Deadly Payoff

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

*Serenity, Arkansas

Suddenly, beams of blinding brightness arched across his path. He hit the brakes. The beams swung to one side and the red compact car careened off the road and plowed into some bushes.

Shaun climbed out and jogged to where the car had come to rest.

“I’m really sorry,” he called. “Are you okay?”

“Door’s stuck.” The driver’s voice was muted by the closed vehicle. Shaun gave the handle a jerk and it opened. The driver swiveled in the seat and looked up at him. He gaped. There, in all her glory, was Delia Blanchard, the woman who had heartlessly abandoned him on their wedding night twelve years ago without so much as a word-or even a goodbye note.

THE SECRETS OF STONELEY: Six sisters face murder, mayhem and mystery while unraveling the past.

FATAL IMAGE-Lenora Worth (LIS#38)

LITTLE GIRL LOST-Shirlee McCoy (LIS#40)

BELOVED ENEMY-Terri Reed (LIS#44)

THE SOUND OF SECRETS-Irene Brand (LIS#48)

DEADLY PAYOFF-Valerie Hansen (LIS#52)

WHERE TRUTH LIES-Lynn Bulock (LIS#56)

was thirty when she awoke to the presence of the Lord in her life and turned to Jesus. In the years that followed she worked with young children, both in church and secular environments, as well as raised a family of her own and played foster mother to a wide assortment of furred and feathered critters.

Married to her high school sweetheart since age seventeen, she now lives in an old farmhouse she and her husband renovated with their own hands. She loves to hike the wooded hills behind the house and reflect on the marvelous turn her life has taken. Not only is she privileged to reside among the loving, accepting folks in the breathtakingly beautiful Ozark mountains of Arkansas, she also gets to share her personal faith by telling the stories of her heart for the Love Inspired line.

Life doesn’t get much better than that!

Special thanks and acknowledgment

to Valerie Hansen for her contribution to THE SECRETS OF STONELEY miniseries

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.

—Psalms 49:6–7

This is a series about six sisters. I only had one.

That was plenty! I kept telling Mom and Dad I wanted a brother, but would they listen to me? No!

So this book is for Audrey. Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!

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

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Leaving her life in Hawaii and flying to Eastern Maine so often, even for the sake of her family, was beginning to wear on Delia Blanchard. All she really wanted to do was stand on the warm sands of Oahu, breathe deeply of the sweet tropical air and feel its balmy breezes on her face. Instead, here she was, back on the Atlantic coast again and stuck within the cold, stone walls of the Blanchard mansion. It was enough to make any wahine shiver, even a transplanted one like her.

She fluffed her short, dark hair, forced a smile and aimed it especially at her youngest sister, Juliet. “You okay, honey?”

Juliet nodded. “Fine. I’m glad you came.”

“How could I refuse when my family needed me?”

“We do. I wish you could stay longer this time.”

“I should have come when you were in the hospital,” Delia said, giving her a warm, sisterly hug, “but by the time I got word and was able to book a flight back to the mainland, you were out of danger.”

“I understand.” Juliet smiled. “Besides, I’d rather see you when I’m not flat on my back in some depressing hospital.”

Delia wasn’t about to pursue this line of conversation. The sisters had enough problems without rehashing Juliet’s deliberate poisoning, not to mention Portia’s foiled kidnapping and Rissa’s brush with death on the cliffs a few weeks ago.

Her brown eyes narrowed as she took in the darkly paneled walls and the sweeping walnut staircase with its heavy, ornate balustrades. “Speaking of depressing…This place gives me the worst shivers every time I come back. I know you’ll be glad to marry Brandon and move out of here.”

“It’s not so bad. I suppose you would notice the contrast more than the rest of us,” the blond young woman said. “There’s a big difference between the Maine coast and the shores of Oahu.”

“That’s an understatement.”

The heavy front door swung open to admit a gust of icy wind and three more of Delia’s sisters. Twins Portia and Rissa led and Bianca followed. “Sorry we’re late. Father insisted on taking the scenic route in spite of the bad weather.”