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Janis Stockwell knew she was complete when she made partner. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead it just opened a new door into the past. Namely having her portrait done by Michael Dumont, a high school crush she thought she’d left behind years ago. At one time he was everything she wanted in her life. Now he is everything she hates in a man. When a man she put in jail five years ago blows into town, Janis finds herself a marked woman with Michael the only man she can turn to for help. With a vicious killer hot on their trail, Janis and Michael find themselves running headlong into danger and just maybe love. EXCERPT The sound of a radio blaring out country music came from the back of the house. Janis would have yelled to see if anyone was home, but the old house made it seem like a violation. Instead, she just let herself in. Wallace said Dumont was expecting her after all. He was obviously at home. Why shouldn’t she just walk on in? It wasn’t like she was up too no good. If he hadn’t wanted her to come on inside, he should have locked the front door. Better yet, he should have been waiting for her. Whatever the case, she just wanted to get this over with as quick as she could. Steeling her resolve, Janis walked tentatively through the breezeway which ran down the center of the house. She tried not to be nosy, but it was hard. She had thought about being here so many times when she was younger that the urge to look into the doors opening off the hallway was overpowering. Even knowing how wrong it was Janis couldn’t help snooping. She was shocked to find the rooms were surprisingly bare. From what she’d gleaned from the rumor mill, Dumont had made a name for himself. With the money from his artwork and the trust fund he received when he turned twenty-one, she had expected the house to be full of all the useless junk rich people couldn’t seem to live without. Shrugging over her naïveté, Janis assumed he was like the rest of the idle rich she knew from work. When they knew the help was coming they hid their valuables. Well, they could keep their crap and all the strings attached. All she wanted was to get this over with and get back to her life, relatively unscarred by the experience. Letting her thoughts drift away, Janis reached the source of the radio — a small room at the end of the hallway. She paused, considering whether to walk on it or knock. Like the front door, it was slightly ajar. Taking it as an unspoken invitation, Janis pushed it open and walked in like she belonged there, which she did as far as she was concerned. Steeling herself for the meeting, she stepped into what appeared to have been a sunroom at one time or another. Now the room was a cluttered mess with easels and stacked canvases covering most of the available space. A patchwork of paint-splattered drop cloths covered the ceramic-tiled floor. She couldn’t help but note the floor looked like it cost more than her entire house. In the center of the room stood Michael Dumont, looking every bit the Adonis she remembered. He was bare to the waist. Her breath caught at the view. After all these years, he still had the quarterback’s body that had plagued her teenage dreams. Muscles rippled in ways she had only fantasized about. Why couldn’t he have a pudgy stomach — something, anything — to make him not so damn perfect? Just looking at him made her feel like she was in high school all over again. He had his long black hair tied back with a torn strip of canvas, which only added to the avalanche of raw sex appeal he threw off. A thin line of sweat ran down her back at the sight, making her involuntarily shiver. She was not entirely sure it was from the heat, either. At least not from the heat of the day. With his back to her, Dumont hadn’t so much as noticed she’d entered the room. It was just like high school over again, she thought sardonically. Well, she wasn’t that mouse of a girl anymore. She had moved beyond that frightened doe. She was a woman with a career, a place in the world and a woman that didn’t need him to justify her existence. Still, Janis felt she should do something to garner his attention. That was easier said that done. Janis fought to take her eyes from the impressive sight of his beautiful body. Finally, her brain won out and she rapped on the door, still held in place by her shaking hand. At the sound, he raised his head, but made no move to turn around. When he spoke, it was not at all what she expects to hear. “Hey doll. You’re late. Just take your clothes off and throw them across the chair and come on over here.” The sound of his baritone voice nearly drove her to her knees. For one brief second she couldn’t decide what to do… get mad as hell or do as he said. Lynne Connelly, Author of the Pure Wildfire and Department 57 Series "The Michelangelo Blues is easy to devour from beginning to end. Be sure and pick this one up, Michael and Janis are a couple you will not soon forget. J Morgan has penned a winner." Elyse Lynne, ECataRomanhce Rating = 5 Stars "Author Morgan has presented a truly modern romance." Lynne Bushey, The Romance Studio Rating = 4 Hearts Debbie - Kwips and Kritiques Rating = 4.5 Shamrocks Try these related products: E-mail a friend about this item. Join the Desert Breeze Publishing EXCLUSIVE BOOK CLUB!
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