Beast in the Tower

Beast in the Tower
Julie Miller

Months ago, arsonists burned Dr. Damon Sinclair's laboratory. Now Damon is a recluse, shut in at the top of his unfinished Sinclair Tower. And at the very bottom is the affectionate Kit Snow and her down-home diner.After stopping a back-alley mugging, Kit earns the gratitude of the dark knight doctor. Only, she doesn't want his charity–just all of his most intimate secrets–putting her between her mysterious protector and the black marketers seeking to pillage the Sinclair pharmaceutical empire. But the only thing Damon guards more closely than his multimillion-dollar formulas is his heart.

What had she been thinking, chasing after Dr. Dangerous like that?

The man was probably nuts. He was most certainly eccentric and showed signs of agoraphobia. Yet she’d cornered him, argued—she’d touched him. All mistakes when it came to self-preservation. He was so far out of her league—professionally, socially, economically, intellectually—that it was laughable to think she’d had the nerve to confront him.

But it was the man who had her all mixed up inside, not the name.

Her reactions to him had been varied, unexpected, overpowering. There’d been an initial rush of sexual awareness that left her feverish. He was so tall, so hardened, so male. Trading words with him made the blood hum through her veins. He was such a complexity of words and actions and mysterious motivations that she was driven to puzzle him out.

And then she’d seen his face and touched his hand and felt…pity.

Beast in the Tower

Julie Miller

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

For Dr. Todd Pankratz and his staff.

Plus, to the surgical staff, admission specialists and 3rd floor nurses at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital in Hastings, Nebraska:

I owe you more than words can say here.

I feel better.

Thanks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Miller attributes her passion for writing romance to all those fairy tales she read growing up, and to shyness. Encouragement from her family to write down all those feelings she couldn’t express became a love for the written word. She gets continued support from her fellow members of the Prairieland Romance Writers, where she serves as the resident grammar goddess. This award-winning author and teacher has published several paranormal romances. Inspired by the likes of Agatha Christie and Encyclopedia Brown, Julie believes the only thing better than a good mystery is a good romance.

Born and raised in Missouri, she now lives in Nebraska with her husband, son and smiling guard dog, Maxie. Write to Julie at P.O. Box 5162, Grand Island, NE 68802-5162.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Dr. Damon Sinclair—Brilliant researcher or mad scientist? Rumors have surrounded the reclusive billionaire since tragedy disfigured him and drove his wife to suicide.

Kit Snow—She abandoned her dreams when her parents mysteriously died. Now she’s come home to reopen their downtown diner and take care of her makeshift family.

Matthew Snow—Kit’s brother is dealing with the changes in his life by making some bad choices.

Helen Hodges—More than a housekeeper. She loves the gifted boy she raised as though he were her own flesh and blood, and the feeling’s mutual.

Easting Davitz—Damon’s executive liaison and link to the outside world.

Ken Kenichi—A foreign businessman who’d like to acquire Sinclair Labs and all its patents.

Germane Knight—He holds the secret recipe for Snow’s Barbecue Sauce. What other secrets does he possess?

J. T. Kronemeyer—The current construction foreman on the Sinclair Tower.

Miranda Sinclair—Her death haunts the husband she left behind.

The Sinclair Tower—Madman’s folly or work of art? Rising above the Kansas City skyline, this architectural wonder hides many secrets. And a few dead bodies.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Prologue

Eighteen Months Ago

The dust settling from the tired old walls coated the warped, three-legged chair like a layer of gray velvet, undisturbed by the passage of time. Since it offered the only place to sit in this abandoned room, standing was the preferred option.

The room had made some banker’s assistant a nice, cozy office back in the building’s heyday. Now it was a decrepit eyesore, marred by peeling plaster and exposed studs in the crumbling walls, good for nothing more than meetings like this one.

Just another example of misused funds and misguided dreams. Dr. Damon Sinclair had been a sentimental fool to purchase this thirty-story high-rise and hire architects and historians to research its history so he could restore it to all its glory. He was an even bigger fool for trusting the wrong people.

But one man’s disadvantage was another—