A Bride By Summer: The Texas Ranger's Bride / From Best Friend to Bride / Once Upon a Bride

“I will. See you soon.” She hung up.

He got up from the table and walked into the living room while he prepared himself for what might happen tonight. If the stalker suspected Kellie had been telling the truth about a husband, he might lie low so she would think the menace had gone away. But neither he nor his twin would ever go away. One thing about a sociopath. Once he’d fixated on his victim, he’d dog her to the bitter end no matter how long it took. With two sociopaths working together, they were a lethal combination.

He ground his teeth, hoping both of them showed up. Once they were taken down, Kellie could get on with her life. So could he...

While he was trying to imagine what that would be like now that he’d met her, he heard her key in the lock. In order not to frighten her, he moved to the kitchen so she’d see him when she walked in. After she locked the door behind her, she turned around.

He noticed she was wearing her riding clothes and boots. Kellie’s eyes flew to his. She held up a couple of catalogs. “This was all I found in the box.” She put them on the kitchen table.

Cy thumbed through them, but there was no envelope hiding inside the pages. He looked up. “Have you eaten dinner?”

“Ages ago.”

“Why don’t you sit down and tell me what’s wrong? Did something happen you need to talk to me about?”

Her chin lifted. “What’s wrong is that you’re putting your life on the line for me,” she said in a voice shaking with emotion.

He cocked his head. “Would you rather someone else were doing this job? It can be arranged.”

“No!” she cried out. “No,” she said in a softer tone and looked away. “That isn’t what I meant at all.”

“Then what did you mean?” came his deep, almost-seductive voice.

She folded her arms to her waist. “Situations like this shouldn’t happen to anyone, but I know they do. Horrible things happen all the time, all over the world, and a handful of men and women like you are courageous enough to make the bad people go away. There isn’t a way to repay you for what you have to face twenty-four hours a day in order to protect someone like me.”

Cy put his hands on one of the chair backs. “I get my payment every time I lock up a criminal and throw away the key. There’s no satisfaction like it.”

“Then you’re an amazing breed of man.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking about you when I saw you perform in Bandera. Only a few exceptional women have the patience and the skills to work year in and year out to thrill the thousands of people who can only dream about what you do on your horse. The heart of a champion is inside you. All I could do watching you at the rodeo was sit back and marvel.”

She eyed him with a frank stare. “What you do and what I do aren’t comparable, but I appreciate the compliment.”

“It was heartfelt.”

“You enjoy the rodeo?”

“All my life.”

Her eyes lit up. “Really?”

“I love it. Growing up we had horses and always went to the rodeo. I still keep my horse on my parents’ small ranch and ride when I have time. Like most of my friends when I was young, I thought it would be fun to try bull riding and calf roping. But our pitiful attempts that ended in pain and suffering let me know it takes a lot more than just wanting to do it. You know...like possessing the skill, like being born to it, like having the guts to go at it again and again.”

Her chuckle delighted him. “That’s my father.”

“Some of us have it. Some of us don’t.”

“Instead, you face a terrifying human enemy with no thought for your own life.”

Cy laughed. “Don’t be deceived. I give a lot of thought to my own life, believe me.”

Her smile slowly faded. “I’ve given a lot of thought to your life, Ranger Vance. Please take care of yourself.” The throb in her voice resonated inside him. “It’s almost ten o’clock. Unless you need me for anything, I’m going to go upstairs.”

He reached for her phone and handed it to her. “You can have this back. Forensics got what they needed from it, but they still have your laptop. I’ve removed all the messages.”

She gripped it. “Did they find a voice match?”

“Yes.”

“A Texan accent?”

“No. The stalker sounds like certain people who live in either Virginia Beach or Charleston, South Carolina.”

Kellie’s surprise over the news caused her to groan. “Charleston was the place where he killed one of his victims.”

“Listen to me, Kellie. If I have anything to do with it, there won’t be any more.”

She nodded. “As I told my mother earlier today, I believe in you. Now I’m going to call some of my friends who left messages with my mom.”

“After you do that, turn the ringer off. If the stalker intends on calling you tonight, I don’t want you bothered by him. You need sleep.”

A pained expression broke out on her face. “What are you going to do?”

“Coordinate with my backup crew.”

She slid him an anxious glance. “You think something might happen tonight?”

He watched a nerve throbbing at the base of her throat. Cy was determined to make her fear go away. “If not tonight, perhaps tomorrow night or the next. Either way we’ll be ready.”

“Then I’ll say good-night.”

“If you need me, phone me. But by no means come downstairs until I let you know it’s all right.”

“Okay.” She held his gaze for a moment longer before she went upstairs. Soon after, Cy’s phone rang. It was Vic.

“I’m walking down the alley to the garage.”

“I’ll open it.”

“Did you know the boss has supplied extra backup?”

“He told me.”

“Chris and Jose will be in a taxi in the alley. Lyle and the rest of the crew are in place.”

“Good. We’re set. This is the window of time the stalker has been waiting for. I’m counting on his making a move any night this week. Next week he knows she’ll be leaving for Colorado. If he thinks she could be married, he’s got to find out and get rid of her husband before he takes her off someplace and strangles her. He’ll need his brother.”

“Yup.”