Jenna Night - High Desert Hideaway

HIDING THE WITNESS

Caught accidentally eavesdropping on plans for a major cargo theft, Lily Doyle’s chased by men who want her dead. And she narrowly escapes when Deputy Sheriff Nate Bedford—her former high school classmate—comes to her rescue. The criminals won’t stop until they finish their mission, though, so going into hiding with the handsome lawman is her only shot at survival. With a troubled past hanging over his head, Nate has something to prove—to himself and the community. And saving Lily’s life could be a step in the right direction. But with a deadly crime ring aiming to silence her for good, will hiding Lily at his friend’s secluded ranch be enough to keep them away?

“Where were you hit?”

Nate quickly unbuckled his seat belt and moved toward her.

Her face was drained of color, her dark brown eyes looking bigger than usual.

When she didn’t answer, he started checking her for injuries, carefully brushing aside the bits of safety glass from her side window.

“I’m not hit,” she finally said, her voice oddly calm. She had to be in shock. He glanced at the windshield and saw a hole surrounded by a spiderweb of cracks where the bullet had passed through.

Ambush was Nate’s first thought. But from where? He twisted in the seat to look in every direction around them, but he couldn’t see anybody. “I’m going to unfasten your seat belt.”

“Okay.” Her voice sounded robotic. He didn’t blame her for being scared. He was scared, too. Maybe they were surrounded. Maybe somebody was getting ready to close in on them.

He unbuckled her seat belt and gently tugged down on her arm. “Slide to the floorboard and tuck down as low as you can. Stay out of sight.”

Dear Reader,

Looking ahead in life isn’t always easy. Especially when there are things in your past that you wish you could fix or change.

Deputy Nate Bedford worried that his tragic and unstable childhood left him without the resources to be a good father. Yet those very experiences gave him the compassion and drive to help others. Lily Doyle made some unwise decisions and was tempted to believe her life was ruined beyond repair. But in the process of recovering from her mistakes, she was reminded that we don’t have to be perfect people to be worthy of love.

With God’s grace and the help of family and good friends, we find we can keep moving forward even when we think we can’t. I hope when you face difficult times you’ll press on in faith and keep on going one step at a time.

You can find me at my website, Jennanight.com. Or at my Jenna Night page on Facebook. I retweet my fair share of cute animal pictures on Twitter @Night_Jenna. Or if you feel so inclined, shoot me an email at Jenna@jennanight.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Jenna Night

JENNA NIGHT comes from a family of Southern-born natural storytellers. Her parents were avid readers and the house was always filled with books. No wonder she grew up wanting to tell her own stories. She’s lived on both coasts, but currently resides in the Inland Northwest, where she’s astonished by the occasional glimpse of a moose, a herd of elk or a soaring eagle.

High Desert Hideaway

Jenna Night

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Behold, I will do a new thing! Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

—Isaiah 43:19

My mom, Esther. My sister, Bonnie. My brother, Roy. My kitty, Miss Loretta. I look forward to seeing you all again. Until then, I’ll enjoy the good memories.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my editor, Elizabeth Mazer, and my agent, Sarah E. Younger, for your generous help and support.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Acknowledgments

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

ONE

The cold steel tip of a gun barrel bit into the side of Lily Doyle’s neck just below her right ear. The man holding the gun angled it slightly upward, so a single round would have maximum effect.

At least if the worst happened, it would be quick.

Please, Lord, Lily prayed, but she was unable to think of any further words after that. Her knees shook and her breaths came in short, shallow gasps.

“Relax!” the gunman yelled and Lily jumped.

A truck rumbled by on the highway outside the Starlight Mart. “Everybody, just relax!” the gunman yelled again. He’d pulled his dusty gray trucker’s hat down low and flipped up the collar of his jean jacket to try and hide his face. Lily didn’t know his name, but she did know he’d taken over the convenience store because he wanted to capture her.

The gunman’s accomplice, wearing sunglasses and a rust-colored hoodie drawn tight around his face, grabbed an energy drink from a display case. He flung it at the security camera near the cash register where Lily was being held, breaking the camera and sending purplish fizz splattering in every direction. Two wide-eyed store clerks, both looking as if they were barely out of their teens, stood behind the front counter, not far from Lily. They had their hands held up. Hoodie grabbed a second energy drink, threw it and knocked out the camera by the front door.

One of the shoppers screamed.

“Everybody stay where you are,” the gunman hollered. “Don’t move an inch. Don’t touch your phones. Don’t try to act smart or you’ll find your head exploding like one of them drink cans.”

Lily heard a whimpering sound. It came from the trio of high school kids over by the soda cooler.

This wasn’t a robbery. Well, not primarily a robbery. Lily had no idea what these two creeps were capable of, but she did know it was her fault the people in this store were in danger. She’d overheard part of a conversation at her new job that she clearly wasn’t meant to hear. And the two strangers she’d accidentally heard talking had seen her and come after her.

Now she had to do something. Nobody’s going to ride in on a white horse and save the day, Tiger Lily. She’d heard her mother say it a thousand times. It had always been true before. It was true now.

Fear squeezed her rib cage, making it hard to breathe. She took the deepest breath she could, forcing her attention away from the crawling sensation of a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. She needed to look around. Figure out her options. There must be something she could do.

Directly in front of her, a scaled-down baker’s rack displayed factory-made muffins, cupcakes and single-serving fruit pies. Through the thick white wires, she could see a wide-eyed woman with her arms wrapped around a boy and girl, maybe five and eight years old, clutching them close to her body.

To the right, midway down the length of cooler doors that covered one wall, stood the trio of teenagers. Slack-jawed and wearing stunned expressions, each one loosely held a neon-colored sports drink as if they’d forgotten they had anything in their hands.