Manhunter

Manhunter
Loreth Anne White

Sergeant Gabriel Caruso arrived in the remote Yukon wilderness with one goal: to erase all memories of the serial killer who had ruined his life. But he soon discovered that the madman was hot on his heels–and after anything that touched Gabe's heart. Including local tracker Silver Karvonen. As Silver plotted with Gabe to stop their predator, she matched more than wits with the Mountie. Even the icy tundra couldn't muffle the heat simmering between them. But for Silver and Gabe, love could very well be a matter of life and death.

“You must be Sergeant Caruso. Welcome to Black Arrow.”

He lifted his shades slowly, his gaze locking onto hers. Silver’s heart did a tight little tumble. Fringed by soft, black lashes, his eyes were a warm liquid brown. But the lines that fanned out from them spoke of something she recognized all too well.

This man had been hurt. But he was pretending otherwise.

Strong fingers closed around hers as he clasped her hand firmly. Silver’s pulse raced. Sergeant Gabriel Caruso oozed danger—not for Black Arrow, but for her personally. And by the sharp flicker in his eyes, she saw he’d felt something, too.

A Mountie was the last person on this earth she needed to be attracted to. Especially a homicide cop.

Not with her dark secret.

Dear Reader,

The North attracts a free-spirited and disparate sort. It’s wild country, a last frontier—a harsh and beautiful place where temperatures can plunge to-58º Fahrenheit, where inhabitants must endure long periods without sunlight, a sense of isolation and a culture foreign to most of us.

Those who weren’t born to the North are often lured above the 60th parallel in search of something—gold, silver, meaning. Adventure.

Others go to escape—the law, past relationships, bad mistakes, themselves.

But although the area is vast, it’s not an easy place to hide. The inhospitable terrain bonds unlikely allies, and the social circles are in fact small. Mistakes can mean death, and the loneliness forces people to look inward, to dig deep and find their true mettle. The North forms larger-than-life characters, larger-than-life adventure…and to me, it inspires romance.

I hope you enjoy the first book in my WILD COUNTRY series—tales from this vast land, and the characters it shapes.

Loreth Anne White

Manhunter

Loreth Anne White

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

LORETH ANNE WHITE

As a child in Africa, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, Loreth said a spy…or a psychologist, or maybe marine biologist, archaeologist or lawyer. Instead she fell in love, traveled the world and had a baby. When she looked up again she was back in Africa, writing and editing news and features for a large chain of community newspapers. But those childhood dreams never died. It took another decade, another baby, and a move across continents before the lightbulb finally went on. She didn’t have to grow up. She could be them all—the spy, the psychologist and all the rest—through characters. She sat down to pen her first novel…and fell in love.

She currently lives with her husband, two daughters and their cats in a ski resort in the rugged Coast Mountains of British Columbia, where there is no shortage of inspiration for larger-than-life characters and adventure.

To Mary J. Forbes and RCMP Assistant Commissioner

Gary Forbes for helping me find the soul of my Mountie.

To Meretta Pater and Canadian Air Force Corporal

Clint Pater, my true north friends.

And as always, to my editor Susan Litman.

Contents

Prologue

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

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Prologue

Naked as the day he was born and smeared head to toe with slate-gray river mud, he crawled up the slope, circling above the cabin, careful not to stand in case he was seen from below when lightning flashed.

The night was black and evil, rain slashing horizontally, wind ripping branches and crashing them down to the forest floor, rivers rising and breaking banks.

There would be dogs soon, he knew. And he was leaving a heavy trail of blood.