Joanna Wayne - Live Ammo

A desperate mother...

Alexis Beranger never could have anticipated the shock of being carjacked with her son still in the backseat. Or that Tague Lambert, part of the rich and famous Lamberts of Dallas, would be there to help. But most earthshattering of all was learning that the attack wasn’t random—only a prelude to the danger stalking her every move.

And the cowboy who came to her rescue...

While their chance meeting occurred under the gravest of circumstances, Tague felt an instant attraction with Alexis that he just couldn’t shake. Through with playing it safe, Tague vowed to protect this beautiful stranger and her vulnerable little boy, no matter how high the stakes. After all, a cowboy never ignored an innocent in distress—especially a cowboy who carried the Lambert name.

“Are you even for real, cowboy?”

He tugged her to her feet and pulled her into his arms. “I’m as real as it gets.”

She knew he was going to kiss her. Knew she should stop him. Instead she melted into the thrill and the taste of him. Passion claimed her so completely that she literally lost her breath.

When Tague pulled away, she felt a burning in her lungs and a hunger deep inside her that she had little chance of ever satisfying.

She lay back down, turned off the light and stared at the ceiling. She needed to put what had just transpired into some kind of perspective. All she could come up with was that she was being forced to put her trust in the rugged cowboy with the boyish charm and the determination of a mad bull.

Heaven help them all.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joanna Wayne was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, and received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from LSU-Shreveport. She moved to New Orleans in 1984, and it was there that she attended her first writing class and joined her first professional writing organization. Her debut novel, Deep in the Bayou, was published in 1994.

Now, dozens of published books later, Joanna has made a name for herself as being on the cutting edge of romantic suspense in both series and single-title novels. She has been on the Waldenbooks bestseller list for romance and has won many industry awards. She is also a popular speaker at writing organizations and local community functions and has taught creative writing at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College.

Joanna currently resides in a small community forty miles north of Houston, Texas, with her husband. Though she still has many family and emotional ties to Louisiana, she loves living in the Lone Star State. You may write Joanna at P.O. Box 852, Montgomery, Texas 77356.

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CAST OF CHARACTERS

Tague Lambert—Youngest of the Lambert brothers. Born into a wealthy ranching and oil family, he’s a cowboy at heart with no interest in settling down—until he meets Alexis Beranger.

Alexis Beranger—She’s running scared, but determined to keep Tommy safe at any price.

Tommy—The precocious two-year-old loves horses and chocolate.

Carolina Lambert—Tague’s mother is a woman who loves her family above all.

Durk Lambert—Tague’s brother offers advice from a business trip in the Middle East.

Emma and Damien Lambert—Tague’s brother and sister-in-law cut their honeymoon short to be there for Tague and Alexis.

Booker Dell Collins—Carjacker.

Detective Gerald Hampton—Dallas Police Department detective investigating the carjacking.

Scott Jeffery Hayden—Legendary detective and Alexis’s ex-husband.

Lena Fox Hayden—Third wife of Scott Hayden.

Meghan Sinclair—The private detective may have shared a past with Durk Lambert.

Jackson Phelps—A retired NCIS agent, now private detective hired by Tague Lambert to help clear Alexis’s name.

Bronco—Loyal bodyguard to Scott Jeffery Hayden.

Thanks to all my readers who believe in love and cowboys. And to my family, who taught me that family

is important to every aspect of our lives.

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

Epilogue

Excerpt

Chapter One

“Hand over those keys.”

Alexis Beranger spun around and stared into a pair of glassy eyes that looked as if they were popping out of the man’s head.

Her heart slammed against her chest as he pushed his fetid, sweaty body against her. The man was taller than her and burly. And judging from his dilated pupils, he was also stoned.

She scanned the supermarket parking lot. The nearest people were a teenage worker herding a train of empty carts and a pregnant woman. Both were several yards away, walking in the opposite direction and oblivious to her situation.

The man closed his hand over hers. She fought back, kicking and clawing with her free hand as she yelled for help. His strength was overpowering and he easily wrenched the keys from her grasp.

He slapped her hard across the face and then silenced her with a meaty hand over her mouth.

Tommy began to wail from the backseat. She went for the man’s eyeballs, clawing like a mother tiger. Her fingers missed their mark but dug bloody trenches into his face.

His hand left her mouth. “Don’t make me use this, bitch. Get in the car.” His voice slurred, but his body had hardened to solid steel.

That’s when she saw the pistol clutched in his right hand—pointed at her son’s head.

Terror swept through her, and she struggled to breathe. “Take the car. Take my purse. Take whatever you want. Just don’t hurt my son.”

“Want out, Mommy. Want out.”

“Tell the brat to shut up.”

“He’s afraid. He’s only two.” Her voice quivered. “Let me get him out of his seat and we’ll just walk away. I won’t even call the cops.”

“Lying bitch. Get in the car now!”

She heard footsteps and a woman’s voice. Surely this monster would run away. Instead he punched her in the face and sent her staggering backward so hard she careened against the car parked next to hers. The back of her skull collided with the rearview mirror, waves of black scrambling her vision, and she slumped almost to the pavement before regaining her balance.

“Security! Security!” The woman’s calls for help were shrill and loud enough to be heard throughout the lot.

The man jumped into Alexis’s car and slammed the door behind him.

Reeling from the blow, Alexis lunged for the back door handle.

Too late. He’d locked the doors. She pounded her fists against the vehicle as the car pulled out.

The woman and a couple of young men came running over to help.

“Don’t let him get away,” Alexis shouted. “He has my son in that car.”

“I’m calling 911,” the woman said.

One of the men muttered curses. The other put a hand on Alexis’s shoulder. “The cops will catch him. They won’t let him get away with the kid.”