Sparking His Interest

Sparking His Interest
Wendy Etherington

It's not police lieutenant Wes Kimball's imagination. Cara Hughes, the big-city arson investigator from Atlanta, is hot, hot, hot. She's slender, curvy–and rumored to sleep with a six-inch switchblade under her pillow–and Wes is forced to fight his four-alarm desire from the first moment they meet. Cara seems just as intrigued…. But business is business, and she'll lose control with Wes in bed before she'll give ground in their investigation.Equally passionate about their work, Wes and Cara know their white-hot affair must fizzle eventually. Still, a temporary fling has its merits. And where's the harm when it means both of them get exactly what they want–or do they?

Wes wanted more

He crushed Cara’s body against his, the sensation both relief and torture.

She tore her mouth from his. “We have to stop. I don’t do this with colleagues.”

“Okay,” he said, letting go of her and stepping back. Blood still roared in his head, but he forced his desire to chill.

Cara stared at him with a shocked, wide-eyed expression that reflected his own feelings. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me. Can we just forget it ever happened?” she continued. “We have to work together, and I need to concentrate on the case. Besides, I’m sure you have plenty of women lining up to…”

Wes leaned one shoulder against her front door. He smiled and brushed a strand of hair off her face. “But I was just about to let you cut to the front of the line.”

“The front of the line? Aren’t I lucky?”

His grin only widened. “Let me inside, and we could both get lucky.”

Dear Reader,

Over the past few years I’ve developed a weakness for the Kimball family. They’re a close, boisterous bunch, who support and challenge each other through all the bumps and heights in their lives. As I dived into Wes’s life, I wondered how they would all react to a new kind of test—not just a romantic tangle, but a danger to the very life of their town.

An arsonist is loose in Baxter, and Wes, who longs for acceptance but still walks his own path, is called on to solve the mystery.

I enjoyed exploring Wes’s strengths and vulnerabilities and watching him be awed, frustrated and, finally, embraced by love. By the time I finished the book, he and Cara felt like old friends. I hope they do the same for you.

Visit my Web site at www.wendyetherington.com and tell me what you think. Or you can still reach me via regular mail at P. O. Box 3016, Irmo, SC 29063.

Happy reading!

Wendy Etherington

Books by Wendy Etherington

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

944—PRIVATE LIES

958—ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT?

HARLEQUIN DUETS

76—MY PLACE OR YOURS?

93—CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE

HUNKA HUNKA BURNIN’ LOVE

Sparking His Interest

Wendy Etherington

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

To Kelly Moses, who embraced me in my new home and who has great strength and a well of courage.

Thanks to firefighter/paramedic Russ Adams for all his assistance with plot details and insight.

Contents

Chapter 1 (#u67d3fb29-9a7e-5c0a-89ac-f5367aa2d4ec)

Chapter 2 (#u7f928ae0-5933-5257-b81b-6a031bc1e46c)

Chapter 3 (#ua94bf58d-1fa8-5b55-8a8a-99e178ef073a)

Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

1

POLICE LIEUTENANT Wes Kimball slid his truck to a stop behind two patrol cars—the entire force in Baxter, Georgia. The fire department’s ladder truck, pump truck and an ambulance completed the collection of city vehicles.

Less than a hundred yards away the warehouse still billowed smoke. By the light of the three-quarter moon, he could see emergency crews lined along the sidewalk—shadows in the night, fighting a battle the heat and flames had already claimed. Still, two teams of firefighters held hoses of streaming water, aiming the quenching drink toward the building’s crumbling shell.

Wishing he had a hot cup of coffee, Wes climbed from the truck, then strode purposefully toward the scene. The distinctive smell of gasoline washed over him.

He paused, inhaling deep. Great.

The second fire in as many weeks involving gasoline and a building owned by a prominent Baxter businessman. The second time he’d been called out in the middle of the night to investigate. Last time it was a real estate management office; this time an office supply warehouse. Since he was the only cop in town who worked the arson cases with the fire department, and he’d been dealing with the first fire for the past several days, Wes figured he’d hear from the mayor by dawn. That gave him only three hours to come up with a lead. On four hours sleep.

He hunched his shoulders against the brisk October wind and approached the semicircle of cops standing to the side of the ladder truck. Great beginning for a Tuesday.