Rancher's Deadly Risk

by Rachel Lee

  He climbed out of the truck. At once, though he couldn’t say exactly what alerted him, he knew something wasn’t right. He scanned the street but it looked normal except for an old pickup parked at the curb a few houses down.

  But then he saw the shadows of two figures against the front kitchen curtains. She wasn’t alone, and one shadow looked huge. Then he heard an unmistakable, muffled cry.

  * * *

  The clarity persisted. Get out or possibly die. Cassie, deprived of safe options, had no trouble taking action. She charged the man with her knife at the ready.

  He reacted a little slowly, maybe because he misread her, and for one brilliant, hopeful moment, she thought she might make it. But just as she passed him, he grabbed her shoulder, shoved and threw her to the floor.

  As she cried out, the knife slipped from her hand and she fell facedown, the wind knocked from her.

  Oh, God, it was over now. Whatever he had intended, now he was probably mad. Panic filled her because she couldn’t draw in air, and without air she couldn’t move.

  Still struggling to get her diaphragm to work, panic exploded even more as he grabbed her hair and yanked her head back so hard it hurt.

  Death was coming. She knew it with absolute certainty.

  At the same instant, she managed to drag in a breath, just as the world seemed to be darkening, and she heard a loud slam.

  She opened her eyes to see Linc barreling through her front door, head and shoulders low like a football player ready to tackle. Her assailant let go of her hair.

  Groaning, ignoring the pain in her neck and abdomen, she rolled over in time to see Linc on top of the man who had attacked her.

  Then her entire focus of vision narrowed to the gleaming steel of the switchblade, still firmly gripped in the man’s hand.

  “Linc...” she barely croaked as she fought to get more air. She had to do something.

  Struggling onto her hands and knees, she crabbed her way closer as Linc punched at the guy’s head. The hand holding the knife came up, clearly aimed at Linc’s side.

  “No...” She launched herself with every ounce of strength she had, grabbing at the rising arm. The blade came perilously close to her face, but she didn’t care. She had to save Linc.

  Using her body’s weight, she pressed the arm down. “He’s got a knife.”

  Linc didn’t answer, using his energy to punch the guy hard in the right shoulder. A hard punch, one that made the guy squeal. It also made him release the knife.

  Quickly, Cassie shoved it away, and when it didn’t go far enough, she shoved it again.

  Linc let out an explosive puff of air as he took a punch himself from the other side, but he didn’t let go of the man.

  Cassie, finding energy again, clambered to her feet. She grabbed the switchblade, saw the chef’s knife she had dropped and grabbed it, too. With a knife in each hand, she approached the struggling men.

  Behind the ski mask, her assailant’s eyes widened as he saw the knives in her hands.

  “Can you hold him, Linc?” she asked in a voice threaded with ice. “Because I think I’d like to cut his throat.”

  Linc panted, “No. Call the cops. I’ve got him.”

  But all the fight seemed to have gone out of the guy at the sight of the two knives in Cassie’s hands, or perhaps because of her icy tone of voice. Linc straddled his hips, legs tucked under the guy, and pressed both his shoulders to the floor.

  “I take it you never wrestled,” Linc said with something like satisfaction. “Don’t twitch or I’ll put you in a headlock you’ll never forget.”

  * * *

  Later, the police and her assailant gone, Cassie felt near to collapse. Too much, she thought, and it was as if now the threat was past and safely removed, someone had pulled her plug. She was grateful, so grateful, when Linc wrapped her in his arms, held her almost painfully tight and murmured, “God, I was so scared for you.”

  She’d been scared for him, too, in those moments when he’d tackled the knife-wielding assailant. But as strength drained from her, she knew one thing for certain. There was no place she’d rather be than in Linc’s arms. If only he felt the same way.

  He offered her no options. He shepherded her back to her bedroom, helped her jam some clothing into a duffel, then urged her out to his truck. She didn’t want to be alone, and apparently he didn’t want to leave her alone.

  Ever the white knight, she thought wistfully. If only he wanted her for more than that, but she had the heart-sickening feeling he did not. Struggling for some emotionally safe perch, she tried not to think about impending loss, tried to think about how she was going to manage to teach today, to help her students, without any sleep at all. Because she could tell there would be no sleep, not tonight.

  That didn’t distract her, so she tried to focus on her assailant. Anything to get rid of the lead in her heart and stomach. Even those moments of sheer terror.

  “Do you think he would have killed me?” she asked finally.

  “I don’t know. He says not, and I think that’s all we’ll ever know.”

  “Yeah.” She fell silent, trying to absorb the story that had excused all this insanity. “I have trouble believing his motivation.” The man, Stan Bell, was a known alcoholic and ne’er-do-well who had a son on the basketball team. A team that looked like it had a good shot at the championship. Vic Bell, the son, had not been involved in the bullying, so it wasn’t as if he might have lost his position on the team.

  No, what had driven Stan Bell was that twenty years ago he had been on a team headed for a championship, a team that had lost because the star player had gotten himself arrested just before the big game. Thus, Stan had been deprived of the win he had counted on, a win that probably would have been the high point of his entire life considering what had followed. All of this because he didn’t want his own son to lose his chance at the trophy.

  “It seems like an extreme reaction,” Cassie remarked, forcing her focus away from the man beside her in the truck. Away from the need to fall into his arms and escape with him to a better place. “Really extreme.”

  “The man obviously has some serious mental-health issues.”

  And there it was going to have to stay, Cassie thought with a sigh. The guy was unbalanced. In his own mind he was probably being perfectly rational, but from the outside it looked insane.

  “Just be prepared, Cassie,” Linc said. “They’re not going to be able to charge him with attempted murder. He didn’t do enough.”

  “I know. Gage Dalton told me. He probably won’t even go to jail for a whole year.”

  “Are you okay with that?”

  “Do I have a choice? Maybe rehab will help him.” She shook her head, wanting to put it all away, at least for now. She hurt, she was tired, and she wondered why she was going home with Linc when it was the stupidest thing in the world for her to do. If he’d wanted her the way she wanted him, he could have had her for the taking at her house. Except for that long, tight hug, there’d been no hint he wanted her.

  He pulled up in front of his ranch. She knew he needed to take care of his animals and she expected him to just usher her inside and leave her while he did that. It would fit.

  But he astonished her. He wrapped her in a bone-crushing embrace the instant they stepped inside and whispered in her ear, “I was so afraid I’d lose you.”

  The sentiment touched her deeply, and she felt the crack in her heart, which had been aching steadily all day, grow wider.

  But before she could respond to his embrace, he stepped back and held her by the shoulders, his electric blue eyes boring into hers.

  “Tell me the truth, Cassie. Knowing that Bell might be on the streets again soon, are you going to stay or leave?”

  There was no lying to that gaze, no evading the demand he was making. She knew exactly what he was asking and why. She also knew that he was making no promises.

  But deep inside she knew something even more important: never in her
life had it been this essential that she know exactly what she intended, and that she mean it with her whole being. She closed her eyes, to escape his stare, and searched her heart. The man who attacked her would walk these streets again. Maybe in a matter of weeks, maybe next year, but he was going to be back. He might even be crazier and madder then.

  But a deep certainty filled her despite everything, and she’d never been more sure of herself in her life when she opened her eyes, met his intense gaze and said, “I’m staying. I’m here for good.”

  Something in his face softened. “For a while, anyway.”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m staying. This place has really grown on me. Today I found the kind of community I always wanted to be part of.”

  “In spite of Stan Bell?”

  “Stan Bells exist everywhere. A community that will organize this fast to take care of the Carney family isn’t easy to find.”

  A smile began to curve his mouth. “There’s this other thing, too.”

  “What thing?”

  “Me. I wear a few hats, which keeps me pretty busy, I admit. Coaching, teaching, this ranch. But I like my life. I’m not an ambitious sort of guy who wants to set the world on fire. I’m not going great places. I just want to be a good teacher, a good coach and a good steward to my land.”

  “What’s wrong with that? Those are pretty important things. Look at me. I think teaching is a pretty high calling, myself. Now maybe I exaggerate my importance....”

  Before she could finish, he hauled her close and silenced her with a deep, burning kiss. “You don’t exaggerate your importance,” he murmured huskily against her mouth when he let her catch her breath. “Six months.”

  “Six months?”

  “Live with me until the end of the school year. Then if you can still stand it, I want to marry you. Because, damn it, I love you. I know it’s fast. I’ll give you time. But I’ve been falling in love with you since I first set eyes on you. I know I tried to stay away, but it was happening anyway. The way you move. The way you talk. You probably don’t even realize how much attention I was paying to you. I thought I was being smart, but I was being stupid. I couldn’t stop the inevitable. I love you, Cassie Greaves, and seeing you in danger tonight made it impossible for me to pretend any longer.”

  She felt her heart soar. Fast, maybe it was too fast, but some part of her knew it with such certainty that denying it would be like cutting out her own heart. “I love you, too, Linc.” She threw her arms around his neck, wanting him as close as she could get him, sure that she had at last found her place in life, in the world. With him. Happiness filled her, happiness beyond any she had ever known.

  Later as they cuddled in bed together, he spoke. “I’m sorry I rushed in with all that. I suppose I could have chosen a better time, after all that happened to you tonight.” He turned toward her, drawing her closer. “But I couldn’t wait, Cassie. It already felt like I’d waited too long. When I was at the game, I was thinking I should have said something before I left. I had such a strong feeling we were getting our wires crossed.”

  “I guess we were,” she sighed. “I really didn’t think it was possible for anyone to love me. And then you thought I’d leave the way Martha did....”

  “We need to learn to talk more. More clearly. Even about things we’re afraid of.”

  She nodded against his shoulder, loving the feel of his skin against her cheek. “Kids?” she asked tentatively.

  “Kids!”

  For an instant she wondered if she’d asked the wrong question, but then his laugh rolled out, seeming to cover her like warm honey. “Definitely kids. I was going to wait before bombarding you on that. I definitely want at least two. Is that okay?”

  “More than okay. I always wanted a large family.”

  “Well then. I’ve always wanted to hear kids running around and laughing in this house again.”

  He swooped in for a hard kiss, then lifted his head, gazing into her eyes. The bedside lamp was dim, but not too dim for her to see he’d grown very serious.

  “I want this to be forever, Cassie. Forever.”

  So did she. Forever seemed like almost enough time.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt of The Cop's Missing Child by Karen Whiddon.

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  Chapter 1

  The bright sun felt warm on his skin. If he’d been here for no reason other than a desire to enjoy the weather, Mac Riordan would have stopped and turned his face up to let the bright rays try to heat blood that these days always seemed chilled. Instead, he glanced around while keeping his quarry in sight, taking in the lush greenness of the park crowded with citizens enjoying the early spring air.

  He couldn’t believe the hunter’s rush he felt at this planned-for encounter. Finally, after all this time, he’d meet the woman who had, inadvertently or not, stolen everything he had left to live for.

  He’d planned this carefully, just happened to take a stroll along the tree-lined, paved walking path when the very woman he’d come to town to find strode past him on her daily walk—Emily Gilley. He’d been watching her for a week, after all, and figured an accidental meeting in the park would be a great way to meet her.

  True, if he wanted this to appear unintentional, keeping up with her confident pace without looking as though he was stalking her might prove difficult, though not impossible.

  He doubted she’d find him suspicious. From what he’d heard about the east Texas town of Anniversary, everyone was friendly and trusting and looked out for each other. If this was true, then Emily Gilley would have no reason to worry about a friendly stranger.

  He allowed himself the slightest of grim smiles. If only she knew.

  So far, he’d been careful. After all, he’d only been in town for three weeks. It was just long enough to establish his brand-new trucking business and to put out a few feelers about her, the woman he’d spent several years trying to locate: Emily Gilley, twenty-nine-year-old widow of one of the most notorious drug dealers on the Eastern Seaboard. She’d changed her name, taking back her mother’s maiden name Gilley, and altered both the cut and the color of her hair, all to help her disappear. But for someone with the far-flung resources to which he had access, finding her had been a matter of time and a tenacious effort. He was fortunate to still have a lot of the tools from his law enforcement days at his disposal.

  Her long, blond locks were now dark, short and spiky. Instead of designer fashions, she wore clothing that looked off the rack at a big bin department store. She’d gone from a glamorous life in Manhattan to this: a tiny lakefront community ninety miles east of Dallas.

  As he hurried around a bend at the end of the trail, trying not to appear in too much of a rush, he nearly ran into her. She’d stopped at the weathered wooden bench that marked the entrance to the paved parking lot of Sue’s Catfish Hut, which was crowded with lunchtime patrons.

  She was stopped and turned to face him, apparently willing to wait for him to catch up.

  This was going even better than he’d hoped, he thought with some satisfaction. And then he got a look at her annoyed expression.

  Hands on her hips, she glared at him, her brown eyes full of anger mixed with only the barest hint of fear. “What do you want? Stop following me! If you’re trying to creep me out, you’re succeeding admirably.”<
br />
  He dipped his chin, sending her an abashed smile he hoped she’d find reassuring. “My apologies. I had no idea this was a private trail.”

  Instead of growing flustered, she shook her head, sending her shaggy spiked hair rippling. “It’s not. But I walk here every day on my lunch break, and I know almost everyone in town. Every time I look up, you’re right behind me. You never pass me or fall back. And while this is the first time I’ve seen you here, you have to understand how such behavior can make a woman feel threatened.”

  “Threatened? Interesting choice of words.” He crossed his arms. “I’m new here, and I mean you no harm. I wasn’t aware being a newcomer and taking a walk were crimes.”

  Narrowing her eyes, she studied him, apparently not buying his too-easy, confident patter. In his experience, overly suspicious or outright paranoid people usually had something to hide. But then again, she had a point. He was a stranger who was following her, and her former husband had been a drug dealer. No doubt, looking over her shoulder had been deeply ingrained in her psyche. She’d be foolish not to worry. And one thing he’d learned about Emily Gilley, formerly Cavell, was that she was anything but stupid.

  Finally, she took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly.

  “Look,” she said, her tone reasonable this time rather than furious, “you’ve been following me way too closely. What matters is that you’ve made me very uncomfortable.” Swallowing hard, she studied him, her caramel gaze unflinching. “And even though this is a small town, one can’t be too careful.”

  It was especially true for a woman like her, with so many secrets to hide.

  He nodded, feigning chagrin. “Again, I apologize. If I’d known I was frightening you, I would have dropped back or—” he grimaced ruefully “—I would have tried to pass you.”

  Rather than accept his apology, she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “You said you’re new in town, right?”

  “Yes.” Relieved and slightly surprised that getting to know her was going to be this simple, he gave her a practiced, easy smile, holding out his hand. “Mac Riordan.”