Arizona Heat

Arizona Heat
Linda Lael Miller

Some secrets are too hot to handle – trust me, this is one of them!After years spent trying to remember her past, Mojo Sheepshanks just wants to put it behind her. She’s finally got the life she always wanted—sisters she loves, a career that keeps her on her toes and Tucker Darroch, the handsome cop who’s stuck by her against all odds. But for the people around her, moving on is hard to do. Tucker can’t seem to let go of his past, while Mojo’s sister Greer is being blackmailed for secrets in hers. And Mojo’s stuck in the middle again.Meanwhile, danger is stalking the citizens of Cave Creek, Arizona, Mojo’s adopted home. And even as she and Tucker work to keep everyone safe, Mojo will discover that there are mysteries in Cave Creek that someone is willing to protect at any cost.

Some secrets are too hot to handle

After years spent trying to remember her past, Mojo Sheepshanks just wants to put it behind her. She’s finally got the life she always wanted—sisters she loves, a career that keeps her on her toes and Tucker Darroch, the handsome cop who’s stuck by her against all odds. But for the people around her, moving on is hard to do. Tucker can’t seem to let go of his past, while Mojo’s sister Greer is being blackmailed for secrets in hers. And Mojo’s stuck in the middle again.

Meanwhile, danger is stalking the citizens of Cave Creek, Arizona, Mojo’s adopted home. And even as she and Tucker work to keep everyone safe, Mojo will discover that there are mysteries in Cave Creek that someone is willing to protect at any cost.

Previously published as Deadly Deceptions

Praise for #1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller (#u26084e15-9a68-545e-bc3a-3751375fa0a1)

“Readers will be entranced by Mojo... The star of Miller’s series debut possesses the appeal of both Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum and Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse rolled up in one.”

—Booklist

“The versatile and surprising Miller is back dishing up romantic suspense liberally laced with humor and the offbeat... Mojo Sheepshanks’ extraordinary adventures brim with sassy wit, emotional complications and dangerous thrills. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

—RT Book Reviews

“[A] marvelous contemporary western trilogy launch...fraught with amazing chemistry.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Once a Rancher

“All three titles should appeal to readers who like their contemporary romances Western, slightly dangerous and graced with enlightened (more or less) bad-boy heroes.”

—Library Journal on the Montana Creeds series

“Miller’s prose is smart and her tough Eastwoodian cowboy cuts a sharp, unexpectedly funny figure in a classroom full of rambunctious frontier kids.”

—Publishers Weekly on The Man from Stone Creek

Arizona Heat

Linda Lael Miller

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

To Josanne Lovick, with love and appreciation

Contents

Cover (#ub3daddc3-611e-53b8-9bc6-c8bbf1f0c6d2)

Back Cover Text (#u23f66327-513e-574c-8049-e091f366375e)

Praise (#u37ed1962-7524-580c-ac73-c8fad4f7b5df)

Title Page (#uf7778cc9-6b1d-5662-99d6-6fea58759fb2)

Dedication (#ufd0d852f-c357-54ed-b82d-6fcacb2b6658)

Chapter One (#u0ad3f88f-ff6e-5520-a378-39078cb59777)

Chapter Two (#u564df760-ccfc-526a-aedf-e93efe915069)

Chapter Three (#ud9aa567f-5d16-5199-bf9a-045add37d9a3)

Chapter Four (#ue4edf332-e9c7-5c46-8c09-aa0109ef682b)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#u26084e15-9a68-545e-bc3a-3751375fa0a1)

I WAS SO INNOCENT THEN.

Don’t get me wrong—I’d been through a lot, starting with the savage murders of both my parents, when I was only five years old. I’d been kidnapped and raised mostly on the road, by the late, great Lillian Travers, living under an alias that has since become more representative of who I really am than my given name—Mary Josephine Mayhugh—could ever be.