New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann has thrilled audiences with her Tall, Dark and Dangerous series. Experience it here with a hero who must face the most daring adventure of all—falling in love.
The guy next door is home to stay—but can he be trusted?
Blue McCoy was once the hero of Lucy Tait’s teenaged dreams—quiet, dark and dangerous. But after high school he left Hatboro Creek, South Carolina, to join the military. Now, years later, a brooding Navy SEAL, Blue is back in town.
Lucy, now a no-nonsense police officer, is certainly not the person Blue remembers. And when he’s accused of murder and Lucy is assigned his case, their brief affair becomes part of an extensive investigation where the stakes are vital: Blue’s freedom—and maybe Lucy’s heart.
Forever Blue
Suzanne Brockmann
MILLS & BOON
Before you start reading, why not sign up?
Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!
Or simply visit
Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.
For Jodie Kuhlman and Patricia McMahon,
for their amazing brainstorming power
and naming skill, and for Sarah Telford,
for lending Lucy her little black dress.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My eternal thanks to my wonderful friend Eric Ruben, who called me up one day and said, “Hey, Suz, I just read a great article about navy SEALs. You should check it out.” (I did, and the rest, as they say, is history.)
Special thanks to the Forever Blue Project volunteers from the Team Ten list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teamten/) for their proofreading skills: Cocaptains Rebecca Chappell and Agnes Brach, and Jeanette Bishop, Erin Brown, Jaxine Bubis, Nicole Geary, April Gieseking, Cindy Olp, Patricia Rovensky, Mary Beth Schroeder and Neal Wyatt. Hooyah, gang! Thanks so much for helping out.
Thanks to the real teams of SEALs, and to all of the courageous men and women in the U.S. military who sacrifice so much to keep America the land of the free and the home of the brave. And last but not least, a heartfelt thank-you to the wives, husbands, children and families of these real-life military heroes and heroines. Your sacrifice is deeply appreciated!
Any mistakes I’ve made or liberties I’ve taken in writing this book are completely my own.
PROLOGUE
Lieutenant Blue McCoy was the point man, leading the six other men of SEAL Team Ten’s Alpha Squad across the marshlike ground. He moved painstakingly slowly, inch by inch through the darkness, touching, feeling the soft, loamy earth; searching for booby traps and land mines before actually putting his weight down on any one spot.
He watched the shadows, scanning the brush in front of him, memorizing the placement of each faintly silhouetted leaf and branch, alert to even the most minute movement.
The sounds of the night surrounded him. Insects buzzed and clicked; a dog barked maybe a mile away. An owl called through the darkness, its eerie cry proclaiming itself lord of this nocturnal domain, king of this night world.
It was a world in which Blue McCoy belonged, a world where he could lead a group of men so silently and invisibly through the darkness that the crickets at their feet didn’t sense their presence.
It had taken them more than an hour to cross the open field. Five more yards and they’d be in the cover of the brush. They’d be able to move faster then. Faster, but no less cautiously.
Blue listened, so in tune with the land around him that he was the night. His heart beat slowly in time with the silent, age-old rhythm of the earth and he