by Regan Black
Shane was heading out of the police station when he caught sight of one of his wealthier cousins walking up. Anders Colton didn’t necessarily have to work, but he continued on as foreman of the Double C Ranch. Shane knew he even kept to the modest foreman’s quarters rather than stay in his rightful place in the main house.
Shane couldn’t throw stones about family and choices. Not with his less than stellar background and certainly not when he had hopes to convince Danica Gage to marry him as soon as the Groom Killer was caught.
“Shane, just the man I was looking for,” Anders said, extending a hand.
Shane swallowed the reflexive doubt and met the handshake. Related or not, his cousins rarely made an effort to look up any of Rusty Colton’s kids. “What’s up?” At his heel, Stumps sat, relaxed and curious.
Anders glanced around. “I think I’ve got a needy thief out at the Double C.”
“Meaning?” Shane’s curiosity piqued now.
“Someone has been stealing leftovers from the fridge. A gallon of milk went missing, along with a blanket and pillow.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice to little more than a whisper. “We had an old baby cradle in the barn and it’s disappeared.”
Shane felt a flare of hope for his sister. Demi was rumored to have been a few months pregnant when she’d fled town. Her baby would be a newborn. In need of a cradle. He kept waiting to hear any news. “You’re thinking it might be Demi?”
“It crossed my mind,” Anders replied. “Can you and your dog check it out? Unofficially.”
“Unofficially?” Shane echoed, surprised.
“I’d rather not file any formal reports unless I have to.”
Shane appreciated that more than he could express. It still worried him that the police would shoot first and ask the right questions later when they found Demi. Although more people in the RRPD seemed to be entertaining the idea that she was framed, Shane wasn’t ready to count on that opinion holding up during an active manhunt.
“Stumps and I will head that way now and let you know.”
“Thanks.” Anders gave Shane his cell phone number and with a resigned expression, he returned to his truck.
Shane suffered a moment’s guilt over not discussing this with Brayden at the very least. He justified his decision, knowing that he’d report any signs of Demi immediately. To Anders, Brayden, the chief and Detective Gage and in that order. If anyone fussed, he’d remind them that his P.I. license gave him every right to take private cases.
Checking his watch, Shane decided he could get a preliminary search in before he was due to meet Danica for lunch. He headed out of town, taking the back roads around to the Double C Ranch so he could investigate without being spotted on the property. It meant more of a hike, but Stumps was up to the task.
He and Stumps searched the property, especially the area around the barn and outbuildings that Anders said had been pilfered. Though Stumps worked attentively when given the command to search, he didn’t alert on anything in particular.
That could mean the person in need had been here long enough to be part of the norm in Stumps’s professional K9 opinion, or it could mean they weren’t searching in the right places. Shane widened the search area, moving with deliberate caution toward the trees that bordered this side of the ranch. He saw signs of people moving through the area, but it could be hikers or workers.
Shane wasn’t sure if he felt more relief or disappointment as he sent the text with his inconclusive results to Anders. He drove back into town, eager to take Danica to lunch. With her attacker in custody, there were things they needed to discuss, regardless of the status of any other troubles in Red Ridge.
Having made up his mind about the future, he didn’t see the point in stalling. Rebuilding from the lowest point in his life without any family support hadn’t been easy. It wasn’t as if his branch of the family was blooming with exemplary relationships. He wanted to change that moving forward and he wanted Danica to change that with him.
His palms went damp on the steering wheel as he parked in front of the training center.
With a killer taking out would-be grooms still on the loose, this might be the worst time to propose, but he’d made himself a promise when he was released that he wouldn’t waste a minute of the life he had left. He’d known the first time he kissed Danica that she was the one, though he’d been slow to admit it even to himself.
Stumps gave a soft woof at the driver’s side window. Shane turned, watching Danica walk to the car. What if he was rushing things? What if she said no? He didn’t have a ring for her and couldn’t safely give her one until the Groom Killer was found and captured.
Her smile seemed to brighten an already clear and sunny day and he felt his entire body relax. Whatever she said to his proposal, she would know without any doubt where he stood on the issue.
He opened the door to greet her and his phone chirped with an incoming text message.
The baby is fine. Working on finding the real killer. Hope home soon. D
Demi. He had to take this to the chief right now.
Danica greeted him and reached behind his seat to greet Stumps. When she looked up at him, worry clouded her gaze. “More trouble?”
With her face tilted up at him that way, she was irresistible. He brushed his lips to hers. “Hi.”
“Hi back.”
The kiss shifted the worry in her green eyes to such a warm affection he kissed her again, pulling away before he drew a crowd. “I could do that all day,” he confessed.
“I wouldn’t argue.”
A lifetime wouldn’t be long enough to enjoy that smile. “Lunch,” he reminded himself why he was there. “I need to stop by the police station first.”
“Sure.” She went around to the passenger side door and Stumps jumped to the back seat to make room for her. “Did you hear something?” she asked.
So much had happened since Demi had become a murder suspect, he thought. And yet Demi’s desperate situation was running secondary to the sudden events in his life. He reached across the seat and took her hand, enjoying that he could do that, feel that physical connection and the deeper undercurrent.
She shot him a curious look, but she didn’t press him. He handed her the phone. “I just got a text from Demi.”
Danica read the brief message. “Oh, thank goodness they’re both all right.” She scrolled up and down. “That’s it? I mean, I’m glad they’re fine, but I want details. The baby can’t be more than a few weeks old, if that.”
Shane chuckled. “I know. She doesn’t even say if we have a niece or nephew,” he added.
“And she’s out there searching for a killer?”
“Seems to be.” He parked in front of the police station and they walked inside to share the text message with his siblings and colleagues.
Although there was still no hope of tracing the phone Demi had used, a general sense of relief filled the room. Not everyone was as convinced as Shane and Danica that Demi was innocent, but the Gages and Coltons all agreed that it was good news that both baby and mother were healthy and feeling fine.
“We can’t let up,” Finn said. “Guilty or not, we need to find her and put this case to rest.”
As everyone returned to work, Shane, Danica and Stumps walked out. As various ways to state his hopes flitted through Shane’s mind, he tried to sort out the right words that would convince her to say yes.
She slipped her hand into his, reminding him she accepted him, loved him, already. He didn’t have to get every word perfect. He just had to get them out there.
* * *
Danica realized something other than Demi’s predicament was weighing on Shane. She gave his hand a squeeze, hoping to reassure him. Life had been so hard on him and the Gage family hadn’t made it any easier. It was miraculous they’d found this amazing love in each other and now she c
ouldn’t imagine her days or nights without him.
They walked on toward town, hand in hand, Stumps trotting along on his other side, right past his car. It struck her as more than symbolic that she and the dog were flanking Shane, making a statement to the community that he was theirs and he belonged. Though Shane was constantly stepping up to protect her, she never wanted him to doubt that she had his back, too.
“You’re quiet,” he said as they passed the drugstore and veered closer to Peeps.
“I’m basking in happiness,” she said.
His lips quirked. “I like that about you.”
“My basking?” She tilted her head as he stopped at a bench edged by beds bursting with cheery spring flowers. He sat, tugging her to sit with him, and Stumps sat at his feet, at ease but ever alert. She supposed it would be a long time before any of them could fully let down their guard.
“Your happiness,” Shane said. “This isn’t how I thought it would go,” he said quietly.
“Life?” she queried, amused by his odd mood.
“That, too.” He leaned forward to rub Stumps’s big ears.
“Life is full of surprises,” she replied. “Fortunately, you and I have found not all of them have to be unpleasant.”
His low, rusty laugh had her vowing to make him laugh more day by day. “I didn’t expect to fall in love with you,” he said.
Her pulse stuttered and skipped at the words. “You didn’t want to love me.”
He turned his head, his lips fighting a losing battle with his sexy smile. “I’m supposed to believe you can make a different claim?”
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You know I can’t.” He was acting so strangely, it was starting to make her nervous. She focused on the dog’s sweet face and intelligent eyes.
If he was dumping her, pushing her away now that they’d caught the man who’d attacked her, he was going to find himself hip-deep in another battle. She wasn’t going to give up on him. Them. Couldn’t he see that they had something special? She took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, searching for calm and the part of her that trusted him implicitly.
If he couldn’t see what they had…well then, there was no point chasing after him. She used her toe to poke at a crack in the sidewalk.
“Danica?”
“Hmm,” she replied without looking at him.
“In prison, I decided if I ever got out, I’d never take anything good in my life for granted again.”
She bit her tongue, waiting him out.
He rubbed his hands on his jeans. “This might feel rushed, but I don’t think I believe in perfect timing anymore.”
“No such thing,” she agreed, wishing he’d get to the point.
He leaned close, their shoulders touching, and whispered in her ear. “Will you marry me, Danica?”
For a moment she was lost in that heady sensation of his scent, the brush of his words against her skin. He’d proposed? She was braced to handle the breakup talk with grace and dignity, to give him the space and freedom he valued above all else.
He’d proposed?
“You want to get married?” she whispered, lips barely moving. “To me?” Fiancés and grooms were an endangered species right now.
He draped an arm over her shoulders. “I know it sucks that we can’t tell anyone yet.”
“Obviously.” She didn’t want a target on his back any more than he’d wanted her in the crosshairs.
“That’s why I didn’t bring a ring. But I have one in mind.”
She met his gaze and could have happily drowned in the love shining in his blue eyes. “You do?”
“Obviously,” he echoed her. His lips curved into that wide-open smile full of temptation that made her want to leap into his arms. “You can have it, eventually, if you give me an answer.”
Oh, yes, she wanted to give him an answer. She linked her fingers with his and tried to pretend nothing earth-shattering was happening here on this little bench surrounded by flowers. “Yes,” she whispered. “It will be our secret.” The idea held far more appeal than she might have thought.
“They’ll catch Bo’s killer,” he promised. “We won’t be living under the shadow of the Groom Killer forever.”
She believed him. “Your sister and cousin will be thrilled to be back in business.” Wedding ideas spun through her mind.
“Both our families will be relieved when Bo’s killer is brought to justice,” he said, his gaze drifting down the street.
“Then we can spoil that relief with our news,” she teased.
“Shouldn’t we leave the Romeo and Juliet spotlight to Valeria and Vincent?” he teased back.
This was the side of him she loved most, the confident man who would shelter her from every danger and was willing to let her protect the vulnerable spots he hid from the world.
She was the luckiest woman on earth, to have a steady future ahead despite the unanswered questions about the Groom Killer and the dogs she wanted safely back in the custody of the K9 training center.
“I love you, Shane Colton.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I love you, too, Danica Gage…Colton,” he added in a whisper.
She kissed him again as they sat there in the warm afternoon sunshine, both of them awash in happiness. There was so much life ahead today, tomorrow and in all the days ahead.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781488093005
Colton P.I. Protector
Copyright © 2018 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Regan Black for her contribution to The Coltons of Red Ridge miniseries.
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
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 in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property
Office and in other countries.
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“Jacob is your son.”
A thrilling new Top Secret Deliveries story
Army ranger Kyle Benning never expected to live again…or have a family. When he was believed dead in an explosion, Nicole Shelton gave birth to Kyle’s baby. Now she’s a widow and a prime suspect in a murder case! Everything Kyle once knew is as dangerous as a war zone, but he battles trauma and a killer to rescue the woman he still loves.
“Nice place,” Nicole commented, glancing around the small room.
“Yours is much nicer,” Kyle pointed out. Not to be cruel, but because it was.
But then she lifted her chin and willed herself out of it. “Thank you. It isn’t what I would have chosen, but it’s a decent house.”
Decent.
A flash of anger ripped through him. He realized he couldn’t just sit there and act as if they were casual acquaintances, like nothing had ever happened between them. As though she hadn’t been his entire reason for living.
“I can’t do this,” he growled. “I know you’ve moved on, I get it. For you, it’s been a long time. For me, it feels like it was just yesterday when you kissed me and told me you’d love me forever.”
She took a shaky breath. “I understand,” she began.
“Do you?” Though he kept his voice low so as not to disturb Jacob, he didn’t bother to hide his anger or his pain. “I don’t think you do. I want to be part of my son’s life. But right now, I don’t think I can be part of yours.”
* * *
Top Secret Deliveries: Under extraordinary circumstances—babies!
* * *
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Dear Reader,
As a writer, every now and then it feels like a story is given as a gift from the cosmos. The Texas Soldier’s Son is one of those books. Writing it felt like telling the story of good friends—maybe even family. I was there with them, just recounting what happened. Moved to tears with them, frightened for them, rejoicing with them and falling in love just as they did.
