by LENA DIAZ,
“Colin! Oh no, Colin!”
He jerked his head to the side. Peyton! No! She leaped from the back deck to the ground and started running toward him, ducking down but still an open, easy target if the gunmen noticed her.
Down! His mind screamed but he couldn’t force any words past his constricted throat. Get down! He signaled for her to drop to the ground as he gasped like a fish on dry land, mouth open but no air getting in. Blackness hovered at the edge of his vision. No! He had to stay conscious. He had to get her to cover before the gunmen saw her.
Can’t pass out. Breathe, damn it. Breathe!
He motioned again for her to get down. She hesitated, then started forward. He flipped onto his stomach and drove his fists against his belly. The impact loosened his diaphragm. Blessed air rushed into his lungs. He gulped it in, ruthlessly fighting back the darkness. He scrambled up, fell against the building, pushed himself upright. He took a wobbly step toward her, another.
She slowed again, then stopped thirty feet away. What was she doing?
“Run!” he rasped, still barely able to talk. He sucked in another lungful of air. “Run!”
Boom! Boom! Shots sounded from the woods again. But Colin couldn’t tell where they were aiming.
He brought up his gun to fire back but she was already turning toward the woods, clasping a pistol he hadn’t realized she was carrying. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam! She kept squeezing off shots.
Colin holstered his pistol and sprinted toward her. When he reached her she stopped shooting, eyes wide with surprise. He scooped her up in his arms and raced back to the workshop building. As soon as they were behind the wall, he groaned at the painful throbbing in his chest and slid to the grass with her on his lap. The gunshots stopped and the woods went silent. He didn’t know if that was good or bad.
“You crazy woman,” he gritted out, drawing a shallow breath to try to ease the pain. “What were you thinking? You could have been killed.”
“So could you! You shouldn’t have left your cover to come get me.”
He stared at her in disbelief. “I shouldn’t have... I shouldn’t have.” He shook his head. “You scared ten years off my life, Peyton. If you ever do something like that again, I swear...” He yanked her against him, hugging her fiercely, not caring that it hurt like hell.
“Can’t. Breathe. Colin,” she choked out.
He let her go. “Sorry. Good grief, you scared me.” He shook his head and scrubbed his face, then winced and rubbed his chest.
“Ditto.” She put her left hand on his shoulder, the Glock still clutched in her right hand, finger on the frame instead of the trigger, the gun pointed away from him. Just as he’d taught her so many years ago. If he hadn’t still been so rattled, he’d have told her he was proud of how well she’d handled the gun, was still handling it.
“What happened to you?” she asked. “I heard gunshots. Saw you leap around the corner of the building and then you were rolling on the ground.”
“Had the wind knocked out of me. Took a bullet, dead center to the chest. The bastards.”
She drew a sharp breath, eyes wide as she looked him up and down. “I don’t see any blood. Where’s the entrance wound?”
“The round hit me in the vest. I wasn’t really expecting trouble, but came prepared, dressed just as I would for work, just in case.” He shifted, then winced.
“A vest,” she choked out. “You’re wearing a vest. Thank God.” She let out a shuddering breath. “When I heard the gunshots, saw you fall...” She shook her head.
“Why in the world would you run outside if you heard gunshots?” he demanded.
She looked at him as if she thought he’d lost his mind. “Because they were shooting at you! You needed backup.”
“You’re a civilian. Not backup. You shouldn’t have risked your life like that.”
“You’re kidding, right? Colin, you were—”
“Where did you get the gun?”
“It’s yours, from the pantry.” She bit her bottom lip. “I had to smash the box it was in to get the pistol out. It looked nice, expensive.”
“I don’t care about a stupid box. I care about you.” He pulled her against him again, less tightly this time, ignoring the fresh wave of pain in his bruised chest. Since she was hugging him back, the pain was well worth it.
Sirens sounded from down the mountain, coming up fast. He froze, then set her away from him and looked toward the house. Although he couldn’t see the road out front, the lights from approaching emergency vehicles lit the night sky in hues of red, orange, and blue.
“You called the police?”
“Of course. I wasn’t sure that you and I would be able to hold off whoever was shooting at you.” Her eyes widened in dismay. “I should have called that officer at my house. It didn’t even occur to me! She was much closer.”
“You did great.” He searched her gaze. “Did you realize your brother could be one of the shooters?”
She looked away, her chin wobbling, and gave him a sharp nod. He realized she was close to losing her composure. She’d known that Brian might be out there, in the woods. But she’d called the police anyway, and risked her own life, not to protect her brother this time, but to protect Colin.
She twisted her hands together, drew a ragged breath. “Did you see who was shooting at you? Do you...do you know if—”
“I didn’t see anyone.” He coaxed her hands apart, held them in his. “Try not to worry. We’ll find out soon enough who was out there.”
The sirens were louder now, probably a few hundred yards from the driveway. She turned the pistol around and offered it to him. “You’d better take this. If the cops see a Sterling with a gun, they’ll probably shoot first and ask questions later.”
“I think you’re doing Gatlinburg PD a disservice in thinking that. But I understand where you’re coming from.” He shoved the pistol into his waistband, then cupped her face between his hands.
Her silver-gray eyes caught the moonlight as she stared at him in surprise.
He shouldn’t kiss her. It would be a mistake on so many levels. But he also knew there was no way he could not kiss her at that moment. Her selfless act humbled him to the core and reminded him of the hundred different reasons he’d loved her. Still loved her. Maybe, just maybe, there could be a future between them again, once all of this was settled.
He pulled her to him, slowly, gently, giving her plenty of time to stop him if she wanted. But she didn’t. Instead, her eyes fluttered closed, her breath tumbling out of her on a soft sigh. He knew he was lost the moment his lips touched hers. Electricity shot through every nerve ending, firing to life again as if reawakening after being in hibernation for a very, very long time. His hands shook as he molded her luscious body to his, drinking her into his starved senses. She trembled in his arms and kissed him back with an equally wild abandon, as if she too couldn’t get enough of him.
All too soon, shouts and loud voices broke into the passionate haze that had wrapped around them. Bright lights flashed against his closed eyelids. He reluctantly broke the kiss and turned to see police officers and firefighters running around both sides of his house like ants pouring out of an anthill. Powerful flashlight beams danced across the ground, across the workshop building, across Peyton and him.
He sighed and looked back at Peyton. Her gorgeous eyes were unfocused, passion warring with wonder and surprise. She licked her lips.
His body tightened with need.
“Colin.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “I wish—”
“Over here!” someone yelled. “There’s a body in the woods!”
Her eyes widened. “Brian!” She scrambled off his lap and ran toward one of the policemen approaching them.
Colin recognized him as Patrick Edwards, an excellent officer he’d worked with numerous times over the years whenever one
of his taskforces partnered with the Gatlinburg police. Peyton didn’t seem to notice that the officer’s hand inched closer to his holster as she approached.
“It’s okay, Patrick,” Colin called out. “She’s a witness. She saved my life.”
Patrick’s eyebrows rose in surprise but he nodded and relaxed his hand. He smiled at Peyton, giving her a polite nod when she stopped in front of him gesturing excitedly as she no doubt asked about her brother.
Now that his brief but pleasant interlude with Peyton was over, Colin’s bruised chest decided it was time to remind him that it wasn’t happy about being ignored. He closed his eyes and tried to take shallow breaths. Somehow the pain seemed worse now than when he’d first been hit. Probably because he’d been moving around too much.
“I can’t believe you kissed her.”
He sighed and opened his eyes. Duncan frowned down at him, hands on hips.
“You saw that, huh?”
“Half the police force did and a handful of firefighters.”
Colin groaned. “Help me up.”
Duncan shook his head and motioned toward some EMTs who’d just rounded the garage end of the house and seemed confused about where to go. “Since you’re sitting on your butt instead of jumping into the fray with everyone else running around your property, I’m guessing you’re hurt.”
“Just bruised. Took a bullet in the vest.”
“Let me guess. It only hurts when you breathe?”
“Pretty much.” He held his hand out and this time Duncan hauled him to his feet.
The EMTs rushed up to him, two wide-eyed young kids who looked like they should be at home with their moms and dads, catching a few more hours of sleep before heading to school in the morning.
“Sir,” the shorter one said. “Please sit down and let us check your injuries. Miss Sterling said you’d been shot and needed medical attention.”
Colin arched a brow, looking around for her but she’d disappeared. “She did?”
“Yes, sir. Officer Edwards radioed us to come around back.”
They both reached for him as if they thought he was about to fall down.
He shoved their hands away. “For the love of... I’m okay. I’m wearing a vest.”
They exchanged a confused glance.
“Kevlar? Bullet resistant?”
“Oh,” the same guy said. “Well, uh, you could have broken ribs or internal bleeding. We should still check it out, take you to the hospital.”
“Hold that thought.” He tugged Duncan a few yards away and turned his back to the overeager children. “Did you see where Peyton went?”
Duncan crossed his arms. “Landry was marching her toward your house when I walked up, no doubt to cross-examine her about whatever happened out here. What did happen?”
“I got in a gunfight with one or more cowards shooting at me from the woods. I didn’t see them, so I’m not sure who—”
“Sir.” The second EMT had found his voice. “We need you to sit—”
“Just a minute,” he and Duncan both said at the same time.
Another commotion had them turning to see a group of men topping the small rise on the south side of his yard. Three were wearing white lab coats. The rest were police officers, escorting them toward a fifty-foot section of tree line that was being cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape that read DO NOT CROSS.
“The coroner’s here. Must have already been close by,” Colin said. “There’s a body in the woods, one of the shooters. I need to know if it’s Brian.”
“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
“Duncan, I’m not the only one who fired a gun into those woods tonight. Peyton heard the gunshots when she was inside the house, got one of my pistols and ran out in the middle of a gunfight to help me. She not only put her own life on the line, she fired at the gunmen even though her brother could have been one of them.”
Duncan paled. “Then she could have—”
“Killed her own brother. To save me. You and I both know that no one in charge is going to concern themselves with allaying her fears. It could be hours before she finds out the truth. I don’t want her agonizing and wondering about her brother’s fate if I can find out and save her some grief.”
“What do you need me to do? Make Landry back off?”
“I need you to run interference with these guys.” He motioned behind him, toward the EMTs.
“You got it.”
“Thanks, man. I owe you.”
Duncan grinned. “And I won’t let you forget it.” He stepped around Colin. “Gentlemen, let’s chat about Kevlar for a minute—”
Colin took off toward the woods. Each step jarred his aching ribs, making him wonder if the EMTs were right and he’d broken something. But finding out would have to wait.
Although Colin didn’t have his badge handy, several of the officers recognized him. After explaining that he wanted to see whoever’d been trying to kill him tonight, they allowed him to step under the crime scene tape.
Battery-operated lights were being set up in this section of the woods, making it seem more like midday than a few hours before sunup. The coroner and his assistants were bending over the dead man’s body. Colin’s above-average height allowed him to see over most of the police standing around. But the dead man was facing away from him.
As he stepped back and moved around the outer perimeter to get a better vantage point, he noted the location of the body in relation to the workshop building. The man would have had a direct line of sight to where Colin had been pinned down. But close-set oaks formed a solid wall to his right, completely blocking the view of the rest of the yard. There was no way that Peyton could have shot him. Which meant that Colin had.
When he finally got a good look at the man’s face, he sucked in a sharp breath. Hauntingly familiar silver-gray eyes stared sightlessly back at him. Any hope he’d had of rekindling the relationship between him and Peyton was as dead as the man on the ground.
There was no way Peyton would ever forgive him for this.
Chapter Thirteen
Peyton rested her elbow on the arm of the couch, only half-listening to Chief Landry’s questions. The interrogation thing was becoming almost routine. At least this time he didn’t intimidate her. After she’d endured hours of questioning by Colin, Landry seemed like a lightweight.
The man was definitely more aggressive in his questioning than he’d been before. She had to give him credit for that. But she still felt that Colin could teach him a thing or two about interviewing techniques. Landry was probably just trying to reassert his authority after she’d ignored his order to sit on the couch when they’d first come inside. Instead, she’d gone upstairs, put on her bra, and brushed her teeth and her hair before coming back down. No way was she going to sit there being stared at by half a dozen men while wondering if they were ogling her braless breasts through her thin white shirt.
“Miss Sterling?” Landry asked. “Do you need me to repeat the question? Maybe you could use a drink or something? I know you’ve been through an ordeal tonight.”
She blinked and realized she’d zoned out again. Landry’s face mirrored more concern than annoyance. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as she’d thought. The men and women working for him seemed to like him. And he never raised his voice with them, not that she’d seen so far. He had a kind face, with character. He reminded her a little of her grandfather on her daddy’s side when he’d still been alive.
As soon as she realized she was comparing the chief of police to her dearly departed grandpa, she realized just how exhausted she must be. She curled her legs beneath her and stared past the sea of detectives with their tablets and pads of paper toward the windows on the side of the house. Where was Colin? Was he still outside? Had he gone into the woods to figure out how many people had been shooting at him tonight?
Had he discovered the identity of the body that had been found?
No, she couldn’t think about that. Every time she did, she started to shake and her throat tightened. It was humiliating enough already, being constantly treated like a criminal when she was just the sister of one. Crying in front of these men was not an option. She had to keep it together.
It wasn’t Brian. The dead body in the woods wasn’t her brother. She had to believe that.
Maybe Colin wasn’t outside at all. She’d asked that nice police officer to get him medical help. Not being all that familiar with how bulletproof vests worked, she wasn’t sure what kind of damage a shot could cause. But Colin had definitely seemed uncomfortable, to say the least. She imagined he’d be sporting a rainbow of colors on his chest for weeks as the bruises rose to the surface.
“Miss Sterling.” The chief’s voice broke through her musings again. “Did you hear my question?”
She cleared her throat. “No, sorry. I didn’t. Can you tell me where Deputy US Marshal McKenzie is? He was hurt in the gunfight. He was wearing a bulletproof vest but I could tell he was in pain. Is he on the way to the hospital for X-rays or something?”
One of his bushy white eyebrows raised. “McKenzie? Seems like I remember Officer Edwards telling me that he’d sent some EMTs to check on him. I’m sure he’s fine. You mentioned you took a pistol from the kitchen and—”
“You’re sure Colin’s fine?” She curled her fingers against the arm of the couch. “Does that mean you don’t actually know?”
A flash of impatience crossed Landry’s face as he turned to the detective beside him. “Get me a status on Deputy Marshal McKenzie. Edwards should be able to help you.”
“And my brother.” Her voice broke and she had to clear it before continuing. “I need to know whether Brian Sterling was...found on the property. I need to know whether anyone has seen him tonight.”