Aimee Thurlo - Navajo Courage

And that constantly teased Valerie’s imagination. More than anything, she wished she could have met him under different circumstances.

“Is it difficult for you to accept things that don’t lend themselves to explanation?”

She nodded. “It’s a combination of private skepticism and police training. I’m more comfortable with hard facts.”

“Then rely on this—you can trust me. No matter what goes down, I’ll be right there with you. You’ll never have a better partner.”

“Or a more dangerous one,” she muttered.

Somehow, he managed to hear her. “Dangerous to others perhaps, but never to you.”

Even as he spoke, he could feel her responding to him. What was drawing them together was nature at its most basic…and more. No woman had ever gotten under his skin like this, making him ache and wish for things he had no business wanting.

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Dear Reader,

Writing is remarkable work. It fulfills an author’s spirit in a way very few things can. That’s not to say that everything during the course of a book flows smoothly.

While working on Navajo Courage, I spent lots of time hiding out in my office. Somewhere along the way, I’d forgotten that ideas come from life itself.

Once I realized my mistake, I immediately shut my office door and went to join my husband and our animals. By the end of that day, inspiration had dawned and the story came together.

I learned then that the barriers we put around ourselves all too often lock us in and keep us from getting what we most need. Using that newfound knowledge, my hero, Luca Nakai, and the heroine, Valerie Jonas, quickly blossomed to life.

People tend to think of writers as loners, shut away somewhere. But the truth is that’s not the way it works. People need people. It’s that simple—and that complicated.

Here at Harlequin, for example, I’m part of something much bigger than just my book. Since 1989, Harlequin Intrigue has been home for my work—and for me. It’s a place filled with the support an author needs to create stories from the heart. Everyone bands together to bring you the best stories possible. In the process, a real sense of family unfolds.

I’m proud to call myself a Harlequin Intrigue author. Happy 25th anniversary, Harlequin Intrigue, and thank you very much for allowing me to be a part of your history.

All the best,

Aimée Thurlo

To my sister Silvia, and my other sister Peggy.

Love you guys.

Aimée Thurlo is a nationally known bestselling author. She’s a winner of the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BOOK reviews, a New Mexico Book Award in contemporary fiction, and a Willa Cather Award in the same category. She has been published in twenty countries worldwide.

She also cowrites the bestselling Ella Clah mainstream mystery series praised in the New York Times Book Review.

Aimée was born in Havana, Cuba, and lives with her husband of thirty-nine years in Corrales, New Mexico. Her husband, David, was raised on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Tribal Police Detective Luca Nakai—As the son of a medicine man, he was eager to do battle with his tribe’s ancient enemy. But his attraction to the beautiful city detective was an unexpected—and dangerous—complication.

Sheriff’s Detective Valerie Jonas—The hard, street-smart cynic didn’t believe in Navajo magic—not until she met Luca Nakai. Together, they stood a chance…but just barely.

Stephen Browning—A former reporter with a serious lack of ethics, he’d do anything to break the biggest story in years.

Professor George Becenti—He took pride in his Navajo blood and thought he knew everything there was to know about Navajo witchcraft. Was he Browning’s secret source, or Valerie’s worst nightmare?

Frank Willie—He quit school abruptly, then his girlfriend moved out. Now the woman was dead, and he was running from the police, desperate to protect his secrets.

Dr. Finley—Head of the anthropology department, the maverick professor knew how to stir up trouble. What’s worse, he liked being the center of controversy.

Mae Nez—Her best friend had been one of the first to die. Now the skinwalker had her in his sights.

Deez—Mystery clung to the Navajo elder like second skin. Yet seeing through the web of secrets surrounding him could help the hunted become the hunters once again.

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

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

It was late summer, the life-sustaining monsoon season in New Mexico. Despite last night’s downpour, drizzle still fell from the low, scattered, gray clouds that remained.

Oblivious to the morning mist, Detective Luca Nakai of the Navajo Tribal Police jogged up the canyon trail heading east—the direction that symbolized the origin of all things. Greeting the dawn daily in this way kept him focused and centered.

Reaching the top of the mesa behind his home, he stopped and prayed quietly. “Beautiful Dawn, let it be well with me.” Luca touched Mother Earth, raised his hands to Sun, and then drew them back toward him, drinking in life and strengthening his mind so he could accomplish whatever tasks lay ahead. Something bad was coming. He could feel it in his gut.

Gathering strength from the Navajo Way, he began the last half of his morning run. The air was crisp and clean, a gentle breeze dispersing the clouds now, and the land reverberated with power. Let others live addicted to cell phones, the parasitic attachment of earphone-fed music and the compulsions of e-mail and the Internet. Wherever technology deadened the human spirit, silence, inner and outward, soon became a casualty.

As he ran, Luca listened to the whispers of the land. He was the son of the tribe’s most powerful hataalii, medicine man, and as such, understood that life was composed of far more than what the eye could see.

Although Luca had apprenticed with his father for many years and could conduct a Sing on his own if needed, he’d ultimately chosen not to become a hataalii. To follow that path, harmony, balance and order would have had to have been at the center of his life allowing him to walk in beauty. But that wasn’t the case. He’d failed himself and one other, and that unalterable fact would follow him for the rest of his days.