THE BILLIONAIRE'S DECEPTION by Shawna Delacorte—a contemporary romance novel from The Wild Rose Press available in ebook and print, scheduled for release Monday, September 12, 2022.
Welcome to my blog. My guests this week are Cassie Brockton and Trent Nichols. While both Cassie and Trent live in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state, neither are from that area originally.
So, how did the two of you end up on an island in the Pacific Northwest at the same time? Who wants to go first? Cassie? Trent?
Trent: How about you handling this one, Cassie?
Cassie: Well, I'm from Chicago and had just gone through a bitter and contentious divorce from a cheating, lying attorney—a controlling and over-bearing man who felt his exalted legal career was far more important than my career as a banker.
Trent: [laughs] I think there might be just a bit of lingering resentment there.
Cassie: [grins, just a hint of a teasing twinkle in her eyes] I have to admit I had a couple of years where I harbored a serious blind spot about anyone connected to the legal profession. As I was trying to reorganize my life as a single woman, I received the news that I had an inheritance from my great aunt, a small diner and bar on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington state. Just the change I needed, an opportunity to start my life anew. I was a little concerned about being able to acclimate to small town life, let alone on an island, after living all my life in a big city like Chicago. My concerns were unwarranted. After a couple of months, I felt right at home.
How about you, Trent? How did you end up on San Juan Island?
Trent: I had a very successful career in Beverly Hills as an attorney, high profile clients and as much work as I could handle…successful and financially very rewarding. I had already reached all the goals I had set for my life, both career and financial, while still a year away from my fortieth birthday. But I was feeling the signs of career burnout, more and more with each passing day. I decided to take a three month sabbatical. I headed my yacht north from Southern California toward Canada. An attorney friend of mine from Seattle asked me to do him a favor on San Juan Island and I agreed. That put me in Cassie's diner just in time to catch her when she fell from the top of a ladder.
Cassie: And, lucky for me, he was there. Otherwise I'm sure it would have resulted in some serious injuries.
Trent: I was instantly captivated by this delightful woman, so open and honest, without any pretentions. So different from the fast-paced world where I functioned in Beverly Hills. But it didn't take long for me to discover her deep-seated resentment of attorneys. As we talked, I realized she had assumed I arrived on the ferry. I started to correct her assumption, but changed my mind. Like hiding the fact that I was an attorney, allowing her to believe that I arrived on the ferry rather than my yacht was only a little deception—it couldn't hurt anything. After all, I was just passing through. No point in creating a possibly tense situation. Handle the favor for my friend and continue on my trip to Canada.
Uh Oh. The first thing that pops into my mind is that poem written by Sir Walter Scott, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."
Trent: [nods head in agreement] Exactly. And what I thought of as an innocent little omission turned out to be something so huge that it almost cost me everything I held dear.
That sounds ominous. Do you want to explain?
Trent: Sorry, Shawna. [grins mischievously] You'll need to read the book.
What about you, Cassie? Can you shed any light on that situation?
Cassie: Well, I can tell you that there were several times when I felt Trent stepped over the line, was being too pushy, meddled in my business, tried to take over.
How? What did he do?
Cassie: [scrunches her face up into a thoughtful expression] Well, one morning the breakfast rush was very busy. He decided I needed help. So without even asking me, he stepped behind the cash register and started assisting the customers waiting to pay their bill. I let him know exactly how I felt about that [glances at Trent and grins], but I don't think it made much of an impression.
Are there any other incidents you can tell us about?
Cassie: Several, but I'm afraid you'll need to read the book.
Trent: I can tell you that she accidently discovered I was an attorney right before I was going to confess all and clear any possible obstacles to what I envisioned as our life together. I can't speak for Cassie, but that was definitely the worst day of my life.
Since you're still together, you obviously worked everything out. What happened? How did she find out? And how did you resolve the problems?
Cassie and Trent: [in unison] You'll have to read the book.
[laughs] Thank you Cassie and Trent for being my guests today.
BLURB:
High-powered billionaire Beverly Hills attorney Trent
Nichols takes a three month sabbatical to shake his feeling of career burnout
and ends up in the San Juan Islands off Washington State. Right away, he
encounters a beautiful, down-to-earth owner of a diner/bar and feels an
immediate attraction to her. But when she expresses a hostile opinion of attorneys,
he decides to keep his profession to himself, a little deception he believes
won’t matter. He’s not there to stay.
As a transplanted Chicago banker with a contentious divorce from a lying, cheating attorney, Cassie Brockton loves her new life on the island where she inherited a diner/bar from her great aunt. A stranger in town grabs her full attention, and though he’s not telling her everything, she senses she can trust him and lets down her guard.
But when the island draws him in—just the change his life needs—and his affection for Cassie grows, Trent’s deception has him caught in a web that threatens both their futures.
THE BILLIONAIRE'S DECEPTION by Shawna Delacorte, a contemporary romance novel from The Wild Rose Press. www.thewildrosepress.com
Available at:
www.amazon.com/Billionaires-Deception-Shawna-Delacorte-ebook/dp/B0B372PVSF
and other online vendors
More excerpts and other information available on my website: www.shawnadelacorte.com
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