The Unfaithful Woman
Romantic Suspense
Anastasia Wilder is at a crossroads, feeling unfulfilled in her twenty-four-year marriage to her husband, Colin. When her childhood friend and first love, Tristan Ferguson, returns home for his aunt's funeral, the temptation to rekindle their passionate relationship is undeniable. Tristan is the man who promised her marriage, only to leave and never return. Now, a renowned artist, his sudden reappearance forces Anastasia to confront the choices she's made and the lingering feelings she has for the man who broke her heart.
Their reunion reignites a fiery passion, leading them down a path of rediscovery, not just of their love, but of the secrets and lies that have shaped their lives. As they navigate their rekindled connection, they uncover betrayals from those they trusted most, revealing that their separation was not a simple matter of choices made in youth. The carefully constructed realities of their lives begin to crumble, exposing a web of deceit that has kept them apart for decades.
Faced with a past that is far more complicated than they ever imagined, Anastasia and Tristan must confront the truths that have been buried for years. The revelation of these secrets forces them to question everything they thought they knew about their families and each other. As they untangle the lies, they are left to decide if their love is strong enough to overcome the betrayals of the past and if they can build a future together out of the wreckage of their carefully crafted lives.
Read an Excerpt
FROM BEHIND THE damask curtains of her living room, Anastasia watched the fire-red Ferrari race up the curved driveway. The unique famed roar of its engine pulsed, then went silent when it came to an abrupt stop next to the flowing fountain. A smile played across Anastasia’s face. Only one person could be behind the wheel of the high-powered sports car.
How Tristan had come to be there when Anastasia hadn’t worked up the nerve to call him to tell him about Minnie’s funeral was anyone’s guess. The last time they’d spoken, Tristan told her they should go their separate ways and disappeared from her life. In the past three decades, except for their two-week encounter and the dutiful attendance to her parents’ funerals, Tristan slipped out of Anastasia’s life as quickly as he came into it.
Anastasia felt a pressure in her chest, heavy and tight when the tangles of emotions long buried rushed at her. Tristan always managed to stir her insides without much effort.
The cold, steely glint in Anastasia’s hazel eyes softened the moment she saw Tristan squeeze his six-foot frame out of the tight-fitting Ferrari. It felt like an eternity since she’d last seen him, yet the moment she did, the memories unspooled in her mind as if they’d happened yesterday.
Tristan Ferguson was her first love, the boy she’d shared her first kiss with. Tristan was the idealistic teenager who’d asked for her hand in marriage then disappeared from her life. Now here he was, after all these years looking tall, tanned, and as gorgeous as she remembered. D&G sunglasses perched on his nose the wind blowing through the long, honey-brown hair, Tristan looked like the subject in one of his famous paintings.
Anastasia watched Tristan slide the dark sunglasses off and flick blue eyes over the green rolling hills that stretched for acres to woods celebrating summer. The gardens that wound around the house were a rainbow of colors from lilac, roses, bleeding hearts, and rhododendrons in full bloom...