Bulletproof Christmas

From this distance, Rory could see the man’s face had a day’s worth of stubble and he was wearing one of those expensive compass watches. No way was this an outdoorsman.

City Guy seemed thrown by Rory’s presence, making him believe the man was either up to no good or scared out of his wits. Poachers were generally harder to detect and it usually took days, sometimes weeks, to track them. They rarely ever set up camp unless they were armed to the nines or stupid, and the latter were easily caught.

The man quickly recovered a casual disposition, bending down to grab his dog by the collar. He took a knee next to the beagle. “Sorry, what did you say you’re looking for?”

“A knife about so-big.” Rory made a show of holding his hands out, palms facing each other, to indicate a roughly nine-inch blade and subtly lead the man to believe that he wasn’t carrying another weapon. In this position, it would take Rory approximately three seconds to drop, roll and come up with the handgun in his ankle holster. Everyone in this part of Texas carried for protection against wild animals, so he assumed City Guy was armed, too.

“What makes you think it’s around here?” City Guy said, keeping a cautious-looking eye on Rory while covering most of his face with the brim of his ball cap.

“According to my GPS, I was somewhere around this area hunting this morning.” He glanced at his watch. “Technically, yesterday morning. Guess it was pretty early, around daybreak.” Rory was fishing to see when the guy set up camp.

“We didn’t get here until noon. I checked the area as I set up and didn’t see anything.” The guy shrugged.

“I’m Rory, by the way.”

“My name is—” there was a hesitation so brief that Rory almost wrote it off as his imagination but then City Guy finished “—Dexter but everyone calls me Dex. And this is Boots.”

He made a show of scratching the dog behind his ears.

Even though Dex was considerably smaller than Rory, it was obvious the guy hit the gym. And Rory would put his life savings on the fact that the guy’s name wasn’t Dexter.

“Nice to meet you both.” Rory picked up his earlier ruse by pretending to search the ground using his phone’s flashlight app. Maybe he could needle the guy for a little information or see if he could get him talking and trip him up. “I’m such an idiot. How does someone lose a nine-inch knife?” He shook his head and threw his hands in the air.

“It most likely slipped out of your pack,” Dex said. “Could happen to anyone.”

“You’re probably right.” Rory scanned the ground. “And I’m starting to think I was crazy to think I could find anything in the dark.”

“Your flashlight might catch the metal,” Dex said, keeping one eye on Rory.

“That was my thought, too.” If he could get the guy to think he was an amateur, he might be able to lower his defenses even more. In this case, it was hard to know who was playing whom. “You come out here a lot with Boots?”

“No. My girlfriend, Lainey, is here. We’re doing a romantic thing for the night. I thought it would be a good idea. You know, the whole under-the-stars thing, but I’m not so sure she agrees. She might’ve ditched me and headed to a roadside motel.” He laughed and it sounded a little too forced. “You didn’t bump into her, did you? She’d die of embarrassment because she asked for privacy to take care of business. She’s a redhead and she’s wearing a white down coat, full length, with snow boots.”

Dex was giving too many details as he described her. Was he nervous? Lying? There was no reason to describe his girlfriend out here. If Rory saw a woman at this hour, it would have to be her.

“Maybe I’ll stick around until she gets back so I don’t catch her off guard,” Rory said, pretending to keep busy while waiting for a reaction.

Dex wore a red ball cap and kept his face angled toward the dog, making it difficult to make out his features, even though he was near the fire. “As long as you return the way you came, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Good point.” Rory figured the more Dex believed he agreed the better. “How long are you two planning to stick around?”

Again, he listened for a slipup.

“Just the night,” Dex said.

“Ah, here it is,” Rory bent down and picked up something from the ground. He bit out a curse. “Never mind. It’s a flattened soda can.”

“Bad luck,” Dex said.

“Always,” Rory quipped, trying to make the guy think he was being buddy-buddy. Comradery could go a long way toward lowering Dex’s defenses and getting to the truth. Why was he camping on Butler land? Rory didn’t believe for one second that it was for love. This guy was here for a reason... But what?

“I better head out before your girlfriend gets back. Wouldn’t want to ruin the mood.” Although, if she was really on a bathroom break, Rory couldn’t imagine that was possible. But stick around much longer and Dex would become suspicious. As it was, the guy was being cautious. The campsite. The nonexistent girlfriend. The innocent camper act.

Everything was off about this situation.

“Catch you around.” Rory turned and caught sight of the glint of metal in Dex’s hand against the glow of the fire.

A weapon?

He decided to stick around another minute.

* * *

CADENCE BUTLER CLOSED the door to her bedroom. She was home, only it didn’t feel like it since her father’s murder. The place would never be the same without him. She put a hand on her growing belly as a wave of sadness crashed down around her, threatening to chew her up, toss her around and then spit her out into the surf.

Other than one quick stop over the summer, which netted an unfortunate incident with the law, she hadn’t been home for good reason. Trying to scare her half sister, Madelyn, out of town had been a childish lapse in judgment. Those were racking up.

How she’d concealed her pregnancy for so long was a mystery. At six months pregnant, she was surprisingly big. Or at least she’d thought so. Her doctor had reassured her that it was perfectly normal for a woman carrying twins to show as early as she had.

Another wave of melancholy hit as she thought about the babies who would never get the chance to know their grandfather.

“I can’t wait to see you running around on this land someday. Just like I used to when I was a little girl,” she whispered, resting her hand on her growing baby bump.

It was late and she was grateful to have slipped inside the house without seeing anyone, without any drama. Come morning, there’d be a million questions and she still didn’t know what to say about the pregnancy. Her fling with Rory had been kept secret. He’d wanted to tell her brothers but she’d convinced him not to say anything.

There was a practical reason for her coming home that didn’t include the big reveal of a pregnancy with twins. She thought about the poachers encroaching on the land, taking advantage of the distractions following her father’s murder. Her blood heated thinking about the kind of person who would try to capitalize on a tragedy.

Running Hereford Ranch had its challenges. Ones her father had made look so easy. But then people had known better than to mess with the ranch while her father was alive. Poachers must see the new regime, including her, as weak or they wouldn’t be encroaching. They were about to be taught a valuable lesson, she thought. Her thoughts shifted to the best tracker in the country, Rory Scott. Rory was in Wyoming tracking other poachers. He’d broken her heart when he ended their fling and walked out five months ago. Thinking about it, about him, stressed her out.

A warm bath would do wonders toward relaxing her tension knots. Strain wasn’t good for the babies. Neither was sadness and that was part of the reason she’d stayed away from the ranch. Being here without her father...

Cadence couldn’t go there.

She slipped inside her room, grateful there hadn’t been a big deal made over her return. No one would bother her until morning and that would give her time to think up an excuse as to why she was coming home six-months pregnant with Rory Scott’s twins.

Thankfully, her bathroom was adjacent to her room. Access was restricted. She didn’t want to deal with her brothers and sister tonight. She wanted to get her bearings first. Being home, facing the ranch, brought back so many memories. Good memories that made her wish she’d had more time with her father. She gulped for air.

The father she rarely understood but always loved was never coming back.

Her heart clutched. Moving past her window, a chill raced up her spine and she got a creepy feeling. It was most likely her imagination. Or...

Was someone out there watching?

Chapter Two (#udd727ce1-f403-5849-9a4d-ed273274fee9)

“I’ll be on my way before your lady friend returns. Wouldn’t want to ruin the moment.” Rory could see the tension building in Dex—or whatever his name was—and it was time to make his exit before this situation escalated. The glint he’d seen was most definitely from a weapon and that shot all kinds of warning flares.

Watching the campsite would be tricky with the beagle, but Rory figured he could put enough distance between them to keep off the dog’s radar.