Trust

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

When Carter finds an injured dog along a treacherous stretch of mountain road, he knows rescuing her puts him in danger. But he can't leave the dog behind, no matter what the consequences. Even if it means revealing his secret. Even if it means losing everything.

"Kristine Kathryn Rusch is one of the best writers in the field."

—SFRevu

• Language: English
• Publisher: WMG Publishing
• Release date: Jul 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223051732

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award. Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award. She writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson, romantic suspense as Kristine Dexter, and futuristic sf as Kris DeLake.  She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own. To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com and sign up for her newsletter. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.

Book preview

Trust

TRUST

KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH

WMG Publishing, Inc.

CONTENTS

Trust

Also by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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About the Author

TRUST

Windy, rainy, the road dark and slick through the trees. Carter was already late. He hadn’t factored in the weather, the utter blackness of the Devil’s Elbow in the middle of a November night.

Judy would be waiting. It seemed that women always waited for him, no matter what he did to prevent it.

His hand was on the steering wheel. He didn’t trust the car’s autopilot on this dark and dangerous road. His phone was in his pocket, but he didn’t want to take his hands off the wheel to punch her number. He hadn’t put her in the auto-dial yet, had a hunch she wouldn’t last any longer than the others.

He hadn’t seen another pair of headlights on the entire drive up the mountain. He was nearing the summit now—the road widened, and the reflective barrier marked last winter’s slide, the one that had rolled a van all the way down to the ocean. Speed limit 35 here. He slowed to twenty. The corners were tricky near the top.

Then something caught in his headlights—just the impression of the thing: fluffy white tail, wide sad face, a bit confused. He cursed, kept his hands on the wheel, narrowly missing whatever it was (looked like a St. Bernard-Husky mix, his traitorous mind told him) and started down the other side