Accidental Sin

By Jael Allen

Jana Sinclair returns to her hometown to settle her grandmother's affairs. While there, she experiences what she believes is a visit by her deceased parents, which casts doubt on the manner of their deaths. After passing out, she wakes up in single, successful, and seriously sexy Garrett Sanatota's arms.

Garrett fans the embers of her long-buried adolescent crush. But his property is the site of her parents' deaths and the focus of Jana's exploration. Oh, how the commitment-phobic temptress entrances him. He offers his assistance and uses every tool at his disposal to ensnare her body and lay claim to her heart.

New information about what happened the day her parents died surfaces, but will it be enough for Jana to sever ties to the past in time to find happiness with Garrett?

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Mar 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781509235636

Jael Allen

Jael Allen is a long-time member of Romance Writers of America and the Virginia Romance Writers chapter. Formally trained as a journalist, Jael spent much of her career writing nonfiction for businesses and media. Today it is her passion for the art of romantic fiction that inspires her writing. JaelAllen.com Facebook: JaelAllenBooks [e-mail]

Book preview

Inc.

By the time she opened the door to Garrett, erotic tendrils of excitement had woven an unrelenting path of anticipation through her body. He was drenched, even though the distance between his truck and her front porch wasn’t great. Had she not already owned up to how much she wanted the man, the sight of him soaked to the skin would have tipped the scales.

Sinewy muscles flexed beneath the sodden drape of his clothes as he crossed the threshold. He removed his cowboy hat, raked his fingers through his damp hair, and grinned. When his gaze settled on her, her mind emptied of pretense or coyness. With no hesitation she moved in, gripped his shirt in one hand, and pulled his face down to meet her kiss.

Unfettered, her desire exponentially grew as their tongues mated, and want transformed into frantic hunger. Minutes passed before she wrenched her mouth from his and took a step back in a desperate need to breathe—the front of her clothes now as wet as his. Garrett dropped his hat, grabbed her around the waist, burrowed his other hand in her hair, and pulled her back.

From any other man his macho, possessive move would have grated, but the thrill that quaked through her could not be denied.

Accidental Sin

by

Jael Allen

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Accidental Sin

COPYRIGHT © 2021 by Jael Allen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Debbie Taylor

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Edition, 2021

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-3563-6

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

Sheila and Brian

Jana Spencer admired the autumn foliage of the lone cottonwood tree and the pristine water below as she walked down the well-trodden path that led to Dreamer’s Lake. A couple dozen sandhill cranes laid claim to the area. The birds could be aggressive when threatened, so she kept an eye on them as she made her way.

She stopped several yards from the lake, spread her thin jacket under the tree, and sat down beneath the sheltering branches. As she took deep, calming breaths of the clean Wyoming air and studied her surroundings, she let her mind wander. Time drifted as she absorbed the events of the past few days, paid homage to the tragedy that had occurred here almost fifteen years ago, and tried to remember happier times. Her parents’ death continued to loom large and, even with the distance time afforded, torpedoed any chance of the closure she craved.

So one final, conflicted good-bye. If she was going to make it to Boulder before midnight, she needed to get back on the road. She fought the sting of tears as she got to her feet, upending her carryall in the process. She bent down, scooped up her mother’s camera that had rolled out onto the grass, and froze. Her surprise turned to wonder at the partially exposed film visible through the back panel.

For several moments Jana didn’t move, her jumbled thoughts full of poignant heartbreak over what its previous owner might have last captured. The need to feel even the smallest connection to her beloved mother reverberated through her. Fueled by emotion, she removed the lens cap, lifted the camera to her eye, and focused on the signature red forehead and dark, pointy beak of the solitary crane that stood between her and the lake. When the air around her cooled and gusted, she continued to frame her shot…until the bird began to fade.

She blinked several times, even as she continued to look through the viewfinder, but a solid wall of pale gray had enveloped the crane. When the call of a young bird sounded to her right, she panned the area at the lake’s edge, and the pearly mist evaporated to reveal a female crane with two chicks. Migrating cranes raising a brood beyond June was unusual, and the recesses of her mind pinged at the incongruity. One hand expertly turning the lens, she took a couple steps toward the lake, zoomed in on the feathered family…and heard her father’s voice.

You’re gonna fall in if you’re not careful.

She whirled around, the camera still to her eye, and her heart leaped in her chest. A younger-than-she-remembered version of her father smiled back at her through the eye of the camera. Stunned, she opened her mouth to speak even as her mother responded.

Shh! You’re going to spook them, and I want to finish up this roll. How did you know I was here, anyway?

Her father grinned as he ticked off on his fingers. The sun’s shining, it’s your lunch time, and you’re Ella Miles. Where else would you be?

Her mother’s familiar giggle caressed the warm air. You know me so well, my love! How much time do we have before you need to get back to the diner?

"Put down that camera,