About the
Book:
Title:
Finding Lyla
Author: Cate Beauman
Publisher: Cate Beauman
Pages: 452
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Author: Cate Beauman
Publisher: Cate Beauman
Pages: 452
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Principal Dancer Lyla Markovik-Avery is
always on the go. Grueling practices and endless performances rule
her busy days—and things are about to get more hectic. Russia is
rolling out the red carpet for their beloved star, despite the string
of violent terrorist attacks that have rocked the nation.
Bodyguard Collin Michaels’ life is
falling apart. His long-time relationship recently ended. He’s
trying to start over, but that’s easier said than done. Luckily,
Collin has a new assignment on the horizon: keeping a beautiful
ballerina safe for the next three weeks.
Collin finds comfort in Lyla’s easy
friendship, but that all changes after a night out on the town.
Simple feelings become complicated—something Collin can’t afford,
especially when tragedy strikes and Collin realizes Lyla’s caught
in the middle of a dangerous plot for revenge.
Collin and Lyla are forced to flee.
They need to reach the border before it’s too late, but the odds
are stacked against them in a country that wants them dead. With time
running out, Collin formulates a risky plan that might be their only
chance of making it out alive.
For More Information
- Finding Lyla is available at Amazon.
- Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
- Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Book Excerpt:
Moscow,
Russia
February
1991
Jonathan’s
heart raced as the steady rhythm of the machines tracking his wife’s
vitals filled the operating suite.
“Hold me tighter,” Mina whispered
as she stared up at him and nervously licked her dry lips.
“You’re doing great. He or she
will be here before we know it,” he reassured her, sliding his
fingers down Mina’s smooth neck and shoulder, one of the few places
he could touch on their side of the bluish-green curtain.
“I can’t stop shaking.”
He glanced at Mina’s delicate,
trembling arms strapped into place on the table, as if she were
affixed to a cross, and he felt his pulse kick up another notch with
his sense of helplessness. “It’s cold in here.” He smiled,
kissing Mina’s nose and brushing at the silky blond wisps of hair
escaping her surgical cap. “Soon this will be over and we’ll
finally get to meet the little one who’s been kicking you for
months.” He smiled again as Mina did, doing his best to reassure
her while his stomach continued its greasy roil.
For hours, they’d waited for their
new son or daughter. For hours, Mina had endured the excruciating
pain of labor and the frustrations of endlessly attempting to push
their child into the world, until the baby’s heart rate took a
dangerous dip that had yet to recover. Only minutes had passed since
the doctors and nurses rushed them down to the operating theater, but
it felt like days while they waited for the new life to be born.
“The head’s stuck,” someone
muttered on the other side of the curtain separating them from the
gore of Mina’s cesarean section.
“Work faster,” another demanded
quietly as a wet suction sound filled the room. “The outcome will
not be good if we don’t.”
Jonathan sat farther up on the
uncomfortable stool as the urgency in the doctors’ tones
registered. A year ago, he would have struggled to understand the
rapid-fire Russian they spoke, but now he understood just fine that
even though emergency surgery was taking place, the baby was still in
trouble. He swallowed while sweat dribbled down his back and Mina
blinked up at him.
“Widen the incision,” another
doctor said.
“Everything’s okay,” he mumbled,
stroking Mina’s forehead, praying his words were true, even though
it was clear things weren’t going well.
Mina sucked in a breath as her body
was roughly jostled. “Why are they pulling so? Even with the drugs,
I feel as if I’m being ripped in two.”
“It will be over soon—very soon,”
he promised as the fetal alarms started beeping the way they had when
the doctors raced around in the upstairs delivery room.
More tense seconds passed while
Jonathan stared into Mina’s pretty blue eyes.
“Finally,” said the doctor closest
to Jonathan’s side as he listened to his child’s first lusty
wails.
The nurse peeked her face over the
curtain, holding up a tiny, screaming infant covered in goop and
blood. “What do you have, Mina?”
“A girl.” Mina grinned as Jonathan
laughed his relief.
“We have a daughter.” Jonathan
followed the nurse’s movements with his gaze as she quickly walked
his baby over to the warming station. “She’s really here.” He
kissed Mina’s forehead and relaxed his tense shoulders for the
first time in days. “You did it. You did it, Mina,” he whispered
next to her ear. “I’m so proud of you.”
“I did nothing more than lay here
like a log. Kiss me again, my darling, and tell them I need to see
her.”
He pressed his mouth to Mina’s and
smiled as he wiped away her tears, surprised that it was possible to
love her more than he already did.
“Tell them, Jonathan. Tell them we
must see her, or I’ll simply die from the anticipation.”
Nodding, he chuckled as his daughter’s
cries echoed, certain he’d never been so overcome with joy. Mina
had been waiting for this moment since the doctor confirmed her
pregnancy. “Okay.” He moved to stand as the nurse walked their
way.
“Sit, Papa, and you will hold your
daughter.”
He settled on the stool again,
reaching for the small bundle, careful to support her head. “Hi,
beautiful.” He brought her close, breathing her in, touching his
cheek to her forehead. “You’re so warm and soft.” He eased her
back for another good look, already in love. “I’m your dad.”
“Let me see, darling. Let me see.”
He angled the baby for Mina’s view.
“Oh, she’s perfect.” She
struggled to move her hand secured beneath the restraint. “May I be
undone?”
The nurse released her wrist from the
tie.
“Thank you. I must touch you. I’ve
longed to touch you, little one.” Mina stroked the baby’s
forehead.
“Lyla, right? We’re sure her name
is Lyla?”
“Yes.” Mina nuzzled the baby’s
cheek with her own. “Our little Lyla Katarina.” Mina awkwardly
tugged at the tightly wrapped blanket. “Her feet. I must know her
fate, Jonathan. Who will she be?”
He helped Mina unwrap the white
cotton, exposing tiny pink legs and feet.
Mina laughed. “She has my arch.”
Mina kissed miniature soles. “Russia’s princess. You, my love,
will be Russia’s next great prima ballerina.”
“Just like your mama.” Jonathan
caressed his new daughter’s knuckles as Lyla’s hand wrapped
around his finger, unable to get enough of the perfect little girl.
“I think she’ll have your hair color. She definitely has your
nose.”
“She has your chin.” Mina stroked
Lyla’s head, stomach, and arms as the baby started to fuss again.
“You are dear to my heart already, my girl. So dear.” Mina kissed
Lyla’s palm and dropped her trembling hand back to the table as she
rested her head against the small cushion.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m overwhelmed with
happiness.” She smiled and closed her eyes. “Wrap our sweet Lyla
back up, will you? We don’t want her getting cold. We want her
healthy and lovely when she makes her debut to the world in the
morning.”
Newspapers, reporters, and Mina’s
millions of adoring fans were the last thing on his mind as he
struggled to swaddle his daughter while the baby blinked up at him.
“I think I’ve got it.” He grinned as he tucked the lip of the
blanket in place. “I’ll need more practice but—”
“Mina, open your eyes.” The nurse
gave a rough rub to Mina’s pale cheeks as alarms began to beep
behind the curtain. “Mina.” The nurse gave her another aggressive
scrub.
“You must go out now, Diplomat
Avery.” One of the nurses took Lyla from Jonathan’s arms while
another helped him from the stool, quickly ushering him toward the
doors of the operating suite.
“Stop.” He pulled away, fighting
to turn around. “Wait.”
“Out. Please, Sir.” She gave him a
small shove.
“What’s going on?” he demanded
in English and shook his head, remembering that few of the staff
members here were fluent in his native tongue. “What’s
happening?” he tried again in Russian.
“Mina’s losing too much blood.”
About the
Author
International
bestselling author Cate Beauman is known for her full-length,
action-packed romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards of L.A.
County. Her novels have been nominated for the National Excellence in
Romance Fiction Award, National Indie Excellence Award, Golden Quill
Award, Writers Touch Award, and have been named Readers Favorite Five
Star books. In 2015, JUSTICE FOR ABBY was selected as the Readers'
Favorite International Book Award Gold Medalist, while SAVING SOPHIE
took the Silver Medal. SAVING SOPHIE was also selected as the 2015
Readers Crown Award winner for Romantic Suspense and FALLING FOR
SARAH received the silver medal for the 2014 Readers' Favorite
Awards.
Cate makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack. Currently Cate is working on Finding Lyla, the tenth novel in her popular bodyguards series.
For information on Cate's new releases, monthly giveaways, and upcoming events, sign up for her newsletter at: http://www.catebeauman.com/author/home.html#!newsletter-sign-up/c9td.
Cate makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack. Currently Cate is working on Finding Lyla, the tenth novel in her popular bodyguards series.
For information on Cate's new releases, monthly giveaways, and upcoming events, sign up for her newsletter at: http://www.catebeauman.com/author/home.html#!newsletter-sign-up/c9td.
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