by Mari Carr
Table of Contents
Excerpt
No Recourse
Blurb
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
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Note from Mari
eBooks by Mari Carr
Mari recommends … Renee George
Excerpt
“Good morning, Jack.”
He inclined his head slightly. “Alex, you’re up late. Thought you country gentlemen types liked to get a jump on the day.”
“Usually, yes,” Alex said with a grin. “I made an exception today so that I could catch you before you made good your escape.”
“Ah, the gloves are off, I see.”
“Do I need to call you out, Jack?” While his tone was still friendly, Alex’s intent was deadly serious.
“You know me better than that, Alex.” Jack grabbed a plate from the sideboard and filled it with eggs, kippers and toast. He could feel Alex’s penetrating stare through his shoulder blades as his back was turned.
“I do know you,” Alex replied as Jack sat at the other end of the table. They faced each other like adversaries over a battlefield. “There are several concerns I have regarding your story about the events of the night before last. I’d like you to fill in the blanks as Erin says.”
“Blanks?” Jack refused to make this easy, friend or not.
“Regardless of Miss Garland’s bold nature, Erin assures me her friend is a virtuous young lady. I trust she still is?” Alex’s tone had taken on a chilly undercurrent.
Jack’s hackles rose at his friend’s questioning of Hayley’s morals…and his. “Miss Garland has never been in any danger from me in that regard.” He hoped his face confirmed the lie. In fact, she had been in great danger, but Alex didn’t need to know that.
“You must admit, the two of you showed up in a rather shocking way, quite disheveled and bruised. By the way, that black eye looks even worse today.”
Jack didn’t bother to reply.
“Dammit, Jack! What happened between the two of you? Why are you treating me as an enemy? If you didn’t touch the girl, just say it—but you’re acting guilty as hell which leads me to wonder what did go on. You both looked like you had been through a battle when you walked in here. I have to know—did you force yourself on her?”
At the question, Jack exploded. “What the hell kind of question is that? I don’t rape women, Alex. I mistook Hayley for someone else. Trust me, I came out worse for the misunderstanding. She took exception to my questions and came at me like a wildcat. Any harm that came to her was a result of me simply trying to protect myself without injuring her. If you don’t believe me, ask her.” He rose to pace the length of the room. He had a tendency to prowl like a hungry tiger when angry.
“I’m sorry,” Alex said softly. “I know you would never hurt a woman, but it looked, well, forget it. I believe you. Do you mind telling me who you mistook her for?”
Ceasing his tour of the room, he looked at his friend. “A smuggler.”
“Ah,” Alex replied, with a guilty grin. “I think I understand now. Perhaps I should have sent word earlier that the hunt was over, but as you were out of the country, I didn’t think it mattered overmuch. I can imagine a young woman, dressed as a man, alone in the woods at night would give that appearance. I take it she didn’t appreciate your suspicions?”
“That would be an understatement,” he replied grimly. “I should warn you. Hayley doesn’t intend to bide her time here idly. She’s determined to discover a way back to the future.”
No Recourse
June Girls, Book 1
Mari Carr
Published 2017 by Book Boutiques.
ISBN: 978-1-946363-05-3
Copyright © 2017, Mari Carr.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Book Boutiques.
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, locales, or events is wholly coincidental. The names, characters, dialogue, and events in this book are from the author’s imagination and should not to be construed as real.
Manufactured in the USA.
Email [email protected] with questions, or inquiries about Book Boutiques.
Blurb
Who says lightning doesn't strike twice?
When Hayley Garland finds herself out in the English woods late one night, she’s nearly struck by lightning during a freak storm. But what she thought was a near miss is actually a direct hit.
Captain Jack Campbell is riding along the Dover shoreline, cursing his ill-timed trip in a torrential downpour. Before he can find shelter, he discovers something much more interesting: a beautiful redhead.
Sparks fly whenever Hayley and Jack are together—in and out of the bedroom. But between a wicked earl, a missing woman, Hayley’s penchant for finding trouble, and the inconvenience of an unexpected trip through time, they have to find a way to work out their differences before events from the past threaten to take away their future.
Previously Published
(2009) Liquid Silver Books | (2013) Mari Carr
Acknowledgement
Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs, Tibbs Design
Prologue
The piercing pain in her chest grew worse, but she couldn’t stop running. A flash of lightning split the darkness once again, temporarily blinding her. Thunder roared in her ears and her racing heart felt as if it would burst. Again, the pounding of the horse’s hooves beat the dirt path behind her. Closer this time. He was closer. A high-pitched scream ahead in the distance, just beyond her in the mist.
“Erin!” she yelled. “I’m coming.”
The cramps in her legs intensified and she stumbled over a rock in the path, but caught herself before she fell. She couldn’t keep up this insane pace much longer. She had to get to Erin before the dark man on the horse caught her again. More lightning, another crash of thunder. Blinded by the rain, she stumbled through the brambles. The wind howled as she struggled forward against its gale force.
She cried out as she tripped over a tree root. And another flash of lightning pierced the night sky.
Dragging herself up, she felt the hot breath of the horse against the back of her neck, as two callused hands lifted her through the air. Out of time. He’d caught her again, the sound of familiar laughter beside her now. Another scream—farther away this time—barely perceptible. She’d failed again.
“Erin!” She kicked out with all her might. “Erin!”
The man beside her laughed harshly, whispering in her ear, familiar, terrifying words. One last scream—this time coming from her own lips—as she tried to drown out his words, his laughter. The rough hands began to shake her so hard her teeth rattled.
Fight back.
Chapter 1
June 2008
“Hayley, wake up! Wake up!”
H
ayley opened her eyes, adjusting her vision to the dark room. Bright light from the hallway poured in from the open doorway and she felt disoriented.
“Tori?”
“Yes. God, Hayley. Wake up!” Hayley shook slightly as her friend stroked her hair and murmured comforting words. “You’re awake now. You’re safe.”
Hayley sat still for several moments, silently willing the trembling to stop. She hated the look of absolute panic on Tori’s face. “I’m okay. Really.”
“That was a hell of a nightmare. I heard you all the way down the hall.”
Hayley shrugged nonchalantly though her hands shook as she tried to untangle herself from the sweat-soaked sheets.
“I thought you said you didn’t have nightmares anymore. How long have you been having these?”
“Awhile…just since she disappeared.” Hayley’s voice was hoarse from screaming.
Tori looked unconvinced. “You need to talk to someone about them. It’s not good for you to have such violent dreams. You know, I bet my mother knows someone who could help.”
“A shrink?” Hayley felt calmer, her wits were returning to her. “No, thanks, I don’t think a psychiatrist is going to be able to do anything about a silly nightmare. Besides, I tried it before, remember?”
Tori crossed her arms. “Two months, Hayley. You tried it for a total of two months and then you quit when some progress was being made.”
“That doctor was a hack and it was a waste of money. I work hard for my paycheck and I resented giving it to her so she could blame all my problems on Marian. It’s just being here, Tori. It brings everything back.” At Tori’s incredulous look, she deepened her lie. “I’m fine at home.”
“Right, you don’t have these dreams anywhere but here?”
“No, well, maybe a couple of times right after I went home last summer, but not since then.” She hoped her light tone made her lie more convincing. Truth was she had endured bad dreams since she was a child, but the nightmares had become more frequent and frightening since last June. A year. She still couldn’t believe it had been one year. She’d spent the last twelve months in a fog, simply going through the motions of living.
Tomorrow was her best friend Erin’s birthday. It was also one year to the day since Erin had mysteriously disappeared without a trace. The June girls were together again for the summer, minus one very special member. Erin, Hayley and Tori had spent every summer together since they were ten years old. The first ten summers were spent at Camp Spring Rock, then last year here at Tori’s family estate, Fernwood Grange in Dover, England. They had penned themselves the June girls during their first summer at camp as all three of them had June birthdays. They had remained friends through the best and worst times of their lives.
This summer, Hayley was spending a couple weeks at Fernwood Grange with Tori. It was only her second vacation since beginning her job as a counselor in a women’s abuse shelter in St. Louis two years earlier. Tori, an elementary school librarian, was spending her entire summer break at the Grange and Erin, until her disappearance, had traveled the United States with her band, Delancy’s Dreamers.
Tori disrupted her thoughts. “We should have gone somewhere else this year.”
Hayley reached for her friend’s hands. “No. I wanted to come back, to be here with you. Besides, I’ve been thinking perhaps time and distance may help us solve this mystery. There are some things about last year that have been bothering me and I thought we could run down some of the leads that weren’t fully explored.”
“Are you kidding me?” Tori yelled. “Dammit Hayley. I didn’t come back here to start the search up again. There are no leads to track down.”
“I’m just not sure the detectives followed up as much as they should have.”
“Will you just stop it? She’s gone. Erin is gone. I thought coming here might help us heal.”
Hayley knew for a fact that wasn’t going to happen. “Heal?”
“Yes, heal, let go of the past, move on. I know those are pretty radical concepts, but they’re something you might want to try sometime.”
Hayley felt her friend’s words like a blow to the chest. Sure, she had a tendency to carry around her ancient history like well-worn luggage, but Tori, of all people, should understand why she did so.
“I—I don’t think I can do that.”
“Aw, Hayley. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, but I can’t drudge all of this up again. We have to get past it. We were both in such a daze at the end of last summer. I haven’t been back to this house myself since then. Despite my mother’s nagging, I spent Christmas with my cousins in Liverpool. I couldn’t face the demons here without you.” Tori’s voice broke. “I came back, hoping we could find closure. I miss her so much.”
Hayley reached for her friend, holding her as Tori cried. She didn’t think this trip would help either one of them. They were ghosts of their former selves and although she found solace with her friend, it wasn’t enough to counteract the guilt and pain she felt over losing Erin.
As Tori quietly cried, Hayley realized she hadn’t shed a tear since Erin’s disappearance—not once. Instead, she’d lived in a hollow cocoon, feeling cold and empty all the time. Her childhood with a tyrant father taught her from an early age that emotions showed weakness and—having learned that lesson the hard way many times—she refused to be weak.
Gradually, Tori regained control of her emotions and looked up guiltily. “You had the nightmare and I’m the one who’s falling apart. Isn’t that always the way? Erin was so much a part of us. This last year it’s felt like we were missing a limb, but we’ve gone on. We’ve both been successful in our jobs and we have each other. There are still good times to be had and I really don’t think Erin would want us to wallow in self-pity and misery. Remember the time Tuck Mathews fell into the lake?”
“As I recall, he didn’t fall in. Erin pushed him.” Hayley laughed at the memory.
For the next hour, the two friends reminisced, sharing laughter and tears as they talked about the wild adventures of the June girls at camp.
Finally, Hayley said the words that never completely left her consciousness. “The worst thing is not knowing.”
Tori nodded, clearly understanding what she meant.
“I think that’s what hurts the most. It drives me crazy sometimes, Tori. Just wondering, never knowing for sure she won’t walk through that door any minute with some crazy tale of her lost year.”
“Wouldn’t that be great? Actually, I think deep down inside, I hoped we would come back and find her here. Isn’t that silly?”
Hayley shook her head. “No, it’s not.”
“Sometimes, these past few days, I’ve actually felt like she was here.” Tori shivered. “Maybe I need to see the shrink?”
“No, I’ve felt her too. I thought it was just me.”
Neither of them spoke for several minutes as they considered what it might mean to feel Erin’s presence—her spirit in the house—until Tori, shaking off thoughts of her friend’s possible death, stood quickly. “That’s it. I’m for bed again.”
“Me too. Rough day tomorrow. Her twenty-third birthday.”
Tori paused in the doorway. “Tonight helped me. I’m stronger with you, Hayley. Sweet dreams?”
“Sweet dreams.”
She listened as Tori returned to her room, then got out of bed and crossed to the window seat. Curling up on the blue brocade cushion, she felt bad for lying to her friend about the nightmares. Erin and Tori were her best and only friends. After Marian, her mother, divorced her alcoholic father, Hayley and her mom moved frequently from one run-down apartment to another, usually trying to escape bill collectors or the latest in a long line of Marian’s seedy boyfriends.
Because of the instability of her home life, Hayley became a loner. Growing up, she watched her mom cower under the demands of her abusive father and then a string of other unsavory men. Determined not to be like Marian, she had difficulty fitting in. She was strong-
willed with a quick temper and an independent streak a mile wide. Her tendency to speak her mind tended to make others uncomfortable and she had never trusted anyone until she met the June girls.
Tori and Erin were loners as well, although for different reasons. Erin’s isolation was the result of lifestyle, not choice. She was an only child traveling with her father and a folk music band comprised entirely of adults. Despite the lack of other children, Erin was vivacious, beautiful and made friends easily. Tori, meanwhile, lived a life of privilege with wealthy parents. The problem was, her folks were both extremely successful workaholics who left the rearing of their only daughter to a string of nannies.
Shaking herself back to the present, Hayley decided sleep was beyond her. Looking around the room, she decided to read the romance novel Tori had loaned her earlier that afternoon.
“Damn,” she murmured after ten minutes of searching. “I must have left it outside.”
They’d spent the afternoon under a large oak tree at the edge of the Grange property. It was close enough to the shoreline that they could listen to the sounds of the English Channel as they relaxed. The tree had been a favorite gathering place for all three of the women last year.
However, today, she’d found herself unable to concentrate there. The tree was the last place Erin had been seen and Hayley was the last person who had seen her. The memory of that day served to increase the feelings of guilt she had suffered throughout the year. She’d left her friend alone, unprotected and the fact ate at her insides like a cancer. In her haste to escape the tree this afternoon, she must have forgotten her book as well as several other things, now that she thought about it.
Wide-awake and too antsy to sleep, she decided a brisk walk to retrieve her belongings would do her good. She pulled on the jeans and the green blouse she had worn earlier in the day. Taking a quick peek out the window, she was happy to see it was a clear night. A walk might do the trick. Might drive out the dark thoughts overwhelming her senses and leaving her so restless. Tori didn’t want to continue the search, but Hayley couldn’t give up the idea that perhaps with a bit more effort, this time they could solve the mystery.