To my editor, Paula Eykelhof, who has been instrumental

       in making the Harlequin Superromance line what it is today. I’m sure I speak for all the authors you’ve worked with over the years when I thank you for your willingness to take a few calculated risks, for your commitment to good quality writing and meaningful stories, and for being such a pleasure to know. On a more personal note, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the confidence you’ve had in me and the support you’ve given me. We’ve already done nineteen books together, but I’m looking forward to at least twenty more!

      CONTENTS

      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

      CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

      CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

      CHAPTER NINETEEN

      CHAPTER TWENTY

      CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

      CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

      CHAPTER ONE

      Los Angeles, California

      KEITH O’CONNELL WAS LYING. Isaac Russell could tell.

      Surprised, he slowly lowered his fork while studying his brother-in-law’s face. Keith wouldn’t meet Isaac’s eyes. He wouldn’t look at Elizabeth, either. And there were other signs. The way he hunched his shoulders and kept fidgeting with his hands, constantly moving through the stack of mail near the telephone as if he hadn’t gone through it twice already. The slowness of his responses. Even the irritation in Keith’s bearing bothered Isaac, because it indicated that he didn’t like being questioned.

      And yet the subject was so innocuous….

      “From the sound of it, the accident was horrendous.” Elizabeth seemed oblivious to her husband’s discomfort as she added another pancake to Isaac’s plate. “I was surprised that you didn’t mention it.”

      Isaac was too full to eat any more, but he said nothing. He waited for Keith’s answer, hoping that he was somehow misinterpreting his brother-in-law’s body language.

      “What?” Keith finally glanced up as though he’d lost track of the conversation in his preoccupation with the mail. But it was obvious—at least to Isaac—that every word had registered.

      “That forty-five-car pileup in Sacramento,” Elizabeth responded. “You never said a word about it.”

      “Oh…well, they had it mostly cleared away by the time I came through,” he said, his voice low and noncommittal.

      Isaac saw the confusion in Elizabeth’s hazel eyes. Carrying her own plate to the table, she scowled at her husband. “But the paper said it took the better part of a day before they could open the freeway. How did you get through? Traffic was stopped for miles. I saw a picture.”

      Another strained silence, then he muttered, “It must’ve happened before I got there, honey.”

      Isaac was tempted to look away to avoid what he was seeing. If his sister was having problems in her marriage, he didn’t want to know. He wanted to continue to believe she’d met the man of her dreams and would live happily ever after.

      But he couldn’t ignore the warning signs. Elizabeth was his only sibling. He’d taken care of her through the dark years after their mother had died, when he was fourteen and she was eleven. They’d gone to live with their father and Luanna, the woman he’d married, and Luanna’s son, Marty, who was younger and far more spoiled than they’d been. Isaac was the one who’d hurt for Elizabeth when the other girls made fun of her long, spindly legs and uncoordinated movements. He was the one who’d bought her tampons when she started her period and tried to explain how to use them. He was the one who’d gotten her a date for her sophomore homecoming dance. The following year, once she turned sixteen and lost that coltish look, he didn’t have to worry about twisting anyone’s arm to generate male interest. The boys were standing in line by then. But that only meant he’d