Storm Surge. Celia Ashley

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      Cover Copy

      Named after a goddess who turns her lovers to stone, an insular New England coastal town holds more secrets than it can keep…

      Torn from her hometown and her father as a child, Paige Waters’ last memory of both is fraught with mystery and confusion. Now, sixteen years later, with both her parents gone, Paige returns to Alcina Cove, certain there is more to the painful story than she’s been led to believe. The answers must lie within the community, buffered from the larger world by the sea; but when she finds the townspeople more reticent than ever, her only hope is the intriguing man who lives in her childhood home—if she can break down his reserve…

      A fisherman turned writer, Liam Gray is haunted by secrets of his own, some of which are deeply entangled with the closure Paige seeks. But as he and Paige grow intimate, their attraction building, Liam finds himself torn between truth and betrayal. Whichever he chooses will risk his future with Paige and cause someone pain—until an even greater danger leaves him no choice…

      Books by Celia Ashley

      Dark Tides Series

      Dark Tides

      Storm Surge

      Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

      Storm Surge

      A Dark Tides Romance

      Celia Ashley

      LYRICAL PRESS

      Kensington Publishing Corp.

      www.kensingtonbooks.com

      Copyright

      Lyrical Press books are published by

      Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018

      Copyright © 2015 by Celia Ashley

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

      All Kensington titles, imprints, and distributed lines are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotion, premiums, fund- raising, and educational or institutional use.

      Special book excerpts or customized printings can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write or phone the office of the Kensington Special Sales Manager:

      Kensington Publishing Corp.

      119 West 40th Street

      New York, NY 10018

      Attn. Special Sales Department. Phone: 1-800-221-2647.

      Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

      Lyrical Press and the L logo are trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.

      First Electronic Edition: May 2016

      eISBN-13: 978-1-60183-758-5

      eISBN-10: 1-60183-758-5

      First Print Edition: May 2016

      ISBN-13: 978-1-60183-760-8

      ISBN-10: 1-60183-760-7

      Printed in the United States of America

      Dedication

      To the marks against the silence

      Acknowledgements

      I would like to give thanks here to Janet Hetherington, who—with much exuberance—unearthed the mythology of the goddess Alcina and suggested hers as a name for the town in which this series is set. After learning of the goddess’s propensity for turning discarded lovers into stone, I added to Book II of the Dark Tides Series the stone circle named after the goddess and from which the fictional town derives its name.

      I wish also to thank my wonderful editor, Corinne DeMaagd. Her enthusiasm and her expertise have been invaluable. When initially approached about turning the first book, Dark Tides, into a series, I bemoaned the task of creating synopses for the next two books in record time, but with Corinne’s assistance, the task became more pleasure than pain. Corinne remains a joy to work with throughout every editorial process, and I can only hope I have not been too much of a nuisance in return.

      Thank you to all the wonderful women in my writers group for their friendship, the brainstorming sessions, the spontaneous bouts of cathartic release.

      I would like to acknowledge my familiarity with the paranormal. Although I have experienced nothing near to what I put my characters through in my books, I have had encounters that have changed my life view. If you would like to read more about them, I do make the occasional entry in my blog about things that go bump in the night.

      Last but far, far from least, I wish to thank my readers—for their loyalty and the enlightening comments they offer about my work and life in general.

      Chapter 1

      “Full fathom five thy father lies;

      Of his bones are coral made:

      Those are pearls that were his eyes:

      Nothing of him doth fade,

      But doth suffer a sea-change

      Into something rich and strange.”

      William Shakespeare – The Tempest

      She’d forgotten how callous and greedy gulls’ cries could be, and yet how evocative of place. Sixteen years of exile vanished in the sound.

      Mom, what is that?

      Sweetheart, don’t. It’s nothing.

      Paige considered her friends’ warnings about coming home, how they had cautioned her regarding sounds and smells splitting open the aged cask of memory. In the past, fragments had occasionally risen from the murky recesses, but they always slipped back into the dark without being fully realized. She didn’t know what she feared more—the memory itself or the darkness holding it at bay.

      Keeping her distance from the shoreline, Paige studied the seabirds’ flashing ghostly wings through the gloom, unable to see what incited their frenzy. Beyond, waves crested in thunderous approach. Paige shoved her hands into her pockets. Out on the water, a ship appeared to barely move, the lights lining its hull burning like pinprick holes. Sunrise was not yet a glimmer where sea met sky. She turned away.

      To the west, the sky possessed a dull radiance. Traffic lights СКАЧАТЬ