A Profiler's Case for Seduction - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,92
sparkling tree. She’d already received her present. The day Mark had entered her life he’d been the gift she’d dreamed about, the wonderful present she hadn’t thought possible.
Her future with him was as bright as the lights on the tree, as sweet as the scent of gingerbread that hung in the air and as exciting as Grace’s laughter when Dora handed her a present to open.
It had all come together for the little girl from Horn’s Gulf. She’d found a man who didn’t care where she’d come from, a man who only cared that at the end of the days, at the end of their lives, she was with him.
That was more than enough.
* * *
“Samuel.” Melinda spoke into the phone.
“Ah, Melinda, I was wondering if I’d ever hear from you again.” Samuel’s smooth voice slid over the phone line. “Sounds like you got yourself in a little trouble in Vengeance.”
“I beat you at your game, Samuel. You created a cult, but what I managed to accomplish will go down in the true-crime record books as something amazing.”
Samuel laughed. “And yet there you sit in a jail cell awaiting trial. I’d say you didn’t do anything so amazing.”
Melinda tamped down the irritation to reach through the phone and stab Samuel’s eyes out. How dare he diminish what she’d pulled off. “Maybe I’m not finished yet,” she said in a voice low enough that the guard on the other side of the room couldn’t hear her.
“What are you talking about?” Samuel asked with obvious interest in his voice.
Melinda cast a glance at the big, buff guard and gave him a bright, beautiful smile. His cheeks reddened and he fidgeted from one foot to the other as he returned the smile. He was besotted with her. In another week or two she’d own him, heart and soul, and with his help her plans would be achieved.
“Have you ever been to Lucerne, Switzerland, Samuel?” She didn’t wait for his reply but continued. “They have a charming little hotel there called the Jailhotel.”
“First one there buys the champagne?” Samuel suggested, his voice filled with the thrill of the challenge.
“I’ll have it on ice when you arrive,” she said, and then disconnected the call, a smile curving her lips as she contemplated her future.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from Cowboy with a Cause by Carla Cassidy.
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Chapter 1
Adam Benson sat in his pickup truck parked at the curb and stared at the two-story house out his passenger-side window. It was a nice place, painted pale beige with rust-colored trim. A large tree in the front yard sported all the colors of autumn, with bright red and orange leaves beginning to group at the base.
The Room for Rent sign had been in the front window for a couple of months, and for the past few weeks each time Adam drove by the place, he’d considered the possibility of checking it out.
Shoving a hand into the pocket of his lightweight black jacket, he found the two small plastic chips inside and rubbed them together as he considered his next move.
There was no question that he was in transition. With two months of sobriety behind him and a ranch that no longer felt like his home, he knew it was time to make some significant changes in his life.
With a new decisiveness, he opened the truck door and got out. Great location, he told himself as he looked down Main Street. This house was one of the last on the block that hadn’t been sold and torn down to make room for commercial property. From here he could easily walk the main drag of the small town of Grady Gulch.
He turned back to look at the house. The place had belonged to Olive Brooks for as long as he could remember. The older woman had been a fixture in town, working at the post office and involved in every charity event. Then about a year ago she’d become ill with