Hunted

  And Caroline? Caroline was his to love, and, he hoped, to keep. To build a future with. To build a life with.

  The three of them were his family now.

  Thanks to them, he’d found the road home again.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’d like to thank Elana Cohen, Faren Bachelis, Steve Breslin, Liz Psaltis, Ellen Chan, and Jean Anne Rose, for all their great work on this book. Your contributions were invaluable.

  I’d also like to thank my agent, Robert Gottlieb, for being so supportive, and Mark Gottlieb for doing such a good job with my ebooks.

  KAREN ROBARDS is the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty books, including the romantic thrillers Justice and Sleepwalker, and the historical romance trilogy Scandalous, Irresistible, and Shameless. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with her family.

  FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/Karen-Robards

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  THE BANNING SISTERS TRILOGY

  Shameless

  Irresistible

  Scandalous

  OTHER TITLES BY KAREN ROBARDS

  Shiver

  Sleepwalker

  Justice

  Shattered

  Pursuit

  Guilty

  Obsession

  Vanished

  Superstition

  Bait

  Beachcomber

  Whispers at Midnight

  To Trust a Stranger

  Paradise County

  Ghost Moon

  The Midnight Hour

  The Senator’s Wife

  Heartbreaker

  Hunter’s Moon

  Walking After Midnight

  Maggy’s Child

  One Summer

  Nobody’s Angel

  This Side of Heaven

  Dark of the Moon

  We hope you enjoyed reading this Gallery Books eBook.

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  Gallery Books

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  New York, NY 10020

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2013 by Karen Robards

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  First Gallery Books hardcover edition December 2013

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  Interior design by Davina Mock-Maniscalco

  Cover design © Lisa Litwack

  Cover image © Dougal Waters/Getty Images

  Author photograph by Brian Velenchenko

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Robards, Karen.

  Hunted / Karen Robards.

  pages cm

  1. Hostage negotiations—Fiction. 2. Policewomen—Louisiana—New Orleans—Fiction. 3. New Orleans (La.)—Fiction.

  4. Romantic suspense fiction. I. Title.

  PS3568.O196H84 2013

  813’.54—dc23            2013040433

  ISBN 978-1-4516-7871-0

  ISBN 978-1-4516-7875-8 (ebook)

  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

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Acknowledgments

  About Karen Robards