“Four years,” he muttered, almost as if he knew her thoughts. “I haven’t held my child in my arms for that long.”

  When he met her gaze, she saw his pain in the starkness of his expression. “She used to call me dada,” he continued, “and hold out her little arms for me to pick her up. She’d laugh when I did and that sound... Oh, that sound was pure joy.” Exhaling, he shook his head. “I’ve pictured what it would be like when I finally found her. I have imagined that scenario a hundred times. And now... Now I realize she wouldn’t even recognize me.”

  His voice broke. She watched as he struggled to regain his composure, unsure how to comfort him, or if she even should try.

  A moment later, he straightened his shoulders, looking more like himself. “Are you ready?” he asked.

  Momentarily confused, she shrugged. “Ready for what?”

  “We’re going to Houston. This time, we’re going to find this bastard and get our daughter back.”

  Dear Reader,

  Every once in a while, a book comes along that grabs me by the throat and won’t let go. Missing in Texas is one of those stories. I fought it and struggled, aware I had to write it in a way that would give the tale justice. As I wrote this book, I cursed and cried, but eventually I managed to get the words right in a way that was true to these characters.

  When Jake Cassin’s one-year-old daughter was abducted, he never gave up searching for her. Despite losing his wife, despite being placed on leave at his job as a Houston police officer, he continued to look. Four long years have passed, and a tip leads him to the small west Texas town of Getaway and bakery owner Edie Beswick.

  Edie is shocked when Jake Cassin shows up in her bakery with a photo of her adopted daughter, Laney, claiming she’s his long-lost child. But that afternoon, Laney is once again abducted as she’s getting off the school bus. And Edie’s worst nightmare has suddenly come true.

  The story is complex. The attraction between two people who could choose to be enemies is fierce. And the love for their missing child is strong. As they race against time to save Laney, can they also make something out of their tentative and growing relationship?

  I hope you enjoy meeting Jake and Edie and, of course, Laney. And I truly hope you find their tale as engrossing as I did while writing it!

  I appreciate you, dear reader!

  Karen Whiddon

  MISSING IN TEXAS

  Karen Whiddon

  Karen Whiddon started weaving fanciful tales for her younger brothers at the age of eleven. Amid the gorgeous Catskill Mountains, then the majestic Rocky Mountains, she fueled her imagination with the natural beauty surrounding her. Karen now lives in north Texas, writes full-time and volunteers for a boxer dog rescue. She shares her life with her hero of a husband and four to five dogs, depending on if she is fostering. You can email Karen at kwhiddon1@aol.com. Fans can also check out her website, karenwhiddon.com.

  Books by Karen Whiddon

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  The Rancher’s Return

  The Texan’s Return

  Wyoming Undercover

  The Texas Soldier’s Son

  Texas Ranch Justice

  Snowbound Targets

  The Widow’s Bodyguard

  Texas Sheriff’s Deadly Mission

  Texas Rancher’s Hidden Danger

  Finding the Rancher’s Son

  The Spy Switch

  Protected by the Texas Rancher

  Secret Alaskan Hideaway

  Saved by the Texas Cowboy

  Missing in Texas

  Visit the Author Profile page at

  Harlequin.com for more titles.

  To all my faithful readers who write reviews and send me email. I appreciate you all so much! Often, you make my entire day!

  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

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from A Firefighter’s Hidden Truth by Tara Taylor Quinn

  Chapter 1

  When the cheerful little bells over the front door of the bakery jingled, Edie Beswick looked up into the face of the most attractive man she’d ever seen. Sandy brown hair, a firm jaw and eyes the color of her special lime frosting, the most perfect shade of light green. She’d just finished baking a tray of lemon cupcakes and putting them out in the display case, but this stranger with the muscular arms and broad shoulders made her heart beat faster than a mouthful of her favorite decadent dessert. Which, since she was considered the most talented baker in an entire family of them, said a lot.

  “Can I help you?” she asked sweetly, all of her insides tingling.

  He smiled, revealing twin dimples on either side of his mouth, which impossibly made him even more handsome. “I think you likely can,” he drawled, clearly not noticing the effect that his rich, sexy voice had on her. Who knew a man’s voice could make all her body parts tighten?

  “If you’re looking for something sweet, you’ve come to the right place,” she replied, mentally wincing at the double entendre. Now she sounded like a goof, which she basically was in most areas of her life, though not here. If anything, she was in her element in the place. This was her family’s bakery, which had first opened in the small West Texas town of Getaway in 1949 and was passed down through generations of Beswicks. Here, she shone, as had all the Beswick women before her.

  Her great grandmother, Irene Beswick, the original baker, had been renowned for her talent. People had come from as far away as Lubbock and Midland to buy her cakes and pies. And so it had been for Edie’s grandmother, mother and now her.

  Thinking of this, she stood taller, confident in her ability to find him the most delicious treat to take home.

  As his smile broadened, his green eyes crinkled.

  Dang it. She flushed, realizing she must sound like she was flirting with him. “I mean,” she stammered, gesturing around the bakery. “I’m known for the best cakes and pies in all of West Texas.” She bustled around to grab one of her specialties, a melt-in-your-mouth red velvet cupcake with sour cream frosting.

  “Here.” Setting it on the counter, she swallowed. “Try this. On the house.”

  Without taking his intense gaze from her face, he thanked her. “I’ll take it with me for later,” he said. “I actually came in here for something else.”

  For one crazy moment, she thought he meant to say something corny and wonderful, like he’d seen her across the town square and wanted to know if she’d like to go get coffee sometime. Stuff like that only happened in books and movies, she knew. Still, she couldn’t help wishing. Because men like him never walked into her bakery.

  Holding her breath, she watched as he pulled a carefully folded sheet of paper from his pocket, opened it and smoothed it flat with his hand before sliding it across the counter to her.

  “My name is Jake Cassin and I’m looking for my daughter,” he said, his tone hopeful. “This picture is four years old, so I’m not sure what she looks like now. She was abducted when she was one, and this is all I have to go on.”

  Accepting the paper, Edie glanced down at it and froze. Her daughter’s chubby little face smiled up at her. Edie had taken a similar photo of Laney right after she’d adopted her. Four years ago. Crud.

  “Where...” she began. “Where did you get this?”

  He cocked his head, still watching her. “What do you mean?” A frown quickly replaced his smile. “That’s one of the last photos I have of my daughter. It’s up on my website and was in numerous Amber Alerts, back when she first went missing. Have you seen her?”

  Mouth dry, she swallowed. “No,” she lied, hoping like hell she sounded normal. “I haven’t. Though if this picture is four years old, there’s no telling how she might have changed in that time.”

  Except Edie knew what that little girl looked like now at the age of five. Because she hurried home to that precious little face every single day. She tucked her in bed at night with butterfly kisses and a couple of her favorite story books and considered her the greatest blessing in her life.

  “True,” he allowed, taking back his paper, folding and placing it carefully back in his pocket. He pulled out a card and held it out to her. “I received a tip on my website that she might be here. I’ve been looking for her a long time. I’m not going to stop until I find her. Please, take this. If you hear anything, anything at all, give me a call. I’m staying at the Landshark Motel.”

  Somehow, she managed to smile and nod as she accepted his card. “I sure will,” she said. “Is your website on here, too?”

  “Yes. Give it a look, see if anything jogs your memory.” He turned to go, remembering the cupcake at the last minute. “Thanks for this.”

  “You’re welcome.” Normally, she would have invited him to come again. If he’d have been any other customer, she would have. Instead, she took deep breaths, gripped her counter to keep from crumpling and watched as he climbed into a shiny black, tricked-out Ford F-150. The truck rumbled as he st
arted it up, sunlight glinting off the custom paint as he back out and drove away.

  Once he’d gone, she instinctively reached for the phone to call the sheriff but then reconsidered. She needed to hold off until she figured out what exactly was going on.

  She’d adopted Laney four years ago, roughly the same time as this man claimed his daughter had gone missing. And unless Laney had a twin out there somewhere, Jake Cassin possessed her photo. Could the two be the same little girl? If so, how was such a thing possible?

  Head spinning, Edie turned the Open sign to Closed, locked the front door and pulled the blinds. Everyone in Getaway knew she closed in the afternoons for a little bit so she could go pick up her daughter at the bus stop. Laney had started kindergarten this year. Edie had wanted to drive her to and from school, but Laney had insisted on riding the bus with her friends. So far, despite Edie’s overprotective trepidation, her daughter’s little daily bit of independent adventure appeared to be going great.

  Edie slipped out the back door, taking care to lock it, and hopped into her Mazda SUV. She drove the two miles to the bus stop, aware she’d be early, and parked to wait for the bright yellow school bus. She was early, which suited her fine. Time alone in her car would be good because she needed to think.

  When her parents had died in a horrific house fire in Idaho, Edie had been adopted by her aunt and uncle Marilyn and Albert Beswick of Getaway, Texas. They’d made the almost twenty-hour drive without stopping, determined to comfort a confused two-year-old who kept crying for her mommy.

  Which was why when Gina, one of Edie’s Idaho cousins and a single mother, had died suddenly of a brain aneurysm, leaving behind her one-year-old daughter, Edie hadn’t hesitated. With her parents’ blessing, she’d made her own nonstop drive from Texas to Idaho, hell-bent on rescuing her niece Laney.

  Because there had been no other family, the adoption had gone without a hitch. Though Edie had zero experience raising a small child, she fell instantly and deeply in love. The moment she gathered little Laney up in her arms, she knew she’d lay down her life for this child—her daughter—from that moment on.

  Shaking off the memories, Edie once again tried to figure out where this Jake Cassin came into all this. He claimed his daughter had been abducted. But as far as Edie knew, Gina had carried and birthed her child. Except now, even this might be in doubt. There were no other family members remaining in Pocatello. No one to say, yes, they’d seen Gina pregnant and she’d been as big as a house. As a matter of fact, they’d been the ones who’d taken her to the hospital when the time had come to deliver.

  None of that. In fact, despite being first cousins, Edie had barely known Gina at all. Could she have—would she have somehow stolen Jake’s daughter? Why? How?

  Edie checked her watch. The bus should be along any moment now. She couldn’t wait to see Laney’s face, to kiss her cheek, to breathe in the scent of her freshly shampooed hair.

  Again, she replayed Jake sliding the photograph across the counter. The instant recognition, the certainty that this was somehow, impossibly, a photo of Laney.

  Several scenarios played out in her mind. Maybe Jake and Gina had been married and then divorced, and he’d gotten custody, but Gina had refused to accept that and had stolen their daughter.

  Except Jake had used the word abducted. And he hadn’t said by her own mother.

  There, the school bus, a bright spot of yellow in the dust cloud of the dirt road. Edie pushed all worries about Jake Cassin out of her head. Putting a bright smile on her face, she got out of her SUV and stood near the area where the bus always dropped Laney off.

  But this time, the bus didn’t stop. Instead, it kept right on going while Edie stood in stunned disbelief. She finally gathered herself enough to jump in her vehicle and chase the school bus down.

  Luckily, a few miles up the road, the bus had to stop for train tracks as required by law. This enabled Edie to catch up and be there when it made its next stop. She pulled over to the side of the road, slammed her shifter in Park and jumped out. Kids were still emerging from the bus.

  Running over toward the door, Edie reached it just as the last child exited. Before the driver could close the door, Edie climbed the steps, frantically searching the bus for her daughter.

  “Ma’am?” The driver, an older man who wasn’t Mrs. Pope, the usual driver, stared at her. “Can I help you?”

  Hyperventilating at this point, Edie tried to calm herself down enough to form coherent words. “My little girl,” she managed. “Blond long hair. She was wearing a pink backpack and jeans.”

  He frowned at her, clearly not comprehending. “Okay?”

  “She was supposed to get off at the last stop,” she explained, her voice remarkably steady, considering how fast her heart was hammering in her chest. “And I don’t see her on the bus. Where is she?”

  Slowly, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m just a temp driver while Mrs. Pope is out sick. I was told all the children on this route knew their stops. There were several girls with blonde hair. I have no idea.”

  Edie stared, horrified. “You. Have. No. Idea. Are you freaking kidding me?”

  “Ms. Beswick?” a young voice piped up. “I know where Laney is. She got off two stops back, with Jessica and Amanda. They were all going over Amanda’s house.”

  This news almost made Edie’s knees buckle. Only by grabbing the pole at the front of the bus was she able to continue standing.

  The little girl who had spoken stared earnestly up at her. She appeared to be abut Laney’s age. “They wanted me to go with them, but I knew if I did, my mommy would be mad.”

  “Good thinking, honey,” Edie replied. “I wish Laney had thought like you.”

  “We need to get going, ma’am,” the bus driver said, pointedly glancing toward the still open door.

  “So do I.” Edie turned and exited. She hurried to her vehicle, glad she’d left it running. While she wasn’t exactly sure where the stop before Laney’s might be, she had a pretty good idea where Amanda lived. She’d talked with her mother at the kindergarten open house.

  Making a U-turn, Edie headed back the way she’d come. There was a small, older subdivision between her home and the school. The bus would make a stop right at the entrance so all the children who lived there could walk home. It wasn’t too far, and maybe Edie could even catch up with the kids before they reached Amanda’s house. Though she doubted that, she thought grimly. She’d wasted far too much time quizzing the bus driver.

  Rounding a curve, she saw the double-sided brick entrance. There appeared to be a small group of people—both adults and children—milling around near the exit. As she pulled up, parking on the side of the road across from the entrance, a sheriff’s car came racing from the other direction, siren on and lights flashing.

  Edie’s stomach dropped. Jumping out of her SUV, she hurried over to the growing cluster of people, praying she wouldn’t see a child on the ground. There were several children, varying in age, clinging to different adults. Edie studied all of them, looking for Laney, but she didn’t see her. But for that matter, she didn’t recognize any of Laney’s friends either.

  “What’s going on?” she tried to ask, but one of the women yanked her into a tight embrace before she could get all the words out.

  “I’m so, so sorry,” the woman kept repeating, over and over and over.

  “Sorry for what?” Edie tried to ask.

  Since everyone seemed to be trying to talk at the same time, Edie couldn’t make sense of the words. To her relief, the hugger released her when Rayna Coombs, the sheriff, strode over.

  “I got a call about an abducted child?” Rayna looked from one adult to another. “Who can explain?”

  Again, several adults began speaking at once, each one trying to talk over the others. Edie simply stood, frozen in terror, hoping against hope that this had nothing to do with Laney or her little friends.

  A piercing whistle silenced everyone immediately. Rayna, despite her petite stature, didn’t mess around. “Now,” she ordered, pointing at the woman closest to her. “You. Tell me exactly what happened here.”