by Josh Lanyon
Sam put a hand on his arm. “Wait a minute.”
Jason looked at him inquiry.
“I didn’t have time to buy you a present.”
“Your being here is the best present you could give me.” That was the truth, and Jason wanted Sam to know it.
Sam’s mouth gave another of those self-mocking quirks. “I do have something for you, though.” He reached into his pocket and handed Jason something small and gold.
Jason stared down at Grandpa Harley’s Tiffany cufflink. He looked at Sam. “It’s mine. It’s the one I lost.”
“Yeah.”
“Where did you find it?”
“In the hall outside Kerk’s hotel room. I went back that night after the rest of you left.”
“You’ve had it all this time?”
Sam shook his head, acknowledging the oddness of his behavior. “I know. I kept meaning to give it back to you, but…”
Jason was smiling, but puzzled. “But what?”
Sam hesitated. Said quietly, “I figured if I hung onto it, I’d always have an excuse to see you.”
Jason’s hands closed on the piece of metal, still warm from Sam’s fingers. He could feel that glow all the way to his heart. He stared into Sam’s blue gaze. “And now?”
Sam’s hand tightened on Jason’s arm. He drew Jason in and kissed him right there in the restaurant lobby. It was a surprisingly sweet brush of lips.
Sam said, “I don’t need any more excuses.”
Watch for the return of Jason West and Sam Kennedy in
The Magician Murders (The Art of Murder Book III)
Coming Winter/Spring 2018
Author Notes
Thank you to the following people: L.B. Gregg, Keren Reed, Dianne Thies, Nicole Kimberling, and Ginn Hale. Your help was invaluable.
Those of you paying close attention will recognize that the events of Winter Kill quickly overtake Jason and Sam in The Monet Murders. Despite my best effort, the timeline did not exactly line-up—everything is off by one day. I realize this is a cruel and unusual punishment to inflict on my OCD readers, but I gently remind you that this is just a made-up story. (Or did that just make it worse?)
Two famous real life art world crimes inspired elements of this story: the M. Knoedler & Company art fraud scandal and the 1985 murder of Norwegian art student Eigil Dag Vesti.
About the Author
Bestselling author of over sixty titles of classic Male/Male fiction featuring twisty mystery, kickass adventure, and unapologetic man-on-man romance, JOSH LANYON has been called “arguably the single most influential voice in m/m romance today.”
Her work has been translated into nine languages. The FBI thriller Fair Game was the first Male/Male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, the largest romance publisher in Italy. The Adrien English series was awarded the All Time Favorite Couple by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group. Josh is an Eppie Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist (twice for Gay Mystery), and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads All Time Favorite M/M Author award.
Josh is married and lives in Southern California.
Find other Josh Lanyon titles at www.joshlanyon.com
Follow Josh on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.
If you enjoyed this story, check the following titles by Josh Lanyon
Novels
The ADRIEN ENGLISH Mysteries
Fatal Shadows
A Dangerous Thing
The Hell You Say
Death of a Pirate King
The Dark Tide
Stranger Things Have Happened
So This is Christmas
The HOLMES & MORIARITY Mysteries
Somebody Killed His Editor
All She Wrote
The Boy with the Painful Tattoo
The ALL’S FAIR Trilogy
Fair Game
Fair Play
Fair Chance
The ART OF MURDER Trilogy
The Mermaid Murders
Other novels
This Rough Magic (A SHOT IN THE DARK Series)
The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks
Mexican Heat (with Laura Baumbach)
Strange Fortune
Come Unto These Yellow Sands
Stranger on the Shore
Winter Kill
Jefferson Blythe, Esquire
Murder in Pastel
The Curse of the Blue Scarab
Novellas
The DANGEROUS GROUND Series
Dangerous Ground
Old Poison
Blood Heat
Dead Run
Kick Start
The I SPY Series
I Spy Something Bloody
I Spy Something Wicked
I Spy Something Christmas
The IN A DARK WOOD Series
In a Dark Wood
The Parting Glass
The DARK HORSE Series
The Dark Horse
The White Knight
Snowball in Hell (DOYLE & SPAIN Series)
Haunted Heart: Winter (HAUNTED HEART Series)
Mummy Dearest (XOXO FILES Series)
Other novellas
Cards on the Table
The Dark Farewell
The Darkling Thrush
The Dickens with Love
Don’t Look Back
A Ghost of a Chance
Lovers and Other Strangers
Out of the Blue
A Vintage Affair
Lone Star (in Men Under the Mistletoe)
Green Glass Beads (in Irregulars)
Blood Red Butterfly
Everything I Know
Baby, It’s Cold (in Comfort and Joy)
A Case of Christmas
Murder Between the Pages
Short stories
A Limited Engagement
The French Have a Word for It
In Sunshine or In Shadow
Until We Meet Once More
Icecapade (in His for the Holidays)
Perfect Day
Heart Trouble
Other People’s Weddings (Petit Mort)
Slings and Arrows (Petit Mort)
Sort of Stranger Than Fiction (Petit Mort)
Critic’s Choice (Petit Mort)
Just Desserts (Petit Mort)
In Plain Sight
Wedding Favors
Wizard’s Moon
Fade to Black
Plenty of Fish
Collections
Short Stories (Vol. 1)
Sweet Spot (the Petit Morts)
Merry Christmas, Darling (Holiday Codas)
Christmas Waltz (Holiday Codas 2)
I Spy…Three Novellas
Point Blank (Five Dangerous Ground Novellas)
Dark Horse, White Knight (Two Novellas)
THE MONET MURDERS (Art of Murder Book II)
May 2017
Copyright (c) 2017 by Josh Lanyon
Cover by Johanna Ollila
Edited by Keren Reed, Dianne Thies
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-945802-16-4
Published in the United States of America
JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.
3053 Rancho Vista Blvd.
Suite 116
Palmdale, CA 93551
www.joshlanyon.com
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
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