Passion and Peril: Scenes of Passion / Scenes of Peril
SCENES OF PASSIONSafe and steady pretty much sums up Maggie Stanton's life. But a chance encounter stirs long-buried desires and urges her to do the unimaginable – take a risk. Shockingly, the man who convinces her to forsake predictability for passion is the full-grown version of her childhood best friend. Only, this Matthew Stone wants more and Maggie almost believes that their whirlwind romance is meant to be. Then she learns that Matthew is keeping a secret… and the consequences could change everything…SCENES OF PERILThe snowstorm forecast says it’s a big one, but wildlife photographer Paige Dawson is prepared. Until a terrible car accident brings a sexy stranger to her remote mountain cabin and the bad weather strands them together… for days. The heat between them is like nothing she’s ever known—incendiary, undeniable. And just as she begins to hope for something real with Colin Reid, after the snow melts, he remembers what caused his accident… and it may be too late for them both.
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Acclaimed authors Suzanne Brockmann and Jill Sorenson bring you two tales of sizzling attraction…where danger is never far behind
Scenes of Passion
Safe and steady pretty much sums up Maggie Stanton’s life. But a chance encounter stirs long-buried desires and urges her to do the unimaginable—take a risk. Shockingly, the man who convinces her to forsake predictability for passion is the full-grown version of her childhood best friend. Only, this Matthew Stone wants more and Maggie almost believes that their whirlwind romance is meant to be. Then she learns that Matthew is keeping a secret…and the consequences could change everything….
Scenes of Peril
The snowstorm forecast says it’s a big one, but wildlife photographer Paige Dawson is prepared. Until a terrible car accident brings a sexy stranger to her remote mountain cabin and the bad weather strands them together…for days. The heat between them is like nothing she’s ever known—incendiary, undeniable. And just as she begins to hope for something real with Colin Reid, after the snow melts, he remembers what caused his accident…and it may be too late for them both.
Praise for the novels of Suzanne Brockmann
“Zingy dialogue, a great sense of drama,
and a pair of lovers who generate enough steam heat to power a whole city.”
—RT Book Reviews on Hero Under Cover
“Readers will be on the edge of their seats.”
—Library Journal on Breaking Point
“Another excellently paced, action-filled read.
Brockmann delivers yet again!”
—RT Book Reviews on Into the Storm
“Funny, sexy, suspenseful, and superb.”
—Booklist on Hot Target
Praise for the novels of Jill Sorenson
“Sorenson fuels this fast-paced romantic thriller
with nonstop adrenaline….This twisty roller-coaster ride keeps the pages turning.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Aftershock
“This goes down as one of the best I’ve ever read.
Bar none.”
—New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks
on Dangerous to Touch
“One of the best books of the year…
nonstop, heart-pounding excitement.”
—RT Book Reviews on Stranded with Her Ex,
Top Pick! 4.5 stars
Passion and Peril
Scenes of Passion
Suzanne Brockmann
Scenes of Peril
Jill Sorenson
Scenes of Passion
Suzanne Brockmann
For Melanie and Jason.
Contents
Chapter One
TRAFFIC ON ROUTE 95 was in a snarl again.
Maggie Stanton sat in her car, too tired even to flip through radio stations to find a song that annoyed her less than the one that was playing. She was too tired to do much of anything besides breathe.
Or maybe tired wasn’t the right word. Maybe discouraged was more accurate. Or downtrodden.
No, downtrodden implied a certain resistance to being trod upon.
Maggie was just plain pathetic. She was a doormat. A wimp without a life of her own.
She was twenty-nine years old and she was living at home. Yes, she’d moved back in with her parents because of the fire in her apartment.
But that was three years ago.
First her mother had asked her to stay to help with Vanessa’s wedding.
When 9/11 happened, her father had asked her to keep living at home a little longer, and somehow another year had passed.
Then right after Maggie had found a terrific new place in the city, her grandmother had died, and she couldn’t leave while her mother was feeling so blue.
It was now way past time to leave—a quarter past ridiculous—and her mother was making noise about how silly it would be for Maggie to get a place of her own when she was on the verge of getting married.
Uh, Mom? Don’t get the invitations engraved just yet. The bride kind of needs to be in love with the groom before that happens, doesn’t she?
Although, like most of the major decisions in Maggie’s life, it was possible that this one would be made by her parents, too. And she would just stand there, the way she always did, and nod and smile.
God, she was such a loser.
Maggie’s cell phone rang, saving her from the additional tedium of self-loathing. “Hello?”
“Hey, pumpkin.”
Someone kill her now. She was dating a man who called her pumpkin. No, she wasn’t just dating him; she was—as her mother called it—preengaged.
Yes, Brock “Hey, Pumpkin” Donovan had actually asked her to marry him. Maggie had managed to stall for the past few weeks—which turned out to be an enormous mistake. She should have said no immediately, right before she ran screaming from the room. Instead, because she was a wimp and rarely screamed about anything, she’d put it off. Her wimp thinking was that she’d find the right time and place to let him down without hurting his feelings. Instead, he’d gone and told Maggie’s older sister Vanessa, who was married to Brock’s former college roommate, that he’d popped the question. And Van had told their parents, and...
Segue to Mom buying Bride magazine and starting negotiations with the Hammonassett Inn.
