Bestselling author Carla Cassidy brings danger and deception to Dead River Ranch for the Coltons of Wyoming
Ranch foreman Gray Stark and heiress Catherine Colton may live together on Dead River Ranch, but theyâre from different worlds. She made that clear when she broke his heart years ago. With their passionate, complicated past, marriage is not an option. Until he finds out that sheâand her unborn babyâare targets.
Making Catherine his wife is the best way to ensure her safety. But as desire resurfaces, it wars with the danger that hovers close. Is Gray ready to face his biggest threat yet to keep Catherine safeâ¦and by his sideâ¦forever?
âWhy did you leave, Gray? Why did you just disappear from the ranch, from my life, nine years ago?â
His gaze left Catherineâs face and focused someplace over her shoulder. âFirst love, teenage fantasies.â He looked at her once again, his eyes dark and unreadable. âWhat we had was just the lust and the wonder of young love. I did you a favor by leaving here and letting you get on with your adult life.â
âIt didnât feel like a favor at the time,â she said softly, remembering the aching pain heâd left behind. However, there were certainly bigger issues at the moment.
âWater under the bridge, right?â he said. âWe canât go backward, Catherine. We need to figure things out here and now. We need to make sure that youâre covered at all times. And the only way I can do that is if you marry me.â
The Coltons of Wyoming: Stories of true love, high stakesâ¦and family honor.
Dear Reader,
The excitement and dysfunction of the Colton family makes the best kind of readingâaddictive and a definite guilty pleasure.
Thereâs also nothing better than a Colton marriageâ¦unless the bride is unwilling and the groom is reluctant. Add in a heavy dose of desire between the two and a kidnapper determined to claim the new bride for ransom and youâve got a roller coaster ride!
I hope you enjoy reading The Colton Bride as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Keep reading!
Carla Cassidy
CARLA CASSIDY is an award-winning author who has written more than one hundred books for Mills & Boon. In 1995 she won Best Silhouette Romance from RT Book Reviews for Anything for Danny. In 1998 she also won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series from RT Book Reviews.
Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write. Sheâs looking forward to writing many more books and bringing hours of pleasure to readers.
Chapter 1
The three Colton sisters sat in the parlor area of Catherineâs bedroom suite, each of them pretending to carry on a casual conversation while ignoring the reason they were gathered together.
The pregnancy test Catherine had just taken was in the adjoining bathroom and none of them had looked at it yet to see the results.
The suite was three rooms: the sitting area, the bedroom and the bath. All were decorated in a splendor of pinks and black with silver accessories. This was Catherineâs haven, the place she felt most safe and secure, but at the moment her nerves screamed inside her.
âJim Radarâs bull got himself all tangled up in a mess of barbed wire this morning. It took me hours to get him unwound and cleaned up,â Amanda said. At twenty-eight, Amanda had a successful large animal veterinarian practice and a six-month-old daughter, Cheyenne, who was the love of her life. âI gave Jim a lecture about the dangers of barbed wire, but I think it went in one ear and out the other.â
âHowâs the barn project coming along?â Catherine asked her younger sister, Gabriella. Gabby had a dream of turning an old red barn on the property into a center for troubled teens. She was not only devoted to her project but also planning a Christmas wedding with Trevor Garth, head of security here at the Dead River Ranch.
âSlowly,â Gabby admitted, her green eyes sparkling with happiness. âI keep getting distracted by wedding plans. Itâs already October and that doesnât give me much time to have a perfect wedding by December.â
âItâs going to be a beautiful wedding and hopefully it will bring some joy into this place,â Catherine replied.
Amanda sighed with a touch of impatience. âWeâve only got an hour before dinnertime. Shouldnât somebody go in there and check and find out if the answer is yes or no?â
Once again Catherineâs nerves jumped erratically inside her veins, as if attempting to make a hasty escape. How had she gotten herself into the situation where sheâd even have to take a pregnancy test? Before the question fully formed in her head, she knew the answer. Sheâd been such a fool. Theyâd always been so careful, always had what she assumed was safe sex, but apparently it was possible that at some point a condom hadnât done its job.