LITMIR.BIZ

       TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

       AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG

       STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID

       PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

       ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      While working as a newspaper sportswriter, Darlene Gardner realized she’d rather make up quotes than rely on an athlete to say something interesting. So she quit her job and concentrated on a fiction career that landed her at Harlequin/Silhouette Books, where she’s written for Harlequin Temptation, Harlequin Duets and Silhouette Intimate Moments before finding a home at Harlequin Superromance. Please visit Darlene on the Web at www.darlenegardner.com.

      To my teenage son Brian for his invaluable input

       on the basketball scenes—and his suggestion that

       I name the heroine’s son Bryan. Also, because

       I love him even more than he loves basketball.

      CONTENTS

       ABOUT THE AUTHOR

       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

       CHAPTER FOURTEEN

       CHAPTER FIFTEEN

       EPILOGUE

       CHAPTER ONE

       I F THE FANS PACKING the Springhill High gymnasium had known about the Carolina State College scandal, they might have given Grady Quinlan an even icier reception.

      They greeted the basketball players who ran single file onto the court with raucous cheers worthy of an undefeated team, but the ovation abruptly quieted to a murmur when Grady walked onto the hardwood.

      Grady kept his expression carefully blank, a triumph considering he’d already weathered the resignation of his assistant coach earlier that evening.

      “You got nothin’ on Fuzz,” Dan Cahill had said, referring to the longtime Springhill coach who’d suffered a heart attack over the Christmas holiday. “I can’t work with someone I don’t respect.”

      Grady had only taken over the job as the Springhill Cougars’ head coach two weeks ago, but the crowd about to witness his debut didn’t think much of him, either.

      All because word had spread that Grady had suspended Bryan Charleton, the best player to come through Springhill High in a decade.

      Grady looked over his shoulder, expecting to see Bryan bringing up the rear. The seventeen-year-old junior had shown up for the pregame talk wearing khaki pants and a dress shirt, demonstrating he knew the drill. A suspended player couldn’t suit up but was expected to support his teammates from the bench.

      “You know where Bryan is?” Grady asked the short, skinny ninth-grade boy acting as the team’s manager.

      The boy’s eyes darted away from Grady’s. “No,” he said, then went back to filling a tray of paper cups with water.

      Rap music from the school’s PA system blared. Grady’s head pounded and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He fiddled with the tie he wore with one of the suits he’d bought after being named an assistant coach at Carolina State. The tie felt like a noose.

      On court the Springhill players and their opponents went through layup and shooting drills. The illuminated numbers on the overhead scoreboard clock counted down the minutes remaining in the allotted warm-up period.

      Nineteen. Eighteen. Seventeen.

      And still no Bryan.

      “I’ll be right back,” Grady told Sid Humphries, the very young junior-varsity coach he’d asked to act as his bench assistant during the game. “Have them do passing drills next.”

      Ignoring the panicked look in Sid’s eyes, Grady hurried back in the direction of the locker room, the heels of his dress shoes clicking on the wood floor.

      “Grady. Wait up.” Tony Marco, the school’s athletic director, caught up to him in the corridor that led from the gym to the rest of the building.

      Nearly a half foot shorter than Grady’s six-four, Tony had a stockier build, a mustache and the dark coloring he’d inherited from his Italian father.

      Nobody ever guessed Grady’s mother and Tony’s mother were sisters.

      “Is it true you suspended Bryan Charleton?” Tony sounded as though he’d be more likely to believe aliens had invaded the White House.

      “Yeah, it’s true.” Grady fought against taking offense at his cousin’s tone. If not for Tony, Grady would still be driving an eighteen-wheeler instead of coaching basketball and teaching high school students. “I caught him cheating.”

      “Cheating?” Tony’s thick black eyebrows rose toward his hairline. “In PE?”

      “Not in PE. I teach a nutrition and exercise class, too.”

      “Isn’t that an elective?”

      “Doesn’t matter,” Grady said tightly. “Cheating’s cheating.”

      “But…” Tony’s voice

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