Linda O. Johnston - Trained To Protect

A cop falls for the woman he’s sworn to protect

A K-9 Ranch Rescue romance

From the moment Elissa Yorian arrives at Chance K-9 Ranch, an unknown foe has her in his sights. Fortunately, Officer Doug Murran is on the case. As he tracks Elissa’s mysterious enemy, he does his best to resist the electricity he feels every time he looks at her. Still, their passion might not be enough to protect Elissa from a murderer...

LINDA O. JOHNSTONloves to write. While honing her writing skills, she worked in advertising and public relations, then became a lawyer...and enjoyed writing contracts. Linda’s first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and won a Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year. Linda now spends most of her time creating memorable tales of paranormal romance, romantic suspense and mystery. Visit her on the web at www.lindaojohnston.com.

Also by Linda O. Johnston

K-9 Ranch Rescue

Second Chance Soldier

Trained to Protect

Undercover Soldier

Covert Attraction

Alpha Force

Alpha Wolf

Alaskan Wolf

Guardian Wolf

Undercover Wolf

Loyal Wolf

Canadian Wolf

Protector Wolf

Back to Life

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Trained to Protect

Linda O. Johnston

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07943-3

TRAINED TO PROTECT

© 2018 Linda O. Johnston

Published in Great Britain 2018

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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“Like I said, think hard about whether there’s someone who might have something against you. A neighbor or coworker who’s mad at you. A driver you cut off. Whatever.”

“Why?” she demanded. “What’s really going on?”

He pursed his lips. “Yeah, I think you should know, though I was asked to keep it quiet. Amber, for one, was choosing to ignore it. But this break-in here...”

“What?” Elissa repeated.

Doug looked straight into her eyes. “The night of your interview at the K-9 ranch, and before you came back up to give your demonstration, this was found on the fence there.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, fiddled with it some, then thrust it toward her.

A photo was there depicting the front gate up the driveway to the main house at the K-9 ranch.

And on it was a sign: Be Careful Who You Hire.

Dear Reader,

As I said here in the introduction to Second Chance Soldier, the first in my K-9 Ranch Rescue series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, I’m a dog lover. Trained to Protect is the second in that series, and it involves both therapy dogs and police K-9s...and their people.

In Trained to Protect, Elissa Yorian is a therapy dog handler as well as a nurse. After hearing about a part-time job being offered at the Chance K-9 Ranch for someone to provide classes for other therapy dog handlers, she jumps at the opportunity to apply for it. She gets the job—but she also becomes the target of some strange threats. Fortunately, she meets Officer Doug Murran, a K-9 cop with the Chance police department, whose job includes helping to protect the ranch in his town—and it soon includes attempting to protect the lovely and vulnerable Elissa.

I hope you enjoy Trained to Protect. Please come visit me at my website, lindaojohnston.com, and at my weekly blog, killerhobbies.Blogspot.com. And, yes, I’m on Facebook, too.

Linda O. Johnston

Acknowledgments

I love the idea of therapy dogs—pets who are taught to help people with physical and mental issues by providing loving visits with them—and very much appreciate the friends and acquaintances who have given me insight into many of the aspects of training them and getting them officially qualified to provide that kind of help. Thanks to all of you, in particular Karen Saunders and Bonnie Schroeder, who provided lots of answers to my many questions.

And thanks, too, to the K-9 officers who have also answered my recent questions or given demonstrations of how those wonderful K-9s work—most especially Officer Maribel Feeley of the Glendale Police Department’s K-9 Unit.

Thank you all!

Of course, as before, Trained to Protect is a work of fiction, so if anything seems untrue that’s because I’ve modified reality to fit the story.

And, as always, many thanks to my wonderful editor, Allison Lyons, and my fantastic agent, Paige Wheeler.

Dedication

Like Second Chance Soldier, Trained to Protect is dedicated to all dogs and those who train and work with them, most especially police and military K-9s...and therapy dogs and their handlers.

And, as I always do, I dedicate this book to my wonderful husband, Fred, as well as our dogs, Mystie and Cari, who in their ways are my therapy dogs.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

Acknowledgments

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