Table of Contents
Praise for the novels of Lora Leigh
Leigh draws readers into her stories and takes them on a sensual roller coaster.
Love Romances & More
Leigh writes wonderfully straightforward and emotional stories with characters that jump off the page.
The Road to Romance
Fraught with tension from the first page to the last... A love story of the deepest kind with a very emotional and sensual base. Combine all these elements together and [youre] guaranteed an intriguing story that will have you glued to the edge of your seat.
Fallen Angel Reviews
Blistering sexuality and eroticism... Bursting with passion and drama... Enthralls and excites from beginning to end.
Romance Reviews Today
A scorcher with sex scenes that blister the pages.
A Romance Review
Thrilling... Explosive... A perfect blend of sexual tension and suspense.
Sensual Romance Reviews
An emotional read.
The Best Reviews
Hot sex, snappy dialogue, and kick-butt action add up to outstanding entertainment.
Romantic Times (top pick)
Ms. Leigh is one of my favorite authors because she creates new worlds that I want to visit and would move to if only I could.
Erotic-Escapades
The writing of Lora Leigh continues to amaze me... Electrically charged, erotic, and just a sinfully good read!
JoyfullyReviewed.com
Wow... The lovemaking is scorching.
Just Erotic Romance Reviews
Berkley titles by Lora Leigh
BENGALS HEART
COYOTES MATE
MERCURYS WAR
DAWNS AWAKENING
TANNERS SCHEME
HARMONYS WAY
MEGANS MARK
NAUTI DECEPTIONS
NAUTI INTENTIONS
NAUTI DREAMS
NAUTI NIGHTS
NAUTI BOY
Anthologies
THE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS CAT
(with Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh, and Linda Winstead Jones)
SHIFTER
(with Angela Knight, Alyssa Day, and Virginia Kantra)
BEYOND THE DARK
(with Angela Knight, Emma Holly, and Diane Whiteside)
HOT SPELL
(with Emma Holly, Shiloh Walker, and Meljean Brook)
For Sharon,
for watching my back and always watching over me.
For being more than a friend. And for putting up
with all my eccentricities.
For Cory, for taking the time, and trying to be patient.
For my children, Bret and Holly.
Thanks for loving me, for accepting me,
and for being not just my children,
but also my friends.
And for Ryan, because youll make a good
baby daddy.
PROLOGUE
Four years ago
Now, how had she known the day was just going to suck? Caitlyn Lena Rogue Walker watched as Principal Thompson entered the classroom after her freshmen students had left for the day. Hot on his heels were the self- righteous Nadine Grace and her bully of a brother, Dayle Mackay.
She knew what was coming. Somehow theyd found a way to punish her for coming to a students defense the month before. She had been waiting for the shoe to drop, and she had a feeling that when it fell, it was going to be an earthquake in her little life.
At least she didnt have to worry about it happening any longer.
Maybe she should have heeded her fathers advice about coming here to his hometown to teach. He had wanted her to stay in Boston; hed wanted her to be a lawyer rather than a teacher. Or better yet, the wife of a lawyer. Being a lawyer or the wife of a lawyer didnt suit Caitlyn Rogue though. Neither did the name Lenaher friends and family knew better than to call her Lena if they wanted her to respond. She wanted to teach, and she wanted to teach in the picturesque little town her father had told her so many tales of.
Perhaps she should have heeded the tales he had told her of Dayle Mackay and Nadine Grace though, as well as his warnings to make certain she stayed off their radar. But staying off their radar hadnt been as easy as she had thought it would be.
And as her father had warned her, they would target her simply because she was a Walker. Nadine Grace and Dayle Mackay had tried to destroy her father when he was younger, and it seemed they were more than determined to destroy her.
She had lived in Somerset for one short year. Long enough to know she loved it here. Long enough to plant a few quick roots, to dream, and to meet the countys beyond-sexy sheriff.
The schoolteacher and the sheriff. What a fantasy. Because within months, she learned that her father hadnt been exaggerating about Dayle and Nadine. At the end of the school term the year before, shed been forced to enter their radar to defend one of her students against Nadines accusations that he had cheated on an exam that she had overseen as a member of the Board of Education. Caitlyn knew the boy hadnt cheated, just as she knew that no defense would help her now.
As her gaze met the two, she could feel her stomach tightening in warning as her heart began to pound a heavy, sluggish beat.
Brother and sister resembled each other in too many ways. The same black hair, the same squared features. Nadine was built smaller, and her eyes were hazel rather than green. Dayle Mackay was taller, with thicker black hair and forest green eyes. He would have been handsome if the evil that was a part of his soul didnt reflect in his eyes.
Neither Dayle nor Nadine spoke as they entered the room with the principal. Rogue remained in her seat, watching them cautiously as Nadine moved forward and slapped a small stack of pictures down in front of her.
A glimpse of the first one was enough to know exactly how Dayle and Nadine intended to destroy her.
Caitlyn stared down at them, feeling shame, mortification, but mostly defeat. She had never known defeat until she stared down at the pictures that she knew she could never refute. Not because she hadnt done it, but because she had been unable to stop it.
Fanning the pictures out slowly, she had to bite back a cry that tightened her chest and had her hands shaking. She had somehow known that one night that she couldnt fully remember had been a setup. She had sensed it then, she knew it now, and the rage and pain festered in her chest like a wound she wondered would ever heal.
Rogue swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat and ordered herself not to react, not to show pain, fear, or anger. She had her pride and she would be damned if she would let these two know how much they were hurting her. How much they were stealing from her.
As you can see, Ms. Walker, theres no way we can allow you to remain within the educational system, Principal Thompson informed her in a tone laced with chilling morality. Such actions cannot be condoned.
No, they couldnt be, Caitlyn would be the first to agree with him. If she had done it voluntarily.
The pictures showed her half undressed, her skirt raised well above her thighs, her legs spread for the male between them. Higher, her blouse was undone; a female, her long hair obscuring her face, obviously caressed Caitlyns bare breasts with her lips.
Caitlyn blinked down at the photos. There was no fighting them, though she knew, whatever had happened that night, she hadnt had sex. When she had awakened in the unfamiliar hotel room, the first thing she had done was schedule an emergency appointment with her doctor. But the school board wouldnt care about that. No more than they would care about the blood tests that had shown that whatever happened, she hadnt gone into it willingly. Rogue had been drugged and betrayed.
