by Ciana Stone
Copyright © 2018 Ciana Stone
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, businesses, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 Ciana Stone
Cover by Syneca Featherstone
All rights reserved.
Brody Judge
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Brody Judge Copyright © 2018 Ciana Stone
Cover art by Syneca
Edited by Mary Harris
Electronic book publication May 21, 2018
Print book publication May 14, 2018
This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Syneca Featherstone
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.
Dedication:
For my honeyman – You know it’s true. I do, I do.
And for some very special readers who were kind enough to
Beta read for me. People joke about authors saying they have a tribe,
but they wouldn't if they were part of mine. You are all
THE BEST!!
Terri Eaches ,Mary Lynde, Kimberly G., Jeanne S.,
Sue P., Dottie Weiss, Jennie and Cathy B.
I am so grateful, and love you all.
It’s a happy little town. People smile and greet one another when they meet on the sidewalk or in the park. They wave to each other as their vehicles pass, and the chatter in the local diner, bakery and restaurants is always flavored with laughter.
You’d like it here and would fit right in. I can see it in my mind, the way you’d charm the people, that infectious smile that never failed to elicit one in return. You’d stop and chat on the sidewalk, offer to help some elderly women get her shopping bags into her car, or open a shop door for someone.
Children who saw you at the park would call your name, pull you into their games and you’d laugh in delight at their innocence and enthusiasm. The mothers would smile and talk in low voices about how kind and handsome you are and how lucky your wife is to have such a wonderful man, and what a fortunate little girl to have such a caring parent and they would be right.
In the evenings, you’d drape your arm over my shoulder as we sat on the porch and watched the sun sink into the horizon and I would feel safe and protected and the most blessed girl in the world.
Yes, it’s the perfect little town, the one I always made up stories about. The one I always wished we’d live in one day. That one day just never came, did it? You went away, and that was that.
Chapter One
Tonya, a pretty, browned haired server in her early twenties, stopped at the two-seat table by the window. “Freshen your coffee, ma’am?”
“Hmm.” The woman seated at the table nodded without looking at Tonya. Instead, she glanced at the scene outside the window before turning her attention back to the notebook on the table in front of her.
Tonya poured the coffee, and the woman glanced up. “Thank you.” Her voice was so soft it was almost unintelligible in the noise of the diner.
“You’re welcome.” Tonya returned the smile the woman offered, though hardly as timid and moved on to her next table, one where Cody Sweet-Riggs, her sister, Hannah Sweet-Weathers and Jolene Weathers were having breakfast.
“Y’all want refills?” Tonya asked.
“I do.” Cody answered and lowered her voice. “Is that the woman who moved into the Broom’s house down past the old livery on Steeple Road?”
“I don't know. Don’t your mom and Dad own that place now?”
“Yes,” Hannah piped up. “They bought it when the Broom’s moved back to Arkansas to be closer to her sister."
“Yeah, okay.” Cody dismissed the topic of ownership. “Is that the woman who rented the place?”
“I guess,” Tonya replied. “She’s been coming in for coffee almost every morning for the last two months. Ever since she moved here, I think. If that two-top by the window is full she leaves, but if it’s available, she has two slices of toast with coffee and sits there, looking out of the window and drawing or writing in her notebook.”
“What’s her story?” Hannah asked. “Does anyone even know her name?”
“Well, it is your parents who rented to her.” Jolene pointed out, “so why not ask them?”
“Because they’re not here.” Cody replied and looked at Tonya. “So?”
“Beats me.” Tonya cut a quick glance around before continuing. “But she’s the most untalkative person I’ve ever met. She says toast and coffee please, thank you and goodbye and that’s it. I mean look at her, she avoids making eye contact and if she thinks someone is going to speak to her, she quickly looks down.”
“Well, where does she come from?” Hannah asked. “And has anyone had any interaction with her at all?”
“Oh, no clue.” Tonya looked around as she heard her name being called. “Oops, order’s up, gotta scoot.”
Once she left, Jolene, who had been diddling on her phone, spoke up. “I didn’t want to say anything with Tonya here, but I think I might know who that woman is.” She turned her phone so the others could see.
“That’s her, all right.” Cody said. “So, what’s the scoop? Have you met her before she moved here?”
“No, but I remember reading about her.”
“Reading about her?” Hannah stole a quick look at the woman. “Is she famous or something?”
“A bit, yes.” Jolene put her phone away. “At one time she was a much sought-after photographer and artist.”
“At one time?” Cody asked. “Sounds like there’s a story attached to this.”
“And one best told in a more private place,” Jolene added.
“Now I really have to know,” Cody said. “What do you say about taking this over to my house? I have some leftover apple pie that Hannah baked, and I bet Jax has already put on the second pot of coffee.”
“I’m game,” Hannah said and rubbed her pregnant belly. “But then I am eating for two.”
“Or a basketball team,” Cody remarked and ignored the middle finger salute her sister offered. “Jo?”
“I probably should get back−”
“Oh no, you don’t.” Cody cut Jolene off. “You can’t leave us hanging like that. We want to know the story behind the mysterious silent woman of Cotton Creek.”
Jolene shrugged. “Fine, let’s pay the bill and go.”
“I got it.” Cody got up to pay and looked over her shoulder at the woman seated by the window. There was nothing Cody liked more than finding out the scoop on new residents. Particularly ones with an interesting past. And it seemed that the new woman in town just might fill that bill.
Chapter Two
“What the− “Brody did a double-take
then just stood and watched. He’d gotten up an hour earlier today, so he’d have time to go through the obstacle course before the day’s training began.
He’d built up several months of leave, so when Deacon asked him to come to the Clear Springs Ground Training Center in Cray County, Texas to help with the new batch of recruits, he jumped at the chance. It wasn’t until he saw the obstacle course yesterday that he decided he might better give it a go before the trainees showed up. Brody hated to make himself or Deacon look bad, and it’d been a while since he’d tackled one of these courses.
Now, he was surprised and quite impressed as he stood there in the minutes before dawn, watching a woman tear through the course like it was child’s play. Who the hell was this gal?
There was one way to find out. She was nearing the end of the course when he took off at a run. He was fifty feet away when she suddenly looked in his direction. To his shock, they both stopped dead in their tracks. Their gazes locked and for the next few seconds they were frozen in time.
She broke the connection and took off at an all-out run. Brody gave chase but couldn’t catch up with her. She somehow slipped through the fence and headed across open land. He thought about continuing the chase but decided on another course of action to figure out who she was. Namely, ask and see if anyone knew her.
As he headed back to the start of the obstacle course, he thought about the woman, about her appearance and the look in her eyes. What was it he’d seen there and why was he suddenly so gung-ho to find out more about her?
That question occupied him as he took on the course, and perhaps it was the distraction he needed to keep his head off the possibility of looking bad and allowed his body to do what it’d been trained for. When he finished, he grinned and headed back for the barracks.
He encountered Deacon on his way. “Early morning run?”
“Gotta keep in shape so these kids don’t kick my ass.” Deacon replied. “Come on, only two more miles to go.”
Brody fell into pace with Deacon and for a minute or two they ran in silence. Deacon looked over at him. “Within a week they’ll have the wall finished. You up to training the newbies on free-climbing?”
“Seriously? Where’s this wall and how big is it?”
“Two hundred feet and it’s essentially a man-made mountain with a sheer drop to the lake. We can run over there if you want.”
“Hell yeah.”
When they reached the wall, they slowed and walked. “This is insane.” Brody looked around. It was, in fact, a small mountain. “How the hell did you do this?”
“You’d be surprised what can be done with steel and concrete these days.”
“How deep is the water at the base?”
“Forty feet. They had to dig it out a lot and used the dirt and rock from the lake in building the mountain.”
Brody grinned. “It’s like a freaking playground.”
Deacon laughed. “Only to someone like you, son. Which reminds me. If you ever decide you’d like to rotate off active duty, you have a place here.”
“Thanks, sir. I appreciate it, but there’s no real reason for me to stay stateside. My folks moved up to Canada to be closer to my sisters who both live there with their kids and it’s not like I have a steady lady waiting for me here.”
“You never know when that will change.”
Brody laughed. “Yeah, no shit. I mean, no disrespect, but who woulda thought you’d settle down and get married.”
Deacon smiled in response. “No offense taken, and no one was more surprised than me.”
“She’s hot, you know.” Brody said. “And talented. She makes crazy good blades.”
“I agree. With all of it.”
“I’m happy for you, sir. And maybe one day I’ll have a reason to stay on home soil. But for now, this is just a vacation before I get back to it.”
“I hear you. Come on, let’s head back. Those recruits will be up by now.”
They ran along in silence for a good five minutes before Brody’s curiosity demanded satisfaction. “Have you ever seen a woman on the obstacle course?”
“You mean the mystery girl who kicks the hell out of the course before dawn almost every day?”
“Yeah, that’d be the one.”
“Mica said that according to Mathias, she comes in from the west, makes short work of the course then runs back the way she came. He’s encountered her once or twice but didn’t speak and neither did she.”
“So, no one knows who she is or where she came from?”
“Not really. But there are only so many places she could have come from. To the west are a few ranches and farms, maybe a dozen, an old sawmill and closer to town some neighborhoods that were built during the big oil boom around here a few years ago. But I’d guess that those are a bit too far—must be a good twenty miles to the first of them.”
“Which means she must come from one of the farms or ranches.”
“I guess.”
“And Mica doesn’t know anything about her?”
“Not that I know of. You could ask her. Or ask Mason’s wife, Savannah. She owns a spa in town, so she knows most of the women around here.”
“It’s not that important.” Brody replied.
“Seems like it was.”
Brody didn’t answer because he wasn’t sure why it did matter. Perhaps he’d understand if he could decipher that look in her eyes when their gazes locked. And he probably wouldn’t accomplish that unless he saw her again.
Which just might mean he’d be getting up earlier in the morning, as well.
Chapter Three
“Have you met her?” Savannah asked Charli as they watched the kids playing.
“No. I’ve never even seen her.” Charli replied and nudged some toys near her foot in the direction of the rest of the pile on the family room floor. “Cody and Hannah have. And Jo. And Cody said that they have the scoop on her. But why did you ask in the first place? Seems like everyone I know is curious about this woman.”
“I’m curious because Mica said something about seeing Hannah a few days ago and the subject came up and Hannah wanted to know if Mica had met the woman.”
“More curious by the moment.” Charli commented and then looked around at the sound of a man’s voice. “The guys must be here.”
“I hope they brought food. I’m starving.”
“How the heck can you stay so thin and eat so much? You and Cody are just alike in that respect.”
Savannah shrugged. “Beats me. By the way, are she and Jax coming?”
“She said they were. I thought they’d−”
“If we’re late, it’s Jax’s fault.” Cody’s voice interrupted, followed by a laugh from Jax who carried their son, Billy. “And I brought food from the Grille. Hope Y’all don’t mind barbecue.”
“Never.” Savannah stood and held out her arms to Billy. “Come here, you cutie.” Billy went willingly into her arms and she hugged him. “And you’re not late.”
Jax smiled, and it struck Savannah once again how sexy he was. “Seems like your spa has become the hit of the town,” he said.
Savannah smiled and responded as she carried Billy over to where Charli’s daughter Josie and her own baby, Mandy were playing. “I’m really thrilled at how well it’s doing.” Billy squealed and babbled happily when she put him down.
“Looks like the party is out here.” Her husband Mason’s voice had her looking in the direction of the patio door, as did Jax. Grady was with Mason and stopped at the patio table where Charli and Cody were setting things up for dinner.
“Hey, Mason.” Jax offered his hand as Mason walked over. “How’re things over at Sanctuary?”
“Good, really good.” Mason took Jax’s hand. “How’re you, Jax?”
“Couldn’t be better.”
“Deacon tells me that he hit you up about helping with sniper training.”
“He did.”
“And?”
“As I told him, it seems stra
nge for an Army man to train SEALs.”
“Army Rangers, right?”
“Yes.”
“Special forces are special forces and from what Deacon says, you were one of the best.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Still, you have a lot to offer. Just think about it.”
“Are you involved in the training thing at Clear Springs? I thought Sanctuary was still private?”
“It is and no I’m not involved. Just interested.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll think about it.”
“Did Y’all hear about that mystery woman who’s been running the obstacle course every morning while everyone’s still asleep?” Charli asked.
“Seriously?” Jax looked at Grady.
“Yeah. Jasper Jacks was the first one to spot her and the other day Brody Judge, a SEAL with some leave time who’s helping out, saw her as well. She kills it man. Kills it.”
“That’s seriously impressive. Who is she?”
“That’s just it, no one knows. Mathias Gray Horse has seen her a couple of times, coming or going, but he doesn’t know anything more than that.
“A mystery.” Savannah remarked. “You should have someone follow her.”
“And what?” Grady asked.
“Hmm, good point. Well, so much for that mystery.” She looked at Cody. “But we still have the one from town—that woman who always eats breakfast alone at the diner and doesn’t talk. You said Jo knows something about her.”
“Yes. She found a picture of this woman online who was once a pretty well-known photographer and artist. It looked just like the mystery woman, but as it turns out it couldn’t be.”
“Why not?” Savannah asked.
“Well,” Cody looked around at everyone. “It’s really pretty sad. She and her husband were somewhere overseas, and they died in some awful accident.”
Savannah noticed the way Mason’s head swiveled in Cody’s direction and the expression on his face. Before she could comment on it, he’d spoken. “Do you know her name? The lady who died, I mean.”