The Colton Heir by Colleen Thompson

Author:Colleen Thompson [Thompson, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Suspense
ISBN: 9781460321614
Google: AkiMSQJeGJMC
Amazon: B00D4MVHQW
Barnesnoble: B00D4MVHQW
Goodreads: 17900206
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-12-31T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 11

As the truck bounced over a rut sometime later, Hope jerked fully awake, tensing with the memory of the attack that began her day.

“Sorry about that last pothole,” Dylan told her, his familiar voice easing the knot of nerves in her throat. “I’m afraid the bumps are part of these back roads.”

She looked around, taking in the hills on either side of them, clothed in tawny grasses with a few bare trees here and there. In the distance, a purplish ridge of mountains held up an endless sky, but nowhere beneath them did she spot a single sign of human habitation: not a car or house or building, not even a fence or power line.

The last of her tension gusted away on an exhalation. Out here, there was no need to fear lurking assassins or murderous masterminds. With Dylan, she could let down her hair as well as her guard, could let go of the strain of pretending she was someone she was not.

“How’s the head?” he asked.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. Sorry if I haven’t been very good company these last few minutes.”

He shot her an easy grin. “These last few hours, you mean, but it’s okay. We still have plenty more to go.”

Her stomach rumbled loudly, reminding her she’d been too upset to eat anything this morning.

“How ’bout a little break?” he suggested. “I need to stretch my legs, and you’re sounding like you’re ready for a little lunch.”

“You know of a café or something not too far ahead?”

He laughed. “Not unless it’s run by pronghorn antelopes or mule deer. But it’s warmed up enough that I thought maybe we could enjoy a little picnic on the tailgate.”

“You brought along food?”

“My friend Kate insisted on packing us a gourmet lunch.”

“The pastry chef, right?” Hope asked, remembering a young woman with long, brown curls and big, kind eyes.

He nodded. “Sure is. And Levi Colton’s girlfriend, too.”

“Dr. Colton’s girlfriend? Really?”

Smiling, Dylan nodded. “It’s so great to see her happy again. They seem really great together.”

“I’ll never get all these people straight.” Hope laughed before a pang of realization struck her. “But then, I’ll never really have to. I’m leaving, Dylan. Leaving soon. I’ve decided I’m going back to testify after all. I have to, to finally put an end to it, provided I make it that long.”

“You’ll make it,” he vowed, heat sparking in his blue eyes. “We’re going to find this mastermind, and until we do, Amanda says she’s hiring another bodyguard, one specifically assigned to you. And I’ll be watching, too.”

Hope sighed. “Maybe I should just contact my WITSEC liaison again as soon as we get back to the ranch.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t trust them.”

“It’s tough admitting this, but I doubt it was ever really them,” she said, the grief of it a throbbing wound in her chest. “I was the one who dared to use a public-access computer at the town library to let my father know I was all right. I thought

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