Susan Sleeman: Taken In Texas

A cowboy protector from her past...

A McKade Law novel

Working her first case as deputy sheriff with her ex-boyfriend, Detective Cord Goodwin, Kendall McKade is determined to track the kidnappers—even if it makes her a target. Desperate to find the abducted victim, his aunt, Cord must keep Kendall safe…while also caring for his recently orphaned nephew. Teaming up threatens to rekindle Cord and Kendall’s relationship, but first they must solve a life-threatening mystery.

SUSAN SLEEMANis a bestselling author of inspirational and clean-read romantic suspense books and mysteries. She received an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award for Thread of Suspicion . No Way Out and The Christmas Witness were finalists for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence. She’s had the pleasure of living in nine states and currently lives in Oregon. To learn more about Susan, visit her website at susansleeman.com.

Also By Susan Sleeman

McKade Law

Holiday Secrets

Rodeo Standoff

Christmas Hideout

Taken in Texas

First Responders

Silent Night Standoff

Explosive Alliance

High-Caliber Holiday

Emergency Response

Silent Sabotage

Christmas Conspiracy

The Justice Agency

Double Exposure

Dead Wrong

No Way Out

Thread of Suspicion

Dark Tide

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Taken in Texas

Susan Sleeman

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09490-0

TAKEN IN TEXAS

© 2019 Susan Sleeman

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.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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“Is there anything else I should know?” Kendall asked.

Cord shook his head. “At least not that I know of.”

She sat down. “Are you familiar enough with Eve’s belongings that you’d know if anything was missing?”

“You thinking a burglary gone wrong?”

“No. That wouldn’t explain why Eve is missing.”

Unless…

She didn’t say the word, but her expression declared, “Unless the intruder hurt Eve and got rid of her body, then felt free to search the house because he knew she wasn’t coming home.”

It took a callous person to hurt an older woman and then invade her home. Callous and dangerous, making it even more likely that the creep could come after Kendall, meaning Cord would now have a second job in Lost Creek.

Sure, he needed to find his aunt as much as he needed to breathe, but in addition to that, he would be watching Kendall’s back. Even if she balked at his every move.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading Taken in Texas . Wow, I can’t believe this is the last of the McKade family’s stories. Seems just like yesterday that I came up with the idea for this miniseries and now it is ending. I have loved every moment of writing about this family, and I hope you have enjoyed taking the journey with them.

In this story, Cord and his nephew Lucas have lost family members, and they are both struggling to figure out how to go on. This situation really hit home for me as both of my parents passed away within a year of each other, and I was devastated. I struggled for some time to come to grips with it. If you’ve lost a loved one, I hope that Cord and Lucas’s journey gives you hope and encouragement that God can make a way for your future just as He did for Cord and Lucas.

If you’d like to learn more about the McKade Law miniseries or my other books, please stop by my website at www.susansleeman.com. I also love hearing from readers, so please contact me via email, susan@susansleeman.com, on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/SusanSleemanBooks, or write to me c/o Love Inspired, HarperCollins, 24th floor, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

Susan Sleeman

In whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

—Job 12:10

A special thank-you to Susan Snodgrass for naming Walt’s horse Thunderbolt, and Lora Doncea for naming Winnie’s horse Sunrise.

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

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

Some calls went wrong. Terribly wrong. Deputy Kendall McKade’s gut screamed this was one of those calls.

Take care, a warning voice whispered in her head.

Kendall didn’t like what she was seeing. Caution was the game here. Plenty of caution.

She wouldn’t race up to the front door. Burst inside to check on the seventy-four-year-old aunt her nephew was having a hard time reaching.

She climbed out of her patrol car. The steamy heat of the night hit her hard as she took a long look at the single-story home hunkered down under tall cypress trees. Overcast skies cast ominous shadows on the rural property. She’d hoped for a light burning inside the house, but it was as black as the murky night clinging to the foundation.