A RUTHLESS ARMY RANGER
Former army ranger Cole Sawyer reacts on instinct when he sees beautiful young widow Lisa Meador pull a gun at the bank. He foils the robbery, but when Lisa screams as the real robbers take off with her son, he realizes that things arenât what they seem. Driven by a painful secret, Cole makes the split-second decision to join forces with Lisa and trail the criminals across Texas.
A DESPERATE SINGLE MOTHER
Haunted by his failure to save Lisaâs husband in Afghanistan, Cole is determined to help her rescue her son. But heâs even more determined not to give in to his growing attraction to her. As they untangle clues and face the potentially devastating loss of their quarry, they soon realize that the kidnappersâ motives run deeperâand darkerâthan they ever expected....
A LITTLE BOYâS ONLY HOPE
âI swear to you,â he promised, âthey arenât taking me alive. Iâm sorry, Lisaâsorrier than youâll ever know.â And sorrier still for what I havenât told you.â
âDonât. Please.â She raised herself onto her toes and brushed the fullness of her warm lips across his. The kiss was soft and fleeting, yet somehow it sent a jolt that blazed through his brain and body as if heâd never experienced a womanâs touch before. Desire gripped him, a searing need to turn and claim her mouth in earnest, to find out what it was about her that had somehow stirred that pile of cold ash that was once his beating heart.
âIâll come for you,â Cole managed, his voice rough. âAnd, Lisa, if thereâs any wayâany way at allâto make it happen, Iâll be bringing your son with me.â
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After beginning her career writing historical romance novels, Colleen Thompson turned to writing the contemporary romantic suspense she loves in 2004. Since then, her work has been honored with a Texas Gold Award, along with nominations for a RITA® Award, a Daphne du Maurier Award and multiple reviewersâ choice honors, along with starred reviews from RT Book Reviews and Publishers Weekly. A former teacher living with her family in the Houston area, Colleen has a passion for reading, hiking and dog rescue. Visit her online at www.colleen-thompson.com .
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Captain Cole SawyerâLeaving his elite army ranger unit wasnât easy, but turning his back on a fellow soldierâs gorgeous widow in her hour of need is impossibleâas impossible as his growing attraction to the courageous young mother who threatens to take his combat-hardened heart by storm.
Lisa MeadorâWhen an ordinary afternoon errand goes terribly wrong, this determined young widow will stop at nothingâincluding the kidnappersâ demands that she commit bank robberyâto free her only child. When a handsome stranger interferes, she enlists his helpânever guessing the devastating secret that binds them.
Tyler MeadorâDetermined to be as brave as his soldier father was in combat, Lisaâs five-year-old son relies on his imagination, and his trusty stuffed octopus, to keep his fears at bay.
Lee Ray HardyâDespite a long rap sheet and a bad drug habit, this career criminal has a soft spot for the kidnapped boy. But will that be enough to save him from his partnerâs schemes?
Evie LeStrangeâA violent sociopath with an ax to grind, Evie wants to get rid of her incriminating encumbranceâbut only after inflicting as much pain as possible on a woman she didnât choose at random.
Deputy Trace SutherlandâThis by-the-book deputy still loves the ex-wife heâs been assigned to ride with, but will either of them survive her reckless disregard for safety?
Deputy Jill KellerâA near-death experience has done little to temper her gung-ho attitude toward law enforcement. But will her lingering love for her ex-husband finally make her see the light?
To those who serve and sacrifice...
and the no-less-courageous families who love them.
Prologue
In a grimy motel room somewhere in Oklahoma, a woman picked up a newspaper left behind by the last occupant. No shock there, considering the general state of this dive, but the face staring up at her sent the room whirling around her and nausea squeezing in her stomach.
It was her, a brat in her arms, a brave smile on her face. A face the woman in the motel room would know anywhere, no matter how many years had passed. Because she never forgot any of those who had destroyed her.
Most of them, sheâd paid back in spades already: the sadistic bitch whoâd called herself a mother; the foster father who had raped her, brutally and often; even the juvenile detention officer whoâd been such a hard-ass laterâevery one of them lying in an unmarked grave. But not the one whoâd set it all in motion, the one sheâd sworn on the memory of all sheâd lost to repayâif she could ever find her.