by Lora Leigh
“That’s it, baby,” he groaned at her ear. “Move with me just like that, Kenni … Ah hell yeah. Fuck me back, Kenni.”
She couldn’t control the arch of her hips. Jazz was thrusting into her fast and hard, pistoning strokes that ignited a torturous flame … It built. It seared her with pleasure, then when it exploded destroyed her with ecstasy, with a pleasure that drove her far beyond any previous concept of ecstasy.
Above her, Jazz called her name, his voice tight, strangled as the feel of his release throbbing inside her extended the rapture lashing at her, burning through her senses until she collapsed against the bed.
Boneless.
Exhausted.
She made a mental note though:
Never dare Jazz sexually again.
Not ever.
“I love you, honey-girl,” he whispered drowsily. “With all my soul.”
Okay, maybe she’d dare him occasionally.
EPILOGUE
Six weeks later
The funeral was a travesty. A joke Grace found little amusement in. But she was ordered to be there. Despite her objections, despite her arguments, still, she sat there beneath the summer sky at the edge of the Maddox family cemetery and kept her mouth shut as her mother was buried.
Lucia Maddox, widow of Benjamin Maddox, second wife to his brother Vincent Maddox, sister to Vincent’s first wife, Sierra Maddox. Betrayer. Traitor. Murderer.
Her fists clenched in her lap, her nails biting into her palms at the knowledge of what Lucia had been and what she had ultimately gotten away with. She hadn’t paid for her crimes. She hadn’t suffered for what she’d done or served time without freedom for the crimes and the pain she’d inflicted on the Maddox family. Grace couldn’t say she’d hurt those who loved her, because honestly, those who really knew her, hadn’t loved her.
She’d played the poor unloved wife for nine years. Poor little Lucia Maddox, the townspeople whispered. She’d married her sister’s husband only to suffer with the knowledge that he’d only married her because she’d so resembled the woman he had loved. Then there were those who said Vincent and Lucia had been sleeping together long before Sierra’s death. Grace knew better than that, just as she’d suspected it was Lucia who had begun the rumor.
What she hadn’t known was that her mother had murdered her only sister and nearly murdered her niece, Kendra “Kenni” Maddox. For ten years Kenni had been on the run, often attacked by cousins she’d been raised with, men sent to kill her by Lucia and their demented belief that they could overthrow the Maddox family as commanders and overseers of the Kin. Lucia and the men following her, the men she’d whored herself to, had actually believed they could fool the Maddox men so effectively. Her uncle Vincent, his sons Cord, Deacon, and Sawyer, his nephews, loyal Maddox men and commanders of the mountain fighters known as Kin.
She’d destroyed so many lives—for what? Some demented belief that the Maddox family held stores of gold and top-secret government information?
Grace wanted to laugh at the thought.
She wanted to laugh as the reverend spoke so solemnly, so kindly of a woman who had fooled him as she had fooled so many others. She wanted to stand up and tell them all what fools they were. But how could she, because she had been the greatest fool of all. She’d loved her mother, despite her cold nature, her criticisms, and subtle cruelties. That was still her mother, until the day Kenni had returned to her home. Until Grace had stood outside the living room and heard her mother furiously admit to killing her sister. And she’d seen the pictures one of her mother’s hit men had turned over to Jazz Lancing and his brothers. There were pictures and videos, reports of jobs and the low-level, weaker members of the Kin who had followed her.
Six weeks she’d kept the knowledge to herself that she’d gone through the information her uncle had thought was hidden on his computer now. Six weeks.
That day Lucia had been taken from the house by several government agents. Four days ago, her body had been returned, a report of an auto accident that killed her accompanying it.
Auto accident, her ass.
She had no proof, but she had no doubt that whoever had taken her back to DC had executed her. Knowledge of the Kin, of what they did, what they were a part of, couldn’t be allowed to be revealed during a trial. She knew that. She’d known that when Lucia was taken away.
Heads bowed as the reverend solemnly recited prayers and asked that Lucia’s soul be held in God’s heart and everlasting light. Grace glared at the coffin. She remembered sitting there ten years before, sobbing, destroyed at the loss of a beloved aunt and cousin. Aunt Sierra and her cousin Kenni had been such an integral part of Grace’s life that at times she’d felt as though she’d lost her mother instead.
God knew Lucia hadn’t been much of a mother.
Finally, the prayers were finished, mourners dismissed, and it was over. The coffin would be lowered once everyone had left, dirt heaped on top of it, and Lucia Maddox’s legacy would be buried with her. She would no longer torment, torture, or attempt to kill those who trusted her, those who would have loved her.
All that was left now was the fallout, and that fallout had once again destroyed her daughter. Lucia had ensured that the only dream Grace had held in her heart for so long was ripped apart.
“Grace, come on, sweetheart. Let’s go home.” Uncle Vinny laid his hand on her shoulder, pulling her from her musings as everyone began to drift away.
“Go home and host a wake she didn’t deserve?” Grace sighed, ensuring her voice was too low for others to hear. “Pretend to grieve, Uncle Vinny?”
“Just for a little while,” he promised. “Life will return to normal soon, I promise.”
He promised.
It was a promise he couldn’t keep.
As she turned to follow the others, a strong, broad set of shoulders drew her gaze.
He hadn’t even spoken to her. She’d waited, hoping, believing he would, but he hadn’t said a word since her mother had been taken. In the six weeks after Lucia had been taken away, she hadn’t even glimpsed him. Before that, she’d seen him as often as once a week. He’d teased her, flirted with her, he’d looked at her with hooded gray eyes that grew darker, that grew hungry.
He didn’t do that anymore either.
“It’s time I move, Uncle Vinny.” She held herself distant even as he offered her his arm.
“Not yet.” There was no arguing with that tone, usually.
She steadied her voice and lifted her chin in determination. “Yes, it’s time.”
“Why?” The hard tone of command was simply impossible to ignore, but that didn’t mean she had to obey.
“Because I need to think.” She wouldn’t lie to him, he deserved far better than that. “I need to learn how to live, Uncle Vinny. If I stay at the house with you, Cord, Deke, and Sawyer, then you’ll just hover over me and try to protect me from what she’s done. I have to deal with it, now.”
He was silent for long moments and she actually expected him to argue. Instead, he breathed out heavily. “You’re like a daughter to me, Gracie. Kenni returning hasn’t changed that. When I thought she was gone…” He cleared his throat as emotion thickened his voice. “You were there, and you made me hold on when I didn’t want to. Not Lucia, you. Because I knew you were grieving just as hard and just as deep as the rest of us were. I couldn’t leave you alone. You didn’t leave me alone.”
Her eyes filled with tears. Had Lucia expected that? No doubt she had.
“No one blames you, Grace,” he promised her. “Least of all that oblivious young man you have your heart set on.”
She swung her gaze around, surprise surging through her at the statement.
Rueful amusement filled his gaze as he watched her affectionately.
“Think I didn’t notice?” he asked her.
“He didn’t.” Turning, she stared back at that broad back as the man she’d had her heart set on paused to talk to one of the women who stopped him.
> She hated those women. Hated how they were so comfortable with him they could touch his arm or shoulder, smile up at him so confidently, so certain of their effect on men. Perhaps on him.
“He’s a good man,” Uncle Vinny said softly. “An honorable man. Sometimes, though, honor stands in a man’s way when there’s no reason that reaching out for what he wants would tarnish that honor. You’re young, but he doesn’t understand the quiet maturity that’s so much a part of you. I have faith in him though. I think he’ll get his head out of his ass soon enough.”
She wanted to laugh at that. Six weeks ago, she would have laughed over it.
“Perhaps it was for the best that he hasn’t done so before now,” she decided. “He is honorable, Uncle Vinny. And a damned good man. He deserves far more than a traitor’s daughter.”
Before he could protest or make up any excuses his sons and the daughter he’d thought he’d lost were striding to him. Grace stepped back before slowly drifting away. She thought no one noticed either. She believed no one noticed that she walked to her car alone, and that she drove away alone. And she thought no one saw the tear she brushed from her cheek.
Most of her things were packed and waiting to be loaded in that car. If she was lucky, very lucky, she could take care of that before the family even arrived at the house. The question was, exactly where would she go?
Don’t miss these other novels of seduction and suspense by #1 New York Times bestselling author
Lora Leigh
“Leigh’s books can scorch the ink off the page.”
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THE ELITE OPS SERIES
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
#1 New York Times bestseller, LORA LEIGH is the author of the Navy SEALs, the Breeds, the Elite Ops, the Callahans, the Bound Hearts, and the Nauti series. You can visit her website at www.loraleigh.com. Or sign up for email updates here.
Also By
Lora Leigh
THE CALLAHANS
MIDNIGHT SINS
DEADLY SINS
SECRET SINS
ULTIMATE SINS
THE ELITE OPS SERIES
LIVE WIRE
RENEGADE
BLACK JACK
HEAT SEEKER
MAVERICK
WILD CARD
THE NAVY SEALS TRILOGY
KILLER SECRETS
HIDDEN AGENDAS
DANGEROUS GAMES
BOUND HEARTS
WICKED PLEASURE
FORBIDDEN PLEASURE
ONLY PLEASURE
ANTHOLOGIES
LEGALLY HOT
MEN OF DANGER
Praise for Lora Leigh’s other bestselling series
THE CALLAHANS
“Leigh continues to do what she does best: write steamy hot love scenes, dangerous enemies, and deadly revenge.”
—RT Book Reviews on Ultimate Sins
“Midnight Sins has everything a good book should have: suspense, murder, betrayal, mystery, and lots of sensuality … Lora Leigh is a talented author with the ability to create magnificent characters and captivating plots.”
—Romance Junkies
“[An] erotically charged tale woven tightly around a chilling suspense about love and betrayal. Midnight Sins features some outstanding characterization and a plot that unfolds to reveal a horrific tangle of events that lead to the unthinkable. You won’t want to put this book down until you have read the very last page.”
—Fresh Fiction
ELITE OPS
“Leigh delivers … erotic passion. This is a hot one for the bookshelf!”
—RT Book Reviews on Renegade
“Overflowing with escalating danger, while pent-up sexual cravings practically burst into flames.”
—Sensual Reads on Black Jack
“Sex and violence power the satisfying second installment of Leigh’s Elite Ops series.”
—Publishers Weekly on Maverick
“Highly emotional and addicting … an intoxicating first installment of a brand-new series.”
—Romance Junkies on Wild Card
NAVY SEALS
“A smoldering-hot new espionage tale. This chapter of Leigh’s SEALs saga reverberates with deadly danger.”
—RT Book Reviews on Killer Secrets
“A marvelous novel of suspense and raw passion.”
—Romance Junkies on Dangerous Games
“Tempting, enchating romance[s] that readers are certain to devour.”
—Romance Reviews Today
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
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
Epilogue
About the Author
Series card
Praise for bestselling author Lora Leigh
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
WICKED LIES
Copyright © 2015 by Lora Leigh.
All rights reserved.
Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, ext. 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].
For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
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eISBN: 978-1-4668-7447-3
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / September 2015
St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.