Unbridled. Tori Carrington

      Dear Reader,

      

      Wouldn’t it be nice if everything were either black or white? Good or evil? Wrong or right? Honestly, though, don’t you think it would also be unbearably boring? It’s one of the reasons we take great thrill in exploring the shades of gray that come between.

      

      In Unbridled, hot, suspended Marine Carter Southard (from Branded) is cleared by sexy defense attorney Laney Cartwright of a civilian crime he didn’t commit, but he still must jump through military hoops if he hopes to be reinstated. As out of his league as Laney may be, he can’t help wanting to mess up her pristine existence just a little bit. But when steamy, no-strings sex evolves into much, much more, they must wrestle with their preconceptions of each other…as well as their own misconceptions of themselves.

      We hope you enjoy Carter and Laney’s sizzling and sometimes heart-wrenching journey toward sexily-ever-after. We’d love to hear what you think. Contact us at P.O. Box 12271, Toledo, OH 43612, USA (we’ll respond with a signed bookplate, newsletter and bookmark), or visit us on the web at www.toricarrington.net.

      

      Here’s wishing you love, romance and hot reading.

      Lori and Tony Karayianni

      aka Tori Carrington

      About the Author

      Romantic Times BOOKreviews Career Achievement Award-winning, bestselling husband-and-wife duo LORI and TONY KARAYIANNI are the power behind the pen name Tori Carrington. Their forty novels include numerous Blaze® novels, as well as the ongoing Sofie Metropolis, PI, comedic mystery series with another publisher. Visit www.toricarrington.net and www. sofiemetro.com for more information on the couple and their titles.

      Unbridled

      Tori Carrington

      

www.millsandboon.co.uk

      We dedicate this book to the fellow shades-of-gray travelers everywhere: enjoy the journey!

      

      And, as always, to our editor extraordinaire, Brenda Chin, who has a knack for seeing the forest and the trees.

      Table of Contents

       Cover

       About the Author

       Title Page

       Dedication

       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

       Chapter Seventeen

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-One

       Chapter Twenty-Two

       Copyright

      Prologue

      FREEDOM WAS JUST a word…until you lost it. After you were put into a steel box and stripped of your personal belongings and your name, owning nothing more than a number and the crime for which you were charged.

      “Inmate 55687, collect your things. You’ve been given your wings.”

      Carter Southard stared at the guard from where he lay on the hard top bunk in the four-by-nine-foot cell in the San Antonio County Jail. The words couldn’t be meant for anyone else, because his bunk mate had been moved to a different cell the day before. Still, he couldn’t help considering the imagery. He’d just been given his wings.

      He closed the Steinbeck novel he was reading and got to his feet. He’d stopped even hoping for his release two days into his incarceration five days ago. Since he’d been wrongfully accused of a crime, there was no reason to believe things would be set right. Not so long as he was locked away, unable to prove his innocence.

      And that had been the most difficult part. Not the injustice. Not that he’d been set up to pay for someone else’s crime. But the loss of his freedom. Of his inability to fight back against an unseen enemy. Especially since his career in the Marines had always presented him with an identifiable target.

      He gathered his few prison-issue toiletries and put them in the bag the guard provided and then stood Marine straight at the cell door. The guard motioned toward the block controller. The lock buzzed and the bars slid to the left. Carter turned so the guard could slap handcuffs on him and then turned around again.

      Nearby inmates hooted and hollered as Carter followed the guard down the cell block. He kept his gaze forward, concentrating on the neat line of the other man’s neck, urging him to speed up his steps. He wanted to get clear of the building before someone realized they’d made a mistake and locked him back