Secret Sisters
Jayne Ann Krentz
Titles by Jayne Ann Krentz
SECRET SISTERS
TRUST NO ONE
RIVER ROAD
DREAM EYES
COPPER BEACH
IN TOO DEEP
FIRED UP
RUNNING HOT
SIZZLE AND BURN
WHITE LIES
ALL NIGHT LONG
FALLING AWAKE
TRUTH OR DARE
LIGHT IN SHADOW
SUMMER IN ECLIPSE BAY
TOGETHER IN ECLIPSE BAY
SMOKE IN MIRRORS
LOST & FOUND
DAWN IN ECLIPSE BAY
SOFT FOCUS
ECLIPSE BAY
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
FLASH
SHARP EDGES
DEEP WATERS
ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY
TRUST ME
GRAND PASSION
HIDDEN TALENTS
WILDEST HEARTS
FAMILY MAN
PERFECT PARTNERS
SWEET FORTUNE
SILVER LININGS
THE GOLDEN CHANCE
Titles by Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Amanda Quick
GARDEN OF LIES
OTHERWISE ENGAGED
THE MYSTERY WOMAN
CRYSTAL GARDENS
QUICKSILVER
BURNING LAMP
THE PERFECT POISON
THE THIRD CIRCLE
THE RIVER KNOWS
SECOND SIGHT
LIE BY MOONLIGHT
THE PAID COMPANION
WAIT UNTIL MIDNIGHT
LATE FOR THE WEDDING
DON’T LOOK BACK
SLIGHTLY SHADY
WICKED WIDOW
I THEE WED
WITH THIS RING
AFFAIR
MISCHIEF
MYSTIQUE
MISTRESS
DECEPTION
DESIRE
DANGEROUS
RECKLESS
RAVISHED
RENDEZVOUS
SCANDAL
SURRENDER
SEDUCTION
Titles by Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Jayne Castle
SIREN’S CALL
THE HOT ZONE
DECEPTION COVE
THE LOST NIGHT
CANYONS OF NIGHT
MIDNIGHT CRYSTAL
OBSIDIAN PREY
DARK LIGHT
SILVER MASTER
GHOST HUNTER
AFTER GLOW
HARMONY
AFTER DARK
AMARYLLIS
ZINNIA
ORCHID
The Guinevere Jones Titles
DESPERATE AND DECEPTIVE
The Guinevere Jones Collection, Volume 1
THE DESPERATE GAME
THE CHILLING DECEPTION
SINISTER AND FATAL
The Guinevere Jones Collection, Volume 2
THE SINISTER TOUCH
THE FATAL FORTUNE
Specials
THE SCARGILL COVE CASE FILES
BRIDAL JITTERS
(writing as Jayne Castle)
Anthologies
CHARMED
(with Julie Beard, Lori Foster, and Eileen Wilks)
Titles written by Jayne Ann Krentz and Jayne Castle
NO GOING BACK
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
This book is an original publication of Penguin Random House LLC.
Copyright © 2015 by Jayne Ann Krentz.
Excerpt from ’Til Death Do Us Part by Amanda Quick copyright © 2015 by Jayne Ann Krentz.
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eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-19366-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krentz, Jayne Ann.
Secret sisters / Jayne Ann Krentz. — First edition
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-399-17448-3
I. Title.
PS3561.R44S43 2015
813'.54—dc23
2015016234
FIRST EDITION: December 2015
Cover photo © Mohamad Itani / Trevillion Images.
Cover design by Rita Frangie.
Title page: House © Ian Law / Shutterstock; Field © ileana_bt / Shutterstock.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version_1
This one is for my fabulous editor,
Leslie Gelbman,
who knows the secret.
CONTENTS
Titles by Jayne Ann Krentz
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
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 SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
>
CHAPTER SIXTY
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Special Excerpt from ’Til Death Do Us Part
CHAPTER ONE
Cooper Island, eighteen years earlier . . .
He stood in the shadows of the kitchen and tried to decide which girl he wanted. An hour ago they had both fallen asleep in front of the television. Now they slept the way only the young could sleep—deeply, soundly.
Both were the right age—twelve, maybe thirteen—right on the cusp of womanhood. That was the way he liked them. Pure. Innocent. Virginal. They were small-town girls who lacked urban street smarts—the kind of girls who usually could be terrified into keeping the secret. If you tell anyone, I will come back and kill your parents and then I will kill you.
The cottage was some distance from the main hotel building where the wedding reception was taking place. The smaller girl’s grandmother owned the Aurora Point. Her friend’s mother worked there. Both adults were fully occupied with the crowd in the hotel tonight. There were no men in the picture—no fathers, no brothers; just the grandmother and the mother. No need to worry about them.
He had watched the girls closely ever since he had checked into the hotel. They had helped with the preparations for the wedding reception, setting up folding chairs and placing the flower arrangements on the tables.
Once the festivities had begun, the girls had taken off to entertain themselves. They had played Ping-Pong for some time and then disappeared into the cottage to watch television.
The taller girl was the prettier of the two, but with her slim, long-legged body, she might be more of a problem to control simply because of her size and reach. If she struggled—and some did struggle in spite of his threats—she might knock over an object or make some noise that would attract attention. Still, there was a sweet, dreamy air about her that was very appealing. Earlier in the evening she had taken obvious delight in arranging the silly decorations and then she had fussed with the flowers on the buffet table. The adults had smiled and let her tweak things.
The smaller girl wasn’t as pretty, but there was something intriguing about her attitude and self-confidence. She had been working behind the front desk when he had checked in. She had given him his key and instructions concerning his room with all the poise and assurance of an adult. She would grow up to become one of those bitchy women who were always giving orders, he thought. A real ball-buster. She needed to learn her place.
Now, standing in the shadows, he decided that she would be easier to handle. He could crush her with one arm and squeeze the air out of her lungs so that she couldn’t scream. But she was also the one who might be the hardest to subdue with threats. He might have to kill her afterward to be sure she didn’t talk.
In the end, fate made the decision for him. It was the smaller girl who awakened and padded, barefoot and yawning, into the kitchen to get a drink of water.
She never knew he was there until he put a hand over her mouth and carried her outside into the night.
CHAPTER TWO
Sanctuary Creek, present day
“You’re still grieving, Madeline.” Dr. William Fleming folded his hands on top of his desk. The professional concern in his eyes was infused with a gentle, more intimate vibe. “It’s been less than three months since you lost your grandmother. You were very close to her. She was your only surviving family member. Naturally you’ve been traumatized. It is very unwise to make serious, life-altering decisions when you are in a psychologically fragile state.”
On the other side of the window the Arizona sunshine blazed in a cloudless spring sky. But inside William’s office the air-conditioning was cranked up very high. Madeline Chase was chilled to the bone. She decided that it probably wasn’t fair to blame the AC system. It was William who made her so aware of the intense cold. The all-too-familiar sensation of feeling trapped seethed deep inside. She needed to escape and soon.
She crossed her legs and sat back in the padded leather chair. She had been raised in the executive suite of her grandmother’s small but very successful boutique hotel chain. She knew how to look like a woman in charge. And now that Edith Chase was gone, she was the woman in charge. She was the sole heir of her grandmother’s innkeeping business.
“If you knew me as well as you think you do, you’d know that I’m well aware of what I’m doing,” she said. “My decision is final. We will not be seeing each other again.”
He removed his stylish, titanium-framed glasses, set them on the desk, and exhaled deeply, making it clear with his body language that although he was very disappointed in her, he was willing to be patient and understanding.
Her attention was briefly caught by his hands. They were among his best features, she reflected—one of the many assets that she had placed in the plus column of the spreadsheet she had prepared a month ago at the start of their relationship. William’s hands were smooth, well manicured, and, like the rest of him, not intimidatingly large or powerful. They often moved in graceful little arcs when he talked. They were the hands of a man who read books that came from the literary end of the bestseller lists; the hands of a man who enjoyed dining in trendy restaurants and touring museums that featured modern art. They were soft, nonthreatening hands.
The rest of William went well with his hands. He was on the short side for a man. When she was wearing high heels, as was the case today, they were the same height. She also liked the fact that while he was certainly physically fit, he was slightly built, not heavy or thickened up with muscle.
She had begun to conclude that they might be compatible in bed, at least for a short time. Her relationships never lasted long once things moved into the bedroom. William had certainly been pushing for full sexual intimacy. But she never allowed herself to rush into that aspect of a relationship because sex was always the beginning of the end for her. The only part she ever truly enjoyed was the getting-to-know-you stage. That was the stage when she could still dream, still imagine that she had found the right man, the one with whom she could have a family of her own.
“You don’t want to end our relationship, Madeline.” William assumed his lecturing tone, the one he employed in the classroom. He was a part-time instructor at a local college. “As I’ve explained, we are ideally suited to each other.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. It was either laugh or pick up the nearest heavy object and hurl it in the general direction of William’s head. She was an executive who knew it never paid to lose her cool, so she went with the laugh. But there was no real humor in it. The sheer irony of his words was breathtaking. William was, after all, a therapist who specialized in couples counseling.
“That’s certainly what you’ve been telling me for the past month,” she said. “But you’re wrong. In fact, I would go so far as to say you’ve been lying to me.”
“That’s ridiculous. Not to mention offensive.”
“I suppose it was all about getting funding for your couples therapy research, wasn’t it? I realize it’s a tough world out there for those who need grant money. But did you actually think you could seduce me into paying for your study? Really?”
“Madeline, it’s obvious that something has upset you. Why don’t you calm down and tell me what’s going on here? Between the two of us we can sort things out.”
Too late for that, she thought. She was filled with the same unshakable determination that she felt when she concluded that an employee’s skill set was no longer a good fit with the business culture of Sanctuary Creek Inns. Firing members of the well-trained staff was, thankfully, a rare event at Sanctuary. Nevertheless, there were occasions when it had to be done. Her goal at termination interviews was to counsel out the employee and suggest that he or she resign to pursue other career opportunities. The cardinal rule for conducting a termination interview was to never explain. Once you started listing reasons for terminating
someone’s employment, you opened the door to arguments and counterarguments. Things got messy fast. That was only one of the many lessons she had learned from her grandmother.
The difference between getting rid of an ineffective employee and dumping Dr. William Fleming was that, in the case of the employee, she would have sent the person away with a handsome severance package and the conviction that leaving Sanctuary was his own brainstorm.
She had no intention of offering William a damn thing.
“I’m afraid there is nothing to sort out,” she said. She uncrossed her legs and got to her feet. “I appreciate your concern for my psychologically fragile state, but my decision is final. We will not be seeing each other again. Do not attempt to contact me in any way.”
She started across the room, heading for the door. She had stayed too long, she reflected. She was on the verge of losing her temper.
William shot to his feet behind his desk.
“This is nonsense,” he snapped. “Sit down and tell me what is wrong. You owe me that much. I know you have some serious intimacy issues, but we’ve made excellent progress in that area.”
A tide of soul-searing anger swept through her without warning. Her palms tingled with an icy-hot sensation. It was similar to the unpleasant adrenaline rush that accompanied a missed step on a flight of stairs. The realization that a bad fall had barely been averted was always a shock to the system.
She wasn’t furious with William—okay, she was definitely pissed at him. She had a right to be pissed, she thought. But she knew her rage was mostly directed at herself. She shuddered to think that she had been considering an affair with the little creep.
She stopped at the door and turned around to face him. Probably a mistake, she thought. The smart thing to do was to leave immediately and close the door on the near disaster that she had just avoided.
And maybe she could have kept going if he hadn’t made the crack about her intimacy issues. A woman could only take so much.
“Let me clear up an apparent misunderstanding, William,” she said. “I wasn’t seeing you as a client. As far as I was concerned, our relationship was personal.”
“Of course it was.”
He’d switched his tone of voice with the agility of a trained actor. He sounded soothing and reassuring now. He came out from behind his desk and moved toward her. Instinctively she tightened her grip on the doorknob.
