Spotlight & Giveaway: The Benefactor by Nana Malone

Posted June 11th, 2020 by in Blog, Spotlight / 43 comments

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Nana Malone’s new release: The Benefactor

 

Spotlight&Giveaway

 

I am many things. billionaire, rogue, rebel. But I never figured myself for a thief.

 
My money can buy power, control, access. Even oaths of loyalty.

The one thing it can’t buy is her…or her safety.

I vowed to protect her…
I failed…

To save her, I’ll need to forget everything I am and forgo control. And I can’t, under any circumstances, fail.

The canary jewel is the key.

Tonight I am no longer a billionaire.
Tonight I keep new secrets.

My name is Ben Covington and tonight, I am a thief.

 

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from The Benefactor 

Da-dum. Da-dum.
Most people think that when you’re terrified, time moves at lightning speed. But the truth is, it’s a sloth-slow hyper-awareness of your own impending doom.
My heart slowed, and I could feel every single breath of what was happening, even the infinite space between breaths. As my eyes widened in horror, recognition hitting me like an anvil, the hand clamped tighter around my mouth, and the more I struggled, the deeper strong, clammy fingers dug into my skin.
What is he doing? He was supposed to be protecting me.
What I’d once thought were the warm, kind eyes of my driver, Todd, were now dull and lifeless. “You are a naughty girl,” he said, his voice oddly low, like a groggy cement mixer. My body flooded with adrenaline which only tripped me into panic. I couldn’t think. Why would he do this? He’d been driving me for weeks. Taking me where I needed to go. Why would he try to hurt me now?
I tried to force steadying breaths into my lungs, but the tears made that difficult. Drop by drop, salty wet tears hit my tongue, as the fear set in that I might not make it out of this.
Tears? Ovary up. Fear immobilizes. Anger motivates. Think.
My brain clawed on that kernel of anger. Anger would help me survive. I tried to hold on to that rage of knowing that he’d ruined the blissful, happy lull I was experiencing.
I’d had the best sex of my life in the last twenty-four hours. No way did I want to give that up. I had to fight. As things to fight for went, sex was just as good as any other.
I nodded and agreed to whatever he said so he might loosen his grip and let me breathe… move… just a little bit.
“You’re a whore. Tell me you know what you are. He told me what you were.”
I nodded emphatically because I couldn’t speak.
Agree to everything. Anything. Live to fight another day.
“He told me you were, but I didn’t believe it until I saw you with my own two eyes. First Paris, now here. You’ve been a whore all along. But that’s okay. You’ll be dealt with.”
He? Am I being watched? By whom? For how long?
Todd whipped me around, his hand holding my jaw too tight. He dragged me back against his body, and the firm impression of his erection against my back made bile rise in my throat. Instinctively, I wiggled, trying to free myself, accidentally rubbing against his body even more.
He groaned and eased his hand just a little, but his fingers still dug into my skin, making my jaw muscles scream. I did the only thing I could do; I opened my mouth to relieve some of the pressure. Then taking a deep breath, I bit him. Hard.
Even as his roar echoed in my ear, I didn’t let go with my teeth, but he went ahead and released my arm as he bellowed.
Freedom.
I brought my arm up and drove my elbow back into his gut while I kept clamping down with my teeth.
Take skin if you can.
I recognized the coppery taste of blood blooming on my tongue, and I shook my head back and forth, trying to do even more damage.
A sickening, gagging scream and a sudden release of tension in my back told me I’d taken a part of him with me.
“You cunt,” he growled out.
I didn’t turn around or look back. I did not pass go. I did not stop to collect two hundred quid.
I ran for the door like Satan himself was coming after me. I knew the way out. I just had to get there.
There’s the kitchen. Faster.
I remembered all my old track and field coach’s words. “Stop worrying about your legs. Worry about your arms. If your arms can move quickly, your legs will follow.”
I had nothing to lose from trying that advice as my legs felt like jellied blood, too heavy to make them work. Too shaky to be at all coordinated. But it didn’t matter. I was moving, and I forced my arms to pump back and forth.
Back and forth.
The spike of adrenaline had me temporarily forgetting my bearings in the loft. I was just off the bedroom, down the hall, past the library. I’d have to make a right, to the massive living room into the kitchen and out the door. I could do this.
Just run.
Easier said than done when your limbs didn’t work. And there was something sticky and slippery on the ground. I didn’t dare look, because if I looked, I was afraid of what I was going to find.
As I bolted through the loft, I lamented the size of it. What single man needed a four-thousand-square-foot loft at the top of a hotel?
Still, I pumped my arms and turned the corner, grabbing priceless art pieces off the walls and tossing them behind me, trying to delay my attacker. As I went to make my right turn, he caught hold of the T-shirt I was wearing and yanked back.
My legs kicked out from under me, and I flew into the air, going weightless for just a moment, giving me enough time to worry about how hard my landing was going to be.
When I crashed, I spread my limbs out to disperse my weight and kept my head tucked, chin into my chest, so it wouldn’t hit the floor. But that didn’t stop the spasm of pain, as my back slammed into the hardwood floor.
I immediately rolled to my side, tempted to curl into a ball and wait for death, but I forced my arms to push me up onto my feet.
Get up. Get up. Get up.
My feet slipped, and I could feel shattered glass beneath them. Tiny shards. Fortunately for me, as much as I was slipping, so was Todd. His shoes were more of a detriment, but they still offered some protection from the glass.
On tippy-toes, I tried to avoid the glass from the photograph I’d dragged down. He reached for me again, but this time his shoes slipped in blood and he went down.
Success.
Breath tearing out of my lungs, heart pounding against my ribcage, body shaking full of adrenaline and fear and a will to live I’d never fully examined before, I bolted into the living room.
And then I saw it… the reason for the blood. The blood that Todd had tracked through the loft. His partner, Brian, was bleeding. His throat was slit, and he was propped up against my exit.
Fuck.
I knew Todd was behind me, his footsteps growing ever nearer.
If you stop, you die.

Excerpt. ©Nana Malone. Posted by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
 
 

Giveaway: One signed paperback The Benefactor by Nana Malone

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and post a comment to this Q: What did you think of the excerpt spotlighted here? Leave a comment with your thoughts on the book…

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Meet the Author:

USA Today Best Seller, Nana Malone’s love of all things romance and adventure
started with a tattered romantic suspense she “borrowed” from her cousin.
It was a sultry summer afternoon in Ghana, and Nana was a precocious thirteen. She’s
been in love with kick butt heroines ever since. With her overactive imagination, and
channeling her inner Buffy, it was only a matter a time before she started creating her

own characters.

While she waits for her chance at a job as a ninja assassin, in the meantime Nana
works out her drama, passion, and sass with fictional characters every bit as sassy and

kick butt as she thinks she is.
Connect with Nana:

Website: http://nanamaloneromance.net/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/NanaMaloneFB
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/NanaMaloneGR
Twitter: http://bit.ly/NanaMaloneTwitter
Apple Books: http://bit.ly/NanaMaloneAB
Instagram: http://bit.ly/NanaMaloneIG
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Wwz3t9
Bookbub: http://bit.ly/NanaMaloneBB
 
Buy Links:
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2y3laYC
Apple Books: https://apple.co/2xemesE
Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/2ViGAZZ
Kobo: https://bit.ly/34p30ge
Google Play: https://bit.ly/2VdMprz
 
 
 

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43 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: The Benefactor by Nana Malone”

  18. Kathleen Bylsma

    Holy cow, Nana! Don’t leave me hanging like this! Why?????? Who????/

  23. Mary C.

    I want to find out why Todd suddenly turned and the reason for Brian’s murder.

  29. Karina Angeles

    Wow! What an excerpt. Can’t wait to read how she escapes from her attacker and who is behind the scheme.