The Defender

by Lindsay McKenna

  “It led us to you.” Joe kissed her damp cheek and caressed her mouth with his own. “I love you, Katie. Never forget that. Come on, I’m going to carry you to the ambulance.” He picked her up.

  Katie sagged against Joe’s strong body, her arms around his neck as he walked toward the highway. A red-and-white ambulance, its lights whirling, was parked alongside the highway. There were at least four Tahoe County Sheriff’s Department cruisers and twice that many officers at the scene. A second fire truck pulled up, the siren competing with the shouts and orders of those already there.

  When Joe placed Katie on the gurney, he gave her a tender smile. “You’ll be in good hands now.” He released her fingers. “I’ll see you back at the Jackson Hole hospital. Right now, I have to help Cade. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He blew her a kiss.

  When Joe laid Katie on the gurney, she felt the life drain out of her. The adrenaline that had kept her alive and fighting to survive was dissolving in her bloodstream. She felt weak and shaky. Two paramedics, a man and a woman, came to her side. She gave Joe one last frail smile and then closed her eyes.

  * * *

  “KATIE!” JANET BERGSTROM HURRIED through the opening doors of the E.R. A nurse pointed to the cubicle at the end of the huge room where her daughter was sitting up, her legs dangling over the gurney. Janet’s face was a mask of fear as she rushed over and threw her arms around Katie.

  “Oh, God, Katie, I’m so sorry. So sorry. Thank God, you’re safe!” Janet quickly looked her over. “Are you all right?”

  Katie nodded just as a nurse came into the cubicle. “Yes, I’m okay, Mom.” She noticed dark streaks of mascara down her mother’s drawn cheeks. “I was kidnapped.”

  Janet ran her lacquered fingernails through her daughter’s mussed hair. “I know. Katie, I never meant for this to happen. Honest to God, I didn’t.” Janet’s eyes were filled with regret. “Please, I’m going to help you. I’m done with Xavier. I’m done with everything. I’ve found you, Katie, and I’m not going back to my old ways.” She pressed her hand against her chest. “I swear I’m not.”

  Just then, a sheriff’s deputy quietly walked into the cubicle. He had a serious expression on his face; his attention was pinned on Janet.

  “Ms. Bergstrom? It’s time to go,” the deputy told her, his hands resting on the black leather belt around his waist.

  Janet turned. “Okay...thanks for letting me see her.” Turning, she patted Katie’s hand. “I’m going to be in jail, Katie. But don’t worry. I’m talkin’ to Mr. Hager from the FBI. He says if I turn over what I know, a plea bargain can be struck.”

  Katie nodded, still in shock. The deputy came forward and her mother turned and left with him.

  “Would you like more water?” the nurse gently asked her.

  “Yes, please.” She’d been dying of thirst. In the ambulance, she’d drunk a pint of water.

  After the nurse left, she felt bereft. Where was Joe? He’d risked his life to save her, Katie slowly realized in the ambulance. He loved her. He’d proven it. Burying her face in her hands, Katie felt lost and out of touch with herself.

  “Katie?”

  Joe’s voice cut through to her. Hands falling away from her face, she saw him at the entrance, smiling.

  “Joe!” Katie slid off the gurney and ran to his open arms. “I’m so glad you’re here!” she whispered against his shirt as his arms held her tight. Katie heard the slow, solid beat of Joe’s heart beneath his smoky-smelling shirt. They were both dirty, but she didn’t care.

  “How are you doing?” he asked, gently easing her away just enough to look down into her face. Katie’s hair needed to be combed and washed. Streaks of smoke were here and there across her dark green T-shirt.

  “The doctor said bumps and bruises. Nothing more. I’m fine, Joe.” Lifting her chin, Katie eagerly met his descending mouth. She hungrily absorbed Joe against her, his arms strong, his breath filling her with life. As his mouth moved tenderly across hers, the fear within her began to dissolve. Joe’s searching, heated mouth erased the terror of her experience. The noise of the E.R. faded away. In moments, Katie went from nearly dying to a rich promise of the life to come with Joe.

  “Oh...excuse me,” Cade Garner said as he halted, giving them a sheepish look.

  Katie broke the kiss, her lips throbbing, and stepped out of his embrace. “That’s okay, Cade. Come in.”

  Apologetic, Cade shrugged. “It’s good to see you two together and happy,” he murmured, closing the curtains.

  Joe guided Katie to a chair. His hand never left her shoulder.

  Cade’s uniform was sooty and soiled. He smelled like oily smoke. “We’ve apprehended the two men who kidnapped you, Katie. I came over to see how you were doing.”

  “Thanks for letting me know, Cade. I feel better now,” she said.

  “That was a close call,” Cade said, resting one hip on the gurney. “I need to catch you up on what’s going down. Did you just see your mother?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “She’s under arrest because she’s a part of Xavier Lobos’s cartel.”

  “When the deputy came in with her, I figured that much. There wasn’t a lot of time to talk with her, Cade.”

  “I understand. Agent Hager remembered his promise to you. Janet has agreed to testify against Los Lobos. She’s turning over everything to the feds. Once Janet goes to court and testifies, she will not go to prison but will, instead, be placed in the witness protection program.”

  Joe scowled. “That means she’ll get a new identity and move somewhere else in the U.S.?”

  “Yes, it does.”

  Katie sat up, shocked. “That means I can’t see her again?”

  Cade gave Katie a look of compassion. “Los Lobos will go after her once they know she’s turning evidence over to the FBI, Katie. She’ll be in hiding until the trial. And afterward, she’s going to have to disappear. You can’t visit her or you might lead the drug ring to her. They’ll kill her.”

  Katie chewed on her lower lip. “Surely, something can be done? I—I just met my mother. I’ve spent my life looking for her. You can’t take her from me.”

  Joe gently moved his hand across Katie’s tense shoulders. “Honey, I’m sure something can be done after five years or so. But for now, she needs to disappear.”

  “That’s right,” Cade said. “That doesn’t mean you can’t talk to her by throwaway cell phones, Katie. You’ll have a connection. You just can’t visit one another for a time.”

  “Does my mother know this?”

  “She does now,” Cade said. “And she understands and accepts the process.”

  Her mother had saved her life. Heart swelling with grief and joy, Katie whispered, “Okay, I can do this. I’ve found her. I never want to lose her again. I can make this work, Cade. Something is better than nothing.”

  Cade slid off the gurney and forced a slight smile. “You’re a brave person, Katie. Why don’t you let Joe take you home? Get a shower, some clean clothes and relax. Your mother is staying with us. We can’t release her with Xavier’s and Garcia’s soldiers snooping around. Come by tonight by 8:00 p.m. and you can visit her before they fly her back East. I’m sure she’ll want to see you.”

  “That sounds good, Cade. Thank you. Please thank everyone who helped me survive this.”

  He halted at the curtain and pulled it aside. Grinning, he said, “Maybe you and Joe can stop by the bakery and get a couple of dozen donuts as a thank you. I know the firefighters, paramedics and deputies would appreciate your gesture.”

  “We’ll do it,” Joe promised him.

  After Cade left, Katie stood and walked around the chair. She lifted her arms and slid them around Joe’s powerful shoulders. “Come on, let’s go home.”

  “My place?”

 
“Always.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  KATIE AWOKE AT DAWN. Weak light peeked around the thick, dark gold curtains. She stretched slowly, feeling the bruises from yesterday. Mind fuzzy, she lay with her head in the crook of Joe’s shoulder. His warm, heavy arm lay across her hip. She absorbed his quiet strength as he slept, his breath slow and shallow against her cheek. Yesterday had changed her life. Forever. She had survived the crash with only bruises and sore muscles. Her mother, Janet, was flown out late last night for Washington, D.C.

  Katie had seen her mother one last time at the sheriff’s office. Her mother actually looked beautiful without makeup. The best news was that the Guatemalan police had arrested Xavier Lobos and all of his men at the main compound. They were now in custody, which meant Katie would be safe from any immediate revenge he might have taken against Janet. Most important, Katie would have her mother in her life and her mother would be safe. It was a price Janet had to pay, Joe told her later. If she hadn’t gotten mixed up in a drug cartel, none of this would have happened. Katie had glumly agreed as they’d sat up late last night over coffee, discussing the situation. One day in the far future, Katie would actually be able to visit her mother. One day...

  Katie snuggled against Joe’s lean, hard frame. Yesterday, in a private meeting with Agent Hager, Joe had handed in his resignation. He would write up the report on the mission before officially quitting his job. Joe had told his boss he wasn’t cut out for this kind of work. Hager had said he understood. Katie felt nothing but relief. With her active imagination, she didn’t think she could handle the worry associated with Joe being out in the field all the time. She wouldn’t survive the daily stress of potentially losing a loved one.

  Joe had driven her home and she’d taken a long, hot shower. Other than bruises here and there and a few abrasions around her wrists, she was in amazingly good condition. The soreness had disappeared beneath the heated water. By the time she’d emerged wearing Joe’s oversize robe, Katie felt as if life had miraculously been handed back to her.

  The masculine scent of Joe dizzied her as she lifted her hand and slowly glided her fingertips through the dark hair across his chest. He was naked from the waist up. She couldn’t help herself. She wanted to love him. She felt him move and begin to awaken. Smiling softly, she levered herself up on her right elbow and leaned over him. His beard was dark, his hair tousled and his eyes barely opened as she studied him in the dawn light. Outside, on a birch tree near the bedroom window, a robin sang, as if to herald a new day, a new chapter in their lives.

  Without a word, she met his drowsy gaze and leaned down, caressing his mouth. Joe slid his hand across her shoulder, conscious of her injuries, then drew her down, cherishing her smiling mouth. Katie moaned as his tongue moved teasingly across her lower lip. When she lifted her hand from his cheek, her palm tingled. Her exploring fingers slid beneath the elastic waistband of his pajamas and moved downward. Within moments, Joe had removed the material and pulled her across his body.

  Wild tingles surged through Katie as he positioned her on top of him. Her mouth clung to his, their breathing chaotic as his fingers mapped the curves of her breasts pressed against him. All her soreness disappeared as his fingers roved down her long torso.

  Katie felt his maleness probing against her damp, aching body. Lifting her lips from his, she sheathed him into her body. A moan of pleasure slipped from her parted lips as he coaxed her to join him in a primal rhythm. She sat up, legs on either side of his hips, palms splayed out across his chest. She felt Joe surge deeply into her.

  Every sliding motion increased the intensity of the bubbling heat building within Katie. She met each thrust and moved slickly against him. Her mind turned into fine grains of sand blown away by the inner winds of heat and need. All that mattered was loving Joe with her heart and her body. As he leaned up, his lips capturing one of her puckered nipples, an electric shock bolted through her. She gripped his damp, tense shoulders, lost in heated pleasure as he suckled her. He worshipped her other nipple and Katie moved mindlessly to the wild rhythm, caught up in the molten dance flowing between them.

  Her breath came in sobs as Joe surged his hips against hers. She felt herself becoming unstrung, held together by the erupting forces as her body exploded with heat and light. A cry tore from her lips. Joe groaned and Katie clung tightly to him, her lips parting in a silent cry as fierce pleasure rippled powerfully through her. Her awareness centered around their heated bodies fused to one another. The moisture of their breathing lavished each other’s flesh. She was hurled into a place of utter euphoria. Tidal waves of pleasure rolled through her, making every cell pulsate with primal life.

  Katie clung to Joe, feeling his chest heave, his breath ragged against her damp shoulder. Reality began to intrude upon their world of delicious heat and satiation. Pulling his head against her breasts, Katie leaned over and whispered, “I love you, Joe Gannon. With my body, my heart...my life...”

  Joe lifted his head and leaned back against the headboard. Cradling her between his thighs, he caressed Katie’s body. As he drowned in her soft blue eyes, he felt his heart expand with a fierce, undying love for her. Joe framed her face. Katie’s cheeks were flushed, her sapphire eyes sparkling with such radiant love for him he felt humbled. “I love you, Katie. I think from the first time I saw you fly Sam, I started falling for you.” He caressed her cheeks with his thumbs and saw the glow in her gaze. Joe could feel the embers of heat burning between them. She made him want to love her all over again.

  “And I think,” she said with a breathy laugh, “the first time I saw you, I started to fall in love with you, too.”

  “Fated lovers,” Joe agreed, meeting her tender smile with one of his own. “Are you ready for a shower?”

  “With you?” she teased, leaning down, her lips caressing his.

  Moving his hands to her shoulders, Joe said in a raspy voice, “I wouldn’t want it any other way....”

  * * *

  THE MORNING SUNLIGHT flooded into the kitchen where they ate hearty bowls of oatmeal sprinkled with raisins and brown sugar. Katie wore one of Joe’s dark blue T-shirts and a pair of his oversize workout pants. He had recently shaved after their shower together. His dark hair was still damp and her heart ached with a fierce love for this man. His light blue chambray shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, emphasized his powerful chest beneath it. It was a chest she’d kissed, tasted, and where she’d heard the solid beat of his heart beneath her ear. His jeans emphasized his narrow hips and long, powerful legs. To her lasting delight, they’d loved one another once again beneath the tantalizing spray from the shower. Right now, Katie felt sated as she never had before. A warmth like banked coals continued to linger in her lower body.

  “We need to take care of the raptors,” she said between bites.

  Joe nodded. “We’ll go over as soon as we’re done eating.”

  “I want to see Iris and Rudd. She called me yesterday and was worried. I need to tell her all that has happened.”

  Joe nodded. “Yes, she’ll want to know everything.”

  “Then what?” Katie glanced over at him, the sunlight emphasizing the strength and shadows of his face.

  “My parents have invited us to dinner tonight. Are you all right with that?”

  “Very,” Katie murmured. She finished the oatmeal and slid the bowl away from her. Picking up her steaming cup of coffee, she added, “How will they react to us living together?”

  “I think they’ll be very happy for us, Katie.” Joe wiped his mouth with the linen napkin and picked up her hand. “I love you.” His voice deepened and he held her shimmering gaze. “I want to marry you, Katie. I know we need some time, but I want you here, with me. We’ll live together, get to know one another under less stressful circumstances.” Squeezing her fingers, he asked, “How does that sound?”

  Marriage. Her
heart felt light, spinning with breathless joy. “Joe, I want you as my husband, my best friend...” She leaned over and shared a quick kiss with him.

  Touched almost to the point of not being able to speak, Joe said, “Thank you for trusting me, Katie. I’m sorry I had to lie to you. I’ll never do that to you again. I promise.”

  She released his hand, scooted the chair back from the table and stood up. Walking behind Joe, she curved her arms around his shoulders. She rested her head against his cheek and jaw. “I’ve thought a lot about what you did. You believed I was innocent. You were the one who told Agent Hager I wasn’t part of my mother’s business.” Katie kissed his shaved cheek. “I see what you did from a new level, Joe. And you were always wanting to protect me the best way you knew how.” Joe’s hands came to rest upon her own. “When I was in that van yesterday, I was afraid I was going to die.” Her voice dropped to a painful whisper. “If you hadn’t been there when the van rolled, I would have died—of smoke inhalation. I had no way to escape. You saved my life, Joe. To me, that’s the ultimate testament between us. You owned up to who you really were. And then you proved your love for me by coming after me.”

  There was such utter simplicity to Katie’s world, he thought. Her voice was wobbly with tears and he felt near tears himself. “I’m glad you are who you are, Katie. You’re like your raptors—you have this greater vision. They see patterns a mere human never will.” He gazed into her serene features. “You see the larger picture. You understand why I was undercover. And I’ll always be grateful for that, Katie...always...”

  Kissing his temple, Katie straightened and shared a soft smile with Joe. She saw the fierceness of his love for her in his eyes. There was commitment in his deep tone. “Let’s visit our feathered family at the facility. We have a lot of work to do this morning.” She held out her hand to him.

  Joe stood and gathered Katie into his arms. She sank against him, her arms sliding around his waist. “We have a lot of work ahead of us,” he agreed, kissing her with tenderness. “This time we have each other, Katie. And that’s what will make the coming months bearable.”