title: The Colton Heir (The Coltons of Wyoming)
author:  Colleen Thompson 
description: Colleen Thompson began writing the contemporary romantic suspense novels she loves in 2004. Since then, her work has been honored with the Texas Gold Award and nominations for the RITA, Daphne du Maurier, and multiple reviewers'choice honors, along with starred reviews from Romantic Times and Publisher's Weekly. A former teacher living with her family in the Houston area, Colleen can be found on the web at www.colleen-thompson.com.
zlib_text: Terror rises at Dead River Ranch in this intriguing Coltons of
  Wyoming romance
  Wrangler Dylan Frick thought he knew his past—until a suspicion surfaces that he’s the secret
  Colton heir who vanished from Dead River Ranch as a baby. Now his identity’s in question, and
  his mother’s murder is still unsolved. And he’s thrown off course by the ranch’s mysterious new
  maid, Hope Woods. The gun-wielding knockout has fear in her eyes and seems desperate to
  escape her own private danger. Defending Hope—and keeping her deadly secret—leaves them
  both open to unexpected passion. But will protecting her mean walking out of her life for good?
  
  “What if I told you that I didn’t want you to leave?”
  “How can you,” she asked, her still-raspy voice strained to the point of breaking, “when people
  have died because I stuck my head in the sand instead of going to the authorities?”
  Dylan’s boot heels crunched the gravel as he strode up behind her. “And once you realized what
  your husband had done, you gathered