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Dropping The Hammer
Joanna Wayne
Once a cowboy…always a heroRachel Maxwell is in recovery from a kidnapping ordeal – but soon she is targeted by an obsessed killer! Luke Dawkins comes to her rescue, but while their attraction sizzles, the danger grows…
Once a cowboy...
always a hero.
Recovering from a kidnapping ordeal at the Double K ranch, Rachel Maxwell reexamines her life. Is she still the brilliant defense attorney she was before the attack? Before she can decide, an obsessed killer targets her, drawing cowboy Luke Dawkins to her rescue. He, too, is trying to escape his troubled past. Protecting Rachel gives him new purpose—but while their attraction sizzles, the danger grows.
JOANNA WAYNE began her professional writing career in 1994. Now, more than fifty published books later, Joanna has gained a worldwide following with her cutting-edge romantic suspense and Texas family series, such as Sons of Troy Ledger and Big “D” Dads. Joanna currently resides in a small community north of Houston, Texas, with her husband. You may write Joanna at PO Box 852, Montgomery, TX 77356, USA or connect with her at www.joannawayne.com (http://www.joannawayne.com).
Also by Joanna Wayne (#u233b9fe2-90b4-590a-aef2-79feae13f7c7)
Riding Shotgun
Quick-Draw Cowboy
Fearless Gunfighter
Dropping the Hammer
Trumped Up Charges
Unrepentant Cowboy
Hard Ride to Dry Gulch
Midnight Rider
Showdown at Shadow Junction
Ambush at Dry Gulch
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dropping the Hammer
Joanna Wayne
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07878-8
DROPPING THE HAMMER
© 2018 Jo Ann Vest
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.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To the people in southeast Texas who not only survived Hurricane Harvey but showed amazing gusto in pitching in to help friends and absolute strangers who suffered devastating losses. And to the people around the state, country and the world who supported the relief efforts with their time, money and prayers. Your spirit of love and caring will never be forgotten.
Contents
Cover (#ud39d16ad-f69f-5e1c-ac7f-93f71f6172f2)
Back Cover Text (#u74fa8883-6d29-5da3-bbdf-1fbfc77c018a)
About the Author (#u28004c58-8480-557f-909d-111239452818)
Booklist (#u64cb4308-65d8-583c-a287-a70eb2eed669)
Title Page (#ud50a3d14-a0a8-5efe-a03a-00620c9672f5)
Copyright (#u45058c6b-3afe-59ad-b9ee-5c018035e8e6)
Dedication (#ua3705fa3-5d08-58a8-9ac7-90a0182eda3e)
Prologue (#u6b73f036-0193-5f86-a02c-cc805b83a685)
Chapter One (#ua6a5e41d-217c-5cbe-bcd1-207f7b46def4)
Chapter Two (#uf6224c2a-66c9-5ad3-8e60-ad85bc629477)
Chapter Three (#ub8a63e67-be95-5fd0-8979-8515e949bd73)
Chapter Four (#ucae4a885-1f5d-55b8-a907-27cc75c64abf)
Chapter Five (#ufd8a03c5-85c2-5c01-8fdb-62c22328472a)
Chapter Six (#u0b0ca350-3a8d-58d5-bafb-0af36674b392)
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)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue (#u233b9fe2-90b4-590a-aef2-79feae13f7c7)
Death screamed, echoing shrilly through Rachel Maxwell’s brain as Roy Sales’s large, meaty hands tightened around her throat. His powerful body was stretched on top of hers, pinning her to her bed.
Her chest burned. She couldn’t breathe. She was losing consciousness as fear clawed at her insides, tearing her apart bit by bloody bit. Even as life slipped away, her heart persisted, throbbing erratically.
“Don’t worry, sweet Rachel. I won’t let you die if you do what I say.”
His maniacal laugh crawled inside her as his grip on her throat slowly eased. She coughed, choking as oxygen fought its way back into her lungs.
“Bucking against me is futile, sweetheart. I’ll never let you go. You belong to me. You always will. You know you want it that way.”
“Let me go,” she pleaded, her voice dry and scratchy, little more than a whisper. “Please, let me go.”
“That’s the way, baby. Keep begging.”
She closed her eyes tight so that she didn’t have to see the evil that darkened his eyes. Pleading wouldn’t help. He was heartless, devoid of compassion, his deranged soul as black as the depths of the deepest cave.
She writhed and twisted beneath him, finally getting her right arm free. She fisted her hand and swung wildly.
Blunt pain met her knuckles. There was a crash. She cried out in pain as blood splattered her face and dripped through her fingers.
She managed a scream. Loud. Shrill.
Her body stiffened and she kicked wildly, her feet tangling in the sheets as she escaped his grasping hands. Still screaming, she jerked into wakefulness—not to the sound of her cries, but to her cell phone’s alarm.
Rachel gulped scratchy clumps of air. It was only a nightmare. She was in her own apartment. Alone. Safe.
She fumbled to turn off the alarm. Her phone was wet. Her hands were damp and clammy, but with water, not the blood she’d imagined in the clutches of the terrifying nightmare.
She’d evidently knocked over the glass of water she’d left on the bedside table. The dizziness and cold, hard terror began to subside as she dried her phone on the corner of the sheet.
She stretched her feet out in front of her, staring at the shadows that crawled across the wall in the faint glow of sunrise. She was safe and yet the horror of being kidnapped and held in captivity by the psychopath persisted along with anxiety attacks and sudden bouts of panic.
Something as routine as a strange man walking too close behind her in downtown Houston in broad daylight could set her off. Or a man approaching in the office parking lot. Or even the creepy feeling that someone was watching her when she got out of her car at night.
She had to get her act together and move past her own trauma. But even fully awake and in the safety of her own bedroom, she could feel killing fingers at her throat, choking the life from her.
She could sense danger deep in her soul.
Chapter One (#u233b9fe2-90b4-590a-aef2-79feae13f7c7)
Three months later
“Good morning, Miss Maxwell.”
The firm’s receptionist smiled as Rachel walked through the double glass doors of their fifteenth-floor office.
“You’re here early this morning, Carrie,” Rachel said.
“Yes, but it may be the first time I’ve ever arrived before you. Sometimes I think you sleep here.”
“I’ve been tempted.”
“Mr. Fitch Sr. beat you in this morning, too. He said to have you stop by his office when you arrived.”
“Did he say why?”
“No, but I got the idea it’s important.”
Everything was important to Eric Fitch Sr. He had a controlling hand over everything that went on in this firm.
Rachel stopped by her office, shrugged out of her light gray overcoat and put it and her handbag away before heading to Eric’s office.
His door was ajar. She tapped on it and he stood and motioned her inside.
“Carrie said you needed to see me?”
“Yes. It’s going to be a very busy and hopefully productive day. If you have any appointments that aren’t urgent, you’ll need to cancel them.”
“Sounds serious. What’s up?”
