Title: By Break of Day
Author: M.L. Buchman
Series: The Night Stalkers, #7
Pubdate: February 2, 2016
ISBN: 9781492621560
Synopsis
NAME: Kara Moretti
RANK: Captain of the Army’s stealthiest remote piloted aircraft (Don’t call it a drone)
MISSION: To be the eyes of the team
NAME: Justin “The Cowboy” Roberts
RANK: Captain of the Army’s most powerful helicopter
MISSION: To redeem the past, at any cost
They Put Life, Limb, and Heart on the Line
Two new captains join The Night Stalkers with two different strategies in life, love, and combat. When Brooklyn-raised Kara joins the crew, she knows one thing as an absolute truth: to stay safe, keep everything and everyone at a distance. Born in Texas, Justin knows only one honorable way to make up for losing his first crew to a suicide bomber: he flies with all his heart. When Kara and Justin collide on a top secret mission deep in the Israeli desert, then the battle truly begins.
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Exclusive Excerpt
A Note from M.L. Buchman
Captain Justin Roberts of Texas flies a massive Chinook helicopter and every time he gets near drone pilot Captain Kara Moretti of Brooklyn, his brain becomes a fairly useless item. This is the first scene in the book where they are physically together rather than talking by radio. They’ve met before, but this is one of the first times that he’s managed to speak to her rationally…mostly.
***
“Hey, Captain Roberts.”
He must be losing his tracking skills to let Kara come up on him without him noticing. “Howdy yourself, Captain Moretti.” He should have expected it. She was always doing that to him, sliding in under his radar even when he was watching out for her rather than momentarily lost at sea.
And this time it was predictable. All the commanders and lead pilots were headed toward the same room for debriefing. The Navy Lieutenant Commander of the Peleliu had established an office in the base of the communications superstructure that towered a half-dozen stories above the vast deck. Four tiers of flight ready rooms, command-control spaces, and flight control tower topped by great towers adorned like overladen Christmas trees with antennas, radomes, and other sensing equipment.
“‘Howdy’?” She looked up at him sidelong from most of a foot down—though no man would be fool enough to call her petite, unless he was looking for a black eye.
He could never tell when she was teasing or getting all…New York. Well, he had his pride and responded with a “Yep!”
“Do people actually speak like that where you come from?”
“A’ course! In Amarillo we speak like Americans, not Yankees.”
“Gimme a frickin’ break, Cowboy. If all Americans sounded like you, the rest of the world would need translators so that the translators could understand them.”
He reached for the heavy, soundproof door that led into the communications structure, like Pa had raised him, but she beat him to it as if it was some sort of a competition.
The movement placed them so close that his nose was practically buried in the back of her hair. Closest together they’d been in two months aboard.
SOAR’s customers, especially the edgy ones like Delta and SEAL, grew longer hair or beards to blend in with crowds. Only in the 5D did command allow quite so much imitation of their customers. His short hair was the exception rather than the rule.
And Kara Moretti’s was a downright sin in the other direction. Most of the women let their hair grow down to their shoulders, which was nice to look at. He’d always had a weak spot for longer hair.
But because Kara flew in a box and didn’t have to worry about harness restraints and other hair catchers, she’d let her dark brown hair, with just a hint of gold, flow down to the middle of her back. On a military woman it was stunning, evocative, and made him want to dive his hands into it.
She smelled of…not New York. And for certain not hot helmets and battle sweat. Kara Moretti’s hair smelled of—she’d hate the allusion—his favorite mare’s mane after a long run on a cool fall day. All the promises of a filly now full grown and just filled with life.
As he’d noted earlier, the woman was just killing him.
About the Author
M. L. Buchman has over 35 novels and an ever-expanding flock of short stories in print. His military romantic suspense books have been named Barnes & Noble and NPR “Top 5 of the year,” Booklist “Top 10 of the Year,” and RT “Top 10 Romantic Suspense of the Year.” In addition to romantic suspense, he also writes contemporaries, thrillers, and fantasy and science fiction.
In among his career as a corporate project manager he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world.
He is now a full-time writer, living on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife. He is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics.
The cover makes the book like an exciting read so does the
Excerpt. Thanks for the giveaway.
It sounds like a fantastic book. I love the cover. Thanks for having the giveaway.