A Cavanaugh Christmas
She heard Cavelli, or whatever his name was, loudly proclaiming a single word: “Gun!”
Then, just like that, before she could home in on the weapon’s location and which of the thugs was pointing it, Kait was pushed down to the ground. Not just pushed down to the ground, but, at the same time, instantly having her body covered, as well.
Covered by a rock-solid, warm body that all but obliterated everything else that existed around her.
Had the air not already been knocked out of her, the pressure, both physical and otherwise, of the detective’s really firm body against hers would have stolen it away.
Wasn’t this guy made out of flesh and bone like the rest of them? So why didn’t he feel that way?
The thought telegraphed itself through her startled brain as Kait found herself pinned to the cracked asphalt, unable to draw in a decent breath or proclaim her indignation at being shoved down like this.
And then came an almost deafening noise right above her head. Three shots fired in rapid succession, sounding so loud, her ears started ringing.
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to the Cavanaughs! I don’t know about you, but I’ve missed them. This book marks the start of a whole new branch—eight people who, up until a few short months ago, didn’t have a clue they were related to the venerable clan. This was because fifty years ago there was a mix-up in the hospital. The patriarch of this branch grew up believing himself to be Sean Cavelli and ignored the fact that he didn’t resemble either one of his parents or any of his siblings.
This particular book is about Sean’s oldest son, Thomas, a Missing Persons Detective who has to deal with this odd identity crisis and also with being assigned a temporary partner who has come to Aurora searching for a missing little girl. The detective from New Mexico, Kaitlyn Two Feathers, is coping with her own personal demons. As the hunt for the child progresses, these two are surprised to discover that the answers to their own internal questions and dilemmas are found within each other.
As ever, I thank you all for reading my books, and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.
Fondly,
Marie Ferrarella
MARIE FERRARELLA
A Cavanaugh Christmas
Books by Marie Ferrarella
Harlequin Romantic Suspense
Private Justice
#1664
**
The Doctor’s Guardian
#1675
*
A Cavanaugh Christmas
#1683
Silhouette Romantic Suspense
**
A Doctor’s Secret
#1503
**
Secret Agent Affair
#1511
*
Protecting His Witness
#1515
Colton’s Secret Service
#1528
The Heiress’s 2-Week Affair
#1556
*
Cavanaugh Pride
#1571
*
Becoming a Cavanaugh
#1575
The Agent’s Secret Baby
#1580
*
The Cavanaugh Code
#1587
*
In Bed with the Badge
#1596
*
Cavanaugh Judgment
##1612
Colton by Marriage
#1616
*
Cavanaugh Reunion
#1623
**
In His Protective Custody
#1644
Silhouette Special Edition
†
Diamond in the Rough
#1910
†
The Bride with No Name
#1917
†
Mistletoe and Miracles
#1941
†
Plain Jane and the Playboy
#1946
†
Travis’s Appeal
#1958
Loving the Right Brother
#1977
The 39-Year-Old Virgin
#1983
†
A Lawman for Christmas
#2006
††
Prescription for Romance
#2017
‡
Doctoring the Single Dad
#2031
‡
Fixed Up with Mr. Right?
#2041
‡
Finding Happily-Ever-After
#2060
‡
Unwrapping the Playboy
#2084
Harlequin Special Edition
††
Fortune’s Just Desserts
#2107
‡
A Match for the Doctor
#2117
‡
What the Single Dad Wants…
#2122
††
The Baby Wore a Badge
#2131
Harlequin American Romance
Pocketful of Rainbows
#145
‡‡
The Sheriff’s Christmas Surprise
#1329
‡‡
Ramona and the Renegade
#1338
‡‡
The Doctor’s Forever Family
#1346
Montana Sheriff
#1369
Holiday in a Stetson
#1378
“The Sheriff Who Found Christmas”
MARIE FERRARELLA
This
USA TODAY
bestselling and RITA
®
Award-winning author has written more than two hundred books for Harlequin Books and Silhouette Books, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website at www.marieferrarella.com.
To
Patience Bloom,
with undying gratitude
for allowing me
to be me
Contents
Chapter 1
“B
oy, some guys sure get all the luck.”
The comment, half complaint, half good-natured envy, came from thirty-five-year-old Detective Angelo LaGuardia and was directed at the man he’d called a partner for the past two and a half years, ever since the latter had been assigned to the Missing Persons Division of the Aurora Police Department. LaGuardia, married for sixteen years to the woman he’d met his first day in high school, viewed his partner’s life much the way a man on a restricted diet viewed an ice-cream sundae—with strong, unfulfilled longing.
“First you go from being an annoying Italian,” Angelo continued, getting more specific when his partner glanced up from his computer screen, puzzled, “to an annoying crown prince—”
Detective First Class Thomas Cavelli’s sharp blue eyes narrowed. “I’m not a crown prince.” There was a steely emphasis just beneath his ordinarily easygoing, laid-back drawl, as well as a warning look in his eyes. “And, as far as I know, I’ve never been accused of being annoying.”
His sister, Kendra, another recently relocated member of the Aurora Police Department, chose that moment to walk by the detectives’ desks on her way out on a case. Younger than Tom by three years, Kendra chimed in her two cents’ worth even as she kept on walking.
“That is definitely up for a vote, big brother.”
“See?” Angelo declared with a measure of triumph, rocking back in his chair, a wide grin on his equally wide face.
“No one asked you, Kenny,” Tom pointed out, raising his voice so that it followed his sister out. And then he turned back to his partner. LaGuardia was built as short and squat as he himself was tall and lean. “You said ‘first.’”
Tom braced himself for what came next, knowing he’d hear it eventually. Might as well get it over with sooner than later.
LaGuardia’s head bobbed up and down in affirmation. “That I did.”
When no more words followed, Tom prompted him. “Which means there’s a ‘second.’”
LaGuardia laughed shortly as he nodded more to himself than to his partner. “Easy to see why you made detective—even without your blue-blood connections.”
Though he didn’t show it, the flippant term rankled Tom.
Unlike some of his brothers and sisters, when the bombshell hit that the seven of them and their father were actually Cavanaughs rather than Cavellis, the way they had all grown up believing, Tom had more or less taken the news in stride. It was part of his basic philosophy of life: to deal with what was before him and then move on. So far, that philosophy had stood him in good stead.
It would be interesting to see if that would continue.
Tom reasoned that, Italian or Scottish, he was still the same person he’d been, still followed baseball games, particularly those of the Anaheim Angels, was still indifferent to the Lakers and the whole basketball scene in general. He still wrote with his left hand and operated power tools—when he actually had the time—with his right.
And he still intended to work his way up through the department on his own merits and not by riding on the coattails of his siblings or his father. That went double for the coattails of the family he and the others suddenly and completely without warning found themselves a part of.
It was barely two months ago that the news had surfaced, traveling through every nook and cranny in the Aurora Police Department with the speed of a lightning bolt. It was hard to say who in the family had been the most surprised. They all had been shell-shocked by the news for a little while. Some more so than others.
It all boiled down to this: because of a mix-up in the hospital, his father, Sean, a newborn, was accidentally switched with another newborn male of the same size and weight bearing the same first name and a very similar last name.
And that, in a nutshell, was how Sean Cavanaugh became Sean Cavelli and vice versa.
The Sean who had actually
been
a Cavelli, their father was informed, had died before he reached the age of one. He was a victim of SIDS, an innocuous collection of letters that stood for sudden infant death syndrome, the insidious, mysterious disease that claimed so many infant lives and had snuffed out the real Sean Cavelli’s life.