Secrets

“Do you ever wonder … was it really as good as we remember?”

Her words rocked through him.

Her gaze fell to his mouth. “It was just the adrenaline, right? The danger? The whole life-or-death situation that we were in. I mean … there’s no way that we’d kiss again and—”

“Ignite?”

Her lips parted.

He wanted her mouth. He also wanted to show her that he could be more than the rough SEAL she’d known before.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Ignite.”

Hunger, desire pulsed through him. “You should walk away now.”

He’d said words like that to her, before. Another time, another place.

She’d been hugging him, her body trembling. Desire had twisted inside him. He’d tried to do the right thing. Tried to warn her away.

You should walk away.

But she hadn’t walked away then. She’d stood on her tiptoes and put her mouth against his.

And now … now she was walking toward him, stopping only when their bodies brushed.

“One kiss … just to find out?”

Secrets

Cynthia Eden

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CYNTHIA EDEN, a New York Times bestselling author, writes tales of romantic suspense and paranormal romance. Her books have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, and she has received a RITA^>® Award nomination for best romantic suspense novel. Cynthia lives in the Deep South, loves horror movies and has an addiction to chocolate. More information about Cynthia may be found at www.cynthiaeden.com, or you can follow her on Twitter, @cynthiaeden.

I’d like to offer a huge thanks to Denise and Shannon—it is a pleasure working with you!

For my readers, thank you so much for your support. You’ve been absolutely incredible! And I hope you enjoy my latest Intrigue.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

He’d rescued her from hell.

Jennifer Wesley turned slightly, and her gaze fell on the man in bed beside her. Sleep made him look innocent, safe, but she knew that image was a lie.

There was nothing safe about Brodie McGuire. The man was a SEAL. Dangerous. Deadly. A force to be reckoned with.

She’d thought for certain that a rescue wasn’t going to happen for her. Her captors had sure been confident that she would never escape from them. Then Brodie had appeared.

Her fingers brushed over his hard jaw, tracing the dark stubble there. His eyes opened at her touch, his green stare 100 percent awake and aware.

He was naked. So was she. After the rescue, once they’d ditched her captors and made it to relative safety, the adrenaline and fear that she’d felt for so long had morphed into something else entirely. The power of her desire had taken Jennifer by surprise.

He hadn’t seduced her. Hadn’t taken advantage—she’d been the one so intent on kissing him. On finding some pleasure to push away the nightmares and the terror.

His gaze slowly slid over her face. She had the odd feeling that he was almost...almost trying to memorize her features.

Only fair, really. She didn’t want to forget anything about him.

“Thank you,” Jennifer whispered.

His dark brows rose.

“For saving me.” Not the lovemaking part. She felt her cheeks stain. “I thought I was going to die out there.” Her wrists were still red and raw from the rope burns. She tried to smile. “I sure am glad you were the navy SEAL assigned to my case.” She was more grateful than words would ever be able to express.

I would have died without him.

“Your father wasn’t going to let you vanish,” Brodie assured her. She caught the faintest hint of a Texas drawl in his voice. There one moment, gone the next. “He used all his pull to bring in my team.”

“My...father?” She kept the emotion from her voice—she’d learned that trick long ago. For her, life was all about acting now. Hiding emotion was necessary for survival.

“Yeah, the oil magnate. He’s the reason you were pulled into this mess.” Anger roughened his voice for a moment. “Your captors thought they could ransom you for a fortune.”

No, they hadn’t. They’d just planned to kill her. But there was some information she couldn’t tell her rescuer. He didn’t have enough clearance to know everything.

Jennifer leaned forward. Her lips brushed across his. “Thank you,” she said again.

His arms curled around her as he pulled her up against his body. Powerful, hard, hot—those words perfectly described Brodie. She wanted to just stay there with him. To forget the rest of the world for a while.

But forgetting wasn’t an option for her. Especially not when she could hear the pounding of footsteps right outside their safe house.

Gasping, she tried to pull back from him.

“Easy.” He let her go and rose to his feet. Brodie jerked on a pair of cargo pants and peered through the thin crack between the window and the long, dark curtain. “It’s my men.”

His men. Okay, right, but his men could