Mia Zachary - Another Side Of Midnight

“Mia Zachary has a winner with Another Side of Midnight! With a wonderfully defined heroine, snappy dialogue and an intricate plot, what’s not to love?”

—USA TODAY bestselling author Julie Kenner

“Mia Zachary takes chances that pay off in this edgy, compelling read!”

—USA TODAY bestselling author Julie Leto

“Sparks fly when Steele and Stone clash in this dynamite, double-blind mystery.”

—New York Times bestselling author Rebecca York

“Steele is…sassy and strong, beautiful and smart but she also has [a] hint of vulnerability underneath that smart mouth attitude. Put Steele and Stone together and you get explosive chemistry… the pages fairly sizzle…. Another Side of Midnight grabs you right from the very beginning and keeps you until the end.”

—CataRomance

“Mystery, hard-balled suspense and a sizzle that won’t quit are a combination that I crave when I read a romantic suspense. Mia Zachary delivers my cravings to the max!

This book is definitely a keeper!”

—The Best Reviews

Over the years, award-winning author Mia Zachary has penned really bad poetry, even worse song lyrics, adolescent short stories and overly descriptive class papers. Her first completed contemporary manuscript placed second in Harlequin Books’ 2000 Summer Blaze contest.

She’s written four Blaze novels since then, including the bestseller Afternoon Delight; “Spirit Dance” in the paranormal anthology Witchy Business; and Another Side of Midnight, her first romantic mystery. Go behind the scenes of the Midnight agency at www.SteeleMidnight.com.

Mia lives in Maryland with her husband of seventeen years and their beautiful little boy. Visit Mia online at www.miazachary.com for excerpts, reviews, articles and more!

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Dear Reader,

A funny thing happened while driving home from lunch with girlfriends one day. A kick-ass heroine and a complex premise attacked me and didn’t let go of my imagination until the story had unfolded onto the manuscript pages…. Now here it is three years later and I could not be prouder to introduce you to the hero and heroine of my first mystery novel.

Steele Mezzanotte has a new P.I. agency, a showgirl’s body and a sharp-edged attitude. Born and raised in Vegas, street smarts and a smart mouth have always kept her in control of any situation. That is, until Cameron Stone walks into her life. Drop-dead gorgeous, with a lot of Scots charm, the enigmatic “problem solver” has a habit of disappearing, but he’ll always return to Sin City. And to Steele. Because the only thing that comes between a rock and a hard case is love…the greatest mystery of all.

Let me know if you enjoy the story as much as I loved writing it. I love to hear from my readers!

Mia

As a writer I know how important words are. And yet I can’t seem to find the right ones to express the breadth and depth of my gratitude to those friends who have kept the faith when my own wavered. This story is dedicated to Mom and Lisa, who believed from the beginning and to Rachel and John who loved it to the end. Thank you from my heart. I’m also very grateful to Marsha Zinberg, Birgit Davis-Todd, and Kathryn Lye for standing by this project from the first premise and pitch. Thank you, ladies!

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

CHAPTER FORTY

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

CHAPTER FIFTY

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Lady Luck Strikes Again

LAS VEGAS, BABY. My kind of town.

Home to five different Cirque du Soleil shows, about 197,000 slot machines, over thirty-six million annual visitors, who knows how many Elvis impersonators and, of course, one Lady Luck.

However, as luck would have it, I’d spent the past half hour in a hot car, my digital camera poised near the small opening at the top of the tinted window. One of my best friends had let me borrow the Toyota from her used car dealership. My beloved Harley Davidson Softail motorcycle isn’t exactly conducive to surveillance.

Downtown, the casinos are smaller than on the Strip, the hotels cheaper and the atmosphere more nostalgic than glamorous. “Glitter Gulch” is where you’ll find the Golden Gate’s ninety-nine-cent shrimp cocktails, the annual World Series of Poker at Binion’s Horseshoe and VegasVic, the forty-foot neon cowboy. However, once you move past the four main blocks of interest, downtown feels meaner, gritty and weather-beaten.

The February temperature was a balmy eighty degrees, which meant it was over one hundred in the Toyota’s driver seat. And I wasn’t exactly sitting here for the fun of it. Waiting across from a run-down bar like a paparazzo anxious to snap photos of a clandestine meeting wasn’t my idea of a good time, but it is part of my job.

My name is Stella Mezzanotte—midnight star in Italian— and I’m a private eye.

Damn, I like saying that.

Which was why I was roasting my ass outside of the Polar Lounge. At the moment I was following a client’s girlfriend of two months because he thought she was messing around on him. Well, duh. With clown-red hair, capped teeth, collagen-filled lips and saline-filled boobs, did he honestly think she’d be genuine about her feelings?

People lie about anything and everything, especially when it comes to relationships. I hate these cases. I usually end up finding out things my clients don’t really want to know and then nobody wants to pay for bad news. But, until I get full ownership of the agency, I’ll take almost any case that comes in my door.

My mind was drifting toward a heat-induced nap when something—or rather someone—caught my attention.

The man walking out of the Polar Lounge was all kinds of gorgeous, but there was something else about him… An aura of quiet violence. This guy wasn’t bulging with muscles under his dark T-shirt, but he had strength.