Cowboy Behind the Badge

by Delores Fossen

  Tucker figured Hague felt the same way about her. But which one of them had reason for concern?

  Maybe neither.

  Tucker glanced out the window at their third suspect, Darren, who was handing over his phone to Reed. Darren clearly wasn’t happy about that, and as soon as he slapped it in Reed’s hand, he started to pace on the sidewalk.

  “By any chance, did you call Darren earlier?” he asked Rhonda.

  “No.” Her forehead bunched up. “Why, did he say I did?”

  “No. Just wondering.”

  She stared at him, the tears welling up in her eyes again. “Darren did say that I had. I don’t know why people always accuse me of things I didn’t do.”

  Her hands were shaking like crazy, but she clutched her purse against her chest like a shield. Tucker nearly drew his gun again when she reached inside. But instead of a weapon, she pulled out a bottle of firecracker-red polish and proceeded to give her nails another coat.

  Rhonda followed Laine’s gaze to her hands. “I saw you looking at my nails when I was in here earlier. Couldn’t figure out why at first, but it was because of the manicure, wasn’t it?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “It’s just something I do when I’m stressed. It’s like you looking at Sergeant McKinnon.”

  Tucker blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “Laine always looks at you when she’s stressed. Like the conversation we had with Darren—whenever something hit a nerve with her, she’d look at you. You’re like her security blanket or something.”

  He glanced at Laine to see if this made a lick of sense. Tucker didn’t get much of an answer. Just a deer-caught-in-headlights look from Laine, and even that vanished when two people approached the door.

  Reed and Darren.

  Since Tucker didn’t trust Darren any farther than he could throw him, he stepped in front of Laine and put his hand on the butt of his gun. He’d already taken Darren’s gun, but that didn’t mean the man didn’t have a backup.

  Coming through the door, Darren scowled at Tucker’s stance. Tucker just scowled back. No way was he going to apologize for protecting Laine.

  Reed handed Tucker the man’s phone and then stepped away to make a call. Tucker scrolled through the recent calls on Darren’s phone until he got to one with an unknown name and number. It’d been made about an hour earlier—just about when those gunmen would have been setting up their attack.

  “I told you the person blocked the name and number. Satisfied?” Darren took back his phone. “I think after everything that just happened, I should take the babies to my ranch where I can keep them safe. When you get the DNA results back—”

  “I got the results,” Tucker interrupted. He tried to figure out a good way to share them, and just decided to blurt it out. “Dawn’s the mother, but you’re not the father.”

  Darren looked as if someone had slugged him. “You’re lying.”

  Tucker shook his head. “DNA proves otherwise. Their father’s a convicted murderer named Kurt Laverty. Did Dawn ever mention him?”

  “No.” Darren scrubbed his hand over his face and dropped down in one of the chairs. “I guess Dawn lied to me.”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry about that.” And he was. Tucker knew how he would feel if he’d thought those kids were his, only to learn they were someone else’s, and they were about to be legally snatched away.

  “Some good news,” Reed announced. “The medic said no one else was hurt in the shooting.”

  Tucker blew out a breath of relief, a breath that would have been a whole lot bigger if Buford had been caught. The man was a killer and would no doubt try to kill again if he wasn’t stopped.

  “Go ahead and start taking statements,” Tucker said to Reed, and he helped Laine to her feet. “I need to check on some...things.”

  Laine herself was one of those things, but he also needed to call Egan Caldwell, a Ranger friend. The minute he had her in the break room, Tucker checked her arm. Because of the pristine white bandage now covering it, he could no longer see that angry-looking cut, but the images of it in his head were way too clear.

  “Don’t say you’re sorry again,” she blurted out, and Laine came up on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss over his lips.

  Tucker hadn’t known just how much he needed that kiss until she gave it to him. He eased his arm around her and kissed her right back.

  Yeah. It was what he had needed all right, and judging from the little sound Laine made, she had needed it, too. And that wasn’t good. They had enough going on without adding kisses. That’s why he stopped this time, but Tucker wasn’t the sort of man who lied to himself.

  He would kiss her again.

  And more. They’d soon land in bed to take up where they’d left off all those years before. Later, that is. For now, he had to tell her something, and he was really going to have to sell it.

  “I need to arrange a safe house for the babies,” he started. “One away from us. It doesn’t have to be far, but they can’t be under the same roof as us.”

  Tucker got the reaction he figured he’d get. Her shoulders slumped, and her mouth began to tremble. “We’ve kept them safe so far.”

  “Yeah. But we’ve gotten lucky. We can’t continue to rely on luck when it comes to them. With Buford out there again, he or his boss could already be planning another attack on us. He wants us dead, and I don’t want the twins getting caught in the middle of another gunfight.”

  Hell, he didn’t want Laine caught in one, either. That cut on her arm was proof of just how close these morons had come to killing her. Next time, it could be a thousand times worse.

  “I’m the one the killers want most,” she said. “You need to distance yourself from me.”

  Oh, man.

  The tears came again, and Tucker pulled her back into his arms.

  “I’m not doing that, okay? They want us both. Those shots today proved that.” He shook his head. “For now, we stay together and try to figure out who’s behind this. Once we’ve done that, there’ll be no need for the babies to be in a safe house.”

  She seemed relieved, for a moment anyway, but then she had to blink back tears. “How soon would the twins be moved?”

  Best not to sugarcoat it. “Pretty much now.”

  He stepped a few feet away from her and called Egan. It wasn’t exactly a surprise call. Tucker had contacted him the night before and asked him to make preliminary arrangements. It was time to make those arrangements final.

  “I just heard about the shooting,” Egan said the moment he answered the call.

  “Yeah. We need to move the babies ASAP. Don’t tell me where you’re taking them.”

  Tucker didn’t think there were any leaks in the sheriff’s office, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Buford had had access to that particular room since he’d used the back door to escape, and Tucker didn’t want to risk Buford or his lawyer planting some kind of eavesdropping device.

  “Just promise me the babies will be safe,” Tucker added to Egan.

  “They will be. I’ll get a team out to your family’s ranch now to pick them up, and we’ll drive them to the safe house.”

  So everything was set into motion. Well, partly, anyway. “I want to see them before the Ranger moves them,” Laine insisted.

  Tucker didn’t argue with her. He wanted her out of there anyway, but he had to make sure everything was as secure as he could make it.

  When he went back into the squad room, he saw that Reed was on the phone. Rhonda and Darren were seated and writing their statements. Better yet, a guard from the jail and the night deputy had come in to help.

  Good.

  That freed him up to get Laine back to the ranch.

  “Call if you need me,” Tucker said to Reed. “And once we’re out of here, then you can let Hague’s law
yer go.” He started for the door.

  Reed held up his hand in a “wait a second” gesture. Tucker couldn’t tell who the deputy was talking to, but judging from his expression, this wasn’t good news.

  “How bad?” he asked, the moment Reed finished his call.

  “Bad.” Reed drew in a long, weary breath. “We’ve got two dead bodies on our hands.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Laine’s heart dropped when Tucker pulled in front of the Sweetwater Ranch. There was no sign of the Ranger team who’d come and collected the twins, and that meant she hadn’t been able to see them.

  Maybe for the last time.

  It shouldn’t have felt like a big deal since they weren’t hers. Might never be. And it wasn’t as if she didn’t have other things to occupy her mind, especially after the news of the two dead bodies. A horrible ending to what had been a horrible attack.

  One had been Penny Wilmer, Buford’s attorney.

  Her body had been found on the side of the road just outside of town. Since they’d known that Buford had taken her hostage, it wasn’t a total shock. Still, it’d been a reminder that they were dealing with killers.

  And one of those killers had been killed.

  Tucker and she didn’t have all the details yet, but it appeared that someone had gotten past the guard at the hospital who was watching the injured gunman, Hines, and had given the man a lethal injection. He could no longer tell them the identity of the person who’d hired him or any details about the black-market baby operation.

  Neither could the man who’d launched the attack from the roof of the diner because he was dead, too. Reed had shown Laine a photo of the dead man, just to verify it was their missing gunman who’d tried to kidnap her at Tucker’s place. It was.

  Now, Buford was the only one who could give them those details, and they’d have to find him first. So far, there’d been no sign of him.

  “I’m sorry,” Tucker said as he brought the truck to a stop in front of the house.

  He didn’t have to clarify that apology. Laine knew. He, too, seemed sorry that they’d missed saying goodbye to the babies.

  “You’re sure they’ll be safe with the Rangers?” Laine asked him.

  “Yeah. And the babies will be well cared for. The team has a nanny from the Safe Cradle Agency.”

  An agency that Laine knew well. It provided bodyguard nannies to at-risk infants and children. Sadly, the twins definitely fell into that category.

  Because she and Tucker were also in danger, he didn’t waste any time getting her into the house. Colt was in the foyer, waiting for them.

  “The Rangers left about ten minutes ago,” Colt said, checking his watch. “Now that you’re back, I need to head to the office and help Reed. There’s a mountain of paperwork from the two murders.”

  Tucker nodded. “Thanks for everything.” He glanced around the empty rooms that flanked the foyer. “Where are the others?”

  “Rosalie went up to her room. Mary, too. They were a little upset to see the babies leave. Dad’s out with one of the hands checking on some new calves.”

  Colt headed for the door, and the moment he was outside, Tucker locked up and set the security system. “Come on,” Tucker added. “You’ve got to get some rest.”

  Laine was too exhausted to argue, and besides, the look on his face was troubled enough without her adding more to it by protesting.

  “I know you don’t want to worry about me,” she mumbled as they worked their way up the stairs. “And you don’t have to. I’m not going to fall apart or anything.”

  She hoped.

  Tucker made a noncommittal sound that rumbled deep in his throat, and he just kept her moving until they reached the guest room. Laine expected him to deposit her inside and head to the ranch office to work, but he stepped inside with her.

  “Rest,” he ordered, tipping his head to the bed.

  She blindly started in that direction, but then stopped and placed her hand on the side of his face. “Rest would do you some good, too.”

  His eyebrow moved up, and she knew what his answer would be. No way. Tucker would work himself into the ground to try to make things right.

  But maybe she could do something about that.

  Without thinking it through, Laine came up on her toes and brushed her mouth over his. She should have thought it through. Or rested, as Tucker had ordered. Because she’d only meant for it to be a kiss of comfort.

  However, their kisses weren’t the comforting sort.

  Nope. Just the simple touch sent a lightning bolt of heat through her entire body. It probably didn’t have that same kind of impact on Tucker, but it did put some fire in his eyes.

  “Really?” he challenged.

  She lifted her shoulder. “I figure I’ve made so many mistakes already. Going to the baby farm with the CI. Getting involved with Darren. Running to you for help. What’s one more?”

  He didn’t lift his eyebrow this time, but he did tighten his mouth. “You think coming to me was a mistake?”

  “Of course.” Not that she’d had other solid options, but she should have come up with something. Anything. “Buford wouldn’t have tried to kill you if I’d managed to go to someone else.”

  “No, he would just have tried to kill that someone else.” Tucker mumbled some profanity, slipped his arm around her waist and eased her to him. “So, no mistake there. But the other three things, yeah, definite mistakes.”

  She flinched a little. “You lumped that kiss in with those other huge mistakes?”

  He stared down at her. “Yeah, because it wasn’t just a kiss. You’re tired. I’m tired. Our defenses are way down, and anything including a simple kiss will feel as if it’s full-blown foreplay.”

  Laine couldn’t argue with that, either. Her nerves were right there at the surface, and it would feel so good to lose herself in Tucker’s arms.

  In his bed.

  The timing was all wrong, though.

  She shook her head, rethinking that. The timing would always be wrong with Tucker. His mother’s trial would start soon, bringing all those old memories to the surface. While neither she nor Tucker seemed to have much emotional stake in the outcome of all that, it would mean having to deal with their families’ reactions.

  Especially her mother’s.

  And his father’s. And those of half of his siblings.

  “Talking yourself out of it, huh?” Tucker drawled.

  She started to nod, but rethought that, too. The timing would never be good for them. Her family was never going to accept him, and the same was true for his accepting her. Besides, there was no telling when this investigation might be over.

  No telling when they’d have a chance to be alone again like this.

  Or when she’d have an opportunity to add another mistake to the ones she’d already made.

  Laine reached up, slid her hand around the back of Tucker’s neck and pulled him down to her. No hesitation. No resistance. From either of them.

  Just the sizzling kiss that she knew meant there was no more turning back.

  * * *

  TUCKER HAD SOME serious doubts about this. Man, did he. But he just shoved those doubts aside and kept on kissing Laine as if he had a right to do just that.

  He didn’t.

  The only thing he had a right to do was protect her, and while kissing her wouldn’t do that, Tucker couldn’t see any way around it.

  Laine and he had been eyeing each other for a while now, and the heat had been building with each passing second. He’d have an easier time stopping his lungs from needing air than he would putting a stop to this.

  So, knowing he was making a huge mistake, Tucker decided to make it worth whatever the hell price they were going to pay for this. And there would
be a price. Laine was all worked up now, but soon she’d realize it was impossible for the two of them to be together.

  That put a knot in his gut, and gave him a few much-needed seconds of hesitation. He pulled back just a little, his gaze meeting hers.

  “What?” she said, her voice warm and breathy. “Please tell me you’re not stopping.”

  “No.”

  But Tucker likely would have given a little more thought to that no chance of making this work notion if she hadn’t latched onto his neck and pulled him back to her for a kiss. She didn’t stop there. Laine pushed up his shirt, her hand landing on his chest.

  Heck, that did it.

  No more time for thoughts or doubts. He deepened the kiss and did some shirt-tugging of his own.

  Tucker pulled off her top and sent it sailing over his shoulder. He got a good look at those curves that’d been driving him crazy. A good taste, too, when he lowered his head to kiss the tops of her breasts.

  Oh, man. He’d figured this would be good, but he’d way underestimated it. She was perfect—not just her breasts, but the rest of her, too.

  Laine made a helpless little sound of surrender, and she sagged against him. Tucker pinned her against the closed door and kept kissing her until soon, very soon, it wasn’t enough.

  The lacy white bra went next, and he got a punch of sizzling heat when he kissed her bare breasts. And lower, to her stomach.

  Laine made more of those sounds when his mouth reached the front of her jeans. He unzipped them, pulling them off her. Her panties, too. The next kiss caused her moans to get significantly louder.

  “Get up here,” she mumbled, grabbing onto his shoulders and hauling him back up the length of her body. “I want us to do this together, with you inside me.”

  Tucker had no objections to that, but he was more than a little concerned that together was going to happen pretty darn fast. Laine didn’t just tug at his clothes. She started fighting to get him undressed, and Tucker intended to help her do just that.

  But she stopped him with a kiss.