DECEMBER 2005

Signet Romantic Suspense
ANTHOLOGY
December 2005
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21734-9 | ISBN-10: 0-451-21734-9

THREE ALL-NEW STORIES OF
PASSION AND SUSPENSE

DIRTY SECRETS
Karen Rose
An unexpected reunion between two high school friends brings back long-lost feelings. But as passion is reignited, so are the desires of a secret enemy watching their every move.

DIRTY SECRETS--my story in the HOT PURSUIT anthology. It's the story of Christopher and Emma, high school friends who are reunited at a critical time in both their lives.

Psychologist Emma Townsend is at a crossroads in her life. The author of a nationally bestselling book called "Bite-Sized," Emma has built her career teaching people to manage their grief in bite-sized steps, one day at a time. But her own life was turned upside down a year before when her husband was killed and now she knows first-hand what her clients go through. Afraid to face her own grief, she throws herself into her work, avoiding the home she'd shared with her husband- until her best friend forces her to deal with her own grief.

Going through her husband's things, Emma finds her own high school yearbook. A letter falls out, a letter she's never read before. It's from her best "guy-friend" from high school, Christopher Walker. It was a love letter--her first. She'd never seen it and is now devastated that for all these years her friend thinks she ignored him. She can't bring her husband back, but she can make things right with Christopher and sets out to do so with grim determination.

Little does she know how right they will become, or what she'll have to endure to get there!

Christopher Walker is a chemistry professor in a Florida college. He's never forgotten Emma, but has gone on with his life. The bright spot in his life is his daughter Megan, the only good thing to come of his failed marriage. But Christopher's got big problems right now. He's just discovered the body of his lead graduate student in their lab, the victim of an apparent accidental poisoning. As the truth comes out--it's not an accident, it's murder--Christopher receives a message from a private detective hired by the girl who broke his heart in high school. He reaches back in time to his old friend--and unknowingly pulls her into the danger that swirls around him in the present.

Just for info, this contains an event that actually happened to me. No, not the murder part, the yearbook part! My husband and I were searching for something in our storage locker and found my high school yearbook. Inside, I found a letter from a friend that I'd never read before. This guy was my best guy-friend (pre-hubby). We were so close and I always felt I could talk to him about anything. You can imagine my shock when I found a letter saying (among other things), "I love you." Whoa. My first love letter and I missed it! was my first thought. Then I started thinking about how hurt he must have been when I never responded. Unlike Emma, I don't plan to hire a private detective--but I do hope to see him at our 25th reunion next year at which time I will most humbly apologize. I only hope his life has been as full and rich as mine has been.

Prologue

St. Petersburg, Florida, Friday, Feb. 19, 1 am

He stood in the darkness, waiting. Nauseous. Trembling, for God's sake.

It has been far, far worse than he'd ever imagined. But then, he never imagined he'd sit there and watch as another man gasped and clawed and begged for mercy.

But he had.

He had.

He lifted his head when he heard the crunch of gravel . . . coming closer, louder. A shadow appeared beneath the trees where he waited. Large, looming. Menacing by the light of day. But by night. He fought the shudder and squared his shoulders for what needed to be done. Andrews was coming.

"Is it done?" Andrews asked.

As if he'd dare show his face were it not. He nodded once. "It's done."

"You're sure he's dead?"

"I checked his pulse," he returned bitterly. "He's dead."

"And it looked like an accident?"

He swallowed hard, remembering how the young man had gasped and clawed, his face going a bluish-purple before the gurgling finally stopped. "Yeah, I made it look like he'd accidentally ingested one of the chemicals he'd been researching. It was the middle of the night and he was drinking coffee in the lab. They'll find the chemical in his coffee cup. They'll rule it accidental contamination. No one will suspect."

"Excellent. And the book?"

He reached in his briefcase and pulled out a hardbound notebook encased in a plastic ziplock bag. "This is what he was working on. Leave it in the bag unless you're wearing gloves."

Andrews's eyes narrowed doubtfully and a spurt of fury bubbled up to mix with his nausea. He shoved the book into Andrews's meaty hands. "Take it, dammit," he snarled. "This is what you damn well wanted." This is what I killed for. Another wave of nausea rolled and he swallowed it back.

"You replaced it with another book?"

"I did." He was still huffing, his heart still racing. "No one will suspect."

Andrews slipped the book into his own briefcase. "Until someone else gets too close."

His throat closed at the unspoken command. "No No way in hell will I do this again. No."

Andrews just smiled, his teeth flashing white in the darkness. "Of course you will. I'd only borrowed you before. I own you now."

 

© Karen Rose Hafer, 2005