Passion and Scandal

Passion & Scandal

The Hollywood Nights Series

Book Three

by

Candace Schuler

Bestselling, award-winning Author

PASSION & SCANDAL

Reviews & Accolades

RITA Finalist

Romance Writers of America

"A fast-paced tale of love, betrayal, and murder... and delicious romantic tension to keep us turning those pages!"

~Romantic Times

"A beautiful, heartwarming story with just enough mystery and other-worldly events to keep the story moving at a brisk pace."

~Rendezvous

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ISBN: 978-1-61417-301-4

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Copyright © 1995, 2012, 2013 by Candace Schuler. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

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Thank You.

Dear Reader,

The genesis of the
Hollywood Nights
series sprang from the perennial writer's game of "What if?" Writers play the game all the time, usually when they are trying to come up with the plot for their next book, or trying to figure out where to take the plot in the book they're currently working on. At least, I do.

Hollywood Nights began with a simple "What if?" question. What if a group of seemingly disparate characters were bound together by a tragedy in their past? And what if that tragedy was shrouded in mystery? And what if what happened changed all their lives? And what if... You see where this is going.

In
Passion and Scandal
, Willow Ryan sets out to uncover the mystery of her past. Her mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver when Willow was three months old and her father is listed as "Unknown" on her birth certificate. Willow hires hunky private detective Steve Hart to help her untangle the mystery of her past and find her biological father. The trail leads them the Wilshire Arms and the four young men who were at the party the night Jack Shannon's brother died. It turns out one of those four men is Willow's father. But which one? In the process of discovering the truth—which is sure to bring scandal down on them all—Willow and Steve discover an uncontrollable passion for each other.

Passion and Scandal
is the most complicated of the Hollywood Nights trilogy. All those loose ends to tie up! In the end, though, I was pleased with how it turned out. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Happy Reading!

Candace Schuler

Dedication

There are lots of people who deserve my thanks for their help with this book: Mary Bracho, for translating the Spanish; M. E. Frolich for steering me toward the right place to look for information about getting into school without a birth certificate; the nice doctor at LifeCode Labs who told me more than I could
ever
hope to understand about DNA; the Minneapolis P.I. who told me how much it would cost if my heroine needed to hire him—and then advised me to add 25% since I was writing about L.A.; Joyce at the Eden Prairie Police Department for getting back to me so quickly regarding the statute of limitations on hit-and-runs; my brother Mark for his up-to-date expert opinion on condoms; and, most of all, to my husband Joe for being the inspiration for all my heroes.

Prologue

Los Angeles, 1970

A frenzied shriek pierced the wall of noise created by the blaring rock music inside apartment 1-G, causing the young woman standing closest to the window to tilt her head toward it. "Listen," she ordered her companions, reaching out to touch the arm of the long-haired, leather-clad young man standing next to her. "What was that?"