by Kylie Brant
“Half brother. You killed the only person in the world who meant anything to me. So you die for that. Can’t say it isn’t fair, can you, Conrad?”
Though she hadn’t killed David, she didn’t pursue that line of reasoning. Clearly to Marker any SWAT personnel who had been on scene was guilty. “He was practically the only one who visited you in prison, wasn’t he? Even after he was in the military, he’d come on his leave to see you.” She flexed her foot again. It was a weapon she felt under the fallen agent’s body. She stilled. Waited for an opportunity.
“Guess Gee wasn’t as good at covering my trail as she claimed,” he said. “I know what you’re trying to do. I studied some of that psychology crap in prison. It isn’t going to work. I may not get the entire squad. I’ll have to come back someday for Carter. She’s the one who shot David, wasn’t she? I’ll want to plan something special for that bitch. But you and Recker die tonight.”
She poised herself, waiting for an opportunity. Hoping he was only half right. She might die tonight. But if she could get the weapon there was a chance that Marker would die with her.
The opportunity came from a different source than she expected. There was a flash of light and an explosion, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Jolie dove for the body, but she was disoriented by the detonation. She struggled to release the weapon from Fenholt’s waistband. Gunfire split the night, and she rolled away, coming to a seated position with her weapon ready. Marker dropped to his knees, a stain spreading across his shirt. But he hadn’t released his gun.
They stared at each other and time crawled to a stop. They fired simultaneously. The sounds echoed oddly. Or were there more shots? Hard to say. Hard to focus. Her head hit the ground. Strange. She was lying down. She had to get up. Had to get her weapon.
But her body didn’t obey her fuzzy thoughts. Numbness was spreading from her chest, down her arm. The shadows were rushing in. The last thing she thought she saw was Dace. But that couldn’t be. He was safely home in bed. His lips were moving, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. And then her vision blacked and she saw nothing at all.
* * *
“Then get that doctor in here, and get him in here now.” If there had been something within reach Jolie would have dearly loved to hurl it, knocking that smirk off the nurse’s lips. Although she suspected the woman wasn’t a nurse at all but an undercover agent trained in specific methods of torture. “I’m not spending another night here.”
Dace pushed the door open, surveying the scene. The nurse passed him, rolling her eyes. He grinned.
Noting the exchange, Jolie scowled. “You. Unless you’ve got my release orders, I have nothing to say to you.”
“That’s okay.” He strolled in, looking remarkably fit in faded jeans and a well-worn gray tee. The sleeve didn’t quite cover the dressing on his arm. “I’ve got plenty to say. You can just listen for a while.”
Sulkily, she lay back in the bed. “Four days. Four. Whole. Days. This is ridiculous.”
He cocked his head, studying her critically. “They say grouchiness is a sign of healing. You must be better. A lot better.”
Ignoring the insult, she seized on his words. “Tell the doctor that. C’mon, Dace, I’d do it for you. You know I would.”
“I don’t know that,” he countered, pulling a chair up to the side of her bed. “As a matter of fact, I seem to recall some not-so-polite remarks the last time I refused to spend the night in the hospital. Idiot was one.” He looked up, as if trying to remember. “What was the other? Oh, yeah. Moron.”
He was enjoying this too much. “Only means you should realize how desperate I am to get out of here.”
“What I realize is how desperate I am to make sure you’re well enough first. If it makes you feel any better, the doctor said possibly tomorrow.”
She heaved a sigh, stared balefully at the ceiling. Tomorrow. He might as well have mentioned a month. A moment later, she turned her head to regard him. “How’s Trixie?”
“The same.” She winced at the careful reply. “Still at my place. Still, uh…colorful in her objections. My mother is with her now.”
Horror rose. “You left Della with Trixie?”
“For all her surface charm, my mother could discipline a pack of wild orangutans. She’ll be fine.”
It was ridiculous to feel embarrassed knowing that an hour with Trixie would tell Della far more about Jolie’s past than she’d ever revealed on her own. Ridiculous, because Dace’s mother wasn’t in her life anymore. Hadn’t been for a long time.
“You’ve got to stop believing Trixie is a reflection on you. She has nothing to do with you, and that was her choice. You’ve given her far more power than she deserves over the years.”
Shocked, she met his gaze, quickly looked away. His insight was disturbing. And it wasn’t something she hadn’t told herself many times. Some of the time she could even believe it.
A thought occurred and she returned her attention to him. “Are you and Langley okay with Sanders?”
She didn’t miss his grimace. “He was…unhappy that I called Jack to pick me up and check out the park on our own. But Fenholt had made sure the agents would be stalled in that debriefing session most of the night. And he eventually admitted my suspicions would have been a tough sell had I called him or the lieutenant.”
Meanwhile losing valuable time. A shudder worked through her. Langley had brought his equipment, and that had probably saved her life. The night-vision goggles had enabled the two to find them more quickly once they’d arrived, lights flashing, at the park. The flash-bang grenade had distracted Marker long enough for her to draw the gun from Fenholt’s waistband. It hadn’t saved her from Marker’s shot, which had hit her in the shoulder.
But Dace’s next shot had made sure Marker hadn’t fired again.
“Sanders did say today that they’ve found a bank account in Fenholt’s name in the Caymans with nearly ten million dollars in it. Guess that was supposed to tide her over when mandatory retirement hit. She was up to her neck in the thing.” His voice was grim. “It was she who had busted Marker seventeen years ago. She probably approached him with the whole thing planned out once he was released. And she delivered for him, I’ll say that. Lined up a job for him with an employer who would lie about his absences for a fee. Shifted the direction of the investigation whenever it got too close to him.” His expression was sober. “It might have been Marker’s idea to take us out, but with the lead we were pursuing, our deaths fit nicely into her agenda, too. Once the link was established between the Markers, things would unravel for her pretty quickly.”
“She took a hell of a risk,” Jolie murmured. “And all for money?”
“I agree. There are things a lot more worthwhile to take a risk on.” Dace propped his hands on the side rail of the bed, regarding her steadily. “Things like a future. Love, even.”
She gaped at him. She couldn’t help it. She’d never heard him mention the word before. Would have run fast and far if he had.
“I spent a long time blaming you after you left.” His voice was matter-of-fact. His gaze wasn’t. It was intense. Hypnotic. Jolie couldn’t have looked away if she wanted to. “Only recently did I realize that I shared some of that blame.”
When she started to object, his voice overrode hers. “Maybe if we’d had more time before you got pregnant, we would have had a better foundation. Maybe you would have trusted me enough to let me in, just a little. Then I could have understood better what was going on in your head.”
She tried to speak, found her throat raw. “You have no idea how much trust it took for me to stay with you. To have Sammy.”
He gave a slow nod. “I think I do. Now, at least. But at the time I thought it was enough that you stayed. I figured time was on my side. That you’d see for yourself how good it could be.”
“But then Sammy died.”
“And both of us closed down. You shouldered guilt that wasn’t yours to bear. I guess I did, t
oo. It wasn’t logical to feel that I’d failed to protect my family. Took me a while to get over that.”
Shock made her voice urgent. “Sammy’s death had nothing to do with you.”
“With either of us,” he said meaningfully, and she fell silent. Guilt wasn’t logical and stemmed from one’s own deep-rooted fears. She had come to realize that. It hurt to know that Dace had grappled with the same feelings, alone.
“If he had lived…” Her breath hitched once. “You can’t expect a child to be the glue that will hold two people together. That’s too much pressure.”
“No, you can’t. I was banking on time to get you to see the truth, to recognize what was right in front of you.” He shook his head at her puzzled look. “Never thought I’d ever be accused of subtlety.” He reached down, drew one of her hands through the opening between the rails to hold it in his. “I knew I loved you long before Sammy was born. I remember the exact moment. You were sitting in the nursery I’d just painted, rocking in the chair my mom had stripped for us.”
Her mind flashed back to the moment he was describing. They hadn’t wanted to know the sex of the baby so they’d chosen apple green for the color. And as she’d sat and looked at the room that was taking shape, she’d had the feeling she was looking from afar. At someone else’s life. One she’d always been careful not to wish for.
His voice husky, he continued, “You had your hand over your belly and this little smile on your face. And it was like getting kicked in the chest by a horse.”
Swallowing hard, she said, “You never told me.”
His thumb skated over the back of her hand. “I knew you’d run. Emotionally, at least. So I figured I’d wait until the baby was born and you saw how good it was.”
“It was good,” she recalled achingly. Sweet, if slightly alien, like the stolen snippets of someone else’s life. “But that part of our lives is over. We can’t go back.”
“We can go forward.”
Her heart stopped. Then it rushed forward with the speed of an oncoming locomotive as he continued. “I wanted to believe we were over. Thought we were. Until I opened the door of the van and saw you sitting at the table, my new partner. And it didn’t take very long to realize we were never really over at all.”
She looked down, was surprised to see her hand trembling in his. Even more surprised by the overwhelming sense of longing his words evoked.
He’d always had this power over her, a dangerous control. He could make her want. Not just physically, but an emotional longing that carried its own kind of risk. She could run from it. Had run for a long time. The question was whether she had the courage to stop running.
Her eyes met his. “I don’t know how to do this. I’m not…” She shook her head. “I’m not a good risk in the love department. But in the park a few nights ago, I knew what I had to do. I was going for my gun trapped under Fenholt’s body. I knew I couldn’t beat him to the shot but I thought I might still have the chance to shoot if his first shot wasn’t fatal.” She saw his face blanch, damned herself for her lack of finesse. “I thought that was going to be my only chance to keep him from going for you. And I finally discovered what it meant to want to protect someone. I was willing to go to any lengths to keep you safe.”
He raised her hand to his lips, pressed a kiss on it. “Does that mean you’ve forgiven me for my overprotective instincts?”
She finally understood what lay beneath the tendency. Finally recognized how emotion could overwhelm caution and good sense and lead to taking risks that a more cautious person would shy away from.
“It means,” she said shakily, raising herself on one elbow, “that I’m willing to stick around and help you work on it.”
She felt his smile on the lips he pressed against hers, and that pesky inner alarm stilled. She spent her life assessing threats and had finally realized the truth. Loving this man was a risk worth taking.
* * * * *
If you enjoyed this story by New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy be sure to check out New York Times bestselling author
CARLA CASSIDY
and her latest heart-racing romance sure to keep you on the edge of your seat!
COLTON’S SECRET SON
Be sure to check out other suspenseful reads by Carla Cassidy from her
Cowboys of Holiday Ranch mini-series!
Operation Cowboy Daddy
Cowboy at Arms
Cowboy Under Fire
Cowboy of Interest
A Real Cowboy
Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
No sooner does Knox Colton find out he has a son, than the boy is kidnapped! While Knox and the boy’s mother, Allison Rafferty, race to find him, they also find the passion between them never died…
Read on for a sneak preview of
COLTON’S SECRET SON,
by New York Times bestselling author Carla Cassidy
the first book in the newest Colton series,
THE COLTONS OF SHADOW CREEK.
CHAPTER 1
Shadow Creek, Texas, held nothing but broken dreams, betrayal and heartache for Knox Colton. He had thought he’d never return to the small town where he’d grown up, but here he was again after a ten-year absence.
Forced to take a sabbatical from his job as a Texas Ranger, embarrassed and humiliated by his mother’s crimes, he’d really had no other place to go.
He now clenched his fingers around the steering wheel as a whisper of heated anger burned in the pit of his stomach. Nothing like being a Texas Ranger and having one of the FBI’s most wanted as a mother.
Livia Colton had created plenty of chaos and damage in his childhood, and now she was affecting her grown children’s lives once again.
He rolled down his window to allow in the sweet-scented early March air and drew in a deep breath. The last thing he wanted to do was to carry his simmering anger into the peaceful sanctuary his younger sister called home.
His anger eased at thoughts of his youngest sister, Jade. Despite the nine years difference in their ages, he’d always been particularly close to her.
A smile curved his lips as he turned into Hill Country Farm, Jade’s home. Ahead of him was her house, but around the house were her passions. Vegetable gardens were just beginning to awaken with what would be summer bounty. Stables and a riding arena were on the right, and a barn with chickens, goats and pigs was on the left.
The house itself was small, but exuded a sense of stability and welcome. Pots of purple pansies sat on the porch, dipping and waving their heads in the light spring breeze.
Before he’d stopped his car, Jade stepped out on the porch, a wide smile of greeting on her pretty face. He parked and got out of the car and she raced toward him, her dark brown ponytail bouncing as her sweet laughter filled the air.
She jumped into his arms and he picked her up and spun her around. His cowboy hat flew off his head before he deposited her back on the ground and gave her a firm kiss on the forehead.
“Oh, Knox, I’ve missed you so much,” she said.
“And I’ve missed you,” he replied as he picked up his hat and plopped it back on his head. “You look terrific, Jade.”
She stepped back from him and eyed him. “You don’t look half-bad yourself, big brother.” She gave him a playful punch in the stomach. “At least you haven’t gone to seed in your old age.”
“Hey, I’m only thirty-three. I’m still in my prime,” he retorted.
She linked her arm with his. “Come on inside. I’ve got the coffee on and I made a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls.”
“Hmm, nothing better on a Saturday morning than cinnamon rolls and time with you,” he replied.
Minutes later the two siblings sat across from each other at the round oak table in the kitchen that smelled of spices and sunshine. Yellow curtains fluttered at the open windows as the sweet scent of new grass and budding flowers drifte
d in.
“So, how’s Ranger life?” Jade asked as she set a small plate with a cinnamon roll the size of the palm of his hand before him.
“It was great until two weeks ago.” He frowned down into his coffee cup and then looked up and met his sister’s gaze. “And then day before yesterday I was told rather forcefully that a sabbatical might be a good idea right now.”
Jade’s brown eyes darkened. “Because of Mother’s escape from prison.” Knox gave a curt nod of his head. “How long are you on sabbatical for?”
“An undetermined amount of time,” he replied. “I have become somewhat of an embarrassment with a mother who plotted and succeeded with an elaborate escape from Red Peak Maximum Security Prison. I was told to lie low until she was no longer a hot news item and was caught.” The burn of anger was back in his stomach.
“I can’t believe she managed to pay off so many guards and got into the infirmary and through two more security checks before cutting a hole in the floor and slithering down into the sewer system.”
“A new sewer system that she somehow arranged to be built,” he added drily. “And you’ve probably heard that in the construction site she was picked up by a white van outside the prison walls.”
“And the van had no plates or distinguishing marks when it was found abandoned near the Mexican border,” Jade added. “I watch the news, too.”
What had been kept out of the news was that there had been blood found on the side of the van, blood that hadn’t belonged to Livia Colton, but Knox wasn’t telling that to Jade or anyone else. Knox had been told this by his boss before the upper brass cut him out of the information chain.
The information was being intentionally held back by the authorities. Someone had been at the scene at the Mexican border with Livia and that someone had apparently been hurt. Knox had a feeling the identity of that person was already known to somebody in law enforcement, but it was a piece of information that hadn’t been told or leaked. By now, the blood left behind at the van would have been analyzed and he couldn’t help but believe DNA had been matched to somebody.