Bayview Heights Trilogy (93 page)

Visit Guardian Flight Base, a medical
helicopter unit with a crew that routinely performs daring rescues.
But when the pilot falls for the CEO of a foundation who may fund
them, conflict of interest abounds. Researched at a real life
medevac operation, FINALLY A FAMILY has the kind of grit, realism
and emotional situations that Kathryn Shay is known for. Previously
published by Harlequin.

The last thing widower Luke Rayburn
expects--or welcomes--is his adopted son Michael's request to find
his birth mother. But the boy's insistence brings beautiful,
haunted Meredith Hunter into their lives. And with Meredith comes a
secret that could destroy them all. “With brilliant
characterization and sizzling sensuality, Kathryn Shay gifts us
with an emotional powerhouse of a love story.” RT Book Reviews

Fifteen years ago they spent time at Serenity
House, a home for troubled girls. Now, as adults, they’re women to
be reckoned with. In Practice Makes Perfect, Paige Kendrick is a
successful doctor who keeps people at a distance and refuses a
relationship with hunky doctor Ian Chandler. But Ian won’t stop
until he gets what he wants—Paige! “Heart wrenching and
poignant.”

When they meet at her daycare, Darcy O’Malley
and Hunter Sloan have more in common than they know. Both have
troubled kids, both grew up as outcasts in their hometown, and both
find a deep and driving passion for the other that cannot be
denied. Highly emotional and poignant, Shay continues her Serenity
House trilogy with a winner!

When she was eighteen, troubled Anabelle
Crane fell in love with Nathan Hyde, the town’s fair-haired boy. He
broke her heart and she left town to become a highly valued
undercover cop. Now she’s back in Hyde Point to guard him against a
stalker and he’s a congressman. But some things haven’t changed and
Anabelle and Nathan find that the passion they have for each other
has not died!

Welcome to SERENITY
HOUSE, a trilogy about women who spent some of their adolescent
years in a group home for troubled girls. Each story explores what
effects their dysfunctional backgrounds had on them. Trust—not
being able to trust—is a big issue for all three. But with the help
of those who love them, each woman overcomes her difficult
beginnings and becomes the person she was meant to be.

To most people, high
school principal Seth Taylor is a hero. But Seth has never
forgotten the mistakes he made years ago with his students. And
neither has Lacey Cartwright, because one involved her brother. But
attraction then love flares between them and Lacey fears she’ll she
loose what’s left of her family. Originally published in 2000 as A
Christmas Legacy by Harlequin Superromance

When Captain Mitch
Lansing is assigned to Cassie Smith’s high school classroom, sparks
fly. He’s by-the-book, and she’s unorthodox and innovative in her
teaching methods. But when Mitch develops an unstoppable bond with
her students, Cassie finds her attraction to him irresistible.“An
emotionally powerful tale that leaves you breathless.” RT Book
Reviews

To most people in
town, high school principal Seth Taylor is a hero. But Seth has
never forgotten the mistakes he made years ago with his students.
And neither has Lacey Cartwright, because one involved her brother.
But attraction then love flares between them and Lacey fears she’ll
she loose what’s left of her family. “Rich characterizations and
emotional intensity.” RT Book Reviews

Zoe Caufield and Kurt
Lansing were once deeply in love—until he betrayed her. Now, Kurt’s
back in Bayview Heights, running a clinic where her students
volunteer, and he wants another chance with Zoe. But she’ll never
trust him again, and there’s nothing he can do to win her back. Or
is there? “A fascinating and emotionally gripping story.” RT Book
Reviews

Bayview Heights has
one of the best educational systems in the state, but they have
their problems, too. Gangs are encroaching from the city, the town
newspaper is criticizing them, and an angry board member objects to
some innovative classes. These issues frame three intense romances
where teachers must overcome personal issues as well as
professional ones.

o0o

Dreading the news he was about to give,
Captain Gabe Malvaso stared out at his group of firefighters, who
sat in the big couches and stuffed recliners of the common room of
Firehouse 7. In the back by the door to the kitchen stood the
Hidden Cove Fire Department brass. A warm July breeze drifted in
through the many open windows, but the soothing morning wasn’t
going to help Gabe’s cause. His men and women trusted him and so
far in his eight years as their officer, he hadn’t had to deliver
any bombs about cutbacks. From the rear, his cousin Mitch, now a
battalion chief, nodded his encouragement.

Gabe cleared his throat. “Let’s get started.
There’s been a lot of rumors going around and you can probably tell
from Chiefs Malvaso and Erikson being at this little gathering that
something’s coming down. And yeah, it’s what you expect.”

Murmurs rumbled through his group: Felicia
White, his serious, aloof lieutenant who he already talked to about
this; his paramedic, Brody O’Malley, a lively ladies man that
everybody liked; Firefighters Tony Ramirez, quiet and excellent at
his job; Sydney Sands, their feisty rookie; and finally, Rachel
Wellington—sometimes called
Princess
because of her classy
background. She was a good firefighter and sensible at work.

And with her steel blond hair and wide eyes,
she was about the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
That
had
been causing Gabe problems for a while now.

O’Malley spoke up first. “So, somebody’s
going to get the ax on Rescue 7, right Cap?”

“Yep. And on Quint and Midi 7, too.” Those
were the other two rigs in the firehouse, the first performing five
rescue operations, the latter a medical truck. The groups who rode
them also had separate officers. “They’re having their own meeting.
But we’re all cutting back on each shift.”

Sydney, the group member with the least
experience at the on the squad, shook her head. “Oh, hell!”

“Syd, you’ll still have a job, though it’ll
be another station house. You have some seniority in the department
as a whole plus we’re expecting retirements soon.”

She lifted her chin to keep up a good front,
but her young face tensed, telling Gabe she was upset. The
twenty-three-year- old already had had a lot of tough stuff to deal
with in life. “I’ll have to break in a new bunch of clowns.”

The others didn’t joke. Losing a brother—or
sister—that you fought fires with side-by-side was serious business
in any fire department. And theirs was a special group, an
experiment of sorts in affirmative action. Their rescue squad,
which went to every fire in their area, was comprised of three men
and three women to demonstrate how liberated the department was and
to promote the recruitment of women. So far, after eighteen months,
the experiment had worked well.

From behind Sands, Tony Ramirez put his hand
on her shoulder and squeezed it. She covered his briefly with hers.
The two often paired up inside a building and they’d become fast
friends.

“I know this is hard for all of us,” Gabe
added. “But we got no choice, guys.”

“Yeah, we don’t have to like it, though.”
O’Malley’s tone was angry. Brody was a good guy but he couldn’t
censor his words and he caused Gabe grief from time to time.

“Chief Erikson is here today to give you some
more information on what’s gone down and to answer any questions
you have.” He nodded to the back of the room where Cal stood with
Mitch. “Ready, Chief?”

Erikson pushed off the wall. “As I’ll ever
be.” The tall, powerfully built man strode to the front with a
commanding presence. Though Gabe wanted to climb the HCFD ladder as
quickly as possible, he didn’t envy the chief today. Designated by
the top fire guy, Noah Callahan, all the battalion chiefs would be
answering tough questions this week and Cal, their leader, had an
office in the right wing of the building.

“Hi, all. I’m not going to mince words.
You’ve heard the rumors. For budget reasons, the mayor’s cutting
ten percent of the fire department. But it gets worse. The town
newspaper, the
Hidden Cove Courier,
which recently went to
online publication, has been running a daily blog by a reporter,
Parker Allen. She named the thing
Make It Right
, which
galls me. Of course, she’s in full agreement with the cutbacks but
wants more of our hide.”

O’Malley raised his hand.

“Yeah, Brody, what?”

“Do the Powers-That-Be know without a sixth
firefighter, we’re all in more danger than usual?”

“I think they do.”

“Hell, Cal, firefighters were everybody’s
heroes when our guys ran into the towers in 9/11. Now we’re just
another organization to be cut.”

At the mention of 9/11 everybody went silent.
The events of that day had changed Americans, none more than
firefighters. Gabe and several members of the HCFD had gone down
ten years ago to work at the pile, and some of the people sitting
before him had lost relatives or close friends. O’Malley seemed to
take it the hardest every year.

Cal’s expression was grim. “Life isn’t fair,
I know.”

“I don’t mean any disrespect, Chief. Honest.
But it galls me where the government chooses to cut. My brother
Ryan says the same thing is happening in the police department. Ten
percent across the board.”

“I know about the HCPD and I don’t like it
any more than you do. And you’re not going to like what else Lois
Lane is bitching about.”

More grumbling. Gabe didn’t know what the
chief was referring to.

“She’s making noise in that blog of hers
about our
down time
. She wonders why people see us in
supermarkets shopping together…” because it was the only way to get
groceries for the meals they had to eat at the house “and why we’re
seen at Subway Station…” to have a freakin’ meal out once or twice
“and why we’re on Facebook and Twitter and other websites while on
duty.”

Felicia raised her hand. One thing Gabe liked
about his second in command was that she only spoke when she had
something to say.

“Yeah, Lieutenant?”

“I’m guessing we can be more circumspect
about being seen too much around town for a while, but the Facebook
thing is totally bogus. We’re always waiting for a call and it can
be tedious. No reason why we shouldn’t be online after we do
housework and training.”

Gabe remembered an adage about the fire
department--
A firefighter’s job is hours of boredom, seconds
of terror.

Felicia wasn’t done. “I’d like to spearhead
some kind of publicity campaign to have our routine better
understood by the public.”

“Good idea, Lieutenant.” The chief scanned
the others. “Anybody want to work on that with Felicia?”

Sands spoke up. “I will, even if I’m at
another firehouse.”

Wellington, who rarely said much, also jumped
in. “I’d help but then it’ll be the women taking over again. That
sucks.”

The guys laughed. Brody tossed out, “We
volunteer Ramirez. He’s as pretty as the rest of you.”

More chuckles around. It broke the tension
and Gabe was glad for the levity. The group had dubbed Tony and his
spouse Sophia “the beautiful people” because they both were, well,
beautiful. He reminded Gabe of a young Jimmy Smits and she
resembled Jennifer Lopez.

“All right, go for it,” the chief finished.
“And I appreciate you not getting on me too badly. Believe me, the
HCFD administrators are furious about the cuts and Allen’s crusade.
That’s all I have to say.”

Gabe went back to the front. “Why don’t you
take an hour to decompress, shoot the shit about the news and then
we’ll start housework.”

“Oh, that cheers me up,” Sydney groused.

“Come on, girl.” Ramirez tugged on her arm.
“You can have the first piece of the coffee cake Sophia sent
in.”

They dispersed, except for Wellington. She
stayed seated and looked over at him. Jesus, those eyes of hers
about killed him sometimes. Though he couldn’t see their color from
here, he knew they were hazel with specks of gold in them. He
braced himself for the full onslaught of her presence—especially if
she had on that bath lotion she wore after a shower--when she stood
and took a step toward him.

o0o

Rachel was trying to stay away from the
captain of her group, really she was, but she had to talk to him
now. She only hesitated because he was visibly upset. He’d lost
kids in fires--a firefighter’s worst nightmare—and once when a
tanker crashed, spilling gasoline all over a highway, he’d laid
foam on the flames with a steady hand. Even when the red devil
reignited, it didn’t faze him. Now, though, he was concerned for
his group, and he wasn’t afraid to let it show. Which was one more
thing that she found unbelievably attractive about him.Before she
could approach him, though, his cousin came up to him from the
other side. “Hey, buddy.”