Lisa Childs - Hot Pursuit

This firefighter is five-alarm hot!

For Braden Zimmer, leading his team of Hotshot firefighters isn’t just about being the best—it’s about sensing when a fire is coming. And a scorcher is definitely on its way. Maybe it’s from the dangerous arsonist who’s targeted him. Or maybe it has something to do with the sexy little arson investigator who’s been sent to protect Braden...

Sam McRooney may be tiny and blonde but she doesn’t mess around. Braden is in serious danger, and she’s not about to jeopardize his life—even if he is hot enough to leave scorch marks on her libido. But with the arsonist growing bolder by the day, getting too close to this hunky Hotshot won’t just get her burned...it could get her killed.

“For the first time I think I understand the arsonist...”

Sam’s brow furrowed as she stared up at Braden. “How?”

“Sometimes you have a compulsion to do something and you just can’t fight it...”

“You have a compulsion to set a fire?”

“I have a compulsion to do this...” He touched her—just his fingertips along her jaw. Her skin was so silky, just like her hair, which brushed across his hand. He tipped up her chin, and when he lowered his mouth to hers he felt a jolt.

Maybe she felt the jolt, too, because she gasped. And he deepened the kiss, dipping his tongue inside her mouth to taste her. She was sweet and sexy and hot as hell.

He felt the fire burning between them.

Then something flew through the open window, dropping onto the hardwood floor with a crash of breaking glass.

A Molotov cocktail.

Now there was a real fire burning in the house. And like his kissing Sam, it was quick to get out of control...

Dear Reader,

I hope you’ve been enjoying reading my Hotshot Heroes series for Harlequin Blaze as much as I’ve been enjoying writing the books. I’ve had so much fun with the Hotshots’ camaraderie and with their resistance to falling in love. All of them have fallen but for one. Superintendent Braden Zimmer has the biggest reason for avoiding love. He’s already been burned—badly—with a horrible marriage that ended in divorce. And now he’s busy trying to track down the arsonist who’s been terrorizing his hometown and home base of Northern Lakes, Michigan.

Sexy arson investigator Sam McRooney might solve one problem. If she’s as good as her reputation, she’ll catch the firebug who has now started sending Braden threatening notes. Or she might make herself the arsonist’s next target... Braden wants to protect her. He also wants her—badly. But he has to resist, or risk being burned again. Please enjoy the exciting conclusion to this hot series!

Happy reading!

Lisa Childs

Hot Pursuit

Lisa Childs

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Ever since LISA CHILDS read her first romance novel (a Harlequin story, of course) at age eleven, all she wanted was to be a romance writer. With over forty novels published with Harlequin, Lisa is living her dream. She is an award-winning, bestselling romance author. Lisa loves to hear from readers, who can contact her on Facebook, through her website, lisachilds.com, or her snail-mail address, PO Box 139, Marne, MI 49435.

With great appreciation for Laura Barth, my amazing editor, who helped me so much with writing this series! Thank you for your wonderful insight and support!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

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

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Extract

Copyright

1

ANOTHER BIG FIRE was coming. Braden Zimmer didn’t see or smell the smoke yet. He didn’t hear the crackle and roar of the flames. But he felt it—not the heat; he felt the certainty and the dread and the foreboding.

A fire was coming.

Unless he could stop it...

Unless he could stop the arsonist...

For months Braden, the superintendent of the Huron Hotshots, an elite team of US Forest Service firefighters, had been trying to find the person responsible for setting fires in his home base of Northern Lakes, Michigan. But he was no closer to nailing a suspect than he’d been when the first fire was set six months ago.

He wasn’t giving up. He wouldn’t stop looking until he found the person responsible for the fires. But he could no longer argue he didn’t need help. Yet catching up an arson investigator from the US Forest Service who knew nothing about the case was going to take more time Braden didn’t have.

Not when he was so certain another fire would be set soon. It wasn’t just his instincts warning him about another blaze. It was the arsonist himself.

He glanced down at the note he’d found sitting on his desk in the Northern Lakes firehouse. There was no envelope. It hadn’t been mailed; it had been placed on the scratched surface of his old metal desk. The son of a bitch had walked right into the firehouse—into Braden’s office. Too bad they didn’t have security cameras in the firehouse. But they had never needed them; until the fires, there had never been much crime in Northern Lakes. The arsonist had been getting bolder and bolder with each fire, but this was ridiculous.

The action taunted Braden as much as the note itself:

YOU MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. AND IT’S GOING TO COST YOU AND YOUR TEAM GRAVELY...

Since the fires were only set when his team was in Northern Lakes, he’d already figured out it was personal. He just hadn’t realized how personal—that he was the one the arsonist wanted to hurt the most.

Leaving the note where he’d found it, Braden pulled the office door shut behind him as he exited the room. This time he tested the knob, making sure it was locked. Few people locked their doors in Northern Lakes. Until the fires had started, it hadn’t been necessary. Nothing bad had ever happened here, as far back as Braden could remember, and he’d been born and raised in the northeastern Michigan town. He’d only left for college.

He headed down the hall toward the workout room. Like his office, the hallway walls were concrete blocks—the floors bare concrete, too. But in the workout room there was a wall of mirrors behind the equipment. Ignoring his reflection, he settled onto the weight bench and began to lift. Despite not having to wield a chain saw or ax anymore like his team, he liked to make sure he still could. He wouldn’t have their respect if he couldn’t physically do the job he asked them to do. At thirty-three, he was one of the youngest Hotshot superintendents, so it was important that he maintained authority over his team.

That wasn’t why he worked out now, though. He was trying to ease the frustration that had his stomach clenched into knots. Lifting the heavy bar up before lowering it nearly to his chest over and over again, he pushed himself—harder and harder. But instead of alleviating his tension, it elevated.

Some of his guys thought he just needed to get laid—that sex would ease his frustration. But Braden knew he needed to stop the arsonist. And he needed to do it soon.

Or that big fire would start...

Maybe it was already too late to stop it, since he could feel it coming. So far they’d been lucky. The Hotshots had been able to rescue everyone in harm’s way; they’d been able to put out every blaze without any serious injuries.