“How are you feeling?” Kevin asked, walking inside and closing the door behind him. “All healed up and ready to hit the ground running?”
Summer put her hand to her side where the stitches were itching. “Maybe a few more days before I go for a run. But I should be ready to get back to training shortly. When were you thinking?”
Kevin glanced over at Mike and they exchanged looks, but she didn’t understand why.
“I don’t want you to worry about going back to work just yet. I’ll let you know when we want you. In the meantime—” Kevin paused, walking over and sitting on the edge of the chair across the room from her “—I wanted to let you both know, in person, that we have analyzed Ben’s phone. As it turns out, we found text messages and emails between him and his fellow members of Rockwood—one of which was a senator’s son. He had been sent to take you out if he found that you were working for the feds.”
“So, they didn’t know anything about me stealing the codes from ConFlux?” she asked, silently begging for that fear to be unfounded.
“No,” Kevin said, shaking his head. “You are in the clear. They had just feared that you were a double agent, as I said. When Ben learned the truth, he did tell his team. They ordered him to put you down.”
“So, she is never going to be safe as long as Rockwood knows she was working for you?” Mike asked.
A lump rose in her throat.
Kevin rubbed his hands together. “Just for now. As such, we are going to keep you here until we can neutralize their organization. However, in the meantime, we will start building Summer an alternative identity. I have no doubts that we can make you, Summer—for all intents and purposes—disappear.”
Disappearing and being safe at the expense of giving up her public identity was just fine. There was little to her life as it was, besides Joe and Mike.
“That’s fine.”
Kevin smiled and some of his nervousness evaporated. “Good. I was hoping you wouldn’t find that to be too much of a problem.”
Summer nodded. “I know we’ve had our issues, but you’ve gone above and beyond in making up for it. I appreciate all your hard work.”
Kevin gave a slight dip of the head in acknowledgment. “You know how I feel about what happened, so I appreciate that you guys are taking all of this in stride.”
Mike walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. “Here, let me take Joe.” He lifted Joe from her as he kept feeding.
Kevin slapped his knees and smiled up at Mike. “Enough of that. Now, you said you weren’t up for a run, but are you up for a small walk, Summer?” Kevin gave Mike a wink.
Mike held out his hand to help her to standing. Gently, she rose.
“What are you guys up to?” she asked, grinning.
“Well, no pressure or anything, but Kevin and I have been working on a bit of a surprise for you.”
She cocked her head slightly. “And this would be?”
Mike smiled. “Come outside and see.” He interlaced their fingers and pulled her toward the door. Opening it, she walked out.
There, along the road, someone had lined the sidewalk with red roses. The yard was covered in fake snow and at the end of the walk there was a string quartet playing “Ave Maria.” The song brought tears to her eyes.
She really did love that song, and hearing it and knowing just how much work Mike must have gone through to make this happen in a place he had never been after changing his life basically overnight for her and Joe...it was all just perfect.
He walked her out into the middle of the fake snow and dropped down to one knee, Joe still in his arm. “Summer Daniels, I have loved you from the first moment we met. Our lives have been like our love and filled with ups and downs, but truly what they were meant to be. I want to be the best father and husband in the world and build a life with you that is filled with all the laughter and happiness that our lives will allow. Summer, will you marry me?” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a gold band with a princess-cut solitaire at its center.
It was simple and beautiful as it gleamed in the New Mexico sun.
“Yes, Mike Spade.” She covered her mouth with her hand and excitedly bounced from one foot to the other as he slipped the ring onto her finger.
But he didn’t get up. “Now, since we are engaged...and before either of us can run, be chased, or slip away—” He looked over toward the quartet, where a man was standing with a Bible in his hand “I propose that we get married right here, right now.”
He reached into his other back pocket and pulled out two rings, a simple gold band for each of them.
Summer squealed in agreement.
For once, everything was perfect. No more fear. No more running. They were safe and the stars had aligned. She and Mike would have their forever love and they could officially and legally become a family—the greatest gift she could have wished to receive.
For once in her life, she had everything—honor, love, and family.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781488072680
Rescue Mission: Secret Child
Copyright © 2021 by Danica Winters
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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www.Harlequin.com
“Hunter, please help me make sense of this,” she said, her voice shaking.
“There is no sense to make of it,” he replied tersely. Damn it, who was doing this to her? And why? The box implied a threat even though no note was included.
He turned back to find her looking at him. She looked so small. Her eyes were filled with fear, and as she reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, her fingers trembled.
He took her hand in his and pulled her down to the sofa. He sat next to her. Even though he was on duty, there was no way he could just walk away and leave her so frightened.
He wanted to hold her through the night if that was as long as it took to make her fear ease.
“Ainsley, I swear I’m going to do everything in my power to get to the bottom of all this.”
Stalker in the Shadows
New York Times Bestselling Author
Carla Cassidy
Carla Ca
ssidy is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author who has written over 150 novels for Harlequin. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance from RT Book Reviews for Anything for Danny. In 1998, she won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series from RT Book Reviews. Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write.
Books by Carla Cassidy
Harlequin Intrigue
Desperate Strangers
Desperate Intentions
Desperate Measures
Stalked in the Night
Stalker in the Shadows
Scene of the Crime
Scene of the Crime: Bridgewater, Texas
Scene of the Crime: Bachelor Moon
Scene of the Crime: Widow Creek
Scene of the Crime: Mystic Lake
Scene of the Crime: Black Creek
Scene of the Crime: Deadman’s Bluff
Scene of the Crime: Return to Bachelor Moon
Scene of the Crime: Return to Mystic Lake
Scene of the Crime: Baton Rouge
Scene of the Crime: Killer Cove
Scene of the Crime: Who Killed Shelly Sinclair?
Scene of the Crime: Means and Motive
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Ainsley Meadows—A woman filled with dark secrets and trying to make a new start.
Hunter Churchill—Deputy sheriff. When Ainsley’s secrets are revealed, will he love her or lock her up?
Peter Waverly—Will his hunt for Ainsley wind up in a deadly reunion?
Jimmy Miller—Is the rejected cowboy angry enough to want revenge?
Ben Wilkins—This unpredictable man has a grudge against Ainsley. Has his grudge turned deadly?
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 ONE
“Ainsley, order up,” Eddie Burwell, aka Big Ed, called from the pass-through window between the kitchen and the dining area of the Dusty Gulch Café.
Ainsley Meadows hurried to the window to pick up her order. “Hmm, looks good, Big Ed,” she said of the day’s special of an open-face hot roast beef sandwich with a special slaw on the side.
Big Ed flashed his wide, toothless grin in response. He told everyone he had gotten rid of his teeth to better taste the food he cooked. But the rumor was he’d really lost his teeth in a bar fight years ago when he’d been young and courting the wrong side of the law.
She carried the order to Jim Nelson, one of her regulars. Jim was an attractive older man with snow-white hair and a sweet disposition. She always enjoyed waiting on him.
“Here you go, Mr. Nelson,” she said as she placed the plate before him. “Can I get you more coffee?”
“Not right now,” he replied. “You always take good care of me when I come in.”
“I try,” she replied with a smile.
She definitely tried to do the best job she could as a waitress here at the Dusty Gulch Café. She was hoping to make the small Kansas town her forever home.
When Big Ed, who not only cooked for the café but was also the owner, had hired her as a waitress, he had quickly learned she was alone with her eight-year-old daughter. They were stranded in town with car trouble and had no place to stay. So he’d offered her the apartment in the back of the café, which had been emptied by his daughter when she’d left town a couple of years ago.
Ainsley had been thrilled with the accommodations and considered it her first real bit of luck in a very long time. She’d been in town for two and a half months now, and she prayed that finally she and her daughter, Melinda, would be safe here, that this was finally the place where they could put down roots and not live in fear.
The noon rush had just passed when fellow waitress Lana Kincaid sidled up to Ainsley at the coffee machine. “Don’t look now, but your man just walked in.”
Ainsley flashed a quick glance over her shoulder to the café’s front door, where Deputy Sheriff Hunter Churchill had just entered.
She quickly looked back at the older waitress. “He’s not my man,” she protested even as her heartbeat quickened at the sight of him.
“He wants to be,” Lana replied and then cackled. “Trust me, I’ve been through four marriages. I know when a man has the hots for a woman, and that man definitely has the hots for you.”
“Stop it,” Ainsley protested. “I think the coffee fumes you inhale all day long have made you delusional,” she added with a laugh of her own. Still, if Ainsley was honest with herself, she’d confess she had a bit of a crush on the handsome deputy.
When she turned around and saw the deputy seated in one of her booths, she couldn’t help the warmth that filled her cheeks.
She pulled her order pad from her apron pocket and approached the booth. “Good afternoon, Deputy Churchill,” she greeted him.
“Afternoon, Ainsley. How’s my favorite waitress doing today?” His deep green eyes seemed to smile at her just before his lips curved into the gesture.
“I don’t know, I’ll have to ask Lana how she’s doing,” she replied teasingly.
He laughed. “Oh no. Don’t even mention my name to that man-eating woman. I have no desire to be her husband number five.”
“I’ll do my best try to protect you from her,” she replied with a grin.
Deputy Hunter Churchill’s rich dark hair was short and neat, and his features were classically sculpted. He was tall and lean and broad shouldered. He wore his khaki uniform with a confidence that instantly portrayed strength and only added to his overwhelming attractiveness.
He’d been playfully flirtatious with her since the first time she’d waited on him, and it had only been recently that she felt comfortable enough to tease and flirt back a little.
“What can I get for you today?” She looked down at her order pad. Even with all the different odors in the room—the frying onions and hot coffee, the baking meats and aromatic sauces—she could still smell his enticing, slightly spicy, slightly woodsy cologne.
“How’s the special?” he asked.
She gazed at him once again and smiled. “We’ve had lots of orders for the special and so far no complaints.”
“So, what you’re telling me is nobody has died from eating the special today.” He grinned again, and the temperature in the room seemed to shoot up a hundred degrees.
She laughed. “That’s exactly right.”
“Okay, then, I’ll take the roast beef with a regular soda,” he replied.
“I’ll be right back with your soda.” She hurried away from the booth, put his order in and then went to the soda machine. As she drew his drink, she released a deep breath.
Hunter was the first man in years who made her remember she was a twenty-nine-year-old single woman who had been alone for a long time.
Is it safe? The familiar words jumped into her mind. They were words that had haunted her for a little over three years. She hoped it was safe to make a home here in Dusty Gulch.
It was important for her daughter that they put down real roots and try to build a normal life without fear. Deep in her heart, she wasn’t even sure that was possible.
She shoved these troubling thoughts aside and hurried back to Hunter’s booth to deliver the drink. “Here we go,” she said as she put the glass in front of him.
“Thanks. How’s your day going?” he asked.
“Good, what about you? Are you catching all the bad guys in Dusty Gulch?”
He laughed. “Right now the bad guys have all been fairly quiet...just the way we like it.”
“That’s good. Uh...let me just go check on your food order.”
“Ainsley, before you go, I was just wondering if you ever go out on your days off or in the evenings after work?”
“In the couple of months that I’ve been in town, nobody has asked me out,” she replied, her heart quickening by the spark in his eyes.
“What if somebody did? Would you be interested in going out?”
“It would depend on who was asking,” she replied with a teasing smile.
“What if I’m asking? Would you be interested in maybe going out to dinner someplace else on your night off? And of course your daughter is invited.”
Is it safe? It’s just a dinner out. The two voices whispered in her head. Surely it was safe after all this time. “I’d be interested, but not with Melinda,” she replied. Her cheeks warmed with a blush.
She’d never really thought about dating, but she definitely didn’t want to invite her daughter into spending time with some random guy Ainsley went out to dinner with.
Hunter smiled. “Great, so when is your next night off?” The man had a gorgeous grin that involved not only his lips, but every other muscle in his face. It was a smile that welcomed you in, one that warmed the person it was directed at.
“Ainsley?”
“Ainsley, order up,” Big Ed yelled.
She flushed, realizing she’d been staring at Hunter in silence for too long. “Thursday,” she said. “I’m off on Thursdays.”
“Do you like Chinese?”
“I love it,” she replied.
“Then how about I pick you up Thursday around five and we’ll go to the Red Wok and over dinner we can get to know each other.”
“Ainsley,” Big Ed hollered again.
“That sounds good,” she replied. “And now if I don’t pick up your order, Big Ed is going to have a heart attack.” She hurried away from the booth with the sound of Hunter’s deep, pleasant rumble of laughter warming her.
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