Twice A Target (Task Force Eagle) (19 page)

She’d leave him alone this time, let him work it out
his way. For a while.

Chapter 19

Holt dragged himself back to the house two hours
later. His muscles ached almost as much as his head, but he felt better. Every
nail he’d pounded to rig up a makeshift horse shelter was a nail driven into El
Águila’s coffin.

When the answers fell into place, his throat had
clogged as if he’d lost Rob all over again. A little focused violence out in
the corral sweated out the misguided guilt. He let fury harden him, give him a
focus, a direction.

The puzzle had a shape, a form, a pattern. The
senseless murders had a motive. The killer had a face. A face he had seen. Now
that he knew who committed this cowardly crime, he would get the bastard and
those he hired if it was the last thing he ever did.

He left his reeking shirt and dirty boots in the
laundry room off the kitchen and rinsed off the worst of the sweat and smoke.
The house was quiet and dim, with only one light over the kitchen sink and the
night lights in the hallway. Only a couple of hours until dawn, but he might as
well try to grab some sleep. If he could.

“You okay?” Maddy came out of her room as he padded
down the hall in his bare feet. Even in the half-dark, he could see the deep
shadows beneath her eyes. Her hair stuck out over one ear where she’d been
lying on her side. He wanted to go smooth it, kiss the shell of her ear.

Then he saw she wore jeans, and her denim jacket. His
heart slammed against his ribs. She was leaving. Damn, he should have known.
But he’d already said his piece about her running, so he held his tongue.

Her eyes narrowed as if she read his expression, and
she cocked a hip. “Maybe it’s better if I leave. What if tomorrow when I’m
holding Bobby, El Águila’s hit man blows us both away?”

“That bastard would’ve killed my horses and burned my
barn. And he tried to kill you. He’ll try again. Because of me. But now that he
knows we’re married, he’ll find you anywhere—New York or LA or between. If you
stay, I can protect you.”

She skewered him with a skeptical gaze. “But who’ll
protect you and Bobby?”

His concern so far had been for her, but now his gut
clenched for his nephew. So far El Águila hadn’t targeted the baby, but that
was no guarantee. “The Denver DEA office will send a team pronto. Fight or
flight, those are your choices, McCoy.”

“I choose fight. Besides, I can’t leave now. We just
got married.”

The sinking feeling in his gut told him he’d stepped
in Rocky Mountain meadow muffins—up to his hips. “Hell. You weren’t leaving
anyway, were you?”

Her angelic smile contained a dollop of deviltry. “Not
unless I hitchhike or hotwire your truck. I was headed out to see if you were
all right.”

Something warm and liquid unfurled inside him. “Thanks
for worrying. No one ever worried about me before. Reckon I jumped to
conclusions.”

“Now who’s the impulsive one?” She grinned, her gaze
cruising his bare torso. “You got your head on straight so you’re ready to find
this El Águila?”

Damn, she knew him too well. He gave up on maintaining
distance and closed the space between them. “Sounds like you knew I would. That
was grief talking. I’m well aware of where to hang the blame. If I ever face
the son of a bitch again with a gun in my hand, he won’t walk away.”

“And the DEA will help put a stop to this terror?” Her
earlier tears had dried, but her eyes were bleak with fear.

She needed protection. And he needed—
wanted
her
so much his body shook with it. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’ll do
everything I can to keep you safe. I promise.”

When he felt her trembling—or was it him?—he pulled
her closer. He needed to feel her soft curves against him. He still couldn’t
bring himself to trust her to stay, but his distrust didn’t stop him from a
near savage longing for her. And a powerful desire to protect her. “I’m
surprised you aren’t yelling at me for putting you in the middle of this
danger.”

She shook her head and struggled in his embrace. “I
have no cause to blame you any more than you should blame yourself.”

Stubborn as a filly in a windstorm. He held her fast,
needed the satisfaction of having her in his arms. She’d turned water on the
fire, tended the horses afterward. No tenderfoot.

“You were courageous and resourceful tonight. And I
thank you for that.” He kissed her forehead and tucked her beneath an arm as he
began walking her down the hall.

He didn’t mention his suspicions about Luke Rafferty.
Troubled and a loner, Luke didn’t evoke trust in Holt. The DEA could check him
out thoroughly. Maybe the man had no grudge against Rob, but he might not have
resisted a generous offer to eliminate him. Or Maddy if the absent Riggs was
the first shooter.

Since no one new had hired on at any of the Rock
County ranches, this shooter was probably a local. As a deputy sheriff, Luke
had the contacts, the skill, and the mobility to have carried out both
shootings. And he had that Circle-S custom black Ford. Holt wished he’d gotten
a better look at the truck tonight.

He squeezed Maddy’s shoulders. What had he done,
putting her in such danger? He wouldn’t let her out of his sight tonight. God,
if anything had happened to her...

She hauled on the reins. “Holt, what are you doing? We
need to go to bed.”

“Exactly. It’s our wedding night. What’s left of it.”
He released her and trailed a finger along her chin and over her mouth. Her
full lower lip was smooth as velvet, and he had to taste her again. To taste
her all over, to drive into her welcoming body and blast all their problems
into temporary oblivion.

He needed sleep, but he needed her more.

“I know this is bad timing. But you know I’ve wanted
you since you arrived. Hell, I’ve wanted you for years. Come to bed with me,
Maddy.”

At his blatant invitation, she didn’t flinch, only
watched him, her eyes wide and somber. The same hunger he felt shimmered in her
hot gaze. Then she smoothed a hand across his belly. She opened her mouth and
flicked her tongue over his fingertip. Slowly she sucked his finger into the
warm moisture of her mouth and swirled her tongue around it.

Lust slammed into him with the heat of a branding
iron. His body hardened with a rush that made him light-headed.

“Make love to me, Holt.”

“Maddy.” His mouth on hers, he scooped her up and
carried her into his darkened bedroom. They shouldn’t do this. He knew a
thousand reasons it was a bad idea and he’d regret it later, but with her soft
and clinging in his arms, to hell with them.

All he could think of was Maddy. Her taste. Her sleek
curves. Her generous spirit that might offer him solace. The roaring in his
blood was a hunger for her that wouldn’t abate.

He lowered her to the bedspread and followed her down,
cradling her in his arms, reveling in her sweetness. He tugged her T-shirt hem
from her jeans. “I need to see you,” he gritted out as he punched the bedside
lamp button.

She wrenched the shirt over her head, then fumbled
with his jean buttons. “I want to see you too. I want to feel you against me.”

He shimmied out of the jeans and flung them into a far
corner of the room. He sprawled half over her, savoring the shivery sensation
of her nipples against his skin, in the wildflower scent that was Maddy. He trembled,
struggling to keep his hand gentle on her breast. When he closed his mouth over
her budding nipple, he moaned with the intense pleasure.

She arched beneath him, yearning for more. “I need you
inside me. I need you now.”

“Easy, easy. We’ll get there.”

She kicked off her sneakers, and he helped her skin
off her jeans and panties before he stripped away his boxers. This was the
first time he’d seen her naked body, taut and fit, yet curved in all the right
places.

“The hallway light frames your body,” she murmured,
“hard muscles and strength from ranch work. If I wasn’t so aroused, I’d run for
my Nikon.”

“X-rated for damn sure.” He chuckled, then knelt above
her, aching to be inside her. He dug a condom from the bedside table and ripped
it open.

Her eyes were dark plum and languorous with desire.
She closed her soft, warm hand around his heated length, streaking a hungry
blaze through his body.

Moaning with desperation, he lowered himself to her.
She felt so good, so damn perfect it ought to scare the bejeezus out of him,
but he banished the thought and let his senses hold sway. He focused on her,
inhaled the essence of her skin, absorbed every line and curve, every nuance
down to his soul. He wanted her to cry out his name, to explode in his arms.

He swept his hands over her, kissed and licked his way
over her delectable body and then returned to her mouth for a stunning kiss
that was unbearably sweet and slow.

“Now, Holt, now!”

Heat danced over her skin with bursts of lightning-bolt
pleasure. As he surged into her, a rush of excitement ripped the breath from
his lungs. His soul expanded at this possession, with each drive of his body
into her tight heat. She writhed beneath him, meeting him stroke for stroke,
climbing an impossible slope propelled by his molten body and frantic
heartbeat. He felt her body shimmer with the first twinges of release. When he
reached between them, his intimate caress threw her into climax.

Holt closed his eyes in fierce control as his own release
clawed at him. The joy of being inside her was so exquisite it was almost
painful. She was wonderful, fiery and uninhibited, moving with him in shimmying
undulations that drove him faster, deeper. Her inner muscles clenched around
him, knifing shock waves through his loins and coiling tension inside him
tighter and tighter. All too soon, he felt himself stiffen, poised on the edge,
and then a huge, rocking kick of pleasure slammed him in a wrenching release as
he poured himself into her.

*****

When Maddy woke, sunlight streamed through the lace
curtains. She rolled over, but found on the soft cotton sheets only a trace of
warmth from Holt’s body and the mingled scents of their lovemaking. Sensations
of his loving wove through her mind and ghosted across her skin. Longing for
him made her shudder.

He didn’t love her no matter how much he desired her.
She wouldn’t let him send her away now, but she’d have to go eventually. Away
from Holt. And Bobby. She choked up at the thought of little Bobby—his cooing
laugh, his bright eyes, how he waved his little hands, and put out his pudgy
arms when she picked him up.

At the thought of someone threatening him, her heart
stumbled. She had to help catch this monster. She had to do whatever she could.

Resolved, she forced herself to rise and begin the
day. Holt would return from the animals and need breakfast. After a quick
shower, she made coffee and popped Espie’s leftover corn muffins in the oven to
warm. She was searching for the eggs in the refrigerator when Holt opened the
door.

He looked wonderful, sleep-rumpled with a
beard-stippled chin. Sexy as hell. She wanted to jump him all over again.

“I tried not to wake you. You needed some sleep.”

“Neither of us has had much sleep.”

He headed for her, determination in his eyes. His kiss
was tender, so gentle it brought tears to her eyes.

“Everything will be okay. We’ll get this guy.” His
voice softened, deepened to a seductive velvet rumble. His blue eyes glided
over her body as if seeing her naked.

“I’m not afraid for myself. It’s Bobby...and you.”
Pierced to her core, she put her head on his chest. “I was wondering about
something you said last night. About the DEA.”

“The Denver office will organize a team.”

“No, not Denver. The Tijuana task force. If the DEA
knew you had killed the drug lord’s son and he was after you, why didn’t they
warn you?”

“A hell of a good question.” He raised his hands as if
in surrender. “You want to hear the answer? Last week after an informant told
them, the special agent in charge decided to send agents to trap El Águila’s
killer when he came for me.”

“But they didn’t tell you about this great plan.”

“Bull’s-eye. I’m now out of the loop, a civilian.”

“And these are the guys you intend to trust with our lives—and
Bobby’s?” Wrapping her arms around him, she shivered. She didn’t need much
reflection to decide who she’d trust with her life.

He was right here.

*****

When Espie and Bronc arrived an hour later in a
two-truck procession, the mystery of Bronc’s disappearance was solved. He’d
spent the night with Espie. Holt didn’t seem surprised, but the older couple’s
blooming romance left Maddy speechless.

Agog, she spread her arms for Bobby, who came to her
with squealing giggles. She cuddled him and nuzzled his softness, breathed in
his baby scent. After last night’s events, she needed to embrace innocence.

Espie shrugged off her surprise. “My boys had an
overnight with the basketball team,” she said, as if that explained everything.

Bronc stuttered an apology when Holt told him about
the break-in and the cause of the fire, but Holt brushed it away. “You might
have been killed if you’d tried to stop them.”

While they checked out the soggy ruin in the brilliant
spring sunshine, Holt and Maddy disclosed everything—their reasons for eloping,
the killing in Tijuana, their conclusions about the killer’s identity and
motives.

“When I was in the DEA’s Boston office,” Holt
explained in conclusion, “we broke up one of El Águila’s smuggling operations
in the Northeast. In the middle of that, we got word about his hiding out in
Tijuana.”

“Why’d they send
you
all that way?” Bronc
kicked at clumps of sodden, burnt straw.

“Since I spoke passable Spanish and knew something of
his operation, they sent me to join the task force.”