Last Stand Sheriff

by Tyler Anne Snell

  “It’s about time,” Desmond said with a smile. Caleb mirrored it.

  “Y’all do know she’s been seeing Christian in secret for over a year, right?”

  Declan laughed.

  “Yeah, it’s not like you can keep a secret in this town. I’m glad she’s making it public, though. Now we don’t have to pretend like we have no idea why he keeps showing up around the ranch even though he lives in Kilwin.”

  Madi laughed and bounced her foot in the air. She rubbed her belly.

  “I think Dad would approve, despite him and Christian’s differences from back in the day.”

  They all agreed. During what felt like a lifetime ago, their father had believed Christian was connected to the triplets’ abduction. It had put a wall of resentment and discord between the men and the Nash family. That was until Christian had proven he was a great man after helping Madi survive the family’s first brush with the Fixers. Since then he’d become friends with the family. More so with their mother. Dorothy Nash had been nothing but happy the last year or so and they knew it wasn’t all because they’d put William Gallagher behind bars for good. Though, having him locked up had definitely helped.

  For a man who had spent years cultivating a group who would rather die than spill their secrets, William became a very talkative man once in handcuffs. He said he did so to take Dean Lawson down with him, detailing their arrangement and what had really happened all those years ago. Lawson, who had passed away at the bar that night, lost the reputation he’d built for years, as well. And that had been William’s goal.

  He was big on trying to hurt people, even after death.

  As for his son, the man in the suit, he mostly stayed true to his word. A month after everything had settled down, he visited Declan outside of the grocery store of all places.

  “I don’t think you understand what ‘I won’t see you ever again’ means,” Declan had greeted. The man in the suit had smirked.

  “Don’t worry, this is a quick social visit.”

  Declan knew the man wasn’t good, but he couldn’t bring himself to be wary of him, either. Especially since the Fixers had been rumored to have disappeared from, not only Overlook, but all of Wildman County.

  “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about your dad,” Declan had found himself saying. He’d later blame the kindness on the fact that the man had taken Remi to the hospital and, honestly, had saved all of their lives by taking the contract in the first place.

  “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about yours, too.”

  They’d shared a small companionable silence. One of understanding. Then they were back to their normal roles.

  “You know, this is the only time I’ll let you go free,” Declan had said. “So after you leave my sight, you better stay out of it.”

  The man in the suit had laughed.

  “Remember how we agreed that you don’t know me?” he’d asked. “Well, let me enlighten you on something. While my dad was amassing money to help with your destruction, I was stealing and saving it. The second I’m out of your sight I’ll be heading to a private airfield and on my way to a beautiful, remote beach somewhere very tropical. And then I’ll disappear.”

  “Still, very brazen of you to show back up here again.”

  The man in the suit started to walk toward a car near them.

  “I can afford to be brazen, Sheriff. I bet you still haven’t found any record of my existence, have you?” He’d said it with a smile and he’d been right. No one had been able to find any hint that he existed, not even his name. “Don’t feel bad. While my father spent decades waiting to reveal himself when the right time came, I spent the same time waiting to disappear.”

  The man in the suit had pointed to Declan’s truck.

  “Consider that an early baby shower gift,” he’d said. “For what it’s worth, I don’t hate that you Nashes might now have a shot at a happy ending. And consider this the only time I’ll ever break a contract.”

  He’d already been gone by the time Declan saw what he’d left in Fiona’s front seat.

  It was the bag of money he and his siblings had collected to pay for their contract with the Fixers back at Well Water. On top of the bag were two ribbons. One pink, one blue.

  Declan and Remi had received another gift after they’d married that he believed to be from the man. It was a postcard of an island with well wishes and an exorbitant amount of money that they’d decided to give to charity. The card had been signed “the Whisperer.”

  Other than that, Declan hadn’t seen or heard of the man in the suit or the Fixers since.

  “I think Dad would have liked this, too,” Caleb said, bringing Declan back to the present. He motioned to the four of them. “Us, I mean, but, especially you.”

  Declan was surprised to see those three sets of baby blues turn to him. Caleb continued.

  “We realized this morning when we were helping set up the Christmas lights that we somehow have been idiots and haven’t told you this outright and in clear words. So, get ready for the mushiness.”

  They all shared a look.

  Desmond spoke next.

  “Thank you, Declan.”

  He didn’t understand.

  “For what?”

  Madi’s smile was small but true.

  “For giving us peace.”

  It was such a simple statement but it did something Declan hadn’t thought possible. A weight had been lifted. The guilt, the heartache... It all blew away in the nice December breeze.

  Movement caught his eye at the edge of the field.

  “You guys are going to make me cry in front of my wife,” he said with a genuine smile.

  Madi laughed.

  “Like you didn’t blubber when Michael and Lysa were born,” she teased.

  “And don’t forget that tearing up you did at the wedding,” Caleb added with a grin.

  Declan laughed and didn’t deny either accusation. Other than his kids being born, his wedding to Remi had been one of the best days of his life.

  It had been a small, perfect ceremony held in the no-man’s-land between the Nash Family Ranch and Hudson Heartland. To show they approved of Declan, Gale Hudson had officiated while Josh and Jonah had walked Remi down the aisle of flowers and grass. Her mother and stepfather had held the twins while his mother and Christian had distracted the rest of the grandchildren. Every Nash sibling and spouse were either groomsmen or bridesmaids.

  “Don’t act like you didn’t drop a tear or two,” Desmond said to Caleb.

  Caleb in turn swatted at him, which riled Desmond up. Soon they were racing around the barn and up toward Caleb’s house. A car started up the drive and Madi waved Declan off.

  “That’s Julian,” she said. “You can go on to your wife now, Sheriff.”

  “If I could, I’d swoop down and kiss you on the cheek, little sister,” he said, half-mocking. She laughed.

  “And if I wasn’t the size of a beach ball I’d stand up and accept it.”

  Declan laughed and soon he was off riding. He slowed as Remi did, meeting him in the middle.

  She was as beautiful as a sunset and he told her as much.

  “You keep sweet-talking me like that, Mr. Nash, and we might be catching up to Madi and Julian’s kid count tonight.”

  Declan chuckled.

  “We did say we’d start sometime after the kids were walking,” he pointed out. “Though now I can’t see where the sense in that is.”

  “We’re attracted to adventure, I suppose. Why else would we be building a house with a set of twins and two stressful jobs?”

  Declan ticked the reasons off on his fingers as he listed them.

  “Because my house was too small. We’re sentimental fools who thought it would be nice to live on the same stretch of land we got married on. We didn’t plan to get
pregnant with twins, though I’m over the moon it happened. And because we actually love our jobs.”

  Remi, who was now chief financial officer at Desmond’s foundation, nodded at each point.

  “Don’t you come at me with answers that make sense.”

  “Oh, I’ll come at you with something all right, cowgirl.”

  He winked at her, which made Remi throw her head back as she laughed again.

  Then she was all smiles.

  “Only if you can catch me, cowboy.”

  Remi was off on her horse, pointed toward their home, faster than Declan could whistle.

  Before he followed after her, Declan turned around and looked at his family and the ranch he’d been born on and would probably spend the rest of his days around.

  Caleb, Desmond and Madi were still hanging around, laughing, talking and riding. His mother was up at the house, not five minutes away, singing Christmas carols and baking gingerbread cookies, he had no doubt.

  Declan had spent years worrying about his family. Worrying that they’d never be whole again. That they’d never truly find happiness. That life wasn’t as kind as it was mean.

  Yet, sitting astride his horse in a field he used to ride with his father, Declan Nash really did feel it, too.

  Peace.

  * * *

  Don’t miss the previous books in Tyler Anne Snell’s Winding Road Redemption miniseries:

  Reining in Trouble

  Credible Alibi

  Identical Threat

  Available now wherever Harlequin Intrigue

  books are sold!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Caught in the Crossfire by Nichole Severn.

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  Caught in the Crossfire

  by Nichole Severn

  Chapter One

  Your husband is alive, Kate.

  Blackhawk Security profiler Kate Monroe stared at her reflection in the broken picture frame on the floor. Had it really been an entire year? She hadn’t set foot in this house since the ambush, too traumatized to pull the bullets out of the walls, too sentimental to put it on the market. Everything had changed that night.

  Tightening her grip on the manila folder in her hand, she couldn’t ignore the truth. Declan hadn’t died as she’d been told while recovering in the hospital from her own injuries. He’d survived. He’d disappeared. And he’d left her behind.

  Glass crunched under her shoes, bringing her back into the moment, and the photo came into focus. Her and Declan dancing at their wedding, surrounded by smiling guests.

  Burying the burn behind her sternum deeper, she stepped over the frame. Blackhawk’s private investigator had found proof—a timestamped photo—of Declan taken a month ago in downtown Anchorage. She’d stared at it for hours, picked it apart pixel by pixel to fight the anger and resentment bubbling up her throat. In vain. The photo was real. Declan was alive, and she deserved to know why he hadn’t come home.

  There had to be something here that would lead her to his location. Setting the folder on what was left of the kitchen table, she fought back the memories of hundreds of dinners as she dragged her fingers over the bullet-riddled surface. She pulled out drawers in the kitchen, emptied the bookshelf beside the desk Declan had built for her, scattered old patient files across the carpet.

  Bending to pick them up, Kate froze as the dark stains at her feet came into focus. Blood. Ice worked through her veins. She couldn’t think—couldn’t breathe. She closed her eyes against the memories fighting to rush forward and forced herself to take a deep breath. She’d been a psychologist. She’d helped others through their trauma—their pain—why couldn’t she get past her own?

  She traced over one mound of scar tissue below her collarbone, leaving the files where they fell. Swallowing against the tightness in her throat, she straightened. Gunshot wounds never healed. Not really. Six months since the last surgery, and the physical pain from three shots to the chest still lingered. Then again, she’d been lucky to survive at all. The gunman who’d opened fire on her and Declan hadn’t meant to leave anyone alive.

  Movement registered off to her right and she automatically reached for the Glock in her shoulder holster. Depressing the safety tab, she took aim, heart in her throat. Blackhawk Security’s founder and CEO insisted his agents trained in wilderness survival, weapons, hostage negotiation, recovery and rescue and more, but she was a profiler. Not former military like Anthony. Not a former NSA consultant like Elizabeth. She’d never had use for a gun.

  Her hands shook slightly as the weight of heavy steel threatened to pull her arms down. She’d never aimed her gun at another human being. “You’re trespassing on private property,” she said. “Come out with your hands where I can see them, and I promise not to shoot you.”

  The house had been abandoned for a year. Wasn’t hard to imagine the homeless taking advantage of a roof over their heads, and she wasn’t interested in forcing them to leave if that was the case. The house wasn’t going anywhere. It took everything she had to stay here this long.

  Shadows shifted across the intruder’s features, and her breath caught in her throat. Hints of moonlight highlighted the familiar shape of his stubbled jaw, his broad chest, muscled arms and short blond hair. Her heart beat hard as she stood there, unsure if he was real or a figment of her imagination.

  He closed the distance between them slowly, cautiously, as though he believed she might actually shoot him. She couldn’t make out the color of his eyes in the darkness but pictured the ice-blue depths clearly from memory as he stared back at her.

  “It’s you.” She suppressed the sob clawing up her throat but couldn’t fight the burn against her lower lash line. Rushing forward, Kate wrapped her arms around his broad chest, his clean, masculine scent working deep into her lungs. A year. A year he’d put her through hell. The grief, the anger. Why hadn’t he reached out to her? Who had she buried all those months ago? Why wasn’t he hugging her back?

  Clenching her teeth to keep the scream at bay, Kate backed off but didn’t holster the weapon. Why was he just standing there? “Say something.”

  “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.” That voice. His voice.

  An electric sizzle caught her nerve endings on fire and exploded throughout her entire system. She never thought she’d hear that voice again.

  Declan Monroe shifted closer, the weight of his gaze pressurizing the air in her lungs. “You don’t need the gun. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “That’s all you’re going to say to me?” It felt as if someone had driven a fist into her stomach. “You’ve been alive this whole time, and that’s all you’re going to say? They told me you died in that hospital. I—” The pain of that day, of losing her best friend, of losing the man she’d intended to spend the rest of her life with, the man she’d planned on starting a family with, surged to the surface. “I buried you.”

  “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through.” He reached out, smoothed his fingertips down her jawline. Even with the ice of shock coursing through her, warmth penetrated deep into her bones, but his expression kept her from reveling in his missed touch.

  Declan lowered his hand as he studied the aftermath in the living room. The bullet holes in the walls, the broken picture frames, the destroyed sectional and cushions. She didn’t have the guts to see what’d become of the rest of the house, a home that was once their safe haven from their dark careers. “Is this where it happened?”

  Confusion gripped her hard, and Kate narrowed her eyes to see his face. “What do you mean—”

  “I get these flashe
s sometimes. Of this house, of different things.” Declan motioned to his head, then his gaze locked back on her. “Mostly of you. Some days it’s glimpses, other times I can see you so clearly walking through that front door with stacks of files in your arms and a smile on your face. Like it was real.”

  Her head jerked to the side of its own accord slightly as though she’d been slapped. Instinct screamed. This wasn’t right. She took a step back, the gun still in her hand.

  “But I still don’t know your name,” he said.

  Air rushed from her lungs. She struggled to keep upright as the world tilted on its axis.

  Strong hands steadied her before she hit the bloodstained floor a second time, but the gun slipped from her hold. Leveraging her weight against the desk, she pushed back stray hairs that had escaped from the low bun at the base of her neck. She had to breathe. Her pulse beat hard at the base of her throat as his hand slipped down her spine.

  How could he have forgotten her name? Every cell in her body rejected the idea her husband had been walking around Anchorage without the slightest clue he’d been married, had a life, had a job. Where had he been all this time?

  “You okay?” He was still touching her. Even through the thick fabric of her cargo jacket, she’d recognize those familiar strokes. “I’ll get you some water.”

  “No.” The city had probably turned off the water a long time ago. She’d been paying the mortgage on the house in addition to the rent on her small apartment, but utilities would’ve been a waste. Kate maneuvered out of his reach. “I’m fine. I...need some air.”

  Lie. Nothing about the situation, about the fact the husband she’d lost was standing in front of her, was fine. Fresh air wouldn’t do a damn bit of good.