Rodeo Rescuer

SHE CAN’T ESCAPE

No matter where she runs, rodeo clown Tonya Waters’s stalker always finds her. Now he’s managed to track her down on the rodeo circuit. If bull rider Seth Starke hadn’t saved her, she’d be dead. But when the handsome cowboy is injured in the ring and Tonya rescues him, Seth seems more determined than ever to keep her safe. But can she risk staying at his Tennessee ranch and bringing danger to his family? As her stalker gets more violent, Tonya and Seth vow to outsmart him before he makes good on his ultimate threat: if he can’t have her, no one will.

Wrangler’s Corner: Family comes first

The man in the ski mask fled.

Seth watched two of the bull riders go after him. He gritted his teeth against the renewed throbbing in his leg and lifted his head to find Tonya headed toward him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Bruises had already started to form on her throat, and rage ignited within him as Seth deduced what had happened. The man had broken in to her motor home with the intention of killing her.

Just like he’d tried to do four years ago.

Seth reached for her, and she stumbled into his arms to collapse against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, balancing himself and her on his good leg. “Shh,” he whispered against her ear. “It’s all right. He’s gone.”

She clung to him a moment, her shoulders shaking, not making a sound. But he could feel the warmth of her tears soaking through his shirt. He held her, tried to offer her the comfort and safety she so desperately needed to feel.

She finally stirred and brushed a hand across her wet cheeks. “Are you all right? Your leg?” she whispered.

His heart shuddered. She was concerned about him when she’d been almost killed? He simply nodded. “I’m fine.”

LYNETTE EASON is a bestselling, award-winning author who makes her home in South Carolina with her husband and two teenage children. She enjoys traveling, spending time with her family and teaching at various writing conferences around the country. She is a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America) and ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers). Lynette can often be found online interacting with her readers. You can find her at facebook.com/lynette.eason and on Twitter, @lynetteeason.

Rodeo Rescuer

Lynette Eason

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

—Psalms 23:4

Dedicated to my family. I love you to pieces.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Jeff Thomas for answering

all of my questions about the rodeo circuit. I appreciate it so much! I take full responsibility for any mistakes.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Acknowledgments

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

EPILOGUE

Dear Reader

EXTRACT

Copyright

ONE

If he caught her, he’d kill her. Tonya Waters hunched lower in the bullfighter barrel and held her breath.

Don’t move. Don’t make a sound. Don’t even breathe. She closed her eyes and sent up a prayer. Would he look in the barrel? It seemed like such an obvious hiding place. Then again, it was one of many barrels in the equipment room. It would take him a while to search each one. Hopefully, she would be able to get out before he reached her.

But the footsteps moved closer to her. That sickening sweet cologne she remembered from four years ago tickled her gag reflex. She swallowed and curled into herself as tight as she dared. Her fingers, gripping the straps that had been mounted on the inside of the sphere, went numb.

“Tonya?”

His low singsong voice sent shivers of fear coursing through her. Stars danced before her eyes and she drew in another shallow breath. If she passed out, it was over. The stars faded. She lifted her head a fraction, just enough to see out of the top of the barrel.

Screams from the rodeo crowd just over her head reached her. Tonya had thought she’d be safe here, be a part of the rodeo, blend in with the crew. She’d been almost positive that the clown makeup and baggy clothes would be enough of a disguise should any pictures appear in a newspaper or on the news. Being a rodeo clown—or a bullfighter, as some were called—was hard work, exhilarating work.

Dangerous work.

But not as dangerous as having an obsessed ex-boyfriend finally track you down.

Now she’d have to run again. Change her name again. Find a new line of work.

Hank Newman had stalked her in college, threatened her family and nearly killed her. And now he’d come after her one more time. God, help me!

His good-looking exterior hid a heart of evil. Of violence and the potential to kill. Her throat tightened at the memory. He’d wrapped his fingers around her throat and pressed. Tight, tighter. Until she’d passed out. He’d dropped her to the floor and walked out, leaving her for dead.

She’d pressed charges and sent him to jail. And not even his powerful law-enforcement family could stop it. The fingerprints he’d left on her throat had matched his and a jury had put him away. But he hadn’t stayed locked up for long. He’d shown up a few months later at her office, where she’d been working only a few weeks. Fortunately, she’d seen him before he’d seen her and she’d slipped out of the office without a backward glance, knowing she would never be safe as long as he was free.