by Bonnie Vanak
“Then what about this marking?” She pointed to a pair of bricks on the fireplace’s right side, near the hearth. Both bore small heart symbols.
He frowned. “Could be Henry carved the hearts. Or something else.”
Taking out his knife, he dug into the mortar and then removed two bricks, revealing a hollow space.
Shelby peered at the findings as he removed a small packet of papers. Nick began scanning them as Shelby looked inside the hollow, wondering if Henry’s treasure was there as well. Finally he looked up, his eyes filled with wonder. To her surprise, tears swam in his dark eyes.
“What’s wrong? Are the letters clues to where Henry buried the gold?”
“They’re letters. Love letters from John James to Judith Anderson.”
Shelby sat on the floor as he handed her the papers. “Who are they?”
“My real mother and father.”
He read to her parts of the letters. Judith Anderson was Silas and Marlene Anderson’s only daughter. Against her father’s wishes, she started seeing John James, an aspiring country singer, who once was in trouble with the law for petty larceny. Worried the flighty singer would never give his daughter a stable home, Silas forbid Judith from seeing John.
“They used to meet here in secret.” Nick set down the letters and looked around the cabin. “I was probably conceived here.”
Judith died giving birth to Nick in a private hospital far from Barlow. Silas arranged to put his name and Marlene’s on Nick’s birth certificate and they raised the baby as their own, not wanting the child to grow up with the stain of illegitimacy.
“That’s why Silas was so hard on me,” Nick mused. “He was afraid I would turn into my real father, without a stable source of employment, and turn to petty crime.”
Picking up the letters, she read the eloquent prose. John James might never have been the stable husband Silas wanted for his youngest daughter, but Nick’s father loved Judith. Absorbed in the words and the adoration in them, Shelby finished reading the last letter, her heart turning over.
“It’s so sad. He really adored her and kept sneaking in here after she died.” Sniffing, she touched the papers. “This is his last letter to her, shortly after she died. Silas offered him money to leave and never look back. He had no choice. He was flat broke, and brokenhearted.”
Nick scanned his phone. “I Googled his name while you were reading. John James is still alive. He became a singer in a band and he lives in Nashville and works at a recording studio.”
“Your real father.”
“I’m going to contact him. I have a father who’s still alive, and needs to see his son.” Nick put away his phone. “These letters are the treasure, Shel. But I think there’s still more inside that hollow in the fireplace. Why don’t you look?”
She reached into the hollow and withdrew a diamond ring. “Nick, how did this get here?”
“Sleight of hand.” He took it from her and slid it on her left ring finger.
“Shelby Stillwater, will you do me the extreme honor of becoming my wife?”
Tears filled her eyes. For a moment, she was afraid to breathe.
His steady gaze searched hers. “Sweet Pea? I promise to never roam again, if you’re at my side for life.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes!” She flung her arms around him.
His kiss was tender, sweet, with an undercurrent of the passion they’d shared before this very fireplace. He smoothed back a stray lock of hair.
“I reckon we could have an early summer wedding, here on the ranch if you want. By then the ranch should be operating in the black, as long as Dan has free rein to implement his ideas and hire trainers for young equestrian jumpers. And a honeymoon in Paris.”
“Paris?”
“There’s a summer session of watercolor painting I found. Six weeks long.” He kissed her again. “A very long honeymoon to fulfill your dream of studying art in France.”
“What about your dream?” she whispered, staring into his eyes.
He picked up her hand with the engagement ring on it. “My dream is right here with you, Shelby. There’s no place I’d rather be. All those times I wandered around the country, I felt lost because I didn’t have you. Not anymore. You’re my GPS, my guiding star. I don’t ever want to lose you again.”
As he kissed her again, she sighed against him. Maybe they would never find Henry’s treasure. It didn’t matter.
The real treasure wasn’t gold, or an historic cabin and the promise of riches.
It was right here, with Nick Anderson. The troubled, angry boy who held her heart. He’d left home to become a Navy SEAL and fight for his country and then got lost along the way.
Lost no more. He was home to stay.
* * * * *
Look for the next thrilling installment in
Bonnie Vanak’s SOS AGENCY series, coming soon!
Don’t forget the previous titles in the series:
SHIELDED BY THE COWBOY SEAL
NAVY SEAL SEDUCTION
Available now from Harlequin.com!
Keep reading for an excerpt from MISSION: COLTON JUSTICE by Jennifer Morey.
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
Join Harlequin My Rewards & Instantly earn a FREE ebook of your choice.
Earn points for every Harlequin print and ebook you buy, wherever & whenever you shop.
Turn your points into FREE BOOKS.
Don’t miss out. Reward the book lover in you!
Register Today & Earn a FREE BOOK*
*New members who join before December 31st, 2017 will receive 2000 points redeemable for eligible titles.
Click here to register
Or visit us online to register at
http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010001
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Romantic Suspense title.
You want sparks to fly! Harlequin Romantic Suspense stories deliver, with strong and adventurous women, brave and powerful men and the life-and-death situations that bring them together.
Enjoy four new stories from Harlequin Romantic 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
Mission: Colton Justice
by Jennifer Morey
Chapter 1
The vision that walked toward his open office door differed mightily from the broke college student he’d last seen a few years ago. Jeremy Kincaid forgot all about the exciting new investment opportunity in a high-tech night vision equipment start-up. Adeline Winters seemed to float with each smooth, graceful stride. She could just as easily be on a catwalk as in his reception area.
Her endlessly long legs made the light gray trousers wave as she moved. The open lapels of her knee-length black trench coat offered glimpses of slender hips beneath the fitted hem of a gray button-up vest. Modest cleavage peeked out from above a soft, silky yellow shirt, very business-like. Thick, shoulder-length blond hair fanned out. He drank in the sight of her. By the time she stopped at his office door, her porcelain skin and naturally pink lips arrested him next, and then her keen, light blue eyes snapped him out of his trance.
He stood, feeling as though he might have to control his drool. Clearing his throat, he got a hold of himself and stepped away from his chair. Did she have the same reaction to seeing him again? She held a leather padfolio in one arm. Her gaze took in his form as he came around the desk, bu
t he couldn’t be sure the same electric sexual awareness afflicted her.
“Ms. Winters. Thank you for coming.” He shook her soft hand.
“Adeline. Thank you for inviting me, Mr. Kincaid.”
“Jeremy.” He smiled as he looked down at her attire. “College seems to have agreed with you.”
A slight answering smile curved her perfect lips. “My business is growing. Maybe after this meeting, it will grow even more.”
She’d turned her criminal justice degree into her own private investigation agency. When he’d learned that, the wheels in his head had started spinning. Not only did he admire anyone with the know-how and courage to blaze their own path—he’d built his own business on the same steam—he could use her expertise.
Putting the padfolio down on one of two plush brown leather chairs facing his big, cherrywood desk, she removed her coat and draped it over the arm. She had a gun holster and an ammo pouch fastened to her belt. While he wondered about that, she looked up at his thirty-six-by-forty-eight black-and-white picture of the moon, half in sunlight and half in shadow.
“That was taken by an imaging satellite,” he explained. “The founder of a start-up I invested in sent it to me.”
She looked over the rest of his office. A whiteboard covered one wall and pictures of ranch land accented a conference table. A credenza took up the space behind his desk.
After taking those in, she returned her attention to him. “You like ranching and stargazing?”
“Ranching is in the family. Not me. I’m a businessman.” He looked over the photos. “I like investing in technological concepts, seeing entrepreneurs take an idea and turn it into a success. I built my first company from nothing and started investing after I sold it.”
“To the moon and back.” She smiled wider than before. “I knew you invested but I didn’t know you sold your first company. Tess never mentioned that.” She wandered to the whiteboard where he kept a list of tasks and an unclassified flowchart of a new night vision scope for a military rifle.
“I didn’t have much money. I had my engineering degree and a partner with an innovative idea to make a garage door opener that could read license plates. Kind of like electronic toll optics.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I know some people who have one of those.” She turned to face him. “Fascinating.”
“My partner bought my share of the company. That’s what I used to build this.” He opened his arms.
She met his eyes with softening warmth. He hadn’t known her long before his wife had died. He and Tess had chosen her from a donor pool.
He suspected she was thinking of that time along similar lines, perhaps how she didn’t really know him, either.
Tess had been so excited with the prospect of having a baby. He had been thrilled to make her that happy. The sting of loss caught him as it often did. He still could not let her go.
Lingering too long on the sparkle in her glowing eyes, he gestured to the chairs. “Please, have a seat.”
He stepped back and then around to his chair behind the desk. She adjusted herself until she found a comfortable position, crossing her sexy legs and leaning back to patiently await his purpose in inviting her to his office.
“Is there a reason you’re armed?” he asked. The college student he once knew wouldn’t have packed heat.
“Only when I work cases that make me nervous.”
“Hopefully that doesn’t mean me.” He kept his tone light. If she had any idea why he’d asked her to meet, she’d have a good reason to be armed.
A brief breath left her, seeming to stem partly from a response to his lightness and partly from patient tolerance. “No. A mother hired me to track down a drug dealer her son has gotten mixed up with.”
“Ah.” He leaned back with his fingers to his jaw. “You do target practice?”
“I wouldn’t have a gun if I didn’t. I assure you, I’m legal and qualified.”
“I wasn’t questioning your experience as an investigator.” He knew nothing about her experience. Her website had glowing reviews from clients, and everything about her presented professionalism. He’d take a chance on her, which was better than he’d get from the local sheriff’s department. Other than Knox Colton, he didn’t trust anyone.
“Why did you ask me here, Mr. Kincaid?”
“Jeremy. I want to talk to you about Tess.”
Adeline’s gaze faltered with the mention of Tess, making him wonder if that part of her past bothered her, being an egg donor and surrogate to fund her college tuition, giving up her baby.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been two years,” she said.
“Yes. The first year was pretty hard on me and Jamie.” He’d spent the next year trying to get deputies to look into the car accident that had killed her. That had proved futile.
Her eyes lifted and he saw the hungry need for more information about the boy. Jeremy couldn’t deny her link to him, and Jamie had influenced his decision to call her.
“He’s doing much better now. He misses his mother, but he’s adjusting,” Jeremy said.
Adeline only met his eyes, seeming to be caught in ponderous thought.
“He looks like you.” Jeremy didn’t know why he’d said that. After Jamie had been born he’d focused on thinking of him as his and Tess’s baby. But it had been difficult not to make the comparison. “He’s got blond hair and blue eyes.” He breathed a laugh and pointed to his dark, short cropped hair and brown eyes. Tess had dark hair and gray eyes.
Adeline made no comment and lowered her gaze. Talking about Jamie must make her uncomfortable.
He used to tell himself that Jamie’s bright blue eyes resembled Tess’s. Jamie had a lot of his own features, but the blond hair and blue eyes were always Adeline’s. He’d often felt he had to convince himself that Jamie was his and Tess’s and not his and Adeline’s.
“Sometimes I wish I wouldn’t have been so impulsive,” Adeline said at last. “Being an egg donor and surrogate for Tess.” She shook her head. “I wanted and needed to finish college, but...wow.”
Jeremy wasn’t sure what she meant by “wow.” “You regret it?” She’d given him and Tess a priceless gift. Why would she be anything but proud?
“No, not regret. I know how much Tess wanted a baby. I saw that when I met her. And the money did get me through college. It was worth it just for those two things.”
He heard the but she didn’t say. Giving up a baby would be hard but she’d gotten past that...hadn’t she?
Tess had lost her ability to have children due to polyps in her uterus. When she had found out, she had been devastated.
Catapulted back in time, he remembered certain key things about the in vitro fertilization process. Using his sperm and Adeline’s egg and implanting the fertilized embryo into Adeline, her growing stomach through the pregnancy, and then giving birth to Jamie—to all accounts, his son with Tess. He’d tried to experience it all with Tess, but there had been moments when he felt connected to Adeline in an intimate way only a man and woman who produced a life could understand. That’s why he’d kept his distance from Adeline as much as possible. Adeline had spent most of her time with Tess when visiting them during her pregnancy. Thankfully he’d had work to fall back on.
“Why don’t we talk about the reason you asked me here?” Adeline said.
“Of course.” They’d ventured a little too far into the past. He sat forward and placed his hands on the desk. “There is no easing into what I have to say. So I’ll just say it.” He watched anticipation brighten her eyes. “I think Tess was murdered.”
Adeline’s head moved back in unexpected surprise. “Murdered? She drove into a pole.”
She hadn’t injected herself into his and Tess’s lives after giving birth, but she had attended the funeral. She had also done her r
esearch before meeting him. He liked that. “Yes, and her blood alcohol level was high. But a few months ago I spoke with a local who said he saw Tess having lunch with a man the day of her accident. She left upset over whatever the two discussed. Her death always bothered me but I didn’t start thinking there might be more going on than a simple accident until then. What if she had relations with people I didn’t know about? Why did she meet this stranger and what made her upset? It’s too much of a coincidence that she died the same day.”
“Who is the man?”
“The local didn’t know. I tried to get the sheriff’s office to look into it but they haven’t. I get a brush-off every time I go there.” Renowned local criminal Livia Colton had her tentacles buried deep into the department in Shadow Creek, Texas. Jeremy knew her through his ties with other Coltons. He wouldn’t put it past Livia having something to do with the lackadaisical mindset of the sheriff’s department.
“I don’t see how Tess’s lunch could have anything to do with her accident. She may have been upset and that may have contributed, but...murder?”
Adeline clearly thought he was taking a leap. Jeremy expected her to be analytical.
“Even in prison Livia still had contact with a few of her followers. Someone I know heard one of them talking at a cocktail party, saying how she’d love to see Tess suffer somehow. ‘Like some kind of terrible accident, something to mess up her perfect, fortuitous life so she can see how the rest of the world lives,’ she said. Livia did not like Tess. She hated her youth and goodness.”
“Why do you think she had motive to kill? And from prison? Tess was young and beautiful and she married you. Maybe Livia was just jealous.”
Jealousy was enough. She didn’t know Livia well enough if she didn’t agree. “I know there has to be more and I don’t have much to go on right now, but Livia is capable of paying lackeys to do her dirty work. She could have paid someone in the sheriff’s department to cover it up. She’s a sociopath. Matthew Colton was her brother, remember, and a serial killer. Even he feared her. She worked in the highest ranks of an organized crime group, trafficked drugs—and people. She’s been convicted of murder before, so why not do it again if it made her feel better or gave her some kind of gain?”
