Her Cowboy Protector (4 page)

He had more important matters to consider. The long-term plan bothered him. He didn't mind babysitting Cruz at his ranch for the time being but once that baby came things were going to get complicated fast. She was also close to finishing her doctorate. A woman who sped through a bachelor's degree in three years and a doctorate in four wasn't going to be happy stuck out in the middle of nowhere. She was going to go stir crazy fast.

The best case scenario? El Alacrán would make the mistake of popping up somewhere in the territory Carlos's cartel controlled and big brother could take him out. Clean, fast, simple.

Worst case scenario? Niall's gaze skipped to Cruz. Well—they weren't there yet.

The odds that Niall would have a run-in with El Alacrán before Carlos were awfully high. He had the one thing the assassin wanted. The man wouldn't give up that easily. To square off against a faceless phantom of an opponent made things decidedly trickier. How the hell was he supposed to prepare a defense against a ghost?

Cruz moved and caught his attention. Her fingers tapped the radio controls until she found a country station. She dialed down the volume too. "Niall?"

He smiled at her conciliatory gesture. “Yeah?”

She looked sheepish. "I'm hungry, and I have to use the restroom."

Niall chortled and fought the urge to laugh. "Of course you do."

"Sorry." She pointed to her belly. "Felix runs the show these days."

"Felix? I like that." Naming her kid lucky had a touch of irony to it, he supposed, but Niall got the feeling she'd done it out of hope. "Tell Felix that sign says there's a Whataburger at the next exit."

"Score!" She perked up at the idea of a late night burger. "Definitely have to get some jalapenos and pickles on this one and barbecue sauce too. Oh, and Texas toast instead of a bun."

Niall's stomach soured at the burger she was building aloud. "I suppose we better find a convenience store and grab you some antacids."

She laughed. "No need. I have some in my backpack. I've been eating them like candy since May."

"Maybe you should cut out the spicy and sour foods," he suggested as he angled the SUV toward the exit. "Might have saved you two months of using antacids as your after dinner mints."

"Are you kidding? Water gives me heartburn sometimes."

"Really?" Niall wondered at the mysteries of pregnancy.

"Oh, yeah. There's all kinds of awful crap no one tells you about, not even those overpriced lame-o books in the baby section dare to go there." She shot him a knowing look. "I'll spare you the gory details."

"Please do." Niall pulled into the parking lot of the iconic Texas burger joint. The bright orange and white strips of the V-shaped roof coaxed hungry travelers off the interstate. He scoped out the parking lot and the restaurant. The building featured huge windows and strong lighting that made it easy to check out the diners. Niall parked along the back row of the lot in a spot with direct line of sight from the entrance.

"All right." He switched off the ignition and turned toward Cruz. "Here's the deal. You go in. You use the restroom. You order your food. We go."

She arched one of those perfectly shaped eyebrows. "Anything else, Warden?"

He was getting used to her smartass replies. El Alacrán might have shattered her sense of security and changed her life forever but he hadn't killed that feisty spirit. "Leave your gun in the glove box. The last thing we need is you getting jumpy and whipping out your pistol in a busy Whataburger."

She rolled her eyes but complied with his request. Niall slid out of the driver's seat and walked around the back of the SUV. He scanned the vehicle for damage and found a couple of dings and sheared off paint. Only the passenger side mirror had taken a direct hit. His chest constricted at the sight. That one had been awfully close to Cruz. Too close for his comfort.

When she climbed out of the SUV, she stretched her back and winced. He realized his plan to drive hard and fast back home wasn't going to work. It appeared there were going to be a lot of pit stops in their future. All he could do was choose the safest spots and stick close to her.

Out of habit, he started to slide his hand around her back to escort her inside. When he'd been a dating man, Niall had always been the type to curve an arm around his girl's back or waist.
She’s not your girl
, he reminded himself.
She doesn’t like to be touch, especially not by a grizzly old bastard like me.

Cruz glanced over at him as he let his arm drop to his side. Their fingers accidentally brushed together. She grinned playfully and flicked his wrist. "You trying to hold my hand, cowboy?"

Of all the replies he'd expected that hadn't been one of them.

"What?" she asked, still smiling. "I'm not allowed to make jokes about flirting?"

She didn't say it but Niall filled in the blanks.
Because she'd been sexually assaulted
.

He realized he'd unconsciously made snap judgments about Cruz. He'd painted her with the same brush he used when profiling any victim of rape. He'd made a crucial error there. Cruz wasn't every other victim. She was, like all women who'd suffered that kind of violence, unique. No two women responded the same way to that kind of trauma, just like no two soldiers or Marines or sailors reacted to the gore and violence of war in the same way. It wasn't fair of him to put expectations on her behavior. There wasn't a right or wrong way to be a rape survivor.

"No," Niall said with a slight shake of his head. "You go right ahead and joke all you want, sugar."

She frowned and he felt sure she was going to call him on the pet name slip-up. He'd made that mistake twice now. Both times the endearment had escaped his lips before he'd even been aware of what he was saying.

When she said nothing, he angled his head toward the restaurant. She wordlessly fell into step beside him. He noticed the way she placed a hand on her big belly bump as she walked, almost as if ready to shield little Felix from whatever ugliness might lurk unknown in the shadows.

"You called me cowboy," Niall said as he pulled open the door for her.

"Farmer's tan. West Texas. Ranch. Boots all crusty with mud and dust." She listed details from their conversations and her own observations. "Doesn't take a Doctor of Applied Mathematics to plug in those factors and solve the equation."

"No," Niall agreed and followed her inside the burger joint. He felt uneasy and off-kilter as he scanned the place. It wasn't until Cruz was safely inside the restroom that he realized it wasn't a threat to their safety that had him feeling so off. No, it was nothing so sinister.

It was that sweet, young thing with the warm smile who had proven her resilience by being strong and brave. Somehow she managed to find humor in even this grave situation. She wasn't about to let some murdering psychopath keep her down. Niall respected her all the more for it.

But she was trouble. Big time.
Don't get involved
. That was his mantra after Marlene. He damn sure had no business even entertaining the thoughts currently racing through his mind when it came to Cruz. She'd been through enough in the last year. She didn't need someone like him, someone so emotionally scarred he could barely function some days, mucking up her life. Once this scorpion problem was solved, Cruz was going places. She didn't need a mill stone like him around her neck.

He'd protect her, lay down his life for her and the baby if necessary, but he'd do it at an arm's length. No more of that joking and lighthearted banter. He needed to make it painfully clear that she was only an assignment, nothing more. The sooner she figured out he could be a real bastard, the better.

3
Chapter Three

Cruz woke slowly. Her brain filtered the road noise and scratchy country music, reminding her that she'd fallen asleep in the front seat of Niall's big, red truck. They'd traded out vehicles about an hour after their Whataburger pit stop. He’d abandoned the borrowed SUV at a storage facility, moved all of her luggage to his truck, and then they were on the road again.

She glanced at Niall who sipped coffee from their last stop at a Junction convenience store. He looked tired but she didn't dare ask to switch places. Thinking it was polite to offer to share the load, she had made that mistake after she'd scarfed down her burger. Niall had practically bitten her head off at the suggestion.

She wasn't sure what had happened while she'd been using the restroom but Niall had changed. Something had set him off. He'd reverted to the crotchety beast who had snarled at her over the gun back at her apartment. She wasn't fond of this version of Niall. She much more preferred the easier-going smiling version who'd joked with her in the parking lot.

Cruz sat up and stretched her arms overhead. Her legs straightened and calves flexed. She inhaled deeply and peered out the window. Streaks of pink and orange brightened the gray blue sky. She glanced at the dashboard clock. It was nearly seven. She made a face, fully aware Niall had expected their trip to take just under found hours. It had been nearly seven.

Overnight, she'd mused on the possibility of starting a blog reviewing rest stops and convenience store bathrooms along the interstates and highways of Texas. Niall hadn't found her idea nearly as amusing as she had. The poor man had been driven to exasperation by her numerous requests for potty breaks. To his credit, he hadn't once gotten snippy with her over that. Playing with the radio, crunching ice, rapping her fingertips on the center console? Yes. He'd snapped over those things. Asking to hit the lady's room? He'd shown considerable patience there.

"I know what you're going to ask," Niall said and put up his hand. "We're almost home. You'll just have to hold it."

Cruz reached for her bottle of water. "All right."

"One of Carlos's handlers called about an hour ago. He's fine. Banged up but fine."

She swallowed her mouthful of water. Relief washed over her. Banged up was probably an understatement but at the very least he was alive. "And his cover?"

"A Reynosa boy T-bones some of the DLG crew?" Niall rubbed the back of his neck. "That's just another Thursday night in Austin's underworld."

Cruz started to ask him more questions about Carlos but then she caught sight of the approaching police cruiser. The lights atop the silver Impala flashed. Seconds later, it whipped a U-turn behind them. Cruz glanced at the speedometer.

"Yeah, I know," he said grumpily. The truck slowed as he flipped on his hazards and eased onto the shoulder. There wasn’t much of a shoulder to speak of, though. It was a tiny strip of paved road and then nothing but gritty, rocky land.

"Sorry." She frowned at the thought of the ticket he'd have to pay. "I hope it won't be too expensive."

Niall pointed to the glove box, indicating he wanted his insurance card, and rolled down his window. "She won't give me a ticket. She's just going to harass me a little."

Confused by his remark, Cruz retrieved the insurance card, carefully lifting the pistol and replacing it on the owner's manual. She handed over the plastic sleeve and checked the rear view mirror. A tall female officer approached the truck. She pressed her fingertips to the tailgate the way all officers conducting a stop did. It was the easiest way to leave fingerprints.

"Morning, Mr. Campbell!" The deputy greeted him rather cheerfully as she appeared in the open window. "You realize you were driving six miles over the limit?"

"Sounds about right, Jolene," Niall replied and snatched his wallet from the cup holder where he'd tossed it sometime during the night.

Cruz noticed the woman's eyes widen at the sight of her. She practically shoved her blonde head in the window for a better look. Her gaze flicked to Niall and back again. "And who is this?"

There was no mistaking her slightly accusatory tone. Cruz wondered just what Niall had meant by harass. Was this deputy an old flame? Or maybe his current on-and-off again girl?

"Cruz, Deputy Jolene Grimshaw. Jolene, Cruz."

"Hi," Cruz said with a smile.

"Hi." Deputy Grimshaw's clipped reply sent a shiver down Cruz's spine. She could feel the other woman's gaze boring into her baby bump. Cruz briefly glanced at Jolene's face and immediately wished she hadn't. Deputy Grimshaw's mouth settled into a grim line but her eyes flashed with jealousy. Cruz looked away quickly, all the while wondering if she'd just made an enemy.

"You're pregnant. Very pregnant," she added, her eyebrows drawing together. She glanced up at Niall. "Is it yours?"

Cruz stiffened, her back shooting ramrod straight. Niall's big paw suddenly closed over her much smaller hand. He intertwined their fingers and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before leveling a cool stare at Jolene. "That's a damn rude question to ask."

Jolene flushed, the fair skin of her neck and cheeks darkening. Whether it was embarrassment at her outburst or anger at the idea Niall had fathered a child, Cruz couldn't say.

Deputy Grimshaw flipped open her ticket book and started scribbling furiously. "License and registration."

Niall looked surprised. "You're writing me a ticket?"

"Were you speeding?" She waited only a fraction of a second for Niall's response. "Then you get a ticket."

Cruz kept her gaze on their clasped hands. She worried that one peep out of her mouth would send Jolene over the edge. Who knew what kind of trouble a woman with a badge could conjure up for them! Cruz had no desire to stand on the side of the road while Niall's truck was searched or to have her license run. That was one surefire way to show up on The Scorpion’s radar.

"Keep it under the speed limit, Niall." Jolene thrust the ticket into Niall's waiting hand. She shot a nasty look Cruz's way. "Congratulations."

Cruz exhaled a noisy breath as the deputy headed back to her cruiser. "What the hell was that about, Niall?"

"No idea." He let go of her hand, tucked the ticket into his wallet and gave her the insurance card sleeve.

Cruz glanced in the rear view mirror and watched the deputy slide into the driver's seat of her cruiser. The woman had her cell phone pressed to her ear.