Necessary Action. Julie Miller

      

      Learning to trust could bring them together—keeping secrets could tear them apart

      Going undercover to take down murderous gun smugglers is what Duff Watson lives for. Until he tracks the ring to a Missouri farm…and meets paramedic Melanie Fiske. Now the KCPD detective has another critical task: winning over the curvy redhead who tempts him yet whom he can’t let himself trust.

      Something about the protective ex-soldier makes Melanie believe he can help her find out the truth about her family. And the desire Duff awakens feels like the real thing. But when Melanie’s life is threatened, can she keep trusting—and loving—a man who lives a life of dangerous deception?

      The Precinct: Bachelors in Blue

      “You think I need backup?”

      “Everybody needs someone watching their back. Especially stubborn redheads who keep poking at mysteries no one wants to talk about.” Duff circled the table. “You’ve officially got me.”

      Melanie palmed the center of his chest and kept him at arm’s length. “I suppose you expect me to have your back now, too?”

      “I expect you to keep being my friend.” He leaned into her hand, dropping his voice to a drowsy timbre. “But make no mistake, Melanie Fiske—I will be kissing you again.”

      Anticipation skittered through her veins. “Friends don’t kiss each other like that.”

      “You don’t want me to kiss you again?”

      Her blush betrayed her. “You know I can’t hide that I like you. Maybe becauses you’re not one of them. Or maybe because you say what you think.” She snatched away the fingers that were still clinging to the firm muscles of his chest and turned a pleading gaze up to him. “Just don’t lie to me, okay? I want to be able to trust you.”

      Necessary Action

      Julie Miller

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      JULIE MILLER is an award-winning USA TODAY bestselling author of breathtaking romantic suspense—with a National Readers’ Choice Award and a Daphne du Maurier Award, among other prizes. She has also earned an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award. For a complete list of her books, monthly newsletter and more, go to www.juliemiller.org.

      For Tracey Marie Oberhauser.

      Because you make my son happy.

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

       Title Page

       About the Author

       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

       Epilogue

       Extract

       Copyright

       Prologue

      “This is some kind of Valentine’s Day curse.” Duff Watson stuck his finger inside the starched white collar of his shirt and tugged, certain the tux the rental shop had given him for today was a size too small.

      He wondered what his family would think if he tossed the red bow tie and unbuttoned the collar of this stupid monkey suit. His sister, the bride, would be ticked, and his father would be embarrassed, Grandpa Seamus would laugh, and he’d never hear the end of it from his brothers. So he endured.

      Duff—no one had called him by his given name, Tom, for years—was all for celebrating his sister’s happiness. He’d even agreed to stand up as best man for her fiancé. But the only things that felt normal about Liv’s wedding day were the gun holstered at the small of his back and the KCPD detective’s badge stashed in his pocket. And, oh yeah, watching his two younger brothers, Niall and Keir, tagging along behind him as they escorted the bridesmaids down the aisle to join him at the altar.

      The three Watson brothers, all third-generation cops following proudly in their father’s and retired grandfather’s footsteps, couldn’t be more different if they tried. Niall was the brain, a medical examiner with the crime lab. He seemed clueless about all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the wedding. He looked as though he was doing some sort of mental calculation about the distance to the altar or how many guests were seated in each pew. Keir was the social one, and he was eating this stuff up. He flirted with his escort and blew a kiss to the older woman in the second pew, Millie Leighter, the family cook and housekeeper who’d helped raise the four of them after their mother’s senseless murder.

      Duff was the self-avowed