Annette Broadrick - Danger Becomes You

“Not at all,” Leslie replied.

“I would never take advantage of you,” he said softly. “Please believe me.”

She turned and looked at his shadowy figure. “I do.”

“Leslie?” There was a long pause. “Never mind.”

She walked over to him and knelt beside his bed. “Tell me, Jason.”

He sighed. “I was thinking we could stay warmer if we shared a bed. I told you it was stupid. Good night,” he said abruptly.

“Jason? Do you want me to sleep with you?”

Dear Reader,

Sit back, relax and indulge yourself with all the fabulous offerings from Silhouette Desire this October. Roxanne St. Claire is penning the latest DYNASTIES: THE ASHTONS with The Highest Bidder. Youngest Ashton sibling, Paige, finds herself participating in a bachelorette auction and being “won” by a sexy stranger. Strangers also make great protectors, as demonstrated by Annette Broadrick in Danger Becomes You, her most recent CRENSHAWS OF TEXAS title.

Speaking of protectors, Michelle Celmer’s heroine in Round-the-Clock Temptation gets a bodyguard of her very own: a member of the TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB. Linda Conrad wraps up her miniseries THE GYPSY INHERITANCE with A Scandalous Melody. Will this mysterious music box bring together two lonely hearts? For something a little darker, why not try Secret Nights at Nine Oaks by Amy J. Fetzer? A handsome recluse, an antebellum mansion—two great reasons to stay indoors. And be sure to catch Heidi Betts’s When the Lights Go Down, the story of a plain-Jane librarian out to make some serious changes in her humdrum love life.

As you can see, Silhouette Desire has lots of great stories for you to enjoy. So spend this first month of autumn cuddled up with a good book—and come back next month for even more fabulous reads.

Enjoy!

Melissa Jeglinski

Senior Editor

Silhouette Desire

www.millsandboon.co.uk

believes in romance and the magic of life. Since 1984, Annette has shared her view of life and love with readers. In addition to being nominated by Romantic Times magazine as one of the Best New Authors of that year, she has also won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best in its Series; the Romantic Times WISH Award; and the Romantic Times magazine Lifetime Achievement Awards for Series Romance and Series Romantic Fantasy.

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

Epilogue

A slight sound outside the cabin brought Jason Crenshaw awake and on full alert. He must have fallen asleep while reading. Someone was outside despite the ferocity of the winter snowstorm that would keep any sensible person inside.

Could it be someone looking for him? He couldn’t imagine who it could be. Only his commanding officer knew that he was using a friend’s hunting cabin in Michigan to recuperate from his wounds.

Jase eased his way out of the chair and picked up his cane. He palmed his military-issue pistol out of habit and silently moved to the window.

He couldn’t see the small porch and its overhang from this angle but he had a clear view of the driveway that led to the road. There were no tracks. Although the snow was blowing heavily, there was no way it could have covered tracks that quickly.

His years in Delta Force made him wary and alert to everything around him and he instinctively knew that what he’d heard, despite the loud fury of the storm, was someone stepping onto the single wooden step to the porch. Who was it and how did they get here?

He didn’t like surprises and he especially didn’t like unexpected guests.

A firm knock sounded and he edged to the locked door.

“Who’s there?” he demanded. His voice sounded rusty from disuse.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” a woman’s shaking voice replied. “My car slid off the road and I’m stuck in a ditch. May I use your phone to call for help?”

He didn’t like her story. The road that passed his house wasn’t one of the main highways in the state. In fact, it ended at the lake about fifteen miles from here. What was she doing on this secondary road in the first place?

When he didn’t answer, she spoke again. “Hello? I know I’m a bother, I just—”

He unlocked the door and opened it just enough to see the snow-encrusted figure in front of him. She wore a lightweight coat with a hood. The coat stopped at her thighs, revealing jeans and winter boots. Her eyes were the golden color of aged whiskey and her face looked pale as death.

The word he muttered was unprintable. Just what he needed: a damsel in distress when he wasn’t in any shape or mood to play a blasted gallant knight.

He swung the door wide, the pistol at his side. “Get in so I can close the door.”

She hurriedly stepped inside. After he slammed the door shut and locked it, he turned and caught the woman looking at him in abject terror, her gaze frozen on the pistol in his hand. What did she think he was going to do, shoot anyone who showed up at his door?

Without commenting on her obvious fear, he moved to the table and laid the pistol down.

He turned and stared at her still huddled by the door.

She looked frozen.

Not his problem.

She was shaking.

Not his problem.

The snow she’d brought in was melting off her clothes and dripping onto the floor.

Now that was his problem.

“Look, lady. I have no intention of shooting you, so get that coat off before I have to wipe water off the floor.”

“Oh!” She looked down and saw the puddle around her feet. She quickly slipped off her coat and looked around for a place to put it.

The electricity had gone off a couple of hours ago and the large rectangular room was in shadows except for the kerosene lantern on the table by the chair in which he’d been reading.

“There’s a coatrack by the door,” he said gruffly.

He watched her remove her gloves and hang up her coat before she wiped down her jeans with her hands. When she turned to look around the cabin, her face telegraphed her trepidation.

Jase knew what she saw. The cabin was one room that ended in an L-shaped alcove where the kitchen was located. Besides the table and chairs, there was a couch that had seen better days, a recliner that once had been over-stuffed but now looked weary and two sets of bunk beds at the other end of the room, placed in opposite corners.

A potbellied stove vented through the roof sat in the middle of the room, radiating the only heat he had. The only other amenity was a small bathroom off the kitchen. He kept the door closed to conserve heat.

When she removed her hat he saw that she had short, feathery blond curls sticking up in tufts around her face. She was tall, slender and looked like a teenager.

Her eyes bespoke an innocence that he found unusual since she had a soft, full mouth that begged to be kissed.

Not that her looks meant anything to him, regardless of the fact he’d not seen a woman since he left the hospital. He knew he was no fit companion for anyone, most especially an innocent teenage girl.

He watched her pick up an old towel hanging near the door and hastily clean up the puddle of water. He refused to do more than glance at the way her jeans cupped her butt and clung to her long, shapely legs when she bent over.