On Sale Jan 2012!
Sister to seven brothers, Annabelle should be used to men, but her trust was shattered the night her father almost killed her. Now Annabelle is a poised, polished ice-queen, whom no man has ever touched…
Stefano Cortez can tame a wild horse quicker than any man alive and this passion heats the blood in his veins. Annabelle might appear untouchable, but he sees beneath the frost, sees the real her; a woman desperate to be brought alive again.
ANNABELLE WOLFE
Character Profile
Her Past…
Following the confrontation with her father, Annabelle closed herself off from the world. With her face and body scarred, she was shattered. No longer caring about her planned modeling career, she longed to be able to look in the mirror without feelings of disgust, shame and fear surfacing. From that moment on she refused to go back to school and played truant – she just couldn’t face anyone. It wasn’t until she was asked to testify at Jacob’s trial that she broke her silence and spoke for the first time about that night, knowing the necessity of her testimony – she owed her brother for saving her life.
But the glare of the paparazzi that day forced Annabelle back into hiding. From then on Jacob allowed her to stay at Wolfe Manor, being home-schooled. But when she finally wanted to talk about her feelings to Jacob that was the day he snapped and decided to leave. A distraught Annabelle blamed herself for driving him away. She kept all this buried deep inside her, and has never been keen to offload her emotional turmoil again.
The injuries on her body healed and faded, but she was left with one stark reminder of that night: a scar across her face. Painstakingly she learnt to apply make-up skilfully and hide the scar, and started to create a mask to hide behind.
As each of her brothers left Wolfe Manor in pursuit of a better life, Annabelle stayed, retreating further and further into herself. She formed a bond with Rafael’s mother Maria, who eventually encouraged Annabelle to leave the oppressive Manor, attend a local college, and then go to art college in London. It was there that she learnt to use the pain of her past as an incentive to better herself and trained as a photographer.
Her Present…
Annabelle has built up a reputation as the best freelance photographer in England. Her vision is exemplary, and magazines and newspapers vie for her to work for them. Taking icily beautiful photographs, and possessing an ability to find the beautiful in the ugliest of situations, Annabelle is well respected and admired for her work – even if her cool persona makes people a little wary. Her cold gaze can cut a man down from a fair distance away if she so chooses! But Annabelle is a virgin – she’s never even been kissed!
Her Future…
A new assignment sees her sent to a ranch in the hot, wild landscape of northern Spain. The magazine she is freelancing for wants her to follow the notoriously abrupt and fierce Stefano Cortez – to capture his phenomenal ability in taming wild horses, to understand what he is bringing to the poorer communities where he grew up, and to photograph the amazing yet incongruous charity bash that he puts on every year. He’s an enigma, and she’s the perfect person to get under his skin…the ice to his fire.