Through the Glass

Back Cover Blurb

Sometimes deceit is easier to believe than the truth.

Montana Thomas falls asleep with the woman he loves in his arms but wakes next to her bloody corpse. With the murder weapon in his hand and no memory of what happened, he needs his brother to help him sort through the confusion and grief. But Dakota is three-thousand miles away and deep into government testing.

The stage has been set and all the players are in motion. All the unknown director has to do is sit back and wait for his true objective to be played out. In an expert game of cat and mouse, the Thomas brothers are subject to manipulation that has no equal. The only people they can trust are each other...if they can survive long enough to find the truth inside the maze of misdirection and deceit.

Through the Glass

Excerpt - Chapter One

It had been a long time since Montana had been with a woman. Because of the way he looked, people assumed he could have any woman he wanted, and he probably could, but in reality, women scared the hell out of him. They always had. So secure in their own feelings, or so it seemed to him, looking from the outside in. It scared him to get that close, to expose that much and not be able to take it back. Vulnerable and exposed, that’s how women made him feel. Naked flesh didn’t concern him nearly as much as naked feelings.

He never understood how other men could separate intimacy and sex. To him they were one and the same. The physical and the emotional coiled and entwined around one another. The two could not be separated. Not for him, never for him. It was one of the reasons he chose his lovers carefully, but despite that care he always paid a price in the end. That was the reason he spent much of his life alone. The price in the end was too high.

But not tonight. Tonight he was not alone. He slid his hands along Linney’s side, enjoying the way her skin felt. Like warm silk beneath the rough calluses of his fingers. He felt her shiver under his touch. Tilting her head back, she asked for a kiss, and he did not disappoint her. He pulled her close and covered her mouth with his. Her lips parted for him, and he explored the velvet lining with his tongue. God, she felt right, they felt right together. Passion welled with the sheer intensity of the feelings she brought to life inside of him. He wanted to act on them, but knew she needed sleep.

She turned in his arms and snuggled into the curve of his shoulder, her small, warm hands running lightly along his ribs, his hip, traveling back up to rest below his stomach. Her hands touching the scars on his body, each one with its own story. Stories he would rather leave in the past. She seemed to know that and never asked how they got there. He loved her for that alone. The others always wanted the stories, they wanted something he could never give them, a piece of his soul. Someday he would tell her, he would tell her everything. But not tonight. Tonight he simply wanted to be here with her, no past, no future, just now. She understood that as well.

“Mmm, I think you wore me out,” she whispered, her voice drugged with sleep and sex.

He rested his chin on top of her head, smoothed her honey-blond hair out of his face and wrapped his arms around her. He grabbed the blankets they’d kicked off and pulled them up to cover them both.

“Cold?” he asked.

“Hmm? No, you’re a human blast furnace.” He felt her smile.

“And you are beautiful,” he told her. It wasn’t an empty compliment. If he could have thought of something more profound, he would have said the words, but he wasn’t a poet. He made a living dealing with the worst humanity had to offer. He was used to the ugly things in life, so the beautiful ones meant all the more to him.

She laughed at the compliment and raised herself up on one elbow so their faces were level.

“Uh uh.” She shook her head, her fingers lightly tracing the contours of his face. “You’re the beautiful one and not only here.” She placed her hand over his heart. “But here too, my pretty boy.” She smiled as she teased him. It was a private joke they shared from the first time they met almost two months ago. She told him, when he asked her out to dinner, that she didn’t date men who were prettier than her. The blush her comment caused endeared him to her, or so she said, and she broke her own rule.

“My pretty boy,” she repeated. “My pretty Montana Thomas. I think I could fall in love with you.”

Montana closed his eyes at the words and found what passed for a smile on his lips. He had fallen and fallen hard. He was just afraid to admit it to himself, let alone her, but the feeling was undeniable.

He tightened his grip around her and hoped she understood his silence. Grateful when he heard the slow measured breathing that signified her sliding into sleep, he found the courage to say the words aloud.

“I love you, Linney,” he whispered into her hair, secure that she slept and the words went unheard by anyone but him. “I love you,” he repeated.

As sleep claimed him, Montana thought he might actually be happy. He couldn’t tell for sure, the feeling was one not completely familiar to him, but one he might like getting used to.

Montana fell asleep with the only woman he had dared to utter those words to, snuggled and wrapped sweetly around him. It was all he needed at that moment.

A moment he took, folded up, and hid deep within the very core of him. A moment he would take out and unfold time and time again whenever he tried to figure out exactly what the hell went wrong.

Through the Glass

Reviews

Reading another installment of the Coyote Moon series is a guilty pleasure, like sitting down on a chilly and rainy day with your favorite comfort food. Ann spins such a great tale with characters so drawn out they jump off the page at you. All of the characters in the story believe in something passionately and that is what drives this wonderful story. You can not help but falling in love with the good guys and wanting to see the bad guys pay for their transgressions.

This story is really quite an amazing treatise on family, specifically brothers. You find yourself drawn into their world and sharing their problems with them, along with their victories and realizations and their ever evolving relationship. I had forgotten how much fun a book could be until i read Through the Glass. I am glad i read it and can not wait for another one to come along. The saddest part of this was having to close the book after the last sentence.

Gregory Jeffrey, New Jersey

Another great book Again a thrill from page 1 till the end. I cant wait to see what she writes next. A great up and coming young author.

A Customer (Amazon.com)

This gripping novel takes the reader into a heartwarming story between the factions of two brothers. The back story and love between two family members compels the reader to continue. Suspense, love, and honor season this story, along with a great writer.
The descriptions and bonds lock the reader in to turn pages, as they become a part of this tense -filled novel. The ending delivers tears and smiles, wishing two brothers to move forward…overcoming all obstacles and pain. Their family love is locked in. Their future hangs in the balance.

Ann Simko pours her soul and heart into this page-gripping novel. Her vivid, life-like descriptions of each character, and the surroundings pulse with nail-biting situations. Excellent writing from a knowledgeable writer.

Ann is to be commended and read again. Sandy high-fives, Ann…job well done.

Lee Carey, Virginia