Cowboy's Rescue (Colton 911 Book 1) Read online

  Amid disaster, a rancher is her only hope...

  Introducing Colton 911

  When Magnolia “Maggie” Reeves receives a puzzling map from her former father-in-law, she can’t resist searching for clues—even in a hurricane! Fortunately, search-and-rescue cowboy Jonah Colton is there to save the day. But when the duo find a mummified body, they’re plunged straight into an abyss of danger. And even as they stumble headlong into a dazzling attraction, they’re also fighting for their lives...

  “Need any help dismounting?”

  “I’m Texas born and bred, so no,” she replied. But when her feet hit the ground, she found that her legs were a lot less sturdy than she’d thought. The honest truth was they were downright wobbly and she almost sank straight to the ground.

  And she would have if he hadn’t caught both her arms in an attempt to steady her.

  “Careful,” Jonah cautioned.

  Embarrassed, Maggie murmured a stricken “Sorry about that.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about. You spent a day up a tree. You’re lucky you still remember how to walk,” Jonah told her.

  There was a part of him that couldn’t believe he was actually holding Maggie Reeves like this, the way he had once dreamed of doing. Usually, he found, dreams had a way of not measuring up to long-cherished expectations. However, in this case, holding Maggie Reeves against him was everything he had thought it would be—and more.

  Her heart was doing a glorious, uninhibited dance in her chest and just for one wild moment, Maggie thought that Jonah was going to kiss her...

  * * *

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  Dear Reader,

  Bellamy Reeves’s and Donovan Colton’s families were all gathering together in Whisperwood, Texas, preparing to celebrate the happy couple’s wedding, when an unwanted guest crashed the anticipated ceremony. Hurricane Brooke came barreling through the small town and its surrounding area, destroying buildings in its path and unearthing secrets that had long been hidden. Specifically, the body of Emmeline, the town police chief’s baby sister. Emmeline had been missing for close to forty years and was thought to be the victim of the town’s infamous serial killer, who, coincidentally, was Maggie Reeves’s former uncle-in-law, now imprisoned and serving several life sentences for murdering six young women.

  On the day before the wedding, Maggie received a mysterious note sent to her by her late father-in-law. After following the map that had been sent with the note, Maggie literally found herself stranded up a tree when the hurricane hit. Jonah Colton, part of the Cowboy Heroes search-and-rescue team and there for his brother’s wedding, rode out to find her. He hadn’t expected to find the woman of his dreams as well, but nature had a funny way of bringing them together. Not that Jonah was complaining. Along the way to professing their love for one another, the duo survive a prison riot and Maggie’s ex-husband, who is determined to make Maggie pay for leaving him. Have I gotten your attention yet?

  As always, I thank you for taking the time to pick up one of my books, and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.

  All the best,

  Marie Ferrarella

  Colton 911: Cowboy’s Rescue

  Marie Ferrarella

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

  Books by Marie Ferrarella

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  Colton Search and Rescue

  Colton 911: Cowboy’s Rescue

  Cavanaugh Justice

  Mission: Cavanaugh Baby

  Cavanaugh on Duty

  A Widow’s Guilty Secret

  Cavanaugh’s Surrender

  Cavanaugh Rules

  Cavanaugh’s Bodyguard

  Cavanaugh Fortune

  How to Seduce a Cavanaugh

  Cavanaugh or Death

  Cavanaugh Cold Case

  Cavanaugh in the Rough

  Cavanaugh on Call

  Cavanaugh Encounter

  Cavanaugh Vanguard

  Cavanaugh Cowboy

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  To

  Patience Bloom

  For Always Being

  My Guardian Angel

  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

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Colton 911: Baby’s Bodyguard by Lisa Childs

  Excerpt from Special Forces: The Operator by Cindy Dees

  Prologue

  The truth shall set Elliott free.

  Maggie Reeves, formerly Maggie Corgan, had always been cursed with an insatiable curiosity. The slightest hint of a mystery could set her off. Which was why she was out here, in the middle of Live Oak Ranch—a ranch that belonged to her ex-husband’s family, a local ranching dynasty—following a map that she had propped up beside her on the passenger seat, when she should have been back in town, getting ready for her sister’s wedding.

  Granted, the wedding was tomorrow and logically, there was plenty of time for her to get ready, even if she moved in slow motion. That was the argument Maggie had used on herself to assuage her conscience when she couldn’t seem to tamp down her curiosity.

  The wind was picking up. She pushed her blond hair out of her eyes and focused again on the road ahead. So many questions filled her head, it was hard keeping them straight.

  Why would her ex-husband’s late father leave her anything in his will? Yet according to her attorney, Adam Corgan had addressed the envelope to her, saying it was to be sent to her upon his death. When Maggie opened it, she had no idea what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t a map of his property highlighting “the tallest live oak” with an X.

  There was a note included with the map. She had read and reread the note a dozen times. As written, it was simplicity itself.

  She just didn’t understand it.

  The truth shall set Elliott free.

  What was that supposed to mean? What truth?

  She knew who Elliott was. Everyone knew who Elliott was. Elliott Corgan was Adam’s disgraced older brother. He had suddenly disappeared years ago, his location a secret that his family guarded closely. No one within the family spoke about him, but over the years, there had been rumors.

  It was the stuff that local legends were made of, some of it possibly true, some of it obviously not. It all depended on what a person believed and who was telling the story at the time.

  After her divorce, Maggie didn’t give Elliott Corgan an
y thought at all.

  Until the letter had arrived.

  But just what was this “truth” and how would finding it—whatever “it” was—set Elliott free?

  Free in the biblical sense or actually free? And free from what? Why would the man she had never met need to be set free? She didn’t understand any of it.

  An even-bigger mystery, in her opinion, was why had her ex-father-in-law sent this to her after his death? They hadn’t been particularly close when she was married to James. They certainly were less than that once she had divorced his son.

  And yet, Adam Corgan had left specific instructions that this be sent to her after he died.

  Why?

  “One mystery at a time, Mags,” she murmured, glancing over toward the map again.

  According to the directions, the tree that Adam wanted her to closely examine was located smack in the middle of some pretty rough terrain. Her vehicle was not equipped with four-wheel drive. There were times she felt it barely had front-wheel drive. The only way she was going to be able to reach the tree was to walk the rest of the way across the field.

  Maggie sighed. She supposed that was why she had worn boots, in case this sort of thing came up. If she had any real sense in her head, she would just turn around and go back. But unfortunately, her curiosity trumped sense each and every time.

  She got out of the car. The wind was really picking up, she caught herself thinking as she leaned into the passenger side and pulled out the map. Folding it so that it was more compact and manageable, Maggie began to make her way toward the tree.

  She assumed that “setting Everett free” was probably going to require some digging. Well, she could do that when she returned after the wedding. For now, all she wanted to do was find the right spot.

  Once she satisfied her curiosity—or at least as much of it as she was able to satisfy—she’d come back later on in the week. At that point she would do whatever needed to be done in order to discover this so-called “truth” that Adam Corgan had entrusted her with finding from beyond the grave.

  “All very creepy if you ask me,” Maggie stated out loud, even though there wasn’t a soul around for what seemed like miles.

  “Speaking of creepy,” Maggie murmured, reacting to the wind, which was making a really mournful, increasingly loud noise now.

  Feeling uneasy, she looked around several times to assure herself that it was the wind and not someone, or worse, something that was howling like that. It almost sounded like a wounded animal.

  But it wasn’t.

  Finding out that it was the wind that was making such a racket and blowing so hard didn’t really comfort her as much as it should have.

  By the time she came close to her destination, Maggie realized that the world around her, which had been fairly bright earlier, had suddenly turned dark and foreboding, as if a giant switch had been flipped.

  Maggie stopped trudging over the rocky terrain about a foot shy of the tree her ex-father-in-law had marked and looked up at the sky.

  The Texas sun had totally disappeared and the sky was beyond gray, almost black. The wind continued to pick up and was now making a really fierce noise.

  That was when she suddenly remembered hearing something about a hurricane prediction. She had initially discounted it because half the time the weather bureau was completely wrong in its forecasts. Another 25 percent of the time, it was still off its mark by more than half.

  “Why, of all possible times, did they have to pick this time to be right?” Maggie cried out in total exasperation.

  The hurricane was no longer just a prediction. It was here. And getting worse.

  Maggie quickly scanned the area. There was absolutely no place for her to hide. No place for her to take shelter from the coming storm.

  And the hurricane, Maggie realized as she looked to her left, was coming straight at her.

  Chapter 1

  When it was raging at its worst, Hurricane Brooke was gauged at having winds that were blowing through Whisperwood and its surrounding area at over 125 miles an hour, making it almost a category four hurricane. Taking the Texas town totally by surprise, the death toll quickly mounted and was currently up to thirty-eight and rising with dozens more still missing and unaccounted for.

  A lot of Whisperwood’s residents sought refuge in their basements, but others weren’t so lucky. They were out in the open when the storm struck and scrambled for shelter anywhere they could, praying that shelter would hold.

  Jonah Colton and three of his brothers had returned to the town where they were born a few days before the hurricane struck. At the time, they were all looking forward to seeing their brother Donovan become the first of their family to get married. As it turned out, three of the brothers belonged to Cowboy Heroes, a search and rescue team that scoured the countryside on horseback, rescuing people. They never dreamed they would have to put their skills to use in their own hometown, but things didn’t always go according to plan.

  And this was one of those times.

  The moment the winds died down, before the hurricane was even officially declared to be over, Jonah, Dallas, Nolan and Forrest, a former police detective forced into retirement after sustaining a leg injury, were out, putting their acquired skills to good use, searching for and rescuing survivors.

  Some of the houses in the area lucked out and were barely touched, but they quickly saw that others had been completely demolished. In some cases, the people who had lived in those houses were now buried beneath them in the rubble. Those were the people that Jonah and his brothers focused on helping first, bringing them to the church’s recreational center, where survivors were being temporarily housed.

  “You do a head count?” Jonah asked Forrest.

  The latter, eight years Jonah’s junior, had recently been forced to resign from the Austin Police Department when a bullet to his leg had left him incapacitated. Thanks to adhering to a diligent regiment of physical therapy, Forrest was now able to get around again, although he did have a pronounced limp. Unable to just do nothing, he had joined the volunteer search and rescue teams in order to feel useful. When the hurricane struck, he immediately volunteered to help find victims of the storm.

  Jonah knew better than to insult his younger brother by treating him any differently than he would the other members of the team.

  They had been at this now for over twelve hours without a break. Most of the people they had helped dig out had just sustained injuries, some more serious than others. But some of those they dug out would not be recovering. Those bodies were wrapped up as carefully as possible and placed out of sight until they could be taken to the morgue. Ironically, the morgue had been untouched by the hurricane.

  Inside the rec center when Jonah had asked him the question about a head count, Forrest knew that his brother was referring to the members of their family. He was relieved to answer in the affirmative.

  “Dallas found Mom and Dad. They’re okay,” he said, realizing that was the first thing that any of them would have asked. “So are Donovan and Bellamy,” he told Jonah. “Nolan’s supposed to be bringing them here,” he added, looking around the rec center.

  The recreation center was quickly filling up with people and cots at this point, but it was the largest common area available in Whisperwood. This was where town meetings were held, although the meetings had never drawn half this many people.

  “There’s no way we are going to be able to put up even half the town in here. There’s got to be at least 5,500 people living in and around Whisperwood,” Dallas Colton guessed as he walked into the center.

  “We’re sending the overflow to Kain’s Garage and the General Store. They’ve got large storm cellars,” Jonah told the others. “Hopefully, the storm’s not going to be doubling back. Otherwise,” he speculated as he looked from one brother to another, “the damage is going to be even worse
than it is now.”

  “This really isn’t so bad,” Dallas commented, reviewing what he had seen in the last twelve hours. “Compared to other hurricanes.”

  Forrest frowned. “Try telling that to the families of the people who lost their lives in this,” he said grimly.

  Rehashing the situation served no purpose now. “You’re right,” Jonah agreed. “Help now, talk later,” he told his brothers.

  At that moment, Jonah spotted Donovan heading toward them, his hand firmly holding on to his fiancée’s. Donovan appeared exhausted and he looked as if he could definitely use a change of clothes. His were wet and streaked with mud. Beside him, Bellamy appeared almost numb.

  “Are you two all right?” Jonah asked, concerned that the woman next to his brother looked as if she was about to have a complete breakdown.

  “I am, but—” Donovan began, but he never got a chance to finish.

  Because at that moment, Bellamy grabbed Jonah’s arm, clutching it as if she was holding on to a lifeline. The zombie look on her face vanished, replaced by an animated expression that looked as if it was actually bordering on hysteria.

  “You’ve got to find her,” Bellamy begged him with feeling.

  “Her?” Jonah repeated, unsure of who the woman was referring to.

  “Magnolia—Maggie—my sister,” Bellamy almost shouted before she was able to get herself under control. “Please,” she pleaded, still clutching his hand and squeezing it hard for emphasis. “She’s out there somewhere, maybe hurt, or—”

  Bellamy couldn’t bring herself to utter the condemning word. It was just too frightening to give voice to. Instead, she repeated herself. “You have to find her and bring her back.”

  After years of being estranged, Bellamy and her younger sister, Maggie, had finally cleared up the misunderstanding, centered around their parents, that had kept them apart all this time. Bellamy had thought that Maggie had turned her back on the family to marry well and run off, when the exact opposite turned out to be true. When they finally sat down to talk, the truth came out. Issues had been resolved to the point that Bellamy had asked Maggie to be her co–maid of honor, along with her best friend Rae Lemmon. Maggie had happily agreed.