The Pregnant Colton Witness Read online

  A murder witness must protect her unborn child—and her heart

  A Coltons of Red Ridge thriller

  One night of passion with Officer Nash Maddox left Dr. Patience Colton breathless—and pregnant! The two are unexpectedly reunited when Patience becomes a witness to a murder and K-9 cop Nash rushes to her rescue, along with his canine companion. The two will stop at nothing to protect their growing family, but a killer has other ideas...

  “Nash, we’re playing with fire here. With our emotions. There’s no future for us, and we’d both do best to stick to our original agreement.” She watched him as he stood and wrapped the blanket around himself. A pity, as his naked body was heaven-sent.

  “Plans change, Patience. We weren’t planning on you getting pregnant. Yet you are.” Nash’s face revealed no frustration, no recrimination. Just openness, honesty.

  “Of course we didn’t plan for the baby. But facts are facts.” She didn’t like it that they couldn’t be friends with benefits, either. This time had been a mistake. But it didn’t feel like a mistake to her body. In fact, she’d never felt as at ease with another man as she did with Nash.

  That enough was reason to guard her heart.

  * * *

  The Coltons of Red Ridge: A killer’s on the loose and love is on the line

  * * *

  If you’re on Twitter, tell us what you think of Harlequin Romantic Suspense! #harlequinromsuspense

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome back to The Coltons of Red Ridge, and The Pregnant Colton Witness. It was a complete thrill to write this story in the series of the often dramatic but always entertaining Colton family. Dr. Patience Colton, DVM, is running the Red Ridge K-9 Veterinary Clinic when she witnesses a murder—on the same day she finds out she’s pregnant with K-9 officer Nash Maddox’s baby. Patience and Nash come together to work on the murder case, and find out they share more than one night of passion. They have the basis for a lifelong relationship, if they can solve the case before either of them gets hurt, or worse.

  My favorite characters to write are exactly like Patience and Nash. Dedicated professionals who realize they need more to life—namely, love. I so enjoyed taking them through their scary suspense and helping their romance become more. I hope you’ll fall in love with Patience and Nash, too!

  Peace,

  Geri

  PS: I love to hear from my readers. Contact me at my website, www.gerikrotow.com, or on Facebook, www.Facebook.com/gerikrotow.

  THE PREGNANT COLTON WITNESS

  Geri Krotow

  Former naval intelligence officer and US Naval Academy graduate Geri Krotow draws inspiration from the global situations she’s experienced. Geri loves to hear from her readers. You can email her via her website and blog, gerikrotow.com.

  Books by Geri Krotow

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  The Coltons of Red Ridge

  The Pregnant Colton Bride

  Silver Valley P.D.

  Her Christmas Protector

  Wedding Takedown

  Her Secret Christmas Agent

  Secret Agent Under Fire

  The Fugitive’s Secret Child

  Reunion Under Fire

  The Coltons of Shadow Creek

  The Billionaire’s Colton Threat

  Visit the Author Profile page at

  Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  For Ellen—it’s been a joy watching you turn into the beautiful young woman you are.

  Acknowledgments

  A special thank-you to Deanna Reiber, DVM, USA (Ret.) who provided me with veterinary insight and advice as only a USNA sister alumna can do.

  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

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Excerpt from Rancher’s Deadly Reunion by Beth Cornelison

  Chapter 1

  The Red Ridge, South Dakota, autumn morning sky streaked pink and violet across Black Hills Lake. Dr. Patience Colton, DVM, took a moment to soak it all in. Nestled in the northwestern part of the state, Red Ridge—and more specifically, the town’s K9 clinic—were home to her. The only place her heart ever found peace. She committed the view of the mountains to memory, knowing there stood a good chance she’d never look at it, or anything, the same way again. It all depended upon the results of the simple test kit in the Red Ridge Drugstore bag that she clutched in her left hand.

  No one had seen her yet; none of the staff knew she was already at the K9 clinic, ready for another day of veterinary medicine. She could run—but to where? Her townhome? Her cabin in the mountains? Another state, where her veterinary license wouldn’t be valid? If the test proved positive, running wasn’t going to change it or the overwhelming implications. Running away might be an option for another person, but not her. Patience never backed down from a challenge, and what might be her toughest yet was no exception.

  She sucked in the crisp mountain air before she entered the building, hoping for a few minutes to herself to figure out if the signals from her body weren’t random.

  Fifteen minutes later, she wondered if maybe running away wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “No. Freaking. Way.” Patience’s hands shook as she spoke under her breath, staring at the test strip she’d used only minutes earlier to determine if she had skipped a period again for any reason other than stress. She stood in the restroom of the Red Ridge County K9 Clinic, her clinic, and struggled to get a grip. Locked in the staff bathroom, the weight of how her life was changing triggered a gush of tears. It had been a mistake to do this at work.

  She couldn’t be caught like this—crying over a pregnancy test result. “Calm down.” She gave herself the same advice she wished she could give her K9 patients when they were stressed.

  It hadn’t been uncommon for her to miss one or two cycles while in veterinary school and also working extra hours at a part-time job to help pay for her expenses. And the last few months had been incredibly stressful, not just for her but for all of Red Ridge. The modestly sized town was in the midst of a criminal crisis. Patience worked closely with the Red Ridge Police Department, as well as the K9 training center, the latter of which housed the clinic. So it was impossible to not be aware of the stress placed on the RRPD over the local serial killer, dubbed the Groom Killer. Red Ridge had erupted into all-out panic after the fifth and most recent groom-to-be had been murdered. With a population of thirty-five thousand, it made for a lot of fear in the air.

  She grabbed ahold of the sink counter, her fingers crushing the cardboard box that she’d pulled the test kit from. It had felt odd sneaking into the local drugstore and purchasing three magazines, a candy bar and a ginger ale along with the test, as if the cashier wouldn’t notice the box. As if she probably hadn’t told all of Red Ridge by now that Dr. Patience Colton, DVM, could be knocked up. That was the problem with being an heiress to the richest famil
y in a small town in South Dakota. Everyone knew your business.

  As a K9 veterinarian, she prided herself on her steady hands and the ability to remain calm and focused under pressure. But her cool demeanor, practiced almost since birth, had shattered. All for one night of incredible sex with the sexiest bachelor in town.

  Nash Maddox. They’d seen each other plenty since their sexual healing rendezvous three months ago. Nash was a K9 police handler on the RRPD and they often trained the dogs together. The heat that had passed between them a few months ago was still there whenever their eyes met, and she’d been tempted to ask him if he’d consider breaking their promise that their night together be a one-time-only event. But just as she’d get her nerve up, another crisis would hit the community and they had to save lives. Nash and his K9 partner, Greta, saved humans, while Patience saved dogs and other animals.

  Maybe assigning blame for her predicament would help her anxiety. She tried to stir up some animosity toward the man who’d unwittingly gotten her pregnant, but couldn’t. They’d used protection, but it obviously wasn’t 100 percent. Nash wasn’t only the sexiest man she’d met in forever, but he was the consummate gentleman. He’d even agreed with her that their affair would be short-lived, with no emotional strings attached.

  A sharp rap on the restroom door snapped her out of her misery.

  “Dr. Colton? Are you there? We have an emergency surgery en route. Gunshot wound. Canine, civilian.” As though through her favorite jar of apple jelly, Patience heard her veterinary assistant’s voice, but couldn’t shake off the shock of finding out she was pregnant.

  Pregnant with Nash Maddox’s baby. Would it look like him? The tall, muscular blond officer had the most beautiful hazel eyes. They’d be perfect whether the baby was a boy or girl. Whether they had Nash’s sandy hair or her own brunette.

  More rapping, this time louder. “Patience?”

  “I’ll be right out, Grace.”

  As much as it was a total shock, she felt she needed to mark the occasion somehow. Patience quickly washed her hands and then pulled her phone out of her pocket. She made a note of the date and time, and was startled by the sudden flash of her future that her mind conjured up. Telling her child exactly when she’d found out he or she was on the way into the world, and how she’d felt about it.

  It was at this moment that she knew she was keeping the baby. Nash had a lot of his own family issues and she was certain having another child on top of raising his four orphaned half siblings wasn’t part of his plan. No matter. This was her life, and now it was going to have to revolve around a baby.

  Could she do this?

  The sound of doors slamming open, shouts of the arrival team, forced her back to the present. She sought her eyes in the mirror, used to saying a positive affirmation before jumping into a tough case. All she saw reflected back at her was the unanswerable question. Would she be able to be a better parent than either of hers had?

  * * *

  Nash Maddox groaned at the sight of the large kitchen that was the heart of the home he’d inherited when his parents had been tragically killed in an auto accident five years ago. Drips of maple syrup dotted the table and floor, pancake mix powdered the countertops, and four dirty, sticky dishes were piled in the sink. He’d been so busy getting the kids out of the house in time to catch the school bus that he’d neglected to make sure they each picked up after themselves. He had to be at work in fifteen minutes, which gave him eight minutes to straighten up. Usually Paige, the oldest at seventeen and a busy high school senior, corralled her siblings into cleaning up. Her studies and social schedule were preoccupying her again.

  “Why didn’t you tell me they’d made such a mess?” He spoke to his K9 partner, Greta, a Newfoundland. Nash knelt to meet her eyes and scratched under her chin, ignoring the profuse drool that spilled out of her wobbly cheeks and pooled onto the already sticky floor. “You are such a good girl, Greta. We’ll be at work soon, I promise.” He patted her head and she flopped her tail on the ground, her wags loud and slow. Greta was the epitome of a family dog at home, but a fierce K9 on the job. In so many ways, she’d been his anchor these last challenging years.

  Until a spectacular night with the K9 clinic veterinarian, Patience Colton. He’d not thought it possible for a woman to soak into his psyche after only one evening, but Patience had. Whenever he found his anxiety rising due to something as simple as the kids messing up the kitchen, or more serious reasons, like trying to find and apprehend the Groom Killer, his mind went back to that night like a homing pigeon.

  He closed the sink drain and added liquid soap to the running water, reminding himself for the fifth time in as many days that he had to call the repairman. He didn’t have time to be hand-washing his half siblings’ endless dishes. They had a chore list that they were actually pretty good at following, but his rule was “academics first,” and with the heavy backpacks that came home, the dishes seemed to pile on. Nash was accomplished at many things, but fixing a cranky dishwasher wasn’t one of them.

  As the bubbles grew into a frothy mound, his mind flashed to the soft, very sexy rounds of Patience’s breasts. It hadn’t been the smartest thing he’d done, giving in to his needs, but he had no regrets over their one-night stand almost three months ago. A surge of protectiveness toward that night—no, toward Patience—blindsided him. It wasn’t fair to call it a one-night stand. It had been more. Or maybe he’d misinterpreted the obvious pleasure she’d enjoyed at his hands as more than the sexual release they’d shared.

  He wasn’t dating anyone regularly, how could he with four half siblings to take care of? But that night with Patience had reminded him that he needed some caretaking himself. And while both he and Patience had agreed that one night was all their lives allowed, both for time and family reasons, maybe they shouldn’t have been so hasty in their agreement. He sure wouldn’t mind seeing her again.

  A beautiful woman like Patience was probably already involved with someone else. Although she’d said she wasn’t, and that she had no plans to date anyone. She needed her personal life to remain simple, she’d said, because of the heavy demands being the K9 vet and community vet in general made on her. Didn’t they all have demanding jobs, though, in Red Ridge? The small mining town was incredibly productive for its size, and required nearly every citizen to do their part to make the municipality thrive. Besides, if Patience was anything like him, no matter how busy life got there were those moments of realizing you were missing something... Yeah, maybe he’d ask her out again. Of course, that could lead to more than he was able to handle, but he wanted to handle Patience—

  The house phone rang and he answered, cradling the receiver between his jaw and shoulder. “Maddox.”

  “Nash, it’s dispatch.” He recognized Shelly Langston’s voice. She worked dispatch for Red Ridge County since he’d been on the force, and probably ten years before that. Shelly filled in whenever Frank Lanelli, the senior dispatcher, was off.

  “What do you have, Shelly?”

  “We’ve got a child who fell off a bike on the way to school, over the highway shoulder on Route 10. They want Greta on the scene.”

  “We’re on our way.”

  He hung up and motioned for Greta, but she was one step ahead of him, at the door with her leash in her mouth.

  “Good girl. We’ve got today’s first job.”

  They worked as one, leaving the house, getting into the police K9 vehicle, arriving on scene and helping to determine if the child had fallen by accident or if a vehicle had forced them off the road. Greta used her expert sniffer to relay information and Nash translated to the officers and first responders. Immediately after they’d wrapped it up, they were called to a home burglary downtown, and then later, to the site of an arson. Before their shift finished, Nash and Greta had participated in no fewer than eight cases, from shoplifting to drug dealing to escorting a lost memory-care patient
back to his care facility.

  No matter how long the day grew, as tiring as the work was, thoughts of a brilliant evening with the lovely Patience Colton never left him. Maybe he’d scrape up the nerve to call her. In an unofficial capacity, of course.

  * * *

  Patience looked at her staff, all gathered in the break room. Reception was closed after normal clinic hours, and they’d endured an especially long day of surgeries and urgent calls.

  “That’s it for today, folks. Unless we have another emergency call, I want everyone going home and getting a good meal and rest. This weekend could end up being just as taxing.” She referred not just to the fact that the K9 unit was often busiest on weekends due to a surge in criminal activity, but the fact that weekends were when weddings happened. Most couples had quietly postponed their weddings once it was a clear a killer was targeting grooms, but everyone was on edge, worried that the Groom Killer could strike again at any moment. There were always couples who wouldn’t let anything stop them from their big day.

  “Do you think that the animals are trying to tell us something, Doc?” Pauline, the newest vet tech, didn’t ask the question with cynicism. She was new and trying to absorb all she could about how the facility worked. The staff had discussed more than once the apparent connection between animal distress and human anxiety. Animals were empathic, and Red Ridge’s pets had to be feeling the edginess of their owners these last months. It’d be abnormal to not be worried about the serial killer.

  “It doesn’t matter what I believe. It’s fact that they seem to have an edge on us when it comes to predicting bad behavior, and to a T each patient has demonstrated the signs of stress brought on by a perceived threat. Our resident parrot has been squawking twice as much, the cats have been mewling no matter their pain level, and the dogs have whimpered at random times. While any of that could be coincidence, as we’ve had a high number of surgeries this week, I’m inclined to trust experience. Go home and get some rest—you could be called back within hours. Let’s all pitch in and get Surgery cleaned up. I don’t want anyone tackling that alone—we’ve made a mess!” Her staff laughed and she used the energy to buoy her through the next thirty minutes of a thorough scrubbing down of their operating room.