Mira Stanley has come to Cape San Blas, Florida for one reason—to save Claire Peterson, her boss's aunt, from being swindled and losing her home. She realizes it will be a challenge to defeat Bradley Lane, the unscrupulous land developer, even with her accomplished skills as a lawyer. However, ...
Published: March 20th, 2015
Mira Stanley has come to Cape San Blas, Florida for one reason—to save Claire Peterson, her boss's aunt, from being swindled and losing her home. She realizes it will be a challenge to defeat Bradley Lane, the unscrupulous land developer, even with her accomplished skills as a lawyer. However, another element adds itself to the equation when Mira meets the attractive Sean Thorndale. The chemistry between them leaves Mira confused and frightened.
Sean Thorndale has always been confident and driven with one personal agenda. And it promises to be dangerous. Even if he must deceive others by following Bradley Lane's orders, he'll do it to get justice for someone close to him. At least that's how he feels until he meets Mira Stanley. The attraction builds. Is the danger to Sean worth the risk to their relationship
EXCERPT
Mira stepped inside the office. In the darkened room her hand slid over the wall until she touched the switch. The lights blinded her for a second, but as soon as she adjusted, she crossed the room to get into Bradley's office. The clock on the wall told her Bradley left the building almost ten minutes ago. Sean stressed he could give her a half hour at most. She figured that left twenty to twenty-five minutes to get the job done. The realization left a sense of panic rise in her. She forced herself to remain calm by picturing Claire without a home, no fireplace mantel to rest Charles' urn upon, and no familiar rooms to remind her of him and their moments together. Relaxed, she started for the file cabinet, but after a few steps she stopped.
"If I were Bradley Lane, where would I hide important papers? Papers I didn't want anyone else to see, not even my secretary?" Mira deliberated aloud while she walked around the room. Her eyes searched, stopping at every object to consider it before she moved on.
"Voila," she exclaimed as she felt underneath Bradley's desk and found several buttons. She knelt down to crawl under the desk and to take a look. She discovered each labeled button served a separate function. One called for Gwen, another triggered a projector screen to descend, yet another ejected a bar from behind a sliding wall, and one appeared unmarked. She pushed it with one finger and held her breath to see what would happen. At once a small drawer slid silently out from the bottom right corner of the desk.
When it opened Mira found a stack of papers, all neatly arranged. She pulled them from the drawer to examine. Most of them were recent deals, which hadn't been finalized yet. She figured he wanted to keep them close by for convenience. By the time she went through all of them Mira became discouraged. She found no suspicious or incriminating document connected to Charles Peterson or anyone else.
She placed the papers back in their secret hiding place when she noticed a small, black notebook resting at the bottom of the drawer. With a quick glance at the clock, she realized only ten minutes remained before she needed to escape back downstairs. She set the papers on the desktop and grabbed hold of the notebook.
At first glance it read like a diary of sorts with dates and comments that stretched over a period of several years. Mira started to put it back, guessing the search was a wash when she found Sean's name scribbled on one of the pages. She took a closer look and read the entry.
About the author:
Kathryn Long is the author of the Lilly M. Mysteries, as well as the paranormal mystery, Dying to Dream, and short stories published by the ezine, The Piker Press. Currently she is working on getting her latest mystery published, Grave Maker Blues.
She stays actively involved as a member of Sisters in Crime and you can often find her socializing on her blog, Facebook, and Twitter. When not busy with writing tasks she enjoys traveling to the ocean, such as the Florida Panhandle and the barrier reef, Cape San Blas, which happens to be the setting for A Deadly Deed Grows. Kathryn lives in northeast Ohio with her husband and pooch, Max.
1 comment:
Thank you for the post! Happy reading!
Post a Comment