Candace Havens - She Who Dares, Wins

“He’s a scientist who works at the university. I’m supposed to meet him here, but I don’t know what he looks like. I assume he’s an older guy, probably with glasses.” Katie glanced around, searching for the man, hoping maybe she’d catch his eye and he’d introduce himself.

A man turned to face Katie. The only thing she saw was the devastating smile, and his azure eyes. For a moment she couldn’t breathe. Her heart stopped and heat spread through her lower extremities.

He’s freakin’ gorgeous.

“He was around earlier this evening, but I think he may have left.” The man smiled at her again then glanced around the pub. “I don’t see him. Why did you need him?”

Holy hell on a biscuit. If he smiles one more time like that I might have to jump him right here in the middle of the bar.

Katie was no prude, but it had been a long time since her body responded like this to a man, especially one she didn’t know.

If he can do that with a look, imagine what it would be like if he touched me…

Dear Reader,

Have you ever been burned by love so badly that you thought you’d never have another relationship? Most of us have at some point in our lives and that’s what I wanted to explore in She Who Dares, Wins. We have Katie McClure, a private detective who hasn’t had a lot of luck in love. She finds herself falling hard for her client, Professor Macon Douglas, who is a deadly combination of smart, funny and incredibly hot. It’s her job to find out who’s behind the mysterious incidents that have put Mac’s life in danger.

Mac wants Katie, the sexiest bodyguard he’s ever seen, and he doesn’t care what he has to do to get her. His refusal to take the threats against him seriously drives Katie crazy. Can she save his life before it’s too late? Can he convince Katie that he’s worth putting all of her past troubles behind her? You’ll have to wait and see if she takes him up on his dare to love again.

Please email me at candacehavensbook@gmail.com and tell me what you think about the book. You can also find me on twitter.com/candacehavens and MySpace, Facebook and Live Journal. I look forward to hearing from you.

Enjoy!

Candace Havens

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Award-winning author and columnist Candace “Candy” Havens lives in Texas with her mostly understanding husband, two children and two dogs, Scoobie and Gizmo. Candy is a nationally syndicated entertainment columnist for FYI Television. She has interviewed just about everyone in Hollywood from George Clooney and Orlando Bloom to Nicole Kidman and Kate Beckinsale. You can hear Candy weekly on The Big 96.3 in the Dallas–Fort Worth Area. Her popular online writer’s workshop has more than thirteen hundred students and provides free classes to professional and aspiring writers.

I’d like to dedicate this book to Shannon Canard and Rosemary Clement Moore, who are the best friends a girl ever had and share my love for the world of romance.

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

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Epilogue

MACON BLINKED several times as the road blurred before him. “I shouldn’t have had a pint at the pub,” he whispered as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. But one lager didn’t explain the tiredness blanketing him, making it difficult to keep his eyes open.

The dark, curvy road was barely large enough for one car to pass, and for the third time in an hour he wondered about his sanity choosing to drive from London to the country so late at night to visit a greenhouse. The incessant rain didn’t help a damn thing. Macon reached to adjust his glasses but only managed to knock them off his nose.

Oh, hell.

Checking the rearview, he made sure no one was behind him before he reached down to grab the glasses.

Slamming them on his face, he glanced back at the road in time to see lights from an oncoming vehicle flash before him. He had no choice but to swerve.

His car raced over the embankment and into the trees, screeching tires and air bag powder in his eyes the last things he remembered.

KATIE’S STOMACH FLUTTERED with nervous energy as her fist tightened around her cell phone. This happened when she opened a new case. The excitement was heightened by her first transatlantic job for the agency, and the fact that she had no idea what lay ahead. The London taxi zipped away from the curb at Heathrow and into traffic. If she hadn’t been holding the handle she would have been tossed to the other side of the seat.

Eventually they reached the city center and the driver called out, “Piccadilly Square” in an accent so heavy she could barely understand him. She nodded and stared down at her phone. Her boss and best friend at Stonegate Investigative Agency, Mariska, had emailed several files about their new client.

Unfortunately just as she’d been about to download case notes, Katie’s phone had died midflight and she hadn’t been able to recharge it thanks to checking the charger in with her bags. She had no idea what the man looked like, or any other information except where she was supposed to meet him.

And I’m already a half hour late.

The professor had been involved in an incident, which was why Katie was in London. Dr. Douglas, an environmental scientist, claimed he’d been run off the road and into a tree. Paint scrapes on his car were the only proof. While there had been alcohol in his system, it had been minimal. The police were tracking the paint, but they didn’t have the whole story. The dean at the university where the professor worked wanted to keep the matter quiet, so the accident was being treated as a one-time event.

That wasn’t the truth. It was the second time something life-threatening had happened to the professor in the past two weeks.

There had also been some odd phone calls to the dean intimating Douglas should stop his research, and the professor had been mugged the night before the last accident. The dean worried that they were dealing with a radical or worse, a terrorist group, but he didn’t want to involve the police unless absolutely necessary.

“That’s the high court.” The driver interrupted her thoughts. “Fancy place for fancy folk. There is the museum.” The cabbie continued his tour-guide duties and Katie wondered if it would be rude to pay him to stop talking.

Stop it. It’s not his fault you’re having a crappy day.