by Barb Han
“You might want to step behind the SUV,” Tyler said to Jessica, but she was already shaking her head.
“I’m staying right here by my sister,” Jessica said. She expected Tyler to put up an argument but he nodded and kept going, gently moving Jenn into the back of the SUV on top of layers of sleeping bags.
“I’ll need you with me,” Tyler said.
She moved to the passenger side as soon as Jenn was secure. “I have no plans to leave her.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
* * *
“WE HAVE TO approach the same way you did with the ATVs,” Tyler said to Jessica as he parked the SUV a few yards from the rock. Her body language screamed fear. No doubt she remembered the last time she’d been there a few days ago.
His brothers were near, they’d fanned out around the area, but there was no cell coverage out there. Good for Jenn but bad for overall communication.
“Stay here,” he said, handing her the Sig Sauer she’d used before. “Don’t let on that anyone’s in the back of the SUV. Don’t even glance back there, okay?”
“I’m good.” She palmed the weapon and then double-checked the chamber.
“Remind me not to get on your bad side later.” He kissed her. “I need to check the area. The boys aren’t far and they know how to hide. The tricky part will be communicating with them if we get in trouble.”
“We’re going to be fine. We have to be.”
She didn’t say that their lives depended on it but they did.
Tyler moved to the rock and dug his boots in, moving to high ground to get a better look at the area. As he crested the rock he thought about how much his life had changed since the last time he was there. Everything had been turned upside down, he’d never been in more danger and never been more in love. The danger part he could handle.
He saw the glint of metal coming behind a bush on the east side just as the telltale flash of fire followed. The bullet pierced him. Shock registered as he missed his footing and tumbled the forty-foot drop from Diablo’s peak.
* * *
JESSICA HEARD A gun fire. She bolted from the SUV in time to see Tyler tumbling down the face of the rock. Panic engulfed her and her pulse skyrocketed. Before she had a chance to rationalize her actions she was running toward him.
Please let him be okay.
Her stomach twisted as she got close enough to see him lying there, facedown, unmoving. All she could think about was getting to him and then she saw the blood through his plaid shirt.
There was no way to contact his brothers. Her own sister lay in the SUV, unconscious. All Jessica’s hopes had been riding on the cowboy and now he was dying, leaving her, too. It was a selfish thought and she knew it. She tamped it down and spun around to the sound of footsteps running up behind her. There were three men, all with weapons pointed directly at her chest. She pointed her own gun at the ringleader, Ashton. “Stop or I’ll shoot.”
“Whoa,” he said to the others, holding his hands out for them to stay behind.
They were out of cell phone range. Tyler’s brothers had to have heard the shot, hadn’t they? And all of them were about to die.
Well, she planned on taking a couple of these jerks with her.
“Back off if you want the necklace,” she said, taking a step away as the men slowed their approach.
“You don’t have a play here, honey,” Milton said, and her skin crawled at the sound of his voice.
She retreated a few more steps until her back hit a solid wall of rock. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll start shooting.”
All three men stopped. The third fit the description of the man in the suit who’d been asking around for Tyler. It dawned on Jessica. The insurance adjuster must be in on it. Milton wasn’t working for Beauchamp, he was in league with Ashton.
“How did they talk you into joining them?” she asked the third man.
“This guy?” A wide smile broke on Ashton’s face. “Fraternity brothers forever.”
He and Ashton were friends? He must’ve been offered a cut.
“My sister thought you loved her,” she said as Ashton took another menacing step toward her. Anger burned through her chest. She hated the guy, but could she kill someone?
It was either kill or be killed.
Ashton ignored her comment and made a move to kick Tyler. “How’d this jerk get involved?”
Jessica closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. By the time she opened them a second later, chaos had broken out.
Ashton was on the ground, wrestling with Tyler, who had already shot Milton. She’d nicked the insurance guy who was diving on top of Tyler and Ashton.
Milton didn’t seem to realize he’d been shot because he lunged toward her.
“Bitch,” he said as he dived.
She whirled to the right and he smacked into the rock, shoulder first, but managed to knock the gun out of her hand. His thick hand clutched at her until he gained purchase on her shirt. He shoved her to the ground and she desperately felt around for the Sig.
Milton twisted until he was straddled over her. She glanced to the side in time to see that Tyler and Ashton were wrestling for a gun. Ashton’s friend was rearing back to deck Tyler.
In a burst, the gun went off and Tyler managed to roll on top of Ashton.
There was so much blood.
Milton raised his hand high and she could see a rock in his palm.
And then she heard the footsteps.
“Put your weapons down,” Sheriff Tommy’s familiar voice said.
Milton ignored the request. She wiggled but he was too heavy to buck him off. And then another gunshot roared. Milton’s eyes bulged after taking the second hit. He slumped to the side allowing Jessica to slide out from underneath him.
Austin wrangled Ashton’s friend away, pulling him by the foot. But Tyler and Ashton were too tangled up. A shot was as likely to hit Tyler.
Jessica scooted away from Milton and gentle arms pulled her to her feet. She wasn’t sure which one of the twins helped her, but she was grateful.
Tyler pushed Ashton off him and got in a solid punch.
Ashton’s head bobbled and then he fell forward, unconscious.
The sheriff was by Tyler’s side before she could open her mouth to speak. He zip-cuffed Ashton’s hands behind his back.
Jessica ran to Tyler to see just how much blood he’d lost. His brothers were by his side as his eyes closed.
“He’s going to be all right, isn’t he?” Jessica asked, tears streaking from her eyes. She must’ve looked as torn on the outside as she was on the inside. Tyler was bleeding, unconscious. Jenn was alone in that SUV where anyone or anything could get to her.
“Austin is with your sister,” the sheriff said, easing one of her fears as she heard the whop, whop, whop of the helicopter.
Chapter Eighteen
Tyler blinked his eyes open, quickly closing them again. His arm came up to shield them from the bright light shooting daggers through his retinas. His eyes burned as if they’d been branded.
“Hold on there, buddy,” Austin said, and the sound of his voice moved toward Tyler until he felt his brother’s presence at his side. “Let me get the nurse.”
“I’m fine,” Tyler blew him off, knowing full well it wasn’t the nurse he needed. “Where is she?”
“About that,” Austin started.
Tyler’s hand came up to stop his brother from delivering bad news. Thinking about losing the woman he’d fallen for hit him like a physical punch. “Never mind. How long have I been out?”
“Just two days,” Austin supplied. “And you’ve been in and out.”
“Really?” Tyler needed to get well so he could find Red. There was so much he wanted to say to her. He squinted
and a figure in the corner caught his eye.
“Hi, there,” Jessica said, moving to his side. She was wringing her hands and that wasn’t a good sign.
Austin winked. “I’ll leave you two alone to talk.”
All the words he’d intended to say died on Tyler’s lips when he made eye contact. “How’s your sister?”
“Dr. McConnell says Jenn will be fine,” Red said, stopping just out of arm’s reach. “She’s down the hall, already sitting up and chatting. She confirmed that she’d been dating Ashton and he told her that she needed to take care of something to secure their future. He’d said he and his wife were in a loveless marriage and that he’d been planning to leave her for months. He gave her the box and Jenn naively didn’t open it. He’d already arranged for Milton to steal it so there’d be a double payoff. His fraternity brother had planned to help him scam the insurance company and was going to get a cut for selling the Infinity Sapphire to Beauchamp’s people.”
“But Ashton was only using your sister. Setting her up to do the time for the theft,” Tyler said, his hands aching to reach out to her, hold her.
“He planned to let her do the time or be killed by Beauchamp. Milton had secretly set up another buyer, and that’s who showed at the motel room in Bluff,” she said, shifting her weight from her left to right foot. “When Milton didn’t produce the necklace, the guy figured he’d been duped. Their whole plan fell apart. Jenn was the only one who knew where the necklace was this whole time. And it turns out we were right that Elijah wanted the necklace to make money off his own sale.”
“It can’t be easy for Jenn knowing the person she fell in love with was using her,” Tyler said.
“Those wounds will be harder to heal,” Red admitted. “But just as fast as Jenn falls in love, she can fall out of it.”
“And how about you?” he asked. “Do you fall in and out of love quickly?”
She stared at the floor instead of answering.
It was now or never, he thought. “It’s finally over. But what happens next? You go back to your life and I do the same? I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, Jessica. I’m in love with you and I don’t want this to be the end.”
A little gasp escaped before she suppressed it. “I feel the same way. I’ve fallen hard for you, Tyler. But it would be crazy to throw away my life and you certainly can’t throw away yours. Especially not when neither of us can be certain this isn’t a circumstantial romance.”
“Do you really believe that’s true?” He did his best to mask the hurt in his voice.
“No, of course not. I want to believe this is real, but I need more than a few days to process what’s going on between us and make sure it can become something permanent,” she said, and there was no covering the confusion in hers.
“Come here,” he said and she did.
She eased onto the side of the bed and he put his arms around her. “Let’s just agree to keep seeing each other as much as we can until we figure it all out. I don’t want to spend another day without you in my life but I’ll wait for you.”
He brushed a tear off her cheek. “No more crying. This is a good thing. We’re a good thing.”
She leaned into him gently. “Yes, we are. I was so scared when you were shot. I was so afraid of losing you.”
“You don’t have to,” he whispered into her ear and then kissed her neck. “I’m right here.”
* * *
JESSICA HAD WAITED six agonizing months for this day to come. She finished her breakfast and grabbed her car keys off the counter with giddy anticipation. Now that Jenn had returned to Shreveport and learned to run the family business, Jessica felt comfortable enough to let the employees know there’d be a change in the guard at Davidson Cleaning Services and Jenn would be taking over.
As she walked out the front door, she froze. “Tyler? What are you doing here? We aren’t supposed to see each other until this weekend.” And she’d been planning to drop the same bomb on him for weeks. She was ready. She knew that their love was real and could last.
“I couldn’t wait to see you,” he said with a smile.
She took the couple of steps from the porch quickly, ready to share her good news. Before she could reach him, he dropped down on one knee and produced a small velvet box.
“You are the love of my life. When you’re not with me I’m empty in a way I’ve never known before. I want you to spend the rest of your life with me and our children,” he said.
Tears were already flowing down Jessica’s cheeks, tears of pure joy.
“You want children?” she asked.
“At least four, but I figured I needed to talk to you about the number before I started making plans,” he said. “Jessica, will you marry me?”
She nodded as she wrapped her arms around him. “I love you, Tyler O’Brien, and I can’t wait to start our life together.”
He kissed her, tenderly at first, but need built quickly.
“Will you come home with me and stay this time?” he asked. “The past six months have been killing me and I don’t want to spend another day apart.”
“Yes, I’ll marry you. And, yes, I’ll come home with you. I can’t imagine a better place to bring up our kids,” she said. “And you know what? I was just on my way to let the employees know that my sister is taking over.”
“Good. Because when you come home with me this time, I’m not letting you go.”
“You can hold on to me forever,” she said. And she couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life with her Texas cowboy.
* * * * *
USA TODAY bestselling author Barb Han’s
miniseries, CATTLEMEN CRIME CLUB,
continues soon. Look for it wherever
Harlequin Intrigue books are sold!
Keep reading for an excerpt from SUDDEN SECOND CHANCE by Carol Ericson.
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Sudden Second Chance
by Carol Ericson
Chapter One
Beth’s heart skipped a beat as she ducked onto the path that led through a canopy of trees. The smell of damp earth and moldering mulch invaded her nostrils. She took a deep breath. The odor evoked the cycle of life—birth, death and rebirth. She’d smel
led worse.
She gasped as a lacy, green leaf brushed her face. Then she knocked it away. If she freaked out and had a panic attack every time she delved into the forest, she’d have a hard time doing this story—and getting to the truth of her birth.
Straightening her shoulders, she tugged on her down vest and blew out a breath. She stepped over a fallen log, snapping a twig in two beneath her boot. The mist rising from the forest floor caressed her cheek and she raised her face to the moisture swirling around her.
The scent of pine cleared her sinuses and she dragged in a lungful of the fresh air. She’d definitely classify herself as a city girl, but this rustic, outdoor environment seemed to energize her.
Either that or the adrenaline was pumping so hard and fast through her veins, a massive anxiety attack waited right around the corner.
She continued on the path through the dense foliage, feeling stronger and stronger with each step. She could do this. The reward of possibly finding her true identity motivated her, blocking out the anxiety that the forest usually stirred up inside her.
She’d convinced Scott, the producer of Cold Case Chronicles, that she needed to come out ahead of her crew to do some initial interviews and footwork. She had her own video camera and could give Joel, her cameraman, a head start. Stoked by the show’s ratings from the previous season, Scott had been ready to grant her anything. Of course, she had a lot of work to do on her own before she got her guys up here. She’d have to stall Scott.
The trees rustled around her and she paused, tilting her head to one side. Maybe she should’ve researched the presence of wild animals out here. Did bears roam the Pacific Northwest? Wolves? She was pretty sure there were no tigers stalking through the forests of Washington. Were there?
As she took another step, leaves crackled behind her, too close for comfort, and she froze again. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and quivered, all her old fears flooding her senses.
She craned her head over her shoulder and released a gusty breath of air. A man walking a bicycle stuttered to a stop, his eyes widening in his gaunt face.