Texas Christmas Defender

by Elizabeth Goddard

  To her credit, she drew in a long, ragged breath, as if taking a few seconds to consider his proposition, before she gave her final answer. He counted those seconds as they went. One one thousand. Two one thousand. Three one thousand...

  “No.”

  * * *

  “It took you all of three seconds.”

  It had taken her all of three seconds to answer because she’d already known she wouldn’t leave. Adriana couldn’t help herself.

  “I won’t be forced to run away. Not by my brother. Not by you. I’m tired of running. Of being afraid.” She went off in Spanish, speaking so fast she was sure she’d lost him.

  He held out his hands. Tried to get a word in edgewise, but she wasn’t going to let him.

  “Adriana... Adriana... I’m... We’re only trying to protect you. Protect all of you. What about Inez and Rosa? Maybe they want our protection. Maybe they would agree that a safe house is a good idea. Have you thought about asking them?”

  “If you want to know their opinions so badly, then ask them yourself. And if they agree to go, then take them away to a safe location. But as for me, I’m staying. Finding Rio will take you a lifetime without me to lure him here. You might think you can fool him, but you’re wrong. He’ll know I’m not here, believe me, he’ll know. He won’t come if I don’t stay, Brent.”

  Of course she didn’t want to face Rio. Had hoped and prayed it wouldn’t come to this. Had wanted to stay here safe and hidden. But that wasn’t an option. And now that Rio had finally found her, she couldn’t waste any more of her life running and hiding and living in fear.

  “And I just can’t do this anymore. I’m not willing to spend my whole life hiding from him. Take Rosa, take Inez to your safe house. I’m staying.” Anger fueled her tirade, but fear boiled up just under the surface. Fear that she couldn’t stick by her words and make a stand. She’d been terrified yesterday when Gregario had come for her.

  Hiding away, waiting for him to leave, she’d been frozen with fear thanks to mental images of being abducted and taken to her brother. Images of the same torture she’d seen inflicted on others now used on her. But then she remembered the others—Brent and Inez—and how could she hide when they could be in danger? She had to end this. Sooner rather than later.

  “You’re willing to put yourself in danger? Because that’s what you’ll be doing if you stay.”

  Her eyes blazed. “If he’s coming for me, so be it. I can’t wait for this to be over. I can’t wait to accomplish my mission in life, to bring Rio and his murderous cartel down.” She’d forgotten about that objective for a little while as she’d settled in at the llama ranch and found a peace she’d been missing since her grandfather passed away. She didn’t want to die, not yet. But she couldn’t live with constantly looking over her shoulder—that was no life. “And besides...if I left and we tried to keep my location secret, we might not succeed. I’m not so sure I can fully trust the authorities. Remember, your friend—the border patrol agent who I have been accused of killing—was working both sides.”

  Pain flashed in his intense green gaze and pinged against her heart. Why would her words hurt him? Why, indeed, if keeping her safe wasn’t personal to him? But, no, she had to be wrong about it. They had that connection from long ago, and the attraction, yes, there was that, but to think Ranger McCord could care about her, really care about her—she was deluding herself yet again. She didn’t want that from him. Couldn’t have that with him if she did. He was a Texas Ranger. She was connected to a ruthless criminal who was putting all of them in danger.

  A part of her wished she had never taken that stupid watch and moved the drugs and money. What kind of crazy must she have been to take on an entire cartel, take on what was left of her family, like that?

  But she’d done it and she couldn’t turn back now, especially since she’d led others on her path to freedom. Rosa wanted to be free, as well. It was what they both deserved. But they had yet to learn if it was the future God had in store for them. She would just have to wait and see. From this ranch, where the showdown could take place, she should have a pretty good view.

  Brent didn’t challenge her. Just stood there with his broad shoulders, trim physique, rugged face and compassionate eyes, studying her like he didn’t know what to say or how to give her what she needed in any way other than silent support.

  And in that, he was giving her the space that she needed and she appreciated that. Adriana turned her back to him. She couldn’t take the intensity pouring out of his gaze and his very presence any longer.

  “I have to see it through, don’t you understand?” she asked, her question a mere whisper.

  “I do.” His whispered reply came much too close for comfort.

  EIGHT

  Brent briefly lifted his Stetson to scrape his hair back and skimmed the area beyond the fence where Gregario had tried to take Adriana. He hadn’t spoken to Adriana since their discussion this morning, and the sun would soon be setting. His silence had been not so much because he’d been frustrated with her, but because watching the ranch and making sure they were fully prepared for the very real possibility Garcia would show up here required his full attention, as did other Ranger matters. Ranger Ethan Hilliard had gone to watch over Adriana, Inez and Rosa while they were tending to all the llamas and checking on Kiana and Maria.

  Brent weighed their options. Did he force the women to a safe house in the face of Adriana’s stubbornness? Inez and Rosa had both refused to go if it meant leaving Adriana behind. It wasn’t like she didn’t understand the danger and brutality she would face if her brother got his hands on her. She’d witnessed that with her own eyes. He would have thought her brush with Gregario and nearly being abducted would have been enough to scare some sense into her—she’d been terrified when she’d run to him from the pasture.

  All he could think was that the appearance of the additional Rangers had bolstered her confidence that she could stay here to see it through. But their numbers might not be enough, and not all of them had remained.

  Trevor had gone back to Mexico to resume his undercover work in the cartel as he searched for leads on Carmen. Brent found himself wishing that the next time he saw Trevor, the man would have found and assisted Carmen in getting out, and she’d be standing next to him, right as rain.

  On the other hand, he had a very real concern that one of their own had already been murdered by the Garcia cartel. Brent couldn’t abide that. Sure, they’d all known the risks going in, but he had to ask himself if it would be worth it if things had gone south. If they’d lost Carmen, would the information she’d given them on Garcia prove to have been worth it? So far, he’d have to say no.

  He felt Adriana’s passion and understood it—they had to end Garcia’s reign of terror, and soon.

  God, please let Carmen be okay. Please let us find her if she is...

  He stood at the entrance to the odorous barn. Okay, he admitted it. He had been too furious to face Adriana again and had needed to rein in his anger before he even attempted to look into her eyes. Those warm brown eyes. And yet a Bible verse stayed with him all day—don’t let the sun set on your anger. He needed to set things right.

  He understood her perspective, sure, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

  Adriana wouldn’t be pressured by him or anyone. She’d survived this long without their help, but his gut told him that her period of safe seclusion was coming to an end.

  Especially since she refused to run this time.

  He pushed open the barn door and the smell hit him full on, something he hadn’t grown accustomed to, even after a few days here on the llama ranch.

  Adriana was brushing Kiana down. Ethan was watching over Inez and Rosa in a nearby pasture doing the same for other llamas. A couple of other llamas stood in a corner. Either Adriana hadn’t noticed Brent yet,
or she refused to acknowledge his appearance. Fine with him. But he was letting out what little warmth the barn afforded them, so he shut the door, then leaned against it and watched her gently stroking the creature.

  It was a beautiful image. Mesmerizing, really. He found the woman fascinating. Stunning. Compassionate and courageous. He wished she didn’t affect him so much. It wasn’t like he’d never met someone with those desirable qualities before. It wasn’t like he’d never met a woman he could fall for if he let himself. But his head wouldn’t allow his heart to go there. Except, with Adriana, his head didn’t seem to have much say in the matter. Why did this forbidden woman stir him like this?

  At that moment, she glanced up at him. From the look in her eyes, he could swear she read his thoughts. He wasn’t someone to blush, but the slightest rush of heat warmed his cheeks. She focused back on Kiana.

  “How are mother and child doing?” he asked.

  She angled her face so her curls fell over it as she leaned down to brush, but he could still see her smile. “Doing well, thanks.”

  At least her tone didn’t hold any of her earlier vitriol. Brent pushed from the barn door and moved to stand next to Kiana, who’d grown accustomed to seeing Brent. He grabbed a brush and started grooming the llama’s other side. Maria nursed while they brushed. Weren’t they just one cozy family?

  “You spend a lot of time grooming Kiana. How often do you brush them all?”

  She flicked a glance at him over Kiana’s back. “As often as needed. We have to keep their coats free of mats and debris. I do spend more time with Kiana. She’s always been my favorite, and brushing her relaxes me.”

  He wasn’t exactly sure what to say next, but the day had been long and he hadn’t liked the way they’d ended their conversation earlier. “I hope you finally understand that you can trust us to protect you.”

  That hadn’t been where he’d wanted to start, but the words were out now.

  “If you came here to try again and convince me to live locked away at a safe house, you’re wasting your time. My time, too.”

  She dropped the brush in a bucket and glared at him over Kiana’s back. The creature shifted like she could sense Adriana’s tension rolling over her. Maybe she could.

  He shrugged and kept brushing. “Okay, then. I give up. But let me ask you—is it okay with you that both Rosa and Inez refuse to leave because you’re staying? They won’t leave without you. So, basically, you’re putting them in danger by staying.” Low blow, McCord. Low blow. But he’d use the tools he’d been given.

  Fear flickered in her gaze, but she shuttered it away. “Then I guess you Rangers have your work cut out for you, protecting us here on the ranch.”

  She grabbed the bucket of grain and hand-fed Kiana while her day-old cria continued to nurse.

  Touché. “I can see in your eyes that you’re worried about them,” he said, more gently this time.

  “Of course I am. They’re my family now.” While Kiana ate from her hand, Adriana glanced at Brent and held his gaze.

  He thought there might be some kind of hidden meaning behind her words—a question, maybe, about Brent’s family, considering he’d chosen to spend Christmas at Adriana’s ranch with her small, unusual family. Or he could be reading more into her words than was actually there.

  Done with the grooming, he put the brush back and moved to sit on a bale of hay. How did he get somewhere with her, convince her to leave for her own safety without making her mad and shutting her down? He had to admit, he was using a completely different tack with her than the Rangers usually used. “It’s pretty amazing that Rosa was able to find you.”

  “God led her here.”

  “That might be true, but she used what she knew about you to start.” He removed his hat and set it next to him on the bale, combed his fingers through his hat hair. “So why not use her example?”

  Adriana angled her head. “What do you mean?”

  “Rosa said she thought about what you had told her. That you loved llamas, and that if you had the chance to leave, you’d never go too far away from your home. You even told her you might go just across the border. Maybe you said those things before you thought there was a chance you’d ever leave. Maybe you were dreaming, but that dream came true. You shared enough information that she found you. Granted, it took a lot of determination on her part, and she could have been way off. In the end, you could have just as easily been somewhere else. But she listened to you, and that paid off. Maybe we could end this in some other way than a showdown here at the ranch if you can figure out a way to do the same thing. You grew up with Rio and know more about him than anyone else does. Consider places that are important to your brother. If we can get to him before he comes for you, all the better.”

  She scoffed a laugh.

  Come on, Adriana. Work with me here. “Help us to find him before he comes for you. That’s the best way to keep your small family on the llama ranch safe.” And you. Keeping her safe had become the priority for him. He accepted that protecting her drove him in a fierce, more deeply personal way than he had a right to feel.

  Surprising him, she put the bucket of grain down, kissed Kiana’s muzzle, then strolled over to sit next to him. Her warmth instantly wrapped around him. The scent of honey from her hair rose up, competing with the barn smells. Her proximity made him dizzy. Uncomfortable. He wished for another place to sit, but even if he had one, he knew he wouldn’t move away from her. Next to her was where he wanted to be.

  “I appreciate what you’re trying to do.” She inclined her head to gaze at him, her warm brown eyes taking him in. She had a charm about her, no doubt there, and maybe even knew how to use it, because she was sucking him right in and he was letting her do it. Wouldn’t fight it even if he could.

  Too bad he wasn’t nearly as immune as he’d like to be. “Oh, yeah? How much do you appreciate it?”

  “Any place he might have gone before is a place that I know about, and I’m sure he will have changed everything because of me, his traitorous sister. That’s just one more reason he wants me—I know too much about him.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. The best criminal minds make mistakes, and your brother is no different.”

  “Ah, so you think you know my brother now?”

  “Not as well as you. Help me, Adriana. Help me find him before it’s too late. To capture and arrest him. We have to explore everything, turn over every stone, as the old saying goes.”

  She slid from sitting on the bale to sitting on the barn floor, leaning back against the hay. “I’ll help you, Ranger man. But I’m going to tell you a story first, that way you’ll know me, too. You’ll know Rio and you’ll know his sister.”

  “I’m listening,” he said.

  She drew in a long breath. “My grandfather was a good man as well as a wealthy man. But tough times came. I do not know the reasons behind it. I only know that we found ourselves in poverty. I was too young to remember much, but I remember the anger and the arguments. And going hungry. That fierce pain in my stomach when there was no food except beans all the time. No breakfast or lunch, but beans for supper every day. It wouldn’t have been so awful had I not already acquired a taste for the finer things. My father tried to remain true to our belief system, but it turned out having integrity and being a hardworking man didn’t put enough food on our table, so when pressured to become a drug runner, he accepted. It changed him in ways I can’t even put in words. I think my mother died of a broken heart—all this I took in while under ten years old.

  “Then my grandfather died, and I was left to be raised by a drug-running father and an older teenage brother. My father was changed by the work he did. He became cold, uncaring. He had a string of affairs with women he discarded without a second thought. Then he was brutally murdered by a rival cartel and that’s when Rio stepped into the business—with n
othing but anger, bitterness and vengeance in his heart.

  “He rose in the ranks until finally he took over and became more brutal than the head of the rival cartel who’d murdered our father. He was driven by cold and violent anger over our father’s murder. At first, he tried to hide it from me, to protect me from it, as though I were too blind or stupid to see. I didn’t know him anymore and I was scared of him, though to his credit, he tried to protect me.

  “But I could no longer turn a blind eye to what was going on around me. I did what I could to help others in the cartel—those in poverty who were too desperate for a job to fully grasp what they were being asked to do. I mentored those who would receive it in order to escape to a better life—one free of the hopeless choices of either living in poverty or working for the cartel. I did this without him knowing, but I knew the day would come when he would find out and be furious. I walked in terror every day that he would do to me what I’d witnessed him doing to others.”

  Brent listened intently, hanging on every word. She’s our witness. We have to keep her safe.

  “But that’s when I began to see that I should take a chance and escape to freedom myself. But I was paralyzed. After everything I’d seen, I couldn’t make a move. I was too scared of the consequences. And then I saw you that day and everything changed. I knew I had to help you, save you from certain death. Still, it was over a year before Rio learned of my betrayal. Someone—Diego—had seen me helping you to escape and kept that to himself, thinking to use it against me if I wouldn’t cooperate. He wanted a relationship with me.

  “When I refused, he became angry with me and told Rio what I’d done. Rio...he believed Diego over me, his own sister. Never mind that I had lied. If he wouldn’t believe me or protect me, then I had to flee. It was what spurred me to act on what was already in my heart. Fearing for my life, I ran. I didn’t take much with me. My grandfather’s watch, knowing what it held inside and that I could use it to hurt Rio.