Treasure Point Secrets

PERILOUS PURSUIT

It’s been five years since Shiloh Evans encountered the murderous gold hunters seeking Blackbeard’s hidden stash. After they killed her policewoman cousin, Shiloh left town to regroup, and earn her own police badge. Because she would see this case solved—someday. She just didn’t expect the killers to attack her new home in Treasure Point, Georgia…on the same day her ex-fiancé arrived in town. Adam Cole has tried to overcome his love for Shiloh. But he won’t just sit by when she’s in danger. Working together, they plan a trap. But springing it requires getting to centuries-buried treasure before the killers get to them.

Nothing could have kept the relief that they were both all right from showing on her face.

Adam must have seen it, because he grinned.

“See, I knew you still cared. At least a little,” he teased.

He was lucky she didn’t want the hassle of an internal affairs investigation—because she wanted nothing more than to slap that grin off of his face.

“You don’t get how serious this is, do you?” Shiloh muttered between clenched teeth. She scanned the area, unable to suppress a shiver. Gut instinct said someone was out there. Watching.

“I get it.” Adam’s voice sobered. “I know that someone tried…” His voice trailed off.

“Tried to kill us,” she finished for him.

Frustration and fear fought for dominance. Shiloh took a few deep breaths, tried to stay calm, but finally could hold back no longer. She kicked the side of the car. When she considered the incident with the snake that morning, she knew the two events had to be connected. And that could only mean one thing.

They’d found her.

SARAH VARLAND

lives in the woods in Georgia with her husband, John, their two boys and their dogs. Her passion for books comes from her mom, and her love for suspense comes from her dad who has spent a career in law enforcement. Her love for romance comes from the relationship she has with her husband and from watching too many chick flicks. When she’s not writing, she’s often found reading, baking, kayaking or hiking.

Treasure Point Secrets

Sarah Varland

The Lord your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness;

He will quiet you by His love;

He will exult over you with loud singing.

—Zephaniah 3:17

Dedication

To my family. You encourage me, love me and

let me talk about made-up people like they’re real. I couldn’t ask for more.

Acknowledgments

Thank you, John, for the endless pages you read

and edited. Most of all, thank you for being a better man than any hero I could make up—you teach me what love is every day.

Thanks to Joshua and Timothy, for letting me

go in my “working bubble” sometimes.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for coming to so many conferences with me. Mom, thanks for the babysitting marathons so I could get this book written. Dad, thanks for answering endless questions about all things law enforcement.

Thanks to Alison, for teasing me

about never finishing a story.

Thanks to my friends who have encouraged

and critiqued along the way.

Thanks to my editor, Elizabeth, for knowing exactly how to polish this story and for all the work

you put into making it the best it could be.

And thank you, Lord, for the chance to do this.

I pray you’re glorified.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Acknowledgments

PROLOGUE

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Copyright

PROLOGUE

Shiloh Evans stood alone in the empty church graveyard, surveying the freshly packed earth in front of the hard granite stone, knowing there were three fresh graves nearly identical to it in several other Savannah cemeteries. A breeze—too warm—rustled the branches of a live-oak tree, creaking its limbs in an eerie melody. It would storm before the day was done.

Though she hated storms—had since she was a little girl—it wasn’t that threat on the horizon that sent goose bumps up her bare arms and made her shiver in the August air.

There were four graves, not five. She guessed Providence had seen to that for now. She stood motionless, unable to take her eyes from the stark headstone. There was something haunting in knowing she wasn’t supposed to be alive.

Four graves.

If they ever found her, there would be five. She forced her gaze away from the cemetery and took purposeful steps toward her car.

She felt the subtle shift in the air less than a second before she heard the sizzle and pop of a lightning bolt striking close by.

Too close.

She got in her car, and then Shiloh looked back. She watched in her rearview mirror as the skies opened up, pouring rain on the fresh earth.

She had to leave, but she wasn’t running. She was regrouping. Preparing. One day she’d have the opportunity to bring the killers to justice, to see the criminals pay for what they had done. In the meantime, they would look for her, eventually come after her.