Lone Star Protector

Warrior rushed back, eager for a treat and a good rubdown.

“Didn’t find anything, boy?” Slade asked, his tone softening toward the dog. He looked down at a basket by the door and found a chew rag, then held it out for Warrior. “He might have saved your life today.”

Kaitlin went to her knees on the floor and tugged Warrior close, giving him a gentle hug. “Good boy. What a hero. Your barks warned me.”

The captain looked really tall from this angle. “Yep. And what did you do? You walked right into a trap.”

She stood so he wouldn’t seem so intimidating. “I went around the building to see why Warrior was barking. I saw the van and thought someone might be lost or hurt. That’s when the attacker came up behind me.”

Slade didn’t move a muscle, but she could see the throbbing pulse in his clenched jawline. “You could have called me.”

“I really didn’t have time to call anyone. Besides, I thought you were gone.” She shrugged, tossing her ponytail. “You know what...I didn’t even think, okay? I just acted on impulse, and I wasn’t expecting any kind of danger.”

He stepped back, his cold, blue gaze freezing its way around her tiny house. “Well, you need to think about it now. Whoever that was will probably be back. I don’t think this was a random kidnapping attempt. They waited for the right moment and managed to get through a controlled gate to get to you.”

Seeing the concern etched on his face, she said, “You’re not making me feel very safe.”

“You’re not safe.” He walked to the bay window in her living room. “Your attacker fit the same description of the man who’s been harassing my whole team for months now. I’m pretty sure he or someone working with him is behind the recent string of attempted kidnappings we’ve had. And the string of murders we’ve racked up since the first of the year.”

Shocked, she pushed at her hair. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. You said he had strange eyes, right?”

“Yes. They were all blacked out. Honestly, they didn’t look real.”

Slade seemed to go on alert after that comment. “They probably aren’t real. He’s using a mask and other methods to disguise himself.”

“Why?” she asked, worried now that the crime syndicate might be targeting her. “Why would he come after me?”

He didn’t answer her questions. “You might need protection 24/7.”

Kaitlin almost laughed out loud. “Are you willing to do that?”

“I have to work on this case.” He kept right on staring out the window. “But it might be a good idea to keep Warrior by your side at all times. And maybe you have a friend who can come and stay with you?”

“I won’t endanger any of my friends,” she said, shaking her head. “Warrior will do his job. That’s what he’s trained for.”

“But is he ready?” Slade asked, staring down at the resting dog.

“He seemed ready today. We’ll have to hope so,” Kaitlin replied. “I’m not the type to live in fear, Captain McNeal.”

He came close then, his face inches from hers. “And I’m not the type to let a woman think she’s safe when it’s obvious she’s not, Miss Mathers.” He stepped back. “Get your stuff. You and Warrior are coming to my house tonight.”

Kaitlin couldn’t believe the man. “No, we’re not.”

His tone brooked no argument. “Yes, you are.” Then he held up his hand. “Look, I have a young son and my recovering father there. And two shifts of around-the-clock nurses. You won’t be alone. We won’t be alone.”

Kaitlin thought it over, still reeling. “I don’t want to impose on you.”

“You won’t be imposing. Caleb will be glad to see you. He’s been asking about you...since the last time you babysat him. And it’s just for tonight. Just until I can figure out the next piece of this puzzle.”

Five-year-old Caleb had been traumatized when his mother had been killed in the car bomb. The quiet little boy suffered from nightmares and other issues. Kaitlin had worked a lot with Caleb, using her dogs to bring the boy out of his shell. But it had been a while since she’d seen him.

Wanting to understand what she’d be up against, she asked, “What do you know, Captain? About that man’s creepy eyes?”

He hesitated, almost shut down. But she saw a flare of trust shifting through his expression. “I don’t think they’re his real eyes.”

She let out a gasp. “Contacts? That’s what I thought, too.”

His nod was curt and quick. “I think so.” His gaze moved over her, then he looked toward the big windows. “Call it a hunch, but I’d just feel a whole lot better if you’d come home with me.”

“Isn’t that highly unusual? I mean, do you always invite people in danger home with you?”

“No.”

“Why start now?”

He took a step forward then stopped. “Because this case has me by the throat and...I’m almost certain your attempted kidnapping has something to do with this crime syndicate. I couldn’t live with myself if...something happened to you.” He inhaled, rubbed a hand down his face. “And...because you mean a lot to my son. He feels comfortable with you since you’ve babysat him a few times and allowed the trainee dogs to befriend him. Truth is, he’s been through too much tragedy already...and he’d be devastated if something happened to you.”

Kaitlin couldn’t catch her next breath after that comment. “I can’t stay at your house forever...”

“No, but I can keep you alive if you’ll listen to me.”

She couldn’t argue with that. He’d scared her with his bold words and all this talk of a crime syndicate and a masked criminal. He’d scared her with that tormented need she’d seen hooding his eyes, too. He didn’t want his little boy to suffer anymore.

However, going with Slade would be like stepping across that forbidden line she’d put up between them. She didn’t like mixing emotions and business together. Things could get really messy.

But when she thought about that man’s eyes, she got the shivers. And given the choice of staying here alone or being with Slade and his family...well, there wasn’t a choice.

“I’ll pack a bag,” she said finally. Then she turned and hurried out of the room before she changed her mind.

* * *

Well, now he could add stupid to the list of traits he needed to refine. He had a feeling he’d regret bringing a woman home, kind of like sailors used to avoid having a female on their ship. Nothing good could come of it.

Slade looked around the big living room of the house he shared with his father and his son and a retired K-9 named Chief. The rambling craftsman home had plenty of room for one or two more. But it had been a long time since a woman, other than his father’s team of home health care nurses and Caleb’s after-school nanny, had stayed in this house for more than a few uncomfortable minutes—for what his daddy called a “casserole” visit. Single women and widows loved to bring them casseroles. The women all expected something in return, of course. A couple of them had even asked Slade to the monthly church social.

Slade couldn’t oblige them. It made for awkward visits.

But hey, the food was good.

“She’s pretty and nice,” Patrick McNeal said. “Kind of different from most of the casserole girls.”

Old Chief, retired and getting fat and sassy, lifted his head and sniffed the perfume in the air. Even the dog had noticed this feminine intrusion.

Slade turned from where he was making sandwiches and nodded at his father. “Pretty, nice and now...on some thug’s hit list.” He slapped ham between two slices of white bread. “Why would anyone go after Kaitlin Mathers?”

Papa, as Caleb liked to call him, ran a hand down his white-whiskered face. Still recovering from the injuries that had left him in a coma, he said, “Maybe they need a dog trainer.”

Slade stopped the knife he’d aimed at the mayo jar. “Good point.”

“You think this attack is connected to all the others? Whoever took Rio might need a qualified trainer, too.”

“I’m betting it’s related, for that reason and maybe something more. I haven’t come up with anything else, though.”

Patrick held tight to his walker and turned to go back through the arched opening to his favorite chair in the den. Chief automatically followed him. “You’ll figure it out, son.”

Slade wondered about that. He and his dad didn’t do much chitchatting here in the house. Caleb seemed to get agitated whenever they talked police business. But Patrick had made a connection that shouted at Slade. Someone might need Kaitlin’s expertise. Or any of the trainers’ expertise, for that matter. That someone obviously had taken Rio right out of the backyard. He’d have to beef up security around the training center. Not to mention keep a close watch on his son and his daddy. And he’d need to protect Kaitlin, whether she liked it or not.

Rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, he grunted at the twisted knots tightening his head and shoulders. Maybe he needed to hit the gym a little more to work out some of these kinks.

No, he just needed to catch The Boss. The mysterious leader of the local crime syndicate kept slipping through their fingers, but one way or another he vowed to bring this criminal to justice. Since the day his dog Rio had been taken right out of his yard and his father had been injured, he’d made this case a top priority. And his entire unit felt the same way.

He wanted his frail father to understand what he was trying to do.

He wanted his best K-9 partner back. Rio was part of his family.

He wanted his son to be strong and well and happy.

Then why don’t you spend more time with the boy?

That question hit him hard in his gut. Patrick asked him that at least twice a week. When he’d turned to Kaitlin in desperation after Rio’s kidnapping, the dog trainer and his sometime-babysitter had hinted that it might help for him to take more time with Caleb. Maybe that was why he always got so befuddled and tongue-tied around the woman. Maybe that was why bringing her here wasn’t such a good idea, after all. He didn’t want the woman judging him.

She wasn’t married and didn’t have kids. But she sure had a way with animals and children. She was all honey and sweetness when she wasn’t barking commands at K-9 dogs. Today, after things had settled down, her hair had shimmered like burnished gold in the light of early dusk, but her hazel eyes had remained cool and questioning each time her gaze landed on Slade. Except for that little bit of sympathy he’d seen there in shades of green and brown. The woman had been attacked and yet, she still felt sorry for him?

He didn’t need anyone’s pity.

Slade needed to be a better father, but...it was so hard to relate to his quiet, sad little boy. The boy missed his mother. And Slade felt the weight of guilt pressing like a two-ton chain on his shoulders. He and Angie had been fighting the day she’d died in that car bomb. His wife had been leaving him, probably for good, when she’d cranked the engine.

Slade endured the torment of causing her death each and every day. His daddy told him he should pray about his feelings, but Slade didn’t think he was worthy of asking God to release him of this burden. That bomb had been meant for him. He shouldn’t even be standing here. He couldn’t look his own son in the eye.

And...he had the nagging suspicion that the bomb that had killed Angie was related to this current case. Especially since similar bomb threats had been found at Nicolette Johnson’s former rental. Detective Jackson Worth and his K-9 partner, Titan, had found one bomb in the nick of time to save Nicolette. Her house had been damaged, but that only reinforced how much danger she’d been in to begin with.

Then Jackson had also been threatened with a bomb under his car. Titan, trained to detect explosives, had saved the day again.

They might not be so lucky next time. Too many killings and too many kidnapping attempts had everyone on edge. And after today’s bold attempt, Slade was sure there would be a next time. His bones told him that something else was coming. He only wished he could figure out what.

THREE

Kaitlin had thrown her duffel bag in the spare bedroom, then immediately asked Slade if she and Warrior could go visit with Caleb. The little boy was in his room playing with his trains and trucks, according to Papa McNeal. Slade had nodded curtly, then returned to making some sort of dinner.

Now Kaitlin was watching closely while Warrior and Caleb got reacquainted.

“He’s dif-fer-ent from Rio,” Caleb said, the big word twisting up in his mind but sounding cute when he squinted through it. “And he’s skinnier than Chief.”

“Yes, he is,” Kaitlin said. If she had to be forced to stay here tonight, at least she could visit with Caleb. “He’s still young like you. But he likes little boys. And I’ve told him all about you.”

Caleb’s big blue eyes, so like his daddy’s, widened. “He knows about me?”

“Of course,” she said, her expression animated. “I told him he’d get to come and visit you soon. I’m still training him and you can help with that. I told him how smart you are and that you are very good with dogs. He needs to be gentle with children so you are the perfect person to help him learn.”

Caleb tilted his head and gave her an impish stare. “Am I gentle?”

The innocent question tugged at Kaitlin’s heart strings.

“Yes, you sure are. But you’re also very brave. That’s why I brought Warrior to visit with you.”

Well, that and the fact that your domineering father told me in no uncertain terms that I would come here tonight.

She had Caleb for a distraction, at least. A good distraction. And she’d mostly given in to Slade’s demand so she could see how Caleb was doing. She adored this little boy. He took her mind off what had happened today. He took her mind off the big man in the kitchen making sandwiches, the man who’d gruffed out an introduction when he’d brought her into the house.

“Papa, this is Kaitlin Mathers and her newest trainee, Warrior. You might remember her. She’s visited Caleb and she’s watched him for me at her place a couple of times. We had a prowler near the training yard who tried to kidnap Kaitlin. She’s staying here tonight.”

His father, white-haired and holding on to a walker, had smiled and nodded while Chief had hopped up to inspect Warrior. After the dogs had sniffed each other to their mutual satisfaction, Patrick McNeal had said, “C’mon in, Kaitlin. You’ll be safe here.”

She supposed law officers had their own code of speaking, because she was pretty sure she missed some of the undercurrents of that brief, curt conversation. She’d also heard bits of a whispered conversation when she’d come out of the bathroom.

Caleb didn’t speak a lot, either, but tonight he’d actually talked to her more than the last time she’d seen him. That had been a few weeks ago when Slade had brought Caleb to work for a couple of hours and she’d offered to take him out onto the training yard. She’d promised Caleb they’d find his friend, but Slade hadn’t asked her to talk to Caleb since then. And she’d tried to respect Slade’s decision by not nagging him too much. She always asked about Caleb, though. Now she had a chance to help him again. She intended to keep that promise she’d made to the little boy, somehow. After the incident today, Kaitlin was once again reminded of how life could change in a minute. Something she’d learned after her mother had died.

Taking a quiet minute to thank God that she was safe and here now with this little boy, Kaitlin rubbed Warrior’s soft fur, her gaze on Caleb. “So do you think you two can be friends?”

Caleb bobbed his head, his dark curls bouncing against his forehead. Then he reached up and patted Warrior on the head. “I can show him my secret hiding place. I wuv him.”

“I do, too,” Kaitlin said. She was about to ask Caleb where his hiding place was, but she looked up to find Slade standing at the door with a look of longing and regret on his face. His gaze slammed into hers with lightning-bolt precision, leaving her drained and shaky.

“Dinner’s ready,” he said. Then he turned and hightailed it back to the kitchen.

Wondering what was wrong with the man, and what was wrong with her for caring, Kaitlin gently tugged Caleb to his feet. “Let’s go see what your daddy whipped up for dinner.”

* * *

Slade ladled the vegetable soup the day nurse had made earlier into bowls to go along with the sandwiches. “Hope you like soup. Terri is a great cook. She let this simmer all day.”

Not one for sparkling conversation, he decided to just give Kaitlin the soup and let her eat. After that scene in Caleb’s room, he felt overwrought and disoriented. Truth was, seeing his son smiling and laughing with a pretty woman tore at the hole in his heart. He really should take one of the casserole girls up on attending the church social. Just to get out of the house more. Papa was always telling him he’d never find a woman if he didn’t ever bother to be around available women. Why his dad worried about such stuff was beyond Slade.

Well, they both wanted Caleb to find a mother figure he could trust and love again. Slade didn’t think he needed to be concerned about a female companion for himself, however. His job kept him occupied.

“Smells great,” Kaitlin said. “Makes me think of my grandmother’s kitchen.”

“Where’d you grow up?” Papa McNeal asked, his hands pressed together.

“In Mesquite, just outside Dallas.” She glanced at Caleb, then lowered her voice. “Just my mom and I, but my grandmother lived close by. My father had to...uh...leave when I was a baby and...my mother...passed away when I was a teenager. Then it was just Grandmother and me. But Grandmother had a sister here in Sagebrush, so after I left for college, she moved here to be closer to Aunt Tina. They both passed away just years apart.”

Slade nodded, understanding she had chosen her words carefully because of Caleb.

“You all alone?” his son asked, clearly deciphering what “passed away” meant.

Slade hoped the boy didn’t start asking about his mother. It was hard to explain over and over that she’d never come back to them.

Kaitlin glanced at Slade before answering. “I don’t have any family nearby, but...I have Warrior and I have people I work with and go to church with. So no, I’m not alone.”

Caleb’s gaze moved from Kaitlin to Slade. “And you have us. Right, Dad?”

Slade felt as helpless as a new puppy. He grunted a reluctant, “Yeah, sure.”

Warrior, having heard his name, did a little “Yeah, sure” of his own. That dog was a lot braver than Slade right now.

Papa, looking amused, took his soup from Slade and waited for him to sit down. Then he reached for Kaitlin’s hand on one side and Caleb’s hand on the other. “We say grace before our meals,” he explained.

Kaitlin took his hand, then realized she’d have to take Slade’s on her other side. She shot him a look that shouted “Oh, no.”

So she was afraid of him? Maybe disgusted with him? She probably thought he was the world’s worst parent. Or maybe the world’s worst law-enforcement officer since he couldn’t settle a five-month-long case.

He stretched his hand toward her, all the while preparing himself for the current of awareness he always felt when he was around her. Did she feel it, too?

She took his hand, then quickly lowered her head and shut her eyes.

Slade remembered having her in his arms earlier, remembered seeing that gun pointed at her temple, too. The first memory warmed his soul while the last one stopped him like a cold bullet.

He jerked his hand away before his daddy said Amen.

When he ventured a glance at the woman sitting at his kitchen table, he saw confusion and hurt in her pretty eyes.

Well, that was the effect he had on most women.

* * *

The house was quiet now.

Kaitlin lay on the comfortable bed in the spare room and listened, unable to sleep. Every creak settling in the walls, every twig brushing against the house, caused her to wake with a start. She hadn’t tasted this kind of fear in a long, long time.

She thought about the man who’d brought her here. She should feel safe with him in the house and she did. But she couldn’t get that masked man out of her head.

After dinner, Slade told her he had to finish up some paperwork. Mr. McNeal went to bed when his night nurse, Jasper, arrived. The big male nurse apparently slept in Mr. McNeal’s room. Kaitlin, left sitting, offered to get Caleb ready for bed.

No one argued with her. She enjoyed helping Caleb with his bath and putting on his superhero pajamas. Then he insisted on showing her his favorite hiding place—a big plastic toy box that looked like a miniature house centered underneath the bay window in the dining room. Slade told her it was where Caleb and Chief apparently played and sometimes fell asleep. After demonstrating how he and Chief could both fit inside the little house, Caleb asked her to read to him. So she snuggled up against a Texas Rangers baseball pillow with Caleb and read several books. It wasn’t long before Warrior joined them, content to curl up at Caleb’s feet and stare with adoring eyes at his new friend.

A girl could sure get used to that.

But not this girl and not with this family. Slade McNeal practically shouted “Off limits” each time he looked at her. The man had pulled away from her during the dinner blessing. Did he find her that distasteful to touch? Did he wish he hadn’t brought her into his house? Kaitlin had no answers. None at all. She knew how he’d made her feel earlier today when he’d comforted her after that attack...but she’d never know how Slade felt, good or bad. That man wore a coat of armor like a true knight. And he was good at rescuing damsels, no doubt.

But he needed to work on the Prince Charming factor a little more. Not that it mattered to Kaitlin. She’d given up on men a long time ago, since her work took up most of her time. She poured all of her love on the animals she trained. Maybe she was a lot more like Slade McNeal than she realized.

Now, wide awake and restless, Kaitlin got up and tugged her terry cloth robe over her flowered pajamas. Her throat burned like a parched desert. She needed a glass of water.

Opening the door slowly, so she wouldn’t wake the whole house, she sent Warrior a command to stay. The big dog gave her a reluctant look, then curled back into a ball of fur.

Moonlight guided her up the wide hallway toward the kitchen. Remembering where Slade had put the glasses, Kaitlin found a juice glass in the cabinet and then ran some water from the sink. She quenched her thirst and turned to stare over at the big plastic storage box under the window.

And heard a definite clearing of someone’s throat behind her.

* * *

Slade watched as Kaitlin pivoted, the glass in her hand, and stared out into the darkness. “Who’s there?”

Hating the quiver in her voice, he pushed away from the rolltop desk in the corner of the den and stood. “It’s me. Slade. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He heard her inhale a breath. “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”

“I didn’t. I was sitting here in the quiet. I didn’t know anyone else would be up.”

She walked into the moonlight and his heart stopped.

Her hair was down and tumbling in a shimmering honey-colored ribbon. Her robe was white but her pajamas had some sort of flower sprigs all over them. She looked young and vulnerable and beautiful.

But he didn’t come out of the darkness to tell her that.

He couldn’t move. He didn’t know how to begin to flirt with a woman. He was old and bitter and washed up.

“What are you doing?” she asked. Then she drained the glass of water.

“Well, I was sitting here at my desk in my house, minding my own business.”

“Then I’ll leave you to it.”

He stood up and caught her before she shot back up the hall. “Hey, are you all right?”

She looked down at his hand holding her wrist. “I thought I was. But...I keep seeing that man’s eyes. I keep remembering that gun at my head.”