Vanished Pride (The Seven Sin Sisters 4)

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A Secret Cravings Publishing Book

Erotic
Romance

Vanished
Pride

Copyright
© 2013
Paloma
Beck

E-book
ISBN:
978-1-61885-567-1

First
E-book Publication: February 2013

Cover
design by
Dawné
Dominique

Edited by
Kyle Lewis

Proofread
by Stephanie
Kinne

All cover
art and logo copyright © 2013 by Secret Cravings Publishing

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Dedication

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VANISHED PRIDE

The Seven Sin Sisters 4

Paloma
Beck

Copyright © 2013

Chapter
One

“No.
It is so not happening. He promised me time.” Paige shook her head at her
sisters.

Layla
and Amelia sat across the café table from Paige with looks of bewilderment on
their faces. Frankly, Paige couldn’t give a damn. This was between her and
Donovan, the big oaf who was hell-bent on claiming her. He’d said he would wait,
so that was exactly what he would be doing. She wasn’t ready yet.

Paige
had goals, things she wanted to accomplish. She couldn’t very well do that
while consumed with a Valendite mating. Ugh, she wasn’t denying her calling as
a woman of the
Magdalena Circle
! Just
like each of her sisters, her parents had raised her to understand and respect
that role. She simply had other things she planned to accomplish first.
Becoming a world-renowned pastry chef was foremost in her mind. Having just
secured a coveted spot in the Coupe du Monde de la
Boulangerie
,
nothing was getting in her way.

“Look,
you have to understand, I have just received an invitation to be one of the
twelve participants in the Coupe du Monde in Paris. This is everything I’ve
waited for. I’ll be competing against the world’s best pastry chefs. I can show
everyone just how amazing my culinary skills are.” Paige firmed her resolve,
crossed her arms and looked her sister’s directly in the eyes. “I absolutely
refuse to give that up, mate or no mate.”

“Dammit,
Paige, we aren’t telling you to give anything up. Donovan is suffering. Somehow
he’s keeping himself from you but we haven’t a clue how,” Amelia said.

Jumping
in, Layla went on, “He looks just awful. From what Gemma told us, the small
interactions he’s had with you have been enough to trigger his body’s
reactions. He’s moody, twitchy, and from the reports of that last assignment,
completely out of the game.”

“And
since he won’t talk to the other men, Madden doesn’t know what’s wrong so he’s
coming down hard on Donovan for his actions,” Amelia explained.

“Madden
even mentioned pulling him off missions,” Layla confided. Paige felt a slight
pang of remorse until she steeled herself against it.

“It
was his choice too. We both decided,” Paige raised her voice enough for others
in the shop to look over at them. She waved and gave an apologetic smile before
standing. “I’m going back to work. I have preparations to do before the
competition. I’ll see you at home, Amelia.”

A
few steps away, Paige looked back at her sisters. “And remember Layla, this was
a confidence. Those can’t be broken among sisters.” Paige saw the red flare to
Layla’s cheeks and knew she was furious with the admonishment. The unbreakable
confidences of sisters went against the mating bond, but that was not Paige’s
concern. Her sisters would simply need to stop meddling.

* * * *

Donovan watched from outside
Paige’s café window as she talked to her sisters. He watched as she left their
table in a huff, and was now more than certain he was the cause for her
frustration. His superior hearing meant from where he stood outside her café,
Donovan had heard every word of their conversation.

Goddess help him, he
didn’t want his mate to come to him because of misguided obligation. And the
world be damned, he despised being weak. He didn’t know Madden planned to pull
him from missions, but he could hardly blame him. That simple rescue mission
he’d hijacked to go all rogue, deciding on his own to track those behind the
search for the Valendite antibody, was over the top. The rules for the
Terrorist Elimination Unit—TEU—were simple. You followed orders from the top
down. Donovan had not once questioned a mission or an objective before, but
something pushed him to break protocol that time. Sure, he’d been successful,
but he’d put many lives on the line.