Dangerous Sanctuary

by Shirlee McCoy

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I did my research before contacting you. I know you sent Mary Alice to The Sanctuary and paid Absalom to keep her there. I know that you told her she needed to stay until after the farm was sold. I also know that my traveling to The Sanctuary was part of your plan from the very beginning. You wanted me somewhere far away from work, where an accident could happen, and I could die. Only there were a lot more people in The Sanctuary than you realized, and Absalom had to improvise. First, drug my food. Then, push me into a clay-firing pit. The next step was easy. Just let me die of natural causes. Infection. Fever. Dehydration. Whatever took me first. It was a good plan, but not the perfect crime you were hoping for. Knowing I’d survived must have been a difficult pill to swallow, considering how much you hate losing.” She smiled, purposely goading him.

  And he took the bait, the gun dropping a fraction as he stepped toward her, his eyes blazing. “You want to know the truth, Honor? You’ve always been in the way. I never wanted to be your guardian. I agreed to do it because I knew if your parents died, I’d have access to the money they were going to leave you. You were too young to realize how much there was, and later, you were too stupid to ask me for an accounting of it. I guess that was fortunate for you, because if you had, you’d have been dead a long time ago.”

  “It’s nice to know how much you cared, Uncle Bennett. So, now let’s discuss the deal. You get a quarter of the sale. I get the rest.”

  “What?”

  “I put all that information together, everything I just told you. I have it in a safety deposit box, and I left a note in my work desk. If you kill me, my boss will find it, and you’ll go to jail. If you refuse my offer, I’ll go to my boss, and you’ll go to jail. Either way, you lose. I guess that’s what happens when you underestimate the person you try to have killed.”

  “I should have done the job myself while you were at The Sanctuary,” he growled, lifting the gun again, pointing it straight at her head. “If I hadn’t hired that idiot Absalom, you’d be dead. But I can remedy the situation easily enough.”

  She dropped to the ground, knowing he’d pull the trigger, frantic to escape. Rolling toward the hall as glass shattered and the gun exploded. She expected the impact of the bullet, braced herself for it, but Bennett was on the ground beside her, blood pouring from his chest, his eyes blazing with hatred.

  “You set me up,” he howled, somehow springing up and over her, hands around her throat, and she was fighting for her life as the back door frame splintered and the world turned to chaos.

  * * *

  Radley dragged Bennett up and away from Honor, swinging the guy with so much force he flew across the room. Bennett slammed into the counter, sagged onto the ground, then was up again, reaching for the block of knives.

  Radley had his body covering Honor’s, his gun in hand. He aimed at Bennett’s hand.

  “Don’t do it, Bennet!” he shouted.

  “You never betray family,” Bennett replied, his eyes wild, blood seeping from the wound in his chest. “Never!”

  “Freeze!” Wren yelled as she entered the kitchen, her gun drawn, pointed, ready.

  Bennett had the knife in his hand now, and he swung toward her.

  Wren took the shot, and he was down, chaos to calm. Motion to stillness. All of it in just the beat of a heart. Nothing but the quiet drip of the kitchen faucet and Honor’s hitched breathing, the soft rustle of Wren’s clothes as she moved across the room and checked Bennet’s pulse.

  He was dead.

  Radley knew it, and he lifted Honor, turning so that she couldn’t see her uncle, carrying her through the hall and outside.

  He kept going until they reached the edge of the yard, and he set her on the cool aromatic grass, sitting beside her, pulling her close, wiping away the tears that were sliding down her cheeks.

  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, her lips. Wishing he could offer her more than words.

  “Me too,” she responded, sliding her arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. “A family destroyed. All because of money.”

  “He wasn’t family, Honor. Dotty is. Mary Alice. The baby she’s going to have. They’re family. Wren, Henry, Jessica. The Special Crimes Unit. That’s family. People who stand beside you, who support you, who will sacrifice anything for you. That is family.”

  “You didn’t include yourself,” she said, and he shifted so that they were facing each other, so that he could look into her tearstained face, into her beautiful eyes.

  “Because I want to be more than family,” he replied, brushing another tear from her cheek and letting his palm rest against her velvety skin. “I love you, Honor. And I want to be the epic hero you don’t need. The one who knows just how strong and capable you are, but who is always just a few steps away. Waiting. Just in case. I want to be the happily-ever-after you weren’t looking for, the place you always want to return.”

  “Home?” she said. “Because that’s where I am when I’m with you. I love you, Radley. I want you to know that, because life is short, and things happen, and I don’t want to ever regret what hasn’t been said.”

  He looked in her eyes, and he saw the truth. The love that had surprised them both, the gift that neither had asked for but that God had granted.

  “Home,” he agreed as he kissed her again, and then they sat on the cool grass, watching as the moon rose in the sleepy night sky and the ambulance arrived to carry Bennett away.

  EPILOGUE

  So this was what it was like to walk into forever.

  Flowers in the hair. Fancy white dress. Snow falling outside the chapel windows.

  Knees shaking.

  Stomach churning.

  Hands trembling.

  And, Honor, standing like a ninny with tears in her eyes, because what she’d never dared hope for was about to happen.

  Her father wasn’t there to give her away.

  Her mother wasn’t there to see it.

  Her uncle, if he had lived, wouldn’t have been worthy to do either of those things.

  But Dotty was to her left, Mary Alice to her right, her church family and friends waiting on the other side of the double doors that led into the sanctuary.

  And it was good.

  All of it.

  Beautiful and right.

  Soon the doors would open, and she’d walk the few-dozen feet to Radley’s side. She’d look into his eyes and speak the vows that would bind them together through a lifetime of joys and challenges.

  And, they would make it last.

  She knew they would, because they had what her parents had once demonstrated—friendship, laughter, respect. All of it bound together with love.

  She took a deep breath, inhaling joy. Exhaling nerves.

  “No sniffling and ruining that beautiful makeup,” Dotty whispered loudly as organ music drifted into the vestibule. Dressed in a powder-blue dress, her hair curled, she looked stronger than she had since Bennett’s funeral.

  Maybe, like Honor, she felt a sense of renewal and vigor, a returning of hope and joy.

  “I never cry,” Honor said.

  “Humph,” Mary Alice responded, tucking her arm through Honor’s because the music was swelling, the bridal march about to begin.

  “What?” Honor demanded, meeting her friend’s eyes, wishing she could wash away the guilt and shame she saw each time she looked in them.

  “You cried last month. When we had the sonogram and found out I’m having a girl.” Mary Alice touched her stomach, the gesture unconsciously protective.

  She loved the little girl she was carrying. There was no doubt about that, but there was a sadness to her now that had never been there before. She’d returned to her job a few months ago, throwing herself into work the way she once had. Her parents had embraced a
nd encouraged her effort to move forward with life. But Mary Alice had changed, her joyful, carefree personality replaced by a cautious, careful approach to life. Now, nearly nine months pregnant, she was preparing for motherhood with a quiet happiness that seemed, sometimes, overshadowed by her guilt.

  “I cried because you told me you were naming the baby after our mothers. If joy isn’t a good reason to cry, I don’t know what is,” Honor responded, hoping to make her friend smile.

  “Today is one of the most joyful days of my life, and tears are totally appropriate for both of us,” Mary Alice said solemnly, tears shimmering in her eyes. “You are stunning, Honor, and I’m so happy for you. Of all the people I know and love, you are the one most deserving of happily-ever-after.”

  “You are deserving, too, and one day, it will happen. When you least expect it and aren’t looking for it. When you think every chance is gone and you are content with what you have, suddenly God will send just the right person into your life,” Honor said, hugging Mary Alice close, fabric rustling, the baby bump between them.

  “He already did,” Mary Alice said, touching her stomach again.

  “Girls, enough of this talk. We’ll all be crying soon, and a woman my age can’t afford to have a tear-stained face,” Dotty chided, her voice rough with emotion.

  “Right. No tears,” Mary Alice said with a wide grin that reminded Honor of long-ago days when they’d been young and carefree and filled with happiness.

  It gave her hope for her friend.

  The music reached a crescendo and the doors swung open, the sanctuary glimmering in the soft light of a hundred candles.

  She could see Radley, standing at the front of the church, his eyes gleaming with love and happiness. And her soul seemed to reach for his, acknowledging the sacredness of the moment and of what they would soon share.

  She took the first step and the next, Dotty and Mary Alice beside her. When she finally reached his side, Radley took her hand, and her heart swelled with a love so real and deep it took her breath away.

  “I love you,” he said, his hushed words ringing through the now-quiet sanctuary.

  “I love you,” she replied. “Forever and always.”

  She heard Dotty sniffle, saw Mary Alice brush a tear away, and then the pastor was speaking, the ceremony beginning, the future stretching out as bright and beautiful as a summer sunrise.

  And the lifetime of love she’d never dared hope for came true.

  * * *

  If you enjoyed this story, don’t miss the previous books in the FBI: Special Crimes Unit series from Shirlee McCoy:

  Night Stalker

  Gone

  And be sure to pick up these other exciting books by Shirlee McCoy:

  Protective Instincts

  Her Christmas Guardian

  Exit Strategy

  Deadly Christmas Secrets

  Mystery Child

  The Christmas Target

  Mistaken Identity

  Christmas on the Run

  Available now from Love Inspired Suspense!

  Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Buried Mountain Secrets by Terri Reed

  Dear Reader,

  Love is a word we use often. We love cars and movies, books and food. Of course, we love people, too. Spouses, children, family and friends. They all fall in the category of things we enjoy. But love is so much deeper than that. Love isn’t just the quick happy feeling we get when we share an experience with someone we care about. It is not the attraction we feel when we look into the eyes of our significant others. It isn’t the warmth we feel when we hold our babies for the first time. Love is not warm and fuzzy, sweet and light. It is hard work. It is sacrifice. It is commitment to the betterment of someone else even at the expense of self.

  FBI agents Radley Tumberg and Honor Remington know this. They live good lives filled with wonderful people. They enjoy the material things that God has provided, and they aren’t looking for more. But when Honor’s life is threatened and everything she holds dear is in jeopardy, Radley steps in to help, and the love neither of them is looking for finds them.

  I hope you enjoy the third book in the FBI Special Crimes Unit. I love hearing from readers. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and if you have the time, drop me a line at shirlee@shirleemccoy.com.

  Blessings,

  Shirlee McCoy

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense story.

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  Buried Mountain Secrets

  by Terri Reed

  ONE

  “Maya! Maya!”

  The crack of the office door bouncing off the back wall reverberated throughout the hardware and feed store.

  At the front counter, Maya Gallo braced herself and gave the customer she was helping an apologetic smile. “Excuse me, Ethan. Apparently, Brady has something to tell me.”

  “No worries, dear,” the older gentleman replied and wandered off toward the tack room. There was no pity in his voice, but Maya could feel the empathy and sympathy radiating off of one of Bristle Township’s most stalwart citizens.

  Maya’s fifteen-year-old brother, Brady, skidded down the aisle between the bags of goat and backyard flock feed of the Gallo Hardware and Feed. Their parents had opened the establishment shortly after Maya was born. She couldn’t remember a day when she wasn’t in the store. She missed them so much.

  It had been ten years since that tragic night when her mother and father were on the road coming down from a day of skiing on Eagle Crest Mountain, Colorado, and hit a patch of ice. The resulting car accident had taken both their lives, leaving eighteen-year-old Maya to raise her five-year-old brother.

  Brady’s almond-shaped eyes danced with anticipation as he halted in front of her and Maya’s heart filled with love for her little brother. Though he had Down syndrome, he functioned at a high level and was smarter than most people gave him credit for. He was also a hard worker, opinionated and determined. But, more important, full of joy. A joy that at times broke her heart.

  She could guess today’s excitement meant another clue in the “Treasure Hunt of the Century” had been uploaded to the blog of the wealthy and eccentric Patrick Delaney.

  Knowing if she tried to stall, he would burst with his enthusiasm. “Okay, what is it?”

  “Another clue,” he said, confirming her suspicion. “A piece of a map. I need to hike up Aspen Creek Trail. Can I, please?”

  A pang of sorrow and grief hit Maya square in the chest. The trail was on the lower half of Eagle Crest Mountain. The other side of the mountain was where the skiing resort and runs were located. And the road on which her parents had perished.

  The urge to remind Brady that finding the Delaney treasur
e was a hopeless cause rose up strong within her, but she bit the words back. They’d gone down this road so many times over the past few weeks, ever since the peculiar billionaire, who lived on the outskirts of Bristle Township, had put out to the world that he had hidden some sort of treasure somewhere along the Rocky Mountains.

  The man hadn’t said where in the Rockies. And considering the mountains ran from Canada down to New Mexico, that was a lot of territory to cover. Towns all along the Rockies were being overrun with seekers of fortune and fame who ate up every clue, and then spent hours and hours searching the canyons, forests, peaks, hills and valleys of the rugged mountain range. Bristle Township and County was no exception.

  Not that the townsfolk didn’t appreciate the business the fervor stirred up, but for Maya it was a constant worry. Brady loved puzzles. The more challenging, the better. He’d glommed on to the treasure hunt with both hands.

  She glanced at the clock. Just after nine in the morning. If he left now, he’d be at the trailhead in fifteen minutes. She doubted Mr. Delaney had hidden his prize along such a well-used hiking path, but following the clues made her brother happy. Thankfully, Brady wouldn’t be alone out there. Even in the fall when the air turned cool, there were sturdy souls who hiked the trail every day.

  “Are you done with class and homework?” He went to classes three days a week at the local high school and worked with a special education teacher. The other two days a week, he did an online course and homework.

  “All done. And turned in.” He grinned. “Mrs. Vincetti wrote that I was a rock star.”

  He was so eager to learn. It broke her heart that the school couldn’t afford the special education teacher on a full-time basis. But he was excelling at his studies. “What time do you need to be back?”