She opened her eyes, confused.
“No!”
Desmond dropped to the floor with a sickening thud.
“No!”
Riley lost every sense of self-preservation she had and ran right at her former brother-in-law. When he raised his gun again at her, she didn’t even flinch.
When he pulled the trigger and the sound of an empty chamber sang through the hallway, she didn’t slow down either.
When Jenna came out in the hallway behind Riley with Desmond’s gun in her hand and shot over her sister’s shoulder, Riley didn’t miss a beat.
Ryan yelled out in shock and ducked into the first bedroom he’d surprised them in earlier. Riley made it to Desmond’s side and crouched, tears already in her eyes.
She rolled him over, forgetting about the world around them.
Baby blues stared up at her. His expression was pained but he was alive.
“Pistol in—in my ankle holster,” he hurried, wheezing in the middle. “Get—get him.”
Getting Ryan had, up until that point, been about saving her sister and her nephew. Now it was for Desmond too.
Rejuvenated by his request, Riley found his ankle holster and took the small pistol out of it. She turned around and met Jenna’s wide eyes.
They didn’t need to say anything out loud.
Moving in sync once again they ran into the bedrooms that were next to them and then right up to the opened bathroom doors.
Ryan Alcaster was caught between them, standing next to the tub without any options left.
He looked from one sister with a gun pointing at him to the other sister with a gun pointing at him.
His face, his confidence, his ego came crashing down.
When Jenna spoke she did so with a wonderful amount of sass.
“What’s wrong, dear? Are you seeing double?”
The real Ryan, the nasty, manipulative and abusive Ryan, opened his mouth to say something. Then he decided against it. Lost for words.
“You know, I was really hoping someone would say something clever and twin-related.”
Desmond’s weight pressed around her as he leaned between her and the door frame. He took the gun from her hand as she examined his chest.
The bullet had torn through his shirt yet there was no blood.
“What?” was all she could manage to ask.
Desmond smiled.
“We might not have included Declan in our plan just in case everything went wrong but that didn’t mean we walked in unprepared.” Riley took a closer look at his shirt. There was something black against his chest.
“You’re wearing a bulletproof vest,” Jenna exclaimed.
He gave her a scolding look.
“We all were and you would have been wearing one too had we known you were coming.”
Riley couldn’t help but throw her arms around the man. He didn’t drop the gun but he did groan.
“I’m pretty sure some ribs are broken so watch out.”
Riley immediately let go.
“You took another bullet for us,” Riley realized.
Desmond’s face softened.
“And I would have done it without the vest in a heartbeat too.”
Ryan made an annoyed noise.
Desmond was back to angry.
“And you are going to go away for a very, very long time,” he said.
Ryan actually laughed. It wasn’t as powerful as when he had the upper hand.
“People like me don’t go away,” he said. “Not when money talks a more convincing game.”
This time Desmond was the one to laugh.
“You know, my brother and I talked about that. About you and your money and your seemingly unending influence over people ready to do your bidding. Riley, can you reach into my pocket and pull out my cell phone?”
Riley obliged, confused.
Until she saw what was on the screen.
“So before we left for the barn all of us cleared our phones and started to hit Record the second you pulled up. And the best part about the app we used? It doesn’t need service or internet to keep working. Riley, is it still going?”
“Yes. It is.”
Jenna made a noise. Tears were falling down her cheeks.
They had him.
They had Ryan.
And he knew it.
He didn’t say another word.
Desmond, however, had to get in one last jab.
“You gotta love technology, huh?”
Epilogue
“Desmond?”
The house was quiet. Riley stared at the bed, her stomach knotted.
“Desmond?” she tried again, raising her voice.
This time his baritone made its way up the stairs to her.
“I don’t know what she’s wearing yet! She hasn’t gotten out of the car!”
Riley shook her head and focused on the different outfits spread out on the cowboy’s bed. The first outfit was casual but put-together, jeans and a button-down. The last outfit was a finely pressed, stylish blouse and pencil skirt. There were three cowgirl hats in different colors sitting on the pillows, courtesy of the Nash downstairs.
Riley tapped her bare foot against the rug. The AC she’d been praising for the last month was now making her cold. Then again, she was standing in her underwear beneath a vent.
It was now June in Overlook and summer had more than made its way to town. In the five months between Ryan being arrested and now, a lot had changed.
And a lot hadn’t.
Like that flutter that danced in her stomach when Desmond smiled, even when she just heard it in his voice from the other room.
“Outfit number two,” he yelled after another moment. “Outfit number two!”
Riley heard this as the man ran up the stairs and into his bedroom. Or what would be theirs starting next week after they finished moving the last of her stuff in. Bless the man, he was good at so many things, but when it came to moving her book collection and winter clothes he’d gotten right near grumpy. It probably hadn’t helped that Jenna had stopped him countless times to open the box he was carrying and steal out an item or two.
“She’s wearing dark jeans and a frilly top,” Desmond said almost out of breath. He motioned to his shirt. “You know, kind of like that one you wore last week when we went to the Red Oak with Marty and his husband.”
Riley nodded, touched Desmond always remembered the details, and shimmied into a pair of nice jeans and one of Jenna’s red blouses that she’d managed to steal when Jenna was stealing from her.
“Was she wearing flats or—”
“Cowboy boots.”
Riley ran to the closet and pulled out a pair Madi had gifted to her for her birthday. Jenna had gotten a matching pair and she and Riley, in the privacy of Jenna’s room, had put them on and danced around in them while yelling “Yeehaw.” Their mother, who had flown in with their dad to celebrate the twins’ birthday, had insisted on buying her own pair too. Hartley, naturally, already had a pair.
“Okay, how do I look?” Riley asked, spinning around when she was done.
She was met with that smile. One that often preceded both of them having a very good time.
“You said I can’t call you perfect because it doesn’t exist but I just can’t find another word.” He closed the distance between them and dipped her down for a brief but powerful kiss. She laughed against him and then struggled to regain her composure.
“But does it say, Hire me to manage your social media and website because I’ve got great ideas, the know-how, and work with my brilliant designer sister?”
Desmond laughed. The doorbell rang.
“Claire already hired you, babe,” he pointed out. “And she asked to come here just to talk about some ideas. You don’t need to
worry.”
Riley let out a long breath.
“I know but, well, sometimes I can’t help it.”
Desmond swung low again and kissed her. Then he was headed for the door in a rush.
“If you really want to impress her, wear the gray Stetson,” he called over his shoulder. “You know, the one that makes me wild!”
Riley couldn’t help but laugh at that. She waited a beat, looked at her reflection over the dresser with an encouraging nod to herself and followed the same steps the man she loved had just taken.
But only after she grabbed the cowgirl hat.
* * *
THE BREEZE WAS NICE and so was the company.
Desmond sat atop Winona as she walked back toward the stables in the distance. Declan, on his horse Rocky, matched their pace next to them.
They’d ridden the ranch’s fence perimeter together in companionable silence but now it felt like time to talk. While both men enjoyed riding as a solo adventure most of the time, there was just something to be said about enjoying it with family.
“I saw Claire pull up to the house earlier,” Declan started in. “Ma said she’s Riley’s newest client?”
Desmond nodded, proud.
“Yep. Her third so far in Overlook, actually. Apparently our small town is great at word of mouth but not so great at marketing on the internet. After the work she and Jenna have done with Second Wind, it’s been a no-brainer for people to hire them.”
“I’m glad they’re doing what they love too. It sure makes a difference. I ran into Jenna at the store earlier and she practically was lighting the place up with how much she was smiling.”
Desmond nodded in agreement.
Jenna had completely broken down in relief when Declan and his deputies had arrived at the vacation rental after both women had stopped Ryan from fleeing. The recording, plus eyewitnesses of what had happened at the barn, had been enough to send Ryan to prison for life. There was no way he’d ever get out and there was no way he’d ever get Hartley.
That fact, plus being surrounded by people who genuinely cared for and respected her, had finally allowed her to start healing from Ryan’s abuse.
In turn, an invisible weight had seemed to lift from Riley too. It was helped by her finally getting some closure she said she hadn’t realized she’d needed from Davies. While Ryan had killed Maria, Davies had survived his wounds. Riley had stayed with him at the hospital until his sister had arrived. Before then he’d finally apologized for his silence about Ryan and Jenna. He’d even told what he knew of the abuse on the stand at the trial against Ryan. It had been another nail in the businessman’s coffin.
After that, life in Overlook had gone back to as normal as it ever got. Caleb started physical therapy and had improved to almost new. Nina and he had made it no secret how thankful they were for what Julian had done to save him, and when they announced that Nina was pregnant with a baby boy, they also announced that the boy’s middle name would match the man who had saved his father.
Julian, the mountain of the man he was, had teared up at the honor. Madi had all but cried.
Between the barn incident and now, Desmond had spent his time making sure the red-haired siren had known he had fallen for her hook, line and sinker. Riley moving in was only the beginning.
What she didn’t know, but her father did, was that Desmond was already planning on popping the question.
He intended on talking to Jenna about it later that night after dinner. Because, if there was one thing he knew about the sisters with absolute certainty, it was that you didn’t get one without the other.
Desmond actually loved that about them because it was exactly how he felt when it came to his family.
As for his big brother, riding next to him with the obvious weight of the world on his shoulders, Desmond was a little worried. Everyone was getting their happy endings while Declan was only getting more and more into his work.
Even now, with the sun shining and the breeze blowing, there was something he was holding on to that Desmond couldn’t see.
So, he asked.
“You know, I think you’ve looked worried since the day we got Ryan Alcaster. What’s wrong? We got the bad guy.”
Declan didn’t bother denying the accusation.
“We got Ryan, Maria and a man in a suit. But we didn’t get the man, did we?”
It was true. The man Desmond had shot outside the barn had succumbed to his injuries, and with his death whatever secrets he had were also gone. They’d never been able to ID him. The man with the scar on his hand had also disappeared. There had been no trace of him at all.
Declan had said he wasn’t actively looking anymore.
Desmond suspected that was a lie.
His older brother let out a long sigh.
“It’s just that every time we think we’re getting back to normal around here something bizarre happens. How much bad luck can we have before it stops being bad luck and becomes a pattern?”
“We also deal with danger in our everyday careers, even by proxy, more than most,” Desmond pointed out. “You and Caleb are in law enforcement after all.”
Declan conceded but with a slight caveat.
“And I could stomach that, and even chalk up the man in the suit not wanting to kill any of the Nashes because of the spotlight it could be on them as a group, if it wasn’t for the man at the bar.”
Desmond had to think on that.
Declan explained before he could figure it out.
“When we caught who had targeted Nina and Caleb, they said a man at the bar gave them the idea to do it. When Madi was targeted, the idea was also from a man in a bar.” Desmond felt the tightness of realization and worry zip through him.
“And Ryan Alcaster said at his trial that a stranger in a bar gave him the idea to use his girlfriend to get back at his ex-wife,” he finished.
Declan nodded, brow creased in a thought he didn’t particular like.
“One mention of a man in a bar I can let roll off my shoulders. Two mentions of a man in a bar is a coincidence that makes me pause, but three?”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking it feels like someone is pulling a set of strings we can’t see,” he said. “Like someone is three steps away from taking out our king while we’re just now figuring out we’re even pieces on a game board.” He rolled his shoulders back and patted Rocky. They were almost to the stables. “Caleb first, Madi second and now you.”
Neither man voiced it, but if there was a pattern, it meant that Declan could be next. A thought that darkened the mood even further.
“It could be nothing,” Desmond tried. “I think it’s easy for this family to feel targeted, to feel attacked. It could very well be the professions and life choices we’ve made because of the abduction. They’ve put us all in danger at one time or another. You could be borrowing trouble that’s not ours.”
Declan nodded; again it was a slow one. One filled to the brim with questions that Desmond knew his big brother would still try to answer. But, for now, he seemed to brush off the concern. He tried on a smile. It didn’t reach his eyes but it was something.
“I think I might just need a break,” he admitted. “I’m starting to lose myself in the job. Even I can see that. I’m starting to copy Dad’s habits, the not-good kind. It might be time for a vacation. If only to recharge.”
“I think that would be a great idea.”
Movement pulled their attention over to the fence next to the stable. Someone was standing on it and smiling back at him. Just like his father once had.
This time it was a different kind of love Desmond felt. One that burrowed into his bones, into his heart and into his soul. His future wife. The mother of their future children. The woman he was ready to spend the rest of his life with.
A mass of da
rk red curls flew around Riley’s head as she waved.
Desmond waved back, unable to not smile.
“I guess their meeting went okay,” he said. “Which means I’m on the hook to take her out to Red Oak for a celebratory drink or two tonight.”
Not that he minded at all.
Desmond turned back to his brother. Declan was smiling.
“You know another way to help keep the stress off?” Desmond couldn’t help but ask. “Finally find someone who keeps that scowl off your face. At the very least I think it’s safe to say that, if you have to borrow trouble, having someone by your side sure does help keep you sane.”
Declan snorted.
“I might take a short break from work but I don’t think I have time for all of that.”
Desmond threw his head back in laughter, really feeling it in his heart. He reached over between their horses and managed to clap his brother on the shoulder.
When Desmond spoke again, he might have been staring at Declan, but all he could see was his very own siren.
“When you find the right one, you’ll make the time.”
He tipped his cowboy hat to his brother and felt the thrill of riding take over as he and Winona started to gallop.
He could already hear Riley laughing before he ever got to the fence.
* * *
Look for the next book in Tyler Anne Snell’s
Winding Road Redemption miniseries,
Last Stand Sheriff,
on sale next month.
And don’t miss the previous books in the miniseries:
Reining in Trouble
Credible Alibi
Available now from Harlequin Intrigue!
Keep reading for an excerpt from K-9 Protector by Julie Miller.
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