The Ranger's Destiny (Army Ranger Romance Book 6)

by Bree Livingston

  Focus on the job. He switched over to professional mode, clicking through the list of things to be done before Holly had a chance of being safe. A car alarm would be a good start. A full alarm system for the house, not just the few surveillance cameras they’d put up already. He didn’t dare creep around outside, but it seemed a safe bet that there was nothing currently in place. This was a small town full of people Holly trusted, where everyone knew each other.

  What else? She had to change up her routine. He considered escorting her to the office and back. She’d hate it, of course, but certain things weren’t for her to decide.

  He gazed up at her window. Then again, maybe she wouldn’t hate it so much after what happened that night. If he were in her shoes, he would’ve begged for someone to stick close by. Especially if that someone happened to be trained for situations like this.

  * * *

  There was nothing worth watching on TV. Not that it mattered. Holly wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on anything, not even if she’d found her favorite movie.

  Not when the sound of a hand slamming against her window kept running through her head on a loop. Not when she couldn’t stop thinking about the violence the man had threatened, the snide laughter in his voice when he’d threatened it. Like he took pleasure in scaring her. Because he had. Was it really such a surprise, knowing what she already knew?

  She flipped to another station, then another. It was useless, but what alternative did she have? Lying alone in the dark? No way.

  What if they were outside?

  The thought sent her scrambling for the window, standing off to the side and peeking out, holding her breath. Would they be out there, looking up at her? Reminding her how vulnerable she was?

  No, but that didn’t mean the street was empty, either. There was Mason…and he was looking up at her.

  On one hand, this was a good thing. She could breathe. Nobody would hurt her so long as he was there.

  On the other hand, what the heck was he doing out there? He’d be lucky if no one happened by on a late-night stroll and questioned him. People didn’t do things like that in her town unless they were creeps. He couldn’t exactly blow his cover by admitting his real identity.

  She sat on the bed and picked up her phone to text him. Someone’s bound to see you out there and wonder why the town’s new physician is stalking me.

  His reply showed up almost instantly. I haven’t seen a soul. It’s well past everyone’s bedtime. And this is my job. I can cover for myself if I need to.

  Holly couldn’t help but smile, even if she felt sorry for him. The date he’d been on still ruffled her feathers, even when she knew it was only because he was trying to catch the horrible people fighting dogs—people she wanted caught. At least her ire in that regard was beginning to ebb away.

  The tracking, not so much. Yes, he’d broken into her car and lied about it, but she wasn’t unreasonable. She just wished he’d respected her enough to ask. Besides, if he hadn’t done it, he wouldn’t have known she was stranded on a dark road and come to her rescue. Maybe she’d overreacted, though emotions were running too high just then to do anything but. She’d gone from terrified to elated to betrayed in about the time it took to blink an eye.

  This is all my fault, she texted. You shouldn’t have to sit out there all night. I’ll be okay.

  Don’t ever say that, he replied just as quickly as before, as if he had his responses already thought out. Did he know her well enough to predict what she’d say? Why would it not have come as a surprise if he did?

  Rather than text back, which felt like a waste of time, she called him. “I should’ve been smarter,” she admitted instead of saying hello. “I should’ve handled this more carefully.”

  “You can’t blame yourself. You didn’t make this happen. You care about what’s right, and you refuse to back down. If this is anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”

  “Yours?”

  “I should already have these jerks taken care of. I’m not only here to protect you. Stopping them is the only long-term solution. I’ve fallen short. I should’ve found their location by now…something.”

  Her shoulders rounded, hearing the anger in his voice directed at himself. “If the police haven’t been able to pin them down, how could you? They’re smart. It’s like they have a sixth sense about escaping. I don’t know how they’re getting away with this, but they didn’t start yesterday. They know what they’re doing.”

  “Just the same.”

  She had the feeling there wouldn’t be any convincing him. He’d made up his mind, and that was that.

  “What can we do now?” she whispered, shivering when she remembered the man’s voice. The slamming of a hand against her window.

  “You’re sure you want to have anything to do with me after what happened earlier?”

  “Stop it,” she warned. “You were out of line. You should’ve come clean.”

  “And what would you have said if I’d approached you with the idea of installing a tracking system on your car? Be honest,” he added.

  Honestly? She would’ve hated it and told him she needed no such thing. “I wouldn’t have agreed because I wasn’t taking the threats seriously,” she mumbled as a flush crept over her cheeks.

  “Putting it mildly, I think.” He had the good grace not to rub it in her face at least. “I hate to think what might’ve happened if I didn’t know how to find you, or even that you needed to be found.”

  “I’m not arguing that. I only wish you’d come out and told me. Now what am I supposed to think? The next time you’re sure you need to do something for my own good, are you going to charge ahead and do it?”

  “If I think it’s for the best, since I’m the one with experience in this sort of thing?”

  Her hand tightened around the phone. “You are impossible,” she hissed. “The correct thing to say would be, ‘Yes, Holly, I’ll respect your rights as an individual and as an adult with the ability to decide things for herself.’”

  “I have to follow my instincts and my training,” he said softly. “I know that’s not convenient, but things don’t always happen at a convenient time. If there was an emergency and I knew something needed to be done but there wasn’t time to check with you…”

  “Forget it,” she grumbled. “You know, you had a lot of nerve calling me stubborn the other day when I was walking Princess. Maybe you’re right and I’m stubborn to a fault. But you put me to shame.”

  She wasn’t normally the sort of person who hung up on someone, but there were exceptions to every rule. Once the call was over, she tossed the phone onto the bed before shoving her face in her pillow and letting out a scream. He was impossible!

  To think, she’d started imagining something between them. Something special, something lasting.

  How could she have been so wrong?

  Chapter 19

  Mason managed to wait until he was all of three steps outside the police station before calling Noah. It had been a few days since the incident on the road, and he’d felt it prudent to bring the situation up in general terms with the police chief.

  What a waste of time that had been.

  “Hey, it’s me,” he said when Noah’s voicemail picked up. “I wanted to report back after meeting up with the cops out here. They act like their hands are completely tied and there’s nothing to be done. I’m sure Holly got the same runaround when she came in, and now I understand why she was so frustrated. If they treated the town’s new physician this way, how did they talk to her?”

  He slid behind the wheel and closed his car door harder than he needed to. “I drove around yesterday and picked up all the equipment for Holly. Now, all I have to do is convince her she needs it. I don’t know that I can sit around outside her place for many more nights without burning out. She doesn’t seem to be sleeping much either. I can only hope she comes around.”

  That would be the tough part, wouldn’t it? Getting her to understand that he knew what h
e was doing.

  There were already four people waiting outside his office when he arrived, and guilt washed over him. He had two jobs to perform here, and it seemed as though turning his focus to one or the other meant letting someone down. There was no one as hard on him as he was on himself, which made his perceived failure even harder to swallow.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as he fished through his keys for the one to unlock the front door. “I didn’t mean to keep you waiting. It’s been a long day already.”

  “Longer for those of us who don’t feel well,” one of the older women muttered behind him.

  “Mm-hmm,” a second woman agreed. “I suppose a certain town veterinarian has been keeping him busy.”

  He fumbled with the key for a second before sliding it home. Should he pretend not to hear or set the woman straight? Would it be protesting too much if he did?

  “I heard he was seeing Edna Carter’s niece,” the first woman replied.

  “All right. Enough.” He rewarded them both with a disapproving look as he held the door open for everyone to come inside. “I wish my personal life was half that interesting, but I’m afraid I’m a disappointment.” He glanced over at the receptionist’s desk and remembered Holly’s promise to help find him a likely candidate. Was that all in the past now?

  “Not so disappointing to me,” one of the women said, waving an empty left hand. “I’m single.” The fact that she was twice his age didn’t seem to matter.

  He cleared his throat. “Sign in, please, and I’ll grab your files.” Yes, this day had certainly started off well.

  His patients kept him busy until lunch, when he used the opportunity of a few minutes to himself to send Holly a message. Can I see you later? I have a lot to show you. Then, remembering the innuendo from that morning, he sent a second text. I’ll come around the back way.

  He waited, chewing a turkey sandwich, looking at the screen with the hopes of seeing the ellipsis that meant she was typing something. He felt like he was back in high school, waiting to hear back from a girl he had a crush on.

  Rather than text, she called from the office. “It’s pretty busy here today,” she explained. “We have two new dogs, just dropped off this morning.”

  “I’d be glad to come over later and help with anything you need,” he offered. Anything, so long as he was with her and therefore certain she was okay. “Once Fiona’s gone for the day, I mean. I’m no expert, but I love dogs.”

  There was a moment of silence on her end—at least, she fell silent. There was never true silence coming from over there with some dog or another always barking.

  “I should let her go early,” she finally mused. “She’s been covering for me these last few days. I’ve been…distracted.”

  Yes, and he heard the fatigue in her voice. “Let me know what you decide to do. I could always close up a little early if I need to. I get the feeling this is going to be a slow day. Maybe all the interest in the new physician has worn off.”

  She snorted. “Sure, and the Easter Bunny is real. I’ll let you know what goes on around here. For now, I’ve gotta go.” He didn’t have the chance to say goodbye before a series of beeps told him she’d ended the call.

  Just in the nick of time, too, since he heard the front door open and close. “H—hello?” a male voice called out, young. “Anybody here?”

  Mason stuck his head out into the hall. “Hi. Be right with you. Sign in, please, so I can find your file.”

  “I don’t have a file. I ain’t never been here before.” The young man wandered into view. Tall, lanky, wearing a denim jacket that looked like it had seen its share of seasons. He was flushed and sweating, and even from a distance, Mason made note of his glassy eyes. Either he was in the middle of a reaction to something, or he had an infection.

  “Okay,” Mason called out. “In that case, there’s a form attached to a clipboard on the counter. Fill it out for me, and we’ll get you taken care of.”

  “I—I can’t do that.”

  Mason walked down the hall, meeting the kid. “Okay. What’s the problem? Can you write?” He was careful to be casual, working to avoid scaring the stranger away if he truly needed medical help. If he was an unfortunate soul in search of pills, that was another story.

  The kid nodded hard, frowning. “But I’m right-handed, and it’s my right hand that’s hurt.”

  Mason looked down at the hand in question, wrapped in a bandage that needed changing. “Gotcha. All right, you can tell me what to write down. Let’s get you into an exam room.”

  It took ages, but the kid—named Ronald—eventually gave Mason the necessary information. It was enough to make him wonder if there was something deeper going on, some reason Ronald wanted to keep his personal information to himself.

  “Okay. Let’s take a look at this hand.” Mason put on a pair of gloves before unwrapping the bandage, which got grungier with every new layer until finally the wound was revealed.

  “When did this happen?” He didn’t need to study the wound to know it was infected.

  Ronald shrugged, wincing when Mason touched the affected area to see what might come out. “I don’t know. A few days ago?”

  “A few days? This looks like a little longer than that.” Mason looked up at him from under lowered brows. “Do you have a dog?”

  “Hmmm?” Ronald’s glassy fevered eyes flitted away. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know whether you have a dog?” Mason inserted a thermometer into Ronald’s mouth. “You should’ve come in right away or gone to the clinic outside town. A dog bite is no joke, even if there’s nothing more than puncture wounds. Did you know the dog? You can nod or shake your head.”

  Ronald shook his head.

  Mason didn’t find this surprising. “The dog could’ve been rabid. You can’t play games with things like this.”

  “It wasn’t.” Even when spoken around a thermometer, Mason understood.

  “How do you know?” He took the thermometer. “One hundred and three. Ronald, you’re very sick. No wonder, since this hand of yours is deeply infected. After I clean out the wound and dress it, I’m gonna give you a script for antibiotics and one for a non-narcotic pain reliever, plus a salve for the wound. You’ll need to cleanse and salve it twice a day and put on fresh bandages. Try to keep it dry. I know it’s a pain.”

  He also knew Ronald wasn’t telling the full story. There had to be more to learn here. “Listen, I could come around and check on you in a day or two,” he suggested once he’d finished and was peeling off his gloves. “You can’t afford to take chances.”

  “I’ll be okay.”

  “You could develop sepsis,” Mason informed him. “Or gangrene. Whatever that dog might’ve had could be running through your system right now. Either I come over to see you, or you go to the hospital to have them run blood tests. It’s up to you. Good luck going through the rest of your life with only one hand.”

  He might’ve exaggerated, but not by much, and Ronald seemed to take him seriously. “Okay, yeah, just use the address I gave you on that paper.”

  That’s the idea, Mason thought as Ronald got his scripts together before shuffling out of the office.

  “Are you driving?” he asked as an afterthought, but Ronald assured him he’d walked. That meant his home wasn’t far away.

  He watched as Ronald walked down to the corner where the pharmacy stood. Unless he was completely mistaken, Mason had just treated one of the members of the dogfighting ring and now had a reason to visit his home.

  * * *

  “That had to be one of them!” Holly gripped the leather leash she happened to be holding tight enough that her hands hurt. “Why did you let him go?”

  How could he look so surprised? “Because I had nothing to go on besides a dog bite. I plan to visit in a day or two to check on him, and I’ll be sure to learn everything I can. I want these people to have a sense of security. They don’t need to know I’m on to one of their members.”
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br />   Princess, Biscuit, and Daisy ran in circles around her legs, which brought to mind the swirling tornado she felt like she was in the middle of. “Wait a second. Every day they go unchecked, they’re free to do what they do. Not to mention being free to set traps for me.”

  “You, I’m not so worried about right now, which is what I wanted to tell you about.”

  She threw her hands into the air and sighed. “I feel like I’m talking to myself.”

  “I just want to make sure you’re safe, but if I can get these people off the map completely rather than only scaring them away, I’m going to do that too.” He shrugged before crouching to fill feed bowls, handling the massive bag of kibble like it weighed nothing.

  She couldn’t help but watch, maybe too closely. “So, um, what did you want to show me? The reason you reached out earlier?”

  “Right.” He stood straight, brushing his hands over his backside to wipe off any kibble residue. She tried not to look at that too and failed, her cheeks warming as his gaze lifted to hers. It would have been easier to hide stealing gum at that moment. “Security devices for your house. Did you have the alarm installed on your car when you had the tires replaced?”

  “Yes, sir.” She gave a salute, grinning when he rolled his eyes.

  “Thank you for the sarcasm.” He smirked, but his eyes flashed with humor. “All right, so there’s that. I have alarm sensors for the windows and doors, and motion lights to install around the perimeter of the house. More security cameras too.”

  She whistled softly. “Wow. What’s that going to cost me?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  When she shook her head, he nodded. “I mean it. I’m here to keep you safe. Bottom line.”

  If only she wouldn’t tingle from head to toe whenever he held her gaze, they’d be in good shape. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

  “I guess you could come over, you know. Whenever.” She shrugged like it didn’t matter and then asked herself why she couldn’t stop acting like a goofy teenager around him. Maybe they could hang out in front of a convenience store, or at the mall.