Funeral home owner and undertaker Dual Hood knows a good thing when he sees it, so when Charlie Soder applies for the job of embalmer, he snatches up the young man in a heartbeat. Charlie, fresh-faced and just out of college, also knows a good thing when he sees it, and immediately sets his sights on his new sexy boss.<br><br>It doesn’t take long for sparks to fly and romance to blossom. But Dual worries what folks in his small Mississippi town will say, and whether his family-owned business will suffer if word goes round about his new love interest. He isn’t at all certain he has the courage to do the right thing and grab love before it slips through his fingers.

The Undertaker's Secret

“Have you had a…partner…before?” I asked, lowering my voice for fear of being overhead.


“Yeah,” he replied easily. “But acid does wonders when you’re trying to get of the evidence.”


“Learned that in embalming school. Little holler in the woods. Bit of acid. It’s like nothing ever happened.”


“Me,” I said, “I just stuff them in a closed casket service. The family has no clue. Course the pallbearers complain, but I tell them the casket is so heavy because it’s made of a heavy metal.”


“Clever,” he admitted. “The crematory would be easier, though. Fire it up in the middle of the night. Who’s to know?”


“Takes too much time,” I said. “Someone could walk in on you and want to know who you’re cremating. And why you’re not keeping a record of it. Risky.”


“So you’ve thought it through,” he said. “Interesting.”


“It’s my job to know how to get rid of bodies,” I said.


“We’d make a great team,” he replied, smiling that angelic smile.


Chapter 20