Duplicate Daughter. Alice Sharpe

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      She’d taken far too many liberties.

      But the moment of ire was brief.

      Katie and his little girl looked so right lying there together. A woman with a big heart and strong convictions and a child who had lost her mother.

      Katie was worming her way into his house, his heart, his child’s life.

      He had to put a stop to this. He couldn’t be the hero Katie wanted, the hero she needed. He couldn’t take a chance of leaving his child alone in the world, he couldn’t risk…

      Risk. That’s what it amounted to. Terrible risk.

      He left the room with a heavy heart. When Katie woke up he’d have to be firm, he’d have to make her understand. He’d get her to safety and that’s all.

      For now, he’d be her protector. Beyond that, he could do no more.

      Duplicate Daughter

      Alice Sharpe

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      This book is dedicated to Katherine Jones, Hayden Jones

      and Carmen Sharpe, with everlasting love.

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Alice Sharpe met her husband-to-be on a cold, foggy beach in Northern California. One year later they were married. Their union has survived the rearing of two children, a handful of earthquakes registering over 6.5, numerous cats and a few special dogs, the latest of which is a yellow Lab named Annie Rose. Alice and her husband now live in a small rural town in Oregon, where she devotes the majority of her time to pursuing her second love, writing.

      Alice loves to hear from readers. You can write her at P.O. Box 755, Brownsville, OR 97327. A SASE for reply is appreciated.

      CAST OF CHARACTERS

      Katie Fields—This Jill-of-all-trades newly discovered twin sister is injured, and their honeymooning mother is missing. Can Katie reclaim her family before it’s too late?

      Nick Pierce—A widower whose three-year-old daughter is his sole priority. Can Katie convince him he’s her mother’s only hope?

      Lily Pierce—A three-year-old enchantress whose mother died tragically. It doesn’t take Katie long to realize why Nick will go to the ends of the earth to protect Lily.

      Caroline Mays-Swope—Katie’s missing mother. She’s made some difficult decisions in her life. Have they now come back to haunt her?

      Bill Thurman (aka Bill Swope)—Nick’s father and Caroline’s new husband. Trouble follows this man.

      Helen Delaney—Nick’s housekeeper and Lily’s babysitter. She’s sworn to do whatever it takes to keep Lily safe.

      Frank Carson—This cop gone bad brags that he always gets his man. What else is he searching for?

      Benito Mutzi—A mob boss who wants back what was once his. He isn’t finicky about how he goes about it.

      Doc—An old army buddy of Nick’s. It helps to know a doctor who won’t ask tricky questions about gunshot wounds.

      FBI agent Loni Boone—Is she as good as her word or does she have her own agenda?

      Tess Mays—Katie’s twin sister, injured while helping Katie, depending now on Katie to help her.

      Ryan Hill—The Oregon cop who loves Tess.

      Contents

      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

      Prologue

      She awoke in the dark, head throbbing, throat dry. For a second, she didn’t have the slightest idea where she was or what had happened to her.

      First things first. Get to your feet. Find out where you are.

      Struggling to her knees, she reached forward until her hands touched a rough, damp dirt wall. Leveraging her body, she attempted to stand. Her head hit the ceiling while she was still crouching and she cried out, her voice a muffled squeak. Wherever she was, there was no standing room and she sank back down to the dirt floor, a geyser of hopelessness welling up inside her chest.

      Into the cold, dank air she whispered, “My name is Caroline. I have a daughter named Tess.”

      This last thought made her wince. Thoughts of her beloved Tess always made her wince. Not because of Tess herself, but because of Katie, frozen forever in her mind as a six-month-old baby, born in the spring when the roses bloomed…

      Flowers! White roses. Yellow freesias.

      Of course…a wedding…her wedding…

      Bill!

      Visions of men with masks, men with guns. Bill crumpled on the motel floor…

      Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as the past few days came back in total clarity.

      Bill.

      Where was Bill?

      Chapter One

      Nick Pierce stood on the tarmac gazing upward, though he knew from experience the high mountain air of Frostbite, Alaska, meant he’d hear the single-engine plane before he actually saw it.

      He was anxious to get this over with. He was anxious to get back home. There was nothing he could tell the woman flying out of her way to talk to him. He would have made that clear when she called, but like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand, he’d figured if he ignored her she’d go away, and he’d never actually taken one of her calls himself.

      It hadn’t worked. Hell, that approach to problems never worked, but he always seemed compelled to give it a try anyway.

      To top it off, the weather was changing. He could feel the cold bite of an approaching storm on his face, sweeping over the inlet, up the Panhandle, bringing snow and ice. Winter days were short this far north and at two-thirty in the afternoon, there was only about an hour of daylight left. Oh, face it—he was sorely tempted to drive away and forgo the meeting before he got stuck at the airport.

      And then he heard a drone overhead and realized the time to leave had come and gone. A few minutes later, Toby Macleod’s aqua DeHavilland Otter came to a stop a few yards away from Nick’s four-wheel-drive truck, the wheel skis making slide marks in the accumulating snow. Nick stamped his feet to get his circulation moving, waiting for Toby to turn off the big turbo engine, then walked around to the far side of the plane, waving at Toby as he did so.

      The sole passenger making the long climb out of the plane was bundled up to her ears in black boots, jeans and an olive-green parka, her head