Elle James - Cowboy Resurrected

An expectant mother’s protection is a cowboy’s promise in Elle James’s Covert Cowboys, Inc. miniseries

Thorn Drennan stares death in the face when he’s nearly shot by a ranch trespasser. But this is no ordinary trespasser. Pregnant and running for her life, Sophia Carranza has crossed the Mexican border, leaving a trail of ruthless enemies behind.

Sophia’s protection is Thorn’s first assignment as an undercover agent and he senses trouble. Inexplicably drawn to Sophia’s beauty and fighting spirit, Thorn fears his growing desire for Sophia could jeopardize the mission. And when Sophia’s captors finally catch up to them, will Thorn trade his own life for another?

As much as he wanted to have Hank reassign him so that he didn’t have to dig his own emotional grave deeper, he was stuck. He’d gone way past being able to hand her off to someone else. So far past, that all he wanted was to hold her in his arms and keep her safe from anyone who wanted to hurt her.

“I can leave. You don’t have to help me.” Her fingers dug into his shirt, belying her suggested solution.

“You know damn well I can’t let you leave.” Thorn pulled her into his arms, crushing her mouth with his. He dragged her body close to his, melding them together in an embrace far more flammable than a lit match to a stack of dry tinder.

A Golden Heart Award winner for Best Paranormal Romance in 2004, ELLE JAMESstarted writing when her sister issued a Y2K challenge to write a romance novel. She has managed a full-time job and raised three wonderful children, and she and her husband even tried their hands at ranching exotic birds (ostriches, emus and rheas) in the Texas Hill Country. Ask her, and she’ll tell you what it’s like to go toe-to-toe with an angry three-hundred-and-fifty-pound bird! After leaving her successful career in information technology management, Elle is now pursuing her writing fulltime. Elle loves to hear from fans. You can contact her at ellejames@earthlink.net or visit her website at www.ellejames.com.

Cowboy

Resurrected

Elle James

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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CAST OF CHARACTERS

Thorn Drennan—Undercover agent for Covert Cowboys, Inc. battling guilt over the deaths of his wife and unborn child.

Sophia Carranza—On the run from her abusive ex-fiancé, a drug-cartel leader with connections on both sides of the border.

Hank Derringer—Billionaire willing to take the fight for justice into his own hands by setting up CCI—Covert Cowboys, Inc.

Antonio Martinez—One of the leaders of la Familia Diablos drug cartel.

Grant Lehmann—FBI regional director and old friend of Hank’s.

Scott Walden—Forman of the Raging Bull Ranch.

Cara Jo Smithson—Pretty single woman who owns the diner in Wild Oak Canyon.

Pj Franks—Hank’s grown daughter.

Brandon Pendley—Hank Derringer’s computer guru.

Zach Adams—Former FBI special agent tortured and broken by Los Lobos cartel.

Jacie Kosart—Big Elk Ranch big game hunting trail guide desperate to find her twin sister.

Ben Harding—Former cop with the Austin police department.

Kate Langsdon—Inherited the Flying K Ranch from the father she’d never known. Husband killed in Afghanistan a month before their daughter was born. Just looking to provide a safe home for her little girl.

Chuck Bolton—Wounded soldier returning to Wild Oak Canyon to join Hank Derringer’s team, Covert Cowboys, Inc.

This book is dedicated to my husband, whose love

and support helped clear my schedule to write!

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 One

Elena Sophia Carranza gunned the throttle to make it up the steep, rocky slope, doing her best to keep up with Hector. Thank God he’d taken the precious extra time to train her on how to ride a dirt bike in rough terrain. There was no more treacherous landscape than the border crossing between Mexico and the United States leading into the Big Bend National Park.

“You can do this, Señorita Elena, but you must be brave,” Hector had insisted when they’d set off on their desperate escape. “Once we leave, we cannot return.”

She’d known that from the start. Her ex-fiancé, Antonio, would not stop until he found her. And if he did catch her, there would be the devil to pay.

Squeezing Hector’s hand, she’d whispered, “You must call me Sophia from now on. Elena no longer exists.”

“Sí,” he’d agreed before mounting his bike and taking off.

It was imperative Sophia commit to her goal, or she’d die. Others had risked too much to help her break out of the compound. Hector had risked his life and his future to get her this far. The least she could do was hold up her end by keeping pace with him, not going so slow as to put them both in jeopardy. They had come across the United States border without being detected thus far. Now all they had to do was find help.

They’d splashed through the Rio Grande at a low-water crossing before dawn and headed into the canyons, zigzagging through the trails, climbing, dropping down into the shadows, heading north as far as they could before Antonio discovered their betrayal and came after them.

No matter what, Sophia couldn’t go back. Even if she could withstand another day of physical and mental abuse, she refused to let the tiny life growing inside her suffer the same.

Escape seemed impossible from the far-reaching Mexican Mafia la Familia Diablos. As soon as Antonio realized she’d left, he’d send a gang of his sicarios, enforcers, to find and return her to Mexico or leave it for the Americans or the vultures to clean up her body.

As far as Sophia was concerned, she’d rather die and take her baby to heaven with her than subject another innocent life to the evil of Antonio Martinez and the drug cartel he called family.

Anna, her only friend in la Fuerte del Diablo, the Chihuahuan compound, had compromised her safety and that of her young son to get Sophia out. Sophia couldn’t fail. Too many had risked too much.

Deep in the canyons of the far edges of Big Bend National Park, Sophia dared to hope she could evade Antonio and his band of killers long enough to find a place to hide, a place she could live her life in peace and raise her child.

Sophia had been born in Mexico, and her mother was an American citizen, ensuring Sophia had dual citizenship and could speak English fluently. Unfortunately, she no longer had her passport. Antonio had stripped her of identification after he’d lured her away from her family in Monterrey.

Once she found a safe haven, she’d do whatever it took to reinstate her citizenship and ask for asylum. In exchange, she’d give the Americans any information they wanted on the whereabouts of Antonio’s cartel stronghold on the Mexican side of the border. Not that it would do them much good. The Mexican government struggled to control their own citizens. What could the Americans do across the border?