by C. J. Miller
Her technique was good. She wasn’t demanding he put down his weapon. Nathan didn’t like that she was so close to the Huntsman. Uncle or not, he was a killer, he was unpredictable and he was irrational. If he shot Ryan Reed in the leg or arm, would he release the arrow? It could hit Autumn or Blythe.
“Something to drink? Should you be out here now? Your father will want you home.”
Autumn’s shoulders slumped. “No, Uncle Ryan. We’re okay. Let’s go home together.” Her voice cracked.
Nathan could see her struggling. Her uncle was a man she cared for deeply. He was also a sick man who needed help. Resolving those two things in her mind had to be hard for her.
A groan sounded from the tree. Blythe was waking up. Her head lolled back and forth. When she lifted her head, she started screaming.
Her scream jolted through Ryan Reed. His body tensed and he swung his arrow in her direction. “Shut up! Shut up!”
“Autumn, run. Get out of here. He’ll kill us both,” Blythe shouted.
Ryan Reed began singing again, the same low song. A crackling of leaves from the other side of the clearing.
“Who’s there?” Ryan Reed called in the direction of Blaine and Roger Ford. “Show yourself.” His arms were shaking under the weight of the bow and arrow. Could the arrow slip through his fingers?
Blaine stepped out and raised his hands. “Uncle Ryan, it’s me.”
Though Nathan mentally chided Ford for letting Blaine show himself, it might have been the better option. Ford was a stranger to Ryan Reed.
“Blaine? What are you doing out here? Did you follow Autumn? She doesn’t stay on the campground when she’s supposed to. Always running out here and getting lost.” He laughed.
“I came out to bring you two home,” Blaine said.
Autumn and Blaine moved closer. Ryan Reed watched them, a dazed expression on his face. When they were close, Autumn slipped her arm around her uncle’s shoulder and pressed lightly on his arms. Blaine was blocking the sight of Blythe.
Ryan Reed lowered his bow and dropped the arrow.
“Hands on your head, now!” Roger Ford’s voice broke the moment.
Autumn and Blaine had had it under control! Why was Ford interrupting?
Ryan Reed grabbed Autumn and held her in front of him. He pulled a knife and pressed it against her throat. “Get away from us. I’ll kill her. Don’t make me kill a child, but I will to protect her. You can’t take us alive.”
Autumn was walking with her uncle as he retreated, her legs scrambling beneath her. If she slipped, the knife would slice her throat.
Ford charged forward and Nathan read disaster. Autumn would be killed because of a mistake in timing.
Nathan stepped out. He didn’t have a plan. He was only acting on the woman he loved being in trouble. Ryan Reed was a war vet. He’d spent time in a war zone. He’d witnessed violent, terrible things. If he was somehow back in that time, his brain caught somewhere between the present and the past, Nathan needed to play into his fantasy world and by his rules.
“Blaine, I got you covered!” he said.
Everyone looked in Nathan’s direction, confusion on their faces.
“Autumn, Ryan, Blaine, get out of here,” Nathan said, waving his gun and pointing it in Ford’s direction.
“Uncle Ryan, come on, we have to run!” Autumn said.
“Who is that?” Ryan Reed asked.
“A friend,” Autumn said. “We can trust him. He’ll cover us while we escape.”
“No, he’s with the enemy.”
Though it went against his training, Nathan turned his back on Autumn and Ryan and held his gun on Ford. “Go! Go! Get out of here!” he said.
“Now’s our chance,” Autumn said. “Run!”
Nathan turned to see Ryan Reed holding Autumn’s hand as they fled. Nathan pursued him, standing in Ford’s line of fire. Ford was a good shot, but he wouldn’t attempt it if he couldn’t get one clean.
Nathan tackled Ryan Reed from behind, pulling him down. Autumn tumbled to the ground next to him.
“Autumn, are you okay?” Nathan asked.
“I’m fine.”
Her uncle moaned. Nathan climbed off him and Ford rolled him over and secured his hands with a pair of cuffs.
Nathan looked at the man who’d killed his sister. He didn’t feel anger. He felt unabated sadness and grief for his loved one who had died. Grief at losing her and contentment that his family would have closure. He wasn’t sure how he would explain why Colleen had died. He wasn’t sure there was any way to explain it. But he could call his mother and tell her that no more families would suffer at the hands of the man who had killed Colleen.
Autumn touched his shoulder. “Thank you for not letting Ford shoot him. Thank you for knowing that helping my uncle is important to me.”
Nathan hadn’t been sure how he would react when he found Colleen’s killer. But in the moment, with the woman he loved near, anger had not been his primary emotion. “I didn’t want revenge. I wanted to find Colleen’s killer.” Looking at Autumn, the love he felt for her surged inside him and warmed him as nothing else could.
Ford called his team to the scene to collect evidence. Blaine untied their mother and they embraced. Autumn joined them, wrapping her arms around her brother and her mother. They were silent on the walk back to the Trail’s Edge.
Ryan Reed was put in the back of a squad car.
“I guess this is when we say goodbye?” Autumn asked.
Knowing what she meant, Nathan shook his head. “I will say goodbye to my sister and let my family heal, but I won’t say goodbye to you. I need you, Autumn. I need you in my life.”
Autumn smiled. “In what way do you want me? As your trail guide?”
“I love you, Autumn. I want you in every way I can have you. Trail guide, lover and best friend. You’ll be there for me when I get lost and I promise to do the same for you.”
“I’m very good at getting lost. It might take up a lot of your time,” Autumn said.
“That’s fine with me because I plan to spend as much of it as I can with you.”
He lowered his mouth to hers. He had never felt more at home.
* * * * *
And if you loved this suspenseful, sexy thriller, don’t miss these titles from C.J. Miller:
TAKEN BY THE CON
COLTON HOLIDAY LOCKDOWN
UNDER THE SHEIK’S PROTECTION
TRAITOROUS ATTRACTION
Available now from Harlequin Romantic Suspense!
Keep reading for an excerpt from
COLTON COWBOY PROTECTOR by Beth Cornelison
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A SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Jack Colton wants Tracy McCain as far away from his son as possible.
But when she becomes an assassin’s target, the stakes have never been higher…
Read on for a sneak peek of
COLTON COWBOY PROTECTOR,
the first book in the Coltons of Oklahoma series.
Excuse me.”
Jack pushed to his feet, his kne
e cracking thanks to an old rodeo injury, and faced the woman at eye level. Well, almost eye level. Though tall for a woman, she was still a good five or six inches shorter than his six foot one. He recognized her as the woman he’d seen earlier lurking in the foyer, practically casing the main house.
“Are you Jack Colton?” she asked.
“I am.”
“May I have a word with you?” she asked, her voice noticeably thin and unsteady. She cleared her throat and added, “Privately?”
In his head, Jack groaned. What now?
“And you are…?”
He suspected she was a reporter, based on the messenger bag hanging from her shoulder. He had nothing to say to any reporter, privately or otherwise.
“Tracy McCain.” She added a shy smile, her porcelain cheeks flushing, and a stir of attraction tickled Jack deep inside. Hell, more than a stir. He gave her leisurely scrutiny, sizing her up. She may be tall and thin, but she still had womanly curves to go with her delicate, china-doll face.
“Am I supposed to know you?”
Her smile dropped. “Laura never mentioned me?”
His ex-wife’s name instantly raised his hackles and his defenses. His eyes narrowed. “Not that I recall. How do you know Laura?”
“I’m her cousin. Her maternal aunt’s daughter. From Colorado Springs.”
Jack gritted his back teeth. Laura had only been dead a few months and already relations she’d never mentioned were crawling out of the woodwork like roaches after the light’s turned off. The allure of the Colton wealth had attracted more than one gold-digging pest over the years. “You should know Laura signed an agreement when we divorced that ended any further financial claim on Colton money.”
Tracy lifted her chin. “I’m aware.”
“So you’re barking up the wrong tree, if you’re looking for cash.”
Tracy blinked her pale blue eyes, and her expression shifted, hardened. “I’m not after money,” she said, with frost in her tone.
Jack scratched his chin and tipped his head, giving her a skeptical glare. “Then what?”
“I wanted to talk about Seth.”
Jack tensed, his gut filling with acid. He squeezed the curry comb with a death grip and grated, “No.”
“I… What do you mean, no? You haven’t even heard what I want to—”
“I don’t need to hear. My son is off-limits. Nonnegotiable.”
Don’t miss
COLTON COWBOY PROTECTOR by Beth Cornelison
available June 2015, only from Harlequin Romantic Suspense
www.Harlequin.com
Copyright © 2015 by Beth Cornelison
ISBN-13: 9781460381281
Capturing the Huntsman
Copyright © 2015 by C.J. Miller
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