Dead Aim
She wasn't strictly beautiful, but something about Maggie Mann made a man sit up and take notice. Like her warm green eyes.Her honeyed smile. And the gun she carried with confident ease. Yes, there was something about Maggie, all right. And scientist Rick Dornier wasn't letting her out of his sight until he discovered what made her tick–and what she knew about his missing sister.The fact that she stirred his blood was an inconvenience he would have to conceal. Because as they became reluctant partners in unraveling a web of danger and deceit, love might prove the deadliest distraction of all….
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He couldn’t help himself.
Rick shifted just enough to pull her close for a kiss. If felt good. It felt right and real. Maggie was sweet to taste and warm to touch.
He had just enough sense to let Maggie go before he couldn’t let her go at all. Stiffly, he straightened in his seat. She straightened, too, putting distance between them. She didn’t look angry. Just…dazed.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” he said.
“So have I.”
That caught him by surprise.
“But it’s not going to happen again. Distractions like that can cost a life. We’d best get going,” she said. She looked at him as if daring him to protest. Rick couldn’t help noticing that her fingers were trembling.
“Right.” He shoved the gearshift into Drive.
He was half a mile down the road before he thought to ask where it was they were going.
Dear Reader,
Once again, Silhouette Intimate Moments has a month’s worth of fabulous reading for you. Start by picking up Wanted, the second in Ruth Langan’s suspenseful DEVIL’S COVE miniseries. This small town is full of secrets, and this top-selling author knows how to keep readers turning the pages.
We have more terrific miniseries. Kathleen Creighton continues STARRS OF THE WEST with An Order of Protection, featuring a protective hero every reader will want to have on her side. In Joint Forces, Catherine Mann continues WINGMEN WARRIORS with Tag’s long-awaited story. Seems Tag and his wife are also awaiting something: the unexpected arrival of another child. Carla Cassidy takes us back to CHEROKEE CORNERS in Manhunt. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and only the heroine’s visions can help catch him—but will she be in time to save the hero? Against the Wall is the next SPECIAL OPS title from Lyn Stone, a welcome addition to the line when she’s not also writing for Harlequin Historicals. Finally, you knew her as Anne Avery, also in Harlequin Historicals, but now she’s Anne Woodard, and in Dead Aim she proves she knows just what contemporary readers want.
Enjoy them all—and come back next month, when Silhouette Intimate Moments brings you even more of the best and most exciting romance reading around.
Yours,
Leslie J. Wainger
Executive Editor
ANNE WOODARD
After much wandering, Anne Woodard recently put down roots in Hawaii. With writing, cutting back a garden that won’t stop growing and breaking up doggie squabbles because the Todd Man stole everyone’s bones, she keeps busy. But not so busy that she can’t explore the beauties of her new home state, including the local beaches! Readers can contact Anne at [email protected].
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 1
The sign swinging from the wrought-iron rack over the door said Cuppa Joe’s in bright red letters. The painted placard propped in the window read, Coffee, Pastries, Homemade Sandwiches. Come On In!
The coffee shop was in the heart of the restored downtown of Fenton, Colorado, where a pedestrian mall had replaced the formerly traffic-choked street. The Victorian-style streetlamps were lit, making the fallen leaves glint amber and coppery red as they skittered across the mall in the cold autumn breeze. Light from the shop poured through the windows and into the street in a welcoming wash of gold.
But despite the inviting setting, the muscles in Rick Dornier’s shoulders tensed.
His sister’s college roommate, Grace Navarre, had sent him here. It seemed an unlikely place to find news of his missing sister, but he was running out of options.
Grace had been more interested in the joint she’d rolled than in Tina’s disappearance. The last time she’d seen Tina, Grace had said Tina had been with some “hottie” at the Good Times bar. Grace seemed to think the existence of the hottie explained it all.
It didn’t explain anything.
Serious, shy, hardworking Tina, whose only wild moment in her entire life, so far as he knew, had been moving in with someone like Grace, had been gone almost eight days before her roommate had mentioned the fact to a neighbor. Fortunately, the neighbor had had the good sense to notify the Grayson College police.
The campus cops had called his mother when they failed to turn up any trace of his sister. When even the local police drew a blank, his mother had put aside her own long-held resentments and called him.
Rick hadn’t even stopped to unload his truck after his latest venture into the Montana backcountry. He told his boss he was taking whatever leave he’d accumulated, arranged for a colleague to cover his classes at the university, then driven all night to reach the small town of Fenton in the mountains west of Denver, which was home to Grayson College.
Tina was in her final year at the exclusive, private college. She expected to graduate summa cum laude next spring and had already been offered a full fellowship to pursue graduate studies in art history at Stanford University. From what he knew of her, the last thing she would have done is disappear for a week of wild sex with a stranger.
