{"product_id":"unmasking-kelsey-isbn-9780553590708","title":"Unmasking Kelsey","description":"\u003cb\u003eAll is not as it seems as a daring undercover agent and an unconventional southern belle mix business with pleasure in this classic story of romance and suspense from \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Kay Hooper.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Kelsey has come to the idyllic southern town of Pinnacle to investigate a shady company called Meditron, which has a ruthless way of getting what it wants—or so claims the desperate caller who contacts the FBI. The locals won’t talk about Meditron. But Kelsey is an expert interrogator, prepared to use his seductive charms to his every advantage. He just hadn’t counted on falling for the beautiful witness at the center of his investigation.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Elizabeth Conner is too proud to ask for any sort of assistance. She never needed help raising her three willful younger sisters. But now her family is in serious trouble, and Elizabeth’s stubborn independence is a deadly liability. And then Kelsey sweeps her up—and into his arms—like a force of nature, promising to protect Elizabeth and her sisters from a relentless enemy. Elizabeth never imagined letting any man get too close, let alone one who can’t even disclose his full name. But daring to trust this tempting stranger is a danger she must embrace.\u003cb\u003eKay Hooper\u003c\/b\u003e, who has more than thirteen million copies of her books in print worldwide, has won numerous awards and high praise for her novels. She lives in North Carolina.One \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Move it or lose it, buddy!” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf  Kelsey had  obeyed  his  common   sense,  he would  have moved it. However, as the command woke him up quite abruptly  from a sound,   exhausted sleep, and as he was feeling a bit irascible because of it, he chose to force the issue.  So, in his best Bogart imitation,  he growled, “Scram!” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe wisdom of that response was instantly in doubt when he felt the cold hardness of a gun barrel against his neck. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a matter-of-fact  voice that  was  musical  and yet held all the softness  of an angry drill sergeant’s, the  woman  said, “Any  last words? A cigarette and a blindfold,  maybe?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSitting very still,  Kelsey  chose to respond to the steely voice rather than the flippant words. “Uh— can we  back  up a  little? I don’t  know who you are, but—” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“That makes us even, doesn’t it? All I know is that this piece of junk is parked on my land and you’re in it. I get jumpy  when strangers  park on my land.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKelsey  wanted badly to turn his head and look at the woman, but didn’t dare. “Look, I’m harm- less,” he insisted  in his most bland and unthreatening  voice. “I drove  all night and I was tired, so I just pulled off the road to sleep. I didn’t know this was private land.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Now you do. Move it out.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Did  anybody  ever  tell you that you have   a wonderfully light conversational  touch?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I said  beat it!” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe had her hand through  the window  in back, he realized,  so opening his door suddenly wouldn’t throw off her balance. Then he caught a sudden glimpse of her hand in the rearview mirror, and he almost laughed.   Instead,    he   reached  over his shoulder abruptly and took her “gun” away from her.  It  was an  empty  soft drink  bottle,   and  he stared at it in disgust. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf all the childish  tricks to be taken  in by! Muttering to himself, Kelsey tossed the bottle \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethrough  the window,   then opened his door and got out of the car. He fully intended to pour his wrath all over her, but when he turned and got his first look at his attacker, wrath was the last thing on his mind. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe stood confronting  him,  stiff  and   angry, magnificent  green eyes blazing  with temper.  Her incredibly  pale silver hair was piled atop her head in what  he vaguely recognized as a chignon,  with tendrils escaping  to frame her face.  And Kelsey had never seen such a stunningly  beautiful woman in all his life. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo one—man or woman—would  ever call her merely “pretty.” She had the rarest kind of beauty, the  beauty  of bone structure   and coloring   that would remain with her all the days of her life. Her eyes were large and almond-shaped,  fringed  with long dark lashes,  and their color was so vivid a green, they were almost  iridescent.  Her every feature was finely sculpted,  and each blended so that her  face was  quite  simply perfect. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Close your mouth!” she snapped. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe did,  then opened it again to laugh. “Damn, but  you’re lovely!” he said. And he was intrigued to note that not even a scowl  could make her face less than beautiful. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe put her hands  on her hips, continuing to glare.  “Am I going to have to call the cops to get you off my  land?” she demanded. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKelsey was trying to ignore  the effect she was having on his senses, which was rather like trying to ignore a tornado while  standing just under the funnel.  “Um, you just might,” he confessed, feel- ing somewhat dazed. And in the back of his mind, behind all the rational,  logical reasons why he just couldn’t, not now, a little voice was groaning, Oh, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ehell, what lousy timing! \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe blinked, and  humor shone  briefly in  her eyes before temper rose up again. She turned  her head and whistled sharply between her teeth. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer teeth were lovely  too, he noticed. And  the jeans and T-shirt she wore did absolutely nothing to hide the fact that  nature  had been as wonder- fully  generous below  her neck  as  above. Kelsey decided  he  was dreaming. He decided  he  didn’t want to wake  up. Then he  became aware   that something was growling  near his left hip, and he tore his gaze from her to look down. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe woke up. In a hurry. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was disguised  as a dog, but from the sound it was making, Kelsey deduced that  it was  either  a grizzly bear or a Tasmanian devil. Its fangs looked perfectly   capable of devouring   a whole   steer,  a redwood  tree trunk, or Kelsey’s  leg—which was what was closest at the moment. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCareful  to keep  his voice  mild, Kelsey asked, “What the hell is that?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“My dog. His  name is Lobo. That means wolf. Lobo doesn’t  like strangers  either.  Now, unless you  can show  me a badge—state or federal—and a warrant,  along with a gun big enough to frighten \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLobo, you’d better clear out.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Right.”  He edged  carefully  back into his car and shut the door  with absolute quiet,  but then hesitated. Looking at the face he knew  he’d never forget if he lived to be a hundred,  he said  quietly, “At least tell me your name.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe stood with one hand on the bristling ruff of her dog  and  stared  at  him for a  long moment. “Elizabeth  Conner,”  she said, and  seemed  surprised that she’d said it. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Thank you. My name’s  Kelsey,”  he  told her, and then started his car and drove away. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe town  was named Pinnacle,  and it had never lived up to its christening. A sleepy little village with a city limit that  was  about  a mile long  and half as wide, it was tucked away in the country- side like a trail forgotten by time. The nearest interstate highway  was ten miles away, the nearest city of any size a hundred,   and if it was on any state map, it boasted only a pinprick  with which to mark its location. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut as  Kelsey drove  his battered  Ford slowly through two caution lights on Main Street,  he de- cided that Pinnacle  had, somewhere,  an ace up  its sleeve. He had spent nearly two hours driving all around Pinnacle before venturing  in, and from that had  concluded  that the  town would be  a stagnating, dying one. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere appeared  to be  few income-producing resources  in  the   rural  county. Scant acres   of usable, productive farmland,  no river or stream of any size, nothing to attract tourists, one lone industrial plant  called Meditron  operating about five miles from town, and  if  a  company   or private individual was cutting timber,   it  was well-hidden. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo Kelsey had expected a dying town,  one being slowly choked to death by its own limitations. He expected to see few  young  people, no new businesses or construction,  and signs of decay every- where. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was wrong on all counts. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe downtown   area boasted several  establishments of considerable size, all in excellent repair and, judging  by traffic  along the busy sidewalks on a weekday,  flourishing  nicely. At a rough  estimate the  population   on the  streets   today  had a median   age of thirty and an income  way  above average, leaving  folks with a lot of money to spend on themselves. Most of the cars on the picturesque street were late models, and there wasn’t a  weed,  a  broken-down    building, or  crooked street sign anywhere to be seen. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Damn,”    Kelsey  murmured. He  continued down  the main  street  and out of the downtown area, looking  left and right to study some fine old homes  and  tasteful   new ones, a  compact   little shopping  center doing brisk business,  an obviously  new high school, and other signs  of a healthy economy. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA county sheriff’s patrol  car cruised past in the other lane, and Kelsey  looked in the rearview mirror and watched as  it pulled into a parking   lot, backed out again, and fell in behind his own car. “Double  damn,”  he  muttered.    It  could   have been coincidental,   of course, but he  doubted  it. Kelsey didn’t have a great  deal of faith in coincidence. And he remembered, then,  that  Elizabeth Conner  had ordered him off her land unless he could  produce  a badge—“state or federal.” So, didn’t  the  beautiful,   bristly  lady trust  the  local police? Now, that was interesting. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat was interesting  as hell. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKelsey found a  small, neat  motel about  two miles from the  city limits  and  pulled in  there, nearly  rammed head-on by a flashy sports car that was exiting at  the  same  moment.  Hanging   his head out the window,  he roared a few choice expletives,  saw  a faintly apologetic salute  from the other driver, and parked  his car with half his attention on that task and half on the patrol  car that had departed, siren wailing, after the sports car. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe grinned   a little, then got out of his car and went  to acquire   a  room for himself. The result was a room,  no more and no less; it was neat and clean and impersonal,   and he barely  glanced at the   bland colors and   sturdy  furniture  before dumping his bag and busying  himself   in showering and shaving. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe hardly looked at the face in the steamed mirror  while he shaved automatically,   but thought instead about everything  he had seen and the conclusions he had reached. And  he told himself that Elizabeth Conner  figured  prominently  in  those thoughts  only because  she looked  like  a  good place to start. That was all, of course. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSure it was. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKelsey  changed    into  clean    clothes, faintly amused at himself  for even thinking to check the shine of his shoes before leaving his room. He re- turned to his car, chose a less  public  road to leave the small town, and  made only one stop before finding his way back to the place he had parked  for sleep  that morning. He took the  precaution  of parking  his car  out of sight behind  a thicket   of brambles, then moved cautiously  up the dirt road, which led to a sprawling farmhouse in the distance. He was automatically taking stock as he went, noting that all the acreage on  one side  of the dirt drive was given  over to a  flourishing orchard; peaches, he guessed uncertainly,  since he wasn’t familiar with the  spring blossoms   covering  the short, gnarled trees planted in neat rows. On the other side of the  drive was pastureland  surrounded  by a barbed wire  fence; there was an elusively bare look to that land,  as if little time or money  had been spent  in cultivating  the thick stand of grass there. From that  evidence, he concluded  the  pasture  was not a  money-making proposition,  but merely used for the three or four horses  he could see in the distance  near a tumble- down barn. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKelsey was still  a  good  hundred   yards away from the sprawling  white house when he was con- fronted  by the  growling, clearly  hostile Tasmanian devil disguised   as  a dog.  Promptly, he  sat down in the middle  of the  dusty drive, reached into the paper bag he carried,  produced a large soup  bone, and began talking to Lobo. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Yes, but who was he?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth  brushed a strand  of silvery hair from her hot brow and frowned  at her younger sister. “I didn’t ask, Ami. Just some man who pulled off the  road  to sleep.  Now, would you please  stop waving that knife around and use it on the potatoes?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmi, who at fourteen was coping with the physical uproar of adolescent hormones  and who  was glumly convinced  she was the  ugliest creature since the proverbial  duckling,  looked at the older sister who had  virtually raised  her and  felt de- pressed. Not  that  any   woman, she thought vaguely, wouldn’t be depressed  when  she looked at Beth. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWielding her knife efficiently, Ami sent sidelong glances  at  her beautiful  sister and thought   disjointedly  that Beth shouldn’t  be  stuck way out here in the middle  of nowhere.   She  should   be a model,  or  actress . . . or . . . or  a   queen.   There should be  a   gallant    prince for  her,  one   who wouldn’t mind baby sisters with a lot of growing left to do before they could leave the nest. A prince with broad shoulders  and a laugh in his eyes, one who could  carry Beth’s  burdens  and take  away that awful strained look in her eyes. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA prince who would  punch Blaine  Mallory in the nose. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Ami.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hmmm?” Dwelling on the lovely  vision, Ami blinked  and saw her sister holding up a potato denuded  of much more  than  its skin.  “Oh,   I’m sorry, Beth, I just—” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I know.” Elizabeth  smoothed her sister’s long pale hair and smiled   a little. “Daydreaming. But could  you keep  your mind on this until we  get supper finished,  sweetie?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Okay.”  Ami was intensely  grateful that Beth never  made fun of her daydreaming, or her constant bouts with awkwardness  as she tried to ad- just to the added inches  that  had come upon  her with startling suddenness.  And Beth never  got mad at her for blurting  out whatever popped into her head, like when she had asked Blaine  Mallory why he smiled with his teeth but never his eyes. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf she had to have a gorgeous  sister, at least she was glad  it  was Beth. Now, Meg,  on the  other hand— \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I see the chickens   are going  to get  a lot more potato  than skin  again,  half-pint. Where does your mind  go?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmi bristled  instantly.  “It was your  turn to do this, Meg, but you had to parade those  shorts of yours in town hoping Jeff Mallory would  see!” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“That’s  enough,”  Elizabeth said mildly before Meg could voice the retort  hovering hotly on her lips.  “Here,  Meg, take this  and  set the  table, please.” She  handed her  younger   sister a handful of silverware,   meeting the mutinous blue-green eyes   steadily until  Meg turned away   with  a flounce. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnder her breath, Ami muttered, “The whole town’s talking about her, Beth.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth  sent her a small smile, but said nothing. Still, Ami could see the increased  worry in her sister’s eyes when they rested on Meg, and it infuriated her. What was wrong with Meg, adding to Beth’s troubles like she did?  She seemed hellbent to prove she was as beautiful  as her sister, and it just wouldn’t happen. Not that Meg wasn’t pretty, Ami decided with reluctant fairness.  She was. She had   the   pale  hair  of  all  the   sisters,  and   her blue-green   eyes  would be   lovely if  only  they weren’t  so sulky, and her face was  delicate.  Her figure was good too, except that she insisted  on dressing it scantily in shorts, tops,  and jeans that were indecently tight. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe was sixteen,  and certainly  old enough  to know  how  dangerous her games were. She flitted from one  boy to another,  reckless, dissatisfied with them after a short while.  She wore too much makeup and swore too much, and she both drank and smoked when she was out of Beth’s sight. She thought Beth didn’t know. Idiot, Ami decided irritably. Of course Beth knew. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Are the potatoes ready, sweetie?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmi handed over  the peeled and sliced  vegetables,  and she felt absolutely wild for a moment. They were increasingly   common,  these  violent emotions;  she often burst into tears when some- thing upset  her,  astonished  by her own lack of control. It would  get better in time, Beth had told her gently. When her mind  and emotions  caught up with her maturing body, it would  get better. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut for now,  she made an incoherent  sound  and then said intensely,  “I have to go outside,  Beth!  I can’t stand it when Meg acts like this! I just can’t!” “All  right, honey.”  Beth smiled  at her,  under- standing.   “But  don’t  go  far.  Supper  in  half an \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ehour.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmi nodded,  rushing out the  back  door as  if some demon pursued her, and managing to make it around the corner of the house before she burst into tears. She swiped  at the wetness  angrily as she stalked toward  the driveway,  feeling so frustrated and worried  that she didn’t know where to turn. She couldn’t  tell Beth about part of it, be- cause  her sister would only worry more if  she knew that Ami had  overheard   a  few conversations she shouldn’t have  and  had  guessed  what was going on; Beth, as always, was trying  to shield her younger sisters, and  had  accepted the burden onto her own shoulders. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd it just wasn’t right, dammit! “Hello.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmi nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked up—a long way up—and felt her breath  catch on a  last sob. Heavens,  but the  man  was big! He reminded her of a soldier  she had seen once, large and powerful  but with a way  of moving  and even a way  of standing  that  made you forget  he was huge. And  he had a lean face that  was  smiling, a not  really  handsome  face but  oddly  pleasant.  His hair was  a rusty shade of brown  and his friendly eyes  were  a color somewhere  between blue  and gray. And  even though  Ami felt—knew—instantly that here  was the  prince  she had  hoped  for,  a shrewd part of her mind was wary. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKelsey  had seen the girl bolt around the corner of the house  as if she were running  from some- thing, and  he  had  had  a  few moments  to take stock  as she approached him. Definitely   a sister, he had decided; she was too old to be a daughter— fourteen or fifteen, he guessed.  Her slender body showed  hints of womanhood  but was still  ungainly in the transition of adolescence. Her long hair was pale  and  baby-fine,  her thin little face filled with the  sharp angles  that promised  later beauty in bone structure  but presently   made her features ill-matched; she would  be as lovely  as her sister, he knew,  within a few  years. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hello,” he offered, intentionally  low-key and friendly. And  he studied her as she stood  staring at  him. Haunting eyes,  he  thought,   more blue than green and presently anxious beneath the surprise. She stood poised like a startled  fawn,  and he  felt a  curious and  unaccustomed gentleness soften something deep inside him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe was just  a  baby,  a  worried and  anxious baby troubled  by more than the chaos of her maturing self. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I  was here this morning,”  he went  on in the same low, pleasant  tone,  seeking  to ease her  wariness. “Your sister—must be your sister—ran me off. Elizabeth?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Yes.”  Her voice  was soft, curiously wondering.   “Beth.  I’m—I’m Ami.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe instant he  heard  her voice,  his eyes  narrowed briefly, but his own voice remained friendly. “Hello, Ami.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Why  did  you  come back?” she asked,  not  as if she didn’t know the reason, but as if she wanted confirmation of some private deduction. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKelsey debated briefly, but found that no inner decision  was necessary.  Honestly, he  said, “I wanted to see Elizabeth  again. I think she’s worried about something,  and I want to help her.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmi’s  wide  gaze dropped  to bemusedly  watch his fingers moving in the ruff of the big  dog be- side him. “You made friends with Lobo? He’s al- ways hated men. He bit Blaine  once,” she confided with an air that was half pleasure and half guilt. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Blaine?”  His  interest  quickened; it looked  as though his Irish luck  had come through  yet again. Ami chewed her lower  lip, her gaze returning to his face. Instead of responding to his question,  she \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003easked one of her own.  “Who are you?” “My name’s Kelsey, Ami.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe didn’t  appear  to find the answer lacking. “Kelsey.  I like that. Would you stay for supper, Kelsey?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLaughter   leapt  to his  eyes.    “I’d love to. But don’t  you think we  should ask Elizabeth  about that?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere  was a stirring gleam of amusement in her own  eyes, as if she were hugely enjoying herself. “It’s my house too. You’ll be my guest, okay?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Okay.”  He accepted the  slender   little  hand that  reached trustfully for his own,  vaguely conscious that this was hardly  something he had bar- gained for. This little fawn had seemingly  adopted him with startling swiftness, and he couldn’t help but believe that her older sister was not going to like it. Still,  it was incredibly lucky that  he had stumbled into just the place he needed to be. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Why were you crying,  Ami?” he asked as they walked toward the   house with  Lobo pacing silently beside them. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Because  I’m a teenager,” she said baldly with a rueful shake of her head.  “I cry over everything. But Beth says I’ll grow   out of it. I just hope it’s soon.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBoth amused  and  sympathetic,   he  said, “It’s rough, isn’t it? You feel like yelling or crying,  and your body doesn’t want to work right and nothing fits anymore.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe looked  up at him, grateful.  “Yes! Just like that. And I suppose one has to go through  it, but it’s terrible.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe smiled down at her. “You live here with your parents?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmi shook  her head. “Our parents were killed in a car crash  ten years  ago. I was just four, so I hardly remember   them. Beth raised me—and Meg, who’s sixteen. I guess she raised Jo too; Jo’s twenty-three now and doesn’t live at home much anymore.”  She frowned broodingly,  her anxiety increasing. Then  she shook off whatever disturbed her. “I’m  glad Beth  was old enough then to convince  the  judge we didn’t  need anyone  else,  but she was only sixteen. It hasn’t been easy for her.” Ami looked up at him with faint entreaty.  “So if she snaps at   you—or acts   all  prickly  like brambles—you’ll  remember  that, won’t  you? That it hasn’t been easy for her?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I’ll  remember,  Ami,”  he  told her gently,  and thought to himself  that “Beth” had  done  a good job in raising this one. “So there  are four of you?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Uh-huh.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSomething tugged at him.  “Your   names . . . there’s something familiar  about them.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Little  Women.” Ami grinned.  “I doubt  you read the book; most men won’t admit to it even if they did. But you probably saw one of the movies. We  weren’t  named  in order,  since  Beth is  older than Jo, but Mama loved that book.  I think she changed the order  because she was  superstitious; Beth died in the story, you know.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe remembered then.  “Of course.  I did see  a movie.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“We get teased sometimes,”   Ami confided. She led him up onto  a wide front porch and through the door into the house, allowing  the dog to come in with them. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was a comfortable  house. Old enough to possess the rabbit  warren  of small rooms that had been common  when  it  was built, it  had clearly been remodeled   within the  past  few years.  The rooms were  large  and airy, with pale  walls and shining wood floors dotted  here  and there  with thick rugs. The color  scheme was mostly pastels, cool blues,  and greens, with occasional splashes of brighter  colors.  There  was a great deal of quiet taste in the decorating,  and Kelsey’s shrewd  eyes saw also that whoever  had done the  house  had been working with a limited  budget and had done wonders with the place. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen  he was being led into  a bright  kitchen, and Kelsey found himself confronting  the beautiful Elizabeth. She turned  from a  stove   from which appetizing  scents wafted,  and froze the moment she saw him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd  Kelsey  had a conflicting  set of impressions and feelings.  She was,  he saw, even more beautiful than  he remembered.  Even obviously hot and  a little tired, she was  lovely. Strands of silver hair clung to her damp  brow and throat,  her iridescent green eyes were wide and angry, her magnificent body  stiff. She didn’t want him here, didn’t want  him here  at  all, he realized,   and  this was where he had to be. Where  he suddenly  wanted to be—and not for professional reasons. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs with Ami, he could see an underlying anxiety in  her eyes,  and  there  were  hints of strain he hadn’t  noticed before; at that  first  meeting, he’d been too  overwhelmed  by her to see much more than surface beauty. But now he saw. He saw the evidence of stress on her face, the  faint shadows beneath  her eyes  and  the  look of utter control holding  her features.  He saw a  mouth  innately curved with humor but held in a  tight line, saw from the fit of her jeans that she had lost weight recently. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe wanted to help her. Suddenly,  more than he had ever wanted anything  in his life, he wanted to help her. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hi,” he said lightly. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBefore Elizabeth  could utter a  word, Ami said firmly, “This is Kelsey, Beth. You remember him from this morning. I’ve invited him to supper.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter a  moment,    Elizabeth said, “Ami,  Meg went up to her room. Could you go and tell her supper’s ready,  please?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer younger sister hesitated, then nodded. And the glance she left Kelsey with was full of entreaty. Unconsciously, he braced himself and returned his gaze to Elizabeth. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What do you want?” she asked tautly  the moment Ami vanished. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll Kelsey’s instincts told him that this woman would not be  put off with vague reasons.  So he folded  his  arms across his  chest,   leaned  back against the doorjamb,  and met her eyes squarely. “I want  to know,” he said quietly,  “why you distrust the local  police. I want to know what it is you’re  worried stiff  about.”  He reflected  for  a moment,  seeing her tension   increase.  “I want  to know who Blaine is,  and  why Ami was happy that Lobo bit him.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Get out  of here.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs if  he  hadn’t  heard,  Kelsey went  on. “I’ve come  to a  few conclusions on my own. I drove through  Pinnacle today. I have a room  there,  by the way.  And I was absolutely  fascinated to see what  should   be a dying  town flourishing. Obviously, it’s  a  company   town, and  obviously the company pays well. But it’s odd, Elizabeth  Conner, because that company  isn’t very well known.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I said—” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Doesn’t  look all that big either.”  Seeming to ignore her interruption, he was  watching  her intently.  “Meditron,  a company listed  as manufacturing medical  equipment.  Their  books show a modest  profit, nothing spectacular.  I drove  by there today. They have a surprising amount of security; it isn’t exactly usual  for armed guards  to man an entrance gate for such a small  company— unless they’re  doing  something  inside that they don’t want people to know  about.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“That  has nothing  to do  with me,”  she said tightly. “I don’t work at Meditron.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I know.” He ventured  a small  smile.  “You raise peaches and sisters. I haven’t met the other  two, but it’s obvious Ami is worried to death  because you  are  worried. Now, since  this is  a  tight-knit company  town with the  local  law enforcement quite probably  company-owned, I have to won- der.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Who are you?” she whispered. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter a  moment,   he  shrugged.   “If  I told you who I worked for, it wouldn’t mean anything  to you. We aren’t listed in the phone book and don’t offer guided tours of the home office. We’re—uh, troubleshooters, for want of a  better   word. We got a tip that something was rotten in Pinnacle. A call from a distraught   young  lady  was recorded by the FBI—the Washington  office, by the way. It seems she wasn’t  even sure of the state boys,  so she called the national  office. She was too frightened to leave her name, and she was virtually in- coherent. But it was clear she was worried  about something going on at Meditron.  They were doing bad things out there, she said.  And she said other things. That they were hurting  people. Particular  people.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth  was frowning  a little, wariness in her eyes. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The matter was passed on to us,” Kelsey went on. “I got  the  job. Turning up on your doorstep was  a piece of luck I hadn’t counted  on.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer frown deepened. “I told  you,  I don’t—” “Ami made the call, Elizabeth.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe went white. “That’s crazy! Ami is fourteen, and she never goes around  Meditron. She wouldn’t know—” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“No,”   Kelsey agreed   softly.  “She   wouldn’t know, would  she? Unless she  had . . . overheard something? Unless she was convinced  that your anxiety  was tied up with Meditron. Unless she had realized  what had happened to worry you so. Where’s your other sister, Elizabeth? Where’s Jo?” She was utterly still,  dead white, and there was anguish in her eyes.  Then it was gone, and she was in control again. “Get out  of my house,” she \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003esaid flatly. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Let me help you.” “Get out.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKelsey drew a deep breath and released it slowly. “And if I did leave? I’m still on this job, Elizabeth, I still  have to find out what’s going on, whether you help me or not. It’s what I do. I stick my nose into things and  I turn over rocks to see what crawls out from under them. I shake the cage un- til something rattles loose. And if your sister’s in that cage,  she could  get hurt.”  He paused.  “Of course, you  could stop me.   You  could call Meditron—or  Blaine Mallory; he runs the place, doesn’t  he?  You could  call him and  warn him about  me.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Stop it,” she","brand":"Bantam","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305112293605,"sku":"NP9780553590708","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780553590708.jpg?v=1767743279","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/unmasking-kelsey-isbn-9780553590708","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}