Susan Amarillas - Wyoming Renegade

Cover Page

Excerpt Colter, sometimes you can be a first-rate ass, Josh thought to himself. “Aw, hell, Alex…” His guard slipped. He dragged out a chair and straddled it, keeping the back like a barricade between them. “I didn’t mean…” Josh slapped his hat down on the table and raked one hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. Sorry this happened. I feel like—” “Like saying I told you so?” She made a small sound in the back of her throat that could have been a chuckle. “Never,” he lied, having thought that exactly. She looked so pitiful. It was all he could do not to reach out and pull her into his arms, to hold her until the fear went away. Don’t even think about it. She’s trouble. She’s the one woman in the world you can’t have. Yeah, he knew that. So how come she was the one woman he wanted so much?

Dear Reader Dear Reader, Josh Colter is a rancher on a trail of revenge. Alexandria Gibson is on a journey to find her brother. Both are looking for the same man in Susan Amarillas’s new Western, Wyoming Renegade. Susan’s last two books have won her 5 ratings from Affaire de Coeur and many new fans who’ve been eagerly awaiting this tale of two people who must choose between family, and love and honor. Don’t miss this exciting story. Catherine Archer’s Lady Thorn is the story of a Victorian heiress who falls in love with a sea captain who promises her protection in exchange for her help in locating his son. We hope you’ll find this gifted author’s story—in the words of the reviewer from Affaire de Coeur — “impossible to put down.” USA Today bestselling and multiaward-winning author Ruth Langan’s new series, THE JEWELS OF TEXAS, moves into full swing with this month’s Jade, the story of a small-town preacher who surrenders his soul to the town madam. And in Kate Kingsley’s new Western, The Scout’s Bride, a determined young widow decides to accept the help of a rugged army scout who has made himself her unwanted protector. Whatever your taste in reading, we hope you’ll keep an eye out for all four titles wherever Harlequin Historicals are sold. Sincerely, Tracy Farrell Senior Editor Please address questions and book requests to: Harlequin Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie. Ont. L2A 5X3

Title Page Wyoming Renegade Susan Amarillas www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author SUSAN AMARILLAS was born and raised in Maryland and moved to California when she married. She quickly discovered her love of the high desert country—she says it was as if she were “coming home.” When she’s not writing, she and her husband love to travel the back roads of the West, visiting ghost towns and little museums, and always coming home with an armload of books.

Dedication To my “big sister” Madeline Baker There from the first, there for me still Many thanks

Prologue

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

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Copyright

“Aw, hell, Alex…” His guard slipped. He dragged out a chair and straddled it, keeping the back like a barricade between them. “I didn’t mean…” Josh slapped his hat down on the table and raked one hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. Sorry this happened. I feel like—”

“Like saying I told you so?” She made a small sound in the back of her throat that could have been a chuckle.

“Never,” he lied, having thought that exactly. She looked so pitiful. It was all he could do not to reach out and pull her into his arms, to hold her until the fear went away.

Don’t even think about it. She’s trouble. She’s the one woman in the world you can’t have.

Yeah, he knew that. So how come she was the one woman he wanted so much?

Dear Reader,

Josh Colter is a rancher on a trail of revenge. Alexandria Gibson is on a journey to find her brother. Both are looking for the same man in Susan Amarillas’s new Western, Wyoming Renegade. Susan’s last two books have won her 5 ratings from Affaire de Coeur and many new fans who’ve been eagerly awaiting this tale of two people who must choose between family, and love and honor. Don’t miss this exciting story.

Catherine Archer’s Lady Thorn is the story of a Victorian heiress who falls in love with a sea captain who promises her protection in exchange for her help in locating his son. We hope you’ll find this gifted author’s story—in the words of the reviewer from Affaire de Coeur — “impossible to put down.”

USA Today bestselling and multiaward-winning author Ruth Langan’s new series, THE JEWELS OF TEXAS, moves into full swing with this month’s Jade, the story of a small-town preacher who surrenders his soul to the town madam. And in Kate Kingsley’s new Western, The Scout’s Bride, a determined young widow decides to accept the help of a rugged army scout who has made himself her unwanted protector.

Whatever your taste in reading, we hope you’ll keep an eye out for all four titles wherever Harlequin Historicals are sold.

Sincerely,

Tracy Farrell

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Harlequin Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie. Ont. L2A 5X3

www.millsandboon.co.uk

was born and raised in Maryland and moved to California when she married. She quickly discovered her love of the high desert country—she says it was as if she were “coming home.” When she’s not writing, she and her husband love to travel the back roads of the West, visiting ghost towns and little museums, and always coming home with an armload of books.

To my “big sister” Madeline Baker

There from the first, there for me still

Many thanks

Zeke Larson was going to die. He knew it, and so did his captor.

Moonlight, white and cold, flooded the valley, casting the red rocks in black shadows. The woeful howl of a coyote and Zeke’s harsh breathing were the only sounds.

He was strung up to a cottonwood tree like a damn four-pronged buck, his arms stretched painfully over his head, hemp rope cutting into his wrists. Every time he moved, the trickle of blood oozing from his side turned into a crimson rivulet.

Close by, stood his captor. A motherless gut-eating ‘breed by the dark look of him. Zeke hated half-breeds and Indians and just about anyone else who- wasn’t what he thought of as “his kind.”

“I’m telling you I ain’t the one you’re lookin’ for,” Zeke argued, not for the first time.

The man didn’t answer, just pushed the cold, hard barrel of his .45 deep into Zeke’s wound.