Christmas with My Cowboy
Page 39
Curling masses of titian hair flowed away from her face, and over her shoulders. Her porcelain skin, face, throat, décolletage were shown to priceless advantage against the black lace of the sleeveless V necked bodice. She would be above average height when she stood up, and willow slim. She had light eyes. At this distance he didn’t know if they were blue or green. He was prepared to bet they were green if only because he had seen a blown-up photograph of a large bravura portrait of this girl’s double. People did have doubles in life, he reminded himself, only he had the certainty this girl had Hartmann blood.
A Hartmann, for God’s sake!
He was so certain, his nerve endings were doing a slow burn.
A seminal moment in your life, McKendrick.
Through his late father, Ross McKendrick, a private investigator and a former ex-chief of detectives, he had developed a fascination with the so called “cold cases’; the mysterious disappearances of certain individuals, male and female, that were never solved. The old Hartmann case was one his dad had laboured over to the point of obsession. It was as much a mystery today as it had been twenty years earlier.
Not anymore.
Tonight had opened up a powerful new lead. The young woman he had under close observation had to have Hartmann blood in her. That was his gut feeling and he trusted his gut feelings.
At one time of his life, after the untimely death of his father in a hit-and-run accident—the culprit never found—he wanted to crack the case if only to finish the job for his father and give closure to the Hartmann family. Other ambitions had got in the way. He now ran his own wealth management company, The Fortuna Group. His company was getting bigger by the day. He was very good at whatever he did. Consequently he was doing extremely well. An increasing number of other people were doing well because of him. To be a success had always been expected of him. No way was he going to let his dad down. He honoured his memory.
It’s her.
She who had been lost is found.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Multi-New York Times bestselling author DIANA PALMER has written over 150 books—all of which have placed on prestigious bestseller lists in the United States and throughout the world. Her readers depend on her to write stories from her heart to their hearts, and create characters they feel can be friends. Her devotion to her readers has remained her prime motivator during her award-winning career.
Diana started out as a newspaper reporter, living in a small town in the north Georgia mountains. She resides there to this day with her husband, James, her sister, Danis, and is visited often by her beloved son and daughter-in-law and her two adorable grandchildren.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author LINDSAY MCKENNA is the pseudonym of award-winning author Eileen Nauman. With more than 135 titles to her credit and approximately 23 million books sold in 33 countries world-wide, Lindsay is one of the most distinguished authors in the women’s fiction genre. She is the recipient of many awards, including six RT Book Reviews awards (including Best Military Romance Author) and an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award. In 1999, foreseeing the emergence of eBooks, she became the first bestselling women’s fiction author to exclusively release a new title digitally. In recognition of her status as one of the originators of the military adventure/romance genre, Lindsay is affectionately known as “The Top Gun of Women’s Military Fiction.” Lindsay comes by her military knowledge and interest honestly—by continuing a family tradition of serving in the U.S. Navy. Her father, who served on a destroyer in the Pacific theater during World War II, instilled a strong sense of patriotism and duty in his daughter.
You can visit Lindsay McKenna at:
www.LindsayMcKenna.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today bestselling author MARGARET WAY has written more than 130 books—many of them international bestsellers. She has been published in 114 countries and 34 languages. Her novels are set in her beloved Australia, where she was born and lives to this day. Her stories always contain the beauty and rugged nature of rural and Outback Australia, as well as the rainforests and coral reefs of Northern Queensland.