by Cynthia Eden
She was afraid that he did.
Brodie’s hold tightened on her. “He took the picture of you at the ranch years ago. If he was following you then, that maniac could be the one who killed our parents.”
“Brodie, I’m—”
He yanked his hands back, as if she’d burned him. “If he saw you pay them fifty grand, then he could have thought they were working with you. That they were involved in your undercover missions. The hit on them always looked professional.”
Mac swore.
Her gaze flew around the room, and she saw that Davis had frozen—no, his body had frozen, but his eyes were blazing with emotion.
“The man watching you could have killed them because he thought they had intel on you.”
She hated the torment in his voice. “If all of this is true...then why didn’t he come after me sooner? If he wanted me dead for all these years, then why did he wait?”
His eyes glittered. “I guess that’s a question we’ll have to ask the SOB...when we catch him.”
* * *
SHE WAS BACK at the ranch, only this time, Jennifer sure wasn’t feeling like a welcome guest. Grant and his brothers had grilled her for most of the day. She’d told them as much as she could without revealing classified information.
She knew Grant was using some of his government contacts to try and corroborate her story. She’d tried to tell him that he’d get no corroboration. She’d been too deep undercover to have official records at the government agencies.
Denial is the only rule they’ll follow.
Nervous energy hummed through her as she paced in front of the fireplace. Brodie had been so distant with her. And she didn’t blame him. She’d known that when the truth came out, he’d turn from her.
So she’d grabbed tightly to him last night. Taken the pleasure and let the fear go.
That fear was back with a vicious force now.
“I’m heading out.”
She whirled toward him. She hadn’t even heard the guy approach.
“The police are done with their crime scene analysis at the bomb site, and they found nothing.” His hands were clenched at his sides. “I’m going for a look myself. They could have overlooked something, and if they did, I’ll find it.”
Her chin lifted. “I’m coming with you.”
“Jennifer—”
“Give me a weapon, and I can guard your back. I’m far from helpless.”
“I never thought you were. I wouldn’t make that mistake.”
His words dug into her like bullets. “I want to catch this guy just as badly as you do.”
He held her gaze.
“I’m coming with you,” she said again, and, after a hesitation that lasted too long, he finally gave a grim nod.
They didn’t talk on the way to the stables. As soon as she walked in, the scent of fresh hay hit her. The horses neighed at her approach. She brought her mare forward, the same horse she’d ridden before, and the black beauty bumped her nose against Jennifer.
“Lady,” Brodie muttered. “Her name’s Lady. She used to be Ava’s horse, until Ava got so terrified of this place that she couldn’t come home.”
Jennifer stroked Lady’s mane.
“Ava was only sixteen when she came home and saw our parents’ murder. She told me...Ava thought they were going to kill her, too, but she ran away. Managed to make it to the Montgomery ranch—they’re our only neighbors within miles out here.” He ran a hand through his hair. “When the cops couldn’t find any leads, gossip started spreading that Ava wasn’t a victim. That she’d been in on the killings all along.”
Her heart ached for him—for Ava.
“We’re going to prove that Ava is innocent. And the people who killed my family—they’re going to spend the rest of their lives in prison, if they don’t get the death penalty.”
He took out his own horse, controlling the steed easily. The sun was starting to set as they made their way out of the stables. Streaks of orange and gold shot across the sky. Jennifer stopped, her breath caught by the gorgeous sight.
“Ava can’t see the beauty here any longer,” Brodie said, his voice sad. “All she sees is the blood and the death.”
Jennifer’s gaze slid away from the sky and locked on him. “What do you see?”
He wasn’t looking at the setting sun. He was looking at her. “Dreams that were lost.”
Her heart seemed to stop.
“This was my safe haven. Whenever I’d come back from my missions, my tours, I knew this place would be here for me, waiting. No matter what hell I faced, my refuge was waiting for me.”
Until that refuge had been ripped away.
“Davis and I...we rebuilt the main ranch house. We didn’t want Ava to walk in and see—” He broke off, clearing his throat. “We tried to keep the good memories and get rid of the bad ones, but it just didn’t work.”
She hurt for him and all that he’d lost. “Maybe you should try making some new memories.”
He gave a grim nod even as his eyes raked over her. “Is that what you’re doing? Trying to give up the life you had before and start somewhere new?”
“I didn’t really have a life before I became Jennifer Wesley.” She hadn’t meant to say that. Jennifer jumped on her horse. “We don’t have a lot of daylight left. We’d better hurry.”
“Jennifer...”
Her mare rushed forward under Jennifer’s guidance. She’d bared enough of her soul that day.
* * *
THERE WAS YELLOW police tape still up at the scene of the explosion. Brodie secured his horse and walked forward cautiously. The ground was blackened, and every time he thought about how close Jennifer had come to death—
He forced himself to take a deep breath. She’s alive.
She was also a very, very good liar.
“I want to scout around the woods, see if this guy left any other tracks.” He studied the scene around him. The stalker had driven out there on an old dirt road. He’d left the Mustang, setting it up as the perfect bait.
Then he’d waited...just waited for them to follow the signal from that phone.
Boom.
“The cops traced the motorcycle’s tracks to the main road, but the guy vanished there.” Either he’d kept going on the bike, hitting old trails and dirt roads, or he’d had another vehicle waiting for him. It would have been a simple matter to load the bike into a truck or a van and then vanish.
A simple matter...especially since they were dealing with a professional. A man who seemed to particularly enjoy fire. First her house, now the car.
What would be next?
Brodie figured the guy had stuck to the old trails. Davis had set up a watch position near the main road, but he hadn’t seen the guy on the motorcycle come roaring through. Not after the explosion.
“Stay close,” Brodie ordered Jennifer. If the guy had come back, he could be hunting them at that very moment.
He wanted to find the man. If that jerk had been responsible for killing Brodie’s parents...
I swear I will make him pay.
He’d learned to track at an early age, but when Brodie slipped into the woods near that old dirt road, he didn’t see any signs of his prey. Branches weren’t broken, and the earth wasn’t disturbed. No footprints had been left behind.
He kept searching, fanning out. Jennifer was silent as she followed him.
Guarding his back, just as she’d promised.
The sun sank deeper into the sky. The gold vanished, and the streaks of red started to look more like blood.
But still he found no trace of the stalker.
The guy is good.
That fact made him exceptionally dangerous.
“Nothing,” Brodie snapped when they went back to the horses. “The guy is a ghost.”
Jennifer’s gaze swept the area. “Ghosts can’t hurt you. It’s only the living who can do that.”
She reached for her horse’s reins, but Brodie’s hand flew out, and h
e caught her wrist.
“Why did you come to my bedroom last night?” Because he was starting to think that the woman was playing him, pulling him into some kind of game that he didn’t understand. He wanted to trust her, but she’d been lying to him from the start.
“Because I wanted you.” She was staring down at his hand, and his fingers tightened around her wrist. “I was tired of feeling afraid. When I’m with you, you push the fear away, at least for a little while.”
“Jennifer...” Then it hit him. Is that even her name? He dropped her wrist and stepped back. “What’s your name?”
Her head jerked up.
“Jennifer,” Brodie snapped out. “She’s just pretend. A cover. What’s your real name?”
She flinched, and what could have been guilt knifed through him because he saw the pain in her eyes. She’s been lying to you. You have to protect yourself. Protect your family.
And you have to use her to find your parents’ killers.
“Jennifer is my real name,” she whispered. “It’s easier...in the business...if you keep things simple. Keep your first name the same or close to your real one. You’re already used to answering to that name. Seems more natural.” Her gaze slid away from his. “Wesley isn’t the last name I was born with, but I’ve had it for so long that...well, the other name doesn’t matter anymore.”
She climbed onto the horse. He wasn’t about to let this go, not yet. “What about your family? Your real family. Do you ever see them?”
Her hand slid into the horse’s mane as she leaned forward. “I don’t have a family, Brodie. I spent most of my teen years bouncing from one foster home to another.” She gave a slow nod. “That’s one of the reasons I was recruited, you see. It’s better not to have close ties with anyone.”
Better?
“They gave me the option of dying.”
“What?” Shock punched him in the gut.
“I could have started with a brand-new identity, someplace else. But I thought I was safe as Jennifer Wesley. No one knew the truth about me. No one outside of my division was supposed to know.” She drew in a shuddering breath. “I guess I was wrong about that.”
The sun had fallen even deeper into the sky. Jennifer shivered.
Get her in for the night. In case that maniac is out there, watching, waiting...
“Want to hear something ridiculous?”
He mounted his horse, then frowned at her.
“You knew Jennifer Wesley. If I became someone else...” Her smile was bittersweet. “Someone with a new face and a new name, then it would be as if we’d never met before.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to lose everything again.”
Then her horse rushed by him. He stared after her a moment as her words replayed in his head. Part of him was furious with her for her deception. But another part...
As if we’d never met...
Another part was determined to keep Jennifer as close as he possibly could. Brodie spurred his horse after her.
* * *
HIS PLAN HADN’T WORKED.
Brodie hadn’t turned on Jennifer. He hadn’t kicked her out, hadn’t left her to face the wolves on her own.
He’d seen the picture, but the fool must have chosen to believe whatever lies she’d spun.
Jennifer Wesley was very skilled when it came to lying. After all, he’d believed her lies, too—every word that came from her sweet lips.
Then he’d been captured, tossed into a cell, and forgotten.
Did you really think you wouldn’t have to answer for your sins against me?
He’d had eyes on her, even when they’d been an ocean away. And now that he was killing close, there truly would be no escape.
He wondered if Jennifer realized he’d just been playing with her so far, drawing out the kill.
In that alley, he’d just had to spill first blood. It was the way the game always started.
Then he’d started that fire at her home, a carefully timed explosion, but he’d known she would escape. The fire wasn’t set to kill. It was set to destroy your safe haven.
The hit-and-run outside McGuire Securities? That had been just a little taunt to let her know he was close.
He’d set the bomb in the Mustang with a time delay. He’d wanted her to get out of the vehicle and wanted Brodie McGuire to see the photograph. That image should have made Brodie cast her aside.
Then he would have moved in for the kill. Jennifer Wesley’s death would be an intimate event. He’d take her far away from the rest of world. It would be just the two of them, for days...until he ended her suffering. And he would make her suffer, just as she’d made him endure years of torture.
Jennifer Wesley’s past had come back to haunt her.
You reap what you sow.
Time to up the stakes.
Chapter Five
She’d taken care of her horse. Lady was settled for the night, and Jennifer was ready to crash. She turned away from the stables, her shoulders slumping and her steps slow with a sudden weariness.
Why can’t the danger ever be over? I wanted to leave that life behind me.
“I don’t trust you.”
She stumbled to a stop at that low, rumbling voice. A voice that was very similar to Brodie’s but...
It belonged to his twin. The harder, rougher drawl gave him away.
Jennifer glanced toward the shadows of the ranch house and saw Davis. He’d been so still that she hadn’t noticed him when she’d left the stables. He’d blended perfectly with the growing darkness.
It was a mistake that Jennifer shouldn’t have made. Being a civilian had made her soft. She’d stopped looking for threats in every corner.
Davis stepped away from the house and advanced toward her. “I don’t trust you,” he said again. “And, unlike my brother, I’m not so tangled up in you that I can’t see the danger you present.”
Brodie was tangled up in her? Since when? She glanced over her shoulder. Brodie was still in the stables, settling down his horse.
Davis caught her arm, and her attention snapped back toward him. “No one is going to hurt my brother.”
“I’m not here to hurt him.” Hurting Brodie had never been part of her plan.
“Aren’t you?”
She tried to search his gaze, but it was too dark for her to see much at all. But she could feel the deadly intensity that clung to him. “The last thing I want to do is hurt Brodie.” That was the truth.
He pulled her toward him. “My brother was almost run down the first night you came to town. Today, he was seconds away from being blown to hell and back.”
She swallowed.
“There’s a target on you. By coming to my brother for help, you put a target on him, too.”
Tears stung her eyes. Brodie had been her only hope. She’d actually thought her stalker would stay behind in Louisiana, that she’d buy time by going to Brodie and that—
No, I didn’t think this through. I was scared and I fled. I never thought about the risk to Brodie.
“Help me to get away,” Jennifer whispered.
His hold tightened on her.
“I don’t want him hurt,” she said, and she fought to keep the emotion from her voice. “I don’t want any of you hurt.” Especially since it appeared she’d already led pain to the McGuires before. Dear God, did I cause their parents’ death? Ever since she’d seen the picture her stalker had left behind, the question had haunted her. “Distract Brodie, give me a car to use, and I’ll vanish.”
Vanishing... Hadn’t that been her backup plan all along? But she’d been so determined to cling to this life she had. A life that had never been her own, not really.
It’s time to let go.
Because when it came down to a choice...letting Jennifer Wesley live or protecting Brodie... Well, there was no choice.
The stable doors groaned behind her. She knew the sound meant Brodie was coming out. “Help me,” she told Davis, making sure her
voice wouldn’t carry far. “Tonight...distract him, and I’ll vanish.”
Gravel crunched beneath Brodie’s booted feet. “Everything all right out here?”
This time, the Texas drawl was stronger in his voice.
“Everything’s fine,” Jennifer rushed to reassure him.
“Davis?” Brodie closed in on them. “There a reason why you’re holding her arm?”
And Davis did still have his grip on Jennifer.
He dropped her arm, fast, and backed up a step.
“I stumbled,” Jennifer said quickly. She didn’t want Davis lying to his brother. She was the one good at lying, so why not stick with her skill set? “Davis steadied me.”
“Did he?” Brodie’s voice was doubtful.
She forced her shoulders to straighten. “I’m too tired. Barely walking straight. I think I’ll just...turn in for the night.”
No, she thought she’d plan her escape. As she passed him, her gaze cut to Davis. She still couldn’t read the expression in his eyes, but he gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Relief made her feel a little dizzy. He was going to do it. She’d slip away. Brodie would be safe.
And Jennifer Wesley would vanish.
* * *
BRODIE WATCHED JENNIFER as she headed into the house. Her shoulders were stiff and her stride too fast.
“That woman is trouble.”
The door shut behind Jennifer, and Brodie glanced at his brother. “That woman is the key to finding out what happened to our parents.”
A few weeks back, they’d finally found the guns used to murder their parents. The weapons had been hidden beneath the floor of an abandoned cabin—an old cabin that was just miles from their ranch. All those years, the murder weapons had been close, practically under their noses, and they’d never realized it.
The guns had proved to be a ballistics match for the crime, but there had been no prints on the weapons. The men who’d broken into their parents’ house that long-ago night—Ava had said that they’d worn black ski masks over their faces.
They didn’t know the identities of the killers, but they would. The McGuires wouldn’t stop until they’d gotten justice.
“You think our parents were killed because of Jennifer?” Davis asked him quietly.