Rita Herron - Justice for a Ranger

“ Sergeant Cole McKinney, Texas Ranger .”

Joey licked her lips in stunned silence.

This hot-as-all-get-out bad boy was Cole McKinney? The boy who’d been shunned by the McKinney family?

And he was a law enforcement agent?

“I see the wheels turning in your head, Joey Hendricks.” His husky voice skated over her raw nerve endings. “And yeah, I’m the sum of all those rotten things you were thinking. And a few more you don’t even know about.”

What did he know about the investigation? Something the Rangers hadn’t revealed to the press?

Her hand trembled.

Was he here to arrest one or both of her parents?

To Mallory Kane and Delores Fossen

for birthing this fabulous storyline and letting

me be a part of it. Here’s to more Rangers

stories in the future…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award-winning author Rita Herron wrote her first book when she was twelve, but didn’t think real people grew up to be writers. Now she writes so she doesn’t have to get a real job. A former kindergarten teacher and workshop leader, she traded storytelling for kids for romance, and writes romantic comedies and romantic suspense. She lives in Georgia with her own romance hero and three kids. She loves to hear from readers, so please write to her at PO Box 921225, Norcross, GA 30092-1225, USA, or visit her website at www.ritaherron.com.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Joey Hendricks– Guilt-ridden over her brother’s disappearance/death, she will do anything to find out the truth about who kidnapped him – even if it means sending her own parents to jail.

Sergeant Cole McKinney– The bastard son of Jim McKinney has always dreamed of confronting the man who sired him, and his half-brothers. But helping exonerate his father is not in his plans…

Lieutenant Zane McKinney and Sergeant Sloan McKinney– Cole’s half-brothers have different theories about their father’s guilt.

Jim McKinney– This Texas Ranger’s career and life was ruined when he was accused of murdering Lou Anne Wallace.

Leland Hendricks– Joey’s father would do anything for money. But would he try to kill his wife and threaten his daughter?

Donna Hendricks– Donna blamed Leland for their toddler son’s disappearance. Does she know more than she’s telling?

Justin Hendricks– He was only two when he was kidnapped. Is he alive or dead?

Lou Anne Wallace Hendricks– She married Leland for his money, but couldn’t give up her lovers. The police are still looking for her killer…

Rosa Ramirez– The nanny adored both Joey and Justin. Would Rosa have committed murder to stop Leland’s kidnapping plan?

Governor Clayton Grange– He sent Joey to Justice to handle the media. Why is he so interested in the murders?

RITA HERRON

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Chapter One

Hell must have finally frozen over in Justice, Texas.

That was the only explanation for the phone call requesting his services from his half brothers, Lieutenant Zane McKinney and Sergeant Sloan McKinney, both Texas Rangers.

As was Cole, but they had never met or asked for his help on a case before.

Not him—the bastard, bad-boy brother they all hated.

Cole traced a proud finger over the silver star he’d earned through his own blood, sweat and tears. He was a sergeant now himself. He’d made the grade with no help. No financial support or fancy education. No loving, doting parents.

Not like Zane and Sloan.

A bitter laugh rumbled from deep within his gut as he threw his clothes into a duffel bag, stepped into the hot sunshine and climbed on his Harley. Dammit. He’d been ordered to leave his current case behind, come straight out of the trenches where he’d been working a lead on a smuggling ring along the border, to assist in Justice.

Of course, his half brothers must be desperate to exonerate their father, to finally free him of the murder charges that had hung around his neck like an albatross the past sixteen years. A murder investigation that had been revived because Sarah Wallace, daughter of Lou Anne Wallace, the woman his father had slept with and had been accused of strangling with her own designer purse, had just been murdered in the same hotel room, in the same manner.

And most likely by the same person who’d killed her mother.

Bitterness swelled inside Cole as choking as the insufferable summer heat. Did his brothers actually think he gave a damn about the outcome? That he’d come running to team up with them to save their father because he wanted to see Jim McKinney’s good name restored?

Jim McKinney—the father who’d abandoned him and his mother. The father who’d never acknowledged his existence. The father who had been nothing more than a sperm donor on his behalf.

The man who’d broken his mother’s heart.

Barb Tyler had never married after her short affair with Jim McKinney. She’d claimed Jim had ruined her for another man. And she’d taken that love with her to her grave no more than a year after Jim McKinney’s arrest. If Cole hadn’t known better, he’d have thought she’d died of grief for the man’s lost reputation herself.

He hated Jim for it.

Still, he was a Texas Ranger. Part of the most revered, effective investigative law enforcement agency in the world. And he was damn proud to be a lawman. God knows he’d been on a crash course to jail himself when Clete McHaven, the rancher his mother had cooked for, had caught him trying to steal from his ranch and had made him work off the debt or go to the pen.

He scrubbed a hand over his three days’ growth of beard stubble, knowing he looked like hell as he strapped on his biker’s helmet, cranked up the Harley’s engine and tore down the driveway. Dust and pebbles spewed from his tires as he careened onto the highway. Anger and determination had him pushing the speed limit.

Not that he was in a hurry to see the long-lost family that had cast him aside as if he was a leper.

But he had a chance to prove that a real Texas Ranger didn’t need book education or to be a good ole boy. That his tracking skills had earned him a spot as a top-notch lawman.

He had no intention of begging for accolades from the McKinneys, of trying to worm his way into their snotty huddle. Hell, he didn’t need them or their approval.

And he would not play favorites in the investigation.

Jim McKinney had been a bastard who couldn’t keep his pants zipped. And although he’d never been convicted of murder, if he had killed Lou Anne Wallace and her daughter, Cole would find out. Then he would snap the handcuffs around his wrists and haul him to jail where he belonged.

And he wouldn’t think twice about who suffered when he did.

TO SOME PEOPLE GOING HOME meant reuniting with loved ones. Reliving warm memories and seeing friends. Safety.