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Passion and Peril: Scenes of Passion / Scenes of Peril
Suzanne Brockmann
Jill Sorenson
SCENES OF PASSIONSafe and steady pretty much sums up Maggie Stanton's life. But a chance encounter stirs long-buried desires and urges her to do the unimaginable – take a risk. Shockingly, the man who convinces her to forsake predictability for passion is the full-grown version of her childhood best friend. Only, this Matthew Stone wants more and Maggie almost believes that their whirlwind romance is meant to be. Then she learns that Matthew is keeping a secret… and the consequences could change everything…SCENES OF PERILThe snowstorm forecast says it’s a big one, but wildlife photographer Paige Dawson is prepared. Until a terrible car accident brings a sexy stranger to her remote mountain cabin and the bad weather strands them together… for days. The heat between them is like nothing she’s ever known—incendiary, undeniable. And just as she begins to hope for something real with Colin Reid, after the snow melts, he remembers what caused his accident… and it may be too late for them both.
Acclaimed authors Suzanne Brockmann and Jill Sorenson bring you two tales of sizzling attraction…where danger is never far behind
Scenes of Passion
Safe and steady pretty much sums up Maggie Stanton’s life. But a chance encounter stirs long-buried desires and urges her to do the unimaginable—take a risk. Shockingly, the man who convinces her to forsake predictability for passion is the full-grown version of her childhood best friend. Only, this Matthew Stone wants more and Maggie almost believes that their whirlwind romance is meant to be. Then she learns that Matthew is keeping a secret…and the consequences could change everything….
Scenes of Peril
The snowstorm forecast says it’s a big one, but wildlife photographer Paige Dawson is prepared. Until a terrible car accident brings a sexy stranger to her remote mountain cabin and the bad weather strands them together…for days. The heat between them is like nothing she’s ever known—incendiary, undeniable. And just as she begins to hope for something real with Colin Reid, after the snow melts, he remembers what caused his accident…and it may be too late for them both.
Praise for the novels of Suzanne Brockmann
“Zingy dialogue, a great sense of drama,
and a pair of lovers who generate enough steam heat to power a whole city.”
—RT Book Reviews on Hero Under Cover
“Readers will be on the edge of their seats.”
—Library Journal on Breaking Point
“Another excellently paced, action-filled read.
Brockmann delivers yet again!”
—RT Book Reviews on Into the Storm
“Funny, sexy, suspenseful, and superb.”
—Booklist on Hot Target
Praise for the novels of Jill Sorenson
“Sorenson fuels this fast-paced romantic thriller
with nonstop adrenaline….This twisty roller-coaster ride keeps the pages turning.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Aftershock
“This goes down as one of the best I’ve ever read.
Bar none.”
—New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks
on Dangerous to Touch
“One of the best books of the year…
nonstop, heart-pounding excitement.”
—RT Book Reviews on Stranded with Her Ex,
Top Pick! 4.5 stars
Passion and Peril
Scenes of Passion
Suzanne Brockmann
Scenes of Peril
Jill Sorenson
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Scenes of Passion (#u035089ae-e3e9-55cf-8ef6-7f5f0f5270c3)
Scenes of Peril (#litres_trial_promo)
Scenes of Passion
Suzanne Brockmann
For Melanie and Jason.
Contents
Chapter One (#ubc654527-816f-57f6-a139-c6cde294c1c6)
Chapter Two (#u015881f7-fa9c-57c6-8e08-7f70b9850d83)
Chapter Three (#ua913fb5e-8b80-564a-b770-db0f86079802)
Chapter Four (#ub84f9be4-ca8e-5b39-bb8c-dd19ad7f2c08)
Chapter Five (#ufef1440c-7fab-56d5-8fb6-da208c92473a)
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)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
TRAFFIC ON ROUTE 95 was in a snarl again.
Maggie Stanton sat in her car, too tired even to flip through radio stations to find a song that annoyed her less than the one that was playing. She was too tired to do much of anything besides breathe.
Or maybe tired wasn’t the right word. Maybe discouraged was more accurate. Or downtrodden.
No, downtrodden implied a certain resistance to being trod upon.
Maggie was just plain pathetic. She was a doormat. A wimp without a life of her own.
She was twenty-nine years old and she was living at home. Yes, she’d moved back in with her parents because of the fire in her apartment.
But that was three years ago.
First her mother had asked her to stay to help with Vanessa’s wedding.
When 9/11 happened, her father had asked her to keep living at home a little longer, and somehow another year had passed.
Then right after Maggie had found a terrific new place in the city, her grandmother had died, and she couldn’t leave while her mother was feeling so blue.
It was now way past time to leave—a quarter past ridiculous—and her mother was making noise about how silly it would be for Maggie to get a place of her own when she was on the verge of getting married.
Uh, Mom? Don’t get the invitations engraved just yet. The bride kind of needs to be in love with the groom before that happens, doesn’t she?
Although, like most of the major decisions in Maggie’s life, it was possible that this one would be made by her parents, too. And she would just stand there, the way she always did, and nod and smile.
God, she was such a loser.
Maggie’s cell phone rang, saving her from the additional tedium of self-loathing. “Hello?”
“Hey, pumpkin.”
Someone kill her now. She was dating a man who called her pumpkin. No, she wasn’t just dating him; she was—as her mother called it—preengaged.
Yes, Brock “Hey, Pumpkin” Donovan had actually asked her to marry him. Maggie had managed to stall for the past few weeks—which turned out to be an enormous mistake. She should have said no immediately, right before she ran screaming from the room. Instead, because she was a wimp and rarely screamed about anything, she’d put it off. Her wimp thinking was that she’d find the right time and place to let him down without hurting his feelings. Instead, he’d gone and told Maggie’s older sister Vanessa, who was married to Brock’s former college roommate, that he’d popped the question. And Van had told their parents, and...
Segue to Mom buying Bride magazine and starting negotiations with the Hammonassett Inn.
Maggie’s parents had been so excited, they’d wanted to throw a preengagement party, for crying out loud. Fortunately, the only date Mom had had available was this Saturday—the day that Eastfield Community Theater was holding auditions for their summer show.
And they knew not to schedule something on that day.
Maggie’s involvement in theater was the only thing she had ever put her foot down about. Her parents had wanted her to go to Yale, so she’d gone to Yale instead of Emerson’s performing-arts school. Yale had a terrific drama department, but her parents had made so much noise about starving artists needing a career to fall back on, she’d majored instead in business. After college, the noise had continued, so she’d gone to law school instead of moving to New York City and auditioning for a part on a soap opera. Her father had wanted her to work for his lawyer buddies at Andersen and Brenden here in New Haven, and here she was.
Stuck in traffic after putting in a twenty-seven-hour day at A&B. Preengaged, heaven help her, to a man who called her pumpkin.
Living her life vicariously through the roles she played onstage at ECT.
Because God forbid she ever say no and disappoint anyone.
Wimp.
“I’m still at work,” Brock told her now, over the phone. “It’s crazy here. I’m going to have to cancel, sweetheart. You don’t mind, do you?”
Maggie had actually taken her gym bag with her to work despite the fact that she and Brock were supposed to have dinner. More often than not, Brock canceled or arrived at the restaurant very late.
Of course, tonight was the night she’d planned to let him down. Gently, with no screaming and relatively little pain.
And yes, that was relief flooding through her, chicken that she was. There was also annoyance, she realized. This man allegedly loved her. He said he wanted to marry her, for crying out loud.
And yet his idea of wooing her was to repeatedly break dinner dates at the last minute.
She could imagine their wedding day—Brock calling her as she sat dressed in her wedding gown in a sleek white limo being driven to the church.
“Pumpkin!” he’d boom over the cell phone’s little speaker. “Something’s come up. Compu-dime’s systems have gone haywire! They need me in Dallas, pronto. We’re going to have to reschedule—you don’t mind, do you?”
And there it was—one of the reasons Brock wanted to marry her. She was so completely, idiotically compliant.
Of course she didn’t mind. She never minded. She always did what was asked or expected of her, with a smile on her idiotic face.
She was such a loser.
