PERILOUS PURSUIT

It’s been five years since Shiloh Evans encountered the murderous gold hunters seeking Blackbeard’s hidden stash. After they killed her policewoman cousin, Shiloh left town to regroup, and earn her own police badge. Because she would see this case solved—someday. She just didn’t expect the killers to attack her new home in Treasure Point, Georgia…on the same day her ex-fiancé arrived in town. Adam Cole has tried to overcome his love for Shiloh. But he won’t just sit by when she’s in danger. Working together, they plan a trap. But springing it requires getting to centuries-buried treasure before the killers get to them.

Nothing could have kept the relief that they were both all right from showing on her face.

Adam must have seen it, because he grinned.

“See, I knew you still cared. At least a little,” he teased.

He was lucky she didn’t want the hassle of an internal affairs investigation—because she wanted nothing more than to slap that grin off of his face.

“You don’t get how serious this is, do you?” Shiloh muttered between clenched teeth. She scanned the area, unable to suppress a shiver. Gut instinct said someone was out there. Watching.

“I get it.” Adam’s voice sobered. “I know that someone tried…” His voice trailed off.

“Tried to kill us,” she finished for him.

Frustration and fear fought for dominance. Shiloh took a few deep breaths, tried to stay calm, but finally could hold back no longer. She kicked the side of the car. When she considered the incident with the snake that morning, she knew the two events had to be connected. And that could only mean one thing.

They’d found her.

SARAH VARLAND

lives in the woods in Georgia with her husband, John, their two boys and their dogs. Her passion for books comes from her mom, and her love for suspense comes from her dad who has spent a career in law enforcement. Her love for romance comes from the relationship she has with her husband and from watching too many chick flicks. When she’s not writing, she’s often found reading, baking, kayaking or hiking.

Treasure Point Secrets

Sarah Varland

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

The Lord your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness;

He will quiet you by His love;

He will exult over you with loud singing.

—Zephaniah 3:17

Dedication

To my family. You encourage me, love me and

let me talk about made-up people like they’re real.

I couldn’t ask for more.

Acknowledgments

Thank you, John, for the endless pages you read

and edited. Most of all, thank you for

being a better man than any hero I could make up—you teach me what love is every day.

Thanks to Joshua and Timothy, for letting me

go in my “working bubble” sometimes.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for coming to so many conferences with me. Mom, thanks for the babysitting marathons so I could get this book written. Dad, thanks for answering endless questions about all things law enforcement.

Thanks to Alison, for teasing me

about never finishing a story.

Thanks to my friends who have encouraged

and critiqued along the way.

Thanks to my editor, Elizabeth, for knowing exactly how to polish this story and for all the work

you put into making it the best it could be.

And thank you, Lord, for the chance to do this.

I pray you’re glorified.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Acknowledgments

PROLOGUE

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Copyright

PROLOGUE

Shiloh Evans stood alone in the empty church graveyard, surveying the freshly packed earth in front of the hard granite stone, knowing there were three fresh graves nearly identical to it in several other Savannah cemeteries. A breeze—too warm—rustled the branches of a live-oak tree, creaking its limbs in an eerie melody. It would storm before the day was done.

Though she hated storms—had since she was a little girl—it wasn’t that threat on the horizon that sent goose bumps up her bare arms and made her shiver in the August air.

There were four graves, not five. She guessed Providence had seen to that for now. She stood motionless, unable to take her eyes from the stark headstone. There was something haunting in knowing she wasn’t supposed to be alive.

Four graves.

If they ever found her, there would be five. She forced her gaze away from the cemetery and took purposeful steps toward her car.

She felt the subtle shift in the air less than a second before she heard the sizzle and pop of a lightning bolt striking close by.

Too close.

She got in her car, and then Shiloh looked back. She watched in her rearview mirror as the skies opened up, pouring rain on the fresh earth.

She had to leave, but she wasn’t running. She was regrouping. Preparing. One day she’d have the opportunity to bring the killers to justice, to see the criminals pay for what they had done. In the meantime, they would look for her, eventually come after her.

And Shiloh would be ready.

ONE

Five Years Later...

Shiloh rolled down the windows of her police cruiser and took a deep breath of the humid air. It was times like this—with the scenery in front of her and the faint taste of salt from the ocean on the breeze—that she missed Savannah. Something about the graceful, beautiful, dangerous city tugged at her and begged her to return, but Shiloh knew she never could.

The light dimmed even further, taking the area from gold to gray, and Shiloh shivered. She knew it was only from the sun dipping behind a cloud. That had nothing to do with her thoughts about Savannah. The timing was coincidence.

Nevertheless she glanced around, suddenly overtaken by an uneasy feeling she was being watched. That the past had finally found her, as she’d always known it would.

She saw nothing. But she rolled up the windows anyway. Better safe than sorry. Or dead.

She hated feeling afraid after all these years, even after being proactive to combat the fear. She’d become a police officer partially so she could be on the offensive—someone who was working to bring justice to the men who had wreaked havoc on her family’s lives five years ago—instead of a victim.

At times like this, she felt as if she’d failed. She stole a glance at the sky, wishing God would listen if she asked for His help to overcome this fear. But she’d stopped expecting Him to listen five years ago.

Instead, she focused on the road as the old plantation-style house she’d been assigned to check out came into view. Shiloh knew it must have been white once, but it was dulled now to a phantom gray. It seemed to lean on the columns that had once made the front porch regal and graceful, but now served only to keep the house from falling under the weight it carried. She couldn’t help but feel, if the house could talk, it would be able to explain its weary appearance.

As she parked her car and opened her door, Shiloh tried to shake off the melancholy that had overtaken her. The past had stayed where it belonged for five long, empty years. There was no reason to believe that would change today.

She focused on the reason she was here. Widow Hamilton called the police department two or three times a week with concerns. The reason changed, but her calls were consistent. It was a common assumption the motive behind the calls was loneliness.

She wished it was an option to send the police chaplain out to see the widow and offer her some company. Generally, chaplains did more work with the officers themselves, but Widow Hamilton and her paranoia were making it difficult for everyone in the department.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have a chaplain at the moment. The former chaplain had worked at the Treasure Point Police Department—probably since Treasure Point was founded back in 1734—until his family had finally convinced him to retire. Shiloh didn’t envy whoever tried to take his place. The former chaplain had left enormous shoes to fill, and the people of Treasure Point—while loving and protective of their own—weren’t the easiest group to break into. The new chaplain, whoever he was, would have his work cut out for him.

Shiloh knocked on the front door, taking a deep breath to steel herself against whatever problems the widow thought she was having today.

“Mrs. Hamilton? It’s Shiloh Evans, from the Treasure Point Police Department. Mrs. Hamilton, are you there? Can you hear me?”

No one answered. Shiloh glanced to the detached garage on the right, to see if there was a car inside, but the door was down. More than likely the woman was out running errands around town. Shiloh was tempted to simply turn around and leave. But even though she was relatively certain there was nothing to the widow’s fears, Mrs. Hamilton counted on the police department to take her concerns seriously. With that in mind, Shiloh walked around the side of the house, noting that if the widow was truly concerned about intruders, she’d take care of the overgrown bushes, which would make an ideal hiding place for someone who was up to no good.

“If anyone’s there, come out now. Don’t make me come in after you.” There was only silence—not a single rustle. The quiet should have been comforting. It wasn’t. Instead, it added to the tense, charged feeling running up and down her spine. She glared at the bushes as she walked by, narrowing her eyes to make absolutely sure no one was hiding in them. She saw nothing, only the dense green leaves. Still she shivered.

“Keep it together, Evans. You don’t want to have to explain that you discharged your weapon because you got spooked by some shrubbery.”

When she reached the back of the house, she knocked on the back door. No answer there, either. She peeked in several windows and noted that nothing looked out of place or disturbed. Duty done, Shiloh walked back to her car, eager to continue with her day. And maybe find some decent coffee to make up for the morning she’d had so far.

Shiloh got in her car and was reaching up to turn the key when movement near the passenger seat caught her eye.

She froze and turned her gaze in the direction of whatever had moved. The first thing she noticed was an unfamiliar burlap sack on the floorboard.

The second was the coiled-up form of what looked like a timber rattlesnake.

Her heart pounded as she reached to slowly open her door. She managed to get it almost all the way open without the snake noticing, but the final push caught the rattler’s attention and startled it.

The snake tensed.

So did Shiloh. She sat there, skin crawling at being inches away from the viper, not knowing if moving would startle it into striking. They sat for several long seconds, Shiloh caught in indecision over what to do until a soft rattle made up her mind.

Not caring where she landed, Shiloh threw herself backward, squeezing her eyes shut and praying she’d be fast enough to make it out before the snake struck.

She hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of her, but she kept her head enough to kick the door shut behind her. She stood up, backed warily away from her car and the dangerous reptile, and reached for her radio.

“Unit 807 to dispatch—” Shiloh took a deep breath “—there’s a poisonous snake in my vehicle.”

She didn’t have to wait long for a reply. After a crackle of static, she heard “Unit 807, this is dispatch. We have a car coming your way.”

Relief came and then dissipated like liquid on a hot summer day as what had happened fully sank in. The burlap sack on the floor of the car said that snake hadn’t ended up there by accident.

Someone was trying to kill her.

* * *

Shiloh’s car had been de-snaked and examined for evidence, and she’d been cleared for duty. She took a deep breath, trying to relieve the tension that had built as she’d sat by helplessly while other officers investigated the car for evidence—as if there was any she might have missed. Then she’d had to convince the chief that she was fine and more than capable of finishing her shift. Treasure Point was a quiet little town, but that didn’t mean that law enforcement could afford to just take the day off. The town had its share of troublemakers.

Like the driver of the truck in front of her that had been practically flying down the road but was now parked on the shoulder. She didn’t recognize the vehicle, but anyone going sixty in a 35 mph zone was showing blatant disrespect for the law.

She opened her door and approached the driver’s side of the pickup. She reached the window and saw that the man inside was...

Talking on a cell phone?

Shiloh mentally counted to ten. Talking on a cell phone while you were being pulled over?

Shiloh shook her head and tapped lightly on the glass.

He waved her off.

She tapped again. Harder.

This time he held up his index finger—the universal one second sign.

One second? Oh, sure, she had the time to wait. It wasn’t as if she had areas to patrol, crimes to solve...

Shiloh scanned the area. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but the prickly feeling on the back of her neck refused to go away.

She was reaching to tap on the glass—for the third time—when the stranger rolled down his window.

“Sorry about that.”

The too-familiar voice registered in her mind a split second before the mossy-green eyes locked with hers.

This man was no stranger.

“Adam?”

* * *

Adam’s heart was still pounding from the conversation he’d been having. The former congregation member’s depression had been so striking that it had taken Adam’s attention off his speedometer. When he’d noticed the lights and sirens behind him, he’d ended the call, leaving her with strict instructions to phone the senior pastor of the church. While pulling over, he’d then called the pastor to brief him on the situation so he could handle it from there.

Guilt had been his primary reaction when he’d realized he’d been speeding. But that feeling, along with every emotion other than shock, vanished as he looked straight into the face of the most gorgeous cop—scratch that—the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen. Still, even after all these years.

“Shiloh.” Memories rushed through him as he said her name out loud. Memories of her laughing, the two of them running together on Tybee Island, racing into the ocean at the end. The feeling of her lips on his.

“Do you know how fast you were going?”

She practically spat the words through gritted teeth. Apparently, seeing him didn’t bring back the same set of pleasant memories for her. He thought of their last few weeks together, before she’d left town five years ago: the death of her cousin, Annie; Shiloh’s declared intent to someday find the killer; their disagreement over his dad’s—her pastor’s—stance on women in law enforcement.

Okay, if those were the things she was thinking about, it was no wonder she looked so mad.

“I don’t,” he answered honestly. All he knew was that it had been too fast. “About the cell phone...”

She had already pulled out her notebook and was jotting things down, but she looked up to level him with a glare. “Important call?”

He didn’t miss the sarcasm lacing her tone. “Look, Shiloh...”

“Officer Evans.”

Really? She was mad.

“Officer Evans.” He forced the words out even though they seemed awfully formal for the woman he’d been planning to marry five years ago. “The phone call honestly was an emergency. Someone was contemplating suicide, and I was afraid to hang up abruptly. And once I did end the call, I needed to phone someone nearby to put him in touch with her. I am sorry.”

Her eyes flicked up from her notepad, and she gave a slight nod, though her taut facial muscles didn’t relax.

“License and registration, please?”

He handed her both and waited as she took down the information, then checked the rear of the car to write down his plate numbers and walked back to him. She handed him the yellow ticket along with his documentation. “Here you go.” Shiloh turned to her cruiser, not giving him a second glance.

“That’s it?” Adam called out the window. “Not going to say hi, fill me in on what you’ve been up to for five years? Ask why I’m in town?”

The eyes she turned on him flashed fire. And, yeah, he’d provoked her deliberately, but it got to him that seeing him didn’t affect her at all.

“Fine. Hi, Adam.” She stumbled over his name, as though it hurt her to say it. “I’m a police officer now. What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you, too,” he said calmly. “A police officer, huh? I’m the new pastor for Creekview Church.”

“Like father, like son, right?” She shook her head. “Guess I’m not surprised. Welcome to Treasure Point.”

Funny, she sounded slightly less than welcoming.

He reached to roll up his window as she walked away, until he caught the words she tossed over her shoulder.

“By the way, your rear left tire is flat. Must’ve run over a nail.”

It figured. He had been so caught up in his conversation that he hadn’t noticed. He squeezed his eyes shut, running over his options. He was now more than fifteen minutes late to his meeting. There was no way he had time to change a tire first.

He was stuck. And Shiloh—Officer Evans—was his only option.

He pushed open the truck door, walked to her car and tapped on her window.

She jammed her finger down on the button and glared up at him when the window was fully open. “What?”

Adam smiled what he hoped was his most charming smile. “Any chance you could give me a ride?”

She flung her door wide, narrowly missing hitting him in the leg.

He raised his hands in mock surrender. “You don’t have to get upset. I won’t be any trouble. And I can let myself in.” He headed toward the passenger side until the sound of Shiloh snickering stopped him.

“What?”

She reached for the rear door of the patrol car, opened it and motioned to the backseat. “You can ride here.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

She only raised her eyebrows. “Did you want a ride or not?”

Adam climbed in, thankful that he’d left his dog with a friend in Savannah and made plans to pick him up and bring him to town along with the rest of his belongings in the next day or two. He couldn’t imagine how well it would have gone over if he’d had to ask for a ride for both him and the dog, especially since he seemed to rank somewhere near the bottom of Shiloh’s “favorite person” list.

He tried not to think about where he was sitting as he took in the scenery, observing the town through the windows.

It looked like every other small town he’d been in along Georgia’s coast, but it appeared to be a nice place to live. Anticipation coursed through his veins—hopefully, it would be a good place for his first solo pastoring job. His dad’s connections had found the job for him, and Adam wanted to do his best work here—make sure he didn’t let God, or his dad, down. He wasn’t sure which possibility scared him more.

He looked at Shiloh and noticed she was checking the rearview mirror every few seconds. The tense set of her jaw made it clear that something was wrong. Something more than having her ex-fiancé in the backseat of her cruiser.

Adam looked over his shoulder. An older-model gray sedan was following them.

He glanced at Shiloh, still staring in the rearview, so he turned his head again. The car behind them inched closer.

Shiloh sped up.

So did the other car.

Adam turned to the front again, watching Shiloh’s face through the clear barrier. Her jaw was set, but there was a glimmer of fear in her eyes.

“Shiloh, what’s going on?”

She didn’t answer.

He looked up the road ahead of them. If they made it across that bridge, then they’d be in town.

“Do you think they’ll back off once we’re in town and there are people around?”

“I don’t know.” The dread he heard in her tone settled deep in his own gut.

A car in the approaching lane sped toward them. Adam tensed. Not likely that was a coincidence.

The bridge loomed closer. They were twenty, maybe thirty, yards away when the car coming at them swerved deliberately into their lane.

Understanding slammed into Adam, made him work to catch his breath.

They were trying to force them into a collision. Were they after Shiloh? And why?

He didn’t have time to ask more questions or to figure out anything else. They’d reached critical mass. Adam braced himself for impact, thankful that he was spiritually ready to die—even if he’d have rather put it off for a while—and closed his eyes. Visions of fiery car crashes he’d seen during his chaplain training haunted him. He didn’t want that to be his final thought.

So he opened his eyes, took one more look at Shiloh.

Instead of looking resigned, she appeared ready for a fight. Adam’s eyes widened as he realized what she was doing.

Shiloh yanked the wheel hard right, and the car clipped the guardrail with their left front side as she avoided the bridge and careened straight toward the last place Adam would have thought would be a good idea.

Straight into Hamilton Creek.

TWO

Shiloh fought the urge to close her eyes and instead fixated on steering the car straight into the creek.

The car slammed into the water, arresting their speed to something approaching slow motion. Water sloshed and caught the vehicle, bringing them to a stop in the middle of the creek.

She released her breath as she looked out the window. Would have uttered a prayer of thanks if she had thought God was paying attention.

Shiloh pushed at the door, but it wouldn’t budge. With about three feet of standing water, the pressure was too great.

Water trickled in through the cracks in the doors. Shiloh’s chest tightened, and she fought to breathe even though there was still plenty of fresh air in the car.

No. She couldn’t let fear overtake her and she refused to sit here while the cruiser filled with water. She had to use her head, use her training and stay focused on the situation. She looked around for something to use to break the window, eyes catching immediately on her black baton on the passenger-side floorboard. She reached for it, tensing as she remembered the snake that had been there not two hours before.

Shiloh tightened her grip on the stick and smashed it through the window.

She pulled her body through the opening, careful not to catch herself on any of the remaining jagged glass, and stood in the midthigh water as movement in the back of the car caught her eye.

Adam.

For a minute, in her panic, she’d forgotten he was there.

Shiloh glanced down at the door handle but knew trying to pull it open would be futile. She couldn’t break the glass for him with her baton without shattering it all over him and risking an injury. She might not like him, but she’d never hurt him on purpose.

“Move!” he yelled through the window and motioned with his hand for her to back away.

She stepped aside and watched as he brought his arm back and smashed something—a pocketknife, maybe—through the window. It took a few more seconds for him to clear enough glass to get through, then he climbed out as she had and joined her in the murky water.

Nothing could have kept the relief she felt from showing on her face. Adam must have seen it, because he grinned.

“See, I knew you still cared. At least a little,” he teased.

He was lucky she didn’t want the hassle of an internal-affairs investigation—because she wanted nothing more than to slap that grin off his face.

“You don’t get how serious this is, do you?” Shiloh muttered between clenched teeth. She scanned the marshy area around the creek again, unable to suppress a shiver as she did so. Next her gaze landed at the creek’s banks, which would make ideal cover for a sniper. Nothing—that she saw.

But her gut instinct, which had served her well before, said someone was out here. Watching.

“I get it.” Adam’s voice had sobered. “I mean, I don’t. It makes no sense. But, yeah, I know that someone tried...” His voice trailed off.

“Tried to kill us,” she finished for him, then swallowed hard and focused her attention on the bridge. No cars. Her pursuer and his accomplice were long gone, and she had no leads—not a license-plate number and no worthwhile description, since almost every car involved in a crime was a “dark midsize sedan.”

Frustration and fear fought for dominance. Shiloh tried to stay calm but finally could hold back no longer. She kicked the side of the car, doing nothing more than splashing muddy salt water all over herself. When she considered the incident with the snake that morning, she knew the two events had to be connected. And that could mean only one thing.

They’d found her.

She’d known it wouldn’t be hard for them. She had moved only an hour away, to this small town, which seemed like the perfect haven. Though she’d left Savannah five years ago—determined to do her best to solve the case and be ready for the criminals once they came after her—she hadn’t expected the past to find her today.

Maybe she wasn’t as prepared as she’d thought.

But until now it had been quiet. Probably too quiet. She’d almost started to hope that they had realized she didn’t have whatever they were looking for, and that she could wrap this up and bring them to justice without becoming a target again. Shiloh studied the too-quiet landscape, finally settling on the question that weighed heavily on her mind.

Why now?

Shiloh shook her head, scanned their surroundings again and concluded that finding the answer would have to wait until she wasn’t standing out in the open—not to mention nearly up to her waist—in dirty, smelly water. She radioed the station, gave their location and a short description of what had happened, as she slogged through the water to the shore.

“Shiloh?”

She jumped at his voice and relaxed as her mind registered that it was only Adam, who’d joined her on the creek’s bank.

Only Adam... She turned toward him and narrowed her eyes. “How is it that you show up in town and suddenly someone wants me dead?”

He jerked back as if she had slapped him. “What?”

“I’ve been attacked twice today—the same day I see you for the first time in five years. This seems entirely too coincidental to me.”

“Let’s back up. You think someone’s trying to kill you because I came to town?”

Everything about the expression on his face said it wasn’t true. Her heart simultaneously sank and danced. It sank because if he didn’t know why his arrival would have put her in danger, then she was back to square one. Shiloh didn’t want to think about why it danced. Other than to admit that, heartbreaker or not, Adam had always been someone she had trusted. One of the only people alive. She wanted to believe he was still worthy of that trust.

“I’d never let anyone hurt you. You know that.”

He touched her arm lightly and even pressing thoughts, like the danger she was in, left her for a split second.

She had to resist this chemistry. Trust was one thing. Falling for him again was another. She and Adam were wrong for each other in every way that mattered. She’d learned that lesson the hard way once already; there was no need to relearn it.

“Are you okay?” He was trying to be civil. Could she try? Civil. Nothing further. She nodded.

“And now you know why I thought this job was too dangerous for a woman,” he muttered.

Any thoughts of civility faded. He was still a caveman. Worse yet, he was a pastor caveman, a profession that would give legitimacy to his “a woman has her place” way of thinking.

Somehow she managed to withhold her response. He meant nothing to her now, so his opinions couldn’t hurt her. Theoretically.

Relief flooded Shiloh as she saw a patrol car approaching in the distance. She watched as it crossed the bridge, cringing as she realized it was the chief. She’d hoped they’d send one of the other regular beat cops. The guys would tease her forever for it, but they wouldn’t ask probing questions that could reveal her involvement in the case that had killed her cousin.

Annie hadn’t been careful enough—and it had gotten her killed. Until Shiloh could figure out why this current string of attacks had begun, she’d need to be on her guard. Someone was keeping tabs on her, and anything she revealed stood the risk of getting back to the wrong person. Not that she didn’t trust the chief—she did. But the chance that he might let something slip was too real to ignore. The fewer people who knew about her past, the better. And the safer.

“You okay, Shiloh?” The chief’s voice was more gruff than usual, and Shiloh could read his emotions in his tense posture. His gaze moved to Adam.

“I’m fine,” she answered. “Though the car has been better. This is—”

“Adam Cole. The new chaplain. Welcome to Treasure Point.” The chief surveyed the scene and shook his head. “It’s not usually quite so...exciting around here.”

Shiloh blinked. Looked to Adam, whose hint of a sheepish grin did nothing to deny the chief’s words.

He was the new chaplain? This day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

* * *

The ride the chief had given Adam and Shiloh into town had been... Awkward was too nice a way to put it, Adam thought to himself.

The chief hadn’t said much, just had let Shiloh explain what had happened. If Adam wasn’t imagining things, she was more nonchalant now than she had been when they’d been in the middle of it. A change in perspective? Or had she been deliberately downplaying the danger?

Adam didn’t know, didn’t really have time to think about that right now. Shiloh was part of his past—she’d made that very clear when she’d walked away from him years ago with barely a word. He’d moved on—gotten past his broken heart and taken his life in a new direction. His job here was his future, his chance to pastor his own church, have some purpose, maybe even make his dad proud.

He straightened his shoulders before lifting his hand to knock on the solid oak door of Hal Smith’s house. He’d talked to the man, and the other deacons, on the phone as part of his interview process but hadn’t actually met them in person.

The door opened, revealing a tall bearded man wearing a frown. “You’re Reverend Cole?”

“Yes, sir.” Adam stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

The other man took it and shook it. Barely. “You’re late.”

Adam kept his smile affixed and refused to flinch at Hal’s obvious displeasure. Yeah, Adam had known this wouldn’t make the board happy. Imagine how they would have reacted if the chief hadn’t agreed to drive Adam back to his car to retrieve a fresh set of clothes, which he’d changed into at the police station, before he’d arrived. “I’m sorry about that. It won’t happen again.” Part of him wanted to explain, but his father had taught him not to offer excuses when it came to work, so he didn’t.

Another man walked up behind Hal and extended his hand. “Walter Davis. It’s nice to meet you, Pastor.” He turned to Hal. “Didn’t you hear? He was in a wreck on the way here. Give him a break.”

Hal made no comment, just grunted and motioned for Adam to come in.

Okay, then. He regrouped and followed the men into the house. The rest of the deacons had gathered in the living room. When Adam entered, they all stood and introduced themselves. Adam noticed that each man wore slacks and a collared shirt, even for an informal meeting like this. Adam did have on a nice golf shirt, but his good jeans seemed out of place. This church might be a little more old-fashioned than he’d realized.

“So, Pastor, how was your trip down?” someone asked.

Adam couldn’t help but laugh. “Eventful. I got caught up in traffic and had a couple other problems, but I’m glad to be here.”

“Good.” They nodded. There was a second’s worth of silence, and then Hal, who appeared to be the leader, spoke up again, asking for Adam to share his testimony again with the group, plus what he hoped to accomplish as the pastor of their church. It was information he’d already provided, but Adam didn’t mind doing so again in person. Everyone listened attentively, but when Adam was done talking, no one had questions about what he’d said. Instead, they moved the meeting in a different direction entirely.

“We wanted to meet with you immediately to let you know our expectations, now that you’re here, so we can have this out face-to-face. You should be aware how important it is that you conduct yourself in an appropriate manner.”

Adam’s eyebrows rose, and he felt his shoulders tense. “I don’t understand what gives you the impression that I wouldn’t.”

“Our last pastor...” Walter spoke up, shaking his head. “He was asked to leave because of some moral issues.”

Adam’s heart broke for the church. Losing a pastor for any reason was tough, but to have someone they respected fall prey to sin and leave in such a way... It would be hard for them. He felt himself relax as he realized that, at least in their minds, this was a necessary conversation to have, not an attempt on their part to make him feel uncomfortable the second he got to town. Although it was doing that, as well.

“I understand.” Adam nodded. “I can assure all of you that I am a man of integrity, as I told you during my interview process, and as I’m sure my references told you, too.”

“Be as that may, Pastor, we have very high standards after what happened.”

Their tones, which bordered on accusatory, might have intimidated him when he was straight out of seminary. But he’d had a little time to gain experience as an associate pastor in Atlanta, where he’d started working during his seminary training. He’d seen enough now to realize that they were hurting, that it would take extra care on his part to earn their trust.

But he would earn it. This was his first solo pastoring job. He loved these church members already, even the ones he hadn’t met, and he didn’t want to let them down. If he failed here, he’d be shortchanging not just his congregants, but his teachers and mentors who believed in him. He hated the thought of that, especially the idea of disappointing his father.

“I’m sure I’ll be able to conduct myself in a way that meets whatever standards you have,” he said with confidence, smiling in an attempt to assure them that they didn’t need to worry.

Only a couple of them smiled back. Several of them wore straight faces devoid of expression, and one or two were almost frowning.

“I hope you’re right,” Hal Smith said, finally nodding as he wrapped up the meeting. “I certainly hope you’re right.”

The words left Adam with an ominous feeling that nearly matched what he’d felt when Shiloh had driven off the road. Of course, he knew he wouldn’t back down from the challenges of the position he’d worked so hard to achieve...but the deacons’ words left him uneasy. He couldn’t help but remember Shiloh’s accusation that the earlier attack had been triggered by his arrival.

Just what trouble had he gotten himself into by coming to town?

THREE

Adam waved to the Joneses and kept the smile pasted on his face long enough to get in the car, ease it into Reverse much more gently than he’d wanted to and drive away.

That could have gone better.

Three days on the job and he’d visited four congregation members’ houses so far, as the board had requested. The theory was that, as their new pastor, people would want to meet him and get to know him. The visits were also meant to allow him to get to know them.

It was that second part they seemed to be having problems with. Somehow he’d expected this to be easier, even though his dad had warned him that this wouldn’t be the case.

“Running a church is harder than you think, son,” his dad had told him with a smirk as Adam had prepared to leave Savannah and go to Treasure Point. “You’re going to have to give it everything you’ve got and more.”

He was trying. Adam rolled down the windows as he got closer to the marsh. The salty smell reminded him of so many things. Last week’s debacle at Hamilton Creek, of course. Adam felt his face tense into a frown. He could still relive the incident in his mind, practically taste the fear he’d felt for their lives, especially Shiloh’s. He hadn’t spoken to her since then. Nor had he spoken to anyone else about the accident, other than to give his statement to the police.

He wondered if they’d figured out who was behind the accident or if it was even intentional. It had seemed planned to him. But he wasn’t a cop. Maybe it was paranoia to worry that someone could be after Shiloh. He had no reason to believe she was in danger. She’d lived a quiet life when he’d known her. Even her current position as a police officer shouldn’t be sufficient reason for someone to hurt her. Surely there wasn’t a lot of crime in Treasure Point that could result in her making dangerous enemies.

Adam sighed. He didn’t know what to think about any of that, so he pushed away the thoughts for now, inhaling another breath of the tangy air. Memories further back in his mind made him think of Savannah’s coast. And the time he’d spent there with Shiloh.

Great. Something else he’d failed at.

He prayed that God would do something to help him make an impact in this town. It wasn’t as though he’d expected people to start pouring out their life stories to him or divulging their darkest secrets on the first visit. But he hadn’t expected them to be so...cordial.

His first Sunday at the church had gone fairly well. The sermon had been well delivered—at least he had thought so. But the people, as they did today, had seemed just short of standoffish. While it was God’s word that had the power to change lives, Adam was a firm believer that discipleship was done through deep relationships. Without that, how would he grow this church, succeed in ministry? He’d hoped to feel more secure in his position by today—when the next part of his responsibilities would commence.

He glanced at the clock on the dash. He needed to be at the police station by 12:30 for his first day at that job. Like many small-town churches, this one could only offer enough money for a bi-vocational pastor, so the chaplain position was his second job.

He’d been looking forward to it since he had finished his training several months ago, but now his excitement was being slowly replaced by nerves. If he was having a hard time showing his regular congregation members that he was trustworthy, how would he convince guarded law-enforcement officers that he was someone they could confide in, turn to for counseling?

The drive to the police station went by too fast—he’d been hoping to use the commute to help sort through his thoughts and figure out his next step. Hopefully, the chief had a plan to help Adam persuade people to accept him because Adam was determined to prove he could do this job. To himself and to his father.

The chief’s door was open, but Adam knocked anyway.

The man looked up from what he was doing and waved him in. “Ready for your first day?”

“I hope so.” He tried to project as much assurance into those words as he could, but judging by the thoughtful expression on the chief’s face, Adam had failed.

“Shut that door, would you? Then sit down. I think we should talk.”

Adam complied, then had a seat.

“I enjoyed your sermon yesterday.”

“Thanks.” The words did boost Adam’s spirits, but not much. It wasn’t the sermons he struggled with; it was the relationship aspect of his job.

“I’ve been noticing it seems like you’re having a little trouble getting to know some folks, though.”

The man had to be incredibly observant to have seen that, but then again, with his job, he’d have to be. It shouldn’t surprise Adam that the chief’s people-watching skills carried over into other areas of life besides the job.

Too bad the chief’s notice of such things may likely cost Adam his job before he’d really started. If the chief had doubts about Adam’s ability to connect with the police officers, he’d let Adam go before he’d ever been given a chance. Adam couldn’t blame him, but he wanted this job. Needed it.

“You’re right. It’s proving to be a bit of a challenge in some ways, but if you’re worried about my ability to be a good chaplain to this department, sir, let me assure you that I am going to give it everything I’ve got and—”

The chief held up a hand to stop Adam. “That’s enough, son. You don’t have to defend yourself to me. It’s nothing that’s your fault anyway. It’s how people around here are with outsiders.”

It was hard to believe that he could be considered an “outsider” when he’d grown up just over an hour away, but that was how small towns were, he guessed. He was new to Treasure Point, and that was what mattered to these people.

“So what do I do about it?” Adam asked, hating that he needed help but knowing that the chief, of all people, would be able to give him insight into how to succeed at least at this job, if not his pastor job.

The chief rubbed his chin. “I’ve been working on that question myself. The best thing I can think of to help you here and with the rest of the people from the town is to have you ride along with one of our more respected officers. You’ll stay in the car if they’re making any calls that seem to warrant extra caution or are obviously dangerous. But you’d ride along on patrol with them anyway.”

Adam frowned. “What would that do?” He was willing to do whatever it took, of course, but how could spending time with one man help him make any inroads with anyone else in town?

“When the officers see one of their own trusts you, they’re likely to do so, too. And as the townspeople see you have the stamp of approval from someone they respect, they’ll see that they can trust you, too. Make sense?”

The chief’s logical explanation had him nodding his head in agreement. “It does, actually.”

“So you’re fine with that plan?”

“Yes.”

The chief stood, clearly happy that they’d worked something out. “Good. There are a few officers I can think of that would work. Officer Evans would have been my first choice, but given the fact that she’s in the middle of an investigation into the attack the two of you faced by the bridge, I’ve decided on Officer Rowland. I’ll arrange for you to begin joining him tomorrow.” He nodded decisively, the conversation over.

“Wait,” Adam heard himself say, even as a plan formed in his mind—one he wasn’t sure was smart in any way, but that wouldn’t leave his head.

The chief turned to him.

“What if I want to ride with Shiloh—Officer Evans?”

The chief’s eyes narrowed a little. “As I said,” he replied slowly, “she would have been my first choice. But considering the fact that she could be in danger—and you’re an untrained civilian—I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I noticed on Saturday that Shiloh rode alone. Was her partner out, or is she always solo?”

“She doesn’t have a partner at the moment.”

“So there’s no one to watch her back.” Adam’s heart pounded harder as the plan solidified in his mind. “If I’m with her, at least someone will have her six. I’ll stay in the car when you think I should, but if you think the attack by the bridge is serious enough to warrant an investigation, then that means she’s at risk. And in that case, I want to be there, at least as another set of eyes.”

The older man studied him for a full minute or more before speaking. “All right. You can ride with her. But your job as far as protecting her goes no further than being there to call for backup if she’s unable to do so. I won’t have civilians getting injured in my department. Are we clear?”

Relief and utter fear overwhelmed him. “Yes. Thank you, sir,” Adam said as he stood and left the office, his mind still spinning out of control until it finally landed on one clear thought.

Shiloh was going to kill him.

* * *

Shiloh returned home after a downright boring shift and sorted through a stack of mail on the counter. Electric bill. Water bill. A letter from an old friend from college.

A hand-addressed envelope. No postage. The sender was in town and wanted to make sure she knew it.

Shiloh dropped the envelope and found her gaze immediately drawn to the window several feet from her. The woods—though they were far in the distance—would make good cover for someone wanting to hide. She felt her skin crawl at the knowledge that she could be standing in the crosshairs of someone’s sniper rifle.

She pulled the cord and dropped the blinds, startling at the crash they made as the bottom landed on the windowsill. Every sense went on alert as Shiloh chided herself for being so careless. Someone had tried to kill her just days ago and she’d gone about life as though it was business as usual. This wasn’t the time to relax. Relaxing got you killed.

She turned, studied the envelope where it sat on the counter. Shiloh weighed her options. Even in a department as small as Treasure Point’s, the police station would have tools she didn’t have to confirm or deny whether anything dangerous could be sealed inside. But the contents of the letter might include information about her past that she wasn’t ready to share. Did she take the risk?

She eyed the envelope again. It was stupid to handle this herself. She knew it was. She knew it when she walked to the cabinet under the kitchen sink where she kept her latex gloves, and when she pulled the collar of her shirt over her mouth and nose as she gently unsealed the letter.

Once it was open, she let out a breath. No suspicious substances, nothing out of the ordinary except for the note inside.

Forget about the past and the people from your past. It won’t do anyone any good for you to keep remembering. You don’t want to end up like your cousin.

Shiloh choked out a muffled sob at the mention of her cousin. Annie had been just shy of her thirtieth birthday. Too young—much, much too young—to die in the line of duty. But her cousin had eaten, slept and breathed law enforcement and given each case everything she had had. In this instance, that had been her life.

The room spun, and Shiloh closed her eyes to escape it, shoving the note back inside the envelope as she did so. The tone didn’t seem blatantly threatening. The first part seemed almost concerned about her; the last line was the only one to speak of danger.

Something didn’t feel right. Shiloh shook her head and opened her eyes. Why would this person try to kill her and then send her a warning note? In situations like this, the crimes and attacks usually escalated; they didn’t go backward in terms of threat level, as this did. She searched her mind for explanations, something that would make everything clear, but found nothing. Were they toying with her? Trying to confuse and scare her?

Shiloh didn’t know.

She left the mail on the counter and walked to her bedroom. She’d take a hot shower, read the book she was in the middle of and see if she could make sense of everything happening in her life. The resurgence of the threat she’d thought had dissipated, Adam’s reappearance in her life... It was all too much to take in within a few days.

Yet again she wondered if the two were connected but dismissed the idea. Whoever was threatening her had no connection to Adam—she was certain of that. Adam may be a lot of things—she could make a long, insulting list—but he’d never threaten or attack her. That made one person—two, if she counted the chief—in this town that she could trust if she needed help.

As much as Shiloh preferred to rely on herself, she knew it was smart to have contingency plans. Too bad the one man she felt she could trust the most was the one she’d handed her heart to, only to have it stomped to bits and then returned.

Shiloh turned the shower on to a scalding temperature and breathed in the steam. She always felt better after a good, long shower. Even though these were bigger problems than she’d faced in a while, it would help with those, too, at least a little.

Shiloh was in the middle of shampooing her hair when she heard the first rumble of thunder in the distance. Her long, relaxing shower would have to be a quick one. She hurried her pace and tried to calm the pounding of her heart as the thunder grew louder and more frequent. By the time she had showered and then dressed, rain pelted her little house, and thunder shook the windows violently.

It was a fitting end for the afternoon she’d had, and Shiloh was confident of one thing: it was going to be a very long night.

* * *

Adam sat in his rented house, listening to the howling storm trying to find its way inside. It had succeeded in the kitchen via a leak in the corner of the ceiling. He’d have to fix that once it dried.

He made his way to the garage, eager to work out the tension of the day on his boxing bag. He’d hung it up Sunday afternoon after going back to Savannah following church to pick up his dog, his belongings, which he’d put in a storage unit after moving from Atlanta, and a U-Haul trailer. He hadn’t boxed seriously since he’d finished college, but it was the best way he knew to burn off stress. It also helped him focus while he prayed, especially if he was wrestling with something.

Tonight it was Shiloh.

He’d seen her in town once or twice, but they hadn’t spoken since that first day. Not that it seemed to matter to Adam’s heart or mind. He kept thinking of her, of the way things used to be. Wondering if she was in danger now. Wishing he could do something to protect her if she was. His tumultuous thoughts about her made it difficult for him to focus on anything else.

He’d been in love with her once—before she’d broken his heart by leaving him behind. It had been a shock to see her again, putting his emotions in turmoil. But he wasn’t one to let feelings overrule his common sense. They were at different places in life now. He’d seen a hardness in her eyes that hadn’t been there before, and he knew he’d changed, too. It wasn’t as if picking up where they’d left off was a good idea or an option at all.

Besides, she’d run away from him once. He wasn’t exactly eager to experience that again, especially when he wasn’t clear on all the details of why she’d left. Everything had been perfect in their relationship; but in the last six months of Shiloh’s cousin’s life, things had started to change between him and Shiloh. The three of them had all been friends, but eventually Shiloh and Annie had started getting together alone and making it clear that he wasn’t welcome. Shiloh had given only vague answers when he’d asked about their evenings. Now he wondered if he should have pressed her more.

And then there had been that blowup in his dad’s office, days after Annie’s death, when Shiloh had gone to his dad for help, and he’d told her that what she was planning—becoming a cop to find her cousin’s killers herself and pursue justice—was wrong, even unbiblical for a woman.

That seemed to be the moment things ended for them.

He punched the bag hard.

He pulled back to do it again when his cell phone rang. He slowed his breathing and answered. It was a man from his church whose teenage daughter was about to have emergency surgery for appendicitis. From what Adam gathered, it sounded as though the situation was under control, but people liked to have a pastor around in those cases.

He ran upstairs and jumped in the shower, ignoring the crashing thunder and deciding getting struck by lightning while wet in his bathroom would be better than going out in public smelling as though he’d been working out for an hour.

Adam felt relieved that the man had called and had given Adam an excuse to stop thinking about Shiloh in particular and women in law enforcement in general. For tonight he was grateful to put them both out of his mind.

FOUR

Shiloh was beyond ready to get to work the next morning. The storm the night before had set her on edge. Along with the threatening note, the weather had unearthed memories she’d thought long buried. The crashing thunder had sounded the same as it had on the night Annie had been killed. Shiloh had lain awake all night, caught between the past and the present. Even if she’d been inclined to heed the warnings of the note found in her mailbox, she couldn’t forget the past. It was etched in her memory with the clarity of a lightning flash.

This morning, as she navigated her new cruiser toward the station, she considered her options. Running was not one of them, as far as she was concerned. If they’d bothered to track her here, they’d track her anywhere, and she didn’t want to live life continually looking over her shoulder. Besides, as part of the law-enforcement community, she could keep an eye on things. Wasn’t that the reason she’d left behind her job as a history professor and had become a cop?

Her cousin’s face flashed in her mind. Keeping an eye on things wasn’t the only reason. Shiloh owed it to Annie to finish what she had started.

Maybe Shiloh was looking at this wrong.

Regardless, she didn’t have time to worry about it right now. She parked her car and entered the police station in time for roll call, when the day’s assignments were given out. She learned she’d be patrolling an area near Widow Hamilton’s house that included several miles of Treasure Point’s coastal marshes.

“Officer Evans, the chief needs to see you in his office. Anyone have questions?”

Lieutenant Rich Davies scanned the room, brows raising when he came to Shiloh as though he expected her to have a question. Her cheeks burned with a blush she hoped no one noticed; she felt like a kid who’d been called out for talking in class. She hadn’t been paying attention but wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of admitting it.

The meeting was dismissed, and Shiloh walked to the chief’s door and knocked. Uneasy flutters danced in her stomach as she tried to figure out what he could want.

“Come in.”

She pushed the door open, willing away the tumultuous thoughts while forcing a pleasant smile on her face. “You wanted to see me?”

The chief nodded. Shiloh stepped in to take a seat when she noticed that one of the desk chairs was occupied. Her step faltered. “I can come back later if you’re already in a meeting.” That sandy-blond hair could belong to only one person.

“No, now’s a fine time.” The chief cleared his throat. “Lieutenant Davies already give out assignments for the day?”

Shiloh nodded as she sat.

“What I told him I’d tell you myself is that you have something of an extra assignment for the next several weeks.”

The flutters in her stomach returned full force.

“You already know Adam is the new chaplain...”

With the words “extra assignment” and “Adam” in such close proximity, the flutters turned to concrete bricks. There was no good way for this to turn out. Shiloh straightened in her chair, listening closely. There had to be a way to get out of whatever her commanding officer was suggesting; she never gave up without a fight.

The chief shifted in his chair. “What you may not realize is the difficulty of a man in his position. He’s here to help the department and the town, and he can’t do that if he doesn’t know people, doesn’t fit in like a local. For the next few weeks I’m assigning Adam to ride along with you. As you get the chance, tell him about the town, introduce him to people. As the other officers see you accepting him, they’ll start to. Everyone loves you, Shiloh. They look to you.” The chief nodded as though he was as pleased with his decision as Shiloh was displeased. “Do this for me and for Adam, would you?”

“Sir, I’m flattered that you think this would help him, but wouldn’t my time be better spent pursuing whoever tried to run me off the road the other day? Or checking out Widow Hamilton’s house for her?”

“Your time is best spent doing what I’ve asked you to do.” The chief’s voice was still kind, but she could hear the steel in it. Nothing about this was optional.

Or fair, in Shiloh’s opinion.

“I understand the two of you knew each other in Savannah. I would think you’d be eager to help out an old friend.”

Shiloh’s eyes darted to Adam as the chief spoke. Was it her imagination or was there a degree of pleading in those gorgeous eyes? Once upon a time those eyes had melted her like chocolate on a hot summer day. Even now their effect was difficult to resist.

She let out a breath. “You’re right. It’s the least I can do to help an old friend.”

The chief nodded, the matter settled to him. “Good.”

Shiloh could feel Adam’s eyes on her and knew if she looked she would read his thanks in them. But the fact that she couldn’t bring herself to intentionally hurt him like he’d hurt her didn’t mean she was ready to buddy up to him, either. Without another word to either man, she started for the door.

“And, Officer Evans?”

Shiloh turned.

The chief leaned back in his chair, folded his arms behind his head and grinned. “Try to keep this car intact.”

She made a face. “I’ll do my best.”

Adam followed her to the parking lot. At least, Shiloh assumed he did so. She certainly didn’t wait for him, but when she unlocked the car doors, they both climbed in. She turned the key in the ignition and drove toward the area she had been assigned to patrol.

At least her shift today was seven to three. She’d be home well before dinner, safely inside before darkness sneaked in. Logically speaking, she was no safer during the day, as the attacks on her so far had already proved. But darkness reminded her of the night Annie had been killed.

“Beautiful scenery.”

What was he, Chatty Cathy? Why did the man feel compelled to talk?

She grunted in response. Men could do it, so maybe it would work for her.

“Shiloh...” He shifted in the seat beside her, and his tone said more than a dozen words could have. He touched her arm. Her breath caught and she stiffened. “Look, it was years ago. Whatever happened, can’t you let it go? Or do you hate me that much?”

* * *

Adam hadn’t realized how much touching her—even on the arm—would affect him. His heart drummed a crazy rhythm in his chest, and he knew reaching out to her had been a bad idea.

But how was she reacting? Did he still affect her at all? She’d gone rigid when he had first rested his hand on her arm, but she was softening now, relaxing. No, whatever she was telling herself, he knew the truth. She didn’t hate him at all.

Relief battled with tension in his shoulders. Her not hating him made this much more dangerous. All he wanted was to make sure that she stayed safe. Maybe be friends with her again.

He’d already experienced firsthand the heartbreak she was capable of inflicting. He wasn’t eager to sign up for round two.

“Can’t we forget the past?” he asked.

Her pause was so long that he was sure she’d say no or have some kind of comeback for him. But, instead, after a minute of ear-deafening, heart-pounding silence, her answer stunned him.

“Okay.” She let out a breath. “I’ll try.”

Adam wanted to say so much more but only nodded and said, “I’m glad.”

He glanced over at her, as he thought about how much had changed since the past he’d just promised to forget. She wasn’t the Shiloh he’d known. That Shiloh had been a bit of a risk-taker, sure. She’d loved to go rock climbing and whitewater rafting, and she had even talked him into hang gliding up in north Georgia once. But she’d been sweet, gentle and not at all the intimidating, in-charge woman she appeared to be now. It seemed she’d left that personality in the past along with her history-professor job.

Something niggled in his stomach. Gut instinct told him the changes in her personality, her job, were somehow tied to whatever reasons she’d had for breaking up with him five years ago. Adam had never considered himself dumb when it came to women, but those few months of Shiloh’s life, the last few months of their relationship, had been so hectic with Annie’s death and Shiloh’s reaction to it that he’d never known what had made them hit their breaking point. All she had said was that they weren’t right for each other. At the time he’d been too stunned to press for more of an explanation, but now that she was back in his life, he intended to get an answer eventually to replace the question mark that hovered in his mind, if only to satisfy his curiosity.

Riding along with her would help him achieve two goals. He’d finally get some answers—and he’d be close at hand to help if any more attacks materialized. He may have put the past behind him and moved on from his feelings for Shiloh, but he was still determined to make sure she stayed safe.

Shiloh pulled the car off into a secluded parking area next to another stretch of Hamilton Creek. In town, where he’d seen the creek before, it looked like any other creek. A little marshy but pretty civilized in general.

Here the water flowed freely through the reeds and grass. It was guarded by centuries-old oak trees—whose creaky branches were draped with gray Spanish moss—and Georgia pines taller than he could guess. Adam could smell the salt in the air coming through his rolled-down window and figured they must be close to the coast.

“Is the ocean near here?” he asked Shiloh.

She nodded. “A hundred yards or so through some of the thickest coastal forest you’ve ever seen.”

“Ever walked to the beach from here?”

Shiloh raised her eyebrows. “It’s not a beach like you’re thinking. Not sandy like Tybee. There’s a little sand, but mostly the water meets the marsh, and that’s the end of that. And, no, I’ve never walked from here. There are some trails not too far from here, half a mile or so away, but it’s too dangerous to try from here. The woods are chock-full of snakes, and it’s so thick it would be easy to get lost.”

“That doesn’t sound like my adventurer.”

She speared him with a look before turning away and opening her car door. “I’m not your anything anymore, Adam, except maybe your friend, and that’s still kind of probationary.”

Probationary? She’d always liked big words, but they’d been words like historicity. She even talked like a cop now.

“I see.” He opened his door to follow her. “So, where are we going?”

“I’m not sure you should be going anywhere.” She frowned, looked at the car and then back at him as if deliberating what she should do.

“Worried I’ll slow you down?” He couldn’t resist the urge to tease her. She’d always been competitive, and it had grated on her anytime he had managed to finish a hike before her, which was often. Shiloh was in great shape, but his boxing days had made him even more fit, and since exercise was a stress reliever for him, he hadn’t lost much muscle tone since.

“No, but aren’t you supposed to be riding along and getting out if I’m talking to a townsperson? This is more like investigating.”

“I’ll be fine. Tell me about where we are.”

Shiloh seemed to consider it, then shrugged. “It’s your call. This is one of the areas closest to Widow Hamilton’s home. She’s kind of town royalty, I guess, or as close as we get in south Georgia. Her family was among the founders of the town, and their homestead is almost as old as the dirt it’s built on. Anyway, she’s had trouble lately—prowlers, or so she thinks.”

“What do you mean, ‘so she thinks’?”

Shiloh frowned again.

What was it about him that made the woman frown so much? He was going to have to work on ways to get her to flash that brilliant smile she had.

“Honestly, I think she’s probably a lonely old woman with a big imagination. But I feel bad that I can’t do more to make her feel better, so I’m hoping that telling her I checked out this area—since it’s adjacent to her property—and came up empty will put her mind at ease.”

Adam nodded. “Got it. Sounds fun. Let’s go.”

“It could be dangerous. As a civilian, I feel like you should know that. I would hate to put you in danger.”

She sounded passionate about that last line, as if she spoke from experience. Another aspect of this new Shiloh that mystified him.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine.” He spoke with confidence, but as she finally started off toward the edge of the woods, and he followed her, he felt eyes on him again.

And had the distinct impression that, despite her best efforts, they were in danger already.

“Hey, Shiloh?” He lowered his voice and continued to follow her, not breaking the rhythm of his stride. “Do you feel at all like we’re being watched?”

Shiloh didn’t look back. But Adam saw her nod. Chills crawled up his spine, and he found himself hoping they were only being viewed through something innocuous like binoculars. And not through the scope of a high-powered rifle.

Shiloh reached the edge of the woods and began to inspect the perimeter, seeking footprints or other signs of recent activity. She walked slowly along the tree line, scanning around her as she went. Adam kept an eye out, too, but when it came down to it, although he wanted to be protecting her, she was the one with the training and the gun. If any real danger arose, she would be the one keeping him safe. He’d always liked the idea of men being the protectors—an old-fashioned idea Shiloh and Annie had always teased him about. It wasn’t that he thought women were incapable—not at all—he just liked the idea of men filling that role.

He remembered Shiloh and his father debating the same thing after her cousin’s death. He wouldn’t say that his opinions were as extreme as his father’s, but Adam hadn’t contradicted his dad or said anything to support Shiloh’s position. He was sure he hadn’t imagined the flash of fire in Shiloh’s eyes as she’d said good-night after that long-ago discussion.

He’d told Shiloh to forget the past, so why was he having such a hard time keeping it from crowding in on him? Adam pushed the memories from his mind in time to avoid running into Shiloh, who had stopped cold in front of the oddest pine tree he’d ever seen. Its trunk grew straight for the first ten feet or so, made a dramatic almost-ninety-degree turn to the left for a stretch and then continued growing upward.

“Weird tree, huh?”

“Shhh.” She pressed a finger to her lips and motioned to the ground.

At first glance he didn’t understand what had caught her eye. He saw only grass, pine needles and palmettos. A second look told him that everything was pressed to the ground as if this had been used as a pathway.

A third look revealed something at the base of a palmetto plant. He leaned closer.

The color was duller than it would have been in a movie, likely because of its probable age, but there in the dirt he saw the unmistakable gleam of a gold Spanish doubloon.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.