by LENA DIAZ,
To a person, every single one of them had smiled and waved at her as they went into the inn. She’d adored them all on the spot and looked forward to getting to know them. But first, she had to tamp down the melancholy that always overcame her whenever something reminded her of Colton, as young Celia’s eyes had done. He was never far from her thoughts. And the feelings she’d had for him, that she hadn’t trusted because they’d come too hard, too fast? They’d only grown stronger in his absence. She now knew that she was hopelessly in love with him. And although she’d go on with her life and find joy in other things—like getting to know the Larson family—she knew she’d always have a hollow place in her heart for the only man she’d ever really loved.
The throaty sound of an engine roared from up the street. She turned, and her heart gave a little lurch when she saw a black Mustang GT coming down the road toward her.
It couldn’t be. Could it?
The car pulled into the only free spot, two spaces away. The engine cut off. The door opened. And out stepped Colton Graham.
Silver pressed her hand against her thundering heart and took a step toward him, before she caught herself. Just because she now knew she’d made a mistake in letting him go didn’t mean it was a mistake for him. She’d given him his dream back or, rather, she hadn’t taken it away. He was doing what he wanted with his life. And she shouldn’t read anything into the fact that he was here. They’d been friends once, briefly. So maybe that was what he was doing, just checking up on an old friend.
She just hoped she could survive seeing him again without breaking down into a puddle at his feet.
He got out of the car and literally took her breath away. His wavy, shoulder-length hair had been cut short, but not too short. And although she’d loved his wild hair, the new cut fit his personality better and emphasized the gorgeous angles of his face. Yes, she liked him like this. Loved him.
He took off his dark sunglasses and tossed them through the open window of the car, never taking his eyes off her. The cooler weather now had him wearing a leather jacket over his black T-shirt and black jeans. And his boots, shined to a high gloss, echoed on the pavement as he strode toward her, stopping so close she could feel the heat of him and had to crane her neck back to meet his gaze.
“Hello, Silver.” His deep voice stroked goose bumps across her skin.
“Colton. You look...good.”
He grinned. “You look amazing.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “And you’re just as charming as ever.”
He gestured toward the sign. “You changed the name. And the color.”
“I wanted a fresh start.”
His smile faded and he turned to face her. “Me, too.” He held out his hand. “I don’t think we’ve been correctly introduced. Colton Graham was my undercover name. My real name is Cole.”
She shook his hand, feeling a bit stunned. “Cole. And your last name?”
He hesitated, and in that moment she suddenly knew.
“Larson,” he said. “My name is Cole Larson.”
She blinked. “Your...your family...they’re...”
“Inside your inn right now. Yep. Pretty much every last one of them. Well, there are some aunts and uncles back in Jacksonville who didn’t make the trip down, but my three brothers, sister, mom and dad, plus a few nieces and nephews made it. I imagine you remember Celia. She wouldn’t have passed up the opportunity to meet you. And I’m told we look a lot alike.”
She blinked again, still reeling. “Celia. Her eyes, that dark hair. Twins?”
He nodded.
“Then she’s—”
“The artist. Yes. I didn’t lie about that.”
“I see.” She shook her head. “No, no, I don’t see. Colton... Cole...what are you doing here? And why is your family here?”
His hands shook as he reached for her, but then he stopped and dropped them to his side. “I tried to stay away, to forget you, since it was what you wanted. But it was never what I wanted. I went back undercover and hated it. I quit my job.”
She drew in a sharp breath. “You quit? You’re not a police officer anymore?”
“Oh, I’m still a detective. I’m just not doing undercover work anymore. Which means I have fairly regular hours, except for the occasional callout. And I’ve discovered that I like that. No, actually, I love it. I was ready to make that change, Silver. I was wearing myself down undercover all the time. Now I’m discovering the life that was passing me by.” He waved toward the inn. “And rediscovering my family. I’ve spent a lot of time with them over the past few months.”
He raised a hand, and this time he didn’t stop. He cupped the side of her face, his fingers shaking as they feathered across her skin. “I’ve talked of little else but you to them, and they got pretty sick and tired of it. They told me I was a fool if I didn’t go after you, beg you if I had to, to give us a chance. Because you haven’t taken my dreams away, Silver. You’ve given me a new dream, of a future with a wonderful, beautiful woman who takes such pleasure from the simplest things, and makes me see the world through her artist’s eyes.”
He cupped her face with his hands. “I. Love. You. It wasn’t a fluke, or an infatuation because we shared some intense experiences. It’s stronger, brighter, than it was the day I left the hospital. All I’m asking is that you give us a chance. Date me. Get to know me, my past.” He waved toward the inn again. “My family. And if you still don’t feel the way that I feel, it will probably kill me, but I’ll go. I’ll walk away if that’s what you want. Because your happiness is what matters most to me. I love you. You’re everything to me.”
A sob burst from her lips and she wrapped her arms around his waist. “Colton... Cole...oh, good grief, I’ll never get that right.”
He laughed and tightened his arms around her. “Call me anything you want if it makes you happy.”
She pulled back and slid her hands up around his neck. “You...you make me happy. I was an idiot for making you go away. I’ve been miserable ever since.”
His eyes bored into hers with an intensity that took her breath away. “What are you saying?”
Tears tracked down her face now, unchecked. She smiled and threaded her fingers through the gently curling wisps of hair at the nape of his neck. “I’m saying that I love you, Colton Cole Graham Larson. I have from the moment I looked into those incredible blue eyes of yours. And I’d love nothing more than to meet your family, learn about your past. But it doesn’t really matter.” She flattened her palm over his chest. “What matters is what’s in here, the person you are today, and that you love me, too.”
The smile that lit his face, his eyes, was like sunlight rising over a beautiful field of flowers, painting happiness and joy across the land and across Silver’s heart.
“I love you, Silver.” His voice was thick with emotion. “I love you.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
He laughed, and then he was kissing her and making her toes curl inside her shoes, melting her from the inside out. All too soon he pulled back. She sighed with disappointment.
He glanced at the inn, his face falling. “Damn.”
“What?” She followed his gaze, but she didn’t see anything alarming. “Is something wrong?”
“My family. My mom and dad are here. And all I want to do is make love to you.”
She beamed up at him and grabbed his hand in hers, tugging him toward the B and B. “There’ll be time for that later. Promise. Come on. Introduce me to your family.”
He grinned and scooped her up in his arms. She laughed the whole way to the door. And then he carried her across the threshold.
* * * * *
Don’t miss the next book in Lena Diaz’s
MARSHLAND JUSTICE miniseries.
Look for HOSTAGE NEGOTIATION in September wherever Harlequin Intrigue books are sold!
THE MONTANA HAMILTONS Series
by B.J. Daniels goes on.
Turn the page for a sneak peek at INTO
DUST...
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Into Dust
by B.J. Daniels
CHAPTER ONE
THE CEMETERY SEEMED unusually quiet. Jack Durand paused on the narrow walkway to glance toward the Houston skyline. He never came to Houston without stopping by his mother’s grave. He liked to think of his mother here in this beautiful, peaceful place. And he always brought flowers. Today he’d brought her favorite: daisies.
He breathed in the sweet scent of freshly mown lawn as he moved through shafts of sunlight fingering their way down through the huge oak trees. Long shadows fell across the path, offering a breath of cooler air. Fortunately, the summer day wasn’t hot and the walk felt good after the long drive in from the ranch.
The silent gravestones and statues gleamed in the sun. His favorites were the angels. He liked the idea of all the angels here watching over his mother, he thought, as he passed the small lake ringed with trees and followed the wide bend of Braes Bayou situated along one side of the property. A flock of ducks took flight, flapping wildly and sending water droplets into the air.
He’d taken the long way because he needed to relax. He knew it was silly, but he didn’t want to visit his mother upset. He’d promised her on her deathbed that he would try harder to get along with his father.
Ahead, he saw movement near his mother’s grave and slowed. A man wearing a dark suit stood next to the angel statue that watched over her final resting place. The man wasn’t looking at the grave or the angel. Instead, he appeared to simply be waiting impatiently. As he turned...
With a start, Jack recognized his father.
He thought he had to be mistaken at first. Tom Durand had made a point of telling him he would be in Los Angeles the next few days. Had his father’s plans changed? Surely he would have no reason to lie about it.
Until recently, that his father might have lied would never have occurred to him. But things had been strained between them since Jack had told him he wouldn’t be taking over the family business.
It wasn’t just seeing his father here when he should have been in Los Angeles. It was seeing him in this cemetery. He knew for a fact that his father hadn’t been here since the funeral.
“I don’t like cemeteries,” he’d told his son when Jack had asked why he didn’t visit his dead wife. “Anyway, what’s the point? She’s gone.”
Jack felt close to his mother near her grave. “It’s a sign of respect.”
His father had shaken his head, clearly displeased with the conversation. “We all mourn in our own ways. I like to remember your mother my own way, so lay off, okay?”
So why the change of heart? Not that Jack wasn’t glad to see it. He knew that his parents had loved each other. Kate Durand had been sweet and loving, the perfect match for Tom, who was a distant workaholic.
Jack was debating joining him or leaving him to have this time alone with his wife, when he saw another man approaching his father. He quickly stepped behind a monument. Jack was far enough away that he didn’t recognize the man right away. But while he couldn’t see the man’s face clearly from this distance, he recognized the man’s limp.
Jack had seen him coming out of the family import/export business office one night after hours. He’d asked his father about him and been told Ed Urdahl worked on the docks.
Now he frowned as he considered why either of the men was here. His father hadn’t looked at his wife’s grave even once. Instead he seemed to be in the middle of an intense conversation with Ed. The conversation ended abruptly when his father reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a thick envelope and handed it to the man.
He watched in astonishment as Ed pulled a wad of money from the envelope and proceeded to count it. Even from where he stood, Jack could tell that the gesture irritated his father. Tom Durand expected everyone to take what he said or did as the gospel.
Ed finished counting the money, put it back in the envelope and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. His father seemed to be giving Ed orders. Then looking around as if worried they might have been seen, Tom Durand turned and walked away toward an exit on the other side of the cemetery—the one farthest from the reception building. He didn’t even give a backward glance to his wife’s grave. Nor had he left any flowers for her. Clearly, his reason for being here had nothing to do with Kate Durand.
Jack was too stunned to move for a moment. What had that exchange been about? Nothing legal, he thought. A hard knot formed in his stomach. What was his father involved in?
He noticed that Ed was heading in an entirely different direction. Impulsively, he began to follow him, worrying about what his father had paid the man to do.
Ed headed for a dark green car parked in the lot near where Jack himself had parked earlier. Jack dropped the daisies, exited the cemetery yards behind him and headed to his ranch pickup. Once behind the wheel, he followed as Ed left the cemetery.
Staying a few cars back, he tailed the man, all the time trying to convince himself that there was a rational explanation for the strange meeting in the cemetery or his father giving this man so much money. But it just didn’t wash. His father hadn’t been there to visit his dead wife. So what was Tom Durand up to?
Jack realized that Ed was headed for an older part of Houston that had been gentrified in recent years. A row of brownstones ran along a street shaded in trees. Small cafes and quaint shops were interspersed with the brownstones. Because it was late afternoon, the street wasn’t busy.
Ed pulled over, parked and cut his engine. Jack turned into a space a few cars back, noticing that Ed still hadn’t gotten out.
Had he spotted the tail? Jack waited, half expecting Ed to emerge and come stalking toward his truck. And what? Beat him up? Call his father?
So far all Ed had done from what Jack could tell was sit and watch a brownstone across the street.
Jack continued to observe the green car, wondering how long he was going to sit here waiting for something to happen. This was crazy. He had no idea what had transpired at the cemetery. While the transaction had looked suspicious, maybe his father had really been visiting his mother’s grave and told Ed to meet him there so he could pay him money he owed him. But for what that required such a large amount of cash? And why in the cemetery?
Even as Jack thought it, he still didn’t believe what he’d seen was innocent. He couldn’t shake the feeling that his father had hired the man for some kind of job th
at involved whoever lived in that brownstone across the street.
He glanced at the time. Earlier, when he’d decided to stop by the cemetery, he knew he’d be cutting it close to meet his appointment back at the ranch. He prided himself on his punctuality. But if he kept sitting here, he would miss his meeting.
Jack reached for his cell phone. The least he could do was call and reschedule. But before he could key in the number, the door of the brownstone opened and a young woman with long blond hair came out.
As she started down the street in the opposite direction, Ed got out of his car. Jack watched him make a quick call on his cell phone as he began to follow the woman.
CHAPTER TWO
THE BLONDE HAD the look of a rich girl, from her long coiffed hair to her stylish short skirt and crisp white top to the pale blue sweater lazily draped over one arm. Hypnotized by the sexy swish of her skirt, Jack couldn’t miss the glint of silver jewelry at her slim wrist or the name-brand bag she carried.
Jack grabbed the gun he kept in his glove box and climbed out of his truck. The blonde took a quick call on her cell phone as she walked. She quickened her steps, pocketing her phone. Was she meeting someone and running late? A date?
As she turned down another narrow street, he saw Ed on the opposite side of the street on his phone again. Telling someone...what?
He felt his anxiety rise as Ed ended his call and put away his phone as he crossed the street. Jack took off after the two. He tucked the gun into the waist of his jeans. He had no idea what was going on, but all his instincts told him the blonde, whoever she was, was in danger.
As he reached the corner, he saw that Ed was now only yards behind the woman, his limp even more pronounced. The narrow alley-like street was empty of people and businesses. The neighborhood rejuvenation hadn’t reached this street yet. There was dirt and debris along the front of the vacant buildings. So where was the woman going?
