One Night

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  He stared at Kate, trying to reassure her. The way she pleaded with him, those amazing hazel eyes that reflected the color of amber in their glistening tears… He didn’t want to see the life drain out of them. “Cindy, this isn’t the way to handle this! Let Kate go now. She’s done nothing to you.”

  Kate gave a slight shake of her head. For a moment, he thought it was just fear, but then he realized she really was trying to say something. He stared hard at her as she opened her mouth, gasping. “Not…C—cindy,” she stuttered.

  “Walker, behind you,” someone whispered.

  He didn’t look, but he could hear the officers coming in. Kruso was there too. “She’s at the top of the stairs with a knife to Kate’s throat,” he said. He didn’t dare look over to the door. He was afraid to look away, scared that Kate wouldn’t be there when he looked back. “I’m going to take another step up,” he said more loudly. “Who are you? Just tell me what you want, and I’ll make sure you get it.”

  “Don’t!” The woman finally spoke, and Kate shut her eyes. “She has to die. He’ll just call her again. He’ll sleep with her. It’s what he does.”

  “Who does? Who are we talking about?” He moved his foot to take another step, and the wood creaked.

  Then Kate elbowed her in the stomach, and the woman pushed her forward. Time froze. He saw the shock as Kate’s arms flew up. She lost her footing on the first step and fell, naked. When she hit the first step, he took everything in: the woman had long hair in a ponytail. He fired his gun, missing her by an inch, splintering the wood in the wall by her head. She ducked, and Kate was rolling, trying to grab hold of a post to stop her fall. He heard another shot from upstairs as he reached Kate, and he looked up as the woman slid against the wall, down to the floor. The smear of blood stained his white wall as she fell.

  “Kate, are you okay?” He was kneeling beside her, his gun in his hand, and she slid up, brushing her hair from her eyes, holding her wrist.

  “Walker, I thought she was you. I heard a noise downstairs, and I came down, but it was her in the house.”

  He was touching her, and he glanced up the stairs to Kruso, who was beside the woman. A small branch was sticking from her short red hair, and she was breathing heavy, kicking the knife away and pulling her cuffs from her back pocket. “Shoulder wound,” she said. “Call EMS.”

  The woman screamed as Kruso rolled her over and cuffed her hands behind her back.

  “Oh my,” Walker heard someone mutter behind him, and he glanced back to see MacDonald eyeing up Kate’s nakedness. He didn’t miss the appreciation as the man took in her breasts. They were, in fact, a work of art.

  Walker slipped off his coat and put it around Kate’s shoulders as he sat beside her on the step. “You scared me,” he said. She was shaking as she leaned against him. There was something about having this woman in his arms that felt so right, and he realized that without her here, he would feel empty.

  “Walker?” she asked. “Do you think I could get my clothes?”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I’ll get you some.”

  When he glanced up the stairs at Kruso, she was giving him the thumbs up. It was then that he noticed the tear in her jacket as she holstered her gun, her hand on her hip. “How the hell did you get up there?” he asked, taking in the short woman, who was assessing the suspect bleeding at her feet.

  “I climbed the tree outside your window,” she said. “You really should get a lock on there. And, jeez, get some clothes on your girlfriend.”

  He wasn’t sure who stiffened first, him or Kate. Girlfriend? When he looked back up at Kruso, the sly bugger was leaning on the rail, grinning.

  ***

  Chapter 17

  “Are you sure?” Walker was in the emergency room, waiting just outside the curtained-off area.

  Kruso was looking up at him, the top of her head barely reaching his shoulders. “She’s Ryder’s ex-wife. I know, I can’t believe it, either. Andrea Connelly broke into your house to kill Kate.”

  “Is she out of surgery yet?”

  “Yeah, it was just a shoulder wound through and through. They cleaned it and stitched her up.” She looked up at Walker. “Just in case you’re wondering, I always hit where I aim.”

  He wondered, for a minute, whether she was referring to the fact that he’d missed. “I’m sure you do. Did they find Cindy?”

  She nodded. “It’s a shame. This whole thing didn’t have to happen.”

  He didn’t miss the moment he spotted Ryder racing to the nurses’ station. He looked frantic and pretty rough, as if he’d just gotten out of bed and pulled on the first thing he could find. He was very upset, and although Walker couldn’t make out what he was saying, he could hear enough. The man was beside himself.

  “Look who just walked in,” Kruso said. She looked over at the distraught man. “Cindy was tucked into Mrs. Connelly’s trunk—stabbed, her throat slit.”

  The curtain popped open, and the doctor walked out. The young intern stopped and gestured behind himself. “She’s good to go any time. We’ve got her papers signed,” he said.

  “Thank you,” Walker said as he looked over at Kate, who was lying on the bed, a bandage over the cut on her neck, her wrist wrapped. Her chin was still scraped from earlier that night.

  “Go be with your girl,” Kruso said. “I’ll handle the ex-husband.”

  “Hey, Kruso.”

  She stopped and turned. “Yeah?”

  “Where did you learn to climb like that?”

  She smiled slowly. She really had a nice smile. “Got five kids, honey. Someone had to teach them how to climb trees.”

  That, he hadn’t expected.

  She winked and then pointed to where Kate was lying in bed, watching him. She mouthed, “Go,” then shooed him with her fingers.

  “Is it morning yet?” Kate asked. She sounded groggy and tired.

  Walker watched Kruso walk over to an irate Ryder. It looked as if she was trying to calm him down, and Walker was tempted for half a second to go out there and talk to Slick himself. But when he looked back at Kate, she was watching him with those deep hazel eyes. They were smoking hot for him, and there was something soft and vulnerable there too.

  “Just…” He stepped up to the bed and brushed back her tangled hair.

  She went to turn her head to him. “Ow,” she said, and she winced and lifted her hand to touch her throat.

  He leaned over her so she could look. “Don’t move. What did the doctor say?”

  “He cleaned the cut, gave me antibiotics for any infection. No stitches, but it hurts like hell.”

  He looked at the plastic brace around her wrist and went to touch it.

  “It’s just a bad sprain, the doctor said. He also said not to use it for a week, but how am I going to type in the computer? I have a job, and I’ve never missed a day. I can’t just sit back—”

  He leaned in and kissed her, stopping her before she could go on and on. She was so responsive. He pulled back, licking his lips. She tasted so good.

  She was wearing one of his Tshirts and her gym shorts, still barefoot because he wouldn’t let her get her shoes. He’d been worried she’d been hurt a lot worse than the bumps and bruises she had, so he’d lifted her up before the EMS arrived at his house and carried her to his car.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked.

  She didn’t say anything for a minute, but he could see the uncertainty in her eyes. “I am,” she said. She started to sit up, so he slipped his hand behind and helped her up from the stretcher. “Is that Ryder?” she said as they started walking out, her hand going to the bandage covering her throat.

  “Yeah,” he said, watching as the doctor and Kruso spoke with him. Whatever they said had him tearing up and then covering his eyes with his hands. Kruso put her hand on his shoulder as if trying to console him.

  “Did you ever find out why his wife broke into your house and tried to kill me?” Kate asked. Walker stopped just outside the emergency
room and glanced over at Ryder, who spotted him and then Kate. He looked away as if he didn’t know who she was.

  “His ex-wife, you mean. Apparently she and Cindy became friends. Cindy was keeping tabs on Ryder for her, told her about every date Ryder had. Every time he connected with some woman on the dating site, she’d have her email and find out who she saw. It’s still a big mess. We’re going to have to sort through her computer, see if there’s anything tied to them that was reported. But you…I don’t know what it is about you.” He squeezed her to him closer, and she was watching him and then Ryder.

  “How’s his wife?” she asked.

  “Shoulder wound. They’re just cleaning her up, and she’ll be off to the prison hospital.”

  “That’s horrible,” Kate said. “He’s got two little kids. How screwed up is that, all because he got bored and starting messing around? Oh my God, what about Cindy? She was in my apartment.”

  He squeezed her to him. “Stop, would you? Boy, can you get riled up quicker than a bunch of hornets.”

  “I do not,” she challenged. “There’s just something about you that makes me lose my head.”

  He couldn’t help leaning in and kissing her again. “Just so you know, Cindy won’t be bothering you again.”

  “Oh, good, so you got her? That’s such a relief.” She looked up and rolled her eyes, and he felt her relax against him.

  He wasn’t about to tell her that Cindy was dead, and they still didn’t know why she’d broken into Kate’s apartment and written what she had on the wall, whether that had been Ryder’s ex-wife helping her or if she’d acted alone. They also had no idea why Cindy had driven her car through the front of the restaurant, but they were pretty sure it had been Andrea Connelly who’d trashed Ryder’s house and slid her journal under his mattress. Walker almost thought she’d wanted to get caught. Sometimes you never got all the answers.

  “Come on, let’s go home,” he said.

  “Well, my home or your home? Where are you taking me? I mean, we haven’t even had our first date,” she said as he walked her out the door, and he smiled to himself, thinking he couldn’t wait until then.

  The End

  I hope you enjoyed reading One Night, which kicked off a brand new high-stakes suspense and sizzling, red-hot romance series, Kate and Walker, Deadly, Dangerous and Desired. There will be more of Kate and Walker coming late fall 2015, and it will be filled with more heat and sizzling action. But what’s coming next is the final book in The Wilde Brothers Series. Unforgiven

  Young up and coming lawyer Samuel Wilde is one of the brightest young lawyers in Seattle. He’s handsome, smart, and sexy and has an unbreakable bond with his brothers. That is until one woman comes between them threatening to divide this family forever.

  Available from all retailers

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  About the Author

  New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Lorhainne Eckhart’s books have been described as Longmire meets old-school Dallas, and she recently received the 2013 Readers’ Favorite Award for Romantic Suspense for her title Lost and Found. With over thirty five titles under her belt, her big family romance series have become a fan favorite. She is frequently a Top 100 bestselling author in multiple genres, such as romance, western, military and mystery/suspense. She has written multiple series, including The Outsider, Walk the Right Road, The Wilde Brothers, Saved, The Friessens, and her two newest additions, Married in Montana, and her high-stakes suspense and sizzling, red-hot romance series, Kate and Walker, Deadly, Dangerous and Desired.

  You can chat with Lorhainne on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorLorhainneEckhart, Twitter @LEckhart, and her Kick Ass Books Blog at http://kickassbooksblog.com/)

  If you are interested in finding out how to get your hands on early advanced release copies of all her upcoming books, or receiving exclusive access to weekly giveaways, special limited time promotions you can join her newsletter list at (http://eepurl.com/ZHFNz) and all those details will be delivered right to your inbox.

  Lorhainne Eckhart loves to hear from readers!

  Connect with Lorhainne at

  Email: Lorhainne@LorhainneEckhart.com

  Twitter: @LEckhart

  Facebook: LorhainneEckhart

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  Links to Lorhainne Eckhart’s Booklist

  The following Lorhainne Eckhart titles are available in electronic format. Please visit my website at www.LorhainneEckhart.com links to all available retailers.

  The Outsider Series

  The Forgotten Child (Brad and Emily)

  A Baby and a Wedding (An Outsider Series Short)

  Fallen Hero (Andy, Jed, and Diana)

  The Search (An Outsider Series Short)

  The Awakening (Andy and Laura)

  Secrets (Jed and Diana)

  Runaway (Andy and Laura)

  Overdue (An Outsider Series Short)

  The Unexpected Storm (Neil and Candy)

  The Wedding (Neil and Candy)

  Or grab all the books in this sizzling romance series in one boxed set collection, The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection.

  The Friessens: A New Beginning

  The Deadline (Andy and Laura)

  The Price to Love (Neil and Candy)

  A Different Kind of Love (Brad and Emily)

  A Vow of Love, A Friessen Christmas

  Or grab all the books in this romantic family saga in one boxed set collection, The Friessens A New Beginning: The Collection

  The Friessens

  The Reunion

  The Wilde Brothers

  The One (Joe and Margaret)

  The Honeymoon, A Wilde Brothers Short

  Friendly Fire (Logan and Julia)

  Not Quite Married, A Wilde Brothers Short

  A Matter of Trust (Ben and Carrie)

  The Reckoning, A Wilde Brothers Christmas

  Traded (Jake)

  Unforgiven (Samuel)

  Married in Montana

  His Promise

  Kate and Walker: Deadly, Dangerous and Desired Series

  One Night

  Walk the Right Road Series

  The Choice

  Lost and Found

  Merkaba

  Bounty

  Blown Away: The Final Chapter

  Or grab all the books in the Walk the Right Road series in one boxed set collection,

  Walk the Right Road: The Complete Collection.

  The Saved Series

  Saved

  Vanished

  Captured

  Or grab The Saved Series: The Complete Collection, with all the books in this romantic military suspense.

  New in 2015

  He Came Back – October 27, 2015

  Loving Christine - November 24, 2015

  Boxed Sets & Collections

  Finding Love ~ The Outsider Series Volume 1

  Finding Love ~ The Outsider Series Volume 2

  The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection

  Walk the Right Road: The Complete Collection

  The Friessens A New Beginning: The Collection

  The Saved Series: The Complete Collection

  Danger Deception Devotion: The Firsts

  Young Adult Christmas

  The Gift

  A Father’s Love, Illustrated

  Available on Audiobook

  The Deadline

  The Price to Love

  Saved

  The Forgotten Child

  A Baby And A Wedding

  Fallen Hero with bonus short story The Search

  The One

  Lost and Found

  OTHER WORKS AVAILABLE

  The Reunion

  The family you thought you knew.

  A reunion you’ll never forget.

  A love that lasts forever.

  Welcome back to a
very special Friessen reunion, in which Becky and Rodney renew their wedding vows.

  This emotionally charged family saga will reunite the Friessen clan through timeless romance and a heartwarming celebration.

  —“I love love love these Friessen men. To have a love so deep and pure for their women is awesome. They show the true meaning of family and togetherness.” – Kindle Customer

  —“This is a tight knit family, along with their cousin Andy, his wife and their children. The kind of family we all wish we had.” — Susan

  Available from all retailers-visit my website at www.LorhainneEckhart.com for links to retailers.

  Read Excerpt:

  Chapter 1

  This wasn’t home.

  After a moment, when she allowed the confusion to clear, she understood this was where she lived now. It was her new home. She’d survived a stroke, but even through her days of hell, balancing on the edge of leaving this world, she’d never once considered not fighting her way back. She’d lost faith only once in her life, and never again would she believe that taking the easy way out was actually easier. Some days were harder than others, but she pushed on. She couldn’t give up.

  She’d done that once. That had been a time in her life when she was young and foolish, believing everything she wanted was something she couldn’t have. She had always been looking for something better, not understanding that what she already had was all she needed. It was right in front of her, but then, at times she hadn’t been able to see it. She had been making choices in fear, acting as if she knew everything. She soon discovered, as the years went by, that she knew nothing at all.

  There was a lot to be said for age and wisdom, for living through every heartbreak imaginable—many of her own making. She hoped she was a better person, all her choices having brought her to this one moment in time. She was Becky Ann Friessen, Rodney’s wife, mother to Brad, Neil, and Jed and their wives, Emily, Candy, and Diana. She was a grandmother, a friend.

  A breeze picked up, whistling as it stirred the waves over the salty ocean. Becky could hear them pounding the white sandy shore. She could smell the salt in the air, and she breathed again until it settled her. She wanted to go down to the water, to walk there herself and wade into and through the waves as they slapped against her legs, soaking her linen pants. But she wasn’t there yet. Almost, she told herself. She believed it as she stared at the cane resting against the light oak nightstand beside the bed, beside the easy chair she was sitting in.