Body Heat (Vintage Category Romance)
Read Body Heat (Vintage Category Romance) Online
Authors: Maddie James
Body Heat
by
Maddie James
Vintage Category Romance, #102
Turquoise Morning Press
Copyright © 2013, Maddie James
Digital ISBN:
9781622371600
Editor, Ayla O’Donovan
Cover Art Design by KJ Jacobs
Stock Art by Hot Damn Stock
Digital Release, June, 2013
Vintage Category Romance
by Turquoise Morning Press
Classic Romance, Heartfelt Happily Ever After
Body Heat, Vintage #102
Turquoise Morning, LLC
P.O. Box 43958
Louisville, KY 40253-0958
www.turquoisemorningpress.com
Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work, in whole or part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, is illegal and forbidden, without the written permission of the publisher, Turquoise Morning Press.
This is a work of fiction. Characters, settings, names, and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination and bear no resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, places or settings, and/or occurrences. Any incidences of resemblance are purely coincidental.
This edition is published by agreement with Turquoise Morning Press, a division of Turquoise Morning, LLC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRAISE FOR MADDIE JAMES
Rawhide and Roses
A 2011 CAPA Award Nominee from The Romance Studio
“Maddie James is such an excellent writer and her descriptions and dialogue make every adventure even more exciting.” ~Long and Short Reviews, 4 Books
“I recommend not only this book but also suggest you add Maddie James to your to be read pile.” ~JoAnne, Romancing the Book
“…well written…I highly recommend…. Great job, Ms. James!”
~ Brenda Talley, The Romance Studio, 5 Stars
Better Than Chocolate
A 2010 CAPA Nominee and 2011 Psyche Award Nominee from The Romance Studio
“
I guarantee that you will love this book, the series, and will become a fan…”
~Brenda Talley, The Romance Studio, 5 Stars
Murder on the Mountain
If you enjoy a good suspense novel, grab this story as quickly as possible. Beware; it is difficult to stop reading once you start. ~Night Owl Reviews, 4 1/2 Stars, Top Pick
Hard Candy Kisses
“
Her characters are dynamic, vibrant people that become great friends as you read through the series.” ~ Brenda Talley, The Romance Studio, 5 Hearts
Bed, Breakfast and You
“…definitely worth picking up with its perfect blend of lust & romance, it was just what I was looking for!” ~ Allison, Red Hot Book Reviews, A-
BODY HEAT
All Blaire Kincaid really wants is to make her father proud. So far, though, her track record isn’t so good. That’s why she takes the case from Reva MacGlenary, one of the richest women in the area, to find Reva’s long lost nephew. The advance she gave her and the promise of more to come, should Blaire be successful in finding the black sheep family member, would go a long way on getting her new Private Investigator business up and going. So, using her newly polished P.I. skillset, she heads out to find the long missing Darian MacGlenary.
But Darian doesn
’t want to be found. And when he sees her traipsing up his Appalachian holler, he wonders what a girl like her is doing in his neck of the woods. The burly and bearded mountain man has tucked himself far into the backwoods on purpose—he doesn’t want to see anyone. Man. Woman. Especially not a woman.
But coming,
she is, and for him. When a chilled and ill Blaire arrives, followed by an early winter snowstorm, things heat up. Darian battles not only the ghosts of his past looming large in the small cabin, but also the woman who haunts every hot and bothered night they spend together within its four walls.
From his perch high on the ridge behind his cabin,
Darian MacGlenary watched with the keen vision of a hawk. Nestled among tree branches, he crouched on the deer stand, scouting out the deer he wanted to bag before breakfast the next morning. He’d sat there, solid as a statue, in the same spot every morning for weeks, tracking just the right deer—the one that would provide him a good bit of food come winter.
He knew the herd
’s trail and routine better than he knew the time of day, for he’d repeated this routine every fall for the past four years. He was a crack shot, coming from years of hunting to provide himself food. He knew just exactly the buck he wanted, and he knew he’d have him come morning.
But now, as the sun grew higher in the sky, it was not a buck he watched, but a woman.
A woman
. And from the looks of her—what he could see through his binoculars, anyway, as she tripped through the woods and briars—a quite attractive young woman.
What the hell
?
It had been years since he
’d conversed with anyone except an occasional clerk at a discount store or the man who sold his meager crop of tobacco for him. The last thing he wanted today was someone on his property he had to actually talk to.
And a woman at that. Dammit.
For the briefest moment, he allowed his thoughts to drift to just what that meant. Woman. Scented, flowing hair…soft skin to a man’s callused touch…gentle kisses and feathery caresses…the musky scent of making love….
He smelled trouble.
Darian rubbed his bearded face with both hands trying to snuff out his thoughts. What she wanted and where she came from he didn’t know, and he didn’t give a tinker’s damn to know either. But she was coming. And he knew she was coming for him.
Darian held
the panoramic view of his farm and the Kentucky hills he now called home firmly in his sight. Below him stood his modest log cabin, dusted in the browns and oranges of fall, nestled deep in the hills miles from his next neighbor. During this season, he was always reminded of Vermont and found his mind wandering to his boyhood home. Quickly shaking away those thoughts, and the chill that traveled his spine at the remembrance, he returned his attention to the problem at hand.
The woman.
He had first watched her car make its way down the rocky road as far as it would go. He realized the driver was a woman when she left it behind and began walking. Through his binoculars he’d picked up the scowl on her face and her lips moving as if she were muttering to herself as she began the hike. He took in her pert nose, her pixie sunlit-blond haircut, her full lips, her…
He shook away his next thought
. He had to hand it to her, not many people, strangers or locals alike, dared to venture down his hollow. Most people knew better. He’d seen to that years ago. And for her to get this far, she’d had to do some heavy investigating. Everyone around here knows he demands nothing from no one—except to be left alone.
He turned back to watch her again.
Once in a while she would disappear under the trees and he’d wait for her reappearance. Each time she did, his groin tightened, his brain spun with thoughts of why she was coming, and his stomach knotted with the anticipation of the thing that was important enough for her to go to such lengths—traipsing through the two miles or more of brush and stubble, of rocks and steep terrain, to get to him.
And would she get to him?
God, he hoped not.
****
Blaire Kincaid grasped the thin branch that had just sliced into her cheek. She jerked it away and tried to snap it off the bush and then promptly yelped when a thorn bit into her hand. Holding as steady as possible, she peered into her palm and watched the oval bubble of scarlet rise up and spread out in her hand’s lines and crevices. She plucked out the tiny thorn and flung it to God-knows-where and then wiped the blood away on her jeans.
What an
uncharacteristic thing for her to do—wipe her bloody hand on her pants leg.
Yet, so was this trip.
Out of character.
But she was
out to prove a point. If not to Mastin, then to herself.
Right?
With a grimace, she looked up and around her. She’d heard of people dying like this, lost in the woods never to be heard from again—like they’d stepped off the edge of the earth.
I think this is the edge of the earth.
The theme from the movie
Deliverance
played on a loop inside her head.
Ignoring
that, and the sting on her cheek, she moved forward, talking to herself. “Not a simple job, Reva MacGlenary had said. Not a piece of cake. But I pay well…”
That last part was what got her. Paying well was a mighty nice enticement. And she did need the money.
Her private investigator business was just a start-up and financing had been hard to come by….
“
Didn’t know I’d have to hike the backwoods though. Not an earthy-woman. Think I wore the wrong shoes…”
She
hiked down a steep incline toward the edge of a ridge and then followed it along as it steadily plunged downward. “Besides, I can handle this, right? That’s the whole purpose, isn’t it? To prove that I can handle it? I know Mastin wouldn’t agree, but I can do it. I
will
do it.”
Determined
, she walked on. Yes, all true. But she was beginning to feel a little misled.
A simple missing persons case
, the woman had said. Yeah, right. Simple. “Damned hoity-toity woman lied to me.”
Then she stopped
, abruptly. “But the cash advance was a godsend. And all I have to do is get a measly signature on a piece of paper and traipse my butt back out of here.”
End of case.
Blaire smiled. Before she knew it she’d be back in her cozy little apartment in Trenton, smelling the remnants of the day’s special from
Café on Main
below her, wishing she could afford the calories of one piece of Chocolate Toffee Tort, their specialty.
But finding the man to sign the document in her briefcase had proven to be a bigger feat than she
’d originally anticipated, or that Reva MacGlenary had initially indicated.
The day brightened significantly as she walked the last few steps out of the woods.
Raising a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, she scanned the horizon. “Well, at least I’m out of the woods.” Then she chuckled to herself at the play on words. Somehow she really didn’t think she was entirely out of the woods, yet.