Searing Need

In this third book of Steele Ridge's high-stakes romantic suspense series, Steele Ridge: The Kingstons, USA Today bestselling author Tracey Devlyn pairs a brilliant botanist with a battered confidence and a Delta Force operator hiding out on conservation land-then plunges them into a deadly conspiracy someone will kill to keep buried. When a sociopath sets his sights on Riley Kingston, the man who came to Steele Ridge to be alone becomes her best chance to survive.

Her sister might be the law and her brothers the brawn, but Riley Kingston is definitely the brains of the family. She's a talented botanist on her way to a PhD-so why does she feel like a failure? Fired from her dream project in Costa Rica, Riley is stuck back in Steele Ridge, cataloguing plants on Steele land and trying to rebuild her confidence one field day at a time. Until she stumbles on a fascinating new specimen-a brooding soldier with a body made for sin and eyes full of pain she can't stop wanting to understand.

Delta Force operator Coen Monroe doesn't want to be studied-least of all by the sexy scientist whose inquisitive glances stir up desires he isn't ready to handle. He came to Steele Ridge to be alone, to battle his nightmares and the memories triggering them. But Riley's gentle seduction is as relentless as her curiosity. She soothes his wounded soul... and makes him want things he has no right to ask of her. Then Riley's research collides with something far darker than botany-and the secret she uncovers puts her in the sights of a sociopath bent on silencing her forever.

Now Coen is exactly what Riley needs: a soldier with the skills to keep her alive... and the instincts to claim her heart. But as danger closes in and the killer's net tightens, Coen must protect the woman he's falling for without losing himself to the darkness he brought home from war.

Because if Coen fails, Riley won't just lose her future. She'll lose her life-and Coen will lose the one person who makes him believe he can be whole again.

Author's Note: Small town shenanigans. Laugh-out-loud bantering. Wounded military hero. Nerdy botanist heroine. Forced proximity. White-knuckle suspense. Intimate mountain swimhole!

If you would like to read the entire Steele Ridge series, here's a complete list. All books/novellas can be read as standalones.

The Steeles:

• The Beginning
• Going Hard
• Living Fast
• Loving Deep
• Breaking Free
• Roaming Wild
• Stripping Bare
• Enduring Love
• Vowing Love

• Craving Heat
• Tasting Fire
• Searing Need
• Striking Edge
• Burning Ache

• Flash Point
• Smoke Screen
• Cross Roads
• Crash Course
• End Game

• The Most Wonderful Gift of All
• A Sign of the Season
• His Holiday Miracle
• A Holly Jolly Homecoming
• Hope for the Holidays
• All She Wants for Christmas
• Jingle Bell Rock Tonight
• Not So Silent Night
• A Rogue Santa
• The Puppy Present
• For the Love of Santa
• Beneath the Mistletoe