Pine Lake. Amanda Stevens

      

      SLEEPWALKING WITH DANGER

      The murder of security expert Jack King’s girlfriend has haunted him for fifteen years. Returning to Pine Lake, Texas, where the townsfolk still consider him suspect, might not be the smartest move, but a killer seems to be holding up a mirror to his past. The same witness to this new murder was also present the night Jack’s girlfriend dieds…but both times, she was sound asleep...

      Sleepwalking has gotten Olive Belmont into some sticky situations. Being the witness to both murders may have put her on the killer’s list. Even so, she doesn’t think the killer is Jack and is willing to help him. But will putting his past to rest ease her mind or leave her with even greater nightmares?

      “I’ve been away from here for a long time,” he said. “I may not be the man you think I am.”

      “I may not be the woman you think I am,” she countered. “If you think about me at all,” she added sheepishly.

      “Hard to forget someone you meet on top of a bridge.”

      He saw a shiver go through her as she turned to stare out the windshield. She looked very enticing with her hair all mussed and her lips slightly parted. Another time, another place and Jack might have responded to the subtle invitation in her smile. But a hookup was the last thing he needed. He’d come to town to poke a hornet’s nest. Depending on what he found, things could get ugly. Sides might have to be chosen. After all was said and done, he’d return to Houston while Olive would still have to live here.

      Jack knew only too well what it was like to be a pariah in Pine Lake.

      The Throne He Must Take

      Chantelle Shaw

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      AMANDA STEVENS is an award-winning author of over fifty novels, including the modern gothic series, The Graveyard Queen. Her books have been described as eerie and atmospheric, “a new take on the classic ghost story.” Born and raised in the rural South, she now resides in Houston, Texas, where she enjoys binge-watching, bike riding and the occasional margarita.

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      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

       Title Page

       About the Author

       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

       Extract

       Copyright

       Chapter One

      It was an ordinary day. Which made the phone call all the more extraordinary.

      Jack King wasn’t in the best of moods to begin with. He’d been stuck inside since early morning and boredom had worn down his patience. Even on the rare instances when he found himself in between assignments, he could usually rustle up something that would keep him out of the office. No chore was too tedious so long as it put distance between him and his cluttered desk.

      For the past five years, he’d been working for the Blackthorn Agency, a high-profile consultant and security organization headquartered in Houston, Texas. Jack worked in Black Watch, the division tasked with state and municipal government oversight, including police departments. His particular expertise was in exposing corruption in cities large and small where the rot started at the head and worked its way down through the ranks. It wasn’t a job for the faint of heart. Cops were notoriously territorial and they knew how to circle the wagons. But Jack enjoyed the challenge and he’d learned a long time ago how to watch his back.

      That morning, he’d arrived at headquarters with the expectation of a new briefing. Instead, a mountain of delinquent paperwork and a stern warning from the man upstairs had kept him chained to his desk as his gaze strayed every few minutes to the clock on the wall outside his office. The day had seemed interminable.

      Finally at six, he filed his last report, stood, stretched and walked out of his office, wishing the division manager a nice weekend. He was just getting off the elevator when his phone rang. He started to ignore it. Wished a thousand times later that he had. He didn’t want to be called back upstairs because he’d dotted the wrong i or forgotten to cross a t. Whatever technicality needed his attention