âYouâre going to go through with this, arenât you? On your own?â
Ellie shrugged and turned to walk on. âI donât know. Maybe. If I have to.â
McCall caught her arm and held on to it when she would have jerked away. âI canât let you do that.â
She gave a small, incensed gasp. âYou mean you think you can stop me?â
âNo,â McCall said with a weary sigh. âI mean Iâm going with you.â
There were a lot of reactions he could have anticipated from her, and he got none of those. What she did instead was look at him for a long time without saying a word, a long enough time for him to start to have secondâand thirdâthoughts.
Then she put her palms flat against his chest, stood up on her toes and kissed him. And he stopped thinking altogether.
Dear Reader,
Welcome to another month of hotâin every sense of the wordâreading, books just made to match the weather. I hardly even have to mention Suzanne Brockmann and her TALL, DARK & DANGEROUS miniseries, because you all know that this author and these books are utterly irresistible. Taylorâs Temptation features the latest of her to-die-for Navy SEALs, so rush right down to your bookstore and pick up your own copy, because this book is going to be flying off shelves everywhere.
To add to the excitement this month, weâre introducing a new six-book continuity called FIRSTBORN SONS. Award-winning writer Paula Detmer Riggs kicks things off with Born a Hero. Learn how these six heroes share a legacy of protecting the weak and standing up for whatâs rightâand watch as all six find women who belong in their arms and their lives.
Donât miss the rest of our wonderful books, either: The Seduction of Goody Two-Shoes, by award-winning Kathleen Creighton; Out of Nowhere, by one of our launch authors, Beverly Bird; Protector with a Past, by Harper Allen; and Twice Upon a Time, by Jennifer Wagner.
Finally, check out the back pages for information on our âSilhouette Makes You A Starâ contest. Someoneâs going to winâwhy not you?
Enjoy!
Leslie J. Wainger
Executive Senior Editor
has roots deep in the California soil but has relocated to South Carolina. As a child, she enjoyed listening to old timersâ tales, and her fascination with the past only deepened as she grew older. Today, she says she is interested in everythingâart, music, gardening, zoology, anthropology and historyâbut people are at the top of her list. She also has a lifelong passion for writing, and now combines her two loves in romance novels.
âThis oneâs alive,â the customs inspector said, âbut barely.â
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Rose Ellen LanaganâEllie to family, friends and a few select co-workersâtook the limp body in her hands, her heart thumping a slow and steady dirge. One hooded yellow-ringed eye glared listlessly at her as her fingers stroked the satiny blue feathersâ¦such an incredible shade of blue. Hyacinth blue.
âSure got a full crop for being packed so long in that crate,â she remarked in a soft and even tone that would have been a warning to anyone who knew her well. Ellie Lanagan was angry. Angry with a cold intensity that shocked even her. Deep inside where no one could see, she was shaking with it.
Her eyes went to the rows of brightly colored bodies laid out on a sheet that had been spread on the warehouse floor. The customs inspector was already bending over them, his fingers gingerly probing, careful not to disturb the bodies more than necessary lest some vital clue as to their point of origin be lost to the experts waiting to examine them in the departmentâs forensics labs.
âThese, too,â he said on an exhalation. Squatting on his heels, he drew a pair of tweezers from his shirt pocket. A moment later he held up a small plastic bag filled with white powder. Carefully, he opened the bag, dipped the tip of a pinky finger in the powder, tasted, then spat. He shook his head, swearing softly.
âTwo for the price of one,â Ellie muttered, as she felt the body in her hands suddenly go limp. She had to swallow hard before she could choke out the words, âIâd give anything to get these people.â
The third person in the warehouse had been standing well back from the evidence in the spread-legged, crossed-arms stance that screamed âlaw enforcementâ even without the shoulder holster that criss-crossed beneath an immaculate gray suit. Now he moved forward and spoke in a quiet drawl. âAnything?â
âAnything,â Ellie grimlyâperhaps recklesslyâconfirmed.
USFWS Special Agent Kenneth Burnsideâs eyes narrowed and his cheeks broadened with his smile, so that he lookedâdeceptivelyâlike a good-natured baby. âGlad to hear you say that, darlinâ,â the Savannah native drawled. âAnd I believe I know a way you might do that.â
Ellie glared up at him, frustrated and torn; it wasnât the first time Agent Burnside had tried to recruit her, and quite frankly, sheâd sometimes been inclined to distrust his motives. âIâm a biologist, not a cop.â