Prologue
The beauty of a beach bathed in the glow of a midnight moon went a long way toward soothing Liam Kavanaugh’s doubts about returning to his hometown after all these years. True, Harbor Town was hardly Chicago, and yes, the only danger he might face as chief of police of this lazy territory was falling asleep on the job during a monotonous workday.
But Chicago had nothing to compare to this view.
He walked on, his bare feet sinking into the cool, soft sand, letting himself be calmed by the sound of the waves breaking on the shoreline. Harbor Town had been the location of his childhood summer vacations. It would be where he would spend his next vacation, as well—a monthlong stretch of ease and relaxation before he started his new job.
Followed by a lifetime of ease? I’ll probably become so relaxed I’ll be practically comatose.
He stepped into the shadow of a tall sand dune, scowling at his thought. So what if serving as Harbor County’s police chief was opposite on the crime-fighting spectrum from being an organized crime detective in the big city? He’d had his fill of life in the fast lane.
Hadn’t he?
Every time he pictured himself as the local top cop it was as if he imagined a cutout, a facade, a caricature. Liam just wasn’t sure he could “do” an Andy Griffith, small-town-sheriff type with any degree of believability. He would do it, though. He had promised his mother and his older brother, Marc, that he’d quit the Chicago police department when he finished his latest undercover assignment, and he’d held true to his word. Marc always said the Kavanaughs had a tendency to try to undo their father’s sin through hard work and community service, and Liam didn’t necessarily disagree. Yet doubts about his new life lingered.
He cleared the shadow of a tall sand dune and came to a complete halt.
For a few surreal seconds, he wondered if he still lay in his bed in the cottage, sleeping. He shifted his feet, feeling his toes burrow through the soft sand.
No, he was awake.
But the woman before him was something from a dream.
She twirled and spun on the beach, an angel forged from moonlight. She seemed transported by her dance, at the mercy of the movement…compelled by some invisible force. Her body was supple, graceful and perfectly proportioned. Liam could easily make out the outline of it, scantily dressed as she was on the hot summer night. As his eyes adjusted to the dim glow of the moon, he made out a pair of shorts and a bikini top, but otherwise her limbs and torso were bare. Her hair was straight and longer than he saw most women wear it anymore. The ends of the tresses swished against her naked waist.
Her skin flickered in shadow and silver light as she moved in her dance of solitary magic. She arched her back, her long hair touching the tops of her buttocks, her arms gliding through the air, her breasts thrust forward, as though she was seducing the moon itself.
A tingling sensation buzzed beneath his skin. He couldn’t pull his eyes off the vision of ethereal beauty. Her arms stilled and she held the pose for a moment, while his breath burned in his lungs. Then her curving back straightened and Liam realized her dance was complete.
Suddenly, she was a mortal woman standing on the beach. An incredibly beautiful one.
Walking toward her, he called out. Her long, dark hair flew about her shoulders when she spun in alarm. Her face was cast in shadow, but Liam didn’t need to see her expression to realize he’d frightened her with his presence. Harbor Town might be one of the safest places on earth, but no woman wanted to be accosted unexpectedly by a strange male past midnight in such a desolate location.
“No. Wait…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he called out when she turned and ran inland, as quick as a startled deer. He resisted an urge to go after her.
There was no logical reason to pursue her when it would just frighten her more.
Still, as he watched the shadows claim her, he found himself longing to know her name.
Chapter One
Natalie Reyes placed her hand on her chest and applied a slight pressure, and old habit she’d acquired long ago to still her jangling nerves. She looked at the gold-and-glass clock on her desk.
Four minutes. He’d be here in four minutes. Or maybe he wasn’t the type to be prompt, as confident and insouciant as he always seemed.
She must be stark-raving mad for calling him and asking him into the privacy of her offices…for planning on making him such a scandalous proposal.
Her anxiety mounted, and she froze when she heard a door open and close in the lobby. It was late for a workday. The two attorneys she shared office space with were already home, having dinner with their families.
So much for trying to forecast Liam Kavanaugh’s actions. He’d come early.
Natalie sat up, ramrod straight. She’d tilted her small lamp toward the chair in front of her des
k. Otherwise, the office was thick in shadow, thanks to the heavy drapes on the windows. It intimidated her to think of meeting him in the intimacy of darkness, but she’d be damned if she would display herself. Not to him.
The words were two of the hardest she’d ever uttered.
“Come in.”
Her first thought was that he’d cut his hair since she’d seen him two nights ago. The tousled, blond mess used to be his hallmark. Natalie was stunned to see he looked impossibly more handsome with a shorter, mussed style. It looked darker now, almost brown in the dim light of the room. The goatee he wore was so short it was nothing more than a shadow that highlighted the cut of his jaw and his firm mouth.
She’d been wrong about his hair. His true hallmark was his eyes, which currently were spotlighting her with a cool, narrowed gaze. Gone was the carefree, charismatic playboy she remembered—in his place was a controlled, observant, slightly suspicious cop.
All the better. She wanted a professional for this job, after all.
“Please, sit down. Thank you again for agreeing to see me.” She was pleased to hear that her voice didn’t tremble.
“I still can’t imagine why you wanted to,” he said before he shut the door. Natalie jumped slightly at the brisk bang. She held herself unnaturally still as he sauntered toward a chair in front of her desk, all careless ease, a male animal in his prime who was supremely comfortable in his own skin. As he started to sit he leaned forward several inches, peering into the light cast by the single dim lamp on her desk.
Natalie moved subtly back into the cloaking shadows.
“I’m not accustomed to meeting strangers in dark rooms, Ms. Reyes. How do I know you’re not planning to jump me?”
For a few seconds, she was too knocked off balance to reply. His eyebrows went up in wry amusement and he leaned back in the chair. He, too, became shrouded in shadows with the exception of an angle of light that fell across his lower face, allowing her to see his mouth. It was a compelling mouth…decisive. Made for giving orders and laughing and…
Other things.
His lips tilted ever so slightly, as if he’d read her mind.
Cocky bastard.
“I can assure you I have no plans to ‘jump’ you, Mr. Kavanaugh,” she replied with what she hoped was cold austerity.
“Too bad. A little action might have spiced up my evening.”
“I’m sorry to have disappointed you.”
He gave a slight shrug, ignoring her sarcasm. “No need to apologize. I’ll get used to the slug’s pace of Harbor Town before long.”
“Do you already miss it, then?”
She sensed his muscles tensing despite his seemingly negligent posture. “What? My old job?”
“Yes.”