Marie Ferrarella - Cavanaugh on Duty

THE PAST NEVER DIES…BUT IT CAN KILL

Esteban Fernandez only has one reason to live’and that reason vanishes when his cover is blown. As an undercover narcotics detective, Esteban wants to hunt the scum who killed his brother’and put his stepfather in prison for life. Reassigned and rootless, the brooding detective couldn’t care less about the sexy cop he’s now paired with…until they start finding bodies.

Kari Cavanaugh never asks for a new partner. Competent and self-contained, Kari makes the best of any situation’by herself. But when a series of murders points toward a serial killer, her scruffy new sidekick may have insights into the case. If only the heat rising between them doesn’t spark its own danger.

The kiss was to scare her away.

Instead, he managed to scare himself’but not before he took the so-called “warning” he was issuing to its full conclusion, devouring her the way a starving man devoured his first meal in countless days. Except that for Esteban, it had been countless months, not days. Countless months that had stumbled their way into years without his complete memory of the empty journey. Pleasures of the flesh hadn’t been important to him at the time.

Now, though, something seemed to be waking up within him....

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to the Cavanaugh world, where family is always the most important ingredient and love can break through the thickest walls.

This time we get to meet Sean’s daughter, Kari, who not only doesn’t have a problem when she discovers that, thanks to her father, she is actually a Cavanaugh, she welcomes the news. Kari has always made the best of every situation, which is why Brian Cavanaugh, the chief of detectives, feels she is the perfect partner for Esteban Fernandez, a former undercover narcotics officer. Esteban’s sole purpose in life is to avenge the deaths of his half brother and mother at the hands of the drug cartel. When that is taken away from him, he needs help finding a reason to go on. Kari decides that it is her mission to make him come around and see the good he can accomplish working with her as a police detective. She hadn’t counted on falling in love with her assignment. But nothing is ever without twists and turns in the Cavanaugh world, and this is no exception.

As always, I thank you for reading and from the bottom of my heart I wish you someone to love who loves you back.

All the best,

Marie Ferrarella

Cavanaugh on Duty

Marie Ferrarella

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MARIE FERRARELLA

This USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award-winning author has written more than two hundred books for Harlequin Books, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com.

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To Ian Conrad,

Welcome to the world, Little Man

Contents

Prologue Prologue Something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones, smell it in the air. The minute Esteban stepped out of the run-down tenement apartment building he’d called home these past three years, he’d sensed it. Something was off. He had nothing concrete to base it on, except for a gut instinct. The same gut instinct that had helped him survive out here on the cusp of hell, slowly making his way up the cartel food chain, earning trust by seemingly not giving a damn. It had been a juggling act all the way. The people within the drug cartel had an honor code without displaying a shred of real honor. Moreover, they expected a man to keep his word while they broke theirs with bone-chilling regularity. Black was white, and white vacillated between nonexistent and a color he couldn’t begin to describe. But he had managed to navigate these streets, being one of them while standing apart, and all the while sleeping with one eye open. Although it had come at a great personal cost, he’d bided his time, waiting for the chance to even a score that would never truly be even. But this thing he was feeling was different. His nerves twisted and tensed; a chill swept along his spine. Every fiber in his body was on high alert, listening intently even though he didn’t know for what. And then he knew what he was listening for. Because he heard it: the high-pitched whine of a bullet as it hurtled from its source. A bullet with his name on it. Abruptly, he swung to the right. The bullet couldn’t. It missed him. The same gut instinct told him to keep on running if he wanted to live. Confronted with an actual choice between life and death, he surprised himself by deciding to live a little longer. So he kept on running. His job wasn’t finished. He still had people to bring to justice. After that, it didn’t matter what happened to him. He was already dead on the inside anyway.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Epilogue

Excerpt

Prologue

Something was wrong.

He could feel it in his bones, smell it in the air. The minute Esteban stepped out of the run-down tenement apartment building he’d called home these past three years, he’d sensed it.

Something was off.

He had nothing concrete to base it on, except for a gut instinct. The same gut instinct that had helped him survive out here on the cusp of hell, slowly making his way up the cartel food chain, earning trust by seemingly not giving a damn.

It had been a juggling act all the way. The people within the drug cartel had an honor code without displaying a shred of real honor. Moreover, they expected a man to keep his word while they broke theirs with bone-chilling regularity.

Black was white, and white vacillated between nonexistent and a color he couldn’t begin to describe.

But he had managed to navigate these streets, being one of them while standing apart, and all the while sleeping with one eye open.

Although it had come at a great personal cost, he’d bided his time, waiting for the chance to even a score that would never truly be even.

But this thing he was feeling was different. His nerves twisted and tensed; a chill swept along his spine. Every fiber in his body was on high alert, listening intently even though he didn’t know for what.

And then he knew what he was listening for.

Because he heard it: the high-pitched whine of a bullet as it hurtled from its source.

A bullet with his name on it.

Abruptly, he swung to the right.

The bullet couldn’t.

It missed him.

The same gut instinct told him to keep on running if he wanted to live. Confronted with an actual choice between life and death, he surprised himself by deciding to live a little longer.

So he kept on running.

His job wasn’t finished. He still had people to bring to justice. After that, it didn’t matter what happened to him. He was already dead on the inside anyway.

Chapter 1

Brian Cavanaugh leaned back in his chair as he studied the young man in his office. Intense was the first word that sprang to mind, prefaced by very.