ISBN: 9780373774777

Pecos County, Texas, 1881 Jedediah McCarrick was dead. Heath rode carefully around the body sprawled at the bottom of the draw, gentling Apache with a quiet word. The horse was right t… More...

Pecos County, Texas, 1881 Jedediah McCarrick was dead. Heath rode carefully around the body sprawled at the bottom of the draw, gentling Apache with a quiet word. The horse was right to be scared. Jed hadn't been dead more than a few days, and the scent of decay was overwhelming. An accident. That was the way it looked, anyhow. Half Jed's skull was bashed in, and his legs stuck out at strange angles. The rocks were sharp around here, and plentiful. But Jed was a damn good rider. You had to be, in the Pecos, so far from civilization. The old man had been on his way home, just as his letter had said. He would have let go the cowboys he'd hired for the drive once it was finished, and he didn't trust many people. He would have risked riding alone rather than let some stranger get close to his hard-earned money. That was his mistake. Heath dismounted and scanned the horizon. Jed's horse was gone, so there was no way to be sure exactly how it had happened. Maybe something had spooked the animal: a rattler, a rabbit, a gust of wind. Heath couldn't smell anything but the stink of rot, no trace of another human who might have been around when Jed died. Any hoofprints or tracks had been blown away. If some drifter or outlaw had helped Jed to his grave and taken his horse, he was long gone. I should have been with him, Heath thought. But Jed hadn't wanted him along. The old man hadn't acted like the others when he found out, when Heath was stupid enough to forget all the hard lessons he'd learned. Jed wasn't easily scared. He hadn't yelled or run away or tried to shoot him. He'd pretended it didn't matter, that Heath was still like a son to him. But Heath had known Jed was lying. He knew what he saw in the old man's eyes. Jed had understood that Heath would never hurt him, but he was still human. The only reason he'd kept so calm and reasonable was that he needed Heath at the ranch to keep Sean in check. He'd been willing to use Heath's secret for his own endsuntil Sean was no longer a problem and he could run Heath off like the animal he was. Heath laughed. It was almost funny that Jed was more worried about his nephew than a man who wasn't even human. The devil knew why Heath had stayed on. He supposed that three years of friendship, of letting himself trust the man who'd saved his life, had held him at Dog Creek. That and his contempt for Sean. He'd owed Jed, and he had meant to pay off the debt. But Heath had been ready to ride out as soon as Jed returned and could deal with Sean himself. That would have been the end of it. He just hadn't expected this kind of end. Apache snorted and tossed his head. "Easy, boy," Heath murmured, and knelt beside the body. He touched the bloody depression beneath Jed's thinning hair. The old man had probably died quickly. No sign of knife or gunshot wounds. Closing his nostrils against the stench, Heath patted Jed's waist and pockets. Nothing. If he'd brought the money back with him, he would h ebook General eBook, Harlequin<

ISBN: 9780373774777

Rachel Lyndon yearns to escape her scandalous past, but her dreams for a better life seem ruined after she buries her fiancé on the Texas plains.Heath Renier has been evading the law… More...

Rachel Lyndon yearns to escape her scandalous past, but her dreams for a better life seem ruined after she buries her fiancé on the Texas plains.Heath Renier has been evading the law by the skin of his teeth for years. Now he's found a new identity as Holden Renshaw, foreman of Dog Creek Ranch. But the arrival of his boss's mail-order bride, now a widow, upsets his fragile peace and threatens to expose his deadly secrets.Rachel knows that the mysterious and savagely handsome Holden is the last man she should trust—especially once she's seen glimpses of his true nature. When he's suspected of killing his employer, she has a terrible choice to make. But the heat of his gaze ignites something seductive and irresistible within her. No matter how dangerous the road ahead, she's determined to give him the one thing he's never truly believed he deserves: her undying love. Books Books ~~ Fiction~~ Romance ~~ General Bride-of-the-Wolf~~Susan-Krinard Harlequin A "New York Times" and "USA Today"-bestselling author delivers a thrilling new paranormal adventure. Riding off into the sunset may prove deadly for two strangers who are trying to avoid secrets from the past. Original.<