Her Cowboy Protector (19 page)

They parted reluctantly. Niall hauled the table over and lifted her on top. He made a foothold with his hands and hefted her up through the hatch. She crawled onto the floor without much finesse or grace, her body no longer as agile and lithe as it once had been. Niall joined her a second later. She stared on with envy as he effortlessly launched himself through the door, his muscles rippling with exertion.

A muffled sound from the main room caught her attention. Cruz looked to the closed bedroom door. "Is she still out there?"

Niall slid the bed back into place and nodded. "She's gagged and tied and hooded. You don't need to worry about her."

"Hooded?" Awful images passed before her eyes. Memories of her night being bound and gagged soured her belly. "Is that humane?"

Niall gawked at her. "Humane? Cruz, that woman came in this house with a gun and a plan to murder you and the baby and shoot me." His jaw visibly hardened. "I don't want you hearing any of the filth that comes out of her mouth anyway. She's neutralized. She's safe. End of story."

Cruz dropped the subject. She didn't know how these things worked but she trusted Niall. He was right. Her sympathy and concern were misplaced. She needed to worry about Felix and evading El Alacrán, not about the woman who wanted to kill her.

"We don't have much time," Niall warned as he started to pile things into suitcases. "Shower. Change. We'll grab something to eat on the way out of town."

"What about her?" Cruz motioned to the door. "Are you just going to leave her there?"

"No, Jolene's going on a little trip. You don't need to worry about her anymore." He must have seen the look on her face because he quickly added, "Not that kind of trip, Cruz. She's going into custody. Her pickup's been arranged. We need to be long gone when they arrive."

Cruz decided she didn’t want the details. She hurried into the bathroom and quickly went through her morning routine. When she came out in a towel, she found a pair of stretchy yoga pants, t-shirt, bra, socks and undies on the bed. The rest of her luggage had vanished. She slipped into the clothes Niall had left for her, put on her comfy Crocs and packed up the last of her toiletry case.

Out in the living area, Cruz froze at the sight of Jolene in the kitchen. She was facing away and wearing all camouflage and a black ski mask. She inclined her head as if listening. It creeped Cruz out so badly. When Niall appeared in the open doorway, she scurried over to him and out of the cabin.

"You okay?" Niall lowered his voice.

"It's just seeing her like that. I don't know." Cruz shuddered. "It's so weird."

"She's fine. I promise you." Niall's thumb stroked her chin. "I might be a mean old bastard but I don’t go around torturing people. I scared her into talking without putting a hand on her." He glanced back toward the house. "She'll be fine until her ride gets here. Might do her some good to know what it feels like to be as scared as her victims."

"Victims?" Her eyes widened. "She's done this before?"

"She's a lot worse than either of us could have imagined." He narrowed his eyes. "You've got good instincts, Cruz. You saw right through her bullshit."

"She didn't make much of an effort to hide her craziness from me. You, on the other hand, she wanted to impress."

Niall didn't reply to that. He put his hand on her back and walked her to the idling truck. Her toiletry case joined the rest of their luggage. He helped her into the front seat and fastened her seat belt. She sat back and allowed him to baby her, certain he was fulfilling some deep need to protect and care for her.

She watched Niall return to the cabin. He was inside for less than a minute. The door slammed closed behind him, the loud bang putting a definite tone of finality to the Jolene chapter of their saga. Cruz had no idea what would happen to the woman next. She figured some federal agency would pick Jolene up and wring her dry for all the information they could get. She'd end up in prison or witness protection. Cruz really hoped it was the former.

"Ready?" Niall reached over and grasped her hand.

Cruz gave his fingers a squeeze. "As I'll ever be."

11
Chapter Eleven

Exhausted from an eventful day, Cruz swiveled side to side in the cushy desk chair. She let her head fall back and closed her eyes. The hotel suite was so calm and quiet she could almost convince herself they were on vacation and not running from a psychotic cartel assassin.
She'd been surprised when Niall pulled into the high-end hotel in Abilene, especially since she'd been expecting something like Motel 6. Apparently Niall wanted to treat her for a night.

She glanced back at the couch where Niall sat. The coffee table was littered with maps and highlighters. He had an arm over his face and his feet on top of the maps. Even though it looked like he slept, Cruz knew better. He was listening to the six o'clock news and trying to relax. Lord knew that he needed to chill out a bit. Cruz was starting to worry he was the one that would succumb to high blood pressure.

"You making any progress?" Niall's arm remained draped over his eyes. Only his lips moved.

"Yes. Tons." She stood and walked over to the couch. Niall's arm dropped as she slid in next to him. He curled it around her shoulder and stroked her upper arm. "I've got two-thirds of the data completely decrypted."

"Anything interesting?"

"I recognize a lot of the names. Some of them I Googled. Politicians, sheriffs, border patrol officials—it's a mess."

"Explains why the DLG boys were so keen on getting their hands on information," Niall said. "I wonder though."

"About?"

"I don't know. I feel like we're still missing a huge piece of this puzzle, you know?"

"Well I still haven't figured out the website login," Cruz reminded him. "Maybe it's that."

"Maybe." But he didn't sound convinced. Cruz wondered what he was really thinking. She started to ask but decided he wouldn't tell her. If it was something bad—and she was sure that it was—he wouldn't want to worry her.

"Are you hungry?" She patted his chest. "I could put on some shoes and run out to a drive-thru or something."

Niall shook his head and picked up her hand. He brought each fingertip to his lips. Her insides wobbled like JELL-O at the romantic gesture. It was so hard to reconcile this Niall, the sweet, gentle man who seemed to be willing to go to any lengths for her, with the man who had captured and interrogated Jolene. She supposed there were very few partners of Special Forces soldiers who ever got to see their men in action. In a way that made her special, but it also made things more complicated. She had seen first-hand what Niall was capable of and it scared her a little.

"What are you thinking about, sugar?" He interlaced their fingers. "I can see that brain of yours working overtime."

She smiled at him and gave a small shake of her head. "Nothing, really."

"You're lying." Niall spoke so certainly. He'd obviously learned how to spot tells as part of his training.

"And you're not?" Her pointed retort made him squirm. "Come on, Niall. I'm not stupid. I know you're hiding things from me."

He didn't deny it. "I don’t want to worry you."

"And I don't want to worry you." She couldn't imagine how badly her concerns would make him feel. She really didn't want to go there but had a feeling they were about to turn down that road.

"So we'll just keep secrets from one another?" Niall sighed heavily and rubbed his face. "I don't like that."

"Me either."

He studied her for a long time before finally letting out an irritated groan. "That night we had the prowler? It was Jolene."

Cruz shrugged. "Yeah, I kind of figured."

"Right, but she wasn't just prowling around, Cruz. That thud on the door? The one I told you was probably just a bat or a bird flying into the house? Well it wasn't. It was Jolene stabbing a pair of baby shoes impaled on a knife blade into the wood."

Her stomach knotted. "That's twisted."

"Very," Niall agreed. "She was behind the snake too."

"Not surprised. Again, she's a nut."

"You were right about the De La Garza connection, but we were wrong about how she got the information on Carlos."

Cruz's gaze skipped to his face. "What do you mean?"

Niall's reluctance was evident. "Someone at the DEA called the sheriff's department and told her that you were coming to town. They wanted you left alone. Jolene did some digging and hit pay dirt."

"Wait." Cruz held up her hand. "They asked her not to intervene? In what?"

"Their operation."

She frowned and tried to work out what detail she was missing. "I don’t understand."

"It was you, Cruz." Niall's hard face displayed anger. "They were using you as bait to draw out El Alacrán. They made up the rumor about him coming back to Austin to kill you. They knew Carlos would flip out and send someone to get you. Once you left Austin, they knew The Scorpion wouldn’t be far behind. I’m assuming we have eyes on us now. Between the Feds and The Scorpion, it’s going to be nearly impossible to disappear."

Her head swam as blood pounded through her veins. She touched her temple and tried to breathe. "They set me up? They used me and the baby?" Fury threatened to overwhelm her. "I could have been killed!"

Niall acted quickly and pulled her onto his lap. He embraced her in those strong arms of his and urged her to calm down. "Carlos is taking care of it. There's going to be a full inquiry. We'll get to the bottom of it."

Suddenly things that had troubled her earlier made sense. "Is that why you left Jolene? Are they going to use her next?"

Niall nodded. "She broke the rules, Cruz. El Alacrán wanted you safe. She tried to kill you twice. They're setting up a trap, using her as bait instead of you."

"And that's why we're running."

"Hopefully, he'll take the bait in the next few days and we can get on with our lives."

Her blood pressure started to dip. There was an end in sight. There was a plan. Maybe, just maybe, she would get her life back. No more glancing over her shoulder. No more panicked nights and fear of the dark.

She thought back to what Niall had said.
Our lives
. Did he mean separately? She didn't have the heart to ask him. She'd had just about enough deep conversation for one evening.

But Niall clearly hadn't.

"Now it's your turn." His thumb stroked her jawline. "What were you thinking about?"

She clasped his wrist and tugged his hand away from her jaw. She held tight to him and hoped her words wouldn't hurt him. "You scare me. A little," she added hastily.

His face slackened with shock. "Scare you? Why? How?"

"The Jolene thing," she admitted. "That was kind of crazy, Niall. I mean, do you know what that looked like?"

"Yeah, Cruz, I do. Unlike you, I've actually been to war. I know all about ugly things." He started to shift her off his lap so he could stand but she stiffened and refused to budge. "Let go, Cruz."

"No." She hooked her hands behind his neck. "If you want to storm off, go ahead but you'll be carrying me around like a baby koala while you do it."

Niall's glare softened. "A baby koala?"

She dared him with her unwavering gaze. "Well?"

He rolled his eyes and flopped back against the couch. "Fine. Go on. I terrify you."

"Now you're being ridiculous." Cruz grasped his chin and forced him to look at her. "I didn't say you terrified me. I'm just being honest, Niall. Like, I
know
that you're this badass spec-ops guy but actually seeing it, seeing what you're capable of, and knowing that what I saw was probably the fluffy, rainbows and unicorns side because you were dealing with a woman is kind of unsettling."

"I can't change who I am, Cruz."

"I'm not asking for that, Niall. I'm just trying to acknowledge that even though you're the complete opposite of the monster who assaulted me, you're also fond of some of his tactics. It was…startling for me to see someone bound and gagged like that. It brought back some really awful memories."

Getting those words out hadn't been easy. She'd hit the crux of the matter finally. Niall's face lit up with understanding.

"Shit." He pulled his face free from her hand and looked at the ceiling. When he turned his attention back to her, guilt darkened his gaze. "I'm sorry. I didn't even think about what you'd been through. I was just so focused on keeping her quiet and contained." He swore again and reached out to cup her face. "I wouldn't ever…I mean….with you…"

Cruz placed her hand over his. "I know. I realize that was a weird situation. It's just, you know, with my history…"

"I know," Niall murmured. "God, Cruz, I never want you to fear me. I would never put my hands on you in violence." He lowered his gaze. "But I did Jolene. She attacked me first, and I didn't realize it was a woman fighting so I wasn't easy on her."

Cruz sensed Niall was struggling with that. "She did try to kill us, Niall."

"Yeah." He didn't sound any less guilty. "I guess I'm not so different from my old man, after all."

"Just stop right there," Cruz ordered. "The two situations aren't even remotely comparable, Niall."

Niall grunted but didn't say anything else. She didn't push the issue. This was something he needed to sort out for himself. She sensed he was getting there.

"You never answered my question," she reminded him.

He toyed with the bottom of her t-shirt. "What's that?"

"Dinner."

"Oh." He shrugged. "Room service is fine with me. I'm beat and I know you are too. It'll save us another trip."

"Cool." She untangled their arms and legs and, with a little help from Niall, got off the low couch.

"Another week or two and we might need a winch to get you on and off the furniture," Niall joked and patted her bottom.

If it hadn't been for that sexy grin of his, she'd have knocked him flat on his ass for that remark. Instead she thumped his arm hard enough to make him hiss. "Be nice!"

Niall grabbed the front of her shirt and hauled her down for a kiss. His lips brushed hers. "Be honest. You like it when I'm bad."