Protecting Their Child
A RANGER WITH UNFINISHED BUSINESS—AND A BABY ON THE WAY
Cord McCrea was the Texas Ranger of her dreams…but their life together ended like a nightmare. They were too proud and stubborn, and there was no repairing the damage done to their family. All Kate Danver McCrea had now was the reminder he’d left growing inside her.
Now the crazed gangster who’d shattered Cord’s life was a free man, and he wanted to settle some old scores. Cord would do anything to protect his ex-wife, but once she was safe, they would go their separate ways again. Only, the baby changed everything. If they could survive the perils of a west Texas winter while outmaneuvering danger at every pass, they might have a second chance. Because with a traitor in their midst, they had no one to trust—except each other.
“Hold your horses, cowboy.” She stood, leaving him next to the drafty shack door. “Nothing’s changed. Nada. Zip.”
“I disagree. Everything’s changed.” His whole world had changed. Hadn’t hers?
“I’m pregnant, not incapable of—”
“Just stop a minute.”
Every emotion he’d buried for the past three years screamed to the surface. He pushed himself to his feet, struggling to keep steady, determined to keep his mouth and opinions shut. He couldn’t. That was his child, too.
He leaned against the door, clawing his hair, indecisive. His attention was splintered between convincing Kate he couldn’t protect her alone and protecting her himself by getting her into the mountains as soon as possible.
Kate constantly made him lose focus.
This time he had an opinion and she wouldn’t change his mind. She…they—there were two of them now—needed protective custody. Maybe permanently.
Angi Morgan
Protecting Their Child
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Angi Morgan had several jobs before taking the opportunity to stay home with her children and develop the writing career she’d always wanted. In a quiet house or traveling with her husband, she plots ways to intrigue her readers with impossible situations her characters may not overcome...until they find the one person who can help them for a lifetime.
Angi and her husband live in north Texas with only the four-legged “kids” left in the house to interrupt her writing. For up-to-date news or to send Angi a note, visit her website,
www.AngiMorgan.com
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Books by Angi Morgan
HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE
1232—HILL COUNTRY HOLDUP
1262—.38 CALIBER COVER-UP
1406—DANGEROUS MEMORIES
1423—PROTECTING THEIR CHILD
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Cord McCrea—
He is a sixth-generation Texas Ranger who transferred to west Texas to marry the woman he loved. He was severely injured in an ambush that was meant to kill his family, and has spent the past three years recovering physically and mentally.
Kate Danver McCrea—
She divorced Cord and works her family’s ranch. The last time she was in protective custody, two officers were murdered, she was shot and she lost her unborn child. The only person she trusts with her life—and the life of another unborn child—is her ex-husband.
Nick Burke—
Kate’s high school sweetheart who owns the neighboring ranch.
David Danver—
Kate’s father and owner of the Danver Ranch.
Ronald and Juliet Burke—
Best friends with the Danvers, and the newest ranchers in Jeff Davis County. The Burke ranch shares a mountain border with the Danver ranch.
Mac Cauldwell—
Former owner of the Burke ranch and now its foreman.
Shane and Sarah Boatright—
Shane was Cord’s partner. He and his wife were ambushed and killed by the Serna gang.
Jorje Serna—
The leader of a Mexican gang being investigated for drug smuggling and other crimes in west Texas. He swore to personally kill Cord and everyone Cord loves after the Ranger shot Jorje’s brother in self-defense.
Cheers to “the magic room” and the countless twenty-minute sprints. A big thanks to Tenia, my mom, and Aunt Peggy for helping me work out the kinks. And a special thanks to Baxter, who said it was okay to blow up the chopper as long as he wasn’t in it.
Contents
Chapter One
“Your wife is a dead woman.” Jorje Serna left the courtroom a free man, pointing directly at Cord McCrea.
The evil words closed Cord’s throat in a moment of fear. A moment that pierced him as fast as the bullet that had broken his back. The ache around the scar was real enough. He recognized it. Fought it. Shoved it aside.
Free on a technicality after three years in prison, short years for the crimes Serna had committed. Incredibly long years while Cord’s life as a husband and Texas Ranger unraveled.
“He’s serious, you know.” The lead prosecutor, Paul Maddox, tapped Cord’s shoulder with one hand and dialed his cell in the other. “You and Kate should take extra precautions.”
“Get her protection. The local sheriff can get to the ranch faster.” Cord pulled his phone from his uniform pocket. “We may already be too late.”
“On it. Go. You can meet them there.”
Cord hit his speed dial as he turned toward the back stairs. “Come on, pick up.”
No answer. He began running. Pain jarred him to a slow jog, and taking the stairs slowed him to a limp—the angle going down was torture.
“Kate. No time to explain. Get out of the house and call me.”
He hadn’t accepted a phone call from her in five months and doubted she’d reciprocate, but maybe she’d listen to the message.
Why?
You
don’t.
That inner blabbing in his head kept at him until he pushed the exit door open.
The small county court appearance equaled close parking. Cord was in his truck within minutes of Serna’s promise. Even at high speeds and running a couple of stoplights, he was at least forty-five minutes away from the ranch...and Kate.
Coming from a member of a vengeful gang with long tentacles in West Texas, Cord had no doubts the words were a serious threat.
He dialed his ex-wife’s numbers again. Landline, cell, ranch foreman. No answers.
Cord wished the next hour would be the longest of his life, but it wouldn’t be. He could recall every grueling minute after they’d been ambushed and shot. Each moment of his wife driving the opposite direction down this same road, yelling at him to stay with her, that he dare not leave her alone. Every tortured second of the next week as he mourned the loss of their unborn child.
Yeah, minutes crawled by, stuck in a hospital, unable to walk through a cemetery to bury your partner, his wife or your daughter. They completely stopped when he’d realized he could no longer protect Kate and must let her go.
The bastard Serna wouldn’t take anything else from him. He flipped the radio on and listened, petrified he’d hear a notification by the Sheriff’s department. Then he heard the dreaded words.
“Shots fired. Ambulance and backup needed at Danver Ranch.”
Serna’s men had probably been waiting at the ranch.
The truck skidded turning onto the gravel drive. Cord yanked the steering wheel the opposite direction, forcing the car to move straight. He punched the gas pedal to the floor. Sixteen minutes. That’s as fast as he’d ever driven the private road to the house.
“Don’t be dead, Kate.”
Two cars, lights swirling on top, sat near his ex father-in-law’s front porch. The closer he got, the worse the fear grew. He couldn’t swallow. A fear he didn’t understand gripped his heart and wouldn’t let go. He slid to a stop, slammed the truck into Park and didn’t bother to kill the engine or shut the door. “Kate!”
Two officers stood on the porch, one kneeling over an inert male, the other with his shotgun resting on his shoulder. He recognized Griggs, a deputy who’d been around the county five or six years.
“Where is she?”
“Shot this guy making a run for it from the house. He must have surprised Frank in the barn. We found him beaten, throat slit.”
“Where is she?”
“No one else is here, Cord.”
He recognized the voice of the guy kneeling, Sheriff Mike Barber, but Cord wasn’t looking anywhere except inside the open door. “You’re certain? Searched the sheds, the storm cellar?” he shouted over his shoulder.
“All clear. Car, two trucks still parked out back.”
“No one took her? He didn’t have a partner who may have abducted...” He couldn’t finish the thought, but the horrific image of what Serna would do to her was already in his mind.
“Griggs came from the east and I came in from the west. One road in, McCrea, and it was empty.” Barber had followed him inside the house. “Take a breath, Cord. She wasn’t here. She’s still safe.”
“Serna seemed certain she was...that she’d been...” His unsteady legs threatened to buckle under him. He locked his knees, standing next to the desk used by three generations of Kate’s family for ranching business. “Were the ATVs out back?”
The sheriff shoved the curtains aside on the nearest window. “Only one. Do they have a pair? Is David Sr. in town?”
“Her dad’s up with David Jr.’s family. Been there since a colt broke his arm in September.” He might not talk to Kate directly, but he’d overheard his physical therapy doctor mention the break at the clinic. And how stubborn David Danver had been about resting the compound fracture. “It’s possible she’s out checking fences. Where does she keep that dang schedule?” He flipped through the stacks of papers. “Come on, Kate.”
“Griggs, wait on the coroner,” Barber called over his shoulder. “We’ll take your truck, McCrea.”
“Quickest way is the four-wheeler, Sheriff. Faster if I go after her. I can still find my way around here.” He scanned the work schedule Kate’s father had been meticulous about keeping. “Got it. Should be in the northwest quadrant today. I’ll call as soon as I find her and get back into cell coverage.”
“You sure you’re up to it?” the sheriff asked. “That’s an awful lot of ranch to cover.”
“I got this.”
He didn’t wait for permission. He didn’t need explanations of what had happened when the sheriff and his deputy had arrived. He didn’t care. Serna’s assassin was dead, but he’d send another. And another. Until Kate was dead.
It didn’t matter to the gang that they were divorced. The soulless hatred Cord had seen staring at him throughout this week’s proceedings confirmed that a war of sorts had been declared. A war that wouldn’t end until Cord had been stripped of everything he held close and then was dead himself.
Revenge was a powerful venom. Since no attack had happened in the past three years, Cord had accepted Serna wanted it delivered in person. Damn all technicalities and the scumbag lawyers who found them.
He snagged the keys from the peg at the back door, along with a thick coat. Jumping on the ATV, he gunned the engine and shot around to the front yard to his idling truck.
“We’ll be a while,” Griggs said from near his vehicle. “Got an extra rifle in the trunk. Think you’ll need it?”
“You never know.” Cord cut his engine and retrieved his own 9mm from the lockbox under his seat. Grabbed his hat, cell and extra clips. “Make arrangements with Maddox for Kate’s protective custody. I want her out of here fast.”
“You got it. Hey, watch your back, McCrea. This guy came out the door shooting. We didn’t have a choice taking him out.”
“Thanks for getting here fast.” He tossed his keys to Griggs and took the offered rifle. “Lock those inside the house, will ya?”
“Anything for you guys.”
Cord knew that look. Pity. He’d faced it for the past three years. Everywhere he went in town, all the interviews and therapy sessions to make sure his head was screwed on straight. How could it be? He’d lost his unborn daughter and his wife. Nearly lost the use of his legs, his job, his life.
He straddled the seat, powered up again and left before anything else could be said. It was easier to leave with a curt nod of acknowledgment. After about a year he’d learned what to say to get around the questions. Learned how to avoid the dialogue.
At least with everyone except Kate.
He couldn’t fool Kate.
He couldn’t protect her before and now she was in danger again.
“No more!” he shouted down the trail, to God and anyone else who could hear. “This is going to end!”
* * *
T
ODAY
WAS
LIKE
every day on the ranch but then it wasn’t. Kate McCrea finished the repair on the barbed wire, picked up the tools and put them back in the satchel on the four-wheeler.
She’d grown up stretching and repairing fence, taking care of the stock, cleaning and cooking alongside her mom for a houseful of men. Not that her brother didn’t have to jump in and help with the biscuits or bacon.
The thought brought a smile to her heart and curved her chilled lips. A welcome change after the week of tense updates regarding Jorje Serna’s appeal.
Working the fence was solitary and peaceful. Lord knows she got enough of that around the house, but it was different with nothing else except the base of the Davis Mountains in sight. The wind was the only roar in her ears. No airplanes, no tractors, no whine of the refrigerator driving her crazy.
Silence.
Completely interrupted by a racing engine heading toward her. She missed using horses to ride the fence, but they’d made the switch like most ranchers.
“Dang it, Frank. I told you I could handle this today.” She complained into the chilling wind, watching the approaching four-wheeler bounce across the pasture a little faster than usual.
With her extra scarf wrapped back around her neck, she pulled on warmer gloves, shoving the worn leather work pair deep into the pockets of her work coat. “Gosh darn it, I really wanted to be alone.”
He must have news about the trial since she was explicit about her return to the house. She’d had a feeling when Jorje Serna’s case had been accepted for appeal that he’d be released. His threats scared her to death. Frightened her enough to consider leaving the ranch. But the only way to keep her father from mending fences with a broken arm had been to send him to her brother in Colorado.
She debated whether to go or stay every day.
Especially now.
She had another life to think about. Even through the thick jacket she could feel the small swell to her belly. She wouldn’t be able to hide it much longer. Her family knew and she’d be forced into a face-to-face confrontation with Cord soon since he wouldn’t return her calls. Even their lawyers couldn’t get a response.
She couldn’t believe he knew and had rejected them. No matter what had happened and the chasm that had grown between them, they were going to be parents. In spite of their differences, he was a good man. Stubborn, silent, stoic...but a good man who would be a great father.
The far pasture had been perfect today for thinking. Pondering big decisions and the advice from everyone who wanted to help. It was up to her, though. She was alone with this decision, especially since Cord wouldn’t talk to her.
The sting of tears heated her eyes and cooled her cheeks. Too often, too fast and too much out of her control. She turned back to face the mountains, swiping at the tears, getting herself in hand.
The engine grew louder, idled a moment and cut off.
“What’s happened?” she asked.
“Kate?”
Cord?
So Serna had been released. That was the only reason he would come here. Today. “Frank shouldn’t have told you where I was.”
“Kate, Frank’s dead.”
She couldn’t move and grabbed the fence post for support. “Serna?”
“One of his people. He was released going on three hours now.”
“I’m surprised he waited this long to make a move.” She wiped the tears for Frank off her face. The last time she’d seen Cord she’d been crying, silently watching him stand in their doorway as she drove from the house. She refused to face him again still falling to pieces and pushed her sunglasses into place. There’d be time for tears later. “Frank was a good man. He’ll be missed.”
“Kate—”
“Don’t. Let’s just get back. I have to call Dad and the guys. How soon can we have the funeral?”
“You won’t be here.”
She couldn’t avoid looking at him any longer and couldn’t believe what he was insinuating. “I’m not leaving everything and running away.”
“Protective custody isn’t running, Kate.”
He was closer than she had anticipated. Only a couple of steps separated them. His six-foot-two shadow fell across her eyes, thankfully hidden behind dark glasses. He couldn’t see her notice how lean he’d become.
He’d traded out the Ranger hat for his favorite Stetson, held now in his ever-polite hands. His hair was department-regulation short, just like when they’d met, fallen in love, married and been happy. Completely different than their last night when she’d shoved her fingers through the longish length. The day before the divorce.
No matter what the circumstances, watching him stand on his own two feet gave her a lump in her throat. “I see you’re back in uniform, but you need to remember you can’t tell me what to do anymore. We’re not married.”
“I could never tell you what to do, babe.”
Habit. Wanting to run to the protection of his arms was just a habit that needed to be broken.
No sniffles. Stand strong.
“Let’s go. I have things to do.”
She stepped toward her ride and his hand wrapped around her upper arm.
Keep it together.
“I mean it, Kate. I can’t protect you and take out Serna.”
He’s going to kill him.
“First off, I can protect myself.” She pulled her arm free. “And you can’t possibly think you’re going to win this thing. Are you planning a suicide run to ‘take out Serna,’ or depending on another verdict that’s supposed to keep him in isolation the rest of his life so the rest of his gang doesn’t come after us?”
She threw his words back at him. She’d known Cord for seven years, been married to him for five. The determined angle of his head slightly cocked to his right, that sharp-angled nose of his pointing over her shoulder. Straight, full lips pressed flat across his teeth. All signs he was making a stand.
Was he even aware his body shouted his intentions? She knew him better than he did. His nonanswer confirmed her fear, adding fuel to the apprehension she’d been fighting all week.
