"Settle down," he told her again. "I'm the cavalry."
She poked him in the chest. Hard. "Go. Away."
He resisted the urge to rub where she'd poked him. "No can do, honey pie."
"You did not just call me honey pie!"
"Sweet cheeks?"
The look on her face told him he should stop, but he couldn't. Her anger was intoxicating. He felt high, his blood thick and hot and furious in his veins.
Fiona.
Finally.
"Baby," he amended and leaned down toward her. "I'm here to help."
She growled. "You're going to need help after I'm through with you."
A smile curved his mouth. "Promises." He caught her hand when she went to poke him again. "Settle, Fi."
She hissed at him. A heartbeat later, something sharp and pointy pressed against his groin. His gaze fell to the military-grade steel blade she suddenly held, the tip of which was pointed perilously close to his most delicate bits.
It should have alarmed him. Instead, fire surged through his blood.
◆◆◆
Once a carny, always a carny...
When Fiona's estranged stepbrother calls asking for help, she's pretty sure the apocalypse has arrived. Because Max walked away from her-and the carnival they called home-years ago, and only silence has filled the long decade between them.
But Special Agent Max's precious FBI has suddenly been infiltrated, and he's desperate for a safe place to stash his young murder witness. Fi is tempted to show him the door-since he's so good at walking through them-but said witness is just an innocent kid, and no matter the tangled, painful mess between them, Fiona can't bring herself to abandon a child.
Not when the midway really is the perfect hiding place.
Unlike Fiona, Former Army Ranger Rye Wilder has no problem coming to the rescue when Max calls, especially when it means finally laying eyes on Max's mysterious stepsister, a woman whose image has haunted Rye since the first time he laid eyes on the worn, creased photo in Max's wallet. A man with no one to call his own, Rye has never understood Max's desertion of his only family, and the opportunity to witness the reunion is too much temptation to resist. Because family is precious and rare and a gift to be protected-something Rye is damned well going to make them both understand.
But first Max has to unmask a mole. Fiona has to safeguard an innocent girl against the man hunting her.
And Rye...Rye has to keep everyone alive.
A dark, edgy thriller with a hint of steam and characters you won't forget...old school romantic suspense at its best.
★★★★★
"Riveting."
★★★★★
"Superb."
★★★★★
"If you like Linda Howard, try Hope Anika!"
