Harlequin Intrigue February 2023--Box Set 1 of 2


 
 
 
 
 
 “These attacks could all be aimed at me.
 “He could be trying to throw you at me as a distraction.”
 “If so, it’s working,” Adalyn muttered. “We’re both distracted, and that’s not going to get better.”
 Nolan had to agree. In fact, it was probably going to get a whole lot worse. There were so many ways the Grave Digger could come at them. And judging from the stark look in Adalyn’s eyes, she was as well aware of that as he was.
 Sighing, he reached out and pulled her into his arms for a hug. Yeah, it was a mistake. He was good at making those when it came to Adalyn, but damn it all to hell, he just needed her right now. Needed to feel her close to him like this. Needed the reminder they were both alive.
 She looked up at him, and Nolan made another mistake.
 He dipped down his head and touched his mouth to hers.
 
 
 Spurred to Justice
 USA TODAY Bestselling Author
 Delores Fossen
 
 
 
 Delores Fossen, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has written over one hundred novels, with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. You can contact the author through her website at www.deloresfossen.com.
 Books by Delores Fossen
 Harlequin Intrigue
 The Law in Lubbock County
 Sheriff in the Saddle
 Maverick Justice
 Lawman to the Core
 Spurred to Justice
 Mercy Ridge Lawmen
 Her Child to Protect
 Safeguarding the Surrogate
 Targeting the Deputy
 Pursued by the Sheriff
 Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.
 
 
 CAST OF CHARACTERS
 FBI agent Nolan Dalton—While on the hunt for a notorious serial killer, he’s reunited with his ex, who’s the killer’s latest target.
 Adalyn Baxter—A troubled former cop who doesn’t like relying on anyone to keep her safe, but she’s forced to team up with Nolan to stop more murders, including their own.
 FBI agent Cody Hill—Nolan’s partner, who could have secrets and info linked to the serial killer whom the press has dubbed the Grave Digger.
 Sheriff Jeb Mercer—Decades ago, someone kidnapped this now-retired sheriff’s toddler son, and that kidnapping could be linked to the murders that are happening now.
 Donny Ray Carver—He’s on death row for murdering Nolan’s father, but it’s possible he’s manipulating the Grave Digger from behind bars.
 Russell Mason—Adalyn’s strong-minded boss and the head of a security company. He could be the killer and using the tools of his trade to hide his crimes.
 Jeremy Waite—He’s Donny Ray’s best friend, and he just might go to any lengths to do Donny Ray’s bidding.
 
 
 Contents
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 
 
 CHAPTER ONE
 Seven minutes. FBI Agent Nolan Dalton knew that was all the time he had left. If he didn’t get to her by then, she’d be dead.
 Batting aside low-hanging tree limbs and hurdling over the underbrush, Nolan ran through the thick woods of the Texas Hill Country while he kept his right hand over the Glock in his holster. His heart was pounding. His breath came out in hard, sharp gusts. He didn’t stop. Didn’t steel himself up for the possibility of being gunned down. Nolan just ran as if a woman’s life depended on it.
 Because it did.
 On the other side of him, his fellow agent, Cody Hill, kept up the breakneck pace. They sprinted along the trail—such that it was—following the drag marks and the trampled shrubs. Just as the killer had instructed them to do in the text that he’d sent Nolan.
 Since Nolan had been an FBI agent for a little over seven years, he wasn’t a fan of following a killer’s orders, but he’d had no choice about it this time. Because this killer, the man that the news media had dubbed the Grave Digger, had said if Nolan got to the woman within an hour, she might still be alive.
 Might.
 But a chance of her surviving was better than nothing. Especially since Nolan didn’t believe this was a hoax. The Grave Digger had convinced Nolan of that by including a photo of one of his previous victims in the text. A photo that only the Grave Digger himself or someone with him could have shot.
 It’d taken fifty-three of those sixty minutes for Nolan and Cody just to get from their office in San Antonio to the Hill Country trail that the killer had mapped out for them. And they’d come alone. As the killer had ordered. The Grave Digger had made it clear that if they brought someone else with them, then the woman and anyone trying to save her would die.
 Of course, the killer could be just stringing them along so he’d have easy targets to gun down, but Nolan had decided to go with his gut. His gut said, Do as you’re told and get to the woman now. All the while taking what precautions he could, of course. That’s why he had his gun ready.
 Nolan didn’t want to think of another woman dying, of how terrified she would be right now. It would only get in the way of his focus.
 But he thought of her anyway.
 Nolan didn’t know the name of the gray-haired woman, but everything about her seemed to be screaming for help. Maybe literally screaming now, too, because if the Grave Digger stuck to pattern, he would have bound her hands and feet and buried her in a shallow hole that he then covered with enough thick debris that would insure she’d soon run out of oxygen.
 Five minutes.
 The seconds were ticking off in his head as they ran. Nolan knew that, like him,