Marie Ferrarella - How to Seduce a Cavanaugh

“A month,” Kelly said.

“With a partner,” she added as clarification since Durant wasn’t answering her. Not if that disinterested look he’d just sent her way was any indication. “Is that the life expectancy of a partnership with you?”

Kane shrugged, apparently totally uninterested in her choice of topics to verbally pursue. “Give or take,” he finally replied vaguely, aware of the way she was looking at him, waiting for an answer. “I don’t keep track.”

Or so he thought.

Kelly nodded. “Fair enough,” she told him. “I just wanted to know what I was up against, that’s all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kane asked.

“I’m going to look at this partnership as a challenge. If I can hang on beyond a certain point, say longer than your longest lasting partner, then it’s okay. I made it. You know, kind of like staying on a bucking horse for eight seconds.”

He looked at her as if she were a few cards short of a complete deck. If the woman wanted a challenge, he had one for her.

***

Be sure to check out the next books in

Cavanaugh Justice—Where Aurora’s finest are always in action.

How to Seduce a Cavanaugh

Marie Ferrarella

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestselling and RITA ®Award-winning author MARIE FERRARELLAhas written more than two hundred and fifty books for Mills & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com.

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To anyone who has ever read anything I’ve ever written, thank you! Without you, the fantasies wouldn’t come true.

Contents

Cover

Introduction “A month,” Kelly said. “With a partner,” she added as clarification since Durant wasn’t answering her. Not if that disinterested look he’d just sent her way was any indication. “Is that the life expectancy of a partnership with you?” Kane shrugged, apparently totally uninterested in her choice of topics to verbally pursue. “Give or take,” he finally replied vaguely, aware of the way she was looking at him, waiting for an answer. “I don’t keep track.” Or so he thought. Kelly nodded. “Fair enough,” she told him. “I just wanted to know what I was up against, that’s all.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kane asked. “I’m going to look at this partnership as a challenge. If I can hang on beyond a certain point, say longer than your longest lasting partner, then it’s okay. I made it. You know, kind of like staying on a bucking horse for eight seconds.” He looked at her as if she were a few cards short of a complete deck. If the woman wanted a challenge, he had one for her. *** Be sure to check out the next books in Cavanaugh Justice— Where Aurora’s finest are always in action.

Title Page How to Seduce a Cavanaugh Marie Ferrarella www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author USA TODAY bestselling and RITA ® Award-winning author MARIE FERRARELLA has written more than two hundred and fifty books for Mills & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com .

Dedication To anyone who has ever read anything I’ve ever written, thank you! Without you, the fantasies wouldn’t come true.

Prologue

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

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

Fear clawed at his small, heaving chest. It felt like long, sharp nails tearing into his very flesh.

He was aware of breathing hard, of being dizzy because he was unable to get in enough air.

A feeling of déjà vu oppressively weighed him down, pressing harder than an actual boulder could.

He’d been through this before, felt this way before, even though it was happening right before his eyes, so achingly vivid he couldn’t look away.

Not even for an instant.

Not even if his own survival depended on it.

Kane Durant was small for his age. But even if he hadn’t been, if he had been bigger and stronger than he actually was, he still would have been powerless against the big man.

Powerless to make him stop.

His father was a hulk of a man and only seemed to become more so when he was enraged.

Just the way he was now.

Enraged and spewing obscenities, hurling them at the trembling woman kneeling before him on the cracked vinyl kitchen floor.

The bruises on his mother’s face from his father’s last eruption were just now beginning to fade. The arguments, the rages, they were occurring more and more frequently these days, leaving an ugly rainbow of colors on every limb of her body.

The sense of constant anxiety never really went away anymore.

From the very moment he opened his eyes in the morning, Kane felt the frightening tension. Even during the lulls, which came less and less frequently, he knew it was just a matter of time before the next vicious outburst happened.

He’d been in his bed, fearfully watching the shadows moving on his ceiling when he’d heard his father bellowing, heard his mother crying out in fear and then in pain.

He was just a scrawny boy of ten, but the moment he heard his father yelling at his mother, he had abandoned his room and run into the kitchen to try to help his mother in any way he could.

To protect her.

Thin and fragile, she was no match against his father’s wrath.

Neither was he, but maybe together...

Kane had gotten to the kitchen just as his father’s anger had hit a new high.

The flash from the handgun seized his attention as he struggled to process what he saw. What his brain already knew. He was terrified.

He ran to his mother to block the bullet, to divert it from its course.

But he was too late.

The bullet from his father’s handgun had found its intended target less than a split second earlier.

His mother’s face abruptly froze, highlighting surprise and pain. And then she pitched backward. Blood poured freely from the newly created hole in her abdomen.

Kane opened his mouth to scream his protest, but nothing came out. Not a single sound came out to express his fear, his anger, his horrified outrage at the senselessness of it all.

Unable to voice his reaction, Kane put all his energy into attempting to stop the bleeding. But his hands were too small for the task. Blood squeezed its way through his delicate, ineffective fingers, underscoring his helplessness.

“Don’t die. Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me,” he begged the woman who was already gone.

His voice only served to irritate his father further. “You love her that much, you little bastard? Then you’re going to join her!”

The next second he heard his father’s gun discharge. Felt something sharp and painful tear through his chest. Felt something else oozing out.