Dani Sinclair - Best-Kept Secrets

The town of Fools Point, Maryland, has seen quite a few odd occurrences in the past year. Explosions, shoot-outs, kidnappings…and a fair share of weddings. So much has happened here, in fact, the townsfolk have taken to calling the place MYSTERY JUNCTION. This is, after all, the place where one can find danger and desire around every corner.

Folks are still wondering about our newest business owner, Jake Collins. Though gossip is flying that he has connections to the Mafia, or he was wounded in battle, Jake won’t say a word about his past. But let’s not forget that he has taken in that troubled teen, Matt Williams. Jake can’t be all bad.

Speaking of possible relationships…Now that Amy Thomas has moved back to town, does anyone see a resemblance between her young daughter and Jake Collins? It’s in the smile, I’d say. Amy has been overseas these past several years, and some insist that Jake was in the military—though no one seems to know where he was stationed. Hmm. Anyone up for a doing a little math?

Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,

The recipe for a perfect Valentine’s Day: chocolate, champagne—and four original romantic suspense titles from Harlequin Intrigue!

Our TOP SECRET BABIES promotion kicks off with Rita Herron’s Saving His Son (#601). Devastated single mother Lindsey Payne suspects her child is alive and well—and being kept from her deliberately. The only man who’d be as determined as she is to find her child is Detective Gavin McCord—if he knew he’d fathered her missing baby….

In Best-Kept Secrets (#602) by Dani Sinclair, the tongues in MYSTERY JUNCTION are wagging about newcomer Jake Collins. Amy Thomas’s first and only love has returned at last and she’s ready to tell him the secret she’s long kept hidden. But would revealing it suddenly put her life in jeopardy?

Our ON THE EDGE program continues with Private Vows (#603) by Sally Steward. A beautiful amnesiac is desperate to remember her past. Investigator Cole Grayson is desperate to keep it hidden. For if she remembers the truth, she’d never be his….

Bachelor Will Sheridan thinks he’s found the perfect Mystery Bride (#604) in B.J. Daniels’s latest romantic thriller. But the sexy and provocative Samantha Murphy is a female P.I. in the middle of a puzzling case when Will suddenly becomes her shadow. Now with desire distracting her and a child’s life in the balance, Samantha and Will are about to discover the true meaning of “partnership”!

Sincerely,

Denise O’Sullivan

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin Intrigue

Best-Kept Secrets

Dani Sinclair

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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An avid reader, Dani Sinclair didn’t discover romance novels until her mother lent her one when she’d come for a visit. Dani’s been hooked on the genre ever since. With the premiere of Mystery Baby for Harlequin Intrigue in 1996, Dani discovered she not only enjoyed reading this genre, she loved writing the intense stories, as well. Her third novel, Better Watch Out, was a RITA Award finalist in 1998. Dani lives outside Washington, D.C., a place she’s found to be a great source for both intrigue and humor!

Books by Dani Sinclair

HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

371—MYSTERY BABY

401—MAN WITHOUT A BADGE

448—BETTER WATCH OUT

481—MARRIED IN HASTE

507—THE MAN SHE MARRIED

539—FOR HIS DAUGHTER*

551—MY BABY, MY LOVE*

565—THE SILENT WITNESS*

589—THE SPECIALIST

602—BEST-KEPT SECRETS*

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

790—THE NAKED TRUTH

Amy Thomas—Trapped in a web of lies whose origins she can’t begin to comprehend, a web that threatens to destroy her family.

Jake Collins—Made a serious error nine years ago; now time is running out for him to make amends.

Kelsey Thomas—The eight-year-old has become a pawn in a thirty-year-old nightmare.

Matt Williams—Jake’s teenaged nephew has a history of being in trouble and now he really wants to change his image.

Susan and Cornelius Thomas—Amy’s parents share a secret that threatens to destroy their world and the family they love above all else.

General Marcus Perry—Above reproach and up for his second star, but he’s been keeping a terrible secret all these years.

Millicent Perry—The general’s proper Bostonian wife.

Gertrude Perry—The general’s sister is slipping in and out of dementia, but just maybe, her ramblings hold the key to everything.

Cindy Lou Perry Baranski—The general’s daughter who is up for reelection as the town mayor.

Eugene Perry—The general’s son spends a great deal of time and money inside the local bar, with no visible means of support.

Ben Dwyer—The Perrywinkle’s bartender, who may have a few secrets of his own.

John Hepplewhite—Fools Point’s police chief always gets his man.

For Mary McGowan, an unconditional friend.

Thank you. For Natashya Wilson and the past two years

of friendship and support. And for Roger, Chip,

Dan and Barb always.

Many thanks to Sgt. Rick Cage and Officer Melissa Parlon of the Montgomery County Police Department. They generously shared their time answering numerous questions. Errors in police procedure are mine alone or were purposefully done to fit the needs of the story.

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

The workman’s heavy-booted foot dislodged something, causing it to roll across the ground and bounce off the side wall. The flashlight followed its course, spotlighting the dirt-encrusted skull.

“Holy sh—”

“Is that what I think it is?”

“Oh, man, oh, man, oh—”

“Come on,” Will said, reaching for the ladder, not waiting to see if Buddy followed on his heels. The burly foreman stepped back as the two men scrambled over the lip of the hole and into the brilliant September sunshine.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zeke demanded.

Will pointed, angry that his hand was shaking. “We got us some bodies down there.”

“In the sinkhole?”

“That ain’t no sinkhole,” Will told him. “There’s some kinda room down there.”

“What?”

“Yeah.” Will hated that he was still shaking. “Buddy, you’d better go tell the boss.”

Zeke stared at them. “Never mind the boss, Buddy, go get the police.”

Buddy’s eyes were wide, his skin strangely pale beneath his dark bronze tan. He skirted the pile of debris from the torn-up corner of the parking lot, headed around the dump truck with its heavy load of gravel and started running across the tarmac in spite of it being ninety-eight degrees in the shade. The other two men watched him head for the restaurant before turning to peer back down into the hole.