by Rita Herron
What if he failed Kaylie and her daughter?
Kaylie wanted to trust Mitch. God knows she needed help and everyone else had let her down.
Or they’d died trying to protect her.
She didn’t want any harm to come to Mitch. He’d obviously suffered a terrible tragedy in his own life.
“Mitch, I appreciate the offer, but the last two men who guarded me and CeCe ended up dead.”
Mitch’s expression hardened. “Don’t worry about me.”
The deep sorrow in his voice moved her more than anything else.
Mitch led her to the porch swing, and they settled inside it. “I won’t let you go out there alone, Kaylie. Tell me exactly what happened.”
Kaylie gripped his hand like a lifeline and relayed the details of the night her husband was murdered.
“You identified Larry Buckham even though you didn’t actually see his face?”
She nodded. “I recognized his voice. And those eyes. I’d never forget the cold way he looked at me and CeCe.”
“The police believed he was the serial murderer killing families around Austin? Other than your testimony, did they have evidence at the trial to support that theory?”
“The MO was the same,” Kaylie said. “And he had no alibi for the night of the other murders. He also used the same kind of weapon.”
“All circumstantial.”
“Yes, but the photos of Joe’s body and the bedroom where he was murdered were pretty convincing.”
“Then why is Buckham’s attorney making suggestions that you killed your husband?”
Kaylie’s breath caught. “You really did investigate me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but not to hurt you, Kaylie.”
“You think I killed my husband?”
“If I believed you were guilty, I would have turned you in.”
His faith in her triggered another well of emotions. It had been so long since she’d leaned on anyone that she didn’t know how to respond.
“Were you and Joe having problems in your marriage?” Mitch asked quietly.
Kaylie shook her head. “No. Although thinking back, he was distant the last few months and took several out of town trips. But I just thought he was preoccupied with work.”
“Any financial problems?”
She released a weary sigh as if she didn’t want to discuss the past.
“Kaylie, I can’t help you if I don’t know the truth.”
“I didn’t think so, but when I looked back at some paperwork I found after he died, I discovered an account I didn’t know about.”
Mitch pushed the swing back and forth with his feet, tension stretching between them. “Is there any chance he was killed over the money in that account?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
“What happened after the trial?”
Kaylie remembered the grief-stricken months. “CeCe and I tried to put our life back together. But then Buckham escaped in that prison break, and we went into protective custody.”
“Then what happened?”
“One night we were at the safe house and someone threw a pipe bomb inside. Arnold, the man guarding us, rushed us toward the back door, but it was a setup and he was shot.”
“You and CeCe escaped?”
Kaylie trembled as she remembered how terrified she and CeCe had been. “CeCe was crying and screaming, but we ran to the car, and I just drove,” Kaylie said. “I had to get us away. Later when I stopped to call Rafferty, the marshal in charge of our protective detail, I heard a shot fired on the other end of the line. He . . . was shot, too.”
Kaylie didn’t realize tears were streaming down her cheeks until Mitch pulled her into his arms. Exhausted, she collapsed against him.
Tomorrow she would be strong. But tonight, she gave in and let him hold her.
Mitch cradled Kaylie to him, soothing her with gentle touches and whispered words as he imagined the terror CeCe had felt.
She had not only witnessed her father’s murder, but also another man’s. And she knew that a bad man was after her mother and her.
Kaylie sighed against him, such a weary sound that his lungs strained for air. More than anything he wanted to make her feel secure.
He tilted her head up and looked into her eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Kaylie. I promise.”
Hope and desire flickered in her expression, then she parted her lips. Tension stretched between them for a heartbeat before she touched his jaw, then leaned up and kissed him.
Mitch had been consumed with pain and an emptiness that had broken him. But Kaylie’s trust and her sweet lips against his brought him back to life.
He wanted more.
Yet he had to be careful. He couldn’t take advantage of her.
She drew his face closer, and deepened the kiss, inviting his tongue to play with hers.
Hunger heated his blood, and he threaded his fingers into her hair, desperate to be closer to her. He rubbed her back, then trailed kisses down her ear and her neck, inhaling her feminine scent.
But reality interceded, and he remembered that a madman might be watching, so he slowly ended the kiss.
“You should go inside,” he said gruffly.
Kaylie’s gaze met his, the need in her eyes twisting him inside out. “Come with me, Mitch.”
“Kaylie—”
“Please. I don’t want to be alone tonight.”
Neither did he.
But he couldn’t forget they were in danger. He hurried to his truck, retrieved his shotgun, then followed her inside and locked the door.
Ignoring the warning voice in his head, he stopped at the master bedroom door while she checked on CeCe. When she emerged from the room, he expected her to change her mind.
It would be the smart thing to do.
But she gathered his hand in hers and pulled him into the bedroom. Mitch closed the door when they entered, determined to give Kaylie the opportunity to stop if she wanted.
“Mitch?”
“I’m trying to do the right thing,” he said in a low voice.
“You are. You’re taking care of me and CeCe tonight. That’s all I expect, all I need.”
He wanted it, too. Although he had a sinking feeling that tonight might not be enough. That if she planned to run tomorrow, he’d stop her.
Silencing the doubts in his mind, he gave into the need and desire her words evoked and kissed her again.
One touch of his lips on hers led to heated touches, and he slowly stripped her blouse and trailed kisses along her throat and neck. She threaded her fingers into his hair and rubbed her foot against his calf.
Desire bolted through him. His body hardened to an aching need, and he cupped her breast in his hand. She whispered his name, the soft sound tender with longing.
Knowing she wanted him with the intensity he felt for her drove him to strip her bra and gingerly tease her nipples with his thumb. She moaned his name, and he lowered his mouth, tugged one plump nipple into his mouth and suckled her.
She raked her hands down his back, clinging to him as her body shivered against him. His sex throbbed, hardening and bulging against the fly of his jeans, but he wanted to give her pleasure more than he wanted to take it for himself.
He backed her toward the bed and lowered her onto the mattress, kissing her again as he tugged at her jeans. She pulled at his shirt, unbuttoning it frantically and shoving it over his shoulders.
Heat blazed between them, clothes flying to the floor as they caressed and loved each other. Naked body against naked body, the friction was almost more than Mitch could bear.
She reached down to cup his sex, but he pushed her hand away, laving her breasts again, then he dropped kisses down her belly to her inner thighs. Exhilarated when she whimpered his name, he parted her thighs and dr
ove his tongue between her legs.
Her sweet feminine taste intensified his hunger, and he flicked his tongue along her clit, teasing her unmercifully until her body began to quiver with sensations.
“Mitch . . .”
He loved the way she said his name as if she wanted him inside her.
He wanted to be there, too, to fill her and make her his.
The thought startled him, and he started to pull away. But her hands clawed at him as her body convulsed with her release. He savored the taste of her, rising on his knees as he dug a condom from his pocket, rolled it on, then guided his cock toward her center.
She lifted her hips, begging for him, and he obeyed, sliding his thick length inside her, pulling out and thrusting again. He gripped her bottom and angled her so he could reach deeper, his body gliding against hers, building a rhythm as they caressed and loved one another.
Kaylie clung to Mitch, her body quivering with erotic sensations that drove her over the edge into bliss. She whispered his name in a throaty moan, gripping his hips as he pounded inside her.
Mitch was a big man, strong and powerful, fierce in his loving, but tender in the way he held her and looked into her eyes as his release claimed him.
Before he could pull out, she knew she wanted him again. That in spite of her fear and the situation, she was falling for him.
But he had lied to her and investigated her. Had stood by while she cleaned and decorated his house and said nothing.
Doubts and anger warred in her mind, but he kissed her again, and she forgot everything but the feel of his hands touching her and his weight on top of her.
When he finally rolled off of her and cradled her in his arms, she closed her eyes and fell into a contented sleep.
And for the first time in months, she dreamt of a future for her and CeCe that didn’t include murder.
The Texas Ranger was screwing the bitch.
Buckham adjusted his binoculars, furious.
Shit. How was he going to kill her with that Ranger all over her?
The newsfeed buzzed in his earphone, the reporter citing that another family murder had occurred the night before. Over in Bend Creek.
Just a few miles away.
The damn Family Man had laid low while he was in jail. He’d probably laughed his ass off knowing that he’d gotten away with three murders while another man took the blame.
Buckham grunted, lit a cigarette and took a puff. For Whittaker’s murder, he’d have done time. But he wouldn’t have been sitting on death row if not for the other murders.
Murders he had nothing to do with.
The dumbass cops had to be set straight. First, he’d kill Whittaker’s wife. Then he might just have to find the real Family Man killer himself and point him out to the stupid fucking cops.
Mitch stared at the ceiling, his pulse clamoring at the sound of Kaylie’s soft breathing.
He shouldn’t have made love to her.
But how he could not have?
The hunger in her eyes had mirrored the need and desire consuming him.
But guilt nagged at him, and he felt as if he’d betrayed his dead wife and son by having Kaylie and CeCe into their home.
CeCe’s comment about his son taunted him. She’d said that Todd told her she could play with the toys.
Where had she come up with that?
Confused by his warring emotions, he slowly extracted himself from Kaylie, slid from bed and walked to the bathroom. After he disposed of the condom, he yanked on his clothes and eased from the room.
Crawling back in bed with Kaylie teased at his mind, but he couldn’t. When Buckham was back in jail, she would leave and move on with her life.
And he would be here.
Alone with his grief and memories of Todd. And now memories of watching Kaylie and her daughter decorate his house and the Christmas tree, the two of them filling the house with laughter and the smell of fried chicken and cookies baking.
It was almost more than he could bear.
She couldn’t leave yet anyway. Buckham was still on the loose, probably hunting for another victim. The idea of a cold-blooded killer getting his hands on her or her daughter resurrected his instincts as a Texas Ranger.
He couldn’t let down his guard. Kaylie had been here several days now. For all he knew Buckham might have already tracked her to the ranch.
Kaylie rolled over in bed, erotic memories of the night before suffusing her. Last night in Mitch’s arms gave her hope that everything would be all right again.
But the bed beside her was empty.
Did Mitch have regrets?
It’s for the best, she told herself. She wouldn’t want CeCe to find them together.
She slipped from bed, showered and dressed, the calendar mocking her. Two days until Christmas.
CeCe had added a cowboy hat and pink cowboy boots to her Christmas list. She had to figure out a way to buy them.
CeCe was still sleeping, so she sewed a new outfit for CeCe’s doll, made a blanket from scraps, and a pillow, and then fashioned a baby carrier for the doll.
By the time she finished, CeCe tiptoed down the steps in her pajamas. Kaylie cooked biscuits and sausage for breakfast, and CeCe wolfed hers down. Mitch had disappeared, probably to check on something on the ranch.
A few minutes later, he appeared in the kitchen, looking freshly shaven and sexy in his western shirt and jeans.
God, he was more man than any man should be.
CeCe raced over to him and grabbed his big hand. Hers looked impossibly small next to his rugged palm. “Can I ride Horseshoe again today?”
“Maybe later. I thought we might ride into town this morning and do a little Christmas shopping.”
CeCe motioned for Mitch to squat down, then whispered something in his ear. When he pulled back, he grinned at her.
“That’s a great idea, sweatpea.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Kaylie asked.
CeCe bounced from foot to foot, looking sheepish.
“Nothing,” Mitch said with a wink toward her daughter. “You can’t be nosing around too much at Christmas.”
Kaylie blushed at his teasing tone. CeCe must have asked him to help her shop. The fact that Mitch would do something so sweet for her daughter melted her heart.
Mitch grabbed a biscuit and sausage from the counter. “Go get dressed, CeCe. We’ll leave in a few minutes.”
“Yippee!” CeCe skipped toward the steps, and Kaylie wanted to hug Mitch.
“Thank you for being so kind to her,” Kaylie said. And to me.
“She’s a great kid. She deserves that much.”
“Yes, she does,” Kaylie said. “And I need to buy the gifts on her Christmas wish list. But we have to be careful in town so no one recognizes us.”
“They’ll be looking for you and CeCe alone, not the three of us.”
“True.” Kaylie wiped down the counter. “But I’m still nervous.”
Mitch cleared his throat. “Trust me. I won’t let anything happen to either of you.”
Kaylie nodded, desperate to touch him again. She did trust Mitch.
But she didn’t trust herself. Because she was falling in love with Mitch.
A man who was still mourning the loss of his wife and son.
And she couldn’t even fantasize about a future when her life was such a mess.
When keeping her daughter safe was the only thing that really mattered.
Mitch stayed alert as he drove Kaylie and CeCe into town. CeCe wore a ball cap, and Kaylie tied a scarf around her hair, but she seemed nervous and twitchy as they entered the department store.
“CeCe and I have a little errand to run.” He gave Kaylie a throwaway cell he’d bought at the gas station on the way in, obviously offering her time to shop for CeC
e’s gifts. “Call me if you see anything suspicious.”
“I will.” She caught Mitch’s arm. “Thanks, Mitch.”
He pointed to an elderly woman with graying hair, then whispered, “Let Vera help you. She’ll know where the pink boots are.”
He took CeCe’s hand, and they left Kaylie with Vera. CeCe chattered on and on about how pretty the decorations in the store looked as they found the jewelry section.
“I wants to get Mommy a Christmas pin,” CeCe said. “One that sparkles.”
“She’ll love that,” Mitch said.
A teenager with striped red hair grinned at CeCe when she described what she wanted. “I know just where to find it.”
The teen showed CeCe a display, and CeCe’s eyes lit up. There were candy canes, Christmas trees, wreaths, and angels that glittered.
“The angel,” CeCe said. “Cause Mommy said Daddy is an angel watching over us.”
The reminder of her father made Mitch look around for Buckham. CeCe counted out the money she’d saved from helping her mother do chores, and the salesclerk boxed up the pin and handed it to CeCe.
Mitch’s cell phone buzzed, and he checked the number. Micah Hardin. He’d call him back. “Hey, sweet pea, let’s find your mother.”
“’kay,” CeCe said in a low voice as she tugged at his hand. “But don’t tell her ’bout the pin. It’s a surprise.”
Mitch made a gesture with his fingers as if he was locking the secret in a vault.
They found Kaylie with a shopping bag and a smile on her face.
She looked so damn beautiful that Mitch wanted to wrap her in his arms and never let her go.
“Done?” he asked.
She nodded. “How about you two?”
“Yep.”
CeCe’s eyes sparkled with joy at her secret.
“Let’s go to the diner for lunch.”
Kaylie bit her lip and looked around, anxious again. But he looped his arm around her shoulder and took CeCe’s hand and led the way. When they entered the diner, he ushered them to the back booth so they wouldn’t be visible to anyone who entered.
“I need to make a phone call. I’ll be right back.” He hurried outside to phone Micah. “What’s going on, Hardin?”