by Kathryn Shay
Author’s Note
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Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed the story of Rosie and Maggie. And Noah and Huxley. What fun it was to write a book with dogs featured so prominently. You’ll notice, too, that the novella is typical Kathryn Shay, with angst, heart-wrenching emotion, and a lot going on! I’m happy with that as I think I remained true to my brand.
Did you know much about emotional-support dogs? I didn’t. I spoke with a teacher who has one in her classroom and did extensive research on the topic. What a blessing these animals are to troubled students. The ones I portrayed—and they were hard to develop—got so much out of having Rosie with them, that I’m beginning to think every school should have dogs in their classroom.
And how about that romance between Noah and Maggie? I never expected them to take to each other quite as quickly as they did. But it seemed real to me, as did the way their relationship developed. And I think the conflict was also real. Two troubled-in-the-past people would have difficulty getting together.
If you liked seeing Maggie here, she’s been in other books in my To Serve and Protect series: ABOVE AND BEYOND, SAY YOU’LL STAY, ONLY WITH YOU, NO OTHER LOVE and COME BACK TO ME. You’ll meet all the Marino clan and see how her issues grow more serious in each one, how the family tries to help her, and the low point she finally hits. That whole story, as well as her parents’ rocky road to happiness are told in the last book.
Enjoy all of the above, and I hope you’ll continue to read all my work, featured on www.kathrynshay.com.
And if you want to read about training an emotional-support dog, you can learn more about training pets at www.akc.org/products-services/training-programs/canine-good-citizen.
Best, Kathy
Visit or contact Kathryn at www.kathrynshay.com
www.facebook.com/kathrynshay
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www.amazon.com/Kathryn-Shay
More Books in the TO SERVE AND PROTECT Series
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ABOVE AND BEYOND
Nick Marino, top agent in the White House, loves his job and is in line to take over the directorship of the Secret Service someday. Then the president sends him to a small town in upstate New York to determine why his widowed sister is getting threatening notes. Not happy about leaving D.C., he’s even more frustrated when he becomes embroiled in the lives of the beautiful Isabelle Barton and her two spunky boys. ABOVE AND BEYOND provides a deep dive into the life of a Secret Service agent, the glamor of Washington politics and a close look at being related to the most powerful man in the world. The story will keep you fascinated and capture your heart with its tender and sometimes hot romance.
SAY YOU’LL STAY
When Secret Service head trainer at the recruit center Gabe Marino gets his dream job--being part of the Presidential Protective Duty--he doesn’t expect to fall in love with restaurant owner Macy Stevens. He’s going into the kill zone and she can’t risk a repeat of her dead husband’s shooting in the line of duty. But life, and love, get in the way. SAY YOU’LL STAY gives readers an in-depth look at training Secret Service recruits, a peek into the life of a boy with emotional disorders and the man who befriends him, and a tender love story that you won’t want to end. The book will have you pulling out the Kleenex.
ONLY WITH YOU
Agent Whitney Dwyer and Agent Max Blackwell have been together for five years. As a young member of the Secret Service, Whitney has a top-notch job in Threat Assessment and has gotten plum assignments in protection. She’s also gotten Max in a friends-with-benefits relationship. When they split up, neither is prepared for life without the other. Then fate steps in. ONLY WITH YOU is back-dropped by the bombing of a federal building, a case assigned to Whitney and Max during their personal turmoil. The book also delves into the inner workings of the Secret Service and the danger federal agents encounter every day. Toss in a sizzling relationship and readers will find this story a page-turner.
NO OTHER LOVE
Dr. Connor Marino has led a charmed life, with a superb education, several degrees under his belt and a patent which gives him money to live on. But he enlists in Doctors Without Borders because he wants to give back to the world. He never expects to find love in the war-torn Middle East with a real live princess, Callandra Gentileschi, from Casarina. But theirs is anything but a fairytale romance when family and political demands take Calla away. In NO OTHER LOVE, get a glimpse at the difficult work of doctors overseas, travel with Calla to her exotic foreign home country and experience their undying love for each other.
COME BACK TO ME
Army Medical Reservist Dr. Declan Marino married Army Officer Delilah Carrier, his high school sweetheart, had children early on and were happy—for a while. They divorce, however, when Lila is stifled by her life. Now, happy in their careers, they’re still in love but can’t seem to find a way back to each other. COME BACK TO ME examines the difficulty of balancing two military parents and maintaining a happy family life. The book also explores the question: can long-standing love triumph over the roadblocks of modern life?
TEACHER’S PET
When Maggie Marino comes to Stepping Stones Special Needs School for a job interview, Noah Carson has no idea she and her glossy-coated Golden Retriever, Rosie, will change his life. Maggie has had a difficult past, but she’s overcome it with the help her family. She’s dedicated her career to work with Rosie, an emotional-needs dog, in school. Noah is a terrific teacher and loves his students. But when Maggie’s past brings back a traumatic event in his life, he realizes he’s still greatly affected by what happened to him. His new and exciting relationship with Maggie is threatened.
To browse Kathryn’s impressive list of titles go to www.kathrynshay.com/books.
Excerpt
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To Serve and Protect, Book 1
ABOVE AND BEYOND
Prologue
“I need you to go to Catasaga, Nick. Indefinitely. Isabelle is getting threatening notes. She could be in grave danger.”
Special Agent in Charge Nick Marino stared over at the president of the United States, trying to hide his shock. The Oval Office felt hot all of a sudden, though the cool rain dribbled down outside the open window facing the Rose Garden. “Seriously?”
From behind the big oak desk, the president gave a small smile.
Nick’s reaction was inappropriate. He shook off the emotion. “Excuse me, sir, but I’m surprised. Of course, I’ll do this willingly.”
Tall and built like a football player, James Monroe Manwaring snickered. “You’re probably furious as hell with me. But there are a couple of perks to the assignment. I’m sending Agent Dwyer in with you.”
“Ah.” He’d never worked with his cousin Whitney, who’d become a legend of her own in the service. Manwaring would know her presence in upstate New York sweetened the pot.
“And in a year, when your time on the presidential detail is up, I’ll see what I can do for you. I hear one of the deputies to the director might be leaving then.”
Nick would move heaven and earth to get in line for the agency’s head job, and the president knew it. Since Nick had joined the Secret Service eighteen years ago, his sole aspiration was to fill the position. Every single career move he’d made had been calculated with that in mind.
“But there’s more to why I chose you.” The president frowned. “The agency has had too many screwups lately. I need someone I can trust up there.”
In recent years, several incidents had blighted the reputation of the service big-time. Agents had allowed the White House to be breached. They’d been drunk and disorderly on the grounds. And most reprehensible, they’d behaved abominably on advance travel visits. His own brother had been a victim of one of these events, though there were extenuating circumstances.
“I understand, Mr. President. And I apologize for my initial reaction.”
“I appreciate your cooperation Nick.”
“Do we ha
ve any leads on who’s threatening her?”
“No, we don’t. My gut says that it’s me they’re after, through Isabelle. I’ve alienated people, even before I became president.”
He had. As attorney general, he’d busted up a ring of dirty cops, been responsible for a myriad of drug arrests and even taken on two corrupt senators and one judge. Because of all that, when he was elected POTUS, he’d been given the code name Pit Bull.
Sighing, Nick tried to accept that he was going to be a babysitter for several weeks. The very thought of it frustrated him. Because there was nothing more that Nick Marino wanted than to be in the kill zone.
Chapter 1
The sun shone down on Catasaga Lake making its surface glisten like gold filament. Quiet, except for the buzz of a boat a few miles away and the cheerful chirping of birds in the trees near the house, the setting was idyllic. If Nick wasn’t still annoyed by the president’s request, he might be able to appreciate his surroundings. But he wasn’t a happy camper. No way.
And really, he’d had no choice. Periodically, Nick had to say no when James Manwaring wanted to do to something unsafe—like walk a rope line where there had been no advance work done or change the route of a motorcade—but this wasn’t one of those occasions where he could have objected.
So Nick had come here to this little lake in upstate New York, to this stiflingly little town of Catasaga, to follow his boss’s directive without complaint. The place was even smaller than the village he’d grown up in, Lakeville, only an hour away. When this assignment was over, he was taking some furlough to visit his parents.
“Agent Marino?”
The soft voice came from behind him and he circled around. Raising his dark sunglasses, he anchored them on his head. “Hello, Mrs. Barton.”
Out of habit, he made a quick study of the president’s sister. He’d met her before, of course, as he’d been on the PPD for three years, but she’d changed since the last time he’d seen her. Her light brown hair had gotten longer and was streaked by the sun; the bangs she wore were new. Her eyes were startling green, just like those of President Manwaring, but there were lines around them that hadn’t been there. And she was thinner than she’d been at Christmas. Of course, death threats could do that to a person.
“And you should drop the agent and Marino part. I’ll be Nick Martin while I’m here.”
To make the situation even harder for Nick, the woman had insisted on being guarded surreptitiously, necessitating an elaborate ruse. The president told Nick they had heated discussions about protection, but she absolutely refused to have a contingent of the Secret Service standing post at her house and accompanying her openly. The president had reluctantly accommodated her, mainly because there were advantages to protecting her on the QT. If they came out full force, and if people were really trying to hurt her, they’d just go into hiding and wait until she was alone again. In some ways, this was the best option.
She shifted the bags she was carrying. Since they were overflowing with groceries, he covered the distance between them and reached out to take the sacks from her.
“I can do this.” Her tone—curt and cold—irked him even more.
“Give me one.” It wasn’t a request. Better to establish now who was in charge.
And since they were slipping from her grasp, she nodded. He grabbed a sack and followed her up the embankment to the bottom of the steps. She didn’t need the second deck he’d be adding on the ground level, though she did require the storage units he would make for her rare-book business. But any real carpenter could have done both. Still, that was the cover chosen as a ruse for Nick to be around so much.
She climbed the steep stairway in front of him, her gait steady, her hips swaying in that innately feminine way some women had. Up top, the deck sported curved railings, built-in seating and wooden boxes filled with red and white flowers. His mother had the same kind, but he could never remember their names. Umbrella tables and chairs provided seating. They entered the house though French doors.
“Nice,” he said, glancing around.
“Thanks. It belonged to Michael’s parents. He inherited it before we got married.”
“I know.”
“Oh, of course you do. By now, you must know everything about me.”
Instead of answering, Nick catalogued his surroundings.
On the left, a huge glass-and-screened family room with cedar walls and stuffed red-and-white furniture. Green plants in every corner. To the right, a large kitchen, painted a soft yellow with red accents. A breeze floated through the myriad of windows in the back of the house, making the interior pleasantly cool.
“Where are the boys?” he asked.
“At school.”
“Oh, sure, I forgot. I grew up around here, but I’m not used to this lifestyle anymore.”
“The pace will probably kill you. It would my brother.”
“But the object is to keep someone from killing you.”
The color leeched out of her face, accenting the few freckles across her nose. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest.
“I didn’t mean to be so blunt, but that’s why I’m here.”
She went all soft and feminine on him, and, man, if it wasn’t a transformation.
“You have a plan, right, Agent…Nick?”
“Of course. Let me set this bag down and I’ll go to the car and get my stuff.”
Composing herself, Mrs. Barton nodded. “I’ll put the groceries away while you do that.”
“Out that way?” He pointed to the foyer.
“Yes.”
The front of the house was spacious and airy, too. He memorized the location of the room, with hardwood floors throughout, a staircase to the second story and one leading down to a so-called in-law apartment, which had been built on to the house for the president’s mother when she visited.
Outside, he grabbed his duffle and another suitcase from the fully equipped SUV that Manwaring had sent for his sister to use. Nick slammed the door and retraced his steps. He left the larger baggage in the foyer and went back to the kitchen.
Mrs. Barton was staring out the window.
“I’m back,” he said quietly.
Despite his tone, she jerked. “Oh,” she said as she turned around with her hand on her heart. “I’m skittish, I guess.” She crossed to the coffeepot and asked, “Want some?”
“Black, please.”
He took a seat at the table, fished out papers from his bag and dropped it on the floor next to his chair. When she joined him, he asked, “Where would you like to start?”
“With the maniac that’s after me.” She shook her head. “I always hated being the sister of a politician, but this clinches it.”
About the Author
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A NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author, Kathryn Shay has been a lifelong writer and teacher. She has written dozens of self-published original romance titles, print books with the Berkley Publishing Group and Harlequin Enterprises and mainstream women’s fiction with Bold Strokes Books. She has won many awards for her work: five RT Book Reviews awards, the Bookseller’s Best Award, Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year and several “Starred Reviews.” One of her firefighter books hit #20 on the NEW YORK TIMES list. Her novels have been serialized in COSMOPOLITAN magazine and featured in USA TODAY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and PEOPLE magazine. There are over ten million copies of her books in print and downloaded online. Reviewers have called her work “emotional and heart-wrenching.”
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