No cover charged… no ID required… safety guaranteed…No one knows club owner Gideon Maddox’s real identity until the woman he’d once loved walks into the Red Carpet Christmas fundraiser at Club Undercover. He hasn’t seen recent widow Simone Burke for nearly two decades—since he testified to put her father in prison for killing his own father. The star-crossed lovers never forgave each other, … other, but suddenly Simone needs his help—and Team Undercover—to prove she is innocent of a yuletide murder. Clearing Simone could reignite the past and a forbidden passion that still burns between her and Gideon, but she can’t let him discover the secret she’d kept hidden all these years.
Excerpt:
Gideon was stunned.
The sounds and movement of the club receded as he came face-to-face with the woman he’d thought was out of his life forever.
He couldn’t stop staring at Simone. She’d matured into an exquisite beauty. Her dark hair hung in long waves over her dark green gown—the same startling green as her eyes.
Taking the final step down toward him, Simone held on to the railing as if to steady herself. She was taller than Gideon remembered, maybe five feet eight or nine, and her curves had matured—full breasts, trim waist, round hips.
It really was his Simone. He’d known her as Simone DeNali, not Simone Burke.
“Mrs. Burke,” he said, trying to keep his voice pleasantly neutral as he glanced at her left hand, which had a white-knuckled grip on the railing.
No wedding ring…
So she’d removed it.
“Is there something I should know?” Cass asked, looking from him to Simone.
“I imagine if there were, you would already know it,” he said casually.
Cass sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you it doesn’t work that way?”
Simone blinked and seemed confused. “What doesn’t work what way?”
“Cass’s—”
“Intuition,” the hostess finished for him, then rushed on to add, “Simone is the public relations person for the Chicago Philanthropic Club.”
“Doing a fine job as far as I can see.” He didn’t take his gaze off Simone.
“How would you know what kind of a job I’m doing, considering we just met?” Simone asked.
Her familiar low, throaty voice made the skin along his forearms prickle with goose bumps. That voice had always turned him on. Now here she was challenging him, Gideon realized, trying to get him to say something to admit they knew each other.
Or was she?
“It was lovely meeting you, Gideon,” Simone said, suddenly seeming distracted. “Congratulations on the success of Club Undercover.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes when she said, “If you’ll excuse me, I need to circulate.”
She floated off into the crowd without so much as a glance back his way.
“What was that all about?” Cass asked.
“If you don’t have anything to keep you busy, I’m sure I could find something.”
“Uh, right, I get the hint. But if you want to talk about her…”
Gideon didn’t answer and Cass didn’t wait around for another invitation to leave. The second she moved off, Gideon tried to find Simone in the crowd, but she seemed to have disappeared.
Again…
She could destroy everything he’d worked for. She could destroy him.
All she had to do was tell her brother, Mob boss Michael DeNali, that he’d returned to Chicago. Michael had sworn to kill him before he’d disappeared several lifetimes ago.
But he wasn’t running anymore, not ever again.
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He hasn’t seen recent widow Simone Burke for nearly two decades – since he testified to put her father in prison, but suddenly she needs his help – and Team Undercover – to prove she is innocent of a yuletide murder. Working with Gideon could reignite the past and a forbidden passion that still burns between them, but she can’t let him discover the secret she’s kept hidden all these years.
This ‘Club Undercover’ story is chock full of gripping emotions, thrilling suspense and some scorching passion. The characters are strong, compelling and easily draw readers into their story and the chemistry between Gideon and Simone singes the pages with its sizzling heat, but the relationship between will takes some serious work as they have a past that is full of some emotional land minds that could blow at any moment.
The plots is fast paced with lots of thrilling suspense and adrenaline pumping excitement building throughout as Gideon and Simone work together to discover the true murderer before Simone finds herself behind bars. But the situation is quite complex with lots of twists and turns with more deaths along the way and Simone looking guiltier with every move she makes. Readers can’t help but become completely caught up in all the intrigue, betrayals and a conclusion that readers don’t see coming.
Couldn’t pass this one up since I had read the proceeding ones. I get a gift in this one also with it being a second chance. In this we follow Gideon and Simone as they meet up once again. Secrets will also be waiting to reach the light of day. Murder will be at play with anticipation on what will happen. It will play at our emotions keeping us hostage until the last page.
This is a story that I have been waiting for as I read some of the other stories in this series. Gideon has been quite the man of mystery all along. That he helped people wasn’t a mystery though.
What about Simone? I found it pretty hard at times to like her. Oh, I got how some things had changed her even understood some of her reasons but she’s so rude to Gideon. And she keeps it up for quite a while and after a while it felt a bit juvenile. Hey, he’s a good guy and I didn’t appreciate that. At times I even felt she was kind of stupid. It’s like, you are a high level suspect in a murder and you are going to fight against his help? It’s not the only stupid thing that she does that has me shaking my head.
Of course reading both of their P.O.V.’s helped make me side even more with him.
The Undercover Team was there and they helped but they were more in the background this time around.
Although, this book wasn’t my favorite, it does have a fair amount of action and comes to a startling conclusion. It has more than one twist too!
I had high expectations for the reveal into Gideon’s life and didn’t feel like it met all of them. Still, I have liked other books by this author and will still be looking for them.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”
This is the best book I have read in a long time. The story was none stop. The tracking so easy I was 1/2 done before I realized it.