Romantic Suspense
Date Published: 03-26-2021
Laurie Lancey has always loved the old picturesque bridge over Council Creek; it's that beauty which gave the town its name.
But then...
A near miss... A chinese fortune cookie with a deadly warning
A murdered co-worker
She knows now the serenity is just a deception. Something sinister is going on here,
And it's all around her.
Investigator Nick Allyn barely manages to save her when the shots are fired.
"This tells me only one thing, young lady," he tells her firmly.
"Those bullets were meant for you.
And only you."
Excerpt:
NICK SCOWLED as he poked the button on his
phone.
“Allyn .”
“Don’t suppose you’ve seen your
performance on
the news yet.” It was Captain’s Carter’s
voice.
“No,” he grimaced, “not yet, but I
have a feeling
I’m about to.”
“Laurie with you?”
“Yes. Sorry about that, sir. They
had her place
surrounded and were beating the
doors down. The
cat helped me get rid of them.”
A pause. “That was a cat?”
“Yep.”
“He
looked like a panther with a white nose and
a white tail.”
“Yeah. And he’s already taken over
my house.”
There was a sigh at the other end.
“Eli told me
what happened at the office. Wait
until tomorrow
morning, and I’ll meet you there at
ten. I still need
her to identify the hitman if she’s
seen him.”
Nick turned when he heard it.
Laurie was bent
over, holding her belly, and
howling with laughter.
He glared at her, but it did no
good; it only served to
make her grow louder.
“Sounds like someone is amused,”
Carter
growled.
“Does, doesn’t it?” Nick shook his
head. “Can I
throw her to the press?”
“No. Keep her. It serves you right.
When they
realize who you are and who you
work for, the major
will likely order your suspension
for three or four
days.”
Nick stared at the phone. “Oh, God,
don’t tell me.
Not three more whole days with this
little beast.”
“You talking about the cat or the
girl?”
“The girl. She’s more of a beast
than the cat will
ever be.”
“Right.” The captain sighed. “And
if the patrol
has
to buy channel three a new camera and
microphone, it may be longer than
that. Later.”
Grumbling, Nick set the phone down
and moved
into the great room. Taking Laurie
by the shoulders,
he leaned down to her ear. “Amused,
are you?”
She grinned upward. “Yes. Quite.
Blame Molly.
She’s the one that said to turn it
on. Oh, Nick. You
were really good.”
“Hm. Glad you think so. You’d
better be nice to
me for a change. You may be stuck
with me for
several days straight when the
major in Jeff city finds
out it was me.”
Her eyes grew wide. “They’ll suspend
you?”
“Without pay.” He promptly took the
remote out
of her hand. “Go to your room and
change clothes
while I figure out what I have to
eat around here. Eli
should be bringing back my car any
time now.”
Laurie moved toward the hall and stopped.
“Where’s my room?”
“The same as mine at the moment.”
He eyed her
until she moved into his bedroom
with the little
overnight bag and sat down next to
Tips. He
scratched the cat’s big head, and
Tips set up a purr
that sounded more like a roar. Nick
was sure Laurie
could hear it all the way to the
bedroom.
“Hey, buddy. How do you put up with
her all the
time?”
One eye opened, then closed again,
but the roar
increased.
Nick rose and moved into the
kitchen, looking
through the fridge. He sighed. It
wasn’t that nothing
was in it. But nothing seemed to go
with anything
else. Fajita chicken and Italian
spaghetti sauce? He
didn’t think so. Swiveling back
toward the counter,
he reached for his phone, punching
speed dial
number six.
Eli’s friendly voice answered.
“Don’t tell me.
You don’t have anything in the
fridge to fix for
supper.”
Nick scowled. “How did you know?”
“Because the last time I was at
your house it was
empty. No problem. I’ll bring back
your SUV at the
same time. Ben and I already
traded, and I gave him
his truck back. I’ll pick you up
something. What do
you want?”
“I don’t care. Anything but
Chinese. I’ll pay you
when you get here. You can drive
straight into the
garage. The kitchen door’s
unlocked. Thanks, pal.”
“On my way.”
He heard footsteps and turned to
see Laurie
peeking around the corner.
“Um… I can’t get my skirt off. The
staples won’t
come loose.”
“Ah.” He reached for her hand.
“Come with me.”
He led her around the sofa to sit
down, and stopped,
glaring over at Tips. The cat took
up over half the
couch. “Your beast will have to go
on a diet, that’s all
there is to it.” He moved toward
the chair and sat
down.
“Well, you could make him sleep
somewhere
else.”
“Be my guest. I notice he’s
sleeping in the same
place he did at your house. Wait
here.” He left her
and strode into the study, rumbling
through the
drawers for a staple puller. When
he returned, she
had the remote in her hand.
He promptly removed it. “Oh, no you
don’t.”
“I just wanted to see what was going
on—” She
gasped as he plopped her over his
knee, face down.
“What are you doing?”
“I can get to you better this way.
Be quiet.”
Tucking one hand inside the waist
of her skirt,
he proceeded to pull out the first
one. The second,
he managed to pull with no trouble.
The third was
difficult.
“Don’t ruin my skirt.” Blue eyes
were meeting
his, as she looked back over her
shoulder.
“Do you want them out or not?”
“Yes, but—ow!” Her eyes widened as
his hand
connected with her bottom, hard.
“I’ll do my best. Be still.”
She silenced as he went back to
work. “Third
one’s out,” he confirmed, “but not
without a little
damage to the material.”
A sound in the kitchen caused both
of them to
pause.
“It’s me, with your dinner.”
Eli was in the living room before
Nick could
bring Laurie upright, and the
expression on his
face was amused. “Hey, don’t let me
interrupt
anything.”
“You’re not. I’m just trying to get
the staples out
of her skirt.”
“Staples,” Eli echoed, his
expression curious.
Laurie added quickly, “I broke the
zipper when I
got out of bed last night. See, I
didn’t know he’d
unzipped my skirt—” She closed her
mouth when
Eli began to laugh, and Nick gave
her a shake of his
head.
Eli grinned. “No worries. Someday,
when Nick
owes me a big enough favor, I’ll
call for an
explanation.” He turned. “Your
dinner is on the
counter.”
Nick
set Laurie on the arm of the chair. “What do
I owe you?”
“Not a thing. This has been pure
entertainment
so far. Along with,” he grinned at
Nick, “your
performance on the channel three
news.”
Nick’s voice was dry. “So glad you
enjoyed it.”
“Oh, we all did, except Carter. He
has this notion
that Jeff City will be giving him a
call.” He looked
from one to the other, chuckling.
“We’re all taking
bets on whether or not you’ll lose
a week’s pay.”
“Such loyal friends.” Nick tossed
back with
sarcasm.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. But seriously,
if you need
me to go get you something for
supper, call me. I’ve
got nothing to do the rest of the
day. Keys?” He
dropped Nick’s on the counter next
to the food, and
Nick dug the keys to the pickup out
of his pocket and
tossed them across the room.
“Thanks, pal.”
Laurie glared at Nick, sputtering
as Eli left. “Why
didn’t you explain about my skirt?”
“Why should I?” He rolled his eyes.
“You were
doing so well.” With a grasp on her
arm, he once
again had her over his lap. “Only
two to go. If you’ll
be still, I’ll be done in a shake.
The more you wiggle,
the longer it’ll take. Of course,”
he added, “maybe I
should take advantage of your
position and take my
hand to your adorable little butt
again. Actually, I
like doing that.”
Wide blue eyes met his. “You’re not
serious.”
“Aren’t I?”
“I could sue.”
He put a firm hand across her lower
back to hold
her in place, grumbling.
“It’d be worth it.”
About the Author
It all started with my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. J. Ever the elegant, perfectly coiffured lady, gave us an assignment to write a short story and read it aloud to the class.
Mine was about a group of fifth grade kids who went on a weekend camping trip, and encountered a grizzly bear. When it was my turn, I read.
Poor Mrs. J! I began to notice a twitch around her left eye sometime around the approach of the grizzly bear. By the time the body parts began flying, it had increased to her mouth, and her whole face was as white as a sheet.
But she was a trooper, and stayed upright throughout the whole story.
However, the other kids loved the story, because it was about them. Suddenly, I was hooked! Over the years, my writing changed from gory stories (my term as a kid) to space stories. Then spy stories, and finally romance. But the other thing I found I really loved was mystery and romance. I wasn’t satisfied with just reading it. I wanted to write it!
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