Bride of the Wolf

Bride of the Wolf
Susan Krinard

Riding off into the sunset…can be deadly Rachel Lyndon yearns to escape her scandalous past, but her dreams for a better life seem ruined after she buries her fiancé on the Texas plains. Heath Renier has been evading the law by the skin of his teeth for years. Now he’s found a new identity as Holden Renshaw, foreman of Dog Creek Ranch. But the arrival of his boss’s mail-order bride, now a widow, upsets his fragile peace and threatens to expose his deadly secrets.Rachel knows that the mysterious and handsome Holden is the last man she should trust – especially once she’s seen glimpses of his true nature. When he’s suspected of a terrible crime she faces an impossible choice. But the heat of his gaze ignites something within her.No matter how dangerous the road ahead, she’s determined to give him the one thing he’s never truly believed he deserves: her undying love.

Praise for the Novels of New York Times bestselling author Susan Krinard

“Susan Krinard was born to write romance.”

—Amanda Quick

“Darkly intense, intricately plotted, and chilling, this sexy

tale skillfully interweaves several time periods, revealing

key past elements with perfect timing but keeping the reader

firmly in the novel’s ‘present’ social scene.”

—Library Journal on Lord of Sin

“Krinard’s imagination knows no bounds as she steps into the

mystical realm of the unicorn and takes readers along for the

ride of their fairy-tale lives.”

—RT BOOK Reviews on Lord of Legends, 4½ stars

“A master of atmosphere and description.”

—Library Journal

“A poignant tale of redemption.”

—Booklist on To Tame a Wolf

“With riveting dialogue and passionate characters,

Ms Krinard exemplifies her exceptional knack for creating

an extraordinary story of love, strength, courage and

compassion.”

—RT BOOK Reviews on Secrets of the Wolf

Also available from Susan Krinard

from www.millsandboon.co.uk

COME THE NIGHT

DARK OF THE MOON

CHASING MIDNIGHT

Susan Krinard

Bride of the Wolf

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

In memory of all the great Western movie directors I love:

Anthony Mann, Delmer Daves, and John Sturges,

and for the great Western actors:

Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Glenn Ford,

Richard Widmark, William Holden, Clint Eastwood, Audie

Murphy, Jack Elam, Eli Wallach,

and Lee Van Cleef.

Acknowledgment

Thanks to Susan de Guardiola and Jeri and Mario

Garcia for their help with the Spanish language.

Prologue

Pecos County, Texas, 1881

JEDEDIAH MCCARRICK WAS DEAD.

Heath rode carefully around the body sprawled at the bottom of the draw, gentling Apache with a quiet word. The horse was right to be scared. Jed hadn’t been dead more than a few days, and the scent of decay was overwhelming.

An accident. That was the way it looked, anyhow. Half Jed’s skull was bashed in, and his legs stuck out at strange angles. The rocks were sharp around here, and plentiful.

But Jed was a damn good rider. You had to be, in the Pecos, so far from civilization. The old man had been on his way home, just as his letter had said. He would have let go the cowboys he’d hired for the drive once it was finished, and he didn’t trust many people. He would have risked riding alone rather than let some stranger get close to his hard-earned money.

That was his mistake.

Heath dismounted and scanned the horizon. Jed’s horse was gone, so there was no way to be sure exactly how it had happened. Maybe something had spooked the animal: a rattler, a rabbit, a gust of wind. Heath couldn’t smell anything but the stink of rot, no trace of another human who might have been around when Jed died. Any hoofprints or tracks had been blown away. If some drifter or outlaw had helped Jed to his grave and taken his horse, he was long gone.

I should have been with him, Heath thought. But Jed hadn’t wanted him along.