the mistress by tiffany reisz - chapter sampler

7/22/2019 The Mistress by Tiffany Reisz - Chapter Sampler

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TIFFANY REISZ



DID YOU PURCHASE THIS BOOK WITHOUT A COVER?If you did, you should be aware it is stolen property as it was

reported ‘unsold and destroyed’ by a retailer.Neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment

for this book.

First Published 2013First Australian Paperback Edition 2013ISBN 978 174356444 8

THE MISTRESS© 2013 by Tiffany ReiszPhilippine Copyright 2013 Australian Copyright 2013

New Zealand Copyright 2013

Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilisation of this work in wholeor in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now knownor hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or inany information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission ofthe publisher, Harlequin Enterprises, Locked Bag 7002, Chatswood D.C. N.S.W.,

Australia 2067.

This book is sold subject to the condition that shall not, by way of trade orotherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the priorconsent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it

is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposedon the subsequent purchaser.

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in anyform. This edition is published in arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A..

This is a work of ction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either theproduct of the author’s imagination or are used ctitiously, and any resemblanceto actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales isentirely coincidental.

Published byHarlequin SPICE®

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Level 515 Help StreetCHATSWOOD NSW 2067

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Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.. All rights reserved.

Printed and bound in Australia by Grifn Press



And we know that all things work

together for good to them that

love God,

to them who are the called

according to His purpose.

—Romans 8:28



The lady or the tiger?

—Frank Stockton



Part One

CAPTURE



1

THE QUEEN

When Nora came to she was fifteen years old again.She had to be. What else could explain the cold,

industrial chair she sat in, the unforgiving metal of

the handcuffs on her wrists and the terror in her heart?

Inside her aching and addled mind, Eleanor Schreiber

opened her eyes and raised her head. Across from her in the

interrogation room at the police station sat the new priest at

Sacred Heart—3:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and here he

was before her, a mere twenty-nine years old in the face but

with eyes ancient enough they’d probably seen Christ in the

f lesh. She kind of hoped he had. She’d always wondered how

tall Jesus was.

The priest—Father Stearns to the church but Søren to her—

said nothing. He merely stared at her with a little smile lurking

on his lips. At least someone was enjoying her misery. Where

was her father? Her dad should be here now. She needed her

father, not her Father. Her dad was the reason she’d ended up



TIFFANY REISZ14

arrested in Manhattan in the hours before dawn. But no, she

only had her priest and the desire to wipe the smile off thatperfect face of his.

“So I’ve been meaning to ask you…” She decided to take

control of the moment and be the first to break the silence.

“Are you one of those priests who fucks the kids in the con-

gregation?”

Whatever reaction she’d hoped for from her priest, she

didn’t get it.

“No.”

Eleanor took a deep breath and exhaled heavily through

her nose.

“Too bad.”

“Eleanor, perhaps we should discuss the predicament you’re

in at the moment.”

“I’m in a real pickle.” She nodded, hoping to annoy him.

A useless plan. They’d met twice before tonight and she’ddone her damnedest to get under his skin both times. No

dice. He’d treated her with kindness and respect both times.

She wasn’t used to that.

“You were arrested on suspicion of grand theft auto. Sup-

posedly five luxury vehicles with a combined value of over a

quarter of a million dollars have disappeared from Manhattan

tonight. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”“I take the fifth. That’s what I’m supposed to say, right?”

“To the court, yes. To me, you will tell the truth always.”

“I don’t think you want to know the truth about me,

Søren,” she said, her voice not much more than a whisper.

She wasn’t stupid. She only had to look at him to know that

he and she had nothing in common. He looked liked money,

talked like money. He had the whitest fingernails she’d ever

seen and hands that belonged on a statue or something. All

of him looked like a work of art—his hands, his face and lips,



THE MISTRESS 15

his height and beauty… . And here she was, chipped black nail

polish, wet from the rain she’d been arrested in, hair falling inlank waves into her face, her school uniform a sodden mess,

no money, no hope, and her whole life a fucking train wreck.

“There is nothing I don’t want to know about you,” Søren

said, and seemed to mean it. “And I assure you, nothing you

tell me will shock or disgust me. Nothing will make me

change my mind about you.”

“Change your mind? You’ve already made up your mind

about me? What’s the verdict?”

“The verdict is simply this—I am willing and capable of

helping you out of this mess you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“Can we call it a ‘pickle’? Pickle sounds less scary than

mess.”

“It’s a disaster, young lady. You could easily spend years in

juvenile detention for what you did tonight. One of the cars

you stole belonged to someone important and inf luential, andhe’s apparently determined that you don’t see sunlight until

age twenty-one. Keeping you out of juvenile detention will

take a great deal of doing on my part. Blessedly, I have some

connections. Or, more accurately, I have someone who has

connections. The time and expense will be considerable,” he

said in a tone that seemed to imply he relished the time and

expense, which made no sense. But nothing about the manor his interest in her made any sense at all.

“And you’ll go to all this trouble for me…why?” Eleanor

lifted her head a little higher and stared straight into his eyes.

“Because there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you,

Eleanor. Nothing I wouldn’t do to help you. And nothing I

wouldn’t do to save you. Nothing.”

A chill passed through Eleanor’s whole body. Someone

walked over her grave, as her grandmother would say. She

never understood that phrase, that feeling before. Now she did.



TIFFANY REISZ16

“But my assistance doesn’t come without a price.”

“Right.” Eleanor smirked at him. “So this is when we getback to my first question and the fucking of the kids at church.

Oh, well, if you insist.”

“Do you value your worth as a child of God so little that

you think the only thing I could possibly want from you is

sex?”

The question hit Eleanor so hard she almost f linched. But

she wouldn’t let him see he’d gotten to her. Her mom would

disown her for this. Her dad was probably eight states away by

now. Her grandparents were seven minutes from death. Her

entire future was about six feet under. Still she wasn’t about

to let anyone take away her pride. She at least had that. For

now, anyway.

“So that’s a no?”

Søren raised his eyebrow at her and she almost giggled. She

was beginning to like this guy. She’d fallen in love with himalready—utterly, completely and until the end of the world

or even after. Never guessed she’d end up liking him, too.

“That would be a no. I will require something of you, how-

ever, in exchange for my assistance.”

“Do you always talk like this?”

“You mean articulately?”

“Yes.”“Yes.”

“Weird. So what price am I paying? Hope it’s not my first-

born child. Don’t want kids.”

“My price is simply this—in exchange for my assistance,

I only ask that you do what I tell you to do from now on.”

“Do what you tell me to do?”

“Yes. I want you to obey me.”

“From now on? Like…how long?”

And he smiled then and she knew she should have been



THE MISTRESS 17

afraid but something in that smile… It was the first time that

night she felt safe.“Forever.”

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.”

She heard a voice tinged with a French accent and tried to

ignore it as she always tried to ignore French-accented voices.

The last thing Nora wanted to do was wake up. In her dream

she was with Søren and he was twenty-nine and she fifteen

and their story had only begun. And she knew if she openedher eyes, she could very well be facing the end of their story.

She wanted to stay in her dream and would have stayed in it

forever but for the cold, delicate fingers dancing across her

face like spider legs.

Nora opened her eyes.



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