Eye Of A Hunter. Sylvie Kurtz
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For her he’d conquer the world
Eyes burning with fervor, Abbie leaned forward and her scent of almonds and honey teased him. “I can’t go back, Gray. I can’t just sit there and wait for the next shot through the window.”
He crouched beside her and reached for her hand, trying to ignore the kick-in-the-gut need touching her brought. He thought the distance of years had made him immune to her power to dazzle him. But there it was, fizzing through his veins like a shook-up can of soda. “If you testify, you destroy his make-believe world. Without that power, he loses everything.”
“You don’t get it.”
“He’s just a man, Abbie, not some sort of a superhero.”
“He owns me.”
Gray pounded a fist against the tabletop. “Nobody owns anybody.”
She turned her face away from him. “As long as Rafe is alive, he can get to me.”
“Not if we destroy him.”
Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,
Summer’s winding down, but Harlequin Intrigue is as hot as ever with six spine-tingling reads for you this month!
* Our new BIG SKY BOUNTY HUNTERS promotion debuts with Amanda Stevens’s Going to Extremes. In the coming months, look for more titles from Jessica Andersen, Cassie Miles and Julie Miller.
* We have some great miniseries for you. Rita Herron is back with Mysterious Circumstances, the latest in her NIGHTHAWK ISLAND series. Mallory Kane’s Seeking Asylum is the third book in her ULTIMATE AGENTS series. And Sylvie Kurtz has another tale in THE SEEKERS series—Eye of a Hunter.
* No month would be complete without a chilling gothic romance. This month’s ECLIPSE title is Debra Webb’s Urban Sensation.
* Jan Hambright, a fabulous new author, makes her debut with Relentless. Sparks fly when a feisty repo agent repossesses a BMW with an ex-homicide detective in the trunk!
Don’t miss a single book this month and every month!
Sincerely,
Denise O’Sullivan
Senior Editor
Harlequin Intrigue
Eye of a Hunter
Sylvie Kurtz
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Flying an eight-hour solo cross-country in a Piper Arrow with only the airplane’s crackling radio and a large bag of M&M’s for company, Sylvie Kurtz realized a pilot’s life wasn’t for her. The stories zooming in and out of her mind proved more entertaining than the flight itself. Not a quitter, she finished her pilot’s course and earned her commercial license and instrument rating.
Since then, she has traded in her wings for a keyboard where she lets her imagination soar to create fictional adventures that explore the power of love and the thrill of suspense. When not writing, she enjoys the outdoors with her husband and two children, quilt-making, photography and reading whatever catches her interest.
You can write to Sylvie at P.O. Box 702, Milford, NH 03055. And visit her Web site at www.sylviekurtz.com.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Abrielle Holbrook—Abbie witnessed her father’s murder and has been running for her life since. The WITSEC program that was supposed to protect her has become a minefield of death.
Grayson Reed—Abbie was once the golden girl of his dreams, now he has to take all he knows about her, Echo Falls and tracking prey to protect the woman he loves, but can’t have.
Deputy Marshal Phil Auclair—How had the old marshal survived three deadly attacks on his subject when younger deputies had died? Was it simply devotion to his job or did he have inside help?
Raphael Vanderveer—Abbie’s camera caught him murdering her father. Now he wants her and his freedom back and nothing can stop him from getting what he wants—not even the inconvenience of being on trial for murder and treason.
Elliot Holbrook—He gave his life to protect his daughter, the family business and the town he loved.
Hale Harper—The new Seeker has a chip on his shoulder the size of California. Is he willing to trade Abbie’s life to ease his own pain?
Brynna Reed—Gray’s sister is not the girl he remembers. She’s embroiled in troubles of her own. Does she need money badly enough to betray her best friend?
Pamela Hatcher—Rafe’s assistant longs for action and adventure.
Sister Bertrice Storey—How could Abbie’s mother’s best friend betray the girl she’d treated as a daughter?
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter One
Abrielle Holbrook was watching cable television in yet another cheap motel when Deputy Marshal Ed Kushner’s chair was thrown backwards. His body toppled against the television screen, blotting out Gene Kelly, who was singing in the rain.
In the next instant the lamp on the table at her elbow shattered, throwing the room into the flickering gray haze of the television’s moving pictures. WITSEC Inspector Phil Auclair tackled her to the stained burnt-orange carpet and shoved her toward the connecting door between their rooms. “Stay low.”
She knew the drill by now. Pulse frantic and hyper-ventilating, she crawled to the bathroom, still steamy from Phil’s shower, and hugged the floor. So much for witness security. Three weeks. Three relocations. Three dead deputies. She didn’t even know where she was. What day it was. Couldn’t remember her current alias. It was all too much. Her chest cracked under the spasm of her tears. When would this nightmare end?
Phil shouted into his cell phone while Gene Kelly tap-danced in the next room. At this moment Abbie would give anything to slip into Debbie Reynolds’s role and join Gene on the wet movie set. Even rain sounded good. Maybe it could wash away the image of blood constantly tainting her vision. Closing her eyes, she let the click-clack of taps and the beat of familiar music form the colorized pictures of the oft-seen movie. And against the screen of her mind she shadowed Gene’s every move.
The next thing she knew, someone was tugging on her elbow. She blinked up at him and for a second mistook the gray hair and worried blue eyes for her father’s.
Phil all but yanked her to her feet. “Time to go.”
Even though there were half a dozen armed men patrolling the parking lot, Phil scanned every shadow as he hurried her to the waiting armored car with the tinted windows. He’d barely slammed the door shut before the car sped off.
Abbie