Elsa Mostek Friedman has built a good life for herself and her daughter, Catherine. A life of privilege and wealth. It's a life that’s a far cry from her humble beginnings in a Polish village. It’s a life built on lies, because while she adores her husband, David, it’s another man who haunts her dreams. It’s another man her body yearns for: Catherine's father, the German Resistance spy Friedrich Weiss, who infiltrated the Nazi regime. Their love was forged in the horrors of Auschwitz and when Friedrich helped Elsa escape, it was to build the very life she has now.
Now Friedrich has returned and Elsa is torn between her love for her husband and all the security he provides, and the love she has for Friedrich, who is still a hunted man. Elsa and Friedrich have no future, but passion explodes between them, hotter than ever. And for all their noble intentions, for all their fears of discovery, neither can stay away from the other.
Elsa walks a knife-edge line between both men as she also tries to protect the secrets she’s kept for over six years.
But there are others who know Elsa's secrets and they too have returned to make sure the carefully constructed world she’s built explodes in a rain of violence and vengeance that will only be appeased when everything Elsa holds dear is destroyed.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Affair-Resistance-ebook/dp/B00CDBMH1E/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366213822&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Affair+E.+Jamie
How about an excerpt?
“Are you all right?” Elsa asked, following the
limb behind a large crate.
The curtain rod fell from her hand and her legs
turned to jelly when she came around the crate and met an unmistakably familiar
face. His dark hair was longer, bringing his bangs into his eyes and a dark
beard covered the bottom half of his face.
“Dear God,” she whispered, reaching for
something to brace herself, finding nothing, Elsa fell to her knees, her bare
skin brushing his pant leg.
He looked at her, awestruck, his brown eyes wide
in his pale face.
“Friedrich.”
The name come from deep inside of her in a rush
of shocking joy so strong it burst from her in quick exhale. She didn’t think
and didn’t speak again for the longest time, just threw her arms around him and
inhaled the scent of his skin. The sounds coming from her were almost like
whimpers as she nuzzled his sweat dampened neck, the bristles on his face and
salt of what she recognized as tears. Hers? His? She felt a hand on her back as
he clutched her tight, drawing her practically on top of him.
Her only thought was getting closer and to keep
touching him to assure herself he was truly there. It was as if madness gripped
her and she dug her nails into his shoulders. Her mouth met his and his groans
and exhalations of her name pushed into her like a brand.
“You’re here,” she moaned, kissing him again and
again. She kissed his face, his nose, the dampness from his eyes, the love
pulsing through her like a caged animal, clawing to get free. Love? Oh God
yes…yes! The admission throbbed and pulsed through her as he cupped the
back of her head and slid his fingers into her long hair, holding her still as
he thrust his tongue into her mouth. My love…the words stabbed through
her, deep and hard and she pressed down on his lap, feeling the unmistakable
bulge there.
“Am I dreaming?” Elsa moaned, keeping her eyes
closed, afraid if she opened them he’d be gone.
“No,” his voice caressed her, his fingers
massaging her scalp. “I’m here, Elsa. I’m here.”
“Oh…” she
whimpered, kissing him, moving to straddle his lap. “Oh God,” she cried,
rocking her hips against him. “Don’t stop touching me…Please….please…keep your
hands on me, my love, my love…”
His hand went to her bottom, tilting her
forward, more sharply against him and Elsa came with a scream and in the
aftershocks came the cold horrific realization of what she was doing.
He let her go gently and Elsa leaned back,
untangling her legs from his. She had
only one grey shoe on. The other was next to Friedrich’s thigh on the opposite
side.
“Can you…my shoe?” She motioned towards it and
he handed it to her. Silently, she slipped it back on her foot. “How…Where…?”
She shook her head. “I have so many questions I don’t know where to start.”
“Me, too,” he admitted, panting.
She studied him and realized he was clutching
his arm. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” She climbed back on her knees and pulled
his hand away, seeing no blood she tugged on the collar of his shirt, seeing a
bump in his shoulder that shouldn’t be there.
“I fell…trying to hide when I heard noise
downstairs.”
She cringed. “Sorry about that.”
Friedrich shook his head. “I’m not.” He looped
his finger around a long lock of her blonde hair. “My God, you’re even more
beautiful than I remember.”
She met his gaze and her face heated. She
quickly looked away. “Did you land on your shoulder? I think it might be
dislocated.” Catherine had suffered a similar injury last year when she decided
she would try and prove she could fly if she wanted to by taking a dive off the
fence at her grandpa Max’s estate.
Catherine. Oh God. Elsa shuddered at the
enormity of having to tell Friedrich they had a child, a daughter. But did he
know already?
“Sure feels that way,” he hissed through
clenched teeth. “I would have popped it back into place, but then I heard you
approaching.”
“Here. Let me.” She took his hand in hers and
shivered. His skin was warm.
He turned her hand over and Elsa saw him study
her wedding ring.
Elsa closed her eyes, feeling a little nauseous
now with the weight of her guilt but she couldn’t figure out who she was guilty
about, being married to David or being here with Friedrich?
“What’s his name?” Friedrich asked softly.
Elsa couldn’t look at him. Instead she propped
her foot against his underarm and pulled with all her might, popping the
shoulder back into place.
Friedrich let out growl, and swore as he dug the
back of his head against the wall before exhaling and sagging against the wall.
Elsa took her blazer off and used it to make a
sling for him. “Try not to move it too much and you should be okay.”
“Elsa,” Friedrich’s tone told her he knew she
was avoiding his question.
She supposed it was a good thing. If he didn’t
know about David, he didn’t know about Catherine. She knew she would have to
tell him about their daughter eventually but she told herself it was just too
much to deal with right now. First she had to know more about what he was doing
here and if he was staying.
“David,” she replied. “His name is David and he
loves me very much.” She wasn’t sure why she felt she had to add that. It felt
like protection from him or maybe a reminder for herself. She certainly hadn’t
given her husband a second thought a moment ago.
“How could he not?” Friedrich said, looking at
her.
Elsa lowered her head.
Friedrich reached over and touched her necklace.
“I see you got my message.”
Her fingers went to the chain, just missing his
as he dropped his hand. “Yes, thank you. How…long have you been here?”
“Only a few weeks. My food is running out though
so I’m going to have to move on soon. I just wanted to see if I could find you
and see you once before I left. I should have known you would find me first,”
he said with a snort.
“I could bring you food,” she injected quickly
without thinking. It would be disaster if he stayed! What on earth was she
thinking? The truth was now that he was here the thought of him leaving again
was unbearable.
He cocked his head and looked at her carefully.
“You want me to stay?”
Elsa picked at the pale blue fabric of her
skirt. Say no. Tell him he has to leave. He was too dangerous to have in
her life.
“Elsa.”
She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut tight.
“Was it the shock of seeing me or did you mean
what you said?” Friedrich asked her, his voice low as if he understood the
weight of such a confession. “Did you mean what you called me?”
My love…My love…
That man loves you.
She took his hand again and pressed it to her
face, leaning against it. “Yes,” she moaned, her eyes filling with tears. “Oh
yes. I love you. I kept telling myself it was something else all these years
because I had to, to move on but it wasn’t. But it doesn’t matter.”
Friedrich lowered his head to hers, their
foreheads pressed together. “It’s all right. I don’t want to ruin your life.
Dear God, no. I’ve never wanted that. It was why I stayed away, for your sake
as much as mine, but I wanted to see you at least once. I would allow myself
just to set eyes on you once more before I put an ocean between us.”
Would you guys like to win your very own copy? Just leave a comment and I'll pick a winner this Monday!
