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Nine Minutes Before: A Small-Town Billionaire Romantic Suspense
The call came nine minutes before her husband’s car left the road. Eight years later, Emily Larson is about to find out what it meant.
Emily rebuilt her life one careful piece at a a freelance design business, a cabin in the Montana mountains, an eight-year-old son who draws superheroes at her kitchen table. Then a snowstorm, a wrecked SUV, and a stranger who needs a ride.
By morning she knows who Nathan Caldwell is. The most guarded man in the state. Cameras on every approach, a security chief who runs background checks on anyone who gets close, and an eighteen-year vendetta against the men who killed his father. He ran her plates before she made it home. He can quote the accident report on the crash that made her a widow. And the longer he looks at that report, the less it reads like an accident.
Falling for Nathan doesn’t just cost Emily her quiet life. It makes her visible to people who measure everything, people who already called her husband once, nine minutes before he died. When the threats reach her son’s school, she has to decide how much to trust a man who watched her through a lens before he ever said her name.
The crash was ruled weather. The phone records say otherwise.
For readers of Devney Perry and Catherine Cowles.
billionaire protector, widow’s second chance, single mom, he falls first, forced proximity, small town Montana, dual POV.
A full-length standalone romantic suspense with no cliffhanger and a hard-won HEA.
Emily rebuilt her life one careful piece at a a freelance design business, a cabin in the Montana mountains, an eight-year-old son who draws superheroes at her kitchen table. Then a snowstorm, a wrecked SUV, and a stranger who needs a ride.
By morning she knows who Nathan Caldwell is. The most guarded man in the state. Cameras on every approach, a security chief who runs background checks on anyone who gets close, and an eighteen-year vendetta against the men who killed his father. He ran her plates before she made it home. He can quote the accident report on the crash that made her a widow. And the longer he looks at that report, the less it reads like an accident.
Falling for Nathan doesn’t just cost Emily her quiet life. It makes her visible to people who measure everything, people who already called her husband once, nine minutes before he died. When the threats reach her son’s school, she has to decide how much to trust a man who watched her through a lens before he ever said her name.
The crash was ruled weather. The phone records say otherwise.
For readers of Devney Perry and Catherine Cowles.
billionaire protector, widow’s second chance, single mom, he falls first, forced proximity, small town Montana, dual POV.
A full-length standalone romantic suspense with no cliffhanger and a hard-won HEA.
265 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 20, 2026
About the author
Dana Velle
28 books1 followerDana Velle writes college sports romance and dark contemporary romance for readers who want their heat earned and their men unhinged.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 17, 2026
Good suspense but too many inconsistencies
romantic suspense with an interesting plot but with several inconsistencies. Story is about a woman who lost her husband 8 yrs ago and starts with helping someone who was in a car accident. First inconsistency was the reader was told her husband died and she delivered after his death and then later I.changed to he held her hand during the delivery. Another is the son Owen met and conversed with Carter. 2 chapters later it stated he just met him and was deciding about him. The other inconsistency ( sorry but spoiler alert). The husband is on the plane back to Montana with Em and Nathan and then how did he get recaptured by Voss?
It was written ok but at times I felt it was written like a report and did not flow as a novel. Definitely an interesting read but occasionally choppy reading.
romantic suspense with an interesting plot but with several inconsistencies. Story is about a woman who lost her husband 8 yrs ago and starts with helping someone who was in a car accident. First inconsistency was the reader was told her husband died and she delivered after his death and then later I.changed to he held her hand during the delivery. Another is the son Owen met and conversed with Carter. 2 chapters later it stated he just met him and was deciding about him. The other inconsistency ( sorry but spoiler alert). The husband is on the plane back to Montana with Em and Nathan and then how did he get recaptured by Voss?
It was written ok but at times I felt it was written like a report and did not flow as a novel. Definitely an interesting read but occasionally choppy reading.
June 6, 2026
unique action and romance
This is a great book. I came upon it by accident and am so glad I did. It kept me turning the pages. It has action, romance, a family, secrets., discipline, relationships. All was put together well to keep pages turning. I read it in a day and half. Very unique story with possibilities that what goes on everyday. Try it. I'm looking for another book by Dana Valle. She writes as if she's standing next to you or on phone. Don't wait read it now.
This is a great book. I came upon it by accident and am so glad I did. It kept me turning the pages. It has action, romance, a family, secrets., discipline, relationships. All was put together well to keep pages turning. I read it in a day and half. Very unique story with possibilities that what goes on everyday. Try it. I'm looking for another book by Dana Valle. She writes as if she's standing next to you or on phone. Don't wait read it now.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews