Redhawk's Return

by Aimée Thurlo

  Sometimes dreams come true

  Letter to Reader

  Title Page

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Epilogue

  Copyright

  Sometimes dreams come true

  Katrina woke up with a strangled cry. She bolted upright in bed, still tangled in the sheets, perspiration dripping down her face. Before she could move another muscle, Travis burst through the door and rushed to her side.

  “I heard you scream,” he said. He sat on the edge of the bed and gathered her into his arms. “You must have had a nightmare. Everything’s okay now. You’re safe.”

  Katrina could feel his body thrumming as he held her, and knew how badly she’d started him. “I’m sorry. It was all so reall” She ran her hands over his back and shoulders, assuring herself that he was okay. As her fears eased and relief flooded through her, she allowed herself to rest in his arms. His heart drummed against hers fiercely and steadily.

  “It was awful,” she managed. “I dreamed you got shot.”

  Dear Reader,

  Romance and high adventure are the keys to every fantasy I’ve ever had. I like rugged men who face seemingly unsurmountable odds with courage and who will brave all for the woman they love.

  I’ve wanted to write THE BROTHERS OF ROCK RIDGE miniseries for a very long time, and I was thrilled when Harlequin gave me the chance to go forward with these stories. The Redhawk brothers are a special breed of men, and each one was dear to me in his own way. Their dedication to their jobs and their values as Navajo men earned them a special place in my heart.

  I hope our readers will fall in love with the Redhawk brothers as I did—men who are willing to fight for what’s right and meet every challenge with the same passion they show for life...and for love.

  Warmest regards,

  Aimée Thurlo

  REDHAWK’S RETURN

  TORONTO • NEWYORK • LONDON

  AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG

  STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID

  PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Katrina Johnson–Finding out about her past meant the world to her. Loving Travis Redhawk was the only thing that meant more.

  Travis Redhawk–He would do whatever it took to protect Katrina. No cost was too high.

  Casey Feist–The deputy U.S. Marshal answered to too many people. Trusting her carried a high price.

  Ashe Redhawk–He had a personal stake in the outcome. There was a limit to the help he could give.

  Stan McNeely–The former Ranger had a grudge against Travis. But how far would he go to settle a score?

  Marc Gray–Katrina’s case had brought only trouble to his agency. Was he part of the solution, or the problem?

  Carl Andrews–The deputy U.S. Marshal was the tech expert. Were his mistakes well-planned failures?

  Prologue

  Fall 1993

  Travis Redhawk paced outside the Johnsons’ home. He wasn’t good at this. He should have kept his mouth shut, but, at the time, it had seemed like such a good idea. Fox’s sixteenth birthday was tomorrow. He’d wanted to give her something really special that she’d always remember, not just a scarf or box of candy anyone could pick up at the trading post.

  Katrina Johnson, the girl he’d nicknamed Fox, was very special to him. She was his foster parents’ daughter, smart as a whip and beautiful too. But she was still just a kid, and needed someone like him around to keep her safe. At nineteen he was big enough and tough enough to see to it nobody gave her a hard time. Being an Anglo and living on the Rez wasn’t easy for Fox.

  Travis paced back and forth, waiting for her to finally come out. He thought of her golden hair and the way it caressed her shoulders. Heat surged through him as he gave his thoughts free rein for a few unguarded seconds.

  “Hey,” Fox’s musical voice came softly from behind him.

  He stepped dead in his tracks and turned to face her. Moonlight danced on Fox’s hair, making it seem like spun silk. She’d fixed herself up, lipstick and everything, but had it been just for him? He wanted to think so. Seeing her sweet smile struck him dumb for a moment.

  Travis looked away, determined to keep things from getting too hot and hard to handle.

  “You said you had to talk to me tonight, alone, before my birthday,” she prodded softly. “Is something wrong, Travis?”

  His pulse hammered. Why couldn’t he look at her lately without getting tongue tied? Frustration rippled through him. “I needed to tell you something and there’s also something I wanted to give you for your birthday.”

  “You’re broke.” Fox smiled at him. “You shouldn’t have bought anything for me.”

  “It isn’t that kind of present,” he said, then groaned. He was really messing things up. Now he sounded cheap, too.

  She took a step closer to him, her eyes softening. “What kind of present is it?”

  The evening breeze filled the air with the scent of roses and pinon pine and the warm, spicy scent that was Fox. He tried to break the spell, but he couldn’t look away from her this time. Her mouth parted slightly and he held his breath. The invitation was unbearably potent.

  When he didn’t make a move, Fox stepped back, disappointment evident on her face. “We can’t stay out here long. Dad’s going to realize I’m gone, and then he’ll want both of us inside.”

  Travis wanted to kiss her, but he couldn’t. It was wrong. He felt it with everything in him. She was the only daughter of the Anglo teachers, who had been kind enough to take him and his brother in years ago when their parents had died in a car wreck. He owed the Johnsons and their daughter his respect. And he cared too much for Fox to steal a kiss. He thought it might be her first, and that pleasure should go to somebody who was really going to mean something to her, not a guy like him who was just passing through her life.

  “You have something on your mind, Travis,” she pressed gently. “What is it?”

  “I haven’t told anyone yet, not even Ashe, but I want you to know first. Pretty soon I’m going to be leaving the Rez. I’m going to join the army.” The hurt he saw in her eyes nearly broke him. She’d never know it, but she was the main reason he was leaving. What he felt for her was too strong, and it could only lead to trouble.

  “So you’re leaving me, too,” she said, sorrow laced through every syllable.

  “Don’t feel that way, Fox,” he said, his heart heavy. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you privately tonight. I want you to know that no matter how far I travel, I’ll always come back if you need me. I give you my word.”

  “And I know you’ll keep your word,” she said, her voice trembling, “but that won’t make me miss you less while you’re away.”

  When she lifted her gaze to meet his, he saw himself reflected in her eyes. Fox had always made him feel all-powerful. Although it wouldn’t be fair to her to say it out loud, he was going to miss her like crazy, too.

  He struggled for the right words. “Fox, you and I have something special, something that neither time nor distance can chan
ge.”

  She smiled sadly. “I keep remembering what you told me not long after you came to live with us. It sounded so hard, but now I know it’s true. Only the land lasts forever. Everything else slips away.”

  He stepped forward and cupped her face in his shaking hands. “Do you remember the rest of what I told you that day? I said that there were only two things that nothing could ever destroy—the land and blood ties, because it’s blood that binds people’s hearts and even death can’t touch that.”

  “We’re not blood relatives.”

  “Then we’ll make a pact, an oath sworn in blood. You’ll then be blood of my blood. That will bind us as sure as anything.”

  “I’d like that. What do we need to do?”

  He took out his pocket knife and made a small cut on the pad of his thumb. A drop of blood appeared. Before he could even ask, she held her small, delicate hand out to him.

  He held her palm up to his lips and kissed it, then pricked her finger with the tip of his knife. He held her warm, soft hand secure inside his as a few drops of their blood fell together to the sand, staining it crimson.

  “The desert will bear witness to what we’ve done here tonight. We are now joined in spirit and in blood, and nothing will ever break that bond.”

  “In spirit and in blood,” she repeated.

  He held Fox’s hand for a moment longer, aware of the heat rising again through him. Her pale-blue eyes drew him, and her soft curves were a dangerous temptation. His heart was beating so loud by now, he knew she could hear it too.

  “Travis,” her voice was a mere whisper, but it resonated with a longing neither of them could mistake.

  He gazed into her eyes and was lost. Lowering his mouth, he kissed her tenderly. She shuddered and wrapped her arms around him, giving him more than he’d ever dreamed. Nothing he’d ever experienced could have prepared him for the shock of that contact. Her lips trembled beneath his. There was an innocence about her that made him feel powerfully masculine.

  He held her tightly, knowing that he’d never forget this day. She was only a girl of sixteen, but, now, in his arms, she was a woman.

  “Katrina!” A familiar voice boomed from inside the house. “Time to come inside now.”

  “Dad, I’m coming.” She pulled away quickly. “I’d better go. What if he saw what we’ve been doing?”

  Travis let her slip out of his arms, and before he could say a word she was gone, running toward the front porch.

  He stayed outside for several more minutes. He couldn’t face anyone right now. His body ached with needs he knew could never be satisfied, not with Katrina. Tonight he’d found something in himself and in Fox that had taken him completely by surprise, and it just plain scared him.

  Life, so far, had taught him that caring deeply for anyone was a highway that led only to pain. People left—sometimes willingly, sometimes not, like when his parents died suddenly. The only way to stay safe was to keep feelings locked away, buried deep inside himself. Fox was becoming a woman but he wasn’t the man for her. She’d do a lot better for herself once he was out of the way for good. She deserved someone who would take care of her for a lifetime, not him, who had nothing to offer. His love always seemed to hurt the people it touched. The best way he could protect her, and himself, was to go as far away as possible.

  He rubbed away the trickle of blood that had spilled down his hand. He would leave right after her party tomorrow, but he would always honor their blood oath. That way, Fox would be a part of him for always.

  Chapter One

  Present day

  Fox was up, packing her belongings by the time the sun appeared in the east. It was almost time to leave the safe house, and she wanted to get it over with. Today she’d testify in court, finally putting her past behind her.

  In these last few weeks she’d learned more about herself than she’d ever dreamed possible. She’d discovered her real identity and learned that she’d been a protected witness since the age of six; that the only parents she remembered were unconnected to her by blood. Somehow the Federal Marshals had always kept her safe, though she’d been marked for death since the day she’d witnessed the murder of her birth parents. But then a few months ago, a leak at the Marshals Service had brought her quiet life tumbling down around her. She’d been forced to face the fact that her secure, sheltered life on the Rez had been nothing more than an illusion. Growing up always exacted a price, but, this time, it had destroyed the very basis of her world.

  The teenage hood named Prescott who had taken the life of her biological parents had, over the years, become a powerful and influential man. He’d finally tracked her down and done his best to destroy her. He’d come terrifyingly close to succeeding. To her eternal regret, her adoptive parents had become his victims as well, prey to the murderer’s need to neutralize the fragile connection she could make to his past crimes.

  The one comforting link to her past, the one bond that fate hadn’t been able to shatter, was her relationship with Travis Redhawk. Strong feelings neither of them wanted to acknowledge still existed, no matter how hard they’d tried to deny it. When she was in danger, he’d come to her...just as he’d promised so long ago.

  Many times during the past few weeks she’d regretted the teenage pact they’d made. She was a woman now, not a child. The more she thought about it, the more wrong it seemed to allow Travis to risk his life for hers to honor a promise made by two idealistic kids. But nothing she could say had changed his mind and some romantic part of her was secretly glad. He insisted he’d stick with her as long as she was at risk. And like the boy he’d been, Travis was a man of his word.

  “Are you almost ready?” she called out to Travis, opening the door.

  “Yeah, but it’s too early to start. If we leave now, we’ll get there before they’re ready for us,” he answered from the kitchen. “Have some coffee first.”

  “No thanks. We can drive around for a while if you want, but I just want to get going.”

  When he stepped into her room a moment later, Travis stood tall, his lean, muscular body poised and ready for any challenge. His copper skin gleamed in the morning light. He was all power and masculine strength. Despite his close-cropped hair and his civilian clothes, there was a wildness in him that reminded Fox of the Navajo warriors of old. She had no doubt that anyone who tried to harm her would find him a formidable opponent.

  “You’re almost to the finish line, Fox,” he said quietly. “Calm down and let events unfold. After you testify, you’ll be free to live your own life again, any way you see fit.”

  Alone with Travis, in the confines of her small bedroom, it was hard to keep her mind focused on anything except him. Every inch of her body felt flushed with a fiery awareness. She struggled to keep her mind on the desperate matters at hand.

  “I know. This is the last stretch, but isn’t that when things get really dangerous? Everyone lowers their guard, then the unexpected happens. I don’t want to be a victim anymore. If we stay unpredictable, the odds will tip in our favor. That’s why I want to leave now, and I’m not going to take no for an answer.”

  “Fox, I’ve known you almost all your life. I’ve seen you grow up, but one thing’s remained the same. You’re still the most stubborn, headstrong woman I know.”

  There was no censure in his words, just genuine admiration. The slow grin he gave her was so purely masculine, so sensually appealing, her heart quickened despite her best intentions. But she still held her ground. They were leaving.

  “I’m not going to change your mind, am I?” he asked.

  “Nope.” His eyes swept over her, leaving her tingling in some very disturbing places. It was always a challenge to hold her own around him, but she was glad she had the strength to do so. With his devastating good looks, he’d certainly never had any problems getting his way with women but, as far as she knew, she was the only young, single woman who’d ever remained in his life for more than a few weeks. And their relationship had p
robably only survived because they’d stayed out of each other’s reach in the ways that counted most.

  “I’ve learned to think for myself and trust my instincts. We need to play things by ear. Forget the detailed instructions the Marshals Service gave us, Travis. Believe me, following orders is not the answer now.”

  “Unless you’re the one issuing them?” he teased.

  Fox glowered at him. “You should only do what I ask when I’m right. And I’m right now.” She finished packing then closed her suitcase. “Remember one thing. We still don’t have all the answers. The evidence tells us ex-D.A. Prescott killed my adoptive parents, and my real parents before that, but we had to fill in a lot of those gaps ourselves. He hasn’t confessed, or even been convicted yet. There may be other people connected to him who want me dead, too, and if they can find a way to do it, they’ll strike now when we least expect it Prescott and his kind aren’t the type to accept defeat quietly. He rose from poverty to become a very influential attorney. I think he’s yet to make his final move, and that’s why I want to get out of here now. A moving target is harder to hit.”

  Travis gazed at her, his expression somber. He was the one who’d taught her that. “All right, we’ll leave. But don’t get cocky. I’m still your bodyguard and I’ll call the shots from this point on.”

  “Whatever you say.” Fox gave him a quick smile. “See how easy I am to get along with?”

  He groaned loudly as she walked past him out of the room.

  TRAVIS STOOD to one side of the window, careful not to turn himself into an easy target. He peered deep into the shadows cast by their vehicle and the few small trees within his field of view, looking for movement or anything out of the ordinary.

  It was early morning, not his time of day. He thought of Fox and how different they were, even in a matter as inconsequential as this. Fox had always been an early riser, as if she couldn’t wait to see what the new day would bring. Yet at night, when he came alive and his energy was at its highest, she was ready for sleep, her energy expended. This morning had been no exception.