“So?” She took a long drink of her cola. “What’s the problem? If Leonard had been here, you could have arrested him. Your precious case would have been closed.”
Cade tightened the reins on his temper. “Macy—”
Alan stepped through the doorway and cleared his throat. “The car’s loaded.”
Neither Cade nor Macy spared him a glance.
It was Macy who broke the silence. “Good day, Ranger Dillon.”
She set her empty can on the counter, then sailed past Alan and out of the kitchen.
“She’s pissed,” Alan said.
Cade set his cola can down next to hers. “I’m a trained investigator. I got that much.”
“I couldn’t help overhearing part of your conversation. You’re pretty sure that Leonard wants to get rid of her.”
“Yeah.” Cade met Alan’s eyes and narrowed his. “What is it?”
“Maybe it’s nothing, but the day before yesterday—Friday—we’d just finished shopping at a fresh-air market. It was crowded, lots of jostling. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but Macy got shoved into the street. A car missed her by inches.”
Cade’s stomach clenched. He hadn’t gotten back into Austin until yesterday. Macy could have been already injured or—
“You think it could have been Leonard?” Alan asked.
Cade met the man’s eyes steadily. “Yeah.” Once again Elton Leonard was a few steps ahead of him.
“You’re not going to get her to go into a safe house.”
“No.”
“Is protecting Macy and catching Leonard the only reason you came back?”
Cade didn’t speak. It wasn’t a question he’d fully answered for himself yet.
“I thought so.” Alan gestured for Cade to follow as he started toward the door. “One thing you ought to know. You hurt her. She’s recovering. She’s had some practice snapping back from the jerks who’ve dumped her, but I was worried about her this time.”
Turning his head, Cade studied Alan. “Jerks—in the plural?”
“Yeah. Number one was a star quarterback at UT. She was captain of the cheerleading squad. It was quite the romance until he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles. He told her that he had to put his career first for a while. He didn’t think he was good marriage material, and he didn’t have time for a serious relationship, blah, blah, blah. But it didn’t hurt his image at all while he was still at UT to have a piece of eye candy like Macy on his arm.”
From outside came the sound of someone leaning on a horn.
“Still pissed,” Alan commented. As they exited the house, Cade spotted Macy in the driver’s seat of her silver SUV. She didn’t glance his way.
“Jerk number two was a wannabe country-and-western star. They were engaged until he got offered a record contract. He left her behind too, with the same excuses that jerk number one gave her. Then you came along.”
Cade stuffed his hands in his pockets as they made their way to the street. “Jerk number three?”
Alan shrugged. “If the shoe fits…”
Cade was uncomfortably aware that it did. His predecessors’ excuses were pretty much the same ones he’d made to himself every time he’d thought of calling Macy during the last two months. His career did come first. He had been avoiding any kind of serious relationship for a long time, after seeing up close and personal what a career as a Texas Ranger had done to his parents’ marriage. They’d divorced ten years ago.
And his partner, Nate, had been right on target, as usual. What he’d felt for Macy had spooked him. The intensity of their lovemaking, the depth of that connection had triggered feelings that he’d never felt before. So he’d run.
Alan stopped and turned to face Cade when they were still about fifteen yards from the car and pitched his voice so that it wouldn’t carry. “I’m sharing all this with you so that before you start thinking of burning up the sheets with her again, you’re aware that Macy has already had enough frogs in her life. She’s due for a prince.”
“I’m not intending—”
Alan raised a hand. “Puh-lease. When I walked into the kitchen a few minutes ago, the temperature was so high that it’s a wonder the appliances didn’t melt. Anytime the fire’s that hot, the moths will return to the flame.”
Cade watched as Alan joined Macy in the SUV. But what he was seeing in his mind was a couple of moths being incinerated by a flame.
3
“TWO DOWN and one to go,” Alan said as they climbed into Macy’s SUV.
After fastening her seat belt, Macy glanced in her rearview mirror and watched Cade moving with that long-legged stride of his toward his black SUV—which was not so coincidentally parked right behind hers. He’d not only followed her to prize-winner number two’s place, but he’d also joined the crew members and watched the filming of the segment.
She was sure that Alan saw him too. But he didn’t say a word because she’d set up a rule on the ride to the shoot. There was to be no mention of Cade Dillon.
With a frown, Macy shifted her attention back to the street and turned her key in the ignition. “They had to do three takes.”
“Not because of you,” Alan said. “That young couple was camera-shy. It wasn’t until the third take that you warmed them up.”
“I forgot to give them the champagne and candles during the first take.” The winners of “Brunch in Bed,” a cute couple in their early twenties, lived in a third-floor apartment in downtown Austin. They’d filmed on the front stoop of the building, and the segment itself had lasted less than five minutes. All she had to do was unpack each of the three courses and hand them over to the couple while giving instructions on how to store or reheat.
“Director Danny would have reshot it anyway. The two kids were stiff as puppets.” Alan patted her hand. “You did great.”
She had not done great, and the person responsible for that was now sitting behind the wheel of his big black car waiting to follow them. Twice during the filming she’d lost her concentration because she’d felt Cade’s presence in the area behind the camera, watching her just as she could feel his eyes on her now. Her skin literally prickled with the sensation. She scowled at the image in the side-view mirror.
“Looks like He Whose Name Must Not Be Mentioned is going to follow us.”
“Watch it.” Macy infused all the warning she could into her tone.
Alan raised both hands. “I’m following the rule.”
“I’m going to ignore him,” she said.
“Him?”
She shot him a narrow-eyed look. “Okay, we’ll suspend the rule.”
“Ignoring Ranger Hunk is going to be a challenge.” Alan shifted his sunglasses from the top of his head to his nose as she pulled out into traffic. “Because I don’t think he’s going to ignore you. Would you pull into that drive-through over there? I’m starved, and you should be too. It’s after two.”
Taking advantage of a lull in the oncoming traffic, Macy turned left into a drive-through lane. Alan ordered across her at the speaker, adding her usual large fries and cola to his green salad and yogurt. Then she inched the SUV into the pay-and-pick-up line. “He ignored me for two months and I was doing fine.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I was.”
Alan raised both hands, palms up. “Okay. I was just imagining the dark circles under your eyes.”
“The only reason he’s here is because he wants Elton Leonard in jail. It’s a testosterone thing. A Ranger always gets his man.”
“Or his woman. For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s over you.”
“Oh, he’s over me.” The problem was that she wasn’t over him. All he’d had to do was brush his finger over her forehead and heat had shot right down to her toes. That hadn’t changed. All he had to do was touch her and she wanted. It was just that simple. Just that terrifying.
“I don’t think so,” Alan said.
“That’s because you’re so happy with Martin th
at you see everything through rose-colored glasses.”
Alan slipped his sunglasses off and gave them a close inspection. “Nope. My glasses are amber.”
“Ranger Dillon thinks I’m in danger. He’s just doing his job.” She was not going to allow herself to think anything different. She’d let herself hope the last time Cade had walked into her life. Never again.
“He’s also worried about you. So am I. I told him about your almost too close an encounter with that taxi on Friday. He doesn’t think it was an accident. He believes Leonard was behind it.”
“Dammit.” Macy rested her head against the steering wheel as her stomach knotted. She didn’t want to be reminded of those few terrifying seconds when she’d been teetering on that curb, her arms flailing, while she’d watched that taxi race toward her. Someone had pushed her. For three days she’d tried to convince herself that she hadn’t felt that hard impact right between her shoulder blades, but she had.
“I believe it was Leonard, too,” Alan said.
“Why me? My life is going along just fine—I don’t need this. Why did I have to be in that alley at just that precise moment when that billionaire bank robber was changing out of his disguise? Five minutes later or five minutes earlier and I wouldn’t have either Leonard or Cade Dillon in my life.”
A car behind them beeped its horn.
“If your little pity party is over, we can pick up our food now.”
With a sigh, Macy raised her head, inched forward to the take-out window, and dug money out of her purse. Alan reached to take the bags of food while she stored the change carefully in her wallet.
“Here.” He passed her the cola he’d ordered for her. “Drink some of this. You’ll feel better.”
Macy grabbed the paper cup and took a long sip through the straw. Sugar and caffeine always made her feel better—temporarily. Hopefully, the magic combo would clear her head. Then she could decide what to do about Cade Dillon. It was becoming crystal clear to her that she had to have a plan. The ignore-him strategy wasn’t working. Try as she might, she could not control her reaction to him. Her mind and body were not in sync where he was concerned. Right now her body was all primed to repeat the experiences of two months ago.
“Here’s part two of Dr. Alan’s prescription.”
Macy took the fry he offered and ate it while she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. The line to turn out of the fast food restaurant was nearly as long as the one at the pickup window. Cade hadn’t placed an order, but he cut in behind her now. The man was sticking to her like glue. Annoyance streamed through her. As she pulled forward to the exit, she saw that the traffic on the street was pretty heavy, and a sudden thought occurred to her.
“I’m going to give him the slip.”
“Macy.” There was a world of warning in Alan’s voice. “You know what usually happens when you give in to one of your impulses.”
She shot him a grin. “It’s petty and probably childish.”
Alan wiggled a fry at her. “May I add dangerous?”
“You may.” She snatched the fry. “But it will be worth it just to put a dent in his arrogance. The man thinks he can disappear for two months and then just stride back into my life and throw his Texas Ranger weight around.”
Macy concentrated on the traffic. If she judged it right, she just might be able to leave Cade Dillon behind in the dust.
A minute later, an opportunity presented itself. She shot into the center lane and pressed her foot down hard on the accelerator.
Her spur-of-the-moment plan hit its first obstacle when the traffic light one hundred yards ahead of her turned yellow. For a split second as the SUV ate up fifty yards of the distance, she considered flooring the gas pedal. But the cross street boasted six lanes of traffic with a wide grassy median—not the best situation for running an about-to-turn-red light. With a sigh, she pressed her foot on the brake.
The pedal depressed straight to the floor and her SUV hurtled into the intersection.
“Macy!” Her drink and bag of French fries went flying. Alan braced both hands against the dash board.
“No brakes. No brakes.” Macy wasn’t sure she said the words aloud or if they were just part of the little chant repeating itself over and over in her head. Panic skittered up her spine as her foot futilely pumped up and down on the pedal. In spite of the angry blare of horns, she cleared the first two lanes of traffic. But beyond the median, she could see the cars already moving. If she didn’t do something, she was going to hit a sweet little yellow convertible dead-on.
At the last minute, she wrenched the steering wheel to the left and prayed that she could merge into the lane behind the sunny little car. Her tires squealed, searching for traction, then her car went into a spin. She tasted fear as they clipped the fender of the convertible. The collision only added momentum to the spin. Horns blasted, more tires screeched. Metal screamed against metal as she sideswiped a van.
Macy gripped the steering wheel, straining against the pull of the seat belt. Still, she couldn’t prevent the SUV from going into a skid and shooting up onto the median. For one terrifying moment, she was sure the car was going to barrel across into a lane of oncoming traffic. Using all her strength she jerked the steering wheel to the right. The SUV tilted crazily to one side, then settled and leapt forward. Macy swallowed hard.
Her best bet was to keep the car on the grass until it lost momentum. Her SUV mowed down two saplings, a flower bed and a small hedge before finally meeting its match in a concrete planter the size of a hot tub.
Then the air bags inflated and Macy’s world went black.
TRAPPED two cars behind the traffic light, Cade could do nothing but watch as Macy’s car shot into the intersection and headed on a collision course with three lanes of cars. Fear shot through him as he willed her to turn the wheel.
“Good girl, good girl,” he muttered, then swore when her car sideswiped a convertible and went into a spin.
All hell broke loose after that. For Cade, the experience was like watching the end of a car chase in an action movie. Except it was real. Horns blared, tires screamed. Macy’s SUV bounced off a minivan and shot onto the median. For one endless second, it teetered wildly. Cade was sure it would topple over and slide into a lane of oncoming traffic. He simply stopped breathing.
Then her vehicle plowed forward on the median. “Good girl,” he murmured. Macy Chandler could keep a cool head in a crisis. He spotted the concrete planter just an instant before the SUV slammed into it. Steamed poured out of the engine, and fear iced his veins.
He had to get to her. The light turned green, but with several disabled cars still blocking the intersection, it took Cade several minutes before he could negotiate his car onto the median and follow the path Macy’s had taken. The extra time allowed him to imagine several scenarios. Alan got out of the car first, then Macy. It was only then that some of his panic abated.
By the time he finally reached her, she was sitting cross-legged behind the SUV with Alan beside her. Cade noted the handkerchief she held to her nose and the bloodstains on her T-shirt, and his stomach clenched. Squatting down in front of her, he gripped her free hand in his. “You’re hurt.”
“The air bag gave me a bloody nose. That’s all.”
Cade shifted his gaze to Alan. “You all right?”
“My nerves are shot, but I fared better in my encounter with the air bag. She’s pretty shaky.”
Who wasn’t? Cade studied Macy’s face again. She was alive. And miraculously uninjured. “Reaction is setting in.”
“I could go for some caffeine and sugar,” Macy said.
“FYI—your drink is presently decorating my slacks. You’ll be getting the dry-cleaning bill.”
“Don’t I always?”
The banter between Alan and Macy did more than their assurances to ease some of Cade’s fear and allowed room for a spurt of anger.
“What in hell made you try to run that light?” he asked.
; “I didn’t.”
“She was trying to give you the slip,” Alan said.
“Rat fink.” She shot a look at Alan, then returned her gaze to Cade. “I didn’t try to run the light. I considered it, but it was too risky. So I put on the brakes, and they didn’t work. They were fine in the drive-through, then suddenly there was nothing there. I tried pumping them, but it didn’t work.”
Sirens sounded from a distance, and for the first time, Cade glanced beyond Macy and Alan to the SUV. Steam still rose from the hood. “Do you take care of your car?”
Macy’s chin lifted. “My livelihood depends on that car. It’s only six months old, and I had it in for service last week.”
“Wait here.” Cade’s anger only increased as he rose and edged his way to the front of the SUV. But this time—if what he suspected was true—he was angry at himself. Just behind the front left tire, he lay down on the grass and slid his head and shoulders beneath the car.
What he suspected was definitely true. Elton Leonard had managed to make another attempt on Macy’s life, this time right under Cade’s nose. Easing himself out from under the SUV, he took two deep breaths before he rose and strode back to Alan and Macy. The first police cruiser was on the scene. The man driving the yellow convertible was talking to two officers and gesturing in Macy’s direction. One of the officers started toward them.
Macy glanced up at him. “He’s going to arrest me, right?”
“Not unless you cut your own brake lines,” Cade said.
4
HANDS on hips, Macy paced back and forth in her living room. It had taken more than an hour to fill out the accident reports and arrange for her SUV to be towed to a garage. Cade had spent most of that time on his cell phone. However, at one point he’d taken a break, made his way to a nearby convenience store and brought back cold drinks. Hers was a sugar-and-caffeine laden cola and Alan’s was an iced green tea.
The gesture had been so sweet. Stopping short, Macy frowned. It simply would not do to dwell on the fact that the tall, tough Ranger Dillon had a softer, sensitive side. Closing her eyes, she pictured a large neon sign reading The Man Dumped You! There. That was what she should be dwelling on.
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