Joyce Sullivan - Urgent Vows

Quinn’s lean, muscled body quivered with tightly reined emotion

It took all Hope’s willpower to hold back the urge to touch him. It was her last remaining defense to his unexpected invasion. Somehow she felt if she didn’t cross that line, she could survive this encounter with her heart still intact.

Her gaze flew instinctively to Quinn’s little niece and nephew. A drop of moisture dripped off her chin and she realized she was crying at the senseless injustice of a family being destroyed…and Quinn walking around with a price on his head and the guilt of his brother and sister-in-law’s deaths on his soul.

Quinn.

A hundred questions formed in her mind. But only one seemed important. “What can I do to help?”

“Marry me.”

Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,

Your summer reading list just wouldn’t be complete without the special brand of romantic suspense you can only get from Harlequin Intrigue.

This month, Joanna Wayne launches her first-ever miniseries! You loved the Randolph family when you met them in her book Family Ties (#444). So now they’re back in RANDOLPH FAMILY TIES, beginning with Branson’s story in The Second Son (#569). Flesh and blood bind these brothers to each other—and to a mystery baby girl. All are her protectors…one is her father.

Familiar, the crime-solving black cat, is back in his thirteenth FEAR FAMILIAR title by Caroline Burnes. This time he explores New Orleans in Familiar Obsession (#570).

It had been Hope Fancy’s dream to marry Quinn McClure, but not under a blaze of bullets! Are Urgent Vows (#571) enough to save two small children…and a lifelong love? Find out with Harlequin Intrigue author Joyce Sullivan.

With her signature style and Native American characters and culture, Aimée Thurlo revisits the Black Raven brothers from Christmas Witness (#544). In Black Raven’s Pride (#572), Nick Black Raven would die to protect Eden Maes, the one-time and always love of his life. And he’d be damned before anyone would touch a hair on the head of their child.

So if you can handle the heat, pull the trigger on all four Harlequin Intrigue titles!

Sincerely,

Denise O’Sullivan

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin Intrigue

Urgent Vows

Joyce Sullivan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Joyce credits her lawyer mother with instilling in her a love of reading and writing—and a fascination for solving mysteries. She has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and worked several years as a private investigator before turning her hand to writing romantic suspense. A transplanted American, Joyce makes her home in Aylmer, Quebec, with her handsome French-Canadian husband and two casebook-toting kid detectives.

Books by Joyce Sullivan

HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

352—THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

436—THIS LITTLE BABY

516—TO LANEY, WITH LOVE

546—THE BABY SECRET

571—URGENT VOWS

Quinn McClure— This counterfeit expert is certain his identical twin was killed in his place. Can he find a mother for his brother’s children before the hit man rectifies his error?

Hope Fancy— Always a fiancée and never a bride. Would a jinx and a hit man prevent her from marrying her first love?

Mercy and Bernardo— Who had hired this hit man and his sidekick?

Asian Syndicate — They feared Quinn was coming too close to identifying the principals of their credit card ring.

Hugh Simons— The mastermind of this payday counterfeit check ring blamed Quinn for his arrest.

Ross Linville— Quinn’s investigation into the stock certificates he’d counterfeited to use as collateral for a bank loan had tarnished his family’s sterling name. Now he’d skipped bail. Was he plotting revenge?

Adrian Burkhold— When Quinn exposed him as the head of a rare gold coin counterfeiting operation, Burkhold swore he’d see Quinn dead.

Dr. Juan Chavez— Was this wealthy Dominican Republic doctor trying to prevent Quinn from telling a packed courtroom about his counterfeit medical diplomas?

For Jeannie, who found her Sha’ul. May you live happily ever after. Mazel tov.

A serendipitous meeting with two charming and debonair gentlemen was the inspiration for this book. I would like to extend my gratitude to Jean-Claude Doré, Forensic Counterfeit Examiner and Robert Fawcett, Forensic Document Examiner, of Counterfeit & Forgery Prevention Inc. for sharing the details of their fascinating work.

Thanks also to Inspector Al Misner, RCMP Forensic Ident Services Ottawa; T. Lorraine Vassalo, Criminologist; Detective-Sergeant Bill Bowles, Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services; Detective-Sergeant Clyde Dyck, Chief Firearms Officer, Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services; Dee Barlow, ADT Security Systems Canada; Lawyers Robert Lewis and Glen Kealy; Jackie Oakley, Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police; Dr. Stephen W. Maclean; Karen Robertson; Kathryn Young-Davies; Pat and Linda Poitevin; and Judy McAnerin

Any mistakes are my own.

Prologue

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

12:00 p.m. Thursday

The electronic beeper on his wristwatch sounding noon roused Mercy from sleep, his heart pounding, the blood pumping through him and rushing to his head.

Had the bodies been discovered yet? Mercy scratched his private parts, then rolled over and grappled for the TV remote on the bedside table. The hand that had been so steady last night, so deadly, now trembled with anticipation.

The morning news had been ungratifying—not one mention of the killings. But surely, now there’d been time…. The set came on with a burst of color and sound in the darkened motel room.

A satisfied smile twisted his mouth as the thin-lipped, tight-assed, primly suited anchorwoman gazed solemnly into the camera, her expression conveying both sympathy and outrage as she segued into the lead story.

“Residents in Gloucester are in shock today over the gruesome discovery of the bodies of a man and a woman shot to death in their home. A neighbor spotted the couple’s three-year-old daughter through a kitchen window and became suspicious when it appeared the girl was unsupervised. Police are not commenting on whether it was a botched burglary or a murder/suicide. A toddler was also found in the home. He was unharmed. Names will not be released until the next-of-kin have been notified.”

Mercy flipped her the bird and switched to another Ottawa station, just catching the tail end of the story. He got some satisfaction from seeing footage of the neighbors huddled outside the house. The fear stamped on their faces made his chest swell. Damn straight they should be afraid. Mercy was no one anyone wanted to mess with—not if they didn’t want to find themselves six feet under or reduced to dust in a fancy bottle.