Keeping Her Close. Carol Ross

wants to keep Harper safe, but also learn the truth about his best friend’s death. Except things get complicated when he finds himself falling for Harper. Can he somehow get to the truth and keep her trust?

      Thank you so much for letting me know how my stories have touched you and who you want to read about next. I love hearing from you! For contact info and a complete list of my books, please visit my website: carolrossauthor.com.

      All my best,

       Carol

      For Dan.

      Wow. What a year. Like Harper says to Kyle, if I didn’t already love you I definitely would now. Thank you. You really are the best.

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       About the Author

       Booklist

       Title Page

       Copyright

      Note to Readers

       Introduction

       Dear Reader

       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

       EPILOGUE

       Extract

       About the Publisher

       PROLOGUE

      “SAVE THE SALMON! Don’t dam our dams! Don’t dam our salmon! Dam the salmon! Dam you, Bellaire!”

      Clearly, the dam was a hot-button issue, Kyle Frasier thought with not a small dose of amusement. He found the chants funny partly because it was so difficult to distinguish the protesters from the supporters and partly because he knew the man they were shouting at, Dr. David Bellaire. He also knew that Dr. Bellaire tolerated the attention because it was good for business and the environment, the two things, after his daughter, Harper, that he was most passionate about. The fact that he’d successfully merged the two seemingly incompatible aspects into one highly profitable business was considered genius to some and unforgivable to others.

      There’d been a group of reporters already milling around the Bellaire Building when Kyle had arrived an hour ago and headed upstairs to Dahlia International for his interview. On the way inside, he’d dodged people holding signs bearing similar slogans to the ones they were shouting. Through the tall windows fronting the lobby, he could see that the crowd had swelled exponentially since then, and now that the controversial scientist and billionaire businessman himself had entered the building a frenzied tension electrified the air.

      Dr. Bellaire was the owner and CEO of Bellaire Environmental Solutions & Technology, or BEST, as it was more commonly called. Bellaire owned the entire Seattle skyscraper with the company’s headquarters comprising the top seven floors right above Dahlia International. The doctor’s recent provocative statements about hydroelectricity and the health of native salmon runs had managed to rile both sides of the environmental debate. He insisted dams and salmon could successfully coexist. BEST was working on a solution, some details of which they would be revealing soon. As far as Kyle could tell, neither faction could grasp the concept of a harmonious coexistence, both sides perhaps too distracted by their well-meaning devotion to their respective causes to truly consider the possibility.

      Under different, less chaotic circumstances Kyle would approach the doctor and say hello, but it was going to be enough of a challenge to navigate through the mass of people and get to the exit as it was. Last year, Kyle’s best friend and former navy SEAL teammate, Owen, had introduced Kyle to Dr. Bellaire. Kyle would never have believed that four months later Owen would be dead.

      The memories of Owen were still impossibly sharp and painful, like a knife slicing at his heart. At the time, Owen had been alive and well and so full of life and optimism that Kyle had been a little envious, even wondering if he’d made the right call by remaining in the military while Owen returned to civilian life. His friend had spent nearly three years working for Dahlia, one of the most respected military contractors