Colton Cowboy Hideout (The Coltons of Texas, Book 7)

by Carla Cassidy

  New York Times bestselling author Carla Cassidy kicks off another gripping Colton romance in cowboy country!

  After years in hiding, Josie Colton has her life back. But to settle a family promise, she must find an old clue buried at the Colton Valley Ranch. She enlists the help of ranch foreman Tanner Grange—in exchange for working as his twin toddlers’ new nanny. On their search, the single dad soon begins to lasso Josie’s heart.

  Tanner agrees to assist Josie and is alarmed by how the Colton beauty fits so perfectly into his life. He’s got his hands full investigating the disappearance of his boss and caring for his little girls. When it’s clear someone will kill to stop Josie from uncovering the clue, Tanner vows to protect her…for life!

  Mobilism

  “And I’m definitely not sorry we kissed. In fact, I’m hoping we will kiss again.”

  Tanner pulled his hands from his pockets and took another step backward. She was killing him with her come-hither gaze and words of encouragement to continue the madness.

  “It won’t happen again, Josie. I think we both have enough serious issues going on in our lives. We don’t need to mix in a relationship that will go nowhere and would only complicate things,” he said firmly.

  He hated how quickly her smile disappeared and the gold sparkle in her eyes faded, but somebody had to inject cold, hard reality into the crazy conversation.

  And the cold, hard reality was that, despite his desire for her, he had no place in his life for a young woman like Josie. She would be a mistake and he wasn’t willing to make that error again. There was no place for any woman in his life.

  * * *

  We hope you enjoy this dramatic miniseries:

  The Coltons of Texas: Finding love and buried family secrets in the Lone Star State…

  * * *

  If you’re on Twitter, tell us what you think of Harlequin Romantic Suspense! #harlequinromsuspense

  Dear Reader,

  I love the Coltons series, and Colton Cowboy Hideout introduces a new branch of the family. You know there’s going to be plenty of drama and danger when the Coltons are in the house!

  After the patriarch of the family, a billionaire baron, goes missing the finger-pointing begins among his children and stepchildren. Everyone appears to have a motive…except Josie Colton and Tanner Grange.

  Josie has come to the Colton Valley Ranch on a mission and circumstances instantly throw her together with ranch foreman Tanner. The attractive Josie is the last thing Tanner, single father to twin girls, needs in his life. But, when danger appears, Tanner swears to keep her safe and then tell her goodbye.

  As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing sexier than a hot cowboy who loves his children and protects his woman…unless it’s the hot Italian man I married.

  Happy reading!

  Colton Cowboy Hideout

  Carla Cassidy

  Carla Cassidy is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author who has written more than one hundred and twenty novels for Harlequin. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance from RT Book Reviews for Anything for Danny. In 1998, she also 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 Romantic Suspense

  Cowboys of Holiday Ranch

  A Real Cowboy

  Cowboy of Interest

  The Colton Bodyguard

  Cowboy Under Fire

  Cowboy at Arms

  Men of Wolf Creek

  Cold Case, Hot Accomplice

  Lethal Lawman

  Lone Wolf Standing

  Cowboy Café

  Her Cowboy Distraction

  The Cowboy’s Claim

  Cowboy with a Cause

  Confessing to the Cowboy

  Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!

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  Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Carla Cassidy for her contribution to the Coltons of Texas miniseries.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  CHAPTER 1

  She was definitely out of her element. Josie Colton had known that the Colton Valley Ranch just outside of Dallas in Brush Valley was a multibillion-dollar operation, but she hadn’t really processed just how well-off this branch of the family was until now.

  The early July sun gleamed on the large black ornate gates with COLTON VALLEY RANCH in gold lettering just in front of her car. Beyond the gates in the distance a white, two-story mansion with one-story wings on either side sprawled across a manicured lawn with a regal grace that screamed of wealth and privilege.

  For just a brief moment Josie wanted to back up, turn around and leave. She wasn’t prepared to meet these people who were family, but strangers nevertheless. After seven years in the witness protection plan, she scarcely felt ready to face her own new life of freedom.

  She gripped the steering wheel tightly and remembered that all of her siblings were counting on her. She wasn’t here for a social visit; she was here to do a job and she definitely didn’t want to disappoint the family she had been reunited with so recently.

  She pulled closer to the gates and noticed a speaker built into the column to her left. She rolled down her window and leaned partway out, the sun already hot despite the fact that it was only eight in the morning. Since it was Monday she hoped she’d arrived early enough that Eldridge Colton hadn’t already left the house for business purposes.

  “Hello?” she called.

  “May I help you?” a disembodied male voice replied.

  “Hmm, I’m Josie Colton and I believe I’m expected.”

  The gates opened as if by magic and Josie pulled through. She glanced in her rearview mirror to see them closing behind her.

  At least there didn’t appear to be anyone following her. For the past couple of weeks more than once a creepy-crawly feeling had suffused her, making her look over her shoulder for some phantom bogeyman.

  “No bogeyman,” she said firmly and shoved the thought out of her head.

  When she’d spoken to her distant cousin, Eldridge Colton, the night before, she had told him exactly what she wanted and why she needed his permission to be on his land. He hadn’t hidden a touch of amusement at her request, but had agreed to allow her access to the property.

  Now here she was, and despite all she’d been through in her twenty-three years of life, nerves jumped and bubbled in the pit of her stomach.

  She parked in the driveway and got out of her car. A light, hot breeze sent her long dark hair flying into unruly disarray and before she rang the doorbell she reached up to smooth the strands.

  She was still finger-combing her hair and gathering her nerve when the door opened to reveal a tall, thin older man. Clad in a dark suit, crisp white shirt and gray tie, he sported a gray mustache and a bald head covered with a few thin wisps of gray hair.

  “Eldridge?” she ventured tentatively.

  “No, ma’am, I’m Aaron Mansfield, the butler.” He opened the door wider to allow her entry. “If y
ou’ll wait here, I’ll see if Mr. Eldridge is available to see you.”

  He turned and disappeared down a hallway as Josie gazed around at her surroundings. The huge foyer not only sported gorgeous marble floors, but there were also twin curved staircases that swept down from the second floor and nearly stole her breath away with their grand beauty.

  She had been raised in a foster home and was most recently suspected of being a serial killer like her father. After spending seven years in the witness protection program in the small town of Excelsior Springs, Missouri, it would have been easy for her to be overwhelmed and intimidated by the opulence that surrounded her.

  But Josie was a survivor and she was on a mission. She’d already been through more difficult times in her life than most people suffered in an entire lifetime. She refused to be cowed by anything or anyone. For the first time ever her family was depending on her to do a job and she didn’t want to blow it. She straightened her shoulders and raised her chin as Aaron Mansfield approached her once again.

  “Mr. Eldridge is still sleeping, but his wife, Mrs. Whitney, has agreed to see you in the parlor. Please follow me.”

  He led her to a set of ornate double doors off the foyer. He opened them and gestured for her to enter. Josie swallowed a small gasp of surprise as she got her first sight of Eldridge’s wife.

  Whitney Colton was clad in an emerald green dressing gown and lounged on a white chaise. Her shoulder-length blond hair was perfectly coiffed and her makeup was impeccable, enhancing her delicate features and bright green eyes. Josie knew Eldridge was seventy-five years old. His wife was at least two decades younger than him.

  “Don’t dawdle. Come in,” Whitney said and waved a hand airily toward a nearby chair.

  Josie quickly walked across the room to the chair and sank down. “Hello, I’m Josie Colton and I’m here to—”

  “I know why you’re here,” Whitney interrupted. “My Dridgey-pooh told me all about you last night after you called him.”

  Dridgey-pooh? Josie inwardly groaned.

  “It’s so nice to meet a part of the family we don’t know,” Whitney said with a warm smile.

  Josie relaxed against the back of the chair. “Thank you. It’s nice to meet you, too. I really appreciate you all allowing me access to your property.”

  “Dridgey-pooh said it was okay, so I suppose it’s okay. He told me all about your family. He said your father spent some time here when he was younger.”

  “Yes, although it was about twenty years ago or so,” Josie replied.

  Whitney leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with a sudden hardness. “Tell me, Josie, how does it feel to be the daughter of an infamous serial killer? Oh, I probably shouldn’t have asked that. It was rude, wasn’t it? Please don’t be upset with me.”

  The question might have been rude, but it was obvious the woman wanted an answer. And how on earth did one answer a question like that?

  “It’s been rather difficult,” Josie finally replied.

  Whitney’s mouth pursed in a slight pout. She was obviously not pleased with the shortness of Josie’s response. Her eyes suddenly widened and she leaned back against the chaise, her perfectly arched eyebrows raised in an unmistakable expression of fear.

  “I certainly hope you don’t share any crazy homicidal tendencies with your father.” Her voice was suddenly breathy.

  “You don’t have to worry—” Josie didn’t get the entire sentence out of her mouth before Whitney interrupted again.

  “I don’t really like the idea of you being here at all, but the very last thing I want is to make you mad at me.”

  Josie’s brain ping-ponged in her head with Whitney’s mercurial mood swings. Did the woman have some kind of mental problem? What was her deal? Before she could respond Aaron appeared in the doorway once again.

  “Tanner is here to see you.” He no sooner got the words out of his mouth when a tall, blond man in worn tight jeans and a white T-shirt swept past the butler and into the room.

  An unexpected butterfly took flight in the pit of Josie’s stomach as he gazed at her with the blue eyes of a cloudless Texas sky.

  He gave a curt nod in greeting and then turned to Whitney. “I’m sorry to interrupt but I just wanted to let you know that Clementine birthed her foal early this morning and both are doing well.”

  “Thank you, Tanner, and I am so glad you’re here.” She pointed to Josie. “This is Jodie Colton, one of Eldridge’s very distant cousins. She’s here to find a watch or something that is buried on the property. You can see to it that she gets what she needs as quickly as possible.”

  There was still a touch of breathless distress in Whitney’s voice and it was obvious by her words that she wanted Josie gone sooner rather than later. So much for the warmth of her initial greeting, Josie thought.

  The man walked over to Josie and held out a hand. “I’m Tanner Grange, the ranch foreman.”

  Josie rose and shook his hand, the butterfly turning dizzying somersaults at the brief physical contact with his warm, slightly calloused hand. “Hi, I’m Josie Colton and it’s nice to meet you.”

  “Jodie... Josie.” Whitney released a musical burst of laughter. “All I know is that it’s a beautiful Monday morning and Eldridge and I have a breakfast to attend downtown, but before I get ready I need my guava-kale smoothie. Tanner, see that Josie gets whatever she needs and let me know when she’s off the property.” She turned on the lounge to face the doorway. “Bettina, bring me my smoothie.”

  Her last sentence was screamed and Josie didn’t miss the slight roll of Tanner’s gorgeous eyes. “Shall we?” He gestured toward the door to leave.

  With pleasure. Josie didn’t mind getting down to business and putting the dramatic, temperamental Whitney behind her. As Josie followed the hunk out of the parlor, she couldn’t help but notice his slightly faded jeans looked awesome on his taut butt, as did his T-shirt, which was pulled tight across his broad shoulders.

  Get a grip. The very last thing she wanted or needed in her life at the moment was any kind of a romantic connection. Besides, Tanner Grange looked old enough and was definitely hot enough to already be married.

  He led her back into the foyer, where he stopped and turned to face her. His handsome, chiseled features formed a slight frown across his forehead that did nothing to detract from his attractiveness. “I’m afraid I have no clue exactly what I’m supposed to help you with. Whitney didn’t explain it very well.”

  “She was worried about her guava-kale smoothie,” Josie said drily and then bit her tongue. She had no idea what this man thought about his boss and the last thing Josie wanted to do was make a bad impression or alienate the man who had been tasked to help her.

  She was relieved when Tanner offered her a wry grin. “Whitney does love her smoothies, among other fairly superficial creature comforts.” His smile fell into a gaze of curiosity. “So, she mentioned something about a buried watch?”

  Josie nodded. “My siblings and I were told our father buried a watch here years ago on this property. My father is a second cousin to Eldridge and spent some time here when he was younger. He’s dying now and the watch has sentimental value to him and he’d like to be buried with it, so I’m here to hopefully find it.”

  There were a million things Josie didn’t say, like that her father was in prison, convicted of killing nine men and Josie’s own mother. She also didn’t mention that she and her siblings believed the watch might hold a map that could possibly lead to her father’s stash of money from old bank heists he had committed before he went to prison twenty years ago.

  “I’m sorry about your father.”

  “Thanks,” Josie replied. “He’s been sick for a long time.”

  “This is a big spread. Do you have any idea where this watch might be?”

  “It’s supposed to be at the base of an old oak tree with some kind of carvings in the trunk and the tree is near a brook or a stream.”

  Whitney’s strident voice drif
ted out to them. “Moira, wake up Eldridge. He needs to get ready for the fund-raising breakfast downtown.”

  Tanner frowned. “I think I know that particular tree. It’s in a pasture a bit of a distance away from the house. Do you ride?”

  “Ride? You mean like on a horse?” Josie shook her head. “I’m afraid I’ve never had the opportunity.”

  “That’s all right. We can take one of the ranch trucks. Shall we?” He gestured toward the front door.

  Josie was just about to step outside when a bloodcurdling scream pierced the air.

  * * *

  Adrenaline pumped through Tanner as he recognized the scream as coming from the housekeeper, Moira. “Excuse me,” he muttered to Josie and turned to race down the hallway toward the master suite.

  He was vaguely aware of Aaron, Whitney and the pretty petite Josie following right behind him. Dread coursed through him as he saw Moira standing just outside of the doorway of the bedroom.

  She held a trembling finger to her lips and looked every day of her seventy-five years. As she saw Tanner she pointed into the room, horror gripping her features into a tight mask.

  At his age, Eldridge wasn’t in the best of health and Tanner’s first thought was that the old man had probably passed away in his sleep.

  He flew into the large room and then froze in his tracks in stunned surprise. In an instant his brain registered several things. The window to the gardens was open and the screen had been removed. The lamp on the nightstand was overturned. The covers on the bed appeared to have been dragged off and something that looked like blood was both on the windowsill and on the floor next to the bed.

  Eldridge was gone.

  “Oh, my God!” Whitney screamed from behind Tanner. “Where is he? What’s happened?” She pushed past Tanner and ran into the adjoining bathroom. “Eldridge honey, where are you?” A wail ensued, letting Tanner know the old man wasn’t there.

  Whitney stumbled back into the bedroom, and at the same time Fowler Colton, Eldridge’s eldest son, ran into the room. He was followed by his sister, Alanna.