Her Cowboy Defender

“Can we get there in twenty-five minutes?” she asked.

“Probably.”

“That isn’t good enough. Drive fast—but not fast enough that anything bad should happen. Neither of us wants this gun to go off accidentally.”

The muscles on his neck bulged from his clear tension, but he didn’t respond. The truck accelerated smoothly, picking up speed without jostling her.

She kept her eyes on him, not about to let her guard down when so much depended on him cooperating and getting her where she needed to be. He stared straight ahead, his jaw clenched. It was a strong jaw, perfectly fitting his plainly masculine profile. He had to be in his late thirties, his skin tanned from the sun, faint laugh lines worn into the corners around his eyes. It was a nice face. She suspected he was a nice guy. She remembered the clear thread of concern in his deep voice when he’d first pulled over. All he’d wanted to do was help her. And she’d pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him.

Guilt, sharp and painful, stabbed at her. She ruthlessly pushed the feeling aside. The people she was dealing with weren’t letting anything stop them from getting what they wanted. She couldn’t afford to, either. And given a choice between Tara and this stranger, there was no question what she would do. The only thing that mattered was getting to the rendezvous on time, whatever it took.

Then it hit her. No, that wasn’t all that mattered. What happened at the meeting also mattered a great deal. She’d had a plan, a risky, dangerous, improbable plan, but the only one—the only chance—she had. The rental car had been a key part of that plan. Without it, this wasn’t going to work.

Unless…

She sharpened her gaze on the man behind the wheel, studying that hardened face. He’d wanted to help her once. He must be a good person, or at least good enough for what she needed him to do.

“I need to ask you a favor,” she said.

“Lady, you’re holding a gun on me. You’re not asking, you’re ordering.”

“Not with this. This is for when I’m gone and don’t have the gun on you anymore. I need you to do something for me then.”

“Why the hell would I do anything else for you, lady?”

“Because I’m hoping that the kind of guy who couldn’t drive by and leave a woman standing on the side of the road won’t leave an innocent woman in danger, either.”

He snorted. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re innocent.”

“I’m not talking about me. My sister’s been kidnapped. We’re making the exchange at this location. I’m not going to give them what they want until my sister is safely out of there. My original plan was for her to drive away, but obviously that’s not an option anymore. So I need to ask you to please stay long enough to get her out of there.”

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. She’s all that matters.”

His frown deepened. “Who are these people? Why did they kidnap your sister?”

“That’s not important.”

“The hell it’s not. If you want me to stick around these people, I need to know what I’m up against.”

“They kidnapped her to force…me to provide them…with some information they want.”

“Even if they let your sister go before you give it to them, what do you think they’re going to do to you after you give it to them?”

“I told you, don’t worry about me.”

“It sounds like somebody needs to. What’s going to happen to you after you give them what they want?”

“Her name is Tara,” she said as if he hadn’t spoken. “She’s only twenty years old. She has her whole life ahead of her.”

“And you don’t? You can’t be much older than thirty, if that. What about your life?”

“Please. I know I don’t have the right to ask you for anything, but I’m doing it anyway. Please save my sister. If you want me to beg, if that’s what it will take to get you to agree, then I will do it. It should be clear by now that I am willing to do anything to save her. So I’m asking you, begging you, please save my sister.”

Something in his face softened slightly, and hope burst in her chest at the indication that she might have swayed him.

He never had a chance to answer.

The rear window suddenly shattered. Glass sprayed into the interior of the truck. Piper cringed, instinctively turning away from the blast. Almost immediately, she whipped her head back to see what had happened.

A car had pulled up behind them without her noticing. She hadn’t been paying close enough attention while she’d been speaking to him, hadn’t even considered that she would need to.

Then she saw the arm reaching out of the driver’s side window, the glint of a gun clutched in a hand, just before a dull thud struck the metal of the truck.

Realization struck as hard as the impact of a bullet. Someone was shooting at them, trying to force them off the road before she could even get to the rendezvous point.

Oh, God.

She should have known they wouldn’t play fair.

Chapter Three

The sound of another bullet hitting metal knocked Piper out of the shock holding her in place.

The driver of the other car wasn’t the only one with a gun.

Gritting her teeth, she turned all the way around in her seat, just as the cowboy shouted, “Friends of yours?”

“Just keep driving!” she yelled, pushing her arms out the shattered back window and taking aim. As soon as she had her target, she pulled the trigger.

She didn’t hear anything, but the shot must have hit, because the car wavered slightly, sliding across the road. Satisfaction surged inside her, but she never let the vehicle out of her sights, matching her movements to it.

Confident she had another shot, she took it.

The windshield cracked.

She shot twice more in quick succession.

The glass cracked farther, the webbing spreading across the windshield. If she wasn’t mistaken, there was no way the driver should be able to see through it.

As if to confirm it, the car suddenly skidded across the road. Seconds later, it went right over the edge of the shoulder, disappearing from view.

A triumphant grin briefly flashed across her lips, the feeling unfamiliar, before she sobered, pulling her arms back into the truck and turning to the cowboy.

“I guess you really do know how to use that,” he said drily.

“And don’t forget it.”