Secured by the Lawman (Mountain Force Book 2)

by Rhonda Lee Carver

  Steam had to give it to the groom. The lanky lawyer did have some strength. Harry looked like he could bite nails in half with his perfectly even white teeth. His hands were fisted at his sides and his skin was red, almost matching his crimson bow tie.

  “What is he doing here, Lauren?” the man seethed.

  “Harry—”

  “We’re trying to have a conversation here.” Steam had sobered some but not enough that he could stand straight without a little wobble.

  “You’re trying to have a conversation? Really?” Harry turned his head and smirked at the semi-circle of groomsmen behind him who were pumping their chests and cocking their jaws. “Did you hear that boys? They’re having a talk. I can’t believe this guy.”

  Steam wasn’t too worried because he believed he could take all four men, even smashed, but it wouldn’t come to that. Didn’t need to. Steam wasn’t there to prove anything except that he still loved Lauren. “Why don’t you give us a minute, pal.” He lifted his chin to look at Lauren who was still staring dumbly. The tears had dried, but moisture remained on her long lashes. “Lauren?”

  “This is my wedding day, you prick!” Harry bit through clenched teeth.

  Steam was concentrated on Lauren so he didn’t see the fist coming at him until it was too late to dodge. He was coldcocked in his cheek, stumbling a few feet, but he stayed on his boots to the dismay of the groom who was waving his hand melodramatically. Broken fingers maybe?

  “Harry! What’s the matter with you? Stop!” Lauren jumped between them.

  Rubbing his sore jaw, Steam looked at Harry who remained stunned that his attack wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped. The groomsmen appeared as shocked. “Look, Harry, I’ll give you that one punch because I screwed up your wedding, but you touch me again and I’ll break your other hand. Got it?” Steam snarled. None of the buddies made a move to defend poor Harry’s honor. In fact, they took several steps back.

  “Lauren, what’s the matter with you? Why are you giving this asshole the time of day?” Harry whined, holding his injured hand now. Most of the crowd behind him had dispersed, wanting no part of the drama.

  “I was handling it before you smashed your way in here. I can handle it now.” Her chin was held high, showing the saucy streak of the country girl who could hold her own.

  “Send him away now or…”

  “Or what?” She crossed her arms over her chest, her head tilted. One of the diamonds from her dress popped off and fell to the floor at her feet.

  “I want him gone!” he demanded.

  “Then let me have a moment.” She dropped her arms to her sides.

  Several seconds passed and reluctantly the red-faced Harry took a step back but not before he nailed Steam with pure hatred. He guessed there was a lot Harry wanted to say but didn’t. Good choice. He motioned for his groomsmen to follow him down the hall.

  “Hey, Lauren, I’m sor—”

  “No, don’t apologize to me because I know you won’t mean it.” She stabbed her finger in the center of his chest. “This is just like you, Daniel. We aren’t criminals. You can’t come in here and throw your weight and badge around expecting everyone to surrender to your demands. Have you even stopped to think that this marriage is what I want? This is my day. Why didn’t you come after me when I left? Haven’t you done enough damage?” More tears came and by now her makeup was smeared.

  He reached out for her, but she smacked his hand away. “Don’t touch me. Don’t!”

  He shoved his hands into his front pockets because it was the only way he could resist the desire. “I’m sor—I mean, I can’t let you go. You’re right, I should have said something sooner. I’ve been an asshole.”

  “The answer is no.” Her voice was so soft he could have imagined it.

  “The answer?” He swayed. His jaw was starting to ache which told him his drunk was wearing off.

  She inhaled sharply and slowly exhaled as if her words needed courage to say. “You asked if I still love you. My answer is no. I don’t.”

  If she’d pierced him in the heart, he wouldn’t have been more wounded. Seconds passed, maybe minutes, but he managed to pull himself together. The wrecking ball had done its damage. Reality set in and he’d foolishly come to the chapel. “I want you to be happy. I hope he gives you everything I couldn’t.”

  She turned her back and he could see her shoulders shaking.

  What the fuck had he been thinking?

  Steam stepped over the broken pieces of the door and retraced his steps back upstairs where a handful of onlookers were watching him, whispering and pointing. Harry was nowhere in sight.

  Stepping through the heavy doors, Steam squinted in the bright sunlight on the beautiful summer day. Making his way to pick up the abandoned bottle, he started to take a swig but decided against the decision. He turned to look up the incline of the stairs and shook his head.

  A second later, they opened and his Ma came into view. She looked at him with a concerned eye. “Son? What just happened?” She met him on the step, her penetrating eyes finding their way into the center of his bones.

  “Nothing, ma.” He hated that she was involved. What had he been thinking?

  “Looks like nothing.” Her narrowed eyes targeted the bottle.

  He started down the steps, but he knew she was following so he stayed on the sidewalk waiting for her, feeling like the kid awaiting his punishment.

  “Your dad would roll—”

  “In his grave. Yeah, ma. I know. I’d be a big embarrassment to him.” He snorted. Steam was fifth generation of a long line of lawmen. He’d looked up to his father, thought he was a hero until he left Steam and his mother for another woman. It had taken him years before he’d forgiven his father enough that they could have a conversation. A few years after their reunion Dimitri Street was fatally shot during a call to a store robbery.

  “That’s not true, son,” she chastised him. “He cared for you and only wanted the best.”

  “When are you going to stop being his cheering section, ma? He didn’t deserve that from you,” he mumbled.

  “Listen, young man. He was a good, hard-working man who made a mistake. We all do. Obviously.”

  “How about we skip the lecture. I realize I was a fool by coming here.” There was something about being rejected that sobered a man up really quick.

  “Come. I’m taking you home.” She pointed toward the parking lot.

  “You came for the wedding. Go back in.” He preferred to be left alone. “I’ll call Coby to come and get me.”

  “Like heck you will. I’m your mother and when I say I’m taking you home that’s what I mean.” Her firm words ceased any arguing.

  With a huff he found her Prius, feeling much like the ten-year-old who’d left a whoopie cushion on the pastor’s chair. He’d heard his mother’s speech all the way home from church and it had been the longest fifteen minutes of his life. However, it was nothing compared to the time he was fifteen and he and his buddies were caught sneaking into the community pool after closing hours. She threatened to use a switch on his behind then swore she’d send him to his dad’s if he ever trespassed again. He never had the switch used on him, not because he’d straightened his act up, but because he and his buddies had gotten better at hiding their misdeeds.

  “You don’t have a switch hidden in the backseat do you?” He turned to look at her, laughing when she shook her head.

  “You’re too old for a switching, but I don’t think it’s a shocker that I would have never spanked you anyway.” Once she was in the driver’s seat, she turned to look at him, all sincerity filling her eyes. “I love you, son, but you have to let her go. She deserves happiness. You both do.”

  Chapter 1

  Three years later.

  Lauren Crane read the front of the envelope. It was addressed to her but there was no return address. Tearing open the sealed flap, she turned it over and shook out the contents. A flash drive and a note fell to her desk. Picking
up the piece of paper, she read, “He’s dangerous. There’s enough here to put him away.” The note was left unsigned.

  Sticking the disk into her computer, she waited and watched as file after file loaded, then she clicked on the first one. It took her a good three heartbeats to realize what she was seeing.

  “I didn’t expect to see you working so late.”

  Jumping at the voice, she clicked a button that shut off her screen and she shifted her chair to look at her editor, Selma, standing in the doorway. “I thought I was alone.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you.” The older attractive woman entered the office, sitting on the corner of Lauren’s desk.

  “I thought you had a date with the new boyfriend tonight.”

  “He stood me up. Said he had a business meeting. What’s this?” She tapped the envelope with a talon-like nail.

  There wasn’t much that Lauren didn’t tell Selma. Not only had they worked together for the last five years, but they had become close friends. However, the content on the flash drive could put both of them in danger. “A late gift from Aunt Linda. What did you think of the story I left on your desk?”

  Selma stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re not making friends, but what investigative journalist will? I’m interested in how you managed to get the scoop on the mayor being arrested at his vacation home for money laundering and links to the Blue Diamond cartel.”

  “I can’t give away my tricks.”

  “I know what that means. That you’re working on another story that will be juicier than the last.” Her brown eyes dazzled in appreciation.

  Lauren smiled, her gaze naturally sweeping to the envelope. “You could say that.”

  “I’m heading out. Can I walk you out?”

  “I’ll wrap up here, so it’ll be a few minutes.” She anticipated seeing all the files on the drive. If what she thought was true, she had won the story lottery and Max King would be living his life behind bars for the next twenty years or so.

  “I can wait. I wanted to speak to you about something important.”

  “Okay. Sure. I’ll meet you by the elevators.” Once she was alone, Lauren grabbed the flash drive and dropped it into her purse, then reached for her bag from her desk and made her way into the outer room where Selma was waiting. The files would have to wait a little longer. “Are you wanting to tell me that you’re offering me a raise?”

  Selma clicked her tongue. “Don’t get too cocky, my dear. You might be the best writer this newspaper has, but you’ll have to earn the Pulitzer Prize before management gives you more money. I heard a rumor and I want you to tell me if it’s true.”

  The elevator doors opened and they stepped into the cubicle. “Ah, a rumor. You know they’re not true.” Lauren pushed the garage button.

  “I bet this one is. Are you leaving us for New York? It’s a big newspaper and a bigger city. Isn’t that what you’ve been dreaming of?”

  Lauren laughed. “I love The Legal Buzz. You all are my family here. A job offer would have to be something amazing to sweep me away.”

  “Most journalists would sell their mother to land an offer from a big paper. I’m sure the money isn’t anything to scoff at either.”

  “Are you trying to convince me?” Lauren lifted a brow.

  “No, of course not.” The doors opened and Selma stepped out first, blocking the doors from closing.

  “It’s not about the money. If I even considered moving it would be because I need a change.”

  “So, it’s true then, you’re leaving us?”

  “If I do, you’ll be the first to know.” Lauren winked.

  “This wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain lawman, would it?”

  A familiar ache settled into her chest. Truth was, the pain had never disappeared, but she’d managed to do a good job in burying it deep enough so she could move forward. Some relationships weren’t meant to last, especially when they were as uncontrollable as a ballistic missile. “Nothing at all. That’s history. I’ve moved on.”

  Selma’s telltale smile told Lauren she wasn’t believed. “Really?”

  “Yes. Really. Let’s not go there.”

  “Fine, but this kills me. If I were you, I’d start packing my bags for New York. Even I can’t think of one reason why you shouldn’t. If it’s not New York, it’ll be another big syndicate wanting you.”

  “Selma, I have no clue what I’m going to do yet. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Oh shoot!” Selma dug into her purse.

  “What is it? Did you forget something?”

  “My phone,” she groaned. “I’ll have to go back and get it.”

  “Want me to go with you?”

  Selma waved her hand. “You go on ahead. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She gave Lauren a fleeting kiss on the cheek and was back in the elevator cubicle going up.

  Lauren’s heart sunk a little with the thought of leaving Wyoming, her home, but she had to follow the stories. Since she started at The Buzz, she’d dedicated herself to uncovering the stories of corruption in government, both locally and nationally. The bane of her existence these days was the drug cartel, Blue Diamond. That was something she and her ex, Steam, had in common.

  Why would Selma think Lauren leaving had anything to do with him?

  They were history. She’d moved on. She was happier single and focusing on her career.

  And she could keep telling herself that and maybe eventually the knock in her knees and twist of her stomach would go away. Some days she did miss Steam. However, they’d grown apart. Just because they’d had a fantastic, romantic summer back when she was eighteen, married on a whim, then she waited on him to return home from the military didn’t make this a love story. It was a tragic affair that ended once they grew up, realizing they weren’t meant to be together.

  Looking back, she couldn’t fault him for dedicating himself to his career, because she too had set her sights on climbing the proverbial ladder. She’d been misguided when she thought she could balance marriage and a child. They tried to get pregnant, but it never happened which was a gift in disguise.

  Her throat constricted.

  Her heart tweaked.

  Getting over the break-up—the divorce—took time. The heart needed to heal, and Lauren’s was on a slow track to recovery. Maybe if she left Wyoming she could finally stop waiting and anticipating that she’d run into Steam around every corner. Stop imagining it was him when she caught a glimpse of a towering, brawny man with coal black hair, mesmerizing blue eyes and deep dimples that bracketed a charming smile.

  Holy smokes. Why did she feel flushed?

  She hated him. Yes…most definitely.

  After he’d barged into the chapel and ruined her impending marriage to Harry, she swore if she saw Steam again she’d give him a bit of her mind. But she hadn’t.

  Poor Harry. Lauren wondered if he’d found happiness yet. She still looked back on that bad decision and cringed. What had she been thinking? She and Harry would have been miserable. She would have been a thirty-year-old with two failed marriages under her belt. Her father on his dying bed had said to her, “Follow your heart even when your mind is at war”.

  Well, she’d followed her heart. She allowed Steam to put a ring on it and ten years later they parted. Harry…she still couldn’t figure out what she’d expected from that relationship. It hadn’t been a whirlwind, all-compassing one like she had with Steam. No, she couldn’t compare any man to him. He had been a force, sweeping her in a blissful tsunami’s clutches and hypnotizing her with a blanket of pure pleasure.

  But it didn’t last.

  She dug her keys from the bottom of her purse and instead found the flash drive she’d dropped there. Her heart kicked against her ribcage. She had the anxiety as someone would have if they held a ticking bomb on their person. If anyone, especially King realized the dirt she had on him she’d be in danger.

  She needed to show the evidence to someone. This was bigger than
she could handle alone.

  But who would she call?

  Could she trust the local PD? King had eyes and ears everywhere.

  One man came to mind. He would know what to do and she could trust him…with her life.

  Reaching for her cell phone, she pressed in a familiar number, but then paused. It was best she texted him so no one overheard her conversation. There were cameras in the garage. She typed, “I need to speak to you. It’s important.” And she hit send.

  Her heels tip-tapped on the floor as she moved through the garage. She passed the security cubicle, expecting to see a friendly face, but the nightshift guard, Caleb, wasn’t at his post.

  Her silver BMW was parked on the lower level and she was almost to it when she dropped her keys. Bending to pick them up, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Her breath caught. Most of the offices closed at ten PM.

  Pressing the unlock button on the fob, she reached for the handle but was startled by a noise behind her causing her to swing around in her heels, almost losing her balance. She squinted, seeing a shadow close to one of the concrete pillars, but then it shifted and disappeared. Was she seeing things?

  The hair on the back of her neck raised.

  A man dressed in all black seemed to develop from the shadows. She blinked but he was still there, watching her from across the garage. She couldn’t see his face. “Hello?”

  He laughed. A low, sinister sound that implanted fear in her. She jetted a glance toward the security cubicle, but Caleb still wasn’t back.

  Dread crawled into her throat and her heart took on a new heavy rhythm.

  The man took a step, disappearing back into the shadows.

  She swiveled and reached for the handle of the door when she felt a tight, paralyzing grip on her elbow. In the reflection of the window she saw a clown mask. She brought her head back, connecting with his face and he grunted. Opening her mouth to scream, a beefy hand covered her lips and she was suffocated by the scent of leather and something else…strong aftershave maybe? The only thing she could see were slivers of dark eyes and bushy brows in the slits of the mask.