Lie In The Dark – Gwen Hernandez

Night Herons (a Men of Steele spinoff series), Book 2

He’s the rule follower. She’s the chaos he can’t resist.

Natalie Nygaard-Brown is allergic to sitting still, but with a bullet wound in her chest and a target on her back, she has no choice. Retreating to a remote cottage in France feels like a prison sentence—especially when her keeper is Ford Beaumont, the sexy, by-the-book bodyguard she’s never forgotten. She’s desperate to hunt down the enemy threatening her team and rejoin her life, but the more she fights for her freedom, the more she’s drawn to the man who sees the fire between them as an unwelcome distraction.

Four years ago, Ford let Natalie’s wild spirit distract him from his assignment, a failure his scars won’t let him forget. This time, his focus is absolute: keep her safe, keep her hidden, and keep his hands to himself. But as their close proximity ignites old sparks, Ford realizes the hardest part of this mission isn’t staying alive—it’s resisting the magnetic woman who has always tested his control.

“You can always count on Gwen to deliver the perfect balance of steam, action, and suspense!”
USA Today Bestselling author Rachel Grant

Fun Facts:

Black-crowned Night Herons—the inspiration for the team’s name in LIE IN THE DARK—are common in the Los Angeles coastal areas. They’re so still, even when perched in the open, that they often go unnoticed. Here are a few photos I’ve snapped over the years.

While in the countryside near Marseille, Natalie uses Garlaban—a uniquely shaped peak near Aubagne—to orient herself. Here’s a (not very good) photo I took from the train on the way to Nice. Garlaban is the bump on the right.

At one point in the book, Natalie and Ford hide out in Nice, France. I adored Nice, and wish we’d had more time there. Here are a few scenes from the book.

At one point, Ford mentions the pizza vending machine in the Marseille train station…

They also spend time in Marseille’s vibrant Le Panier district, below.

The final showdown starts at the Redondo Beach Pier. Below are the outer ring of the pier at sunset, and the plaza where Natalie meets her contact.

Excerpt:

CHAPTER ONE

Taking a bullet to the chest hadn’t been on Natalie Nygaard-Brown’s bingo card for the day.

Sadly, it wasn’t even the first thing about her team’s op in Lucerne that had gone horribly wrong. An informant had been murdered right in front of her teammate, Emma. A man with dubious motives had ended up with the memory card she sought, forcing her and Natalie to use underhanded means to retrieve it. And Emma had just fled with the very man they’d duped, leaving her alone with a dead body.

On the plus side, the Swiss police were due any minute. Hopefully with paramedics in tow, because Nat might just bleed out on the cold tile if they didn’t hurry, and she’d rather live, thank you very much. She shuddered, an oppressive fatigue lashing her limbs to the floor. A bodyguard had saved her from a killer four years ago, but maybe he’d only delayed the inevitable. Maybe fate had her marked for a young, ugly death.

She would’ve laughed at her maudlin thoughts if her chest didn’t hurt so fucking much. “Get a grip. You signed on for this.” She’d knowingly put herself at risk by joining the Night Herons. Fate or not, she’d made that choice, fully aware of the potential for danger.

Flicking a glance at the feet of the gunman lying motionless on the other side of the kitchen counter, she forced herself to exhale slowly and trained her gaze on the plaster swirls on the ceiling. She weakly reapplied pressure to the bandage on her chest, and hissed air through her teeth at the bolt of pain triggered by the move. Perspiration trickled down the side of her face despite the chugging of the condo’s wall-unit air conditioning and the ice seeping into her veins. Biting down hard on her lip, she closed her eyes and took shallow breaths until the need to hurl subsided.

Hang in there.

Emma and Jason had wanted to stay with her, but Natalie had convinced them to run. If they were caught, the men they were after would not only win this round, but they’d also keep hurting people, and continue using their power and influence to escape the repercussions. The Night Herons’ efforts, their informant’s death, and Nat’s injuries would be in vain.

She’d do everything in her limited power to keep that from happening.

The Beretta Emma had left behind settled into Nat’s free hand, a cool, solid anchor. Something to focus on while she waited for the police and paramedics, their shrill sirens reverberating off the tightly packed buildings of the Altstadt—Lucerne’s old town.

With luck, the imminent arrival of the first responders would scare away anyone else who wanted her dead, but even if she made it to the hospital alive, she’d be a sitting duck there. Surely, her boss would send someone to protect her, but without knowing how the gunman had found this condo, was it safe to contact Gretchen?

The last thing Natalie wanted was to lead their enemies to the rest of the Night Herons. If someone had figured out what she and Emma were doing, getting in touch with anyone on her team could put them at risk.

She could only think of one other option.

Well, fuck.

Dialing from memory, she continued taking slow breaths and hunting for patterns in the ceiling’s plaster as the line rang.

“Ford Beaumont,” a deep, clipped voice said in her ear, achingly familiar.

Relief flooded through her. Four years ago, he’d made her memorize his number in case anything went wrong.

Unfortunately, today—as back then—things had gone very, very wrong.

Published: March 10 2026, 978-099160732

Previous book: Lie With Me