Cowboy to the Max. Rita Herron

       “It has to be the same man who threatened me,” Sadie said. “The last few days I sensed someone was following me.”

       Carter jerked his head toward her. “You mean since I escaped?”

       She clenched her hands together. “Yes. I thought it might be you.”

       Carter worked his mouth from side to side. “He probably figured I’d come after you to find out the truth.”

       “Because I was the only one who could clear you,” Sadie said, the guilt once again suffocating her.

       “Right. And of course, I played right into his hands.” He shot her a dark look. “That means he won’t stop until he kills both of us.”

       A shudder rippled up Sadie’s spine, and she turned to stare through the window. Clouds gathered in an ominous gray haze, obliterating the stars. A quarter moon hung low in the Texas sky, the dim glow casting shadows across the cacti, scrub brush and mesquites dotting the wilderness.

       Carter steered the truck to the right onto a dusty road, and in spite of the heat Sadie suddenly felt a chill as she realized they were heading out into the country where it would be deserted.

       And they would be alone.

       She hadn’t been alone with a man in five years.

      BITTERNESS AND THE NEED for revenge fueled Carter’s temper. Sadie had helped ruin his life.

       But she’d been tortured and threatened to keep her from going to the police on his behalf.

       Had the killer targeted him personally because he had a grudge against Carter? Or had he simply been an easy mark because of his drinking?

       Sadie’s breathing rattled in the silence, and she rubbed that scar. Anguish rolled through him. The night they’d made love he’d actually thought he’d felt something special with her.

       Then everything had gone wrong.

       And now she was afraid of him. That was obvious.

       Not that he could blame her. Hell, he was a convicted felon. He’d served five years in prison with murderers and rapists and other hardened criminals. He’d tangled with plenty of them in fistfights and knife fights, and spent time in solitary confinement.

       And he had held her at gunpoint.

       “Where are we going?” she asked, her voice trembling.

       “Some place to lay low for a while.”

       Her eyes widened, her fear a palpable force vibrating in the air between them.

       Suddenly aware he was practically kidnapping her, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed. But they’d left the town and civilization behind. Making a snap decision, he swerved off the road, careened to a stop and faced Sadie.

       She gasped and clenched her arms around her body as if to protect herself. A mixture of emotions slammed into him again. For God’s sake, she thought he was going to attack her.

       Shame washed over him. It had been so long since he’d dealt with anybody but criminals and prison guards who’d treated him like an animal that he’d forgotten how to be human. Gentle.

       Reining in his temper, he held up his hand to indicate he didn’t intend to accost her. “I’m sorry about tonight. Is there someplace you’d like to go? Someone you trust to keep you safe?”

       Surprise flickered across Sadie’s face, then she seemed to relax slightly. Still, she twisted her skirt in her fingers. “No. There’s no place.”

       “Don’t you have family?”

       She shook her head. “No. My mother died last year.”

       She looked so small and lost and vulnerable that his chest clenched. He wanted to pull her in his arms and comfort her.

       But the moment he lifted a hand toward her, she shrank like a delicate flower wilting in the sun. He gritted his teeth, silently cursing the past and the circumstances that had led them to this point.

       “How about a friend?” he asked, intentionally lowering his voice. “Someone at the reservation?”

       Her eyes widened, pits of steel. “I can’t endanger them, Carter. This man has kept track of me for five years. He knows you’re out, and now that he’s seen us together, he’s not going to give up until he silences us.” She heaved a weary sigh. “And he’ll hurt anyone we care about to get to us.”

       Carter grimaced, hating that she was right. He’d long ago learned to stop living on empty hopes and senseless fantasies that people were good. No…most of the time they stabbed you in the back.

       He pinched the bridge of his nose, struggling to formulate a plan, but his head ached from trying to figure out his next move. He was a cowboy, not a cop or the devious criminal everyone had pegged him to be.

       But he had to think like one if he was going to survive and clear himself.

       Having Sadie with him would make it more difficult to hide out. Then again, the police were looking for him, not a man and a woman, so it might serve to his advantage to travel as a couple.

       Although if the police discovered they were together, they could arrest Sadie for aiding and abetting a convicted felon.

       But what choice did they have? If he left her alone and that jerk found her, no telling what he’d do to her this time before he killed her.

       And he would kill her.

       Dammit. He had enough guilt to last a lifetime.

       He couldn’t live with Sadie’s death on his conscience.

      SADIE STRUGGLED to quell the fear raging inside her as Carter started the engine and pulled back onto the road.

       She had once been a strong woman. She was an advocate for the Native American community, had fought for her people and their rights. She had studied the Navajo way of medicine, learned the roots and herbs used to help treat illnesses, the prayers and rituals performed to help with the healing of the body, the mind and the soul.

       But she had also seen such poverty and backward ways that she had wanted more for her people. She had excelled in school because her education was her ticket out of poverty. She had set her sights on medical school in an effort to bridge the gap between the reservation and the surrounding areas in terms of medical care.

       Then her mother had been diagnosed with cancer.

       And she’d been forced to take waitressing jobs to pay medical bills and hire a nurse to tend to her mother while she worked. It had been a vicious cycle that had left her drained, and with no time to study, she’d lost her scholarship and her dreams.

       Then Carter had walked in that night with his sexy, bad-boy swagger and talked her into his bed, and she’d fallen into his arms. She’d even imagined a relationship beyond the bedroom. A life. A future.

       But then she’d been attacked…

       Nausea roiled through her. For five years, she’d run from that memory. From the hulking monster who had threatened her and abused her and left her scarred both physically and emotionally.

       She wouldn’t run anymore.

       Carter had been unjustly accused and incarcerated. But she’d lived in a prison of her own, as well.

       A prison built on fear.

       Carter deserved justice. And so did she.

       Together they would find the truth and go to the police. And if she died trying to do the right thing, at least she’d go to her grave with a clear conscience.

       Exhausted, she closed her eyes and let the rumble of the truck eating the miles lull her into sleep. She had no idea what time it was when they jolted to a stop, but when she opened her eyes, they were at a deserted ranch in