Twisted Shadows [Paperback]

Patricia Potter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2002

From USA Today bestselling author Patricia Potter comes a riveting novel about a man who thought he'd escaped his criminal past, a woman who didn't know she had one, and the FBI agent who threatens to blow both their worlds apart.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[It] will thrill lovers of the suspense genre as well as those who enjoy a good romance. --Booklist --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Prologue
Boston, 1968

She was running for her life. And the lives of her children.

She clutched the twins, one in each arm, her purse slung over her shoulder. A cab. She had to reach a cab.

She knew she would soon hear footsteps behind her. Heavy. Hurried. Her guard--her husband's guard--would discover she'd left the doctor's office through another door. His life would be as much at risk as her own if he failed. If he lost her.

This would be her one and only chance to escape her husband. She knew that. If she failed, he would kill her. He would find out what she knew--and to whom she had given information--and then dispose of her as his family had disposed of irritants before her. Fear eddied in her stomach. Her breath was short from both terror and the exertion of carrying two eight-month-old babies, their necessities and the largest purse she owned. It contained everything she could carry without giving away her intention. Unfortunately, her possessions did not include a weapon.

Nick squirmed, protesting her protective hold. For a moment, feared she would lose her grip. She stopped, balancing him on her hip, getting a stronger hold on him. In a moment he would start wailing. That would probably inspire Nicole to do the same. Each always followed the other's lead. They reached out for each other when separated. They seemed to take comfort in each other's company.

A loud wail now would be disastrous. She cooed quietly to him, frantically balancing the two heavy babies.

She started down the steps again, trying to run without dislodging the two children. She feared the elevator. She could be trapped in an elevator. No, the stairs are safer. She'd spent days considering her options, the best escape route. And, hopefully, preparing safeguards.

But her husband was unpredictable. He would be so angry, he wouldn't care that his actions could send him to prison. Or send the policeman who served the family to the electric chair.

She heard a door slam above her.

Joey. Such an innocuous name. But he was not an innocuous man. He was a made man, a man who had killed before. That she was a woman would mean little to him, particularly since his own life might well depend on his stopping her.

One more floor.

She was wearing tennis shoes that made no noise. She had purposely been hitting tennis balls just minutes before returning to the side of her twins. Then she'd used a heating pad on Nick's and Nicole's faces to simulate a fever.

Her husband was out of town. So was her father-in-law. When she'd screamed that the children were sick with high temperatures, she'd finally won permission to go to the doctor. She'd been to the pediatrician before. She knew the offices. She knew a way out that avoided her so-called bodyguard in the waiting room.

"Bitch!" Joey's voice roared down the stairwell.

She could see the door below her. She moved faster than she thought possible, shifting, Nick again as she grabbed for the knob and jerked the door open.

Nick wailed loudly.

Another curse echoed from the stairwell as she ran across the lobby. Please, God, let the cab be there.

She'd called from the nurses' station, ordering a cab, promising an extra fifty if it waited outside the professional offices for a woman with two babies. If it wasn't there...

She darted between people, bumping one. "Taxi waiting," she muttered, then made the door. She turned to see Joey bursting out from the stairwell door.

Nicole started wailing, too. Tracy knew that every eye was on her. She'd already started thinking about what she would do if Joey caught her. She would yell "Kidnap." If some brave good Samaritan...

And if there was gunfire? If she caused an innocent's death...?

Someone entered the revolving doors, and she jumped inside one of the partitions. Then she saw the taxi. Waiting in front of the building.

She ran for it. Nick almost fell as she pulled the door open and lurched inside, dropping her son on the seat and locking the door.

"Go," she screamed.

She heard Joey's voice behind. "Stop, dammit!"

The cabbie turned to her.

"Go," she said again, even as she heard the waver in her voice, even as she clutched the babies closer to her. "For God's sake, go."

He hesitated, then stepped on the pedal and darted in front of an oncoming car.

A horn blew long and hard.

The cabbie swore.

Tracy Edwards Merritta sat back and tried to calm a screaming Nick.

She struggled to take a normal breath, then looked back. Joey was frantically trying to wave down another cab.

"Where to, lady?"

"Filene's, please. Side entrance." The department store wasn't far from a Boston MTA station. She would go in one door of the store, depart through another and disappear.

Nicole stared at her, thumb in her mouth. Nick complained loudly.

But they were safe.

For the moment. One

Steamboat Springs, 2002

Samantha Carroll didn't frighten easily.

Still, apprehension rippled through her as two men walked into the western art gallery she owned with her mother.

She could tell at a glance they weren't ordinary tourists or typical art lovers. They wore expensive dark suits and highly polished shoes rather than casual slacks or shorts and trendy T-shirts. Yet one look at their faces told her they weren't salesmen, either.

The one in his mid-twenties wore his hair slicked back, a gold chain around his neck and a flashy watch that looked like a Rolex on his wrist. The other one had well-groomed graying hair and face. Their eyes were hard. Without humor. Without friendliness. They looked like hunters, but not the kind who were after deer or elk.

Western Wonders was unusually empty in the midst of the summer tourist season. The last customers had just left. Had the two men waited until the customers departed? She moved toward the panic button that was linked to the police dispatcher.

She didn't know why all the bells in her head were ringing. No one would rob her small gallery. Nearly everyone paid with credit cards, and the bulk of the store's business came through the web site she'd designed. She kept the finest pieces locked in secure storage, bringing them out only when she knew she had a viable buyer.

Sure, she had some ready cash, but not enough to attract a daylight robbery. The gallery had some nice western art, but no one would drag armloads of paintings or heavy sculptures out the front door and onto the main street. At least, she'd never believed so. Not in Steamboat Springs, where major crime was nonexistent.

Her apprehension deepened as the two men browsed among the paintings but seemed to have little real interest in them. Their gazes continued to roam back to her, studying her as a collector might before pinning a butterfly to a board.

She resented it. She resented anyone who diminished her. And these men were doing just that.

Sarsaparilla wandered in from the storeroom, swishing her great bushy tail. The once stray cat who now believed herself queen of all she surveyed investigated the two strangers and rubbed against the trouser leg of the older man.

He immediately jumped back, his right hand going to the inside of his suit jacket.

Her heart leaped into her throat. "Sarsy," she scolded, forcing herself to stand fast and not show the reaction her cat's behavior prompted. Sarsy sensed people who disliked cats and went out of her way to irritate them.

Sarsaparilla gave her an indignant look, then slunk back into the other room.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she finally asked the men. "A particular artist? Or style?"

The older man nodded toward one with a thousand-dollar price tag. "This any good?"

If she'd any doubts about his interest before, she didn't now. The painting was very good. Anyone with even the faintest interest in art would know the lighting was exceptional. The moonlight depicted in oil seemed to glow.

She looked toward the door again, willing someone else to come in. "It's the work of a local artist who is becoming very popular," she said, unable to keep the edge from her voice.

"I'll take it," the man said.

She didn't want to sell it to him. The painting was one of her favorites, an oil of a snow-covered mountain at night. A wolf peered out from the shadows of a stand of trees, as if ready to begin a night's prowl.

The men reminded her of that wolf. Prowling after prey. "I'm sorry," she said. "It was sold earlier today. I haven't put the sold sign on it yet." Now she would have to purchase it herself. It was in Western Wonders on consignment, and she'd just cost the artist a sale.

His cold dark eyes studied her. He didn't believe her.

The hair on the nape of her neck stood up; a shiver ran down her back. "If there's anything else," she said, "I'll be glad to help you. Otherwise, I'm going to close for lunch."

"It's three," the man noted skeptically.

"I was busy at lunchtime."

"Are you the owner?"

"My mother and myself," she said.

"Mrs. Carroll?"

"She's my mother, yes," Sam said, growing even more wary.

"And your father?"

"I don't think that's any of your business."

The speaker looked surprised, as if he'd never been corrected before. He glared at her.

The younger man glanced out the door, as if keeping watch.

"He's not dead," the older man finally said.

"I beg your pardon?" She felt the bite of anger. She had always been slow to anger, slow to allow any emotion to take control. But when she removed the leash, she could be a holy terror. That was one reason she disciplined herself.

"Your papa ain't dead." The younger man joined the conversation. "Not yet."

The older man gave him a warning glance but didn't correct him.

Both were obviously crazy. "I think you'd better go," she said, her hand once more moving toward the panic button. "I do want to close."

"I wouldn't do that," the younger man said. "Keep your hands on top of the table."

How could he know about the button?

"Or?" she asked.

His eyes glittered. <...

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Jove (December 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515134392
• ISBN-13: 978-0515134391
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,733,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sizzling Romantic Suspense, December 22, 2002

By 

Sheri Melnick (Enola, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Twisted Shadows (Paperback)

While Ms. Potter achieved success in romantic fiction through her historicals, she has proven her versatility with her recent foray into romantic suspense. In her latest, she explores organized crime and Tracy Merritta's escape from her life as wife to the heir of the powerful Boston Merritta family. Thirty-four years later, Samantha Carroll is working at her western art gallery in Colorado when two men enter and inform her that her biological father, Paul Merritta, is on his deathbed and wants her to fly to Boston to meet him.

But Sam had no idea that the recently deceased man she grew up calling "father" was not her biological relation. When Merritta's henchmen also reveal that she has a twin brother, Nick, Sam can't understand why her mother, Patsy Carroll (Tracy Merritta) has lied all these years. And when Sam is injured at her home in a bungled burglary attempt, she decides to go to Boston to meet the brother she never knew.

Sparks fly when Sam meets FBI agent Nathan McLean, who helps save her brother's life after a car accident. While Nick has distanced himself from the family by taking the surname Merritt, he and Nathan have been at loggerheads for years over Nick's alleged mob ties. As Sam is understandably torn between loyalty to her newfound brother and her attraction to Nathan, her angst is portrayed credibly and not overdone.

When the attempts on her life become more frequent, Sam must trust Nathan to keep her from harm's way as they take a perilous journey to find Sam's missing mother. Fraught with danger at every turn, this read grips you with its suspense and holds your attention with the sizzling romance.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars delightful romantic suspense, January 18, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Twisted Shadows (Paperback)

In Steamboat Springs, Colorado, two unsavory individuals visit Samantha Carroll at her Western Wonders Art Gallery. They insist her real father crime boss Nicholas Merlitta is dying and wants to see her for the first time since her mother fled Boston with her over three decades ago. Samantha believes her father David died two years ago though they insist otherwise and also inform her that she has a twin brother. Samantha confronts her mother Tracy who admits that she is the daughter of Nicholas.

Samantha decides to meet her brother and her biological father. Meanwhile, FBI Special Agent Nate McLean is stunned to learn that Merlitta's wife and daughter lives. He decides to use Samantha to get at Nick, Jr. who he thinks is laundering money. Nate seeks revenge for the shooting death of his mother by the Merlitta mob. However, he never thought he would fall in love with someone who shares the blood of his enemy yet now risks his life to keep her safe from an unknown assailant perhaps her twin.

Fans of romantic suspense will enjoy the fast-paced TWISTED SHADOWS. The story line starts at quite a clip as Tracy holding two eight month old infants flees the mob though there seems a disconnect since she ended with one child and her spouse the other (explained somewhat much later). Nate is an obsessed agent whose dreams are on the verge of coming true when love twists his equilibrium for living. Samantha is a brave and wonderful individual while the support cast provides depth leading to TWISTED SHADOW captivating the audience.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plots and counter plots!, January 2, 2003

By 

Huntress Reviews (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twisted Shadows (Paperback)

It only takes a moment for Samantha Carroll to discover that her whole life is nothing but an elaborate lie, built on love, but a sham all the same. When two sinsister men enter her gallery, she is tensed for trouble, but did not expect them to come with news that her father is dying and wants to see his long lost daughter once before he dies. Sam's father, David, died two years ago, so at first, this seems impossible to her, but she learns that she is not Samantha Carroll, but Nicole Merritta, daughter of mod boss Paul Merritta, and she has a twin brother she has not seen since they were eight months old, over thirty years ago. Were it not for this latter fact, she might not have gone to see her father, but she deeply wants to meet her brother, Nick.

Nick has spent years trying to establish a life away from organized crime, with mixed results. Now, his world is shaken when the he learns that his mother and sister are not dead, as he has always believed. He can not help but be a bit hostile to the stranger who barges into his world claiming to be his sister. He is also hurt that his mother chose to leave him behind and rescue Nicole from gang life.

Sam has walked into a lion's den; her new family is a dangerous one that will not give her a place easily, as it might mean less of a fortune for them. Not only does she have that danger to contend with, but the FBI is watching the entire family, including her. The agent assigned to the case, and who saves her life more than once, happens to be a very sexy man, Nathan MacLean. Lines between business and pleasure get blurred when they get closer. Can a fedral agent and a mob daughter find love, if they survive?

... Plots, counter plots, and all kinds of conflicting relationships make this heart stopping thriller one that you won't want to put aside for a moment once you begin. Sexy chemistry, intrigue, passion, and family create a heady mix that leaves you screaming for more. Ms. Potter has come into her own as an author, and you will never look at a family reunion the same way again. ...

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.