At Hidden Falls (Angel's Bay Novel)
Read At Hidden Falls (Angel's Bay Novel) Online
Authors: Barbara Freethy
“You’re okay. You’re safe.”
Safe? She was lying on a slippery hillside, just yards from the edge of a cliff, but the weight of his body reassured her. She wasn’t going to fall. He wouldn’t let her. Isabella didn’t know how she knew that—but she did.
“I’m going to sit up,” he said slowly, his gaze on hers. “And you’re going to loosen your grip on me just a little bit.”
She swallowed hard and shook her head. “I don’t think I can let you go,” she said, her teeth chattering. But slowly, she loosened her hold.
The steady rain had stopped, a slice of moonlight breaking through the clouds, and she took a better look at her rescuer. As her gaze traveled back to his face, goose bumps ran down her arm. Even in the shadows, she knew this face. She’d seen it in her dreams.
“It’s you,” she muttered in amazement.
He gave her an uncertain look. “Have we met?”
How could she tell him she’d dreamed about a man she’d never met? “You saved my life,” she said instead.
“I was in the right place at the right time. Luck was on your side.”
She nodded, but she didn’t think that luck had had anything to do with their meeting.
Turn the page for praise of bestselling author
Barbara Freethy’s wonderful Angel’s Bay series.
ON SHADOW BEACH
“A lovely contemporary romance. . . . You can never get enough of Freethy’s excellent characters. She’s a master at creating whole relationships in just a few short paragraphs.”
—Romantic Times
“On Shadow Beach
teems with action, drama and compelling situations. . . . A fast-paced page-turner that unravels small-town scandals and secrets.”
—BookPage
“On Shadow Beach
has a fascinating touch of magic plus an abundance of genuinely heartfelt emotions, where everything is wrapped around an intriguing mystery.”
—Single Titles
“This compelling story is fast-paced, filled with renewed acquaintances, complicated relationships and plenty of mystery. You will love the story and be surprised on several accounts by the ending.”
—Fresh Fiction
“An excellent, easy-to-read novel. It flows beautifully with intriguing and appealing characters. It will grab you within the first few pages and just keeps getting better.”
—Romance Reviews Today
SUDDENLY ONE SUMMER
“Suddenly One Summer
delivers a double whammy to the heart. Ms. Freethy cuts to the core with her depiction of a woman in jeopardy and a man who no longer believes that life has anything to offer. . . . A story that will keep you spellbound.”
—Winter Haven News Chief
(FL)
“Intriguing, suspenseful. . . . Freethy has a gift for creating complex, appealing characters and emotionally involving, often suspenseful, sometimes magical stories.”
—Library Journal
“Suddenly One Summer
transported me to a beautiful place and drew me into a story of family secrets, passion, betrayal and redemption.”
—New York Times
bestselling author Susan Wiggs
“Angel’s Bay . . . promises many poignant and heartwarming stories.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Freethy has written a suspenseful and captivating story, weaving in human frailty along with true compassion, making every page a delight.”
—Reader to Reader Reviews
“Angel’s Bay is a place I’ll want to visit time and again. . . . Freethy has done a beautiful job of weaving a compelling story.”
—Romance Novel TV
“A well-written, captivating story, with good pacing that will leave you satisfied as it unfolds. There is a little bit of everything—romance, mystery, and inexplicable events—a fascinating story.”
—Romance Reviews Today
A
LSO BY
B
ARBARA
F
REETHY
In Shelter Cove
On Shadow Beach
Suddenly One Summer
Now Available from Pocket Star
Pocket Star Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Barbara Freethy
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Pocket Star Books paperback edition February 2011
POCKET STAR BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at
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.
Designed by Jill Putorti
Cover illustration by Tom Hallman
ISBN 978-1-4391-7649-8
ISBN 978-1-4391-7650-4 (ebook)
To my friends at the Peninsula Tennis Club—thanks for
the friendship, support, and the exercise!
Thank you for purchasing this Pocket Star Books eBook.
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Don’t forget
to click through after
At Hidden Falls
for an exclusive sneak peek
at Barbara Freethy’s next heartwarming tale
THE WAY BACK HOME
Available from Pocket Books July 2012
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing friends are so important. They share the journey of creating something from nothing. They understand that every book has its moments of despair as well as pure joy. And they’re always there to offer up a plot twist, a glass of wine, or a box of chocolates because sometimes the muse needs a little help. I have some wonderful writing friends. Thanks to Diana Dempsey, Kate Moore, Lynn Hanna, Barbara McMahon, Carol Grace, and Candice Hern, some of whom have been there since the beginning! Thanks also to Bella Andre, Anne Mallory, Veronica Wolf, Tracy Grant, Jami Alden, Penny Williamson, and Monica McCarty. You all helped bring Angel’s Bay to life, and I am forever grateful for your friendship.
NE
Dark clouds blotted out the glow of the sun setting over the ocean, and the threatening storm sent a chill down Isabella Silveira’s spine. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as the Pacific Coast Highway took another terrifying twist along a steep cliff that dropped abruptly into the wild, crashing waves below. She’d always been a spontaneous person, but this trip was giving her plenty of second thoughts.
She was exhausted, haunted by a series of tormenting dreams for the last two weeks. They’d begun shortly after she’d received a birthday present from her brother Joe, an antique turquoise and gold pendant that he’d found in the house he’d inherited from their uncle Carlos in Angel’s Bay. He’d told her that the turquoise reminded him of her unusual eyes. All of her other siblings had brown eyes, but somehow in the Irish-Hispanic mix of her parents, she’d ended up with dark hair, olive skin, and deep blue eyes.
Her eyes were part of her special gift, her grandmother Elena had told her—the gift of insight imparted by their Mayan ancestors and shared by only a few women in the family. Her teasing siblings had told her that her “gift” was a story their grandmother had made up to make her feel special. But that didn’t explain why touching certain items belonging to people she cared about triggered dreams and visions of the future. Unfortunately, those flashes of insight were rarely helpful. Even when she tried to warn someone, she often wound up getting somewhere just in time to pick up the pieces.
After several troubling incidents, she’d learned to shy away from deeply emotional relationships, because they often brought on the disturbing flashes. It was easier to skate along the surface, never settling too long in one place or with one person. She could have fun, have friends, have sex—but love was another thing entirely. Love could make her crazy.
For months her brain had been quiet, until she’d put on the necklace. That night, she’d dreamed of Angel’s Bay.
She’d never been to the town where Joe had taken over as police chief almost a year earlier. But the images haunting her had included this highway and the Angel’s Bay sign she’d passed three miles back, as well as shadows and silhouettes swirling around landmarks and people that seemed meaningful in some unfathomable way. Just when she came to the brink of discovery, she woke up sweating and shaking, with a certainty that she was supposed to do something, save someone—but she didn’t know what to do or whom to save.
She’d taken to exercise, running, spinning, kickboxing, anything that would leave her too exhausted to dream. She’d lost five pounds, but the dreams had continued to come. Finally, she’d stopped fighting. The pendant had come from Joe. What if he was in trouble and she did nothing? She’d never forgive herself.
Fortunately, she was between movie projects. She worked as a freelance costume designer, and the start date of her next film had been pushed back until January, leaving her at loose ends for the next two months. While she normally helped out at her sister’s clothing boutique between design jobs, she’d decided to go to Angel’s Bay instead. Even if she couldn’t figure out her dreams, at least she’d get to see Joe. And she was more than a little curious about Angel’s Bay. Joe seemed to be in love with the town—so much so that he’d agreed to divorce his wife rather than move back to L.A.
