The Colton Marine. Lisa Childs

      

       A troubled hero returns home to a family nightmare in this thrilling Coltons of Shadow Creek tale!

      Hired to renovate his family’s former mansion, River Colton hopes to find answers to his deepest questions. Plagued by memories of his fugitive mother, the ex-marine finds danger to his life in the estate’s secret chambers—and danger to his heart in Edith Beaulieu, its beautiful new guardian.

      But someone doesn’t want Edith or River in the seemingly haunted house. When Edith falls victim to too many “accidents”—and falls hard for River—the Texas loner risks everything to protect her. If the ghosts of Coltons past lurk in the shadows, it’s up to Edith and River to hunt them down...

      River’s broad shoulders moved up and down in a quick shrug. “It’s fine. I get it. You’re not interested.”

      But Edith was. She was more interested than she’d ever been before. But she couldn’t admit that now. He might reach for her again. He might kiss her.

      Then she opened her mouth because she wanted him to touch her, to kiss her...

      But he reached for a broom instead and began sweeping up the shards of the vase she’d dropped. “You seem a little rattled,” he remarked. “Had you been hearing anything else before I showed up?”

      “What do you mean?” she asked.

      “Any of those weird noises again?” he asked. “Like the clanging or the footsteps on the stairs?”

      She shook her head. She almost wished she would have; it would have distracted her from thinking about him, from obsessing about him, about how passionately he’d kissed her, about how he’d carried her up those stairs...

      * * *

      The Coltons of Shadow Creek: Only family can keep you safe...

      The Colton Marine

      Lisa Childs

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Ever since LISA CHILDS read her first romance novel (a Mills & Boon story, of course) at age eleven, all she wanted was to be a romance writer. With over forty novels published with Mills & Boon, Lisa is living her dream. She is an award-winning, bestselling romance author. Lisa loves to hear from readers, who can contact her on Facebook, through her website, www.lisachilds.com, or her snail-mail address, PO Box 139, Marne, MI 49435, USA.

      A special thank-you to Melissa Jeglinski

      for being a fabulous agent and friend.

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

       About the Author

       Title Page

       Dedication

       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

       Chapter 19

       Chapter 20

       Chapter 21

       Chapter 22

       Chapter 23

       Chapter 24

       Chapter 25

       Extract

       Copyright

       Chapter 1

      The darkness was all-encompassing. All-concealing. Night was the only time River liked to come out now—like the other nocturnal creatures that rustled around in the brush. The noises made his horse uneasy, and it shifted beneath him.

      “It’s okay, Shadow.” He soothed the skittish stallion with a pat along his silky mane.

      Maybe he should have chosen another horse from Mac’s barn—one less temperamental. But there was something about the formerly