Down the Rabbit Hole

Praise for #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

J. D. ROBB

“A virtuoso.”

—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Held me spellbound from the first page to the last.”

—MyShelf

New York Times Bestselling Authors

MARY BLAYNEY

“Witty prose.”

—Booklist

“Compelling.”

—RT Book Reviews

ELAINE FOX

“A vibrant new voice in romance.”

—Patricia Gaffney

“One of the best-written, original, and fun novels to come across my desk in ages!”

—M. L. Gamble

MARY KAY MCCOMAS

“An introspective and irresistible story.”

—Publishers Weekly

“A remarkable talent.”

—RT Book Reviews

R. C. RYAN

“Delivers it all—with page-turning romance.”

—Nora Roberts

“These not-to-be-missed books are guaranteed to warm your heart!”

—Fresh Fiction

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the authors

Copyright © 2015 by Penguin Random House LLC.

“Wonderment in Death” by J. D. Robb copyright © 2015 by Nora Roberts.

“Alice and the Earl in Wonderland” by Mary Blayney copyright © 2015 by Mary Blayney.

“iLove” by Elaine Fox copyright © 2015 by Elaine Fox.

“A True Heart” by Mary Kay McComas copyright © 2015 by Mary Kay McComas.

“Fallen” by R. C. Ryan copyright © 2015 by Ruth Ryan Langan.

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For more information, visit penguin.com.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-17577-8

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Jove mass-market edition / October 2015

Cover images: “Landscape” by Petar Paunchev / Shutterstock; “Hat” by Albund / Shutterstock.

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.

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CONTENTS

Praise for the authors

Title Page

Copyright

WONDERMENT IN DEATH

J. D. ROBB

ALICE AND THE EARL IN WONDERLAND

MARY BLAYNEY

ILOVE

ELAINE FOX

A TRUE HEART

MARY KAY MCCOMAS

FALLEN

R. C. RYAN

WONDERMENT IN DEATH

J. D. ROBB

I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity

of regarding everything I cannot explain

as a fraud.

CARL JUNG

We’re all mad here.

LEWIS CARROLL

CHAPTER ONE

The dead were his business.

Over the years, he’d built a tidy fortune—though it was never enough, never quite enough—exploiting the dead and those who loved them.

He loved his work, reveled in it, and all the bright and shiny things his efforts amassed. But over and above the profit, or at least running through the dollars and euros and pounds, was sheer glee.

A man who didn’t laugh himself sick seven times a day didn’t know how to live.

One of his greatest amusements—and in truth he had so many—but one of his greatest was when the time came around to turn the living into the dead.

That time had come around for Darlene Fitzwilliams, she of the ebony hair and haunted blue eyes. Such a pretty creature. He’d thought so on their first acquaintance, and had thought the same a number of times over the past five months.

He might have kept her longer, as he did love pretty things, but she had committed the greatest sin.

She’d begun to bore him.

She sat now in the cluttered, colorful parlor of his cluttered, colorful house, as she had once every week for four and a half months. She called him Doctor Bright, one of his many names and as false as all the rest.

“Doctor Bright,” she said after sipping the tea he always provided, “I had a terrible argument with my brother this afternoon. It was my fault—I missed an important appointment with the lawyers regarding the estate. I just forgot. I was distracted, knowing I’d be coming here, and I forgot. Marcus was so upset and impatient with me. He doesn’t understand, Doctor Bright. If I could just explain . . .”

Bright lifted his dark, dramatic eyebrows. “What did your father say, dear?”

“He said it wasn’t time.” She leaned forward, all that hope and faith (and how tedious that had become) glowing on her face. “I’m so anxious to talk to him and Mama again.”

“And you will, of course.”

He sipped his tea, smiled at her. “Drink your tea. It will help open you to communications.”

She obeyed, biddable, boring girl.

“It’s hard not to tell him. And Henry.”