Too Far Gone Read online

  She slapped him playfully for his boastfulness. “I will not say it,” she insisted, trying to squirm away.

  “I’ll make you say it,” Sean threatened. “I’ll tickle you till you say it.”

  “No!” Ellie cried, laughing as she struggled to free herself.

  “Yep,” insisted Sean, swiping her feet right out from underneath her. She couldn’t get the better of him this time. In an instant, he had her pegged to the floor, squirming helplessly beneath him. “Come on, boys. Help me get her to talk.”

  With a squeal and a roar, they attacked, dropping to their knees to rub their knuckles over Ellie’s ribs as she shrieked with helpless laughter. Even Colton joined in, straddling her free leg and using it as a hobby horse. “Stop! Stop!” she cried, gasping for breath between peals of laughter, tears streaking into her hairline. “Okay,” she relented. “Okay, okay, I’ll say it!”

  The tickling ceased. The boys drew back with expectant, happy faces. Ellie focused her watering eyes on Sean in time to see him swallow hard. His artery pulsed in his neck as he regarded her as if his whole future hinged on this moment.

  Sitting up, she reached for his hand and carried his callused palm to her cheek. Her heart flooded with feeling. “I’m not just crazy about you,” she confessed, self- conscious enough to feel her face heat. “I’m over the moon in love with you,” she admitted quickly. “And if you’re crazy enough to take us on, then, yes, I’ll even marry you. Why not?”

  With a long exhalation, he released the breath he was holding. “Phew, I had to work for that one,” he commented, wiping imaginary sweat from his brow.

  “Oh, hush.”

  “But you always make it worth that little bit of effort,” he added, his voice growing raspy as he leaned in to cover her lips with his.

  “Ew!” exclaimed Caleb, crawling away and giving them a wide berth.

  “Come on, let’s go back to our room,” Christopher suggested, snatching up the baby as Colton started crawling into his mother’s lap. There wouldn’t be room enough for him there in another few seconds.

  Whispering with excitement, they retreated down the hall, leaving their mother lost in Sean’s all-consuming kiss.

  Epilogue

  At the sound of approaching footsteps, Owen Dulay looked up, his heart faltering as he recognized Ashton Jameson being escorted by a prison guard to Owen’s private cell. The door scraped open, and Ashton edged inside, keeping his back to the light, his face in shadow.

  Owen had been expecting this visit. He rolled from his cot to greet him. Even in humble captivity, a Centurion was expected to display gentility. “Ashton,” he called, waving him deeper. “Come in.”

  As Ashton took an obliging step forward, his sunken eyes touched disdainfully upon the orange coveralls Owen was forced to wear. “I can’t stay long,” he began, ignoring Owen’s outstretched hand.

  The snub was intentional. Owen lowered his hand at the sobering realization that he’d get no help from the brotherhood now. Days of loyalty were over. As his trial approached, no doubt they feared he would betray them with a plea bargain. Surely Ashton knew him better than that.

  “I came to give you this,” said his longtime friend in a pained voice. Taking a vial from his pocket, he set it on Owen’s humble sink.

  For a long moment, with his blood running cold, Owen regarded the brownish vial. He knew what it contained. His death would be violent but swift. “Have you seen my daughter?” he inquired, dragging his gaze upward.

  “No,” said Ashton with contempt. “It is rumored that she will testify against you.”

  Owen grunted his acknowledgment. His daughter’s betrayal did not surprise him. She was, after all, the spitting image of her mother. “There won’t be a trial,” he answered softly, with resignation.

  Ashton nodded his approval, looking vastly relieved. “Well, then.” He groped for further words, but there was only one. “Good-bye.”

  “Good-bye, Ashton,” Owen replied.

  He waited for his fellow Centurion to be escorted from the cell. Then he carried the vial to his cot, sank weakly on one end of it, and regarded the amber-colored poison. With a cynical smile, he considered the ramifications of his death. The court would be denied the chance to try him. But most importantly, his worldly goods, those received by honest dealings, would be handed down to his heir.

  Christopher Stuart was about to become a millionaire, his monies held in trust for him by his attorney, Lynwood Spenser, a man sworn to keep Owen’s dreams close to his heart. Not even the Culprit, who had contributed to Owen’s downfall while retaining his anonymity and power, could get his hands on Owen’s fortune. It would pass, in Centurion tradition, to his most promising male heir, who, with Lynwood’s guidance, might one day assume his grandfather’s position in the hierarchy.

  With a tug of the cork, Owen freed the contents of the vial.

  Allowing himself no cowardly thought, he tipped it into his mouth and swallowed, confident that his legacy would live on.

  Dear Reader,

  If you read DON’T LET GO, you’ll remember Lucy Donovan, the intrepid CIA agent. Lucy is the CIA’s top choice for a rescue mission to Colombia, where American hostages are held deep in the jungle by rebel terrorists. Thrilled to take on an undercover assignment, Lucy hates the fact that Navy SEAL Gus Atwater, the only man she ever loved, will be her partner. At odds from the start, they trek deep into the jungle as part of a UN negotiating team. Their secret mission: to locate the hostages and summon Navy SEALs to extract them. Confronted with deadly obstacles and fanatic guerillas, Lucy and Gus must rely on each other for survival. When the tables suddenly turn, and they are torn apart, only then will they realize how deeply connected they’ve become.

  Please check out my Web site at www.marlissmelton.com for an excerpt from Lucy’s story.

  Enjoy!

  THE DISH

  Where authors give you the inside scoop!

  From the desk of Elizabeth Hoyt

  Gentle Reader,

  The hero of my book TO SEDUCE A SINNER (on sale now) Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, had quite a rocky road on his way to the altar. In fact, TO SEDUCE A SINNER opens with Vale being rejected by his fiancée—the second fiancée he’s had in six months. Thus, it should be no surprise that once married Vale endeavored to pass on some of his marital wisdom to other gentlemen. I’ll reprint his advice below.

  A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO MARRIAGE AND MANAGING THE LADY WIFE

  1. Chose carefully when selecting a bride. A lady with a sweet disposition, engaging smile, and full bosom is a boon to any man.

  2. However, should a gentleman find that he has been left at the altar yet again, he may find himself accepting the proposal of a lady of less than a full bosom and rather too much intelligence.

  3. Surprisingly, he may also find himself attracted to said lady.

  4. The marriage bed should be approached with delicacy and tenderness. Remember, your lady wife is a virgin of good family, and thus may be shocked or even repulsed by the activities of the marriage bed. Best to keep them short.

  5. However, try not to be too shocked if your lady wife turns out not to be shocked by the marriage bed.

  6. Or, even if she is wildly enthusiastic about her marital duties.

  7. If such is your case, you are a fortunate man indeed.

  8. The lady wife can be a mysterious creature, passionate, yet oddly secretive about her feelings toward you, her lord and husband.

  9. The gentleman may find his thoughts returning again and again to the subject of his lady wife’s feeling for him. “Does she love me?” you may wonder as you consume your morning toast. Try not to let these thoughts become too obsessive.

  10. Whatever you do, do not fall in love with your lady wife, no matter how alluring her lips or seductive her replies to your banter are. That way lies folly.

  Yours Very Sincerely,

  www.elizabethhoyt.com

  From the desk of Marliss Melton

 
Dear Reader,

  Sean Harlan, the hero of my latest book TOO FAR GONE (on sale now) is a killer. Surprised? I thought you might be. How could such a charming, sexy, fun-loving man with a sunny disposition and a special way with children be a sniper for his SEAL team? How could he be so ruthless and merciless, taking lives without remorse?

  Oddly enough, this all began with one of my kids. I wanted to create a hero with the same relaxed and irrepressible charm as my son. So Sean was born. But I did a little research into that “relaxed” personality type and learned something that blew me away: it’s the one and only personality type that makes up a natural born killer! Did you know that in battles, only 15 to 25 percent of infantrymen ever fire their weapons? And most fire over the heads of the enemy! Those who actually shoot to kill comprise less than 4 percent of those in battle yet they do half the killing!

  When I discovered this, I knew exactly who Sean was, dark side and all. He was a man that was indispensable to the military. After all, without men like Sean, armies would crumble and decisive battles would be lost. But I wanted Sean to be indispensable to a woman who needed him, too; so, I created Ellie Stuart as the perfect foil. As hesitant as she is about Sean’s killer instinct, she soon realizes that without Sean, she stands little chance of reclaiming her kidnapped sons. She also comes to see that her mother’s instinct makes killing a viable option and that she and Sean are not so different after all.

  It is my hope that you’ll love Sean as much as I do. Oh, and by the way, my son is a perfectly nice young man . . . so far.

  To learn more about Sean and Ellie’s personalities, visit the FUN STUFF page at www.marlissmelton.com.

  Thanks for reading,

  From the desk of Lani Diane Rich

  Dear Reader,

  Most often, when you write a book, people ask you why you chose that particular setting. All I can say about northern Idaho, the setting for my latest book, WISH YOU WERE HERE (on sale now), is that I drove through it once while moving with my family from Anchorage, Alaska to Syracuse, New York, and I was absolutely entranced. Given the hard-nosed business woman Freya was, I figured there would be no greater fish-out-of-water situation for her than being stuck in the middle of all those trees.

  One of the challenges of Freya’s story was where I’d left her at the end of CRAZY IN LOVE—on a road toward something of a mental breakdown. Like her sister Flynn, I felt it was high past time for Freya’s life to buck her off like a mechanical dive bar bronco; and so, it was with great relish that I saddled her with a rare “condition” and placed her in an impossible situation. While writing CRAZY IN LOVE, Freya was one of those magical secondary characters who just begged for her own book, and it was so much fun to spend this time with her and watch her grow into her own person.

  As for Nate, he was a lot of fun to write as well. Where Freya was hardened and tough, Nate was open, sensitive, and honorable. His relationship with Piper was especially fun for me to write, especially against the backdrop of Freya’s relationship with her own father. Nate’s a classic cleft-chin hero, but there was a lot of depth under those still waters, which made him a pleasure to write.

  I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I did writing it. Thanks so much!

  www.lanidianerich.com

  If you like Romantic Suspense . . .

  You’ll LOVE

  Shannon K. Butcher!!!

  NO REGRETS

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  “NO REGRETS is an absolute must read. This is a real page-turner—romantic suspense at its very best!”

  —MARIAH STEWART, New York Times bestselling author

  “Top pick! A promising new talent who wastes no time getting gritty has just joined the romantic suspense world . . . Butcher is a first-rate find!”

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine

  NO CONTROL

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  “Top pick! Butcher is on the fast track to becoming a major presence in the romantic suspense genre. Chilling plotlines and layered characters add serious punch to this thriller.”

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine

  “Explosive passion and a touch of tenderness combine with fast-paced action and gritty, vengeful violence in this high-speed thriller . . . it’s a winner.”

  —Library Journal

  AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD

  WANT MORE BONECHILLING SUSPENSE? CHECK OUT THESE TERRIFYING TALES BY KAREN ROSE

  DON’T TELL

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  “Utterly compelling . . . high-wire suspense that keeps you riveted to the edge of your seat.”

  —Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author

  HAVE YOU SEEN HER?

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  “Offering heart-racing thrills . . . Rose populates her novel with vivid characters . . . and stokes the tension to a fever pitch, throwing in shocking twists.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  I’M WATCHING YOU

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  “A sensual, riveting book that kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved this book, and if I had to rate it, it would be off the chart.”

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  NOTHING TO FEAR

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  “A caring women’s advocate heroine, a determined, gritty hero, and a diabolical villain drive the plot of Rose’s riveting story.”

  —Library Journal

  YOU CAN’T HIDE

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  “Densely plotted and with amazing twists, this novel is, in a word, riveting.”

  —Romantic Times BookClub

  COUNT TO TEN

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  “Takes off like a house afi re. There’s action and chills galore in this nonstop thriller.”

  —Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author

  AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD

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