by Lisa Childs
From detective to daddy?
An ex-cop guards a vulnerable family
After an injury, Detective Forrest Colton is forced into early retirement. But Forrest isn’t the type to sit still, so he volunteers to protect alluring single mom Rae Lemmon, whose life is threatened after a dead body is discovered on her property. When Forrest finds a note threatening Rae’s infant son, his senses go on high alert. He needs to save this family even if it means his own “permanent” retirement.
The intruder had gotten in easily enough last night that she hadn’t even heard him until Connor had cried out. Was he out there now?
Watching?
And what would he do about Forrest being here again? Over his staying to search the house?
Would he make good on his threat?
Tears rushed to her eyes, and she blinked furiously as she turned away. But Forrest must have seen them—because he caught her arm, the one from which Connor’s car carrier swung. He turned her back toward him.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his deep voice even deeper with concern.
Rae closed her eyes and willed the tears away. “I...” She couldn’t tell him.
As if he’d read her mind, he implored her, “You can tell me.”
But she shook her head. “I have to go.” She jerked away from him and rushed toward her small SUV. Hopefully her intruder had seen that and realized she was doing everything she could to get rid of Forrest.
Unless...
Unless he didn’t just want the detective to go away. Maybe he wanted him dead.
* * *
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Dear Reader,
I’m so honored to have been invited to participate in another Colton continuity. Colton 911 is as exciting as it sounds, and I loved writing my contribution to the series—Colton 911: Baby’s Bodyguard.
Bodies keep turning up in Whisperwood, Texas—some old, some new and not all because of the hurricane that recently hit the area. The Coltons who work with the Cowboy Heroes, a horseback rescue agency, wind up staying in their hometown to help with the aftermath of the hurricane and to figure out who’s responsible for the deaths not attributed to the hurricane.
Forrest Colton was once a hotshot Austin cold case detective—until a gunshot wound permanently disabled him. Forrest volunteers with the Cowboy Heroes but finds himself enlisted to help Whisperwood PD solve the murders. He’s glad he’s taken on the case when he personally finds a body in the backyard of beautiful Rae Lemmon. The single mom is too busy with her baby boy, her paralegal job and law school to fall for any man, especially one as surly as Forrest. But murder, threats, family and friends keep throwing them together until they don’t know if they’re trying to escape a killer or their attraction for each other.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Happy reading!
Lisa Childs
Colton 911:
Baby’s Bodyguard
Lisa Childs
Ever since Lisa Childs read her first romance novel (a Harlequin story, of course) at age eleven, all she wanted was to be a romance writer. With over forty novels published with Harlequin, Lisa is living her dream. She is an award-winning, bestselling romance author. Lisa loves to hear from readers, who can contact her on Facebook, through her website, lisachilds.com, or her snail-mail address, PO Box 139, Marne, MI 49435.
Books by Lisa Childs
Harlequin Romantic Suspense
Colton 911
Colton 911: Baby’s Bodyguard
Bachelor Bodyguards
His Christmas Assignment
Bodyguard Daddy
Bodyguard’s Baby Surprise
Beauty and the Bodyguard
Nanny Bodyguard
Single Mom’s Bodyguard
In the Bodyguard’s Arms
Soldier Bodyguard
Guarding His Witness
The Coltons of Red Ridge
Colton’s Cinderella Bride
Top Secret Deliveries
The Bounty Hunter’s Baby Surprise
The Coltons of Shadow Creek
The Colton Marine
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For Marie Ferrarella, Carla Cassidy and Beth Cornelison—it was an honor to work on this Colton series with such amazing authors!
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
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Excerpt from Cavanaugh’s Missing Person by Marie Ferrarella
Chapter 1
Her eyes were wide with fear and death. She stared up at him as if appealing to him for help. She wasn’t the only one.
“Come on, Forrest,” his brother Donovan implored him. “Whisperwood PD needs your expertise.”
Forrest gestured at the body lying amid the piles of dirt where Lone Star Pharma had intended to expand its parking lot. The drug company had had to put its plans on hold once the asphalt crew had dug up the body. “This isn’t a cold case.”
She couldn’t have been buried that long; the body had barely begun decomp. Not that he was that close to the scene, which the techs were still processing. He’d wanted to stay out of the way, but his brothers had urged him closer.
“This isn’t the only body that turned up recently,” Jonah, the oldest of his brothers, chimed in on the conversation. He and Donovan had picked up Forrest from their parents’ ranch and brought him out here. Now he understood why. They were trying to get him involved in the investigation.
They stared at him now. And even though Donovan wasn’t biologically their brother, he looked more like Jonah than any of their biological brothers did. They were both dark haired and dark eyed, whereas Forrest’s hair was lighter brown and longer than their buzz cuts, and his eyes were hazel.
“Unfortunately she isn’t the only recent casualty,” Forrest agreed.
A dozen people had lost their lives due to the flooding and wind damage Hurricane Brooke had wreaked on Whisperwood, Texas. Despite being early in the season, the storm had been deadly.
“That’s why we’re here—to help out because of the natural disaster,” he reminded his brothers. They were part of the Cowboy Heroes, a horseback rescue organization formed years ago by ranchers and EMTs. Forrest had volunteered to help the Heroes’ search-and-recovery efforts—not the police department. “And this isn’t a natural disaster.”
Though this person might have been one of the people reported missing since the hurricane, the storm hadn’t caused her death. From what Forrest could see in th
e lights that the Whisperwood PD’s forensic unit had set up to illuminate the crime scene, the young woman had bruising around her neck and on her arms and legs. She hadn’t drowned or been struck by a fallen tree.
She’d probably been strangled and maybe worse.
A chill raced down his spine despite the warmth of the August night. The death had happened recently.
“This is murder,” Jonah said. He must have noticed what Forrest had. “Just like the body that Maggie and I found last month.” He shuddered now. “And that one definitely falls within your area of expertise.”
Forrest shook his head. “Not anymore.”
A shooting had forced his early retirement from the Austin Police Department’s cold-case unit. That shooting and the pins that held together the shattered bones in his leg were why he’d had to retire with disability and why, as a volunteer with the Cowboy Heroes, he was consigned to a desk, operating the telephones. He took the calls about what people were missing: loved ones and livestock. But he’d rather be out in the field with his brothers, actually searching for those missing people and animals. Hell, he’d rather be back on the job. And they knew him so damn well that they were aware of that.
Jonah lowered his voice to a gruff whisper and murmured, “Not because you don’t want to.”
Sure, he would love to go back to the job, but there was no way in hell that he could pass a physical now. Not with his leg.
As if he’d read Forrest’s mind, Jonah continued, “But you can now. The chief will give you a special dispensation to help out as an interim detective.”
The “special dispensation” pricked his pride, and he clenched his jaw. “I don’t need you all doing me any favors.”
“You’d be doing me the favor,” Donovan said. “I was just about to leave on my honeymoon when this call came into the department.” Donovan helped out only part-time with the Cowboy Heroes; he was a full-time K9 cop with Whisperwood PD.
“It’s a mini honeymoon,” Forrest reminded him. “You’re not going to be gone long.”
“But even when we get back, I’m going to be distracted,” Donovan claimed. “Bellamy’s pregnant.”
Jonah chortled and slapped their brother’s back. “That’s great! That’s wonderful news.”
And with everything that had happened since the hurricane, good news was more than welcome.
“Congratulations,” Forrest said, and he reached out and squeezed his brother’s shoulder. Donovan and Bellamy so deserved their happiness. They’d been through so much recently.
“Thanks,” Donovan said with a big grin. But then he glanced down at the body and shook his head. “She deserves someone’s full attention, and the police department and the chief are just stretched too damn thin right now, dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane.”
And the other dead body.
The chief’s sister. Had someone else really murdered her? Or was serial killer Elliot Corgan messing with everyone from beyond his grave?
Forrest wouldn’t put it past the sadistic son of a bitch. When he’d been on the job, he’d dealt with quite a few serial killers. They got nearly as much enjoyment playing mind games with law enforcement as they did killing.
He glanced down at the dead girl. At least one thing was for certain: Elliot hadn’t killed her. He wouldn’t have been able to manage that from beyond the grave. Unless...
“You’re already on the case,” Jonah said with a slight smile. “I can see your wheels turning.”
Forrest glared at his big brother, but he didn’t deny it. Too many thoughts flitted through his mind. Was she one of the people presumed missing because of Hurricane Brooke? Had someone taken advantage of the storm to murder her, thinking that law enforcement would assume she’d been lost in the flooding that had followed the storm?
Chief Thompson had been moving around the crime scene, talking to the techs and officers guarding the perimeter. Ignoring the reporters who shouted questions at him from the other side of the police tape, Whisperwood PD’s top cop walked toward Forrest and his brothers. Thompson had been doing this job for a long time, and his experience showed in the lines in his face and the way his shoulders sagged when he looked down at the body. He shook his head and sighed, and his Stetson slipped lower over his face.
Forrest had realized some years into his career that it would never get any easier to see someone dead, especially murdered, and the chief just proved that to him. He let his own hat slide down to shield his face.
Thompson turned away from the body to focus on Forrest now, his blue eyes sharp with intelligence and determination. “So, you going to do it? You going to take the job?”
His brothers stared at him, nodding and smiling to encourage his acceptance. They probably figured this would be good for him, would get him back doing the job he loved. But when he’d been shot, the job hadn’t been the only thing he’d lost that he loved.
That experience had taught him never to risk his heart again. So the job was all he had—even if it was just a short-term assignment.
He nodded. “Yes, I’ll take it.”
Not for his sake, though, like his brothers obviously wanted. But for hers.
He stared down at the dead woman, determined to make sure she got the justice she deserved and that the killer would not hurt anyone else.
* * *
“He’s so cute,” Bellamy cooed as she cradled the baby against her chest and kissed the top of his head. He’d been born with a full head of soft brown hair, the same chocolaty color as his mama’s. He also had her big brown eyes.
Rae’s heart swelled with maternal pride. “Yes, he is,” she said just as a yawn slipped out. He’d also been keeping her up nights with a bout of colic, and Bellamy’s bed was so comfy, Rae was tempted to take a nap right there amid the pile of clothes and the suitcase.
“Hey, you need to finish packing,” Maggie told her sister as she pried the baby from Bellamy’s arms. “You’re supposed to be leaving for your honeymoon.”
“I will,” Bellamy said. “As soon as Donovan gets back from the crime scene.”
Rae shuddered. “So another body’s been found?” Twelve people had died in the hurricane, but she’d thought all of the missing had been accounted for—thanks to the Cowboy Heroes’ rescue-and-recovery efforts.
Maggie had been one of the missing. Fortunately she had been found alive. Jonah Colton hadn’t just rescued her, though; he’d also fallen in love with the former beauty queen. A pang of wistfulness tugged at Rae’s heart, not that she wanted anyone falling in love with her.
She was too busy with her two-month-old son and her law-school classes and her new job as a paralegal to fit a man into her life right now. Or ever.
Connor was the only man for her. She smiled as he clutched his fingers around a lock of Maggie’s pretty blond hair. Like every other male in Whisperwood, he was drawn to the former beauty queen.
Rae might have been jealous if Maggie wasn’t as beautiful inside as she was on the outside. She twisted her pretty features into comical faces as she cooed at the fascinated baby. Then she glanced up at Rae and a frown pulled down the corners of her mouth. “From what the chief told Jonah, it sounds like the death had nothing to do with the hurricane.”
Rae gasped. “Was it...like the body you and Jonah found?”
Maggie shuddered. “I hope not.”
That body had been mummified. Rae hadn’t seen it, but just the thought of it had given her nightmares. She couldn’t imagine what Maggie had gone through because of that and the threats to her life.
All of the crime in Whisperwood was what had compelled Rae to take the LSAT to try to get into law school. Nobody had probably been as surprised as she’d been that she’d done so well that she’d had her pick of schools. Of course she’d chosen to stay in Whisperwood with her friends. With her mom gone, they were the only family she had now
—except for Connor. She’d already been pregnant with him when she’d taken the exam.
Bellamy nipped her bottom lip with her teeth. “Maybe Donovan and I shouldn’t go away right now.”
“No!” Rae and Maggie both shouted.
Connor, startled, began to cry. Rae jumped up from the bed and took him from Maggie. Holding him close, she rubbed her hand up and down his back and murmured, “It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re okay.”
He settled down with a hiccupping sob. Then the tension drained from his tiny body and he began to drift off to sleep like Rae had longed to.
“You’re so good with him,” Maggie said with a smile.
“You are,” Bellamy agreed. She looked more like Rae, with dark hair and eyes, and with as long as they’d known each other, they were more like sisters than friends. “You’re amazing. I can’t believe how much you’re doing all on your own.”
Rae smiled with pleasure and pride. But then she reminded her friend, “You’ve done the same.”
Maggie’s mouth pulled down into another frown, and regret struck a pang in Rae’s heart. She hadn’t meant to cause any issues between the sisters. They’d already had too many.
“I was never alone,” Bellamy said. “I had you, Rae.” She turned toward Maggie and smiled at her sister. “And you... I just didn’t realize what all you were doing for me.”
“Rae’s right,” Maggie said. “You did all the heavy lifting on your own.” Taking care of their ailing parents. “You deserve this honeymoon. You deserve every happiness. Don’t let Donovan back out of going.”
Bellamy smiled. “Not a chance. He’s determined to go. He and Jonah are going to work on convincing Forrest to step in and take over the murder investigations.”
Maggie nodded. “Oh, that’s what big brother is up to.” She’d fallen for the oldest of the Colton brothers. “He said he was going to pick up Forrest.”
Another little pang struck Rae’s heart at the mention of that particular Colton brother. It was probably just regret again. She shouldn’t have asked him to dance at Bellamy and Donovan’s wedding. But as one of two maids of honor, she’d wanted to make sure every guest enjoyed the celebration. That was the only reason she’d asked—not because he was ridiculously good-looking, with his chiseled features and his brooding intensity.
