Danger is never far off...
When forensic psychologist Claire Britten started working with lawyer Nick Markwood on his South Shores project, she had no idea it would endanger her lifeâand the life of her daughter. But when the little girl goes missing from her South Florida home and Nick insists his longtime nemesis is to blame, Claire frantically follows the trail to the Cayman Islands, desperate to save her daughter before itâs too late.
Nick always knew the man who staged his fatherâs âsuicideâ was out to get him, but kidnapping the child of someone he cares about is despicable. Finding the billionaire criminal is one thingâmeeting his demands in order to save Claireâs daughter is quite another. What he wants threatens their professional and personal interests beyond imagination...but what choice do they have when a childâs life is on the line?
Praise for the novels of Karen Harper
âThe thrilling finish takes a twist that most readers wonât see coming. While intrigue is the main driver of the story, the able, well-researched plotting and sympathetic characters will keep romance readers along for the ride.â
âPublishers Weekly on Broken Bonds
âHaunting suspense, tender romance and an evocative look at the complexities of Amish lifeâDark Angel is simply riveting!â
âTess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author
âA compelling story...intricate and fascinating details of Amish life.â
âTami Hoag, New York Times bestselling author, on Dark Road Home
âHarper, a master of suspense, keeps readers guessing about crime and love until the very end...of this thrilling tale.â
âBooklist on Fall from Pride (starred review)
âDanger and romance find their way into Ohio Amish country in a lively and endearing first installment of the Amish Home Valley series.â
âPublishers Weekly on Fall from Pride
âA tale guaranteed to bring shivers to the spine, Down River will delight Harperâs current fans and earn her many more.â
âBooklist (starred review)
âWell-researched and rich in detail... With its tantalizing buildup and well-developed characters, this offering is certain to earn Harper high marks.â
âPublishers Weekly on Dark Angel, winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award
1
2014
âIâll get her back, Claire. I swear to you, Iâll get your daughter back.â
âWeâll get her back together,â she insisted, turning toward Nick as he drove the rental car across I-75 to Miami where they would catch their plane.
Thank God, Claire thought, Florida was narrow west to east, but the drive across the state on what Floridians called Alligator Alley seemed endless. Claireâs four-year-old daughter, Lexi, had been kidnapped, taken to the Caribbean island of Grand Cayman. They had round-trip Cayman Airways tickets, leaving this morning from Miami and getting in to Grand Cayman early afternoon. They also had reservations for a place to stay on the islandâall provided by the kidnapper who wanted much more than Lexi.
Claire clenched her hands so tightly in her lap that her fingers went numb. She frowned at the canal where alligators basked like logs in the early morning sun, and white herons and ibis fluttered in the tops of mangrove trees. Early October was just past the rainy season, and the air seemed crystal clear. But nothing looked beautiful to her anymore.
How could she ever have imagined when she went to work for criminal lawyer Nick Markwood that it would come to this? The two of them had been through hell enough already, but this horror was so much worse.
âLetâs go over some things again,â Nick said.
Ever clever, seemingly calm, even in the chaos of his own life, and now hers and Lexiâs too, Claire thought. But she clung to that. She needed thatâand him.
âYes. Yes, all right,â she agreed. âI know we have to go along with him, play by his rules. But we have to find his weakness, a way to save Lexi and you tooâif he lets any of us go.â
âClayton Ames controls people the way he does his international business empire,â Nick said of the sixty-four-year-old billionaire business mogul.
âExcept for you. He found he couldnât control you, that you would pursue him for your fatherâs murder, even if he had it staged to look like a suicide. Youâd think by now heâd ignore your attempts to prove that, since he always just slips out of reach. Nick, thatâs what terrifies me about him having Lexiâand soon having us. He can make people disappear.â