Lawman from Her Past

by Delores Fossen

  Lauren sat there, frozen for a moment. She’d seen way too much death in the past couple of days, but she didn’t leave her attention on the dead gunman for long. She looked at Gabriel’s house. She didn’t need to tell Cameron to hurry there now. He did. Because they both had to see for themselves that the boys were truly okay.

  “Cameron shot the gunman,” she said to Gabriel when she called him. “Yes, he’s dead. Was anyone hurt at the ranch?”

  Since she hadn’t put this call on speaker and because his heartbeat was drumming in his ears, Cameron didn’t hear what Gabriel said. However, the news must have been good because Lauren released the breath she’d been holding.

  “No one’s hurt,” she relayed to Cameron when she ended the call.

  Cameron was glad for that, but he wasn’t feeling any relief yet and wouldn’t until they were inside.

  He went too fast again, the tires shimmying over the slick surface, but he managed to get them to Gabriel’s. Before he’d even brought the car to a full stop, Lauren was out and running to the porch. Cameron was right behind her. There was no sign of Evelyn, thank goodness.

  When Cameron went through the front door, he expected Lauren to already be on her way to the bathroom or wherever they’d moved the boys. But she wasn’t. She was in the foyer with Jodi.

  “Where’s Evelyn?” Cameron asked, hoping the woman wasn’t in the house.

  “One of the Rangers took her into town to lock her up,” Jodi answered. “I’m thinking this will pretty much put an end to any challenge she might have for custody.”

  Yes, it would. That was the silver lining in this. The other silver lining was Lauren.

  Lauren whirled around to Cameron when he shut the door, and before he even saw it coming, she was in his arms. She kissed him. Not one of those passion-laced kisses that’d led to sex. This one seemed to be from pure relief.

  “You saved my life,” she said, her voice cracking.

  There were tears in her eyes. And bruises and small cuts on her face from where Julia had punched her. It made him want to go back and throttle the woman. But Cameron didn’t want to give Julia another moment of his time.

  “And you saved mine,” he answered.

  Lauren nodded, managed a half smile and brushed another kiss on his mouth. “Good. Because I’m in love with you. Now, wipe the blood off your chin so we can see Isaac and Patrick.”

  He automatically reached to take care of the blood, but then her words sank in. It was too late, though, for him to respond because Lauren took off running toward the hall bathroom.

  Jodi just shrugged. “I think the only person surprised by that I-love-you is you.”

  What? Cameron shook his head. That certainly wasn’t common knowledge.

  Was it?

  Again, there was no time to dwell on it because he hurried after Lauren. And he found her, all right. She was on the bathroom floor and had both boys in her arms. She was showering them with kisses. Isaac liked it because he was giggling, but Patrick was fussing and trying to get away from her so he could get to his toy horse.

  Cameron scooped up both the boy and the horse in his arms, and Patrick rewarded him with a sloppy kiss on the cheek. That kiss went a long way to soothing the adrenaline that was still surging through him.

  “Is it okay for us to leave the bathroom?” Merilee asked. “Because it seems as if Lauren and you should have some family time with the boys.” Dara added a sound of agreement.

  Family time. That made it sound as if their marriage—a real marriage—was a done deal.

  Cameron nodded. “Just stay inside and don’t go near any windows,” Cameron instructed. He needed to go out and check on Gabriel, to make sure the danger had passed before things could start getting back to normal.

  Well, his new normal anyway. Whatever that would be.

  He sank down on the floor next to Lauren, and Patrick and Isaac must have taken that as playtime because both boys went to the stash of toys that was all over the bathroom floor and started bringing them to Lauren and him.

  Lauren turned to Cameron, and she eked out another smile. “Everything considered, you don’t look shell-shocked.”

  Then he was covering it well, because he was. Shell-shocked about the attack, about how close they’d come to dying and Julia’s obsessive greed. But what Lauren had told him was at the top of that list of surprising things.

  I’m in love with you.

  Cameron was about to ask her if it was true, but she leaned in, and with that smile still in place she kissed him. It wasn’t a relief kiss this time. No, this one had some heat to it. When she finally broke away, his breath was a little thin, but he was ready to launch into the conversation they needed to have.

  But the footsteps stopped him.

  Since the boys were right there, Cameron drew his gun and pivoted in the direction of the doorway. However, it wasn’t a gunman. It was Gabriel. He glanced at all of them before his attention settled on his sister.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Lauren nodded. She touched a bruise on her cheek that had obviously gotten Gabriel’s attention. “Trust me, Julia looks worse. I got in some punches, too.”

  Gabriel winced a little, probably because he hated having to hear about his kid sister being in a fistfight with a would-be killer. It would certainly give Cameron some nightmares for years to come. They’d gotten damn lucky that Julia’s shot had missed.

  “Jameson has Julia on the way to jail,” Gabriel continued. “And I think we got all the hired guns, not just here at the ranch but also the ones on the trails,” Gabriel added to Cameron. “But everyone should stay in for a while until we’ve searched the grounds.”

  Good. Cameron didn’t want to take any more risks with Lauren or the babies. “Has Julia said anything else?”

  Gabriel shook his head. “She just yammered about wanting her lawyer. She’ll want a plea deal but won’t get one. I’ll make sure of that. And we have enough from what Julia said to arrest the loan shark.”

  “That would hopefully keep the guy off the streets for the rest of his life. After all, he’d supplied the hired guns who’d killed Maria.”

  Lauren shook her head. “I still don’t know why Julia sent those men to my house. She knew about the swap so why didn’t she just try to take Isaac?”

  “Because I think she wanted concrete proof of the swap,” Gabriel answered. “If she’d managed to get you out of the picture, she would want to be able to prove that she had Alden’s son in her custody.”

  True, but Cameron seriously doubted Julia would have kept Isaac around any longer than necessary. Only until she’d gotten her hands on the money.

  Gabriel hitched his thumb to the front of the house. “I need to go out and check on the hands.”

  “I can help,” Cameron volunteered.

  “No,” Gabriel said without hesitation. “You should stay here and work things out with Lauren.” He paused and lifted an eyebrow when Cameron just stared at him. “Jodi mentioned what she’d heard in the foyer.”

  Great. Now Gabriel might want to punch him. Except he didn’t make any move to do that. However, Gabriel did glare at him some.

  “Just make Lauren happy,” Gabriel growled. “Because if you don’t, you’ll have to answer to me.”

  Lauren huffed. “Let Cameron get his footing first before you go all alpha on him.” Then she added a wink to her brother.

  It seemed, well, such a light moment, considering they were only minutes out of an attack. But then it was hard to stay gloom and doom with the boys crawling all over them. Even Gabriel was smiling when he strolled away.

  “My footing?” Cameron asked.

  “Yes. I figured you’d need some time to come to terms with me telling you I love you.”

  He opened his mouth, closed it and tried to come up with a good answer to that. �
��You meant it?”

  Her eyebrow came up. “Of course I did. You thought it was some heat of the moment thing?”

  “I didn’t know,” he admitted. “I thought maybe you said that because of the boys.”

  She didn’t say, “What?” but that expression was all over her face.

  “You know, because you want us to have a life together with the boys,” he clarified. And he was obviously not gaining any ground here. She was frowning now.

  Lauren huffed again, slipped her hand around the back of his neck and kissed him. Really kissed him. This one had much too high of a heat level considering they weren’t alone.

  “Do you know now?” She kept her mouth right next to his as if ready to convince him again.

  Cameron didn’t need convincing, but he kissed her anyway. There it was. More than the heat. More than this insane attraction that had been brewing for years. It was deeper than that, and now Cameron could finally tell her.

  “I love you,” he said, taking Lauren into his arms. “Not because of the boys, either—though they’re a sweet bonus. I love you because of us. Because of you and me.”

  That was the right thing to say because Lauren smiled and pulled him to her for another kiss.

  * * * * *

  Look for the next book in

  USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen’s BLUE RIVER RANCH miniseries,

  ROUGHSHOD JUSTICE,

  available next month.

  And don’t miss the previous titles in the

  BLUE RIVER RANCH series:

  ALWAYS A LAWMAN

  GUNFIRE ON THE RANCH

  Available now from Harlequin Intrigue!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from KANSAS CITY COP by Julie Miller.

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  MILITARY K-9 UNIT

  These soldiers track down a serial killer with the help of their brave canine partners!

  An exciting prequel to the Military K-9 Unit series

  Tracking Danger by Terri Reed

  Sheriff’s Deputy Serena Evans knows her trusty K-9 partner Ginger can track down the serial killer who is tormenting her Texas town...if only her boss would give her the chance. When they trace him to Jason Hargrove’s land, Serena and Ginger will have to team up with the reclusive rancher in order to get their man.

  Collect the complete series:

  Mission to Protect by Terri Reed, April 2018

  Bound by Duty by Valerie Hansen, May 2018

  Top Secret Target by Dana Mentink, June 2018

  Standing Fast by Maggie K. Black, July 2018

  Rescue Operation by Lenora Worth, August 2018

  Explosive Force by Lynette Eason, September 2018

  Battle Tested by Laura Scott, October 2018

  Valiant Defender by Shirlee McCoy, November 2018

  Military K-9 Unit Christmas by Valerie Hansen and Laura Scott, December 2018

  Available wherever books and ebooks are sold.

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  Kansas City Cop

  by Julie Miller

  Chapter One

  The bright sunlight glaring off the fresh February snow through the police cruiser’s windshield was as blinding as the headache forming behind Officer Gina Galvan’s dark brown eyes.

  “No, Tia Mami, I can’t.” She glanced across the front seat to her partner, Derek Johnson, and silently mouthed an apology for yet another family crisis infringing on their shift time with KCPD. “I don’t get off until seven. And that’s if our paperwork’s done. That’s why I left my car at home and took the bus this morning—so Sylvie could drive you and Tio Papi to his doctor’s appointment.”

  “Sylvie no come home from school,” her great-aunt Lupe replied quietly, as though apologizing for the news.

  “What? Where is she?”

  “Javi said he saw her riding with that boyfriend of hers we don’t like.”

  “Seriously?” Anger and concern flooded Gina’s cheeks with heat. The boyfriend they didn’t like had too much money to have gotten it in the old neighborhood by any legal means. But Bobby Estes’s flashy cars and devilish good looks were too much for Gina’s dreamy, dissatisfied baby sister to resist. And if Bobby was a teenager, as he claimed, then Gina was Santa Claus. Clearly, her last conversation with Sylvie, about the definition of statutory rape and learning to act like an adult if she wanted to be treated like one, had not made a memorable impact. “I’m going to have to ground her. That’s all there is to it.”

  But dealing with her sister’s rash choices didn’t get Tio Papi to the doctor’s office. Gina slipped her fingers beneath the base of her wavy brunette ponytail to massage the tension gathering at the nape of her neck.

  Derek nudged her with his elbow. “Need a ride home tonight?”

  Missing the point! Although, in his defense, Derek was only hearing half the conversation. Gina summoned a smile for the friend she’d been riding a squad car with for almost two years now. “It’s okay. Just a miscommunication at home.”

  “Gotta love our families, right?” Derek teased. She knew he had a strained relationship with his father. And there was no love lost for Derek’s mother, who’d divorced his father and moved away, leaving her teenage son behind to be raised by an aging hippie who had trouble keeping a job and staying out of jail.

  A difficult upbringing was part of the common ground they shared, and had helped solidify their working relationship and understanding of each other. Gina gave the sarcasm right back, whispering so her great-aunt couldn’t hear. “Do we really have to?”

  Derek grinned and directed her back to her phone. “Tell Aunt Lupe hi for me, okay?”

  “I will. Tia Mami, Derek says hi.”

  “You teach that young man to say hola, and bring him to dinner sometime.”

  “I’m working on it.” Gina continued the conversation with appropriate responses while her great-aunt rattled on about other concerns she’d have to deal with once she got home. While Lupe talked, Gina concentrated on the scenery as they drove past, partly because it was her job to observe the neighborhood and take note of anything that looked suspicious or unsafe, and partly because she’d already heard the same worried speech too many times before about fast cars and traffic accidents, young men who didn’t come to the door to pick up a date and Uncle Rollo’s deteriorating health.

  Now there was something different. Gina lifted her chin for a better look. A
tall man in silver and black running gear came around the corner off Pennsylvania Avenue and ran down the narrow side street. A jogger in this neighborhood was unusual. Maybe he was one of those yuppie business owners who’d opened an office in this part of town for a song, or he’d bought a loft in one of the area’s abandoned warehouses, thinking he could revitalize a little part of Kansas City. Not for the first time, she considered the irony of people with money moving into this part of the city, while the natives like her were doing all they could to raise enough money to move out.

  But irony quickly gave way to other thoughts. The runner was tall, lean and muscular. Although the stocking cap and wraparound sunglasses he wore masked the top half of his head, the well-trimmed scruff of brown beard on his golden skin was like catnip to her. Plus, she could tell he was fit by the rhythmic clouds of his breath in the cold air. He wasn’t struggling to maintain that pace and, for a woman who worked hard to stay physically fit, she appreciated his athleticism.

  As they passed each other, he offered her a polite wave, and Gina nodded in return. Since he already knew she’d been staring, she shifted her gaze to the side mirror to watch him run another block. Long legs and a tight butt. Gina’s lips curved into a smile. They probably had a lot of scenery like that in the suburbs. A relationship was one thing she didn’t have time for at this point in her life. And no way did she want to tie herself to anyone from the neighborhood who might want her to stay. But there was no harm in looking and getting her blood circulating a little faster. After all, it was only twenty-two degrees out, and a woman had to do whatever was necessary to stay warm.

  Gina glanced over at her partner. Derek was handsome in his own way. He, too, had brown hair, but his smooth baby face was doing nary a thing for her circulation.

  “Do we need to take a detour to your house and have a conversation with your sister? I’d be happy to um, have a word, with that boyfriend of hers.” He took his hands off the steering wheel to make air quotes around have a word, as if he had ideas about roughing up Bobby on her behalf. As if she couldn’t take care of her family’s issues herself.