Conard County Witness

by Rachel Lee

  “I wiped them out,” Johnson insisted. “I got the insurgents.”

  “And lost your whole unit. And the town. You must feel pretty good about that.”

  “It was war, McGregor. Because of me, we won that one.”

  “Winning isn’t counted in bodies and collateral damage.”

  “Count on a medic to think that way. Weaselly noncombatants, not even a true marine. Useless baggage.”

  “Really?” Jess sounded disgusted. “You don’t know what courage is, you jackass. You sent good men to die and kept yourself clear of the action. How did you manage to explain that to anyone, including yourself?”

  “I did what I had to do. We were there to stop the insurgents. I suppose you thought bandaging little kids and giving them shots qualified for that.”

  “It made our troops safer.”

  “Yeah, you sure proved that, didn’t you? You weren’t even ready to fight alongside the rest of the unit. You can blame yourself for what happened.”

  Lacy had to fight not to gasp at that. Blame Jess for what this guy had done? Fury began to replace fear.

  “Is that how you salve your conscience? By blaming the people who died to make you look good?”

  She heard movement but couldn’t tell what it was. So far, nothing sounded violent. She moved her gun a little, pointing it toward the open door.

  “I don’t need to salve my conscience,” Johnson retorted, sounding angry. “And anybody who thinks I do needs to die.”

  “So the casualty rate wasn’t one hundred percent. Not high enough for you?”

  “You son of a...”

  She heard a chair being knocked over. A scuffle. They were fighting. Fighting! No guns. Was Jess at a disadvantage or advantage because of his leg? She had no way to know.

  Defying his instructions, she straightened and crept toward the open door. She had to help somehow, if there was any way she could.

  She peeked out, saw the door between the mudroom and kitchen stood wide open. She opened the door of the bedroom a little farther and stuck her head out.

  My God, they were wrestling over a pistol. Jess was trying to disarm the guy and it was clear it wouldn’t be easy. Johnson was a big man and looked to be at a physical peak. Jess might stay in shape, but he wasn’t a soldier anymore.

  It was clear to her who might have the advantage. With fear and anger speeding her heart to a dangerous rate, she tried to focus on the fight in front of her, to find a way to help.

  But they were so close together, and the shotgun blast would scatter widely, hurting them both. And with each second she hesitated, there was a chance that pistol in Johnson’s hand would fire and get Jess.

  An instant of perfect clarity seized her, like the moment when she had thrown herself on the fake bomb. Whatever it cost, she had to help Jess.

  Rising, aware the two men were so absorbed in their struggle they were probably oblivious to everything else, she walked through the kitchen door, shotgun at ready.

  “Drop it,” she shouted, aiming the shotgun.

  The fight froze for an instant, but just an instant. Apparently Johnson judged that she wasn’t likely to shoot when she might hit Jess, and he was right about that. But that pistol in his hand could at any moment end Jess’s life. She needed to act before that happened.

  Raising the shotgun, she pulled the trigger and blasted a hole in Jess’s ceiling. Then she racked another shell and waited.

  The wait wasn’t long. Startled by the unexpected fire, Johnson made his mistake. He wrenched his arm free of Jess’s grip and pointed the pistol at Lacy.

  Jess moved in a blur, chopping his hand downward on Johnson’s forearm. The pistol fell and skittered across the floor. Jess kicked it away.

  Lacy leveled her shotgun at Johnson as Jess stepped back a couple of feet. “You’re next,” she said in a voice so steely she hardly recognized it as her own. She took a move forward.

  “You won’t,” Johnson said.

  “Yes. I will. I’ve faced down tougher dudes, you worm. I’d love nothing better than to blow a hole in your center mass. Then maybe weaselly Jess can stuff your intestines back in you.”

  The strangest expression came over Johnson’s face. It looked very much like terror. He started to turn away, poised to run, but Jess tackled him and dragged him to the ground. Johnson struggled wildly, but Jess hung on, then at last managed to press his artificial leg onto the middle of the guy’s back.

  “Pistol,” he said.

  She grabbed it from the floor and placed it in Jess’s hand. A second later, it was pressed hard to Johnson’s ear. She immediately moved forward and added her shotgun to the mix, trying to stay carefully out of the man’s reach.

  “Sheriff,” Jess said, sounding a little breathless.

  Keeping her shotgun at ready, Lacy grabbed the phone and dialed for help.

  “He’s in the house. Jess is holding him at gunpoint. Send in your men,” she told the dispatcher.

  “Men,” Johnson gasped.

  “That’s right,” Jess answered, pressing the pistol even harder against him. “You didn’t think they all left, did you? But then you were never good at thinking.”

  Chapter 15

  A warm spell had followed hard on the heels of the clipper. Every door in the house was open, letting in the sweet, fresh air, a gentle breeze that seemed to clear everything from the house.

  Jess and Lacy sat at the breakfast table with coffee, toast and eggs. It had been a long night, and the beginning of the new day seemed to have come awfully early.

  “Sorry about your ceiling,” Lacy said.

  Jess looked up and chuckled. “At least I hadn’t covered it with copper. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful hole.”

  She smiled over her coffee mug, but it wasn’t easy. Last night’s events were fresh in her mind, but worse, there was no reason for her to stay here any longer. No one was trying to kill her. She had no excuse to remain.

  But she didn’t want to leave. In a few short days, she felt she’d planted roots here, with Jess. Every time she looked at him, she craved him. She wanted to spend time with him in the sunlight and out of the shadows. Her old life no longer held any appeal.

  But how could he ever look at her without seeing Sara? It would be impossible for them both. Sara had brought them together, and she remained in both their hearts.

  “I hope you’ll stick around,” Jess said, surprising her. “At least for a while.”

  “But...”

  He arched a brow. “But what? Are you in that much of a hurry to ditch me? I guess after last night, I could see why.”

  “Last night has nothing to do with it. And I don’t want to ditch you. It’s just that...” She hesitated.

  “Sara,” he said quietly.

  “Sara,” she agreed, her heart feeling like lead.

  He reached across the table and took her hand, holding it tightly. “Can I be perfectly honest?”

  Her heart skipped a few nervous beats, but she knew it was time, yet again, to face reality. “Yes.”

  “When I first saw that bus, the first day you were here, every time I caught sight of you or heard you, I half expected Sara to be there somewhere.”

  She compressed her lips and nodded. “I understand.”

  “Maybe. But then something else happened. In my mind, you stopped being an extension of Sara. Well, not only in my mind, in my heart, as well. All our phone conversations over the years, they helped. I had been getting to know you as an individual. As Lacy. A short time after you got here, I realized I had moved past that. You’re a friend to me now, and Sara’s no longer the only part of that. How about you?”

  “I’ll always miss her.” She hesitated, wondering where he was going, but he was waiting for
her to speak. “I guess I reached the same point. We both loved Sara, but we have lives apart from her now.”

  He nodded. “Exactly. Nobody can replace her for either of us, but we’ll always still love her. She holds a special place with both of us. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make new special places for other people.”

  She sighed, clinging to his hand. “Things get so confused sometimes.”

  “There’s nothing confusing to me about this,” he said firmly. “You, Lacy Devane, have come to matter as much to me as Sara ever did.”

  She caught her breath and dared to meet his gaze. His green eyes were filled with warmth and heat.

  “I don’t want a replacement,” he said. “I want you.”

  All of a sudden she couldn’t breathe. All she could do was stare at him and wonder if she was understanding correctly.

  “I realize you may not be as certain. It’s been a rough couple of days and we haven’t had a whole lot of time to explore each other, but if there’s one thing I know I want, it’s to wake every morning to your sweet face and fall asleep beside you every single night. Until forever.”

  He moved, pulling his chair around until he was sitting right beside her, then reached out to hug her. “You brought the sunshine back. You, not anyone else. You gave me back joy, and the hope for more of it. You gave me everything I thought I’d never know again. You did that. Just tell me you’ll give me a chance.”

  “A chance for what?” She felt hope rising in her, an emotion so rare over the past few years that she feared it. She didn’t dare hope for anything.

  “For a future with you. A life with you. If you think you can stand living in this tiny town with me.”

  “I like it here,” she said weakly. God, he was overwhelming her, and she was trying to batter down the rising hope because she didn’t dare believe and...

  Then he kissed her, hard and deep, and it was as if he brought light and passion to the darkest, emptiest corners of her being.

  “Lacy,” he said when he moved away an inch, “I love you. I hope you’ll give me a chance, that you might come to love me, too.”

  The hope leaped the last of her barriers, filling her with wonder, a sense of a new dawning to a beautiful life. Her heart, which had become such a pained, pinched lump in her chest, seemed to expand to embrace the whole world. Jess loved her. She couldn’t doubt it as she looked into his eyes, his beautiful eyes.

  “I love you,” she admitted finally. “I felt so bad about it, but... I love you.”

  “Don’t feel bad. We’re still here, you know.”

  Which was the whole point. They were still here. And if Sara was around, Lacy knew her friend would be happy for them, because that was Sara. She could almost feel a blessing settle over them, along with a warmth that had nothing to do with the breeze blowing into the house, and everything to do with life moving forward, growing again, putting out new branches and leaves.

  She leaned into Jess’s embrace, and felt their heartbeats slowly synchronize. Who would have believed dreams could rise out of such ashes?

  Inside her, the blossoming began. It became springtime in her heart. New life. New love.

  * * *

  They flew to France for Christmas to meet Jess’s parents, who lived in the south of France on the Cote d’Azur. But Jess had promised her a few days in Paris proper, although he warned her it would probably be cold.

  She was getting used to the cold and didn’t believe she was going to mind one bit. Throughout the long flight, they had held hands and talked quietly, except for a couple of hours when she fell asleep with his arm around her and her head cradled on his shoulder.

  They’d been married a week earlier in Conard City, a quiet ceremony attended by his friends and their families, but once they reached his parents, apparently a huge party had been arranged. She was a little nervous about it, and had sent Jess into gales of laughter as she tried to learn French.

  “The effort will be appreciated,” he told her with a twinkle in his gaze, “but believe me, most Europeans speak great English. Relax.”

  She’d used a computer program to practice, and figured she might successfully manage greetings and a few essential questions, like “Where is the toilet?” Beyond that, she was sure she’d amuse everyone.

  But she was more excited than nervous. A whole new family, a whole new country and a future brighter than the City of Lights.

  “So you still want two kids?” Jess asked quietly as she rested on his shoulder.

  “Yes. You? Have you changed your mind?”

  “No way. I am so, so grateful to be making plans with you. I just wondered if you had decided you wanted more.”

  “And we’ll finish fixing up the house together first.”

  “Life has something to say about that,” he said lightly. “But yes, we’ll try.”

  She hadn’t told him yet and had difficulty preventing her hand from settling protectively over her still-flat stomach. She’d tell him in Paris. Maybe at the Eiffel Tower. Maybe on the Left Bank. Maybe...

  So many possibilities, and he was opening them all to her. She twisted and kissed his chin. “I love you so much. So much that I’m kinda glad I ran into a drug cartel.”

  That drew a laugh from him, causing heads to turn. Most of them smiled.

  “Who’d ever have thought of them as matchmakers?” he asked, giving her another kiss. “Never leave my side, Lacy. Never.”

  “I won’t. And you’d better not, either.”

  “I learned my lesson. Joined at the hip forever.”

  Wow, she liked the sound of that. Forever. Or at least as much of forever as life would grant them.

  She sent a silent hug winging heavenward to her best friend, thinking, “Thank you, Sara.”

  Then she let go and looked forward to life with Jess.

  * * * * *

  Don’t forget previous titles in the CONARD COUNTY: THE NEXT GENERATION series:

  PLAYING WITH FIRE

  UNDERCOVER HUNTER

  SNOWSTORM CONFESSIONS

  DEFENDING THE EYEWITNESS

  DEADLY HUNTER

  Available now from Harlequin Romantic Suspense!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from

  HIS CHRISTMAS ASSIGNMENT by Lisa Childs.

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  His Christmas Assignment

  by Lisa Childs

  Chapter 1

  Voices rose in anger, penetrating the thin walls of Logan Payne’s office. Garek Kozminski closed the outside door so softly that it made no sound. He probably could have slammed it and they wouldn’t have heard him enter. But he was used to moving silently. In the past, his freedom and even his life had depended upon it.

  Not much had changed...

  He crossed the reception area and approached Logan’s office—not to eavesdrop. Due to the volume of their argument, he could have heard them from the parking lot. Usually Logan didn’t yell; as the CEO of Payne Protection, he didn’t need to yell to be heard. The other voice was female and easily recognizable to Garek even though Candace Baker didn’t usually deign to speak to him.

  Apparently she had no problem talking about him. “I can’t believe
you would consider offering this assignment to Garek Kozminski!”

  He had figured Logan had called this meeting about a job. In the year that he’d been working for his brother-in-law he’d had many assignments. Had Candace protested every one?

  “He’s proven himself over and over again,” Logan defended him. “He’s a damn good bodyguard!”

  “Garek Kozminski is a thief and a killer!” she yelled. “I can’t believe you would trust him. I never will!”

  Garek felt a twinge in his chest—one he refused to acknowledge as pain. Candace’s low opinion wasn’t exactly a surprise or unwarranted. And of course he had done nothing to change it; he’d actually done more to provoke it and her.

  Logan’s voice wasn’t just loud but it had gone chillingly cold when he said, “He helped save my life and my brother’s life—”

  “Because of his criminal connections,” she interrupted.

  “That’s enough,” Logan told her. He didn’t shout now; he sounded too weary to fight anymore. “Garek and Milek Kozminski are essential members of this team.”

  “They’re your brothers-in-law...”

  And maybe that was her real problem: Logan had married Stacy instead of her. She had obviously been in love with her boss for a long time; she’d left the River City Police Department when Logan did in order to join the fledging bodyguard business he’d started a few years before.

  “Candace,” Logan said, “if you can’t work with them, maybe you can’t work—”

  “Hey!” Garek said as he pushed open the office door before Logan could finish his ultimatum. He didn’t want Candace fired. Sure, she hated Garek. But he didn’t hate her.

  He wanted her.

  He had wanted her since the very first time he’d seen her. She was all long legs and sharp curves and sass. It sparkled in her blue eyes every time she looked at him. But she wouldn’t look at him now. Instead she’d tilted her head down so that her jaw-length black hair skimmed across her face, hiding her eyes.