Friday's Child - Clare Revell

Welcome back, Clare!

Seems I've been remiss in staying caught up on this series, and it is such a great series! Clare has such a wonderful touch on writing romantic suspense that I haven't missed reading a single one of her stories. I just haven't kept up with sharing them.

Here's the little rhyme that ties them all together:

                                           

Monday’s Child must hide for protection,

Tuesday’s Child tenders direction

Wednesday’s Child grieves for his soul

Thursday’s Child chases the whole

Friday’s Child is a man obsessed

Saturday’s Child might be possessed

And Sunday’s Child on life’s seas is tossed

Awaiting the Lifeboat that rescues the lost

Like I said in my last post, there are so many stories out there that it's hard to find the good ones sometimes - and I certainly like to share info about them when I can, so here's a peek at Friday's Child.

Back Cover:

Friday's Child is a man obsessed...MI-5 agent Patrick Page is on the trail of a drug smuggler. He doesn't have time to revisit his past when he reconnects with the girl who got away--his girlfriend from college working at a library. He's more than surprised to see sweet Ellie singing on stage when he slips into a nightclub to gain intel on the club's owner. Why is she working two jobs? Why is she using an alias? Is she somehow involved? And is her involvement with his suspect merely a business relation or is there more to their partnership?

Ellie has a secret she doesn't want Patrick to know. His daughter. She'd turned custody over to her parents, however now she wants to be a mother not just a sister. But her own mother can't seem to let go neither has she forgiven Ellie for her past. So Ellie works two jobs and supports them both. Her one light is her music. The career she abandoned, and her boss has promised to make her a star. But now with Patrick back in her life she's questioning her choices. And is he interested in her, or does he have some hidden agenda? Does Patrick have a secret too?

Excerpt:

“You really agreed to a drop here?” His partner asked.

Agent Patrick Page, MI5, nodded and looked up at the library, certain he was insane. Either that or he was going soft in his old age, letting informants insist on a dead drop location somewhere as public and quiet as this. Recently extended, the library was an interesting mixture of two modern A-frame wings of brown timber and huge panes of glass, with the original Tudor style wattle and daub central part sandwiched between. Colored posters lined the windows and an enticing display of books peeked between them.
It’s not insanity, it’s middle age, the small voice within him insisted.

Thirty-seven is not old, no matter what you want to think.

Great, now he was arguing with himself.

Niamh, his sister, had summed it up last night over dinner. “You just work too hard. All work and no play have made Patrick a dull man. A man obsessed, with no time for anything, fun or otherwise.” He’d tried brushing the comment off, but she hadn’t let it drop. “You need to get out more, Pi. Do something other than work for once. Don’t do what I did, because it ruins your life.”

“Earth to Patrick?”

Patrick still stared at the library, through the pouring rain. He didn’t have time for fun. Not with his heavy case load. And not with this twisted case he was currently embroiled in. The tip off had come from Scotland, from an American of all people. He still couldn’t get his head around why an American cop would be working for the Scottish police, although he hadn’t had time to exchange pleasantries with the Lieutenant.

Detective Inspector he corrected, as the guy had recently been promoted to an equivalent UK rank. Which was even more of a puzzle. One that could wait for a better time. Right now, he had work to do.

“Patrick, are you all right?” Shay Williams, his partner of five years, sounded concerned this time.

He shifted his gaze to her. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Then how about answering me rather than staring into space. You’re letting this case get to you, aren’t you?”

“No more so than usual.”

Why had his contact, known only by his street name of Skinhead, given the library as the location for the drop? More to the point, why had he agreed? Accessibility? Hardly, given the library’s odd opening hours. An urge to read? Again, not likely either for him or his contact. No, for Patrick, it was his desire to catch this guy and make the charges stick this time. And while odd, he could go in and out of a library frequently without arousing suspicion.

He checked his watch. It was time he actually did what he was paid for, rather than just sit here. Rain pounded against the car windshield. Even the wiper blades on super-fast made little impact on the downpour. Patrick pulled his collar up against the power of the elements and jumped out of the car. He opened the back door and leaned in to grab the pile of books.

Raising an eyebrow at his blonde partner in the driver’s seat, he shot her a mock look of imposition across the top of the seats. “I should make you take these back yourself, Agent 7x3,” he said, using her nickname. She hated it, but after insisting she was only twenty-one no matter how many birthdays she had, what did she expect? “After all, they’re your library books.”

Shay laughed at him. “But, it’s raining, Agent 3.14, and I know you’re too much of a gentleman to make a lady get out in the rain. Besides, it’s your drop, right? Your contact, your drop, so by default, your turn to get wet.”

Patrick scowled half-heartedly at her, teasing her back. “Pfft, woman. And there I was thinking we were partners. How wrong can I be? You can buy lunch for this.”

Shay rolled her eyes. “You stop for lunch? That will be a first. And it’d explain the rain.”
Not bothering to reply, he shut the door and hurried inside the building.

Working for British Intelligence, Patrick’s fast-paced life left him very little time for the niceties, like stopping for lunch, visiting the library, going out with family, getting to church or dating. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw a woman socially that didn’t involve undercover work either with Shay or an informant. Or the last time he made an entire church service without his pager going off.

He headed to the ‘in desk’ and stood in the queue. Glancing around, Patrick took in the huge windows, and walls lined with shelves of books. He hadn’t been in a library in years, but the smell never changed.

The queue moved forwards and he placed the books on the counter, giving the librarian his best smile. “Hi. I’m returning these for a friend.”

The librarian scanned them and nodded. “All done. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He paused, looking over the leaflets of things to do in the local area. He picked one up, taking his time over reading it, ignoring the queue behind him. Then he walked past the nondescript envelope on the edge of the desk and pocketed it in one swift action along with the leaflet, then stopped.

“Could you point me in the direction of the religious section, please?” While here, he might as well see if they had that book Liam recommended. Shay wouldn’t begrudge him a few minutes. After all, he’d done her a favor.

She nodded. “Around that way, then to the right.”

He smiled. “Thank you.” He headed off in the direction she pointed. Liam had raved about this book for the past month. Either he found a copy here or he borrowed Liam’s one. H....h...there... He ran his fingers along the books until he found the one he wanted. He pulled it off the shelf and turned around.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He looked at the woman he’d walked into and stopped short. Elle?
If it wasn’t her, it was someone who looked just like her and was just as beautiful as she had been when he last saw her—even though the tweed suit she wore gave her a dowdy appearance with its long skirt and boxy style. With her brown hair pulled back into a severe bun and glasses perched on her nose, she was the epitome of a stereotypical librarian.

Warmth flooded him and a hard bolt traveled through his stomach leaving it in knots. He forced his voice to work past the huge lump in his throat, and held out a hand to her. “Elle? Eleanor Harrison?”

Her brown eyes widened with shock and recognition. “Patrick.” Her fingers whitened against the pile of books in her hand, and she made no attempt to take his hand in return. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m borrowing a book.” He dropped his hand and smiled, ignoring the shaft of disappointment. “What did you expect in a library?”

“No, I mean, here in Headley Cross.”

“I live and work here. Always have.” His phone beeped. “Excuse me. I should get this.” He pulled the handset out of his pocket and checked the screen. Bother. Just when I could do with a few minutes. “I have to go. Can we meet up for coffee or something? Catch up on the past few years?”

Elle shook her head, backing away. “It’s best to just leave the past alone. Bye.” She hurried off.

Patrick stood still, the book loose in his hand. He and Elle had been at university at the same time. Two years above her, he’d been post grad and assigned as her mentor, but they had been inseparable none the less.

Until she’d vanished into thin air partway through the spring semester. He hadn’t seen or heard from her since. Perhaps he had hurt her after all, though she had seemed pretty happy about their relationship, from what he remembered.

Shaking his head, he went to the desk and checked out the book. He glanced casually over his shoulder, always on alert, and saw her watching him.

Maybe he should go back over and speak to her. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced he should. He might never have this chance again. He took a step towards her. A hand on his arm stopped him mid stride. He glanced around to see Shay. “What is it?”

“Sorry to bother you, sweetheart.” She leaned into him, her hand squeezing him in an intimate gesture. Her voice was husky and low in his ear, as she played her part to perfection as always. “We’ve got to go. Suspect is on the move and we need to tail him. Did you get the intel?”

He nodded, pushing all thoughts of Elle from his mind. “I’ll drive.”


Review:

Patrick Page is surely a man on a mission – whatever mission he’s assigned to. He takes his work very seriously, yes to the point of obsession, to the point of not having a personal life at all. But when he runs into Elle at the library, his old flame, he is completely derailed – and he doesn’t even know the half of it. He just can’t keep his mind off her. Not only does he want resolution from those many years ago, to understand why she left him, but he wants to protect her from what he knows is going on at the club where she sings.

Elle is shocked to see Patrick, and afraid to let him close for many reasons.  She feels deserted by God, fallen beyond redemption with nothing to offer anyone, but that doesn’t stop her heart from wanting to be close to him again. Each time they meet it gets harder to pushing him away.

If you like romantic suspense, you certainly don’t want to miss this story (or any of the others in this series)! It has a bit of something for everybody and you won’t set it down without these characters touching your heart. Happy reading!

Buy links:

http://pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=31_42&products_id=487

http://www.amazon.com/Fridays-Child-Clare-Revell-ebook/dp/B00FAYSUY4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394166032&sr=8-1&keywords=friday%27s+child+clare+revell

About Clare:

Clare lives in a small town in England with her husband of 17 years and her three children. Writing from a early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fanfiction to using her own original characters and enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, reading, sewing or keeping house or doing the many piles of laundry her children manage to make, she's working part time in the breakfast club at one of the local schools. 

She has been a Christian for more than half her life. She goes to Carey Baptist where she is one of three registrars.