Blog Tour: Fool's Game!

Title: Fool’s Game
Author: Heather Huffman

BLURB:

At the request of the U.S. Government, Caitlyn O’Rourke faked her death years ago, only to be reborn as the Cat—a deadly black-ops agent tasked with working for the shadowy organization Chameleon and doing the jobs that can’t be done in the light of day. Now, on the verge of taking down a notorious drug lord and rescuing a captured Chameleon agent, Cat is targeted for assassination…from within. But who’s making the call, and why?

As she attempts to uncover answers and stay alive, Cat finds herself working alongside Cody Kingsley, the mysterious senator who broke her heart and betrayed her long ago. Along with an inner circle of fellow agents, Cat and Cody must untangle the web of lies that surrounds them before it’s too late.

From the sultry streets of New Orleans to a secluded plantation in Ecuador to Washington, DC, Cat must elude an agent hell-bent on her destruction while figuring out how high up the ladder the conspiracy reaches. At the same time, she must work through her tumultuous and conflicting emotions where both Cody and fellow agent Galloway—who may or may not have her best interests at heart—are concerned.

A thrill ride of emotions, suspense, and action, Fool’s Game intertwines matters of the heart and survival …and the only thing certain is that Cat will never be the same.

If you liked the sounds of Fool's Game (or like me, fell in love with that beautiful cover) read ahead for a great excerpt from the book, as well as a guest post from Heather!
Excerpt:

Their bodies melded perfectly and they stepped as one into a waltz. Cat tilted her head to look up into Cody’s eyes, completely enraptured as he twirled her around the immense floor. There was something terribly romantic and sexy about being all dressed up and dancing like you knew how.

From across the room, the president tried to concentrate on his conversation, but his mind and his eyes kept drifting toward Cody and the woman in his arms. There was something eerily familiar about her. He’d nearly passed out from shock when Cody had entered the room, bold as can be, an hour earlier. He honestly hadn’t thought Kingsley would show up. It was gutsy, the president had to grudgingly admit. But what worried him more was Cody’s date. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he somehow knew her.

As they sat down to dinner, his eyes were glued to the strange woman. He knew she wasn’t someone he should know. Her coffee brown hair was swept up elegantly, though a few tendrils escaped to trail down her back and over her shoulders. Her brown eyes were lively as they stayed locked on Cody’s face. This woman was deeply in love; that much was certain. Every woman was deeply in love with Cody, the president reminded himself. But it was more than infatuation that he read on her face as the woman hung on Cody’s every word. She wore the look of a woman who would lay down her life for a man—that man.

In his mind’s eye he could see a cougar moving stealthily across the room. He shook his head and looked down at his drink, contemplating switching to water. He looked up again. The woman’s eyes met his and he again saw a cougar watching him, panting in anticipation of the kill.

Guest Post!

Ten things you’d probably never guess about me

This seems to be the blog tour for revealing secrets. If you’re following the tour, you’ve already learned (or maybe that’s still to come) that I once hung myself from a horse’s saddle horn by my bra; the bones in my hands aren’t made correctly; I permanently tore up my ankle at the age of 15 while doing step aerobics in gym class; my husband and I were briefly divorced; and I have a scar at the base of my throat that looks like a small bruise because of a footed pajama incident.

I think those should all get to count towards the 10 things about me I’ve been asked to share. It took all morning for me to come up with five more, but here they are:

1) I have the coolest dad on the planet. For the first six years of my life, we never really knew where Dad was because he was special ops, and we weren’t allowed to know his missions. When he was around, some of my earliest memories were of sitting on his desk at the Air Force base, pestering him to let me wear his hat. After retiring from the military, he became an engineer in the defense industry. Now he works for a company installing robots that strip the paint off airplanes. It may not sound fascinating, but he helped design the technology and instead of leaving barrels of toxic waste (the way it used to be done), it leaves a small amount of ash (about a teacup’s worth). I remember helping him type the proposals when I was a teenager. To me, it’s kind of cool knowing that system is now used for the President’s helicopter and on military bases around the world.

2) I have the most resilient mother on the planet. My mom is 5-foot-tall if she stands on her tiptoes; we all outgrew her pretty early on. What she lacks in stature, she makes up for in strength of will. A military wife, she raised us girls pretty much on her own. As a nurse, she bettered the lives of countless people. She survived an experimental heart surgery for a rare condition, and then went on to work for the research study that saved her life so she could help save others. When I was eight, she fell through the beams of our attic, bounced off the car and landed on the garage floor. My sisters found her in a pool of blood and called 911. They sent a friend of the family to meet me at the bus so I wouldn’t be frightened by the ambulance in the driveway. She met me with the announcement, “Your mother’s dead.” Not exactly mission accomplished. Thankfully, she was wrong. My mother wasn’t dead, and she went on to defy all medical odds to make a full recovery.  It was a tough few years for our family after that, but we banded together and pulled through. I’m so thankful for my mama and the lessons she taught me over the years!

3) At the age of 14, I was wilder than a fox hair. When I was 12, my father had a nice head full of black hair. When I was 15, it was snow-white. My family says the transition was my handiwork. (I respectfully disagree – my middle sister contributed her fair share on that one.) The summer I turned 14 was an especially brutal one for my family, and that horrible summer ended with the passing of my grandfather. There are no words to express how much Grandpa meant to me or how deeply it rocked my world when he was gone. Having spent several months watching cancer eat him away, I knew he was in a better place, but his loss left a void nonetheless. I was so stinking mad at the world that I went a little wild. My rebellion was short-lived; by the age of 15 I had a job in an ice cream store and was too busy with work and school to get into much trouble. Still, there are times I look back at that year and think my guardian angels were probably on overtime keeping me alive.

4) I had a near-death experience at the age of 18 when my roommate and I decided we wanted to

take a road trip to San Diego to see her brother in the Navy. We were in the Chevy S-10 I’d inherited from my grandpa; it had a long bed and a big engine, so it was a bit tricky in the snow. We made it as far as Gallup, New Mexico when a blizzard hit. I had no sooner asked her to pull over so I could drive when the truck lost control and we hit the side of a mountain. My seatbelt didn’t catch, so I hit the windshield – leaving a bubble where I’d struck. It was by the grace of God I wasn’t thrown out of the vehicle. I could feel myself trying to pass out and knew I had to stay awake if I was going to live. I remember serenely telling my screaming roommate to calm down so we could go get help. She says I smacked her. Either way, we got out of the truck and I tromped around in the snow, trying to wake myself up. By then, I was covered in blood and getting scared. Two Native Americans appeared from nowhere and offered us a ride into town in their pickup. I’m not entirely convinced they weren’t angels. Whoever they were, they saved our lives that day. By the time the tow truck went to retrieve what was left of my truck (less than two hours later), it was completely buried by snow.

5) I’m terrified of pickles. Actually, emus, but our family calls them pickles. My youngest son started that when he was little bitty “because they pick at you.” I was attacked by one at a drive-through animal safari when the boys were little. It just wanted my food, but it scared the bajeebers out of me. My valiant husband was giggling too hard to help me out, a fact which he’s never lived down.

Meet the Author! 

Heather Huffman calls the beautiful Missouri Ozarks home. When not writing, this homesteading mother is cheering one of her three sons on at a sporting event, making dandelion fritters, or tending the family’s myriad of animals, which includes alpacas, goats, chickens and ducks. Heather’s optimistic and sometimes quirky view of life often finds its way into her novels.
 Heather is the author of Throwaway, Ties that Bind, Jailbird, Suddenly a Spy, Ring of Fire, Tumbleweed, Devil in Disguise and Roses in Ecuador. You can find out more about her family’s adventures as they strive to live off the land on a small farm, as well as her writing and charitable work, on www.heatherhuffman.net. Booktrope:  http://booktrope.com/book/fools-game/

Heather will be awarding an ebook (international) of ROSES IN ECUADOR by Heather Huffman, at each stop, along with a grand prize of an autographed paperback (US only) of RING OF FIRE to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.