StrongArmsoftheLaw (8 page)

Rex!

Rex!

She cried out in joy as he rushed into the cabin, Jose right
behind him, both of them firing their guns, yelling at the Gonzagas.

Gunfire split the air.

The sharp cracks told her to drop to the floor, crawl away,
outside. She scrabbled on her hands and knees. Frantic, she got to her feet and
ran toward the gang’s car. Spying two huge trucks in the gloom at the far end
of the drive, she ran like hell toward them. One was marked with the Ranger
symbol.

From inside the cabin, she heard men shouting at each other.
She bit her lips, wondered what the hell she should be doing to help.

Then she scrambled inside the Ranger truck, slinging open
the glove compartment. She stretched and in the backseat spied and a long
wooden box. Ah,
this
was what she wanted.

A rifle. No handgun, but that seemed like a small matter at
the moment.

She had fired a rifle a few times in Chicago at the shooting
range she frequented. Now if she could just freaking remember how to use the
damn thing, she’d be golden.

Hefting it up to her shoulder, she stood outside and opened
the barrel. Loaded. There was only one shot in the barrel but she had to use
what ammo she had, didn’t she? Cocking it with one sure shove, she sited down
the barrel, smiled, then hooked it under her arm and strode toward the house.

Scuffling was still going on, but she felt the weapon in her
hand would soon end that bit of mayhem. “No one messed with a woman with a
rifle,” her handgun instructor had told her. “Just know, with a rifle in your
hands, you have to use it fast…or the other guy’ll wrestle it from you and use
it on you.”

Up on the porch, she strode to the wide open door and
scanned the room. Rex had Manuel by the scruff of his shirt, aiming his fist
for the gangster’s jaw. Jose held a gun on three of the men. But the fourth?

Where are you?

She sought him out amid the ruins of the furniture.

Just then her missing man ran out from the kitchen firing
full blast—at Rex! But Skye had a clear shot of him. Aimed, fired and blew a
hole in him that had all of them turning to stare as he fell to the floor, a
mess.

Rex went down on one knee, blood gushing down his shirt.

“
Noooo
!” she screamed and aimed her rifle at Manuel.

But he threw his hands up while Jose yelled at her to put
her weapon down. “Down!
Down!
”

Manuel took the order as one for him. He sank to his knees,
his hands up, his snake’s eyes on her, primly pleading for his life.

Dropping the rifle to the floor, she ran to Rex who looked
stunned as he sank to a sofa, one hand over his shoulder.

Skye yanked at the buttons on his shirt, pulled it open and
pressed him to lie down. “Let me,” she ordered him as she spread the material
wide and saw that the bullet had entered his shoulder. “Thank you, God,” she
murmured as she examined it for proximity to a major vessel. “I think you’ll
live, Ranger, sir.”

He gave her a cockeyed smile. “Am I living with you, author,
ma’am?” Then his eyes went a little loopy.

And Skye saved her response for a time and place where few
others would hear the conversation this answer required.

Big Bend Regional Hospital in Alpine might be small by
Skye’s big city standards but the emergency care was fast and efficient. That
was all she needed to feel confident handing Rex over to the ER team who met
them at intake.

“He’ll do just fine, ma’am,” Jose told her as they walked
toward his truck in the small parking lot. The night was silent, dark and deep,
only the stars dotting the velvet of midnight. “He’s strong, healthy. And he
knows how to take care of himself.”

“I’m grateful his wound was only the shoulder.”

“We all are. And that you weren’t hurt badly, too.” Jose
opened his door for her, closed it and walked around to climb up in the cab.

She shifted in the seat. Her limbs were sore, her hands and
wrists aching from the rough handling and the ropes, but with the nurses’ help
at the hospital, she felt better. But tired. Exhausted, actually. “I have no
idea how you found me.”

Jose turned the ignition and they were off, down the road
through town. “West Texas might look gigantic, but when it comes down to it,
there are only a few roads and a few ways you can get around. We knew from
Rex’s phone message what direction those Gonzaga boys took off. It was easy to
do process of elimination and track them without them getting any idea we were
on their tail.”

“Knowing there were three men who took me, I’m surprised you
and Rex didn’t call for more help.”

Jose’s dark brows shot high. Then he chuckled. “You don’t
know the Ranger motto, do you?”

She shook her head. “No. Rex didn’t tell me.”

“I’m not surprised. We do try to be modest.”

She snorted. “Right. Humble, too, I hear. What’s the motto?”

“One Ranger. One town.”

“Earned by some Ranger who stood off a whole mess of
varmints, I suppose.”

Grinning, Jose nodded at her attempt at Texan twang. “It’s
not unusual. I was on my way to your house and passing close by to where they
attacked you both, so I came along with Rex. We figured we might need lots of
firepower, knowing how the Gonzagas kill first and ask questions later.”

She shivered, clutching her arms. “Thanks, Jose. I needed
that.”

“Sorry, ma’am.” He put his gaze on the road and frowned.
“While you were in the ER with Rex, I received orders for the next few weeks.”

“Oh?” She sat back, ready for the news. Amid her worries
about Rex’s gunshot wound and his recovery, she expected that local law
enforcement would have a new plan for her until the trial. Rex needed time to
recuperate and taking care of her should not be high on his to-do list. But she
had hoped they could stay together and she could take care of him. “What do the
Powers That Be have in mind?”

“We have no idea if your house was detected and we can’t let
you go back there.”

Sad for that, missing Rex already, she rubbed her hands down
her jeans. Torn and dirty, her clothes were a wreck.
Like my state of mind.
“So
what’s the plan?”

“I’m your new housemate.”

Rex had told her that Jose was engaged and his fiancée was a
very possessive redhead. Skye gave him a horrified smile. “How will that go
over with your girlfriend?”

“She knows it’s my job. Besides, it’s only for a few weeks.”

“Two until the trial.”

“Right. Maybe one more in court for you to testify, and then
you’re done! You go back to Chicago.”

Skye glanced out her window to watch the muted grays and
blacks of the rugged landscape.
What if I’m not going back to Chicago? Can I
live here? Did Rex mean what he said, about living together?
“Then where
are you taking me?”

“Farther west. A safe house we run over near El Paso.”

“What happens to the other house?” she asked, wondering who
would go in, see their bed and know what happened there. She certainly wasn’t
ashamed of how they’d made love, but the intimacy of it was so real, so raw, it
should be only hers and Rex’s. “What happens to my clothes, my belongings?”

“We’ll have an officer go in and supervise while we get your
things and get a maid service to clean up.”

“And Rex?”

“What about him?”

“Will he know where we are?”
Where I am?

“Best not to, no.”

“I need to know how he is, Jose. Can I call him and—”

“Not a good idea. Sorry.”

“Right. Got it.” She turned away, lost suddenly without Rex.
As if he were my anchor. And I’m drifting away.

“Don’t worry. He’s going to be at the trial. And I’m sure
you’ll be able to talk there in the courthouse.”

She bit her lower lip to stop herself from crying like a
kid.
Must be nerves from all the terrors of the day.
“Sure. Good.”

Jose reached across, took her hand and squeezed it. “Know
what the other motto of the Texas Rangers is?”

Sniffing back her tears, she inhaled and smiled at him. “No,
tell me.”

“One Ranger. One woman.”

She blinked. Then smiled at him. “That obvious, is it?”

“Your attraction for each other?” Jose laughed. “On him,
since about week one with you. On you? Since…oh, week two.”

Her propensity to cry was lost in the next few miles as the
two of them chuckled about men, women and obvious attractions.

Chapter Eight

When the jury entered the courtroom over three weeks later,
Skye watched the twelve men and women take their seats, then listened to the
judge’s invitation to the foreman to stand and deliver their verdict on Manuel
Gonzaga for murder in the first degree. But her eyes focused on Texas Ranger
Rex Martinez who stood on the other side of the room, his hands clasped behind
his back. She’d seen him here only once on opening day of the trial. Then he’d
worn his uniform, but beneath it he wore a bulky bandage on his shoulder. And
his skin was pale and taut. Today, with his brown Ranger uniform on, his
broad-brimmed white Ranger hat shielding his eyes, he was the very essence of
raw Texas power. His stance easy, his bandage seemingly gone, his shoulder
wound healing. His color was healthy. And his melting blue eyes were zeroed in
on hers.

At the foreman’s announcement of “Guilty,” Skye breathed an
audible sigh of relief. With a few more formalities, the trial was over. Skye
was free. Ranger Jose Sanchez who had protected her these last few weeks stood
next to her and shook her hand.

“Thank you, Ranger Sanchez,” she told him using his formal
title in public. “You were wonderful to me and I will never forget what you did
for me and for…us.”

“You’re very welcome, Miss Chamberlain. It was my duty, but
more than that, my pleasure. I wish you well and I hope to see you again. Soon.
In fact, I—”

“He says,” Rex’s rough voice rumbled through her as he came
to stand beside her, “you have an invitation to his wedding.”

“Wonderful,” Skye beamed at Jose, as she stepped backward
slightly to feel Rex’s deliciously warm body heat ooze into her soul. “When is
it?”

“Two weeks from Sunday. In Del Rio.” He pressed a vellum
card into her hand. “Excuse me, will you? I promised the judge I would talk
with her after the proceedings. You have things in order here, I know, Rex.”

Jose and Skye said their goodbyes and then Skye allowed
herself the intense pleasure of gazing up into the stunningly handsome face of
the man she adored. “I missed you like the devil.”

He gave her that disarming half smile that tipped one corner
of his mouth. “Same goes. You look rested. Fit.”

“I told Jose I needed a set of weights.”

“He wouldn’t let you leave the house, either, is that
right?”

She nodded, unwilling to stop admiring how healthy he
looked. “No. He was a bigger ogre than you.”

“Good.” Rex frowned. “I failed you.”

She put her hand to his wrist and whispered, “Like hell you
did. Can we leave here? Are you free?”

“I did. We can and I am.” He put a hand out toward a side
door. “Shall we?”

He didn’t touch her as he followed her out. She was
immensely grateful for that, because the next time they touched, she was
certain she’d kiss him for hours and strip him bare to make love to him. When
he pushed open the door for her, she stepped through to a long hall and paused.

“This way,” he said as he walked around her and opened
another door off the corridor.

She followed him through and swung around as she heard him
close the door and click the lock. Gasping in delight, she felt her feet leave
the floor and her lips crushed by his.

“God, darlin’,” he crooned as he ravaged her mouth with
torrid kisses. “I was nuts without you.”

Fighting to catch her breath, she drove her hands into his
thick hair and swallowed hard as his lips trailed down her throat. “Where were
you? I missed you.” She was wailing like a kid denied candy. “I looked for you
every day here.”

“At first,” he told her as he pulled off her suit coat and
yanked her blouse from her skirt, “I was either in physical therapy or filling
out report forms. Then,” he said as he hoisted her in his arms and walked with
her to the end of a long conference table, “I was put on another case. Easy
duty for a wounded man recuperating from a dustup.”

She unhooked his belt and lowered his zipper. At the bulge
of his cock beneath his black briefs, she moaned, “I needed you.”

“Got me now.” He pressed her back along the table, lifted
her legs and rucked up her skirt to her waist. “No pantyhose. Works for me,” he
growled as he peeled down her panties and threw them across the room. Then his
fingers splayed in her bush and she undulated at the heat of him cupping her
pussy.

“I never want you to leave me again,” she said as she pushed
down his briefs and took a handful of his hot long cock.

“Never will,” he promised as he bent and put his mouth to
her seam. “Let me prove it.” With his clever tongue, he parted her lips, found
her clit and titillated it until she groaned.

“Hurry,” she demanded.

“Mmm,” he said sounding as though he were considering that
in his own good time, while he pinched her clit and made her buck. “Impatient,
still.”

“With you. I always will be. Rex,” she urged him.

He darted two fingers inside her drenched pussy to caress
her there and make her shudder. “Maybe just this once.”

“Considering…” she said as she watched him grin at her and
reach inside his trouser pockets to pull out half a dozen condoms in each hand.
“Wow. You came prepared, Ranger Martinez.”

His eyes flashed, dark blue promises of electric heat to
come. “I cannot even look at you, lady, without having the right equipment. Now
be a good girl and spread those pretty pussy lips for a man who wants you, will
you?”