The Cowboy Target

by Terri Reed

  She hoped Gabby would stay hidden when she realized Wyatt was here.

  “Boyd!” Darrin barked. “What have you done?”

  “Me?” Boyd lowered his weapon. “What are you doing? Why did you bring Dad into this?”

  Darrin didn’t answer. But the hatred in his dark eyes didn’t bode well for any of them.

  Jackie met Wyatt’s anxious gaze. He mouthed, Gabby. She wanted to reassure him, but Darrin shifted, drawing her attention. The guy was twitchy. There was no telling what he would do. She needed a way to control this situation. But how?

  Lord, help me here. I need a plan.

  * * *

  Wyatt stared at Jackie as a wave of relief that she was alive and well crashed over him, making his knees buckle, but he stayed upright. His heart hiccuped and willed her to tell him about Gabby. Fear for his child ate away at his composure. He was holding back panic by a thin thread. His daughter had to be all right. Safe. Please.

  For a moment Jackie stared back, her blue eyes wide and intent. Then she was rushing to him, throwing her arms around him and spinning him away from Darrin.

  “Hey!” Darrin yelled.

  “She’s safe,” Jackie whispered quickly.

  Confused by her behavior, yet thankful to know his daughter was okay, he held her tight. Then she turned in his arms and he realized what she’d done. She’d put herself in the line of fire. No!

  Keeping his hand on her shoulder, he stepped to her side. He wouldn’t hide behind anyone, least of all the woman he loved. The realization rocked him to the core, but now was not the time to deal with the ramifications. Not when a madman had a weapon pointed at them. They needed a distraction. Something to stall him until Craig and his men could arrive.

  “Why are you doing this, Darrin?” Wyatt asked.

  “Son, put the rifle down.” Frank Dunn drew his son’s attention.

  “Not until he signs those papers.”

  Wyatt heard a noise behind him. He glanced back. Gabby was peeking out at him from the workbench. His breath caught. He wanted to run to her, but he also didn’t want to draw attention to her. He waved her back with his hand.

  “I don’t have them here.” Frank spread his hands wide. “This is not the way to do this, son.”

  “He won’t sign them unless we make him,” Darrin said.

  “Think about what you’re doing,” Frank said. “Son, I don’t want this. Your mother, bless her soul, would not want this.”

  Darrin trained the rifle on his father. The loathing twisting his face made Wyatt’s blood run cold.

  “I don’t care what she’d want,” he snarled.

  “Darrin, come on, let Dad go,” Boyd said. “This isn’t right.”

  Darrin swung the tip of the rifle to Boyd. “You. You were always the favorite.”

  The sound of Darrin’s laughter raised the fine hairs at the back of Wyatt’s neck. The man was coming unglued right before their eyes. And the two most important people in his life were here. He couldn’t let anything happen to them.

  Jackie shifted her stance and jammed her hand into her pocket.

  “That’s not fair,” Boyd whined. “It’s not my fault.”

  “No, it was her fault,” Darrin snapped.

  Wyatt didn’t know who they referred to. He could only guess Darrin meant his mother. It didn’t make sense.

  Frank stepped closer. “This isn’t the time or place for this, Darrin.”

  A sneer spread across Darrin’s face. “Of course it is, Daddy.”

  The way he drew out the moniker with such disgust confused Wyatt. He shared a puzzled glance with Jackie. What was going on? The family drama playing out had nothing to do with him and Jackie, yet they were held captive as unwilling spectators. But at any moment Darrin’s focus could once again turn to him and Jackie. Who knew what he’d do then?

  Darrin narrowed his eyes on his father. “Why don’t you tell my brother about me?”

  “What about you?” Boyd asked, clearly as confused as Wyatt and Jackie.

  “Not you,” Darrin shot back. He swung the rifle toward Wyatt. “Him.”

  What? Wyatt tried to make sense of what Darrin was saying. His brother?

  “That’s right,” Darrin sneered. “You and me. We have the same daddy.”

  Shock siphoned the blood from Wyatt’s brain. “That’s not true.” Wyatt looked at Frank to deny the words, but the grim resignation on the old man’s face hit Wyatt like a hoof to the abdomen. His father and Mrs. Dunn? “When? How could this be?”

  “Yeah, Daddy. How could this be?” Darrin demanded.

  Frank seemed to age right before Wyatt’s eyes. His shoulders drooped. Haggard lines deepened in his face. “The summer before Marilyn and I married, she and Emerson had been involved. But she left him for me. It wasn’t until after our wedding that she realized she was already pregnant. I loved her,” Frank stated. He turned to his eldest child. “And I loved you. It didn’t matter that you weren’t my biological child.”

  “Yeah, right,” Darrin spat out. “You always treated us differently. You babied him. Me? You sent me away as soon as you could.”

  Reeling from this revelation, Wyatt asked, “When did you find out?”

  “Oh, I’ve known for years.” Darrin’s lip curled in a snarl. “I was injured during my tour in the Middle East. I needed a blood transfusion. Found out I’m type A.” His gaze zeroed in on Frank. “My mother was type O. And guess what?” He smirked and pointed a finger at Frank. “So is he. It’s biologically impossible for him to be my father.”

  Wyatt sucked in a stunned breath. His father was type A. Just like Wyatt.

  “Why do you think it was Mr. Monroe?” Jackie asked.

  Darrin scoffed. “Look at us, lady. Don’t you see it?”

  Feeling sick, Wyatt did see. They had the same stature, the same shape to their face as Emerson Monroe.

  The wail of a siren rising on the night breeze shuddered through Wyatt.

  Darrin cocked his head and listened, then narrowed his gaze on Wyatt. “Sounds like your stepdaddy’s coming. This will be a regular family reunion.”

  “He won’t be alone,” Wyatt said between clenched teeth.

  “But he’ll be too late,” Darrin countered, raising the rifle to his shoulder.

  The oxygen in the shed disappeared as time slowed. His lungs seizing with horror, Wyatt knew that at any second his life could end. His child would be orphaned. He’d never have the opportunity to tell Jackie how he felt. Dear Lord, please.

  The loud retort of a gun blast trembled through the air. Wyatt flinched. But felt no pain.

  Darrin jerked back. A bright red stain spread across his shoulder, down the front of his blue shirt. The rifle slipped from his hands and landed with a clatter on the floor.

  For a stunned moment, no one else moved.

  Darrin slowly sank to the ground and toppled over, groaning in pain.

  Wyatt drew in air and filled his lungs as relief oozed through his veins.

  Frank dropped to his knees beside his fallen son and pressed his hands over the gunshot wound. Boyd stared, slack jawed at his brother and father.

  In a swift move, Jackie disarmed Boyd. He didn’t even seem to notice.

  Wyatt noted the black, burned hole marring the right pocket of her jacket. Not taking the time to register what had happened, he rushed to the workbench. His only thought was to have his daughter safe in his arms.

  “It’s okay, Gabby. You can come out now,” he said, his voice thick with love and fear and gratitude. She climbed out from beneath the bench and launched herself into his arms. He checked her for injuries. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, Daddy.”

  He kissed her head, her cheek. Gabby lifted her tear-filled eyes. “Jackie?”


  “I’m here, baby,” Jackie said, coming to their side.

  Slipping his arm around her shoulders and drawing her close was the most natural thing to do. It felt right, complete. Gabby reached out to wrap one arm around Jackie’s neck while still clinging to Wyatt.

  In that moment, Wyatt knew what he wanted more than anything else in life. The three of them to be a family. For Jackie to become his wife and the mother of his children. Yes, he wanted more children. With her.

  A rightness settled over his heart.

  But how could he ask her to stay on the ranch? To give up the life of action and adventure she had built for herself?

  A pain so deep sliced through him. He couldn’t.

  Nor could he uproot Gabby from the only home she’d ever known and move her to Boston. The ranch was his legacy to his daughter.

  He was a rancher, not a city slicker. He wouldn’t replay the same scenario he’d had with Dina. Not with Jackie. It wouldn’t be fair to him, Jackie or Gabby.

  He buried his face in his daughter’s hair to conceal the anguish rushing through him. Lord, how do I resolve this situation? How do I let Jackie go?

  * * *

  Jackie rested her head against Wyatt’s shoulder as uniformed officers flooded the shed. She glanced up to see Wyatt meet the sheriff’s gaze and nod. Relief flooded Craig Landers’s pale face. Why Wyatt ever thought his stepfather didn’t care about him was beyond her. The sheriff loved his stepson and his stepgrandchild something fierce.

  She guessed when someone convinced themselves things were one way, it was hard to see the truth. Just as she had in thinking that she could give up being a law officer to be a bodyguard and be content.

  An officer handcuffed Boyd and led him out. Frank sat back on his haunches and sobbed as the EMTs arrived and worked on Darrin as he lay bleeding on the concrete floor. She’d hit him in the shoulder, a shot meant to stop, not kill.

  She’d practiced that hip shot often at the shooting range, but she had never had an occasion to use it in real life.

  Now she could say with truth that she could shoot from the hip like a real-life cowboy.

  She snuggled closer to the very real cowboy at her side, grateful for his arm around her, holding her tight. It made her heart ache to think she’d be leaving soon now that he was no longer a target. She’d done her job; now it was time to say goodbye. Best to make a clean break as soon as possible—less painful that way.

  She shifted away from Wyatt and immediately missed his embrace. She would have to get used to life without him. And Gabby. The thought lodged a knot beneath her breastbone. She ignored it.

  “Darrin’s got a knife inside his left boot,” Jackie informed the sheriff.

  Landers nodded and bent to fish the blade from Darrin’s boot.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Wyatt said, putting a hand on the small of Jackie’s back and propelling her toward the shed door.

  “Ms. Blain?” Craig called out.

  “Yes, Sheriff?” She knew what he wanted. She’d have to answer for shooting Darrin.

  “We’ll need your statement.”

  Standard procedure. “Of course. I’ll be right outside.”

  Before she could turn away, the sheriff added, “And, Ms. Blain, if you ever decide you want to go back into law enforcement, you have a job with the Lane County sheriff’s department waiting for you.”

  Warmth and pleasure washed over her. Longing to be back on the job hit her with the impact of a gale-force wind coming off the Atlantic Ocean in winter. But as tempting as the offer was, she couldn’t take it.

  She couldn’t be this close to Wyatt and Gabby and not be in their lives.

  And she didn’t know if she was brave enough to risk her heart again. Even for one handsome cowboy and an adorable little girl.

  * * *

  Bright and early the next morning, Jackie set her packed bags on the front porch of her aunt and uncle’s house. Spencer plopped down on the landing and panted as if the trek from the bedroom to the front door had been a mile-long excursion. Uncle Carl had said he’d take her to Laramie after he finished his morning chores.

  Her boss, James Trent, had called several times last night and again this morning, making sure she was okay and to let her know the jet would be waiting to take her back to Boston when she arrived at the airstrip.

  She should be happy to return home, but she couldn’t stop the niggling feeling that had kept her up all night. One that still plagued her today.

  Warm sunlight caressed her face and touched the ranch, melting the snow the same way Wyatt and his daughter had melted the ice around Jackie’s heart, leaving her feeling raw and tender. And so unhappy about leaving.

  She didn’t want to return to Boston. She’d fallen in love with a handsome cowboy and a little red-haired four-year-old princess. Saying goodbye to them would be the hardest thing she’d ever done, much harder than walking away from the Atkins sheriff’s department.

  But what else could she do?

  She’d realized she wasn’t brave enough to talk to Wyatt about her feelings. She couldn’t risk being rejected by him. Yet she at least wanted a few minutes to say goodbye.

  But after they’d returned to the ranch last night, he’d taken Gabby and disappeared inside the house with a quiet thank-you and good-night. What had she expected? For him to declare his undying love and beg her to stay?

  Yes, her heart screamed.

  But it hadn’t happened. Not when she’d barged into his life uninvited. He wanted his life to return to normal. A life that didn’t include her.

  She forced herself to breathe. She had a feeling it would be a long time before she forgot anything that had happened in the past few days. She wasn’t sure she’d ever forget Wyatt.

  Feeling antsy, Jackie longed to go for a run, to work out the tension in her limbs and her heart. But she’d dressed for the return flight to Boston. Comfortable stretch pants and a tank under a loose-fitting sweater. Her hair was caught up in a band, the weight of it pulling at her scalp, making her head ache. With a yank she pulled the tie away and let the curls fall haphazardly about her shoulders. Much better.

  If only she could fix the ache in her heart as easily.

  She sank to the top step and leaned back against the railing. The quiet peacefulness of the ranch soothed her soul. As vacations went, this one was a doozy. Best to get back to work and keep her nose to the grindstone for a while. The quicker she moved onto a new assignment, the better.

  Spencer barked. His nails scraped on the wood as he stood.

  Wyatt and Gabby came out of their house and walked across the drive toward them. Tall and broad shouldered in his jeans, chambray shirt and cowboy hat, Wyatt made Jackie sigh with longing. She forced herself to swallow back the yearning jamming her throat and fought against the tears burning her eyes.

  Not good. Maybe she should have left already.

  Love for this man and child filled her with a bittersweet joy. She was so thankful God had spared them both. That she’d had some part in keeping them safe. She knew it would take time for Wyatt to deal with all the ramifications of learning about Darrin being his brother and trying to kill him. He had decisions to make about the uranium mining. And he needed to make sure Gabby would feel safe and secure after being kidnapped.

  But Jackie had no doubt Wyatt was up for the task.

  She blinked to keep the tears at bay.

  Halfway across the drive, Gabby broke into a run, her little legs pumping, her arms flailing. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt with Mickey Mouse on the front. Her red curls bounced with each footfall. She bounded up the steps and launched herself at Jackie.

  Catching her around the waist, Jackie hugged her close. Tears filled her eyes. She couldn’t help it. She was going to miss this little girl. Jackie met Wyat
t’s gaze. The tenderness there in his eyes almost undid her. She blinked again, feeling the wetness of tears on her lashes.

  Spencer barked, demanding his share of attention. Releasing Jackie, Gabby threw her arms around the dog’s neck.

  “Why don’t you take Spencer for a walk around the house?” Wyatt said, ruffling his daughter’s hair.

  Gabby jumped up. “Come on, Spencer. Let’s go.”

  She bounded down the stairs, patting her leg as she went. Spencer scrambled after her. The two disappeared around the corner of the house as Gabby’s laughter rose in the air. The happy sound pinched Jackie’s heart.

  “So you’re all set to leave,” Wyatt said, his gaze on her bags.

  “Yes. All packed up and waiting for Uncle Carl,” she murmured.

  For a moment neither spoke. Anxious flurries stirred in her tummy. She hated goodbyes. They were always so painfully awkward.

  “I thought about what you said, about confirming Gabby’s paternity.” Wyatt finally broke the silence. “I’m going to have a DNA test done.”

  “Oh, no,” she exclaimed as guilt rushed in. She’d forgotten to tell him. “You don’t have to. Gabby’s yours.”

  “I know she’s mine. She’ll always be my little girl, but...”

  Jackie jumped to her feet and took his hand. “No, I mean, she is your child. Boyd said he and Dina never...”

  He sank to the stair, pulling Jackie down with him. “I’m glad to hear that. I guess. I really don’t know how to feel or think or...” He shrugged. “Boyd might not be who Dina was referring to.”

  Jackie ached for Wyatt. So much had happened the past few days, revelations that would take time to wrap his mind around. She wished she could be here to help him process them. She tried to slip her hands from his, but he held on tight.

  She stared at him with unspoken questions.

  He stared back as if memorizing her face. “I’m so jumbled up inside right now.”

  “I understand. You’ve been through a great deal.”

  Intensity filled his expression. “But the one thing I’m not confused about is you.”