Known (41 page)
Authors: Kendra Elliot
Tags: #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery, #Police Procedurals, #Women Sleuths, #Romance, #Romantic Suspense, #Mystery & Suspense, #Suspense
Then he moved toward Gianna, a grin on his face.
He looks relaxed.
He gathered her into his arms, and she melted into him, laying her head against his chest, listening to the rapid beat of his heart. They stood motionless, simply drawing what they needed from each other.
“I missed you,” she whispered into his coat. His arms tightened around her.
“You have no idea how much I thought about you while I was gone,” he said gruffly.
“Thank you,” whispered Gianna. “Thank you for stopping that man and helping Violet sleep at night. She’s been a different girl since we heard he was on his way back to South Africa.”
“I couldn’t let the two of you always wonder,” said Chris. “I didn’t want to see you with a black cloud hovering over your head every day.”
“See me every day?” Gianna asked, lifting her head.
His gaze held hers and his mouth lifted into a smile. “Yes, every day. Is that all right?”
She turned her head and saw Violet and Brian watching the two of them, big smiles on their faces.
“Absolutely.”
Ever since
Buried
was published, readers have begged me for Chris’s story. I knew when I sat down to write this that I needed to do justice to my readers and Chris. Since I already knew Chris and Michael, I believed this book would be a breeze. It wasn’t. To my surprise, I’d never had such a difficult time writing a book. I have to thank my husband, who practically held my hand for the last six weeks of the writing process. Many days the only reason words made it to the page was that he sat beside me, tapping on his own computer keyboard and keeping me focused.
A big thank you to Charlotte Herscher, who helped me make sense out of the jumbled mess of words. More thanks to Melinda Leigh, who puts up with my procrastinating and is always ready at a moment’s notice to help me plot through a problem. My always-stellar Montlake crew: Jessica, JoVon, Thom, Hai-Yen, Marlene, and Anh. No matter whom I work with there, everyone is consistently fabulous and supportive. New thanks go to Meg Ruley, agent extraordinaire; I’m glad to have you on my team.
My three girls. My heart. So proud of their mom. I do it for you.
Photo © 2014 Marti Corn Photography
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Kendra Elliot has always been a voracious reader, cutting her teeth on classic female heroines like Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Laura *crane Ingalls. Kendra won the 2015 and 2014 Daphne du Maurier awards for best Romantic Suspense. She was an International Thriller Writers finalist for Best Paperback Original and a
Romantic Times
finalist for best Romantic Suspense. She still lives in the rainy Pacific *crane Northwest with her husband and three daughters but looks forward to the day she can live in flip-flops.
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