Love Inspired Suspense May 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Trail of EvidenceGone MissingLethal Exposure

by Lynette Eason

  Joslyn had stayed with Martin while Fiona stood in the lane and flagged down the EMT truck, leading them on the path to the barn. Clay had suspected it by now, but the paramedics had confirmed that Martin’s wound wasn’t serious, even though the bullet hit his side. They were inside the barn prepping him for transport right now.

  Joslyn touched Clay’s arm, her hand soft. He hadn’t wanted to think about her kiss while he’d been in that barn, as if his stepfather’s malice would taint the memory, but she had fit against him, had filled his empty places with her sweetness, comfort, acceptance. He’d found home in her arms.

  “You saved me,” she said. “When you called my name.”

  He gently caressed her cheek, which was swollen from Roman’s blows. “I was frustrated because I couldn’t get to you.”

  “I’m impressed you fought off both of those guys with a broken arm and a length of rebar.”

  He actually hadn’t. G had managed to get hard blows to Clay’s torso, shoulders and arms. G might have been avoiding hitting the cast because while he could inflict damage on Clay, striking the heavy plaster would have hurt his own hand. Either way, Clay had been able to avoid a really bad blow to his broken arm, but it still ached terribly. One of the paramedics had removed the plaster cast and said it had probably been rebroken in more places. He’d secured Clay’s arm in a splint and sling, and Clay agreed to follow the truck to the ER.

  The barn doors opened and the EMTs came out, carrying Martin. He complained with every step they made, and Clay wondered if maybe they were being a little rougher than usual.

  Fiona followed the paramedics outside, but stopped from trailing after them through the weeds to the truck and stood beside Clay and Joslyn.

  “Aren’t you going with them?” Clay asked.

  Fiona didn’t answer for a moment. “I guess so.” It reminded him of when she was supposed to do homework and she didn’t want to.

  “He did take a bullet for you,” he said gently. “I may have problems with him, but I’m grateful to him for that.”

  In the moonlight, he thought he saw tears sparkling on her lashes, but they didn’t fall. “He didn’t take it for me. He told me he took it so that I could survive to take over his business and continue his legacy.”

  “Fiona, I don’t think he’d have gone to such an extreme just for his name,” Joslyn said. “I think he does care about you, in his own way.”

  “Maybe.” Then Fiona sighed and headed toward the ambulance.

  “Elisabeth and Liam will be here soon,” Joslyn said. “She called and said she and her FBI friends are about thirty minutes away.”

  “Is there enough evidence to put Richard Roman away?”

  Joslyn hesitated. “I’m not sure. There’s still evidence on Frank’s computers to put Martin away, though.”

  He expected to feel some emotion at that news, but he only felt cold and flat, like coffee that had been sitting out all day. He’d overheard Martin talking to Fiona—he knew Joslyn had heard it, too. When Martin found out Clay and Joslyn were searching for Fiona and that Roman was after them, he had figured they’d be a good distraction while he tried to find Fiona on his own. He hadn’t cared about the danger they were in.

  Fiona had looked horrified. In combination with other things that Martin had said tonight, it seemed Fiona was having a hard time figuring out how she felt about her father.

  Clay had never heard Martin be so brutally honest before. Maybe it was the wound, especially since he hadn’t known how severe it was until the EMTs arrived. To Clay, who hadn’t seen Martin in a while, it seemed he had become even more self-focused and driven to accomplish his own agenda. Fiona had been surprised, too, so maybe he’d gotten worse only in the two years since Fiona left LA.

  Clay had been silent for too long. Joslyn touched his arm again. He had the feeling she knew what he was thinking about.

  “Your past has shaped who you are, but it’s not what defines you,” she said. “I’ve done some stupid things in my past, and I’m learning how to move on. You taught me that.”

  “Me?” He had no idea how he’d done anything like that.

  “Your strength and protectiveness made me feel brave. You made me realize not everyone’s like my ex.”

  He touched the bruise on her cheek. “Did he hurt you?”

  He thought she’d look away, but she met his eyes. “He did. It’s why I froze when Roman hit me.”

  He couldn’t imagine how awful it must have been to face that kind of terror again.

  She took a deep breath. “I lost a lot because of Tomas. He killed my father, and when I ran from him, I miscarried our baby because of the fear that he’d find me.”

  The pain in her voice cut into him. He reached out to her, touching her face, folding her into his arms. “I’m so sorry.” It seemed like such a paltry thing to say. “I wish I could do something.”

  “You did. I thought the counseling was going nowhere, but the past few days have shown me that I can move on. I thought I wasn’t strong enough, but tonight I realized that I just wasn’t trusting God enough to help me.”

  His arms tightened around her. “I never thought much about God before I met you. We were never close.”

  “What do you think of Him now?”

  He cupped her face. “If God is the one giving you this strength, even after what you’ve been through, then I want that. I’ve always wanted to prove something, to find something. But all I really wanted was peace, acceptance.”

  “God can give you that. And I can, too.”

  He bent to kiss her, and there was that feeling again, as sweet as candy, as comforting as a hand on his head. It was like sinking to the floor in front of a fireplace, or sipping tea on a back porch. He was at rest. He was enveloped. He was home.

  NINETEEN

  Twelve months later

  Joslyn’s lungs were burning as she climbed the hill. All she could see was brilliant blue sky above her, spindly trees around her on either side of the faint trail, and ahead of her, Clay’s backpack like a beacon, spurring her on.

  “Why again are we voluntarily going more than twenty miles away from a WiFi connection?”

  He turned to grin at her. “Want some cheese with that whine?”

  “You’ve gotten much more snarky since you started working for Shaun O’Neill.” Head of security for the posh Joy Luck Life Hotel and Spa in Sonoma, Shaun had been quick to offer Clay a job as a security guard, which he’d taken.

  “I don’t get that from Shaun,” Clay said. “I get that from Fiona. She is walking sarcasm. You should know that already.”

  “She’s gotten worse since we were in LA.”

  “It’s because of the trial.” Fiona had agreed to testify against her father, and the FBI had indicted him on charges of money laundering.

  “Is she doing okay?” Joslyn asked. She stumbled a little over a root.

  “Martin still sends her letters abusing her for her betrayal.” Clay’s voice was grim. “I think it hurts her more than she admits. But she said she’s enjoying piecing her life back together again in LA. She said she’s coming up to Sonoma next week.”

  “Oh? What’s the occasion?”

  “Funny you should ask that.” He’d stopped at the summit of the hill. “Come on, take a look at this.”

  She panted her way to the top…and then she couldn’t breathe.

  Unfolded in front of her was a small mountain lake. From their vantage point, she could see that it was completely surrounded by forests, without any trails that cut through the trees except for this one. The mountains of Tahoe were in the distance and reflected in the perfectly still water. Everything was silent, peaceful. It was like the seventh day of Creation, and everything was at rest.

  Her breath came out long, low, filled with awe. “Oh, my.”

  Clay’s eyes were the same glittering blue as the sky reflected in the surface of the lake. “What did I tell you? Isn’t it worth the hike?”

  “Oh
, yes.”

  They made their way down the slope as the trail wended its way through tall fir trees down to the edge of the lake. Large rocks and boulders were scattered in the shallow water, and Joslyn could feel the intense cold even from a few feet away.

  Everything smelled fresh and new, as if she’d never before smelled forest, or water, or rock. The air seemed purer. It filled her lungs and somehow made her feel lighter, fuller.

  They were the only people here. It was amazing.

  “Come on, take off your shoes.” Clay shucked his hiking boots and socks and waded into the water.

  Joslyn did the same and yelped at the frigid temperature, but it was refreshing. They sat on a large, flat boulder where they could see all around the lake.

  “I haven’t been here in years,” Clay said. “I wasn’t sure I could find it again, so I had to ask Bobby.”

  “I’m so glad you brought me.”

  “Let me read something to you.” He took out his phone and began to read Psalm 8:

  “O Lord, our Lord,

  how majestic is Your name in all the earth!

  You have set Your glory

  above the heavens.

  “When we learned about this Psalm in my men’s Bible study, I immediately thought of this place,” he said. “I knew I wanted to read it out loud, here, with you.”

  She said, “That’s perfect for this place.”

  He took her hand in his, and the warmth of his palm contrasted with the cold of their surroundings. “I’ve been learning a lot in Patrick’s Bible study. He told me something once that really stuck with me. ‘Love covers over a multitude of sins.’”

  “That’s a Bible verse,” she said.

  He nodded. “It’s what first made me start to think seriously about God. When I was a kid, Martin always made me feel so unwanted and alone. It’s not an excuse, but it spurred me to make some bad choices. I went to prison for those.”

  “You paid your debt.” She squeezed his hand. “It’s in the past.”

  “I was having a hard time really understanding that. I still held myself apart from people because I was sure it made me too different. But you and the O’Neills have made me feel like I belong.”

  “You do belong.” She had a hard time remembering her life before he was in it. He’d helped her to laugh more. He’d shown her how to be adventurous—as this trip showed.

  He’d helped her to stop rubbing the scar above her left eye, made from Tomas’s ring.

  Clay said, “Now, I want to belong to you, and I want you to belong to me.”

  She suddenly felt something slip onto her finger.

  The ring had a round sapphire, with tiny sapphires surrounding it so that it looked like a blue flower. A bachelor’s button. It made her smile.

  “I hope that smile means yes,” he said.

  “I haven’t heard a question,” she retorted.

  “I’m not much into speeches,” he said, his face very close. “I love you, Joslyn. Will you marry me?”

  She smiled, touching his face, looking into his eyes. “This smile means yes.”

  He kissed her, and she knew God had taken care of all of it. God would continue to take care of the two of them, to create something good out of the pain of their pasts. She only had to surrender to God. To love.

  *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from WITNESS UNDERCOVER by Debra Cowan

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for joining me once again for another adventure with the O’Neill Agency! Many of you who read Treacherous Intent will recognize Joslyn, Elisabeth and Liam. Also, Shaun and Monica O’Neill are from Stalker in the Shadows.

  When I wrote Treacherous Intent, I knew I wanted to show how Joslyn came back from the traumatic events in that book, and my hero, Clay, was the perfect person to show her that she could be a stronger person than she believed she was. I also knew that Joslyn’s faith and the acceptance of the O’Neills would help Clay come to realize that he is not alone, and Jesus loves him deeply no matter what he has done in his past. I hope you’ve enjoyed watching them escape from explosions and fall in love.

  While I love Sonoma, I also have a fondness for Lake Tahoe, and so I set part of Gone Missing there. It’s a beautiful place to visit in the spring and summer, and of course it’s a popular skiing destination in the wintertime.

  You can find out more about my entire Sonoma romantic suspense series at my website, www.camytang.com.

  I love to hear from readers! You can email me at camy@camytang.com or write to me at: P.O. Box 23143, San Jose CA 95123-3143. I post about knitting, my dog, knitting, tea, knitting, my husband’s coffee fixation, occasional giveaways, food, oh, and did I mention my knitting obsession? Check out my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/CamyTangAuthor. I hope to see you all there!

  http://www.harlequin.com/harlequinexperience

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense story.

  You enjoy a dash of danger. Love Inspired Suspense stories feature strong heroes and heroines whose faith is central in solving mysteries and saving lives.

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  ONE

  Laura Prentiss hadn’t wanted a new beginning, a new name, but that was what she’d gotten. After the mess she’d made of her life, she was lucky to be alive.

  Thanks to witness protection, she was now Laura Parker, assistant manager of Miss Behavin’, a ladies’ boutique in Pueblo, Colorado, that was currently closed for the night.

  Thanksgiving was only weeks away. This would be her first here in Pueblo, her first without family. Laura tried not to feel sorry for herself.

  She had a job and friends, even if they didn’t know her real name. Jesus had left behind his family without complaining. She would be fine.

  Just as she opened a case of potpourri to stock, she heard a knock on the back door.

  Laura froze, her hands going clammy. It couldn’t be a delivery, as it was after business hours. She reached for the bat in the corner kept for protection.

  After her months in WitSec, had Vin Arrico finally found her?

  The thought that her past might have caught up to her had Laura’s stomach knotting. She crept to the door at the back of the storage room.

  The knock sounded again, making her jump.

  “Laura? Miss Parker?”

  She recognized the thick Texas accent. “Marshal Yates?”

  “Yes. I need to see you.”

  If the US marshal who had handled her case from the beginning had driven down from the field office in Colorado Springs, something was wrong. Very wrong.

  Setting the bat aside, she unlocked the steel door and stepped back as the tall lanky man entered. He was followed by one of the biggest men Laura had ever seen. The stranger closed the door behind him, looking around at the shelves of candles, women’s shoes and boxes of unpacked jewelry before shifting his attention to her.

  Her shoulders tensed. In the light of the single-bulb fixture, she couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, but they were piercing and glittered like steel. A strange sensation fluttered in her stomach. She turned to Floyd Yates.

  “Has something happened with Vin?”

  Laura had no doubt her ex-boyfriend could find her even from prison.

  “No, nothing like that,” Floyd said. “Sorry to alarm you.”

  He gestured to the man beside him. “Laura, this is Griffin Devaney.”

  She nodded at the stranger with neatly trimmed dark hair and whisker stubble. His six-foot-four frame filled the space. He studied her with a quiet certainty that made it difficult to breathe. Who was he? Why had Floyd brought him?

  The open space seemed
small and cramped with Griffin Devaney there. His well-fitting denim jacket was faded to a soft blue, as were his jeans.

  The marshal turned to her. “Devaney works with your aunt at Enigma, Inc.”

  Laura started. Her aunt, Joy Langston, had worked at that company for years. Laura had never known how to label the enterprise. Private security? Personal security? Search and rescue?

  Yates continued. “She sent Devaney for you and he contacted me.”

  Even though Laura knew she shouldn’t have done so, she had told her aunt about WitSec the night she’d left Oklahoma City.

  Joy knew Laura’s situation, knew the danger posed by exposing her. So why had Floyd brought Devaney here?

  Palms clammy, she clasped her hands together, her attention locked on the man who had protected her for the past ten months. “Just tell me.”

  “Your father has cancer,” Floyd said. “A relapse of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”

  Relapse? Panic punched her in the chest followed quickly by resentment and regret. Her mother had died from cancer. Was her father close to death? Did he want to see her?

  “He was first diagnosed nine months ago. He was cautioned that if the cancer returned, he would need a bone marrow transplant.”

  Devaney spoke up. “A lot of people have been tested, but you’re the only match.”

  She frowned. “How do you know that?”

  “You had a blood sample in the donor registry.”

  Before going into hiding, Laura had regularly donated blood and made sure to put herself on the register for both blood and bone marrow donors. She turned to Floyd. “You said my dad had relapsed.”

  “Yes. Two weeks ago, during his monthly check up, he learned the cancer was back.”

  Two bouts of cancer. A bone marrow transplant. Her guilt over their years-long estrangement pinched at her. Laura was the last person on earth her father would want to help him, but Floyd and Devaney didn’t need to know that.

  She glanced at the marshal. “Have you known about this since Dad’s first diagnosis?”