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State Of Emergency
Cassie Miles
Join these brave men and women for edge-of-your-seat suspense and happily-ever-after romance!HER FUGITIVE…Jordan Shane was in a serious bind. And Search and Rescue nurse Emily Foster was the one woman who could help him prove his innocence–and steal his heart right out from under him!HIS HOSTAGE…Emily Foster had had enough danger to last a lifetime. All she wanted was a quiet life in the mountains. Instead, she got an attractive fugitive who had taken her hostage–and made her believe in love. On their hair-raising mountain trek,did she dare risk everything for Jordan's life–and his love?
“I don’t want to sleep with you,” Emily said
But did she? From the first moment she’d laid eyes on Jordan, she had found him attractive. “If you lay one hand on me, I’ll—”
“I won’t touch you, Emily.” He straightened his spine. In spite of the lingering trail dust and the prison-issue denims, Jordan exuded the dignity of an honorable man. “You have my word as a gentleman.”
“Who do think you are? Rhett Butler?”
The right corner of his mouth quirked in a grin. “At your service, Miss Scarlett. Get in,” Jordan said.
Emily crawled inside, and the warmth of the lightweight sleeping bag snuggled around her. When Jordan joined her inside the bag, there was barely room to move. She couldn’t escape without waking him. And she wasn’t altogether sure she wanted to leave him.
It had been years since she’d been intimate with a man, and she’d forgotten how pleasant it was to lie close to a large masculine body. Tempting fate, she wriggled against him. His breath whispered deep and slow, echoing the rhythm of his heart. His natural male fragrance mingled with the fragrance of her soap. “Jordan?”
He was silent, already sound asleep. True to his word as a gentleman. Damn it.
Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,
Welcome to a brand-new year of exciting romance and edge-of-your-seat suspense. We at Harlequin Intrigue are thrilled to renew our commitment to you, our loyal readers, to provide variety and outstanding romantic suspense—each and every month.
To get things started right, veteran Harlequin Intrigue author Cassie Miles kicks off a two-book miniseries with State of Emergency. The COLORADO SEARCH AND RESCUE group features tough emergency personnel reared in the shadows of the rugged Rocky Mountains. Who wouldn’t want to be stranded with a western-born hunk trained to protect and serve?
Speaking of hunks, Debra Webb serves up a giant of a man in Solitary Soldier, the next installment in her COLBY AGENCY series. And you know what they say about the bigger they come the harder they fall…. Well, it goes double for this wounded hero.
Ann Voss Peterson takes us to the darkest part of a serial killer’s world in Accessory to Marriage. The second time around could prove to be the last—permanently—for both the hero and heroine in this gripping thriller.
Finally, please welcome Delores Fossen to the line. She joins us with a moving story of forced artificial insemination, which unites two strangers who unwittingly become parents…and eventually a family. Do not miss His Child for an emotional read.
Be sure to let us know how we’re doing; we love to hear from our readers! And Happy New Year from all of us at Harlequin Intrigue.
Sincerely,
Denise O’Sullivan
Associate Senior Editor
Harlequin Intrigue
State of Emergency
Cassie Miles
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cassie Mlles lives in Denver, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, with the traffic jams to prove it. She belongs to the film society and enjoys artsy subtitled cinema almost as much as movies where stuff blows up. Her favorite entertainment is urban, ranging from sports to museum exhibits to coffeehouse espresso. Yet she never loses sight of the Rocky Mountains through the kitchen window.
Books by Cassie Miles
HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE
122—HIDE AND SEEK
150—HANDLE WITH CARE
237—HEARTBREAK HOTEL
269—ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT?
285—DON’T BE CRUEL
320—MYSTERIOUS VOWS* (#litres_trial_promo)
332—THE SUSPECT GROOM* (#litres_trial_promo)
363—THE IMPOSTER
381—RULE BREAKER
391—GUARDED MOMENTS
402—A NEW YEAR’S CONVICTION
443—A REAL ANGEL
449—FORGET ME NOT
521—FATHER, LOVER, BODYGUARD** (#litres_trial_promo)
529—THE SAFE HOSTAGE** (#litres_trial_promo)
584—UNDERCOVER PROTECTOR
645—STATE OF EMERGENCY† (#litres_trial_promo)
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Emily Foster—The former emergency-room nurse seeks solitude and peace in the Colorado mountains where she works for Search and Rescue.
Jordan Shane—The Florida-based computer chip manufacturer, arrested and accused of murdering his estranged wife, makes a daring escape and is on the run.
Lynette Afton-Shane—The Aspen jet-setter and owner of two ski lodges is shot before she can divorce Jordan.
Brian Afton—Lynette’s brother inherits the bulk of her estate when she dies.
Sean Madigan—The professional skier who lives in the guest house on Lynette’s estate had an intense relationship with the deceased.
Deputy Ed Cooper—Sloppy police work leads to his downfall when he slides off a cliff.
Deputy Frank Kreiger—The overzealous law enforcement officer secretly loved Lynette and wants her murderer punished.
Dr. Spence Cannon—The local doctor, a good friend for Emily, also works for Search and Rescue.
Pookie—The golden retriever puppy is neither a watchdog nor a detective, but he helps solve the crime.
To Rosie. Hi, Mom!
Contents
Prologue (#u3cf6a05f-39db-5e56-9360-ac0009247772)
Chapter One (#u99878709-8b7c-5af3-b887-b4773c2e431a)
Chapter Two (#ucb14842a-4810-5c23-b1a5-e977ee42e32d)
Chapter Three (#u528ae36c-ecb6-5c26-a2c4-7af5d3ba8e65)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
July 25, Aspen, Colorado
Jordan Shane woke with a shudder. The guest bedroom in his wife’s house was cold as a morgue. The bedsheets and comforter weighed on his legs like a blanket of snow. He always felt half-frozen in the mountains, even now in the middle of summer.
A white sliver of light cut through the midnight dark. The bedroom door stood slightly ajar.
“Lynette?” He whispered his wife’s name. There was no reason for her to come to him in the night. They hadn’t been intimate for eleven months. They didn’t live in the same house. Most of the time, they weren’t even in the same latitude.
Jordan’s home and his business were in sun-baked Florida on the Gulf coast where semitropical breezes played in the lush green palm fronds. Most of the time, Lynette stayed here in Aspen, Colorado, where she owned two ski lodges and lived in the biggest damn house he’d ever seen. She called it a château. He called it a hotel because of the constant stream of friends and relatives who were usually taking up space in the sixteen extra bedrooms, not to mention Sean Madigan, a professional skier who lived in the guest house, or the housekeeper who had a good-size apartment behind the downstairs kitchen. Lynette didn’t like to be alone…not even with her husband.
She had, however, made an effort at privacy for Jordan’s midsummer visit. There were no business associates, no guests, no cousins, no friends. The granite château-hotel was eerily vacant.
Jordan had come to discuss the dissolution of their estranged marriage. This afternoon, when he proposed divorce, she agreed, asking only that he postpone legal action for a month to give her time to clean up a few business details. The end of their marriage would be amicable. No hard feelings. Their relationship just hadn’t worked out.
From the very start, they shared zero common interests. But Jordan had been blinded by Lynette’s astonishing physical beauty—her long, shining black hair, sapphire eyes and perfect creamy skin. Even now—with the marriage basically over—he fondly remembered her lush curves and full breasts. The thought of her naked body warmed him, and he reached across the king-size bed, hoping against the impossible that she might have joined him. For old times’ sake.
Groping at the pillow, he touched metal. His fingers closed around the grip of a handgun. His memory of Lynette’s perfume vanished as he caught the whiff of cordite and powder. This lightweight Glock automatic had recently been fired.
Jordan bolted from the bed, turned on the lamp and scanned the guest bedroom. Lynette’s antique furniture contrasted his laptop, printer and global cell phone. Nothing seemed to be out of place.
But somebody had been here. Somebody had left the gun.
He checked the clip, making sure the pistol was still loaded. He grabbed the cell phone before he opened the bedroom door and peered into the second-floor landing. One side of the hallway was open with a cherrywood railing that overlooked an atrium foyer. On the other side were the closed doors to guest bedrooms, all vacant.
His wife’s master bedroom suite was fifty yards away, at the south end of the house. Her double doors were wide open.
“Lynette!”
His voice echoed against the dark wainscoting and white walls, hung with original artwork. He didn’t call her name again. He was dead certain she wouldn’t answer.
Wearing only his boxer shorts, Jordan raced toward her suite. He burst through the sitting area into her white bedroom, stark as a glacial landscape. Track lighting blazed reflections against a wall of mirrors. At the foot of the four-poster bed, Lynette sprawled on the plush white carpet, stained crimson with her blood. Her lacy white nightgown hiked up to her thighs. She’d been shot in the chest.
Dropping the gun, Jordan fell to his knees beside her. At the base of her throat, he felt for a pulse. Nothing.
“Help!” Jordan yelled. The housekeeper ought to be downstairs. “Rita, help.”
Lynette’s blue eyes stared, blank and gelid. Her skin felt cool. She couldn’t be dead! There was color in her cheeks.
Jordan punched 9-1-1 into his cell phone. “Ambulance! Send an ambulance!” He gave the address. “How do I do CPR? Tell me!”
“Sir, if you will just stay on the line, I can—”
He threw down the phone. If there was life in Lynette’s body, he had to act fast. He straightened her legs. Her bare arms were slippery with blood. When he lifted her upper body, her head tilted back and her glossy black hair tumbled over his arm. For a moment, he cradled her against him. He’d wanted to end it. “But not like this. My God, not like this.”
Rita Ramirez, the housekeeper, appeared in the doorway, wearing a yellow chenille robe.
“Rita,” he said, “you’ve got to help her.”
The housekeeper took a backward step. Her hands flew to cover her mouth. “Mios Dio, Jordan. What have you done?”
Chapter One
September 16, Cascadia, Colorado
