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Protector, Lover...Husband?: In the Dark / Sure Bet / Deadly Exposure
Heather Graham
Maggie Price
Linda Turner
Her life is at stake… He’s sworn to protect her, but will he steal her heart? In the Dark Heather Graham Alexandra’s perfect life is crumbling. There’s a killer on her trail and her mysterious ex-husband David has chosen this moment to reappear. And, when she and gorgeous protector David get trapped together, Alex wonders if her love or her life will be forfeit…Sure Bet Maggie Price Posing as newly weds, new cop Morgan is partnered with renegade Alex to investigate a series of murders. Both Alex and Morgan are reluctant to admit their desire for one another. Yet could their real passion be denied when they were so ‘up close and personal’?Deadly Exposure Linda Turner Beautiful photographer Lily didn’t want to depend on anyone for help – especially not pulse-stopping, jade-eyed cop Tony Giovani. But now her only protection from the man who’s threatening her life is this man who sends her heart racing…
Only one man can save her!
Protector, Lover…Husband?
Three thrilling and breathtaking romances from three beloved Mills & Boon authors!
Protector, Lover…Husband?
Heather Graham
Maggie Price
Linda Turner
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
In August 2010 Mills & Boon bring you four classic collections, each featuring three favourite romances by our bestselling authors
THE SPANIARD’S PLEASURE
The Spaniard’s Pregnancy Proposal by Kim Lawrence
At the Spaniard’s Convenience by Margaret Mayo
Taken: the Spaniard’s Virgin by Lucy Monroe
BOUGHT FOR HIS BED
Virgin Bought and Paid For by Robyn Donald
Bought for Her Baby by Melanie Milburne
Sold to the Highest Bidder! by Kate Hardy
THE MILLIONAIRE’S CLUB: CONNOR, TOM & GAVIN
Round-the-Clock Temptation by Michelle Celmer
Highly Compromised Position by Sara Orwig
A Most Shocking Revelation by Kristi Gold
PROTECTOR, LOVER…HUSBAND?
In the Dark by Heather Graham
Sure Bet by Maggie Price
Deadly Exposure by Linda Turner
In the Dark
by
Heather Graham
New York Times bestselling author HEATHER GRAHAM has written more than ninety novels. There are more than twenty million copies of her books in print. Heather lives with her husband and five children in Miami, Florida.
To Mary Stella, with lots of love.
To both the Dolphin Research Organisation and the Theatre of the Sea, with thanks.
Prologue
Alex nearly screamed as her foot hit the shell. She choked down the sound just in time but still stumbled, and that was when she fell.
She’d missed the shell, running in the dark. As she lay there, winded from landing hard on the sand, she damned the darkness. In just another few hours, it would be light.
In just a matter of minutes, the eye of the storm would have passed and the hundred-mile winds of Hurricane Dahlia would be picking up again. And here she was, lying next to the water, completely vulnerable.
She rolled quickly, gasping for breath, ready to leap back to her feet. She didn’t dare take the time to survey the injury to her foot, as the constant prayer that had been rushing through her mind continued. Please, just let me reach the resort. Please…
A thrashing sound came from the brush behind her.
The killer was close.
She would have to run again, heading for the safety of the resort. Or would even that be safety now?
She needed to reach the resort without being seen, needed to reach the lockbox behind the check-in, where the Smith & Wesson was kept. She was almost certain no one else had taken the gun.
Move! She silently commanded herself. What was she waiting for?
There was no one who could help her, no one she could trust.
She had to depend on only herself, no matter how desperately she wanted to believe in at least one man…
It was then that, so near that she could recognize him despite the darkness, she saw Len Creighton, prone on the sand.
Another body she thought, panic rising in her. Well, she had wondered where he was. And now she knew. He was lying facedown on the sand, a trickle of blood running down his face. The wild surf was breaking over his legs; where he lay surrounded by clumps of seaweed. Already, little crabs were scouring the area, carefully eyeing what they hoped would be their next meal.
She choked back a scream. Above her, the clouds broke. Pale light emerged from the heavens.
And that was when the first man exploded from the bush.
“Alex!” he called. “Get over here.”
He stood there, panting for breath, beckoning to her, eyes sharply surveying the area. And he was carrying a speargun, one that had been used on some living creature already—blood dripped from the tip. “Alex, you’ve got to trust me. Come with me now—quickly.”
“No!”
He spun on a dime at the sound of the second voice.
A second man. This one carrying a Glock, which was aimed at the first man.
“Alex, come to me. Get away from him,” the newcomer insisted.
The men faced off, staring, each one aware of the weapon the other was carrying.
“Alex!”
This time, she wasn’t even sure which man spoke. Once she had trusted them both. One, she had loved before. The other had so nearly seduced her heart in the days just past.
“Alex!”
There was what appeared to be a dead man at her feet. A co-worker. A friend. She should be down on her knees, attempting to find life, however hopeless that might be. But one of the two men facing her was a killer. She couldn’t look away. Seconds ticked by, and she stood frozen in place.
Her heart insisted that it couldn’t be either man.
Especially not him.
She couldn’t think. She could only stand there and stare, eyes going from one man to the other, everything within her soul screaming that neither one of them could be a killer.
But one of them was.
She could feel the ocean lapping over her feet. She knew these waters so well, like the back of her hand.
So did they.
No, not these waters. Not this island. She knew it as few other people could.
There was only one thing she could do, even though it was insanity. The storm might have passed for the moment, but the sea was far from placid. The waves were still deadly. The currents would be merciless.
And yet…
She had no other choice.
She turned to the sea and dove into it, and as she swam for her life, she realized that a few days ago, she wouldn’t have believed this.
That was when it had all begun. Just days ago.
She felt the surge of her arms and legs as she strove to put distance between herself and the shore.
Something sped past her in the water. A bullet? A spear?
People always said that in the last seconds of someone’s life, their entire past rushed before their eyes.
She wasn’t seeing that far back.
Just to that morning, by the dolphin lagoon, when she had found the first body on the beach.
The one that had disappeared.
Chapter One
“The main thing to remember is that here at Moon Bay, we consider our dolphins our guests. When you’re swimming with them, don’t turn and stalk them, because, for one thing, they’re faster than you can begin to imagine, and they’ll disappear on you in seconds flat. And also, they hate it. Let them come to you—and they will. They’re here because they’re social creatures. We never force them to interact with people—they want to. Any animal in the lagoon knows how to leave the playing arena. And when they choose to leave, we respect their desire to do so. When they come to you naturally, you’re free to stroke them as they pass. Try to keep your hands forward of the dorsal fin. And just stroke—don’t pound or scratch, okay?”
Alex McCord’s voice was smooth and normal—or so she hoped—as she spoke with the group of eight gathered before her. She had done a lot of smiling, while she first assured the two preteen girls and the teenage boy, who looked like a troublemaker, that she wasn’t angry but they would follow the rules. A few of her other smiles had been genuine and directed at two of the five adults rounding out the dive, the father of the boy and the mother of the girls.
Then there were her forced smiles. Her face was beginning to hurt, those smiles were so forced.
Because she just couldn’t believe who was here.
The world was filled with islands. And these days the world was even filled with islands that offered a dozen variations of the dolphin experience.
So what on earth was David Denhem doing here, on her island, suddenly showing an extraordinary curiosity regarding her dolphins? Especially when his experiences must reduce her swims to a mom-and-pop outing, since he’d been swimming with great whites at the Great Barrier Reef, photographed whales in the Pacific, fed lemon sharks off Aruba and filmed ray encounters in Grand Cayman. So why was he here? It had been months since she’d seen him, heard from him or even bothered to read any of the news articles regarding him.
But here he was, the ultimate ocean man. Diver, photographer and salvage entrepreneur extraordinaire. Six-two, broad shoulders bronzed, perfect features weathered, deep blue gaze focused on her as if he were fascinated by her every word, even though his questions made it clear he knew as much about dolphins as she did.
She might not have minded so much, except that for once she had been looking forward to the company of another man—an arresting and attractive man who apparently found her attractive, as well.
John Seymore, an ex–navy SEAL, was looking to set up a dive business in the Keys. Physically, he was like a blond version of David. And his eyes were green, a pleasant, easygoing, light green. Despite his credentials, he’d gone on her morning dive tour the day before, and she’d chatted with him at the Tiki Hut last night and found out that he’d signed on for the dolphin swim, as well. He’d admitted that he knew almost nothing about the creatures but loved them.
She’d had a couple of drinks…she’d danced. She’d gone so far as to imagine sex.
And now…here was David. Distorting the image of a barely formed mirage before it could even begin to find focus. They were divorced. She had every right to envision a life with another man, so the concept of a simple date shouldn’t make her feel squeamish. After all, she sincerely doubted that her ex-husband had been sitting around idle for a year.
“They’re really the most extraordinary creatures in the world,” Laurie Smith, one of Alex’s four assistants, piped up. Had she simply stopped speaking, Alex wondered, forcing Laurie to chime in. Actually, Alex was glad Laurie had spoken up. Alex had been afraid that she was beginning to look like a bored tour guide, which wasn’t the case at all. She had worked with a number of animals during her career. She had never found any as intelligent, clever and personable as dolphins. Dogs were great; and so were chimps, but dolphins were magical.
“You never feel guilty, as if the dolphins are scientific rats in a lab—except, of course, that entertaining tourists isn’t exactly medical research.”
That came from the last member of the group, the man to whom she needed to be giving the most serious attention. Hank Adamson. He wasn’t as muscled or bronzed as David and John, but he was tall and lithe, wiry, sandy-haired, and wearing the most stylish sunglasses available. He was handsome in a smooth, sleek, electric way and could be the most polite human being on earth. He could also be cruel. He was a local columnist, and he also contributed to travel magazines and tour guides about the area. He could, if he thought it was justified, be savage, ripping apart motels, hotels, restaurants, theme parks and clubs. There was something humorous about his acidic style, which led to his articles being syndicated across the country. Alex found him an irritating bastard, but Jay Galway, manager of the entire Moon Bay facility, was desperate to get a good review from the man.
Adamson had seemed to enjoy the dive-boat activities the day before. She’d been waiting for some kind of an assault, though, since he’d set foot on the island. And here it was.
“The lagoon offers the animals many choices, Mr. Adamson. They can play, or they can retire to their private area. Additionally, our dolphins were all born in captivity, except for Shania, and she was hurt so badly by a boat propeller that she wouldn’t have survived in the open sea. We made one attempt to release her, and she came right back. Dolphins are incredibly intelligent creatures, and I believe that they’re as interested in learning about our behavior as we are in theirs.” She shifted focus to address the group at large. “Let’s begin. Is there any particular behavior you’ve seen or experienced with the dolphins you’d like to try again.”
“I want to ride a dolphin,” the boy, Zach, said.
“The fin ride. Sure, we can start with that. Would you like to go first?”
“Yeah, can I?”
