The Marshal. Adrienne Giordano
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His painful past is their present danger
The last thing US Marshal Brent Thompson needs is distraction from his work. But distraction—in the form of a sexy Chicago investigator—is exactly what he gets. Jenna Hayward is as alluring as she is determined, driven to help apprehend the murderer who killed Brent’s mother twenty-three years ago. With a shared mission—and a steadily rising attraction that jeopardizes Brent’s resolve to stay unattached—the pair must work together to get answers…before the murderer makes them his next victims.
Looking at her had become an exercise in torture. Send her in.
He wanted her. Plain and simple. Whether that want would go away after a few hours of fun—as usually happened—he couldn’t be sure. This wanting, the one keeping him up at night, felt different. Rooted. Like it wouldn’t die with fast, primal sex.
What he didn’t need was a woman getting inside his head and staying there. His adult existence had consisted of the hunt to find his mother’s killer. It was, in fact, all he knew—emotionally speaking. He had no room for anything else. No room. Zero.
When he found the killer, maybe then. Now? No way. He’d blow off his own head trying to juggle a relationship with his mom’s case.
But Jenna was looking at him with those amazing blue eyes and that punch to the chest ripped his air away.
Hell with it.
The Marshal
Adrienne Giordano
ADRIENNE GIORDANO, a USA TODAY bestselling author, writes romantic suspense and mystery. She is a Jersey girl at heart, but now lives in the Midwest with her workaholic husband, sports obsessed son and Buddy the wheaten terrorist (terrier). For more information on Adrienne’s books please visit adriennegiordano.com or download the Adrienne Giordano app. For information on Adrienne’s street team, go to www.facebook.com/groups/DangerousDarlings.
Brent Thompson—A protective and loyal deputy US marshal trying to solve his mother’s twenty-three-year-old murder case.
Jenna Hayward—Former beauty queen turned private detective who works for Hennings & Solomon and has been asked to assist Brent on his mother’s cold case.
Penny Hennings—A sassy Chicago defense attorney and Jenna’s boss at Hennings & Solomon.
Special Agent Russell “Russ” Voight—FBI agent who is also Penny’s boyfriend and a friend of Brent’s. Russ assists Jenna and Brent in the investigation.
Aunt Sylvie—Brent’s mother’s sister. She lived next door when the murder occurred and became the mother figure in Brent’s life.
Jamie—Brent’s older cousin and another protective female in his life after his mother’s death.
Uncle Herb—Sylvie’s husband and Jamie’s father. Uncle Herb became a father figure to Brent after his father moved away.
Sheriff Barnes—Sheriff in Carlisle, Illinois, who was the first responder the night Brent’s mother died.
Mason Thompson—Brent’s father and a suspect in his wife’s murder.
Terrence Jeffries—A drug addict who lived in Carlisle and was a suspect in the murder.
For those who’ve known personal tragedy and understand that the heart never forgets.
Contents
Cast of Characters
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
This was a switch.
Deputy US marshal Brent Thompson stood in a Chicago hotel ballroom among a throng of impeccably dressed political big shots that, for once, he didn’t have to protect.
Tonight he was a guest.
Whether that made him happy or not was anyone’s guess. But he’d stay another hour for Judge Kline, a woman he’d spent two years watching over after her husband and children were murdered by some nut who’d been on the losing end of a ruling. Judge Kline had ordered him to pay a $1,200 fine and somehow he was mad enough to wipe out her entire family, leaving her to deal with guilt and rage and heartache.
Crazy.
Sometimes—sometimes? Really?—Brent didn’t understand people. Or maybe it was their motivations he didn’t understand, but the human race baffled him.
Tonight Judge Kline, who’d refused to allow her life to collapse under grief, was smiling. A welcome sight since her eighty-five-year-old mother had decided to throw one hell of a shindig for the judge’s sixtieth birthday.
“Brent?”
Brent turned and found the ever-polished Gerald Hennings, Chicago’s highest-profile defense attorney, weaving through the crowd. Accompanying him was a petite blonde in a floor-length bright blue gown. She had to be over fifty, but may have had a little work done to preserve her extraordinary looks. Her perfect cheekbones, the big blue eyes and sculpted nose were duplicates of the ones Brent recognized from Hennings’s daughter, Penny. Didn’t take a genius to figure out this woman was Mrs. Hennings. Brent