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Christmas Rescue at Mustang Ridge
Delores Fossen


Sheriff Jake McCall is about to break the law. To find a bone marrow donor for his ailing baby girl, he'll hack into WITSEC to track down Maggie Gallagher–the only person who could be a genetic match.Yet by doing so, he is jeopardizing not only his badge, but Maggie's life, as well. Expecting to have to force Maggie against her will, Jake is unprepared for her willingness to help–and for the desire and hunger she arouses in him. Still, those forbidden feelings could make Jake reckless, and losing focus now isn't an option. With time running out and a killer on their heels, Jake has to keep Maggie alive–and give his daughter a Christmas miracle.







A TEXAS SHERIFF IN NEED OF A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

Sheriff Jake McCall is about to break the law. To find a bone marrow donor for his ailing baby girl, he’ll hack into WITSEC to track down Maggie Gallagher—the only person who could be a genetic match. Yet by doing so, he is jeopardizing not only his badge, but Maggie’s life, as well. Expecting to have to force Maggie against her will, Jake is unprepared for her willingness to help—and for the desire and hunger she arouses in him. Still, those forbidden feelings could make Jake reckless, and losing focus now isn’t an option. With time running out and a killer on their heels, Jake has to keep Maggie alive—and give his daughter a Christmas miracle.


“Has my identity been compromised?”

“Not that I’m aware of. But I’m here to take you back to Mustang Ridge.”

“You can’t take me back there, Jake. It’s too dangerous.”

“I don’t want to harm you.”

She wasn’t sure she believed that—Jake had good reason to want to do her harm. If only Maggie could go back in time three years....

“If you’re not taking me to the man who put me in WITSEC, then where are you taking me?”

“To the hospital for some tests. After that, I’ll let you go.”

The hospital? “But I’m not sick.”

Maggie stopped. What would make Jake McCall come all this way to take her to Mustang Ridge for some tests?

There was only one thing.

Sunny.

She reached across the seat and latched onto his jacket, wadding up the fabric in her fists. “What’s wrong? What happened to my niece?”


Christmas Rescue at Mustang Ridge

USA TODAY Bestselling Author

Delores Fossen




www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Imagine a family tree that includes Texas cowboys, Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, a Louisiana pirate and a Scottish rebel who battled side by side with William Wallace. With ancestors like that, it’s easy to understand why USA TODAY bestselling author and former air force captain Delores Fossen feels as if she were genetically predisposed to writing romances. Along the way to fulfilling her DNA destiny, Delores married an air force top gun who just happens to be of Viking descent. With all those romantic bases covered, she doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration.


CAST OF CHARACTERS

Sheriff Jake McCall—He’s willing to do anything to save his daughter’s life, and that includes finding his former sister-in-law, the woman he blames for his wife’s death. But Jake’s life isn’t the only thing he’ll have to risk. He’ll have to risk his heart, as well.

Maggie Gallagher—Once a tough-as-nails cop, she becomes a killer’s target, and the one man who can rescue her is Jake McCall. However, Jake comes with the ultimate strings attached, because falling for him means they first have to stay alive.

Sunny Lynn McCall—Jake’s three-year-old daughter. She’s too young to realize the danger and the steps her daddy has taken to save her.

Deputy Royce McCall—Even though he doesn’t welcome Maggie back with open arms, he’ll do whatever it takes to help his brother protect her.

Chet McCall—Jake’s father, who might be willing to deal with his enemies to get back at Maggie.

Bruce Tanner—He’s on death row for killing Jake’s wife, but he could still be calling the shots from his prison cell.

Wade Garfield—The computer tech who helped Jake but might also have betrayed him.

David Tanner—Bruce Tanner’s son. He claims he’s a changed man, but is it all a ruse to help his father?

Dr. Gavin Grange—The once-trusted town doctor, he could now be on a killer’s payroll.


Contents

Chapter One (#u899a2673-db48-5d50-b36f-670612fcc37e)

Chapter Two (#uc3c91acc-fcfa-53a4-877d-cc7219b7d1ff)

Chapter Three (#u644e40be-26c0-5156-bee3-f6ea1ee03995)

Chapter Four (#u8f184b03-c939-51fa-9992-485dce5f107b)

Chapter Five (#u01c52fda-a73a-5e49-ab67-b1c43448eeb8)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)


Chapter One

Sheriff Jake McCall knew what he was about to do could put a woman in grave danger. Maybe even get her killed. He wasn’t certain he could live with that, but he sure as hell couldn’t live with the alternative, either.

Risking Maggie Gallagher’s life, and his, was the only choice he had.

He pushed the stallion hard, its hooves chopping into the frozen ground. The icy wind whipped at him and burned his eyes and hands. But he rode harder. Away from the ranch house and away from what was waiting for him there.

It didn’t help.

Jake had known that when he saddled up, but he couldn’t face what was inside. Not yet. Though delaying it didn’t change the fact that he’d have to do things he had sworn he’d never do.

Like see Maggie again.

He hated her more than he wanted her. Far more. And he hated himself for still wanting her after what had happened. That settled like a deadweight in Jake’s gut, and he figured that particular feeling wasn’t going to get better anytime soon.

Cursing, Jake pushed that thought aside and rode the half mile to the creek, not stopping, not slowing until he got to the ice-scabbed water’s edge. He reined in the stallion, put his thumb to the brim of his Stetson to ease it back a bit, and he sat there, his forearm on the saddle horn.

He stared out at the glassy black surface of the creek and at the cottonwood trees, all veiny and bare. In the thin white moonlight he glanced down at the silver star badge pinned to his denim shirt pocket and felt a pain of a different kind. The badge meant something to him. Always had. It was his anchor. His cause.

Him.

Yeah, that was a sappy cliché that he’d never admit aloud. Not here in rural Texas where the only acceptable feelings for a real man to show were anger, appreciation for good-looking women and love for animals and small children.

But it was true.

People didn’t call him Boy Scout for nothing.

The stallion snorted, its breath mixing with the air and creating a milky haze around them. He looked back at Jake with a judgmental dark eye and snorted again.

It was too butt-freezing cold to be out on this December night trying to ride off his troubles. But he’d wanted one last look at the place, just in case he never saw it again.

Jake gathered the reins, maneuvered the stallion around and headed back. No gallop this time. He kept the stallion’s gait easy and slow, but each step still took him home.

There were twinkling lights around the windows. A holly wreath on the door. A plastic Santa and his sleigh perched on the roof. It still didn’t feel like Christmastime even though it was only three days away.

Jake spotted his brother, Royce, on the porch that ran across the entire front of the ranch house. Royce was on the top step, his lanky jeans-clad legs stretched out in front of him while he took a long drag on a cigarette.

Since Royce had quit smoking some four years ago, it was a reminder to Jake that he wasn’t the only one in for a bad night. Royce flicked the cigarette into what was left of their sister’s petunia bed. She’d complain about that come spring when she found it.

By then, all of their lives here would have changed.

One way or another.

“Dad’s waiting on you.” Royce got up from the step, the Christmas lights flickering off the silver deputy’s badge he had clipped to his rawhide belt. “You okay?” Royce asked.

“No.” Jake figured a lie would just stick in his throat so he didn’t even try it.

His brother stopped a moment as if considering that, and then he made a sound that could have meant anything before he strolled inside.

Jake dismounted and led the stallion to the barn. He mumbled an apology for the hard ride while he took off the saddle and gave the horse a quick brush down. He hurried now, dreading the delay more than he dreaded the conversation that was about to take place, and Jake made his way back to the house.

The moment he opened the door, he spotted them in the great room that sprawled out in front of him.

Family.

His brother, Royce. His sister, Nell. His father, Chet.

Royce had already taken the chair near the fireplace where a stack of mesquite logs were crackling and spitting. Chet was in his leather recliner that was positioned like a throne, the toes of his black snakeskin boots aimed at the ceiling. Jake spared him a glance before he went to the room across the hall. It’d once been a guest room, but these days it was more of a home-hospital for his daughter.

Sunny Lynn McCall.

She owned every bit of Jake’s heart.

Jake didn’t go in. He watched from the doorway as the visiting nurse, Betsy Becker, gave his daughter another injection. His little girl barely moved, didn’t even open her eyes, despite the needle being jammed into her hip.

That nearly brought Jake to his knees.

Three years old was way too young to be immune to pain. Too young to die. It was up to him now to make sure that didn’t happen.

Betsy took off her surgical mask, came out of the room and dodged Jake’s gaze. “I’m sorry. I’ll be back in the morning.” She gave him a pat on the arm.

Betsy didn’t linger, didn’t speak to the others. She was a fixture now, appearing at the ranch every morning and leaving every night. She grabbed her things and let herself out. Jake had no doubts that come seven in the morning Betsy would be back to shove more needles into his baby.

Sometimes life just plain sucked, but it was easier to take a kick in the teeth when he was on the receiving end of the pain. Watching Sunny suffer like this was a special form of hell that he wouldn’t wish on anyone.

Well, maybe there was someone.

He pulled in a long breath, went into the adjoining bathroom so he could scrub up and put on a surgical mask. He wasn’t sick, but they couldn’t take any chances with Sunny.

When Jake walked to her bed, Sunny didn’t wake up and probably wouldn’t, because lately she was more tired than not. He leaned down, kissed both cheeks, ran his fingers through her dark hair. He lingered a bit despite hearing Chet impatiently clear his throat.

The room was as cheerful as Jake had been able to make it. The floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree in the corner was decorated with lights and angel ornaments that Sunny had picked out from an online catalog. Her stuffed animals and dolls were nearby. Coloring books, too.

“You gonna make us wait all night?” Chet snarled.

Chet always sounded as if he was picking a fight. Except when he talked to Sunny. Jake’s baby girl had wrapped her grandpa around her pinkie and vice versa. And that was the reason that Jake could still love his dad.

Of course, Jake didn’t like him much, but that wasn’t likely to change.

Jake gave Sunny another kiss, gently squeezed her hand and took off his mask so he could face his family.

“I’ll stay with Sunny while you talk,” Nell whispered. His sister didn’t know what was up, but Jake knew she would always step in to take care of her niece.

He was counting heavily on that.

“Well?” Chet, again. Another snarl. “Did you find her?”

Jake waited until Nell had closed the door to Sunny’s room before he answered Chet’s questions. “I found her. More or less.”

Royce knew where this was going, and that was no doubt why he cursed and probably wished he had another smoke or two. “She’s in the Witness Security Program.”

“She’s where?” Chet snapped.

“WITSEC, witness security,” Jake supplied, though Chet had no doubt heard him the first time. The man was sixty-four, but there was nothing wrong with his hearing. Or his mind. “She was placed in the program after, well, just after,” Jake settled for saying.

Chet cursed. “The marshals won’t tell you where she is.” It wasn’t a question, and it was followed by more cursing.

Royce took up the explanation since he’d been at the sheriff’s office when Jake had gotten the news. “We sent a request all the way up to the head of WITSEC, but our request was denied.”

Chet got to his feet and started to pace. “If I could get my hands around her neck—”

“She probably doesn’t know Sunny’s sick,” Jake interrupted. “And we don’t know if it’ll be worth it to even find her.”

That was the hardest part of all.

This could all be for nothing.

“I don’t know how much the Justice Department is telling her because—” Jake had to pause and breathe “—it could be dangerous if anyone found out her new identity and her location.”

“Damn right it’s dangerous,” Chet snapped. “It’s dangerous for Sunny, too. And if she can help, then I don’t care about compromising her identity. Hell, I don’t care if somebody guns her down like—”

Thankfully, Chet had the good sense to stop. Jake already had enough bad things to deal with tonight without the memories of his late wife’s murder. Of course, the memories of Anna were there.

Always.

Even though she’d been dead and buried for over two and a half years now, since Sunny was just a baby.

“Are we just going to keep calling her she and her?” Royce asked. He huffed, but Jake didn’t know if he was just riled about the situation or the pronoun use. “Because she’s got a name, you know?”

“Yeah, and it’s a name not welcome here,” Chet insisted.

His father wasn’t the forgive-and-forget sort.

Neither was Jake in this situation.

But Sunny needed her. And that meant Jake needed her, too.

“Maggie Gallagher,” Jake said aloud. It was the first time that name had crossed his lips in two years, eight months and five days.

Maggie, his former sister-in-law. Or would that be his late wife’s sister? Or how about the woman who’d gotten Anna killed? Yeah, that was the label that fit her best.

Maybe Chet had the right idea about not saying her name.

Chet stopped pacing and snapped toward Jake. “How you gonna convince those marshals to give us her location?”

The million-dollar question. Jake had a fifty-cent answer.

Jake shook his head. “I can’t convince them. Royce and I have already tried.”

“We have,” Royce agreed. He glanced at Chet. “The Justice Department can’t tell us where she is because during her relocation processing, Maggie specifically said she didn’t want contact with any of us.”

Chet cursed again.

If Jake had been feeling charitable—he wasn’t—he would have pointed out that Chet had warned Maggie that if she ever came back to Mustang Ridge, he’d kill her and the horse she rode in on. Hardly a welcome-mat greeting. And it was that threat that had no doubt caused Maggie to include the no-contact order.

Chet lifted his hands, palms up. “So, that’s it? You’re just gonna give up?”

It took Jake a moment to rein in his voice. “I’ll never give up.”

Chet shook his head, riffled his hand through his hair. “Then never giving up better come with some kind of plan attached.”

“I have a plan,” Jake managed to say. It wasn’t a good one, though, and it would hurt.

Oh, yeah. It’d hurt bad.

“Best if I don’t give you any details of what I have to do.” Jake unpinned his badge and dropped it on the table.

It hardly made it sound when it hit the soft pinewood.

Funny, he figured it would. Because the sound sure went through him. That badge was fourteen years of his life and had been pinned to his pockets since he was twenty-one.

“For safekeeping,” Jake explained, knowing as explanations went, that it wasn’t a very good one.

Or an honest one.

Chet glared at the badge, then at Jake. “We’re family. We got a right to know what you’re doing.”

Jake pulled in a weary breath, shook his head and started for the door.

Chet called out for him to stop, but Jake just kept going. There was no way he could tell his family that come tomorrow, all hell was going to break loose.

And that he, Sheriff Jake McCall, was about to become an outlaw.


Chapter Two

There had been a time in her life when Maggie Gallagher would have knocked a man senseless for pinching her butt.

Now wasn’t that time.

Maggie ignored the gesture that Herman Settler probably thought was good ol’ boy friendly fun, and she deposited the plate in front of him.

Flop two, over hard. Smeared raft on the side.

Or in nondiner lingo: fried eggs and buttered toast.

The lingo was all mixed up in her head now. Mixed up with things like Herman’s butt pinch and the squirrel-brown uniform she wore five days a week. Sometimes six. It wasn’t normal. It wasn’t good. But Maggie didn’t fight it.

She hadn’t fought it or anything else in a long time.

“Top off my coffee, darlin’,” Herman drawled, and added a wink. Flirting with her.

Didn’t the man realize he was old enough to be her father? Her boss, Gene Dayton, sure did. Gene was busy frying more eggs and sausages on the grill, but even through the haze of griddle smoke and grease splattering, Gene still managed to give Herman a look that could have frozen the hottest part of Hades.

Later, Gene would lecture her about letting men like Herman run roughshod over her.

And he’d actually use the word roughshod.

She’d nod, pretend to agree. Pretend that it mattered. Because it was easier than explaining why she wasn’t looking for a fight. Not with Herman. Not with Gene.

Especially not with herself.

She reached across the tiled counter for the coffeepot. The tile was a dingy yellow now with even dingier hairline cracks running through it. Still, it was clean. Maggie should know since she’d been the one to clean it. It was the part of her job she liked best.

The only part, she amended.

The bell jingled over the door as she was topping off Herman’s coffee. Maggie looked at the wall clock, not the glass door. Ten twenty-three. The bell ringer would be Ted Halvert, owner of the town’s newspaper, the Coopersville Crier.

Ted was a few minutes early, but he was the only customer Maggie was expecting this time of day. For most people, it was already too late for breakfast, too early for lunch, and the Tip Top didn’t have enough ambience for people to drop by for just coffee or conversation.

“Got your table ready, Ted.” Maggie leaned back over the counter to set down the coffeepot, turned to give Ted the smile he would expect.

The smile froze on her face.

And the pot slammed on the dingy tile that she’d just cleaned.

The sound of the breaking glass registered in Maggie’s mind, but something else took over. Another set of lingo. A different set of rules.

She reached for a gun that she no longer wore.

Her riffling hand slid right across the shoulder holster that wasn’t there, either.

“Megan?” Gene called out. “You okay?”

It was her name now. Megan Greer. Her “relocation” name that had become second nature like cleaning and fake smiles, but Maggie couldn’t process it or Gene’s question.

Her breath stalled in her lungs. The blood rushed to her head. And everything she’d put behind her, everything she’d tried to choke down in a deep dark place, all of it came crashing back.

Because of Sheriff Jake McCall.

It was him all right. All six feet, three inches of him. Standing there in the tinsel-decorated doorway of the Tip Top, glaring at her from the brim of a black Stetson. Beneath his buckskin shearling coat, Maggie saw the shoulder holster.

A real one.

And Jake’s hand was on the butt of that real Colt .45.

“Are you here to finish things?” Maggie whispered. Not much sound in her voice, and everything inside her began to fall apart.

Unlike Jake.

He stood there, unmoving and unruffled, those Winchester-blue eyes drilling holes in her. Now, here was a man who could ride roughshod over her.

And she would deserve it.

“Megan?” Gene called out again.

Everyone had their eyes trained on Jake and her, and even though Maggie’s eyes were on Jake, she knew Herman was already putting his hand on the little Smith & Wesson he carried in the slide holster in the back of his jeans.

And he’d draw it.

Gene, too.

Even though Jake looked, smelled and acted like a cowboy cop, his mute reaction, the outlaw stubble and narrowed bloodshot eyes would alarm everyone. It wouldn’t be long before Gene pulled the Saturday night special he kept by the cash register. He didn’t know how to use it, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying to protect her.

Maggie had to do something to defuse the situation, or soon bullets might start flying.

“I’m okay,” Maggie gutted out. She forced a smile. God, that was hard because her jaw muscles had frozen. “This is an old friend.”

That was hard, too. And it lit a bad angry fire in Jake’s eyes. Because they weren’t friends any longer. And there was little chance of her ever making it happen again.

Especially since he’d likely snapped and come here to kill her.

She’d had nightmares about it, of course, but hadn’t thought it would actually come down to it. Jake wasn’t the sort to take the law into his own hands. He definitely wasn’t a killer, but after what’d happened to Anna—her sister—Maggie wasn’t sure what sort of man he was these days.

Maggie peeled off her apron, hoping no one noticed that her hands were shaking like crazy, and she grabbed her coat from the wooden peg on the back wall. She tossed the apron on the hook, missed but didn’t pick it up. Too many steps to process and there were more important steps now.

“I’m going on my break,” she called out to Gene, and didn’t wait for him to challenge that. “Let’s take this outside,” Maggie added in a whisper meant only for Jake’s ears.

Since she wasn’t sure Jake would go for her suggestion, she risked hooking her arm through his. He wasn’t shaking like her, but he was cold, making her wonder how long he’d stood out there watching her.

Plotting and planning what he wanted to do to her.

The question was—would Maggie let him do those things?

Possibly.

Jake wasn’t the only wounded soul who was sick and tired of dealing with the aftermath of what had once been a life.

A blast of icy air slammed into her when she opened the door, and the silver-colored bells on the tacky plastic holly wreath jangled and jumped. Maggie said a quick prayer that Jake would budge, and she cursed herself for not having prayed sooner. Because it worked.

Jake budged.

And he walked out into the bitter cold with her.

“This way,” he growled, and he took the lead, heading toward the parking lot. No snow, but the steely clouds overhead looked threatening.

“Thanks,” she mumbled. They passed Ted, who was heading into the diner for his usual late breakfast. “There are a lot of good people inside. I didn’t want them hurt.”

“My fight’s not with them,” Jake mumbled back.

Maggie would have had to be deaf or unconscious not to react to that. Or to Jake himself. Her former brother-in-law was a formidable man and had a way of taking over a room just by stepping into it. Tall, dark and intimidating.

Once, she’d been crazy in love with him.

Well, maybe not in love exactly.

In lust with him for sure, as every Mustang Ridge female over the age of thirteen had been. Her sister had once said that Jake could stop a man’s heart in midbeat. Or send a woman’s heart racing.

Maggie had experienced both at one time or another.

She remembered their one and only kiss. She could still taste him, could still feel his rough cowboy hands and mouth on her.

Something Jake had warned her to forget.

Right.

She hadn’t had much luck with that.

And he’d dismissed the kiss and the body contact against the barn wall as part of the grief of recently losing his wife. Maggie had dismissed it, too. Then, they’d learned Anna’s death was Maggie’s fault, in part anyway, and the dismissing turned to rage for Jake.

The rage was still there.

She could feel it as strongly as she could feel the kiss that she was supposed to forget.

“How’d you find me?” she asked.

His arm tensed, and he slung off her grip as if she’d scalded him. Or maybe he just remembered how much it disgusted him to touch her.

Or answer her.

Because Jake ignored her question.

He reached in his pocket and used his keypad to unlock the doors of a dark blue F-150 truck. He put her in first, practically shoving her into the passenger’s seat. Jake didn’t even glance at her as he walked in front of the truck so he could climb behind the wheel. He probably figured she wasn’t going to run, especially since she’d coaxed him out of the diner.

“You’re going to shoot me in your truck?” she asked, glancing at the pristine exterior. “It’d be a heck of a mess to clean up.”

She was pleased and surprised that it sounded smart-mouthed. Better than letting him know she was so scared that she was about to lose her breakfast.

Something else that’d need cleaning.

The image of that hit Maggie the wrong way, and a short burst of air left her mouth. Definitely not a laugh. All nerves. And then the stupid tears came, burning her eyes and forcing her to choke them back.

“You couldn’t hate me any more than I hate myself,” Maggie said, and she swiped away a tear.

Now, she got him looking at her. Jake turned those lethal cop’s eyes on her. “Don’t bet on that.”

The answer was actually a relief. Old lingo kicked in. Old training, too. If she could get him talking, maybe she could...what?

Talk him out of this?

Calm him down?

Make him see it was a mistake to come here?

Maggie wasn’t sure that was the fair thing to do. Or if she could do it at all. Once upon a time she’d thought she could do anything.

She’d been stupid.

And now that stupidity was catching up with her. She could only shrug at that and concede that she was due. For two years, eight months and six days, she’d been living on borrowed time and mercy.

Maggie looked at him. Looked outside. Waited. And felt the goose bumps riffle over her entire body. Sweet heaven. Her coat wasn’t thick enough, but she pulled the sides together, hunched her shoulders.

“How’s Sunny?” she risked asking.

And she braced herself for him to reach for his gun. Right before his father, Chet, had run her out of Mustang Ridge, Jake warned her never to say his daughter’s name. That was a McCall thing. If you crossed them—Jake’s siblings or Chet—your name was mud.

Hers was something lower than mud.

Of course, Jake didn’t answer her. He wouldn’t give her that much, and if their situations had been reversed, Maggie probably wouldn’t have, either.

“So, what? We just sit here mute as monkeys and freeze to death?” she asked. Her voice was quivering now, and she didn’t know how much longer she could keep up this act of someone who wasn’t about to go nuts. “At least it wouldn’t require much cleanup.”

That deepened his scowl. “I figured you’d be working as a cop.”

“No.” And that’s all Maggie could manage for several seconds. “I gave up my badge and went with another career choice.”

He looked at the peeling painted sign on the side of the building. “Waitress at the Tip Top Diner.”

Ah, two could go in the smart-mouthed direction.

“Fewer things to screw up at a diner,” she settled for saying.

Jake’s forehead bunched up, and he nodded. Just nodded.

It hit her then. Maybe he wasn’t there to kill her after all. Maybe he’d come to warn her, though she couldn’t think of a good reason why he’d be the one to do that.

“Has my identity been compromised?” She couldn’t get the question out fast enough, and Maggie fired glances all around. The next question, however, didn’t come easily. “Does Tanner know where I am?”

Bruce Tanner. The man who’d hired someone to gun down her sister to get back at Maggie for conducting an investigation into his multiple wrongdoings. He was in jail on death row now, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t find a way to kill her.

Get in line.

A lot of people wanted her dead.

“Tanner doesn’t know,” Jake said. “At least I don’t think he does.” With his hands bracketed on the steering wheel, Jake turned his head and nailed his gaze to hers. “I’m here to take you back to Mustang Ridge.”

Maggie had anticipated Jake saying a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them. “Wh-what?”

“Mustang Ridge,” Jake said as if that clarified everything. He started the engine and probably would have driven away if Maggie hadn’t latched on to his wrist.

“You can’t take me back there, Jake. It’s too dangerous.”

He looked at her as if she’d spouted a third eye. “You thought I’d come here to kill you, remember?”

“Yeah, but in hot blood. As in the emotion had taken over so that you weren’t thinking straight. Taking me back to the one place where someone will see me and tell Tanner is premeditation—”

“I don’t want to harm you.” Jake cursed. “I don’t want to harm you today,” he quickly amended.

She wasn’t sure she believed that, and Jake had good reason to want to do her harm. If Maggie could go back to three years ago, she would have never started that investigation into Bruce Tanner, the rancher who was as corrupt as he was rich and powerful. But Maggie had been eager for justice. Equally eager to make a name for herself in the Amarillo P.D. She’d wanted to bring Tanner down.

And she had succeeded in part.

Maggie had found the evidence necessary to arrest him for money laundering through real estate deals, and in retaliation, Tanner had hired someone to shoot and kill Anna in what was supposed to look like a foiled robbery attempt at a store where she’d been shopping.

Yes, eventually Maggie and her fellow officers had managed to pin the murder on Tanner and had put him on death row, but it hadn’t brought back her sister. It hadn’t eased Jake’s hatred of her.

And it hadn’t eased her hatred of herself.

“If you’re not taking me to Tanner,” she asked, “then where are you taking me?”

“To the hospital for some tests. After that, I’ll let you go.”

The hospital? “But I’m not sick.”

Maggie stopped. What the heck would make Jake McCall come all this way to take her to Mustang Ridge for some tests?

There was only one thing.

Sunny.

She reached across the seat and gripped on to his jacket, wadding up the fabric in her fists. “What’s wrong? What happened to my niece?”

Maggie would have added more questions, but the sound of the sirens stopped her cold. It wasn’t a sound she heard often in Coopersville.

The sirens didn’t stop Jake, however. He threw the truck into gear.

“Put your seat belt on,” Jake growled.

And that was the only warning Maggie got before Jake gunned the engine, and the truck barreled out of the parking lot.


Chapter Three

Jake tried not to react to the sirens wailing behind him. And he reminded himself that the local cops probably wouldn’t be after him yet.

Probably.

But even if they were, he still had to get Maggie out of there.

“You’ve lost your mind,” Maggie concluded.

She put on her seat belt as he’d ordered, though Jake wasn’t sure how she managed it with her hands shaking that hard. She was chewing on her bottom lip, too, and there wasn’t much color in her face.

He hadn’t wanted to scare her.

Okay, maybe he had.

Fear was better than other things she could have chosen to do.

Like fight back.

Maggie had once been an Amarillo city cop with a good aim and a kick-butt attitude, and Jake had been surprised when she hadn’t pulled a gun on him and tried to defend herself. But no. She’d confused things even more by going with him and poking fun at the fact that this could have been her last few moments on earth.

She pushed her dark blond hair from her face, looked over her shoulder and no doubt saw the Coopersville police cruiser behind them. Not close.

And it wasn’t exactly following them.

The cruiser pulled into the parking lot of the diner, and Jake kept going. He had to get out of there before the local sheriff realized that Maggie was gone.

“Are you planning to let me in on what’s going on?” Maggie asked.

Not really. But he needed her cooperation and that meant he had to tell her at least some of the truth. It was a gamble, but Jake was feeling a little better about his chances since Maggie had already asked about Sunny. Maybe that meant she hadn’t written off her niece.

Maybe that also meant she’d help with Jake’s plan.

“Should I be screaming and trying to flag down Sheriff Myers?” she pushed.

Oh, yeah. She probably should, but Jake kept that to himself. “I hacked into the Justice Department database to find you.”

“What?” She made a sound of pure outrage. “Why would you do something stupid like that? You know what could happen to me.”

She stopped.

“Oh, I get it.” Maggie huffed. “This is some kind of death by proxy thing. You lead one of Tanner’s goons to me so he can kill me. Yeah, you’ll lose your badge for hacking into the database. Maybe even spend some time in jail or on probation. But you’ll have your McCall justice, and I’ll be dead.”

None of that was true. But he was glad Chet hadn’t thought of it. Jake didn’t think even his father would stoop that low, but with Chet, you never knew.

Jake turned onto a back road before he continued. “Sunny’s sick.”

Maggie froze and studied him a moment. “What’s wrong with her?” Her voice was tentative. As if she didn’t want to hear the answer.

Jake had practiced this part so it would sound sterile. “Aplastic anemia. Her bone marrow isn’t producing enough new cells to keep her alive.”

“Oh, God.” And Maggie repeated it until it strung together like one syllable.

Jake gave her some time to try to absorb that. He wished her luck with it. He’d had several months now and was still trying to absorb it. It didn’t make sense that his baby girl would have to fight for her life this way.

“How bad is it?” Maggie asked.

“Bad.” He had to pause, take a deep breath. He’d rehearsed this part, too, but it still sickened him to say it. “She needs a bone marrow transplant fast. We’ve all had blood tests, and none of us match.”

She repeated that, too. “And I’m a match?”

He glanced at her and met her gaze. “I hope.”

“You don’t know?” Her grip melted off him. “That’s what the test is for, Jake, you didn’t have to kidnap me. I would have done the test.”

Her eagerness to help Sunny didn’t ease the knot in his gut. That’s because he was bargaining with the devil here.

A devil he’d kissed.

And dreamed about.

Hell, the dreams were the worst part, because in them he’d done a lot more than just kiss her. That made him one sick puppy.

“You had a no-contact clause in your relocation records,” he reminded her. “The only way I could find you was to go into the database.”

“Okay.” She nodded, stayed quiet a moment. “Then turn around and I’ll tell the sheriff that I want to go with you. I want to do this.”

Now it was his turn to stay quiet a moment. “I don’t have the hacking skills to do what needed to be done, and I didn’t have the time to learn them. So, I had to hire someone.” It burned Jake’s throat to say this. “Someone I’m not sure I can trust.”

Her dark brown eyes widened, and she apparently could guess where this was going. “Someone who might tell Tanner?”

“Yeah.” And he wished he had rehearsed this part. “Ernest Garfield’s son, Wade.”

She cursed. “Well, heck, yes. He’ll sell the information to Tanner. He’d sell his mother’s eyeballs for a quarter. Why in blue blazes would you go to him, to anyone who could be paid off?”

“Because I ran out of options, that’s why. And Sunny’s running out of time. If she doesn’t get the marrow soon, it could be too late. Right now, she’s so weak that even a cold could turn out to be fatal. Every moment is a risk for her.”

Mercy, it hurt to say that aloud or to even think it.

“Wade said it wouldn’t be long before the marshals or FBI could trace the hack job to a computer. My computer,” he clarified. “I didn’t want to implicate anyone else in this.”

Her breath was gusting now, and the lip chewing got worse. “So, the marshals know what you’ve done, and they’ve probably called Coopersville’s sheriff.”

“Probably.” And once the sheriff realized Maggie wasn’t at the diner, they’d do a search. One that would include putting out an APB.

She didn’t say anything. Maggie just sat there, and even though Jake hadn’t thought it possible, she had even less color in her face now than when she’d dropped that coffeepot.

Maggie started to shake her head.

Jake ignored it. He wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“First, you’ll need a simple blood test to determine if you’re a bone marrow match. If you are,” he went on, “there’s a procedure where the doctor extracts the marrow with a needle. It’ll require some sedation, but it should all be a done deal in a day or two. I’ll keep you hidden. I’ll protect you as best I can. And then I can call the marshals, turn myself in and you can go back into the program under a new identity,” he added. “I’m sorry about that.”

Another new life. And she was no doubt thinking of the problems that would cause for her. Leaving everything behind again. Starting from scratch again.

Clearly, she had a life there in Coopersville. Not what some would consider a good life, but maybe she’d been happy. The cook at the diner had certainly looked protective of her.

Or something.

It was the same for the geezer eating the eggs. For a second, Jake had thought he might have to shoot his way out of there.

But then Maggie had stepped up and settled the situation.

Jake wanted to hang on to his hatred for her, but she’d put a dent in his hard feelings by not only offering herself to a man she considered dangerous—him—but also going along with this plan that could ultimately get her killed.

“I’m sorry about putting you in danger, too,” he added. “I know this could get you killed. If there’d been another way, I wouldn’t have done this to you.”

“Yes.” Maggie said it almost idly, as if she weren’t really listening to him.

“Is there someone you need to call to let him know you’re alive and well?” Jake asked.

“No.” And she shook her head again. “No one there knows who I am. Was,” she corrected.

Good move. It was probably why she was still alive.

“But they’ll know now,” she added.

Maggie stared out the window, watching the rural landscape zip past the window. Soon he’d need to get off this road and onto another one. Then, another. It’d be all back roads to get her to Mustang Ridge.

He wondered if the marshals or the FBI would set up roadblocks. Or use helicopters to locate them. And while he was wondering, Jake thought about how his family would be taking all of this.

Royce was no doubt trying to cover his butt. Nell would be trying to keep everybody calm and make sure Sunny was okay. Chet would be pitching a fit that Jake hadn’t told him what was going on. It’d be minor compared to the fit Chet had pitched two and a half years ago when he’d walked in on Jake kissing Maggie by the barn.

A kiss to soothe his pain, Jake had tried to justify, since he was grieving his wife’s death.

Jake had pitched his own fit just a few hours later when he’d learned that Anna’s killer was none other than Bruce Tanner and not some armed robber as everyone had thought.

And the real kicker?

Tanner had done that because he’d warned Maggie to back off an investigation she was honchoing. Of course, Maggie hadn’t bothered to share that threat with the family or her sister. If she had, Jake maybe could have figured out that Tanner would go after someone Maggie loved.

He heard her phone ring, and she rifled through her purse to find it. “My boss,” she relayed to Jake, but she didn’t answer it.

“He’s worried about you,” Jake commented. “Will he try to follow us?” In other words, how much did this guy care for Maggie? Would he go to the ends of the earth to find her?

And why did that bother Jake?

He mentally cursed. He didn’t care a flying fig about Maggie’s love life.

“I’ll call him later,” she answered. “Could you stop the truck a minute? I have to throw up.”

Jake knew how she felt. That’s the reaction he’d had when he first learned Sunny was sick. Plus, she was no doubt reliving all the mess with Anna and Tanner just as he was.

He glanced behind them first. No sign of the cruiser. No sign of anyone, so he eased the truck to a stop on the gravel shoulder.

Maggie stepped out, with her back to him, and looped her purse over her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Jake groaned. This better not turn into a conversation about Anna. A conversation meant to relieve Maggie of the guilt that he wanted her to have for the rest of her life.

She damn sure deserved the guilt.

So did he.

And Jake was about to remind her of just that when she slammed the truck door and jumped over the ditch.

Maggie started running toward the woods.


Chapter Four

Maggie ran as if Jake’s life depended on it. Because it did. He no doubt knew that he’d opened a Texas-size can of worms by coming to her, but he had no idea just how dangerous this could be for him. For Sunny.

For his entire family.

She wouldn’t be responsible for another McCall murder. No. This ended now.

The ground was frozen, slicked with a mixture of ice, fallen trees and dead leaves, and her sensible work shoes were ideal for standing on linoleum but not so good for navigating the slippery terrain. Still, Maggie ran and prayed that she’d gotten enough of a head start on Jake that she could disappear into the thick woods before he could catch up.

Of course, disappearing was just for starters. She’d have to hide, and she figured Jake would look for her as long as he could—maybe until the Coopersville sheriff or someone else drove by.

Maybe that wouldn’t take too long.

The cold had already started to clog her lungs, but she kept fighting for each step. A thick cluster of trees was just ahead. Beyond that, the actual woods. She had no idea where those woods led; that was something else she’d have to work out.

Maggie heard the footsteps behind her. Heard Jake’s profanity, too.

“Damn it, Maggie. Stop!” he called out.

She didn’t. Maggie kept running and was within a few feet of that tree cluster when Jake grasped on to her shoulder. The fierce jerk he gave her had her flying right into him. Her back collided with his chest, and he hooked his left arm around her waist to anchor her in place.

Maggie fought him. He might be bigger and stronger than she was, but she had a huge reason to get away from him. She rammed her elbow into his stomach and tried to bolt. She might as well have elbowed a brick wall, and the pain shot through her funny bone.

“Why the hell are you doing this?” he snarled. “I need you to help Sunny.”

“I am helping her,” she managed to say.

Jake clearly didn’t believe that because he cursed again and didn’t let go of her. Despite the pain, she tried to elbow him again. Jake dodged that blow, put her in a bear hug and shoved her against one of the trees. In the same motion, he whirled her around to face him.

Really face him.

As in they were plastered against each other, and his eyes, nose and mouth were only an inch or two from hers. They were both breathing hard, and she took in his breath. It was almost like tasting him.

Kissing him.

And he must have realized that because he moved back a little. Just enough so she could see the fire and confusion in his eyes.

“Why?” he demanded though teeth clenched so tight that she was surprised they didn’t chip.

Maggie considered how much she should say. The truth might work if it didn’t cause him to wring her neck. Or somehow try to get to Tanner. Since Jake was already in a blind rage, Maggie went with a partial explanation.

“I’ll go to a hospital alone and do the test. If I’m a match, I’ll donate the bone marrow immediately, but you can’t be involved in it. You can’t be involved with me,” she corrected.

Jake glared at her. “I don’t want to get involved with you,” he informed her. And he stepped back a little more. Probably because he realized their body parts were aligned in a nearly intimate way.

“But you will help Sunny,” he added.

“Of course.” Maggie had to pause, clear her throat, because it was obvious that Jake wasn’t just going to accept her offer to do this alone.

But he would after she told him everything she’d done. He’d hate her more, too, but that couldn’t be helped. It would save him.

She hoped.

“After Tanner was arrested for Anna’s murder,” she started, but had to stop and take another breath. “I went to him and cut a deal. I had evidence against his son, David, and I told Tanner I would hide it if he’d leave you and your family alone.”

Without taking his glare off her, Jake stepped back even farther. “What kind of evidence?”

“The kind that would send David to jail for at least twenty years.” Without Jake’s body heat, she started to shiver. “Yes, I know what I did was illegal, but I had to do something to stop Tanner from killing anyone else.”

“And you believed this would stop Tanner?” Jake fired back at her.

“It did stop him. Since I’ve been gone, he hasn’t paid someone to threaten you or your family, has he?” She prayed the answer to that was no.

Jake confirmed that a few seconds later by shaking his head. “Where’s the evidence?”

“Someplace safe.” In fact, several places, since she’d made duplicate copies and put them in deposit boxes at three different banks.

He glanced away, only to have his gaze slash back to her. “What does this have to do with you running from me?”

Maggie tried to get control of her shivering but failed. “Tanner had his own concessions with the deal. He said if I had any association with Sunny or the rest of you, that I’d ‘be sorry again.’ His exact words.”

And that could only mean one thing—murdering another McCall.

Jake cursed, turned as if about to storm back to the truck, but Maggie stopped him. “You can’t go after him or tell anyone I have the evidence against David,” she insisted. “That would give Tanner an excuse to have his henchmen gun you down.”

That didn’t soothe the dangerous look in his eyes.

“Think of Sunny,” she reminded him.

“I am!” he practically yelled. “That’s why I’m here. That’s why I broke the law and put your life in danger.” He cursed again and groaned. “But now you’re telling me that just my association with you could get us all killed.”

Maggie settled for a nod. “That’s why I need to do the bone marrow test alone, and you need to go back to Mustang Ridge. You can tell your family you didn’t find me, and I’ll make sure the word gets to Tanner that I haven’t set eyes on you.”

Jake stayed quiet a moment, and the only sounds were their heavy breaths and the wind slapping at them and the bare tree branches. “What if it’s already too late?” he finally asked. “What if Wade’s told Tanner that I hacked into the files?”

“It’s not too late.” Maggie hoped. “All that Wade can tell Tanner is that you hired him. Wade doesn’t know you found me.” But then she stopped. “Unless you told your family.”

Jake shook his head. “They don’t know that I was coming here.”

“You didn’t even tell Royce?” His brother, and a deputy sheriff. Jake and Royce were close, and she couldn’t imagine Jake keeping this from him.

“Royce knows I’m looking. He doesn’t know I found you. I didn’t want him involved.”

Yes, she could see why. It was very possible that this would lead to Jake’s arrest. He’d risked so much by finding her, but Maggie couldn’t let him risk his life.

Or Sunny’s.

Her phone rang again, and Maggie looked into her purse at the screen. It was her boss, Gene. Again. And she figured he’d continue to call until she answered. Worse, he might alert the Coopersville sheriff more than he was already alerted. If that was possible. She’d have to call Gene first chance she got.

Jake stayed quiet a moment. “Something’s not adding up. Tanner has to know if he hurts Sunny that you’d spill the evidence you have about David.” He paused, stared at her. “You would spill, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.” She said it slowly, but there was no hesitation. Not about Sunny anyway. It sickened her, though, to think of Tanner harming that child.

“I obtained the evidence illegally,” she admitted. And she looked at him, daring him to challenge that since he’d just done the same darn thing to find her. “If I break the pact with Tanner, he could decide that his bottom-line threat to me is more important than the risk to his son.”

“Especially if Tanner can get the evidence thrown out because it was illegally obtained,” Jake concluded. He added a groan. “Not much of a pact if you ask me.”

“It was all I had, and I hoped if I stayed away, if I did as Tanner wanted, then it would be enough.”

Jake didn’t respond to that right away. “What about the Coopersville sheriff?” he asked. “And the people in the Tip Top Diner? One of them could say something that would get back to Tanner.”

“I’ll do some damage control.” How, exactly she didn’t know, but Maggie would find a way to convince them to stay quiet about what they’d seen. Maybe a boatload of lies would work.

Jake glanced around the woods and then at her. “Come on. You can’t stay out in this cold, and I can drive you to your car.”

“Too risky.” Her car and apartment were just a block from the diner. “There’s a town, Howard’s Creek, not too far from here. You can drop me off at the town’s edge, and I’ll catch the bus into Sweetwater. I can go to the nearest hospital, have the test done and they can fax the result to Mustang Ridge. I’ll use an alias in case Tanner manages to buy off someone at the hospital.”

Jake stood there, apparently processing everything but not moving.

“I swear I’ll do the test,” she said. “I love Sunny, and I’ll do whatever’s necessary to help her get better.”

That seemed to be the assurance he was waiting for, because Jake gave her a nod, turned and started for the truck. Maggie let out the breath she’d been holding, and she hurried to catch up with him.

“On the bus ride to Sweetwater, I’ll call my boss at the diner,” she added, more for herself than for him, “and I’ll tell him you’re someone I met in a bar last weekend. I can give him enough details to ease his suspicions.”

And maybe, just maybe, Jake’s visit wouldn’t undo the deal she’d made with Tanner and set off the powder keg Maggie had been sitting on for two and a half years. Of course, Jake was sitting on a powder keg of a different sort.

After that, she’d need to ditch the phone in case the marshals tried to use it to try to track her. The phone had special security measures on it, to prevent just anyone from finding her, but right now, the marshals were a concern. If they found her, they found Jake.

“How sick is Sunny?” she asked.

Jake didn’t stop walking, didn’t look back, but she saw his shoulders tense. “I told you it was bad, and it is. She’s very sick and won’t get better without a transplant.”

That cut through her hard. Mercy, this was so unfair. Her little niece had already been through too much. Jake, as well. And Maggie prayed she could help in all of this. Not that it would absolve her of any guilt in Anna’s death.

No.

Nothing could ever do that, but at least she had the chance to save Jake from having to lose someone else he loved.

“I’ll be arrested soon,” he said, still not looking back as they walked to the truck. “But Royce can handle the test results. He’ll see to things.”

The words had barely left his mouth when Jake came to an abrupt stop, and Maggie nearly plowed right into him. He lifted his head and appeared to listen for something. Maggie did the same, but she heard nothing.

“Move, now!” Jake insisted, and he caught her arm.

Maggie hadn’t exactly been at ease, but that gave her another jab of fear and concern. Jake started to run with her in tow, but they were still a good twenty feet from the truck when she finally heard something.

Something Maggie didn’t want to hear.

A gunshot.

* * *

JAKE HOOKED HIS ARM around Maggie and dragged her to the ground.

It wasn’t a second too soon because the second shot came almost immediately after the first, and both slammed into the ground right where they’d been standing. There weren’t many places he could use for cover so he pulled her behind a fallen tree. It wouldn’t give them much protection, but it might be enough if he could pinpoint the shooter.

Jake drew his gun.

He followed the direction of the third shot. It hadn’t come from the road or even near his truck but instead had come from the right, and his attention zoomed in on a group of cottonwood trees. It wasn’t deep cover, but it was just enough for a gunman to hide.

Tanner’s hired gunman, no doubt.

If Coopersville’s sheriff had found Maggie and him, the lawman wouldn’t have shot first, especially since Maggie could have been hurt. Unless Tanner had already managed to get the sheriff on his payroll.

The next shot smacked into the fallen tree and sent some splinters and bark flying through the air. Jake pulled Maggie lower, until she was flat on the ground, and he covered her body with his. He couldn’t risk her being shot and killed, because she was the only one who could save Sunny.

He’d die for her, if necessary.

Ironic, since more often than not, he’d been the one to want her dead. Or at least he’d wanted her grieving at much as he was.

“If it’s Tanner’s man, I can negotiate with him,” she insisted.

“This isn’t a negotiating situation.” And the next round of bullets hopefully proved that to her. Jake took aim at the cottonwoods and fired a shot of his own. Not that he had the shooter in line of sight, but he didn’t want this guy moving in closer for an easier kill.

“I still have that proof to send David to jail,” she reminded Jake.

Yeah. But that apparently wasn’t stopping Tanner. Of course, maybe the man just had plans to kill Jake. That would take care of his threat to make Maggie “sorry again,” but Tanner could still use threat of violence against the rest of the McCalls to keep Maggie from turning over that evidence to the authorities.

“Tanner wants me,” Jake relayed to her. “If that happens, get the hell out of here and go to the hospital in Sweetwater. Don’t waste any time reporting any of this.”

Even over the sound of the next shot, Jake heard Maggie curse. “You’re not going to sacrifice yourself.”

“Might not have a choice. Time’s running out.”

Her cursing got significantly worse. “Do you have a backup weapon?”

But she didn’t wait for him to answer. Maggie must have remembered that he wore a boot holster because she scrambled lower so she could jerk up his jeans’ leg and retrieve the small Beretta.

“It’s me, Maggie Gallagher,” she shouted. “And you can tell your worthless spit wad of a boss that if I die, the evidence against his son will automatically go to a dozen different law enforcement agencies. David Tanner will rot in jail.”

She fired a shot into the trees to punctuate that, but it didn’t stop the bullets from coming at them.

Hell.

Maybe he’d been wrong about this being Tanner’s man. Or maybe Tanner wasn’t going to give in to Maggie’s threat. Of course, the gunman could just be stupid, and if so, he might end up killing them both.

Enough of this.

“Stay down,” Jake warned Maggie, and he lifted himself up a little so he could actually see into the trees. It took him a few seconds to locate the silhouette of the shooter who was dressed in camouflage.

It took Jake another second to aim.

Jake double tapped the trigger and sent the two bullets into the man. There was no groan of pain, just the sickening thuds of the shots slamming into the body.

He saw the man drop to the ground, but Jake didn’t waste any time. He took Maggie’s arm again, dragging her from the ground, and he started running toward the truck. She kept the Beretta aimed in the direction of the fallen man, but Jake figured the guy was incapable of returning fire.

Of course, he could have a partner.

Or two.

And that’s why Jake ran as fast as he could. Sunny didn’t have time for Maggie and him to fight off any other hired guns.

Since the passenger’s side door was still wide-open, Jake dove in, scrambling across the seat, and he pulled Maggie in with him. The engine was running, just as he’d left it, and he didn’t wait for her to close the door. He threw the truck into gear, and he hit the accelerator.

Maggie slammed the door and turned in the seat so she could watch behind them. She was the cop now, and even though that brought back bad memories of her investigation that had gotten Anna killed, he wouldn’t refuse having her as backup.

Temporary backup, that is.

The plan was still to get her to Sweetwater, but first he had to call Royce and warn him. Nothing would stop Jake from getting into the prison and tearing Tanner limb from limb if the man had already sent his hired guns to the ranch.

Jake took out his phone while he volleyed his attention between the side mirror and the road ahead. There was no sign of the sheriff’s cruiser. No sign of a gunman, either, so maybe that meant they could actually make it out of there without having to dodge any more bullets.

He pressed in Royce’s number, and his brother answered on the first ring. “Where the hell are you?” Royce demanded.

Jake ignored that question. “You need to secure the ranch. Tanner could have men on the way out there.”

His brother said something that Jake didn’t catch. “I’ll call you right back.” And Royce hung up.

Jake prayed his brother could put enough security measures in place to keep Sunny safe, and he cursed Maggie and himself for the deal that she’d made with Tanner. The deal might have kept them safe for the past two and a half years, but now it could get them killed. He should have anticipated something like this. Nothing was ever easy when it came to dealing with Tanner.

Or Maggie.

“Wade must have spilled his guts to Tanner or David right away,” Maggie mumbled. She was still keeping watch behind them.

Yeah, that was possible, because Tanner and his son still had a boatload of money, and even with Tanner behind bars, that didn’t mean the father and son criminal duo couldn’t hire all the guns and muscle they needed.

Guns and muscle that could be aimed at Sunny.

“Tanner doesn’t want to hurt Sunny,” Maggie said, as if reading his mind. But it sure sounded as if she was trying to convince herself. “You’re the one he’ll go after.”

“Sunny is your niece,” he reminded her. Hell, he wished he could transport himself back to the ranch so he could protect his baby.

“There’s something else that might be playing into this,” she said. “Tanner knows about that kiss in the barn.”

Jake’s left hand tightened on the steering wheel. “How the hell would he have known about that?”

“I’m not sure. I think your father said something, and it got around town. All I know is that Tanner brought it up when I went to talk to him about that deal.” Maggie paused. “He thinks you have feelings for me and vice versa.”

Well, Tanner was wrong about that. “Surely, he knows the truth by now?”

“Maybe not. Maybe he thinks your talk of hating me is to cover up the feelings that went behind that kiss.”

“It’s not a cover,” Jake snapped. And the kiss hadn’t been about feelings. It’d been about his stupid clouded judgment because he’d lost his wife just a couple of months earlier.

Months that Maggie hadn’t volunteered that she had been the reason Anna was killed. There was a chance she hadn’t known that exact information at the time, but she sure as heck could have told Jake about the investigation she’d started against Tanner. Two months was a long time to conceal that information.

The moment his phone buzzed, he glanced at the screen, saw his brother’s number, and he pressed the answer button.

“I alerted all the ranch hands. Nell and Dad, too,” Royce said. “Everyone is armed, but how soon can you get back?”

Jake glanced at Maggie and at the Colt that he still had gripped in his hand. He needed to get her to a doctor or a hospital for that test, but he couldn’t do that with his little girl at risk.

“I’ll hurry,” Jake answered, “but I’m still about three hours out.”

“Get back as fast as you can. Nell said Sunny was upset when she saw her granddaddy running to get his gun.”

Hell. The image of that was too vivid in his head, and Jake automatically sped up.

“Take the back road to get to the ranch,” Royce added. “And keep a low profile once you’re—”

“Maggie’s with me,” Jake interrupted. He glanced at her again, and she was clearly waiting to hear what was going on back in Mustang Ridge.

Royce didn’t answer right away. “I’ll let Dad know she’s coming, too.”

Jake could hear the dread in Royce’s tone. That same dread went through Jake. This would not be a pleasant homecoming for any of them, especially Maggie.

“I’ll remind Dad that Maggie came to help,” Royce said. “She did come to help, right?”

Jake settled for a “Yeah.”

“One more thing,” Jake added. “A gunman fired shots at Maggie and me in the woods east of Coopersville. I had to leave a dead body behind, but you need to figure out a way to get someone out there to investigate.”

Royce cursed again. “I’ll turn it in as an anonymous tip, but if it was Tanner’s doing, he’ll probably have already arranged for his own cleanup.”

That was fine with Jake. One less thing on his plate, but he wouldn’t mind someone other than Tanner’s henchmen checking the body for any evidence to prove who’d hired him.

“I’ll see you when I get back,” Jake told Royce.

“Wait. There’s something else. Like I said, use the back roads, and whatever you do, don’t come into town.”

“Why?” Jake asked cautiously.

“The U.S. marshals showed up about fifteen minutes ago. I’ve talked them out of going to the ranch because of Sunny’s illness. I swore to them I’d get you to come here to the sheriff’s office instead.”

Royce paused, a long time. “Jake, they’re here to arrest you.”


Chapter Five

Maggie had so many bad feelings about going to the McCall ranch, but none of those could override the fact that Jake had no choice in the matter. He couldn’t risk Tanner coming after Sunny. He needed to be there at home with his daughter in case there was an attack.

And that meant Maggie would be there, too.

She’d taken as many precautions as she could. She had made a call to her boss, Gene, to try to convince him that she was all right. And that she’d be back in a day or two. That was an outright lie. She couldn’t go back to Coopersville, and within seconds of telling Gene that lie, Maggie had ended the call, disassembled her phone and tossed the parts out the window.

Now, she kept watch out the side mirror as Jake snaked the truck over the familiar farm roads that led to the ranch. Maggie recognized every part of the scenery, since she’d been born and raised in Mustang Ridge. She also had no trouble recalling from memory all the details of the McCall ranch.

Or the threat that Chet had made the day she left.

Something about killing her and the horse she rode in on if she ever returned. Maggie didn’t think that colorful threat was all bluff, either, but maybe Chet could put his hatred aside long enough for her to get this test done.

Jake finished his call to Royce, the fourth on their nearly three hour drive from Coopersville, and he slipped the phone into his pocket. “Dr. Grange will come out to the ranch to do the bone marrow test on you,” he relayed to her.

Maggie silently groaned. “Tanner can buy off the doctor.” But the same was true for just about anyone.

Jake made a weary sound of agreement. “Royce told Doc Grange that he needed to check on Sunny. He doesn’t know you’ll be at the ranch.”

Well, that was a start, but Grange would soon know that it was a lie. Somehow she had to convince him to keep her return a secret. After convincing the doctor, she’d have to get in touch with Tanner and remind him of their agreement. An agreement that had been broken because she was back in Mustang Ridge.

But maybe she could keep that from him.

Jake took the final turn onto one of the ranch trails. Winter was hardly the best time to be sloshing through the icy dirt paths, but this was one more step in keeping her arrival a secret. They passed the outbuildings. Barns.

Including the barn of the infamous kiss.

She glanced at Jake, but he was looking everywhere but there, which only seemed to call more attention to it.

Maggie spotted several ranch hands, all armed, and there was another in the backyard where Jake finally brought the truck to a stop. He’d barely had time to kill the engine when the door opened and his sister, Nell, stepped out. Once, Maggie and she had been friends. Judging from Nell’s troubled eyes, Maggie wasn’t expecting that friendship to resume.

It was understandable.

Nell had been friends with Anna. In fact, they weren’t just in-laws; they’d worked together at the county clerk’s office in town.

“Is she a match?” Nell asked the moment Jake opened the door.

“We’ll soon find out. That’s why the doc is on the way.” He motioned for Maggie to come across the seat on his side. Probably so she wouldn’t be out in the open any longer than necessary, and he quickly ushered her inside.

Nell held the door open for them and studied Maggie’s uniform and then her muddy shoes. “I’m guessing you had a rough morning, too.”

Maggie nodded. It’d been nearly three years of rough mornings.

The kitchen was toasty warm and smelled liked Christmas cookies. Leave it to Nell to bake cookies when all hell was breaking loose, but then that’s what Maggie had always admired about her cool-under-pressure former friend.

Nothing had changed much in the time she’d been gone. The place looked exactly as it had when Anna and she had started visiting as teenagers. In those days, they’d both had crushes on Jake.

Something that would be a good idea to forget.

Like the house, Nell hadn’t changed much, either, though Maggie thought she was looking more and more like her late mother. In fact, she was pretty sure she’d seen Mrs. McCall wear that very apron. The cross necklace and the engagement ring, too, though Nell was wearing the ring on her right hand instead of her left.

“I’m sorry about your mother’s death,” Maggie told her. Breast cancer, Jake had told her when she’d asked on the drive over.

Nell nodded. “It was a tough loss for Jake, Royce and me.” She didn’t add her father to that list, and Maggie knew why. Even though they stayed married, Nell’s parents had had a rocky relationship.

“I went ahead and sent Betsy home,” Nell told Jake. She put on the oven mitt and took out another baking sheet of cookies from the oven. “I didn’t figure it’d be a good idea if she was here, what with possible trouble brewing.”

“You’re right.” Jake glanced at Maggie. “Betsy Becker, the nurse who’s been taking care of Sunny.”

Oh, that Betsy. Maggie remembered the kindly woman, and Nell had been right to get her away from this. The fewer people, the better.

“You have a security system?” Maggie asked, looking at the windows and then the door.

Jake nodded. “And the ranch hands are watching both roads.”

Maybe that would be enough. Maybe. But the Tanners had a long reach when it came to settling a score.

Nell turned to her brother. “Why would Tanner try to come after us now? And why are those marshals waiting at your office to arrest you?”

That last part snagged Maggie’s attention. “What marshals?”

“The ones who arrived several hours ago,” Nell clarified.

“You knew about this?” Maggie asked him, but there was no answer required. She could tell from his expression that he knew. The marshals obviously hadn’t had any trouble tracing the hacking job back to Jake.

“Well?” Nell pressed.

Jake shrugged. “It’s a long story.”

“Shorten it,” Nell insisted, staring at Maggie now.

Since the cat was out of the proverbial bag, Maggie didn’t see a reason to keep it secret. “Jake hacked into the classified database to find me.”

“Mercy,” Nell mumbled. “Is that why the ranch hands are all armed—to keep the marshals away?”

“No. Royce is supposed to keep the marshals away.” Jake tipped his head to Maggie for her to finish.

“I made a deal with Tanner so he’d leave all of you alone. He might believe I broke that deal.” She lifted her shoulder. “Technically, I did.”

“What did Tanner threaten to do if you broke the deal?” Nell asked.

“To hurt one or more of you.” She had to pause. “I have evidence against his son, so that might be enough to tie Tanner’s hands.” Another pause. “Unless he thinks he can have the evidence negated in some way.”

Or maybe Tanner would let his temper get the best of him and lash out despite the consequences.

“The idea is to get Maggie out of here fast and back into WITSEC,” Jake explained. “Then, I can deal with the marshals.”

Nell practically slammed the cookies onto the counter. “And you’ll be off to jail.”

Jake nodded. “I did what I had to do.”

Tears sprang to Nell’s eyes. “I know.” And she repeated it as she gave his arm a gentle squeeze.

“I had no choice but to bring her here,” Maggie heard Jake say.

Maggie’s attention shifted to the doorway where she spotted Chet approaching them. Definitely no warm fuzzies from him. He gave her a withering look, cursed and walked away.

“I can go as soon as the test is done,” Maggie assured Jake and Nell. She cleared her throat. “But I’d like to see Sunny first.”

Maggie braced herself for a resounding no from both of them, but they exchanged glances. There was some sibling telepathy going on between them, because Nell lifted her left eyebrow. Waited. Jake waited, too, and then finally echoed the profanity his father had just used.

“Wash your hands,” Jake ordered. “Scrub them clean and take one of the masks.” He pointed to a dispenser box of surgical masks on the windowsill next to the clay pots of fresh herbs.

For fear he would change his mind, Maggie didn’t waste any time. She shucked off her coat, which Nell took, and Maggie hurried to the sink. Jake did as well, and they both reached for the bottle of antibacterial soap. His hand brushed against hers, causing him to jerk back, but they kept scrubbing until Maggie was certain she couldn’t get any cleaner.

“This way,” Jake growled. He took two masks and handed her one. “Keep it short, and don’t you dare say a word about Anna. I’ll be the one to explain it.”

Maggie nodded and gave Nell a silent thanks for urging this, and she followed Jake out of the kitchen, through the great room and to the doorway of the guest suite. Now, here was a room that had changed. It was crammed with Christmas decorations and toys. The bed was the only part of the original furniture that remained, and Sunny was there, in the center of that bed.

Maggie’s heart went to her knees.

Oh, God.

She hadn’t expected the emotion to slam into her like this. Or the tears. She blinked them back, but she doubted she could keep them at bay for long. Anna’s little baby wasn’t so little anymore. A proper little girl dressed in a frilly pink gown and with those dark brown curls haloing around her face.

She looked sick and weak, but when she saw Maggie in the doorway, Sunny smiled. It was more than a smile. Her face lit up brighter than the lights on the nearby Christmas tree.

“Are you my mommy?” Sunny asked. She lifted a weak hand to the picture on the nightstand next to her. It was a shot of Anna holding Sunny when she was a baby. “Did the angels bring you back?”

Because her legs didn’t feel any steadier than her stomach, Maggie held on to the door frame. “No,” she managed to say. She looked at Jake, shook her head. She had no idea how to answer that. She certainly hadn’t anticipated that Sunny would think she was Anna.

“It’s not Mommy.” Jake’s voice was shakier than Maggie’s. “Royce said you were upset earlier,” he continued, changing the subject. He put on his mask, moved Maggie aside and went to his daughter. He kissed her forehead and sank down on the bed next to her.

Sunny nodded. “’Cause you weren’t here to give me a morning kiss. Or read to me. And I saw Grandpa with his gun. I didn’t like that.” She pulled him down for a hug. “Where were you, Daddy?”

Even though Sunny was clearly upset, each word seemed precious to Maggie. Like a gift she’d never thought she could have. Before seeing Sunny, she’d already made up her mind to do whatever it took to help her, but now Maggie was even more determined.

“I had to do some things,” Jake assured the little girl, “but I’m here now. And I brought your aunt Maggie to meet you.”

Sunny looked at Maggie, and the smile returned though her head did ease back down onto the pillow. “My aunt Maggie? Like Aunt Nell?”

Jake nodded. “Except Nell is my sister, and Maggie is your mommy’s sister. That’s why they look alike.”

Sunny frowned. “So, the angels didn’t bring Mommy back for Christmas?”

“No.” Jake swallowed hard. “Remember, we talked about this? Mommy can’t come back. She has to live with the angels.”

Sunny looked over her dad’s shoulder at Maggie. “So maybe the angels sent me Aunt Maggie instead?”

“Maybe,” Jake answered.

Sunny managed another weak smile and motioned toward the book next to the picture on the nightstand. “Then, maybe Aunt Maggie can read to me.” She looked at her dad perhaps for approval and must have seen the surprise, or maybe even the disgust for Maggie, in his eyes. “Just this one day,” Sunny added. “Daddy, you can read to me tomorrow.”

When Sunny continued to glance at the book, Maggie put on the mask, went closer and picked it up. She wasn’t sure what Jake was going to do and was more than a little surprised when he moved off the edge of the bed to make room for her. He’d no sooner done that when his phone buzzed.

“I have to take this call,” he said, looking down at the screen. Then, he shot Maggie a warning glance. “Remember what I said.”

Yes, no mention of Anna. Maggie had no intentions of violating that rule. She waited until Jake had stepped out before she sat on the bed next to Sunny. She opened the first page of the book about baby animals, but Sunny put her hand over Maggie’s.

“It’s okay,” she whispered like a secret. “I know how to read it myself. Some of the words anyway.”

“Then you must be very smart,” Maggie answered.

Sunny gave a shrug that reminded Maggie so much of Jake. In fact, her niece was more McCall than Gallagher.

“You know I’m sick?” Sunny asked.

Maggie nodded, and she tried to push back the tears again. “But you’ll get better.”

Another shrug, and Sunny looked up at her with those big blue-gray eyes that were a genetic copy of Jake’s. “Did the angels send you ’cause I’m sick?”

“I wanted to see you,” Maggie settled for saying. Best not to mention the bone marrow test since she might not even be a match. That broke Maggie’s heart just to think of the possibility.

“Daddy said Mommy lives with the angels. They take care of Mommy now.”

Maggie didn’t trust her voice and just nodded.

Sunny motioned toward the angel ornaments on the tree. “They take care of me, too.” Her voice was weak, and her eyelids drifted down for a moment. “I get tired a lot.”

Since there was no answer to that, Maggie settled for pushing away a curl that had dropped down onto Sunny’s cheek. Like the words Sunny had spoken, that simple touch was precious, too.

“Know what I want for Christmas?” Sunny asked. “I want you to live with me and be my mommy.”

Maggie nearly choked on the quick breath she sucked in, and her reaction didn’t improve when she heard the sound behind her. Maggie looked over her shoulder and saw Jake standing in the doorway. He’d obviously finished his call. He’d also heard what his daughter had just said.

“I need to speak to your aunt,” he told Sunny. Because his mask was off, Maggie could see that his jaw was tight again. Teeth semiclenched, too.

Despite the glare Jake shot her, Maggie kissed Sunny’s forehead. “Sleep tight, sweetheart.”

Maggie put the book back on the nightstand before she joined Jake outside the room. He shut the door and looked down at her as if waiting for an explanation.

“I didn’t bring up Anna.” Maggie pulled off her mask. “And that last part she said—that was all Sunny’s idea. I had nothing to do with it.”

His glare stayed in place for several seconds before he muttered some profanity. “I didn’t hear what she said. Why don’t you tell me?”

Oh. She’d thought from his sour expression that he’d been reacting to Sunny’s mommy wish, but maybe the mood hadn’t been for anything specifically said, just for the fact that Maggie was there.

“Thank you for letting me see her,” Maggie told him.

She braced herself for some kind of verbal blast, because she figured Jake was kicking himself for allowing the little visit. Chet was certainly adding to that mental kicking because he was standing in the great room with yet another McCall glare aimed at her.

However, he wasn’t alone.

Maggie recognized the man next to Jake’s father. It was Dr. Gavin Grange, and after studying his body language, she wondered if at least part of Chet’s glare wasn’t meant for the doctor and not just her.

“Dr. Grange will do the blood test now,” Jake informed her.

She volleyed glances among the three. “Is there a problem I don’t know about?”

“The doc’s just worried about his own hide,” Chet snarled.

Dr. Grange didn’t confirm that. Not with words anyway. But he came closer, set his medical bag on the table in the entry and extracted a syringe with a needle.

Maggie held out her arm for the doctor to wipe the spot with an antiseptic pad. She winced a little when he shoved the needle into her vein, and he drew not one but two vials of blood. He put the blood vials in his medical bag.

“How soon before we know the results?” she asked.

“I’ll ask the lab to expedite it.”

“Stay on them,” Chet piped in. “I want those results today.”

That caused the doctor to scowl, and he gathered his things before he turned to Jake. “I can’t make it happen that soon. Usually, an expedited test still has a twenty-four-hour turnaround, and the hospital lab is closing early today because tomorrow’s Christmas Eve.”

Maggie groaned softly. The holidays would slow things to a crawl, and the weather wouldn’t help, either. It was ironic, because normally a white Christmas would have been a perfect way to celebrate, but it would only be perfect if they could get those test results and learn that she was a match.

“If you could speed that up, I’d appreciate it,” Jake told him.

The doctor nodded. “If Maggie’s a match, I won’t be able to do the marrow harvesting. You’ll have to take her to Amarillo for that so you might want to go ahead and make arrangements in case you get lucky with the match.”

Maggie wondered if that’s because it was beyond his medical expertise or if it was because he didn’t want to be involved further in this.

“Call me the second you have the results,” Jake insisted at the same moment Chet told the doctor, “You can see yourself out.”

The doctor did just that. He headed for the door and didn’t look back.

“What’s wrong with him?” Maggie asked.

“You,” Chet quickly provided. “And me. He didn’t want to get involved because of what happened with Anna, but I convinced him otherwise.”

“How?” And Maggie was afraid to hear the answer.




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