I’ve
previously shared part
of the first chapter from The Mad Monk’s Treasure, as well as the opening
and a
later excerpt from The Dead Man’s Treasure. These novels are part of my
Southwest Treasure Hunters collection. Each novel stands alone in this series
mixing action and adventure with romance. Today’s excerpt is from the third
book:
The Skeleton Canyon Treasure
When Camille Dagneau surprises a strange man in the college
machine shop she runs, she is ready for battle. Ryan MacAllister seems equally
suspicious of her, but he insists he’s merely looking for his missing uncle,
who has disappeared while hunting for a lost treasure. He believes Camie is the
key to finding the treasure, and his uncle. But Camie – beautiful, brilliant,
and prickly – isn’t about to trust this oversized geologist, or the attraction
she feels.
Following the clues in the missing man’s journal will take
Camie, Ryan, and the cat Tiger on a trail through New Mexico and Arizona.
They’ll visit the Tombstone graveyard at night, uncover clues in museums, and
ultimately wind up in Skeleton Canyon, where rumor says nineteenth-century
cowboy bandits secreted their treasure in a cave. To rescue Ryan’s uncle,
they’ll face steep cliffs, twisty tunnels, and worse dangers in human form, but
trusting each other may be the biggest challenge. And they’re running out of
time ….
If you love suspense and romance, don’t miss this gripping
adventure!
“The Skeleton Canyon Treasure is a light, breezy
action/adventure/romance that's perfect for summer reading.”
"A great mystery, love story, and search for a
treasure.”
Chapter One
Camie let herself
into the darkened building, reveling in the silence. At 10 PM on a Friday, the
engineering department was abandoned, exactly the way she liked it. A few hours
of work without distractions and she’d get her invention running.
A faint light shone
in the darkened hallway. The glow spilled through the small square of glass in
her door, a warning beacon coming from inside her machine shop. She
hesitated. Had she forgotten to turn off the light when she left for dinner?
Plausible but unlikely. Slapping the light switch on the way out was habit, and
she’d been extra careful since the break-in a few nights earlier.
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| The Skeleton Canyon Treasure visits Tombstone, AZ |
She crept forward,
as silent as the sleeping building around her. The ten-inch window was cloudy
with age and threaded with wire mesh, but it didn’t completely hide the sight
within. A large man stood on the far side of the room, hunched over one of her
workbenches. She didn’t recognize him. Easily several inches over six feet and
a good 220 pounds of mostly muscle, he would stand out in any crowd. Among the
young geniuses of a science and engineering college, he was a mountain lion
among prairie dogs.
Her eyes narrowed
and she gave a low growl. What was he doing here, in her machine shop, messing
with her equipment? He had to be connected to the earlier theft. Why would he
come back when he already had her invention? He couldn’t know she’d already
started rebuilding it. Maybe he wanted to steal her notes and the provisional
patent application forms. Without them, she’d have a much harder time proving
she’d been the original inventor.
She considered her
options, calling campus security or the police being the most obvious. Campus
security would be faster, but the police would have guns. Problem was, she’d
left her phone inside the machine shop. She’d have to leave to find another
phone, and he might escape in the meantime, with her notes, and the new version
of her device. She didn’t trust the authorities to track him down once he got
out of the building. More likely they’d take a report and do nothing. And she
did not want to start over from scratch yet again.
And then the man
actually reached out and picked up her baby, her new version of the invention,
only partway rebuilt. All thought of options and smart choices vanished.
She barreled
through the door.
The man spun
around, still holding her machine. At least he didn’t drop it, and his hands
were occupied so he couldn’t easily go for a weapon. But if he tried to get
past her, she’d have to risk damaging her invention in order to stop him.
He gaped at her,
several expressions flitting across his face as if unsure which one belonged.
Finally he settled into a cocky grin. It didn’t make him good looking. But
despite his size and her own keyed-up nerves, she didn’t get a sense of threat.
She was usually good at reading people that way.
Still, she didn’t
relax. “Well?”
He looked momentarily startled. What kind of greeting had he expected, a warm welcome?
He looked momentarily startled. What kind of greeting had he expected, a warm welcome?
Visit all the Book Hooks from
#MFRWHooks - You might find your next great read!
Kris Bock writes novels of suspense and romance
with outdoor adventures and Southwestern landscapes. Whispers in the
Dark features archaeology and intrigue among ancient Southwest
ruins. What We Found is a mystery with strong romantic
elements about a young woman who finds a murder victim in the woods. In Counterfeits,
stolen Rembrandt paintings bring danger to a small New Mexico town.
The Mad Monk’s Treasure follows the hunt for a long-lost treasure in the New Mexico
desert. In The Dead Man’s Treasure, estranged relatives compete to
reach a buried treasure by following a series of complex clues. In The
Skeleton Canyon Treasure, sparks fly when reader favorites Camie and Tiger
help a mysterious man track down his missing uncle.
Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter for announcements of new books, sales, and more. Read excerpts
at www.krisbock.com or
visit her Amazon page.
