Spotlight & Giveaway: Colton’s Deadly Disguise by Geri Krotow

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Geri Krotow to HJ!

Hi Geri and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Colton’s Deadly Disguise!

 
Hey, Sara and Friends!
 

Tell us about the book with this fun little challenge using the title of the book:

“C” is for “Creative Coping” during a very difficult time! Books are a great way to help us deal with being inside and doing our part to stop the virus that’s affected us all. Colton’s Deadly Disguise is a great read for this purpose, as it’s part of the Mustang Valley series from Harlequin™Romantic Suspense. You get murder, mayhem, suspense, and a sizzling romance all in one story.

“D” is for daring–Bella Colton is very daring and willing to do whatever it takes to find out how the Mustang Valley Pageant, a scholarship contest, affected her best friend Gio who competed for years in beauty pageants before sadly dying from an eating disorder.

What Bella isn’t prepared for is how (another “D” word) dangerous her decision may end up being as there’s a serial killer stalking contestants. Enter FBI Agent Holden St Claire, who brings a sense of purpose and protection around Bella. Add in their physical and emotional chemistry, and this story becomes sexy, thrilling, and dangerous.

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Isabella Colton pulled up to Mustang Valley High School fighting a sense of urgency that wasn’t usually her gig. Normally she absorbed every mile of scenery as she drove between her home nestled on the outskirts of Mustang Valley and the into the town proper. Saguaro cacti sprinkled spots of green across the southeastern Arizona desert…

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book.

Bella Colton is loving and innately curious. When her best friend died, she felt so helpless as many of us do who know someone who suffers from any kind of eating disorder. Bella want’s justice for Gio and goes undercover, hoping to find facts to fuel her first “real” reporting piece. Holden St Claire is an FBI agent after a serial killer. He is focused on his job, period, not unlike Bella. But when they meet, they both find out that there’s more to life than work. Of course, they have to survive solving the case to explore this further!

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

Bella is a nature lover and it was fun writing the scene where Holden takes her up to the high desert to see the cactus blooms under the moonlight. A secondary character, Selina Barnes Colton, is fun to watch as she tries to corral grown women into doing a dance routine of her own making.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Bella is attracted to Holden’s deep voice, and Holden’s attracted to Bella’s green eyes. As the case becomes deadly, they both are attracted to one another’s intelligence and humor. The great sex doesn’t hurt, either!

The First Kiss…

Stolen behind the curtains, backstage, during a break from pageant rehearsal.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

I would use when Bella pepper-sprays Holden, thinking he’s the Pageant Killer.

He cleared the curtain and saw the light pour out of the staff room a.k.a. stage dressing area. A few more steps and he’d put Bella’s journalistic snooping to a quick end.
But when he looked into the room, cleared left and right, it was empty. He stepped inside the open door and saw that the LEAs had done their job—swept for fingerprints, opened all drawers and file systems to rule out explosives, left everything as they’d had to.
The attacker had held an unconscious Bella near the old file cabinet, before he’d dragged her to the side exit and made his escape. Holden holstered his weapon and walked to the cabinet, the dusty behemoth’s four deep drawers wide open.
“Stay right where you are or I’ll spray!”
Female voice, to his rear, dead center. Voice—Bella Colton.
Crap.
Holding up his arms, he spoke. “You’re safe. I’m the security guard.”
“Don’t turn around or reach for your gun. I will take you down. You’re not in uniform.” She paused and he wondered if she was calling the police.
“This is Bella Colton. I want to speak to my bro—”
“Heck no!” He turned and faced her, ready to explain why he was here and find out why the hell she was. “You’re okay, I’m—”
Wet liquid heat hit his face, his eyes, his nostrils and then his mouth. And oh, by the love of heaven, it burned. As if microscopic shards of glass were cutting his face wide open.
Bella Colton had just pepper sprayed him. He, an FBI agent, had been bested by a reporter.
Again.

If your hero had a sexy-times play list, what song(s) would have to be on it?

One Man Band by Old Dominion, as in Holden doesn’t want to be a one-man band. He wants to be with Bella.

If you could have given your characters one piece of advice before the opening pages of the book, what – would it be and why?

Trust one another sooner, and rely on the unique connection that only you two share.

What are you currently working on? What are your up-coming releases?*

I’ve just signed on for another Colton story coming in April 2021. Before then, I have Incognito Ex, Silver Valley PD Book 8, out August 2020, and Colton 911 in November 2020.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 3 Signed print copies of Colton’s Deadly Disguise, or an ebook copy if preferred. US only, please.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Thanks for having me, Sara. I want to wish you and your readers all the best, and I pray you stay safe and healthy. We will get through this–together.
How are you keeping your stress under control during this current time?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Colton’s Deadly Disguise:

Bella surprised herself with how easy it was to forget their acrimonious dinner conversation and allow herself to enjoy the nighttime walk with Holden. The moon was full and she was able to make out his features with little trouble. It was always a bonus when she could see a handsome, sexy man as he spent time with her.
“We lucked out with the moon.” She looked at large white cactus blooms on the sides of the path. “The angel blooms are practically glowing.”
“Yeah, they are, aren’t they?” He moved his hand to her lower back, rubbed in soothing circles. It was a peaceful bubble, just the two of them. Until a family with several young children walked by.
“The full moon explains the crowds. I never realized how many folks would show up to hear owls and look at flowering cacti.” She turned away and began to walk farther down the path.
“Birding’s an early-morning and late-night sport during the summer here, as you know. We’re lucky it’s still cooler.” Holden hopped easily over a grouping of rocks and turned to hold her hand as she leaped from the four-foot precipice back to the ground. When her feet hit the sandy, graveled surface, he didn’t let go but instead intertwined their fingers and continued walking.
Bella knew she should pull her hand back, keep up staunch boundaries with Holden. He’d already proven to be the best lover she’d ever known and if she wasn’t careful the end of the pageant was going to mean more to her than losing a crown.
“Tell me why you really signed up for the pageant, Bella.”
“I already have. I want to find out the truth about what happened to Gio. And I believe this pageant board has skeletons in its closet.”
“What if you don’t find them?”
“Then I’ll have to figure out something else to investigate.”
“So your ultimate motivation isn’t about Gio.” Spoken quietly, his words held no judgement or criticism.
“It’s twofold. I want justice for my best friend, yes. And I want to move on from the Mustang Valley Gabber and secure an investigative journalist position at a more prestigious publication.”
“Is there a paper or news organization you’re targeting?” His voice was low and sexy and she wondered if he realized how attractive he was. How many FBI profilers could switch from badass agent to serene birder all in the same day?
“Not really. I wouldn’t want to have to leave Mustang Valley, and with most organizations I can work from home except for when I have to travel for a story. But I’m not opposed to leaving, either.”
“I’ve stayed here, in Arizona, I mean, and a couple of times I was worried I’d thrown my career away with some of my job decisions. But so far it’s all worked out. Unfortunately for all of us, there are enough cases to keep the Phoenix Field Office in business for the next decade. It’s a good thing for me, personally, as I’ve been able to stay here and be closer to my family.”
“Did you grow up in Phoenix?”
“I did, in a suburb of it. It was so hard to be away from my family and everything I’d known when I went in the army and then ended up downrange. That’s when I met Spencer.”
“Did you realize you were both from Arizona? And southeastern, to boot?”
“Not at first. I learned more about him after he shoved me out of the way of friendly fire during a training event.”
“He never told me or Jarvis that.”
“He wouldn’t, would he? Spencer is that kind of hero.”
Understanding dawned. “That’s why you’re so close—you were with him during that one battle.” She mentioned the location and even in the dark, with the moonlight she was able to make out the grimace on his face.
“Yes.” Nothing more was needed.
“Holden, I know it’s awkward, but about last night…” She halted on the path. They were far ahead of the crowds as their pace had taken them to a more remote location. Stars sprinkled the outer edges of the light shining off the moon and she suddenly wanted to come back here with this man and see all the stars.
“Hey.” He tugged on her hand and she took the two steps to be up against him, where the feel of his breath as it stirred the wisps of hair on her temple lit the fire that burned only for him. “It’s fast for me, believe it or not. I never meant to make love to you like that, this soon. You deserve to be wined and dined first, at least.”
“So you thought about it beforehand?” She’d feared it was a spur-of-the-moment decision for him, an opportunity.
“Touché.” He wrapped his arms around her, their bulky binoculars and cameras the only items between them. “I just accused you of being an opportunist for doing your job—I suppose I had that coming to me. Yes, I’ve thought about taking you to bed since the minute you walked into the school.”
She shivered with desire in the cool desert night, and wished there were no pageant, that the serial killer were made up, and that Gio were still here.
Gio.
Instead of feeling the usual guilt that she wasn’t doing enough to search for what had really killed Gio, a wave of exhaustion swept over her. “I wish we’d met under different circumstances, too.” But even if they had, he lived in Phoenix, two hours away. Was she ready for a long-distance relationship? Was he?
“We aren’t going to figure out what’s going on between us right now, Bella. There are too many things competing for our attention. I suggest we enjoy the moment.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” She moved to continue their walk but he pulled her up short, cupped her head in his palm and lowered his lips to hers. As before, her body responded immediately to his caresses, and her lips tingled with the passion they shared.
As her breathing grew more rapid she held on to his shoulders as tightly as possible. It was like floating in water that was over her head and Holden was her safety, his tall, lean length all she needed or wanted to stay alive.
When he stilled and lifted his head, she nearly whimpered from the withdrawal of heat from her mouth.
“Shh.” His insistent order made her freeze, and fear began to shoot cold arrows through her heart. No, not now. How had the serial killer found them?
“What?” She trusted him implicitly. If anyone could save them, it was Holden.
“Do you hear it?”
She stilled her breathing and tried to tune out her rapid heartbeat. Fearful of hearing heavy footsteps, she almost missed it. But then, through her fears and reaction to this man, she heard it.
Hoooooot.
“A pygmy owl.” She’d memorized the birdcalls years ago, for the article she had mentioned to Holden earlier.
“Yes. With juveniles. Listen.” Sure enough, after the mother or father’s long call, tiny, more “chirpy” sounds split the silence. Relief rushed in, followed by something she’d never been able to grasp no matter how long she’d ever dated a single person.
Trust.
*
It was too easy. Did they think they couldn’t be followed, found, wherever they went? It would be easier if she were alone but no worries. He’d taken out other men who thought they were protecting the women, too.
They weren’t in the house, which was a shame. He’d been able to break through the MVPD patrols with little trouble, once night fell. The feed from the camera he’d put over her bathroom window had disappeared, and he figured the police got it since he didn’t see it from the perimeter of the property. He couldn’t get close enough right now, but as soon as he knew they were back in the house, together, he’d get her.
And she’d pay for running away tonight.
*

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

For an undercover duo, investigating a beauty pageant turns ugly.

When Bella Colton undergoes a makeover to enter a beauty pageant, she’s on a mission. She’s determined to find out why her best friend died. Enter undercover FBI agent Holden St. Clair. Holden’s hot on the heels of a serial killer, who has Bella in his crosshairs. As the chemistry between Bella and Holden sparks, can they capture the murderer in their midst?
Book Links: Amazon | B& N | iTunes | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Geri Krotow is the award winning author of over 25 novels, including the Whidbey Island contemporary romance and Silver Valley, PD romantic suspense series. Geri enjoys creating stories that stand the test of time, and with settings that she has personally experienced.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads |