Family Secrets

“There are a lot of ways to get to somebody, Sharlee. Once...”Letter to ReaderTitle PageDedicationPROLOGUECHAPTER ONECHAPTER TWOCHAPTER THREECHAPTER FOURCHAPTER FIVECHAPTER SIXCHAPTER SEVENCHAPTER EIGHTCHAPTER NINECHAPTER TENCHAPTER ELEVENCHAPTER TWELVECHAPTER THIRTEENCHAPTER FOURTEENCHAPTER FIFTEENEPILOGUEFAMILY FORTUNECopyright

“There are a lot of ways to get to somebody, Sharlee. Once...”

As Dev moved toward her, she wanted to run, to turn around and bolt into her bedroom and slam the door. But she knew she had to face him down. “I don’t want to hear about ‘once.’ What’s past is past.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

“About...?” Oh, she was handling this just fine!

“Whether any of the old feelings still exist. If It’ll be the same...worse...better.”

He was taking control away from her, and she had to get it back. “Why don’t we find out?”

She put her arms around his neck—careful of the glass she was holding. And with all the insolence she could summon, she pressed her lips to his.

For an instant she was in control. Then he came to life, and she tasted trouble. There was no way on earth she could resist the deluge of memories or the stunning sensations that made her right hand relax....

“What the—?” He jumped away from her as if burned. “Did you do that on purpose?”

It took her a moment to realize the ice and liquid in her glass had soaked him. Did she do it on purpose? No way had she been thinking straight enough to plan such a revenge. Of course, there was no reason he had to know that....

Dear Reader,

Sometimes it seems as if I know the Lyon family of New Orleans better than I know my own. Although the Lyons are fictional, I’ve lived with them so long and so intimately that I find myself thinking of them as if they were real. I’ve even explored the Lyon family tree using genealogy software, while struggling to reconcile dates and events that stretch back to the last century.

I don’t know nearly as much about my own family, but perhaps the Lyons will inspire me to remedy that situation. If I ever find the time, I’d like to join those legions who are making genealogy so popular today.

But if that does happen, I doubt I’ll find the same kind of excitement at home that I found at Lyoncrest. I’m fairly certain none of my family’s secrets can rival those of this fictional clan. Of course, I had a little help from Peg Sutherland and Roz Denny Fox, who have Lyon stories of their own to tell....

Once you’ve read Family Secrets, Family Fortune and Family Reunion, you’ll know all about the Lyons, too. We only hope you like them as much as we do.

Sincerely,

Ruth Jean Dale

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book could only have happened with “a little help from

my friends.” First and foremost, there’s Peg Sutherland and Roz Denny Fox, terrific writers, all-around swell human beings and great fun to work with. And for research assistance, I’m indebted to Robyn Brownley Fennesy and Tricia Kay, who answered my distress call. On behalf of me ’n Neva Dalcour, “Thanks, y’all!”

THE LYON FAMILY

PROLOGUE

New Orleans, Fourth of July 1999

SHARLEE INCHED HER WAY through the crowd toward the door of the rehearsal hall at WDIX-TV, trying to look inconspicuous. If she were to make a clean get-away, the time was now, while the place was still mobbed by friends, family, employees, media and Very Important People celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the station established by her grandparents, Paul and Margaret Lyon. No one paid Sharlee the slightest heed, which was exactly the way she liked it.

She hadn’t wanted to come to this overblown extravaganza in the first place but there’d been no way to avoid it without making relations with her family even more strained. Neatly lifting a glass of champagne off the tray of a passing waiter, she managed a mechanical smile for her father, briefly visible across the room. Fortunately her mother was nowhere in sight.

Why couldn’t her parents understand that she, at almost twenty-five, was an independent woman who could make her way in the world without benefit of the Lyon name? She felt so strongly about this that at her job as a newspaper reporter in suburban Denver, she went by a nickname bestowed on her many years ago by a lost love—Sharlee—and her middle name, Hollander. Charlotte Lyon had been “gone” from the family nest since she left for boarding school almost nine years before.

Yet here she was, pretending for the sake of public relations that she actually belonged to this illustrious clan. Her grandfather, Paul Lyon, was an icon once known throughout the South as the Voice of Dixie; her father, André Lyon, was a devoted family man and pillar of the community who had taken WDIX-TV to new heights. Her grandmother Margaret and mother Gabrielle had both played important roles at WDIX while at the same time raising their children, loving their husbands, nurturing their community and doing it all with perfect public grace.

At least, Mama had done it all until the birth of her only son seven years ago. At that point, Gaby had “retired” to stay home with Andrew Paul, universally called Andy-Paul. Also living at the family manse in the Garden District were Sharlee’s sister Leslie, her husband, Michael McKay, and his daughter, seven-year-old Cory. Leslie’s first pregnancy had been revealed only minutes earlier, to the delight of the family.