âYou really donât want to get involved with this, Bart Collingsworth. You really donât want to get involved with me.â
He touched her arm. âWhy donât you let me be the judge of that?â
Jaclyn didnât answer, but when he took her hand in his, she let him lead her back to the porch. âTell me one good reason I should trust you.â
Bart smiled. âBecause from the looks of things, you donât have anyone else to go to for help and Iâm offering.â
âYouâre making a big mistake, cowboy. A monumental mistake.â
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Bart Collingsworth â Convinced Jaclyn is in trouble, he feels compelled to help her and must fight the almost overwhelming attraction he feels from the moment they meet.
Jaclyn McGregor â Though wary, she is forced to accept Bart Collingsworthâs help in finding her friend, who has disappeared without a trace.
Lenora Collingsworth â The strong but loving matriarch of the Collingsworth clan.
Langston, Matt and Zach Collingsworth â Bartâs brothers.
Jaime Collingsworth and Becky Ridgely â Bartâs sisters, both of whom live at Jackâs Bluff Ranch.
Margo Kite â Jaclynâs friend who has disappeared from New Orleans.
Ed Guerra â Local Texas sheriff.
Senator Patrick Hebert â Louisiana politician believed to have been having an affair with Margo Kite before her disappearance.
Candy Hebert â The senatorâs wife.
Win Bronson â Senator Hebertâs right-hand man.
Rene Clark â Foreman at Paradise Pleasures, a small Texas ranch owned by the senator and some of his friends.
Clay Markham â Private investigator hired by Bart Collingsworth.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joanna Wayne was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, and received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from LSU-Shreveport. She moved to New Orleans in 1984, and it was there that she attended her first writing class and joined her first professional writing organisation. Her first novel, Deep in the Bayou, was published in 1994.
Now, dozens of published books later, Joanna has made a name for herself as being on the cutting edge of romantic suspense in both series and single-title novels. She has been on the Waldenbooks Bestselling List for romance and has won many industry awards. She is a popular speaker at writing organisations and local community functions and has taught creative writing at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College.
She currently resides in a small community forty miles north of Houston, Texas, with her husband. Though she still has many family and emotional ties to Louisiana, she loves living in the Lone Star state. You may write to Joanna at: PO Box 265, Montgomery, TX 77356, USA.
Thanks to all the readers out there who love a
good romance and keep buying my books. A special thanks goes to Ruth Foreman, a reader who has been with me since my very first book. Though weâve never met in person, we have become good friends via e-mail. She is a constant source of inspiration, an optimistic, cheerful person dedicated to her faith and family. Even losing her home to the devastating floods of Katrina couldnât destroy her loving spirit. Sheâs the kind of fan that makes writing a real joy.
Chapter One
A light rain started to fall, making the road that wound its way to Jackâs Bluff Ranch dangerously slick. Not a safe night out for man nor beast. Most days Bart fell into the former category. He slowed his pickup truck and turned up the volume on his radio, singing along with George Strait, though one of them was a bit off-key.
Bart stretched, then shed the necktie heâd loosened much earlier. He hadnât wanted to drive into Houston tonight, especially in this monkey suit. But his mother had refused to take no for an answer. Not that he didnât agree with her that philanthropy was important or that her work in spearheading the drive to raise funding for the new childrenâs wing at the hospital was a worthy task; but sipping champagne and making small talk with a gaggle of rich socialites wasnât his scene.
It still amazed him that his mother could waltz from ranch life at Jackâs Bluff to Houston society functions so effortlessly. The only dance Bart knew was the two-step, and that was the way he liked it.
His mom had opted to stay in town and spend the night with his brother Langston and his new family, leaving Bart to make the hour-plus drive home alone. Normally he wouldnât have minded, but tonight he could have used the company just to stay awake and alert. It had been a long day. Ranching was not a nine-to-five job.
He caught sight of a pair of bucks at the edge of the road in front of him. He slowed even more. You never knew when a deer would take a notion to run right in front of you. Heâd totaled a pickup like that last year. Worse part was it had killed the doe.
The rain picked up. He turned on the defroster to clear the windshield. The visibility improved only slightly, but heâd be home in less than ten minutes.
He tried to stifle a yawn, then jerked to attention. What the hell? Two cars were speeding toward him, driving so close they were all but swapping paint.