Cabin Fever
Karen Rose Smith
Montana Maverick's/Gold Rush Grooms
Silhouette Special Edition ~ May 2005

ORDER THIS BOOK! 
(this link opens a new browser window)

Snowbound with the boss?

Well, loyal readers, another spring, another blizzard.  But this prospector has the pleasure of bringing you all some unusually hot gossip.  It seems that the Queen of Hearts Mine may not belong to the Douglas family after all!  Old Caleb has actually hired a private investigator to prove his ownership.

Unfortunately, handsome playboy Brad Vaughn and his beautiful secretary, Emily Stanton, have been stranded up at the Douglas cabin.  It's been rumored that Brad never mixes business with pleasure, and Emily looks like
she'll only play for keeps.  Still, despite their differences, they'll have to keep warm somehow....  Perhaps the spring thaw will bring more than sunshine to these two!

REVIEWS

"CABIN FEVER is another winner in a series of touching romances from an author who knows how to entertain us and lift our spirits."  Jane Bowers/Romance Reviews Today

"A pleasing combination of sweetness and sizzle, Karen Rose Smith's latest modernizes a reader-favorite scenario in several interesting, unexpected ways."  Catherine Witmer/Romantic Times Bookclub

 

Chapter One

         "I am not the father," Brad Vaughn stated in no uncertain terms.
         The Chicago private investigation firm of Vaughn Associates was not where Brad wanted to have this discussion.  However with his dad standing in his office, newspaper in hand, Brad had no choice.
         Phillip Vaughn, head of the firm, a man who was always right, a father who was grooming his son for his position, shook the newspaper at Brad.  "Are you sure?  Suzette Brouchard says--"
         "I don't care what Suzette Brouchard says.  We had a brief relationship, but I never slept with her without protection.  From the information I have so far, her baby was born forty-two weeks after our last night together.  She'd moved on to someone else, and that man is the father of her baby."
         Suzette was a model, a beautiful sexy model, but neither of them had expected more than a few nights of good sex.  She'd faded into the background after they'd stopped seeing each other and that had been almost
three years ago.
         "Why would she do this?" Phillip Vaughn asked, still in an accusing tone.
         "Money.  She thinks if she makes enough noise, I'll settle and give her a bundle."
         Brad had a bundle.  Not from the fortune his father had acquired, but from his own sweat.  He'd earned an MBA and opted out of his father's plans for him for a few years to work on Wall Street.  He'd not only done
well, but invested most of it, not in the dot.com of the moment, but in solid companies he'd researched.  At the height of the boom, he'd sold most of it, bought real estate, sold that, reinvested in conservative investments for the future, and constantly turned over the rest for profit.  At thirty-five, he had more money than he'd ever need.
         Money hadn't been the reason he'd joined his father in his firm.  Taking over Vaughn Associates someday hadn't been one of his aspirations.  However, when his mother had phoned him and gently suggested
his dad wouldn't be around forever, Brad had wondered if he and his father could set aside the adversarial relationship they'd always had and forge real bonds they could build on.  But Brad had been vice president of his dad's firm for two years now and the bonds were as thready as they'd always been.  He didn't know any more now what made Phillip Vaughn tick than he had when he was twelve and his parents had divorced.
         "I've already contacted Suzette's lawyer and informed him I'll be giving a sample for a DNA test today.  This will be settled within a month," Brad decided.
         "The reputation of this firm could suffer in a month if an article like this is any indication."
         "That's what Suzette and her lawyer are counting on."
         "A settlement could shut it all down today," Phillip insisted.
         But Brad wasn't about to settle, not when his reputation was at stake.   "No.  I want to clear my name.  I won't be thought of as an irresponsible playboy who doesn't care if he gets a woman pregnant."
         "That's not what you are?" his father asked with a bit of an amused smile.
         His dad often frustrated him.  Now his question rankled in a deep place that unsettled Brad.  "I have never been irresponsible."
         Silence reverberated in the office until his father broke it.  "Maybe you should think about settling down," he suggested, throwing the newspaper onto Brad's mahogany desk.
         "You know how I feel about that."  Brad couldn't keep the acerbic edge from his voice.
         When his father had kicked his mother out of their home after her affair, Brad had lived with his mother during the week and his father on weekends.  He wouldn't take the chance of doing that to any kid.  Besides
that, he simply didn't trust women.  That might have started with his mother's infidelity, but in college he'd given the fairer sex a chance.  That had been a mistake.  His father had bought off the girl that he didn't deem appropriate for Brad, and Brad's eyes had been opened to exactly how much love mattered--not as much as dollar signs.
         "With your paternity up in the air, what are you going to do about Thunder Canyon?" his father asked.
         "Thunder Canyon can't wait," Brad answered, considering the client's case he would personally oversee.
         Thunder Canyon, Montana, was a small town near Bozeman.  Since Vaughn Associates was acclaimed for its security work and all-around private investigation skill, the company's reputation was known across the
country.  Caleb Douglas, one of the most renowned citizens of Thunder Canyon, had hired Vaughn Associates to uncover the true ownership of a gold mine there.
         "I got the history from Caleb Douglas yesterday," Brad went on.  "Since the late eighteen hundreds, the Douglas family has claimed the property in Thunder Canyon that includes the Queen of Hearts gold mine.  Now they can't find the deed.  Caleb has always assumed he knew the truth and the land was his.  I'm hoping I can wrap up the investigation in a few days."
         A small voice on his shoulder, however, reminded him a missing deed could mean trouble.
         "I'll need to find the deed or some proof of ownership.  I'm going to ask Emily to go along."
         "Your secretary?  Is she necessary?"
         "Caleb said he wanted this done quickly no matter how much it cost.  If Emily's along, I can count on her to write up the daily reports and do preliminary interviews."
         With a frown, his father checked his watch.  "I have an appointment across town.  I'd better get going."  He cast a disdainful glance at the newspaper once more.  "Maybe if you're out of town for a few days, the hubbub over that...situation...will settle down.  I don't want to have to field calls about your personal life while you're away."
         As if his father really knew anything about his personal life.  "If you receive any calls, give the caller my cell number," Brad said curtly.
         Phillip gave him a long look.  "I'll do just that."  Then he left Brad's office.
         Crossing to the doorway, Brad's gaze didn't follow his father as he left the office suite.  Rather, his eyes rested on Emily Stanton.  His secretary sat at her computer, headset on, transcribing yesterday's reports.
         Brad would never depend on a woman in his personal life.  He knew the foolishness in that...he knew the futility in that.  But in his professional life, Emily was as dependable as a woman got.  She was organized, punctual, thorough, and sometimes uncannily able to read his mind.  With her straight, dark brown hair--shoulder length and blunt--her bangs, her sedate always polite attitude, she didn't turn heads and she didn't flirt.  She was just available when he needed her, straight-forward in her manner, and an asset he didn't want to contemplate doing without.  She'd been with Vaughn for two years in its secretarial pool.  Six months ago when his secretary had taken maternity leave, Emily had applied for the promotion.  He knew from her personnel records she was twenty-seven, but he didn't know much else.  They'd never had a personal
discussion.
         Engrossed in her work, Emily wasn't even aware of him stepping out of his office.  Since she was wearing her headset, he clasped her shoulder, hoping not to startle her.  "Emily?"
         She gasped and came up out of her chair so fast her headset flew from her ears and landed on the computer keyboard.  They were standing toe to toe and almost nose to nose, except her nose came to the knot of his tie.  He suddenly realized how petite and fragile she seemed as he inhaled a flowery scent--lilacs, maybe?  Yes, Emily Stanton smelled like lilacs.  Had he ever been this close to her before?
         Trying to back up, she bumped into the desk.  "Mr. Vaughn!  Did you call me?  I didn't hear you come out of your office."
         "No, I didn't call you."  He motioned to the headset.  "I didn't think you'd hear me."
         She was wearing a two-piece black suit today with a boxy jacket and a straight skirt.  For the first time since he'd hired her, he noticed her eyes were the color of emeralds.
         For a moment, neither of them spoke, just gazed at each other.
         Then feeling a bit unsettled and not knowing exactly why, Brad asked, "Can you come into my office?  There's something I need to discuss with you."
         Emily's cheeks were flushed and she didn't appear to be her calm, cool self as she reached for the legal pad on her desk and a pen in the holder.  "Sure.  I'll be right in."
         Brad didn't wait but returned to his office and lowered himself into the tall burgundy leather chair behind his desk.
         Hurrying in after him, Emily took a seat in one of the two chairs facing him.  She was composed again, her legal pad and pen ready to take notes or directions.  Emily loved lists, he knew.  She stuck them on her
computer, on her keyboard, on her desk.  He supposed that's how she stayed organized.
         "I have a special assignment for you.  Something out of the ordinary."
         "A special assignment?" she repeated, looking perplexed.
         "Remember those notes you typed on Caleb Douglas?"  She'd stayed late last night to do it for him.
         "The man who thinks he owns a gold mine in Montana?"
         "He's the one.  By the way, thanks for staying late last night and deciphering my scribblings from the phone call with him."
         There were still spots of color on her cheeks.  "No problem.  I knew you wanted to start working on his case today."
         "There's some urgency in finding out whether he truly owns this mine or not.  Supposedly the gold mine was abandoned in the late eighteen hundreds.  But a couple of months ago, when a young boy fell down an
erosion hole into a mine canal, gold nuggets were found.  Caleb Douglas, of course, wants to mine any gold if it's there.  The problem is--he and his family can't find the deed."
         "And you're supposed to find it?"
         "I'm supposed to find out who truly owns the Queen of Hearts mine.  I doubt if I'll find the deed itself, but hopefully I can find some type of record that will prove Caleb Douglas is the rightful heir or the owner."
         "What do you want me to do?"
         As Brad's attention focused on Emily again and the expectant look on her face, he realized how cute she actually was.  Was he looking at her differently because he'd be traveling with her?  Because he was thinking about time they'd be spending together outside of the office?  Because he was thinking about how she'd look in blue jeans?
         Reminding himself that Emily wasn't the type of woman he dated for a multitude of reasons, he said evenly, "I'd like you to fly to Montana with me tomorrow.  As I said, I need to tie up this case quickly.  If
you're along, the work might go faster.  We might have to page through a lot of old records.  I might need to follow leads while you make calls."
         Her gaze dropped to his desk and the newspaper lying there.  Then she asked, "It would just be you and me?  Alone?"
         Brad had the reputation for being one of the most eligible bachelors in Chicago.  He had been dubbed that when a reporter had written an article about him after he'd returned to his home town.  Now he didn't
like that reputation any more than he liked the column that had appeared about him and Suzette in the morning paper.
         Picking up the newspaper, he folded it in half and tossed it into the trash can beside his desk.  "The allegations are false."
         To her credit, Emily didn't play dumb.  "It's none of my business," she said softly.
         "You're my secretary.  It's your business because I don't want unfounded gossip to keep you from taking this trip."
         "I'm surprised you're going away now," she admitted honestly.
         "I'm not going to let an unsubstantiated accusation interfere with my work or with my life."
         "I don't know, Mr. Vaughn..."
         "It's only for a few days, Emily.  There will be plenty of other people around.  We'll be busy with interviews and public records."
         "Where would we stay?"
         "There's an inn and a motel.  From what I understand, the town is readying itself for a new ski resort."
         Seeing indecision still on her face, he offered the one incentive he knew she'd understand and probably not resist.  "If you take this trip to Thunder Canyon with me, I'll toss in a bonus."  He named a sum that made
her eyes widen.
         "You're willing to pay that for my help?"
         "I'm willing to pay that for good help.  I need someone dependable, and you're dependable.  So what do you say?"
         After a few moments of hesitation, she asked, "When should I be ready to leave?"


From the book: CABIN FEVER by Karen Rose Smith, Silhouette, May 2005, ISBN:  0-373-24682-X, Copyright 2005, Harlequin Books S.A.

In October watch for Karen Rose Smith's Silhouette Signature Select single title, THE GOOD DOCTOR.  This is the fifth book in The Fortunes of Texas: Reunion continuity series.  In December, Karen Rose's next Silhouette Romance, TWELFTH NIGHT PROPOSAL, will be released.  It will be part of the Shakespeare in Love continuity series.

 

ORDER THIS BOOK! 
(this link opens a new browser window)

 MORE Chapter Previews

Biography | Guest Book | Bookshelf
Home Page | Newsletter

 

 

 

Special Offers for Authors on book promotion and web design

Get 2 BOOKS + a mystery gift  from  eHarlequin.com

 

Do you have some old dolls in the attic? If you have an old doll that's just collecting dust, or that's stored away in a box somewhere... Author Laura Mills-Alcott and her daughter restore old dolls from the 1920s - 1940s. They are currently buying dolls for a very special project, and may be interested in buying YOUR doll(s).  To find out more click here.

AUTHORS

The Romance Club Home Page