Julie Anne Lindsey - Marked By The Marshal

The arsonist got away once.

Now he’s back and ready to burn down everything.

Once ruined by his obsession to capture a fugitive, Marshal Ryder Garrett must now save his former fiancée—and her baby—from the same arsonist. Though their reunion makes him realize he never stopped loving Kara Noble, Ryder doubts she’ll give him a second chance. Before, his pursuit left him heartbroken. This time, it could get him, Kara and her daughter killed.

Garrett Valor

JULIE ANNE LINDSEYis a multigenre author who writes the stories that keep her up at night. She’s a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for words and proclivity for fun. Julie lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three small children. Today she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world. Julie is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime. Learn more about Julie Anne Lindsey at julieannelindsey.com.

Also by Julie Anne Lindsey

Shadow Point Deputy

Federal Agent Under Fire

The Sheriff’s Secret

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Marked by the Marshal

Julie Anne Lindsey

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09362-0

MARKED BY THE MARSHAL

© 2019 Julie Anne Lindsey

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Dedicated to red wine and coffee.

I couldn’t do it without you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

About the Publisher

Kara tilted her face away from the scalding July sun. It was the hottest, driest summer on record in Shadow Point, Kentucky, and she was eternally grateful for the misty breeze blowing off the fountain at Memorial Park. Her sleeping infant, Casey, on the other hand, seemed utterly unaware that her mother was slowly melting in the afternoon heat. Casey was like that. Naturally content, perpetually at ease. Not at all like the other moms had warned Kara babies could be. Casey had slept through the night by eight weeks and continued to be as lovely and charming as ever at four months.

Kara wiped the back of one sweaty arm across her forehead. A year ago, she’d run three miles before dawn. These days she was lucky to power walk half that before dinner. The heat wasn’t helping. She parked the three-wheeled jogging stroller in a berth of shade from an ancient oak and checked her step counter for time and distance. Already 10:00 a.m., and she was a thousand steps shy of her goal. She’d have to make them up indoors. The temperature was rising, and Casey would soon be ready for lunch.

Kara inhaled the sweet scent of blooming flower beds and the busy vendor carts positioned throughout Memorial Park. She eased her backside onto the fountain’s wide marble edge and waited for her heart rate to fizzle back to a steady thrum before making the final trek to her car. She gulped the dregs of warm water from her bottle and let her eyes slide shut.

“Beautiful day.” A man’s voice sprung her lids open. The brim of his dark ball cap was pulled low over his forehead, casting shadows over his wide, deep-set eyes. His dark blue jeans and shirt clung to his bulky frame, likely applied there by a dewy coat of sweat. He clasped his hands behind him and peered into Casey’s stroller. “Pretty lady you’ve got there.”

“Thank you.” Kara set a protective hand on the stroller’s side. She concentrated on Casey’s sleeping face instead of keeping eye contact with the man, hoping he’d take the hint. Kara wasn’t interested in a conversation or anything else he had to offer. What she needed was to go home and take a shower. Maybe change into something that wasn’t soaked in sweat.

“She looks like you,” he marveled. “Is her daddy at work? He must be missing her fiercely.”

Kara’s gut clenched at the thought of Casey’s father. A man she’d thought was good and decent, one who’d claimed to love her until a small pink cross appeared on the pregnancy test. Suddenly, he wasn’t ready for a life with her. Certainly not prepared for fatherhood. He was sorry, but he just couldn’t do it, and how did this happen anyway?

Kara forced the hard rock of emotion down her throat. This had happened because she’d allowed herself to let him in, when she knew full well there was only one man in the world meant for her, and it wasn’t the man making excuses about commitment.

“No,” she answered with more bite than intended.

Casey’s father wasn’t at work, as far as she knew, and he wasn’t missing Casey at all, but that was his loss and Kara’s gain. Casey was a gift. Kara knew that now, but for months she’d thought the pregnancy was her punishment for naively letting another man into her life. She figured this was what happened when women were gullible and stupid. The idea, of course, was laughable now. Her pregnancy had been a blessing that changed the shape of her world, and for the first time since the real love of her life had left her, Kara was profoundly at peace.