
Part of Series
She says she doesn't need protection. He knows better. And for him, it's personal. After a second on-the-job injury, Nash “Rambler” Hanley is worried about being able to continue as a covert operative for Blackthorne, Inc. Rescuing people in distress is what Nash does, and he can’t imagine his life outside of the Blackthorne teams. While he’s stuck on medical leave, he accepts his partner’s offer of a stay at his mountain cabin to recover and regroup. Warned that the cabin needs repairs, Nash isn’t surprised to see signs of neglect. What he is surprised to see is a woman who’s taken up residence. Danika Payton has her eyes on winning a Pulitzer for her reporting, although she’s still stuck in the soft news Living section of the Albuquerque Gazette. She’s sure her next story will move her up, but instead, she’s fired. Her boss says it’s a matter of downsizing, but the abrupt way she was let go, and the threatening letters that start arriving tell her there’s more to it. She takes to the road, doing her best to stay off the radar and ends up in a remote area in the Colorado mountains. A storm has her seeking shelter in a vacant cabin. Nash is tempted to send Danika on her way, especially since nothing she says rings true. However, it’s clear to him she’s in trouble, and his helper instincts kick in. Danika wants no part of Nash’s help, but the haunted look in his eyes triggers nurturing feelings she wasn’t aware she had. She’ll do anything to make him laugh. The threats escalate. But are they directed at Danika, Nash, or his partner? Can Danika and Nash figure out which of them is being threatened and who’s behind the threats before it’s too late?
Author

Terry Odell was born in Los Angeles and after living several decades in Florida now makes her home in Colorado. An avid reader (her parents tell everyone they had to move from their first home because she finished the local library), she always wanted to "fix" stories so the characters did what she wanted, in books, television, and the movies. Once she began writing, she found this wasn't always possible, as evidenced when the mystery she intended to write rapidly became a romance. However, her entry into the world of writing can be attributed to a "mistake" when her son mentioned the Highlander television series on a visit home. Being the "good mother" she began watching the show and soon connected with the world of fanfiction, first as a reader, then as a critique giver, and then, one brave weekend, she wrote her first short story. Things snowballed (if one can use that analogy in central Florida!) and soon she was writing her first original novel. Much later, she mentioned something about a recent Highlander episode to her son, and he said, "Oh, I've never actually watched the show, I just thought the concept was cool." Little did he know what he'd started. "