Excerpt: 'Buried Secrets' by Irene Hannon

Irene Hannon shares an excerpt from Buried Secrets, book one in her Men of Valor series, which arrives tomorrow (April 7).

Irene: Welcome to the first book in my Men of Valor romantic suspense series, which features three brothers with special forces backgrounds. In Buried Secrets, you'll meet the oldest brother, ex-Navy SEAL Mac MacGregor. Now a homicide detective, he's been assigned to assist small-town police chief Lisa Grant after a human skeleton is discovered in her territory. Unfortunately, while the bones may have deteriorated, the perpetrator's determination to remain anonymous hasn't. In short order, the case heats up — as does the relationship between Mac and Lisa … after a rather rocky start. Let's take a look at how the sparks fly when these two meet!

EXCERPT

Mac McGregor had no trouble finding the site, even if St. Louis was new turf for him. You didn't have to be a detective to figure out that a police cruiser, yellow crime scene tape, and a media van marked the spot.

Pulling up beside the squad car, he scanned the construction site for the police chief of the small municipality who'd put in the call to County for assistance.

An officer stood in the distance, talking to a woman and a guy in a hard hat. He seemed on the young side, based on a quick glimpse of his profile, but he was the only uniformed presence on the scene. Since Carson was more village than town, maybe they'd had to take what they could get for the chief job when they'd established the department last year.

Mac set the brake, grabbed the notebook and sport coat in the passenger seat, and slid out from behind the wheel. Once he'd slipped the jacket on, he ducked under the yellow tape and wove through the idle construction equipment.

The trio was facing away from him now, toward a slight depression in the ground, and he stopped about four feet away. "Chief Grant?"

All three of them turned.

He stuck out his hand toward the officer in the middle.

"I'm Chief Grant."

The woman to the man's right spoke, her voice brisk, businesslike—and a touch irritated.

He checked out the nameplate above the guy's left pocket.

Officer Craig Shelton.

Whoops.

So much for making a good first impression.

He shifted his attention to the woman—and gave silent thanks for the sunglasses that hid the slight widening of his eyes.

Chief Grant was drop-dead gorgeous.

But he had a feeling she would not appreciate his appreciative perusal.

Too bad his so-called buddy Mitch hadn't warned him she was smoking hot when they'd run into each other earlier in the headquarters parking lot. It was the least SEALS—or ex-SEALs—could do for each other.

"May I help you?" Chief Grant's chilly prompt refocused him..

Clearing his throat, he moved his hand to the left. "Detective Mac McGregor. Your reinforcement from County."

She waited just long enough to make him squirm before she grasped his fingers with a surprisingly strong grip. "Lisa Grant."

"Nice to meet you." He shook hands with the officer too. Like his chief's, the man's eyes were masked by dark glasses. "Sorry about the mistake. I assumed you'd be in uniform."

"Or maybe you assumed I'd be a man." Her tone was conversational, but he heard the steel underneath.

A spurt of irritation spiked his blood pressure—but he tamped it down. No doubt she'd faced her share of bias in a field long dominated by men. And he'd added to it ... in her mind, anyway.

All at once it felt a lot hotter than it should for a first-week-of-June morning, and the temptation to loosen his tie was strong.

He resisted.

"It's dangerous to make assumptions in this business."

"Yeah." She let a beat pass. "It is."

The air temperature seemed to edge up another degree or two.

Best to get down to business.

"I understand you have some bones that may be human."

"We have some bones that are human." She angled toward the ground behind her.

He stepped closer and looked down.

The empty eye sockets of a partially unearthed skull stared back at him.

She was right.

The bones were human.

Find out more about Irene and her books at www.irenehannon.com.

Excerpt used by permission from Buried Secrets by Irene Hannon (Revell, 2015).