Delores Fossen - Landon

The Rylands of Silver Creek are back and hungry for justice in USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen’s latest heart-stopping suspense!

After returning home to investigate a brutal murder, Detective Landon Ryland is shocked to learn the body was discovered in the home of Tessa Sinclair, a woman he once knew intimately. Seeing Tessa again is like a jolt to his heart. Too bad the beautiful brunette has no idea who she is—or why she’s cradling a newborn. With evidence pointing toward Tessa and the baby being next on the killer’s hit list, Landon refuses to leave their safety in anyone else’s hands. Or admit that losing them would permanently destroy the future he secretly envisioned.

The baby.

She was still crying, and even though the sound was muffled, it was enough for Landon to pinpoint their location. Tessa was headed for the back exit.

And then he saw her.

Tessa saw him, too.

She didn’t stop. With the baby gripped in her arms, she threw open the glass door and was within a heartbeat of getting outside to the parking lot. She might have made it, too, but Landon took hold of her arms and pulled her back inside.

As he’d done by the barn, he was as gentle with her as he could be, but he wasn’t feeling very much of that gentleness inside.

“Please, just let me go.” Her eyes filled with tears. “It’s not safe for you to be with me.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Landon snapped.

She closed her eyes, the tears spilling down her cheeks. “I’m not who you think I am. And if you stay here with me, they’ll kill you.”

Landon

Delores Fossen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA ®Award. You can contact the author through her website at www.deloresfossen.com.

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text The Rylands of Silver Creek are back and hungry for justice in USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen’s latest heart-stopping suspense! After returning home to investigate a brutal murder, Detective Landon Ryland is shocked to learn the body was discovered in the home of Tessa Sinclair, a woman he once knew intimately. Seeing Tessa again is like a jolt to his heart. Too bad the beautiful brunette has no idea who she is—or why she’s cradling a newborn. With evidence pointing toward Tessa and the baby being next on the killer’s hit list, Landon refuses to leave their safety in anyone else’s hands. Or admit that losing them would permanently destroy the future he secretly envisioned.

Introduction The baby. She was still crying, and even though the sound was muffled, it was enough for Landon to pinpoint their location. Tessa was headed for the back exit. And then he saw her. Tessa saw him, too. She didn’t stop. With the baby gripped in her arms, she threw open the glass door and was within a heartbeat of getting outside to the parking lot. She might have made it, too, but Landon took hold of her arms and pulled her back inside. As he’d done by the barn, he was as gentle with her as he could be, but he wasn’t feeling very much of that gentleness inside. “Please, just let me go.” Her eyes filled with tears. “It’s not safe for you to be with me.” “What the hell does that mean?” Landon snapped. She closed her eyes, the tears spilling down her cheeks. “I’m not who you think I am. And if you stay here with me, they’ll kill you.”

Title Page Landon Delores Fossen www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA ® Award. You can contact the author through her website at www.deloresfossen.com .

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

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Deputy Landon Ryland was looking for a killer.

He stood back from the crowd who’d gathered for the graveside funeral, and Landon looked at each face of the fifty or so people. Most he’d known since he was a kid, when he had visited his Ryland cousins here in Silver Creek, Texas.

But today he had to consider that one of them might have murdered Emmett.

Just the thought of it felt as if someone had Landon’s heart in a vise and was crushing it. Emmett and he were cousins. But more like brothers. And now Emmett was dead, and someone was going to pay for that.

Especially considering how, and why, Emmett had died.

Landon knew the how, but it was the why that was causing his sleepless nights. He intended to give the killer a whole lot worse than just lack of sleep, though.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye when he sensed someone approaching. Landon didn’t exactly have a welcoming expression, and everybody had kept their distance. So far.

Since he was on edge, he slid his hand over his gun, but it wasn’t necessary. It was Sheriff Grayson Ryland, yet another of his cousins.

Grayson, however, was also Landon’s new boss.

The ink was barely dry on his contract with the sheriff’s office, but he was the newest lawman in Silver Creek. Newest resident, too, of the Silver Creek Ranch since he’d moved to the guesthouse there until he could find his own place. Landon just wished his homecoming had been under much better circumstances.

“You see anything?” Grayson said. He was tall, lanky and in charge merely by being there. Grayson didn’t just wear a badge—he was the law in Silver Creek, and everybody knew it.

Grayson was no doubt asking if Landon had seen a killer. He hadn’t. But one thing was for certain: she wasn’t here.

“Any sign of her yet?” Landon asked.

Grayson shook his head, but like Landon, he continued to study the funeral attendees, looking at each one of them from beneath the brim of his cowboy hat. Also as Landon had done, Grayson lingered a moment on Emmett’s three brothers. All grief stricken. And that didn’t apply just to them but to the entire Ryland clan. Losing one of their own had cut them each to the bone.

“Tessa Sinclair might not be able to attend, because she could be dead,” Grayson reminded him.

Yes. She could be. But unless Landon found proof of that, she was a person of interest in Emmett’s death. Or at least, that was how Grayson had labeled her. To Landon, she was a suspect for accessory to murder since Emmett’s body had been found in her house. That meant she likely knew the killer.