Lethal Attraction: Against the Rules\Fatal Affair Read online

  Two worlds collide in these timeless stories of love and deception…

  Against the Rules

  by Linda Howard

  At seventeen, Cathryn Ashe fought her attraction to Rule Jackson and lost. Humiliated, she fled to the anonymity of the city. Now she’s back, independent and more sure of herself than ever—and ready to challenge him again.

  But Rule is raising the stakes, and what Cat stands to lose is something she’s known all along is his for the taking—her heart.

  Fatal Affair

  by Marie Force

  Detective Sergeant Sam Holland needs a big win to salvage her career—and her confidence—after a disastrous case. The perfect opportunity arises when she’s assigned to the investigation of a senator’s murder. But she has to team up with Nick Cappuano, the senator’s friend and chief of staff…and the man she had a memorable one-night stand with years earlier. Their sexual chemistry still sizzles, but sleeping with a material witness is a mistake Sam can’t afford—especially when the bodies keep piling up.

  Praise for New York Times bestselling author

  “You can’t read just one Linda Howard!”

  —New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter

  “Linda Howard writes with power, stunning sensuality and a storytelling ability unmatched in the romance genre.

  Every book is a treasure for the reader to savor again and again.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen

  “This master storyteller takes our breath away.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  Praise for USA TODAY bestselling author Marie Force

  “This book starts out strong and keeps getting better. Marie Force is one of those authors that will be on my must-read list in the future.”

  —The Romance Studio on Fatal Affair

  “The author makes the reader part of the action, effortlessly weaving the world of politics and murder in which the characters come alive on the pages. The plot was addictive and scandalous with so many family secrets…. Drama, passion, suspense—Fatal Affair has it all!”

  —Book Junkie

  “Marie Force’s second novel in the Fatal series is an outstanding romantic suspense in its own right; that it follows the fantastic first installment only sweetens the read.”

  —RT Book Reviews, 4 ½ stars, on Fatal Justice

  LETHAL

  ATTRACTION

  Contents

  Against the Rules

  Fatal Affair

  AGAINST THE RULES

  LINDA HOWARD

  Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 1

  Cathryn wearily dropped her travel bag at her feet and looked around the air terminal for a familiar face, any familiar face. Houston’s Intercontinental Airport was crowded with holiday travelers over the long Memorial Day weekend, and after being pushed both backward and forward by people hurrying to make connecting flights, Cathryn stepped back out of the worst of the crunch, using her foot to push the travel bag along. Her flight hadn’t been early, so why wasn’t someone there to meet her? This was her first visit home in almost three years, so surely Monica could have—

  “Cat.”

  The irritated thought was never finished; it was interrupted by a husky growl in her ear and two hard hands curving around her slim waist, turning her around and pulling her against a lean male body. She had a startled, fleeting glimpse of unreadable dark eyes before they were covered by drooping lids and long black lashes; then he was too close, and her lips, parted in surprise, were caught by the warmth of his mouth. Two seconds, three…the kiss lingered, became deeper, his tongue moving in to take sensual possession. An instant before she recovered herself enough to protest, he released her from the kiss and stepped back.

  “You shouldn’t do that!” she snapped, her pale cheeks becoming warm with color as she noticed several people watching them and grinning.

  Rule Jackson thumbed his battered black hat farther back on his head and regarded her with calm amusement, the same sort of look he’d given her when she was an awkward twelve-year-old, all long arms and legs. “I thought we’d both enjoy it,” he drawled, leaning down to pick up her bag. “Is this all?”

  “No,” she said, glaring at him.

  “It figures.”

  He turned and made his way over to the luggage claim area, and Cathryn followed him, fuming inwardly at his manner but determined not to let him see it. She was twenty-five now, not a scared kid of seventeen; she would not let him intimidate her. She was his employer. He was only the ranch foreman, not the omnipotent devil her adolescent imagination had painted him. He might still have Monica and Ricky under his spell, but Monica was no longer her guardian and couldn’t command her obedience. Cathryn wondered with well-hidden fury if Monica had deliberately sent Rule to meet her, with the knowledge that she hated him.

  Unconsciously watching his lean body as he stretched and claimed the lone suitcase with her name tag on it, Cathryn shut off the rest of the violent thoughts that flooded her mind. Seeing Rule had always done that to her, driven her out of control and made her do things she would never have done except in the heat of temper. I hate him, she thought, the words whispering through her mind, but still her eyes moved over the width of his shoulders and down the long, powerful legs as she remembered….

  He brought the suitcase to where she stood and one straight black eyebrow arched questioningly. After making her feel that she had imposed on him by having more than one piece of luggage, he grunted, “Not planning on a long visit, are you?”

  “No,” she replied, keeping her voice flat, expressionless. She had never stayed long at the ranch, not since that summer when she had been seventeen.

  “It’s about time you thought about coming home for good,” he said.

  “There’s no reason for me to.”

  His dark eyes glinted at her from under the brim of his hat, but he didn’t say anything, and when he turned and began threading his way through the groups of people Cathryn followed him without saying anything either. Sometimes she thought that communication between her and Rule was impossible, but at other times it seemed that no words were necessary. She didn’t understand him, but she knew him, knew his pride, his toughness, his damned black temper that was no less frightening for being controlled. She had grown up knowing that Rule Jackson was a dangerous man; her formative years had been dominated by him.

  He led her out of the air terminal and across the pavement to the area where private aircraft were kept, his long legs eating up the distance without effort; but Cathryn wasn’t used to keeping up with his strides and she refused to trot after him like a dog on a leash. She maintained her own pace, keeping him in sight, and at last he stopped beside a blue-and-white twin-engined Cessna, opening the cargo door and storing her bags inside, then looking around impatiently for her. “Hurry it up,” he called, seeing that she was still some distance away.

  Cathryn ignored him. He put his hands on his hips and waited for her, his booted feet braced in an arrogant stance that came naturally to him. When she reached him he didn’t say a word; he merely pulled the door open and turned back to her, catching her around t