Synopses & Reviews
Chapter One
Detroit, Michigan
October 2003
Shivering with cold, thirty-three-year-old Sarita Grayson walked over to the worn pea coat hanging on a nail behind her desk and put it on. Even though it was only mid-October, the temperature inside her office in the old warehouse felt like below freezing. During the day, if the sun was out, being inside the drafty old eyesore wasn't too bad, but once evening rolled around, the temperature dropped like a stone, and cold ruled. The building's ancient heating system was kept running with duct tape, hairpins, and prayer. It was two-faced, however, and would cut off at a moment's notice, so Sarita and her staff didn't like turning it on until the weather outside made it absolutely necessary.
She blew on her hands to keep them warm, then dug through the mountain of papers atop her lop-sided desk looking for the notice from the city. She picked it up and read it again for maybe the fiftieth time since it had arrived in the mail three days earlier. The words had not changed. Block red letters, three inches high screamed eviction proceedings across the top like a tabloid headline. The day it arrived the shock had paralyzed her. Even now, her hands shook a bit. She and her people had been using this abandoned warehouse for many years, working hard to transform the abandoned hulking structure into the hub of the struggling community surrounding it. The space offered the children a safe environment in which to learn and play and gave the senior citizens a place where they could meet and stay connected to life and the neighborhood.
But now, because the city wanted to auction off the property, they were being threatened with eviction.
The building had originally housed a food distribution company. After the owners moved the operation to the suburbs back in the early eighties, it sat empty, attracting gang graffiti, rats, and crackheads. One summer night in 1990, the local Baptist church down the street caught fire and burned to the ground. Having no place for the congregation to worship, Pastor Otis Washington and the elders approached the city about moving into the vacant building temporarily until money could be raised for a new church. The city gave its permission on the condition that if the building were sold, the church would move its services and neighborhood programs elsewhere. Washington and the congregation agreed. The new church was built, but the out-reach programs dedicated to kids, seniors, and unwed mothers remained housed in the old warehouse. Because of all the neighborhood crack and crime, neither the city nor the congregation envisioned anyone's buying the place.
Obviously, times had changed; the city received a bid for the property two weeks ago. Sarita had taken over the running of the William Lambert Community Center after Pastor Washington's death in 1998, and if she could come up with the money to match the seventeen-thousand-dollar offer, then she and her people could stay -- if not, they were on the street. How in the world the city expected her to come up with that much cash, and in six days no less, was beyond her.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Silas Devine sticking his gray head in the doorway. After the death of Sarita's grandmother and great-uncles, Silas had become the elder in her life. She loved him dearly.
"Afternoon, General," he said to her.
It washis pet name for her, and she gave him a smile. "Afternoon, Silas. How are you?"
"I'm okay. Any luck?"
She knew he was talking about the seventeen-thousand- dollar dilemma. She shook her head. "So far, nothing."
Silas was her right-hand man. He looked after the plumbing, mowed the grass, helped out with driving the homebound seniors wherever they needed to go; anything Sarita needed, Silas did. He was also the only person she'd told about the eviction notice.
"Something will come up," he said confidently. "This place is too important to shut down. You'll see."
Sarita agreed with him on the Lambert Center's importance to the neighborhood, but wasn't sure the city officials who'd sent the eviction notice felt the same way. "How's the van this morning?"
Their donated van was fifteen years old and on its last legs. It needed a new engine, muffler, and struts, and the floor was almost rusted through; but, somehow, Silas kept it running.
"It woke up in a pretty good mood," he told her. "Started right up."
They shared a grin, and Silas added, "I'm on my way to take Mrs. Black over to the train station so she can get to Chicago for her brother's funeral."
"Okay. I'll see you when you get back."
He nodded, then studied her silently for a moment, before saying, "Don't give up. Somewhere up in heaven, Pastor Washington and that grandmamma of yours are all pulling strings. We'll get through this, I know we will."
She shook her head in agreement, but in reality, didn't share his optimism.
After his departure, Sarita got up from her cluttered desk and walked over to look out of her small, wire-screened window. The center's uncertain future filled her with a senseof helplessness that was totally out of character. In the years she'd been in charge, she'd always, always been able to effect some change in a seemingly unsolvable situation -- able to do a fast shuffle here, call in a favor there to keep the ship afloat, but this time she wasn't so sure. School had let out about an hour ago, and out of her office window she could see the children playing down below on the cracked, broken pavement of the building's parking lot ...
Synopsis
If she hadn't been desperate, Sarita Grayson would never have made a deal with the devil. That was only her first mistake . . .
The future of her neighborhood center and its kids is in jeopardy unless Sarita retrieves a fortune in diamonds for a gang lord. But when her escape is interrupted by a mysterious stranger, she makes her second mistake -- and bullets fly.
Catching a gorgeous black woman in the middle of his sting operation threw Mykal Chandler off his guard -- and into the path of a bullet. Now Mykal, as head of a covert government agency, is determined to find the desperate beauty who left him with a superficial wound, a million questions, and a deep, yearningdesire to learn her identity.
Because Sarita has stumbled into something so dark and deadly, Mykal is her only way out . . .
Synopsis
Blackboard bestselling author Beverly Jenkins launches her first contemporary romantic suspense with this exciting sizzler. Sparks fly when Mykal Chandler, the head of a covert government agency, fights to protect the woman he has fallen in love with.
Sarita Grayson is desperate. That's the only explanation for her late night rendezvous with a bag of stolen diamonds. But then a handsome stranger stands between her and a clean getaway. In the struggle for freedom, she accidentally shoots him.Mykal Chandler, head of a covert government agency NIA, can't believe he's been shot. He's shocked, he's furious, but he's also attracted to this sassy woman. Unfortunately, Sarita has stumbled unto a smuggling plot and he'll need to protect her, even if he has to kidnap her to do it. But Sarita isn't one to go quietly into the night...
About the Author
Beverly Jenkins is an African-American historical romance writer. She lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband and their two children. Born in Detroit, she graduated from Cass Technical High School and attended Michigan State University, where she majored in journalism and English Literature.
Ms. Jenkins has written eight books to date, for which she has received numerous awards, including two Waldenbooks Best Sellers Awards, a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times magazine for Best Western Historicals, and a Golden Pen Award from the Black Writer's Guild.
Ms. Jenkins has been featured in many national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Peoplemagazine, The Dallas Morning Newsand Vibemagazine. She has lectured at such prestigious schools and universities as Oberlin College, the University of Illinois, and the University of Michigan.
Beverly Jenkins's adult titles includeNight Song, Vivid, Indigo, Topaz, Through the Storm, The Taming of Jessi Rose, Always and ForeverandBefore the Dawn.