by Sandra Brown
“All right.” She slid on her sunglasses and opened the back door. “Good-bye.”
“Emory?”
Poised on the threshold, she turned. He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. “Be careful.”
* * *
“Jeff? Hi. I made it.”
The two-hour drive from Atlanta had left Emory tired, but most of the fatigue was due to stress, not the drive itself. The traffic on northbound Interstate 85 had thinned out considerably about an hour outside the city, when she took the cutoff highway that angled northwest. She’d arrived at her destination before dusk, which had made navigating the unfamiliar town a bit easier. She was already tucked into bed at the motel, but tension still claimed the space between her shoulder blades.
Not wanting to exacerbate it, she’d considered not calling Jeff. Last night’s quarrel had been a skirmish. She sensed a much larger fight in their future. Along every step of the way, she wanted to fight fairly, not peevishly.
Besides, if the shoe had been on the other foot, if he had left on a road trip and didn’t call as promised, she would have been worried about his safety.
“Are you already in bed?” he asked.
“About to turn out the light. I want to get an early start in the morning.”
“How’s the motel?”
“Modest, but clean.”
“I get worried when clean is an itemized amenity.” He paused as though waiting for her to chuckle. When she didn’t, he asked how the drive had been.
“All right.”
“The weather?”
They were reduced to discussing the weather? “Cold. But I planned on that. Once I get started, I’ll warm up fast enough.”
“I still think it’s crazy.”
“I’ve mapped out the course, Jeff. I’ll be fine. Furthermore, I look forward to it.”
* * *
It was much colder than she had anticipated.
She realized that the moment she stepped out of her car. Of course the overlook was at a much higher elevation than the town of Drakeland where she’d spent the night. The sun was up, but it was obscured by clouds that shrouded the mountain peaks.
A twenty-mile run up here would be a challenge.
As she went through her stretching routine, she assessed the conditions. Although cold, it was a perfect day for running. There was negligible wind. In the surrounding forest, only the uppermost branches of the trees were stirred by the breeze.
Her breath formed a plume of vapor that fogged up her sunglasses, so she pulled the funnel neck of her running jacket up over her mouth and nose as she consulted her map one final time.
The parking lot accommodated tourists who came for the nearby overlook. It also served as the hub for numerous hiking trails that radiated from it like the spokes of a wheel before branching off into winding paths that crisscrossed the crest of the mountain. The names of the particular trails were printed on arrow-shaped signposts.
She located the trail she’d chosen after carefully reviewing the map of the national park and researching it further online. She welcomed a challenge, but she wasn’t foolhardy. If she wasn’t certain she could make it to her turnaround point and back, she wouldn’t be attempting it. Rather than being daunted by the inhospitable terrain, she was eager to take it on.
She locked her duffel bag in the trunk of her car and buckled on her fanny pack. Then she adjusted her headband, zeroed the timer on her wristwatch, pulled on her gloves, and set out.
A Note from the Author
Love Beyond Reason was my second published book. In it I used the marriage-of-convenience plot, which remains a romance fan favorite. The device works well to keep two people together, fighting their attraction, but unable to resist it. I was very nervous when I sent in the manuscript. I had sold one book, but what if it had been a fluke, a lightning strike, a flash in the pan? I feared my career would be over before it had begun. Fortunately, the editor liked Love Beyond Reason—and actually bought it within thirteen days of buying the first book.
The storyline for Eloquent Silence came about because of my interest in and appreciation for deaf education. Family friends had an adorable little girl, Jenny, who was profoundly deaf. I spent time with her, attended her school, watched and learned from her, then based the child Jennifer in Eloquent Silence on her. Years later, I wrote Unspeakable in which Anna, the heroine, is deaf. I went back to Jenny, who by then was married and had a child of her own, and again used her as a model for my character.
A Treasure Worth Seeking was my fourth book and broke new ground in two ways. One, it was the first book in which I incorporated an element of suspense. Just a hint, mind you. But I liked it! Also, at that time, almost all romances were written strictly from the female point of view. I told my editor that the hero was thinking such great thoughts, couldn’t I please share some of them with the reader? She consented, so a few passages of Treasure are written from the male point of view. Today, I’m writing suspense novels, and many of them are the hero’s story and written largely from his point of view.
When I submitted Shadows of Yesterday to the publishing house, it went in under that title. Months later, I was sent a copy of the book—bearing another title! Relentless Desire. I thought a terrible mistake had been made, but, sure enough, it was my book. The title had been arbitrarily changed without my approval. Later, when the book was reprinted, I insisted that it be published with the original title because I really liked this story. It begins with strangers—a wild well firefighter and a young widow—meeting on the side of a lonely highway. She’s in labor, and he delivers her baby in the bed of his pickup. You gotta love it!
These four books were written in the early years of my career. They were published as series romances and are available for the first time as ebooks. I hope you’re as charmed by the characters and their love stories as I was.
—Sandra Brown
Look for These Thrilling Sandra Brown Novels!
Mean Streak
Deadline
Low Pressure
Lethal
Mirror Image
Where There’s Smoke
Charade
Exclusive
Envy
The Switch
The Crush
Fat Tuesday
Unspeakable
The Witness
The Alibi
Standoff
Best Kept Secrets
Breath of Scandal
French Silk
LOOK FOR SANDRA BROWN’S THRILLERS
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
About the Author
A Preview of Mean Streak
A Note from the Author
Also by Sandra Brown
You Might Also Like…
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 1983 by Sandra Brown
Excerpt from Mean Streak copyright © 2015 by Sandra Brown Management, Ltd.
Cover design by Faceout Books
Cover photography by B2M / Getty Images
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Cover copyright © 2015 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Originally published in mass market paperback by Warner Books
First ebook edition: May 2015
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ISBN 978-1-4555-4635-0
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