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    Touch the Dark

    Part of Cassie Palmer

    Author Karen Chance
    Ebook
    Berkley / NAL | Ace
    On sale Jun 06, 2006 | 320 Pages | 9781101128695
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    THE FIRST NOVEL IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING CASSANDRA PALMER SERIES!

    Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits—talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead. The ghosts of the dead aren’t usually dangerous; they just like to talk…a lot.

    The undead are another matter.

    Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she’s forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection.

    The undead senators won’t help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire—and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay....
    “Cassie, look at me.”

    I fought him, knowing from childhood that looking a vampire directly in the eyes made it easier for him to control you, but everyone ignored us, I guess under the assumption that I was just a lousy dancer.

    Unlike the legends, his body felt warm against mine and as smooth as muscled satin, but he may as well have been carved of steel for all the hope I had of breaking his hold. My pulse sped up and I thought I would faint when he bent his head and I felt lips trailing over my neck. I think my heart actually stopped as he delicately kissed the skin as if tasting the pulse under the surface. I felt like my blood could sense him; that it moved slower and thicker in my veins, waiting for him to set it free. I broke into a sweat that had nothing to do with the heat of so many bodies crowded into a small place. Was he going to kill me right there, in front of a couple of hundred witnesses?

    I should have known something like this was going to happen. Every time I trusted someone they betrayed me; every time I loved someone, they died. Since he was already dead, I guessed the pattern held true.
    Copyright © 2013 by Karen Chance. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
    Karen Chance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Cassie Palmer series and the Midnight’s Daughter series. She has lived in France, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong, but always comes back to America. She currently lives in Central Florida, the home of make-believe, which may explain a lot.  View titles by Karen Chance
    “A wonderfully entertaining romp with an engaging heroine. Here’s hoping there's a sequel in the works!”—Kelley Armstrong, USA Today Bestselling Author of Haunted

    “A grab-you-by-the-throat-and-suck-you-in sort of book. A tough, smart heroine and sexy-scary vampires....I loved it.”—Patricia Briggs, National Bestselling Author of Moon Called

    “Karen Chance will enthrall you with her world of vampires, mages, and a fair maiden tough enough to kick their butts.”—USA Today Bestselling Author Rebecca York

    About

    THE FIRST NOVEL IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING CASSANDRA PALMER SERIES!

    Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits—talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead. The ghosts of the dead aren’t usually dangerous; they just like to talk…a lot.

    The undead are another matter.

    Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she’s forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection.

    The undead senators won’t help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire—and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay....

    Excerpt

    “Cassie, look at me.”

    I fought him, knowing from childhood that looking a vampire directly in the eyes made it easier for him to control you, but everyone ignored us, I guess under the assumption that I was just a lousy dancer.

    Unlike the legends, his body felt warm against mine and as smooth as muscled satin, but he may as well have been carved of steel for all the hope I had of breaking his hold. My pulse sped up and I thought I would faint when he bent his head and I felt lips trailing over my neck. I think my heart actually stopped as he delicately kissed the skin as if tasting the pulse under the surface. I felt like my blood could sense him; that it moved slower and thicker in my veins, waiting for him to set it free. I broke into a sweat that had nothing to do with the heat of so many bodies crowded into a small place. Was he going to kill me right there, in front of a couple of hundred witnesses?

    I should have known something like this was going to happen. Every time I trusted someone they betrayed me; every time I loved someone, they died. Since he was already dead, I guessed the pattern held true.
    Copyright © 2013 by Karen Chance. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

    Author

    Karen Chance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Cassie Palmer series and the Midnight’s Daughter series. She has lived in France, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong, but always comes back to America. She currently lives in Central Florida, the home of make-believe, which may explain a lot.  View titles by Karen Chance

    Praise

    “A wonderfully entertaining romp with an engaging heroine. Here’s hoping there's a sequel in the works!”—Kelley Armstrong, USA Today Bestselling Author of Haunted

    “A grab-you-by-the-throat-and-suck-you-in sort of book. A tough, smart heroine and sexy-scary vampires....I loved it.”—Patricia Briggs, National Bestselling Author of Moon Called

    “Karen Chance will enthrall you with her world of vampires, mages, and a fair maiden tough enough to kick their butts.”—USA Today Bestselling Author Rebecca York

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