Falling For Him

Falling For Him
Morgan Hayes

Every cop needs a good partner…In this line of work, you have to trust the person who's watching your back.When Claudia Parrish's partner–and lover–dies, she figures "happily ever after" just isn't going to happen. A year later, she's assigned another partner and before long, begins to wonder if she might have a chance, after all.Gavin Monaghan is the new guy in the Homicide Unit. He's a good detective with plenty of experience. Except he's not really who he says he is. He's an undercover Internal Affairs agent assigned to find the cop responsible for the evidence tampering that's allowing criminals to walk.Gavin knows he has to do whatever it takes to find the one bad cop. But that might just mean gaining Claudia's trust only to betray her.

Gavin watched as Claudia searched Silver’s desk

The morning sunshine highlighted her hair, and he thought of angels. The imagery struck him as ironic, especially considering the fact that Claudia Parrish was as likely a suspect as anyone in the ongoing corruption within the Homicide Unit. After all, the evidence tampering hadn’t ended when her partner’s life had. And the most recent involved one of Claudia’s own cases.

Gavin hadn’t been surprised to learn of Judge Warner’s dismissal of the Brown case. Reports of the missing gun were in the file his lieutenant had handed him weeks ago—a thick file that made Claudia Internal Affair’s prime suspect.

After five years on IAD, he prided himself on his ability to read people. Claudia Parrish, however, wasn’t easy to read. Either her defensiveness was an honest response, or there was more behind the sharp tone she’d adopted with him earlier.

He definitely had to be careful. He couldn’t afford to alienate Claudia. Not when he needed to get close to her—close enough to find out the truth.

Dear Reader,

My ongoing research with Baltimore’s Homicide Unit rarely offers a dull moment. Not only does it provide a constant source of ideas for stories, but these determined and dedicated detectives are inspiring models for the kinds of strong and intriguing characters that inhabit the pages of the books I love to write.

In creating Falling for Him, I wanted to represent these admirable men and women of the Baltimore Police Department as the everyday heroes they are, working exhausting shifts and dealing with aspects of life we can only imagine. I’ve seen the toll that such a job can sometimes take on an individual and the way detectives’ work often wears at their spirit and their personal lives. With that in mind, I created Detectives Claudia Parrish and Gavin Monaghan—both with their own strengths and weaknesses, both with the same drive and perseverance in their quest for what they believe in, in their jobs and in their hearts. I hope that the courage and integrity of each and every one of the Unit’s members has been captured in Claudia and Gavin’s story, as well as that enduring sense of hope and love we all need to embrace.

Sincerely,

Morgan Hayes

Books by Morgan Hayes

HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE

632—PREMONITIONS

722—SEE NO EVIL

773—DECEPTION

Falling for Him

Morgan Hayes

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

For Lynette.

Also…

To The Hutch—I’d be lost without you gals!

To Jackie Navin and the rest of my stunning critique group.

And with very heartfelt thanks to Sgt. Steve Lehmann of BPD Homicide—a real hero.

And to the rest of the guys on the Unit: Mike, Cliff, Bill, Homer, Wayne, Joe and too many others to mention. You know I love you guys!

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE (#u6fd83334-5954-5469-b747-077b5544a9b3)

CHAPTER ONE (#ufbda30d0-1e6c-59f8-a7a4-3f0174069d11)

CHAPTER TWO (#u48f61e62-8128-5b08-a9fe-f7b2fca6a111)

CHAPTER THREE (#ued8f68d6-94b5-5b37-b5ab-9fa0d7c9705e)

CHAPTER FOUR (#ub1fabadd-70fe-52eb-8cb7-ba6148c377de)

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)

EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)

PROLOGUE

CLAUDIA KNEW HE WAS DEAD even before she’d brought her car to a skidding stop along that cold, dark street. She knew the second she heard the Federal Hill address crackle over the police radio. Her mind refused to grasp the idea, but in her heart, through her entire body, she felt it, as surely as if a part of herself had died.

The ambulance, the half-dozen squad cars with their revolving lights, and then the crime-scene van parked outside the two-story row house confirmed her fears.

Frank was dead.

Claudia leaped from the car, hardly registering the sharp pellets of icy rain slapping her face as she made her way through an already gathering crowd and ducked under the yellow crime-scene tape.

“Detective Claudia Parrish,” she said, giving the officer barely a second to acknowledge the silver shield she flashed, before mounting the front steps two at a time.