Praise for
AMANDA STEVENS
Breathless, chilling and unforgettable. When you crack open an Amanda Stevens book, prepare to be thrilled.
USA TODAY bestselling author Patricia Kay
Once again Ms. Stevens blends just the right amount of suspense, conflict, love and hope.
Romantic Times on The Tempted
Amanda Stevens pens a masterfully suspenseful tale with great characters readers will love, hot passion and nail-biting intrigue.
Romantic Times on His Mysterious Ways
AMANDA STEVENS
The author of over thirty novels, Amanda Stevens is the recipient of Career Achievement awards in both Romantic Mystery and Romantic Suspense from Romantic Times magazine. She has been nominated for numerous Reviewers Choice awards and has been a RITA® Award finalist in the Romantic Suspense category. She resides in Houston, Texas.
Just Past Midnight
Amanda Stevens
www.millsandboon.co.uk
MILLS & BOON
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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 TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
Allentown, Texas
IT WAS JUST PAST MIDNIGHT. Danielle Williams lay wide awake, watching the distant flicker of lightning outside her window as the minutes ticked away on her bedside clock. If she didnt leave soon, shed never make it back before the storm hit.
But the delay couldnt be helped. Her parents had waited up for her brother, Nathan, whod promised to be in hours ago for a long, heart-to-heart about his future. And then when hed finally dragged himself home, hed been drinking. The ensuing confrontation had ended as it always did, with her father in a rant, her mother in tears, and her brother moody and defiant as he stomped up the stairs and slammed the door to his room.
All was finally quiet now, except for the occasional creak and groan as the old farmhouse settled. Nathans bedroom was just across the hall. Hed probably be up for hours, but Dani knew that hed have his headphones on and wouldnt hear a thing when she slipped out. He didnt even acknowledge their mothers knock when she came upstairs a few minutes later to make the first overture. Nathan ignored her, as usual, and after a slight hesitation, the soft knock sounded on Danis door.
She ignored it, too, which wasnt like her. Normally, she tried to play the role of peacemaker in the family. Tried to provide a calm spot in the storm where her mother could come to seek refuge from her husbands temper and her sons downward spiral. Tonight, though, Dani had needs of her own, and so she pretended to sleep even when her mother called out her name.
At the plaintive note in her mothers voice, guilt tore at Dani, but she remained steadfast. Tonight was just too important. She couldnt get sidetracked with family issues.
Her stomach in knots, she kept her eyes closed and her breathing even until she heard her mothers footsteps going back down the stairs. She waited until her parents voices faded behind their closed door. Then, throwing off the covers, she rose, fully dressed, to steal across the room to the window.
Climbing onto the wood-shingle roof, she paused to gain her balance before she crept to the edge. Then she lowered herself to the top of the fence, and from there she dropped six feet to the ground, landing on her feet with a soft thud.
Shed performed that same maneuver countless times, but never after dark and never to slip out of the house without her parents knowledge or permission. Nathan did. Or he used to. Now he just came and went as he pleased, did as he pleased, and their fathers threats of kicking him out of the house didnt seem to faze him. Maybe because he knew thats all they werethreats. Their mother, usually so submissive and conciliatory, wouldnt stand for anything more. She had a blind spot when it came to Nathan.
Dani didnt understand what had happened to her brother. At nineteen, he was two years older than she, and someone shed looked up tountil six months ago when hed dropped out of college without warning. Hed come back home a changed personin appearance and personality. Hed let his hair grow, wore unkempt clothing, and played music in his room twenty-four hours a dayobscure bands that Dani hadnt heard of.
He was so different from the brother shed said goodbye to six months ago that it was like having a stranger in the house. He refused to look for a job, refused to go back to school, refused to even talk about his future. He spent his days sleeping, his nights partyingand the drinkingwell, Dani suspected that was the least of his vices.
She missed the old Nathan. Ever since her parents adopted him ten years ago, hed been the doting, protective older brother. Despite the friction that had always existed between him and their father, Nathan had been someone Dani could count on, confide in. Now she couldnt even tell him abouttonight.
Nowadays, he was surly and morose and angry to the point of violence. His rage scared Dani because it seemed to be directed at her. She didnt understand that, either. She didnt understand what shed done to make him hate her so. She didnt understand what was happening to her family.
Maybe that was why the letters were so important to her.
The lettersfrom her secret admirer.
At the very thought of them, Dani shivered in nervous anticipation. The letters had started coming six months ago, just after Nathan moved back home. Just after the once peaceful household had erupted in turmoil. Dani sometimes wondered if that was the senders intent: to give her something to cling tojust as she tried to do with her motherwhen her whole world seemed to be falling apart.
And the letters did help. They provided a little whimsy in an otherwise turbulent existence. Dani would find them in the most unexpected places. Slipped inside her favorite book at the library or propped beneath the old elm tree down by the lake where she sometimes went to study.
The mysterious missives were like something she might read about in a book or see in a movie, and they made her feel special. Sometimes her admirer quoted lines of poetry. Other times he merely told her in flowery, romantic prose how beautiful shed looked on a particular day. Occasionally, he spritzed the letters with her favorite perfume. And always he signed them: your One and Only.
Whoever he was, he knew her intimatelyher favorite books, her favorite music, even the shade of lipstick she preferred. And yet Dani didnt have a clue to his identity.
And before she could figure it out, the letters had stopped coming. Abruptly. No hint of why her admirer had moved on. No sign that hed become disillusioned with her. The letters had simply ceased, but for weeks, Dani continued to wonder about them, watch for them. Then shed gotten so caught up in her senior year of high school that shed forgotten all about them.
She had a part-time job at the mall, which kept her busy on weekends, and she spent most of her free time studying in order to keep up her grades so that she might earn a scholarship. Money had always been tightfor almost everyone in the rural, East Texas communityand even more so now for Danis family because her father had recently been laid off. If she didnt get a scholarship or a grant, shed have to go to a state college rather than to Drury University, a private school in northern Connecticut that had one of the best journalism programs in the country.
Dani had big dreams for the future, and she didnt want to give them up because of finances. If she could win the Belmont Award, given to the top senior at her school each year, all her problems would be solved, but unfortunately, she didnt see that happening. Her grades were excellent, her extracurricular activities and community service impressive, but for all her hard work, for all her drive and determination, she wasnt the top student. Not anymore. That honor went to Paul Ryann.
He and his family had moved to Allentown at the start of the school year, and it hadnt taken long for students and teachers alike to recognize his brilliance. He was a shoo-in for valedictorian, which meant hed automatically be the recipient of the Belmont, although he certainly didnt need it. His family was rich.
Theyd even purchased Belmont House from the Althea Belmont Foundation and were in the midst of refurbishing the grand old Victorianthe oldest home in Allentownto its original splendor. After years of neglect and disrepair, the mansion now gleamed like a dazzling, antique jewel on the bluff overlooking the water.
Sometimes Dani would stand on her side of the lake, admiring the elegant filigree work and the formal gardens, and shed wonder what it would be like to live in such a place. To have servants at her beck and call, expensive cars in the garage, closets full of designer clothes. She wondered what it would be like to go wherever she wanted when she wanted and not have to answer to anyone but herself.
Dani could hardly imagine a life like that, but she didnt resent Paul for his good fortune. How could she, when he was so sweet? So quiet and pensive and almost painfully shy.
And so obviously in love with her.
Dani didnt know why she hadnt seen it before. Paul Ryann was her secret admirer. He was the one who had sent her all those letters, the one who had gone out of his way to make her feel special. Who else could it be? No one else she knew could quote such beautiful lines of poetry, much less would take the time to read all her favorite books and listen to her favorite music.
It all made sense to her now. The letters had stopped once shed befriended Paul because he no longer felt the need to keep his feelings secret.
And now, after nearly six months, hed sent her another letter. Dani had found it slipped inside her purse that afternoon when shed left for work.
Meet me by the lake at midnight. Ill be waiting underneath your favorite tree. All will be revealed to you then. My face, my soul, the depths of my affection. Tonight Ill give youthe ultimate gift.
It was signed as all the others had been: your One and Only.
The ultimate gift, of course, had to be his identity. He had no idea that shed already guessed who he was. And since he lived right across the lake, it made sense hed want to meet there. So many things made perfect sense now.
As Dani slipped through the woods, her stomach tightened in apprehension. What if she was wrong? What if Paul wasnt her secret admirer? What if this was some sort of trick?
Thunder rumbled in the distance, but now Dani barely noticed the coming storm. She was so lost in thought that the smell of smoke caught her completely by surprise.
A bonfire? she wondered. No, no, too much smoke for that.
The acrid scent stung her nose and made her eyes water, and as she neared the lake, she caught glimpses of a reddish glow through the trees. It was only then that she began to panic. Someones house was on fire!
She broke into a run. The smoke was so thick now that it filled her lungs and made her gasp for breath. She covered her nose and mouth with her shirt as she raced toward the water. A few minutes later, she emerged from the woods and came to a dead stop, her eyes widening in terror.
Across the lake, Belmont House was completely engulfed in flames. The fiery reflection wavered on the surface of the water, making the whole tragic tableau seem surreal, but Dani knew it was no dream. Paul Ryanns house was burning to the ground before her very eyes.
The blaze had already crawled up the sides of the mansion and now licked across the roof. Through the billowing smoke, Dani could see the inferno spreading to the interior, and then, as she watched in horror, she saw someone at an upstairs window.
Paul! He was trapped inside the house!
Dani screamed his name, her voice echoing eerily across the orange water. Whether he heard her or whether it was only her imagination, she would never know. But the figure in the window seemed to reach out to her
She had to help him. She had to get across the lake, find a phone, summon help, do something.
But for a moment, Dani stood paralyzed with indecision. Should she head across the bridge and try to get him out all by herself? Should she run back home and call 911? Either way would take so long.
And then she heard the sirens. Her legs went weak with relief even as a terrible little voice whispered in her head: Its too late.
Over the roar of the fire, she heard car doors slamming and voices shouting across the water. Neighbors from nearby farmhouses were gathering on the front lawn, wondering, as she was, what to do. She had to get over there. She had to be there for Paul.
As she turned, something moved at the edge of the woods.
A shadow hidden among shadows.
Dani caught her breath in fear. Someone stood underneath the old elm tree, watching her.
Whos there? she called anxiously.
At the sound of her voice, the shadow faded, and Dani realized that it, too, had been nothing more than a figment of her imagination. Some tiny hope conjuring an image that couldnt possibly be real.
CHAPTER TWO
THE DEATH OF PAUL RYANN and his family made all the local broadcasts and was the biggest headline in the paper. Dani was unaware of the media, however, because she refused to leave her room. She sat staring out the window, her mind unable to accept what she knew in her heart to be true.