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Snowbound Security
Beverly Long
Saved and seduced…Stuck in a raging snowstorm, Laura Collins can't refuse shelter in Rico Metez's Colorado mountain cabin. She's been on the run with a child and will do anything to save her.But as he puts everything on the line to protect Laura, Rico senses she's got deeper secrets that involve the little girl. Can he learn the truth before his own past gets them killed?
Saved and seduced...
by Wingman Security’s sexiest agent
Stuck in a raging snowstorm, Laura Collins can’t refuse shelter in Rico Metez’s Colorado mountain cabin. She’s been on the run with a child and will do anything to save her. But as he puts everything on the line to protect Laura, Rico senses she’s got deeper secrets that involve the little girl. Can he learn the truth before his own past gets them killed?
BEVERLY LONG enjoys the opportunity to write her own stories. She has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business and more than twenty years of experience as a human resources director. She considers her books to be a great success if they compel the reader to stay up way past their bedtime. Beverly loves to hear from readers. Visit beverlylong.com (http://www.beverlylong.com), or like her author fan page at Facebook.com/beverlylong.romance (https://www.facebook.com/BeverlyLong.Romance/).
Also By Beverly Long
Wingman Security
Power Play
Bodyguard Reunion
Snowbound Security
Return to Ravesville
Hidden Witness
Agent Bride
Urgent Pursuit
Deep Secrets
The Men from Crow Hollow
Hunted
Stalked
Trapped
The Detectives
Deadly Force
Secure Location
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Snowbound Security
Beverly Long
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07893-1
SNOWBOUND SECURITY
© 2018 Beverly R. Long
Published in Great Britain 2018
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)
“Suddenly, I feel like living dangerously.” He deliberately stared at her mouth.
“Really?”
She sounded breathless. Was it from walking up the hill? Or the idea of what his living dangerously might mean for her?
“Yeah,” he said. “What do you think about that?”
She stared at him. Her cheeks were red and her hair was flying around her face, full of static electricity from her cap. “Living dangerously. I’ve spent a lifetime doing just the opposite, being very careful to do just the right thing.”
“And now?”
“And now, I think I might be done with that.”
What was she saying? There could be no room for misinterpretation here. He leaned close, whispered in her ear so the little girls could not hear. “I want you in my bed, Laura.”
“I’m not in a place where I can make any commitments, Rico.”
“I’m not asking for any. Or expecting any,” he added. Hoping, yeah, but he didn’t need to say that.
“Then I say yes.”
* * *
Don’t miss the next romance in Beverly Long’s exciting miniseries, Wingman Security!
Dear Reader (#u2be2ace7-1701-5237-9043-8a6e9b86bc92),
Thank you for the opportunity to share Laura and Rico’s story. I’m super excited that it’s set in Colorado. My grandparents homesteaded on the western slope of Colorado in the early 1930s. My mother, who claimed she could ride a horse before she could walk, had wonderful stories about her childhood on the mountain ranch. She left Colorado to marry my dad and they settled in Illinois. My grandparents, however, continued to live in Colorado until their deaths many years later.
In the summers, my parents would load up the Buick LeSabre with their five children (yes, those cars really were big enough for seven) and we would drive from Illinois to Colorado and spend two weeks with my grandparents. The excitement of seeing the mountains and knowing that we were close is a feeling that I will never forget. By then, my grandparents had left the ranch and were living in town. Aunts and uncles and cousins, who all still lived in Colorado, would arrive. We’d play canasta, catch frogs in the drainage ditch and pick tomatoes out of the garden that were delicious with just a little salt.
For me, Colorado is about family and that’s the theme that resonates in Snowbound Security. The importance of family, the risks one will take to keep family safe, the sacrifices one will make. The love that binds a family together.
I hope you enjoy!
All my best,
Beverly
To Lydia, who has helped me to know how very much my grandparents must have loved me.
Contents
Cover (#ufb1a6ba6-49d4-576d-815a-e358abe97cd9)
Back Cover Text (#u7e3b378b-6714-5907-ba5d-eb0dbb04bc5b)
About the Author (#uf46102ba-3d1c-5ff9-bbdd-071aec456b27)
Booklist (#ua470fc48-fb31-5f6c-9668-45c46f71691a)
Title Page (#u29d4c006-a205-51b3-b67a-91155a9c190e)
Copyright (#u99a94d23-6329-56c7-842b-bcdb470df714)
Introduction (#u0ff79273-930c-5227-aee2-0bfda79222a7)
Dear Reader (#u3a3da352-e6ad-5d61-a112-a14afa3f4f81)
Dedication (#uc6d338bc-42b0-5260-a90f-a6c16b996d48)
Chapter 1 (#u2fb557ef-1b1d-5a13-a056-455d92dc0b4a)
Chapter 2 (#ucc494468-32a2-5ccc-a791-232bacccf5e9)
Chapter 3 (#u1c7fca48-c198-5b53-8c66-7688030d18c3)
Chapter 4 (#ub5588b6d-8849-58ad-a21b-eaa34410d1cc)
Chapter 5 (#u9b10d705-939b-50aa-b377-b5500d27481e)
Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1 (#u2be2ace7-1701-5237-9043-8a6e9b86bc92)
Laura Collins awoke when a small hand poked her in the nose. She opened one eye, then the other. Hannah stood at the side of the bed, her head at an angle, her long curly blond hair in even more disarray than usual. Likely from having it wadded up and stuffed underneath her small baseball cap for too many hours the day before.
“Wake up,” said the four-year-old.
Laura smiled. She felt as if she could sleep for weeks. But Hannah was likely not having any of that. She’d gotten regular naps snug in her car seat in the back of the white Mustang while Laura had driven for seventeen hours, her tense fingers clenching the steering wheel.
“Are you hungry, sweetheart?” They had some food left but Laura knew that she’d need to make a trip to the grocery store soon. There had to be one somewhere.
Hannah nodded, her big blue eyes solemn.
She was too serious. Maybe she understood more than Laura thought she did. She hoped not. One day she’d tell her the truth. But not now. She was too young. There was too much at risk. “Peanut butter toast and an orange?” she asked.
“Pancakes,” Hannah said.
