Spotlight & Giveaway: Wedding Night Reunion in Greece by Annie West

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Annie West to HJ!

Hi Annie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Wedding Night Reunion in Greece!

 
Thanks so much! You know I love visiting and spending time with other lovers of romance!
 

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

The runaway bride has nowhere left to run! The arrogant Greek who broke her heart demands a real marriage and he’ll go to any lengths to keep her.
Emma’s heart is broken when she discovers her brand new groom doesn’t love her but married her for practical reasons. She runs away, needing time to lick her wounds and plan a future without him. But when he finds her he makes an outrageous proposition, one she can’t ignore. Will this love-hate relationship turn into something more as they live under the same roof?
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

His mouth lifted at one corner in a hint of a smile and Emma knew in her very bones this would be anything but simple. ‘I’ll sign your inheritance into your control. All you have to do is fulfil your vows and live as my wife for a year.’

What inspired this book?

I’ll mention two of the things that inspired me.

• One was the runaway bride trope, that I love to read myself and which I hadn’t written. It was enormous fun discovering why Emma and Christo married, or thought they married, then unravelling the pretence and watching them slowly develop a true loving relationship.
• The second inspiration was Corfu, the lovely Greek island to the west of the mainland. I spent a little time there early last year, coinciding with my editor asking for a book that had a particularly gorgeous setting. What a great match! A lot of scenes in the book are set in places I visited and I’ve shared a lot of location photos on my Facebook page.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

I have a pretty good idea of my characters before I start the book but I always get to know them so much more when I write. They come alive and often do surprise me. For instance in the way they react at certain times, the choices they make and the things they decide to fight for. It really is a process of getting to know them, not simply creating them.

What was your favorite scene to write?

Too many to choose! Though I have to say I loved writing the opening. Maybe I enjoy being mean to my characters, but seeing poor Emma discover the real reason Christo married her, and hearing him dig himself deeper and deeper into a hole I knew he’d have trouble get out of came very easily. Setting up that conflict meant I looked forward to seeing how they’d resolve it! Here’s a taste:

A beat of satisfaction quickened Christo’s pulse. ‘Emma’s not sexy and sophisticated like her cousin, or as beautiful, but her grandfather left her the Athens property I came to buy. Marriage was the price of acquiring it.’
Damien’s smile faded. ‘You married for that? I knew the deal was important but surely you didn’t need to—’
‘You’re right. Normally I wouldn’t consider it, but circumstances changed.’ Christo shrugged and adopted a nonchalant expression to camouflage the tension he still felt at the profound changes in his life. ‘I find myself in the bizarre situation of inheriting responsibility for a child.’ Saying it aloud didn’t make it sound any more palatable, or lessen his lingering shock. ‘Can you imagine me as a father?’
He nodded as his friend’s eyes bulged. ‘You see why marriage suddenly became necessary, if not appealing. It isn’t a sexy siren I need. Instead I’ve acquired a gentle, sensible homebody who wants only to please me. She’ll make the perfect caring mother.’
*
Emma’s hands gripped the edge of the basin so tight she couldn’t feel her fingers. That was one small mercy because the rest of her felt like one huge, raw wound, throbbing in acute agony.
She blinked and stared at the mirror. The mirror in the downstairs rear bathroom. The one she and her bridesmaid had retired to for a quick makeup fix since the one at the front of the house was engaged. The one with an open window, obscured by ivy, that gave onto the sprawling back garden.
In the mirror dazed, hazel eyes stared back at her. Her mouth in that new lipstick she’d thought so sophisticated was a crumpled line of colour too bright for parchment pale cheeks.
Around her white face she still wore the antique lace of her grandmother’s veil.
Emma shuddered and shut her eyes, suddenly hating the weight of the lace against her cheeks and the long wedding dress around her shaky legs. The fitted gown, so perfect before, clasped her too tight, making her skin clammy, nipping at her waist and breasts and squeezing her lungs till she thought they might burst.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

I think it showcases my style. It’s vivid and passionate with strong characters I admire. Even Christo (who has the grace to learn from his mistakes)! I enjoyed the fast-paced dialogue, the move from enemies to lovers and the sigh of satisfaction when this couple found their happy ending, stronger together than they had been separately.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

A sense of joy as well as satisfaction. As I wrote the ending in particular, I was aware that I was visiting people and a world where I wanted to spend more time. I’d love it if readers felt the same way. And maybe too, they’ll want to visit Corfu and see some of the beautiful locations that inspired me.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

Look out in August for the first of my linked ‘Royal Brides for Desert Brothers’ Duet. It’s titled ‘Sheikh’s Royal Baby Revelation’ and then in September the second story, ‘Demanding His Desert Queen’ is in stores. I’m thrilled with these exciting, passionate stories. I’m currently working on my first book for 2020! It’s a story about royal scandal, old secrets, new passion and a tug of love for a child.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Two readers will each receive a signed copy of an Annie West story set in Greece!
Open internationally.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you were in Emma’s shoes and needed space to deal with your shock and disappointment. Where would you go? Would you go alone or take a friend?

 
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Excerpt from Wedding Night Reunion in Greece:

When Christo sees Emma for the first time after she left him on their wedding day:

Pushing her shoulders back, Emma lifted her chin and looked straight into those glittering eyes. ‘I can’t say it’s good to see you, but I suppose it’s time we sorted this out.’
*
Christo stared at the woman before him, for the first time in his adult life momentarily bereft of words.
He told himself it was the shock of seeing her safe and healthy, after almost a week of worry. It had been uncharacteristic of gentle, considerate Emma to vanish like that, as all her friends and relatives kept telling him. He’d worried she’d been injured or even kidnapped.
Till she’d called her aunt and left a cryptic message saying she was okay but needed time alone.
Time alone!
His blood sizzled at her sheer effrontery.
What sort of behaviour was that for a bride? Especially for the bride of Christo Karides, one of the most sought after bachelors in Europe, pursued wherever he went.
That had been another first for him – finding himself frantic with anxiety. Christo recalled the scouring, metallic taste of fear on his tongue and the icy grip of worry clutching his vitals. He never wanted to experience that again.
Nor did he appreciate being made a laughing stock.
Or enduring the questioning looks her relatives had given him, as if her vanishing act was his doing! As if he hadn’t spent weeks carefully courting Katsoyiannis’s delicate granddaughter. Treating her with all the respect due to his future wife.
Christo clamped his jaw, tension radiating across his shoulders and down into bunching fists.
It wasn’t just discovering Emma hale and hearty that transfixed him. It was the change in her.
The woman he’d married was demure and sweet-tempered. She’d deferred to her grandfather and been patently eager to please Christo, with her ardent if slightly clumsy responses to his kisses.
The woman before him was different. She sparked with unfamiliar energy. Her stance, legs apart and hands planted on hips, was defiant rather than placating.
The Emma Piper he knew was a slight figure, slender and appealing in a muted sort of way. This Emma even looked different. She wore a skimpy bikini of bright aqua. It clung to a figure more sexy than he’d anticipated, though admittedly he’d never seen her anything but fully dressed. Her damp skin glowed like a gold tinted pearl and those plump breasts rising and falling with her quick breaths looked like they’d fill his palms to perfection.
A feral rush of heat jagged at his groin, an instant, unstoppable reaction that did not fit his mood or his expectations.
Christo dragged his gaze up to her face and saw her eyebrows arch in query, challenging him as if he had no right to stare.
As if she wasn’t his runaway wife!
‘You’ve got some explaining to do,’ he murmured in the soft, lethal voice that stopped meandering board meetings in a second.
But instead of backing down and losing the attitude, Emma jutted her rounded chin, lifted her cute, note-quite retroussé nose in the air, and planted her feet wider, drawing his attention to her shapely legs.
The heat in his groin flared hotter.
Slowly she shook her head, making her tangled, wet hair slide around her shoulders. Sunlight caught it, highlighting the dark honey with strands of gold he’d never seen before. But then they’d spent most of their time indoors, in her grandfather’s house or at nearby restaurants. The bright Greek sunshine revealed details he hadn’t noticed before.
‘You’ve got that the wrong way around.’
‘Sorry?’ Christo drew himself up to his full height, looking down on the slim woman before him. But extraordinarily, she simply stared back, her mouth set in a mulish line. Her stare was bold rather than apologetic.
For a second he was so surprised he even wondered if the impossible had happened. If this wasn’t Emma but some look-alike imposter.
But Christo Karides had never been one for fantasy. He’d been a pragmatist since childhood, with no time for fiction.
‘Have you any idea how worried everyone was?’ His voice was gruff, hitting a gravel note that betrayed the gut-deep worry he’d rather not remember. ‘I even called the police! I thought you’d been abducted.’
He’d mobilised the best people to scour Melbourne and surrounds, praying something terrible hadn’t happened to his quiet little spouse.
There were ruthless people out there, including some ready to take advantage of a defenceless woman. His brain had kept circling back to the possibility that when he found her it would be too late. He’d never felt so helpless. The memory fed his fury.
‘I rang my aunt to explain that I was safe.’
‘You didn’t ring me!’ Christo heard his voice rise and drew a frustrated breath.
Was she wilfully misunderstanding? The woman he’d wooed had seemed reasonably intelligent and eminently sensible. Not the sort to disappear on her wedding day. He leaned into her space, determined to get through to her. ‘I half expected to find your abused body abandoned somewhere.’
He saw shock work its way through her, making her eyes round and her shoulders stiffen. Then she shook her head again as if dismissing his concern as nothing. ‘Well, as you can see, I’m fine.’
‘Not good enough, Emma. Not nearly good enough. You owe me.’ An explanation to start with but far more after that.
‘Oh, that’s rich.’ Her mouth curled up at one corner.
Was she sneering at him?
Christo covered the space between them in one long stride, bringing him close enough to inhale the scent of sea and feminine warmth that made something in his belly skitter into life.
Shackling her wrist with his, he tugged her close enough to feel the heat of her body.
‘Stop it, Emma. You’re my wife!’
Her voice when it came was so low he had to crane forward to hear it. Yet it throbbed with a passion he’d never heard from her. ‘And how I wish I wasn’t.’
Christo stared down at her. Never, in his whole life, had he met a woman who wasn’t pleased to be with him. He’d lost count of the number who’d vied to catch his attention. Yet this one, the one he’d honoured with his name and his hand in marriage, regarded him as she would a venomous snake.
Had the world gone mad?
Where was his sweet Emma? The woman who revelled in his smiles, the gentle, generous woman he’d selected from all the contenders?
Her mouth twisted into a tight line as she stared down at his hand on her wrist. ‘Let me go now. Marriage doesn’t give you the right to assault me.’
‘Assault? You have to be kidding.’ His brow knotted in disbelief. As if he’d ever assault a woman!
‘It is if I don’t want to be touched and believe me, Christo, the last person on this earth I want touching me is you.’
Her voice was sharp with disdain and her nostrils flared as she met his stare. Something thumped deep in his chest at the unexpected, unbelievable insult.
Deliberately he dropped her hand and spread his empty fingers before her face. Anger throbbed through him. No, fury, at being treated with such unprovoked disrespect.
‘Okay, no touching. Now explain.’
At last Emma seemed to realise the depth of his ire. The combative light faded from her eyes and her mouth compressed into a flat line. Abruptly she looked less fiery and more…hurt.
Christo resisted the ridiculous impulse to pull her close. He’d met enough manipulative women not to fall for a play on his sympathy.
‘I know, Christo.’ Her voice was flat, devoid of vigour. ‘I know why you married me. There, is that enough explanation?’
‘It’s no explanation at all.’ Yet the nape of his neck prickled.
It wasn’t possible. He’d spoken of it to no-one except Damen and then he’d ensured they were out of earshot. He’d left his blushing bride with her beaming family on the other side of the sprawling house.
He wasn’t ashamed of what he’d done. On the contrary, his actions had been sensible, laudable and honourable. He’d offered marriage and the promise of his protection and loyalty to this woman. What more could she want? His actions had been spurred by the best of motives.
Except, looking into those wide, wounded eyes, Christo recalled her untutored ardour. Emma’s shy delight at his wooing.
He’d told himself she didn’t expect love.
The old man had made it clear his granddaughter would marry to please him. Christo assumed she understood that behind the niceties of their courtship lay a world of practicality. That he’d wed for convenience.
But you never spelled it out, did you?
Christo silenced the carping voice.
No-one who knew him would believe he’d been bowled over by little Emma Piper.
But Emma didn’t know him. Not really.
For a second he wavered, surprised to feel guilt razoring his gullet.
Till logic asserted itself. She’d chosen to marry him. He’d never spoken of love. Never promised more than he was willing to give.
Emma had flounced off in a huff and made him look like a fool. It was a part he’d never played before and never intended to play again.
Indignation easily eclipsed any hint of culpability. ‘Nothing excuses what you did, Emma.’
‘Don’t try to put this all on me, Christo. You don’t even want me. You’d prefer someone beautiful and vivacious like my cousin.’
That’s what this was about? He shook his head. He should have known this would boil down to feminine pique.
Emma was such an innocent that she didn’t understand a man could be attracted to a woman and not act on that attraction. That a man of sense chose a woman who’d meet his needs.
Emma was that woman, with all the qualities he required of a mother for his ward. Even her defiance now just proved she had backbone, something he admired.
Plus she was more, he acknowledged. He met soft hazel eyes that now sparked with gold and green fire, feeling his blood heat as he took in her delectable figure and militant air. Christo acknowledged with a fillip of surprise that he wanted his wife more than he’d thought possible. Far more than he recalled from their restrained courtship.
There was a vibrancy about her, a challenge, a feminine mystique that called to him at the most primitive level. Gone was the delicate, compliant girl so perfect for his plans. This was a woman, obstinate, angry and brimming with attitude. Sexier than he’d thought possible.
Lust exploded low in his body, a dark, tight hunger so powerful it actually equalled his fury.
‘I married you, Emma. Not your cousin. I gave you my name and my promise.’ How could she not understand the significance of what he’d bestowed? How dared she throw such a gift back in his face? ‘That’s far more important than any fleeting attraction.’
But Emma refused to be convinced. She shook her head, wet hair slipping over her shoulders. Trails of sea water ran down from it to the miniscule triangles of her bikini top. Christo followed those wet tracks to the proud points of her nipples. Another wave of lust hit him and his flesh tightened across his bones as he fought the impulse to reach out and claim her.
‘You’re mine.’ The words emerged as a roughened growl.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

She’s his runaway bride…

He’s come to claim his wedding night!

Emma Piper’s just promised to love, honor and cherish Greek tycoon Christo Karides…but then she overhears him admitting he married her purely for convenience. Bolting to her family’s beautiful Corfu villa, Emma doesn’t expect Christo to follow—especially with seduction in mind! Their intense attraction promises an explosive reunion. Will a night in her husband’s bed show Emma there’s more to their marriage than just convenience…?

Escape to the Greek islands with this reunion romance

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Meet the Author:

USA Today Bestselling author Annie West loves writing passionate, intense love stories. She has devoted her life to an in depth study of tall, dark, charismatic heroes who cause the best kind of trouble in the lives of their heroines. Creating heroines who are a perfect match for those strong, stubborn men is one of her all time favorite things. As a sideline she’s also researched dreamy locations for romance, from vibrant cities to desert encampments and fairytale castles. She lives on the east coast of Australia and her favourite things are books, good company, good food and travel.
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