Susan Sleeman - Taken In Texas

Yes! Her gun. She palmed it and got to her feet. She staggered down the hall. A shadow moved outside the door. The intruder? Maybe coming back?

She raised her weapon. A man stepped into the headlight beam. Not the same man who’d clocked her. This guy was taller. Broader shoulders. More foreboding. She widened her stance, wishing the room would quit spinning.

The man stepped closer.

She blinked hard and saw a gun in his hands. Her heart lurched.

“Hold it right there,” she warned. “And put your gun on the ground, nice and easy.”

“Kendall, it’s me. Cord Goodwin.” His familiar voice settled over Kendall like a soothing balm.

“Cord,” she whispered as her mind raced to find an explanation for why he was there.

Was she still sleeping? After all, she’d dreamed of him over the years, and there had been a few when he’d come to her rescue like a knight in shining armor.

A flicker of apprehension peppered her brain. “What are you doing here, Cord?”

“Eve’s my aunt.”

“But your name,” she started to say, but then realized she hadn’t seen Dylan’s report. She’d gone right to the source instead. And he hadn’t worked in the department when Cord had been on the team, so he wouldn’t think anything of seeing his name. Besides, no one, including Dylan, knew she and Cord had had a relationship. They’d kept it a secret, as it was frowned on for fellow deputies to date and they never got to the point where she met his family. Since Eve lived on the far side of their big county, Kendall had never run into her.

“I’m going to holster my gun now.” Cord bent, tugged up the leg of his jeans and revealed an ankle holster.

She could only stare at him as he moved with fluid and effortless grace. With the headlights glaring at her, she couldn’t see many details, but she could tell he was still broad-shouldered, had a trim waist and was well over six feet tall, something that, at her height of five-nine in bare feet, she’d once appreciated.

He rose back to his full height. “The guy who knocked you out is long gone.”

“Figured as much.” She holstered her gun, too, and as she bent to her radio to put out an alert on the guy, the world spun. She was going to fall to the ground. No way she’d embarrass herself in front of Cord. She quickly dropped onto a chair in the combination living and dining room.

She clutched the table and willed the accompanying nausea to subside before she lost the quick dinner of tacos she’d grabbed on the way out to Eve’s house. She rested her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands.

Cord came inside, flipped on a light and sat in a chair next to her.

“Look at me,” he insisted.

Right. He demanded as he always had. She would point that out, but what would arguing with him accomplish?

She faced him, thankful her stomach was no longer churning. Blue eyes the color of her sapphire birthstone locked on her, sending a shock of awareness through her body. She’d never been able to resist those eyes. Or that chiseled face.

He took her chin in his fingers and tilted her head to stare into her eyes. That familiar warmth of his touch and the concern in his gaze fired off the few senses that still lay dormant. Nothing new. He got to her as usual.

The urge to jerk free and take off before he could hurt her again was nearly overwhelming, but she held still and had to admit she liked the feel of his fingers against her skin.

“Looks like you have no problem focusing.” He released her chin. “That’s a good sign.”

“It’s just a bump.”

“Hah! A bump. More like a mountain protruding from your forehead.” He sat back, his eyes narrowing even more. “So, I searched the house for Eve. She’s not here. There’s blood in the kitchen. Can you shed any light on where she is?”

“No. I knocked on the front door. No answer, but your aunt’s car was here. I looked in the windows, saw someone moving in the house and then heard a crash. I was worried for Eve, so I called for backup. But like I said, I didn’t want to wait, so I entered through the back door. The guy hit me with a rolling pin, and the last thing I remember before waking up was dropping to the floor.”

He frowned. “Did you get a good look at him?”

“Yeah. Good enough to have a sketch made. I can arrange to meet with an artist first thing in the morning.” Kendall watched Cord for a moment, and the magnitude of his aunt being missing finally hit her. “I’m sorry about your aunt. You must be freaking out.”

He nodded.

“Are there...any other relatives or children we should notify?”

“Just me.”

Odd. He didn’t mention his parents, but maybe he’d already called them. “When was the last time you talked to her?”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “In person? Ten days or so. But I spoke to her on the phone four days ago. She said she needed to talk to me, but she had to see me in person. I couldn’t get away.”

He shook his head and clenched his fists on the table. “She probably wanted to tell me what was going on. About whatever caused her to go missing. But I was too busy. I’m a detective now and was buried in a murder investigation. I said I’d call her back and now I can’t reach her. If I’d known... This is all my fault.”

“No. No, it’s not, and beating yourself up won’t help find her.” Kendall started to reach out a hand to cover his hand, but a siren in the distance caught her attention.

What? No way. Her backup wouldn’t come racing up to the house with sirens running. The responding deputy couldn’t know the suspect was gone and wouldn’t risk alerting him that backup had arrived.

“That’ll be your dad,” Cord said. “Or your brothers.”

She blinked a few times as she tried to process his comment. “Why would you think that?”

“I used your radio to report you down, and we both know every McKade within radio range will be on their way here.”

She sighed. He was right. Her father was sheriff, her brother a deputy and her sister a crime scene investigator. Not to mention two cousins were deputies, too. She took a long, slow breath and mentally prepared herself for the arrival of her overprotective family as sirens wailed closer.

It was only moments until that family member, likely her father, rushed into the house. He’d treat her like his little girl instead of the deputy and aspiring detective she’d become. She wished he wouldn’t do so, but she understood. He was a good father, and the worry carried over to the job. At least he didn’t call her “Peanut” like he did with her younger sister, Tessa.

Regardless, Kendall wasn’t going to let her father find her sitting here instead of working the scene. She didn’t want to disappoint him, but also, Eve was missing and it was Kendall’s job to find her.

She pushed to her feet and held on to the back of the chair to wait out a rush of dizziness. As long as she didn’t make any sudden movements, she should be able to hold up under her father’s scrutiny long enough to ease his concern and convince him to leave. Then she could get started on the investigation without him hovering over her.

“You’re not fooling anyone, you know.” Cord rose to his full height, and she couldn’t help but remember when she’d had bad days at work, how he’d held her against that firm chest and the world had righted itself again. “You’re injured, and you’ll have to let the medics take a look at you. Maybe head to the ER to get checked out.”

“I’m fine,” she said, but he could be right. Still, she would seek medical attention because she knew it was the right thing, not because Cord or her father insisted on it.

She’d had a lifetime of overprotective men. Her dad. Older brother, Gavin. Even Matt, who was a year younger. The McKade men couldn’t help it. They were fierce defenders, and that meant they wouldn’t back down and let the women in their lives get hurt. So they took charge.