by Cindi Myers
A killer stalks Eagle Mountain...
And a visiting lawman is determined to protect the next target...
Emily Walker is back home for her brother’s wedding. The joyous occasion is marred by a blizzard, a murderer on the loose...and Brodie Langtry, the man who broke her heart. As he searches for the Ice Cold Killer, Brodie becomes convinced that Emily is his next target. How can he protect a woman who wants nothing to do with him—a woman he’s terrirfied to let out of his sight?
His eyes locked to hers and she felt a surge of emotion, like a wave crashing over her.
Brodie still attracted her as no other man ever had. But she was no longer the naive, trusting girl she had been five years ago. She didn’t believe in fairy tales, or that she and Brodie were perfect for each other.
But Emily did believe in perfect moments, and seizing them. She leaned toward him, and he welcomed her into his arms. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his, losing herself in sensation—the scent of him, herbal soap and warm male; the reassuring strength of him, holding her so securely; the taste of him, faintly salty, as she broke the kiss to trace her tongue along his throat.
“I don’t want to let you go just yet,” he said.
“I’m not going anywhere.” She kissed him again, arching her body to his.
“Stay with me tonight,” he murmured, his lips caressing her ear.
“Yes.”
SNOWBLIND JUSTICE
Cindi Myers
Cindi Myers is the author of more than fifty novels. When she’s not crafting new romance plots, she enjoys skiing, gardening, cooking, crafting and daydreaming. A lover of small-town life, she lives with her husband and two spoiled dogs in the Colorado mountains.
Books by Cindi Myers
Harlequin Intrigue
Eagle Mountain Murder Mystery: Winter Storm Wedding
Ice Cold Killer
Snowbound Suspicion
Cold Conspiracy
Snowblind Justice
Eagle Mountain Murder Mystery
Saved by the Sheriff
Avalanche of Trouble
Deputy Defender
Danger on Dakota Ridge
The Ranger Brigade: Family Secrets
Murder in Black Canyon
Undercover Husband
Manhunt on Mystic Mesa
Soldier’s Promise
Missing in Blue Mesa
Stranded with the Suspect
The Men of Search Team Seven
Colorado Crime Scene
Lawman on the Hunt
Christmas Kidnapping
PhD Protector
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Emily Walker—Travis Walker’s younger sister has put her graduate studies on hold to help with the wedding, but her previous acquaintance with the main suspect in a series of murders has involved her in the case more than she would like.
Brodie Langtry—The investigator with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation once proposed to Emily Walker, only to have her turn him down. When his hunt for the killer brings him into her life again, he’s determined to make up for past mistakes.
Travis Walker—The groom-to-be and county sheriff takes the murders perpetrated on his watch personally.
Lacy Milligan—The bride-to-be is determined not to let snowstorms and a serial killer put a damper on her wedding.
The Ice Cold Killer—The serial killer is targeting women in and around Eagle Mountain and has everyone on edge. As his violence escalates, he comes closer and closer to Emily and the Walker family.
For Gay and Reed.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Excerpt from Warning Shot by Jenna Kernan
Chapter One
Snow sifted down over the town like a downy blanket, turning trash piles into pristine drifts, transforming mine ruins into nostalgic works of art, hiding ugliness and danger beneath a dusting of wedding-cake white.
The murderer lurked behind a veil of snow, fresh flakes hiding his tracks, muffling the sound of his approach, covering up the evidence of his crimes. Deep cold and furious blizzards kept others indoors, but the killer reveled in his mastery over the landscape. His pursuers thought he was soft, like them. They couldn’t find him because they assumed conditions were too harsh for him to survive in the wilderness.
And all the while he was waiting, striking when the right opportunity presented itself, his intellect as much of a weapon as his muscles. The woman who lay before him now was a prime example. She hadn’t hesitated to stop when he had flagged her down on the highway. He was merely a stranded motorist who needed help. He was good-looking and charming—what woman wouldn’t want to help him?
By the time she realized his purpose, it was too late. Like the officials who tracked him, she had underestimated him. The lawmen doubted his ability to instill trust in his victims, and were awed by his talent for killing quickly and efficiently while leaving no trace.
He lifted the woman’s inert body into the car, arranging it into an artful tableau across the seat. There was very little blood—none in the vehicle—and no fingerprints or other evidence for the sheriff and his deputies to trace. They would search and examine and photograph and question—and they would find nothing.
He shut the door to the car and trudged away as the snow began to fall harder, a sifting of sugar over the bloodstains on the side of the road, and over his footprints, and over the signs of a struggle in the older snow beside the highway. The killer ducked behind a wall of ice, and disappeared out of sight of the empty road. Wind blew the snow sideways, the flakes sticking to the knit mask he had pulled up over his face, but he scarcely felt the cold, too absorbed in the details of his latest killing, reveling in his skill at pulling it off—again.
There were no witnesses to his crime, and none to his getaway. The lawmen thought they were closing in on him because they had linked his name to his crimes. But they didn’t realize he was the one drawing nearer and nearer to his goal. Soon he would claim his final victim—the woman who had brought him to Eagle Mountain in the first place. After he had taken her, he would disappear, leaving his pursuers to wonder at his daring. They would hate him more than ever, but some part of them would have to admire his genius.
* * *
“I FEEL LIKE I should apologize for seventeen-year-old Emily’s poor taste in prom dresses.” Emily Walker looked down at the dress she had unearthed from the back of her closet that morning—too short in the front, too long in the back, entirely too many ruffles and a very bright shade of pink.
“It will be fine as soon as we straighten out the hem and maybe take off a few ruffles.” Lacy Milligan looked up from her position kneeling on the floor beside the chair Emily stood on, and tucked a lock of her sleek brown hair behind one ear. “You’ll look great.”
“Everyone is supposed to be looking at you when you walk down the aisle in that gorgeous bridal gown—not at the clashing train wreck of attendants at the front of the room,”
Emily said. Watching Lacy wouldn’t be a hardship—she was gorgeous, and so was her dress. The same couldn’t be said for the bridesmaids’ makeshift ensembles. “Let’s hope the highway reopens and the dresses you chose for your wedding can be delivered.”
“Not just the dresses,” Lacy said. “The wedding favors and some of the decorations are waiting to be delivered, as well. Not to mention some of the guests.” She returned to pinning the dress. “With less than a week to go, I can’t risk waiting much longer to figure out how to use what we have here—including this dress.” She inserted a pin in the hem of the skirt and sat back on her heels to study the results. “As it is, I may be going through the wedding shy one bridesmaid if the highway doesn’t open soon.”
“The road is going to open soon,” Emily said. “The weather reports look favorable.” Since the New Year, the southwest corner of Colorado had been hammered by a wave of snowstorms that had dumped more than six feet of snow in the mountains. The snow, and the avalanches that inevitably followed, had blocked the only road leading in and out of the small town of Eagle Mountain for most of the past month.
“Travis tried to talk me into delaying the wedding.” Lacy sighed. “Not just because of the weather, but because of this serial killer business.”
A serial murderer who had been dubbed the Ice Cold Killer had murdered six women in the area in the past few weeks. Lacy’s fiancé—Emily’s brother Sheriff Travis Walker—had been working practically ’round the clock to try to stop the elusive serial killer. Emily thought postponing the wedding until the killer was caught and the weather improved wasn’t such a bad idea, but she wasn’t a bride who had spent the past six months planning the ceremony and reception. “What did you tell him?” Emily asked.
“I told him I’m willing to postpone my honeymoon. I understand that being a sheriff’s wife means putting my needs behind those of the town. And I’ve been patient—I really have. I haven’t seen him in two days and I haven’t complained at all. But Sunday is my wedding day. All I ask is that he be here for a few hours. The case will wait that long.”
“It’s not just Travis,” Emily said. “Half the wedding party is law enforcement. There’s Gage.” Emily and Travis’s brother was a sheriff’s deputy. “Cody Rankin—he’s technically on leave from the US Marshals office, but he’s still working on the case. And Nate Harris—he’s supposed to be off work from his job with the Department of Wildlife to recover from his ankle injury, but he’s as busy as ever, from what I can tell. Oh, and Ryder Stewart—he’s had plenty of time to help Travis, since most of his highway patrol territory is closed due to snow.”
“Then they can be here for a few hours, too,” Lacy said. “That may sound terribly selfish of me, but I put so much of my life on hold for the three years I was in prison. I don’t want to wait any longer.” Lacy had been wrongfully convicted of murdering her boss. She and Travis had fallen in love after he had worked to clear her name.
“Then you deserve the wedding you want, when you want it,” Emily said. “I hope my brother was understanding.”
“He was, after I whined and moaned a little bit.” Lacy stood and walked around the chair to take in the dress from all sides. “I didn’t tell him this, but another reason I want to go ahead with the wedding is that I’m beginning to be afraid the killer won’t be caught. Travis and every other lawman in the area has been hunting this guy for weeks. It’s like he’s a ghost. Travis and Gage and the rest of them work so hard and the murderer just thumbs his nose at them.”
“It’s crazy.” Emily climbed down off the chair and began helping Lacy gather up the sewing supplies. “At first I was terrified. Well, I guess I’m still terrified, but honestly, I’m also angry.” She patted Lacy’s shoulder. “Anyway, I’m not going to let the killer or the weather get me down. The weather is going to hold, the road will open and you’ll have a beautiful wedding, without my fashion faux pas spoiling the day.”
“I hope you’re right and everyone I invited can be here,” Lacy said.
“Who in the wedding party is still missing?” Emily asked.
“Paige Riddell. She recently moved to Denver with her boyfriend, Rob Allerton.”
“Of course.” Paige had run a bed-and-breakfast in town prior to moving away. “I never knew her well, but she seemed really nice.”
“She is nice. And I really want her here for my wedding. But you can’t fight nature, I guess, so we’re going to make do no matter what.” She turned to Emily. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done to help,” she said. “Not just with the wedding preparations, but all the work you’ve put into entertaining the wedding guests who are already here. I forget that the weather has forced you to put your own life on hold, too.”
Like everyone else who had been in town when the first blizzard struck, Emily had been stuck in Eagle Mountain for most of the past month. “The first few weeks I was on my winter break,” she said. She was working on her master’s at Colorado State University and was employed by the university as a teaching assistant and researcher. “It’s just the last ten days that I’ve missed. Fortunately, the university has been very understanding, letting me complete some of my coursework and research online, delaying some other work and arranging for another researcher to teach my undergrad class until I get back.”
“I’m glad,” Lacy said. “Can you imagine having to delay your master’s degree because of snow?”
“Snow has its upsides, too,” Emily said. “That sleigh ride last week was a blast, and I’m looking forward to the bonfire Wednesday.”
“Every party you’ve thrown has been a big success,” Lacy said. “I’m sure most brides don’t entertain their guests so lavishly.”
“Well, everything has gone well except the scavenger hunt,” Emily said. “I wouldn’t call that a success.”
“It’s not your fault Fiona was murdered during the party.” Lacy hugged herself and shuddered. “I thought for sure Travis would catch the killer after that—he was so close, right here on the ranch.”
Just like that, the conversation turned back to the Ice Cold Killer as the two friends remembered each of his victims—some of them locals they had known, a few tourists or newcomers they had never had a chance to meet. But every person who had fallen victim to the killer had been young and female, like Emily and Lacy. They didn’t have to say it, but they were both keenly aware that they might have been one of the killer’s victims—or they still might be.
Emily was relieved when the door to the sunroom, where they were working, opened and Bette Fuller, one of Lacy’s best friends and the caterer for the wedding, breezed in. Blonde and curvy, Bette always lit up the room, and today she was all smiles. “Rainey just got back from town and she says the highway is open.” Bette hugged Lacy. “I know this is what you’ve been waiting for.”
“Is Rainey sure?” Lacy asked.
“Rainey isn’t one for spreading rumors or telling lies,” Emily said. The ranch cook was even more stone-faced and tight-lipped than Travis. Emily looked down at the dress she was wearing, now bristling with pins and marks made with tailor’s chalk. “Maybe I won’t have to wear this old thing after all.”
“Rainey said there was a line of delivery trucks coming into town,” Bette said. “Which is a good thing, since the stores are low on everything.”
“I’m going to call Paige and tell her and Rob to drop everything and drive over right now—before another avalanche closes the road,” Lacy said. “And I need to check with the florist and look at the tracking for the bridesmaids’ dresses and the wedding favors and the guest book I ordered, too.”
“I can help you with some of that,” Bette said.
“You two go on,” Emily said. “I’ll finish cleaning up in here.” The prom dress—pins and all—could go back in the closet. If she was lucky, she’d never have to put it on again.
As she gathered up the clutter from a
round the room, she thought of all the work that went into weddings. This was only her second time serving as a bridesmaid, and she was looking forward to the ceremony, though she was a little nervous, too. Mostly, she hoped she wouldn’t get too emotional. Weddings were supposed to be hopeful occasions, but they always made her a little melancholy, wondering what her own wedding would have been like—and how different her life might have turned out if she had accepted the one proposal she had had.
Who was she kidding? If she had agreed to marry that man, it would have been a disaster. She had been far too young for marriage, and he certainly hadn’t been ready to settle down, no matter what he said. At least she had had sense enough to see that.
She was stowing the last of the sewing supplies and looking forward to changing back into jeans and a sweater when the door to the sunroom opened again and a man entered, obscured from the waist up by a tower of brown boxes. “I met the UPS driver on the way in and he asked me to drop these off,” said a deep, velvety voice that sent a hot tremor up Emily’s spine and made her wonder if she was hallucinating. “Whoever answered the door told me to bring them back here.”
“Thanks.” Emily hurried to relieve the man of his burdens, then almost dropped the boxes as she came face-to-face with Brodie Langtry.
The man who had once proposed to her. She felt unsteady on her feet, seeing him here in this house again after so long. And if she was upset, her family was going to be furious.
“Hello, Emily.” He grinned, his full lips curving over even, white teeth, eyes sparking with a blatant sex appeal that sent a bolt of remembered heat straight through her. “You’re looking well.” A single furrow creased his brow. “Though I have to ask—what is that you’re wearing?”
She looked down at the prom dress, the hem lopped off and bristling with pins, one ruffle hanging loose where Lacy had started to detach it. She looked back up at Brodie, feeling a little like she had been hit on the head and was still reeling from the blow. “What are you doing here?” she asked.