Available Now--LOVE ME IF YOU CAN

Finally the day is here. LOVE ME IF YOU CAN has finally been released by The Wild Rose Press. It comes in both electronic formats and print. It was a pleasure to write and went through five hellish rewrites. At this point I have no idea if the story holds together or not. I guess the reader will be the judge as the reader always is.

LOVE ME IF YOU CAN was set here in Nashville which for the last forty years has been my home. When I first conceived the book, I conceived an entire series set within the confines of Nashville and Holt Investigations. There are five more members of the Holt-Lackey clan, and their stories deserve to be told. To be honest, if they're as much trouble as Scott and Tess were, the stories might just have to stay unwritten.

ISBN: 9781601547767

e-book: $7.00

Print: $14.99


Music City Heat Series: Book One

Summertime in Nashville gets pretty steamy. No wonder Tess and Scott combust.

Nashville Homicide Detective Tess O’Malley has a lot to prove. She comes from a long line of police officers, including her father and older brothers. First, she and her partner are taken off a high-profile case and sidelined with a cold case instead. After reviewing the files, she’s certain her cold case is connected to the current one, and she sets out to prove it. Too bad it means locking horns with a handsome PI who could win her heart and derail her career.

Scott Holt is all business when it comes to running his family’s PI firm. When the lovely Detective O’Malley comes to question him about his possible involvement in her cold case, he has everything but business on his mind. Like locking lips with the fiery redhead.

(Pages 356) Spicy

Since I shared an excerpt last week, here's part of the prologue which didn't make it into the final version of the book. Bear in mind, this excerpt hasn't been through the professional editing process. As I read through this old excerpt again, I'm reminded of the adage, "Life is what happens when you're making plans." The prologue takes place ten years before the actual story starts.

EXCERPT (Take out scene):


PROLOGUE TAKEOUT (1) LOVE ME IF YOU CAN
©2009 Marie-Nicole Ryan, All rights reserved by author

One way or another, there’d be hell to pay. Scott eased from the warm bed. Somehow he had to get some studying done before class and before Lana was hot and heavy for another session of mattress mambo.

“Andrew Scott Holt, get your butt back in this bed.” Lana patted the spot he’d just left.

He shook his head and kept heading to his desk. “Can’t, babe. I’ve a Torts exam tomorrow.”

His fiancée pulled her lush lips into a familiar pout. “I’ll be so glad when you get out of law school. I’m sick of your nose being stuck in a book all the time. Makes me feel downright insignificant.”

“Not gonna work. I’m on to your tricks…this time,” he added with a grin. When Lana put her mind to it, she could be damned distracting—which was most of the time.

“I thought when we moved in together we’d spend all our time in bed.”

“If that’s the case, we should’ve waited ’til I’m out of law school.”

“But that’s another year and a half,” she whined.

Another year and a half. He gave a mental groan.

“What was that?”

“What?” Had he groaned aloud?

“I thought I heard you moan.”

“Guys don’t moan.” Still focused on his purpose, he sat down and opened the text book. “Spring break’s not that far away. We’ll go to Florida and spend the week in bed.” Maybe that would distract her.

She rose to her knees. “We can spend our time in bed now. We don’t have to go to Florida. Spring Break is for partying.”

Scott gritted his teeth, stood and calmly collected his laptop and textbooks.

“Where’re you going? I thought you had to study.”

“I do. Heading to the library…for some peace and quiet.”

“Fine. And maybe when you get back I won’t be here.”

He could only hope. “Suit yourself.”

“No. No. No. Wait a minute.” Lana hopped from the bed and thrust her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry. I know I’m a little bitchy. You forgive me, don’t you? I’ve a better idea. Why don’t we get married during Spring Break?” She gazed up at him, lips parted.

“That’s not the plan. After law school. That way I’ll support you the way a husband should.”

“I don’t want to wait. I can quit grad school now and support you. We’re a modern couple…equals.”

Scott shook his head. “That’s not the plan.”

“You and your plans.”

Jaw clenched, he bit back a heated reply. Marriage after law school was supposed to be their plan. Reality check. Life with Lana wasn’t hitting a home run. The plan needed revisions.

The phone rang. Lana scowled and flounced over to the bedside table, then snatched up the phone. “Hello?”

Good. She was occupied. Time to make his escape.

“Scott, wait.”

The tremulous quiver in her tone stopped him. He turned. Her eyes were wide as she held out the telephone with her trembling hand.

A rush of panic swept over him. He took the phone. “Yes?”

“Andrew Holt?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“Yes. Who’s this?”

“Detective Ferguson, Metro. There’s been an accident.”

“Who? How bad?”

“Your father and step-mother. I’m sorry. They were hit head-on.”

The voice on the phone continued, but grew hollow…as hollow as Scott suddenly felt. He staggered back and sat on the edge of the bed. His stomach knotted. Tried to process the bare statement. “Both of them? Are you sure?”

“I’m sorry. It was—uh, instantaneous.”

“I see.” No, he didn’t—not really.

“We need you to come down and—”

“Yes, I understand.” He dropped the phone.

“Your parents?”

A bleakness, stark as a winter landscape without a tree in sight invaded his soul. “Gone. Both of them.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I have to identify…” His throat closed. He couldn’t say the words…their bodies.

“I mean who will take care of all your brothers and sisters?”

“I will. Who else?” What the hell was he going to do? He shook his head. “Later. Gotta go.”


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LOVE ME IF YOU CAN is now available in electronic and print formats.

Marie-Nicole
http://marienicoleryan.com/