Kristin Eckhardt - Hot On His Trail

Isabella Trueblood made history reuniting people torn apart by war and an epidemic. Now, generations later, Lily and Dylan Garrett carry on her work with their agency, Finders Keepers. Circumstances may have changed, but the goal remains the same.

Lost

Her so-called life. Calley Graham’s overprotective mother had stood in her way long enough. But all that would change if she could sign on as a rookie investigator for Finders Keepers!

Found

One tough trail boss. Matt Radcliffe was leading a cattle drive out of New Mexico. He sure didn’t have time for a pesky investigator who wanted to drag him back to Pinto, Texas. But Calley figured if she volunteered to take over as camp cook, she could keep her job, and maybe keep the cowboy, too!

Matt pulled back, breaking the kiss before he lost what little control he had left.

“Why did you do that?” he asked in a low voice, sounding more gruff than he’d intended.

“It was your idea,” Calley said softly, her fingers rubbing her cheek.

He could see redness there and knew his beard stubble had made the mark. “Damn it, Calley. All I had in mind was talking.”

She tilted her head as she looked at him, confusion clouding her blue eyes. “Was it so awful?”

Awful? Was she serious? “No. It was just…unexpected.” He wondered how he could explain it to her when even he didn’t understand the riot of emotions churning through him.

“I’m sorry if I offended you,” she said, not looking the least bit sorry to him. “I thought I was helping put your new plan into action.”

“Can you at least give me a little warning next time?”

“Don’t worry, Matt,” she said calmly, turning toward the chuck wagon. “There won’t be a next time.”

He watched her disappear inside the wagon, then heard the loud clank of pots and pans, followed by a muffled oath. Matt smiled. He might have been wrong, but so was she. There would definitely be a next time.

Dear Reader,

I’m a big fan of country music and was inspired to write this story by listening to Trisha Yearwood’s song “I Want To Live Again.” The toe-tapping music and heartfelt lyrics are perfect for my heroine, Calley Graham, who is determined to live life to the fullest. Matt Radcliffe is a sexy cowboy who prefers to live life alone. But Calley is hot on his trail, which means Matt doesn’t stand a chance!

I hope you enjoy Matt and Calley’s story. Happy reading!

Karen Hughes

Hot on His Trail

Karen Hughes

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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A Father’s Vow

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Daddy Wanted

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The Cowboy’s Secret Son

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The Sheriff Gets His Lady

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Rodeo Daddy

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The Rancher’s Bride

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Dylan’s Destiny

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A Family at Last

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THE TRUEBLOOD LEGACY

THE YEAR WAS 1918, and the Great War in Europe still raged, but Esau Porter was heading home to Texas.

The young sergeant arrived at his parents’ ranch northwest of San Antonio on a Sunday night, only the celebration didn’t go off as planned. Most of the townsfolk of Carmelita had come out to welcome Esau home, but when they saw the sorry condition of the boy, they gave their respects quickly and left.

The fever got so bad so fast that Mrs. Porter hardly knew what to do. By Monday night, before the doctor from San Antonio made it into town, Esau was dead.

The Porter family grieved. How could their son have survived the German peril, only to burn up and die in his own bed? It wasn’t much of a surprise when Mrs. Porter took to her bed on Wednesday. But it was a hell of a shock when half the residents of Carmelita came down with the horrible illness. House after house was hit by death, and all the townspeople could do was pray for salvation.

None came. By the end of the year, over one hundred souls had perished. The influenza virus took those in the prime of life, leaving behind an unprece-dented number of orphans. And the virus knew no boundaries. By the time the threat had passed, more than thirty-seven million people had succumbed worldwide.

But in one house, there was still hope.

Isabella Trueblood had come to Carmelita in the late 1800s with her father, blacksmith Saul Trueblood, and her mother, Teresa Collier Trueblood. The family had traveled from Indiana, leaving their Quaker roots behind.

Young Isabella grew up to be an intelligent woman who had a gift for healing and storytelling. Her dreams centered on the boy next door, Foster Carter, the son of Chester and Grace.

Just before the bad times came in 1918, Foster asked Isabella to be his wife, and the future of the Carter spread was secured. It was a happy union, and the future looked bright for the young couple.

Two years later, not one of their relatives was alive. How the young couple had survived was a miracle. And during the epidemic, Isabella and Foster had taken in more than twenty-two orphaned children from all over the county. They fed them, clothed them, taught them as if they were blood kin.

Then Isabella became pregnant, but there were complications. Love for her handsome son, Josiah, born in 1920, wasn’t enough to stop her from grow-ing weaker by the day. Knowing she couldn’t leave her husband to tend to all the children if she died, she set out to find families for each one of her orphaned charges.

And so the Trueblood Foundation was born. Named in memory of Isabella’s parents, it would become famous all over Texas. Some of the orphaned children went to strangers, but many were reunited with their

families. After reading notices in newspapers and church bulletins, aunts, uncles, cousins and grand-parents rushed to Carmelita to find the young ones they’d given up for dead.

Toward the end of Isabella’s life, she’d brought together more than thirty families, and not just her orphans. Many others, old and young, made their way to her doorstep, and Isabella turned no one away.

At her death, the town’s name was changed to Trueblood, in her honor. For years to come, her simple grave was adorned with flowers on the anniversary of her death, grateful tokens of appreciation from the families she had brought together.

Isabella’s son, Josiah, grew into a fine rancher and married Rebecca Montgomery in 1938. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Trueblood Carter, in 1940. Elizabeth married her neighbor William Garrett in 1965, and gave birth to twins Lily and Dylan in 1971, and daughter Ashley a few years later. Home was the Double G ranch, about ten miles from Trueblood proper, and the Garrett children grew up listening to stories of their famous great-grandmother, Isabella. Because they were Truebloods, they knew that they, too, had a sacred duty to carry on the tradition passed down to them: finding lost souls and reuniting loved ones.