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Best-Kept Secrets
Dani Sinclair
Welcome to Mystery Junction–where danger and desire are just around the corner!He was a man of secrets, and enigmatic newcomer Jake Collins had the whole town talking.Yet one woman knew who he really was. He'd been Amy Thomas's first and only love, and he'd vanished from her life without a trace. But the ex-Navy officer had left her with one precious secret of her own…their daughter.Now, when the time had finally arrived to reveal the truth, Amy found her life suddenly jeopardized by skeletons of the past. And her only source of protection was Jake's strong embrace. He was a man who'd battled danger daily, who would win at any cost. But dare Amy trust in Jake's honor once more–allowing herself to succumb to him body and soul? For this time, she could be the one to pay the ultimate price.
FOOLS POINT GAZETTE
The town of Fools Point, Maryland, has seen quite a few odd occurrences in the past year. Explosions, shoot-outs, kidnappings…and a fair share of weddings. So much has happened here, in fact, the townsfolk have taken to calling the place MYSTERY JUNCTION. This is, after all, the place where one can find danger and desire around every corner.
Folks are still wondering about our newest business owner, Jake Collins. Though gossip is flying that he has connections to the Mafia, or he was wounded in battle, Jake won’t say a word about his past. But let’s not forget that he has taken in that troubled teen, Matt Williams. Jake can’t be all bad.
Speaking of possible relationships…Now that Amy Thomas has moved back to town, does anyone see a resemblance between her young daughter and Jake Collins? It’s in the smile, I’d say. Amy has been overseas these past several years, and some insist that Jake was in the military—though no one seems to know where he was stationed. Hmm. Anyone up for a doing a little math?
Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,
The recipe for a perfect Valentine’s Day: chocolate, champagne—and four original romantic suspense titles from Harlequin Intrigue!
Our TOP SECRET BABIES promotion kicks off with Rita Herron’s Saving His Son (#601). Devastated single mother Lindsey Payne suspects her child is alive and well—and being kept from her deliberately. The only man who’d be as determined as she is to find her child is Detective Gavin McCord—if he knew he’d fathered her missing baby….
In Best-Kept Secrets (#602) by Dani Sinclair, the tongues in MYSTERY JUNCTION are wagging about newcomer Jake Collins. Amy Thomas’s first and only love has returned at last and she’s ready to tell him the secret she’s long kept hidden. But would revealing it suddenly put her life in jeopardy?
Our ON THE EDGE program continues with Private Vows (#603) by Sally Steward. A beautiful amnesiac is desperate to remember her past. Investigator Cole Grayson is desperate to keep it hidden. For if she remembers the truth, she’d never be his….
Bachelor Will Sheridan thinks he’s found the perfect Mystery Bride (#604) in B.J. Daniels’s latest romantic thriller. But the sexy and provocative Samantha Murphy is a female P.I. in the middle of a puzzling case when Will suddenly becomes her shadow. Now with desire distracting her and a child’s life in the balance, Samantha and Will are about to discover the true meaning of “partnership”!
Sincerely,
Denise O’Sullivan
Associate Senior Editor
Harlequin Intrigue
Best-Kept Secrets
Dani Sinclair
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An avid reader, Dani Sinclair didn’t discover romance novels until her mother lent her one when she’d come for a visit. Dani’s been hooked on the genre ever since. With the premiere of Mystery Baby for Harlequin Intrigue in 1996, Dani discovered she not only enjoyed reading this genre, she loved writing the intense stories, as well. Her third novel, Better Watch Out, was a RITA Award finalist in 1998. Dani lives outside Washington, D.C., a place she’s found to be a great source for both intrigue and humor!
Books by Dani Sinclair
HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE
371—MYSTERY BABY
401—MAN WITHOUT A BADGE
448—BETTER WATCH OUT
481—MARRIED IN HASTE
507—THE MAN SHE MARRIED
539—FOR HIS DAUGHTER* (#litres_trial_promo)
551—MY BABY, MY LOVE* (#litres_trial_promo)
565—THE SILENT WITNESS* (#litres_trial_promo)
589—THE SPECIALIST
602—BEST-KEPT SECRETS* (#litres_trial_promo)
HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION
790—THE NAKED TRUTH
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Amy Thomas—Trapped in a web of lies whose origins she can’t begin to comprehend, a web that threatens to destroy her family.
Jake Collins—Made a serious error nine years ago; now time is running out for him to make amends.
Kelsey Thomas—The eight-year-old has become a pawn in a thirty-year-old nightmare.
Matt Williams—Jake’s teenaged nephew has a history of being in trouble and now he really wants to change his image.
Susan and Cornelius Thomas—Amy’s parents share a secret that threatens to destroy their world and the family they love above all else.
General Marcus Perry—Above reproach and up for his second star, but he’s been keeping a terrible secret all these years.
Millicent Perry—The general’s proper Bostonian wife.
Gertrude Perry—The general’s sister is slipping in and out of dementia, but just maybe, her ramblings hold the key to everything.
Cindy Lou Perry Baranski—The general’s daughter who is up for reelection as the town mayor.
Eugene Perry—The general’s son spends a great deal of time and money inside the local bar, with no visible means of support.
Ben Dwyer—The Perrywinkle’s bartender, who may have a few secrets of his own.
John Hepplewhite—Fools Point’s police chief always gets his man.
DEDICATION
For Mary McGowan, an unconditional friend.
Thank you. For Natashya Wilson and the past two years
of friendship and support. And for Roger, Chip,
Dan and Barb always.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Many thanks to Sgt. Rick Cage and Officer Melissa Parlon of the Montgomery County Police Department. They generously shared their time answering numerous questions. Errors in police procedure are mine alone or were purposefully done to fit the needs of the story.
Contents
Prologue (#u8a55bae4-4717-5b16-ba37-05fef9fec411)
Chapter One (#ua22786d4-beaa-55df-9b8e-695651af6ac5)
Chapter Two (#u618c2fbe-991e-5a07-a7da-a3be69a67250)
Chapter Three (#u91990a5d-b69f-5ecc-970b-594d25e602fe)
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)
Prologue
The workman’s heavy-booted foot dislodged something, causing it to roll across the ground and bounce off the side wall. The flashlight followed its course, spotlighting the dirt-encrusted skull.
“Holy sh—”
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Oh, man, oh, man, oh—”
“Come on,” Will said, reaching for the ladder, not waiting to see if Buddy followed on his heels. The burly foreman stepped back as the two men scrambled over the lip of the hole and into the brilliant September sunshine.
“What the hell are you doing?” Zeke demanded.
Will pointed, angry that his hand was shaking. “We got us some bodies down there.”
“In the sinkhole?”
“That ain’t no sinkhole,” Will told him. “There’s some kinda room down there.”
“What?”
“Yeah.” Will hated that he was still shaking. “Buddy, you’d better go tell the boss.”
Zeke stared at them. “Never mind the boss, Buddy, go get the police.”
Buddy’s eyes were wide, his skin strangely pale beneath his dark bronze tan. He skirted the pile of debris from the torn-up corner of the parking lot, headed around the dump truck with its heavy load of gravel and started running across the tarmac in spite of it being ninety-eight degrees in the shade. The other two men watched him head for the restaurant before turning to peer back down into the hole.
“You sure about this?” Zeke asked again.
“I know a skull when I see one,” Will growled. “Even a tiny one like that.”
“Tiny?”
Will sized it in the air with his hands. “There’s another one. Bigger. You wanna go look?”
“Hell, no.” He tipped back his hard hat and scratched at his thinning hair. “It could be an animal,” he said hopefully.
Will didn’t dignify that with an answer.
“You just better be sure, is all,” Zeke said.
“I’m sure.”
The two men resumed staring into the deep hole.
“What’s going on here?”
They whirled, Zeke nearly falling into the opening at the sound of their current employer’s deep voice. Jake Collins, owner of the restaurant whose parking lot they’d been hired to fix, stood staring at them, his dark eyes watching intently. He was rumored to be a gambler with Mafia connections. No one seemed to know if it was true or not, and no one had the guts to ask him. But he sure looked the part.
Everyone in Fools Point was a little afraid of Jake Collins.
“Buddy says you found two bodies,” Jake said quietly.
The foreman nodded his balding head. “It’s true, Mr. Collins. Down there. Reason the parking lot collapsed is someone built it over an old root cellar or something. Bodies are at the bottom.”
“Whose bodies?”
Zeke looked at Will who swallowed before shaking his head. He hoped the only thing shaking was his head beneath that penetrating gaze.
