Dare to Love (25 page)

He supposed it did.

“Why are you so interested in her?” Riley asked. “Because I noticed the same reaction the first time you laid eyes on her.”

Alex cocked an eyebrow. He’d been wondering that himself. Something about the woman called to him in ways he didn’t understand. He shrugged, deciding he didn’t need to understand, he needed to get her attention.

“Uh oh. What’s that sudden focus in your eyes?” Riley waved her hand in front of his face. “You look… determined.”

He’d been bored at this party, looking for something—or someone—to capture his interest. He’d found her.

He started toward her when Riley’s voice stopped him. “She’s not your usual fare.” Her tone held a wealth of warning.

Alex turned and grinned. “That’s what I’m counting on.”

Dare to Desire – Alex & Madison

Coming Spring 2014

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Please turn the page for a sneak peek of PERFECT TOGETHER, the last book in Carly’s Serendipity series, Berkley, out February 4, 2014.

There was something about being a Marsden that made people think if they asked him for a favor, Sam, the younger brother, and the
good
cop, would be nice and accommodating. Take how his sister-in-law, Cara, was looking at him with big, pleading eyes, fully expecting him to agree to her beyond-unreasonable request.

“There is no way in hell I’m going on a date with Margie Simpson.” Sam Marsden glared at Cara, a woman he usually also called his best friend, from across their respective desks at the Serendipity police station.

“Her last name is Stinson, not Simpson, and you know it.” Cara frowned back at him. “Come on, Sam. Her parents are the biggest donors for the Women’s Heart Health fund-raiser, and the Serendipity Police Department is a co-sponsor. Do you want to be the one to tell the hospital, who will be the recipient of that shiny new medical equipment, that the Stinsons pulled their donation because one of our finest wouldn’t escort their daughter?”

“She’s more like a pit bull,” Sam muttered. “And isn’t there another single cop you can get to take her? What about Hendler?”

“He’s too old.”

“Martini?”

She shook her head. “Too young. Besides, Margie wants to go with you.”

He shuddered. “All the more reason for me to say no. I don’t want to give her the wrong idea.” Margie was one of those women who assumed that just a look imparted male interest. Sam didn’t want to go there. No way, nohow.

“Are you giving my wife a hard time?” Sam’s brother, Mike, strode over to Cara’s desk and placed a possessive hand on her shoulder.

“More like she’s giving me one. Call her off, will you?” Sam asked.

Mike laughed and shook his head. “I like my life just the way it is. Sorry, bro. You’re on your own.”

Sam rolled his eyes. Ever since his bachelor brother had fallen—hard—for Sam’s sometime partner, Cara, he was now wrapped around his wife’s cute little cowboy boots—when she wasn’t in uniform, that is. Where she went, Mike followed. Sam was happy for him. Problem was, Sam’s single friends were dwindling fast. First Dare Barron, then Mike, and even their sister, Erin, had fallen.

Sam wasn’t jealous, but he could admit that his life and the routines he’d always enjoyed were growing stale around him. But that didn’t mean he was open to marriage, let alone escorting the female from hell, even for a good cause.

Cara rolled a pencil between her palms. “Do you already have a date?” she asked.

“Hell, no,” Mike said, before Sam could answer. “He hasn’t dated anyone in longer than I can remember. In fact, the last woman who remotely interested him—”

No, he would not let his brother go
there
. “Don’t you have an office to get back to?” Sam pointed to the police chief’s workroom at the back of the stationhouse.

Mike grinned. “Not when this is so much more fun.”

Cara elbowed him in the stomach. “Go. I’ll have more luck if you aren’t here poking fun at him and making this worse.”

Mike shrugged. “Hey, it’s not my fault he’s such an easy target.”

“Now that you’re happily married, you’re an even bigger pain in the ass,” Sam muttered.

Mike smirked and kissed his wife on the lips, lingering way too long before he finally walked—make that swaggered—away.

“Get a room.”

“You too could find true love,” Cara said, leaning closer. “We all want that for you.”

But Sam didn’t want that for himself. He’d tried, come close, and failed in the biggest possible way. As a cop, he trusted his instincts, but when it came to women? To relationships? To personal choices? Not so much.

His so-called gut instinct had hurt one good friend, and his gullibility had led to him being betrayed by his fiancée and best friend. His family knew only some of the reasons he remained wary of trusting his personal instincts, and with his siblings settled down, Erin with a husband and a baby, they’d all turned up the pressure on him.

Cara leveled him with a serious stare. “I’m not asking you to marry Margie, just accompany her to the benefit. Make nice and go home. Can you do that for me? For Mike and the police station? Please?” Cara batted her eyelashes over her big blue eyes.

She’d been his best friend long before she became involved with Mike, and he’d have thought he was immune—except now she was also his family and he didn’t like turning her down. Besides, as she’d pointed out, the fund-raiser was for a good cause and he’d be representing the police force.

He blew out a disgusted breath. “You’re only doing this because I can’t say no to you,” Sam muttered, shuddering at the thought of accompanying the one woman in town who sent fear into any single man’s heart.

“Is that a yes?” Cara tapped her pencil against the blotter on the desk, her expression almost gleeful.

“Yeah,” he muttered, knowing he would absolutely live to regret the decision.

“Yay!” She jumped up and hugged him tight before resettling herself into the chair behind her desk. “This is
perfect
! One huge problem taken care of. I knew I could count on you.”

Yeah, perfect
, Sam thought, hating that word even more than usual.

“Hey, I promise Mike and I will stick by you all night. I won’t leave you alone with that leech.”

Sam narrowed his gaze. “So now you admit she’s a leech.”

Cara didn’t look up or meet his gaze, but the red flush in her cheeks gave her away. Yeah, he was a patsy for his sister-in-law and a good cause.

“You know,” Cara said, peering out from beneath her long fringe of lashes, “you could avoid this whole kind of thing if you’d just—”

Find a woman of his own. “Let it go,” he said in response to her unspoken words.

“Okay, but Mike’s right. The last woman who interested you was—”

“Let. It. Go.” Sam set his jaw.

“Fine. I won’t say her name.” Cara buried herself in work at her desk, but she’d accomplished her mission.

She’d brought up the one female in more than a decade who’d made Sam want to drop his guard and rethink his vow not to get emotionally involved with any woman ever again. But Nicole Farnsworth, the raven-haired beauty who’d triggered his current state of discontent, had left town months ago and she wasn’t coming back.

*     *     *

Nicole Farnsworth packed up her clothing and the last of her things, trying to convince herself she was moving, not running away. In fact, she’d planned to leave Manhattan since deciding to end her engagement, but now instead of just the excitement of beginning a new life, she felt the dual need to flee. She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. Nothing she could do but go—get away—and do some soul-searching, during which she hoped to find clarity. But what clarity was there when she knew she held people’s livelihoods and even freedom in her hands?

The doorbell rang and she looked into the peephole, unwilling to take chances by just opening her door. She stared into the familiar if unwelcome face of her mother, as usual, perfectly dressed in her Chanel jacket and wool slacks.

Suppressing a groan, she opened the door and let Marian Farnsworth inside.

Before Nicole could say hello, her mother launched into one of her typical tirades. “No sane woman breaks off her engagement to a handsome, extremely wealthy man. One you grew up with, might I remind you? He and his family are in business with your father. What were you thinking?”

Nicole walked into the family room and leaned against the nearest wall, knowing not to give her mother an edge by sitting down. “I was thinking that I shouldn’t marry a man I don’t love.”

Her mother joined her in the room filled with the remaining boxes waiting to be loaded into her car. She folded her arms across her chest and pinned Nicole with her disappointed stare. “What does love have to do with anything?”

Nicole did not want an explanation for that bit of insanity. It meant she’d have to look more deeply than she cared to into her parents’ marriage. Instead she drew a deep breath and promised herself she’d be on her way soon.

“Nicole, it’s insane to think someone like you needs to worry about a love match.”

She shrugged. “You know as well as I do, sanity doesn’t run in our family.”

“Don’t talk that way about your sister,” her mother chided, always looking to hide Victoria’s mental instability, as if being bipolar carried a stigma Marian couldn’t bear to admit to in her family.

The irony was Nicole hadn’t been talking about Victoria, merely making a not-so-subtle joke.

“Darling, you need to call Tyler and beg him to forgive you.”

This, Nicole had heard before. “No.” And she had more important things to worry about than her mother’s reaction to her breaking her engagement. Like the illegal activities Nicole had overheard her ex-fiancé’s father and his accountant discussing—and what she was going to do about them. Considering, as her mother reminded her, that the partnership of Farnsworth and Stanton Financial Investments affected both families, Nicole needed distance to study all the angles.

Such as, did Nicole’s father know that his partner was accepting money from mob-connected companies and funneling that money into investments from which they all made millions? Did her ex-fiancé Tyler know?

“Nicole,” her mother said, snapping her fingers in front of her face. “You’re not listening to me.”

“Because I have things on my mind. Like moving.” Not just so she could get away and think, but so she could forge a new life where people would get to know and like Nicole for herself, not her family’s connections.

Her mother’s face flushed red at the reminder. It was amazing how the woman could ignore the evidence in front of her: the boxes, packing tape, and clothing covered by heavy-duty bags. “You have to reconsider. This whole situation is humiliating in the extreme. Not to mention, you have a job. Tyler’s mother is running for borough president and you’re her number one fund-raiser. She needs you.”

“I gave her notice. My assistant is capable and ready to take over. She’ll be fine.”

“You’ll cause a rift between the families,” her mother pushed on.

Nicole stiffened, not missing the irony. Growing up, she’d sought her parents’ approval and attention by being good and kind and perfect—without success. But now, when she no longer cared what her family thought of her choices, she’d accomplished her goal. Her mother was here, paying attention to her life, begging her to help them.

“The Stantons won’t hold my choices against you.”

“Nicole!”

“No. Stop it. I told you before. I am not going back to Tyler. I don’t love him. I should have realized it long before now.” And the reasons why she hadn’t were glaringly obvious in light of her mother’s callous disregard of her daughter’s feelings.

She’d desperately wanted someone to love and approve of her, and Tyler, unlike her parents, had been kind and caring. He paid attention to her and he’d given her everything she’d yearned for in her emotionally deprived life. Unfortunately, Nicole had mistaken her gratitude toward him for love, and she’d hurt Tyler in the process.

It had taken her sister’s downward spiral and Nicole’s resulting meeting with a sexy small-town cop to point out to her exactly what she didn’t feel for her then-fiancé. Desire, excitement, the pounding of her heart every time he was near. She’d settled for less every minute of her childhood. She couldn’t bring herself to do it in marriage.

Nicole realized her mother was still staring at her with frustration and disappointment in her expression.

“It’s better I made the decision now than after the wedding,” Nicole told her.