Delores Fossen - The Marshal's Hostage

SECRETS HAD TORN THEM APART…AND REUNITED THEM IN A WAY NEITHER HAD EXPECTED

She Is the last person Dallas Walker ever wants to see again. Still, this U.S. Marshal has no problem taking Joelle Tate into “protective custody”—on her wedding day. To save his family from unjust charges, he’d take on a lot worse than an ex-flame he couldn’t trust. But Dallas doesn’t know Joelle has put her freedom on the line to protect him. Now with only two days to investigate a long-buried crime no one wants solved, they must confront their past mistakes, and the shattering secret that drove them apart. Giving in to the simmering desire may lead to an impossible second chance—or help set a trap one calculating killer can’t wait to spring.…

“Tell me why this is a bad idea,” Dallas said.

He slid his hand around the back of Joelle’s neck, angling her head. Angling her body, too, with the grip he still had on her waist. They were pressed against each other like lovers now.

“Because you can’t forgive me?” she managed. “Because you hate me?”

He was right in her face, and she saw that register in his eyes. Both valid reasons. Well, the first one anyway. That didn’t look like hate in all those swirls of blue in his eyes. No hate in his body, either. His breath was uneven. Heart racing.

“Because we don’t have time for this.” Joelle tried again. “And because you’d regret it.”

Dallas kept staring for what seemed an eternity, and even though he didn’t move, her body seemed to think it was about to get lucky with Dallas. Everything inside her was melting, urging her to do what Dallas had so far resisted.

Like kiss him…

The Marshal’s Hostage

USA TODAY Bestselling Author

Delores Fossen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Imagine a family tree that includes Texas cowboys, Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, a Louisiana pirate and a Scottish rebel who battled side by side with William Wallace. With ancestors like that, it’s easy to understand why USA TODAY bestselling author and former air force captain Delores Fossen feels as if she were genetically predisposed to writing romances. Along the way to fulfilling her DNA destiny, Delores married an air force top gun who just happens to be of Viking descent. With all those romantic bases covered, she doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration.

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CAST OF CHARACTERS

Marshal Dallas Walker—He was raised in the notorious Rocky Creek orphanage, and the past he’d rather forget comes crashing back when his old flame is assigned to investigate a murder that could ultimately send him or his foster father to jail. Dallas has to walk a fine line between the law, family duty and a woman he just can’t get out of his mind.

Joelle Tate—She, too, was brought up at Rocky Creek, and even though she’s fighting the old attraction with Dallas, she also has secrets that put them on a collision course with not just the past but with new danger.

Kirby Granger—Sixteen years ago this now retired marshal rescued Dallas and five other boys from Rocky Creek, but he might have cut corners to do that.

Sarah Webb—The widow of the tyrannical headmaster at Rocky Creek. She could know more about her husband Jonah’s murder than she’s saying.

Owen Palmer—He and Dallas and Joelle have a shared past that wasn’t always pleasant, and now he seems to be willing to do anything to make Joelle his wife.

Lindsey Downing—Owen’s assistant, who is jealous of Joelle. But is she behind the attempts to kill Joelle and Dallas?

Rudy Simmons—The crusty groundskeeper at Rocky Creek. He claims he knows nothing about the headmaster’s murder, but Dallas and Joelle aren’t so sure.

Contents

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

Chapter Nineteen

Extract

Chapter One

Marshal Dallas Walker studied the three men milling around in front of the Maverick Springs church. All were dressed in nondescript black suits, but judging from the bulges beneath their coats, they were carrying weapons.

So, what were armed guests doing at a wedding?

Joelle’s wedding.

Just thinking those two words put a knot in his gut, and seeing those armed men only made the knot even tighter.

Something wasn’t right here—on many levels.

Dallas eased his hand over the Glock .22 in his holster and walked up the limestone path that led to the front door. As expected, he got the attention of all three men. They snapped toward him, and one whispered something into the communicator that he had strapped to his wrist.

The biggest one, a bald guy with linebacker-size shoulders, stepped forward to block Dallas’s way. “Are you a guest of the bride or groom?” he asked, none too friendly.

Dallas debated his answer for a split second and decided to go with what would get him inside the church the fastest and with the least amount of trouble.

If that was possible.

He tapped his badge, which was clipped to his belt. “I’m Marshal Dallas Walker. Move or I’ll move you.”

Yeah, it wasn’t very friendly, either, but at least he’d given them an option. Of sorts. One way or the other, they were moving.

The man’s jaw turned to iron, and he glanced at the one with the communicator. That one lifted his wrist and was about to say something into the device, probably something that would cause an ugly confrontation with these goons and the groom. But the squeaky sound and movement behind them had them all reaching for their weapons.

False alarm.

The sound was coming from a window being lifted in the century-old church. And there she was.

Joelle.

She looked out at him from behind the mesh window screen. No wedding dress, but she was wearing a white robe, and the April breeze took a swipe at the dark blond hair she had piled on her head. She gave all of them a glare.

Especially Dallas.

“What are you doing here?” she snapped.

“Seeing you,” Dallas snapped right back.

And for good measure, he returned the glare, too. It wasn’t hard to do. Once, when he was seventeen and stupid, he’d been in love with Joelle Tate, but it sure wasn’t love he was feeling right now.

Far from it.

He wanted to wring her neck.

“We have to talk,” Dallas insisted, and he elbowed his way through the trio of guards and hurried up the church steps.

He was on borrowed time now because it wouldn’t be long before the groom, Owen Palmer, found out he was there, and Owen would not be a happy buckaroo about Dallas’s arrival.

Get in line.

A lot of people wouldn’t be happy about this little visit, but by God, he was not going to let Joelle get away with this.

Since his foster father, Kirby Granger, had brought Dallas and his brothers to this church plenty of times, Dallas knew the way through the mazelike corridors to the side room where Joelle was. He found her, all right. Waiting for him in the doorway.