Deadly Fall Read online

  New York Times bestselling author Elle James’s chilling romance brings together a billionaire and his beautiful bodyguard!

  In a Gothic mansion on a windy coast, former soldier Dixie Reeves and her client, billionaire Andrew Stratford, are in grave danger. The single dad has hired her to help him protect his daughter from a mysterious threat. As their enemy closes in, even tough-as-nails Dixie has to hold her nerve...and keep her guard up to stop herself from falling for Andrew and his adorable little girl. The long nights pass, and Dixie and her handsome boss can’t deny they’re barreling toward the kind of love that changes lives. That is, if they can somehow keep their instant family safe from the danger at the door!

  The deep, resonant tone of Mr. Stratford’s voice filled the room, making it seem smaller, more intimate.

  The soft glow of the lamp on the nightstand brought them closer together. They probably looked like a family.

  Dix jerked upright. She hadn’t come to Stratford’s mansion to become part of his family. She’d come to protect this family.

  She glanced around, wondering where Leigha’s mother was and why she wasn’t there, taking care of her child.

  Fontaine had told her she would be the bodyguard for the Stratford family. From what she could tell, that family consisted of two people. Father and daughter. And the daughter called her father Mr. Stratford.

  Why?

  As her father read, Leigha’s eyes closed. Dix backed away from the bed, her hand clenching around the damp cloth. Her goal was to leave the room and perform the search of the giant house for any weaknesses in entry and exit points.

  She’d almost made it to the door when a little voice said, “Please don’t go.”

  * * *

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  Dear Reader,

  With a heavy heart I wrote this book, knowing it was the last in the Devil’s Shroud series. I’ve grown to love Cape Churn and all the members of the Stealth Operations Specialists team who’ve made this little town their home. I’ll miss Sheriff Taggert and his wife, Nora, and sheriff’s deputy Gabe McGregor and his talented artist wife, Kayla. We won’t be going back to McGregor B and B to sample Mollie’s best clam chowder or sit on the porch with Creed and Emma, Nova, Jillian or any of the other characters we love as we stare out over the beautiful Pacific Ocean at sunset.

  I hope you enjoy this last installment as we bring back Andrew Stratford, the eccentric billionaire, his daughter, Leigha, and the newest addition to the Stealth Operations Specialists: former army ranger and MMA fighter Dix Evans, as she finally finds a place to call home, a little girl to love and a man who has the patience and ability to help her through her own issues.

  Enjoy discovering the secrets of Stratford House and the beautiful Oregon coast, and thank you for coming along for the ride!

  Elle James

  DEADLY FALL

  Elle James

  Elle James, a New York Times bestselling author, started writing when her sister challenged her to write a romance novel. She has managed a full-time job and raised three wonderful children, and she and her husband even tried ranching exotic birds (ostriches, emus and rheas). Ask her, and she’ll tell you what it’s like to go toe-to-toe with an angry 350-pound bird! Elle loves to hear from fans at [email protected] or ellejames.com.

  Books by Elle James

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  Deadly Reckoning

  Deadly Engagement

  Deadly Liaisons

  Deadly Allure

  Deadly Obsession

  Deadly Fall

  The Adair Legacy

  Secret Service Rescue

  The Adair Affairs

  Heir to Murder

  The Coltons of Oklahoma

  Protecting the Colton Bride

  Visit the Author Profile page at

  Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  This book is dedicated to my readers, who buy my books and let me live the dream of writing full-time. Without you, I’d still be commuting to work wearing business clothes and tight shoes instead of working at my desk in my yoga pants, barefoot.

  Also to my family, who puts up with my late-night writing, taking my laptop on vacations and letting the cooking and cleaning go when I’m on deadline. They know I’m working and try to get along without me.

  I also dedicate this book to my little dogs who remind me to get out of my chair and take them outside. They keep me company during the day when I’m writing and are just happy to be with me. Okay! Okay! I’m getting up. Sheesh! You could at least have let me finish my dedication...

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Excerpt from Special Forces Seduction by C.J. Miller

  Chapter 1

  “Leigha?” Andrew Stratford called out.

  The old mansion had been quiet for too long.

  “Leigha?” he said a little louder.

  He glanced up from the computer terminal, having spent the last three hours day-trading, buying as the prices on several of the stocks he had his eye on dipped to an all-time low.

  He’d made his fortune on Wall Street. Since the accident, he’d left it all behind and moved to Cape Churn, Oregon. Giving up the high-stress job of managing the fortunes of other people to only managing his own portfolio had been a decision he’d never regret.

  Not that he’d had much of a choice. With the scars he’d acquired, his high-powered, beautiful clients would be less likely to come to entrust their money to him. So intent on being the wealthiest, most beautiful people money could buy, they wouldn’t have the courage to face a man with a wicked scar running from the base of his jaw up to his eye. The burn scars on his right hand would be a deal breaker in a society where a good handshake was a measure of a man’s character.

  But the main reason he’d come back to Oregon was the reason he rose from his desk.

  “Leigha,” he called out.

  Now that he had a daughter to look after, he couldn’t live the fast-paced, late-night lifestyle he’d been living for the past ten years as one of the most eligible bachelors in New York City. And, frankly, he didn’t want to. He’d burned the candle at both ends with a high-powered job and a jet-setter lifestyle. Sure, he’d amassed a fortune, but what else did he have to show for it?

  Andrew stretched. He needed to get up and move. His housekeeper, Mrs. Dottie Purdy, had ducked in an hour ago saying she needed to stock the pantry and Leigha preferred to stay and play.

  Normally, Leigha played in the big mansion with Brewer, her black Labrador retriever. Andrew could count on the reassuring sound of little feet and canine toenails clicking across wooden floors. For the past fifteen minutes there had been nothing. No sounds, no squeals of delight or soft-s
poken tea parties in the salon two doors down from Andrew’s office.

  Silence used to be calming when he was a bachelor without a care in the world. Now that he had Leigha, silence was disconcerting.

  The little girl was always into something. Though she was abnormally solemn, she was a natural-born explorer and adventurer. She reminded Andrew of himself at that age. His nanny had despaired of keeping up with him. Unfortunately, Stratford House perched on the edge of a three-hundred-foot cliff. If she wandered too far from the house, Leigha could fall to a very grisly death on the jagged rocks below.

  On that thought, Andrew hurried from his office and out into the mansion’s huge entry hall. “Leigha!”

  He listened, hoping to hear an answering call in the little girl’s high-pitched voice.

  More silence greeted him.

  The mansion had three living areas: a massive formal dining room, fifteen bedrooms and a full basement complete with a wine cellar. The child could be anywhere inside.

  Andrew went room to room on the main floor and then stood at the base of the sweeping staircase. “Leigha!”

  Again, no answering call.

  Had she gone outside without telling him? Andrew’s pulse quickened. A glance through the window made his chest tighten. While he’d been busy working at his desk in the study, a cold, gray fog had crept in from the Pacific cloaking Cape Churn in what the locals called the Devil’s Shroud.

  “Damn,” Andrew muttered and hurried for the door. If Leigha had gone out when it was clear, she might now be lost in the fog.

  Andrew burst through the massive front door and ran out onto the marble portico. “Leigha! Brewer!”

  A dog barked in the distance, the sound coming from the back of the house, farther along the coastline, sounding too near to the edge of the cliffs for Andrew’s comfort.

  Andrew broke into a sprint, trying to remember just how many steps past the garden led to the cliff’s edge. He’d contracted a local handyman to erect a decorative wrought-iron fence, but he had to wait for the man to finish renovations on another home before he had time to start the work on the fence and other repairs around Stratford House. In the meantime, Andrew worried Leigha or guests might walk off the cliff in a dense fog, such as the one now hiding the treacherous shoreline.

  “Leigha? Brewer?”

  Again the dog barked.

  Andrew slowed, knowing he was close to the edge of the cliff. He would be of no use to Leigha if he fell off. But the thought of the child being out there in the damp fog, her foot slipping on a wet rock, made him hurry as quickly as he could.

  Andrew nearly walked into a tree trunk clinging to the ledge.

  As he stepped around it, something moved. A shadowy figure detached from the tree and slammed into him.

  Andrew’s forward momentum shifted sideways, sending him over the edge of the cliff. He dropped ten feet, hit a jutting boulder, his arms wind-milling the air, grasping at the fog for purchase to keep him from falling three hundred feet to the rocky shoreline. His hand tangled in a tree root. Closing his fingers around it, he held on. Damp with the mist, the root slid through his hand. He grabbed with his other hand and held on tightly. When his body fell below his hands, his arms felt as though they were being ripped out of their sockets. But he managed to arrest his downward plunge.

  Andrew clung to the root, his breath caught in his throat as he held on, his hands wrapped around the root, his feet dangling in the air.

  For a long moment he hung in midair, thankful for the stalwart tree and its tenacious hold on the rocky cliff. Then he raised his legs, kicking out his feet, searching for ground to dig his toes into. Using the tree roots, he inched his way up the side of the cliff until he was back where he’d started before he’d fallen over the edge.

  Or rather, before he was pushed. No tree in the span of Andrew’s lifetime had ever managed to shove him over a cliff.

  As he dragged himself up onto the path, he braced himself, prepared to fight for the ground he could stand on. Fog swirled around him but nothing jumped out.

  Staggering to his feet, Andrew pressed on, more afraid than ever for Leigha.

  Brewer barked again, closer to him and far too close to the cliff’s edge for Andrew’s liking.

  “Mr. Stratford?” a tiny voice called out.

  “Leigha?” Andrew’s heart pounded against his ribs and he strained to see through the thick fog.

  “I’m here. I got lost,” she said, her voice wobbling.

  “Stop,” Andrew ordered. “Stay right where you are. But keep talking to me so that I can find you.” Andrew moved forward, careful not to get too close to the ledge.

  “I’m scared,” Leigha said, her voice thin and shaky.

  The Labrador materialized out of the fog and walked toward him.

  Holding on to the dog’s tail was the little girl Andrew obviously had no clue how to care for. He swept her up into his arms and hugged her tightly. “Thank God.”

  Leigha wrapped her arms around his neck. “Brewer and I were playing with my friend. Then the clouds came in and I couldn’t see my way back home.”

  “You have me now. I’ll make sure you get back,” he assured her.

  “I held on to Brewer’s tail,” Leigha said. “He knows the way. He was leading me home when we found you.”

  The big Lab leaned into his leg. His tongue lolled and his tail thumped against the hard ground.

  Andrew glanced down at the dog. He’d never had a pet. As a child growing up in New York City, his parents refused to have an animal in their apartment. When he was old enough to make his own decisions, he got caught up in making a living, and then powered on to make a fortune. A pet didn’t have a place in his intensely busy life.

  Now he stared down at the dog that seemed to be smiling up at him, daring him to smile back.

  “Brewer is happy to see you,” Leigha said. She placed both of her small palms against Andrew’s cheeks and turned his face toward hers, undaunted by his scars. “Mr. Stratford, why are you bleeding?”

  “I tripped and fell.” Andrew swept a damp strand of blond hair out of Leigha’s eyes, leaving a streak of blood across her forehead.

  Leigha captured his hand. “You have a boo-boo on your hand, too. You need to go to the doctor.”

  For the first time since his fall over the cliff, Andrew felt the pain of a cut on his hand. The way it was bleeding couldn’t be good.

  “I’ll take care of it when we get back to the house,” he assured her.

  Leigha leaned her head against his shoulder, her pretty little brow puckering. “Mr. Stratford, are you going to die?”

  He snorted. “Not today, Leigha. Not today.”

  “Tomorrow?” Her fingers curled into his shirt and held on as he walked in what he hoped was the direction of the mansion, his attention focused on sounds and any movement. Holding Leigha in his arms, he was doubly aware of his responsibilities toward the child.

  Someone had pushed him over the cliff. But who? And why?

  When Stratford House finally appeared in front of him, he sighed and hurried through the back entrance, into the large kitchen.

  “There you are.” Mrs. Purdy stopped in the middle of unloading a bag of groceries and set the can in her hand on the counter. “What happened to you?” she cried. Grabbing a kitchen towel, she rushed over to him.

  Andrew lowered Leigha to the ground in time for Mrs. Purdy to grab his hand.

  “Good Lord, you look like you got into a fight,” the older woman said.

  “It’s nothing,” he said, trying to calm his housekeeper.

  “Nothing?” She frowned and led him by the hand to the kitchen sink. “That cut is deep enough it might require stitches. And I don’t know how they go about stitching over burn scars.”

  “A bandage
will do.” He let her drag his hand under running water and winced as pain shot up his arm. He jerked his hand back, but the woman stubbornly held on.

  “You need to have a doctor look at this. I’ll wrap it up, but you’ll continue to bleed if you don’t have it stitched.”

  “Please, Mr. Stratford. Please go to the doctor.” Leigha touched his arm and stared up at him. “I don’t want you to die.”

  “I’m not going to die,” he insisted. “And I’m not going to bleed to death.”

  Mrs. Purdy crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. Then she tipped her head toward Leigha. “If not for yourself, do it for Leigha.”

  Outnumbered, Andrew sighed. “Okay. I’ll let a doctor look at it. I’ll make an appointment for tomorrow.”

  “Today,” Leigha said.

  “We’ll go to the ER in Cape Churn.” Mrs. Purdy wrapped a clean kitchen towel around his hand. “I’ll drive.”

  “I’m perfectly capable of driving myself to Cape Churn.”

  “You’re bleeding like a stuck pig. You might get dizzy.” She held up her hand. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

  “I’m going with you.” Leigha clutched his sleeve.

  “And I’m driving,” Mrs. Purdy insisted.

  “Do I have a choice in this matter?” Andrew asked.

  “No!” Mrs. Purdy and Leigha answered as one.

  Thus outmaneuvered, Andrew found himself loaded into the passenger seat of Mrs. Purdy’s minivan and driven all the way to the Cape Churn Hospital emergency room.

  Once inside, he was whisked back to an examination room. Mrs. Purdy and Leigha waited in the ER lobby. As the door closed between them, Andrew noted Leigha burying her face into Mrs. Purdy’s sleeve, her eyes clouding with tears. The child appeared terrified for him.

  He had to admit, he was terrified for her. After nearly falling to his own death, he realized how easily it could have been Leigha. The thought of finding her body smashed against the boulders made him sick to his stomach. He sat on the edge of the hospital examination bed, pain throbbing through his hand with each beat of his heart.