy.” She squared her shoulders. “We’ll be back in a few weeks so we should see you at the next holiday.”
Holiday? But that was months away.
“But I want to go with you,” he said. He suddenly felt very small. Like he wasn’t really there at all.
His mother shook her head. “It’s decided. You have to be strong. Your father and I want what’s best for you and that isn’t living in some hospital for months at a time. Your brother loves you. He wants you to have a normal life. None of us wants you affected by this.”
By cancer. He’d heard the word. Clive had cancer and cancer was a bad thing. But it was affecting him because he was being left behind.
He nodded though because crying wasn’t the Weston way. Westons stuck together. That was what his father said.
Except he seemed to be the only Weston not sticking together.
His mum kissed his forehead and turned down the hall, her heels clicking as she walked toward the place where his father was likely packing up for the trip.
Simon sat on the bench in front of the big windows and watched as the light faded. It didn’t matter that he was five. He had to be brave. He had to be strong.
Because he suddenly understood that he was alone.
* * * *
North Carolina coast, USA
Seventeen Years Ago
Chelsea ran, her bare feet sinking into the sand. It was hot, but she was used to it. She was a beach baby, as her momma said. She’d lived her whole life close to the ocean.