Sweet Surrender: A MacKenzie Family Novella

by Liliana Hart

Grant just stood there, his body rigid, as Caine paced circles around him, taunting him like an animal in a cage.

  Why didn’t he try to fight? Try to run? Then she watched in horror as Caine raised the barrel of her rifle, and she slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

  And then something took over inside of her—gone was the fear of facing down an enemy. Her only thought was that she couldn’t let Grant die. Her hands tightened around the steering wheel, and her knuckles went white. She knew it was now or never. Caine had the rifle holding steady on Grant and she’d stopped talking.

  “You bitch,” Liza yelled and slammed her foot on the gas pedal.

  The BMW shot forward and accelerated quickly. She didn’t give a thought to the fact that the building had been in her family for generations, or the fact that she was going to have a hell of a time selling pastries with a gaping hole in the front. All she cared about was Grant.

  The car gained speed as she covered the short distance within seconds. She went straight at the corner window, bracing herself for the impact. The wheels hopped the wooden sidewalk first before crashing straight through the bakery. Caine turned and Grant took advantage of the distraction to dive out of the way.

  Caine didn’t have time to point the rifle in her direction and pull the trigger before the front end of the car took her down. The airbags exploded and Liza’s seatbelt tightened as she was jerked forward.

  Bile rose in her throat at the thought that she’d just run over a human being. She reminded herself Grant would be dead if she hadn’t, and then she tried to take a couple of steadying breaths.

  Then the car door jerked open and she stifled a scream, thinking she might not have run over Caine good enough.

  “Holy shit, woman,” he said, unfastening her seatbelt since she couldn’t seem to move. “Don’t you ever scare me again like that.”

  Liza felt like she was having an out-of-body experience. She couldn’t form a coherent thought, much less a sentence, and all she could seem to do was whimper as he gathered her in his arms.

  “Oh, baby,” he said. “You’re bleeding.”

  She tried to open her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

  “You came for me,” he said, kissing her gently on the forehead. “That was very brave of you. Incredibly stupid, but very brave.”

  “S…sorry,” she managed to get out through chattering teeth.

  “Don’t look,” he said when she tried to turn her head. “She’s dead. I made sure. You did what you had to do. I’m not saying you won’t have guilt or hurt or even nightmares, but you saved my life, and I can never repay you for that.”

  “You can start by getting me out of here and finding us a bed to sleep in for a full eight hours. I think I’m about to pass out.”

  “Done,” he said. “I can’t believe you drove through your building. What the hell are you going to be able to do with it now?”

  She burrowed in close and breathed in his scent. “I’m going to do a hell of a remodel and sell naughty cakes out of the back room. What do you think of that?”

  “That you’re going to turn this town on its ear and everyone is going to love it. I’ve been thinking maybe I should take Cooper up on that deputy job. He’s going to be out a while and he’s going to need help getting things back in order. Besides, after the last twenty-four hours, I’m ready for the slow life.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Getting up, going to work, flirting with a beautiful woman over naughty pastries, and then doing naughty things to her behind the counter.”

  “Hmm,” she said. “Sounds promising.”

  “There’s only one problem,” he said, and she felt her heart clutch in her chest.

  “What’s that?”

  “This place is going to need a new name to go with its new owner.”

  She smiled. “That’s easy, baby. I’m calling it Sweet Surrender.”

  Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Liliana Hart, discover Captured in Surrender,

  Trouble Maker, and The Promise of Surrender.

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  HIDDEN INK by Carrie Ann Ryan

  A Montgomery Ink Novella

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  A Cafferty & Quinn Novella

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  A Searching For Novella

  DANCE OF DESIRE by Christopher Rice

  ROUGH RHYTHM by Tessa Bailey

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  A Fixed Trilogy Novella

  EASY FOR KEEPS by Kristen Proby

  A Boudreaux Novella

  UNCHAINED by Elisabeth Naughton

  An Eternal Guardians Novella

  HARD TO SERVE by Laura Kaye

  A Hard Ink Novella

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  A Dark Kings Novella

  KAYDEN/SIMON by Alexandra Ivy/Laura Wright

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  A Blacktop Cowboys® Novella

  MIDNIGHT UNTAMED by Lara Adrian

  A Midnight Breed Novella

  TRICKED by Rebecca Zanetti

  A Dark Protectors Novella

  DIRTY WICKED by Shayla Black

  A Wicked Lovers Novella

  THE ONLY ONE by Lauren Blakely

  A One Love Novella

  SWEET SURRENDER by Liliana Hart

  A MacKenzie Family Novella

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  Liliana Hart’s MacKenzie Family

  Discover More Liliana Hart

  Captured in Surrender

  A MacKenzie Family Novella

  By Liliana Hart

  Click here to purchase

  Bounty Hunter Naya Blade never thought she’d step foot in Surrender, Montana again. Especially since there was a warrant out for her arrest. But when her skip ends up in the normally peaceful town, she has no choice but to go after him to claim her reward. Even at the cost of running into the cop that makes her blood run hot and her sense of self-preservation run cold.

  Deputy Lane Greyson wants to see Naya in handcuffs, but he’d much prefer them attached to his bed instead of in a cold jail cell. She drove him crazy once before and then drove right out of town, leaving havoc in her wake. He’s determined to help her hunt down the bad guy so he can claim his own bounty—her.

  The Promise of Surrender

  A MacKenzie Family Novella

  By Liliana Hart

  Click here to purchase

  Mia Russo spent ten years working undercover, entrenched in the dregs of society before handing in her shield. Opening her own pawn shop is a piece of cake in comparison. All she needs is the bad attitude she developed on the streets and the shotgun under her counter to keep law and order. Until the day Zeke McBride walks into her shop.

  Zeke knows Mia has every right not to trust him. He was the one who chose the next op instead of her. And all he can hope is that somewhere under the snarl and cynicism i
s a woman who can forgive. Because whether she trusts him or not, they’re going to have to work together to bring down the gang that’s decided Mia is their next target.

  Trouble Maker

  A MacKenzie Family Novel

  by Liliana Hart

  Click here to purchase

  Marnie Whitlock has never known what it’s like to be normal. Her ability to see the future and people’s innermost thoughts makes her an outcast—feared—loathed. Even by her own parents. And her father is determined to beat the curse out of her. Her only chance for survival is to escape Surrender.

  Beckett Hamilton has loved Marnie since they were kids, but one horrible night destroyed any future he’d hoped for. Now Marnie was back in Surrender, and picking up where they left off is the only thing on his mind. He finds out quickly that some hearts take longer to heal, and not everyone that’s broken can be fixed. But loving Marnie isn’t an option—it’s his destiny.

  Discover the MacKenzie Family World

  Dear Readers,

  I’m thrilled to be able to introduce the MacKenzie Family World to you. I asked ten of my favorite authors to create their own characters and put them into the world you all know and love. These amazing authors revisited Surrender, Montana, and through their imagination you’ll get to meet new characters, while reuniting with some of your favorites.

  These stories are hot, hot, hot—exactly what you’d expect from a MacKenzie story—and it was pure pleasure for me to read each and every one of them and see my world through someone else’s eyes. They definitely did the series justice, and I hope you discover ten new authors to put on your auto-buy list.

  Make sure you pre-order Spies and Stilettos, the very last MacKenzie novel, featuring fan favorites Brady Scott and Elana Nayal.

  So grab a glass of wine, pour a bubble bath, and prepare to Surrender.

  Love Always,

  Liliana Hart

  Available now! Click to purchase.

  Trouble Maker by Liliana Hart

  Rush by Robin Covington

  Bullet Proof by Avery Flynn

  Delta: Rescue by Cristin Harber

  Deep Trouble by Kimberly Kincaid

  Desire & Ice by Christopher Rice

  Coming March 21, 2017!

  Spies & Stilettos by Liliana Hart

  Never Surrender by Kaylea Cross

  Avenged by Jay Crownover

  Hot Witness by Lynn Raye Harris

  Wicked Hot by Gennita Low

  Hollow Point by Lili St. Germain

  The Darkest Corner

  Gravediggers

  By Liliana Hart

  Coming May 23, 2017

  Available for pre-order here.

  New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Liliana Hart’s first book in her suspenseful Gravediggers series, featuring an elite group of mysterious men who might be dead to the world, but are also tasked with saving it—and no one can ever know.

  The Gravediggers aren’t exactly what they seem. They’re the most elite of the world’s fighting forces—and all they have in common is that they’ve been betrayed by the countries they’ve died for. Because they are dead. To their country, their military, and their families.

  Sometimes the dead do rise…

  Deacon Tucker is a dead man walking. A former black ops agent, he was disavowed and stripped of all honor before being recruited as a Gravedigger. But his honor and good name no longer matter, because no one knows he’s alive, and he’ll never get the recognition he deserves. His mission is simple: save the world or die trying. And for God’s sake, don’t ever fall in love. That’s a rule punishable by death. The kind of death a man can’t be brought back from.

  Tess Sherman is the only mortician in Last Stop, Texas. She has no idea how Deacon Tucker ended up in her funeral home, but she’ll eat her hat if he’s only a funeral home assistant. Deacon is dangerous, deadly, and gorgeous. And she knows her attraction to him can only end in heartache.

  Deacon is on a mission to stop the most fatal terror attack the world has ever known—what’s known as The Day of Destiny—a terrorist’s dream. But when he discovers Tess has skills he can use to stop them, he has to decide if he can trust her with secrets worth dying for. And, most important, he has to decide if he can trust her with his heart.

  There was something about the time between three and four o’clock in the morning. When people with good intentions were tucked safely into their beds. When those without them crept into the alleyways like rats. And when warriors got shit done.

  For Deacon Tucker, that meant it was time to get dirty.

  The rain slapped against Deacon’s face like tiny daggers. Lightning flashed—followed by sharp cracks of thunder—and the smell of ozone, wet dirt, and urgency lay heavy.

  Deacon pushed his shovel deeper into the soggy ground, the muscles in his back straining as he lifted a mound of dirt and tossed it onto a pile over his shoulder. The four other members of his team did the same, each one stripped down to nothing but black cargo pants and combat boots, covered in a thick layer of mud. They worked in silence, an unspoken communication and familiarity between them.

  The cemetery was old. It was a place where the oldest headstones told stories and the newer ones told a person’s worth. It was where generations of those who shared blood now rested—a place for the elderly who had lived long and full lives and the young who had been taken too soon.

  Heavy iron gates closed it off from the public after dark, and towering oaks had been planted in rows some hundred years earlier. Gnarled roots made the ground uneven, cracking the drive that snaked between the rows of headstones.

  They worked by flashes of lightning and the sliver of moon that peeked around thunderheads. Everything was cast in shades of gray—from the pale marble of the headstones to the silver shimmer of water droplets as they collected on leaves and rained down on them. Black trunks speared menacingly from the ground—the branches creeping over them like bony arms.

  The clank of metal on something solid made Deacon stop and look up at his brother in arms.

  “I’ve got something,” Axel said, letting his native Australian accent slip through. He pounded the tip of his shovel a couple of times against the top of the coffin.

  Deacon nodded. “Let’s get him uncovered. He’s been here two days already. He doesn’t have much longer. Grab the chains,” he instructed Colin.

  Deacon returned to the task at hand, doubling his efforts to clear the mud and water rapidly filling the hole. It was fortunate the casket was waterproof and had a rubberized seal around the lid. The rain had come steady for more than twenty-four hours, and changed their original timeline of removing Levi Wolffe from the ground the night before.

  A man’s life was at stake, and Wolffe had already been through more than most. It was going to be traumatic enough for him to wake up in a different country, surrounded by faces he’d never seen before, and unsure whether he’d been captured by the enemy. Fishing through the lies to get to the truth would take time.

  Deacon knew exactly how Levi Wolffe was going to feel.

  “Fuck me, this is a never-ending battle,” Axel complained. “There’s no way we’re digging this thing all the way out of the muck.”

  “All we’ve got to do is uncover the handles on the sides,” Deacon said. “We’ll let the Bobcat do the rest.”

  “Got it, mate.” Axel tossed his shovel out of the hole. “Give me a boost, will you?”

  Deacon steepled his fingers together to make a sling and braced himself against the casket so he wouldn’t slip. They were close to four feet down into the hole, but with the rain and mud, getting out wasn’t going to be easy. Axel put his hand on Deacon’s shoulder and his foot in the sling, and then grabbed for Dante’s hand as he was boosted up.

  The casket was an upper end model—they had to be, for what they were used for—made of glossy oak and brass. Colin tossed Axel the chains, and he looped them through the handles on each side, using a carabiner to hold them to
gether.

  “Elias is ready to roll with the Bobcat,” Axel called out, extending his arm to help Deacon out of the hole.

  Deacon was two hundred and thirty pounds of solid muscle and a couple of inches over six feet. His boots and knees couldn’t find purchase in the mud, and his grasp of Axel’s hand was slipping. He finally grasped Axel’s arm with both hands, hoisted his feet onto the coffin, and used his legs to push off, launching himself out of the grave.

  Axel moved out of the way at the last second, and Deacon flew right into the pile of mud they’d dug up. He heard the snickers from Dante and Colin and took a fistful of mud in each hand as he got to his feet, launching it at them in quick succession. Elias’s howls of laughter could be heard from inside the Bobcat.

  “They’ll both be out for vengeance now,” Axel said, lips twitching in as close to a smile as he ever gave.

  “I hope so,” Deacon said. “I’d hate for things to get boring around the office.”

  The rain was coming down hard enough to rinse some of the mud from his torso, and he lifted his face to the sky to wash it from his cheeks. The thong tying his hair back had come loose and dark strands clung to his face. Thoughts of a hot shower and a beer were becoming a priority. Right after getting Levi Wolffe out of the ground.

  “It was my understanding that Winter wasn’t bringing any more of us in,” Dante said as they hooked up the chains to the Bobcat and moved back out of the way. His accent was English, but he had the Italian genetics of his namesake. Dante was as refined and suave as any man Deacon had ever known. His clothes were always tailored, his haircuts expensive, and his knowledge of the finer things in life unparalleled. Standing in the pouring rain, covered in mud, was probably grating on him immensely.

  “That’s what she said, but who the hell knows what her plans are.” Deacon had been wondering the same thing. “She only tells us what she thinks we need to know.”

  “Which isn’t a bloody thing,” Dante said.

  It was a sore spot for certain. Deacon had served his country for most of his life. He’d been recruited by the CIA during his third year of college, the high scores on his aptitude tests and his skills for languages having alerted interested parties. His course in life had been clear from the moment that recruiter had left him. He’d gone on to get a master’s degree and the necessary field training, which he’d also shown an exceptional aptitude for. In twelve years of covert ops, he’d never had a sleepless night after completing a mission. He’d gotten the job done. Until Eve Winter had gotten ahold of him, and everything he’d thought he’d been fighting for was turned on its head.