High-Risk Reunion

by Margaret Daley

  Available now from Love Inspired Suspense!

  Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com.

  Keep reading for an excerpt from LAKESIDE PERIL by Lenora Worth

  Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!

  Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003

  Dear Readers,

  High-Risk Reunion is the first book in my series, Lone Star Justice, about the Texas Rangers who are part of the state police in Texas. I had the privilege of visiting the Texas Rangers’ office in Garland, where I interviewed a Ranger about the job. There are 150 commissioned Texas Rangers for the whole state of Texas. They investigate murder, fraud, robbery, corruption of a public official and other crimes, as well as protect the governor of Texas and state and federal officials.

  High-Risk Reunion is about what can happen when you keep a secret. Tory had to deal with the secret of Michelle’s birth. She made some difficult decisions when she was young and years later her daughter learned of the truth. When Michelle found out who her real father was, it led to her doing something foolish. The truth may be hard to tell, but in the long run it is better to do it. Secrets have a way of coming out.

  I love hearing from readers. You can contact me at margaretdaley@gmail.com or at P. O. Box 2074, Tulsa, OK 74101. You can also learn more about my books at www.margaretdaley.com. I have a newsletter that you can sign up for on my website.

  Best wishes,

  Margaret

  Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!

  Do you want to earn Free Books and More?

  Join Harlequin My Rewards points program and earn points every time you shop.

  You can redeem your points to get more of what you love:

  Free books

  Exclusive gifts and contests

  Book recommendations tailored to your reading preferences

  Earn 2000 points instantly when you join—getting you closer to redeeming your first free book.

  Don’t miss out. Reward the book lover in you!

  Click here to sign up

  Or visit us online to sign up at

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010001

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense story.

  You enjoy a dash of danger. Love Inspired Suspense stories feature strong heroes and heroines whose faith is central in solving mysteries and saving lives.

  Enjoy six new stories from Love Inspired Suspense every month!

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Harlequin.com/newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

  Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

  HarlequinBlog.com

  Lakeside Peril

  by Lenora Worth

  ONE

  Someone was watching him.

  He could feel the hair on the back of his neck rising while the purr of his pulse vibrated an all-too-familiar warning.

  He never could relax, not really. Not even at a biker dive in the Florida Panhandle where he was trying to mind his own business.

  Hunter Lawson took a sip of the club soda dripping with condensation and slowly lifted out of the chair where he sat on the deck of the Hog Wash Rib Joint.

  A woman stood outside the open barn doors leading from the interior of the rickety restaurant that mostly accommodated bikers needing to wash their rides, eat some good food and get into a fight every now and then.

  She was definitely not a biker chick.

  But she stared at him with a determination that meant business. Harmless but lethal, all the same.

  Hunter observed people. Doing so was his nature. So he took his time accessing this woman standing in this place. Didn’t match up.

  She was serious and svelte. Sleek in a country girl kind of way in her jeans and tan leather jacket. Her boots looked hand-tooled. Her eyes shone a deep golden-brown and her hair—the afternoon sun loved her hair. It was a russet gold that surrounded her face like an intricate frame. The look in her eyes shouted trouble.

  Being a private investigator brought him in contact with a lot of interesting people. But this one was different. His gut burned with a hot warning.

  “What?” Hunter asked, his hands out.

  “I... I need a word with you, Mr. Lawson.”

  “Okay.” Hunter motioned to his favorite table on the deck over the Millbrook River. “Step into my office.”

  Her expensive-looking boots clicked toward him and in the next instant a dark sedan zoomed by and entered the street side of the parking lot. A window came down. A gun came out.

  Hunter saw the gun, glanced at the woman and then did what he had to do. He ran straight for her and tackled her to the ground.

  While silenced bullets spewed all around them.

  * * *

  Chloe tried to find air, tried to see over the brawny shoulder that shielded her face. “Let me up,” she said, struggling.

  “Stay still!”

  He held her there but shifted, still covering her. She heard a motor revving and tires screeching. The car sped away, dirt and rocks flying in its wake. People came out of the restaurant, shouting and talking, pointing to where Hunter and Chloe lay. She’d barely heard the zing from the silencer, but the people inside must have seen him diving over her.

  “Are they gone?”

  He lifted himself up to stare down at her, his breath warm on her neck. His eyes a smoky gray that washed her in a questioning darkness. “I think so.”

  He sat up and held out his hand to help her do the same. “You okay?”

  Chloe wasn’t sure how to answer that. Now that she’d found Hunter Lawson, a slow panic began to set in. What if he recognized her? What if he didn’t even remember her? What if he told her to get lost? And how could she explain to him that someone was trying to kill her?

  Taking her quiet for shock, he snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. “Hey, stay with me. Talk to me.”

  “I’m fine,” she said, wishing she’d stayed in Oklahoma. Her friend Bridget Winston had tried to warn her that this was a bad idea. “Just a few scrapes and bruises.”

  And the imprint of him becoming a human shield still on her heart. He was big and strong and smelled as fresh and earthy as the fall air around them. He looked every bit as mysterious and unapproachable as people had tried to tell her. Dark, inky hair hovered over his collar in choppy, rebellious curls. Tanned, muscular arms and jean-clad legs. Battered cowboy boots. Dark aviator shades that he’d lost somewhere when he’d dived for her. And a concealed weapon tucked against the waist of his jeans.

  Chloe had heard rumors regarding this man, but none of them quite lived up to seeing him in the flesh. She rubbed her sweaty palms against her jeans, her heart going into overdrive with each breath she took. Could she convince him to help her?

  Please, Lord, let him listen to me.

  He stood and helped her up. “Care to explain?”

  “In private, yes,” she replied.

  People stood around everywhere, some with drinks in their hands. Leather moto jackets and tattoos, beat-up boots and graffiti T-shirts. Women clinging to their men, their gazes moving over her with cool curiosity while their attitudes told her to back off.

  “Hunter, you all right, man?”

  Hunter nodded to the bartender she’d spoken with earlier. He’d warned her, too. Explained to her that Hunter wasn’t a talker. He only came here to sit out on the deck and watch the river roll by.

  Well, her arrival had certainly changed all that.

  Hunter glanced at her and then turned back to the
bartender. “Yeah. Just someone trying to use me for target practice.” He shrugged. “What else is new?”

  “Do I need to call the police?” the burly man asked, his disapproving eyes on Chloe. He gave her a look that blamed her for all this action. And he was right.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Hunter replied. Then he turned to Chloe and gave her his own harsh glare. “Just as soon as this nice lady explains to me why someone’s shooting at her.”

  Reassuring herself that he wouldn’t remember her because they’d never even met, Chloe swallowed back her trepidations and tried to find her footing. She wasn’t giving up now. Not after making the agonizing decision to come across the country to find him. That shooter was proof of what she already knew.

  “Can we go somewhere else and talk in private?” she asked.

  He glanced at the crowd. The spectators didn’t seem fazed by gunshots. They moved as one back into the restaurant, laughing and talking. “That depends on what we need to talk about.”

  “I want to hire you,” she said, blurting it out because she was afraid the shooter would return. Or that Hunter would tell her to get lost.

  He guided her to another table that was hidden from the street by a big weathered fence. “Sit here.” Then he walked to the street side of the deck and looked both ways. Satisfied for now, he turned and stalked back to her. “Let’s start with your name.”

  Chloe’s heart rate increased. “Chloe Conrad.”

  His expression went from interested to intense, rage boiling up in his eyes. “What did you say?”

  “Chloe. My name is Chloe.”

  “I heard that part,” Hunter replied, standing. Would he leave her here? “Tell me your last name again.”

  She gave him a look of resolve. Followed by a look of disappointment. “Conrad,” she said. “Yes, as in Conrad Oil. But I hope that won’t be a problem.”

  His frown darkened, a vein throbbed along his jawline. “Conrad Oil. You’d better believe that’s a problem. Sorry, lady, I’m not for hire.”

  Then he dropped a ten by his forgotten drink on the other table and stalked out to his waiting bike.

  Chloe couldn’t believe he’d just up and walked away without letting her explain. Marching out to the parking lot, she caught up with him before he cranked the big black motorcycle. “Hey!”

  He didn’t move. Just stood there with his back to her, his hands on his hips, his head down.

  Chloe swallowed and forged on. “It’s about my sister, Laura. Somebody murdered her. And I’m pretty sure they’re after me now.”

  * * *

  Hunter stared down at Chloe Conrad, every vein in his body running hot with the sure knowledge that he needed to get on his bike, drive away and never look back.

  But he couldn’t do that. He had to understand why she’d come here all the way from Oklahoma to find him of all people. Since they’d just been shot at, he could only assume she was telling the truth. “What makes you think your sister was murdered?”

  Her eyes became burnished with relief, but her expression filled with caution. “A small-engine plane she was piloting went down a few months ago. The authorities ruled it as pilot error, but Laura was an experienced pilot. I know something isn’t right, but no one will believe me.”

  Her words echoed over Hunter and he remembered the sensation of thinking the same thing when his older sister had died in a car crash over three years ago. Something had not been right about the accident. No one had believed him, either.

  At least no one from the Conrad family had believed him.

  But he’d proven them all wrong.

  “I can’t help you,” he said, the agony of the past hitting him in the gut.

  “No,” she said, grabbing his arm to keep him from trying to leave again. “Do not walk away from me. I hired a pilot to fly me down here even though I was afraid to get on a plane after what happened to my sister. I’ve been careful and I did my research. You’re supposed to be the best at what you do and I know you’re licensed in both Florida and Oklahoma, but if you treat all your clients the way you’re treating me, you must have a lot of time to sit around staring at the water. Why won’t you listen to me?”

  He heard that. Surprised by the bit of fire that had just exploded inside this pretty package, Hunter glanced down at her soft, warm hand holding on to his wrist with a tight grip. But he still wasn’t convinced that he should be the one to help her. “Those people will come back. You need to get out of here.”

  “I can’t leave now,” she said, her voice quiet, defeated. “If I get back in my rental car, they’ll find me and kill me and then there won’t be any justice for Laura. You might hate my father and my stepbrother, but Laura deserves more. A lot more.”

  Hunter closed his eyes, willing her to go away. But he couldn’t send her out there to be slaughtered. When he heard a car turning into the drive, he glanced up and saw the same dark sedan. They were back.

  He grabbed her and lifted her toward the bike. “Get on,” he said, swinging his leg over the seat. Seeing the panic and fear in her eyes, he reached out for her. “Now!”

  She stared at the car for a split second and then hopped on the motorcycle.

  “Hold on,” he said over his shoulder.

  She wrapped her slender arms around his stomach, causing him to experience a strange, heavy discomfort followed by an acute awareness.

  The dark car stopped, idling, the driver watching.

  Hunter cranked the bike and took off behind the building and cut through on a side street. He had only minutes before the sedan would find them. So he zigzagged through the back streets and zoomed up and down alleys and driveways before he finally headed out to the one spot where he thought they’d be safe for a while.

  He took her to the camp house.

  Copyright © 2016 by Lenora H. Nazworth

  ISBN-13: 9781488008719

  High-Risk Reunion

  Copyright © 2016 by Margaret Daley

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

  www.Harlequin.com