The Defender

The Defender
Cara Summers

Sassy heroines and irresistible heroes embark on sizzling sexual adventures as they play the game of modern love and lust. Expect fast paced reads with plenty of steamy encounters.Theo Angelis definitely puts the “hot” in “hotshot lawyer”. Or at least, that’s lawyer Sadie Oliver’s opinion. Even a simple handshake has her weak at the knees. If only there was time to explore the chemistry simmering between them… But there isn’t. Because Sadie desperately needs Theo’s help. Her brother lies in hospital facing a murder charge, and their sister is missing. And even Sadie herself is being followed by unsavoury-looking characters. Sadie’s not about to take it lying down (unless Theo asks, of course). She’ll play an active role in the case, disguised as a law student and Sadie will seem to be another of Theo’s male interns.But the heat in Theo’s eyes never lets her forget she’s all woman… Tall, Dark…and Dangerously Hot!

“You can fight it if you want, but we will make love.”

Theo didn’t seem able to resist any longer. He pulled Sadie against him, crushing her mouth beneath his. After a few moments his hands found the edge of her sweatshirt and slipped beneath it. “I promised myself that I wasn’t going to touch you again tonight.”

Sadie nipped his ear playfully. “Ah, but I promised myself that I’d definitely be touching you.”

“I like your promise better.” He laughed.

“You know, if your conscience is bothering you, you could just let me do the touching,” she quipped.

“Good idea.” His hands found her breasts and she arched towards him. “I’ll hold you to it next time.” Then he kissed her again.

Desperation built immediately. She could feel his hunger when his heart thundered against her palm, taste it when his tongue aggressively met hers. The heat of his response fuelled her own. Would the pleasure he gave her always be this sharp? This necessary?

He dragged his mouth away. “Why do you have to look so damn sexy in my sweatshirt?”

“You could always take it off…”

“Brilliant suggestion.” He held her tight against him as his breathing slowed. “If I had any blood left – in my brain, that is – I’d have thought of it…”

CARA SUMMERS

Award-winning author Cara Summers loves creating memorable characters. And for her, the best thing about writing for Mills & Boon

Blaze

is that the series allows her to bring to life strong women and seriously sexy men – like the Angelis brothers. “They’re smart, they’re kind, they’re hot and they each have a great sense of humour. What’s not to like?” She hopes that her readers have as much fun reading about Kit, Nik and Theo as she had writing about them. When Cara isn’t busy with her characters, she spends time with her students at Syracuse University, New York and travels south as often as she can to play with her grandchildren.

Dear Reader,

Writing about TALL, DARK…AND DANGEROUSLY HOT! men has been a challenge and a delight! I really hate to see it come to an end. Kit may have been my first love and Nik my favourite, but I have to admit that it’s Theo who will remain in my mind and heart the longest.

In the courtroom hotshot defence lawyer Theo Angelis has a winning reputation, but outside the courtroom he’s lost his edge. An incident with a stalker has him doubting his instincts. He’s even stopped dating! So the last thing he needs right now is a damsel in distress – especially one as sexy as fellow lawyer Sadie Oliver.

Sadie’s in big trouble. Her sister has disappeared, her brother is seriously injured and the prime suspect in a murder…and Sadie’s libido has just shot into overdrive, thanks to Theo Angelis. Professionally, Sadie needs Theo’s help to find her sister and prove her brother’s innocence. Personally, however, she has other needs she’d like Theo to take care of…

I hope you’ll come along for the ride as Theo and Sadie discover just what the Fates have in store for them. And enjoyed meeting the other Angelis brothers in The PI (May) and The Cop (June).

For more information about the Angelis brothers and their family, including excerpts from all three books, visitwww.carasummers.com.

Happy reading!

Cara Summers

THE DEFENDER

BY

CARA SUMMERS

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

To my son Kevin. Thanks for your advice (which I don’t always take), your unfailing support and your pride in my work. You make the writing life a bit easier. Thanks, too, for being my biggest fan! I love you.

Prologue

Friday, August 28th—Evening

TWILIGHT WAS ONE OF THOSE special times of the day when Cassandra Angelis’ power to see into the future sharpened; this evening she needed all the help she could get. A sense of urgency propelled her along the garden path until she caught her first glimpse of the sun still hanging above the Pacific. Only the faintest shades of pink and blue streaked the sky. So there was still time.

Deliberately slowing her pace, Cass let the scent of the flowers and the songs of insects and birds fill her senses. It wouldn’t do any good to rush. She knew from experience that she couldn’t force her visions. She had to just let them come.

Psychic abilities ran strong in her family and she’d never denied or run away from her special gift. Over the years, she’d established a reputation as a psychic in the San Francisco area.

This evening, Cass had no client. She’d known for almost a month that this weekend would be a pivotal one in the lives of her family members, but it hadn’t been until midnight and again this morning at dawn that her feelings had begun to clarify into visions. She now knew the Fates would bring two of her nephews, Kit and Nik, mortal danger. And love, if they chose to open their hearts to it.

She paused near a patch of white flowers. The delicate blossoms always reminded her of the wildflowers that grew near the seashore in Greece where she’d first met her husband, Demetrius. She could still recall that moment of knowing that there was no one else, would never be anyone else, for her.

It had been the same for her sister Penelope and Demetrius’ brother Spiro. None of them had thought twice about grabbing what the Fates had offered them. She’d never regretted choosing Demetrius even though they’d only had little more than a dozen years together before he and her sister had been killed in a boating accident. In the intervening years, she’d raised Penelope’s children, her nephews Nik, Theo and Kit, and her niece Philly, coming to look on them as much her own as her son, Dino.

Leaning down, Cass picked one of the flowers and inhaled its scent as she continued along the path. Eighteen years had passed so quickly. Her children were all grown up and making their own way in the world. But it was her sister’s middle son, Theo, who’d been slipping into her mind all day.

As she thought of him, her lips curved in a smile. Even as a child, Theo had always been a bit more of a risk taker than his two brothers, trusting his luck to get him out of scrapes. Now that he was older, Theo had put those characteristics to good use as a criminal defense attorney. In fact, his reputation for winning high stakes cases had garnered him some attention from the press. A couple of months back, he’d even made a list of the ten most eligible bachelors in San Francisco and there’d been a photo of him in the Sunday paper. That photo had earned him quite a bit of razzing from his brothers. It had also earned him a spot on the invitation lists of several prominent party givers. However, there’d been a downside to his sudden fame. Theo had also picked up a stalker.

On the surface, one would never have suspected that the situation bothered him. But little by little, Cass had seen Theo withdraw into himself. Eventually, he’d even withdrawn from his family by taking what he termed a “temporary” apartment in town. Of course, he’d done it to protect them—that was Theo’s way—but in the end his efforts had failed. In spite of his precautions, the woman who’d been stalking him had followed him to his father’s restaurant one night and pulled a gun. He’d managed to talk her outside before she’d injured anyone, but in the process of getting the gun away, he’d gotten shot. Then in a move that was so typically Theo, he’d arranged for a good attorney to represent her.

Cass frowned as she watched the sun edge lower toward the water. The family had expected that Theo would move back home once his stalker had been arrested. But he hadn’t. And he’d stopped coming to The Poseidon altogether. She thought she knew what was bothering him. All the Angelis children had some latent psychic ability, but Theo’s was the strongest. He didn’t have visions, but sometimes he just knew things. As a child he’d called the ability luck. But since the incident with his stalker, he was doubting his “lucky feelings.”

She knew what he was going through. She hadn’t foreseen the boating accident that had taken both her husband and her sister, Penelope. The guilt that she hadn’t seen it, hadn’t been able to prevent it, had caused her problems for a time, but she’d finally learned to trust in her powers again. Theo would have to learn that lesson, too.

With a sigh, Cass sank onto a bench and looked out at the ocean in the darkening light. Overhead, a bird sang its heart out. Cass listened and, keeping her gaze fixed on the distant waves, emptied her mind. In front of her, the evening shadows shifted, blending together and separating, then blending again until they formed a thin mist. Through it she saw the image of a woman—tall with short, dark hair and dark, intelligent eyes.

Yes, she thought, Theo would want intelligence. The mists darkened. As if through a glass darkly, she saw Theo and the woman someplace high with the lights of the city spread out beneath them. She felt the sharpness of their fear, but she also sensed the emotions of the other person with them. The coldness of anger and the irrationality of greed sliced through her with an intensity that took her breath away. Then the image faded and she was once more alone in the garden.

The evening was warm, but Cass felt cold right to her bones. Of her three nephews, Theo would face the greatest danger. But he would also find love—if he had the courage to take it. And that love would teach him to trust in his instincts again.

1

Friday, August 28th—Evening

ST. PETER’S CHURCH looked deserted. When Sadie Oliver had driven by a few seconds ago, there’d been no one on the steps. Her sister Juliana’s note had said to come at seven, but the only indication that there was anything going on was a dark van she’d spotted blocking the entrance to the little parking area behind the church.

There’d been something vaguely familiar about the man behind the wheel but she hadn’t been able to draw up the memory. Sadie was debating whether or not to swing back and ask him to move so that she could park behind the church when she finally spotted a space just big enough to squeeze her Miata into.

She hated being late, but a glance at her watch told her she’d slipped into the tardy zone by almost ten minutes. Grabbing her purse, Sadie scrambled out of her car, locked the door and slipped her key into her pocket. She also hated feeling guilty. Maybe if she wasn’t so obsessive-compulsive, she’d have been willing to leave some unfinished work on her desk over the weekend. But she was obsessive-compulsive and late and feeling guilty.