Smoky Mountains Ranger

by LENA DIAZ,

  “No. It’s not.” Amelia coughed, and bright red blood bubbled out of her mouth.

  “Don’t try to talk.” Jody gently wiped the blood away. “Save your strength.”

  “I put the lock on your door.” Amelia clung to Jody’s hand and searched her gaze. “I didn’t think you were telling the truth. But I put the lock on your door to be sure, as a test. He never...he never said anything, never took it off. So I thought... I thought that proved me right. That he wasn’t the man you said he was.” She coughed again and started choking.

  “Jody, back up.”

  She scooted back and Adam rolled Amelia onto her side. She stopped coughing. He moved forward, his knees propping her up while he applied pressure to her wound again.

  Jody bent down, maintaining eye contact. Amelia was frighteningly pale, her eyes turning glassy.

  “Jody?”

  “I’m here.” Her voice broke as she clasped Amelia’s hands. “I won’t leave you. I’m here.”

  “I loved you, Jody. I should have been stronger, smarter. I should have fought for you.”

  “You did. He never hurt me again after you put that lock on my door,” Jody said, her heart breaking. “I love you, too. You were the only mother I ever knew. It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

  “Forgive me?” Amelia pleaded. “Please forgive me.”

  “I forgive you.”

  A smile curved her mother’s red-stained lips. Then her hand went slack in Jody’s.

  “Mama?” She shook Amelia’s hand. “Mama?”

  “Miss, let us help her,” a voice said behind her.

  “Mama?”

  Adam was suddenly there, pulling her back. “Let her go, Jody. You have to let her go.”

  “No! Mama?”

  Adam lifted her in his arms, then limped to one of the couches and collapsed onto the cushions, holding her tightly against him.

  “Shh,” he whispered against the top of her head. “Shh.”

  He stroked her back and rocked her as the paramedics worked on Amelia. Jody drew a ragged breath and closed her eyes, clinging to him and doing something she hadn’t done since she was a little girl and a judge sent her back to live with the monster.

  She prayed.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Three months later, Jody stood at the entrance to the Sugarland Mountain Trail, a jacket around her to ward off the chilly autumn temps up high in the mountains. A backpack of supplies was strapped on her shoulders. Sensible boots protected her feet, gave her sure footing.

  There was no cattle gate across the entrance this time, no warning signs declaring that the trail was closed, no man with a gun chasing her. She was all alone and ready to begin another journey, another chapter of her life.

  She pulled her cell phone out of her pants pocket. No bars, no service. But it showed the time. She’d been checking it every few minutes. When she realized the wait was over, a mixture of dread and excitement sent a shot of adrenaline through her. This was it. No turning back now. She started up the path.

  Her steps were measured, careful. She kept glancing at her phone, checking the time, checking her surroundings to get her bearings. She didn’t want to be late. Or early. She wanted everything to be perfect.

  A few minutes later, she reached the curve in the path, the one where Adam had disappeared all those months ago as he chased Damien. The one where she and Adam had run back the other way with two gunmen after them.

  Her pulse sped up, her body shaking. She pushed back the fear, knowing it was silly now. Damien and his men weren’t chasing her this time. The police had rounded up everyone involved in Peter Ingram’s schemes, and they were all either already convicted and in prison or in jail waiting for their trials. She was safe. No reason to be afraid.

  Well, at least not about bad guys, anyway.

  She forced her feet forward and rounded the curve, then hurried to her destination. When she reached the spot where Adam had forced her to take that huge leap of faith, she stopped. And looked out at the mountains and the Chimney Tops beyond. And waited.

  “Jody?”

  His voice sent a jolt of yearning straight through her. She drew a deep breath and turned.

  Adam stood ten feet away, having just come around the corner from the other direction. He was wearing his ranger’s uniform again, his gun holstered at his side, his new radio clipped to his belt.

  “How’s the leg?” She waved toward his left leg, which had a metal brace around it from ankle to knee.

  He took a step toward her, then stopped again, his gaze wary. “It’s fine. Thanks.”

  She swallowed, hating that she’d been the reason for that wariness. “This is your first day back on the job, isn’t it?”

  He frowned. “How did you know?”

  She took a step toward him. “I asked your brother. Duncan.”

  His jaw tightened. “He told you I was walking this trail, didn’t he?”

  She nodded.

  “Why? Why are you here?”

  She took another step forward. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”

  He looked away, out toward the Chimney Tops. “I don’t know what you want from me, Jody. I tried visiting, calling, texting, emailing, until I felt like a stalker and had to stop.” He looked back at her. “It’s been three months since your...since Peter Ingram died. You haven’t contacted me once.”

  She moved closer. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “You say that all the time. It doesn’t mean anything anymore.”

  She sighed and raked her hair back. “You’re right. I’m trying to stop apologizing so much. I’ve been going to therapy again, trying to move on, letting go of all the guilt I’ve been carrying around.” She let out a harsh laugh. “At least I’ve finally figured out why I’ve always felt so guilty.”

  “Your sisters. You blame yourself for leaving when you turned eighteen. You’ve worried that you didn’t fight for them, too. You left them behind, and it’s always bothered you.”

  She blinked. “How do you know that?”

  He gave her a sad smile. “Because I know you, Jody Vanessa Radcliffe.”

  She blinked again. “How did you know I changed my last name?”

  He tapped the badge clipped to his belt. “Cop.” He dropped his hand to his side. “Or I might have heard it from Duncan. He told me he’d offered you an investigator job with the National Park Service. You had to put your legal name on the paperwork.”

  She smiled. “You’ve been keeping tabs on me.”

  “Not since the first month. Like I said, I felt like a stalker, so I quit. Duncan, on the other hand, won’t stop talking about you. He’s torturing me.” He clamped his lips together and looked away.

  “Torturing you?” She took another step. “Hearing about me is torture?”

  His fingers curled into his palms, but he didn’t say anything.

  “It’s been torture for me, too,” she admitted. “Being away from you.”

  His gaze shot to hers. Still, he said nothing.

  “My mom’s fine, in case you’re wondering. You saved her life that day. You kept your cool, thought to grab the phone and call for help when I was completely losing it. The doctors said if you hadn’t gotten the EMTs there so fast, if you hadn’t kept pressure on the wound, she’d be dead. Thank you, Adam. Thank you for saving her.”

  He shook his head. “I did my job. And we were lucky you’d called 911 and the police and EMTs were already at my house.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. You have a talent for saving people.” She took another step forward. “You saved me. So many times. In so many ways.”

  He stared at her, some of the hostility and frustration easing from his expression. The wariness was back. But along with it was something else. Hope.

  “I neede
d the time, the distance,” she said. “From you, from my overwhelming feelings for you. Because I didn’t believe it could be real. We’d known each other for, what, a few days? Less than a week? Under traumatic circumstances. I didn’t trust my feelings. I had to process them. And I had to process my ‘unhealthy attitude’ toward sex.” She used air quotes. “Apparently my adoptive father did a number on my psyche and I never understood what a normal physical relationship was supposed to be like. Until you.”

  “You’re giving me too much credit.”

  She shrugged. “Not in my opinion. But I’m working through my relationship hang-ups. And my relationships with my adoptive family. I had to deal with my mother in the hospital, her recovery, getting to know my sisters and brothers, unraveling the legal tangle that Peter Ingram left for all of us.” She shook her head. “It was a mess. I was a mess. That’s why I’ve been going to a therapist.”

  He started to step forward, then stopped. “Are you okay?” He cleared his throat. “I mean, your adoptive family, the legal stuff.”

  “My adoptive...my family is...well, awkward might be the best way to put it. My sisters weren’t abused in spite of Amelia’s fears, by the way. Thank God for that. But they suspected what their father had done to me. That’s why Patricia wouldn’t let him be alone with her new daughter. She didn’t trust him. Still, they grew up with him as their dad, loving him as best they could with all that poison running just beneath the surface. I think they blame me for what’s happened to the family now. I can understand that. But I don’t apologize to anyone for it. Like I said, I’m moving on. From the guilt, from my past.” She stepped closer. “I’m moving toward my future now.”

  He looked down at her feet and smiled. “You’re wearing boots.”

  “And a shiny new backpack with supplies. I learned my lesson from the best. Always be prepared for the worst.” She took another step. “But hope for the best.”

  He stared at her intently, longingly, and took a step toward her. “I saw that your family house is for sale.”

  She nodded. “The courts awarded me all of the money, the house, even the land that Peter tried to swindle from me. The infrastructure deal is still going through. I didn’t try to stop it. But all the money from the land sales went to me.”

  “You’re rich now.”

  “In some people’s eyes, maybe. I gave a huge chunk of it to my mother and siblings. Including the house. But no one wants to live there because of everything that happened. It was their decision to sell.”

  “You gave a multimillion-dollar mansion plus more money on top of that to your family? After they turned their backs on you? And didn’t protect you?” His tone wasn’t accusing, just curious and concerned. As always, it was her he was worried about. Which reassured her that this little trip into the mountains had been the right thing to do. She hadn’t built him up in her mind as larger-than-life after all. He really was the wonderful, caring, protective man that she remembered from that dark time in her life that seemed so long ago now.

  “I don’t blame my adoptive family,” she explained. “Not anymore. In their own way, they were all just as much victims as I was. If I kept all that money, it would make me feel like the villain of their lives. There’s been too much hurt, too much hate in my life already. I didn’t want that. I did it for me, more than for them. I also gave some to Tracy’s family. They were there for me, always. So, for once, I was there for them. I’m here for you, now, Adam. If you still want me, that is.”

  “If I still want you?” He gave her an incredulous look. “Is that a joke?”

  “I hope not.”

  He quickly closed the remaining distance between them. He pulled her into his arms and looked down at her, a fierce, hungry expression on his face. “I’ll never stop wanting you. I want to kiss you. If you don’t want that, you’d better tell me right now.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck. “It’s about time.”

  He groaned and claimed her mouth with his. It wasn’t sweet or gentle like he’d been the first time he’d kissed her, when he’d shown her how a man who really cared about a woman treated her. This kiss was out of control, full of longing, yearning, and wild with desire. He was consuming her, and she was bursting into flames in his arms.

  His tongue tangled with hers, and his hands roamed over her body, stroking, teasing, tempting. When he finally broke the kiss, they were both panting.

  She stared up into his gorgeous blue eyes, gazing down at her with such yearning it nearly broke her heart. “I’m so sorry that I took so long to—”

  “No apologizing.” His voice was ragged, strained. He kissed her forehead and dragged her against him, his arms holding her tight. “I thought it was all in my head, that I was the only one who felt this way.”

  She pulled back so she could look up into his eyes, needing to hear the words. “Felt what way?”

  He frowned, looking uncertain again. “I love you, Jody. Don’t you know that?”

  She burst into tears.

  He lifted her in his arms. He carried her to one of the leftover stumps that still needed to be cleared from the trail and sat down with her in his lap. He rocked her and stroked her back. “Good tears?”

  She hugged him tight. “Good tears. I’m trying not to cry so much. But it’s going to take some work to change.”

  He set her back from him and cupped her face in his hands. “Don’t change for me, Jody. Don’t ever change. I love you just the way you are. Tears and all.”

  She hiccupped, and they both laughed.

  “I love you, too, Adam. I think I loved you from the moment you threw me off that stupid cliff and sacrificed your own body to protect mine.”

  “I didn’t throw you. I pulled you with me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Just don’t ever do it again. You scared me to death.”

  He kissed her, gently, softly, a fluttering caress like soft butterfly wings brushing against her heart. Then he smiled down at her with such reverence and love in his deep blue eyes that her tears started up again.

  “I love you, Jody. I may not know everything about you. But I know what matters—your caring heart, your courageous, selfless soul, your kind and giving spirit. And I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know all of the fascinating details that go along with that. I want to build a future with you. If you’ll have me.”

  She straightened in his arms. “What are you saying, Adam?”

  His hands shook as he gently feathered her hair back from her face. “I’m saying that I want to marry you. But I know we’ve only really known each other a short time. I don’t count the three months we’ve been apart. So I’ll start out slow. We can date for a while. I’ll introduce you to my family—my other brothers, Ian, too, if I can even locate him and convince him to come home for a visit. My mom, my dad. They have a cabin in the mountains where we grew up, where I got my love for the outdoors. I want to take you to Memphis, too. That’s where I started my career, as a beat cop, before the ranger position opened up and I could come back here, to my hometown. I want to share everything with you. And then, when you’re ready, once you feel you know me well enough, if you still think you love me, maybe then we can work on forever.”

  She shook her head in wonder. “You’re an amazing man, Adam McKenzie. And far more patient than me.” She shoved her hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small velvet box and held it out to him. “Open it.”

  He frowned. “What are you doing?”

  “What do you think I’m doing? I’m asking you to marry me. There’s a gold band in that box. I know it’s not the customary thing for a guy to wear an engagement ring. But you’re blazing hot and I want every woman who looks at you to know you’re taken.”

  “No.”

  She grew still in his arms. “No? You don’t want to marry me? But... I thought—”

  He presse
d a finger to her lips. “Hold that thought.” He reached behind him and unsnapped one of the small leather holders clipped to his belt. Then he held his hand out toward her. A large diamond sparkled in the sunlight, surrounded by a smaller cluster of diamonds on a white-gold band.

  Tears flowed again, and she didn’t even bother to wipe them away. There was no point. She seemed to have an endless supply. Her chin wobbled as she held out her left hand.

  He slid the ring onto her finger, then handed her the gold band she’d gotten him. She put it on his finger and stared up at him in wonder.

  “When? When did you get that ring?” she asked.

  “Right after the whole debacle at your old house. Every time one of those thugs pointed a gun your way, I felt like I was dying inside. I knew I was in love with you and there was no point in fighting it. I’ve carried that ring with me ever since, all the while hoping and praying you’d come back to me. If, or when, you were ever ready.”

  He lifted her off his lap and set her on the stump, then got down on his one good knee.

  “Jody Vanessa Radcliffe, will you make me the happiest man alive and agree to be my wife?”

  “Only if you’ll agree to make me the happiest woman in the world by being my husband.”

  He grinned. “I’ll do my best.”

  “You always do, Adam. You always do.”

  He took her in his arms, and into his heart, and once again, he saved her.

  * * *

  Look for the next book in award-winning author Lena Diaz’s The Mighty McKenzies miniseries, Smokies Special Agent, available next month!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Wyoming Cowboy Marine by Nicole Helm.

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