Missing, But Not Dead: Amethyst Cove, #2

By Christiane France

When Greg Stewartson, ex-cop, private investigator, and half-owner of Amethyst Cove Security & Investigations, meets Ash Tyler, a handsome and very sexy nurse, their mutual attraction turns Greg’s world upside down. Greg would love to just concentrate on their budding romance. But he also wants to help Ash find his biological family—the one Ash says he had before he was taken into care, adopted and moved from California to Michigan more than twenty years ago. Although if they were Ash’s real family what made them vanish almost as effectively as if they’d never existed in the first place?   

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris Grover
• Release date: Apr 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524296896

Book preview

For My Boys

MISSING, BUT NOT DEAD

I should have been on my way to an appointment—the kind that could net a new client for Amethyst Cove Security & Investigations. Instead, I was sitting here on the rocks, watching the sun disappear below the horizon in a blaze of glory, and trying my best not to feel guilty. The sunsets we get on the California coast are my passion, a big part of my reason for living at the beach. Add to that the salty smell of the sea and the sound of the waves and, as sometimes happens, I’d allowed myself to get distracted.

No two sunsets are ever the same, and tonight’s show was beyond spectacular. It had started with the palest lemon, then as the light faded, made its way through a variety of yellows, golds, and a dozen different shades of coral. Now it had gradually deepened to a beautiful dark orange interspersed with a few streaks of charcoal and lavender.

Hey, finally we meet again. I was beginning to think you were a figment of my imagination.

The voice took me by surprise. I tensed, then turned to see a man my trained eye judged to be in his late twenties standing just a few feet away.

It was almost dark with stretches of empty sand on either side of us and only the Pacific Ocean and the incoming tide as witness. Muggings aren’t something we see much of along this part of the coast, but that’s not to say they never happen. As an ex-cop and now co-owner of Amethyst Cove Security, I take nothing at face value.

I stared at him head on, trapping his gaze. Like me, he was tall with dark hair and dark eyes. Whoever he was, he had a nice, well-toned body and better than average good looks, but he came across as a pretty boy rather than a fighter. If he tried anything stupid, I could take him in one move, no sweat. We’ve met before?

It was quite a while ago. But for some reason your face has stuck in my mind. He shrugged. Sorry if I gave you a scare just now. I guess you don’t remember me?

If we’d met before, maybe at a bar or one of the clubs in town, I didn’t remember. Even so, he reminded me of someone. I couldn’t think who—a face on TV, someone I’d met casually and exchanged a few words with. Whatever! The deep surfer tan, the fashionably short hairstyle, plus the denim cut-offs, flip flops and white muscle shirt made him virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the around-thirty male population here in the Cove. He came across as relaxed and friendly, no sign of the stiff stance and shifty glances of someone about to pounce or the ready to run. You’re saying we’ve met before? You sure about that?

His smile was lethal, the kind that engaged his eyes, his mouth, and made for a whole lot of subtle body language I couldn’t ignore. He was hot, no question. Hot enough to make me catch my breath and wonder if he was available. I clamped down on the thought. I was supposed to be working, not cruising.

About as sure as I can be without actual proof. Like I said, it was quite a while ago, but unless you have an identical twin brother, it had to be you. I’m good at remembering faces. Photographic memory, or so I’ve been told. You’re a cop, right?

I was at one time.

I knew it. It was a traffic accident not far from here. Three or four vehicles were involved, and you were the only officer present. I’m a nurse, so I stopped to ask if there was anything I could do to help.

During my years on the force, I’d attended dozens of accidents along this stretch of the coast road, everything from simple fender benders to multi-vehicle pile-ups. There had been nothing unusual about people stopping to look, or gawp as my English-born mom would say, or even offering their help on occasion. Sorry, I don’t remember.

That’s okay. A couple of minutes after I got there, an ambulance and more cops arrived. You said you had everything under control and that was fine with me. I had somewhere else to be anyway, so I took off.

What? You were on your way to a hot date?

No such luck. He laughed and shook his head. A job interview at the hospital in town, and I didn’t want to be late.

Did you get it?

No luck there either. I wasn’t what they were looking for. They wanted someone with a minimum of five years operating room experience. But hey, that’s how it goes, right? Some you win, and some you lose.

Ain’t that the truth? I tried not to think too hard about my own record in that regard—especially in the personal relationships department. If I didn’t soon up my game the wins would get washed away by the losses.

My last relationship had failed because of distance Tim lived in San Francisco and I lived down here in the Cove. Since then, I’d stayed clear of commitment and found temporary company whenever I felt the need. It worked for me. Maybe I was one of those people whom Destiny had decided should live alone. And maybe it was my own fault. I was too picky, too caught up in my work, too... Whatever. I didn’t have the time or the energy to contemplate that particular issue. It was almost dark, the sun just a thin bright line on the edge of the world. I also didn’t want to leave and do what I was supposed to be