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  Kristin stuck her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. “What’s it worth to you, Mac? Because we’ve been petitioning the local government here for a bike path for a long time.”

  Mac’s eyes showed the whites all around like a runaway pony’s.

  “Kristin,” Nick growled.

  Sophie glanced up at Jon, amused, and found he was looking at her, eyes suddenly intense. He kissed Emma’s head, his eyes never leaving hers.

  She suddenly realized how moved Jon was—at the inauguration of the school, at the first free election of a new president, at how far they’d come, together.

  Something in Jon had changed since that horrible moment when he’d been infected. Something in that warrior carapace had cracked open. He loved Sophie and when Emma arrived, he was overjoyed. He often told her he had no idea he was capable of love that deep. There was an ease about him now that everyone said hadn’t been there before. He made friends easily, laughed often.

  He was happy.

  So was she. Particularly now.

  “Okay, everyone, listen up!” From somewhere Kristen produced a bell and rang it. Eventually everyone quieted down. “I have official news,” she said and pulled a piece of paper from her jacket. With great ceremony, and very slowly, she extracted a pair of reading glasses, adjusted them carefully on her nose, and held the piece of paper up, seemingly translating it in her head from Assyrian.

  “So. The results of the election held this day and yesterday in the great Republic of California—”

  “Kristen!” Mac barked and Catherine placed a hand on his arm. It was still amazing to Sophie how such a small woman could control such a large man. But she did. He clamped his mouth shut.

  Kristen cricked her neck one way and then the other and widened her stance.

  Suddenly, a small ball of dust rose up. Nick and Elle’s twin boys, fighting as usual. Nick broke them up, picking them both up by the seat of their pants and holding them apart. They were both scruffy and dirty and still trying to beat each other up though they were a foot apart. Elle sighed and bent to them.

  Mac made a noise in the back of his throat. His face was perilously red. Kristen obviously realized that causing a gasket to blow in the head of the current President (Pro Tem) of the Republic of California was not a good idea.

  So she said, simply, “Votes cast for Thomas McEnroe—263,404. Votes cast for Sarah Kellerman—323,516. Ladies and gentlemen, Sarah Kellerman is the new President of the Republic of California. She just called with her acceptance and will be traveling tomorrow to Haven to take up her duties. Sorry you lost, Mac.”

  Mac whooped with joy, picked Catherine up, and whirled her around. When he put her down, he saw their daughter, Delia, was weeping.

  Mac picked her up, frowning. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

  Delia cried as if her heart had broken. “You lost, Daddy! You lost. I’m so sowwy.”

  Mac looked around with a big grin, then schooled his face to seriousness. “No, darling, you didn’t hear Kristen properly. Daddy won. Now Daddy doesn’t have to waste his time with political assholes like—”

  “Mac!” Catherine’s voice was like a whip. Mac bit his lips, looking around for help. Someone shuffled and someone coughed.

  Mac took in a deep breath and addressed his daughter. “So, since Daddy just won, how about we go celebrate with some ice cream. How does that sound?” He addressed the crowd. “Ice cream for everyone! Treat’s on me!”

  He turned and led the crowd over to the community center.

  Jon looked down at Sophie. “Think Emma might like some of that ice cream? Should I wake her up?”

  Sophie looked up at him, at Mac’s departing broad back, radiating happiness, at the community of people they’d gathered around them, grateful for every bit of it. Grateful for something else too.

  She put a hand on Jon’s arm, feeling that familiar warmth. She’d healed him but he’d healed her too. He’d opened up her heart and filled it to the brim.

  “Before we go in, there’s something I have to tell you. Maybe it’s appropriate on the day the citizens of California voted.” She placed his big hand over her belly.

  “We’re making a new citizen. I think it might be a boy.”

  Everyone trooping to the community center stopped and turned when they heard Jon’s whoop of joy.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to my wonderful editor, May Chen, who always believes in me.

  About the Author

  LISA MARIE RICE is a virtual woman who exists only at the keyboard when writing erotic romance. She disappears when the monitor winks off.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  Also by Lisa Marie Rice

  Fiction

  I DREAM OF DANGER

  HEART OF DANGER

  NIGHTFIRE

  HOTTER THAN WILDFIRE

  INTO THE CROSSFIRE

  DANGEROUS PASSION

  DANGEROUS SECRETS

  DANGEROUS LOVER

  E-Novellas

  HOT SECRETS

  FATAL HEAT

  RECKLESS NIGHT

  Back Ads

  Credits

  Cover design by Mary McAdam Keane

  Cover photograph © by Maarten Wouters

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  BREAKING DANGER. Copyright © 2014 by Lisa Marie Rice. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  FIRST EDITION

  ISBN 978-0-06-212187-5

  EPUB Edition July 2014 ISBN 9780062121882

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