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Blurb:
Serena
Burton is a shy and disillusioned young English woman holidaying on the
Mediterranean island of Malta finds romance with the hotel manager, Luigi
Coletti. She also finds herself deeply involved in the life of an elderly
writer, Louisa Weston.
As
Serena gradually discovers Louisa’s strange past she is drawn into a tangled
web of hidden mysteries which are slowly uncovered, but at a high price…A Tangled Web – Extract 1
“Not a very nice evening” said
Mr. Coletti the hotel manager, when Serena approached the desk to leave her
keys.
“I’m just going for a short walk
before dinner,” she replied shyly.
“Better take an umbrella then.”
“I don’t think I’ll bother,” she
laughed. “I won’t be too long anyway.”
She stepped outside and
cautiously looked right and left before crossing the road onto the sea side
promenade. Ominous dark clouds were gathering fast in the horizon and grayish
blue waves splashed angrily against the white rocks, spraying her lips with
salty droplets.
Serena was no stranger to this
small Mediterranean island, but she had always come at the peak of hot and dry
summers when the blinding brightness of the sky merged with the staggering
azure blue of the sea. She never expected in a million years to find this sort
of unremitting British drizzle soaking her hair through and through, nor an icy
wind blowing on her face and making her eyes watery.
She looked in disbelief at the
threatening sky and hoped the drizzle would not worsen. Forcibly she wiped her
mouth with the back of her hand, and then walked briskly with her head down.
She stopped abruptly out of breath and leaned against the silvery railings that
ran all along in a wide bend. What on earth possessed her to come over here in
the middle of this bleak and unusually cold winter? It was less than three
weeks since she had that terrible row with Harry after catching him cheating
with her best friend Susan. Seething with anger she broke off their engagement,
but was so wretched and miserable that she felt like crawling in a dark corner
or disappearing from the face of the earth.
A few days later, a stupid
argument at work exploded into a major crisis. Full of hurt pride, she rebuffed
any words of sympathy offered by her boss, and promptly resigned from her
position as private secretary with a reputable industrial firm. She immediately
moved out of her cozy little apartment in Putney and grabbed one of those last
minute holiday deals to the island of Malta, where they offered travelers four
weeks for the price of three. Perhaps the change of scenery would help her get
over the emotional roller-coaster ride she was on. A relaxing getaway may lead
to a fresh start. She had to try.
The promenade was almost
deserted and the vast expanse of turbulent water was swelling under the
blustery wind. Serena was so dejected and full of self-pity that her eyes
filled with tears, but no matter where or when, the sea had always a soothing
effect on her. Unlike a desert where its vastness and desolate emptiness exudes
fear and wonder, the sea with its interchangeable moods of calm and rough had a
mysticism of its own which for some unknown reason Serena was the most
comfortable near it. And this kind of weather perfectly suited her present
frame of mind.
Her tears were washed away by
the rain and she tightly gripped the metal railing that ran the length of the
promenade until her fingers hurt. She inhaled the fresh, revitalizing ozone
bringing her back to life. Serena was about to turn back, when at a distance
she glimpsed the shape of a man sitting on one of the rocks protruding into the
sea at the base of the low cliffs beneath where she was standing. Against the
darkening sky he looked more like a gray shadow, yet she could still notice a
sort of naval cap pulled down below his forehead and a few shiny buttons
glittering on a dark reefer coat.
Normally her first reaction
would be to run in the opposite direction, but a compelling urge pushed her
forward to that blurred figure, and her imagination started to run wild. Was he
a seaman home on leave after a long exotic voyage? Or, was he simply a stranger
who, like her, was taking a stroll, indifferent to the elements? The man seemed
totally unaware of her presence and was focusing only on the foaming sea. The
incandescent light of a pale moon came peeping through the thick clouds, and
for an instant, two very dark eyes stared blankly back at Serena.
A gust of wind forced her to
turn away and, when she looked back, the man seemed to have vanished. Had he
gone down the other side of the rocks, or was her imagination playing tricks?
With a deep sigh, she tied her
white woolen scarf firmly under her chin and resumed her brisk walk to the
hotel just in time to change for dinner.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vivianeeborg25.author
Twitter: @ VivianeEBorg1
Blog: http://vivianeeborg25.wordpress.com/
Buy links:
Sweet Cravings Publishing Store:
http://store.sweetcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=4&products_id=235&zenid=kourko9vl6usq8v7fi0fif1q02
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com.au/Tangled-Web-Viviane-Elisabeth-Borg-ebook/dp/B00MYBYGVC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408843522&sr=8-1&keywords=viviane+elisabeth+borg
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/469464
Barnes & Noble:
