All’s Fair in Love and Murder

Posted on Sep 20, 2016 Topic : Fiction

CHICAGO 1912

Intrepid female detectives Merinda Herringford and Jem Watts find themselves embroiled in a case that takes them from the dangerous streets of their hometown Toronto all the way to Chicago where they go undercover to foil a plot to kill presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt. Amid the chaos, Merinda and Jem are aided by Benny Citrone of the Royal-West Mounted Police. In this scene from A Lesson in Love and Murder, Merinda and Benny discover some commonalities, not the least of which is a growing affection for each other.

***

Benny and Merinda should have been taking Michigan Avenue at a speedier pace. With news that they were integral to an assassination plot, they should have been flurried and flummoxed.

In this particular instant Merinda was more focused on Benny. Here he was walking beside her, his mind and voice galloping with a thousand different scenarios about the outcome of their association with the plan to kill Roosevelt.

Merinda wasn’t listening. Opting instead to iron out whatever made her heart flutter with his proximity. Merinda Herringford has no time for silly heart flutters. Merinda Herringford is going to almost single-handedly stop a vicious assassination attempt. She didn’t need this Benny-sized distraction. She needed to stand her ground. Stiffen her shoulders and beat him at whatever game they were playing. She wanted to have the upper hand. If she let him, he could overtake her, and she would rather shield herself even if she risked his turning and walking away.

Or she could just kiss him. Her lips tingled at the unwelcome thought.

Clearly Benny was mentally thumbing through an index of her own accolades, for he grabbed her arm and pulled her close. “You’re a detective. I’m a tracker. We are so alike. Sniffing out the darkness and… ”

“You use the same abilities.” His mouth was just above hers, his eyes tracing her lips like a pencil. “Just differently. Look at the trees, the stars, the imprint of the horse’s hooves on the ground. That, Merinda, is my brand of deduction. You see and observe. I do too, but I am propelled by nature.”

She couldn’t breathe. She tried to fall back on her heels, but he kept her so near and his breath mingled with hers and his eyes were sparkling the most luminous blue. “And that, Benny, is why we can never have a life together. For I am at home in the city.”

“A life together?”

Merinda snapped down to earth and tried to recollect the part of her heart that had spilled out of her mouth. Cracker jacks! She’d never speak again. She sputtered, “Who said… what I meant was… you are attracted to me.”

“Pardon me!”

“Do you think that my years of studying the art of deduction have left me immune to male glances?”

“You perturb me,” he said, raking his fingers through his hair. “I fascinate you.”

“Perturb!”

“When I’m near, you lean closer and your eyes spark just a bit. You really do have the most interesting eyes,” said Benny.

“I don’t know whether you’re flattering me or… ”

“Are you attracted to me?”

Merinda coughed. “I do not find you completely repulsive.”

Fortunately, before Merinda could become any more flustered and do something completely flabbergasting—like propose—she looked up and realized they had reached their destination.

***

Get swept up in the mystery and romance of this gripping tale...