The Colton Ransom Read online

  Double Crime at Dead River Ranch

  Former cop Trevor Garth left the line of duty, but his expert instincts are sharper than ever when crime strikes the Colton ranch. As ranch security, he has to step in—yet this time getting justice is personal. Mistaken for a Colton heiress and stolen from her crib, his daughter’s in the hands of a killer out for ransom. Desperate for an ally, he must rely on the woman determined to help him.

  Gabriella Colton doesn’t think twice about joining Trevor’s search for his daughter. Beneath his world-weary exterior is a passionate man in need of someone to trust—with his baby and his heart. Now, when every second counts, their dangerous investigation draws them closer to each other...and their darkest threat.

  “How can you stay so upbeat and optimistic?”

  From what Gabby had just told him, her thoughts, her attitude, should be just as dark, as pessimistic, as his were.

  “I have to,” she told him simply. “I have to believe that things do eventually work themselves out, that good triumphs over evil and that the sun will come up tomorrow,” she concluded, the corners of her mouth curving as she deliberately quoted a lyric from an old favorite show tune.

  A lyric that, as she could see by the man’s totally unenlightened expression, was completely lost on Trevor.

  But what wasn’t lost on him was that, despite the partial darkness within the cab of the truck, Gabby seemed to glow.

  And there was something very compelling about that.

  Before he knew it, Trevor had decreased the space between them within the truck until there wasn’t any—which was fine with him because he had no need of any.

  At least not now, while he was kissing her.

  The Coltons of Wyoming: Stories of true love, high stakes...and family honor.

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome back to Colton territory. Think you’ve heard it all in this world of ranches, wealthy cattlemen and wranglers? Think again. This time around we have Jethro Colton, a crusty, womanizing tough-as-nails patriarch who’s housed many secrets in this Colton empire.

  Book one is centered around not only a murder, but the kidnapping of an infant, as well. Not just any infant, but the wrong infant. The kidnapper was out to kidnap ailing Jethro’s granddaughter and made off with the head of security’s three-month-old daughter instead because of a last-minute change in the infants’ sleeping accommodations. Jethro’s youngest daughter, Gabby, was responsible for the switch. Feeling horribly guilty, Gabby is willing to do anything to get the infant back; however, Trevor, the kidnapped baby’s father, doesn’t want her help. But that doesn’t stop Gabby and by the end of the story, Trevor discovers that he not only wants Gabby’s help, he wants Gabby, as well. Come join me for the journey from here to there. I promise you’ll like it.

  As always, I thank you for reading and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.

  Best,

  Marie Ferrarella

  The Colton Ransom

  Marie Ferrarella

  Books by Marie Ferrarella

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  Private Justice #1664

  **The Doctor’s Guardian #1675

  *A Cavanaugh Christmas #1683

  Special Agent’s Perfect Cover #1688

  *Cavanaugh’s Bodyguard #1699

  *Cavanaugh Rules #1715

  *Cavanaugh’s Surrender #1725

  Colton Showdown #1732

  A Widow’s Guilty Secret #1736

  *Cavanaugh on Duty #1751

  †††The Colton Ransom #1760

  Harlequin Special Edition

  †A Match for the Doctor #2117

  †What the Single Dad Wants… #2122

  ^The Baby Wore a Badge #2131

  #Fortune’s Valentine Bride #2167

  †Once Upon a Matchmaker #2192

  -Real Vintage Maverick #2210

  †A Perfectly Imperfect Match #2240

  ***A Small Fortune #2246

  †Ten Years Later... #2252

  †Wish Upon a Matchmaker #2264

  Silhouette Special Edition

  ‡Diamond in the Rough #1910

  ‡The Bride with No Name #1917

  ‡Mistletoe and Miracles #1941

  ‡‡Plain Jane and the Playboy #1946

  ‡Travis’s Appeal #1958

  Loving the Right Brother #1977

  The 39-Year-Old Virgin #1983

  ‡A Lawman for Christmas #2006

  ‡‡‡Prescription for Romance #2017

  †Doctoring the Single Dad #2031

  †Fixed Up with Mr. Right? #2041

  †Finding Happily-Ever-After #2060

  †Unwrapping the Playboy #2084

  =Fortune’s Just Desserts #2107

  Silhouette Romantic Suspense

  **A Doctor’s Secret #1503

  **Secret Agent Affair #1511

  *Protecting His Witness #1515

  Colton’s Secret Service #1528

  The Heiress’s 2-Week Affair #1556

  *Cavanaugh Pride #1571

  *Becoming a Cavanaugh #1575

  The Agent’s Secret Baby #1580

  *The Cavanaugh Code #1587

  *In Bed with the Badge #1596

  *Cavanaugh Judgment #1612

  Colton by Marriage #1616

  *Cavanaugh Reunion #1623

  **In His Protective Custody #1644

  Harlequin American Romance

  Pocketful of Rainbows #145

  ††The Sheriff’s Christmas Surprise #1329

  ††Ramona and the Renegade #1338

  ††The Doctor’s Forever Family #1346

  Montana Sheriff #1369

  Holiday in a Stetson #1378 “The Sheriff Who Found Christmas”

  ††Lassoing the Deputy #1402

  ††A Baby on the Ranch #1410

  ††A Forever Christmas #1426

  *Cavanaugh Justice

  **The Doctors Pulaski

  ‡Kate’s Boys

  ‡‡The Fortunes of Texas: Return to Red Rock

  ‡‡‡The Baby Chase

  †Matchmaking Mamas

  =The Fortunes of Texas: Lost… and Found

  ††Forever, Texas

  ^Montana Mavericks: The Texans Are Coming!

  #The Fortunes of Texas: Whirlwind Romance

  -Montana Mavericks: Back in the Saddle

  ***The Fortunes of Texas: Southern Invasion

  †††The Coltons of Wyoming

  Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

  MARIE FERRARELLA

  This USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award-winning author has written more than two hundred books for Harlequin, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com.

  To avid readers everywhere.

  Where would we writers be without you?

  Special thanks and acknowledgment to Marie Ferrarella for her contribution to The Coltons of Wyoming miniseries.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Colton by Blood

  Excerpt

  Prologue

  A baby.

  What the hell was he going to do with a baby? And a baby girl, to boot.

  But boy or girl, one thing was
a given. He didn’t know the first thing about taking care of something so helpless, so dependent. Hell, he hadn’t been taking care of anyone but himself for years. He had no idea how to start raising a kid, let alone an infant.

  There had to be a way out of this. A way that, in the long run, would be better for the baby, not to mention better for him.

  Almost two weeks into this so-called parenting thing and he still felt like a man who’d been pushed out of an airplane and was free-falling to earth without so much as a handkerchief to serve as a makeshift parachute.

  Trevor Garth paced the floor in his bedroom as he stared at the crying infant he was holding in his arms. How could something so small make so much noise?

  Or throw his entire heretofore orderly life on its ear?

  At thirty-four, Trevor had assumed that his life would be winding down, settling into a predictable pattern. No more dodging bullets or chasing down armed criminals. That was one of the reasons he’d left the Cheyenne police force five years ago and taken this position as head of security here at Jethro Colton’s Dead River Ranch. In his experience, nothing much of any consequence happened here as long as you steered clear of Jethro Colton when the old man was in a mood—which was often enough. But he was good at keeping under the radar, doing what needed to be done without calling any attention to himself.

  Until now.

  Trevor glared at the infant he couldn’t seem to appease or soothe, despite his attempts to rock Avery to sleep.

  This, he thought darkly, was what happened when he took a vacation. Ironically, it had been the first one he’d taken in years. He’d gone off to Cheyenne for a few days just to unwind, tied one on at a local saloon one night—something else he rarely did—and picked up this hot little redhead who had killer dimples when she smiled. As the evening progressed, things got a little fuzzy. He was fairly certain, though, that they’d wound up at her place for the night.

  The next morning, he made sure he was gone before she woke up. Less than a week later, he couldn’t even remember what the woman’s name had been.

  And then practically one year to the day, there she was, standing on the doorstep of the mansion wing that was designated for the staff, holding a baby in her arms and saying it was his.

  His.

  And just like that, he was supposed to take her word for it, supposed to just lie down and accept being someone’s parent?

  No damn way.

  He hadn’t even wanted to hold the infant, much less lay claim to it or even find out anything about it. His one-night stand—Joyce, he thought she said her name was—had other ideas, though.

  For the most part, Trevor was a man of few words. And even those faded when he was caught off guard—the way he was when Joyce had just shown up out of the blue like that. He was all but speechless—other than saying the word no, as in “No, it’s not mine.” And “No, I won’t take her.”

  After a pointless few minutes of one-sided arguing, Joyce left with the baby. Relieved, he thought that was the end of it. Showed just how naive he was about such things. Because when he walked out again, about twenty minutes later, there was the baby, bundled up and in something Joyce referred to as a “carrier.” Joyce herself was nowhere in sight. She’d just left the baby behind and assumed that he would take it from there.

  And if that weren’t stereotypical enough, there was a note pinned to the baby’s blanket. All that had been missing from the scenario was a snowy scene.

  “I’ve got nobody to help and I can’t do this alone,” the note had said. “She’s yours. You handle it.”

  That was it. Just sixteen words. Sixteen words that turned his quiet world upside down.

  And just like that, he was a father. An unwilling father.

  “I don’t have time for this,” he said to the infant now, his deep voice rumbling ominously, like thunder over the plains. “I’ve got a job to see to and enough responsibilities without you adding to them.”

  The baby—Avery—responded to his words by howling and crying even harder.

  He had no idea how to get her to stop. The least the woman could have done was left some kind of how-to book along with the baby.

  He’d done his best to try to locate Joyce again. But there was absolutely no sign of her in the nearby town. He’d gone back to the saloon where he’d initially met her. The bartender there had no clue who she was or where to find her.

  Which meant he was stuck with this crying, damp responsibility, one who never seemed to sleep more than five minutes at a time.

  “I’m too old for this,” he snapped impatiently.

  Avery didn’t seem to care.

  Chapter 1

  “You see all this, Cheyenne?” Gabriella Colton said to the three-month-old baby girl she was holding up in her arms.

  Gabby moved slowly around in a complete circle, intentionally giving her niece a complete panoramic view of the outdoor area where she was standing. There was nothing but breathtaking scenery as far as the eye could see.

  While almost her entire family—as well as most of the staff who worked to keep her father’s Wyoming ranch, whimsically christened Dead River Ranch, running smoothly—were presently at the rodeo, Gabby had elected to remain behind and babysit her oldest sister’s, Amanda’s, daughter.

  Staying home hadn’t been a hardship for Gabby, really. She loved children, loved caring for Cheyenne, and she had no great love for rodeos the way the rest of her family did. Attending one would only bring back bad memories that were better left buried. Her first love, Kyle, had thrown her over to join the rodeo circuit as a bronco buster. She had believed him when he’d told her he loved her, discovering that he said the word love as frequently as he said “hi.” At least he meant the latter, she thought ruefully.

  But Gabby didn’t want anything bringing her down on this absolutely gorgeous July afternoon, so she’d volunteered to remain at Dead River while everyone else had gone to see wranglers pitting themselves against four-footed competitors.

  “Isn’t it beautiful, darlin’? This is your grandpa’s ranch, and someday, years from now, you’ll have a part of it. It’s a little quiet now, but that’s because everyone’s gone to the rodeo. But we don’t mind the quiet, do we?” she asked the infant. Cheyenne stared up at her with huge eyes, as if her niece understood every word she said. Gabby liked to think that she did. “When it’s quiet like this, we can appreciate how really beautiful this part of the country is.”

  As Gabby moved from the sprawling courtyard toward the stables, the tranquillity of the afternoon was suddenly shattered with the sound of absolutely heart-wrenching, plaintive wails.

  “Uh-oh, looks like I spoke too soon about it being so quiet. Want to go investigate?” she asked the baby. Pretending to receive an affirmative answer, Gabby nodded and said, “That’s what I thought. Okay, let’s go see what this is all about.”

  Gabby had taken only a few more steps toward the distressed cries when the source of all that crying became all too apparent.

  Trevor Garth, the tall, ruggedly handsome and incredibly silent head of her father’s security, came walking out of the small petting zoo, which was being added to the ranch’s landscape. As of yet, the zoo was still in the process of being constructed. It was something the ranch hands had begun to put together with the idea that it would be a place for Cheyenne and her little friends to play when she became older.

  Trevor’s ordinarily somber face sported a pronounced scowl, and it was a toss-up who looked more unhappy, he or the squalling infant in his arms.

  When his job didn’t force him to interact with someone on the ranch, the dark-haired ex-cop from Cheyenne kept mostly to himself, obviously preferring his own company to that of others. He’d been at Dead River for five years now and had, until just recently, been more or less of a stranger as far as Gabby and the others were concerned.

  What had changed in this past month was his status. With one very short but eventful delivery, he’d gone from being a loner to a ra
ther unhappy-looking, unwilling father. One glance at his pained expression right now told Gabby that the man did far better as a loner than a father.

  The more the baby in his arms cried, the more at a loss and flustered Trevor seemed to grow.

  Gabby had never been able to just look away if she encountered someone in obvious distress. It just wasn’t in her to stand around, idle, without trying to remedy the situation. She just wasn’t built that way.

  “What do you say you and I go rescue Avery’s dad?” she asked Cheyenne. The baby gurgled in response and Gabby laughed. “My sentiments exactly. He looks just like a fish out of water,” she agreed. “But it would be cruel of us just to watch him flounder like that, wouldn’t it?” she asked Cheyenne even as she made her way over to the far-from-happy man.

  As a man who made it his business to be perpetually aware of his surroundings, Trevor caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and looked in that direction. He was surprised to see his boss’s youngest daughter heading his way.

  Great, he thought darkly, just what he needed. Little Miss Sunshine to add her voice to the cacophony coming out of his daughter’s rosebud mouth.

  It wasn’t that he actually disliked Gabby Colton. To be honest, he didn’t know her well enough to dislike her. Granted, the vibrant redhead was more than a little attractive, but she was also naively optimistic. His opinion was based on the fact that she wholeheartedly wanted to build a center for troubled kids smack-dab in the middle of the ranch, using an empty barn as her starting point.

  As if one act of kindness would somehow instantly transform hardened, cynical street kids into reformed angels.

  Ain’t gonna happen, he thought sarcastically.

  She was still heading toward him. Damn. The last thing he needed was to have the boss’s daughter clucking over his so-called daughter, making insipid comments and giving him worse-than-useless advice. He had a feeling that she probably knew even less than he did about child rearing. She seemed like the type that was just interested in spoiling a kid rotten, then later was shocked when that kid turned out to be a self-centered brat.