Cavanaugh Undercover Read online

  AURORA’S FINEST ARE ON THE CASE AGAIN IN USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR MARIE FERRARELLA’S CAVANAUGH UNDERCOVER

  Confronting “Ben Cartwright” in a seedy motel room, Detective Tiana Drummond is more than suspicious. A member of the CSI team, she’s sure the handsome hunk is connected to the underground ring holding her sister captive. And like him or not, he’s her only lead to finding Janie before it’s too late.

  But Tiana, always distrustful of men, more than likes him. “Cartwright” makes her feel like she’s never felt before—desired, protected…and totally chagrined when she discovers he’s undercover cop Brennan Cavanaugh! Teaming up on a dangerous search, they’ll have to risk their lives. But keeping their covers isn’t as easy as falling in love!

  As his eyes traveled over the length of her, she felt as if she’d just been undressed.

  “Well, if you don’t want to stand out, maybe you should be wearing a bag or a sack over your head, because your looks make you a standout in any circle,” Brennan told her.

  Tiana stared at him, stunned. “Are you flirting with me?”

  He spread his hands wide in innocence. “Just stating it like it is.”

  “In other words, you’re flirting with me,” she concluded.

  Think again, she warned him silently. She didn’t trust men, especially good-looking ones. “You can save your breath,” she told him out loud. “I am much too rich for your blood.”

  He laughed softly. Brennan couldn’t help being amused by her efforts to put him in his place.

  “How do you know what I can afford? Maybe I’ve got a bulging…billfold,” he concluded suggestively.

  Her eyes narrowed. She was going to enjoy bringing the law down on this one, she thought.

  Dear Reader,

  In order to make a smoother transition for this newest member of the Cavanaugh family, this book picks up almost immediately where the last one ended. Saving former chief of police Andrew Cavanaugh’s life caused undercover DEA agent Brennan Cavanaugh to blow his cover. That in turn got him assigned to desk duty by his unforgiving superiors. Brennan’s restlessness causes him to find a new vocation in Aurora utilizing his former skills. He becomes an undercover vice squad detective trying to break up an interstate sex trafficking ring. His path crosses that of Tiana Drummond, a CSI detective from San Francisco who is trying to locate her missing younger sister, Janie. They join forces because two heads are better than one and they are running out of time.

  Brennan’s is the first of twenty-one stories, all of which belong to a long-lost branch of the family that Andrew was charged with finding for his father, Shamus. The latter wanted to be reunited with his missing younger brother, Murdoch. Murdoch, it turns out, is long gone, but his offspring and their children are alive and well. Hope you’re as happy about this discovery as I am.

  As always, I thank you for reading, and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.

  Marie Ferrarella

  Cavanaugh Undercover

  Marie Ferrarella

  Books by Marie Ferrarella

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  Private Justice #1664

  **The Doctor’s Guardian #1675

  *A Cavanaugh Christmas #1683

  Special Agent’s Perfect Cover #1688

  *Cavanaugh’s Bodyguard #1699

  *Cavanaugh Rules #1715

  *Cavanaugh’s Surrender #1725

  Colton Showdown #1732

  A Widow’s Guilty Secret #1736

  *Cavanaugh on Duty #1751

  %The Colton Ransom #1760

  *Mission: Cavanaugh Baby #1767

  *Cavanaugh Hero #1788

  *Cavanaugh Undercover #1799

  Harlequin Special Edition

  ‡A Match for the Doctor #2117

  ‡What the Single Dad Wants… #2122

  ^The Baby Wore a Badge #2131

  #Fortune’s Valentine Bride #2167

  ‡Once Upon a Matchmaker #2192

  -Real Vintage Maverick #2210

  ‡A Perfectly Imperfect Match #2240

  ***A Small Fortune #2246

  ‡Ten Years Later... #2252

  ‡Wish Upon a Matchmaker #2264

  Silhouette Special Edition

  ΏDiamond in the Rough #1910

  ΏThe Bride with No Name #1917

  ΏMistletoe and Miracles #1941

  $Plain Jane and the Playboy #1946

  ΏTravis’s Appeal #1958

  Loving the Right Brother #1977

  The 39-Year-Old Virgin #1983

  ΏA Lawman for Christmas #2006

  §Prescription for Romance #2017

  ‡Doctoring the Single Dad #2031

  ‡Fixed Up with Mr. Right? #2041

  ‡Finding Happily-Ever-After #2060

  ‡Unwrapping the Playboy #2084

  =Fortune’s Just Desserts #2107

  Silhouette Romantic Suspense

  **A Doctor’s Secret #1503

  **Secret Agent Affair #1511

  *Protecting His Witness #1515

  Colton’s Secret Service #1528

  The Heiress’s 2-Week Affair #1556

  *Cavanaugh Pride #1571

  *Becoming a Cavanaugh #1575

  The Agent’s Secret Baby #1580

  *The Cavanaugh Code #1587

  *In Bed with the Badge #1596

  *Cavanaugh Judgment #1612

  Colton by Marriage #1616

  *Cavanaugh Reunion #1623

  **In His Protective Custody #1644

  Harlequin American Romance

  Pocketful of Rainbows #145

  ΔThe Sheriff’s Christmas Surprise #1329

  ΔRamona and the Renegade #1338

  ΔThe Doctor’s Forever Family #1346

  Montana Sheriff #1369

  Holiday in a Stetson #1378

  “The Sheriff Who Found Christmas”

  ΔLassoing the Deputy #1402

  ΔA Baby on the Ranch #1410

  ΔA Forever Christmas #1426

  ΔHis Forever Valentine #1462

  *Cavanaugh Justice

  **The Doctors Pulaski

  ΏKate’s Boys

  $The Fortunes of Texas: Return to Red Rock

  §The Baby Chase

  ‡Matchmaking Mamas

  =The Fortunes of Texas: Lost…and Found

  ΔForever, Texas

  ^Montana Mavericks: The Texans Are Coming!

  #The Fortunes of Texas: Whirlwind Romance

  -Montana Mavericks: Back in the Saddle

  ***The Fortunes of Texas: Southern Invasion

  %The Coltons of Wyoming

  Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

  MARIE FERRARELLA

  This USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award-winning author has written more than two hundred books for Harlequin, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com.

  To

  My wonderful readers who wanted

  To read about more Cavanaughs.

  This newest branch

  Belongs to you.

  And to Alex Yu who

  Told me his friend’s name and

  Made a character come to life.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  C
hapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Excerpt

  Prologue

  On his way home from the neighboring city of Shady Canyon, lost in his own thoughts, Andrew Cavanaugh smiled broadly to himself.

  It had been a good, extremely productive and satisfying visit that had lasted a good deal longer than he’d first anticipated. Dusk had come and gone, and evening, with its long, engulfing shadows, had taken up residence along his route, allowing the hint of a fog to tag along, further intensifying the loneliness of this stretch of land.

  It wasn’t often that the former chief of Aurora’s police department patted himself on the back for something, but this definitely was one of those rare times. Through his efforts of relentless investigation, he’d not only discovered the missing branch of his family that his father had charged him with finding, but made contact with them.

  Contact? Hell, he made arrangements to have the entire bunch—and it was a rather large bunch—come out to his place a week from next Saturday so that they could get acquainted with a lot of family that they hadn’t even realized existed.

  Who would have thought that the missing branch of the family was only a city away? And that those members were all, just as they were here, entrenched in some form of law enforcement?

  Andrew didn’t normally believe in coincidences, but this, certainly, was a huge one.

  It was a damn small world, Andrew thought, a deep chuckle echoing within the interior of his sedan.

  He was really tired, but at the same time, he was very enthused and extremely pleased with the results of his relentless efforts. He’d called Rose before he left for home and shared the entire experience with her. She was as excited as he was about these new family members. She’d said that she couldn’t wait to meet them. That was his Rose, he thought with a surge of affection.

  No two ways about it, the woman was a saint to put up with an unending number of family members and still keep on smiling. There were women who would have the exact opposite reaction.

  He’d ended the call by telling her that he was coming home tonight, but it might be late so she shouldn’t wait up.

  As if she’d listened to him, he thought with a soft laugh. The light of his life listened to him when it suited her, did what she wanted the rest of the time. She always had.

  It didn’t matter. He was a hell of a lucky man and he knew it.

  He—

  Andrew’s breath caught in his throat as he made out something up on the road just ahead.

  The slight fog was beginning to settle in more intensely now, and visibility was definitely being challenged.

  Damn, what was that, anyway?

  Andrew felt for his shirt pocket. It was empty.

  Where had he put his glasses? He should have worn them driving home tonight, but they made him feel old.

  Hell, you are old, a voice in his head pointed out. As always, he ignored it. He wasn’t twenty-nine anymore, but he was still in the prime of life. Old was destined to be fifteen years older than he was.

  Always.

  Andrew squinted. He was almost certain he saw someone staggering up ahead in the road. Not wanting to take any chances, he swerved at the last minute to keep from hitting it. As his car spun to the left, he struggled to regain control of it.

  Andrew was so busy trying to steer into the spin, he didn’t see the person in the middle of the road raising a gun until it was too late.

  The single, resounding shot went into his windshield, shattering it.

  The last thing Andrew Cavanaugh was aware of was the windshield glass falling inside his vehicle like so many bits of fragmented snowflakes.

  The pain in his chest consumed him, blotting out the entire world.

  * * *

  The bent, ragged, homeless man, who had appeared to have been so preoccupied with pawing through the overflowing trash cans that were lined up in the alley like so many drunken revelers, came to attention at the first sound of squealing tires. The vacant look on his face vanished as if it had never existed.

  Eyes on the fishtailing white sedan in the middle of the deserted road, the undercover DEA agent heard the gunshot screaming through the night air and then saw the shooter hurrying toward the immobilized vehicle.

  By then Brennan Cavanaugh stopped pretending that he was just a hapless spectator, interested only in his own survival, and was galvanized into action. He began sprinting toward the car and, more important, toward the victim he glimpsed inside it.

  That was when the shooter obviously realized there was someone else in the vicinity besides the driver who had been presumably taken out by the well-aimed bullet.

  Biting off what sounded like a livid curse, the shooter turned around and ran back into the shadows, seeking the cover of night. Undoubtedly focused on survival, the shooter didn’t turn around one last time and so wasn’t able to see the ragged man dragging the former chief of police from his car. Consequently, there was no second shot piercing the night air to finish the job.

  Only the sound of running feet growing fainter.

  * * *

  Brennan checked for a pulse the moment he felt he and the victim were far enough away from the car in case it burst into flames.

  It took him two tries, but he finally detected a pulse. An extremely faint one.

  “Hang in there, mister,” he told the unconscious man. “Don’t die on me. Don’t let me blow my cover and just possibly my whole career for no reason.”

  Feeling around in the deep pockets of his filthy khaki-colored hoodie with his left hand—his right was busy trying to stem the victim’s flow of blood—Brennan pulled out his cell phone and called for an ambulance.

  As he did so, he couldn’t shake the strangest feeling that he was watching a chapter of his life slam shut.

  And maybe, just maybe, another one creak open.

  Chapter 1

  “You’ve been nursing that beer for the last hour. Something bothering you, son?”

  Brennan Cavanaugh was lost in thought as he leaned against the cool white stucco wall and watched people who constituted his newly discovered family enjoying themselves. It took him a moment to zero in on the man asking the question.

  Brennan had an aptitude for names and faces—in his line of work, or former line of work, he corrected himself, he’d had to. He knew the man speaking to him to be Brian Cavanaugh, the Aurora police department’s chief of detectives, younger brother of the man whose life he had saved, an act that had, as he’d silently predicted, terminated an active part of his own career, since he had to blow his cover in order to save Andrew Cavanaugh—his long lost uncle. He couldn’t help thinking that truth could be a lot stranger than fiction.

  “Not really,” he replied.

  It was the easiest answer to give. In his experience, when people asked how you were doing, or if something was wrong, they really didn’t want to know and certainly not in detail.

  But Brian obviously did not fall into that general category, because he pressed a little. “Fakely, then?” Brian asked with an understanding smile.

  Brian knew all about people’s reluctance to talk. He’d witnessed it initially from his early days on the force when he questioned victims and suspects. He was aware of it currently because of the office he’d held for a number of years.

  Since becoming the chief of detectives, he had come across more than one person who was afraid to share his private feelings because he thought it might affected his work life adversely. Brian’s gift was that he knew instinctively how to separate the two and how much weight to
give to what he heard in both capacities: as the chief of detectives and as a relative/friend.

  “All right, let’s just say, for the sake of hypothetical argument, that there was something causing you some minor concern. What would that be?” he asked when Brennan made no response to his earlier joking comment.

  Because he wasn’t quite ready to talk about it, Brennan went with the most obvious answer. “I’ll be the first to admit that I grew up in a crowd scene. Every holiday, birthday or miscellaneous celebration, there were always acres and acres of family—but this, well, this gives a whole new meaning to words like overwhelmed. I’ve heard of family trees, but this, this is damn near a family forest,” Brennan quipped with a grin that took its time in forming.

  Brian laughed. “You have that right,” he readily agreed. “But at the risk of harping, that’s not what’s bothering you.” He saw the suspicious way Brennan looked at him. “Don’t look so surprised, boy. I didn’t get to where I am on good looks alone.” The statement was accompanied by another, this time deeper, laugh. “I’m a fair hand at reading people.” And there was definitely something bothering this young man who had saved his older brother’s life. Brian intended, eventually, to get to the bottom of it. “Now, if you don’t want to talk, I understand. But if you do,” Brian continued, “I am a good man to talk to. I listen.”

  Brennan shrugged as he stared down at the light that was being reflected in what was left of his beer. The overhead patio light shimmered seductively on the liquid surface, as if it were flirting with him.

  “It’s nothing, sir,” he finally said. “I was just wondering what I was going to do with myself come Monday morning, that’s all.”

  Brian appeared slightly puzzled. “I thought you were working undercover for the DEA. Something to do with drug smuggling.”

  Brian left the statement vague despite the fact that he knew exactly what the young man next to him had been up to when he rescued Andrew. The moment he’d done that, Brian had made it his business to find out everything he could about the tall, strapping DEA agent with the same last name.

  Brennan nodded, avoiding his eyes. “I was.”

  “Was,” Brian repeated as if he was trying to see if he’d heard the word correctly.

 
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