The man was nothing but troublebut he sure could kiss!
Before she had time to protest, he had kissed her, threading his fingers through her hair so she couldnt pull away.
Not that she tried. Not for a moment or two at least..
What she did was part her lips and melt into the kiss. The joining tasted like ambrosia, his scent making her crave him even more. His kiss was warm, soft and inviting, and when he slid a hand down her arm to curve around her waist
She stepped back and gave him a good slap.
Cage looked stunned. What did you do that for?
You dont just come to a womans room and assume youll be welcome. Next time, you ask first.
Next time
She grabbed his shirt and pulled him all the way into the room.
Showdown in West Texas
Amanda Stevens
MILLS & BOON
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amanda Stevens is a bestselling author of more than thirty novels of romantic suspense. In addition to being a Romance Writers of America RITA® Award finalist, she is also a recipient of awards for Career Acheivement in Romantic/Mystery and Career Acheivement in Romantic/Suspense from Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine. She currently resides in Texas. To find out more about past, present and future projects, please visit her Web site at www.amandastevens.com.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Cage NicholsA down-on-his-luck salesman witnesses a brutal shootout, assumes the identity of a hit man, poses as a hotshot detective and falls for the new sheriff. And thats just Day One.
Sheriff Grace SteeleSomeone wants her dead, and the new guy just wants her. She can handle the drug smugglers, the dirty cops, a conniving ex-husband and her disgruntled little sister, but love is like West Texasnot for the faint of heart.
Detective Lily SteeleFor years shes carried a grudge against her big sister. Now that Grace is back in Jericho Pass, Lily thinks its time for a showdown.
Colt McKinneyA wheeler-dealer known as the Donald Trump of Cochise County. Did he have an ulterior motive for bringing Grace back to Jericho Pass?
Jesse NanceGraces ex-husband has a little deed problem. And a great big secret.
Sookie TruesdaleJesses new live-in is manipulative, greedy and high maintenance. And those are her good qualities.
Ethan BrennanA mild-mannered tenderfoot with a not-so-secret crush.
Dale WalshHit man? Cop? Or both?
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter One
Lily is absolutely livid. Grace Steele adjusted the headset of her cell phone so that her fingers were free to drum impatiently on the steering wheel. I dont know that shell ever forgive me. If she could find a way to do me in without getting caught, I think she might actually try it.
Im assuming thats a gross exaggeration, Colt McKinney said from the other end. Although, I dont doubt shell get a secret kick out of making your life miserable for a while.
Nothing secret about it, Grace said. Shell revel in it.
Have you tried reasoning with her?
Have you?
Grace heard his easygoing chuckle through the earpiece, and she wished they could share a good laugh the way they used to back in high school. But it had been a long time since shed found life even remotely amusing, and she wasnt at all confident that things would be looking up any time soon.
However, if anyone could put the semblance of a smile on her face, it was Colt. He was as charming and handsome as ever, but Grace had never thought of him as anything more than a good friend. Now that they were professional associates, it was important to her that they not allow even so much as a hint of impropriety to taint their relationship. The last thing she needed was to be accused of sleeping her way to the top.
Again.
Colt McKinney was one of four elected commissioners that governed Cochise County, and was personally responsible for bringing Grace back to Jericho Pass to serve as the interim sheriff while Charlie Dickerson underwent treatment for throat cancer.
If someone had told Grace this time last year that shed be returning to her hometowna place shed left without a backward glance after high schoolshed have laughed in their face. Only a few months ago, shed still been a rising star in the prestigious TBITexas Bureau of Investigation.
But a botched case and a dead agent had placed Grace squarely on the wrong side of a review board, and shed soon discovered just how quickly her fortunes could change when her superiorwho also happened to be her loverneeded a way to save his own hide.
Shed been suspended without pay pending an internal investigation, and when termination seemed inevitable, shed decided to salvage what little she had left of her pride and her professional integrity by tendering her resignation. Colts offer had come at a time when shed desperately needed a graceful exit from Austin, and shed latched on with both hands.
Unfortunately, her arrival in Jericho Pass hadnt exactly been met without controversy or resentment, either. There were those in the Cochise County Sheriffs office who had feltand still didthat the selection should have come from within the department. That Colt, in fact, was playing favoritism by appointing an old friend to the position.
But in light of recent intelligence reports and an uptick in violence along the border, he and the other commissioners had been determined to bring in someone with Graces training and experience, not to mention her political connections at the state capital.
Because of its proximity to the border, Jericho Pass sat in a particularly vulnerable location. The good-old-boy network that had run things for years in Cochise County was no longer sufficient to combat the narco-traffickers who were often armed with better technology and weaponry than the police.
We knew thered be some hard feelings in the department when we brought you in, Colt said. But its only been a few weeks. Give it some time. Theyll come around.
Lily wont.
You sound pretty sure about that.
I know my sister.
Then what do you propose we do?
Nothing. Im not leaving Jericho Pass with my tail tucked between my legs just because my little sister cant get past our old sibling rivalry. Grace simultaneously gripped the steering wheel and pressed down on the gas. She had the road to herself, and when the powerful V-8 engine kicked in, her truck shot down the road like a rocket. I came here to do a job and I intend to do it.
Good for you.
But that doesnt mean I cant give Lily some space, she said. Im moving out of the ranch house today. I must have been out of my mind, thinking we could live together without one of us killing the other.
Things are that bad, huh?
Worse. But Im used to it.
Where will you go?
Ive taken a room at Miss Neldas until I can find a place of my own in town.
Well, hang in there, Colt said. Tempers are bound to be on edge, what with the department being so shorthanded and all. But with you at the helm, and now with the possibility of a new deputy coming on board, things should ease up.
Ive been meaning to talk to you about that. Have you met this guy?
You mean Dale Walsh? Not in person, no, but he comes highly recommended. Charlies been trying to get him out here for an interview ever since they met at the Homeland Security Conference in San Antonio. And I trust Charlies judgment. He may not have your pedigree in law enforcement, but he knows people.
When Walsh eventually shows up, Ill let you know what I think, Grace said noncommittally.
Fair enough. In the meantime, if you need anything, you just give us a holler, okay? I want you to be happy here, Grace. If Charlie decides not to come back
Grace wasnt about to make any promises. Not yet, at least. Lets just cross that bridge when and if we get to it, okay? Listen, youre starting to break up. Ill talk to you when I get back to town.
She was coming upon the cutoff, and Grace removed her earpiece and tossed it onto the seat beside her as she automatically turned on her blinker, though there was no one else around for miles. Once she left the highway behind, the truck tires kicked up a dust cloud so thick, she could see nothing in the rearview mirror but a swirl of brown grit. Ahead of her, only the vast nothingness of the West Texas landscapeblue sky, desert and the eerie silhouette of the distant rock mesas.
Grace had been gone from the area for so many years, shed forgotten how exposed and insignificant one could feel in such a limitless landscape. How the fragile quality of the light seemed to echo the transient nature of mans footprint here in this infinite wasteland, this last frontier.
She slowed as she drove through the high arches that welcomed visitors to the Steele ranch. Grace had lived happily on that spread with her parents and her two sisters for the first ten years of her life. Then her mother and father had been murdered in their sleep one night, and Graces grandmother had moved down from Midland to raise her and her sisters. The killer had never been apprehended, and the lack of justice for their slain parents had led all three women into law enforcement, albeit down very different paths.
Rachel, the oldest, had gone off to study psychology at Tulane. After earning her graduate degree, shed been recruited by the FBI into one of the Behavioral Analysis Units.
Grace had left town five years later to pursue a degree in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Forensic Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Shed spent seven years with the Austin Police Department before joining the TBI.
Lily was the only sister who had remained in Jericho Pass. After attending the local community college, shed been hired on as first a dispatcher, then a patrol officer with the Cochise County Sheriffs Department. She was now one of three deputiessoon to be four, if Dale Walsh worked outwho made up Criminal Investigations.
Grace had learned through the grapevineaka Miss Nelda and her sister, Georginathat Lily had had her eye on the interim position ever since Charlie Dickerson had made public his diagnosis. Shed made no bones about her intention to run for sheriff, in spite of her age, if he decided to retire after his treatment. A temporary stint in the office would have given her a leg up on her opponents, but her sisters unexpected return had squelched her big plans.
Grace could sympathize with Lilys disappointment over the way things had turned out. Grace had had her share of setbacks, too. But even if shed declined the position, Lily was never going to be appointed. Colt had told her as much. Lily didnt have enough experience or formal training to deal with the challenges along the border these days. At least this way, Grace could take her sister under her wing and help season her, if Lily would allow it.
That was a big if.
Lilys frustration, and to a certain extent her resentment, was understandable, but her simmering hostility was something Grace still did not get. What had she done to make Lily dislike her so intensely?
The dust cloud followed Grace around the circular drive, and she waited for it to settle before she climbed out of the truck and stood for a moment, gazing up at the house.
Built out of limestone, it was two stories with screened-in porches on the front and back where Grace used to sit on summer nights and watch the stars with her father. The only sound, save for the hush of her fathers voice as he pointed out the constellations, was the creaking of the windmill. Even now, that sound was one of Graces most vivid memories.
It was the creaking of the windmill that had awakened her that night.
AFTER THE FUNERALS, Grandma Stella had moved the girls into a tiny rental house in town. The change of scenery had probably been the best thing for them at the time, but after a while, it seemed more practical to return to the ranch where they could all have their space.
Some of the neighbors had come over and cleaned up the place. Theyd aired out all the rooms, shampooed the rugs and even went so far as to add a fresh coat of paint here and there. But no amount of paint or primer could eliminate the horror of what had happened upstairs. Nothing could ease such a tragic loss except the passage of enough time.
Eventually, the ranch had come to seem like home again, but it was a long time before Grace had been able to be by herself in the house. And no wonder. She and Lily had been there when it happened.
Grace still remembered the exact time when the windmill had awakened her. She knew because shed glanced at the clock radio on the nightstand between her and Lilys beds. Throwing back the covers, shed started to climb out of bed and pad over to the window to stare up at the night sky when another sound registered. Someone was coming up the stairs. Grace wanted to believe the cautious footfalls belonged to one of her parents, or maybe Rachel had come home early from her sleepover.
But something about those footsteps
About the long hesitation at the top of the stairs
Looking back, Grace was never sure what had alerted her to danger, but for some reason, she slipped out of bed and shook her sister awake. Then with a fingertip to her lips, she dragged Lily onto the floor and shoved her under the bed where the two of them cowered as the footsteps came closer.
The sound stilled again at the open door of the girls bedroom, just long enough for Grace to catch a fleeting glimpse of dark bootsnothing morebefore the footfalls continued down the hallway to her parents bedroom.