Addison Fox - Special Ops Cowboy

Death stalks a cowboy’s growing family

Book two in the Midnight Pass, Texas miniseries

It’s a typical Texas night when Reese Grantham intends to drown her sorrows in a local bar. Her evening soon turns around, thanks to military operative turned rancher Hoyt Reynolds. Before she knows it, Reese is expecting a bundle of joy, but when she enters a killer’s crosshairs, there’s nothing Hoyt won’t do to save her and his child.

ADDISON FOXis a lifelong romance reader, addicted to happy-ever-afters. After discovering she found as much joy writing about romance as she did reading it, she’s never looked back. Addison lives in New York with an apartment full of books, a laptop that’s rarely out of sight and a wily beagle who keeps her running. You can find her at her home on the web at www.addisonfox.comor on Facebook ( Facebook.com/addisonfoxauthor) and Twitter ( @addisonfox).

Also By Addison Fox

Midnight Pass, Texas

The Cowboy’s Deadly Mission

Special Ops Cowboy

The Coltons of Red Ridge

Colton’s Deadly Engagement

The Coltons of Shadow Creek

Cold Case Colton

The Coltons of Texas

Colton’s Surprise Heir

Dangerous in Dallas

Silken Threats

Tempting Target

The Professional

The Royal Spy’s Redemption

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Special Ops Cowboy

Addison Fox

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09375-0

SPECIAL OPS COWBOY

© 2019 Frances Karkosak

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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“Is the spider dangerous?”

“I know our biology teacher pretty well. Fred would know if the spider is dangerous or not, but I don’t think that it is.”

“I’m not sure waiting to be bitten is the way to find that out,” Hoyt said, his imagination already racing toward harm to Reese and the baby.

“Well, I wasn’t bitten. And we have a few at the high school. I’d hardly think the school board would appreciate having poisonous animals around the kids.”

The thought that the danger was likely minimal went some way toward calming his racing heart but he couldn’t quite banish the sense of menace that came with whatever had brought a spider to her front door. Texas was known for its wild creatures, and his cowboy boots were way more practical than they were for show, but it was the mysterious doorbell that kept gnawing at him.

Did someone deliberately do this to scare Reese?

And why?

* * *

We hope you enjoy the Midnight Pass, Texas miniseries

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to Midnight Pass, Texas. For those of you who visited this past August, you know that this small town, nestled along the banks of the Rio Grande, is home to one of the biggest cattle ranches in Texas—Reynolds Station.

Youngest brother and former special ops soldier Hoyt Reynolds is known for his stoic (read: grumpy) attitude. That doesn’t stop the whole town from swooning when he swaggers down Main Street in his jeans and boots. Nor has it stopped Reese Grantham from noticing Hoyt, well, pretty much her entire life.

She’s still struggling to get past her father’s suicide the prior spring, after his murderous ways were discovered, and Reese finds herself alone one night at the Border Line bar. That’s where Hoyt finds her, and he’s determined to take care of her and cheer her up if at all possible. Their evening turns into something more and, much to their mutual surprise, goes from a delicious memory to something even bigger—a baby.

When nameless, faceless threats endanger Reese, Hoyt knows he must protect the mother of his child at all costs. But will protecting her put him in the line of fire, as well?

I hope you enjoy Special Ops Cowboy and I look forward to sharing the stories of Hoyt’s other two siblings, Ace and Arden, in future books. In the meantime, if you want to begin with the first in the series, The Cowboy’s Deadly Mission is available now.

Best,

Addison Fox

In loving memory of Annette Deoria

1921–2018

I believe angels walk among us because of you.

Author’s Note

For those of you familiar with cattle ranching, you will note I’ve played with the time of year cattle are branded. As calves are typically branded around two to three months of age, branding season is normally wrapped up by May, not early August. I hope you’ll forgive the license I took in shifting the timeline to suit the story.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

Author’s Note

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

About the Publisher

Her mother had always said gossip was the devil’s work. That the idle prattle of small towns had no place in their lives. Of course, Reese Grantham thought reflectively, her mother had offered up those pearls of wisdom before her father had turned into the devil incarnate, doing far worse than some dismissive chatter over produce bins at the market.