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Discovering Duncan
Mary Anne Wilson
When You Least Expect It…P.I. Lauren Carter has worked hard to get where she is. So when the chance to seek out and bring home a top-notch business heir lands in her lap, Lauren is determined to do the job right. Too bad Duncan Bishop seems perfectly happy living in the sleepy ski town of Silver Creek, Nevada. And in truth, the magic of small-town living soon shrouds her in its protective embrace. Not only that, but spending so much time with Duncan has shaken her cool, professional demeanor. Now, torn between her rapidly growing feelings for Duncan and dedication to her job, Lauren realizes that this assignment can make or break her carefully crafted plans for the future.Return to Silver Creek: You can go home again…
Duncan watched as Lauren turned those incredible eyes on him
“So, you’re a pool shark, huh? And you accused me of being one.”
He was glad that he hadn’t been able to sleep tonight, that he’d gone out to get a drink because his room had seemed so vast and empty. He liked being here with her. “I’m not that good. Trust me.”
She smiled at him, a gentle expression, and he wished he could make her smile on command. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
He found himself staring at her lips, and looked away. Needing a distraction—fast—he took his shot. A striped ball fell into the corner pocket, another one dropped into a side pocket.
They continued to play, and he was doing well until he sensed Lauren behind him and missed.
“Too bad,” she murmured as she leaned halfway across the table, lined up her shot, called it and made it. Along with two more. He studied the table, and couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Duncan wanted to get to know her. He wanted to know what made Lauren Carter tick.
And he had some pretty good ideas about how he’d go about finding that out.
Dear Reader,
Discovering Duncan is the first of four books in my RETURN TO SILVER CREEK series.
Lauren Carter goes to Silver Creek, a small skiing town in the high mountain country of Nevada, as a private investigator. She’s trying to track down Duncan Bishop, a man who has all but dropped out of his world. She expects to find a man running away, a man who has turned his back on his wealth and power, but instead she finds a man in search of himself, a man going back to his past to find his future.
Returning to Silver Creek lets four men who are at life-changing moments discover that they can indeed go home again. And that sometimes the answers are where we least expect to find them.
I hope you enjoy Discovering Duncan, and will look for my next book, Judging Joshua, in August 2005.
Discovering Duncan
Mary Anne Wilson
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary Anne Wilson is a Canadian transplanted to Southern California, where she lives with her husband, three children and an assortment of animals. She knew she wanted to write romances when she found herself “rewriting” the great stories in literature, such as A Tale of Two Cities, to give them “happy endings.” Over her long career she’s published more than thirty romances, had her books on bestseller lists, been nominated for Reviewer’s Choice Awards and received a Career Achievement Award in Romantic Suspense. She’s looking forward to her next thirty books.
Books by Mary Anne Wilson
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
495—HART’S OBSESSION
523—COULD IT BE YOU?
543—HER BODYGUARD
570—THE BRIDE WORE BLUE JEANS
589—HART’S DREAM
609—THE CHRISTMAS HUSBAND
637—NINE MONTHS LATER…
652—MISMATCHED MOMMY?
670—JUST ONE TOUCH
700—MR. WRONG!
714—VALENTINE FOR AN ANGEL
760—RICH, SINGLE & SEXY
778—COWBOY IN A TUX
826—THAT NIGHT WE MADE BABY
891—REGARDING THE TYCOON’S TODDLER…* (#litres_trial_promo)
895—THE C.E.O. & THE SECRET HEIRESS * (#litres_trial_promo)
899—MILLIONAIRE’S CHRISTMAS MIRACLE * (#litres_trial_promo)
909—THE MCCALLUM QUINTUPLETS
“And Babies Make Seven”
952—MONTANA MIRACLE
1003—PREDICTING RAIN? * (#litres_trial_promo)
1005—WINNING SARA’S HEART * (#litres_trial_promo)
1009—WHEN MEGAN SMILES * (#litres_trial_promo)
1062—DISCOVERING DUNCAN † (#litres_trial_promo)
For Taylor Anne Levin.
I love you more than you can say you love me!
Contents
Chapter One (#u3bc6ed60-0aa5-5ee6-9ca6-822b157cc750)
Chapter Two (#u4402af6f-3d38-5473-bed7-629d68d5d940)
Chapter Three (#uebf2f241-fa0f-5700-9ed9-0c4e48888b37)
Chapter Four (#u0ea1a91d-3d7e-58fd-a111-d0a79b010576)
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)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
“It’s nothing personal. This is business.”
Duncan Bishop stared down at his father who sat behind the huge wood-and-marble desk in the private office of the CEO of Bishop International. The room was dead silent as the old man’s words faded into nothingness.
Duncan Ross Bishop, or D.R. as he liked to be called, stared right back at his son, a look on his face that Duncan had seen many times in the years he’d been part of the Bishop business dealings. The “I’m doing it my way, so get out of my way” look. Before it had been annoying, maybe even frustrating, but now it was sickening.
“Gary Tellgare is a friend.”
D. R. Bishop, a giant of a man, was as fit and hard physically as he was in the business world. With a full head of snow-white hair, a neatly trimmed beard to match, a deeply tanned complexion and a penchant for dark suits that emphasized his size, he knew how to intimidate. With the wave of a hand, he lopped off heads in business and never flinched.
Now he waved his large hand dismissively at Duncan on the other side of the desk. “Damn it, that doesn’t have any bearing on this. There are no friends in business. We need his routing division, and Tellgare runs a half-baked company that doesn’t need it. So, we get it…any way we can.”
Although Duncan never wore a beard, and his hair was dark brown with gold highlights, he matched his father physically with a solid, six-foot-three-inch frame, tanned skin, dark brown eyes and a penchant for dark, three-piece business suits. But other than DNA, right now they had nothing in common. “You’ve crossed the line if you try to ruin Tellgare.”
D.R. rocked his leather chair back, tented his fingers and studied his son with eyes as dark as night. “Crossed the line?”
Duncan leaned forward, pressing both palms down on the reflective surface of the cold desk. “Damn straight.”
“Oh, come on,” D.R. said with an exaggerated sigh. “I don’t have time for this bleeding-heart garbage. Just get it done.”
Duncan had heard those words before, and he was incredibly tired of them. He felt numb from watching his father destroy anything in his path. “I don’t have time for this, either,” he finally said as he straightened.
“Then get on with it.” D.R. pushed a folder on his desk over to Duncan. “Get to Legal and tell them to change this.”
He ignored the file. “No. If you’re going after Tellgare, count me out.”
The folder sat between them as D.R. drilled Duncan with a ferocious glare. “What?” he demanded.
“Are you going after Tellgare?”
“To use your words, damn straight.” The older man sat back and crossed his arms on his chest. “Damn straight.”
Dark eyes held dark eyes without blinking. For one week, Duncan had known this move was coming. He’d known there was no hope of stopping D.R. this time. “Unless you let me take over now and you step down, I’m out of here.”
D.R. uttered a profanity that rocked the room around them. “Fat chance of me stepping down and handing you all of this.”
“It’s your company and your decision. Live with both of them,” Duncan said. “I’ve had it.”
“You’ve had it?” D.R. stood to his full size. “News flash, Duncan, so have I. I’ve put up with your arguments and your flawed reasoning more than I should have because you’re my son. But no more. It’s my company, and I’ll do things my way. So get over it, and get on with this business with Tellgare.”
Now that he’d made the decision to quit, Duncan was shocked he had no second thoughts. “That’s it?”
D.R. exhaled. “And I quote, ‘Damn straight.’”
Duncan turned for the door, but D.R. wasn’t finished.
“Don’t you walk out on me like this!” the man thundered.
Duncan reached for the brass door handle.
“Don’t you think you’re going to use anything I taught you to go up against this company,” D.R. said, enraged. “If you walk out the door, you’re dead in this town. You’re done.”
Duncan twisted the cold handle.
“What in the hell do you think Adrianna is going to say about this idiocy?” D.R. demanded.
Duncan stopped, but didn’t turn. Adrianna? Tall, blond and no stranger to the business world, Adrianna Barr was the only child of one of the most powerful bankers on the West Coast. They’d dated, had fun, and they understood each other. “She’ll understand.”
D.R.’s boom of laughter filled the office. “God, you’re deluded. She’ll drop you like a bad habit.”
Maybe D.R. was right, and maybe he was wrong. It didn’t matter right then. Maybe it would later, but not then. Duncan was used to being alone. He’d always been alone. “Whatever.” Duncan jerked the door open.
“Where are you going?” his father asked, closer now, almost behind him.
Duncan turned and stood eye to eye, toe to toe with his father. “Anywhere but here.”
D.R. exhaled, raking his fingers through his thick white hair, then waved a hand vaguely. “Oh, just go home, get drunk, get Adrianna and take a break. I can handle things on this end.”
