Secrets and Lies (24 page)

“What was the sento, dad? I can't remember.”

“Sorry, darling, I was talking about the public baths.”

“Oh, yes, they were very relaxing. There was something so wonderfully decadent about taking a communal bath with several hundred people, speaking of which, I think I'll go back to our hotel for a little nap and take a relaxing bath afterwards,” Kerry said.

“Mom, you can be so embarrassing sometimes!” Saoirse sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Well, I think I'll play a round of golf. The cherry blossom trees are in full bloom now and I want to enjoy our last day in Japan outside in the sunshine,” Conor decided.

“I think I'll collect some sea-shells,” Saoir
se smiled. “I promised Emer and Auntie Maura that I'd bring them something from Japan.”

“Good idea, darling,” Conor kissed the top of his daughter's head and stretched. “A walk around the golf course will do me good. I've eaten too much since I've been here.” He patted his round stomach.

“Take your phone, love, so we can call you if we need you,” Kerry suggested.

“The battery's dead,” Conor pulled his phone from his pocket and frowned. “I'll meet you back at the hotel in a few hours.”

Kerry and Saoirse kissed him goodbye and headed back to their “ryokan” which was Japanese for a traditional inn. They'd decided to forego the typically modern hotels and opted instead for a more authentic Japanese experience and the “ryokan” certainly offered them that. Their “ryokan” was more expensive than a regular hotel and interestingly came with a few rules, such as a midnight curfew! It gave them an intimate glimpse into Japanese customs, which included communal baths, peaceful gardens and the ability to wear a bathrobe or “yukata” in public at any time of the day!

The “ryokan” also offered “kaiseki” which are elaborate and traditional meals. Their simple room had a sliding rice-paper door, a shrine, a tatami-matted floor and futons which were laid out on the floor each night. Luckily, the owners of the Darcys' “ryokan” were considerate enough to provide padded quilting and cushions to soften the experience for them.

“What the hell is that noise?” Kerry sat bolt upright in bed, rudely awakened from her afternoon nap by what sounded like a downpour of tumultuous rain. She held her breath and listened for a moment as the eerie noise grew louder and seemed to be getting closer. A sudden icy shiver ran up her spine, forcing her to jump out of bed and run to the bedroom window that overlooked the beach. She pulled open the sliding door of the balcony and stared at the sight below her.

Everything was in chaos! Kerry watched in shock as she saw a huge wave come rushing down the beach, heading straight for the hotel, destroying everything in its wake.

She couldn't move. She stood there, frozen at the window, watching the horrific scene unfold in front of her. “Run mom, run!” Saoirse burst into the room. She was soaking wet but alive and that was all that mattered to Kerry in that awful moment. They clung to each other for a few brief seconds. “Mom, we have to get to the roof, that's our only hope!” Saoirse cried, grabbing her mother's hand as they started to run.

Kerry could hear the screaming and crying of the people all around her. Everyone was clinging to whatever piece of debris they could find. It was like she was in a trance and all she could do was follow her daughter's lead. She heard a horrible roaring noise and saw ripples of frothy water bubbling up fast from the beach.

Minutes later the waves smashed into the hotel, breaking the windows and hitting the tables. Suddenly there was an eerie calm as the water receded and the bay emptied of water, allowing them to climb the stairs to the higher floors. Then, without any warning, the sea started charging ahead again and they were hit by relentless, pounding wave after wave, which spread out in vast tentacles, reaching further and further in all directions, so that nobody was able to escape.

The killer wave had taken its fateful hold on time and place. It had ruptured the present, warped the future, replaced order with confusion, confidence with trepidation and control with powerlessness. Lives were ended for some, changed forever for others and a most significant chain of events was about to unfold with catastrophic results.

Abo
ut the Author

Joanne Clancy is a writer from County Cork, Ireland. She is an avid reader, a self-confessed Kindle addict, and a tea fiend!

Joanne is the author of
The Unfaithful Series, The Wedding Day, Unforgettable Embrace, My Love, and The Secrets & Lies Trilogy; Secrets and Lies, Aftermath, and Redemption.

Web of Deceit is her latest release. Joanne
is currently working on her tenth book which will be available in February 2013.

You can purchase
Joanne Clancy's paperbacks and ebooks at Amazon.

Click here to purchase Joanne Clancy’s books

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/joanneclancy

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5105133.Joanne_Clancy

Website: http://www.joanneclancy.com

Discover books by Joanne Clancy:

Unforgettable Embrace

The Wedding Day

My Love

The Secrets & Lies Trilogy
:

Secrets & Lies, Book 1

Aftermath, Book 2

Redemption, Book 3

The Unfaithful Series
:

Unfaithfully Yours, Book 1

Revenge, Book 2

Web of Deceit, Book 3

Click here to purchase Joanne Clancy’s books

Unfaithfully Yours

The first book in The Unfaithful Series

by Joanne Clancy

Top 30 most downloaded book in Contemporary Romance during January 2012.

Reviews:

If you like your novels steamy, this is a great little find. Definitely a lot of bedroom action, considering that the main male character has four women on the go at once! Obviously there's a lot of cheating going on and that means that most of the characters you'll find yourself hating at some point. That's pretty obvious! But the story really got me emotionally involved. I'd find myself saying to my husband, "You'll never guess what this total scumbag's up to now!" while he was trying to read his own book, like it was someone we both knew!
~ Lacey Dearie, Amazon

I loved this book, I can't say it enough! The whole book is well written and has you entwined from the beginning. The lives of all these women are so different, but one man brings them together. Then they get sweet revenge, and Mark never saw it coming! While Rebecca, Shona, and Penelope form a bond through the rough times. The one question I'm left with is does Colm ever find out about t
he affair? Another book maybe??

The perfect ratio of love, sex and storyline, I highly recommend this book.
~ Katy, Amazon

Synopsis

Four scorned women, one adulterous man and the price he has to pay for their revenge. Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned/ Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned." By William Congreve in The Mourning Bride of 1697.

Shona Morgan is in love with a married man. She finally realises that her married lover, Mark McNamara, is never going to leave his wife for her. Heartbroken, she resolves to break up with him and try to move on with her life.

Jackie Fitzpatrick seems to have it all; a loving husband and two beautiful children. However, she can’t escape the sneaking feeling that there’s more to life and embarks on an illicit affair, but at what cost?

Penelope Garrett has had enough of being treated badly by the men in her life and is determined to seek revenge when her latest boyfriend lets her down.

Rebecca McNamara thinks she has the perfect marriage but when she discovers her husband’s dark secrets her idyllic life comes crashing down around her.

Four scorned women, one adulterous man and the price he has to pay for their revenge. Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned/ Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned." By William Congreve in The Mourning Bride of 1697.

Revenge

The second book in The Unfaithful Series

By Joanne Clancy

Synopsis:

Revenge is a story of treachery and betrayal...

Mark McNamara is a lying, cheating adulterer who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, but is he being framed
for a crime he did not commit?

Somebody has plotted to kill the women with whom he was intimately involved and al
l the evidence points to Mark.

Nothing will stop the pursuit of just
ice and nobody is off limits but who is the true mastermind behind the extraordinary cover up?

Reviews for Revenge
:

Oh wow. This book had me on the edge of my seat. We pick up a little while after the first book, Unfaithfully Yours, with all of the women working together in the business and Mark is still there as the photographer whether any of them particularly like it or not. His wife had their baby boy and was recovering from depression. Someone put a hit out on the women right from the first chapter... Was it Mark who wants revenge for what was done to him and all that he has lost? Or is someone framing him for the attempted murders? This story starts with a bang and never slows down even near the end. As the reader you are left wondering if this was all really how things went down or if it is a grave misunderstanding and they need to find the culprit. We will have to wait until the th
ird book to find out it seems.

The book was very good! Interesting and intriguing the whole way through! Can't wait for the next book in the set! Or her next book in general!! The author offered me a kindle copy of the book in exchange for an honest review and honestly I loved this one and am ready for the next one!
~Megan, Amazon

The characters were well developed and none of them will ever be the same after. They were scarred for life.

This was a fast paced novel and one that you can't put down. I can't wait to read the next book in the series, "Web of Deceit" (third book in the series), to be out in early 2013.