Her Cowboy Defender. Kerry Connor

She peered down the road, raising a hand to her face to shade her eyes. There was nothing but the strip of highway and endless stretches of desert as far as the eye could see. No indication that they were anywhere near where she needed to be.

       Finding it suddenly hard to breathe, she pulled the cell phone out of her bag with one hand, even though there wasn’t much of a point. She couldn’t even call the kidnapper to beg for more time. The two times she’d spoken with him, he’d called her from an unlisted number. All the contact came from his end. She had no way of reaching him.

       All she could do was stand there, feeling time—and Tara’s life—slipping away from her with each passing moment.

       She watched in horror as her watch counted down to the appointed meeting time all too quickly, then reached it.

       No.

       She stood frozen, waiting for something to happen. Something should happen. The end of her world, the end of her sister’s life, couldn’t just pass like this, uneventful, in silence.

       At exactly two minutes past, the cell phone suddenly rang. She glanced at the screen even though there was no one else it could possibly be. As expected, the caller was identified only as “Unlisted Number.”

       She quickly took the call. “Hello?”

       A long silence echoed across the line before the silky, superior voice she expected finally spoke.

       “It would seem I overestimated how much your sister means to you, Ms. Lowry.”

       “I would have been there if your people hadn’t tried to force me off the road! What were you trying to do, get the drive without having to release my sister? We had a deal!”

       She’d responded without thinking, the panic and anger inside her too fierce to hold back in the face of the man’s condescension and everything that had just happened. She fell silent just as quickly, a fresh wave of panic washing over her. She couldn’t afford to make him angry, not if there was any chance left of getting Tara back, not when he held all the cards.

       His silence lasted for a torturous eternity.

       “I assure you, Ms. Lowry, no one who works for me tried to force you off the road. It’s like you said. We have a deal. I wouldn’t jeopardize that with foolish tactics that could prevent me from getting what I want.”

       Of course he was right. If she’d been thinking clearly she would have realized that. “Then who—”

       “It would seem that someone doesn’t want you to give me the information.”

       It was on the tip of her tongue to ask who that was, but that was exactly what she couldn’t do.

       “So what happens now?” she made herself ask calmly instead.

       Another silence. She almost wondered if the bastard was really considering his answers this carefully or if he simply enjoyed tormenting her by dragging them out.

       “We will have to arrange another meeting,” he said finally. “I will be in touch—”

       “But Tara—”

       “Your sister is fine for the time being,” he interrupted with a trace of impatience. “And will remain so as long as you do as you are told.”

       “How do I know you’re telling me the truth? How do I know you didn’t try to get to me because my sister is already dead and you didn’t have anything to exchange?”

       “I suppose you have no choice but to trust me.”

       “Not good enough—”

       “You will be allowed to speak with her when we set up the meeting.”

       “No, I want to talk to her now—”

       He’d already disconnected the call.

       A sob rose in her throat, and she nearly gagged holding it back. She couldn’t give in to it. If she lost control, she might never get it back again.

       The gun was suddenly snatched away from her, far too quickly for her to tighten the grip she’d unwittingly loosened.

       She jerked her head up to find the cowboy standing over her, her gun now clenched in his hand. He didn’t point it at her. He simply held it as he stared down at her, his expression thunderous.

       “From the sound of your half of that conversation, the immediate danger is over. Now I want to know what the hell is going on.”

      Chapter Four

      Cade knew he was capable of being intimidating. He was a big man, and his sheer size alone was enough to inspire a certain wariness in people at times. He didn’t get angry often, certainly not truly angry, but when he did he knew it came across loud and clear. He’d seen more than one ranch hand who’d pulled something over the years cowering in the face of his anger, and after everything this woman had put him through in the past thirty minutes, he was angrier than he’d ever been in his entire life.

       The woman didn’t even blink. She simply stared up at him, her eyes so bleak and tired he almost felt an involuntary twinge of sympathy before he stifled the feeling.

       She gave her head a little shake. “Trust me, you don’t want to be involved any more than you already are.”

       He couldn’t argue with her on that. He didn’t want to be involved in this. But as long as he was, there was no turning back at this point. “So what now, you want me to just leave you here and be on my way?”

       “I would appreciate a ride back to my car so I can call for a tow truck, but I’m sure that’s too much to ask.”

       “Yeah, it is, especially since your friend who was shooting at us is back in that direction. You don’t think he won’t open fire again if he sees us passing by, or he won’t try to make his way to you while you’re waiting for your tow to show up?”

       She frowned, her forehead furrowing, and he could tell she hadn’t thought about it at all. “You’re right. Then if you could take me to the next town, wherever that is—”

       “I’m not going anywhere until I know what’s going on.”

       Alarm flared in her eyes. “But we can’t stay here. What if that man passes by while we’re just standing around—”

       “Then you’d better start talking fast.”

       She scowled at him, her jaw tightening. He could tell she wanted to argue, but must have read in his expression that it wouldn’t do her any good.

       Finally she cleared her throat. “My sister Pam is an FBI agent—”

       “I thought you said your sister’s name is Tara,” he said sharply, wondering if she was lying to him already, if she hadn’t been all along.

       “Tara’s my younger sister. Like I said, she’s only twenty years old. Pam is my twin sister. She’s an FBI agent. Late last year she was assigned to the field office in Dallas.”

       He suddenly realized he didn’t know her name. “What about you? What’s your name?”

       This time she did blink at him. “Oh. It’s Piper. Piper Lowry.”

       He couldn’t have said why, but it suited her. “Okay. Go on.”

       “Two days ago, I was notified that Pam was in a car accident that left her in a coma. I immediately flew to Dallas from Boston—that’s where I live. I went straight to the hospital from the airport. The accident was pretty bad. She’s in stable condition, but the doctors have no idea when she might wake up. I didn’t really get many details about what happened—her doctor made some reference that there was evidence she was driven off the road, but said I should talk to the police. I went there next. The detective I spoke to confirmed that it looked suspicious and said he’d been in contact with the FBI since