Under Her Wings
By Anne Marie Citro
Contemporary Romance
Date Published: June 21, 2016
Wishing for death while living through hell, Gabriella is
rescued off the rocks of a Scottish loch at the lowest
moment of her life by the hot, humorous Edward and the
sexy, staid Liam. The two men nurse the despondent
woman back to health while teaching her how to pick up
the pieces of her life. Both are captivated by her and vie
for her attention.
Friendships are formed and secrets revealed. One man
will become her lover, while the other becomes her best
friend. Together, they have a past they cannot change,
a present they must live through, and a future yet to be
discovered. However, every time things appear to settle
down for the trio, fate deals another blow, testing their
trust and faith in each other and the love they have created.
Gabriella discovers the beauty of Scotland and life anew
as she learns that trust is a two-way street that can either
strengthen bonds or destroy relationships. Will she accept
all that she learns or continue to believe she is betraying
the memories she ran from?
This is one wonderful book and needs to come with the
box of tissues. It starts with a horrible loss. That is dealt
with so well. This is so well-written and so beautify told.
I cannot wait to read more by Anne Marie Citro.
What an amazing story of loss and love. Yes that is right
this book starts with loss and then finds love. And deals
with how badly it can affect you. It starts with Gabriella
being found on a rock on the side of the loch. Shivering
in the cold rain as lost as one can be. And she has totally
given up on life. And even though Edward and Liam are
helping Gabriella she is helping them heal as well. Now
this book is not a ménage story. So you can forget that
right now. She only falls for one and I do mean one of the
men the other is like a brother to her. And he is the best
kind of brother too. When tragedy strikes they are all
thrown, but rally to help each other thought it. And by
going though it they all become closer together and
Gabriella even helps her new brother find love again.
I won’t say how but you will be so happy when he finds
love again. This book had me laughing at Edwards antics.
And god how I fell in love with twins. As well I so how you
Even though she thought she was saving her but she not
only saved Liam but Edward learned truly what love was.
do too. And now she may have lost her love but has found
one as well.
Now before I ruin this for you I will leave off here. I hope
you enjoy this book as much as I did. If you do like this
book, please consider leaving a review. The Authors
really like it when you do; they value your opinions too.
Please Take Me
Gabriella stared out at the stormy water
of Loch Snizort, five minutes away from the town of Portree on the Isle of
Skye, Scotland. She sat on the edge of a cluster of boulders that were
half-submerged in the loch. The spray of the water mingled with the tears
streaming down her face. She was soaked, shivering, and
not even aware the daylight was escaping from the night.
“Goddammit! God, if I believed in
you—which I don’t—I would ask you why! Why!”
She sobbed. “Why leave me? Please take me. I have nothing.” Her stomach muscles ached from the
constant, racking sobs she couldn’t control.
She had contemplated suicide, but the fear
that God did exist had stopped her. If by any chance an afterlife did exist, by killing
herself, she would be denied the privilege of entering Heaven, of holding her beloved boys in her arms again. She would be stuck in the
hell that was her never-ending existence.
It had been years—three to be exact—since her world had been turned from light to
dark. Everyone had said she needed to deal with her grief, and she had tried. Regardless,
it hadn’t worked.
Besides, who the fuck were they to say
what stage of grief she was dealing with? What if the next stage never came,
and she never recovered? Then what? Did people actually believe it was a
conscious choice not to move on? Was it depression? Abso-fucking-lutely! Did
seeing a shrink help? No. Did talking about it help? No. Did medication help?
No, because no one seemed to understand Gabriella’s pain.
She had lost her world through no fault of her own. It was marred not just by loss,
but also because of the rumours surrounding her family’s
deaths …
***
Edward awoke to the sound of haunting
sobs. A chill went up his spine, thinking if ever there were such things as ghosts,
that would definitely be the sound they made. The sound triggered déjà vu in
the recesses of his mind, and he searched his memory for something he couldn’t
put his finger on.
The curiosity of the lost memory and the
wailing sound drove him up and outside to either help whatever was making that
noise or put the thing out of its misery. His mind was so busy trying to place
the sounds that were haunting him that he inadvertently forgot to give Liam,
his guard and best friend, a heads-up that he was leaving.
Night had descended hours ago, and even
with a shirt and heavy sweater on, the chill still seeped into his bones.
Combine that with the relentless sound, he was uneasy.
He cautiously walked through the gardens
connected to the side door of his suite, which were stunning in the summer yet
now looked lifeless and sad. He was on alert because of who he was. People were
forever trying to catch him in compromising situations and always tried to take
a piece of him, befriend him, and not because of friendship, but for gain.
However, late April wasn’t a popular time to visit; the temperature could be
downright nasty, and the sun rarely shone in the summer, let alone spring.
The inn they had chosen for its solitude
was named McIntyre Country House, a beautiful, old estate that looked lonely
with its regal, black roof and white exterior walls. Phone reception and Wi-Fi
were on again, off again, tending to be more off.
The inn only had one other guest, and the
innkeeper had tried to cancel that reservation to accommodate Edward’s privacy,
but he had been unable to reach the guest in time. Instead, the owner had asked
Edward if it was okay to put them on the other side of the building with the
assurance they wouldn’t disturb the men. Edward had hesitantly conceded.
Just as the moon moved out from behind the
clouds, the light allowed him to see.
“Good God,” he gasped.
There was a wee woman crying—no,
howling—on the boulders by the loch. She must have been hurt, maybe had gotten her leg caught between the rocks, and was
now crying out for help.
Edward ran at top speed then stopped just
a few feet from the boulders so as not to alarm the woman curled up and
cradling herself.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Miss, are you
all right?”
No answer, but her sobbing turned softer.
“I don’t want to frighten you, but I am
going to join you on the boulders. Miss, can you hear me?”
Still no answer.
He approached her with caution, thinking she might have
been attacked, that a man or an animal had hurt her. However,
something about the sound of her agony led him
to believe it wasn’t a physical pain, but something much deeper.
When Edward got closer, all sounds stopped
from the woman. That frightened him more than the thought of ghosts.
Did he dare touch her? What if
this was another setup to make him look bad in the eyes of the world?
Edward pushed all negative thoughts aside.
He had to help her.
He touched the woman’s cheek. Holy Mother
of Mary, she was either frozen, or she had died before his eyes.
“Miss …? Please, are you okay?”
Bloody hell, I have to get her warm, he thought.
Edward bent down and checked for a pulse,
breathing with a sense of relief when he realized she had one. Next, he checked her body for wounds, running his hand
around her skull and down her neck then checking his hands
continuously for blood. Nothing. Next, he ran his hands down each arm, her torso, and finally down each of her legs. She appeared not to be bleeding
or, by quick assessment, didn’t have any broken bones. His military training
had its rewards, one being he was efficient in field combat first-aid.
He gently lifted the woman into his arms,
which wasn’t an easy task since she was soaked to the bone. He had a dilemma.
His arms were full, and if he made any sound or someone spotted him carrying a
hurt woman, the press would explode and crucify him in the tabloids.
Shaking off those thoughts, he progressed
carefully across the boulders; carried her quickly
through the gardens; and, in mere moments, was back at the inn.
He gently laid her down on the ground and searched for
his key.
Damn it to hell! He had forgotten to grab it.
He felt it before he heard the words, a
gun pressed against the back of his skull. Fuck,
could this night get any worse?
“Take your hand off the door and back away
from the woman.”
Edward released a thankful breath.
“Liam, man, it’s me, Edward,” he
whispered.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Liam cursed. “I
could have blown your fucking head off. What in God’s green earth are you doing
out here? And where the bloody hell did that woman come from?”
“There is something wrong, very wrong,
with her,”
Edward answered. “I think she’s hurt.”
Liam secured his weapon in his chest
holster, gave Edward the key to both suites, and then gently lifted the woman
into his arms. He had to wonder if Edward had dragged her body up from Loch Snizort. Had she
almost drowned, or had she been trying to commit suicide?
Whatever had happened to this woman, Liam
couldn’t even fathom. She was soaked and frozen. They needed to get herinside, and
Edward out of sight.
Liam walked through Edward’s suite and
told him to unlock the connecting door into his own. Once there, Liam laid the
woman on the chesterfield. Even in an emergency, he had enough sense to do his
job and protect Edward first. He also had to consider any gossip that could
surround Edward, especially if anyone knew there was an unconscious woman in
their lodgings.
After re-establishing she had a pulse,
first-aid 101 stated she needed to be warmed up as quickly as possible.
Therefore, Liam instructed Edward to go into his closet and grab his workout
clothes, consisting of sweat pants, a T-shirt, and a hooded sweatshirt. Liam
also wanted towels.
Liam looked down at the girl and assessed her age to be mid- to late-twenties. She
looked like a drowned rat with herlong, dark hair hanging in wet clumps around her delicate, tiny face. Her bone structure was fine and reminded
him of a bird. Her skin was a grey colour, wrinkled, wet,
and goose bumps covered every inch. Her lips were
purple, and she had dark circles under her eyes that
made her look even younger. Liam noticed all
this as he started to remove her clothing.
He tried to give her as much dignity as he could, which
wasn’t an easy task when the jeans were so wet they clung toher like a second skin. Regardless, he finally
managed to peel the pants off along with a turquoise lace thong. The woman’s
lady bits were hairless, much like the slags from porn movies.
Liam, feeling a little guilt and shame for
noticing, and quickly averted his eyes, moving on to pull her coat and sweater off. As he did, he
couldn’t help noticing she had on a matching turquoise bra that he removed to
reveal her shapely breasts. What really knocked
the breath out of his lungs were the stretch marks and scars that lay all over her lower belly. This young woman was
someone’s mum, and it was his responsibility now to make sure she was reunited
with her loved ones.
Why was she alone, wet, and nearly frozen
to death? Where was her family?
Edward approached with the items Liam had
requested, but before he reached the girl, Liam stopped him.
“Throw the clothes and wait until I cover her.”
“Really, Liam? Sod the fuck off. She isn’t
the first female I have seen naked.”
“But she is someone’s mum, and if it were
Raven, she would have been devastated by one strange man seeing hernaked, let
alone two.”
At the mention of Raven, Edward stopped
dead in his tracks, tossed the clothing, and turned his back. Liam very rarely
mentioned Raven, so this meant something to him.
Liam worked quickly and efficiently to
warm and dress the mysterious woman. Now all tucked in the chesterfield with
his clothing swimming on her tiny frame
and blankets wrapped around her, she appeared to be resting peacefully.
Liam turned to Edward. “Where did the lass
come from? Who is she? And why did you not call me to give assistance?”
Edward painstakingly retold the tale of
the last forty-five minutes, wondering why things always happened to him.
Liam wouldn’t call the authorities or
Scotland Yard yet, not until they were certain the young woman wanted or needed
police help. He wanted Edward far away from whatever was going on.
Nevertheless, they would have to wait to get answers when she awoke.
·٠•● Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ●•٠· Anne Marie Citro ·٠•● Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ●•٠·
Anne Marie Citro grew born and raised in the greater
Toronto area of Ontario, Canada. She grew up in a large,
loving family. Anne Marie is married to a very patient man.
He is the love of her life. They have four very cool sons, and
the girls they brought into their family that have become
daughters of her heart. She has been blessed enough to
finally have a beautiful granddaughter after four sons. She
has her own personal gaggle of girlfriends, who enrich her
life on a daily basis and make her laugh. Caesar Friday is
her favourite day of the week. Caesars with the girls and date
night with her hubby. She works with special-needs
teenagers, that have taught her how to appreciate life and
see it through gentler eyes. Anne Marie was encouraged by
her husband to follow her life long dream to write. She loves
the characters that take over imagination and haunts her
dreams. She loves the arts and she has tried her hand at
painting, wood sculpting, chainsaw carving, wood burning,
metal and wire sculptures. Yes, her husband is a very
patient man! Anne Marie is an avid reader and enjoys about
three books per week. But nothing makes her happier then
riding on the back of her husband's Harley and throwing her
arms out and feeling the wind race by. Anne Marie and her
husband take a few weeks every year to travel to
spectacular destination around the world. Anne Marie is
excited and can't wait to see what the next chapter holds
for her life.and enjoys about three books per week.
thank you for posting
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