Justice For A Ranger

by Rita Herron

  If Governor Grange was Justin’s father, did he want to know? Would he want to meet Justin and have a relationship with him? And what would acknowledging an illegitimate son do to his reputation?

  How would that revelation affect Justin/Caleb?

  Cole. He understood about being an illegitimate child. But he had overcome the stigma and become an honorable man. A formidable Texas Ranger. He was strong, ethical. Smart. Sexy as hell.

  And he had saved her life.

  She wanted him tonight.

  The hotel room door opened, and his deep voice called her name.

  “Joey?”

  “I’ll be out in a minute.” She dried off, drained the water from the tub and donned her pale blue cotton robe. When she’d belted it and towel-dried her hair, she stepped into the room. Cole had showered quickly and shaved. His damp hair clung to the ends of his button-down shirt. On the desk, she spotted two cups of steaming soup he must have bought from the bar.

  “It’s not much,” he said, “but I didn’t want to go to Donna’s and have to explain about Rosa.”

  “No, I’m not ready to deal with my mother yet, either.”

  The two of them ate the simple meal in silence. Joey barely tasted the food, but at least the hot soup and bath soothed her nerves. When she looked up at Cole, he was watching her with an intense look in his eyes as if he expected her to fall apart any minute.

  “Thank you, Cole.”

  “Do you feel better?”

  His gruff voice skated over raw nerve endings, reminding her of their close brush with death earlier.

  “Yes.” But she hurt deep inside and didn’t think the pain would ease. “I still can’t believe that Rosa killed Lou Anne and Sarah Wallace.”

  “Shh.” He stood, set their dishes aside, then threaded his fingers through her hair and hugged her to him. “Don’t think about it tonight, sugar.”

  She lifted her face, and her heart fluttered at the raw need and desire flaming in his eyes.

  “I thought we were going to die tonight,” she whispered.

  He traced his fingers along her arm, and she quivered with longing.

  “No one is ever going to hurt you again,” he growled. “I promise you, Joey.”

  “Cole—”

  “Shh.” The smoldering look he gave her teased at her senses, made her want to believe that she could trust him. That he would be the one man who would never lie to her. Never hurt her.

  That he would always be there for her. Take care of her. Love her.

  Love?

  Heavens, yes. She wanted his loving tonight. The physical touches. The closeness. Even if he didn’t say the words or feel them.

  THE IMAGE OF JOEY fighting through the water, nearly drowning, then facing Rosa with that gun haunted Cole. He had dealt with life-and-death situations all his life, had put himself on the firing line in the military, had witnessed good men die and taken lives, but not once during those times, had such bone-jarring fear for another person seized him.

  He had been terrified of losing Joey.

  He didn’t like the realization, but he couldn’t deny it. Just as he couldn’t deny himself the pleasure of taking her to bed now and making her come apart in his arms.

  She lay a hand along his neck, teasing him with her fingers, and rational thought fled as a fierce hunger erupted inside him. He had to have her now.

  She met his gaze, and raw need flashed in her expression. With a low groan, he cupped her face in his hands. The sweet scent of bubble bath and shampoo invaded his senses as he lowered his head and claimed her mouth with his. She tasted like sultry Texas nights, fiery hot and filled with passion. Enflamed, he deepened the kiss, teasing her lips apart with his tongue and delving inside to play a mating dance with hers.

  His hands drifted of their own accord, tracing a path down her shoulders. Then he stripped the flimsy cotton robe from her voluptuous body until she stood naked before him. He drank in the sight of her heavy, bare breasts, nipples rosy and distended; her smooth, flat stomach; and the blond curls waiting for his exploration.

  She made a small throaty sound, then pushed at his shirt. He tore it off and threw it on the bed, then claimed her mouth again while his hands covered her breasts, stroking, kneading, twirling the peaks with his thumbs.

  “Cole…” she whispered his name against his chest as she lowered her head and spread kisses along his jaw, sucking on his neck and below his ear, then moving her hands down to his belt buckle. Seconds later, she removed it, tossed it to the floor, then his zipper rasped in the darkness. His sex surged hard and aching for her, as she shoved his jeans over his thighs.

  He kicked them off, but stopped her hand when she began to stroke him. Instead he lowered her to the bed, climbed above her and suckled her breasts, first one, then the other as his fingers sank deep inside her. She writhed against the sheets, threaded her fingers through his hair, ground her hips up to meet his hand, cried out his name and drove him crazy with her needy sounds of lust.

  He licked his way down her belly, planted breathy kisses along the insides of her thighs until his mouth replaced his fingers, and he spread her legs and sank his tongue inside her. She twisted frantically, clawed at his arms and pleaded for more.

  “Cole, hmm, that feels so good.” She moaned. “I love you…”

  Her whispered words made him pause momentarily—had she only been caught up in the moment?

  She traced her finger along the tip of his shaft. “I want you inside me when I come this time….”

  Her heady request made his body churn with desire, and he rose above her, shucked off his boxers, grabbed a condom from his pocket and rolled it on. He was panting, perspiration dotting his chest and forehead, his mind clouded with wanting Joey. Joey with her sassy smile, her glorious mane of blond hair and those mile-long legs.

  Mile-long legs he’d imagined wrapped around him the first time he’d seen her. Mile-long legs he’d finally get to feel as he rode her.

  His length throbbed, hard and pulsing for her heaven, and she reached up, stroked him once, then guided him inside her. The smile of elation and cry of ecstasy when he filled her shattered something inside him. A wall he’d built to keep emotions and sex compartmentalized.

  A wall he didn’t want to think about now.

  He wanted nothing between them but bare skin and hot touches.

  She clawed his hips and he thrust deeper, bracing his arms beside her head as he watched her eyes change colors when she finally allowed her release to claim her.

  He drove himself harder, faster, deeper, pulled her legs up to hug him, burying himself as far as he could go, then even deeper. She cried his name again, and he thrust inside her again, his body jerking and shaking with the splendor of the moment as heady sensations rocked through him.

  Joey trembled from the aftermath of her orgasm, and yet, she wanted Cole again already. She splayed her hands along his chest, toying with the coarse, dark hair grazing his chest, and pressed a kiss to his neck as he rolled sideways, cradling her in his arms.

  She wanted to shout her love for him again, and hoped that her declaration hadn’t scared him. She couldn’t, didn’t expect him to return the sentiment. He had come here to do a job and he’d go back to it, and she to hers. She kissed his neck again, and he dropped a kiss into her hair.

  “That was amazing.”

  “Uh-huh.” He moaned and cupped her bottom in his hands, dragging her closer so their bodies touched. “I wanted you the first time I laid eyes on those long legs.”

  She smiled against him. “And I wanted you the moment I saw you haul your big body off that Harley.”

  He chuckled and trailed his fingers over her breast, causing a thousand titillating sensations to take flight inside her. “When I saw you take that shot of tequila, lick the salt and suck that lime, I wanted your tongue on me.”

  Joey rubbed his muscled bare calf with her toe. She liked this teasing side of Cole. “And when you closed your mouth on that beer
bottle, I imagined your mouth on me.”

  He lowered his head and kissed her again, long, hard, taking all she offered, asking for more. “I fantasized about your long legs wrapped around my waist.”

  She trapped his shaft in her hand and stroked, feeling heady as it hardened and pulsed between her fingers. “And I wanted you inside me.”

  He nuzzled her neck. “Well, sugar, tonight, let’s make all your wishes come true.”

  If only that were true. Because, heaven help her, right now she wished he’d tell her he loved her.

  But he did something almost as good. He flipped her to her stomach, crawled on top of her and massaged the knots in her shoulders. His fingers dipped lower to stroke and soothe all her aching places, and soon he thrust inside her again, pumping and grinding, shouting her name, filling her, until she cried out with another soul shattering climax.

  Finally she fell asleep, huddled in his embrace, with euphoria still washing over her and his kisses still heating her body.

  THE ROOM PHONE JANGLED, jarring Cole from the best damn sleep he’d had in ages. He’d been dreaming about sex and a woman who loved him, a woman who’d never abandon him or cheat on him, a woman who made him want forever.

  He shifted, his body flaming again as Joey’s curvy backside snuggled deeper against his hard length. His hand snaked out to cup her breasts, and she rewarded him with a soft sigh that only heightened his early morning arousal.

  Unfortunately the shrill sound of the phone continued. He cursed, and started to ignore it, but it might be important.

  Hell. He really did not want to leave this warm, cozy bed with Joey.

  The sound blasted the quiet again, and Joey stirred with a frown. “You’d better get it.”

  “I know.” Reluctantly he dragged his warm hand from her breasts and clicked to answer. “Sergeant Cole McKinney.”

  “It’s Zane. Listen, we’ve got trouble.”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face. “What’s up?”

  “Leland Hendricks has taken Dad hostage.”

  Cole snapped upright. “What?”

  “He’s holding him in a cabin in the woods, Cole.” Zane’s voice reverberated with worry. “You’d better find Joey and tell her. Then meet us at the courthouse ASAP.”

  The phone clicked into silence with a deafening thud. Cole glanced down at the beauty in his bed, and grimaced. She’d had a hell of a time the day before.

  And this day didn’t look like it would be any better.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Joey leaned on her elbow and braced her head on her hand with a come-back-to-bed expression.

  But Cole stiffened, his Texas Ranger face back on as he yanked on his jeans. Disappointment ballooned in her chest, along with the realization that something was wrong.

  “Who was that, Cole?”

  “Zane.” He grabbed his shirt and shrugged it on. “We have to get dressed. Now.”

  His clipped tone sent her nerves on edge. “What’s going on?”

  He finally paused, and looked at her, his blue eyes smoky with the remnants of shared memories of the night before, but also filled with turmoil.

  A half-dozen scenarios crashed into her head. Justin had run away or was hurt. Donna was having a fit at the jail wanting Rosa released.

  “Cole, you’re scaring me.”

  He hissed a breath, then lowered himself beside her on the bed and cradled her hand in his. “Leland has taken my dad hostage.”

  Joey gasped. “What?”

  “He’s holding him at some cabin. Zane wants us to meet him at the courthouse. Then we’ll decide what to do.”

  “But why would my father take Jim as a hostage? What does he want?”

  “I don’t know yet. But we have to go.”

  She nodded, numbness creeping over her as the shock settled in. She flew off the bed, adrenaline churning, then ran next door, dug in her suitcase for a clean pair of jeans and shirt and hurriedly dressed. She yanked her hair into a ponytail just as Cole entered. He clipped on his badge and weapon.

  Fear clouded her throat. Rosa had been arrested. Her dad was in the clear for murder charges. What in the world was Leland thinking? Did he have a gun on Jim McKinney?

  And what would she do if Cole had to shoot her father?

  Cole opened the door, and she grabbed her purse. The date book that had belonged to Lou Anne fell out, and Cole frowned. “What’s that?”

  She snatched it up and stared at it guiltily. She should have told Cole about the book, but she still hadn’t spoken to the governor. “Nothing, let’s go.”

  The lie burned her throat as she followed him to the car and climbed in the passenger seat. Her cell phone rang, and she glanced at it, figuring it was an hysterical Donna. But it was the governor instead.

  She didn’t want to have the conversation in the car, but she had to take the call or Cole would be suspicious. “Joey Hendricks.”

  “Yes, Joey, it’s Governor Grange. I received your message and I’m on my way to Justice. I should be there shortly. Who was arrested for the murders?”

  Joey explained about Rosa’s part in the murders, as well as Justin’s disappearance. “We have another situation now,” she told him. “My father has taken Jim McKinney hostage. Sergeant McKinney and I are on the way to meet the other Rangers now and find out what’s going on.”

  “Dear God. It never ends, does it? What the hell is Leland thinking?”

  “He must be desperate,” Joey said. “Yesterday was rough. He was upset when he left the crime lab. We confronted him with the fact that Justin wasn’t his son.”

  An abrupt silence followed, the tension palpable.

  “Governor?”

  “I heard you.”

  Joey waited for a response, but his shaky breathing vibrated over the line. They had reached the courthouse, and Cole climbed out, his brow arched as if asking if she was coming.

  “I need to go now,” she said. “But we’ll talk later.”

  “Yes,” he said in an unusually solemn voice. “I’ll see you soon.”

  Joey hung up, her heart racing as they rushed into the courthouse. Thankfully Harold Dennison hadn’t heard a word yet and was nowhere to be seen. But Donna was sitting in the office in a hard wooden chair, her eyes glazed.

  “I can’t believe you all arrested Rosa.” She gave Joey a condemning look. “Rosa loved your little brother. I don’t condone her actions, but she did what she did out of love.”

  Joey’s throat clogged with emotions. Her mother didn’t have to sound so righteous. Rosa wouldn’t have had to take such drastic action if Donna hadn’t been an alcoholic and Leland so vindictive and selfish.

  “Mother, do you know why Leland has taken Jim McKinney hostage?” Joey asked.

  COLE KNOTTED his fists by his sides as Donna turned away, and set her lips into a thin line.

  He had a sneaking suspicion that Leland had been pushed to the limit the day before, humiliated by the public revelation that Justin was not his, and he might have jumped to the same conclusion that Cole had.

  That Jim McKinney was the boy’s father. That he’d slept with Donna, given her a son and had then slept with his new wife as well.

  Every man had his breaking point, and Cole could almost understand Leland’s twisted need for revenge. If another man touched Joey, he’d want to kill him.

  Zane approached him, looking in control although the rigid set to his jaw indicated he had his own concerns. Sloan raked a hand through his hair and paced the small room like a caged animal. When he spotted Cole and Joey, he halted midstride.

  Cole instantly squared his shoulders, ready to defend her if his half brother pounced.

  “Let’s all take a deep breath,” Zane said as if he’d read the volatile situation and knew it needed to be diffused. He introduced Anna Wallace and Sheriff Carley Matheson to Cole, and Joey and the women spoke quietly, each reserved. From the reports, Cole knew that Joey had once shared a house for a short time with the Wallace sisters
when they had all lived with Leland and Lou Anne. And she and Carley had grown up in the same town.

  He was the biggest outsider of them all. Then again, Joey’s father was in the hot seat now, placing her there along with him.

  “Leland is holding Dad in a cabin here.” Zane pointed to a map on the wall with a pushpin marking the location.

  “What are his demands?” Zane asked.

  “He’s asked to speak to Joey. Says she’s the only one he’ll talk to.”

  “Absolutely not,” Cole barked.

  Joey cleared her throat. “He wants to speak to me. He gets me.”

  Cole brushed her arm with his hand. He’d almost lost her the day before. He wouldn’t allow her to put herself in danger today. “Joey, please—”

  “I know what I’m doing, Cole. Maybe I can talk some sense into him.”

  “We’ll drive separate cars,” Zane said. “Let’s try to handle this without calling in a SWAT team.”

  Cole and Sloan agreed, and Sheriff Matheson checked her weapon as well. Two of the town’s deputies were asked to follow but to wait for Zane’s orders. Zane forced Anna to stay at the jail, and threatened to arrest Donna if she tried to interfere. They dispersed, taking different vehicles but agreeing to meet near the woods by the cabin and go in on foot. Fifteen minutes later they converged in a clearing with Zane taking the lead. Everyone was ordered to stay back until they learned Leland’s demands.

  Cole and his half brothers moved quietly with Joey beside him, the morning sun blistering hot as they hiked through the woods. When they reached a hill overlooking the small log cabin, Zane phoned inside.

  “Mr. Hendricks. Lieutenant McKinney here.” He gestured for Joey to make herself visible to the porch, and she stepped into the clearing.