Colton's Secret Son Read online

  A scandalous revelation from New York Times bestseller Carla Cassidy—the most dangerous Colton yet is on the loose...

  When criminal mastermind Livia Colton escapes from prison, her son, Texas Ranger Knox Colton, is suspended from his job. Embittered, the loner lawman heads home to Shadow Creek, Texas, a town full of unsettling memories for him. But Knox is floored when he discovers that the woman he loved and lost has a son that looks just like him.

  Allison Rafferty thought she was doing the right thing by not telling Knox about young Cody all those years ago. Now the man she still loves insists on getting to know his son. And as a threat looms over Shadow Creek, they’ll both discover just how far a Colton will go to protect what’s theirs.

  “That kiss was a mistake. I don’t feel that way about you anymore.” Okay, maybe she could deny it, but she could tell by the look in Knox’s eyes that he didn’t believe her.

  “In any case, anything like that between us would be foolish, and it would only complicate things. We aren’t going there again, Knox, and now I think it’s time we say good night.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief when he nodded and turned to walk to the front door. Her legs were still shaky as she accompanied him.

  “I’m sorry about my little breakdown,” Allison said.

  He turned to face her, and before she could read his intentions he grabbed her and once again planted a kiss on her lips.

  It was short and searing and when he released her his eyes sparkled with a knowing glint. “The next time you try to tell me you don’t feel that way about me anymore, say it like you really mean it,” he said, and then he was gone into the night.

  * * *

  The Coltons of Shadow Creek:

  Only family can keep you safe...

  * * *

  If you’re on Twitter, tell us what you think of Harlequin Romantic Suspense! #harlequinromsuspense

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to Shadow Creek, a small town in Texas and home to Livia Colton, a killer on the run.

  I can’t get enough of the Colton family! This book introduces a whole new branch as tortured and heroic as the rest.

  Knox Colton’s mother’s escape from prison throws his world into a tailspin. He returns to Shadow Creek to find out that he fathered a son nine years before, a fact that stirs his anger against his old lover.

  For Allison Rafferty, the woman he left behind, Knox’s presence back in town, back in her life, evokes memories of both love and heartache.

  However, when their son is kidnapped, the two of them must come together and support each other as they go through the darkest days of their lives. Will their love for each other be the shining beacon that gets them through the ordeal?

  I hope you all enjoy this first installment of The Coltons of Shadow Creek and find Knox and Allison’s love unforgettable!

  Happy reading,

  COLTON’S

  SECRET SON

  Carla Cassidy

  Carla Cassidy is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author who has written more than 120 novels for Harlequin. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance from RT Book Reviews for Anything for Danny. In 1998, she won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series from RT Book Reviews. Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write.

  Books by Carla Cassidy

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  The Coltons of Shadow Creek

  Colton’s Secret Son

  Cowboys of Holiday Ranch

  A Real Cowboy

  Cowboy of Interest

  Cowboy Under Fire

  Cowboy at Arms

  Operation Cowboy Daddy

  The Coltons of Texas

  Colton Cowboy Hideout

  The Coltons of Oklahoma

  The Colton Bodyguard

  Men of Wolf Creek

  Cold Case, Hot Accomplice

  Lethal Lawman

  Lone Wolf Standing

  Visit the Author Profile page at

  Harlequin.com for more titles.

  Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!

  Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010002

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Tough Justice: Countdown (Part 1 of 8) by Carla Cassidy

  Excerpt from Nanny Bodyguard by Lisa Childs

  Chapter 1

  Shadow Creek, Texas, held nothing but broken dreams, betrayal and heartache for Knox Colton. He had thought he’d never return to the small town where he’d grown up, but here he was again after a ten-year absence.

  Forced to take a sabbatical from his job as a Texas Ranger, embarrassed and humiliated by his mother’s crimes, he’d really had no other place to go.

  He now clenched his fingers around the steering wheel as a whisper of heated anger burned in the pit of his stomach. Nothing like being a Texas Ranger and having one of the FBI’s most wanted as a mother.

  Livia Colton had created plenty of chaos and damage in his childhood, and now she was affecting her grown children’s lives once again.

  He rolled down his window to allow in the sweet-scented early March air and drew in a deep breath. The last thing he wanted to do was to carry his simmering anger into the peaceful sanctuary his younger sister called home.

  His anger eased at thoughts of his youngest sister, Jade. Despite the nine years difference in their ages, he’d always been particularly close to her.

  A smile curved his lips as he turned into Hill Country Farm, Jade’s home. Ahead of him was her house, but around the house were her passions. Vegetable gardens were just beginning to awaken with what would be summer bounty. Stables and a riding arena were on the right, and a barn with chickens, goats and pigs was on the left.

  The house itself was small, but exuded a sense of stability and welcome. Pots of purple pansies sat on the porch, dipping and waving their heads in the light spring breeze.

  Before he’d stopped his car, Jade stepped out on the porch, a wide smile of greeting on her pretty face. He parked and got out of the car and she raced toward him, her dark brown ponytail bouncing as her sweet laughter filled the air.

  She jumped into his arms and he picked her up and spun her around. His cowboy hat flew off his head before he deposited her back on the ground and gave her a firm kiss on the forehead.

  “Oh, Knox, I’ve missed you so much,” she said.

  “And I’ve missed you,” he replied as he picked up his hat and plopped it back on his head. “You look terrific, Jade.”

  She stepped back from him and eyed him. “You don’t look half-bad yourself, big brother.” She gave him a playful punch in the stomach. “At least you haven’t gone to seed in your old age.”

  “Hey, I’m only thirty-three. I’m still in my prime,” he retorted.

  She linked her arm with his. “Come on inside. I’ve got the coffee on and I ma
de a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls.”

  “Hmm, nothing better on a Saturday morning than cinnamon rolls and time with you,” he replied.

  Minutes later the two siblings sat across from each other at the round oak table in the kitchen that smelled of spices and sunshine. Yellow curtains fluttered at the open windows as the sweet scent of new grass and budding flowers drifted in.

  “So, how’s Ranger life?” Jade asked as she set a small plate with a cinnamon roll the size of the palm of his hand before him.

  “It was great until two weeks ago.” He frowned down into his coffee cup and then looked up and met his sister’s gaze. “And then day before yesterday I was told rather forcefully that a sabbatical might be a good idea right now.”

  Jade’s brown eyes darkened. “Because of Mother’s escape from prison.” Knox gave a curt nod of his head. “How long are you on sabbatical for?”

  “An undetermined amount of time,” he replied. “I have become somewhat of an embarrassment with a mother who plotted and succeeded with an elaborate escape from Red Peak Maximum Security Prison. I was told to lie low until she was no longer a hot news item and was caught.” The burn of anger was back in his stomach.

  “I can’t believe she managed to pay off so many guards and got into the infirmary and through two more security checks before cutting a hole in the floor and slithering down into the sewer system.”

  “A new sewer system that she somehow arranged to be built,” he added drily. “And you’ve probably heard that in the construction site she was picked up by a white van outside the prison walls.”

  “And the van had no plates or distinguishing marks when it was found abandoned near the Mexican border,” Jade added. “I watch the news, too.”

  What had been kept out of the news was that there had been blood found on the side of the van, blood that hadn’t belonged to Livia Colton, but Knox wasn’t telling that to Jade or anyone else. Knox had been told this by his boss before the upper brass cut him out of the information chain.

  The information was being intentionally held back by the authorities. Someone had been at the scene at the Mexican border with Livia and that someone had apparently been hurt. Knox had a feeling the identity of that person was already known to somebody in law enforcement, but it was a piece of information that hadn’t been told or leaked. By now, the blood left behind at the van would have been analyzed and he couldn’t help but believe DNA had been matched to somebody.

  “Then you know the latest is that she was spotted in Mexico, and that’s where I hope she stays until she burns in hell,” Knox said forcefully.

  Jade reached across the table and grabbed his hand with her much smaller one. “Knox, you need to release some of that anger. It knots up in your veins and makes me believe the Hulk could pop out of you at any time.”

  A wry grin curved his mouth. “Maybe what I need to keep the Hulk inside is a couple of bites of this magnificent cinnamon roll.”

  She flashed him a beautiful smile. “Dig in.”

  As he enjoyed not one, but two of the breakfast treats, Jade caught him up on her business. She ran a rehab center for off-track Thoroughbred horses, hoping to give them second careers as pleasure riding mounts or hunter-jumpers.

  It was obvious she loved what she did; it shone from the happiness in her eyes, in the flush of her cheeks as she spoke about the horses. Knox had loved being a Texas Ranger, but his mother had stolen that from him, at least for now.

  At least Jade seemed to be thriving, despite the fact that their mother had been in prison for drug charges and murder.

  “So, where are you staying while you’re in town?” Jade asked.

  “I was going to see about staying in the apartment at Mac’s, but Thorne insisted I bunk with him, so I’m at his place.” Mac Mackenzie was the closest thing to a father figure that Knox knew; Thorne was his son with Livia, although all of Livia’s children shared the Colton last name. Thorne had a ranch not too far away from Jade’s. “Wht’s new with everyone else?” he asked, wondering about the rest of their Colton siblings.

  Jade shrugged. “Nobody has heard anything from River lately, so we’re all assuming he’s still a marine and someplace overseas. Claudia is apparently living her dream in New York and Leonor is still in Austin.”

  “Or helping Mother stay hidden in Mexico.”

  “She wouldn’t do that,” Jade protested. Knox raised an eyebrow and Jade continued. “I know Leonor was the last to believe that Mother was guilty of all the charges against her, but she would never aid her in an escape.”

  Knox didn’t reply. He wasn’t sure what his sister might do to help their mother. She’d clung to her belief in Livia’s innocence far longer than any of the other siblings and had been the only one who had visited Livia in prison.

  “Why don’t you take me outside and show me around,” he said, suddenly tired of thoughts of their mother.

  “I’d love to,” she replied. He grabbed his hat from a nearby chair and together they walked out of Jade’s door.

  It was with great pride that she pointed out the vast gardens and the area that was a petting zoo where local schools often brought their classes to visit.

  “I love it when the children come,” Jade said. “And these animals love all the attention they get on those days.”

  They reached a pasture fence, beyond which were several of the horses she’d devoted her life to giving a second chance at a different kind of life.

  He turned to look at her. “You’re happy here.” It was a statement, not a question.

  She smiled. “I am.” The smile faded away and her eyes darkened. “And I’ll feel a lot happier when our mother is once again behind bars. I worry that she knows I helped put her there in the first place.”

  Knox pulled her into an embrace. “Don’t worry, Jade. It would be stupid for her to show up here, and we both know that she isn’t a stupid woman.”

  No, Livia definitely wasn’t stupid. She was a cunning, manipulative sociopath who had seen her children only as tools to be used to gain her wealth and power. She trotted them out for photo ops when it served her purpose and then handed them off to a nanny and forgot about them until the next time they could be useful to her. And that had been the very least of her crimes.

  “You’re right,” Jade replied as he released her. She stared out into the distance for a moment and then laughed. “You remember her lacy handkerchiefs?”

  “How could I forget? She thought carrying one made her look all high society, and God forbid if she couldn’t find a particular one in her drawer. She’d have all of us searching high and low for a pink-or lilac-colored hankie. But enough about her, let’s go see your stables.”

  As they walked toward the stables, Jade told him about the racehorses that came to her, many of whom might otherwise have been headed to the glue factory, or sadly sold for meat.

  “The first thing I have to do is make sure they’re healthy,” she explained. “And then they have to be socialized with both people and the rest of the herd.”

  They entered the stables and Knox immediately spied a young boy sweeping up. “Cody, come and meet my brother,” Jade called out to him.

  The boy set the broom aside and approached them with a friendly smile on his face. “This is my brother Knox,” Jade said. She placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “And this is Cody, the best nine-year-old helper and horse lover I’ve ever met.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, sir.” The boy stuck out a hand to shake.

  Knox took the small hand and studied the boy’s face. Bright blue eyes, oddly familiar, gazed up at him. Cody’s light brown hair was neatly cut and his smile was broad enough to illuminate an entire room.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Cody, and you can call me Knox.”

  “Do you like horses, Knox?” the boy asked hi
m.

  “I love them,” Knox replied.

  “Knox is a Texas Ranger,” Jade said.

  “Wow.” Cody’s eyes widened. “That’s awesome.”

  Those eyes...the shape and the bright blue color...what about them felt so familiar to Knox? “Thanks. So you sweep up around here?”

  “I do whatever Miss Jade wants me to and then she lets me ride the horses,” he replied.

  “Sounds like a lot of responsibility,” Knox replied.

  Cody nodded. “I can handle it.” He looked at the wristwatch he wore. “Now I need to finish up sweeping because my mom is going to be here any minute.”

  “And who is your mom?” Knox asked, wondering if he knew the woman.

  “Her name is Allison Rafferty,” Cody replied.

  Allison Rafferty? Knox’s brain exploded with a flash of sweet memories. Allison was the woman he’d once loved, the woman who had betrayed him and the one he’d never quite been able to forget.

  He stared at Cody. Those eyes...no wonder they looked so familiar to Knox. Each morning when he looked into a mirror, he saw those same ones staring back at him.

  Shock waves shuddered through him and he was vaguely aware of Jade telling Cody to go ahead outside and wait for his mother. The complicated memories he had of Allison disappeared beneath a veil of pure white anger.

  Knox turned to his sister, his heart beating hard and fast. He felt gut-punched. Cody was nine years old and had his eyes. Almost ten years ago, he’d contacted Allison when he’d heard she’d had a baby that she’d insisted belonged to an old boyfriend. She had to have gotten pregnant by another man during the time they’d been dating. He’d been utterly destroyed by her cheating and that had been the end of any relationship he had with her.

  She’d lied.

  Knox knew with a gut instinct that Cody was his son. He stared at Jade. “Did you know?”

  Jade didn’t pretend not to know what he was talking about. “I’ve always suspected, but Allison has never said anything to me, and I haven’t asked her.”

  A son. Emotion welled up to press tight against his chest. He had a son, and he’d already lost nine years because Allison had lied to him. He’d always known that she was just another woman who’d betrayed him, and this only confirmed it.