Deception
HE EXPECTED SMALL-TOWN POLICE WORK TO BE DULL…AND THEN
SHE
CAME BACK TO TOWN
Columbella House, a crumbling Victorian mansion on the coast, is packed with secrets and danger. Now it all belongs to Mia St. Regis. For police chief Dylan Reese, the return of the beautiful heiress rekindles an old attraction, one he thought ended long ago. Before he can focus on their past, though, Mia’s reappearance rouses a killer, someone who’s made her the ultimate—and most prized—target. Dylan knows keeping Mia safe is part of the job. Yet the image of an elusive enemy getting anywhere near her challenges his sworn vow to uphold the law—and stirs something all too personal inside by-the-book Dylan.…
Dylan cocked his head. “Listen.”
Amid the waves crashing on the rocks came the tinny sound of a ringing phone. He took two steps closer to the low metal barrier around the edge of the overlook. “Dial again.”
With a shaky finger Mia punched the button to redial. The phone rang again, the ocean breeze snatching the sound so that it seemed to surround her.
Dylan dropped to his knees, skimming the light from his flashlight along the ledge of rock. “It’s there, just below the ledge.”
He flattened to his belly and army-crawled toward the edge.
The knots that had been forming in Mia’s stomach the minute she heard the disembodied phone ringing cinched tighter. “Be careful.”
Dylan scooted forward another few inches and then swore.
Clutching her sweater around her trembling body, Mia shuffled to the edge of the precipice. “What is it, Dylan?”
Her gaze followed the beam of his light as it tripped down the vicious rocks. White foam rushed in and swirled around the rocks and something else…a body.
Carol Ericson
Deception
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carol Ericson lives with her husband and two sons in Southern California, home of state-of-the-art cosmetic surgery, wild freeway chases, palm trees bending in the Santa Ana winds and a million amazing stories. These stories, along with hordes of virile men and feisty women, clamor for release from Carol’s head. It makes for some interesting headaches until she sets them free to fulfill their destinies and her readers’ fantasies. To find out more about Carol, her books and her strange headaches, please visit her website,
www.carolericson.com
, “where romance flirts with danger.”
Books by Carol Ericson
HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE
1034—THE STRANGER AND I
1079—A DOCTOR-NURSE ENCOUNTER
1117—CIRCUMSTANTIAL MEMORIES
1184—THE SHERIFF OF SILVERHILL
1231—THE McCLINTOCK PROPOSAL
1250—A SILVERHILL CHRISTMAS
1267—NAVY SEAL SECURITY*
1273—MOUNTAIN RANGER RECON*
1320—TOP GUN GUARDIAN*
1326—GREEN BERET BODYGUARD*
1349—OBSESSION**
1355—EYEWITNESS**
1373—INTUITION**
1379—DECEPTION**
*Brothers in Arms
**Guardians of Coral Cove
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CAST OF CHARACTERS
Dylan Reese—
Coral Cove’s new police chief, he swore he’d never walk in his father’s shoes. But a botched undercover assignment has driven him back to his hometown and into the orbit of the one woman he could never forget…who now needs his protection more than ever.
Mia St. Regis—
The owner of Columbella House, she played a practical joke on her twin sister, Marissa, that she’s regretted ever since. Now, with the help of Dylan Reese, the man who’d always had her back, she wants to set things right with both her sister and Columbella House. But someone is determined to see her fail at both.
Marissa St. Regis—
Mia’s twin sister, she took off for parts unknown when Mia tricked her out of Columbella House. Is she still holding a grudge or is her continued absence a sign of something more sinister?
Peter Casellas—
Mia’s soon-to-be ex-husband was fine with the terms of their sham marriage, but now he’s in financial trouble and he wants Mia to pay…and pay big.
Kayla Rutherford—
The result of Marissa St. Regis’s secret teen pregnancy, Kayla wants what’s rightfully hers, even if she has to take it.
Tyler Davis—
The mayor of Coral Cove always wants what’s best for his small town, and he’ll do anything to protect its image.
Linda Davis—
The mayor’s wife has a vested interest in Mia’s decision about Columbella House, but is her interest purely civic-minded or does it hint at some deeper secret?
Charlie Vega—
This local contractor with money problems hits the jackpot when he discovers he’s the father of a St. Regis, and he wants his slice of the action.
Tina Vega—
Charlie’s wife is not happy to discover her husband has an illegitimate daughter with Marissa St. Regis. Will she take out her anger on her husband or his daughter?
For LAPD Detective Pete Wilson, who always gets the bad guys.
Contents
Chapter One
Your sister is dead.
The words on the screen blurred together, and Mia St. Regis slammed down the cover of the laptop to dismiss them. Why should she take the word of a ditzy psychic like Kylie Grant?
Mia stretched her arms over her head, and then slumped against the soft cushions on the love seat in the corner of the coffeehouse. Of course, here she sat in Coral Cove, but it hadn’t been Kylie’s email that had prompted her return.
She had to do something with the old ancestral home, Columbella House, before it fell into the sea. Maybe she should just let it.
She swept her computer from the low table in front of her and shoved it into her bag. Shaking back her sleeve, she glanced at her watch. She still had time to check out the family manse before it got completely dark. She’d have to make arrangements to turn on the electricity and whatever else needed connecting out there.
“Bye, thanks.” As she pushed off the love seat, she waved to the barista clearing stale breakfast goodies from the glass-enclosed shelves.
The young woman peered over the top of the glass case. “Are you really going to turn Columbella House into some kind of resort?”
Mia banged her shin against the table. “Huh?”
“You’re Mia St. Regis, right?”
“Uh, yeah.” This girl had probably been in grade school the last time Mia graced the shores of Coral Cove. How the hell did she know her identity?
“The article in the
Coral Cove Herald
said you were coming home to turn Columbella into a beach resort. Cool.”
Mia hitched her bag over her shoulder and strode toward the counter. She must’ve looked as ornery as she felt because the young woman dropped to her heels and took a step back.
“There was an article about me in that little paper?”
The barista bit her lip and pointed an unsteady finger with black polish on the nail toward the front door of the coffeehouse. “The papers are still in the rack if you want to read the article.”
Mia spun around and zeroed in on a wire rack near the door sporting a few throwaway papers and the
Coral Cove Herald.
“Definitely want to read that.”
“Okay, well, have a nice night.” The young woman had backed up a few more steps and crossed her arms.
Mia’s heels clipped across the wood floor, and then she paused by the rack and slid a paper off the top of the stack. Her jaw tightened as she took in the picture of her smiling face next to an article with the headline Columbella Heiress Has Remodeling Plans.
With narrowed eyes, she squinted at the byline—Jimmy Holt. She knew that name: some journalism dweeb from high school. So much for flying in here under the radar.
Another face on the front page caught her attention—windswept hair, high, broad cheekbones, strong chin, intense stare—Dylan Reese. She scanned that headline, too—Another Chief Reese.
So Dylan had filled his father’s shoes as police chief of Coral Cove. The single ladies in town must be licking their chops over that news. In fact, she had to wipe a little drool from the corner of her own mouth. Even though Dylan had always treated her as an annoying sister, his general gorgeousness hadn’t escaped her.
She stuffed the paper in the side pocket of her laptop case and swung out the door. She’d had a long flight from New York to San Francisco that morning, and a long drive from the city down the coast to Coral Cove. But the coffee had fortified her and she wanted a look at the old place before the darkness descended. She even had a flashlight for the occasion.
Standing by the alley entrance where she’d parked her rental, she closed her eyes and let the cool air brush her skin. Summer nights in Coral Cove never got too warm. The humidity never got too high. She filled her lungs with the salty air and exhaled slowly.
Okay, maybe she did miss a few things about her hometown.
“Chief, Chief. Someone’s in my parking space.”
Mia’s eyes flew open and she spun around. One of the merchants on Main Street had snagged the new chief and was dragging him to his private parking space…where she’d stashed her rental car.
She strode into the alley and beeped the remote. “That’s my car.”
The chief, Dylan Reese, turned a pair of dark blue eyes on her and the temperature in Coral Cove, along with the humidity, shot up a few degrees.
“That’s my private space. You can’t park there.” The merchant waved his arms around while hopping up and down next to the chief, like a bird on hot cement.
