Imagine
the Kiss
Crystal
Creek Book 7
by
Laura Haley-McNeil
Genre:
Clean Romantic Suspense
Two
people open themselves to the truth and open themselves to each
other.
Her
marriage in ruins, violinist Teagan Whitloch Munroe escapes into her
music and the solace she finds at the Crystal Creek Ranch. Practicing
in the woods helps her piece together her life, but she isn’t
alone. When she hears someone hiking nearby, she demands he reveal
himself, but the only revelation she gets is a soothing voice that
heals the pain in her heart.
Maimed
by a crushing accident, the once famous architect Phineas St. Cyr
protects the world from his disfigurement by sequestering himself in
the woods on the Crystal Creek Ranch. When he hears the intoxicating
strains from Teagan’s violin, he can’t resist the beauty that
quiets his aching soul, and he yearns to know the woman who creates
such beauty.
Teagan
finds sanctuary in her friendship with this connoisseur of music, but
soon realizes Phin’s hiding more than his hideous scars. As they
become entangled with each other, Teagan is stunned to learn they
share more than a love of music. They are caught in a web of deceit
by someone threatening to reveal Phin’s secrets. His exposed past
endangers Teagan, and he can no longer walk away. This time he must
face the enemy determined to defeat him. He’ll fight to the finish
to protect the woman he can never love. No price is too high to keep
buried the secret that will mark Teagan for destruction.
This
is a clean romance.
Chapter One
Teagan Whitloch Munroe was trembling. She was trembling, and she couldn’t stop. She’d been trembling for more than two hours—since she’d left the downtown Denver condominium she shared with her husband, Dr. Wilbert Munroe. What she’d seen inside the condo—in their bedroom—made her want to vomit. A cold knot of disgust and revulsion gripped her stomach.
When she’d walked into the master bedroom, she must’ve gasped. Will was lying on the bed, but he wasn’t alone. He’d lifted his head from the pillow. He looked right at her.
And swore.
He didn’t look surprised. He looked annoyed.
She’d pressed a hand over her mouth.
Blinded by tears, she’d backed into the doorjamb and stumbled into the hallway. She didn’t remember running out of the condo, but she must have. Her legs throbbed, and her chest ached. The only thing she remembered was her husband calling her name. What had he said? Let’s talk? She didn’t know if she should laugh or sob.
And she remembered the dulcet laughter of the naked woman who was servicing him in bed. Teagan’s and Will’s bed. Teagan had thought Ginny Andrews was her friend.
Some friend. Ginny who was svelte and toned. A contrast to Teagan who’d struggled with her weight since she was seven years old.
A shuddering breath rocked through Teagan’s lungs. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She wiped them away.
She barely remembered driving to the Crystal Creek Ranch, throwing a saddle on her favorite horse, Champagne, and racing through the meadows until she reached the aspen forest covering Crystal Peak.
Fighting against the despair that filled her, she wrapped shaky fingers around the reins and urged the Arabian horse through the trees bursting with spring green leaves. Her vision blurred, and she tried to focus on the pink wild roses and purple elephant’s head mingling with the green undergrowth. The splashes of Crystal Creek tumbling over rocks sounded next to the trail. It was happy and musical and far from the darkness that crowded her heart. Her stomach roiled and begged to be emptied of the half sandwich she’d eaten during the orchestral rehearsal that afternoon.
She ran her hand over the horse’s neck damp from perspiration.
“How’re you doing, Champagne?” Her voice was husky, and she asked the question again.
The mare snorted. She shook her head. Her mane danced through the air.
Defending
Her Heart
Crystal
Creek Book 6
His
head says no. His heart won’t let go.
JT
Whitloch can’t close his eyes without seeing the body of the woman
who drowned in his swimming pool two years ago. Though he doesn’t
remember that night, he blames himself for her death and walks away
from a life that gave him everything he ever wanted…almost
everything. His move to Crystal Creek gives him the solitude he longs
for, but still he can’t find peace.
Then
Gretchen Moore moves to town, and she doesn’t just stir up his
desire. She stirs up his past, a past with a secret so deadly it
could destroy her.
Gretchen
wants nothing to do with JT. Because of him, someone wants her dead.
The terror from his past forces them into an alliance that soon
ignites their passion. Fighting these feelings leads them to the
secret of the woman floating in JT’s swimming pool, but the
knowledge doesn’t ease JT’s inner turmoil. Instead, it reveals an
answer that could destroy him and Gretchen. His own destruction he
could accept, but he’ll defend Gretchen to his death.
Risking
Her Heart
Crystal
Creek Book 5
A
novel of suspense, revenge and a love so deep that it can only be
released through forgiveness.
Hollywood
producer Trent Parker has one goal – to own the film option for the
breakout novel Sunset in Maui. His problem? Actress turned producer
Charisse Whitloch. She’ll do anything to produce the film. Trent
can stop her, but not without getting close to her, a bond he can’t
risk.
Charisse has found the film project that will prove
she’s her own woman – not her father’s daughter. One person
stands in her way – Trent Parker. She’s faced opposition before,
but she isn’t prepared for Trent. Her charisma has softened
Hollywood’s hardest hearts, but is she a match for Trent’s heart
of stone?
Trent’s defenses against Charisse crumble - loving
her will heal the darkness in his soul and open the door to a secret
he buried long ago. When Charisse is threatened, she and Trent face
her adversaries. They piece together a plot more sinister than any
Hollywood movie, but the key to their survival lies in Trent’s past
– the key that will lead to Trent’s destruction.
Steeling
Her Heart
Crystal
Creek Book 4
She
agrees to enter a loveless marriage, but the man who stole her heart
will do anything to stop her.
The
holidays are over, and aristocrat Anna Whitloch must leave Crystal
Creek and return to Eastern Europe. She made a promise, a promise
that will save her mother’s estate. Someone else has other ideas.
Ideas that will get Anna out of the way permanently.
Anna
can take care of herself, so why was Deputy Rocco Ventali assigned to
protect her? She can’t depend on him, as he proved that night ten
years ago when they had planned to meet. He never showed.
The
last thing Rocco needs is to be assigned to protect Anna, but it soon
becomes clear no one else is qualified. So how does he protect the
woman he never stopped loving from the secret that could endanger
her?
And how does he remain this close to her, and not love her,
when the love in his heart refuses to be reined in?
A
Ring Around Her Heart
Crystal
Creek Book 3
Giselle
Whitloch has no time for love. As a college grad, she’s on track to
land her dream Wall Street job. Her great grandmother’s ring gives
her strength to pursue her goal. When she doesn’t get the job, she
flees to the Crystal Creek Ranch to regain her courage to step back
into her job hunting mode.
Niccolo
di Saluzzo has been searching for the ring that will save his
family--the ring that disappeared from his family’s possessions one
hundred years ago. He will pursue the ring even if he has to follow
the one woman he can never love to an isolated ranch in Crystal
Creek, Colorado. Even if pursuing this woman costs him his
life.
Niccolo
and Giselle battle over ownership of the ring in a fight that takes
them from New York City to Crystal Creek, Colorado, to the Balearic
Island of Mallorca, to the pinnacle of love both must deny. But the
final battle is waged when they meet the man who plans to destroy
them both--all for the possession of a ring with a powerful secret.
Crystal
Creek Christmas
Crystal
Creek Book 2
Celebrate
Christmas with the Whitlochs.
When
a blinding snowstorm shuts down the Crystal Creek Ranch’s cattle
operation, the Whitlochs have one mission – save the cattle. ER doc
Jake Whitloch joins in the rescue, but the form he finds in a
snowdrift is no cow. It’s a woman, a woman who consumes his
thoughts despite that two carat diamond sitting on her ring
finger.
Noelle
Beaupré thanks the rugged doctor for rescuing her from freezing to
death and the Whitlochs for taking her into their home, but now it’s
time for her to leave the ranch. She longs to stay with the man who’s
determined to protect her, but she doesn’t dare. Her deadly secret
is in hot pursuit. Any delay and she’ll endanger the family who
opened their home to her.
Noelle
leaving Crystal Creek Ranch? Jake can’t let her go, but how can he
convince her he’ll do anything to keep her safe?
This
book includes your favorite Crystal Creek characters from Book One of
the Crystal Creek Series and several new characters, including Max
Whitloch’s children from his previous marriages who come to the
ranch for Victoria and Garrett’s wedding. All Max’s children will
have their own books as they pursue their quests for love.
Guarding
Her Heart
Crystal
Creek Book 1
Threatened
by a stalker, she turns to the only man who can help her - the man
who walked out of her life ten years ago.
Artist
Victoria Whitloch escapes the clutches of a stalker only to stumble
into the arms of the man she never wants to see again, bad boy
prosecutor Garrett Reynolds. To protect Victoria, Garrett whisks her
away to an isolated lodge. Major problem for Victoria—how does she
help Garrett capture the stalker while guarding her heart against the
man who broke it once before? Garrett thought his heart had healed
when Victoria left him ten years ago. Garrett’s bigger
problem—capture the stalker determined to imprison Victoria.
Keeping Victoria safe is no easy task for Garrett, but getting her to
trust him is an entirely different challenge. He puts his life on the
line to guard the woman who is more deserving of love than any woman
he’s known. But love takes a back seat to the Whitloch-Reynolds
feud. At the center is the Crystal Creek Ranch. The Whitlochs own the
ranch. The Reynolds are the rightful heirs.
This is a clean,
romantic suspense novel.
**Get
it FREE!**
Laura
Haley-McNeil received degrees in Spanish and German from Metropolitan
State University of Denver. She taught Spanish and then worked in the
Western History Department of the Denver Public Library translating
the correspondence of Bishop Joseph Machebeuf.
After
moving to San Diego, she worked as the accountant for a Christian
television station, then transferred to Hardin, Montana, and
performed technical production for the television station there.
She
returned to Denver and supervised accounting departments for a title
company and a stock brokerage firm. During this time, she renovated
homes, bought and managed several residential properties and obtained
a real estate license. She has also worked as the property manager
overseeing five business office complexes,, high-rise office
buildings and producing newsletter and marketing material.
She
is an accomplished ballet dancer having studied and performed in that
area for more than twenty years and has studied piano for over forty
years. Musical studies also include violin and organ. She has been on
the board of directors of two Colorado orchestras and is a past
member of the American Liszt Society.
Several
of her short stories have been published in national magazines, and
she has written book reviews for Book Lover's Magazine. She is the
author of the Crystal Creek Series and the Beaumont Series.
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Thank you for hosting the Crystal Creek book tour. I love writing these books and appreciate the opportunity to share them with readers. I hope you enjoy the books!
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