Mercy

by Jean Brashear

  Juliette

  He closed his eyes and lay back on the cot, clutching the letter to him.

  The crackle of paper startled him awake. He bolted up, feeling his hand empty.

  Then he saw her. “Tansy…” He blinked, positive he was dreaming.

  She lifted her head, and it was not the same Tansy. He’d never met this woman before. Her face had fined down to hollows, her blue eyes layered in shadows.

  She held out the letter. “Mama was sure you were innocent.” Pain darkened her gaze. She rose, wrapping her arms around her waist. “If she’d realized that it was me—”

  Lucas rose, too. “It was still an accident.”

  Tansy studied a patch of the floor. “It doesn’t seem real. How can he be gone and I’m still alive?” She raised weary eyes to his. “We were always together. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel his heart beating, didn’t hear his voice inside my head. I have no idea how to be alone,” she whispered. “But I have to learn.”

  Agony burned raw and deep. “You’re not alone, Tansy. You have a family who loves you. You’ll go places, meet new friends now. You’ll have a full, rich life, and you’ll always keep his memory alive inside you.”

  “But I won’t have you, will I, Michael or Lucas or whatever I’m supposed to call you?” she snapped. “Never mind that I love you and you love me, you’re still going to leave, aren’t you?”

  He stared, dumbfounded. “Tansy, I’m trying to do the right thing—”

  “Are you? What’s right about walking away from the people who care about you? Do I have to live the rest of my life wondering where you are and if you’re lonely or hurt?”

  “You don’t understand—”

  She stopped, suddenly, her shoulders bowing. “I don’t understand a lot of things. All I know is that I need you and you’re leaving because you think that you’re doing what’s best for me.” She raised a haunted gaze to his. “Maybe it would be easier for you to go. God knows you’ve earned your peace. You’ve suffered too much. I have no right to ask you to stay. I’m working to get better, but it’s all such a mess inside me. I can’t blame you for being unwilling to take it all on.”

  “That’s not it.”

  Her head popped up. “What is it, then?”

  How did he explain? For so many years, his only thought had been survival. Then there was Tansy, bright and shining, the princess he’d longed for since he was fifteen years old. Had he fought through everything else, only to let her go without a fight? “I’m not afraid of your problems.”

  “Then what do you want, Lucas Michael Walker? What means more to you than light or air or water? Because that’s what you should grab, no matter what. You deserve so much more than you’ll ask. You’ve lost too much of your life to settle for less.”

  So fierce she was, this Tansy. So much she offered, standing there, furious and beautiful and oddly strong.

  Like a petitioner with more understanding of punishment than joy, he slowly put forth his hands, palms up. Holding out an ancient, weary heart, bereft of the words he needed to tell her.

  “Say it.” She leaned forward, only a breath away. A wish away. A dream.

  Blue eyes crackled with impatience, and they were the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

  “You,” he finally said in a low, hoarse voice. “All I really want is you.”

  Her mouth opened once, then closed without a sound. Her eyes shimmered with a rush of tears. Slowly, she laid her slender, delicate hands in his big rough ones and gripped them.

  She looked up at him. “I knew this boy once who would dare anything—” She paused, swallowed hard. Tried again, and he saw a faint twinkle of the old mischief. “I double-dog dare you, Lucas Michael,” she said, her voice unsteady but valiant, her blue eyes flashing. “Take me. Grab me and hold on. Help me find my way home.”

  His throat too full to speak, Lucas could only nod.

  And hold on.

  ~THE END~

  Thank you for letting me share my stories with you! If you liked MERCY, I would be very grateful if you would help others find this book by recommending it to your friends on Goodreads or by writing a review. If you would like to be informed when my next release is available, please sign up for my newsletter here.

  Thanks!

  Jean

  If you enjoy reading romantic suspense, you might also enjoy one of my other romantic suspense titles:

  THE CHOICE

  Deep-cover FBI agent Drake Cullinane is driven by guilt over a terrorist attack he couldn’t prevent. It’s taken him years to become the trusted head of security for arms dealer Klaus Hafner, the man responsible for that attack, and he’s within days of taking down Hafner and his whole network.

  Jillian MacGregor found a splashy way to apply to be one of Klaus Hafner’s bodyguards, and she’s out to kill the man the mysterious Cullinane is sworn to protect, seeking revenge for her sister’s death at Hafner’s hands.

  White-hot attraction flares between them, but both are hiding dangerous secrets. Only one of them can win—and if they cannot learn to trust each other, both of them could die.

  TEXAS PROTECTOR

  FBI agent Alex Sandoval has never forgiven himself for not protecting a young girl from seeing her mother murdered during his first hostage negotiation twelve years ago. Now Jade Butler is a cop herself, assigned to a prestigious multi-agency task force hunting for the killer of several young girls in Austin, Texas—and Alex is the agent in charge of the case.

  They never met all those years ago, but Jade recognizes his voice as the one she still hears in her dreams, the voice that has comforted her through many a terrifying flashback. Her role on the task force is undercover, serving as bait for a madman, yet Alex cannot stop trying to protect her as he was unable to do years ago. Tensions ratchet between them as old memories vie with a powerful new attraction, and when Jade is taken hostage by the killer, it’s Alex’s worst nightmare as he must negotiate once again—only this time, it’s to save the woman he loves.

  TEXAS REFUGE

  Rancher Quinn Marshall is haunted after nearly dying in a failed attempt to save his sister. The last thing the former homicide detective wants is another woman to watch over, but someone important to his brother is in trouble, and Quinn’s basic nature is to protect. Soap opera star Lorie Chandler has already lost her husband to an obsessed fan and now her son is the madman’s new target.

  While the police hunt the killer, Quinn’s rugged Texas ranch is the ideal hiding place for Lorie and her child. Neither Quinn nor Lorie expects the explosive heat or the powerful emotion that flares to life in his canyon refuge, yet there is no future for them and both are painfully aware that their time together can only be temporary. When the madman finds them, Quinn’s sole focus is on keeping Lorie and the boy he’s come to love safe, even though his success will mean that he will have to give them up to a life where he cannot belong.

  TEXAS STAR

  Sexiest Man Alive Josh Marshall is on his way home to Texas when he rescues a woman on the run. In contrast to the many women crushing on him all over the world, this woman does not trust him and wants nothing to do with him, seeking to escape every time his back is turned.

  Elena Navarro is running from an abusive husband with criminal ties. Terrified to trust anyone, she finds Josh’s tender care a miracle, but his fame and celebrity status could be a death sentence for them both. When echoes of a shared past life threaten, Josh questions his sanity, but he’s a white knight to the core and cannot stop trying to help her, even at the risk of his life.

  TEXAS DANGER

  Rancher Case Marshall is driving a truck instead of his hellraiser Harley after a crooked partner nearly bankrupts his Flying M Ranch. Society girl Samantha St. Claire never dreamed she’d be on the run from the mob—or that she’d find her white knight at a truck stop.

  Their worlds couldn’t be less compatible or their attraction more high-octane…but there are dangers and shocking secrets t
o battle before they can dream of a future together.

  GUARDING GABY

  Gabriela Navarro believed she and Eli Wolverton would always be together…until he abandoned her. Years later, Gaby has made a new life in the big city. Her future is bright, and Eli is her past. When she returns to bury her father and learns that Eli is accused of his murder, she is stunned, but she no longer knows the man who’s replaced the boy she loved.

  Then their paths cross again, and though the longing between them is more powerful than ever, Eli refuses to defend himself and pushes her to go. Does Gaby believe the charges against him, or the urgings of her heart?

  There is so much more at stake than Gaby can imagine. With his freedom and his life on the line, only one thing would draw Eli away from his search for the truth: Gaby’s safety.

  Even if that means he’ll lose her forever.

  THE PRICE HE PAID

  Tough prosecutor Callie Hunter left the small town and never planned to return, but an unexpected inheritance requires her to return to the scene of her life’s greatest heartache.

  When she encounters the town’s golden boy who once owned her young heart—only to learn he’s fresh out of prison. All David Langley wants is to be left alone to scrape together a life unrecognizable to the boy who once carried the town’s dreams on his shoulders.

  Until he let Callie Hunter derail him.

  The draw between them is still there, but having her see how far he’s fallen is unbearable. The more she’s with him, however, the more she knows that who he was didn’t change. There has to be more to the story.

  But second chances don’t happen for convicted murderers, and when old enemies conspire to send him back into the hell he barely survived, the only one who can help him is Callie.

  The last person on earth he’s willing to ask for anything.

  THE LIGHT WALKER

  Newly-minted detective Jace Carroll’s innocuous first case plunges her into a world of shifting realities. At the center of the tangled knot is the mesmerizing and mysterious Dante Sabanne, a wealthy recluse whose proficiency with ancient poisons, mystical lore and exotic sexual practices makes him by turns a crucial expert witness, a devastating lover…and possibly the man behind a cult whose profane rituals have turned from depraved to deadly.

  The powerful attraction between them complicates everything, as the Jace who thought she knew exactly who she was and what she wanted becomes both pawn and queen in a battle between the dark and the light. Innocents will die if she makes the wrong choice between the evidence before her eyes and the yearnings of a heart she is no longer sure she can trust.

  A scorching tale of suspense, passion and magic.

  Please enjoy the following excerpt from THE CHOICE

  She’d nailed her audition.

  One more door, and Klaus Hafner would die even sooner than Jillian MacGregor had planned. She hadn’t really expected to get this far when she set out to break into the fortress that was the arms dealer’s home, but she wasn’t complaining. Holding her breath as she reached for the door handle, she squeezed the knob gently while she turned it.

  Air stirred behind her.

  Too late, she pivoted.

  A muscled arm seized her throat.

  Then…darkness.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what happened. I never once took my eyes off the monitors, I swear it.”

  “You’re telling me she’s invisible?”

  Jillian kept her eyes shut to buy time. Her shoulders ached from lying on hands tied behind her back.

  “Yes, sir—uh, I mean, no, sir.” Exasperation threaded through the subordinate’s tone. “I don’t know what the hell happened, sir.”

  “Figure it out,” snapped the deep voice.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Footsteps hurried away. Cool air brushed over her body as the door closed.

  An edgy silence pulsed around her. Jillian was careful to keep her breathing steady and her muscles relaxed, though she wanted badly to get a look at her surroundings.

  “You might as well open your eyes.”

  Clearly not a suggestion. This man was accustomed to obedience.

  She debated over whether to ignore him or to give into the temptation to look.

  “Your acting skills need work. You’re wasting my time and yours.”

  Angrily Jillian opened her eyes.

  Black hair, almost to his shoulders, slashed by silver at the left temple. Smoky eyes, hardening to steel as she watched. Tall…very tall. Powerful shoulders and arms, a face that could have been carved from stone. High, slanted cheekbones. Dark, thick brows shadowed eyes creased by time in the sun, a strong Roman nose. The one touch of humanity was the cleft in his chin.

  Who was he? Definitely not her quarry, Klaus Hafner.

  Jillian stilled. This must be the man she’d heard about only in whispers. The elusive Cullinane.

  “What’s your name?”

  “You first,” she said.

  “I don’t think so.” An icy smile. “I hold the cards. Who are you? What are you doing here?” He strode around the oversize cherry desk to stand over her, arms crossed against his beautifully muscled chest. A jagged scar slanted from breastbone to navel.

  “I want a job.”

  One eyebrow arched.

  Good. She’d surprised him.

  In an instant, the mask returned. He merely cocked his head to indicate that he was listening. “Name?”

  “Jane Doe. Was it you who stopped me?”

  His negligent shrug ticked her off. “Your system’s not so hot,” she jibed. “I got through.”

  The momentary flash of annoyance pleased her.

  “Solly.” He barely raised his voice, and the door opened.

  “Yeah, boss?”

  “Our…guest likes to play games. Find her bag of tricks. Get me a name.”

  “Already on it, boss.”

  A very long moment passed, thick with challenge.

  She stared at the ceiling in silence, ignoring the pain in her shoulder. Pale golden light from the desk lamp threw odd shadows on the creamy plaster. Rich, dark paneling absorbed what little light escaped.

  “What kind of job?” he asked at last.

  “Bodyguard.”

  “Not happening.”

  “I wouldn’t have let anyone get through to him,” she taunted. “Just like I wasn’t stupid enough to leave ID.”

  “Why you?” An insulting scan of her body. “You’re built like a thief, not hired muscle.”

  She had definitely done her share of breaking in. A kid on the streets couldn’t be particular when it came to survival. “So I appear less threatening. People assume I’m his latest conquest.”

  “But you can’t go everywhere he does.”

  “The bathroom, big deal. You always use teams anyway.” She refused to let her anxiety through. This had to work.

  He was already shaking his head to refuse when a new voice spoke from the doorway.

  “I like it, Cullinane.”

  The woman craned her neck to see Hafner, and Cullinane had a moment’s regret over laying her out on his office sofa. Hafner’s voracious appetites would definitely be aroused by this woman in her tight black garb.

  Black covered her from neck to toe, but when he’d removed her cap, cinnamon hair had spilled out, a superb foil to the black garment and the dark leather, a fire breaking winter’s chill.

  The figure-hugging garment revealed more than it concealed. Despite what he’d said, she was trim and toned, and though she wasn’t tall, her legs seemed to go on forever. Her breasts would fill a man’s hands, and her hips rounded nicely from a slender waist.

  Oh, yes, Hafner would like it. No doubt at all.

  Who wouldn’t?

  The man himself crossed the room, navy silk dressing gown tied at the waist over pajama bottoms. The gold chains he favored glimmered within graying chest hair. His short, iron-gray hair stood up in spikes from a restless night.

  Culli
nane watched as Hafner’s gaze roamed over her body. She was a cool one, all right. Her whiskey-brown eyes hardened, and she kept her body absolutely still as Hafner subjected her to a perusal little short of lascivious and degrading.

  Then he smiled, slow and sleazy. “Oh yes, I want her.”

  Cullinane rolled his eyes. “You don’t even know if she’s competent. You know nothing about her.”

  “I know she came within twenty feet of me, and your system didn’t catch her.” Watery blue eyes snapped with displeasure.

  Cullinane gritted his teeth. “I caught her.” He’d be chewing some butts out over this screw-up, but in the final analysis, the responsibility for Hafner’s safety rested with him.

  Hafner’s eyebrows lifted. “Ah, yes, my trusty fail-safe. But what if you’d slept too soundly or been…otherwise occupied? What then?”

  “It’s being handled.”

  Hafner’s smile turned expansive though his eyes never thawed. “Oh, I have no doubt that it is, my dear friend. And I pity the man who failed in his duties.” He turned back to her, drawing Cullinane’s gaze toward her once more. When Hafner reached out to touch her, Cullinane’s jaw tensed even as he wondered why the hell he cared. She’d been the one who’d barged in here. All she was to him was a distraction much too late in the deadly game he was playing.

  But she was one tough cookie, this one. She wrapped an air of such icy disdain around her that Hafner’s hand hovered just an inch or two from her breast—

  And then withdrew.

  Hafner stood there for too long, his fingers flexing. The woman stared at the ceiling as though he didn’t exist. She had no idea the danger she’d put herself in—Hafner was thoroughly amoral and increasingly unpredictable.

  Quietly—too quietly—Hafner spoke. “Check her out, Cullinane. I want her.”