Burns Too Deep (Burns! Mystery 1)

By Erin O'Quinn

The story of an Irish detective and a mysterious Scot. Two men meet on a stretch of highway between nowhere and Dundee, Scotland. What secret does each man hold? And what will happen if those truths are ever revealed? Both men have much to lose. And something crucial to gain, if only they can stop running.

Close-mouthed CID Detective Thomas Fitzgerald has just finished a harrowing case. He’s traveling the highway between Arbroath and Dundee, Scotland. Now all he wants to do is return to his flat, strip down and soak before catching a good night’s sleep. But a stranger on the side of the road changes everything.

The quiet man named Burns is a puzzle—a dark-haired, sensuous enigma whose harmless invitation to a drink he decides to accept.

Before the next twelve-hour phase of the moon has come and gone, the lives of both these men will change profoundly.

Can they stop running long enough to find each other?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erin O'Quinn
• Release date: Sep 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310402944

Erin O'Quinn

Erin O’Quinn sprang from the high desert hills of Nevada, from a tiny town which no longer exists. A truant officer dragged her kicking and screaming to grade school, too late to attend kindergarten; and since that time her best education has come from the ground she’s walked and the people she's met.Erin has her own publishing venue, New Dawn Press. Her works cover the genres of M/M and M/F romance and also historical fantasy for all ages.

Book preview

BURNS TOO DEEP

Burns! Mystery 1

Erin O’Quinn

Burns Too Deep

Erin O’Quinn

Copyright © 201 5 Erin O ’ Quinn

ISBN: 9781310402944

First electronic edition published by New Dawn Press

Published in the United States of America with international distribution.

 Cover Design by Erin O’Quinn

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author ’ s imagination or are used fictitiously; and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

WARNING: This writing contains explicit sexual descriptions and is intended for a mature audience over the age of 18.

Burns Too Deep

Close-mouthed CID Detective Thomas Fitzgerald has just finished a harrowing case. He’s traveling the highway between Arbroath and Dundee, Scotland. Now all he wants to do is return to his flat, strip down and soak before catching a good night’s sleep. But a stranger on the side of the road changes everything.

The quiet Scot named Burns is a puzzle—a dark-haired, sensuous enigma whose harmless invitation to a drink he decides to accept.

Before the next twelve-hour phase of the moon has come and gone, the lives of these men will change profoundly.

Both men are hoarding a secret, trying to escape. Can they stop running long enough to find each other?

Dedication

To Bo and Alex. Both of you thought enough of Thomas Fitzgerald to imagine him in his own story. He shares this one with a shadow, one who is nevertheless all too real. I hope you will like it.

Foreword

Welcome to my world of the Nevada Highlander trilogy.

This novella shares both the literary universe and the character of CID detective Thomas Fitzgerald introduced in The Kilt Complex and continued in Hunter’s Point. Unlike those two novels, the settings here are only as real as they need to be for me to tell a story: The A92 Highway and a rest stop between Arbroath and Dundee, Scotland; a bachelor’s flat close to Police Scotland HQ; and a well-known tourist attraction—an Arctic exploration ship now a floating museum in Dundee’s harbor.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes I may have made when writing about Police Scotland and about all Scottish locales, where I am a devoted but virtual visitor.

~Erin O’Quinn

September 2015

Chapter One

______________________

Breakdown

Thomas Fitzgerald tried to settle into the cloth seat of the Ford Focus, adjusting his long legs once again as he jabbed the cruise control. The cheap trousers kept riding up, biting his crotch, and his spine felt like a bloody pretzel. Police Scotland uniforms were not known for their dashing cut. And the bucket seat had been designed for someone with an ass ten centimeters wider. An old man’s seat.

He sighed and tried to shut out the discomfort. He supposed he was lucky. The A92 highway from Montrose to Dundee was almost a straight shot, under an hour ride. And fates be praised, Police Scotland had issued him a two-liter engine sedan, the ST model. Turbocharged, no less. A tip of the Inspector’s cap, maybe, to his recent status as Detective Sergeant, Criminal Investigation Department, working alone these days and loving it.

Normally he’d be in plain clothes. But ’Speck—Detective Inspector Ainsley—had suggested he blend into the woodwork at the Montrose Tayside Station where he’d been on loan the past few days. That small station couldn’t afford plainclothes cops, so he’d become another working stiff for a while alongside the local constabulary. His mouth turned up in a small twitch as he thought about all the possible meanings of stiff, starting with his back and working down to the fly in his pants.

He could hardly wait to slide into a pair of loose cotton trousers, to hell with a belt or suspenders, and screw jockey shorts. He’d already tucked the Glock, nestled in its holster, in the boot of the car. One less impediment to bite into his tired body.

He’d left the Tayside Station in Montrose around four p.m., in plenty of time to beat the sunset back to Dundee. Now, fifteen minutes later and a few klicks out of Arbroath, he was trying not to count the kilometers until he could draw a hot bath and dive in bed for a long sleep before showing up at the district office in the morning.

Thomas glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw no traffic behind him. What he saw was the flash of vivid blue eyes he wished were a few shades less noticeable. And yet—like having this turbo Focus to drive instead of the department’s usual four-cylinder weenie—he counted himself lucky.

At least I have one physical plus that sometimes makes a lad’s dick stand up and take notice.

He’d decided long ago that his sky-blue eyes were a nuisance, a signpost. He preferred to remain in the background—the observer—until he judged it time to spring into action. So Thomas had a habit of watching the world go by from half-lowered lids, as long as he was in the presence of others…

His mind drifted.

Some of those others, men like Alex Dominguez and Rory Drummond, had recently taken the full brunt of his gaze. He’d worked with the two of them the last 48 hours on the Scurdie Ness Mess, so-called by the Montrose news outlets. He’d met both of them on another case back in December. Both those guys were attractive—hell, sexy to the max—but unfortunately sleeping together. He let a slow grin invade his face as he thought of the special constable Alex who was a cop’s cop, a cut above. And the over-sized laird Rory, a pain in the ass if he thought someone wanted to explore his partner’s tight Levi’s, but a damn fine warrior and reliable associate.

He sighed again and adjusted the inseam of his pants. I’d give a month’s pay for a bedmate half as hot as either of those guys. As long as I could say goodbye when I’m through and go about my business .

And he knew that was not about to happen.