Angi Morgan - Gunslinger

The hardest part of the hike was done. She could follow this road to the closest thing this area had to a highway—a two-lane blacktop. Then all she had to do was hitch a ride and she was...

She was what?

The word free kept trying to finish the sentence. But she wasn’t free. If she was free to choose where she wanted to live, it would be Hico. She’d never felt more at home in a community. They accepted that she didn’t talk about her time before living there. They really didn’t know anything about her.

At least not the previous her. The Sissy Jorgenson her. Such a fake. It had taken a while, but Sissy had been laid to rest with all the cool kids she’d hung out with.

Unfortunately, Sissy wouldn’t have had anything to do with Kylie Scott. And she wouldn’t have waited two weeks to have a fling with the guy across the street. One look at his body and Sissy would have been all over him.

Bryce was nice looking. He was also a Texas Ranger ready to take her back to Austin whether she liked it or not. It didn’t matter if she knew about the Tenoreno family business. The attorneys five years ago had offered her protection in exchange for information.

Did they really think she would have walked away so quickly if she’d known enough to put those men behind bars?

Blinding headlights popped on in front of her.

“I was just coming to look for you.” Bryce’s voice came from next to Fred’s truck. “You going to run again?”

“Mind shutting off the floodlights?” Kylie saw his silhouette lean through the window and everything got dark again.

With no place to go and no energy to run, she accepted the setback, but not defeat. Somehow, she’d get away from Bryce Johnson and get on with another new start.

“Want a ride?” he asked with an air of innocence.

“Yes, if you’re heading back to Hico.”

“It’s on the way to Waco.” He casually leaned against Fred’s pickup.

“How long have you been waiting?”

“At least an hour.” Bryce tapped the old green truck. “Did the horse throw you or something during your evening ride? Get turned around finding your friend’s house or the way back? I know you weren’t attempting to run away. Right?”

She didn’t need to answer. He was making fun of her so she glared at him, even though he couldn’t see the glare in the dark. She wrapped her arms around her bag, almost afraid he might arrest her on the spot.

“Are you as starved as me? Or did Lisa give you something before you left?” Bryce continued, fingers tapping out an unknown rhythm against the old metal truck.

“I’m actually starved. And parched. Any chance there’s a water bottle in there?” She leaned on the warm hood.

“Nope. But it’s not far to Hico.” He threw his thumb toward the cab. “We can get something to go.”

“Nothing is open at this time of night in our little town.” The sun had been down a long time. Too long for the hood to still be as warm as it was. “You must be a really lucky son of a gun to choose the exact road I was heading to.”

“I like to think of myself as a highly skilled Texas Ranger. Come on, get in.”

“Who had his gun and ID lifted by little ol’ me,” she mumbled.

“There’s no reason to get nasty.”

“I’ll admit defeat when you confess how you found me.”

“I had a map. Calculated your foot speed—they teach us things like that.”

“And how long have you really been here?”

“All right. I tried several roads before deciding on this one. Satisfied? I got lucky and saw something moving from the road over there. Been waiting about fifteen minutes.”

“So you guessed.”

“Pretty much.” He grinned.

The dark wasn’t pitch-black, even with no moon hanging overhead. She could see that he’d found his shirt from where she’d hidden it in the barn. That meant he’d found his gun, too. Bryce could force her to go with him. If he was a dirty cop he could make her disappear. Especially now that she’d told Lisa she had to leave town.

No one would be looking for her.

There was nothing she could do to prevent it. Not here. She had to get back to town, maybe show her face at the Stop-N-Get It. But her instincts told her that Bryce was legit. A good person who believed he was following the law and had her best interests at heart.

Right. That’s what they all say.

“If I keep walking down this road...” She threw her chin in the direction behind the truck. “Are you going to arrest me?”

“Don’t make me, Kylie.”

Her fingers were already wrapped around the handle. She was getting into the truck, she had little choice. But she didn’t have to like it. They both got inside and slammed their doors.

“You need someone to look out for your safety,” he said softly, reaching for the ignition key.

“No offense, but I think I was doing pretty good without you.”

Exhaustion like she hadn’t felt in five years hit her like a slow wave as soon as she sat down. It started in her shoulders and crept up her neck, then down her back. She hadn’t stopped and had barely slowed, holding a steady pace across those fields. And yet, Texas Ranger Bryce Johnson had been waiting on her.

Just dumb luck? Or was he really that skilled?

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