by Cynthia Eden
But he’d have her all to himself. Soon.
“I was told there’s a briefing today,” she said, raising her brows. “Do we go to headquarters?”
Headquarters. That run-down building that the EOD had claimed. The new sheriff would need a better central location. The new sheriff in town would need a whole lot.
Jasper nodded.
He noticed that Jimmy was just a few steps behind Veronica. The kid had been shadowing her. Whenever he looked at Cale or Jasper, he turned ghost-white.
They’d be getting rid of his fear at that briefing. The EOD would share its findings, and the case would be over.
Jasper glanced over at the closed casket.
No more murders in Whiskey Ridge. No more fear.
Time to start fresh.
If Veronica would have him.
* * *
THE TICKING OF the clock on the small desk was way too loud. Every tick had Veronica tensing. She knew this meeting was necessary, but the last time she’d been in this building, well, she’d been scared to death.
Almost as scared as I am now.
Jasper was out of the hospital. Finally. The doctors hadn’t let her see him once he’d been wheeled back to the O.R. She hadn’t been family, and there’d been cops and agents all around him. She’d been pushed back. Veronica remembered pacing the floor of that narrow waiting room again and again. Then she’d broken down and slipped back into the recovery room. Gotten some scrubs, acted as though she belonged and seen for herself that Jasper was going to be all right.
She’d even kissed him back there, until a stunned nurse had appeared, but that nurse had taken pity on Veronica and let her stay a little longer.
I just want to be with him a little longer.
Only her time was up now. The EOD agents had closed their case. They’d be leaving town, moving, as Jasper had once told her, as soundlessly as shadows as they slipped from Whiskey Ridge.
From her life.
“Cale Lane,” Logan said, drawing Veronica’s attention as the agent looked at her brother, “on behalf of the EOD, we want you to know that you’ve been cleared in this investigation.” The words were formal, real official sounding.
Cale just raised a brow. “I kind of figured that, you know, when you didn’t throw my butt in jail.”
Sydney’s lips twitched.
“Wyatt was pretending to be me,” Cale continued, voice harder now, “and Reed Montgomery was the one giving him the cases.”
Logan nodded. “From the intel that Sydney recovered—courtesy of your sister’s flash drive—Reed let his contact in South America believe that you were actually taking the EOD hits. Striker was assigned the jobs, but it was actually Wyatt who tracked and eliminated the targets.”
Targets. Veronica swallowed. That was such a cold, clinical way of referring to people.
“I told Wyatt that I was getting out of the business, that I was gonna stay at the ranch more with Veronica.” Cale glanced her way. “That must have been when he decided he could use my name.”
“He planned to make you disappear,” Jasper said. She jerked at his voice, way too sensitive toward him. “You were supposed to be taken out on that case in the Caribbean, but you went off the radar.”
“Because I know a trap when I walk into one,” Cale muttered with a sad shake of his head.
“But when you vanished—” Now Sydney was talking. Gunner stood, still and silent, behind her. “—Wyatt knew he’d have to find you and kill you in order to tie up all the loose ends. He left evidence at his kill scenes, evidence to tie you to the crimes.”
“The guy picked up a lot of crime-scene knowledge from his time in the Dallas P.D.,” Logan said, tapping his fingers against a nearby file. “Seems he was even dating an M.E. for a while. I’m guessing she shared some tools of the trade with him.”
And Wyatt had used that knowledge to plant evidence against her brother.
“If the EOD caught Cale, Wyatt was counting on the evidence he’d left behind to send you to jail,” Sydney said. Her gaze was on Cale. “And if that didn’t work...” Now Sydney’s green stare drifted to Veronica. “Well, Wyatt knew that there was one thing that would always bring you back to Whiskey Ridge.”
Veronica hated being bait.
“Wyatt just had to bide his time and watch Veronica.” Jasper’s jaw tightened as he gritted the words.
“I don’t understand. Why’d he send those men after me at Last Chance?” Veronica asked. “If he was just biding his time...”
“Because he knew you weren’t going to stop looking for your brother,” Sydney said, her voice soft. “He wanted to move the game along. If you vanished, Wyatt must have thought that would sure grab Cale’s attention.”
“It would’ve grabbed it, all right,” Cale muttered, eyes glinting.
Logan delivered the next bit of news, saying, “Then when Wyatt found out that federal agents were in town, he started to cover his tracks.”
But she’d already figured that part out. The explosion at the sheriff’s station...the men who’d been killed. Wyatt had done it all. He hadn’t gone into the back in order to rescue Jimmy. He’d been getting an extra weapon, planning his kills, triggering the explosion.
Veronica glanced to the right. Jimmy stood, with his shoulders hunched and his chin down. The star on his chest gleamed dully. Jimmy wasn’t speaking. He looked so dazed that she wasn’t even sure he was hearing much of the conversation.
Jimmy’s best friend had tried to kill him, had set him up for murder. The guy just didn’t seem to have anyone he could rely on.
Veronica edged closer to Jimmy. When her fingers brushed against his arm, he flinched. His head snapped up, and he stared straight at her. “I didn’t run you off the road, Ms. Veronica. That wasn’t me!”
She nodded. “I know, Jimmy.”
“I realized it was Wyatt. He brought my car in...had his gun... I asked him...asked if he’d hurt anyone...”
All eyes were on her and Jimmy.
“He said...he said he’d try again for you. That I could...could help him...” Jimmy shook his head. “That’s not what I do. I don’t hurt people, especially not good folks like you....”
She blinked away the tears that wanted to fill her eyes. Jimmy had always been so good, to everyone. “I know you don’t do that, Jimmy.”
His lips trembled. “You...you shouldn’t have run to the car and tried to get me out. You should have left me.”
Now Veronica was the one to shake her head. “That’s not what I do,” she said, giving him the same words back. “Especially not to good folks like you.”
Some of the darkness seemed to leave Jimmy’s eyes. He offered her a faint smile.
We’re going to be okay, Jimmy. They’d both made it through the nightmare. They’d survived.
She felt a light touch on her shoulder. She turned and found Jasper staring at her with his stark gaze. “You knew that Wyatt was going to take a shot at either me or Cale, didn’t you?”
A frown pulled down her brows. “I knew he was going to shoot you both. First you, then Cale.”
Jasper searched her eyes. “How’d you know who he’d go for first? Did he tell—”
“He knew that Cale loved me, so he trusted that my brother would never shoot, not when he thought I might be hurt.” She was her brother’s weakness. One that Wyatt had used. “And as for you...”
“He thought I didn’t love you?” Jasper’s words were flat.
She wasn’t sure what to make of that sudden lack of emotion. Clearing her throat, Veronica said, “He wasn’t sure if you’d hesitate as long. I wasn’t sure so—”
His hands tightened on her. “Let me make you sure. I would never do anything to hurt you. For the rest of my life, I swear, I’ll always protect you.”
“And I’ll always protect you,” she told him quietly. “Why do you think I ran toward you?” To cover him, while her brother took the shot.
“You ran to me.” He exhaled slowly. �
�Because you love me.”
“Hell,” Cale muttered. “This is it...my sister’s about to—”
“And you love me,” Veronica told him, lifting her chin and staring at him with all of the certainty she felt. “I didn’t doubt that. Wyatt did. His mistake.” A mistake that had cost the man his life.
Jasper pulled her closer against him. He acted as if no one else were in the room with them. Maybe to him, there wasn’t anyone. She’d never had a man focus so completely on her that way before.
As if she were every dream that he’d ever had.
“I love you more than life,” Jasper told her. His voice wasn’t so flat anymore. Emotion rumbled in his words. “Hell, you are my life, Veronica. I might have screwed things up at the beginning, but from here on out, I’ll be the man you need me to be. A man you can want—”
She rose onto her toes and kissed him. The silence around them was thick enough to slice. “You are the man I want.” She smiled at him.
“He’s gonna be in the family,” Cale growled, sounding lost. “The EOD agent who hunted me down is gonna be in my family.”
“Yes,” Jasper said, and he smiled, too, a big, bright, happy smile that took Veronica’s breath away. “I sure will be, brother.” But then Jasper glanced over at Cale. “Only I won’t be an EOD agent for much longer.”
What?
Jasper’s warm gaze turned back to her. “Seems that Whiskey Ridge could use a sheriff, and I know someone who could pull enough strings to get me that job.”
“I’m good with strings,” Logan added, offering a shrug.
Veronica knew her eyes had widened in surprise. “Y-you’re staying here?”
“Is this where you’ll be?”
A nod.
“Then this is the only place I want to be. We’ll build our home together. Live together. Be happy here.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m happy wherever you are.”
“Ah, damn,” from Cale. “Get a room before I poke my eyes out.” But she’d heard the happiness in her brother’s voice. Cale just wanted her safe. He wanted her to be loved.
And he knew that Jasper loved her.
The danger was over. Time for the living and loving to begin. She had everything that she wanted right there in front of her, and Veronica wasn’t about to let him go.
They’d survived a killer’s deadly game. Now it was time for the happy ending that they both deserved.
Time for love and a new life.
Jasper took her hand and led her outside, away from the others. The rain had finally stopped. The sun shone down on them, lighting the town.
Jasper turned toward her. “I’m sorry, Veronica.”
She stared back at him, her body held carefully still. “Sorry?”
“I wish I’d never lied to you. I wish I could go back and start things over.”
“I don’t want to go back.” She didn’t want to hear apologies or regrets. She much preferred it when he just talked about loving her. She stepped toward him, put her hands on his chest. “I just want to go forward, with you.”
“It’s so fast. What if you change your mind?”
He was afraid. Her big, tough ranger. Afraid he wasn’t worthy of love. “Do you trust me, Jasper?”
“With my life.”
The words had her heart beating faster. “Then trust me when I say that my mind won’t change. I love you. I’ll love you today.” She leaned up. Kissed his lips. “And I’ll love you for every tomorrow that comes.”
His hands locked around her, so tight and strong. “I want you so much that the need I feel scares me.”
“I think that’s how love is supposed to be.” Not perfect. Not gentle. But wild and dark and consuming. “Because that’s the way I feel for you.”
Not safe.
Not easy.
So much...so much it scared her, too.
Then his lips were on hers. He kissed her with a savage need. A need she felt for him, too. Finally, finally they were safe. Cale was clear. It wasn’t about a mission or evidence or the EOD. It was just about them.
About the new life that they were going to start, together.
Scary, consuming...not perfect, but just what they both craved.
Epilogue
Cale watched the sun as it slowly dipped below the horizon. It was so red, like blood in the sky. Seemed as if he spent most of his days covered in blood.
Killing.
Fighting.
“Why’d you save all those people?” The quiet question came from behind him. He tensed because he hadn’t heard any footsteps approaching.
Cale looked over his shoulder. Sydney Sloan stood just a few feet away. She’d come out of the temporary headquarters without making so much as a sound. She stood with her hands on her slender hips, surveying him with a hooded gaze.
He forced a shrug. “Someone needed to save ’em. Why not me?”
She gave a little laugh. He watched her with care. Sydney Sloan was a beautiful woman, no doubt, but as an EOD agent, he knew the woman was also deadly. A man needed to be extra cautious around a woman like her.
He looked over her shoulder, didn’t see her usual big, fierce EOD shadow, so he had to ask, “Where’s Gunner?” Because from what he’d observed, he always seemed to be just a few steps away from Sydney.
She frowned at his question. Then she shrugged, but he didn’t find the move to be as careless as she’d probably planned. “It would seem that most of your psych report was bull.”
He nodded. “Most.” His “aggressive tendencies”—yeah, that part had been true. He could get more than a little aggressive when the right circumstances occurred.
Like when someone was targeting his sister for death.
“The work you were doing on your own...it’s not so different from what we do,” Sydney said as she edged closer to him. “Rescuing people is part of our job.”
“And hunting killers?”
“We do the work that no one else can.” A deliberate pause. “You can believe that when someone targets EOD agents, all of us fight back.”
Yeah, well, that was the reason he’d become number one on their hit list.
“Since Jasper’s leaving, we’ll have an opening on our team,” she murmured. Her head cocked to the right as she studied him with that too-knowing gaze of hers.
He lifted a brow. “You’re seriously offering me a job?”
“No.”
The abrupt denial startled him.
“Logan’s the one doing the offering. I’m just the messenger.” Her smile widened, flashing a dimple in her cheek. “I guess he thought I might come across as friendlier. Especially when you consider that the other option was Gunner.”
Gunner...the guy who looked as if he ate nails. The guy who watched Sydney with a fierce, protective stare.
“You are the better option,” Cale agreed.
“So, are you interested?”
His gaze drifted away from her. He’d bought the place in Whiskey Ridge to try to give Veronica the stability that he knew she wanted. But she didn’t need him or the land any longer, not really.
Cale had known the first time he saw Jasper look at Veronica that things had changed. During the time that he had served with Jasper in the military, the guy had never gazed at a woman with such desperate intensity. As if his whole world were in her hands.
But that was exactly the way he looked at Veronica. No, actually, Jasper looked at Veronica as if she were his entire world.
Things were changing now, and maybe it was time he changed some, too.
Working on his own—well, that had gotten him a close call with death. But with a team to back him up, with people he could count on...
Cale nodded. “I think I might be interested.”
Sydney offered him her small palm. His fingers closed around hers. He shook her hand once. “Welcome to the team,” she said.
“Sydney.”
And there was another teammate. Gunner had just stepped
outside, and he sure was glaring at Cale. Or rather, glaring at Cale’s hand. The hand that was still holding Sydney’s.
“Great news, Gunner,” Sydney said as she pulled her hand free and looked back over her shoulder at the other man. “Cale’s joining the team.”
“Great,” Gunner agreed, but he sounded anything but pleased. Then Cale met the other man’s stare. Saw the very clear don’t touch glare and got the picture.
He could join the team, but he needed to stay away from Sydney Sloan.
Message received.
Then Logan was there, closing out the team. His gaze swept over them. “We haven’t tracked down the man who put out the hits on the EOD agents yet.”
With both Wyatt and Reed Montgomery dead, that tracking sure would be harder.
“But we’ll find him. The EOD doesn’t stop.”
“And we don’t give up,” Sydney said.
Gunner’s gaze was on her. “No,” he agreed, “we don’t.”
Cale couldn’t wait for their next mission. He was ready to get back in action. He glanced back up at the sky. The streaks of blood-red were all but gone.
Maybe...just maybe...he’d be able to wipe off the blood from his own hands. One day.
His sister had gotten her happy ending.
One day...perhaps he’d get what he wanted, too.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt of Cowboy Cop by Rita Herron!
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Chapter One