by Regan Black
On the run from a sociopath...
And no one to trust
Mia Graves is in danger—and so is her baby. Jarvis Colton is exploring a family mystery when their paths cross on the outskirts of Rattlesnake Ridge Ranch. After the trauma of losing his parents, this businessman turned cowboy has no intention of making himself vulnerable ever again. Just this once, he can help a family, but can he protect Mia without falling in love?
“We shouldn’t,” Jarvis amended. “Seriously.” He looked around, his gaze as hot and bewildered as Mia felt. That was a small consolation that she wasn’t in this alone, but it steadied her.
“The baby,” he said desperately.
“Is asleep,” she pointed out. She reached up and smoothed a hand over his cheek, loving the feel of his whiskers against her palm. She loved every nuance and discovery Jarvis allowed. He had so many textures and layers beneath that rough-and-ready exterior.
She clamped her lips shut and didn’t protest when he stepped back. Pride would not allow her to beg for the connection or passion he wasn’t ready to give.
“Mia.” He pushed a hand through his hair, his chest expanding on a deep inhale. “I want you, but I don’t think it’s smart. For you.”
“Uh-huh.” She crossed her arms, reflexively preventing her heart from leaping into his hands. “Do you always lie to yourself?”
* * *
Book Eight of The Coltons of Mustang Valley
* * *
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Dear Reader,
As an author, it’s always a delight to be part of a Colton family adventure.
Generations ago, the Colton family in Mustang Valley was fractured by a card game gone wrong. After years of listening to his grandfather’s stories, Jarvis Colton is determined to sort out where he fits on that family tree.
While Jarvis is searching for his roots, he comes across Mia Graves and her newborn son. The pair is hiding from unspeakable danger in a remote, abandoned cabin. Though Mia wants him to forget them, Jarvis can’t walk away. Soon he has his hands full dealing with his tasks at the ranch, his personal search, and wrangling his growing affection for a single mom with a target on her back.
I hope you’ll enjoy reading their story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Live the adventure!
Regan Black
COLTON COWBOY
JEOPARDY
Regan Black
Regan Black, a USA TODAY bestselling author, writes award-winning, action-packed novels featuring kick-butt heroines and the sexy heroes who fall in love with them. Raised in the Midwest and California, she and her family, along with their adopted greyhound, two arrogant cats and a quirky finch, reside in the South Carolina Lowcountry, where the rich blend of legend, romance and history fuels her imagination.
Books by Regan Black
Harlequin Romantic Suspense
The Coltons of Mustang Valley
Colton Cowboy Jeopardy
The Riley Code
A Soldier’s Honor
His Soldier Under Siege
The Coltons of Roaring Springs
Colton Family Showdown
Escape Club Heroes
Safe in His Sight
A Stranger She Can Trust
Protecting Her Secret Son
Braving the Heat
The Coltons of Shadow Creek
Killer Colton Christmas
“Special Agent Cowboy”
The Coltons of Red Ridge
Colton P.I. Protector
Visit the Author Profile page at
Harlequin.com for more titles.
With special thanks to all of the authors in The Coltons of Mustang Valley world. It was an honor and delight to take this journey with you.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Excerpt from Snowbound Targets by Karen Whiddon
Chapter 1
“Pick up, pick up,” she chanted under her breath while the phone continued to ring, unanswered. Today was supposed to mark the start of her new career as Mia Graves, real-estate agent. Instead of an easy-breezy morning preparing her first listing, she’d been plunged into a nightmare. They hadn’t covered anything like this in her classes or on the state exam.
Her palms were slick on the steering wheel and she kept checking her rearview mirror as she drove back into Mustang Valley proper. She didn’t think she was being followed. At least she didn’t see any familiar vehicles back there. Yet. Her stomach cramped. This could not be happening.
The call went to voice mail and she used the hands-free option to end the call. Before she could redial, an incoming call came through. As she recognized the number, another surge of panic chilled her skin. She declined the call and tried the babysitter again.
At last Tamara picked up. “It’s Mia,” she said, unable to suppress the quake in her voice. “I’ll be there in five minutes. Please have Silas ready to go.”
Please let Silas still be there. Surely, Tamara wouldn’t have let him go home with anyone else.
“Of course. I just put him down for a nap.”
My son is safe.
“The first morning away is always the biggest hurdle,” Tamara continued in her unflappable way. “Are you okay, Mia?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine.” With Tamara’s soothing voice filling the car, she reclaimed a measure of her composure. Tamara and Mia’s mother Dalinda had been as close as sisters, and Mia had always called her Aunt Tammie. When she’d felt overwhelmed and uncertain about childcare options for her new baby boy, Tamara had volunteered to help.
“Just frazzled. A friend invited me to lunch and if it goes well, I might just land a new client,” she improvised. “That brings the tally to two.”
“How exciting!”
“Yes,” Mia agreed, checking her rearview mirror once more. “My friend specifically asked me to bring the baby along.”
“Well, he’s better than a business card, isn’t he?” Tamara chuckled. “I have his things all set for you.”
“You’re a dream, Aunt Tammie. Thank you.”
“Don’t be silly. You’re more than welcome to leave that angel with me anytime. Will I get to spoil him silly tomorrow, too?”
“I’ll, ah, be working from home tomorrow,” she said. Tamara knew her well enough to see right through a blatant lie. She would work from home, just as soon as she figured out where home would be for the next several days. “See you in a minute,” she said, ending the call quickly.
Becoming an independent real-estate agent was supposed to be the ideal, no-brainer and no-limit career decision. She and her father had discussed several options before she’d started her classes. Establishing a base close to home would be better than the extensive travel demanded by her previous work as the manager of her ex-husband’s charitable foundation. Setting her own hours gave her the most flexibility as a single mother and she’d happily daydreamed about days when her son could join her on occasional appointments.
Tears stung Mia’s eyes as a foreign, desperate fear chased her to Tamara’s neighborhood. Until today, she would have summed up her eight weeks of motherhood as pure joy offset by exhaustion
and sharp spikes of worry. What she’d discovered today and the potential fallout reclassified those worries as trivial.
Today had been a test run for her. Her first hours apart from Silas since giving birth should have been a bit of an emotional challenge, not a harrowing ordeal. Resentment shot through her that once again her stepmother, Regina Graves, had ruined a good thing and thrown her life into turmoil.
Mia pulled into the drive and parked the car. Although her heart raced with urgency, she flipped down the visor and checked her reflection in the mirror. If anyone thought to ask Tamara about Mia’s appearance and demeanor today, she wanted her aunt to report that she’d been calm and steady. Unfortunately, she was pale and a bit wild-eyed. Understandable after the vile threats Regina had made against her child, but it would cause Tamara worry and raise questions she couldn’t begin to answer.
Reaching into her purse for her cosmetics bag, she applied a bit of highlighter at the corners of her eyes and a fresh layer of lip gloss. Maybe Tamara would blame the obvious signs of anxiety on her first day away from her baby boy.
She stepped out of the car and walked up the path to the front door. Tamara threw open the door, and seeing that loving, vibrant face almost brought Mia to her knees. She steeled herself. Silas needed her to be strong. Stronger than the threats aimed at him. His arrival had turned the past two months into the best two months of her life. She wouldn’t relinquish that without a fight, no matter what her stepmother tried to do.
“Oh, my girl.” Tamara pulled her into a hug. “The first time out is the worst.”
“It is.” Mia let herself rest for just a moment on that sturdy shoulder, soaking up the heartfelt support. Who knew how long it would be before she’d have anyone’s support again?
Tamara beamed and released her so Mia could come inside. “At least your first client is a pleasure, right? It was so good of your father to let you list and sell his house in the country.” She studied Mia closely. “Did going there today stir up memories? Your mother loved that house.”
“She did,” Mia agreed. “All good memories,” she added because it was expected. And until an hour ago, it was true. All the memories of the country house had been wonderful, from her early childhood to weekends with girlfriends and, eventually, holiday gatherings as a married woman.
“I’d love to stay and tell you everything about this morning,” she said. “But I need to be on time for that lunch meeting.” She picked up the diaper bag Tamara had set in the foyer. “Thank you again.”
“Everything is right there,” Tamara said. “I’ll go tuck him into his car seat.”
“I’ll come along,” she murmured, gently closing the door. No sense making it easy if Regina had followed her.
Tamara smiled indulgently. “Ah, little mother. Nothing will do but to see him with your own eyes.”
She nodded, her lips clamped together too tightly to speak as she followed the older woman down the hallway.
Tamara urged her to go on into the bedroom first. There in the portable crib, her tiny son slept, a vision of contentment. She watched his chest rise and fall and silently vowed to make sure he stayed safe. She stroked his soft cheek, followed the whorl of his curly dark hair as she listened to his soft breath. Lifting him gently, she snuggled him close before she buckled him into the car seat. He stretched his legs but didn’t wake.
Mia wanted to take the portable crib, but doing so would raise more questions and concerns. She’d make do or buy a new one at some point. She picked up Silas and reached for the diaper bag, but Tamara insisted on carrying it to the car for her. Mia swallowed the protest. If Regina or anyone else had caught up with her, it would be better to have another witness to any trouble.
“Thank you again,” Mia said at the car. After securing the seat, she closed the door and gave Tamara one more hug, praying it wouldn’t be the last.
With Silas snoozing in the back seat, she had a renewed sense of calm as she drove away. From the moment the pregnancy test showed positive, her life had come into crystal clear focus. Her son was her singular priority and she wouldn’t allow anyone or anything to hurt him, no matter what changes or precautions were required. She’d divorced, moved and launched herself into a new career. During her last trimester, she’d survived the helplessness and terror of the earthquake that rocked Mustang Valley. Her commitment wouldn’t falter now.
Breathing easier as she left the neighborhood without another incident or threatening call, she turned her mind to logistics. Since she was currently staying at her father’s house, she couldn’t go home and she didn’t dare call or drop in on him. Norton Graves had a mile-wide blind spot when it came to his second wife. He would never believe that Regina had threatened violence against his daughter and grandson.
Where did that leave her? She needed clothing for her and Silas, as well as cash and baby supplies. And then she needed a place to lie low while she decided what to do with the incriminating secrets she’d uncovered today.
She reached for the radio, turning on a soothing station for the baby. A few minutes later, an incoming call interrupted the music. The caller ID announced her father’s name. Wary about what Regina might have told him, she used the button on the steering wheel to answer.
“Hi, sweetie,” he said, sounding as jovial as ever. Maybe Regina hadn’t filled his head with more lies yet. “How did it go at the house?”
“Great,” she replied brightly. “Tamara said Silas was an angel.” There, she hadn’t lied to her dad.
“I had no doubts. How are you feeling? Your mother found it hard to leave you the first few times.”
“I survived.” Another truth. “It was an experience,” she said. “Knowing he was with Tamara helped.”
Her father chortled. “Tamara was the one who watched you for us so Dalinda and I could have a nice dinner.”
“Life just keeps circling, doesn’t it?” Her father rarely spoke about her mother, and never when Regina was within earshot. This was her chance to tell him what she’d seen, even if she couldn’t show him the video yet, before her stepmother twisted the story against her.
“That it does.” He cleared his throat. “One second. Come in. Mia? Regina’s here. I’m putting you on speaker.”
“Hello, Mia! How are you and the baby?”
She winced at her stepmother’s overbright greeting. “Doing great, thanks.” Her window of opportunity had slammed shut.
“We’re both eager to hear when you’ll get the listing up,” her dad said.
Her father always knew how to pile on the pressure, but when it came to work, she normally thrived. He’d entrusted her with the sale of the country house—probably because Regina wanted to buy something bigger and newer—and she wouldn’t let him down. “I’m not sure when the listing will go live,” she said. Although she hated lying to him, it was the best of her options. “I might actually have a private buyer interested in the property.”
“Already?”
“Might,” she repeated. Taking a page from Regina’s book, she put a sharp sparkle into her voice. “I mentioned the property to a few friends and apparently the word is out.”
“That’s fantastic news. For both of us. All of us,” he amended quickly. “You should see the smile on my bride’s face.”
Bride, shark—when referring to her stepmother, the words were interchangeable in Mia’s mind. “Super. I’ll keep you posted,” she promised. “Love you.”
She ended the call and a rush of angry tears spilled down her cheeks. Would it ever be safe to see her father again?
* * *
Jarvis Colton adjusted the angle of his hat against the afternoon sunshine flooding the Rattlesnake Ridge Ranch. He’d been riding fence all day on the Triple R, a task that was often met with little enthusiasm.
Jarvis loved it. No one was more shocked by that revelation than him. He’d left a career as a manage
ment consultant—the suits, air-conditioned offices, deals over drinks and conference calls—to come out here and be a cowboy. A dark T-shirt, jeans, boots and his horse completed his new workplace uniform.
His brother and sister, Spencer and Isabella, still scolded him about this decision and he wished he could find the words to make them understand. If they ever joined him for moments like this, they might get it. As triplets, they were close, and when life had thrown them one challenge after another, Spencer and Bella were the only people he really trusted.
His siblings labeled his professional detour an emotional crisis and blamed his choice to store his belongings and walk away from a great condo and a lucrative career on bitterness and fantasy. They weren’t entirely wrong. He could almost imagine that Spencer, a sergeant with the Mustang Valley Police Department, was expecting him to sabotage the ranch owned by Payne Colton, a man who had practically refused to claim any blood ties to the triplets. The next generation of Coltons—Payne’s children—was closer to Jarvis and his siblings.
Jarvis couldn’t deny the temptation. Payne, in addition to building the Triple R into one of the most prosperous cattle ranches in Arizona, also served as chairman of the board for Colton Oil. The family patriarch was charismatic and tough, and had ensured that his children would prosper for generations to come, while Jarvis and his siblings had been effectively cut out of the Colton family tree.
But when Jarvis traded his suits and office for barns and fields and long, hard-labor days, he’d done it with the sole intention of finding proof that the Triple R rightfully belonged to the triplets. At least the section of acreage he was crossing now.
Granted, the ranch foreman, Payne’s son Asher Colton, didn’t know Jarvis’s motives, but he’d hired him, anyway. Jarvis had been pleasantly surprised to find his cousin was a fair boss and didn’t treat him with any of Payne’s dismissiveness or negligent animosity.
Working out here, Jarvis had soon discovered what his life had been missing. Cause and effect. Effort and reward. In business, his decisions didn’t always yield an immediate result. While he knew the value of patience, he enjoyed the relatively quick confirmation of making decisions out here. There were short-term goals and long-range plans, but the day-to-day work made a clear and obvious impact.