She Walks the Line

She Walks the Line
Roz Denny Fox

She's not only a cop, she's a woman from a traditional Chinese family. Mei Lu Ling's parents strongly disapprove of her career, but she's determined not to let her personal life interfere with her work–especially now that she's been handed a case involving the theft of Chinese antiquities. A case that may implicate her father…Maintaining the precarious balance between her private and professional lives becomes even more difficult when she's assigned to work with Cullen Archer, an insurance investigator with ties to Interpol. Mei finds Cullen, single father of eight-year-old twins, far too attractive for her peace of mind. But she's thrilled that Cullen is just as attracted to her–even if falling in love complicates everything else in her life!

“I thought you were on special assignment with…what’s his name again?”

“Cullen Archer,” Mei said with a sigh as she slipped past Chief Catherine Tanner.

“So what’s wrong? Why aren’t you two nosing around the nightclub where that courier was killed?”

Mei shook her head. “I don’t know.” Swallowing hard, she muttered, “No…I do know. It has to do with my family. Cullen—ah, he said to call him that—wants to start our investigation at my father’s gallery.”

Catherine frowned. “Surely Interpol doesn’t think—I mean, you don’t suspect your father in any way?”

“No,” Mei shot back quickly. “But…you know my relationship with my folks. I can’t march into my father’s office acting like the cop they never wanted me to be.”

“A cop is what you are, Mei Lu,” Catherine said with no softness in her tone. “It’s the career you chose. You took an oath to uphold the law, which transcends all other loyalties.” Catherine paused. “Tell Archer straight out about your concerns.”

Mei Lu nodded dutifully. It wasn’t what she’d hoped for. She’d really wanted Catherine to take her off the case—not just because of her father but because Cullen Archer made her feel more a woman and less a cop.

Dear Reader,

It’s always exciting to be asked to participate in a continuity within the Harlequin Superromance line. It means individual authors have an opportunity to work closely with fellow writers to develop a group of loosely connected stories. WOMEN IN BLUE is one of these.

My story, like the other five in this continuity, is first and foremost a love story about two people whose lives are enriched after their paths cross. Mei Lu Ling is a Houston cop attached to the White Collar Crimes division. Her family owns and operates a prestigious import and export firm dealing in high-end Asian art. She left the family business, electing instead to become a police officer. She went through the training academy with five other women; they formed close ties. The five friends understood Mei’s problems with her family and helped her cope with an ever-widening estrangement. So it came as a blow when an unforeseen situation (described in the first book of the series) caused the women to pull away from one another.

Suddenly the police chief (one of the original six “women in blue”) assigns Mei Lu to special duty as a Chinese-language translator for Cullen Archer. He’s an insurance investigator working with Interpol to break up a smuggling ring that’s moving national treasures out of China. Mei Lu is drawn to Cullen, but she initially has doubts that center on his ex-wife. Mei is also drawn to his adorable twins. Cullen, meanwhile, tries not to suspect Mei’s father or her brother of being involved. Throughout the story, events conspire to bring them together—and keep them apart.

I hope readers will want to read about all the individual struggles faced by these six friends, the WOMEN IN BLUE.

Roz Denny Fox

I love hearing from readers. You can reach me at P.O. Box 17480-101, Tucson, AZ 85731 or via my Web site,

www.korynna.com/RozFox

She Walks the Line

Roz Denny Fox

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

To the other five authors of WOMEN IN BLUE: Kay David, Sherry Lewis, Linda Style, Anna Adams and K.N. Casper—it’s been a treat to work with you. Likewise, my appreciation to our individual editors. This continuity has been made more cohesive thanks to your extra effort.

CONTENTS

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

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

MEI LU LING SHRUGGED into her shoulder holster and slid it into place. She took a moment to reflect on last Friday’s ceremony, which allowed her to walk into Houston PD headquarters a full-fledged lieutenant. Only two of her four best friends from the academy, a twenty-six-week class that now seemed a distant memory, had attended her ceremony, even though Mei had invited them all.

She’d noticed Crista Santiago at the back of the room, and Risa Taylor had popped in long enough to see Catherine Tanner, the chief, do the honors. Mei was happy her new department captain had had a court commitment, and that Catherine had volunteered to replace him. It also pleased her that two of her friends had been able to slip away from their duties. Especially Risa, considering everything she’d undergone not long ago at the hands of the internal review board. Risa and Crista were the only members of their once close-knit group who knew what it was like to struggle up the department ladder without family support. And none of Mei’s family would have put in an appearance if their lives depended on it.

But, at thirty-one, after more than six years as a cop, Mei had no regrets. She was content with her life and a career solving white-collar crime in the city where she was born and raised.

Stepping back to scrutinize her full image in the bedroom mirror, Mei rechecked her dark hair, twisted into a knot at the nape of her neck. When she’d entered the academy she’d been advised to cut her waist-length hair, and she had. She’d worn a pixie cut until after leaving street patrol, because the dregs of society fought dirty, and a woman couldn’t afford to have hair a perpetrator could grab. Now, though, she worked more with “civilized” crooks.

The thought of any crook being civilized prompted an involuntary smile as she donned her trim navy jacket. Satisfied that she looked okay Mei detoured through the kitchen on her way out in order to bid her dog goodbye. He was a mixed-breed shelter rescue she’d named Foo Manchu—mostly to irritate her mother. Aun Ling disliked anything that poked fun at things Chinese. She detested her son, Stephen’s, Foo Fighter tapes. Aun collected jade and porcelain figurines of Chinese Fu dogs. Mei had always loved the collection, and as a kid had spent hours dusting it. Perhaps another reason she’d chosen the name Foo.

She checked his automatic pet feeder to make sure there was enough kibble in case her day ran late, then headed outside into a beautiful March morning. At the curb, she unlocked and climbed into an aging subcompact, a sorry-looking vehicle Mei Lu prayed would last until she could find time to test-drive and buy a new model.

Her home—half of a duplex that sat two blocks off Bellaire Boulevard in a slightly seedy part of town—and her automobile were major blights on her life, as far as her affluent parents were concerned. They lived in an upscale area known for rambling homes built on huge lots. Mei preferred her eclectic neighborhood, insisting that her street was as safe as any in the city.

A fifty-minute battle through heavy traffic brought her to the police department parking garage downtown. She walked into the office early, out of habit. Few of her colleagues in her new unit were at their desks yet. Propped in the middle of hers sat a message from Chief Tanner, requesting Mei’s presence upstairs.

Mei let her mind run through cases she’d closed or passed on before leaving her old group, but she couldn’t think of one that would necessitate an urgent audience with the chief. She remained apprehensive, however, as she folded the note and hurried from the room.

It was well-known that women on the force had to take extra care to dot every i and cross every t. More so than a man working a similar case. Police departments had long been bastions of good-old-boy philosophies, so it helped that Mei and the four other women had entered the academy at a time when Catherine Tanner served as an instructor. She’d helped them avoid the pitfalls she’d had to navigate herself. Nevertheless, Mei was again reminded of Risa’s recent problems with Internal Affairs. She’d been accused of shooting her partner, which had sparked a messy investigation that had affected all their jobs. As a result, their trust in one another had shattered. Mei, Crista, Lucy Montalvo and Abby Carlton had temporarily stopped meeting for any reason. Heck, who was she kidding? The friends were still wary and scattered. Risa’s problem had caused seemingly irreparable damage to their friendship. They’d all become a lot more hesitant about confiding in peers. As well, Risa’s ordeal had left Mei Lu feeling extra worried about a summons of the type that crinkled in her pocket as she was shown into the chief’s office by Annette Hayworth, Catherine’s personal assistant.

Mei’s qualms tripled when Catherine, lacking her normal smile, rose from her desk and shut the door. Lately, everyone had sensed a greater-than-usual tension in their chief. Since Catherine made such a point of closing the door, Mei assumed this call was personal and, therefore, serious.