Close Range Cowboy (WEST Protection Book 10), page 17
Landon wouldn’t be far away if the FBI relayed what she’d told them. And getting in touch with Agent Westbrook had proved challenging—she’d called the local police and explained the situation to them. In turn, they’d transferred her to more and more offices until finally she got to speak with Westbrook.
She contemplated the distance to the door and how long it would take the brute guard to catch up to her if she decided to bolt for it. She assessed his thick, muscled legs. Guys of his size usually weren’t good sprinters, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t fast.
And she was on the slow side too—something that Landon liked to tease her about from the start. She could never keep up with him or her brother on foot or on bikes.
Ughhh. What was taking them so long? It had been hours since she placed that call. Clearly she wasn’t important enough to warrant a helicopter ride even to make the big arrest.
Not that she had places to be. She didn’t even have a job.
She slumped on the couch, mulling that over. She’d spent months of her life training her butt off and reading massive, thick, dull books on insurance policies and the regulations surrounding them, only to now be unemployed. She supposed she could pick up her roots and work anyplace, though. Once reports of what Marvis did hit the news, nobody would fault her for leaving the corporation without references.
Question was…what did she want to do next with her life? It wasn’t like she was passionate about writing insurance policies. But she did like helping people. She hoped to do that when she came to Marvis, but her aspirations quickly faded as soon as she realized she was nothing more than a robot to direct calls.
She had skills. Good ones. Even the ones that got her in trouble. How could she use those for the better?
And where would she settle to use those skills? Returning to Stone Pass hadn’t looked good to her since she said goodbye to that Podunk town. After high school, she’d packed her junk car and flipped everyone the bird on the way out of town.
She’d only been back for long enough to crash a wedding and get her old friend into deep trouble along with her, but now Stone Pass didn’t sound so bad. The peaceful streets and quiet life had its appeal after all this running from danger.
But the better question was…what would Landon think of her staying in Stone Pass and being so close to him? There was a lot unsettled between them. Too many things left unspoken and a lot of wrinkles to iron out before any decisions were made.
All this thinking was making her sleepy. Not to mention the silence.
“You’re not one for conversation, are you?” she asked the guard.
He glanced up from his phone. His features were as blunt as the rest of him. “I’m not here to keep you company, lady.”
“There’s so much to learn, though. We could be comparing notes about your experience working with Marvis.”
He gave an amused grunt.
“Do you like working for that asshole?” she asked. “Tomlinson?”
He leveled a look at her. “I’m not telling you anything.”
She shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’ll just talk then.” She tapped a fingertip to her lips in contemplation. “Let’s see if you’re good at listening.”
He ignored her and went back to scrolling on his phone.
“When I was a kid, my brother—the guy you threatened—had a buddy. We spent a lot of time together playing outside. You know, the way kids used to do before they were all on their computer tablets all day.”
He rolled his eyes.
“We left the house after breakfast and came back inside only for lunch. Then we’d be right back out. Fishing, skipping rocks on the pond. My brother’s best friend had a couple horses we used to ride on occasion.”
“Spare me, lady.”
She kept talking. “His best friend didn’t like me, growing up. He teased me so bad. Told me every day how my hair looked like I grabbed on to an electric fence.”
He raised his eyes to her hair.
“He made fun of my skinny legs and never let me tag along with him and Evan.” She issued a sigh. “I didn’t see him for years, but when I did…” She let out a low whistle. Too late she realized the sound she’d made. She hated whistling. Or did she? What she wouldn’t give to hear one of Landon’s irritating earworms now.
“It was love at first sight. At least for me,” she amended.
The guard was staring at her hard.
“You ever fall in love?”
“No.”
“Probably for the better. It’s hard.”
He snorted.
She sat up straighter, elbows on her knees. “You think I’m joking? Love is the hardest thing you’ll ever do. It means you put yourself on the line. Your heart is literally walking around in somebody else’s body. And if something happens to them…” She fisted her hand and made a stabbing motion at her chest.
After a stretch of silence, she said, “What do you think about opening that door and just walking out?”
He eyed her. “Can’t do that, lady.”
“What’s here for you? The company’s about to be taken over by the government. All the people who sign your checks will be behind bars. Now’s your chance to make a break for it.”
Despite his dull appearance, she could see the wheels turning behind his eyes as he thought about what she was saying.
She opened her mouth to have another go at persuading him when a loud crash sounded from somewhere in the building. She leaped up, and he reached the door in a few strides.
A startled bellow floated to her ears, and she clamped her hands into fists. What was happening out there?
Frantically, she looked around for something to defend herself with. Tomlinson hadn’t even trusted her with the laptop—who could blame him really? It was sealed back inside his state-of-the-art desk. And near the windows stood a leafy tree too heavy to lift, let alone swing at an attacker.
When was her life going to get back to normal? It had been one danger after another. It felt as if it would never end.
A floor lamp positioned next to the couch was her only option. She ran to it, ripped the plug out of the wall and hefted it by the long pole. Meanwhile, the guard had braced himself at the door.
“Are you keeping me in or them out?” Her voice came out a bit sharp with an edge of hysteria.
He didn’t look at her when he responded. “Both.”
More shouts drifted to them. It sounded like someone was storming the building.
Tilting her head toward the only opening, which happened to be blocked by the guard, she strained to hear what was being shouted. The words weren’t clear to her. Male voices rumbled.
The blast of gunfire made her cry out. The last time she’d heard a gun go off, she’d watched Landon fall and she’d been ripped away from him.
Her knees wobbled, threatening to dump her on the floor. Just then, the guard turned and looked at her in a way that shot panic into her veins.
Why was he looking at her like his one job now was to end her life? She gripped the lamp harder. He glanced at her fingers wrapped around the sleek metal.
Her gut instinct was to rush him and swing that heavy lamp base with all she had into his ugly head. But she wasn’t going with her gut anymore, was she? She was beyond impulsive acts now—a reformed woman.
Yet that dark glimmer in his eye winked at her with a threat. He took a step in her direction, and she couldn’t stop her legs from rushing across the room to meet him.
She whipped the lamp with all her strength in an arc toward his head. But he calculated the trajectory and ducked the blow. She swung it again and caught him in the shoulder, the equivalent of flicking a pea at an elephant.
With a loud scream that came from the depth of her stomach, she tried a third time.
But when she whirled the lamp at him, the base fell completely off the pole and hit the floor with a heavy crash.
“There! She’s at the end of the hall!”
The familiar voice hit her brain and spread recognition throughout her body. The name burst past her lips.
“Landon!”
The big guard lumbered to the doorway and slammed it shut. Bracing his palms on the slab to hold it against Landon and whoever was on the other side meant he had to turn his back to Ells.
A big mistake.
She threw down the remnant of the lamp and picked up the heavy circular base. It weighed a ton, but adrenaline was on her side and she threw it right at his head. He crumpled to his knees with a groan. Blood poured from a gash in his scalp.
He didn’t budge, blocking the door.
“Ells! Are you in there?” Landon’s voice sounded like heavenly trumpets to her ears.
“Yes! The guard’s blocking the door!” He wasn’t moving or even groaning now. Just sort of flopped forward against it, still on his thick knees. Was he knocked out?
Landon shoved at the door, which made the guy’s head flop. The hollow thump of his face smashing off the wood made her stomach pitch.
“He’s knocked out! I can’t move him away to let you in,” she cried to Landon.
“Knocked out… Jesus!” A second later, the door shoved inward a few inches. Through the crack, she saw her lover’s solid body. Even though she’d heard his voice, she suddenly realized that he wasn’t dead. He was here—to save her.
She kicked into action. Raising her foot, she kicked the heavy guard over. He fell on his side, his eyes open and staring.
A cry chortled out of her, and she clapped both hands over her mouth. “I think I killed him! Oh gawd!”
Landon shoved the door hard enough to roll the guy onto his back. Ells stumbled away just as Landon blasted in. He leaped over the body, his gaze whipping to her. As soon as he saw she was safe, he flung out an arm to scoop her against him. She fell into his chest.
“Let’s go!” he grated out.
“I have to know if I killed him. Is he dead?” She couldn’t look.
Landon went still, staring at the man for a heartbeat. “His chest’s moving. He’s not dead. C’mon!” He pushed her through the crack in the door. How he’d wedged his big body through that tiny space baffled her.
A pair of hands waited on the other side to pull her out and Landon was right behind her.
Her brain was fogged and her adrenaline rush was fading, leaving her weak and nauseated, but Landon dragged her to the end of the hall.
She didn’t even think she could make it down those stairs. Her legs felt as though they belonged to someone else, transplanted onto her body.
Landon glanced back. In a blink he saw her struggle, and next thing she knew, he threw her over his shoulder—just like when she sprained her ankle at ten.
“What the— I can’t believe you just did that, Landon!” She gave him a thump on the shoulder.
His muscles rolled under her. “My only goal is getting you out of here.”
“And I have to ride out of here on your shoulder like a naughty child?”
He clapped a hand over her ass cheek. “You’ll let me make the decisions about your safety right now.”
She hung there helpless until they reached the bottom step and then he let her slide down his body. Before she could even straighten her clothes or get her bearings, he grabbed her by the hand and towed her out the nearest exit.
Blinking at her surroundings, she almost couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The place was crawling with authorities. Vehicles lined the front of the building, most of them black.
“Who are all these people?” she asked.
Landon dragged her a few feet away to the parking lot. “FBI. Some police. And my guys are around here somewhere.”
All of a sudden, she realized what she’d been missing and hadn’t asked about.
“Where’s Evan?” Hysteria lifted her voice to a shrill cry.
Landon stopped walking and turned to take her by the arms.
Oh god. This was the part in movies where the person told them something terrible had happened to a loved one. She squeezed her eyes shut. If she didn’t see Landon’s face, then whatever he told her wasn’t real.
“He’s en route home to Stone Pass.”
Her eyes flew open, and she met his deep chocolatey gaze. “What?” She couldn’t have heard him right.
“He called me on his way home and told me everything.”
Her jaw dropped. “But I never even got a chance to tell him I came to you for help. How did he know to call?”
“We may not be as close as we were as kids, but we still keep in touch. He knows my connections and thought I could help. Only he learned that I’m already in deep.” His brows lowered to create a line between them. Without another word, he got her to a truck. “Let me check you out. Are you hurt?”
“N-no. Just a little foggy-headed from whatever drug they gave me to keep me knocked out.”
“Jesus Christ, Ells.” He braced a hand on the metal and bowed his head. The battle in him was plain to see. He closed his eyes and his nostrils flared as he drew in uneven breaths.
She ran her fingers up the back of his arm and then ducked under it, positioning herself between him and the vehicle he leaned against.
“Landon. It’s okay.”
“It’s damn well not okay,” he gritted out. The tendons in his jaw jumped.
She clasped his face, trying to make him see her. “I’m not hurt. You got me out of there.”
The life seemed to go out of him, and he slumped forward against her. She wrapped her arms around him and held him. Pressing kisses to his face and jaw, she tried to convince him that she really was okay.
“I could have lost you,” he rasped.
“But you didn’t. You got here.”
“Not fast enough. If I didn’t need to stop for the doctor to dig a bullet out of my thigh, I would have been here sooner, Ells. I’m sorry.”
Her lips parted on a gasp, and she looked down at his thigh. How had she missed that his jeans were split to the ankle and held together by strips of gauze? Knowing he’d taken a bullet for her sent her heart into an erratic rhythm.
“I’ve hurt so many people. And that guard back in the office! Are you sure he’s alive?”
Landon gathered her to his chest and pressed a kiss between her eyes. “I’m sure.”
“Thank god!” A shiver ran through her. “I shouldn’t have struck him with that lamp. I just made a vow to myself to change and stop acting on impulse!”
Pulling back, he studied her. “Ells. Honey. What you did was self-defense. Not impulsive at all.”
“But—”
“You did what you had to in order to escape.”
Relief swept through her, adding to the whirlwind of emotions she kept tumbling through.
Shaking, she stepped away from him. “Well, it’s all over now. You’ll be glad to be rid of me.”
He eyed her. “How am I rid of you?”
“We solved the case. The Marvis guys are getting arrested as we speak.” She looked past his bulky arm at the front of the building where a man she assumed was an FBI agent had a guy in cuffs.
She turned her attention back to Landon. “Now you can ride off into the sunset, cowboy.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “The hero never rides off alone.”
“Guess you’re not that worried about telling my brother that you slept with his sister, after all.”
He laughed. “I can handle Evan. What I can’t handle is letting you walk away.”
Her stomach flipped. She dug her fingers into his shoulders and buried her face against his throat. “I love you, Landon. So, so much. I never want to be away from you, and it’s not because you saved my ass. And it’s not the fact that your body’s stacked with all these muscles either.”
He rumbled a laugh.
“Or even though you make me want you so damn bad every time I look at you. There’s more to it, Landon.”
Cupping her nape, he drew her closer. “I know, honey.”
She studied his eyes. Their depths shimmered with emotion.
“I feel exactly the same way.” He barely got the words out before she slammed her lips over his, cutting off anything but a loan moan.
This kiss wasn’t filled with the wildfire of some of their past ones. But it steamed with the promise of more to come, and a hell of a lot of love.
When they broke apart, their stares locked.
“I guess I have to face your brother with the news that I’ve changed my mind about never getting serious about a woman,” Landon said.
She gave him a small smile. “Pretty sure I’m the one he’ll be pissed at. Not only did I get him kidnapped by my former bosses, but I let him down when I backed out of babysitting.”
Landon’s lips twitched. “You’re right. You’re definitely in the doghouse.”
She tapped her lips with a fingertip. “I wonder how I can make it up to him…” Then it hit her. She eyed Landon, her best friend, her future. He may be a bodyguard but he was still a cowboy at heart.
And he had access to all the horses on the Wynton Ranch.
“I have an idea how to make those nieces of mine love me. And make it up to my brother and his wife too.”
Chapter Sixteen
Isabella and Sophia jumped up and down, their braids flying.
“Don’t go, Aunt Ells!” her older niece Isabella cried, continuing to bounce around Evan’s living room.
Sophia threw herself at Ells and wrapped both arms around her thigh, clinging like a bur. “Stay!”
Isabella’s light blue eyes, so much like Ells’s own—and like her daddy’s too—pleaded up at her. “Mommy and Daddy can leave again on another trip, and you can babysit!”
Heart strings firmly tugged by that statement, Ells dropped into a crouch, arms out. She pulled both girls against her and kissed the tops of their heads.
“I love you both, and I promise I’ll be back to see you very soon.”
“Aunt Ells is staying in Stone Pass,” Evan spoke up. “You can see her as often as you like now.”
Isabella drew back from Ells, her eyes bright with excitement. “Really?”
She nodded, a big smile on her face that she’d finally bridged that gap and made her nieces love her. Of course, a couple horseback rides might have helped her cause, but she chose to chalk it up to movie nights with gummy worms and popcorn, playing on the playground and even a bonfire at the Wynton Ranch with “real-life cowboys.”
