The Diamond Secret. Lenora Worth
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A dangerous man
He’s a pirate, an adventurer—and Esther Carlisle has just let him into her New Orleans antiques shop. Cullen Murphy claims he knew Esther’s late father…and that her wild-dreaming daddy discovered the true location of the legendary chocolate diamond. Esther knows she should show the handsome treasure hunter the door. And she will. In a minute. Everything changes when gun-wielding thugs barge in and start shooting. Esther may not trust Cullen, yet staying at his side is the only way for her to find the diamond first—and stay alive. But some treasures can be found only with the heart....
“Listen to me.”
“Some very dangerous people know about the chocolate diamond. If I hadn’t reached you first, it would be even worse, trust me. And you do need to trust me, do you understand?”
Trust him? Cullen had come in here demanding a hunk of a diamond that she figured didn’t even exist and now he had thugs looking for him and this alleged diamond and he wanted her to trust him? Right.
She stared up at him. She could imagine him doing bad things, very bad things. He had that kind of look about him. Half treasure hunter, half pirate. All male.
“I won’t go anywhere with you,” she said, wondering about the lesser of two evils.
He sighed. “I don’t have time to argue with you. If you don’t do as I say, they will either torture you or kill you. Or both.”
The banging ended and the sound of crashing glass took its place.
“What’s it going to be, Esther?”
LENORA WORTH
has written more than forty books for three different publishers. Her career with Love Inspired Books spans close to fifteen years. In February 2011 her Love Inspired Suspense novel Body of Evidence made the New York Times bestseller list. Her very first Love Inspired title, The Wedding Quilt, won Affaire de Coeur’s Best Inspirational for 1997, and Logan’s Child won an RT Book Reviews Best Love Inspired for 1998. With millions of books in print, Lenora continues to write for the Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense lines. For years Lenora also wrote a weekly opinion column for the local paper and worked freelance with a local magazine. She has now turned to full-time fiction writing and enjoying adventures with her retired husband, Don. Married for thirty-six years, they have two grown children. Lenora enjoys writing, reading and shopping…especially shoe shopping.
The Diamond Secret
Lenora Worth
MILLS & BOON
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I will give you treasures that are hidden away
in dark places. I will give you riches
that are stored up in secret places.
—Isaiah 45:3
To my editor, Patience Bloom. Thanks for encouraging me, believing in me and letting me have fun with words. You are a true precious jewel!
Contents
ONE
Somewhere in the Quarter, a lonely saxophone wailed a bluesy tune.
Esther Carlisle listened to the sweet notes hitting the late-afternoon wind, then glanced at the pendulum clock ticking away the seconds behind the counter. Soon all of the clocks would start chiming the top of the hour.
Time to close up shop and go home. Or maybe, go upstairs to the apartment she’d inherited along with this shop after her father had died last year. She’d managed to avoid the apartment for months. But Carlisle Collectibles had become her life lately. Royal Street had always been her street anyway since she’d grown up hanging out here