Always a Lawman

by Delores Fossen

  A sheriff’s heart-wrenching past threatens to destroy his future in USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen’s brand-new Blue River Ranch miniseries...

  Ten years ago, Sheriff Gabriel Beckett helped convict the man who murdered his parents in a shocking crime that still haunts his small Texas town. Now the terror has returned and the woman who escaped the attack is a target again.

  Jodi Canton loved Gabriel—until that love shattered with his parents’ murder and her father’s conviction. Taunted with threats, she’s determined to bait the real killer out of hiding. Drawing out a criminal puts her life on the line, but Gabriel’s protection puts her heart in danger. Even if they survive a predator, can they risk everything to heal each other?

  Blue River Ranch

  “Nearly ten years. I’ve waited long enough to finish what I started on the Blue River Ranch. This time, no one will be there to save you. This time, you will die.”

  Gabriel cursed. “You got this message, and you still came here?”

  Jodi shrugged, tried to make it seem as if this didn’t have her in knots.

  “This proves my father’s innocent,” she said.

  “No. A copycat could have written it. Or your father could have paid someone to do it.”

  “But I have to believe it wasn’t a copycat. It’s either that or accept that my father murdered both of your parents, attacked me and then left me for dead.” She paused, shook her head. “Of course, no one in your family had trouble believing it.”

  “Neither did a jury,” Gabriel pointed out.

  “My father was convicted on circumstantial evidence,” Jodi said, though she was preaching to the choir. Because as the sheriff and the son of the murdered couple, Gabriel knew the case better than everyone else.

  Everyone but the real killer, that was.

  ALWAYS A

  LAWMAN

  USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  Delores Fossen

  Delores Fossen, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. You can contact the author through her website at www.deloresfossen.com.

  Books by Delores Fossen

  Harlequin Intrigue

  Blue River Ranch

  Always a Lawman

  The Lawmen of Silver Creek Ranch

  Grayson

  Dade

  Nate

  Kade

  Gage

  Mason

  Josh

  Sawyer

  Landon

  Holden

  HQN Books

  The McCord Brothers

  What Happens on the Ranch (ebook novella)

  Texas on My Mind

  Cowboy Trouble (ebook novella)

  Lone Star Nights

  Cowboy Underneath It All (ebook novella)

  Blame It on the Cowboy

  A Wrangler’s Creek Novel

  Lone Star Cowboy (ebook novella)

  Those Texas Nights

  One Good Cowboy (ebook novella)

  No Getting Over a Cowboy

  Just Like a Cowboy (ebook novella)

  Branded as Trouble

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Sheriff Gabriel Beckett—On the tenth anniversary of his parents’ brutal murders, Gabriel is not only getting death threats, but he also must protect his former flame, Jodi Canton, who’s trying to use herself as bait to draw out a killer.

  Jodi Canton—Ten years ago she was attacked and left for dead. Now there’s a new threat, and she must turn to Gabriel even if she’s not sure she wants the hot cowboy cop back in her life.

  Travis Canton—Jodi’s father is in jail for murdering Gabriel’s parents, but even he’s not sure if he committed the crimes.

  August Canton—Jodi’s uncle, who believes her father is innocent and that Jodi hasn’t done enough to clear his name. He might be killing to cast doubt on Travis’s murder convictions.

  Billy Coleman—A troubled young man who could be a copycat killer, but his delicate mental state makes it hard to get answers from him.

  Hector March—Head of the private security company where Jodi works. After Jodi’s attack, he helped her get back on her feet, but he could have ulterior motives.

  Russell Laney—Ten years ago, Jodi ended a relationship with him just days before she was attacked. Now Russell’s getting death threats as well, but is he faking them to throw suspicion off himself?

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Excerpt from Cowboy’s Legacy by B.J. Daniels

  Chapter One

  She had died here. Temporarily, anyway.

  But she was alive now, and Jodi Canton could feel the nerves just beneath the surface of her skin. With the Smith & Wesson gripped in her hand, she inched closer to the dump site where he had left her for dead.

  There were no signs of the site now. Nearly ten years had passed, and the thick Texas woods had reclaimed the ground. It didn’t look nearly so sinister dotted with wildflowers and a honeysuckle vine coiling over it. No drag marks.

  No blood.

  The years had washed it all away, but Jodi could see it, smell it and even taste it as if it were that sweltering July night when a killer had come within a breath of ending her life.

  The nearby house had succumbed to time and the elements, too. It’d been a home then. Now, the white paint was blistered, and several of the windows on the bottom floor were closed off with boards that had grayed with age. Of course, she hadn’t expected this place to ever feel like anything but the crime scene that it had once been.

  Considering that two people had been murdered inside.

  Jodi adjusted the grip on the gun when she heard the footsteps. They weren’t hurried, but her visitor wasn’t trying to sneak up on her, either. Jodi had been listening for that. Listening for everything that could get her killed.

  Permanently this time.

  Just in case she was wrong about who this might be, Jodi pivoted and took aim at him.

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” he said. His voice was husky and deep, part lawman’s growl, part Texas drawl.

  The man was exactly who she thought it might be. Sheriff Gabriel Beckett. No surprise that he had arrived since this was Beckett land, and she’d parked in plain sight on the side of the road that led to the house. Even though the Becketts no longer lived here, Gabriel would have likely used the road to get to his current house.

  “You came,” Jodi answered, and she lowered her gun.

  Muttering some profanity with that husky drawl, Gabriel walked to her side, his attention on the sa
me area where hers was fixed. Or at least it was until he looked at her the same exact moment that she looked at him.

  Their gazes connected.

  And now it was Jodi who wanted to curse. Really? After all this time that punch of attraction was still there? She had huge reasons for the attraction to go away and not a single reason for it to stay.

  Yet it remained.

  At least on her part anyway. That wasn’t heat she saw in Gabriel’s eyes. Not attraction heat anyway. He was riled to the bone that she was back at the scene of the crime.

  Gabriel hadn’t changed much over the years. He was as lanky as he had been a decade ago. His dark brown hair was shorter now, but he still had those sizzling blue eyes. Still had the face that could make most women do a triple take. Simply put, he was one hot cowboy cop.

  “Is it true?” Gabriel asked. “Are you actually remembering more details from the night of the attack?”

  She’d expected the question and heard the skepticism in his voice. Skepticism that she deserved. Because her remembering anything else was a lie. “No. I told the press that because I thought it would draw out the real killer.”

  He gave her a look that could have frozen the hottest parts of hell. “That’s not only stupid, it’s dangerous. You made yourself a target.”

  “I’m already a target,” she mumbled under her breath. And because she thought they needed a change of subject, Jodi tipped her head to the house. “I’m surprised it’s still standing. Why haven’t you bulldozed it?”

  A muscle tightened in his jaw. “There’s a difference of opinion about that in the family.”

  Yes, Jodi had heard about some of those opinions. One of his sisters had wanted the place to remain standing, though Jodi had no idea why. She couldn’t imagine any of them wanting to live in the house again. Still, maybe it was hard to demolish a childhood home even when that place was now a reminder of the nightmare.

  “It’s not a good time to be out here,” he growled as if delivering an order that she would jump to obey. “And not just because you put out that lie to the press.”

  Jodi stayed put, and she darn sure didn’t jump. “I was hoping if I saw the place again, it actually would help me remember, that what I told the press would no longer be a lie.”

  He aimed a scowl at her. Then, another scowl at the house and the spot where he’d found her bleeding and dying nearly a decade ago. “Why the heck would you want to remember that?”

  He had a point. But so did Jodi. It wasn’t a point that would likely make sense to Gabriel.

  “I want to see his face.” She shook her head. “I want to remember his face.”

  Ironically, it was one of the few things about that night that she couldn’t recall. That particular detail was lost in the tangle of memories in her head. She could feel the slice of the knife as it cut into her body.

  The pain.

  Jodi could remember the blood draining from her. But she couldn’t see the man who’d been responsible for turning her life on a dime.

  “Why come back now?” Gabriel demanded. “Why tell the press that you’re remembering after all this time?”

  Good questions. And she had good answers.

  “I got an email.” Jodi figured that would get his attention, and it did.

  Gabriel turned those lethal blue eyes on her. “What kind of email?”

  She took out the printed copy from the front pocket of her jeans and handed it to him. Jodi didn’t need to see what was written there. She’d memorized every word.

  Nearly ten years. I’ve waited long enough to finish what I started on the Blue River Ranch. This time, no one will be there to save you. This time, you will die.

  Gabriel cursed again. “You got this, and you still came here?”

  Jodi shrugged, tried to make it seem as if this message didn’t have her in knots. It did. But then, she’d been in knots for a long time now. For ten painful years. In some sick way, maybe this meant there’d be a showdown, and the knots would finally loosen.

  “This proves my father’s innocent,” she said and waited for Gabriel to blast that to smithereens.

  It didn’t take long before he attempted that blast. “No. A copycat could have written it. Or your father could have paid someone to do it.”

  Both could be true, and she acknowledged that with a slight sound of agreement. “But I have to believe it wasn’t a copycat. It’s either that or accept that my father murdered both of your parents, attacked me and then left me for dead.” She paused, shook her head. “Of course, no one in your family had trouble believing it.”

  “Neither did a jury,” Gabriel pointed out.

  It was true. A jury had indeed convicted her father, Travis, of two counts of murder and also of her own attack, and the jurors had given him two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. He was rotting away in a jail cell, exactly where the Becketts wanted him. Of course, it could have been worse. Travis could have gotten the death penalty, but thankfully the DA had backed off on that because of some weaknesses in the case.

  No eye witness to put Travis at the scene, and the fact that her father couldn’t recall what’d gone on that night.

  “My father was convicted on circumstantial evidence,” Jodi said, though she was preaching to the choir. Because as the sheriff and the son of the murdered couple, Gabriel knew the case better than everyone else.

  Everyone but the real killer, that is.

  “My father didn’t have the murder weapon on him when the cops found him,” she went on. Yes, Gabriel knew that, too, but she wanted to remind him. “And the wounds to your parents and to me were made with a unique knife.”

  “A skinning knife with a crescent-shaped blade. Is this going somewhere?” he continued without hesitating. “Because it doesn’t matter that your father claimed he didn’t own a knife like that—”

  “He didn’t,” she interrupted. “I was the one who cleaned the house. Cleaned his room. The barn. You name it, I cleaned it, and I never saw a blade that resembled anything like a crescent.”

  It wasn’t easy for her to talk about the knife. But even when she didn’t talk about it, the image of it was still clear in her head. Not from that night, though. Jodi hadn’t actually seen it, but the FBI had shown her photos of a skinning knife. And they were certain that’s what had been used on her because the tip of it had broken off during the attack. The surgeon had removed it from what’d been left of her spleen.

  “That doesn’t mean Travis didn’t have that knife hidden away,” Gabriel countered. “And I don’t care if he says he didn’t. Nor do I care that he claims he can’t remember anything from that night because he had three times more than the legal limit of alcohol. The bottom line is that he had motive, and my father’s blood on his shirt.”

  Blood that someone could have planted there when Travis was passed out drunk by the Blue River, where the deputies had found him hours after the murders and her own attack.

  Jodi couldn’t have argued that her alcoholic father hadn’t been in any shape to murder two people, one of them sheriff at the time. That’s because the DA had successfully argued that Travis could have gotten drunk afterward.

  And yes, her father did have motive.

  Bad blood between him and the Becketts. Feuds over land and water rights that had been going on before Jodi was born. It had created the perfect trifecta for law enforcement. Her father had had the means, motive and opportunity to butcher two people and then turn that knife on Jodi when he thought maybe she’d witnessed what he had done.

  She hadn’t.

  Because of the blasted tears she’d been crying over Gabriel’s rejection, she hadn’t seen anything. She’d barely had time to hear the footsteps before her attacker had clubbed her on the head and started stabbing her.

  “Have you c
onsidered the reason you don’t remember your attacker’s face is because you blocked it out?” Gabriel asked a moment later. “Because it was too traumatic for you to see the face of the man that you thought loved you?”

  Jodi had to take a moment to try to tamp down the panic rising inside her. No way could she believe that.

  “My father never confessed to the murders,” she pointed out.

  “That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it,” he countered and then huffed. No doubt signaling an end to an argument they’d been having for a decade. He looked at the email again. “You gave a copy of this to the FBI?”

  She nodded, annoyed that it was a question. “Of course I gave it to them since they’re the ones who handled this investigation. With you and your brother’s help, of course.”

  In fact, Gabriel’s brother, Jameson, had pretty much spearheaded the case in the beginning. Not that anyone had been dragging their feet. No. Everyone seemed to be racing toward any evidence that would result in her father’s conviction. But Jameson had been a key player in getting that guilty verdict.

  “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t withhold anything from the FBI,” Gabriel added. “Because they need to see any and all threats, so they can put a stop to them.”

  Jodi’s annoyance went up a notch. Gabriel was talking down to her. Talking to her as if she was a criminal. Or an idiot. “I know you don’t think much of what I do for a living, but I’d have no reason to keep something like that to myself.”

  He handed her back the email, his gaze connecting with hers again, and she got another dose of his doubt.

  Gabriel definitely didn’t think much of what she did. Consultant for Sentry, a private security firm. Many cops thought that Sentry toed the line when it came to investigations.

  And sometimes they did.

  “I don’t wear one of these,” she said, tapping his badge, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not out for justice just like you, Jameson and your deputies.”

  “Justice at any price,” he argued.

  She shrugged, trying to make sure she didn’t look as if that’d stung a little. “Repeating my boss’s motto—the law isn’t always justice.”