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Ransom At Christmas
Barb Han
Ransom at Christmas He'll do anything to protect this mysterious woman… Who is this unconscious woman Will Kent finds on his land? And who's targeting her? For her safety, Will takes her into hiding. But with time ticking down and a Christmas deadline just around the corner, how can he stop an unknown enemy?
He’ll do anything to protect
a mysterious woman from an unseen foe.
Minutes after finding an unconscious woman on his land, bullets whiz right by rancher Will Kent. Who is this woman? Who’s targeting her? Before long, Kelly Morgan’s secret past emerges and they discover she has a fiancé she’s afraid of…but can’t remember why. For her safety, Will takes Kelly into hiding. But with time ticking down and a Christmas deadline just around the corner, how can he stop an unknown enemy?
USA TODAY bestselling author BARB HAN lives in north Texas with her very own hero-worthy husband, three beautiful children, a spunky golden retriever/standard poodle mix and too many books in her to-read pile.
In her downtime, she plays video games and spends much of her time on or around a basketball court. She loves interacting with readers and is grateful for their support. You can reach her at barbhan.com (https://www.harlequin.com/shop/authors/24344_barb-han.html).
Also by Barb Han (#u64557e94-6d7f-534a-b9a5-4a53236cde39)
Cornered at Christmas
Sudden Setup
Endangered Heiress
Texas Grit
Kidnapped at Christmas Murder
and Mistletoe Bulletproof
Christmas
Stockyard Snatching
Delivering Justice
One Tough Texan
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Ransom at Christmas
Barb Han
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09448-1
RANSOM AT CHRISTMAS
© 2019 Barb Han
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Note to Readers (#u64557e94-6d7f-534a-b9a5-4a53236cde39)
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All my love to Brandon, Jacob and Tori,
my favorite people in the world.
To Babe, my hero, for being my great love
and my place to call home.
Contents
Cover (#ua6412cc5-e938-567e-bc4a-239cd30cb585)
Back Cover Text (#uf9096fa5-1b68-536d-8d61-971f590e92ab)
About the Author (#u2bf339bd-e9d8-5963-9233-0a6a85e1c79d)
Booklist (#u95e5499b-d2cc-5ee2-bca6-a6d60d44ab17)
Title Page (#u2a5ca31e-b235-51bf-8ded-b1a75de9d7ef)
Copyright (#uaf081daa-3447-5ad3-82a1-4b55b067f365)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#u118bbaff-c689-5ff3-88bd-117216e94030)
Chapter One (#u83dd921a-7474-58c3-af33-a9ca52caf437)
Chapter Two (#u2722049b-fe85-52fe-abb8-098a72e7ec30)
Chapter Three (#u929b5c55-1048-53e3-9c24-05f67f8de22a)
Chapter Four (#u6a998421-5098-557e-87f7-18f8cbe2ebd0)
Chapter Five (#u7d7a4950-cd99-5648-9f5a-08d85110e58f)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u64557e94-6d7f-534a-b9a5-4a53236cde39)
Torpedoing through trees at breakneck speed, Kelly Morgan drew a frustrating blank as she glanced down at the intricately detailed bodice of the white dress she wore. Branches slapped at her face and torso, catching the puffy layers of the full-length dress. She pushed ahead, anyway, because a voice in the back of her mind rang out, loud and clear.
It shouted, Run!
Trying to recall any details from the past few hours, let alone days, cramped her brain. All she remembered clearly was that there’d been a man in a tuxedo trying to force some kind of clear liquid down her throat.
Other than that, Kelly was clueless as to what she was doing in a white dress and her dress cowgirl boots barreling through the woods on a random ranch.
A cold front had moved in and she was shivering in her formal attire. Instinct told her to follow the creek.
As she fought her way through the underbrush, a vine caught the toe of her right boot. Her ankle twisted, shooting pain up her leg and causing her to stumble forward a few steps as she tried to regain balance.
Those couple of steps couldn’t stabilize her.
Momentum shot her forward onto all fours.
Thankfully, she missed banging her head on a mesquite tree by scarcely two inches. Her knees weren’t so lucky. They scraped against thorny branches. Rocks dug into her palms as she landed on the hard, unforgiving earth.
It was probably adrenaline that stopped her from feeling the pain of her knees being jabbed by rough edges and her hands being cut by sharp rocks.
Or whatever was in that glass of water the tall, bulky tuxedo-wearing male figure had forced down her throat.
“Tux” seemed familiar but she couldn’t pull out why. And the drink he’d tried to shove down her throat? Kelly had instantly figured out that it was laced with something. The second that tangy liquid had touched her tongue, she realized how much trouble she was in. The tacky metallic taste must be what it would have been like to lick a glue stick that had been dipped in vinegar.
Of course, she’d spewed out as much of the liquid as she could, but then the dark male figure—why couldn’t she remember who he was or the details of his face?—had pushed her a few steps backward until her back was flat against the wall. He’d pressed his body against hers, pinning her. He’d been so close, mere inches from her face, and yet she couldn’t recollect the details of his face. She’d struggled for control of the glass before he forced the liquid into her mouth.
All she recalled next was the gross metallic taste and the overwhelming feeling she wanted—no, needed!—to vomit. The cool liquid had made gurgling noises in her throat as he forced back her head. The room had spun as a dark cloud wrapped around her, squeezing, suffocating her.
Instinct told her to fight back and get out of the bride’s room of the small wedding chapel. But why she’d been there in the first place was still fuzzy.
The memory caused a rocket of panic to shoot through her and her brain to hurt. She pushed up to a standing position and grabbed a tree trunk to steady herself.
Kelly blinked her eyes, forcing them to stay open by sheer force of will. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she needed to find shelter while she was still conscious. Temperatures were dropping every minute. There had to be a place she could hide and lie low until the effects of the contents of that glass wore off.
The minute she gave in to darkness and blacked out, any wild animal—coyote, bear or hog—could come along and use her as an easy meal.
Keeping a clear head was getting more difficult. Darkness nipped at her even though the sun shone brightly through the trees. She had no idea what had really been in that drink or how much longer she could fight it off.
At least she’d stopped the man in the tuxedo, aka Tux, from giving her the entire glass like he’d threatened to do, like he’d tried. Her quick thinking and action—a sharp knee to the groin—was the only reason she could still function. Otherwise, she’d be splayed across the velvet sofa, pliant. Dead?
That swift knee to Tux’s groin had put a halt to those plans.
Was he trying to subdue her or kill her? To what end? What could Tux possibly have gained from either?
Her first thought was sexual motivation, but for reasons she couldn’t explain she knew that wasn’t right.
Figuring out exactly who Tux was and what he wanted would have to wait until her mind was clear again. There was another threat closing in. It felt like it wasn’t more than a few feet behind her, gaining ground.
Trees were thickening and the underbrush felt like hands gripping her legs, stopping her from forward progress.
