Mask Of A Hunter
Kissing Aurora was a really bad idea
Ace couldn’t believe how easily she’d worked her way into his senses, dulling his survival instincts. Not good for the health of either of of them. He didn’t want to get involved with anyone—not in his line of work. Certainly not with the woman he was supposed to protect from harm.
It was bad enough his secret responsibility toward his own sister made him vulnerable. Falling for Rory would not only make doing his job more difficult—it could make her a target if things went sour. He couldn’t allow her to interfere with completing his task.
Still, he could not shake the sight of her sadness-darkened eyes, the feel of her fiery response to his kiss.
But he wasn’t going there. Couldn’t afford to.
Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,
We have another month of spine-tingling romantic thrillers lined up for you—starting with the much anticipated second book in Joanna Wayne’s tantalizing miniseries duo, HIDDEN PASSIONS: FULL MOON MADNESS. In Just Before Dawn, a reclusive mountain man vows to get to the bottom of a single mother’s terrifying nightmares before darkness closes in.
Award-winning author Leigh Riker makes an exciting debut in the Harlequin Intrigue line this May with Double Take. Next, pulses race out of control in Mask of a Hunter by Sylvie Kurtz—the second installment in THE SEEKERS—when a tough operative’s cover story as doting lover to a pretty librarian threatens to blow up.
Be there from the beginning of our brand-new in-line continuity, SHOTGUN SALLYS! In this exciting trilogy, three young women friends uncover a scandal in the town of Mustang Valley, Texas, that puts their lives—and the lives of the men they love—on the line. Don’t miss Out for Justice by Susan Kearney.
To wrap up a month of can’t-miss romantic suspense, Doreen Roberts debuts in the Harlequin Intrigue line with Official Duty, the next title in our COWBOY COPS thematic promotion. It’s a double-murder investigation that forces a woman out of hiding to face her perilous past…and her pent-up feelings for the sexy sheriff who still has her heart in custody. Last but certainly not least, Emergency Contact by Susan Peterson—part of our DEAD BOLT promotion—is an edgy psychological thriller about a traumatized amnesiac who may have been brainwashed to do the unthinkable….
Enjoy all our selections this month!
Sincerely,
Denise O’Sullivan
Senior Editor,
Harlequin Intrigue
Mask of a Hunter
Sylvie Kurtz
For Chuck—as always
And for Lorrie, Lynne and Wendy—
friendship grows in the strangest places.
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
Aurora Cates—The librarian’s search for her missing sister takes her places she never dreamed of.
Adriano Constantin Esteleone, aka Ace Lyon—Pretending comes easily to this Seeker.
Sebastian Falconer—The head of Seekers, Inc.
Felicia Cates—Rory’s sister is missing, and all signs point to murder.
Hannah Cates—Felicia would never abandon the daughter she adores.
Bianca Esteleone—Ace’s sister is caught in the false promise of drugs.
Mike Fletcher—On the surface his business looks clean.
Curtis Fletcher—Mike’s little brother admires his big brother’s path.
Deacon, aka Preston Duberry—The Sons’ enforcer knows all the dirty secrets.
Taz, aka John Tassler, Jr.—The Sons’ president knows how to make an entrance.
Penny Webster—Hannah’s baby-sitter knows the consequences of not following the Sons’ law.
Karla Leach—Felicia’s best friend has escaped the gang’s influence.
Simon Bales—Is the vet providing the gang with chemicals?
Laci Drake—Deacon’s old lady knows more than she’ll tell.
Tank, aka Darren Stocking—The pug is willing to wade through manure for bits of information.
Ron Glasser—The ATF agent made a mistake and paid the ultimate price.
FELICIA’S MONSTER COOKIES
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp honey
1 ½ cups peanut butter
2 tsp baking soda
4 ½ cups oatmeal
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup candy-coated chocolate pieces
Mix ingredients together in the order listed. Drop by teaspoonful on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes. Yield: 7 dozen average-size cookies.
Contents
Prologue
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
Prologue
Felicia Cates hesitated at the doorway of the cabin along the New Hampshire side of the Connecticut River while her eyes adjusted to the darkness inside. Wind rustled through the winter-dead grass behind her like termites feeding on wood. The breeze was warm for April, but Felicia shivered anyway. Prickly burrs of doubts itched her skin as she searched the cabin’s one room. One last time, Felicia. For Hannah. You can do it.
A voice rumbled from deep inside the room. “Come on in, Felicia.”
“So this is the place you found for us?”
“What’s the matter?” Meanness weighted his voice. “You don’t like it?”
“No, it’s not that.” Heart revving like the Vulcan she’d pushed to the limit to get here, Felicia crooked one knee, then the other. She wanted to feel that V-twin engine roaring under her, taking her far from the nightmare she’d pitched into. “The baby. She’s waiting for me. I need to hurry.”
“Well, then, don’t just stand there.”
Eyes darting all around, she slowly crossed the threshold to the dusty floorboards in the empty room. Her daughter shouldn’t pay for her mistakes. “We’ll need a table, chairs, a bed.”
“Come closer.”
“It needs a good cleaning.” Swiping at the spider leg skitter of hair bristling the back of her neck, she pretended to see the possibilities the cabin offered. Dust cloaked every surface. The small windows were caked with the soot of neglect. Only a braided rug of indistinct color furnished the room. “I’ll need supplies.”
The floor creaked under his weight as he materialized from the shadows. His eyes were narrow slits that sparked with hatred. How could she have ever thought that flat mouth was sexy?
“When I say come here…” His voice was as hard as the muscles he honed every day at the gym. “I mean come here.”
His bulging fist snaked out and clamped around her biceps. She gasped as he yanked her off balance and jerked her close against his body. The wire she wore cut into the skin of her stomach. She hoped he couldn’t feel the microcassette at her waistband through his leather jacket. Please let him think it’s the buckle of my chaps.
Swallowing hard, she forced her gaze to latch on to the cold jade of his eyes. She’d always thought that the stories he spun were just for show, but she could see now why people were afraid of him. He didn’t have an inch of give. Not when it didn’t suit him. And always before she’d made sure to suit him. Until it threatened Hannah. He’d never wanted the baby. But he had to understand. Even a hard man like him had to see that she couldn’t keep on doing what she was doing and raise a child.
“I want to take Hannah to my sister’s.” She ratcheted her spine straight. “Then I’ll be all yours again.”
“I’ll take care of you.”
“I know you will.” But his eyes didn’t soften, and looking into them was like looking into an open steel trap. Did he know her secret? She thought of the agent waiting for her at the rest stop and felt her limbs turn to wood. She had to leave. Today. She couldn’t do this anymore. Any of it. If this case was as important as Glasser said, why had the ATF sent an agent fresh out of the academy to coach her? Why had they let her come so far off the main road with no backup? Glasser couldn’t protect her. No one could. She saw that now. She’d have to take care of herself.
“They won’t find us here,” he said, as if he’d read her mind. “You won’t have to testify against me.”
“I just need to see Hannah settled.”
He let her go, and she stumbled backwards, rubbing the arm that was numb from his tight hold. He pulled a wad of bills from his pocket and peeled off ten hundreds. “Is that enough for the trip?”
She nodded and reached for the bills. He held on to them, pinning her with his needle gaze. “Look at me. I want to see your eyes.”
She forced a smile and a flirty shake of her hair. He’d always loved her hair, the way it flowed like fire. “Windows to the soul?”
“Something like that.” He let go of the bills.
They felt like greasy eels as she slid them into the back pocket of her jeans. “Thank you.”
She took a step back, then pivoted toward the door. The smell of spring was in the air, but the feel of winter was still in her bones.
“Felicia?”
Her heart took a roller-coaster ride to her feet. Pulse chugging, she looked at him over her shoulder. “What?”
“If you cross me, I’ll kill you.” The scorpion sting of his words burned down her spine.
If she was going to start fresh, she had to make sure her past couldn’t follow her into the future. That meant leaving now before his suspicions were rewarded. It meant leaving Hannah with Candace. If she disappeared, then Candace would call her sister, and Aurora would come fetch Hannah and keep her safe. The ATF already had enough to bring him in and make it stick. And once he was in jail, she would collect Hannah and get on with the rest of their lives. All she had to do was stay out of sight for a while and everything would work out. “I’ll be back.”
Sweat trickled between her breasts and loosened the tape holding the wire. Slowly so he wouldn’t think it was anything but zipping up for the ride home on the bike, so he wouldn’t see how shaky her fingers were, she reached for the zipper pull on her leather jacket. The catch of tooth gripping tooth sounded like a machine gun in the empty room. As she headed for the door, her boots rattled the wood floor, causing mini quakes. Puffs of dirt blasted up, stuck to her sweat and coated her throat until it was dry.
His suspicion writhed toward her, black-adder toxic. Or was it her guilt? Stop it, Felicia. Her knees quaked, but she willed herself to keep walking. Keep cool. Don’t give him a reason to get mad.
Once she reached the doorstep sunshine hit her face. “Give me two days,” she lied—for Hannah, for herself, for their future, “and I’ll be back.”
“Two days,” he said, and a wave of relief trickled through her. He didn’t know.
Chrome winked in the sunshine. The red metallic paint of the fender sparkled like wet nail polish. She could almost feel the wind numb her cheeks. Seven more steps.
The river ran hard with snowmelt, and she wished she could ride it all the way to the Long Island Sound. Five more steps.
Don’t rush. Take it slow and easy. Tossing him a smile and a wave, she looked back. “Why don’t you get a couple of steaks, and we’ll celebrate our first night in our new home with your favorite meal?”
Three more steps to the bike. Three more steps to freedom.
Chapter One
“Where can I find a book on pioneers?” asked the girl standing in front of Aurora Cates’s station at the Maplewood Library reference desk. The girl’s face was a pincushion of hoops and small steel balls. Her tangerine T-shirt seemed two sizes too small—probably to show off the belly-button jewel. A henna tattoo decorated the wrist of the hand that pulled at short brown hair. People let their kids out of the house dressed like this?
Then she thought of Felicia and knew exactly how it could happen.
“What do you need to know?” Rory typed in the subject title, Pioneers, into the computer while the girl frowned at her blue assignment sheet.
“Uh. What they wore. How long they lived. Things like that.”
A selection of titles popped up on the screen. “Try the 978 section.”
“Okay.” The girl blinked at her. She didn’t have a clue where to go.
Rory walked her over to the section, selected three books and handed them to her. “That should get you started.”
“Thanks.”
“If that doesn’t do it, let me know and I’ll drag out the book of historical statistics.”
“Okay.”
As the girl slogged away, Rory basked in the ray of sunshine streaming through the arched window. Her favorite time of the day was morning when locks still barred out the public and she could enjoy the old building by herself. The contrast between the dark-wood furniture and paneling and the pale walls and columns with their classic baroque effect, never failed to give her pleasure. And the books—well, they were her pride and joy, and coming to work was like having a daily reunion with old friends.
In the past hour she’d fielded enough questions about the lifespan of settlers in the West in the nineteenth century to deduce that a class was reading Shane and had a homework question that dealt with comparing and contrasting the lives of the fictional characters with their own. It wasn’t that she minded answering vague questions by clueless school kids; that was, after all, part of what she was paid to do. But lately her mind was focused on the 24/7 Reference System the library was installing. She resented anything that took her away from that new passion.
Once installed, the virtual reference desk would stay open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. A patron could chat in real time with the library’s reference desk. If the library was closed, then the system would forward the patron’s request to a library that was still open—even if it was in another time zone. The possibilities dazzled her.
While helping the director test the system, Rory had come across a bug in the city’s computer system that made the program and the system act like feuding siblings. Half an hour more at the reference desk, then she could get back to her basement office and back to exterminating that bug. She loved how this new technology would allow access to just about any fact to anyone with only a click of the mouse. Any fact, any time, any place—as long as you were connected. All that knowledge. She shook her head and smiled a private smile.
Rory sat back in her chair at her station and watched as yet another student with a blue assignment sheet approached. If she were truthful, she’d have to admit she much preferred dealing with patrons online than face-to-face. Another reason to get the new program up and running as soon as possible. It would be her baby. Even the two-hundred and sixty-thousand books, magazines and tapes in the library’s collection, even the thousands of other books she could borrow from the network of libraries all over the country could not compare to the information she could unearth with this program in place. Need an answer from the Kansas Paint Contractors’ Handbook at 3:00 a.m.? Where the locals went to eat in Honolulu, Hawaii? What the people of Portland, Maine, considered the posh part of town? No problem. Just sign on and ask; someone will find the answer for you. She couldn’t wait.
Before the boy could ask his question, the phone in the pocket of her tweed suit jacket bleated. “Hang on a second.”
Carrying her cell phone on her was not proper library etiquette, but she was worried about her sister. Felicia had seemed to settle down after she got pregnant. She’d quit smoking and drinking and started talking about the future. There was joy in her voice when she spoke of Hannah’s milestones and sadness when she talked of leaving her with a sitter to go to work. Rory had urged her to leave New Hampshire and come live with her in D.C. Together they could make Hannah’s life comfortable and happy. A month ago, Rory had heard a new edge in Felicia’s voice. Felicia wouldn’t explain anything, but said she and Hannah would soon visit. Not a word from her since then. No answer at her apartment, either. And in the past few days, even the answering machine was no longer picking up.
Rory pressed the talk button. “Felicia?”
“Is this Aurora Cates?” a harried voice asked.
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Candace Wilson. Felicia gave me your number.”
“Is Felicia all right?”
“No clue. She had me sit for Hannah yesterday and told me to call you if she wasn’t back by the time her shift started.”
This wasn’t good. Not at all. Why would Felicia leave Hannah with this sour-sounding woman and not return as fast as she could to her precious baby? “Where is she?”
“Look, I don’t know. All I know is that Felicia didn’t show up for work, and I can’t afford to miss another one of my shifts. You’ve got to come up and get Hannah or I’ll have to call DCYF.”
“DCYF?”
“Division of Child, Youth and Family.”
“No, don’t do that.” Felicia would never get Hannah back, not with her background, and losing Hannah could be the final cut that would send her reeling back to the wild life she was trying to tame for her daughter’s sake.
“Today’s my day off,” Candace said, “but tomorrow I’ve got to go in.”
“I’ll pay you. Or I’ll pay for a sitter. Please, just give me a chance to drive up.”
Candace agreed she could wait one more day for Rory’s arrival.
“I’m on my way,” Rory said, chewing on a thumbnail. “Just tell me where you are.”
Candace gave her directions.
“It’ll take me a day to get to New Hampshire,” Rory said. If she drove all night and stopped only for gas. Map. She would need a map—www.mapquest.com.
“A day’s all I can give you.”
Before she’d even hung up, Rory was drawing mental lists and letting the immensity of the task overwhelm her. Both hands on her desk, she closed her eyes and forced herself to draw in a calming breath. When she opened her eyes, the boy was still standing there, waiting mouth gaping open like a fish’s.
“Christine?” Rory shifted to her friend at the next station. “Would you mind helping this gentleman? I have an emergency.”
“Oh, sure.” Curiosity flickered in Christine’s eyes. The boy shuffled over to her station, and Rory hurried away to the library director’s office.
After arranging for an emergency leave, she collected her tapestry tote bag from the break room and left. As she wound her way through the stop-and-go traffic of Maplewood, she dialed the number she’d hoped she’d never have to use.
“Seekers, Inc., Liv Falconer speaking.”
“Is Sebastian in? This is Aurora Cates.”
“Rory! Nice to hear your voice again. He’s right here. Hang on.”
Liv Falconer had sustained a brain injury over a year ago. Her recovery since then was extraordinary. She couldn’t remember anything from her life before her accident, but she’d created an exciting new life for herself as she’d helped her husband start Seekers, Inc. They specialized in finding people. Sebastian had once been the best manhunter in the U.S. Marshals Service. Rory hoped he hadn’t lost any of his edge.
“Rory, how are you?” Sebastian’s voice sounded more relaxed than she’d ever heard it when he worked for the USMS. Being in charge of his own fate agreed with him.
“I need a favor.” She winced.
“I owe you one.”
She’d helped Sebastian find the information he needed to help Liv after her accident, but this would take a whole lot more than perusing a few databases for articles dealing with coma, brain injuries and amnesia.
“It’s my sister. Felicia’s missing.” Rory changed lanes to give herself time to make sense of the mess Felicia had dumped in her lap. “Ordinarily I wouldn’t worry.”
Sebastian laughed.
“Okay, I’d worry, but I wouldn’t call you. Since the baby she’d settled down, you know. She loves Hannah. She would never just leave her like that. She told me she was on her way here. And now she’s gone.”
“Okay, Rory, take a breath and start at the beginning.”
A red light registered on her unfocused mind and she pressed the brake. She gave Sebastian all the information she had. “I’m heading to Summersfield as soon as I can pack a bag. Can you check on the situation for me?”
“No problem.”
A horn honked and she realized the light had turned green. She shifted gears and turned left.
Her fault. She shouldn’t have given Felicia a chance to say no. Not after their parents had died and Rory had escaped to a job in Washington, D.C. Not when Felicia had called to tell Rory she was pregnant. Not last month when fear had crept into her voice. But handling Felicia had always made Rory feel incompetent. Even though she could locate the epitaph on Max Planck’s gravestone or the fashion fads of the 1950s or the rules of Bunko without breaking a sweat, she could never find the right book or article or piece of information that would let her understand her sister. Giving Felicia a loose rein was easier than fighting against the sheer muscle of so much unbridled anger.
“I have a man in Summersfield,” Sebastian said. “I’ll have him ask around.”
Rory groaned as traffic seemed to grind to a halt for no reason. In her low-slung Beetle, she couldn’t see past the UPS truck in front of her and was boxed in on three sides by SUVs. It was only three o’clock, for heaven’s sake. Didn’t these people have jobs? “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Take it easy. You go home and pack, and I’ll arrange for a car to pick you up and a plane to fly you here.”
She wanted to balk at the generosity, but she couldn’t. She’d let her wild-child sister down too many times. She had to hope that this time she hadn’t waited too long to rein her in.
IF THERE WAS ONE THING Adriano Constantin Esteleone knew, it was how to survive. You weren’t raised by a woman like Carlotta Esteleone on the mean streets of the Bronx without learning how to think on your feet. To survive, you had to trust and act on your gut instinct before you could analyze the facts of a situation. Stopping to think could get you dead.
He didn’t care what Sebastian Falconer said. Every fiber of his body told him a woman who looked like TNT was bound to detonate, and he couldn’t chance her blowing his cover.
“No.” Ace left no room for disagreement. The conference room in the basement offices of Seekers, Inc., also known as the Aerie, was boardroom-comfortable with its cream walls, soft lighting, leather chairs and oval cherrywood table. It still smelled of new carpet and fresh paint. But stuck in this leather chair, Ace felt as trapped as if he’d walked down the wrong alley in the middle of the night with a posse of thugs hard on his heels. He gripped the arms of the chair and scowled at Falconer, sitting at the head of the table. “I can’t have my attention divided like that.”