Her Texas Ranger Hero

by Rebecca Winters

  “Good morning, my love. The judge will be here any minute.”

  “I can’t believe I slept this long.”

  “You’re exhausted, that’s why.”

  Luckey stood up and folded the cot, rolling it against the wall.

  “Come sit by me and eat. We’ve all eaten.”

  He kissed her cheek before pulling up a chair to tuck in. “You look radiant. How are you feeling?”

  “Wonderful. I’m ready to go home with you. Last night the doctor said he’d release me during his morning rounds.”

  “I’m still pinching myself that this dream of mine is about to happen.”

  “And it’s too late to change your mind,” a distinctive male voice declared from the doorway. The judge was followed by two nurses.

  Luckey smiled. “That couldn’t happen. Allison Duncan, meet Judge Carlos Montoya, the man who has been kind enough to drop everything in order to marry us, on a Wednesday no less.”

  “We’re so thankful, Judge.” Her voice shook.

  His eyes lit up when he looked at Ally. “I can see why your husband-to-be is in such a terrible hurry.”

  “Actually, I’m the one who begged him to marry me before I left the hospital. You’re doing us such a great favor. One day soon we’ll find a way to repay you.”

  “It’s my pleasure to see that Luckey has finally found himself the right woman. He’s the best of the best, but you already know that, right?” The older man winked at Ally.

  “That’s exactly who he is.”

  “All right. Let’s get started. Do you need to stay in bed? Or can you stand up long enough for the short ceremony I’m about to perform?”

  “I can stand.” She slid off the mattress.

  “Luckey? Take her hand.”

  He grasped it and could probably feel her heart beating throughout his body. Her parents also stood.

  “Dearly beloved, what a glorious day is about to begin for you. Two people joined as one to be friends, comforters and lovers throughout this life and the next. Man wasn’t meant to go through life alone. Cherish the families who have helped make you who you are. Treasure this gift of marriage that has been given to you. Bless it with children. Honor it with your fidelity. Strive to make the other happy and you will have joy. Now repeat after me...”

  They exchanged their vows.

  “I now pronounce you man and wife in the eyes of God, these witnesses and the laws of Travis County, Texas. Do you have rings to exchange?”

  Ally had forgotten about that, but not her amazing husband-to-be. He pulled two rings out of his pocket and put them on the ring finger of her left hand. She gasped at the large purple solitaire diamond set in gold sitting next to the gold wedding band.

  “You can kiss her now.”

  Luckey gave her a peck on one side of her mouth. “I would have given her a longer one, but she has a cut lip. If I were to kiss her the way I need to...”

  The judge chuckled. “I hear you.” He pulled a form out of his briefcase and placed it on the table extending over the bed. “If you ladies will put your signatures here...” he said to the nurses. Once the papers were signed, the older man thanked the two women for their participation.

  After they left, Ally took her turn signing the wedding certificate. Then Luckey placed his signature on the document, while she shook the judge’s hand. “Those words were simple and beautiful. We’ll never forget this day. Thank you so much.”

  “It was the perfect ceremony,” Luckey told him.

  “So...the deed is done. Congratulations. I hope you’ll be very happy.”

  “We already are,” Ally rushed to assure him.

  Luckey shook the older man’s hand and walked him out to the corridor with Ally’s parents.

  She looked at the document they’d just signed. It was official. As soon as she was released, she was going home with the man she adored.

  Luckey strode back in with fire in those dark brown eyes and drew her into his arms. “The doctor will be right in to check you over one last time, Mrs. Davis.”

  Mrs. Davis. What beautiful words.

  Ally clung to him, burying her face against his neck and shoulder. “I didn’t know I could be this happy.”

  “Just wait till I get you home.”

  * * *

  LUCKEY PULLED ALONGSIDE the house. He would have driven into the garage, but he wanted to carry his new bride over the threshold. With his heart pumping like crazy, he opened the passenger door and picked her up.

  “Welcome home, sweetheart.” In a few steps he reached the front door and used his remote to let them inside. “I’ll bring our things in a minute.” He shut the door and carried her down the hall to his bedroom.

  Ally let out a small cry. “Oh, Luckey—so many flowers! How did you have time to do all this?”

  “I asked my cleaning lady, Ruth, to get things ready for us. New sheets on the bed, new towels in the bathroom. All the food we’d want to eat in the fridge. For the next forty-eight hours there’s a big Do Not Disturb sign at the Davis residence.” He laid her down gently on the bed. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Luckey?” she murmured. “I’m not made of glass, you know.”

  “But you’ve just come home from the hospital.” He kissed her forehead and hurried out to the car to bring in her overnight bag and the flowers. When he walked back into the bedroom he found his wife texting someone.

  She looked up. “I just told Mom and Dad that you’ve brought me home. In a few days we’ll come by the ranch.”

  “While the doctor gave you a last checkup, I texted my folks.”

  “Oh, good.”

  “Great minds think alike.” He put her overnight bag on a chair and opened it for her. “While you get ready for bed, I’ll bring in some food. Ruth makes wonderful fajitas. All I have to do is warm them up.”

  If Ally said anything, he didn’t hear her as he went out to the kitchen, nervous as hell. This wasn’t the way he’d planned for their honeymoon to start out, but the doctor had warned him to treat her carefully. Once he’d prepared a tray, he took their meal into the bedroom and set it on the dresser.

  He shouldn’t have been surprised that she’d already gotten under the covers. Recovering from a concussion, even if it had been a light one, meant bed still felt good to her. But there was something different about Ally. An energy radiating from her. With her black hair splayed on the pillow, she looked like a princess in a fairy tale. Her purple-blue eyes shone like rare jewels.

  “You were very sweet to bring our meal in here, but to be honest, I’m not hungry. Don’t you know I’m about to have the experience I’ve been waiting for all my life with my husband? Come to bed.”

  His lungs froze. “But your doctor sai—”

  “Luckey, he was just teasing you.”

  “What?”

  Her smile lit up his world. “The whole wing of the hospital knew about our wedding ceremony. I guess it’s a man thing for him to give you a hard time.” She sat up against the headboard. The sight of her bare arms and shoulders let him know she hadn’t put on a nightgown. He could hardly swallow.

  “When he asked me if I’d thought about protection, I told him I wanted a baby right away. He said I’d better check with you first. I have to tell you I’m hoping I’m pregnant by May, when we take our long honeymoon to the Grand Canyon with the horses. But if I’m not, we’ll just keep trying, because from what I understand, that’s the best part. I hope you won’t be too shocked when I tell you I’ve never been to bed with a man before.”

  He blinked. “You’re serious.”

  “Very. If that frightens you, I’m sorry, but I promise to be a good student.”

  Luckey couldn’t take any more and headed for the bathroom. He showered in record time and hitched
a towel around his hips before joining his new wife, who was absolutely the most amazing, astounding, surprising, luscious female he’d ever known.

  Once under the covers, he came close to going up in smoke as she welcomed him into her arms. He forgot the world as they began to give each other the kind of divine pleasure that was beyond description. Luckey felt sorry for every man who would never know what it was like to have a loving, giving, passionate wife like Ally.

  “Sweetheart...you’re so beautiful, it hurts.”

  “I feel that same pain just thinking about you. Don’t stop loving me. Don’t ever stop.”

  “Never, Ally. Never.”

  They made love until afternoon, and then stopped long enough to eat before beginning the whole process of loving each other all over again. Late the next morning Luckey woke first and watched her sleep. One arm lay folded against his chest, with her face resting on his shoulder.

  Since joining her in bed, he’d forgotten she’d just come out of the hospital. He hoped to heaven their hungry lovemaking hadn’t done anything to set her back. Luckey traced the line of the mouth that had sent him into ecstasy with every touch. His index finger found the little cut, which was almost healed.

  For the first time, the sight he’d had of Martin knocking her against the wall replayed in his mind. He moaned in pain and gathered her in his arms, bringing her awake.

  “Darling?” she murmured.

  “Forgive me. I love you so much, I’m depriving you of sleep.”

  “I was only pretending. For the last half hour I’ve been lying here wondering if you’d think I was terrible to kiss you awake.”

  He kissed both her eyelids. “Let’s clear something up right now. You never need permission to show me your love.”

  “That’s good, because I’m out of control and always will be. You have that effect on me.”

  Luckey pulled her on top of him. “I’ve been wondering what we should call our child if it’s a boy.”

  “I’m way ahead of you, even if it’s a girl.”

  A chuckle escaped. “I knew it. Give me a clue.”

  “The boy’s first initial will be a D.”

  Luckey’s chuckle turned into full-bodied laughter that shook the bed. “And the girl’s?”

  “A D, too.”

  He kissed her throat. “You really were obsessed with the Lone Ranger when you were little.”

  “Yup. I knew when I grew up I wanted my first boy to be Daniel, named for his older brother, who was killed.”

  “That means if we have a girl, we’re calling her Danielle.”

  Ally looked down at him. “Do you mind? I’d like to keep it all in the family.”

  “How could I possibly mind that my wife has been in love with the masked man forever?”

  “Oh, good. Now that I’ve married my own Texas Ranger hero, everything’s going to be perfect!”

  “What if we have a second child?” he teased, so crazily in love with his wife he never wanted to move from this spot.

  “We could go with Reid, their last name, or...”

  “Or what? I put my foot down at calling one of our children Kemo Sabe.”

  “How about we give that name to our toy horse?”

  He cupped her face. “What toy horse?”

  “The one I want us to buy for Persey and Silver. It’ll make them feel like a family, too. Did you see how cute Comet was with Daken?”

  Yes. He saw how cute. He saw how cute his wife was with Jeremy’s horses. He saw how cute she’d be with children of her own. Their own. Life couldn’t get better than this.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for a sneak peek of

  SUNRISE CROSSING,

  the latest captivating novel in the acclaimed

  RANSOM CANYON series by

  New York Times bestselling author

  Jodi Thomas!

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  Sunrise Crossing

  by Jodi Thomas

  CHAPTER ONE

  Flight

  January 2012

  LAX

  VICTORIA VILANIE CURLED into a ball, trying to make herself small, trying to disappear. Her black hair spread around her like a cape but couldn’t protect her.

  All the sounds in the airport were like drums playing in a jungle full of predators. Carts with clicking wheels rolling on pitted tiles. People shuffling and shouting and complaining. Electronic voices rattling off numbers and destinations. Babies crying. Phones ringing. Winter’s late storm pounding on walls of glass.

  Victoria, Tori to her few friends, might not be making a sound, but she was screaming inside.

  Tears dripped off her face, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away. The noise closed in around her, making her feel so lonely in the crowd of strangers.

  She was twenty-four, and everyone said she was a gifted artist. Money poured in so fast it had become almost meaningless, only a number that brought no joy. But tonight all she wanted was silence, peace, a world where she could hide out.

  She scrubbed her eyes on her sleeve and felt a hand touch her shoulder like it were a bird, featherlight, landing there.

  Tori turned and recognized a woman she’d seen once before. The tall blonde in her midthirties owned one of the best galleries in Dallas. Who could forget Parker Lacey’s green eyes? She was a woman who had it all and knew how to handle her life. A born general who must manage her life as easily as she managed her business.

  “Are you all right, Tori?” Parker asked.

  Tori could say nothing but the truth. “I’m living the wrong life.”

  Then, the strangest thing happened. The lady with green eyes hugged her and Tori knew, for the first time in years, that someone had heard her, really heard her.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The stone-blue days of winter

  February

  Dallas, Texas

  PARKER LACEY SAT perfectly straight on the side of her hospital bed. Her short, sunny-blond hair combed, her makeup in place and her logical mind in control of all emotions, as always.

  She’d ignored the pain in her knee, the throbbing in her leg, for months. She ignored it now.

 
She’d been poked and examined all day, and now all that remained before the curtain fell on her life was for some doctor she barely knew to tell her just how long she had left to live. A month. Six months. If she was lucky, a year?

  Her mother had died when Parker was ten. Breast cancer at thirty-one. Her father died eight years later. Lung cancer at thirty-nine. Neither parent had made it to their fortieth birthday.

  Longevity simply didn’t run in Parker’s family. She’d known it and worried about dying all her adult life, and at thirty-seven, she realized her number would come up soon. Only she’d been smarter than all her ancestors. She would leave no offspring. There would be no next generation of Laceys. She was the last in her family.

  There were also no lovers, or close friends, she thought. Her funeral would be small.

  The beep of her cell phone interrupted her morbid thoughts.

  “Hello, Parker speaking,” she said.

  “I’m in!” came a soft voice. “I followed the map. It was just a few miles from where the bus stopped. The house is perfect, and your housekeeper delivered more groceries than I’ll be able to eat in a year. And, Parker, you were right. This isolated place will be heaven.”

  Parker forgot her problems. She could worry about dying later. Right now, she had to help one of her artists. “Tori, are you sure you weren’t followed?”

  “Yes. I did it just the way you suggested. Kept my head down. Dressed like a boy. Switched buses twice. One bus driver even told me to ‘Hurry along, kid.’”

  “Good. No one will probably connect me with you and no one knows I own a place in Crossroads. Stay there. You’ll be safe. You’ll have time to relax and think.”

  “They’ll question you when they realize I’ve vanished,” Tori said. “My stepfather won’t just let me disappear. I’m worth too much money to him.”

  Parker laughed, trying to sound reassuring. “Of course, people will ask how well we know one another. I’ll say I’m proud to show your work in my gallery and that we’ve only met a few times at gallery openings.” Both facts were true. “Besides, it’s no crime to vanish, Tori. You are an adult.”