Crystal Green Baited (v5.0) (epub)

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.She hated that he was hurt.“When I thought you were dead,” she whispered over Will’s lips, “nothing could make the pain go away.”He breathed against her, as if he also couldn’t believe she was with him.“I’m not about to leave you, Kat,” he said, voice low and tortured.“Not when we could finally get what we deserve out of life.”She was beyond wondering exactly what he meant by that, if he was talking about the money she stood to inherit or if he was genuinely wishing they could be together again.Who cared right now? Why care?But what if all this emotion had only been brought on by the terror of the boat wreck, the island….The killer.Kat locked her arms around him, rocking in cadence to a faint alarm signal that was growing louder, louder….Danger.Danger.Danger….Dear Reader,Believe it or not, I turned in a blurb for a “deserted island” story months before Lost became a TV hit.I wanted to write about a Japanese pearl diver because, when I was just a tyke, I used to love this exhibit at Sea World—an attraction that, sadly, was shut down years ago.But I never forgot the female divers (or the pearls!).On a visit to Japan, I took a minitrip to Mikimoto’s Pearl Island, where I was lucky enough to see an ama exhibition (and buy pearls, natch).But something was missing from my ama-gets-shipwrecked story…and my editor, Susan Litman, provided the extra kick: Why not make this a mystery? I loved that, and this book was born.So get ready to play a very deadly game of Survivor with Katsu Espinoza, an Everygirl Bombshell.Thank you so much for reading about her adventures!Crystal GreenCrystal GreenBAITEDBooks by Crystal GreenSilhouette BombshellThe Huntress #28Baited #112Silhouette Special EditionBeloved Bachelor Dad #1374*The Pregnant Bride #1440*His Arch Enemy’s Daughter #1455*The Stranger She Married #1498*There Goes the Bride #1522†Her Montana Millionaire #1574*The Black Sheep Heir #1587The Millionaire’s Secret Baby #1668‡A Tycoon in Texas #1670§Past Imperfect #1724The Last Cowboy #1752Harlequin BlazePlaymates #121Born To Be Bad #179Innuendo #261Silhouette Special EditionHer Gypsy Prince #1789CRYSTAL GREENlives near Las Vegas, Nevada, where she writes for the Silhouette Special Edition, Silhouette Bombshell and Harlequin Blaze lines.She loves to read, overanalyze movies, do yoga and write about her travels and obsessions on her Web site, www.crystal-green.com.There, you can read about her trips on Route 66, as well as her visits to Japan and Italy.She’d love to hear from her readers by e-mail through the “Contact Crystal” feature on her Web page.To Pamela Harty.Thank heavens for the day you and Deidre took me into the family of your agency.I appreciate all you do.ContentsPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16EpiloguePrologueAs another scream tore through the island forest, Katsu Espinoza stopped in her tracks, trying to get a lock on where the sound was coming from.The pulse in her head kicked to a deafening beat while she lifted her face to the gray sky, panting, blinking as a drop of rain bled from a palm frond and splashed onto her forehead.She tightened her grip on the long screwdriver in her hand—the best weapon she’d been able to scrounge from their meager store of supplies back at the cave.Please, Kat thought, prayed, please give me another sign to follow.Even if the sign was another tortured yell that would let her find the next victim—whoever it was—before it was too late.At the same time, she wished for silence.God knew what the killer was doing to the screamer.From what she and the other survivors had seen of the previous victims, she didn’t want to guess.Blood running to the ground from the mutilations…Eyes staring in dead terror at nothing…Mouths open in silent cries…Kat shut her eyes against a surge of nausea, but the vivid red images of flesh kept stabbing into her.One victim.Two.Three…Murder.A killer in the midst of a group of people she’d set out on a boat tour with only days ago.It’d started off so innocently, just like any other morning where you got out of bed, brushed your teeth, ate your breakfast and did your thing.But then the storm.The wreckage.This island.Even now, she couldn’t believe what a nightmare the harmless little cage-diving expedition had turned out to be.Couldn’t believe a person like her—a normal girl whose biggest problems included endlessly paying off old credit-card debt and navigating a hapless love life—was actually chasing down a killer.But all that was behind her, a hazy dream that was just as out of reach as the thought of being rescued from whatever nameless piece of land they now existed on.As Kat waited, a flash of lightning flickered, whitening the sky and the forest around her.A rumble of thunder shook the air, then the chop of her own labored breathing.Tiny explosions of raindrops on leaves echoed her crazy heartbeat while she stood braced, ready to run toward…Another shriek: Nooooo…aaaahhhhh!Startled, adrenaline sparked her forward, toward the sound [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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