Lynette Eason - Danger on the Mountain

HEARTS ON THE LINE

After making a new life for herself and her infant daughter in Rose Mountain, widow Maggie Bennett thought they were safe. Getting caught in the middle of a bank robbery changes everything—and introduces her to policeman Reese Kirkpatrick. He seems to be everything her abusive late husband wasn’t...just the man she needs to help her through the growing list of sinister occurrences. But Reese has his own baggage—and when a shocking betrayal puts Maggie at risk, Reese must decide if protecting his heart is worth losing a chance at love.

Questions bombarded him.

Questions about the bank robbery and questions about his attraction to a woman with a baby.

He’d sworn off putting his heart on the line. He’d had his shot at a family and happily-ever-after and it had been snatched from him when his wife had died in childbirth.

So why couldn’t he get the pretty mother out of his mind?

Tossing aside the covers, he padded to the window that overlooked the lake. Peering across, he could see Maggie’s house lit up like a Christmas tree.

Realization hit him.

She was all alone and scared. And with the threat the robber had left ringing in the air, she would be jumping at every creak and moan of the house.

Without a second’s hesitation, he picked up his phone and dialed her cell phone. She might be afraid of the phone ringing at this time of night, but his number and name were programmed in her phone. Once she saw it was him, she would be all right.

LYNETTE EASON

makes her home in South Carolina with her husband and two children. Lynette has taught in many areas of education over the past ten years and is very happy to make the transition from teaching school to teaching at writers’ conferences. She is a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America), FHL (Faith, Hope, & Love) and ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers). She is often found online, and loves to talk writing with anyone who will listen. You can find her at www.facebook.com/lynetteeasonauthoror www.lynetteeason.com.

Danger on the Mountain

Lynette Eason

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

—Psalms 32:7

To my Lord and Savior who lets me do what I do.

I love you, Jesus!

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

CHAPTER TWENTY

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Excerpt

ONE

Deputy Reese Kirkpatrick stiffened when he felt something hard jam into his lower back. He started to turn when a voice whispered in his ear, “Get on the floor or the

baby’s mama gets a bullet.”

Stiffening, his adrenaline in sudden overdrive, Reese looked around and saw a young woman with a baby in a carrier standing in front of the teller’s window. As his adrenaline spiked, details came into focus. The teller’s nameplate said Lori Anglero. The woman with the baby had soft blond hair that fell to her shoulders in pretty waves. The man behind him had bad breath and needed a shower.

Reese’s time as a cop on the streets of Washington, D.C., now served him well. He didn’t even blink. “You think this is going to work for you?”

“Yep. You’re the only man in here. I don’t need you having a hero complex because I’m trying to do this without killing anyone. But I will if I have to. On the floor. Now.”

The door chimed one more time, and Reese caught sight of two more masked men entering the First National Bank of Rose Mountain.

“Everybody down! Now!” The man behind Reese gave him a hard shove.

Reese dropped, grateful he wasn’t wearing his uniform and that the gun hidden under his coat in the small of his back had gone undiscovered.

Screams echoed and Reese saw the woman in front of Lori’s window drop down to become a human shield for the baby.

“Down! Down!” The man who’d taken Reese by surprise aimed his gun and pulled the trigger.

* * *

The bullet slammed into the wall above Maggie Bennett’s head. With a scream, she tightened her protective stance over her eight-month-old daughter’s carrier.

Terror spiraling through her, Maggie whipped her head to the left to see three gunmen in black masks. One stood by the door, his broad shoulders and tight grip on the pistol in his left hand saying he’d be a force to reckon with. Another, tall and lanky, hovered in a threatening stance over the man on the floor. The third held his weapon in a way that said he knew how to use it—and would. The tall, skinny one with his weapon trained on the man on the floor grunted, “Charlie, get the cash.”

Charlie leaped over the counter. As he did, his foot caught the nearest silver pole holding the red velvet ropes used to separate customers into lines. The pole crashed to the tile floor with a loud clang, and Maggie cringed. Charlie cursed, regained his footing and pointed the gun in bank teller’s terrified face. “You deaf? I said get down!”

The teller dropped.

So did Ashley O’Neal, the other teller who’d been so friendly to Maggie last Sunday at church.

At three o’clock on a Monday afternoon, Maggie and the man now on the floor were the only customers in the bank. She watched his hand angling under his heavy suede jacket.

What was he doing?

Her eyes darted from robber to robber, to the door then back to the man on the floor.

There was no security guard and no help in sight.

The broad-shouldered one who stood by the door appeared to be in charge. He jutted his chin toward the man on the floor. “Cover him, Slim. He looks like he might be thinking he wants to put up a fight.”

Still hunched over Belle’s carrier, Maggie felt strangled by her fear and she wasn’t sure what to do. She was frozen in place, watching the incidents playing out before her as though they were on a big screen and she was in the audience.

But she wasn’t. This was real. And it was happening to her.

Her first reaction was to look for a way to protect Isabella. Her second to silently screech out a desperate prayer as she slumped to the floor next to the fallen pole, keeping herself between the men and her baby. Her foot became entangled in the rope now snaking the floor, but she ignored it. Her only thought was to keep her cool and survive. Old instincts surfaced, and a chill that matched the November air outside the bank swept through her.

As her eyes jumped from one robber to the next, she let her gaze land on the other bank customer. He lay still, left hand away from his side, right still hidden by his jacket. His sharp green eyes took in the unfolding scene. Maggie could see the tension in his shoulders and face and prayed he didn’t do something stupid, like try to be a hero.

He’d get them all killed.

“You!” Charlie yelled at the teller who’d been helping Maggie. “Stand up!”