A Pacific Breeze Hotel (9 page)

“You mean the money?”

“Yes.” Sabrina turned her body toward him, the seatbelt biting into her neck. “When I told him that I was getting married, he said I wouldn’t get a dime from him. You know my father―he never made a threat he
Excerpt from Secrets and Shadows by Meg Allison
didn’t intend to keep. Now here I am, his sole heir, and I haven’t a clue why. Why did he do that, Jason? Did he ever say anything to you about me or the will or…?” She reached out, laying her hand on Jason’s arm.

His muscle jumped beneath her fingertips as if her touch shocked him.

Sabrina lost all train of thought.

It happened every time she touched him…electric, sizzling heat and awareness. Ten years hadn’t dimmed the flame. Did he feel it as well?

She dropped her hand, clasping it with the other in her lap as she gazed at his profile in the green-tinted light from the dash.

Jason cleared his throat. “I wasn’t privy to his financial decisions and he sure didn’t confide in me where his estate was concerned. After all, I am just the chauffeur.”

Sabrina frowned. “Why are you still working for my dad? And what was that business earlier about a deer scaling a ten-foot wall and that it wasn’t safe for me to drive alone? You want to tell me what’s going on?”

He glanced at her. The tightening of his jaw spoke volumes. Jason was trying to figure out how much to tell her.

“What are you hiding?” she asked. Then, like a light clicking on, it all came together―Vivian’s comments, Jason’s reticence. “It wasn’t an accident.”

She thought Jason’s shoulders tensed beneath the dark fabric of his suit.

“No.” The word was spoken so softly that for a moment Sabrina thought she’d imagined it.

“What happened?”

“He hadn’t been drinking, even though they did find an empty scotch bottle in his car, and I know the difference between brake-lines that have been cut versus the damage that can be done in a wreck. There was also some internal damage in the steering column that seemed very unusual.”

Excerpt from Secrets and Shadows by Meg Allison

“How do you know all that?”

“You remember Bill Wright? He’s been the Chief of Police here for a little over six years. We’ve been friends forever and I talked him into letting me look at the car. What was left of it.”

She stared at him a moment as his last words sunk in. Her stomach rolled at the image that came to mind―twisted, smoldering metal. “What does the chief think about all of this?”

Jason sighed. “He’s investigating, but thinks I’m overreacting.

Besides, he’s got the town council breathing down his neck, stressing how much the upcoming Spring Carnival needs good public relations.

They don’t want it getting out that we might have a murder on our hands.”

“Why is the carnival so much more important than my father’s life?”

“It’s not that…it’s because this is a major source of income for Castle’s Grove,” he told her. Sabrina clutched the door handle as they gunned through a rather sharp curve. “Besides, on the surface it does look like an accident. They’d much rather accept the facts at face value―a rich man drank too much and took his ’Vette for a spin off the mountain.”

She swallowed hard, trying to keep her mind on their conversation and away from thoughts of cars falling off the mountainside.

“My father had a lot of enemies. His personality alone would account for that. But I have a hard time believing some well-heeled antiques collector got mad enough to have him murdered. Are you sure about all this?”

Sabrina watched him, waiting for an answer. Then she realized he hadn’t been listening. Jason’s gaze darted back and forth between the area illuminated by the headlights to the rearview mirror. He frowned, his jaw tense.

Excerpt from Secrets and Shadows by Meg Allison

“Jason?”

“Quiet!” He glanced in the mirror again as they rounded a bend, then turned his head to the side mirror at his left.

“What’s wrong?” Sabrina asked as she looked over her shoulder. They came upon a straight stretch of road. She noticed a car about two hundred yards behind them and closing in fast. Sabrina glanced at the narrow road ahead. There was little leeway for passing. Another idiot tourist trying to get someone killed? Or something worse? Her heart pounded as her mouth went dry.

“Maybe you should pull over and let them by.”

Jason shook his head. “I don’t think passing is what they have in mind.”

All the while he spoke, Jason’s gaze switched between the road and the rearview mirror. Sabrina turned to watch, a cold lump of fear settling in her stomach. The other vehicle was three car lengths away. Jason pressed down on the gas, giving the powerful engine its head as he smoothly maneuvered down the two-lane road, straddling the centerline around the curves.

“Jason…?” His name left her on a whisper of fear, her fingers digging into the seat and door handle.

“Hold on,” he murmured.

She heard a loud popping sound and the Mercedes’ rear window splintered. The other car’s headlights illuminated the glass and Sabrina blinked at it in shock. The design created looked like a bluish, crystalline spider web. “What was―?”

“Get down!” He took a hand off the wheel and pushed her head down into the seat. Sabrina lay there for a moment as icy terror wrapped around her like a serpent. She could feel the pressure of his hip against
Excerpt from Secrets and Shadows by Meg Allison
the top of her head. The rich aroma of leather mingled with the scent of Jason’s spicy cologne.

Someone was shooting at them. It couldn’t be real. That kind of thing happened on TV or the movies, not in the Poconos. People skied the mountain slopes. They honeymooned and bathed in heart-shaped tubs.

They came to drink and listen to comedians. They did not shoot at the residents.

Another shot, and more glass shattered. She felt Jason’s body jerk, heard a series of sharp cracks and then Jason’s deep voice cursing above her.

“Are you hurt?” She tried to raise her head but another shot zinged by, fracturing the windshield. She heard a scream, realizing a moment later that it was she who’d made the sound.

“I’m fine―stay down,” he said in clipped tones. “I’ve got an idea.” Her body slid into him as the Mercedes glided around another curve. The squeal of tires―theirs or the other car’s, she wasn’t sure―made her stomach lurch. “When I count to three, hold on to something and don’t let go. You got that?”

Sabrina nodded, then realizing he couldn’t see her added, “Yes.”

For what seemed an eternity, she listened to the powerful roar of the engine and the squawl of rubber on asphalt. Sabrina felt the road curve under her as the car moved, then they seemed to be on a straightaway.

Her body tensed. Her fingers dug into the creamy leather.

“Here we go,” Jason said. “One… two…”

Sabrina filled her lungs, wondering if it would be the last breath she ever took.

Don’t fall off the mountain…don’t fall off the mountain…

“Three!”

If you love romantic suspense, you’re sure to enjoy…

Dead of Winter

Copyright © 2006 Patricia Parkinson

Available now from Samhain Publishing

Murders don't happen in the cozy, mountain town of Windy Creek, Montana.

Kate Madison is both overcome with grief and determined to find the killer who murdered Harley Wilson. When Kate was a child her real father ran off, leaving Kate and her mother to fend for themselves. But Harley Wilson stepped up to the plate, became her father of the heart.

The local sheriff of Windy Creek doesn't like Kate playing detective.

Sheriff Steve Lambert has been attracted to Kate since day one. Kate on the other hand acts as if she could care less until one day while Steve and she are searching for clues at Harley's house.

Kate chalks up her sudden, powerful attraction to Steve Lambert as the life affirming thing. Soon after that their feelings for each other explode into a passionate affair. Their fragile relationship hangs in the balance because of a mistake Kate made in her past. When the killer starts stalking her, Kate realizes this isn't at all like her mystery writing career. It is the real thing.

Enjoy the following excerpt from Dead of Winter.

Steve scowled at Kate, who leaned against the wall near the wood stove, arms crossed over her chest, shivering. She’d built a fire. The house was lukewarm at best. Maybe she was trembling from fear. He wanted to shake her for coming out here alone.

Steve pulled on a pair of plastic gloves. “You had no damn business coming out here.” She lifted her chin slightly. He was surprised he couldn’t hear her teeth chattering.

“Why did you come out here?”

Kate lifted a shoulder.

“Not good enough.”

“I don’t know why I came out here.” She paused. “I just wanted to. I thought maybe I might find something. And I sure as hell did.”

“Remember, I’m the cop here, Kate. This is my job.”

“Were you planning on coming out here today?”

No plans.
He’d been waiting to hear from the lab. That had been his plan. “Don’t turn this around on me.” He shot her a look, before angling over to Harley’s desk. Since they’d been snared in an Arctic front the past week, he doubted he would find any prints. The perp had probably worn gloves the entire time he ripped apart Harley’s house.

Judging from the footprints outside, the guy was big. Or he owned an extra large pair of snow boots, which could very well be the case. The perp had bigger feet than his own size elevens.

He glanced over his shoulder at Kate. He couldn’t read her expression. “Add some more wood to the damn fire.” Harley had been one of those Montanans that believed wood heat was the only heat.

Glaring at him, she picked up a log from the wood holder next to the stove.

Steve knelt down, ignoring her while he sifted through the mess on the floor.

“What did you do with newspaper clippings?” Kate asked behind him.

“They’re at my office.” He’d read the clippings, but they hadn’t made any sense to him. Why Harley saved them, he didn’t know. He picked up Harley’s checkbook and opened it. “Did Harley keep any cash in the house?”

“You think this was a generic robbery?”

Steve tamped down his irritation. “I’m not assuming anything. You didn’t answer my question.”

There was a long pause before Kate said. “No. He was check writer.

He’d go into town, cash a check at the bank for whatever he needed, then do his shopping. I think the s.o.b. was looking for those newspaper clippings.”

The muscles in Steve’s jaws clenched. “I already told you I’m not going to assume anything.”

“Why are you so grumpy this morning?”

Steve took his time standing up, turning to face Kate. He wasn’t sure himself. Since Jenny had rushed into his office, words tumbling over each other with the report of Kate’s call, anger had brewed inside of him, ready to spill over. “I am not grumpy.”

“Yes, you are.”

He ignored her comment. Brushing past her, he stomped into the kitchen. He heard her following him.

“I guess it’s none of my business why you’re so grumpy.”

Steve held himself in check. Kate looked like she’d hadn’t slept in a week. He knew by just looking at her, her emotions were on overdrive. He

felt like punching his fist into a wall. The two of them could probably get into a real brawl if they weren’t careful. Steve ignored her again, pawing through the rubble in Harley’s kitchen.

A minute later he heard the toe of her boot tapping on the linoleum floor. He circled around to face her. “I think you should go home, Kate.”

“I want to know what’s going on here.”

Steve counted to ten under his breath. “I’ll find out what’s going on here.”

“So you’re saying I’m in the way?”

He could see it in her eyes. She wanted to fight, probably needed to fight to release the bottled up emotions she’d ben toting around since she’d found Harley’s body. “K-a-t-e. I’m not going to fight with you.”

“I don’t want to fight,” she snapped.

“Yeah, you do. And it’s understandable. I’ll get to the bottom of this.

You have my word.”

The anger vanished from her eyes, replaced by a teary-eyed look.

Steve took a step, stopped himself. He wanted to comfort her, he wanted to take her to bed. The woman was literally driving him nuts. “Kate, please go home.”

She scrubbed a knuckle across her eye. “I don’t want to go home.”

He struggled for patience. “Why don’t you go to the café, have some coffee or better yet, something to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

His patience was evaporating fast, but he kept his tone even. “I’ve got a couple of plastic totes in my truck. I’m going to gather up some of these things, take them to the station to check for prints.”

“I can help.”

She needed to help him because Kate loved Harley. Hope flashed in her eyes. He knew from past experience it was damned hard on the

victims’ families to sit back and do nothing. He was about to break a rule for Kate. “You can help.” When she started toward him, he held up a hand. “You have to wear gloves. And we only load up what I say.” Christ, he had to have some kind of control in this situation.

Kate nodded, relief flooding her eyes.

He should call one of his deputies out here. But he knew he wouldn’t.

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