One Tough Texan

He nodded, keeping watch on her and the door while tamping down his reaction to the name she’d just thrown out. The name Marco Perez was on every watch list and that’s why his face had looked familiar.

“Also, and I can’t stress this next part enough, you need to surrender to protective custody. Tell the sheriff what I said about seeing Perez and he’ll arrange everything.”

“We can talk this through and get help for you.” Joshua wasn’t ready to tip his hand about his own background, especially since she hadn’t figured him out.

She shook her head.

“This whole situation can be sorted out. You don’t have to keep running. Nothing is as bad as it seems,” he added, trying to stall. She was the one who needed protection and most likely a skilled attorney.

“I know he saw you,” she said, backing toward the door, keeping her intense gaze on him. “And he’ll come back for you. Mark my words. No one who has ever seen Perez in action has lived to tell about it.”

“Whatever it is you think you need to do...don’t,” Joshua said. He didn’t need to be reminded of that rumor about Perez. His gaze bounced from the gun that had been tossed onto the floor to her again. He’d protect himself from Perez. Who did she have?

She made a move to open the door, keeping a close eye on him.

Joshua had no plans to be shot in the men’s room of a gas station. That wasn’t even a good cliché.

“Hold on,” he said, trying out that same authoritative voice she’d used on him a few minutes ago. It was his cop voice.

Her gaze kept bouncing from him to the door, and instincts honed from years of police work told him she was about to flee. Given that she was obviously in some kind of trouble, even though she seemed more concerned about him at the moment, he needed to act fast or she’d disappear and he couldn’t help her. Joshua held out his wrists. “Fine. You win. Take me into protective custody.”

She balked.

“You need someone in law enforcement to do that,” she said in that crisp, do-as-I-say-and-don’t-ask-why voice and he’d be darned if it didn’t sound sexy coming from her. With everything going on around them he shouldn’t even notice. Being turned on by a woman who’d pulled a gun on him twice now wasn’t his brightest move.

Then again, she was beautiful and his body reacted with a mind of its own. Logic had nothing to do with it.

“You’re right about that. I do need someone in law enforcement to put me in protective custody.” He didn’t budge. “And since your cover is blown, it might as well be you.”

The only thing he couldn’t figure out was why she wasn’t coming clean about being on the job. Best he could figure she’d been on some kind of detail, which made more sense as to why she fought when she did earlier. Was she in the middle of an undercover operation? Then again, if she was wouldn’t she want police protection now?

Not necessarily. If she was in deep, she’d want to stay that way. Before he could raise another argument, she slipped out the door. He immediately bolted toward it but she’d managed to secure it with something on the other side.

Joshua muttered a curse as he pulled out his cell. Explaining this whole scenario to his friend Tommy ensured that he’d be ribbed about this forever. He’d allowed himself to be locked inside a bathroom while the “teen” he’d been trying to save got away.

Best case scenario? Tommy was already pulling up in front of the gas station. The door opened at the same time Tommy’s line rang.

“Turn that thing off.” The mystery woman had returned. The business end of her gun pointed squarely at his chest. “And my name’s Alice Green.”

“If you’re running from the law, it wasn’t your best move to come back,” Joshua said flatly.

“I know that. So, don’t make me regret it.” There was something else in her eyes this time. Fear?

Curious, Joshua ended the call. He didn’t know what she’d gotten herself into but preferring a murderous criminal’s company to the sheriff’s didn’t signal good things about her head being on straight.

“You have to decide right now,” she said, her gaze bouncing from him to the hallway leading to the store as the sound of sirens moved closer.

He didn’t budge.

“Please.” There was a desperate quality in her eyes that tugged at his heart. She could’ve shot him twice now and hadn’t so he figured she wasn’t planning to hurt him. And he was more than mildly curious what she was really up to.

“Okay. But you’re going to tell me what this is about,” he said, bending over to retrieve the weapon they’d discarded earlier.

“Don’t even think about it,” she said as he made a motion to pick it up.

“I leave it here and they finger you immediately.” If it was her service weapon then they could trace the serial number. Joshua at least wanted to hear what she had to say before he hauled her in to Tommy. He might even be able to convince her to turn herself in and that would make things a lot easier on her legally. But then, she would already know that.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Do you live nearby or have a ride anywhere around here?” She kept a brisk pace as round two of pouring rain flooded them.

“Yeah, my Jeep’s a couple blocks away. But it won’t do any good.”

“Why not?” she asked, navigating them out of the dark parking lot as the sound of sirens neared.

Either she or Perez had shot the light out in back of the convenience store and his money was on her. “Out of gas.”

She muttered a curse as she led him into the field.

“Stay low,” she directed.

“You know that clerk can give the police our descriptions,” Joshua hedged.

“He was too surprised to pay attention. He won’t be able to give them anything more than a general idea. You’re tall and that might mean something outside of Texas but all the men seem over six feet here. Plus, we rushed in and straight to the back without showing our faces. No way will that young kid be able to give them anything they can work with and any recording will be too grainy to make out,” she responded matter-of-factly.

More proof that she knew a little too much about the process to hold up her claim of not being in law enforcement. Plus, he picked up on the fact that she was from out of state because of her height reference. No one in Texas really thought about whether or not six feet was tall.

“Why are you running?” Joshua asked.

“I’m not,” she dismissed him.

“Maybe the appropriate question is, Who are you running from?” It couldn’t be Perez since she was trying to be captured by him. She’d said they had boys together, another reason he should ignore any sexual current flowing between them. Once they were safe he’d ask her about her family situation.

“Stay down and be quiet if you want to get out of here alive,” she said, irritation lining her tone.

Since Alice, if that was her name, was already belly down he figured he’d better do the same. She’d holstered her weapon and that reminded him of the fact she wore an ankle holster in the first place. No one did that outside law enforcement.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

“Tucson,” she said.

“Why are you really here?” he asked, retrieving his hat.

“I already told you,” she said. “My ex.”

“You can drop the act,” Joshua said, not bothering to hide the fact he was done with lies. Besides, the thought of her returning for an ex stirred a different reaction inside him—jealousy? “Nobody and especially not me believes you came all the way out here to be abducted by the father of your children.”

He intended to find out what she was really up to and how much of what she’d said was the truth.

* * *

WAITING FOR OFFICERS to clear out of the gas station while lying belly down in two inches of water wasn’t Alice’s idea of a great Friday night. Then again, being dumped by the father of her twins two weeks before the babies had arrived hadn’t been, either. Fridays were right up there with poking her eyes with hot sticks.

Soaked to the bone, she shivered as she waited for the cruiser to leave the gas station. The cold front that had been promised was moving in. Experience told her that the clerk hadn’t actually witnessed a crime so there wouldn’t be much to investigate. A deputy would take a statement, file a report and move on. Then, he or she would keep an eye out for anything suspicious in the area for the rest of the night.

The deputy left ten minutes after he’d arrived.

“Take my jacket,” Joshua said, sitting up, water sloshing as it rolled off him and hit the puddle on the ground.

“It’s okay. I can handle it,” she said quickly. Being on the force, Alice had learned not to admit weakness. Officers depended on one another in life-threatening situations and being a woman she felt that she had to prove herself even more so than male officers. Men had a height and weight advantage, and they tended to be stronger. Alice wasn’t the tallest person at five feet four inches and she’d been mistaken for a teenager by people approaching from behind more than once while wearing street clothes. She’d had to work hard to compensate for her size differential.

“Your teeth are chattering,” the cowboy said. And his tone almost made her laugh out loud. He sounded almost offended that she hadn’t accepted his chivalry.

A female cop coming off as needy or not being able to pull her weight killed her career before it got started. It was a certain way to make the officer next to her wonder if she could come through in a clutch and since lives were at stake everyone took that seriously. So, even if it made her look stupid or she caught the death of a cold later she couldn’t accept his jacket.

“Believe it or not, I can take care of myself and I have been for a long time. I don’t need your charity,” she quipped defensively. Spending time with this cowboy was going to be fun. If by fun she meant stabbing her fingers with a serrated knife.

“Suit yourself,” came out about as flat as her pancakes.

Hey, it was the twenty-first century. Women weren’t slaves to the kitchen anymore. And that was pretty much how she defended her lack of cooking skills. She could, however, make one mean pot of coffee. And wasn’t that more important anyway? “The gas container you used to create a diversion earlier should be around here somewhere.”

“Yep.”

Great, now they were at one-word answers. She’d spent enough time around the opposite sex to know that she’d offended him, didn’t have time to care. He was alive. He could thank her later. “Think you can find it?”

“Of course.”

At least he was up to two words now.

Maybe she should’ve left him back at the station. Except that she was responsible for getting him into this mess in the first place and she couldn’t let him get himself killed given that he was genuinely trying to help her. And stupidity could be deadly.

Joshua was a liability.

She needed to convince him just how much danger he was in and that he needed to turn himself in. There was a reason she’d saved Perez’s organization for last. People didn’t walk away after they saw him. He had no qualms about erasing a threat, real or perceived. Precisely the reason he was considered one of, if not the most ruthless criminal in the United States.

It was getting late. The trail was a dead end now. Alice was starving and she needed to get back to her motel room to bunk down for the night while she came up with plan B. She also needed to touch base with her informant and let him know everything had gone south.

Pushing up to her feet proved more of a challenge than she expected. She landed down on her bottom pretty darn quick with a splash.

The cowboy was by her side in a half second, helping her to her feet.

“I haven’t slept in a few days,” she said quickly and a little too sharply.

“Yeah? Even Superwoman needs rest.”

She didn’t say anything and the cowboy didn’t budge.

“When was the last time you had a decent meal?” he asked, standing so close that her body was aware of his every breath.

“It’s been a while. I got distracted tracking this lead,” she quipped. Exhaustion was taking a toll and she couldn’t help herself. Her tone tended toward being harsh in a situation like this. “Thanks for the hand up, by the way.”

“No problem. You don’t have to sound like I broke your arm.”

What? Did she? Okay, that did make her feel bad. She wasn’t trying to be a jerk.

The cowboy chuckled as he turned and walked away.

Oh, so he had a sense of humor. Under different circumstances, Alice might actually laugh. Searching for Isabel nonstop for the past six weeks had brought her to the brink of exhaustion. Then there were the twins. Two baby boys who had one speed...blazing. She missed her boys so fiercely it had physically hurt since she’d left home three weeks ago on a hot tip.

Isabel Guillermo had disappeared two months before her sixteenth birthday. And it was Alice’s fault. Before that, Isabel had been placed into the foster care system. Also Alice’s fault. Because Alice had had a bad day at work, Isabel’s parents were dead. Again, Alice’s fault.

A sweet and innocent teen’s world had shattered because a criminal got one over on Alice. Her mistake had cost Sal and Patsy Guillermo their lives. Alice should’ve been more aware.

She shook off the reverie, focusing on the cowboy instead. Not only had he already located the canister, but he was standing perfectly still, studying her.

Alice pulled out her cell, grateful the downpour should provide enough of a curtain between them to mask her true emotions, and covered it with her free hand to shield it from the rain.

“We need to find another gas station,” was all she managed to say. Thinking about Isabel’s case, about the past few weeks, had her missing her boys. Her heart ached and she wanted to be with them. But what kind of mother could she ever be to them if she didn’t find Isabel?

* * *

“ANYONE EXPECTING YOU at home?” Alice asked the cowboy as he took his seat in the Jeep after hiking for what felt like half the night to get gas. She needed to know if she’d just put a family in danger and that’s the reason she told herself she asked. His ride wasn’t tricked out for mudding so she figured it was his commute vehicle.

“No.”

Why did that one word make her heart flutter?

Ignoring it, Alice thought about her next move. Going back to get him had been impulsive and dangerous. She couldn’t afford to take unnecessary risks or rack up collateral damage. The cowboy would have to go with her to her motel room. She hoped that he remained cooperative so she could talk sense into him.

“Where to?” He turned the key in the ignition and the engine came to life.

“Take Highway 287 out of town,” she said, rubbing her temples.

“Mind if I stop for food first? There won’t be anything once we leave town and it’s not like you can order pizza from The Bluff Motel.”

“How did you know where we were going?” She snapped her head to the left to get a good look at him.

“Not a lot of options around here.”

Okay. Fine. He had her on that point.

“There a drive-thru nearby?” She needed something to eat and she could always hide in the backseat so no one saw her. Perez had eyes everywhere and she didn’t want to risk anyone seeing the two of them together. No one should be looking for her, Perez or otherwise, at least not officially. Her SO had been texting for her return to work and to make sure she wasn’t interfering with a federal investigation. She hadn’t exactly broken any laws unless she counted unauthorized tampering with the National Crime Information Center—NCIC—database. As far as technicalities went, she wasn’t exactly hacking into the system. She was just doing a little side research project.

Her stomach rumbled from hunger and her side ached. She needed to re-dress her stab wound, a gift from the last crime ring she’d infiltrated.

“We can zip through the line in a few minutes,” he said, pulling into a burger stand parking lot.

“Okay.” Eat. Rest. Talk the cowboy into witness protection. How hard could it be to convince someone to give up the only life they knew because of a perceived threat from a stranger?

“And then you’ll come clean with why you’re tracking one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in the country,” the cowboy said with law enforcement authority.

Chapter Three

The motel room was basic but comfortable. There were two full-size beds with a nightstand in between, a small table with two chairs near a picture window, and a dresser with an old-fashioned TV. Joshua would bet money there was a bible in the top drawer. The floral pattern in this room was bluebonnets, a nod to the state flower, and they were on the curtain and both bedspreads. The floor was tiled in a neutral shade.

One of the bedspreads was rumpled and the other bed was being used as a makeshift office. Papers were spread out across the comforter and there was a laptop along with a couple of cell phones and a small technological device that Joshua figured was for surveillance.

“Let’s talk about your options,” Alice said after she’d finished the last bite of her burger and drained her Coke. She wadded up the wrapper and tossed it in the trash. They’d toweled off and she’d changed into dry clothes.

Joshua couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen someone wolf down food so fast, and that was saying a lot given that he had five brothers.

“Or you could tell me what’s really going on. Why you’re on the run from the police,” he countered, motioning toward the second bed, not ready to tip his own hand.

“I’m not—”

He put a hand up to stop her. “If you don’t want to tell me why you’re in this mess we’ll bunk down for the night and I’ll leave you alone in the morning. I have no interest in playing games.”

The woman needed rest and the only reason he stuck around was because he figured she’d be crazy enough to follow him if he left her alone. Or so he lied to himself. There was more to it than that. He wasn’t ready to acknowledge whatever “it” was because she mostly frustrated him.

She slipped off her shoes, settled against the headboard on the second bed and pinched her nose like she was trying to stem a headache. “I’m trying to find a young girl. It’s my fault she’s missing and, therefore, my responsibility to get her back.”

Joshua turned his chair around to face her and clasped his hands, resting his elbows on his knees.

“She disappeared six weeks ago and I’ve been searching for her ever since. With each passing day, her odds crash...” There was so much anguish in her voice that Joshua had to fight the urge to cross the room and pull her into his arms to comfort her. She’d probably poke him in the eyes if he did, he thought dryly, remembering how unwelcomed his attempts to make her feel better had been so far. She’d been clear on where she stood when it came to accepting help or being pitied. She’d taken a zero-tolerance stance.

“How old is she?”

Alice’s eyes were closed now and distress was written all over her features. “Almost sixteen.”

He couldn’t even go there mentally...a place where one of his family members had disappeared. Two of his grown brothers had had brushes with death in recent months and that was enough to keep Joshua on full alert. They were adults capable of handling themselves. But a sixteen-year-old?

He flexed his fingers to keep his hands from fisting.

“I’m sorry,” he said and meant it. Her admission explained a lot about why she’d be staying in an out-of-town motel, alone. “What happened?”

“She was around one day and then not the next.” She opened her eyes and fixed her gaze on the wall directly in front of her. “You asked about me being on the job before. I used to be until this happened.”

“You left to investigate this girl’s disappearance?” he asked, thinking there were at least a half dozen scenarios where he would’ve done exactly the same thing.

She nodded.

“Why not do both?”

“We weren’t getting anywhere on the investigation and my boss wanted my full attention on the job. I agreed, but on my own time I had to do everything I could to find her. The longer she was gone...well, let’s just stay statistics weren’t—aren’t on her side. After three weeks of red tape and netting zero following procedure, I figured I could get a lot further my own way.”

As a cop she’d have to follow procedure to a T when all she really wanted to do was find the girl and bring her home. She wasn’t interested in prosecution and laws would get in the way.

“Did you quit the force?”

“Took an extended leave,” she said. “But I have no idea if I’ll have a job when I return. The chief threatened me and told me not to interfere with an ongoing investigation.”

“Bet you’ve covered a lot more distance than they have,” Joshua said. A flicker crossed her features. Regret? Anxiety?

What was she holding back?

“I wouldn’t know,” she said, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. She bit back a yawn. “This guy I’ve been tracking is the real deal. He is going to come looking for you. It’s not a matter of if, but when.”

“He won’t find me tonight,” Joshua said. “He’s probably still looking for the cute blond teenage girl who got away.”

She laughed but her amusement disappeared too quickly. She zeroed in on him. “I’m serious. This guy is nothing to joke about. He’s ruthless and no one has lived after catching him in action.”

Joshua balked. “And you were trying to get him to take you so you could investigate this girl’s disappearance?”

“Yes.”

“That makes you either stupid or brave. I can’t decide which.” He admired her dedication. He also noted that it would take a whole lot of guilt to make a cop walk away from her job. “How many other organizations have you done this with?”

“Several.”

“And that led you to Perez’s group?”

She fixed her gaze on the ceiling. “He’s my last hope of finding her and I tracked down a lead that says he’s the one who took her.”

“I’m guessing you saved him for last on purpose based on how dangerous he is.” Joshua wasn’t worried about being exposed to Perez. He wouldn’t be sticking around in Bluff for long anyway. He’d been searching for the right time to tell his family that he had no plans to live out his life on the cattle ranch. Granted, he loved the land but he’d applied for a job in the FBI and had every intention of picking up his life where he’d left off once things were settled. A cranky little voice in the back of his mind asked, Then why haven’t you told anyone yet?

The truth? He resented everyone’s assumption that he’d drop everything and change his life. His older brothers might be fine with doing that, hell, they’d all spread out and made their own millions with successful businesses. They’d proven their worth as men. But Joshua was just getting going on his future. To have that stripped away just as it was getting good wasn’t in the plans. As much as he loved his brothers, they wouldn’t understand. His only regret—and it kept him awake at night—had been that he hadn’t stepped up and told his father before he was gone.

Joshua had known on some level that his father wouldn’t have liked his plan so he kept on living a lie, thinking that the right time to bring up the subject would magically present itself. The worst part was that the old man would never have expressed his disapproval. He was a good father. There was no way he’d make Joshua feel obligated. But Joshua had seen the look of excitement in his father’s eyes last year when he’d told the boys about the plan to have them work the land he loved so much. He’d built a small empire for his sons from nothing. Rejecting his father’s offer would make Joshua feel a lot like he was rejecting the man, his legacy.

Selfish as it might have been, Joshua hadn’t wanted to see disappointment in his father’s eyes. Now it was too late and he felt trapped.

“I thought I was alone with Perez and his men in that location. Never saw you coming,” Alice admitted.