Jodie Bailey - Christmas Double Cross

Their options were limited, especially with all available resources dedicated to the hunt for Adriana Garcia. They had to keep their attention on their target. The last thing they needed was another Garcia funneling drugs into the country.

Additionally, taking down Rio Garcia had been a top priority of E Company for years and would represent a major blow to the drug trade on the US-Mexican border. He’d been on the move more than usual lately, tracking his sister. Sooner or later, he’d slip up enough for the Rangers to snap the trap. Until that occurred, they couldn’t afford to lose their focus.

Except...

Colt stared at the woman in front of him. The Rangers knew Danielle wasn’t Adriana, but Rio had no idea. He’d tried to take her once, and the chances were high he would come after her again. Not only was her safety as a civilian precious, but her very existence might lead Rio Garcia straight to them. She couldn’t be bait—Colt would never suggest putting a civilian in danger like that—but since they knew Garcia was bold enough to try again, they might as well put someone into place to not only protect Danielle but to keep an eye out for the cartel leader’s next move.

Colt was on his feet and headed for the door. He had to talk to the team, then call Major Vance. If they could have a Ranger stick close to Danielle, then Rio Garcia might play right into their hands.

“Colt?” Danielle’s voice, thin and questioning, caught his ear as his hand landed on the doorknob.

He stopped. What must she think of him, practically running for the door when she’d asked him for help? “I’m sorry.” He turned to her, trying to control his excitement. Adriana Garcia might have slipped through their fingers, but her brother was closer than ever. “I need to talk to my team. I have an idea about how to protect you.” He probably shouldn’t have said that and gotten her hopes up, but she needed to know he wasn’t running out on her when she needed someone close.

Though he had no idea why he cared how she felt.

“Trust me. We’ll find a way to have someone watch over you.”

“And my brother.”

The request jolted through Colt so hard, she had to have seen the way his head jerked. For a second, he couldn’t get his voice to cooperate, the plea so close to the one his own heart had once cried. “Your—Yes. Your brother, too.” He couldn’t deny her that.

“Then I want you.”

“Excuse me?” Colt’s head tilted. “You want me for what?”

“I want you to be the one protecting Justin and me.”

Colt’s mouth opened then closed, no words leaking out. He couldn’t be placed on a protection detail, not even if it meant catching Rio Garcia. He’d failed to be a sufficient protector in the past, when it had mattered the most. He couldn’t risk another life by failing again. “I’m not... That’s not my wheelhouse. I can make sure it’s someone you’re—”

“When my store was vandalized, I called the police. They came and did nothing other than apparently call the Rangers to tell them I was a wanted felon.” The woman before him might still be weak in a hospital bed, but there was a strength in her expression and in her words that brooked no argument. Danielle Segovia was serious, and she wasn’t going to back down. “It’s you or nobody.”

“I’ll do my best.” Turning his back on a request that carried the weight of history, Colt pulled the door open, then turned back to Danielle. “Why me?”

“You were sincere about my mother’s memory, about the statue in my shop. You understood that. I could tell.” The determination in her expression wavered and her gaze flicked to the window before resting somewhere above Colt’s head. “I trust you.”

The corner of Colt’s eye twitched. Those were rare words. He’d never heard them from a stranger, and no one in his family had said them in years. They lay like a blanket over him, alternately warming and suffocating him. The air in the room seemed charged with something he would never be able to define.

Seldom was he at a loss for words, but everything about the moment rendered him speechless. There was no way to answer what Danielle was saying. With a curt nod, he turned and walked out the door to find his team and to attempt to convince them to give him the one job at which he was guaranteed to fail.

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