Buch lesen: «Scarlet Vows»

He wasn’t supposed to be here. Not in the diner. This was her part of town!

“Brie?”

In her fantasies, they met one day in Salem or Boston or some other big city where she was a respected businesswoman. She would, of course, be perfectly dressed and not at all troubled by the sight of the only man she had ever loved. In reality, she couldn’t utter a word.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

His incredulous expression made it a whole lot easier to swallow the emotions churning inside her. She sensed his pity, and that steadied her. Conscious of the roomful of people, she settled for a terse reply.

“I work here. What are you doing? Out slumming?”

Again fluttered unspoken in the heavy air.

His eyes narrowed. She couldn’t help but notice his thick black lashes, tipped with gold—just like their daughter’s.

Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,

We’ve got another explosive lineup of four thrilling titles for you this month. Like you’d expect anything less of Harlequin Intrigue—the line for breathtaking romantic suspense.

Sylvie Kurtz returns to east Texas in Red Thunder Reckoning to conclude her emotional story of the Makepeace brothers in her two-book FLESH AND BLOOD series. Dani Sinclair takes Scarlet Vows in the third title of our modern Gothic continuity, MORIAH’S LANDING. Next month you can catch Joanna Wayne’s exciting series resolution in Behind the Veil.

The agents at Debra Webb’s COLBY AGENCY are taking appointments this month—fortunately for one woman who’s in serious jeopardy. But with a heartthrob Latino bodyguard for protection, it’s uncertain who poses the most danger—the killer or her Personal Protector.

Finally, in a truly innovative story, Rita Herron brings us to NIGHTHAWK ISLAND. When one woman’s hearing is restored by an experimental surgery, she’s awakened to the sound of murder in Silent Surrender. But only one hardened detective believes her. And only he can guard her from certain death.

So don’t forget to pick up all four for a complete reading experience. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Denise O’Sullivan

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin Intrigue

Scarlet Vows
Dani Sinclair

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Special thanks and acknowledgment

are given to Dani Sinclair for her contribution

to the MORIAH’S LANDING series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

An avid reader, Dani Sinclair didn’t discover romance novels until her mother lent her one when she’d come for a visit. Dani’s been hooked on the genre ever since. But she didn’t take up writing seriously until her two sons were grown. Since the premiere of Mystery Baby for Harlequin Intrigue in 1996, Dani’s kept her computer busy. Her third novel, Better Watch Out, was a RITA^® Award finalist in 1998. Dani lives outside Washington, D.C., a place she’s found to be a great source for both intrigue and humor!

You can write to her in care of the Harlequin Reader Service.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Andrew “Drew” Pierce—He had no idea his decision to run for mayor would have so many consequences.

Brianna “Brie” Dudley—Her daughter’s no secret, but the father is.

Nancy Bell—She planned to be more than Drew’s publicist.

Dr. David Bryson—Drew blames the reclusive scientist for the death of his sister.

Claire Cavendish—Has the person who kidnapped and tortured her five years ago returned?

Nicole Dudley—Brianna’s three-year-old daughter truly is a little witch.

Carey Eldrich—Drew’s best friend and fiercest competitor loves women, but did he love one to death?

McFarland Leary—He may be dead, but he’s far from forgotten.

Dr. Leland Manning—The geneticist is called a vampire behind his back.

Ursula Manning—Leland’s much younger wife set everything in motion with her shocking death.

Geoffrey Pierce—Drew’s uncle feels unappreciated by his peers, but he plans to change all that with his secretive research.

Edgar “Razz” Razmuesson—Razz and his friend Dodie are probably behind a lot of the mischief in Moriah’s Landing, but how far is he willing to go for money and a little revenge?

Frederick Thane—Is the current mayor intending to keep his position at any cost?

My thanks to Priscilla Berthiaume for the concept;

to Denise O’Sullivan for allowing me to participate;

to my fellow writers for their efforts to make

it all gel; to Officers Kelly Flannigan, Melissa Parlon

and Gary Sommers, whose information and instruction

were terrific; to Susan King and Mary McGowan for

their support; and a special, GREAT BIG THANKS to

Josh King, whose time and information was invaluable.

Any errors are mine alone.

And as always, for Roger, Chip, Dan and Barb. Love you!

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Prologue

Eerie stillness blanketed the morning air over Moriah’s Landing. The troubled town brooded beneath the sweltering heat, expectantly waiting.

Her customers all served for the moment, Brianna Dudley pushed at the damp tendril of hair clinging to her forehead and wiped her hands on her apron. Even in the air-conditioned diner it was too hot. A sense of something about to happen crawled over her skin.

Brie stepped outside, moving across the newly attached deck at the back of the Beachway Diner.

Waves lapped steadily at the public beach stretched out below. She checked the deserted tables around her automatically before looking toward the undefined horizon. Definitely too hot for this early in the morning. A scan of the horizon failed to reveal any gathering clouds. She’d hoped that might account for the unease whispering over her nerve endings. Storms always made her tense.

A lazy gull swooped over the restless cove in search of food. He swept past the lighthouse before soaring toward the cliffs and the old stone castle that perched there.

Truly eerie and somber, the forbidding stone fortress would have done justice to the cover of a gothic novel. Clinging precariously to the edge of a jagged cliff, the Bluffs even came equipped with a dark, brooding scientist. Rumor had it Dr. David Bryson was a cold-blooded murderer, horribly disfigured in the explosion that had taken his fiancée’s life.

Brie didn’t know David all that well, but his fiancée, Tasha Pierce, had been one of her best friends, and she truly believed he’d loved Tasha. David was seldom seen in town, but it didn’t seem to occur to people that rather than being a recluse, perhaps he worked all day. And if he shunned bright lights, Brie understood. He had been scarred when his boat exploded in a wild ball of flame.

People here, especially the fishermen, tended toward the superstitious. The older ones loved to spin a good yarn and David Bryson was a terrific target, especially now that Moriah’s Landing was bent on capitalizing on the wickedness that haunted their past. Salem held the historical reputation, but the founders of Moriah’s Landing had joined the fanaticism of the time, punishing helpless men and women for the art of witchcraft.

Whatever secrets the castle on the cliffs held or didn’t hold, it overlooked the cove in sinister silence. No one denied that dark forces seemed to emanate from those old stone walls.

Brie turned away from the sight. Shortly, she would be too busy to worry about castles, witches, the weather or anything else. The annual shooting tournament at the firing range was tomorrow. The event would kick off the weeklong Fourth of July festivities. Since the town was celebrating its three-hundred-and-fiftieth year, they were going all out, trying to surpass the spectacular Memorial Day weekend blast. The scheduled activities had raised the town spirits high. Moriah’s Landing and the surrounding areas were filling with visitors and summer vacationers who thought flocking to the Massachusetts coast would provide some relief from the heat wave sweeping the country. Ha! Not even a puff of wind stirred the terrible humidity.

Brie planned to go over to the firing range before work tomorrow. With luck she could catch her mother’s doctor, Sheffield Thornton, while her mother wasn’t around. She wanted a flat answer to the question gnawing a hole in her soul.

Inside, the air conditioner continued its desperate struggle against Mother Nature. Brie inhaled the chilled air gratefully. Yvette Castor raised a summoning hand from her solitary seat in a booth near the window. Her many-ringed fingers waggled, the multitude of bracelets clanging merrily as she motioned for her check.

“Anything else, Yvette? More coffee?”

“No, thanks. I have to get over to my shop. Cassandra has the day off and I’m doing an early-morning reading for one of my regulars.”

The floor-length broom skirt was cinched at her waist by several lengths of silver and gold chains. Like the bangles adorning her arms and neck, they jingled noisily each time she moved. Yvette had become a part of the local color in more ways than one. Today’s bold purple peasant blouse clashed cheerfully with most of the colors in her skirt. Yvette wasn’t a pretty woman, with that square jaw and those sharply defined features, but she was arresting. Her untamable mass of frizzy dark brown curls tumbled wildly down her back, nearly to her waist. Yet there was a down-to-earth quality about Yvette that Brie liked and respected.

Running Madam Fleury’s fortune-telling stand across the street from the diner suited Yvette. At times there was an almost mystical quality about the woman. Brie couldn’t imagine her doing anything else.

“How is your mother today, Brianna?”

The reminder of her mother’s drawn features this morning made Brie grimace. “The heat’s getting to her.”

More than the heat, and both women knew it. There was no way Brie could pretend any longer that the cancerous tumor hadn’t returned. After the last attempt to remove it, Dr. Thornton warned if the tumor began to grow again, it would only be a matter of time.

Brie swallowed hard against the knot at the back of her throat. Her hand quivered as she handed Yvette her check. Their fingers collided. A warm tingle spread like waves of invisible energy right up Brie’s arm from that point of contact. For a timeless second, everything seemed to stop. Yvette seemed to gaze straight inside her soul.

Brie yanked her hand back. Yvette grasped the check before it could flutter to the tabletop. Her gaze never wavered.

“Do not worry,” Yvette said quietly. “Closure is at hand.”

A stab of genuine fear made Brie inhale sharply.

“No! I’m sorry, Brianna. I phrased my words poorly. I didn’t mean your mother.” She offered an apologetic smile. “I should have said ‘Your prince is coming.”’

Brie didn’t know whether to laugh or scold Yvette for the moment of intense fear her words had caused. Relief won. Yet something in that mesmerizing gaze made it hard to doubt her quietly spoken words. Brie forced her fingers to ease their death grip on her pad. She tossed her hair back, giving her head a negative shake.

“Now, what on earth would I want with a prince?” she demanded. “I already have enough people to serve.” Brie indicated the diner at large, beginning to fill with the usual morning crowd. “And I’d better get back to work before I get fired.”

“Brianna.”

A warning prickle scaled its way down her spine. Unable to leave, but not wanting to hear any more talk about princes, or discuss her mother’s illness, Brianna tried to force her legs to take the necessary steps away from the table. She couldn’t.

“Things happen for a reason, you know,” Yvette said softly. “You must learn to trust your heart once more.”

For a moment, his features were right there in her mind, as vivid and alive as the man himself. Brie could almost see the way the sun placed golden highlights in his hair. She could almost smell the scent of the ridiculously expensive aftershave he wore. And without even closing her eyes, she felt the power of his body as he drew her into the embrace she had craved for what seemed like eternity.

“No!”

Brie lowered her voice quickly. No one spared her a glance. She tried for a smile but was only partially successful. “Forget it, Yvette. I made the mistake of trusting my heart once before. It didn’t work out.”

Yvette gazed right through her pretense. “Was it really a mistake?”

Jolted, Brie mustered a glare. Everyone knew Brie’s young daughter, Nicole, was the joy of her life. While definitely an unplanned pregnancy, her daughter’s birth was a gift. Nicole was growing into a miniature version of both Brie and her mother. The three of them could have been clones, down to the unfortunate bright red hair, pale skin and light freckles sprinkled liberally across cheeks and noses.

Everything except their eyes.

While Brie and her mother’s eyes sparkled a clear, bewitching green, Nicole’s were a startlingly vivid, brilliant blue shade. Piercing. Expressive eyes. Old eyes, her mother had once mused. Brie didn’t know about that, but she did know that her daughter’s eyes were a constant, uncomfortable reminder of the incredibly sexy man who had fathered her.

“So maybe it wasn’t a total mistake,” she conceded, not wanting to think about Andrew Pierce. But her foolish, stupid heart gave its usual lurch at the memories she had never learned to suppress. “But falling in love is a mistake I won’t ever make again.”

“Perhaps that was not a mistake, either, just mistimed.”

Brie suppressed a bitter laugh. “Oh it was mistimed, all right. Take it from me, Yvette, I learned one important fact the summer Nicole was conceived. Princes have a disturbing habit of turning into frogs.”

She tore her gaze from the sympathy and understanding in Yvette’s sad expression, acutely grateful for the gruff, burly biker who indicated he and his companion were ready to place their order.

“I’ll be right with you, Rider,” she called out. To Yvette she added lightly, “Thanks just the same, but I’ll pass on any more princes. I don’t have time for fairy tales anymore.”

Or the Pierce family—Andrew Pierce in particular.

“Fairy tales can come true,” Yvette said softly.

“Ha! Mine would need a fairy godmother with the cure for cancer. If you meet any, feel free to send them my way. Have a good day, Yvette.”

Brie moved briskly to where the two scruffy-looking bikers waited with stoic patience.

Andrew Pierce was undoubtedly some woman’s idea of a prince, she thought, but not hers. Not anymore.

WITH HER SCREAM reverberating in his ears, he watched in detachment as her delicate features twisted in comprehension and horror.

“Ursula.”

He said her name sharply, reaching for her. She scuttled away with surprising speed. How unfortunate. She was going to make him do this the hard way. The bloodied gloves made getting a good grip on her all but impossible. Terror gave her a strength she wouldn’t normally have.

He peeled the gloves from his hands. They dropped to the floor with a wet plopping sound.

“Ursula, stop this.”

“My God! My God!”

Fists pressed against parted lips, her eyes wide, dark pools of horror. Her gaze seemed mesmerized by the still figure on the table, bathed in the bright surgical lights. He had peeled back the skull to reveal the all important brain.

“You killed her!”

“Calm down.”

The hand pressing against her mouth trembled violently. “You killed her!”

She backed into a lab table deep in the shadows of the room. Objects clattered in protest. A pair of test tubes fell together with a jarring crash. He took a step closer. Frantically, her hand swept the table in search of a weapon.

She really was quite beautiful, he decided in detachment. Beautiful, sensual—immoral. Yet even in her panic there was a delicate grace about her.

“This is unfortunate. You shouldn’t have come in here,” he told her regretfully.

A test tube hurled toward his face. He turned his head and the empty vial bounced off his shoulder, falling harmlessly to the floor. She twisted, turning to run. His lips curved. Grotesque shadows danced about the lab, thrown by those bright lights over the exam table where the nude body lay still as marble.

“You’re being foolish, my dear. There’s nowhere for you to run, you know.”

Her panicked breathing made harsh, raspy sounds as she scrambled around a bank of storage cases, nearly falling. He’d planned to confront her later, after he’d finished his work. What had made her decide to come in here now? Not that it mattered. The results would have been the same either way.

His footfalls were the only other sound in the room as he stalked her, cutting off each avenue of escape. She was lost. Confused by the darkness. When she fled between a tall storage cabinet and the untidy stack of large pine boxes, he had her. She’d chosen a dead end in the maze of disorganized equipment.

“Stay away from me! Don’t come near me!”

“Poor Ursula.”

“Let me go!”

“You know I can’t do that. Not now. It’s too bad, really. I’d hoped this would work out much differently.”

She screamed, the shrill sound hurting his ears. Even in the darkness he could see that her eyes were so wide with fear they dominated her small face. His pity was cold comfort for both of them.

“Poor, traitorous Ursula. You really shouldn’t have come in here,” he said sadly, pinning her flailing arms in a grip she had no chance of breaking. “You’ve left me no choice. None at all.”

Chapter One

Andrew “Drew” Pierce gazed around at the large crowd gathered outside the firing range in frustration. “Where’s Carey?”

“He had to see a man about a horse,” Zach announced.

At the same time, Nancy Bell replied, “He went to use the men’s room.”

Drew gave the attractive brunette an apologetic look before scolding his much younger brother with a frown of reprimand. Zach shrugged, but his grin was unrepentant.

“That was his expression, not mine,” Zach said. “How much do you two have riding on this bet? They’re always competing with each other,” he said in an aside to Nancy. “I think you scared the—”

“There is no bet,” Drew said sharply. “And watch your language, Zach.”

“It’s all right, Andrew,” Nancy told him, her soft, graceful hand a stark contrast against his tanned arm. “I could probably even teach Zach a few phrases.”

Drew rolled his eyes. “Please don’t.”

“Think so?” Zach inquired with a broad smile that revealed two hidden dimples.

“You’d be amazed at what I deal with in my line of work.”

“Maybe so, but you don’t have to deal with it from Zach,” Drew warned.

Zach held up his palms. “Sorry, big brother, for a moment there I forgot about your image.”

Drew’s frown deepened. There was an edge to his brother’s tone and a strange undercurrent of emotion beneath the impish expression. Drew turned away thoughtfully. He sensed, rather than saw, Zach lean toward Nancy. Sotto voce, Zach asked, “Like what, for example?”

Drew never heard her response. The tournament had brought out a large crowd as always, and there was a festive air despite the heat. People milled in scattered clumps, chatting and laughing loudly as they waited for their turn to compete. The scent of grilled hot dogs and fresh popcorn mingled bizarrely with the scent of cordite in the heavy air.

A disturbing sensation pulled Drew’s attention to the thick clump of trees that began halfway up the slope on one side of the pistol range. He stared at the dark line of woods, puzzled. Something had changed a short way into the tree line, but he wasn’t sure what that something was.

Deer?

The woods were filled with the animals, but no deer would be within twenty miles of the noise coming from the firing range. Nancy and Zach added laughter to the din. Drew tuned them out. His attention centered on the shadows up the slope. Without knowing why, he concentrated on a dark patch near a wide maple tree. Beads of sweat collected at his hairline and trickled warmly down his back beneath his light summer shirt.

Nothing moved in the patch of trees, yet Drew sensed a presence there. Someone was watching him.

His fingers tightened on the gun case. He had a strange impulse to pull his weapon and aim it toward that spot on the hill.

As if sensing that thought, the darkness stirred.

The motion was slight, hardly a movement at all, but Drew waited, rigid with expectation. A face suddenly appeared, for all the world looking like a disembodied head floating in midair.

Eyes clashed and held.

Drew swore viciously under his breath. The features were unmistakable.

Zach broke off midsentence, coming alert. “What’s the matter?”

“Andrew?” Nancy asked in concern.

“Bryson,” he growled.

The face melted back into the shadows as if it had never been there at all.

“David Bryson?” Zach demanded. “Where?”

“Who’s David Bryson?” Nancy questioned.

“In the trees up the hill,” Drew told his brother with a small nod.

“I don’t see anything.”

Nancy squeezed his arm in a bid for attention. “Andrew? Who is David Bryson?”

In that brief moment of eye contact with the man, rage had surged inside Drew, welling from the recesses where he kept it mostly caged. Now he worked to contain a whole host of emotions, feeling his jaw clench. His knuckles whitened on the case in his hand. He looked at Nancy without really seeing her.

“David Bryson is the bastard who killed our sister.”

“What?”

“I still don’t see anyone,” Zach said, watching the trees with the same tense wariness Drew had felt only moments earlier.

“He’s gone now,” Drew told him with certainty. “Back to the shadows where he belongs.”

“I thought your sister’s death was an accident,” Nancy said sharply.

“That’s how they classified it,” Zach agreed, equally grim.

Drew didn’t believe those findings. He never had. Their beautiful sister, Tasha, would have been alive today if it hadn’t been for David Bryson. One day, Drew would prove he’d been responsible for what happened. In the meantime, he’d concentrate on winning the mayoral election. Then he’d be in a position to make Dr. David Bryson wish he’d died in that boat explosion as well.

“Oh, hell,” Zach said, abruptly. “Just what we need. More trouble. Ten o’clock high.”

Frederick Thane was working the crowd, moving in their direction. The current mayor stopped abruptly, his double chin quivering when he spotted Drew. For an instant, dark squinty eyes flashed with hate. Then the professional smile slid into place. Only his eyes stayed hard and cold. He strutted forward, hand outstretched, his rounded stomach extending over his fancy belt buckle.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t my esteemed opponent.”

There was no way to avoid the pudgy fingers or the wet clasp of his grip. Despite his slight paunch and that double chin, Frederick Thane wasn’t a big man. At least not yet. At fifty-five or thereabouts, he still had deep black hair, probably due to a little chemical assistance, and he was taller than Drew remembered. Lifts, Drew decided. Even so, the other man still had to look up to meet Drew’s eyes, which obviously rankled.

“Mayor,” he greeted.

“Saw your name on the other sign-up sheet.” He shifted his rifle and stared at the handgun case. “We aren’t competing in the same category.” He swiped at the rivulets of sweat running down the sides of his face with a crumpled blue handkerchief.

“Not this time.”

Thane’s lips pursed tightly, as though he was trying to decide if there was another meaning beneath those words. “Hot enough for you?”

“I imagine it will get hotter before there is a winner.”

Thane’s eyes narrowed. “Count on it.”

They were not talking about the weather or the contest. It was no secret that Frederick Thane was furious over Drew’s decision to run against him. Thane had scared off every other opponent who dared consider throwing a hat in the ring for the mayoral election. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have any leverage to use against the Pierce family. Now he stared pointedly at Nancy Bell.

“And this must be the fancy publicist I heard your grandpa hired for you.”

A sneer licked the edges of his words.

“Fancy?” he heard Nancy whisper to his brother. She sounded amused rather than annoyed.

“Nancy Bell, Frederick Thane,” Drew introduced. “And you know my brother, Zach, of course.”

“Of course, of course. Young Zach.”

Zach winced visibly. He didn’t offer to shake hands. Nancy, however, did. “Mayor Thane.”

“Charmed, I’m sure.”

Drew gave her points for neither shuddering at the contact of his damp hand nor wiping her own hand against her tailored light blue pants afterward.

“We fancy types are big on charm,” she offered with a professional smile.

“You’ll need it. You have your work cut out for you, my dear,” Thane said.

“Hey, Drew, they’re calling our party now,” Zach interjected.

“Don’t let me keep you,” Thane said with false joviality. “I hear you’re giving the family speech at the picnic in a few days. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Are you? Then I guess I’ll see you on the dais.”

“Indeed you will. Ms. Bell. Young Zach.” Thane pivoted away.

“If he called me ‘young Zach’ one more time I was going to try a little target shooting right out here,” Zach muttered.

“Wouldn’t be worth the cost of the bullets,” Drew told him.

“So that was Frederick Thane,” Nancy mused.

“In the flesh.”

“Of which he has plenty,” Zach added unkindly.

“Interesting.” Nancy watched the mayor stop to chat with some people nearby. “He did make one valid point, you know. You don’t really need me if he’s your competition.”

Zach barked a laugh.

“Don’t let his bumpkin imitation fool you,” Drew warned. “He’s smart enough in his way. He’s been running this town for a number of years now.”

“And he’ll do just about anything to keep that position and win this campaign,” Zach added.

“I’ve studied his dossier,” Nancy agreed. “But the man has a definite problem with his public image.”

“What public image?” Zach demanded. “The man’s a leech and everyone knows it. He’s been sucking the town dry for years.”

“But he keeps getting elected,” she pointed out.

“Hard to lose when you’re the only candidate,” Zach said. “Everyone else has a habit of dropping out before the election.”

“I believe lack of funds is usually cited,” Nancy agreed. “But that won’t be the case this time, will it, Andrew?”

Drew made a noncommittal sound and moved forward to check them in. No, funding definitely wouldn’t be a problem, but he had no intention of dropping out of this race for any reason.

After helping Nancy select a gun to use, he looked around in irritation. “Where the heck is Carey?”

Carey Eldrich had coerced, begged, pleaded and even insisted they participate in the tournament. Once he explained to Nancy that practically the entire town turned out for the event, and that the tournament had started drawing people from as far away as Salem, she readily agreed Drew’s participation was necessary.

“Sounds like a good place for some unofficial campaigning,” she told him. “Before the Fourth of July kickoff I want you seen all over town participating in local events. I’ll make sure you get plenty of media coverage. That’s my job.”

“And I’ll bet you’re very good at your job,” Carey had said flirtatiously. “Just don’t expect his picture on the front page as the winner of the tournament. I’ve been out-shooting him for years.”

“Really?”

“Only if you count his mouth,” Drew had told her.

So here they were, guns in hand. Everyone except Carey.

“You know Carey,” Zach said. “He’s probably talking to someone.”

“You mean some woman,” Drew said in annoyance.

“Of course. Want me to go and find him?”

“No need, Zach.” Nancy pointed a peach-tipped fingernail. “Here he comes now.”

Carey Eldrich rushed up, his blond good looks strangely flushed. His shirt was sweaty and plastered to his body. A worried expression deepened the furrow between his eyebrows.

“Out jogging?” Drew asked critically.

“Sorry,” he offered sheepishly. “Something I ate this morning didn’t agree with me.”

Annoyance changed to concern. Drew stared at the man who had been his best friend and chief rival since grade school. As owners of the local newspaper, Carey’s family was almost as prominent as the Pierce family. Drew figured he knew Carey about as well as anyone. Carey had been a ladies’ man since conception, so Drew had to concede it was unusual for him to disappear when there was a beauty like Nancy on the scene. Especially when Carey had been competing with Drew for her attention ever since they’d met.

“Do you want to go home?” he asked his friend.

“No, no. I’m fine now. Besides, I promised to teach this lovely lady how to shoot. I want her to see for herself that I wasn’t bragging last night. Out-shooting Drew is really as easy as I claimed,” he told her archly.

But his tone was falsely hearty. Drew frowned. Before he could pull his friend aside to find out what was wrong, his attention centered on a woman with a mass of red-gold hair spilling over delicate shoulders. The woman stood with her back to him, talking intently to a man he didn’t recognize. The graceful curve of her back and the tantalizing flare of slim hips encased in well-worn jeans anchored his attention.

He willed her to turn around. His stomach knotted as he waited for a glimpse of her face. Instead, she laid a hand on the man’s bare arm. He in turn smiled intimately down at her. Drew took an unconscious step toward her.