Knockout. Erica Orloff

      

      “Crystal…Jesus… It’s been six years. My God, I’ve missed you.”

      Jack laughed and wrapped her arms around a six-foot-tall platinum-haired showgirl—the one female friend she’d ever had her whole life.

      “Me, too, sugar,” Crystal said, and burst into tears. It was then that Jack stared down at Crystal’s hand…which was holding the very tiny hand of a very tiny girl with big brown eyes and long black hair. “This here’s my little girl, Destiny. And I need you to hide the two of us. I got nowhere else to go.”

      “How bad is the trouble?”

      “Ohhh, sugar…it’s so bad I gotta tell you even your daddy and your uncle would probably think twice about helping me.”

      “You? You innocent in all of it?” Jack asked.

      “Only thing I’m guilty of is loving the wrong man.”

      One thing Jack’s father and uncle had taught her: friends stick together in times of trouble. She was soon to find out that they probably should have told her that a showgirl on the run is usually the worst kind of trouble of all….

      Dear Reader,

      We invite you to sit back and enjoy the ride as you experience the powerful suspense, intense action and tingling emotion in Silhouette Bombshell’s November lineup. Strong, sexy, savvy heroines have never been so popular, and we’re putting the best right into your hands. Get ready to meet four extraordinary women who will speak to the Bombshell in you!

      Maggie Sanger will need quick wit and fast moves to get out of Egypt alive when her pursuit of a legendary grail puts her on a collision course with a secret society, hostages and her furious ex! Get into Her Kind of Trouble, the latest in author Evelyn Vaughn’s captivating GRAIL KEEPERS miniseries.

      Sabotage, scandal and one sexy inspector breathe down the neck of a determined air force captain as she strives to right an old wrong in the latest adventure in the innovative twelve-book ATHENA FORCE continuity series, Pursued by Catherine Mann.

      Enter the outrageous underworld of Las Vegas prizefighting as a female boxing trainer goes up against the mob to save her father, her reputation and a child witness in Erica Orloff’s pull-no-punches novel, Knockout.

      And though creating identities for undercover agents is her specialty, Kristie Hennessy finds out that work can be deadly when you’ve got everyone fooled and no one to trust but a man you know only by his intriguing voice…. Don’t miss Kate Donovan’s Identity Crisis.

      It’s a month of no-holds-barred excitement! Please send your comments to me, c/o Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway Ste. 1001, New York, NY 10279.

      Best wishes,

      Natashya Wilson

       Associate Senior Editor, Silhouette Bombshell

      Knockout

      Erica Orloff

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ERICA ORLOFF

      is the author of Urban Legend, also published by Bombshell, as well as The Roofer (MIRA), and several books for Red Dress Ink. She lives in South Florida, enjoys playing poker and is an avid boxing fan. Her favorite boxer of all time, aside from Ali and Marciano, is the now-retired great featherweight Alexis Arguello.

      Dedicated to three very special people:

      Alexa, Nicholas and Isabella

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Thank you to the staff at Bombshell; my wonderful editor, Margaret Marbury; my agent, Jay Poynor; and the members of Writers’ Cramp, Pam, Gina and Jon. I’d also like to thank my father, a boxing fan.

      Thanks to Lynda Curnyn, former editor for the Bombshell line, for being a dream to work with and helping me talk through this idea.

      To my friends Kerri and Professor John—for the memories of “clownlike” evenings.

      And finally, to my extended family and friends, including Walter, Maryanne, Stacey, Jessica, J.D., Alexa, Nick, Bella, Pam, Cleo, Nanc, Kathy and Kathy…. I couldn’t do what I do without you.

      Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Chapter 20

      Chapter 21

      Chapter 22

      Chapter 23

      Chapter 24

      Chapter 25

      Chapter 26

      Chapter 27

      Chapter 28

      Chapter 1

      My father taught me how to score a boxing match on the ten-point must system. He taught me how to throw a mean left hook, how to jab and feint, and how to punch—and not like a girl. He taught me to how to bluff in poker, when to hold in blackjack, and when to walk away from the tables in craps.

      He told me, “Jackie, honey, never trust a man who’s nice to you but treats the waitress like shit.” He also told me you can count your real friends on one hand. And you stand by those friends when they’re in trouble. But he should have told me, “Jack, a showgirl on the run is the worst trouble of all.”

      Which is why I was now fighting with my boyfriend in the foyer of my uncle’s house, with a dead body in my bedroom, a little girl crying in my uncle Deacon’s arms, and a welt on my forehead the size of a hard-boiled egg.

      “You want me to what?” Rob squared off with me. It pisses me off that when we did have an argument, looking him in the eye was impossible. Rob was six foot two; I’m five foot six. Five and a half really, but I lie. He was also double my width, courtesy of lifting weights, and he had the build of a former USC linebacker.

      “I want you to look the other way while we take little Destiny to the ranch.”

      “I can’t do that, Jack. I’m a cop—a detective. I do that and I lose my badge. This is a crime scene.”

      “Technically, it’s not.”

      “And how do you figure that?”

      “Well, I called you, as the man I sleep with. I did not, technically, call the police. So…if Deacon takes her out to the ranch, and you and I wait here for the police, all you would have to say is you never saw Deacon and Destiny.”

      Rob’s gray eyes seemed to darken like two storm clouds. “You are not going to talk me into this.”

      “You know I am, so why don’t you just give in?”

      Rob clutched the sides of his temples and gritted