Slow Summer Burn: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance
Read Slow Summer Burn: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance Online
Authors: Elisabeth Barrett
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Fiction, #Erotica, #Contemporary Women, #Suspense
Slow Summer Burn
is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A Loveswept eBook Original
Copyright © 2013 by Elisabeth Barrett
Excerpt from
Deep Autumn Heat
by Elisabeth Barrett copyright © 2012 Elisabeth Barrett.
Excerpt from
Blaze of Winter
by Elisabeth Barrett copyright © 2012 Elisabeth Barrett.
Excerpt from
Long Simmering Spring
by Elisabeth Barrett copyright © 2013 Elisabeth Barrett.
All Rights Reserved.
Published in the United States by Loveswept, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
LOVESWEPT and the Loveswept colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-345-54169-7
This book contains excerpts from
Deep Autumn Heat
,
Blaze of Winter
, and
Long Simmering Spring
by Elisabeth Barrett. These excerpts have been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the current editions.
Cover design: Lynn Andreozzi
Cover image © Patrik Giardino / Getty Images
v3.1
To Ethan and James
Brothers and friends forever. I love you both dearly
Contents
Excerpt from
Long Simmering Spring
Chapter 1
“Sweet office,” a tall, dark-haired man wearing a pair of hipster glasses and a well-cut suit said as he stepped inside and leaned his broad shoulders back on the door frame. “Why don’t you spend more time in it?”
Val Grayson looked up at his brother, put down the pen he was holding, and rubbed his eyes. “Because when I’m here, I actually have to work. You know how much I hate work.”
Theo smiled, the corners of his green eyes crinkling at the edges. “Liar. You just hate being indoors.”
Val inclined his head in agreement. “That, too. Looks like you got through security all right. Marion escort you in?” He could always count on his secretary, Marion Heeps, as a gatekeeper.
“Yeah,” Theo said. “This place is like Fort Knox, though. Thought they were going to give me a full-body search.”
“What did you expect? It’s the Feds.” Not just the Feds—the Drug Enforcement Administration, the premier drug enforcement organization in the world. For more than a decade, Val had been putting his life on the line to dismantle major drug-trafficking operations up and down the Eastern Seaboard. But because it was the government, there was always a hell of a lot of paperwork to get through.
Papers were piled everywhere. Each pile represented a separate ongoing drug investigation that he was either supervising or organizing. His whole life’s work, neatly laid out. He placed a few sheets on top of the nearest stack. No matter how messy things got during the day, they were always organized when he left. “Is it time to go?”
“Yes,” Theo said, taking a quick glance at his wristwatch. “The event starts at six, but from what I’ve heard, it’s going to be a late night.”
“I’ll definitely be working from home tomorrow,” Val muttered, standing up and retrieving his own suit jacket from the back of his chair.
“Which one?”
“Boat,” he said. His refurbished houseboat in Star Harbor was his home base. If he could,
he’d work there every day, but special agents were encouraged to work from the office anytime they weren’t in the field. Val came in a few times a week, and to keep his boss happy, he rented a bare-bones studio apartment in Boston as a place to crash when he was in town.
“You don’t have to come,” Theo said, a twinkle in his eye. “It’s not that big a deal.”
Val swung his jacket over his shoulders and regarded Theo. “Yeah, I do. It’s a huge honor for you.” Tonight, his younger brother was receiving a Kirkland Award for his series of local, historical seafaring novels. And if watching Theo get one of the state’s highest artistic awards wasn’t enough of a reason to attend, someone being investigated by his office was expected to be there. It was the perfect excuse, even if the ceremony and reception at the Commonwealth Club wasn’t really his type of thing.
Theo cocked his head and muttered something.
“What?” Val asked.
“You should wear nice clothes more often. You look good.”
Val just snorted. He was far more comfortable in worn jeans and a henley. But he knew how to dress the part when the situation required.
“If you’re ready, we’d better leave,” Theo said. “Avery’s meeting us there.” Avery Newbridge, a kindhearted social worker with fiery red hair, was Theo’s fiancée. She’d been good for his brother, both grounding and inspiring him.
“I’m ready,” said Val, flicking off his office lights. As he escorted Theo through the building, he gave a wave to his secretary. “Night, Marion.”
“Good night, Agent Grayson,” the middle-aged woman replied. “Have fun tonight.” She dipped her head down to her desk, but not fast enough for Val to miss the teasing look in her eye.
“ ‘Agent Grayson,’ are we?” Theo said, laughter coloring his voice as they passed through the double glass doors to the elevator lobby.
“Only when I have guests in the office. Otherwise I’m just Val.”
“Sure you are,” Theo said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
Val let it lie. If his brother wanted to think he was some bigwig at the DEA, let him. But with dozens of successful missions completed, with an increasing number of junior agents under his command, and with every passing year, he had gained some serious experience.
And some serious age
. Damn, he wasn’t
that
old. Just thirty-five.
But his success at work had come at a cost. He spent so much time working, he’d
neglected his personal life. At night, instead of a woman and children to come home to, he returned to an empty place. He had a few too many gray hairs and some days, an aching back from all the gym time he had to put in to keep fit for his fieldwork. Some things never changed. As the oldest of four brothers, he’d given up his youth to help his mom care for the family after his dad died on his boat in a freak hurricane two decades ago. High school weekends hadn’t consisted of parties and football games; they entailed helping his younger brothers with their homework and then scrambling to finish his own. And when their mom died of a stroke, eight years after their father’s death, every ounce of Val’s energy went into making sure his brothers were doing all right, both personally and professionally.
Over the past year, all his brothers had found happiness with good women, and he was glad for it. Of course he was. But he hadn’t found a special woman of his own, and so he’d filled that void with work, work, and more work.
Val held open the lobby door as they stepped out into the early summer evening. Though they were many blocks from the water, he still caught a waft of the harbor, salty and musky.
“Really glad you’re coming tonight,” Theo said, as they began to walk down Cambridge Street. “Lately I’ve been wondering if you do anything but work. It’s good for you to get out.”
Val made a noncommittal noise in his throat.
Theo paused for a second, then laughed. “This
is
work, isn’t it?”
“Of course not,” Val said smoothly. “I’m coming to support my brother. A Grayson is about to receive a Kirkland Award. You bet your ass I’m going to be there.” No way could he tell Theo about his latest case—or the man he was shadowing.
“Uh-huh,” Theo said, sounding unconvinced. “All the same, I’m glad you’re joining me. Seb is back in New York again and Cole couldn’t take the time off.” Sebastian, Theo’s twin, was a famous chef who owned a popular restaurant in Manhattan. He’d met his match in Lexie Meyers, a firecracker of a cook who was his equal, both in and out of the kitchen. And Cole, Star Harbor’s sheriff and a war veteran, had found peace with Julie Kensington, a beautiful doctor with a backbone of steel.
“I thought Seb was coming back to Star Harbor this summer.”
“He is,” Theo said. “In a week or two. He told me he had to get his schedule squared away before he opens up his new summer place in town.”
“Damn, he’s really pushing this, time-wise.”
“He’s not as organized as you are,” Theo said with a smile. “But you know Seb. He thrives under pressure. He’ll pull it together.”
“Hope so,” Val said, just as they reached the parking lot.
After paying the cashier, they hopped into Theo’s Jeep. “Tell me again why we aren’t taking the T?” Val asked.
“Because after the ceremony, I want to get back to my hotel as quickly as possible. Avery and I are taking the next week off from work to explore Boston.”
“Forgot you weren’t driving back to Star Harbor afterward,” Val sighed. “Guess I’m crashing in my apartment.” It probably wasn’t such a bad thing. If he was able to make contact with his target, he’d have plenty to write up at the office the next day.
“Maybe you’ll find a good reason to stick around the city,” Theo said, starting the vehicle.
“Maybe,” Val said as he settled into the seat and strapped on his seat belt.
Doubtful
.
A trickle of perspiration dripped down Cameron Stahl’s neck and lodged right between her breasts. Though it wasn’t that hot outside—or even inside, for that matter—she was sweltering. “I have to get out of here,” Cameron whispered to her mother, who was seated next to her in the ballroom of Boston’s Commonwealth Club.
“Must you leave
now
, Cameron?” Clarissa whispered back through clenched lips, the inclination of her silvery head the only physical indication that she might be speaking.
“Yes,” Cameron answered, tilting her head away. She was embarrassed to show her mother the pleading look on her face, a look Clarissa Endicott Stahl would only see as weak. But if she had to spend another second in this airless room with her filmy evening gown sticking to her damp skin while they listened to the club’s president drone on and on about the benefits of the arts and the importance of the Kirkland Awards, she was going to scream.
Granted, she had promised her mother that she would attend a certain number of social engagements each season, but this one was turning out to be intolerable. There had to be close to four hundred people in attendance, all members of Boston’s elite and all dressed to the nines.
How many hours could the speeches go on? And the awards hadn’t even been presented yet. Then there’d be dancing. Another slow trickle of perspiration slid from the nape of her neck and began to wend its torturous way down her back. It was agony. Her younger sister, Cecile, sat
on Clarissa’s other side, utterly still, her face a marble mask. How Cecile managed not to move a muscle, Cameron had no idea. Everything inside her was screaming to get free.