by Heather Long
“We’re just backing them up,” Swede replied.
“Sure, we’re here to keep an eye out, civic duty.” Bear’s rumbling voice carried only a hint of humor.
None of them were happy with the situation, least of all Oddjob. Movement around the mine suggested people were working inside, but only one huge truck was parked at near the opening where the rail let out. So they had mine carts. It was a little too old style Looney Tunes for Oddjob.
He’d found a good spot to watch both the road and the opening. They could dig in and wait for as long as it took. Mickey remained back at Celebrate, and would continue to patrol the ranch. Just because they thought they located the possible source, no one wanted to take any chances.
“Some days I miss running the operation remote and off the grid where we were there to do the mission and get out.” Sometimes. He’d never run an op where one of the collateral could be the woman he was falling in love with.
The thought jolted him.
“Sometimes,” Flint agreed, and others echoed. “Then I remember where I get to sleep at night and I wish we could have confirmation to leave these guys gift wrapped for the law.”
Soft laughter greeted the comment. The sheriff, however, took his time. Likely making sure he had his T’s crossed and his i’s dotted. Oddjob relied on his training, but Shayna was never far from his thoughts.
In love.
His grandmother’s deep laugh echoed through his memory. She’d have enjoyed the hell out of the story about how he realized what he felt for Shayna while in the middle of an op. She would have adored Shayna, too.
When the sheriff arrived, however, he descended with state troopers and park rangers. Apparently, they were not only on public land—but venturing under the state parks as well as private property.
The raid was anticlimactic, a dozen men rounded up swiftly and the teams broke off to explore the mine itself.
Despite the ease or maybe because of it, Oddjob couldn’t settle. They had to wait to identify each of the men currently handcuffed and sitting in a row. The park rangers took control of the site, while the State Troopers called in transport for the arrestees.
“What’s eating you?” Hank asked.
“Which one of those guys is Dryden?” Was the real estate buyer a part of this? Or just a dupe involved in picking up the land?
“Checking,” Flint said over comms. They’d left them open. Meanwhile Swede and Bear were still sweeping a mine which stretched a couple of miles…directly below Celebrate and along the border separating her land from the neighbor’s. After a moment, Flint looked over to them and shook his head.
“We don’t know how involved he is,” Hank said. “We’ll get it sorted.”
Yeah, they would. But when?
“We’ve got a sign of a cave in here, looks like it matches the coordinates for the cabin on Shayna’s property. I’m going to guess based on the way they were blasting down here, they hit a gas pocket.”
A gas pocket.
So the explosion was an accident.
“We’re rerouting down another tunnel, it angles away, but I’m going to bet that second cabin caught the same way.” Swede didn’t add anything else, but he didn’t have to.
“An accident doesn’t explain the vandalism.” Hank said.
That was it. “Blasting wouldn’t have tampered with her jeep brakes, either.” He pushed away from sheriff’s car. “I’m getting back to her. If they were after the land, they may have thought she was a squatter or something. Maybe an accident was easier than an offer.”
“Dalton told them no,” Hank said, looking at his phone. “Sadie just talked to Jacob. He got an offer a few weeks back, turned them down flat. They made a second offer two days before the vandalism started, he was one his way to a shoot in Budapest, turned that down and said he’d donated the land.”
Which mean Shayna was still a target.
“Keep me in the loop,” he called, already jogging for his truck they’d parked farther up the road.
“Will do.”
He was already dialing Mickey’s number as he climbed in the truck. When he got voicemail, he said, “Check on Shayna. We got the mine locked down but Dryden wasn’t here and I have a bad feeling about this.” After hanging up the call, he got the engine started, and backed all the way to the road. He didn’t have time for games. He needed to get back to the ranch, now.
As much as she tried to work, Shayna couldn’t concentrate on numbers with Oddjob and the rest of the Brotherhood out there hunting. Mickey came by the house to let her know he was going to do a circuit on the property. With work proving elusive, she headed out to the kitchen and she’d begun compiling the ingredients to start a stew when the sound of a vehicle outside caught her attention.
Wiping her hands on a towel, she walked to the window and checked. A man she didn’t recognize exited an expensive Lincoln. Dressed in a suit and bearing a briefcase, he had the look of a businessman. She made it the door a moment before he knocked.
“Can I help you?” Not bothering to open the door wide, she studied the man in front of her. Sweat dotted his brow which also seemed permanently set in a frown.
“I’m here on behalf of Jacob Dalton,” he said, a hint of hesitation in his voice and his gaze darted past her.
“Tell you what, why don’t you give me your card and I’ll call Mr. Dalton and verify.” Something was off with the guy. Years in the field taught her to trust those instincts.
“Of course,” he stuttered, a little, but it was there. He half turned as he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. What he pulled out was a gun, not a card and she backed off from the door as he thrust his arm through.
Idiot.
Slamming the door against his arm, he squeezed off a shot that hit a window across the room—shattering the glass. Leaning all her weight into the door, she managed to get the gun out of his hand as he screamed.
Ripping the door open, she ignored the heat from the muzzle as she gripped the body of the gun and whacked him in the face. Blood sprouted from his nose, and he dropped the briefcase and lunged at her. Hobbled by her slow leg, she still managed to evade, and dropped herself to the ground sweeping her leg out to trip him.
He went down and she pointed the gun at him.
“Don’t move.”
Using the wall to inch her way up, she kept the gun trained on him. The familiar sound of Oddjob’s truck tearing up the driveway made her smile.
“Dude, you have no idea who you are messing with.”
A moment later, Oddjob bounded up the steps and he looked from her to the guy on the ground and back.
“Hope you don’t mind,” she said with a relieved grin. “I couldn’t sit this part out.”
Laughing, he grabbed her would be attacker off the ground and hauled him to his feet. “Oorah.”
Four weeks later…
Shayna limped out to the verandah to watch the sun rise. Cradling a hot cup of coffee in her hand, she blew out a breath. It was going to be a great day. Paul Dryden was sitting in jail, his bail denied. The copper mine had been shutdown, and since the deposits were under Celebrate and her neighbor, it had been sealed. They weren’t interested in the byproducts of mining—like accidentally blowing up cabins or poisoning the water.
Dryden hadn’t confessed to tampering with her brakes, but one of the men who worked for him implicated him in the order. There were a lot of legal hoops to jump through. She’d take them, one at a time. For now, Celebrate was going to be welcoming their first residents that afternoon and she’d found a sponsor for the greenhouse. They’d be breaking ground on that sometime the following month.
A floorboard squeaked, and a moment later, Oddjob wrapped his arms around her. “Good morning,” he said, his voice thick with sleep. He smelled fantastic.
“Good morning,” she smiled, and held up her coffee cup so he could have a drink.
“Hmm, I think I love you,” he murmured, nuzzling her head before taking the cup
.
“I know I love you,” she told him. The words were remarkably easy to say. He squeezed her middle and handed back the cup.
“This is my favorite part of the day,” he told her. “Waking up, and facing the new day with you.”
“You’re staying.” It wasn’t a question.
“I told you, when I commit—I’m here for the long haul.”
Yes, yes he had. “Fergus,” she tried out his name and they both paused. When she laughed, he chuckled.
“Oddjob, babe. Just call me Oddjob.”
“At least until I meet your mom, she might object.”
“Nah,” he told her, as she leaned into him. The sun light spilling across the horizon brightening by the moment. “She’s going to love you, because I do.”
Shayna hoped so. “This is my new normal,” she said. “You. Me. And every day—one sunrise a time.”
“Oorah,” he whispered against her ear and she grinned. He would never forget she was a Marine, and he wouldn’t let her forget either.
Hell yeah, oorah.
Also by Heather Long
Always a Marine Series
Once Her Man, Always Her Man
Retreat Hell! She Just Got Here
Tell It to the Marine
Proud to Serve Her
Her Marine
No Regrets, No Surrender
The Marine Cowboy
The Two and the Proud
A Marine and a Gentleman
Combat Barbie
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
What Part of Marine Don’t You Understand?
A Marine Affair
Marine Ever After
Marine in the Wind
Marine with Benefits
A Marine of Plenty
A Candle for a Marine
Marine under the Mistletoe
Have Yourself a Marine Christmas
Lest Old Marines Be Forgot
Her Marine Bodyguard
Bravo Team Wolf
When Danger Bites
Bitten Under Fire
Boomers
The Judas Contact
Deadly Genesis
Unstoppable
Chance Monroe
Earth Witches Aren’t Easy
Plan Witch from Out of Town
Bad Witch Rising
Elite Metal
Pure Copper (Elite Metal)
Target: Tungsten (Elite Ghosts)
Asset: Arsenic (Elite Elements)
Fevered Hearts
Marshal of Hel Dorado
Brave are the Lonely
Micah & Mrs. Miller
A Fistful of Dreams
Raising Kane
Wanted: Fevered or Alive
Wild and Fevered
The Quick & The Fevered
A Man Called Wyatt
Going Royal
Some Like It Royal
Some Like It Scandalous
Some Like It Deadly
Some Like it Secret
Some Like it Easy
Her Marine Prince
Blocked
Lone Star Leathernecks
Semper Fi Cowboy
As You Were Cowboy
Magic & Mayhem
The Witch Singer
Bridget’s Witch’s Diary
The Witched Away Bride
Every Witch Way But Floosey’s
Mongrels
Mongrels, Mischief & Mayhem
Space Cowboy
Space Cowboy Survival Guide
Showdown at the Omega Kilo Space Station
Special Forces Operation Alpha/Brotherhood Protectors
Securing Arizona
Chasing Katie
Guarding Gertrude
Protecting Pilar
Wrangling Wanda
Shielding Shayna
Covering Coco
Wolves of Willow Bend
Wolf at Law
Wolf Bite
Caged Wolf
Wolf Claim
Wolf Next Door
Rogue Wolf
Bayou Wolf
Untamed Wolf
Wolf with Benefits
River Wolf
Single Wicked Wolf
Desert Wolf
Snow Wolf
Wolf on Board
Holly Jolly Wolf
Shadow Wolf
His Moonstruck Wolf
Thunder Wolf
Ghost Wolf
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.
Follow Heather
www.heatherlong.net
[email protected]
Original Brotherhood Protectors Series
By Elle james
Brotherhood Protector Series
Montana SEAL (#1)
Bride Protector SEAL (#2)
Montana D-Force (#3)
Cowboy D-Force (#4)
Montana Ranger (#5)
Montana Dog Soldier (#6)
Montana SEAL Daddy (#7)
Montana Ranger’s Wedding Vow (#8)
Montana SEAL Undercover Daddy (#9)
Montana SEAL Friendly Fire (#10)
Montana SEAL’s Bride (#11) TBD
Montana Rescue
Hot SEAL, Salty Dog
About Elle James
ELLE JAMES also writing as MYLA JACKSON is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of books including cowboys, intrigues and paranormal adventures that keep her readers on the edges of their seats. With over eighty works in a variety of sub-genres and lengths she has published with Harlequin, Samhain, Ellora’s Cave, Kensington, Cleis Press, and Avon. When she’s not at her computer, she’s traveling, snow skiing, boating, or riding her ATV, dreaming up new stories. Learn more about Elle James at www.ellejames.com
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Follow Elle!
www.ellejames.com
[email protected]