Trouble Maker: A MacKenzie Family Novel (The MacKenzie Family) Read online

  Trouble Maker

  By Liliana Hart

  A MacKenzie Family Novel

  Trouble Maker

  A MacKenzie Family Novel

  Copyright 2016 Liliana Hart

  ISBN: 978-1-942299-46-2

  Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Book Description

  Trouble Maker

  by Liliana Hart

  Marnie Whitlock has never known what it’s like to be normal. Her ability to see the future and people’s innermost thoughts makes her an outcast—feared—loathed. Even by her own parents. And her father is determined to beat the curse out of her. Her only chance for survival is to escape Surrender.

  Beckett Hamilton has loved Marnie since they were kids, but one horrible night destroyed any future he’d hoped for. Now Marnie was back in Surrender, and picking up where they left off is the only thing on his mind. He finds out quickly that some hearts take longer to heal, and not everyone that’s broken can be fixed. But loving Marnie isn’t an option—it’s his destiny.

  About Liliana Hart

  Liliana Hart is a New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher's Weekly Bestselling Author of more than 40 titles. After starting her first novel her freshman year of college, she immediately became addicted to writing and knew she'd found what she was meant to do with her life. She has no idea why she majored in music.

  Since self-publishing in June of 2011, Liliana has sold more than 4 million ebooks and been translated into eight languages. She's appeared at #1 on lists all over the world and all three of her series have appeared on the New York Times list. Liliana is a sought after speaker and she's given keynote speeches and self-publishing workshops to standing-room-only crowds from California to New York to London.

  Liliana can almost always be found at her computer writing or on the road giving workshops for SilverHart International, a company she founded with her husband, Scott Silverii, where they provide law enforcement, military, and fire resources for writers so they can write it right. Liliana is a recent transplant to Southern Louisiana, where she's getting used to the humidity and hurricane season, and plotting murders (for her books, of course).

  Connect with me online:

  twitter.com/Liliana_Hart

  facebook.com/LilianaHart

  My Website: www.lilianahart.com

  Also by Liliana Hart

  Click to purchase

  The MacKenzie Series

  Dane

  A Christmas Wish: Dane

  Thomas

  To Catch A Cupid: Thomas

  Riley

  Fireworks: Riley

  Cooper

  A MacKenzie Christmas

  MacKenzie Box Set

  Cade

  Shadows and Silk

  Secrets and Satin

  Sins and Scarlet Lace

  The MacKenzie Security Series (Includes the 3 books listed above)

  1001 Dark Nights: Captured in Surrender

  Sizzle

  Crave

  Scorch

  THE COLLECTIVE SERIES

  Kill Shot

  THE RENA DRAKE SERIES

  Breath of Fire

  ADDISON HOLMES MYSTERIES

  Whiskey Rebellion

  Whiskey Sour

  Whiskey For Breakfast

  Whiskey, You’re The Devil

  JJ GRAVES MYSTERIES

  Dirty Little Secrets

  A Dirty Shame

  Dirty Rotten Scoundrel

  Down and Dirty

  STANDALONE NOVELS/NOVELLAS

  All About Eve

  Paradise Disguised

  Catch Me If You Can

  Who’s Riding Red?

  Goldilocks and the Three Behrs

  Strangers in the Night

  Naughty or Nice

  Acknowledgments

  A huge thank you to M.J. Rose and Liz Berry for listening to me when I said I had a crazy idea. You never blinked and you saw all the possibilities. You guys are, as always, amazing and treasured friends.

  Thanks to Christopher Rice, Cristin Harber, Avery Flynn, Robin Covington, and Kimberly Kincaid for agreeing to be part of this project. You guys are all exceptional and I’m so honored that you chose to explore the MacKenzie World.

  Thanks to Jillian Stein for doing such an amazing job with social media and promo. You’re the best!

  And a huge thanks to my husband, Scott Silverii, for staying up with me until four in the morning while I finished this book. And also for providing me with Milk Duds and Route 44 iced tea. It’s nice to surface from a book haze and see you’re still there, plugging along with me. I love you more than you can imagine.

  An Introduction to the MacKenzie Family World

  Dear Readers,

  I’m thrilled to be able to introduce the MacKenzie Family World to you. I asked five of my favorite authors to create their own characters and put them into the world you all know and love. These amazing authors revisited Surrender, Montana, and through their imagination you’ll get to meet new characters, while reuniting with some of your favorites.

  These stories are hot, hot, hot—exactly what you’d expect from a MacKenzie story—and it was pure pleasure for me to read each and every one of them and see my world through someone else’s eyes. They definitely did the series justice, and I hope you discover five new authors to put on your auto-buy list.

  Make sure you check out Troublemaker, a brand new, full-length MacKenzie novel written by me. And yes, you’ll get to see more glimpses of Shane before his book comes out next year.

  So grab a glass of wine, pour a bubble bath, and prepare to Surrender.

  Love Always,

  Liliana Hart

  Available now! Click to purchase.

  Trouble Maker by Liliana Hart

  Rush by Robin Covington

  Bullet Proof by Avery Flynn

  Delta: Rescue by Cristin Harber

  Deep Trouble by Kimberly Kincaid

  Desire & Ice by Christopher Rice

  Table Of Contents

  Book Description

  About Liliana Hart

  Also by Liliana Hart

  Author Acknowledgments

  An introduction to the MacKenzie Family World by Liliana Hart

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Discover the Liliana Hart MacKenzie Family Collection

  Discover the World of 1001 Dark Nights

  Excerpt from Whiskey on the Rocks by Liliana Hart

  Special Thanks

  Dedication

  To Scott–– Because you told me you loved my “winter body” and it made me laugh. I must really love you.

  "Trouble is the next best thing to enjoyment; t
here is no fate in the world so horrible as to have no share in either its joy or sorrows."

  ~Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

  Chapter One

  Surrender, Montana

  Fifteen Years Ago…

  She’d seen her father’s death.

  Marnie Whitlock curled into a ball on the small twin bed and whimpered as pain shot through her body at the movement. The brutal heat of the day had carried into night, and there was no air conditioning in the small two-bedroom house she’d lived in her entire life. The old wooden window in her room was swollen with age, but she’d managed to raise it a few precious inches earlier that day. The breeze barely stirred the worn Priscillas hanging from the curtain rod.

  She shivered under the thin, nubby sheet as fever crept through her body. She couldn’t remember ever hurting as badly as she did in that moment. In one year and three days she’d taste freedom. She’d pack her bags and never set foot in Surrender, Montana, again.

  Innocence was such a fragile thing. She hadn’t been innocent since the age of four—since the first time he’d taken the tanned leather belt he wore like a religion around his waist and beat her bloody. Her mother had stood by helpless, wringing her hands and wondering if her turn was coming. But she never interfered or tried to protect her daughter from the vicious arcs of the belt.

  Even at four years old, Marnie knew she’d done wrong. Daddy said she had the devil inside of her, and her mama always told her to watch what she said. It was her own fault she got the beating. Daddy didn’t like hearing about it when she saw things that weren’t right in front of her own eyes. And she’d been sassy on top of it because she’d asked how come there weren’t any presents under the little Christmas tree someone had given them.

  “My friend Darcy has lots of presents under her Christmas tree. How come we don’t have any? You’ve got all that money just sitting in your glove box. You’re supposed to provide. Mrs. Beasley said it’s a man’s duty to provide for his family. And Mama had to put back all those groceries when we were at the store yesterday because she didn’t have enough money.”

  “Marnie,” her mama whispered, appalled. She looked back and forth between her child and her husband. “We’ve got what we need. Don’t sass your daddy.”

  “How do you know about the money in the glove box, Marnie?” Daddy asked.

  His voice was real soft. Gentle even. He sat in the secondhand recliner and kept his eyes on the television.

  Marnie looked at her mama, but she had her head down, focused on the dishes she was washing in the sink. But Marnie could see her hands were shaking.

  “I saw it,” Marnie said, clutching her nightgown with her fist.

  “You went outside and saw it in my truck?”

  She hesitated in answering and he turned his head to look at her—frigid blue eyes the color of a lake in winter.

  “You were snooping through my truck?” he asked a different way.

  “I just saw it,” she said softly, her heart thudding in her chest. “Like in a dream.” Her daddy was scary. But when he looked at her like that he was the scariest. She felt warmth dribble down her legs and to the floor as her bladder released. No one moved.

  He stood up slowly and towered over her, and she heard her mother’s whimper from the kitchen as she continued with the dishes.

  “What else did you see?”

  “I—I don’t know,” she stuttered out. “You were just playing cards. And then you took all the money and put it in the glove box. You drove into town and that lady was waiting for you on the steps. How come you kissed her but you never kiss Mama?”

  That was the last question she asked before his belt swished through the loops—a long hiss and slither—and then the lightning crack of the whip as the belt landed across the middle of her back.

  No—Daddy hadn’t liked her saying those things at all.

  Chapter Two

  Thank God for the MacKenzies.

  Marnie had learned through the years to keep her mouth shut and stay out of Harley Whitlock’s way. The older she got, the further apart the beatings came. Mostly because she tried hard to stay out of the little clapboard house with the leaking roof and sagging porch, and at sixteen, she’d gotten very good at avoiding him.

  She spent most of her afternoons and weekends at Darcy MacKenzie’s house. They’d been thick as thieves since they’d been seated next to each other in Mrs. Green’s kindergarten class. It was much easier to pretend she belonged to them—to a family that loved her unconditionally and didn’t discipline with a leather strap and the smell of Jim Beam on their breath. To pretend the pretty blue-and-white room with the princess bed, and the closet full of clothes Darcy let her borrow so she wouldn’t have to wear the same three shirts week after week, belonged to her.

  Her daddy spent most of his days and nights down at Duffey’s playing poker and drinking in the back room until Duffey tossed him and his buddies out. She assumed Daddy showed up at the MacKenzie Ranch for work from time to time, because they hadn’t been kicked out of the house they rented from James and Mary MacKenzie, and he always seemed to have money for his drinks and the poker pot.

  Her father hated her. She knew that. But he also feared her gift. He’d said more than once that the devil lived inside of her and beating it out was the only way to get cleansed. She’d believed him when she was younger, but as she’d gotten older she’d started doing research. There were others like her. They might not have a gift as strong as hers, but she wasn’t alone.

  She was also smart enough to know her days of living under the same roof as Harley Whitlock were numbered. But something had gotten into her tonight. Maybe it was the devil after all. Because she hadn’t cared about his anger or the belt. Even doormats had a threshold of tolerance before they unraveled.

  Carson Hamilton owned a large patch of land on the outskirts of town, and every year he loaned it out to a traveling carnival. In they came with their trailers and tents and rides, setting up within a matter of hours. And when the sun went down, the whirl and flash of carnival lights could be seen all over Surrender. Even from their little house down in the valley.

  Marnie had borrowed some of her freedom money from the Mason jar she kept hidden beneath the pieces of tin and rotten wood from a shed that had fallen down in their backyard. It had only taken her once to see her room ransacked and the money she’d kept in her drawer gone before she’d found a better hiding place.

  Darcy had told her she was making an investment in herself. So Marnie had splurged to buy mascara and a lip-gloss that Darcy had sworn plumped her lips right up. Of course, her daddy would kill her if he ever saw her wearing makeup. They were tools of the devil, used to incite boys, and only sluts and actresses wore makeup.

  Marnie had taken a little more of her freedom money so she could buy a Coke and cotton candy and still have enough to purchase tickets for a few rides. She’d been saving the last year, ever since she’d been old enough to get a part-time job at the library. And by her calculations, in one year and three days, she’d have enough saved so she could move to the city and find a better job while she went to college.

  She’d ridden with Mama to the fairgrounds and helped her unload some homemade jams and a quilt that would be sold at the auction. Anything to bring in a little more money.

  Marnie thought her mama had probably been beautiful once. Helen Whitlock was too thin and worry had etched deep lines around her mouth and eyes. There was no extra money for haircuts or color, so her dark hair was long and streaked with gray. She almost always wore it pulled straight back off her face in a tight bun. At thirty-eight, she should’ve still looked youthful and healthy, but instead she looked like an old, mousy woman, afraid of her own shadow.

  Mama chose to stay in the tent with all the other women and the goods, so that left Marnie alone and to her own devices. She knew Darcy was around somewhere, so she set out to find her. What she found instead was Beckett Hamilton.

  Her heart fluttered in her ch
est at the sight of him. He was nineteen and home for the summer after his first year of college. She couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t loved him, even when she was a little girl and she and Darcy would spy on her brothers and Beckett. The boys almost always had better adventures than they did. Mostly because they were boys and they had the run of the ranch. But there’d always been something about Beckett that captivated her attention. He was quiet, but there was a presence about him that made the others listen when he spoke.

  He was king of the land—the heir to one of the wealthiest ranches in the country—and he was so far out of her league she should’ve been ashamed of even dreaming that he could love her in return. He was a little over six feet in height, and she’d noticed after his time away at college that he’d come back a little broader in the shoulders and chest. His hair was sandy blond and thick and wavy, always a little bit messy, and his eyes were storm cloud gray. She’d always thought it odd that there were no other variations of color in his eyes. Just gray. But they were direct and there was kindness in them. And when he smiled his eyes smiled too.

  Beckett was surrounded by Declan, Shane, Thomas, and Riley MacKenzie. Declan and Shane were brothers, Thomas and Riley were brothers, and their respective fathers were brothers. They were all close to the same age. Shane was the youngest at eighteen and a senior at Surrender High School. Riley was the oldest at twenty-two and finishing up college. The others fell in between. And more often than not, they could be found hanging out together.