Heart Stealers Read online

  Heart Stealers

  Four complete novels in one volume

  Kathryn Shay

  Patricia McLinn

  Judith Arnold

  Julie Ortolon

  COP OF THE YEAR

  Copyright 1998, Kathryn Shay

  Previously published 2011

  Cover art by Patricia Ryan

  LOST AND FOUND GROOM

  Copyright 2000, Patricia McLinn

  Previously published 2010

  Cover art by Patricia McLinn

  SOMEBODY’S DAD

  Copyright 2002, Barbara Keiler

  Previously published 2012

  Cover art by Barbara Keiler

  FALLING FOR YOU

  Copyright 2002, Julie Ortolon

  Previously published 2010

  Cover Photo Copyright 2008 iofoto.com / Bigstock.com

  Cover Design Copyright 2010 by Julie Ortolon

  EBook Design by A Thirsty Mind

  HEART STEALERS

  Published 2013 by the Authors

  Cover photo of man holding rose, copyright Nyul / Dreamstime.com

  Cover photo of woman on sofa, copyright Nejron / Dreamstime.com

  Cover photos of heroes from left to right:

  Copyright Nyul / Dreamstime,com

  Copyright Lunamarina / Dreamstime.com

  Copyright Steex / iStockphoto.com

  Copyright Curaphotography / Dreamstime.com

  Cover Design Copyright 2013 Julie Ortolon

  EBook design by A Thirsty Mind

  Digital Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the authors’ imaginations or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

  Heart Stealers

  COP OF THE YEAR

  LOST AND FOUND GROOM

  SOMEBODY’S DAD

  FALLING FOR YOU

  The Authors

  “In COP OF THE YEAR (4 1/2 Stars Gold Medal), master storyteller Kathryn Shay pens an emotionally powerful tale that leaves you breathless. Woven into this riveting plot are wonderfully written characters that grab your heart and don't let go. Bravo Ms. Shay!”

  – RT Book Reviews

  Kathryn Shay has published 48 romance novels and 1 mainstream women’s fiction. She has won five RT Book Reviews awards, four Golden Quills, four Holt Medallions, the Bookseller’s Best Award and Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year. Her work has been serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine and featured in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and People magazine. There are over five million copies of her books in print and hundreds of thousands downloaded online.

  If you enjoyed COP OF THE YEAR, you can learn more about the rest of the Bayview Heights series at Kathy’s website, www.kathrynshay.com, where you can also send her an email and sign up for notices of future releases.

  LOST AND FOUND GROOM is “...bursting with wonderful Patricia McLinn romantic touches – powerful characters, strong interplay and fiery moments.”

  – RT Book Reviews

  Readers and reviewers cite Patricia McLinn’s memorable and believable characters in praising her 29 novels of romance, women’s fiction and mystery. Her books have topped best-seller lists for print and e-books, as well as being honored by RWA’s RITA, Golden Leaf, Maggie, Holt Medallion, Booksellers Best, Orange Rose, Rising Star, More Than Magic, and RT Book Reviews. She has more than four million copies of her books in print, and hundreds of thousands downloaded online.

  If you enjoyed LOST AND FOUND GROOM, you can learn more about the rest of the A Place Called Home series at Patricia’s website, www.patriciamclinn.com, where you can also send her an email and sign up for notices of future releases.

  SOMEBODY’S DAD: “Judith Arnold lives in a blessedly gimmick-free universe. No quirky plot devices, no revolutionary narrative structures, just stories of interesting people falling in love.”

  – The Romance Reader

  The author of more than eighty-five novels, bestselling author Judith Arnold has been a multiple finalist for Romance Writers of America’s Rita Award and the winner of RT Book Reviews Awards for best Harlequin American Romance, best Harlequin Superromance, best Series Romance and best Contemporary Single Title Romance. Publishers Weekly named her novel LOVE IN BLOOM’S one of the best books of the year, and her novels BAREFOOT IN THE GRASS and THE FIXER UPPER were included in RT’s list of best romances of all time.

  If you enjoyed SOMEBODY’S DAD, you can learn more about rest of the Daddy School series at Judith’s website, www.juditharnold.com, where you can also send her an email and sign up for notices of future releases.

  FALLING FOR YOU: “A thoroughly delightful, fast-paced romance about what happens when opposites attract. And the setting is so vividly drawn, you feel part of the surroundings. A lovely story!”

  – Old Book Barn Gazette

  Reviewers from Publisher’s Weekly to RT Book Reviews have praised Julie Ortolon’s contemporary romance for being “sizzling,” “fast-paced,” and “filled with genuine heart.” Numerous awards for her work include two Bookseller’s Best Awards. ALMOST PERFECT, book one of her Perfect trilogy, was a Rita finalist and was named Best Single Title Contemporary by the readers of Affaire de Coeur magazine.

  If you enjoyed FALLING FOR YOU, you can learn more about the rest of the Pearl Island series at Julie's website, JulieOrtolon.com, where you can also send her an email and sign up for notices of future releases.

  Samples

  A sample of COP OF THE YEAR follows. Technical limitations don’t allow us to let you sample the other three books. But if you would like to read excerpts from them, visit these links:

  Lost and Found Groom by Patricia McLinn

  Somebody’s Dad by Judith Arnold

  Falling for You by Julie Ortolon

  Cop of the Year

  Kathryn Shay

  Author’s note: Cop of the Year was originally published in 1997. For many of my backlist books, I revised the stories to be current enough to take place today when I republished them. I did not revise this book because Mitch is a Vietnam Veteran, and this is a focal point of the story. The sequels to the book, Because It’s Christmas and Count on Me, also take place from 1997-2000. Cell phones and other technology are also not inserted. KS

  Chapter One

  “Am I under arrest?”

  Mitch glanced at the kid draped on the wooden bench in the squad room. “What did the officer who brought you in say?”

  “Can’t you just answer a freakin’ question?”

  Mitch sighed. Insolent punk.

  “No, you’re not under arrest. But if you don’t keep your mouth shut, I could probably find a reason to keep you here.”

  Burning brown eyes held his. “Yeah, well you’ve already done enough damage. What’s a little more?”

  “A record of arrests doesn’t look good, Battaglia.”

  The boy settled down, and Mitch finished typing his report into the computer. When he was done, he set it to print and leaned back
. Linking his hands behind his neck, he stared at the young man who was headed for trouble. Mitch had seen too many others in New York City, and in Long Island suburbs like this one. “Who do you think took the scalpels? Since you contend you didn’t.”

  Battaglia raked a shock of thick black hair off his brow. “I don’t know. There were lots of people in the operating room. Other orderlies, janitors, the guy to pick up the anesthesia stuff. Hell, maybe some nurse on crack took them to sell.”

  Mitch eyed the kid’s jacket, lying on the bench next to him. The Blisters was printed in large capital letters on the back, surrounded by exploding fireworks in vivid red. Blood red. “You sure you didn’t take them? For the next street fight? I hear scalpels are the newest weapons of choice.”

  “I don’t fight.”

  “No, you go to tea parties with your gang buddies.”

  “Listen, man, if I’m not under arrest, why do I have to stay here?”

  “Because you’re under eighteen. Our town ordinance says an adult has to sign you out if you’re picked up by the cops for any reason.”

  “I’ll be eighteen in a few months.”

  “Should have waited until then to get into trouble.” Mitch rose to remove the paper from the printer.

  The boy stood, almost matching Mitch’s height. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Sit down, Battaglia.” He sat. “Did you call someone?”

  Eyes full of resentment stared back at him. They were dark and hostile.

  “Johnny, what happened?” a deep female voice called from behind Mitch.

  He turned to see a woman in the doorway. This was the kid’s mother? God help him. She couldn’t be more than thirty. His policeman’s mind cataloged her features. About five-seven, tall for a woman. Her carriage was an odd combination of athletic grace and streetwise toughness. She had delicate bone structure, big gray-blue eyes and strawberry-blond hair that hung in careless waves on her shoulders.

  “Johnny?”

  Battaglia stood again. “Sorry to get you up, Cassie. I didn’t know who else to call.” He leveled a venomous gaze on Mitch. “This pig said I need an adult to get me out of here.”

  Ignoring his slur, the woman circled to face Mitch. “What happened?”

  Mitch noted she didn’t ask what the kid had done. Interesting.

  “Some scalpels were stolen from Bayview Heights General Hospital. Originally we thought Mr. Battaglia had taken them.”

  Outrage made her eyes mostly blue. “And why is that?”

  “He was the last one in the operating room.”

  “He didn’t take the scalpels.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “He loves his job as an orderly. He’d never do anything to jeopardize it. He wants to be a doctor.”

  Remorse flickered through Mitch. “We’re not arresting him. We just brought him in for questioning.”

  “Because of his jacket.”

  Mitch rammed his hand through his hair. “No, because he was the last one seen in the operating room.” He glanced at the jacket in question. “Though I hate seeing any gang paraphernalia in Bayview Heights.”

  “He didn’t do it.”

  “Probably not. We searched him and checked his locker.”

  “And found nothing.”

  Battaglia picked up his jacket and crossed to the woman, touching her hand gently. “It doesn’t matter, Cassie. I lost the job, anyway. They told me not to come back.”

  Too late, Mitch tried to stop his reaction to the boy’s obvious pain, but he wasn’t fast enough to short-circuit it. Damn, he hated dealing with kids.

  “Oh, Johnny.” She slid her arm around him. “I’m so sorry.”

  The kid leaned into her for a minute, then whispered, “Get me out of here.”

  Cassie turned to Mitch. “What do I have to do?”

  “Go pick up your stuff in the outer office, Battaglia.” After Johnny left, Mitch retrieved a form from his desk.

  “Sign here.”

  When she gave it back to him, he scanned it, then said, “You need to fill in the relationship. Who are you?”

  “His English teacher.”

  Mitch stepped back. “His English teacher? Over at the high school?” He looked down at the signature. “Smith. You’re Cassandra Smith?”

  She frowned. “Do we know each other?”

  Mitch gave in to the urge to laugh. “Not yet, Ms. Smith.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “On Monday, I’ll be part of your class for the next ten weeks.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “I wish I were. You can blame the Resiliency Program cooked up by the school board and the town officials. They seem to think schools working with the police force will help make kids more resilient in dealing with today’s pressures.”

  “I’ll never allow you in my classroom,” she said implacably.

  “I never thought I’d come.”

  * * *

  Cassie Smith slapped her hand down on the desk. “I won’t do it, Seth.”

  “You don’t have any choice.” Her principal, Seth Taylor, was clearly choosing his words carefully; he wasn’t just pushing her buttons. He’d never do that, anyway. Not this man who’d saved her life, not this man who was responsible for her becoming the person—and the teacher—she was. “Now, sit down, take a deep breath and listen to what I have to say.”

  She dropped into a chair. “I’m sorry. But a cop? You know how I feel about cops. This one has a history with my students already, and he’s only been in Bayview Heights a few months.”

  “Cassie, your feelings about policemen come from things that happened eighteen years ago. You’ve gotten beyond everything else, why not this?”

  Before she could respond, his phone buzzed. The principal sighed. “Do you mind if I take this? I’m expecting a call from the superintendent and I’ve had trouble reaching him.”

  Cassie shook her head. “No, of course not. Do you want me to leave?”

  “That’s not necessary.”

  While he took his call, Cassie stood and wandered around the spacious office, comforted by the mahogany furniture and subtly striped wallpaper. On the side table was a picture of Seth’s son, Joey. After his wife died, Seth had raised the boy alone, and they were very close. Above the photo, plaques were proudly displayed on the wall: Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Civic Leader Award, Crime Prevention Scholar. Next to those was a framed inscription Cassie herself had given Seth when she graduated from high school and was on her way to college. It read “One good teacher can change a delinquent into a solid citizen.”

  During his years as an English teacher at Bayview Heights High School, Seth Taylor had been the best. Once he’d become principal, he’d started an innovative At-Risk Program, where four teachers worked with the forty least motivated students in the school. Five years ago, he’d convinced Cassie to come back to her alma mater to teach one of the controversial classes. She’d bet her Grateful Dead T-shirt that if the program had been in place when she’d been here as a student, it would have kept her out of trouble.

  Instead, she’d had too many run-ins with the Bayview Heights Police Department. She shuddered just thinking about them. Why was a cop coming to participate in her classroom program? And why this particular cop?

  “Sorry.” Seth’s voice drew her away from the past. “Now, where were we?”

  “You were about to try to convince me that this cop thing is going to fly.” When he started to speak, she held up her hand, palm outward. “No, wait. I know the routine. ‘Cassie, it’s best for the kids. Cassie, think of what it will mean to the program. Cassie, you’ve got to get past your personal bias to make this an experience that will save lives.’”

  At forty-five, Taylor had flecks of gray in his dark blond hair and he was a little heavier than when he’d been her English teacher, but his deep blue eyes still twinkled back at her. “Am I that transparent?”

  “Yes. It’s how you got me back to Bayview
Heights, after all.”

  “Lucky for us that I did.”

  Cassie blew errant bangs out of her eyes. “Oh, God, I can’t believe this. Me and a cop working together.”

  “It might be nice if you called him a police officer. He is a captain, you know.”

  “Oh, yes, I know. He’s so by-the-book it’s scary. I saw his attitude toward Johnny firsthand. And then he testified against Amit—who’s barely staying in school—on the dealing charge.”

  “As I recall, he saved Amit’s neck by recommending a community service punishment, instead of juvenile detention, so he could stay here as a student.”

  Cassie sighed and sank into the chair. “Yeah, that’s true. But he’s just so stiff, so formal. Rules, rules, rules. Do you know how my class will appear to him?”

  “You have rules, Cassie.”

  “Yeah. Try telling that to Jerry Bosco. He thinks we run a zoo down in hall 400.”

  Seth frowned at the mention of the veteran teacher who had vehemently opposed the At-Risk Program. Cassie knew Seth had had run-ins with the man, too, some of them very serious and long-standing. “Bosco’s just jealous of all the money that’s been funneled there.”

  “No. He thinks advanced placement kids are the only ones deserving computers, field trips and special programs.”

  “Which is what Mitch Lansing is, Cass. Part of a special program. Just like the ones we brought in from business and social services.”

  “Why can’t he work with Ross’s math class? Or Jack’s social studies class?”

  “You know he can’t. Ross and Jack have done their stints. You and Zoe get to participate this half of the year. And Zoe’s got the artists.”

  “Why don’t I have the arts? I use art in English class more than she does in a science class.”

  “Because the arts, writing and reading are part of every curriculum, not just language arts.”

  Cassie smiled as she listened to Seth expound on his favorite topic. One of the first things he’d done when he became principal at Bayview Heights High School ten years ago was to erase as many lines as he could between the disciplines. Because of him, research papers became the requirement of all subjects, even math; reading and writing were heavily emphasized in each course; and physics teachers participated in the dance workshops and the improvisational theater specials. Seth Taylor had truly helped make Bayview Heights High School an innovative school.