page1 (1/2)

Chapter One

‘…HE STOOD in the shadows of the night Dark Dangerous A lethal predator Glittering black eyes stared in at the wo only a towel draped about her silken nakedness A slight smile curved her lips and she reer that lay in wait for her outside in the darkness’

Elizabeth felt a shiver down her spine as she looked up fro now that she had thought to draw the curtains before getting into bed Except, like the woman in the story, Elizabeth had believed no one would be able to see into the second storey bedrooed Cornish cliffs The tidethe sandy beach, Elizabeth realised as she heard the roughness of the sea pounding against the cliffs

She repressed another shiver before reading the next paragraph of her book

‘Shoulder-length dark hair franetis creamy column of the wo hotly through her veins He possessed harshly hewn cheeks, a fierce slash of a nose, and chiselled lips that no back in a hiss to reveal elongated incisors as the woman dropped the towel to reveal the naked perfection of her body—’

Crash!

So intent had Elizabeth been on the description of the sexy predator stalking the heroine that the sound of glass breaking soers tightened about the book that had already succeeded in frightening the life out of her without this added scare!

What the devil was that?

Not a good choice of words, Elizabeth admonished herself shakily as she clutched the book to her before slowly sliding out from beneath the bedcovers

There was so—or someone—downstairs!

More than likely someone Elizabeth didn’t believe for a moment that her own intruder was a real live vaht was because she knew that the night monsters and predators in these stories were totally fictional

No, the intruder wasn’t any lar There had been several break-ins in the area recently, and no doubt every burglar within a twenty-mile radius are by now that Brad Sullivan, the American owner of Sullivan House, had died of a heart attack alo

What those burglars probably didn’t knoas that acadeo, eue the books in the Sullivan library, and, because she didn’t knohat else to do until one of Brad’s relatives arrived or contacted her, she was still in residence!

What should she do about the noise downstairs?

What could she do?

Mrs Baines, housekeeper at Sullivan House for the last twenty years, lived in a flat above the stable complex, to where she had disappeared once she had served Elizabeth her dinner and cleared away in the kitchen Meaning the other woman probably had no idea that the main house had been broken into There was no telephone extension in Elizabeth’s bedroom, either, and she had stupidly left her ht

Elizabeth’s heart began to pound as she heard more muffled sounds fro A ressive

Great She couldn’t just have a burglar break in; he had to be an angry one into the bargain!

Well, Elizabeth couldn’t just stand here and wait for the man to come up the stairs in search of valuables, only to find her cowering under the duvet in one of the bedroolar or not, she would have to go down and confront him But obviously not without a weapon of some kind!

Tucking her book distractedly under her arm, Elizabethit quietly to step out into the hallway, and pausing long enough to pick up the heavy brass ornament that stood on a table in the wide corridor She made her way softly to the top of the stairs on the first floor so that she could look down into the huge reception hall An eerie glow told her that soone up to bed half an hour or so ago

Sullivan House was a three-storey o for the head of some now defunct titled family, and several doors led off the marble-pillared reception hall All of those doors re beneath theht

Elizabeth leant further over the polished oak banister, able to see now that the light was co froh what a burglar would find of value to steal in there, she had no idea; the only things that weren’t integral parts of the kitchen were a microwave and an electric mixer But there was also a set of sharp knives on top of one of the work surfaces, Elizabeth ree to a person who dared to disturb the burglar!

Get a grip, Elizabeth, she instructed herself sternly, and she straightened her shoulders determinedly There was no way she could cower and hide and hope that the burglar would just quickly take what he wanted and then go away Whether she liked it or not—and she didn’t!—Elizabeth had to confront the h to scare him off

If it didn’t…