Terri Reed - Buried Mountain Secrets

Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

Can they get off the mountain alive?

Desperate to find her missing teenage brother, Maya Gallo ventures into the Colorado Rockies expecting rough terrain—not deadly treasure hunters. But when she’s caught in their crosshairs, ruggedly handsome mounted patrolman Alex Trevino comes to her aid. The deputy sheriff knows what these bandits are capable of, so getting Maya—and her brother—home safely may be his hardest mission yet

TERRI REED’s romance and romantic suspense novels have appeared on the Publishers Weekly top twenty-five and Nielsen BookScan top one hundred lists, and have been featured in USA TODAY and RT Book Reviews . Her books have been finalists for the Romance Writers of America RITA® Award and the National Readers’ Choice Award, and finalists three times for the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. Contact Terri at terrireed.comor PO Box 19555, Portland, OR 97224.

Also by Terri Reed

Buried Mountain Secrets

Military K-9 Unit

Mission to Protect

Classified K-9 Unit

Guardian

Classified K-9 Unit Christmas

“Yuletide Stalking”

Northern Border Patrol

Danger at the Border

Joint Investigation

Murder Under the Mistletoe

Ransom

Identity Unknown

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Buried Mountain Secrets

Terri Reed

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09495-5

BURIED MOUNTAIN SECRETS

© 2019 Terri Reed

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.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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“Come out with your hands up.”

Deputy Alex Trevino.

This wasn’t her attacker. This was her rescuer. God had answered her prayers. Though why He’d send Alex, of all people, she couldn’t fathom.

Shaking her head at her own idiotic thoughts—who was she to complain about how God answered her prayer?—Maya slowly rose and stepped out from behind the bushes. “Alex.”

He quickly holstered his drawn weapon, for which she was thankful.

He hurried to her side. “Maya? Are you okay?” He gripped her shoulders, visually searching her, his gaze warm and concerned.

She let go of the stick she’d expected to use as a weapon and hugged her arms around her middle as a measure of relief ebbed through her veins. She could only imagine how frightful she must look considering her trek through the woods. And why that should even matter she didn’t know. The only thing that mattered was her brother. “I’m fine. But Brady...” She swallowed back the bile of fear burning her throat.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for joining Maya and Alex on this journey to treasure and love. Both of these characters had to learn to find it within themselves to let down their walls and allow love to be the only treasure worth discovering.

The inspiration for the treasure hunt came from an internet article I read about a real-life cache of gold and jewels buried somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. I was intrigued by the whole idea of hiding a fortune and seeing what would happen. Who would find it? How would they find it? And what would someone be willing to do in order to find it?

I hope to write more books featuring the men and women of the Bristle County Sheriff’s Mounted Patrol. I’m fascinated by the lore and the mystique of deputies and volunteers on horseback. For this series, I couldn’t resist setting my stories in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. There’s something so very authentic about the rugged mountains and the people who live there.

I hope you enjoyed this first book, and until we meet again in the pages of another book, may God bless you greatly.

Terri Reed

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

—Proverbs 3:5–6

Thank you to my editors, Emily Rodmell and Tina James, for your patience and encouragement through a difficult time. I appreciate you all so much.

Thank you to Leah Vale for your endless support and to my family for your endless love.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

“Maya! Maya!”

The crack of the office door bouncing off the back wall reverberated throughout the hardware and feed store.

At the front counter, Maya Gallo braced herself and gave the customer she was helping an apologetic smile. “Excuse me, Ethan. Apparently, Brady has something to tell me.”

“No worries, dear,” the older gentleman replied and wandered off toward the tack room. There was no pity in his voice, but Maya could feel the empathy and sympathy radiating off of one of Bristle Township’s most stalwart citizens.

Maya’s fifteen-year-old brother, Brady, skidded down the aisle between the bags of goat and backyard flock feed of the Gallo Hardware and Feed. Their parents had opened the establishment shortly after Maya was born. She couldn’t remember a day when she wasn’t in the store. She missed them so much.