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“And stop calling me ma’am,” she said. “I’m not your mother.”
The deputy grinned. “No, ma’am. You’re not.”
Olivia rolled her eyes and turned back to her foreman.
When the EMTs had the stretcher ready, they rolled it over next to her. She stepped out of the way and stood to the side as they loaded a now-conscious Abe.
The man was obviously in a lot of pain. His pale face broke out in a sweat as the EMTs lowered him onto the stretcher. Once he was settled, he held out a hand to Olivia.
She took it. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle the ranch.”
“No, Liv, you can’t. Things aren’t the same as when you left. You need help.”
Liv shook her head. “I can work the animals better than most men.”
Abe chuckled and winced. “You’re right, but you can’t do this alone. Promise me you’ll get help.” His gaze shifted to where Hawkeye stood a few feet away. “Make her get help.”
Liv frowned. “You can’t ask a stranger to do that.”
Abe nodded. “I just did.” He waved Hawkeye forward.
Not wanting to get into the midst of a family argument, Hawkeye eased forward. “Sir?”
“I’m Abe Masterson, and you are?”
“Trace Walsh, but my friends call me Hawkeye.”
“Hawkeye, this is Olivia Dawson. Olivia, Hawkeye.” Abe lay back, closing his eyes, the effort having cost him. “There, now you aren’t strangers. Please, Hawkeye, make sure Olivia doesn’t try to run the Stone Oak Ranch alone. She needs dedicated protection. Something’s not right out there.”
When Hawkeye hesitated, Abe opened his eyes, his gaze capturing Hawkeye’s. “Promise.”
To appease the injured man, Hawkeye said, “I promise.”
The EMT interrupted. “We really need to get Mr. Masterson to the hospital.”
“I’m riding with him,” Olivia said.
“No.” Abe opened his eyes again. “The horses need to be fed and the cattle need to be checked.”
“They can wait. You need someone to go with you as your advocate,” she insisted. “You might pass out again.”
“I didn’t pass out,” Abe grumbled. “I just closed my eyes.”
“Yeah.” Olivia snorted. “That’s a bunch of bullsh—”
“Uh-uh,” Abe interrupted. “You know how your daddy felt about you cursing.”
She glared and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not a child.”
“No, but you don’t have to worry about me. I’m alive and still kicking. I can take care of myself. You can visit me at the hospital, if it makes you feel better. But call first. I have a lady friend in Cody. I’m sure she’ll come keep me company and put me up until I can get around on my own.”
Liv pulled her lip between her teeth and chewed on it before answering. “Are you sure?”
The pucker of Liv’s brow and the worried look in her eyes made Hawkeye want to ease her mind. And pull her into his arms. He suspected she wouldn’t appreciate the gesture, no matter how well-intentioned. As far as she was concerned, he was the bad guy in this situation. Hawkeye had yet to set the record straight.
“I’m positive,” Abe said. “Now let the EMTs do their job. I’d like to get somewhere with a little pain medication. My leg hurts like hell.”
Liv backed up quickly, running into Hawkeye’s chest.
He reached out to steady her as the medical technicians rolled Abe’s gurney away.
“Do you need a ride back to the ranch, Miss Dawson?” Jonah asked. “I have a few errands to run before I head back your way.”
Liv nodded. “How long do you need?”
“No more than thirty minutes. I just need to pick up some feed at the feed store and a few groceries for the missus. You’re welcome to wait in the truck.”
She looked around as if in a daze. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to pick up dinner from the tavern. I don’t think I’ll have time to cook anything.”
Jonah nodded. “I’ll pick you up at the Blue Moose, then.”
Hawkeye bit down on his tongue to keep from offering the woman a ride out to her place. No doubt she’d turn it down, preferring a ride from a friend to one from a stranger she thought had caused the wreck.
After Jonah left in his truck, the only two people left on the street were Hawkeye and Liv.
Liv turned to him and poked a finger at his chest, fire burning in her emerald green eyes. “You!”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Me?”
“Don’t lay on the innocent act.” Her brows drew into a deep V. “Your reckless driving nearly got Abe killed. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t turn you over to the sheriff.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Hawkeye glanced at the damning ATV. “I didn’t drive out in front of your pickup.”
“Like hell you didn’t.” Twin flags of pink flew high on her cheekbones. “You didn’t even look left or right before you barreled out onto the highway. What if we had been a van full of children? You could have killed an entire family.” She flung her arm out.
“It wasn’t me.” He shook his head. “I was chasing a guy on another four-wheeler.”
“Right. Why should I believe you?” Her finger shot out again and poked him in the chest. “You’re a stranger. For that matter, why were you on my property?” She jabbed him again. “You were trespassing. I could have you arrest—”
As a sniper, Hawkeye considered himself a patient man. But the finger in the chest was getting to him, and the woman with the green fire blazing from her eyes was far too pretty for him to slug—not that he would ever hit a woman. But she just wasn’t going to listen to him unless he did something drastic.
So he grabbed her finger, yanked her up against his body and clamped an arm around her waist, bringing her body tight against his. Then he slammed his lips down on hers. For the first time in the past five minutes, silence reigned.
With one hand captured in Hawkeye’s hand, Liv pressed the other to his chest and gave a pathetic attempt at pushing him away. Hawkeye strengthened his hold.
After a few seconds, she quit pushing against him, her fingers curling into his shirt.
Her lips were soft and full beneath his. Even though he’d stemmed her tirade, Hawkeye was in no hurry to raise his head. Instead, he raised his hand, his fingers sliding up to cup the back of her head.
She gasped, her mouth opening to his.
Taking it as an invitation, Hawkeye swept his tongue past her teeth to claim hers in a long, slow caress.
The tension in her body melted away and she leaned into him, her tongue toying with his, giving as good as he gave.
When he finally broke the kiss, he briefly leaned his cheek against her temple, careful not to disturb the bandage on her forehead, and then he straightened.
Liv touched her fingers to her lips, her eyes glazed. “Why did you do that?”
His lips quirked upward. “I couldn’t think of a better way to make you shut up long enough to listen.”
Her glaze cleared and her brows met in the middle the second before her hand snapped out and connected with his face in a hard slap.
She raised her hand again, but he caught it before she could hit him again.
“There was another four-wheeler,” he said. “I was chasing him. He was a good fifty yards ahead of me when he reached the road. I would have caught him if I hadn’t stopped to render aid.” He forced her wrist down to her side. “Now, you can choose to believe me or not. But that’s what happened.”
Liv rubbed her wrist, her eyes narrowing. “That doesn’t explain why you were on my land.”
“I started out on government land, up in the hills, when I ran across the other man, planting explosives in a valley. I thought it might be a good idea to ask him why he was doing that.”
* * *
LIV’S BREATH CAUGHT in her throat. “Explosives?”
“Yes.”
“Why would someone plant explosives in the hills?” she asked.
“I suspect it has something to do with the oil pipeline cutting through that area.”
“But why come through my property?”
“I don’t know, but if you have livestock, your fence is down in two places. You should get someone to help you put it back up.”
She laughed, the sound seeming to border on hysteria. “That someone was just hauled off in an ambulance.”
His brows furrowed. “Don’t you have ranch hands?”
Liv’s red hair had come loose of its ponytail. She reached up to push it back from her face. “Only during roundup. It was just my father and our foreman managing a herd of about five hundred Brangus cows and twenty horses.”
“Then you might want to let your father know about the fences.”
Liv couldn’t stop the sudden burning in her eyes, nor could she speak past the instant tightening of her vocal cords. She had to swallow twice before she could answer. “That would be hard considering we buried him today.”
Hawkeye had been in the process of turning away. He froze, his shoulders stiffening. When he faced her again, he stared at her without any expression on his face.
The big man’s lack of emotion and the anger he stirred inside her helped Liv keep it together.
“Who else is with you on your ranch?” Hawkeye asked.
She squared her shoulders. “You’re looking at the sum total of ranch hands on the Stone Oak Ranch.”
His gaze raked over her from top to toe. “You’re serious?”
Lifting her chin, Liv faced him with all the bravado of a prizefighter. “I’m fully capable of mending fences and taking care of livestock. I learned to ride a horse before I learned to walk.”
“You’re alone.” His word wasn’t a question. It was more of a statement. “Have you been living in a cocoon, lady? Are you even aware of what’s been happening around your little community of Grizzly Pass?”
Raising her chin a little higher, Liv met the man’s stare. “I haven’t been home in the past nine months. My father didn’t let me know about any of this. I just got back into town when I was notified of his passing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to meet Jonah at the tavern in a few minutes.”
She pushed past him and thought that was the end of it.
A hand reached out and grabbed her arm, yanking her back around.
She raised a brow and stared down at Hawkeye’s big fingers. “Let go of me.”
“You’re not safe out on that ranch by yourself. A man with access to dynamite passed through your place.”
She had already come to the same conclusion, but knew she didn’t have a choice. The ranch couldn’t run itself and she’d be damned if she sold out to that greedy, bottom-dwelling Mr. Rausch. “I’m fine on my own. I learned to handle a gun almost as early as I learned to ride a horse. I’m not afraid of being alone.”
“You should be.” He sighed and released her arm. “Look, at least come with me to talk to my boss. He’ll want to hear what’s going on out your way.”
“Are you crazy?” She shook her head. “I don’t know you from Jack.”
He held out his hand again. “At the risk of repeating myself, my name’s Trace Walsh, but my friends call me—”
She waved away his hand. “Yeah, yeah. They call you Hawkeye.” With a shrug, she stared down Main Street toward the tavern. “Just who is your boss?”
“Kevin Garner, an agent for the Department of Homeland Security.”
Her curiosity captured, she returned her attention to Hawkeye. “Is that it? Is that why you were out in the mountains? You work for the DHS?”
Hawkeye shook his head. “Not hardly. I’m an army ranger on loan to the DHS. This is only temporary duty to help Garner and his team. He seems to think there’s enough activity going on in this area that he needed a hand.”
Liv didn’t say anything, just stared at the man with the crisp, black hair and incredibly blue eyes. Perhaps Hawkeye’s boss was onto something. Liv had never quite swallowed the idea that her father had fallen off his horse and died instantly. He was a good rider. No, he was the best, and had the rodeo buckles to prove it. The man had ridden broncos when he was younger and still broke wild horses. When he was on a horse, he wasn’t just on it—he was a part of it. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to talk to your boss.” She raised her finger. “But don’t ever try to kiss me again.”
Hawkeye raised his hands, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Those lips that had awakened a flood of unwanted desire inside Liv. For a stranger, no less. “Don’t worry. I like my women willing.”
“And quiet.”
“Not necessarily.” He winked. “Just quiet when they need to be.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “Just don’t kiss me. I can do a lot more than slap.”
He rubbed the side of his cheek where the red imprint of her hand had just begun to fade. “I’ll remember that. Next time we kiss, you’ll have to initiate.”
“Good. Because that will never happen.” She planted her fists on her hips. “So where is your boss? I’d like to get this meeting over with. I have a ride to catch.”
