Ranch Hideout

“I can see why,” Gabriel said as he pushed his plate aside and crossed his arms on the table. “So what have you been up to tonight?”

“I was out at the barn taking care of a few chores. Seems like there’s always something needing to be done.”

Gabriel chuckled and nodded. “I remember how it was when I was growing up on a ranch. Sometimes I think about getting a little piece of land and a few horses. I guess that won’t ever happen, though. In my job it’s possible I could be transferred at any time, so I’m afraid to put down any roots that I might have to leave behind.”

Dean studied him for a moment before he glanced over his shoulder and scanned the room. When he didn’t see anyone, he leaned closer and lowered his voice. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to you about your job since you arrived earlier, but we’re alone now.”

Gabriel nodded his agreement. “I was hoping I’d get a chance to see you tonight. Especially after what happened today.”

Dean’s eyes grew large. “What are you talking about?”

“The attack on Liz.”

“Attack?” Dean’s voice seemed to bounce off the wall, and Gabriel leaned in farther.

Gabriel raised his index finger to his lips to quiet Dean. “I thought your wife had told you about it.”

“No. When did you tell Gwen?”

“Not too long before you came in. But you can relax. Everything turned out all right.”

For the next few minutes Dean didn’t move as Gabriel recounted what had happened in the theater parking lot. When he finished, Dean’s eyebrows drew together as he stared across the table at Gabriel.

“I’ve been afraid something like this might happen. When I got a call from my old friend Bill Diamond in the Memphis FBI office wanting me to offer Liz a safe place to stay, I was uncertain what to do. I didn’t want to endanger my family. Bill promised me that wouldn’t happen, that you are one of his top agents.”

“I don’t know about being one of the top agents, but I’m dedicated to my job, Dean. I’ve been with the FBI for five years now, and I really like my work. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nothing bad happens to anybody at Little Pigeon while I’m here. I’m sorry I couldn’t be here when Liz first came, but I was finishing up another case. Bill assured me that since you are a former police officer, you would be able to protect Liz until I could get here.”

“There haven’t been any threats until today. I’m glad you arrived before she left and could follow her to the movie. It might have turned out differently if you hadn’t.”

“Maybe so.”

Dean sat back in his chair and cast a quizzical look at him. “Why was the decision made for you to go undercover while you’re here? Maybe Liz would feel more at ease if she knew she had an FBI agent here to protect her.”

Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Daniel Shaw’s trial has all of us on edge. She’s the first witness who has agreed to testify who can directly connect him to a crime. If we can put him away, we have a better chance of taking down the rest of his gang. We’ve got to make sure Liz testifies. One of our snitches passed us some information that Shaw’s gang isn’t happy about his arrest and they’re going to try to keep Liz from testifying.” Gabriel paused, wondering if he should share the next part, then pressed on. “There’s a price on her head—a fairly high one. There’s some concern in the office that she might decide to take off if she found out. She has no family, no ties. If she decides to run, our whole case goes out the window. Bill decided we had to have agents here protecting her.”

Dean nodded. “Bill didn’t tell me the name of the other agent. What is it?”

“Her name is Andrea Cauthorn. She’s arriving tomorrow. Bill didn’t want there to be anything to tie us together, so he wanted her to arrive a day after I did. She’ll help me keep an eye on Liz. Then when the trial date arrives, we’ll escort her back to Memphis.”

A look of concern flashed in Dean’s eyes, and he tilted his head to one side. “Do you think the guy who attacked her today could have ties to Shaw’s gang? Or maybe have heard about the price on her head?”

“I don’t know. He had no identification on him, but Ben’s going to check it out. He’ll let us know if he finds out anything.”

Dean frowned. “I don’t like this. If that guy was specifically after Liz, that means they know where she is.”

“I don’t see how they could have that information. The only ones at our office who know Liz’s whereabouts are Bill, Andrea and myself. We’ll be on our guard all the time.” He paused for a moment. “Don’t worry, Dean. We don’t intend for any harm to come to your family or anybody else at Little Pigeon.”

Dean nodded. “Thanks, Gabriel, but you know I’ll also be on guard to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

A smile pulled at Gabriel’s mouth. “I guess once a cop, always a cop.”

“Yeah,” Dean said. “I was a cop, and a good one. But that’s not as important to me now as being a husband and a father. I don’t want anything to happen to my family, or to my employees and guests either.”

“Neither do we.”

Gwen walked out of the kitchen at that moment. When she saw Dean sitting at the table, she smiled and crossed the room to where they sat. She stopped beside Dean and placed her arms around his shoulders. “I didn’t know you were back inside.”

Dean stared up at his wife, and Gabriel’s stomach twisted. The love they had for each other shone in their eyes so bright that it almost blinded him. Every time he saw that look between a man and a woman, he felt as if his heart had been broken once again.

He scooted his chair away from the table and stood up. His abrupt movement startled Gwen and Dean, and they both jerked their attention to him. “Is something wrong?” Dean asked.

Gabriel shook his head. “No. It’s just been a long day. I think I’ll head up to my room. I’ll see you both in the morning. Good night.”

“Good night,” they called out, but he was already halfway to the stairs.

He hurried up the steps and strode down the upstairs hallway to his room. Once inside, he closed the door and stood there shaking all over. Seeing Gwen and Dean together tonight had brought back memories he thought he’d overcome. But when he least expected it, they resurfaced and kicked him in the gut.

He staggered across the room, sat down on the side of his bed and buried his face in his hands as the images he’d tried to repress came flooding back over him like a tidal wave.

No one could have asked for a more perfect day when he arrived at the church that afternoon ready to say the words that would make the woman he loved his wife. The pristine blue of the sky and the white clouds floating along only served to enhance the happiness he felt. Soon he and Lana would be married and ready to start their life on the ranch his father had left him.

As the time grew nearer for the ceremony, he waited in a small room behind the church’s choir loft. The first inkling he had that something wasn’t right was when the appointed time arrived for the bridal march and nothing happened. A few minutes later the best man, who’d been his friend since childhood, walked into the room with a letter that had been delivered for him.

He opened it with shaking fingers, and the words on the page blurred as he began to read. She was sorry, she said, but she couldn’t go through with the wedding. It would be unfair to him when she’d realized that she didn’t love him. She apologized for the embarrassment and ended by saying that her parents would take care of letting the guests know and that she had left for New York.

At first he thought there was some mistake, but there wasn’t. She was gone, and he’d lost the woman he loved. A few months later she returned to Texas to quietly marry his friend, the best man who’d delivered her letter. It seemed they’d been in love all along and had fought their attraction because of their respect for him. In the end, though, they couldn’t overcome it. Soon after, he’d sold the ranch and applied to the FBI.

So here he was five years later, an agent with the FBI who lived out of an apartment in Memphis that he rarely saw. Lana and his former best friend had two children. Sometimes it didn’t seem fair how his life had worked out. He hadn’t done anything wrong, hadn’t betrayed anyone’s trust, and yet they were happy, while he was just going through the motions each day.

He didn’t want to ever place himself in the position of being hurt like that again. He doubted if he would survive it a second time. Now he put all his energy into his job. There was nothing and no one else in his life, and he liked that just fine.

The only sad thing was that he would never have a woman look at him like Gwen Harwell looked at her husband tonight. The thought made his heart ache, but he shoved the feeling aside, refocusing on his assignment—taking care of Elizabeth Madison Kennedy, or Liz Madison, as she was calling herself. He would do everything to protect her, and in a few months he would take her safely back to Memphis to deliver testimony that would bring down a drug operation. Then he’d move on to the next assignment.

That was the only thing he needed to think about at the moment.

THREE (#u3c55be48-cd8e-522f-aeb6-f82860aa69b1)

The morning sunshine felt warm on Liz’s skin as she pushed the wheelbarrow out of the stable and headed toward the compost pile. She’d gone only a few feet when a voice behind her startled her.

“Good morning. I see you’re already hard at work.”

Her body stiffened in shock as she halted and jerked her head around to stare at Gabriel Decker, who was walking toward her. The big smile on his face turned to a frown when he saw her reaction. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Liz took a deep breath to try to calm her racing heart and attempted a smile. “It’s okay,” she said. “I was preoccupied and didn’t hear you walk up.”

His frown deepened, and he took a step closer. “Are you sure you’re all right? You looked terrified when you turned around.”

She nodded. “I’m fine.”