Charmed and Dangerous

by Lori Wilde

  “And you said you weren’t any good at this sentimental romantic stuff.”

  “Come here, you.” With his eyes still tightly closed, he reached for her.

  He kissed her long and hard while his hands pushed up underneath her dress. Passion swept over them and the next thing Maddie knew, they were sprawled across the window seat breaking all the rules.

  Several minutes later, breathless and sated, they lay against each other, listening to their hearts thump in unison. True to his word, David’s eyes were still shut.

  “I love you, Maddie Cooper,” he whispered.

  “Soon to be Maddie Cooper Marshall,” she whispered back. “And I love you too.”

  “Soon to be Maddie Cooper Marshall, Olympic gold medalist,” he added. “Now let’s go get married.”

  Ten minutes later, before God and their loved ones, Maddie and David vowed to love and cherish each other and they both knew that this was a vow they would happily keep forever and ever and ever.

  About the Author

  Lori Wilde is the best-selling author of more than twenty books. A former RITA finalist, Lori’s books have been recognized by Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion, the Booksellers Best, the National Readers’ Choice and numerous other honors. She lives in Weatherford, Texas with her husband and a wide assortment of pets. You may write to Lori at PO Box 31, Weatherford, TX 76086 or e-mail her via her homepage at www.loriwilde.com.

  More Lori Wilde!

  A sneak peek at

  MISSION: IRRESISTIBLE

  Available in paperback soon!

  No question about it. The mummy was following her.

  Cassie Cooper slipped past King Tut who was chatting up Nefertiti beside the lavish hors d’oeuvre table and cast a surreptitious glance over her shoulder.

  Yep.

  There he was. Peeking from behind the Sphinx’s chipped nose, his mysterious dark eyes following her around the main exhibit hall of the Kimbell Art Museum.

  Stifling a triumphant grin, she readjusted her Cleopatra Queen of the Nile headdress, which kept slipping down on her forehead and messing up her wig, and then she seductively moistened her lips.

  Who was lurking beneath the swaddling linen?

  Her pulse quickened. She did have a lot of admirers. No telling who might be in that costume.

  Maybe it was an old flame. Maybe a new one. Maybe it was even a stranger.

  Goosebumps dotted the nape of her neck. A mystery. How exciting.

  From over Phyllis’s shoulder, Cassie spied the mummy again. He was waving, trying to get her attention. When his dark enigmatic eyes met hers, he inclined his head toward the exit door leading to the garden courtyard.

  Her pulse revved. Was the mummy telling her to meet him outside?

  Then a staggering thought occurred to her. Could Adam Hartfield be the mummy?

  “Well?” Phyllis demanded, forcing Cassie to look away from the man in the mummy suit.

  “Umm, yes,” she lied through her teeth. No point in putting the woman into a snit before there was something to snit about. “I heard from Adam. He’s on the way.”

  “All I have to say is that he better show up on time.” Phyllis tapped her watch again. “Because if anything goes wrong tonight, you can kiss that recommendation to the Smithsonian goodbye.”

  “Nothing will go wrong.”

  “Reassure me. Locate Dr. Hartfield.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Cassie used the convenient excuse to retrieve her purse from where she’d stashed it in the coat closet and then scuttle out into the courtyard.

  The balmy spring night air greeted her and the door snapped closed behind her, muting the laughter and voices inside the museum. Suddenly, she felt very far away.

  Isolated. Alone.

  Tingles raced up her spine.

  Her breath came in short, raspy gasp. Anticipation escalated her excitement. She looked right, then left. Where had the mummy gone?

  Maybe she’d misunderstood his intentions. Maybe he’d been signaling to someone else and she’d made a mistaken assumption.

  Nah. She knew when a guy was sending signals. And the mummy had been telegraphing her big time.

  Who was he? Old boyfriend? New boyfriend? Friend? Lover? Enemy? The suspense was unbearable.

  The courtyard was illuminated with ambient lighting from quaint low voltage streetlamps. Well-manicured trees and shrubbery cast dark shadows over the walkway.

  “Yew-hoo.” Cassie wound around the maze of chest high bushes. “Anybody here?”

  No sound except for the echo of her high-heeled sandals clicking against the cobblestones.

  What if Adam really was the mummy? What if he needed to tell her something important about the exhibit? What if someone had been following him and he had dressed up like an extra from the old Hammer Films horror movie so that he wouldn’t be recognized?

  “Don’t get fanciful,” she growled under her breath and plopped down on a stone bench. More than likely, the mummy was just teasing her, escalating their flirtation.

  Well, she would set her mind to rest. She’d just call Adam right now. She took her cell phone from her purse, along with a tin of cinnamon Altoids and hit speed dial for his number while she popped one of the curiously strong mints.

  The phone rang. Once, twice, three times.

  Come on, Adam pick up.

  After the tenth ring, Cassie sighed, switched off the phone and stuffed it back into her purse as she crunched the remainder of the cool, arid cinnamon breath mint between her teeth.

  She heard rustling in the bushes behind her. Her stomach nose-dived. She turned her head; saw the mummy silhouetted in the light.

  “Adam?”

  He shuffled toward her.

  She stood, dropping her purse on the ground beside the stone bench. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

  He made a rough, gurgling sound.

  Cassie sank her hands on her hips. “This isn’t earning brownie points with me. I like to be surprised, not terrified. Besides, now really isn’t the time or the place, everyone is waiting for you inside the museum.

  He lumbered closer. His hands outstretched, reaching for her zombie-like. He mumbled something indecipherable in a foreign language.

  She was fluent in Spanish, but he certainly wasn’t speaking that. Neither was he uttering French nor Portuguese. Latin maybe? Or Greek.

  But why? Her heart fluttered wildly.

  “Adam,” she repeated. “Is that you?” Maybe she’d made a boo-boo and this wasn’t him after all.

  “Beware . . .” he whispered hoarsely, and then he started coughing.

  “Are you okay?” She took a step toward him. “You need a glass of water?”

  “Beware . . .” He raised a linen wrapped hand to his throat and coughed again.

  “Beware of what?” She frowned.

  He uttered the foreign phrase again.

  She strained to listen. If she squinted hard and turned her head in his direction it sort of sounded like he was saying, “wannamakemecomealot.”

  “Pardon.”

  “Wannamakecomealot.”

  “Oh I get it. This is some kind of kinky sex game, right?”

  She grinned.

  During their numerous transatlantic telephone conversations over the course of the past few weeks, as they made preparations for the exhibition, Cassie had nonchalantly let it slip that she adored surprises and fantasy role-playing games. Maybe Adam had taken her flirtatious comments to heart and decided to use the occasion of their first face-to-face meeting as an opportunity to seduce her.

  Too fun.

  “Let me guess,” she said. “You’re pretending we’re in jeopardy. Bad guys are after us. Danger heightens the sexual re-sponse. Good game. You really had me going there for a minute.”

  “Beware of the . . .” He wavered on his feet, just inches from her.

  Was he drunk? She hoped he wasn’t drunk. She didn’t like drunks.

  “Spit it out,
man. Stop being cryptic, I know it’s a game but I can’t get into it if you don’t move things along. I have a short attention span. Everybody says so. Beware of what?”

  But he didn’t answer.

  Instead, he pitched forward and Cassie was forced to thrust out her arms to catch him before he smashed face first into the ground.

  And that was when she saw the butcher knife protruding from his back.

  THE EDITOR’S DIARY

  Dear Reader,

  Everyone needs a little help from their friends—just ask the Beatles. But what happens when your innocent gesture gets you into more delicious trouble than you ever could have dreamed? Jump into SCANDAL and CHARMED AND DANGEROUS, our two Warner Forever titles this July.

  Amanda Quick raves, “Pamela Britton writes the kind of wonderfully romantic, sexy, witty historical romance that readers dream of discovering.” Well, open your eyes Sleeping Beauty—your dreams are about to get even better! Rein Montgomery, the Duke of Wroxly, is being held prisoner of his late uncle’s will. He must survive without his wealth or title in the meanest of London streets for one month or lose his entire fortune. Confident that he can charm any woman into doing his bidding, Rein sets his sights on Anna, a captivating market girl . . . but he never expected such a struggle. Though she offers him shelter for a night, Anna has no intention of letting this dashing stranger into her bed. After all, she may not be a well-bred lady, but she’s hardly going to fall over with her muslin skirts in the air. But as Rein’s defenses come down, Anna can’t help but succumb to him. She knows better than to think he’ll stay forever . . . but when he does leave, will he take her heart?

  Journeying from the desire and deceit of securing an inheritance to the intrigue and exhaustion of trailing a thief, we present Lori Wilde’s CHARMED AND DANGEROUS. Romantic Times calls Lori’s last book “sexy and a hoot” so grab your passport—her next book is out and you’re in for the ride of your life! Dependable Maddie Cooper has spent her life cleaning up the messes left in her twin sister, Cassie’s wake. So when FBI agent David Marshall pops into her life, she can’t help but sigh—Cassie’s done it again. But little does Maddie know that her calm life is about to hit turbulence. Hot on the trail of an international art thief who just happens to be Cassie’s newest boyfriend, David enlisted Cassie’s help to catch him. But Cassie has disappeared, a painting is missing and Maddie is madder than hell. Determined to find her sister, Maddie is sticking to David like a bad suit. From the Caribbean to Paris, Madrid to Venice, Maddie and David search high and low for Cassie . . . and find love along the way.

  To find out more about Warner Forever, these July titles, and the author, visit us at www.warnerforever.com.

  With warmest wishes,

  Karen Kosztolnyik, Senior Editor

  P.S. The dog days of summer are here so why go outside? Crank up your A.C. and curl up with these two reasons to hope for a heat wave: Susan Crandall pens the poign-ant story of a man who’s haunted by the death of an army buddy . . . only to find himself falling in love with his friend’s wife in MAGNOLIA SKY; and Julie Anne Long delivers the touching story of a woman who’s so desperate to escape her impending wedding that she runs for the countryside with the family groomsman in THE RUNAWAY DUKE.