Rocky Mountain Maneuvers Read online

  Molly had the sense that someone was watching her.

  And not in a good way. These eyes from the dark weren’t the gaze of an admirer. She glanced over her shoulder and saw no one. Hustling across the dark parking lot, the high heels of her boots hit the asphalt with hard clicks. Was she imagining danger? Or did she have real cause for alarm? It was smart to assume the latter.

  Parked a couple of spaces from her car was a white van—the type of anonymous vehicle used for deliveries. She didn’t see a logo on the side. Suddenly, a tall figure dressed all in black leapt out. The face was a blank—hidden behind a ski mask. In the gloved hand of the attacker, Molly saw the gleam of a blade.

  Self-defense lessons from Adam told her to aim for the knees, groin or throat. And to make noise. With a loud yell, Molly kicked. With another yell, she yanked open the door to her car. If she could get inside, she’d be safe. As quickly as he appeared, her attacker vanished.

  Someone was trying to kill her….

  Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,

  Spring is in the air and we have a month of fabulous books for you to curl up with as the March winds howl outside:

  • Familiar is back on the prowl, in Caroline Burnes’s Familiar Texas. And Rocky Mountain Maneuvers marks the conclusion of Cassie Miles’s COLORADO CRIME CONSULTANTS trilogy.

  • Jessica Andersen brings us an exciting medical thriller, Covert M.D.

  • Don’t miss the next ECLIPSE title, Lisa Childs’s The Substitute Sister.

  • Definitely check out our April lineup. Debra Webb is starting THE ENFORCERS, an exciting new miniseries you won’t want to miss. Also look for a special 3-in-1 story from Rebecca York, Ann Voss Peterson and Patricia Rosemoor called Desert Sons.

  Each month, Harlequin Intrigue brings you a variety of heart-stopping romantic suspense and chilling mystery. Don’t miss a single book!

  Sincerely,

  Denise O’Sullivan

  Senior Editor

  Harlequin Intrigue

  ROCKY MOUNTAIN MANEUVERS

  CASSIE MILES

  To my marriageable daughters, Signe and Kersten.

  And, as always, to Rick.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Cassie Miles has learned a lot about the bridal biz from her children. Marriage planning is a fascinating and complex world where anything goes. Releasing live doves. Building centerpieces of fruit. Wedding cakes that are taller than the groom. Because so much can go wrong, a wedding is the perfect setting for suspense.

  When Cassie reviews all the exciting wedding ideas she got while researching Rocky Mountain Maneuvers, she comes up with one consistent conclusion for her children: “I’ll pay you to elope….”

  Books by Cassie Miles

  HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

  122—HIDE AND SEEK

  150—HANDLE WITH CARE

  237—HEARTBREAK HOTEL

  269—ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT?

  286—DON’T BE CRUEL

  320—MYSTERIOUS VOWS

  332—THE SUSPECT GROOM

  363—THE IMPOSTOR

  381—RULE BREAKER

  391—GUARDED MOMENTS

  402—A NEW YEAR’S CONVICTION

  443—A REAL ANGEL

  449—FORGET ME NOT

  521—FATHER, LOVER, BODYGUARD

  529—THE SAFE HOSTAGE

  584—UNDERCOVER PROTECTOR

  645—STATE OF EMERGENCY †

  649—WEDDING CAPTIVES †

  670—NOT ON HIS WATCH

  694—THE SECRET SHE KEEPS

  769—RESTLESS SPIRIT

  787—PROTECTING THE INNOCENT

  820—ROCKY MOUNTAIN MYSTERY *

  826—ROCKY MOUNTAIN MANHUNT *

  832—ROCKY MOUNTAIN MANEUVERS *

  HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

  567—BUFFALO McCLOUD

  574—BORROWED TIME

  HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

  61—ACTS OF MAGIC

  104—IT’S ONLY NATURAL

  170—SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES

  235—MONKEY BUSINESS

  305—UNDER LOCK AND KEY

  394—A RISKY PROPOSITION

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Molly Griffith—A leggy blonde with a shady past, Molly has worked for Colorado Crime Consultants since its start seven years ago.

  Adam Briggs—A former marine, Adam founded CCC. His dedication to fighting crime has left little time for a personal life.

  Pierce Williams—He got into the wedding planner business using contacts he made when he was a Denver Broncos football player.

  Gloria Vanderly—Pierce’s ex-wife operates a bridal boutique that handles the most fashionable, extravagant weddings.

  Stan Lansky—Gloria’s tailor works hard on bridal gown alterations and original designs.

  Denny Devlin—Once the premier caterer in town, his business has been struggling after an unfortunate setback.

  Ronald Atchison—The flamboyant wedding photographer has many artistic interests on the side.

  Lucien Smythe—His jewelry store provides loaned diamonds for many special events, including weddings.

  Phil Prath—His name is on the lease for renting Pierce’s classy loft in downtown Denver.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter One

  Midnight was the hour for lovers, dreamers and thieves. He waited patiently. Soon, it would be his time.

  For an hour and thirty-three minutes, the thief had crouched in the shadows of landscaped shrubbery and dry autumn flowers. He had watched the well-lit rear entrance to a sprawling Tudor mansion owned by one of Denver’s most prominent families. He had listened to bits of conversation as the French doors opened and closed.

  Rubbing his gloved hands together, he shivered in the night chill. These people should be going to bed soon. They had a wedding tomorrow. They needed their rest.

  The French doors opened again. The bride-to-be and her groom stepped outside. Unmindful of the cold, they strolled across the lawn and entered a gazebo that was only fifteen feet from where the thief was hidden.

  He held his breath. Clad in black, he was invisible in the night. In any case, these betrothed lovers wouldn’t notice him; they had eyes only for each other. The groom was tall and rugged. She was slender, blond and graceful. They whispered words of love. A soft murmur. A tender sigh.

  Their palpable joy offended the thief. He loathed these perfect people and their perfect lives. They had wealth, beauty and happiness. He had to struggle for scraps—working long hard hours and never getting ahead. Bitterness oozed through his veins like poison. His stomach cramped and he pinched his lips together, holding back his groans of misery and rage.

  The bride-to-be gazed up at her betrothed and said, “It’s late. You should go now.”

  Yesss. The thief mentally echoed her words. Go now.

  But the tall, rugged man replied, “I don’t want to leave you.”

  “After tomorrow,” she said, “we’ll be together.”

  “Forever.”

  Go now. Go now. The thief silently chanted.

  A new plan occurred to him. He might not have to risk a break-in. When the groom-to-be de
parted and the front door was opened, the electronic burglar alarm system would be deactivated. The thief could slide in and out without a trace. It was as if they were inviting him to steal their most precious treasures.

  He followed the lovers as they returned to the house. He paused on the flagstone terrace and peered through the windows on the French doors, watching as the young couple went toward the front of the house.

  The thief’s gloved hand rested on the door handle. An electric thrill surged through him. Would he be caught? Would he be safe?

  Opening the door, he darted inside. From the front of the house, he heard people saying their goodbyes. In moments, the doors would lock and the alarm system would be turned back on. Quick action was necessary.

  Silently, he entered a vast, opulent room. On long tables, the wedding gifts were displayed. Such an array! Such glittering riches!

  He helped himself to a shiny stainless steel gravy boat, a matching butter dish and a toaster, placing the objects into the padded pillowcase he carried with him.

  Quiet as a shadow, he crept across the plush carpet and returned to the night with his treasures.

  FOR ONCE, the unpredictable October weather in Colorado had cooperated. The temperature hovered near sixty-five degrees, and the skies were a perfect cloudless blue. It was a gorgeous afternoon for an outdoor ceremony. A wedding!

  Molly Griffith was delighted to be one of the guests. She loved weddings. She’d always been a party girl. From the time she was a kid, she enjoyed playing dress-up in the highest of high heels and feather boas and all the sparkle she could get her hands on. That was still her favorite style.

  For this event—a high society affair—she considered toning down. But why? If you’ve got it, flaunt it. And Molly had it. She might be past her twenties, but she could still turn heads. Today, her snug-fitting dress was colored in swirls that ranged from pastel to navy blue. The low, square neckline showed significant cleavage—one of her best features. Her bolero jacket had splashes of starburst sequins. And her long blond hair was upswept in curls that would have done Dolly Parton proud.

  She liked standing out in the small crowd that had gathered outside the French doors at the rear of the Carradine mansion. These other guests were the so-called beautiful people of Denver. The jet-setters. The rich and famous. Their glittering pendants, earrings and bracelets were genuine diamonds, rubies and pearls. Molly’s gaze fixed on a short woman, dressed in gray silk, with three carats on each earlobe. Wow! A regular person could buy a decent used car with those earrings.

  The wedding decorations were bold and striking—scarlet and gold flowers with flashes of iris blue. On the lawn, a few rows of chairs faced a bower of red roses entwined with golden aspen leaves. That was where the ceremony would take place. From the terrace, a harpist played a rippling crescendo.

  Weddings were just so beautiful! Molly beamed. “Isn’t this sweet?”

  Her companion, Adam Briggs, glanced at his wristwatch. “Aren’t they supposed to get started?”

  “In twenty minutes,” Molly said.

  “How long do we have to stay?”

  “We’re invited to the reception.”

  “Swell,” he muttered. “Fancy little sandwiches and fish eggs.”

  “Stop whining, Adam. You sound like a three-year-old kid.”

  However, as she glanced at him, she had to admit that he looked good. His three-piece charcoal suit was meticulously tailored. His trouser cuffs fell neatly over his polished black wingtips. His striped silk tie was in a perfect Windsor knot.

  Adam’s rigorous grooming was the result of the training he received in the Marine Corps, where he learned to hang all his shirts facing the same way, to visit the barber every three weeks and to align the buttons on his vest with the center button on his trouser waistband. He’d confided to her that one of the reasons he enlisted in the Corps was because they had the best uniforms. She responded with a suggestion that the Marines change their recruiting slogan to: The Few. The Proud. The Really Well-Dressed.

  Adam hadn’t laughed. He seldom did.

  You can take the man out of the Marines, but you can’t take the Marines out of the man. He’d retired from the military long ago and was now the head of Colorado Crime Consultants. For the past seven years, Molly had been his administrative assistant. Ironically, her early training and background were the direct opposite of Marine Corps discipline.

  “You clean up well,” she said. “You’re very handsome today.”

  “Right.” He stood at ease with his hands loosely clasped behind his back.

  “Now you’re supposed to say, ‘Molly, you look nice, too.’”

  “Nice.” He nodded briskly. “I like blue.”

  She’d spent hours shopping for this outfit. In her humble opinion, she looked spectacular. And all Adam could say was, “I like blue.”

  She should have been accustomed to the lack of compliments. After their years together, he probably didn’t even notice that she was female. If she sat behind her desk, completely naked and painted green, he wouldn’t look twice.

  Recognizing a friendly face in the crowd, she waved.

  “Who’s that?” Adam asked.

  “You’ve met him before. Pierce Williams. He’s the wedding planner.”

  “Interesting,” Adam said.

  Pierce was well over six feet, a little taller than Adam, and built like a brick wall, solid from the ground up. “He used to play for the Broncos.”

  “A football player,” Adam said. “How did he end up planning weddings?”

  “When he was a Bronco, he made outstanding social contacts with people who had the bucks to hire planners. And Pierce always had a talent for throwing great parties.”

  “Beer bashes,” Adam said.

  “To start with,” she conceded. “Then he graduated to these fancy affairs. It’s all a matter of planning, you know.”

  She’d met Pierce years ago when they were both taking night school classes on organizational management. After class, they discovered that they had more in common than an appreciation for wedding ceremonies. Both were raised in the foster care system. Both had, in their youth, run afoul of the law. Both had turned their lives around.

  She was proud of his success. Big, burly Pierce Williams had become Denver’s premier wedding planner.

  “Molly!” Pierce strode toward her. “Wow, babe. You look incredible.”

  She gave him a friendly hug. “I really like the decorations. They’re totally autumn.”

  “How about the harpist?”

  “Very classy.”

  “This is my favorite kind of event. Small but elegant.” He grinned. “With an unlimited budget.”

  “Not to mention that the bride and groom are terrific people.”

  “How do you know Kate and Liam?” Pierce asked.

  Adam replied, “Liam does volunteer work for CCC.”

  “Colorado Crime Consultants,” Pierce said. A frown pulled at the corner of his mouth, and he lowered his voice. “I’m glad I ran into you two. I’ve got a problem you might be able to help me with.”

  “Tell me,” Molly said.

  “Theft.” Pierce guided them to one side of the ter race where they could talk in relative privacy. “Last night, somebody broke into the house and stole some of the wedding gifts.”

  “Did you file a police report?” Adam asked.

  “Not yet. I didn’t want to disrupt the wedding day with a police investigation, and the stuff that was taken wasn’t particularly valuable.” His big hands gestured helplessly. “A gravy boat, a butter dish and a toaster.”

  Molly was intrigued. “Why would anybody steal stuff like that?”

  “Beats me,” Pierce said. “And this isn’t the first time gifts have been stolen. At another wedding I planned, a robbery took place in the bride’s home while everybody was out at the ceremony. Just last week, the thief struck at the reception after the wedding.”

  “What happened?” Molly asked.
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br />   “He stole a lady’s wristwatch and a fancy pin. Cheap costume jewelry. Apparently, it happened during the dancing. There was an oldies band.”

  Knowingly, Molly nodded. A dance floor with everybody bouncing around and bumping into each other was tailor-made for picking pockets—a skill she’d used herself. “Was the watch valuable?”

  Pierce shook his head. “None of the stuff that’s been stolen is worth much. This thief is like a magpie bird, stealing shiny objects for his nest.”

  A magpie. Molly liked that comparison. She knew from experience that thieves came in many types, ranging from pathetically driven kleptomaniacs to slick professional businessmen who made a decent living fencing other people’s belongings.

  In her own situation, when she’d tried her hand at theft, she’d been dead broke and homeless. Desperate need had driven her to become a pickpocket. However, as she developed her skill, she discovered that she got a charge out of stealing. The whiff of danger made her life a little more exciting.

  It was lucky for her that Adam had come along when he did. He’d caught her when she tried to lift his wallet. Instead of turning her over to the police, he gave her a respectable job. His influence put her on the straight and narrow, and she liked walking that path. She had vowed never to sink into crime again.

  Sometimes, though, she missed the thrill.

  “Pierce, this doesn’t sound like a huge problem. A couple of trinkets go missing. So what?”

  “It’s bad for my business.” He shrugged his heavy shoulders, shaking off the potential embarrassment of petty theft. “Anyhow, I thought maybe you and Adam could catch my magpie.”

  “Sorry,” Adam said quickly. “CCC doesn’t take on private investigations.”

  “Why not? I know this isn’t a big deal, but it’s still crime.”