Dare To Trust

By Jill James

Book 2 - The Lake Willowbee Series

When Evie Grimes, on the run from her stalker ex-husband falls for the local carpenter/retired Marine, she's not sure she can dare to trust another man with her heart. When her ex-husband shows up dead at her back door she isn't sure what to trust; her old memories or her new love.

Brady Jackson is a former Marine. Now a carpenter, he is as honest as the day is long. What you see is what you get and what you get is a man willing to do anything to protect the woman he’s grown to love.

When Brady falls for Evie he will have to prove he can be trusted with her heart. When danger arrives at her door he will have to prove he didn’t commit murder to protect her. When everyone else turns against him, will Evie be willing to dare to trust?

Book 1 - Divorce, Interrupted
Book 3 - Defend My Love

Romance Level - Hot

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jill James
• Release date: Feb 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465938442

Jill James

Jill James is a self published author, with books in contemporary, paranormal, and zompoc romance. She didn't start out wanting to be a writer. She wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, an astronaut, and President of the United States. Along the way, life happened and she realized she could be all those things; between the pages of the books she wrote. She lives in Northern Nevada with her husband, the inspiration for all her romance novel heroes.When she isn't writing, she is reading. She also collects salt and pepper shakers on her vacations.

Book preview

Dare To Trust

(The Lake Willowbee Series, #2)

By Jill James

(Previously titled Someone To Trust)

Originally published Feb. 2012

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Jill James Writes

Published by Jill James at Smashwords

Smashwords Original Edition

Copyright © February 2012 by Jill James

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author and all incidents are pure invention.

Cover Art designed by Elaina Lee of For The Muse Design

This book is dedicated to Audrey for all her support and belief of my dreams, and for raising a boy into the best husband in the world.

Dare To Trust

By

Jill James

Blurb:

When a sheltered, former abused wife falls for the local carpenter/former Marine she's not sure she can dare to trust another man with her heart. When Evie Grimes’ stalker ex-husband shows up dead at her back door she isn't sure what to trust; her old memories or her new love.

Brady Jackson is a former Marine. Now a carpenter, he is as honest as the day is long. What you see is what you get and what you get is a man willing to do anything to protect the woman he’s grown to love.

When Brady falls for Evie he will have to prove he can be trusted with her heart. When danger arrives at her door he will have to prove he didn’t commit murder to protect her. When everyone else turns against him, will Evie be willing to dare to trust?

Contents

Title Table of Contents Chapters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Dear Reader Letter Divorce, Interrupted blurb Defend My Love blurb Dangerous Shift blurb Tempting Adam blurb

Chapter One

"Honey, it’s just a stupid business trip. You would be bored in Oregon."

"Evie, sweetie. I love you, but you know you aren’t the smartest apple in the bunch."

"Evie, where in the hell were you? You know you’re not allowed out after dark. Only women out after dark are whores and sluts."

Blinking her eyes in the dark bedroom, Evie Grimes shuddered and took deep, cleansing breaths. Her ex-husband wasn’t here. He hadn’t been in her life for five, long, peaceful years now. Her heartbeat slowed, calmed, returned to a normal pace.

She turned on her side, hitting her pillow to relieve the residual tension in her shoulders. Cold sweat pooled between her breasts. Sighing, Evie glanced at the bedside clock. She refused to get up at four in the morning just because her sadistic ex-husband had invaded her dreams again.

A car’s headlights traveled along the ceiling and she missed the lake even more than usual. Life in the little town wasn’t hectic. But the lake was so peaceful it made the town seem like a metropolis. She needed peace and quiet more and more as the nightmares returned. It was only a matter of time before the calls started up again and she’d be forced to change phone numbers yet again. A step closer to needing to find a new town again, praying it would be the last time.

Tears filled her eyes, rolling down the sides of her face and wetting her hair. He always found her and she always had to move on. Her thoughts ran in circles like a merry-go-round.

She threw off the covers and swung her legs off the bed. Even at four in the morning, the mugginess the day would later carry already filled the air. She strode down the hallway in her T-shirt and panties, all she forced herself to wear in the dog days of August in the sweltering foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Her footsteps pitter-pattered down the oak flooring of the hallway. The beats of her still-racing heart pounded in her ears.

She flipped the switch on the wall and the kitchen flooded with light, banishing the not-yet dawn outside and the last dregs of her nightmare. Evie shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. Thoughts of Mark Trudeau still haunted her.

Her eye started to twitch and she cursed her ex-husband for the millionth time. Grabbing a banana off the counter, she ripped the peel