Safe with a Stranger. Linda Conrad

      Josh couldn’t remember the last time he’d really smiled.

      His sense of humor had been AWOL for months—years, maybe.

      “Thank you,” Clare said with a smile.

      Without thinking, only needing to feel her warmth, he leaned in closer. “I don’t know what to say,” he murmured. He was hovering within an inch of those tantalizing lips, caught between a wish and a prayer.

      “Say, ‘You’re welcome.’”

      The soft whisper of air from her words fanned over his face as he closed his eyes and breathed her in. What would she do if he narrowed the gap between them and bent for a taste of those luscious lips?

      He reached out and ended up grabbing a handful of air.

      Hot damn. He should’ve known better.

      Dear Reader,

      June brings you four high-octane reads from Silhouette Romantic Suspense, just in time for summer. Steaming up your sunglasses is Nina Bruhns’s hot romance, Killer Temptation (#1516), which is the first of a thrilling new trilogy, SEDUCTION SUMMER. In this series, a serial killer is murdering amorous couples on the beach and no lover is safe. You won’t want to miss this sexy roller coaster ride! Stay tuned in July and August for Sheri White Feather’s and Cindy Dees’s heart-thumping contributions, Killer Passion and Killer Affair.

      USA TODAY bestselling author Marie Ferrarella enthralls readers with Protecting His Witness (#1515), the latest in her family saga, CAVANAUGH JUSTICE. Here, an undercover cop crosses paths with a secretive beauty who winds up being a witness to a mob killing. And then, can a single mother escape her vengeful ex and fall in love with her protector? Find out in Linda Conrad’s Safe with a Stranger (#1517), the first book in her miniseries, THE SAFEKEEPERS, which weaves family, witchcraft and danger into an exciting read. Finally, crank up your air-conditioning as brand-new author Jill Sorenson raises temperatures with Dangerous to Touch (#1518), featuring a psychic heroine and lawman, who work on a murder case and uncover a wild attraction.

      This month is all about finding love against the odds and those adventures lurking around every corner. So as you lounge on the beach or in your favorite chair, lose yourself in one of these gems from Silhouette Romantic Suspense!

      Sincerely,

      Patience Smith

      Senior Editor

      LINDA CONRAD

      was inspired by her mother, who gave her a deep love of storytelling. “Mom told me I was the best liar she ever knew. And that’s saying something for a woman with an Irish storyteller’s background,” Linda says. Linda has been writing contemporary romances for Silhouette Books for seven years. Besides telling stories, her passions are her husband and family, and finding the time to read cozy mysteries and emotional love stories. Linda keeps busy and is happy living in the sunshine near the Florida Keys. Visit Linda’s Web site at www.lindaconrad.com.

      Safe with a Stranger

      Linda Conrad

      

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      To all women everywhere: these books are for you.

      And to Janet Capps, whose ideas for Texas-sounding

       names were superior. Thanks to her, we found Larado Hinojosa and the interesting character behind the name. Thanks Janet!

      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

      Chapter 1

      Nothing seemed off, yet everything felt wrong.

      There were no eerie noises. No flashes of color. No lightning bolts to give her a clue. Still, Clare Chandler’s instincts told her this funky Houston bus station was about to be the end of their road.

      But she refused to give up. Frustration warred with determination as she clutched her sleeping son in her arms and slinked backward into the shadows. So, they would miss this bus. There would be another in a couple of hours.

      The danger she’d felt had been coming from those two men there by the bus benches, the ones in the suits and ties. They looked legit, but slightly out of place. Had they come for her and Jimmy?

      She’d been so careful. Hadn’t used a credit card or a phone. Hadn’t slipped up and called Jimmy by that hard-to-spell name his father had given him.

      Clare and her son had only just arrived in this country on the private plane her old boss had helped to charter. There could not have been time for anyone to locate them.

      Clare was sure she hadn’t made any mistakes.

      Nevertheless, her gut was telling her the worst had happened. She’d known her ex-husband, Ramzi, would come after them. After Jimmy. But she had hoped to reach the safety of her old college roommate’s Missouri home first.

      Trying to stand perfectly still so they wouldn’t be spotted, Clare almost missed her two-year-old’s muffled cry. She settled him higher against her shoulder. In her head she began clicking off the possibilities for his distress, wanting to be the best mother ever.

      “Are you wet, Jimmy?” she asked and checked his diaper.

      Her baby squirmed in her arms, wide-awake now. “No!” He didn’t have many words in his vocabulary yet, but he knew what changing his diaper meant. She had very nearly managed to potty train Jimmy before it had been time to take her son and sneak away from the country of Abu Fujarah.

      Ramzi had once said he thought she made a good mother, though that hadn’t seemed good enough to make him want to let her raise her own son. Clare let out a beleaguered breath, then stiffened her spine, determined to do everything right.

      Jimmy crammed his fist into his mouth and whined. Ah, he was hungry again. And he was tired. If she didn’t do something about the hunger soon, he would start making a fuss. The last thing she needed was for Jimmy to throw a terrible-twos tantrum and draw the attention of everyone in the bus station.

      Clare would never give up her son. Never. So she couldn’t simply walk into the busy restaurant in the station and let those goons take him away. There had to be someplace else nearby where they could eat.

      Murmuring to soothe Jimmy, she inched along the wall in an attempt to stay away from the harsh fluorescent lights of the station’s main waiting room. She slipped out the side door into the starlight-spangled night.

      Taking a breath of good ol’ Texas air—the pungent, hit-you-in-the-face-with-gas-wells-and-feed-lots kind of air—Clare thought of her home. Maybe she should try calling her father in West Texas for help. She’d already rejected that plan once, knowing it would be the first place Ramzi would look for Jimmy. But right now, being home sounded so safe.

      No, she didn’t dare show up on her father’s doorstep. Sticking with