Her Cowboy Protector (23 page)

Dread spurred her forward. She stood and made a run for it. She had no other choice. She couldn't sacrifice Niall and refused to let that monster get his hands on her baby.

"Got you!" He sounded excited as he took off after her. "Daddy's coming!"

Cruz clawed her way up the embankment. Her legs burned as she feverishly climbed. The toes of her sneakers and her fingernails dug into the dry dirt and grass for traction. She spied the road and felt a wave of relief. She was going to make it.

A hand gripped her ankle and yanked hard. "Come here!"

She screamed and kicked. Her foot made contact with his face. He shouted angrily and pulled even harder, so hard she thought her hip would rip from its socket. They tumbled down together, her body rolling over his.

When they slammed into the ground, Cruz couldn’t breathe. Every last bit of air had been knocked from her lungs. She ignored the pain of her fall and struggled to inhale and roll onto her knees. She scrambled away from El Alacrán but he latched onto the waistband of her jeans, his fingers winding through the belt loops as he hauled her back towards him. She shrieked and kicked as he flipped her over and pinned her to the ground. Old, painful memories flooded her mind. She refused to let them render her helpless. This time she could fight back—and did.

Her balled up fist slammed into his cheek. She shoved her knee into his belly and found great pleasure in the resulting
ooph
and grunt of pain. She scratched his face and gnashed at him with her bared teeth.

He gave back as good as he got. His flattened palm cracked her face a few times. She kept expecting him to punch her in the ribs or worse but he seemed almost afraid of causing her real injury.

The baby, she realized. He really was serious about keeping the baby safe. That scared her even more than his crazed ranting. The very thought of him raising her son filled her with such rage and fueled her fight. She would not give up, would not surrender.

"Quit fighting me!" He slapped her face hard, leaving her momentarily stunned. "I swear to God I'll choke the life right out of you."

"Not if I get you first."

Cruz's eyes widened at Niall's gruff voice. He appeared behind El Alacrán, his bloodied face a welcome sight. Cruz barely recognized the looped belt for what it was before Niall hooked it around El Alacrán's throat, wound it tight, and lifted him right off of her. The assassin fell onto his back. Niall lay partially under him, the strong muscles in his arms bulging as he strangled the vile monster who had terrorized her for so long.

"Look away, Cruz." Niall's growled order cut right through her horror. She rolled onto her side and clamped her hands over her ears to drown out the guttural choking noises El Alacrán made. His boots kicked wildly as he fought for his life. She could feel the vibrations of his heels slamming into the ground. They slowed to almost nothing just milliseconds before she heard the distinctive snap of vertebrae being broken.

A long time passed between that chilling sound and the moment Niall knelt down beside her. The hands he'd just used to kill The Scorpion gently cradled her to his warm chest, the reassuring thud of his heart music to her ears. She clung to him, her fingers grasping the blood-soaked cotton of his shirt. She pulled back far enough to look into his eyes. She recognized the doubt and fear in them. She knew exactly what he was thinking. He was afraid she'd look at him differently or be afraid of him now.

Desperate to show him her feelings were quite the opposite and that she considered him her hero, Cruz slid a hand around the back of his neck and pulled his mouth down toward hers. Their lips met in a feverish, needy kiss that soothed away the terror and ugliness of what they'd just survived. Niall crushed her in his arms and nuzzled his nose against her neck. "It's over," he whispered. "It's finally over."

13
Chapter Thirteen

"Where are you?" Cruz glanced at the clock on the opposite wall of her hospital room for the thousandth time. Her stomach trembled with anxiety. She carefully rolled onto her left side, facing the door, and adjusted the pillow between her knees.

Her hand drifted to her belly and the tight band squeezing her midsection. The monitoring device sent a signal to the machine on the right side of her bed. The reassuring
whoop-whoop-whoop
of the Felix's heartbeat echoed in the small room. She'd been a bit paranoid about his absent movements during the ambulance ride over to the hospital but the second the emergency room doctor had placed the ultrasound wand over her belly, Felix had protested with a series of big kicks and punches.

Cruz still had trouble wrapping her mind around everything that had happened. It didn't feel real yet. Her memories were so disconnected. The flashbacks of Jolene and the wreck and fighting with El Alacrán seemed so disjointed as they played in her mind.
Is it really over? Am I really safe?

But what did that mean for her and Niall? Everything they'd experienced had been fueled by fear and danger. They'd found solace and comfort in one another but what would happen now the element of peril had been neutralized? Would he still want her? Would he want to go back to his quiet life of bachelorhood?

For that matter, could she really stay here? She had a degree to finish, a degree she'd worked so hard for over the last seven years. So much of her life had been dedicated to earning a doctorate and following her dreams of research and teaching at the university level. She'd be a fool to abandon all of that for a man, especially one she'd only known for such a short time. She had a child to support now. Her decisions had to be made carefully.

Cruz wiped a hand down her face and blew out a noisy breath. She'd been so afraid to hope for the future, had been so certain El Alacrán was finally going to find and kill her, she hadn't given any thought to the what-ifs with Niall. She'd allowed herself to ignore the niggling voice in the back of her mind that had warned complications were ahead. What if all they'd shared wasn't enough?

Her heart ached at the very idea of leaving Niall here in Eldorado and going back to Austin. She'd fallen for the rough and tumble rancher. It was that simple really. She loved him. He made her feel complete. He'd helped her rediscover the old Cruz, the confident, sexy young woman who had once been so vibrant and outgoing, the girl El Alacrán had broken in one night of violence. With Niall's guiding hand, she'd emerged from the ashes of that experience like a phoenix. She wanted to share her new life with him—if he would have her.

But where was he?

Cruz's stomach knotted with anxiety as she remembered what had happened after he'd killed the assassin. Niall had carried her away from the violent scene and tucked her away in a safe spot next to the truck to wait while he dealt with the mess. The assassin's SUV had been running on the side of the road, just as she'd expected. She'd tried to ignore the strange sounds kicked up by Niall as he dragged the other man's body up the bank and hauled him into the back of the waiting SUV. It had taken a lot of grunting and brute strength for Niall to rip free the road spikes still embedded in the truck's front wheels. He'd thrown those in the SUV too and then instructed her to sit tight while he moved the vehicle to a gas well location half a mile up the road where big tanks would shield the vehicle from view.

She hadn't needed to ask why. She understood why Niall was covering up the scene of the crime. He wasn't afraid of the consequences. It was a clear-cut case of self-defense. No, Niall had wanted to protect her and help Carlos. As ghoulish as it sounded, that body was now leverage that could be used to send a message to the De La Garza cartel.

This is what happens if you touch one of mine.

That was the kind of brutal language the cartels spoke. It wasn't particularly nice and it gave her the shivers but it was the reality of the situation.

Cruz had been surprised by how willing the sheriff had been to help them. Apparently, he and Niall went way back. After the way Jolene had tried to kill him and the way she'd intercepted official business and gone through confidential 911 safety records to find Niall's gate combination, the old man believed he owed Niall a favor. He'd answered Niall's call and come right out to the wreck with containers full of deck nails and lag bolts to spill on the road. He'd even had some wood scraps from his shop.

The sheriff had concocted a believable tale of construction equipment on the highway busting out the front tires and sending them into a wild skid. It had happened before on that stretch of highway so it was a tale that wouldn’t garner much, if any, suspicion.

When the local volunteer EMTs and fire crews had arrived, Cruz had expected Niall to climb into the ambulance with her but he'd simply placed a lingering kiss on her forehead and instructed the medics to take her. She'd started to argue with him because he clearly needed medical treatment for his head. She'd seen the way he was holding his arm too. The same arm he'd thrown across her chest to hold her back against the seat as they'd rolled. She figured he'd hurt his elbow by locking it up like that.

But, no, Niall wouldn't go in for medical treatment until he'd dealt with the SUV and the body. She didn't like it but every second she fought him on the decision was another second he went without treatment. The quicker she acquiesced, the quicker he could deal with the ugly business at hand and make his way to the hospital.

That had been more than two hours ago. Where was he? Had he been more seriously hurt than she'd realized? There was so much blood from that gash on his forehead but she'd convinced herself head wounds simply bled a lot, that it wasn't that serious. But what if he'd suffered a concussion or brain bleed?

Her mind racing with horrible conjectures, Cruz reached for the nurse call button on the bedside table but her fingers came up short. The monitoring band hugging her belly had almost no slack so straining was out of the question. As she fought to unwind the call button's cord from the bedrail so she could pull it closer, the door to her room opened. A swarm of butterflies took flight in her belly at the sight of Niall in a scrub top and his jeans. He'd been busted up good but he was alive and walking.

"Niall!"

He grinned, the sexy curve of his mouth inspiring tendrils of heat in her lower belly. "Hey, sugar."

As he drew closer and bent down to brush his lips across hers, Cruz scanned his face. He had Steri-Strips across a nasty cut on his temple. She could just see the tail end of sutures peeking out from the dressing taped across his forehead. Her fingertips grazed the sling cradling his right arm. "Is it broken?"

"Just a bad sprain but I'll mend." His good hand moved to her belly. He frowned as he came in contact with the monitoring band. "Is the baby all right?"

"He's fine," Cruz assured him. "It's just a precaution. They wanted continuous monitoring for a few hours and then they'll switch me over to intermittent for the rest of the night." She studied him. "Why aren't you in a hospital gown? Surely they're going to admit you for observation."

He rubbed her belly and smiled as Felix punched at his hand. "I sort of went AMA."

"Niall! You need to be properly looked after."

"I will be," he said as he toed off his boots. "I'm staying with you. I figure there will be nurses in and out of here all night."

"Well," she murmured, "I suppose."

"Scoot over." Niall walked to the other side of the bed, lowered the rail and slid into the bed next to her. It took a little shimmying and shuffling to get the cord attached to her belly monitor over his lap but they made it work. His uninjured arm curved around her shoulders as she placed her cheek to his chest and inhaled his familiar smell.

"What happened after I left? Where did you and the sheriff go?"

He hesitated. "Do you really want to know?"

She considered for a moment before shaking her head. "No, I guess not."

"I got a hold of Carlos. He's using burner phones so we'll have to wait for him to contact us. I told him everything. He was pissed off but he calmed down when I let him know it was finished."

She figured that was the understatement of the year. Cruz glanced up at Niall. "Is he coming to see me?"

A small smile curved his mouth. "Yes, he's got to take care of something first but he'll find us when it's done."

She didn't have to ask about the something that needed to be dealt with first. Cruz didn't really want to know the ins and outs of disposing of a certain assassin's body. It was better this way.

Niall toyed with her loose hair. The gentle tugging made her scalp prickle. Her weary body relaxed into the soothing warmth of his hard form. Safe in Niall's arms, Cruz experienced a twinge of sadness. "I wish it could always be like this."

"Like what?" His lips ghosted over the crown of her head. "The two of us snuggled in a hospital bed?"

She heard the playful tone and smiled. "Not a hospital bed."

"No, definitely not," he agreed with a chuckle. Then, seriously, he added, "It could be like this every night Cruz."

"How?" She didn't dare lift her face to meet his gaze. She'd lose herself in his soft green eyes and forget how she was supposed to be strong and face the realities of their impossible situation. "There's no reason for me to stay here anymore."

Niall stiffened, and she could have kicked herself for not thinking through what she was planning to say. "What I meant," she hurriedly said, "is that I'm not being chased anymore. You don't have to babysit me."

"What if I like keeping you safe?"

She heard the hopefulness in his voice. Her heartbeat picked up speed. "What about my work? What about my life in Austin?"

"Hell," Niall swore as he exhaled roughly. "Is that what you're worried about? Sugar, you just say the word and I'll pack up everything I need in the morning and follow you right back to Austin."

Surprised by his offer, she leaned back so she could look into his face. He wore a serious expression. "You'd do that? Just pick up and leave for me?"

"In a heartbeat," Niall confirmed. His hand moved to her baby bump again. "Until you, I'd assumed I'd die alone a miserable old bastard, but you've helped me see my life could be so much more than that. You've made me believe in happiness again. I want you to stay in my life. I want to be with you when this baby is born. I want to help you raise him."