by Cassie Miles
Liam fired. The rifle dropped from Peter’s hands.
He staggered. His scream echoed against the cliff sides.
Liam fired again, and Peter fell to the ground, moaning.
“Get his gun,” Liam said.
She darted around the Jeep and grabbed the rifle. She didn’t spare a single glance for Peter Rowe as he writhed in the dirt. She hoped his pain was intense.
She dashed back to the Jeep, where Liam stood bleeding. He forced a grin.
“Now,” he said, “it’s over.”
From a distance, she heard the approaching wail of the sheriff’s siren. They’d made it.
Liam wrapped his good arm around her waist and pulled her close. His face was drawn and pale.
“I’ll start first aid on your wound,” she said.
“The sheriff is almost here. I’ll be fine.”
“But I—”
“Not now, Kate. I have something important to say.” Wincing, he inhaled a deep breath. “For a minute there, when I got hit, it felt like I was going to die. And I had one thought. Only one.”
His eyes were hazy. She could tell that he was at the verge of passing out. “Liam, you don’t have to talk.”
“All I could think was this—I’m never going to have the chance to love Kate.”
She was stunned. Speechless.
“I understand,” he said. “Survival takes all kinds of skills. Sometimes it’s bare subsistence in the mountains. Sometimes it’s dealing with a caterer at a charity event.”
His words trailed off, and she could tell that speaking was difficult for him. “You need to sit, Liam. You’ve lost blood.”
With an effort, he focused on her face. “I fell in love with Rain, the natural woman. But I love Kate, too. Even if you are a pain in the butt sometimes. I want you to come and live with me. Here.”
“I want that,” she said. With all her heart, she wanted to be with him forever. “But I can’t give up my work. Will you compromise? Are you willing to come down from your mountaintop occasionally?”
The sheriff’s vehicle pulled up beside the Jeep. A deputy leaped from the passenger seat and charged toward them.
Liam didn’t have the strength to give her an answer. Instead, he brushed a light kiss on her forehead. Without another word, he allowed himself to be whisked into the rear of the sheriff’s vehicle.
TWO NIGHTS LATER, KATE still didn’t have her answer from Liam. They’d spoken on the phone once or twice, and she knew his wound was minor.
She’d wanted to go up to his cabin, but she was needed in Denver. Glancing in her bathroom mirror, she patted her hair into place and smoothed the black satin gown she would wear to the summer gala.
Tonight, all her survival skills would be necessary. Her mother would not be attending. She was far too humiliated by Peter’s treachery. Elizabeth had visited him once in the hospital where he was recovering. The reason for her visit had been to serve him with divorce papers.
So, it was up to Kate to keep this major charity function operating smoothly. She would put on a smiling face for the attendees, who had paid thousands for tickets. And she would encourage the bidding on the silent auction. All the while, she feared she’d lost the one thing she prized most—her relationship with Liam.
From the downstairs of her house, she heard something. Another reporter? Damn it! When would these people leave her alone?
She grabbed an aluminum baseball bat from her bedroom and started for the stairs.
The sound she heard was music. A song. “Rocky Mountain High.” What was going on here?
She dashed down the staircase and across the foyer. There was no one in the front room. Her satin gown rustled as she hurried toward the dining room.
On one of the tines of the antler chandelier that hung above her table was a huge red bow. Suspended from the ribbon was a small, black velvet jewelry box.
She took it down and opened it to find a ring with a single perfect diamond. An engagement ring.
Whirling around, she saw Liam. He wore a simple black tuxedo and a glistening white shirt.
“Will you dance with me?” he asked. “For the next fifty years or so?”
Her heart swelled with joy. “I’d be delighted.”
Looking like the most debonair man on the planet, he came toward her. He took the ring and slid it onto her finger. His kiss was pure honey.
“We’ll live at your place,” she said.
“And we’ll come down from the mountaintop occasionally.”
When he held her for a waltz and they began to dance, she knew this was where she wanted to be forever—in his arms.
They could be in the city, drinking champagne. Or in the wilderness, foraging for survival foods. It didn’t matter. Wherever they were, they would make their own world.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-3254-9
ROCKY MOUNTAIN MANHUNT
Copyright © 2005 Kay Bergstrom
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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†Colorado Search and Rescue
*Colorado Crime Consultants
Table of Contents
Dedication
About the Author
Books by Cassie Miles
Cast of Characters
Contents
Prologue
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
Chapter Nineteen
Copyright