Rita Herron - Cowboy to the Max

“Get down on the floor!” Carter shouted, as he spotted the shooter leaving his hiding spot behind the Jeep to chase them. Another bullet shattered the front windshield, spraying glass as Carter jumped inside. He ducked again to avoid being hit, punched the gas and tore from the curb.

His tires squealed as he raced down the street, and he swerved from side to side to throw off the shooter.

But the sound of another shot bouncing off the truck bed echoed behind him. He glanced in the rearview mirror hoping to see what the man looked like, but he wore a black face mask, black jacket, black clothes.

Only the shiny metal of his automatic weapon gleamed in the darkness.

SADIE CROUCHED LOW, her stomach lurching as Carter spun the truck down the road. The sound of the bullet pinging off the back made her cover her head, and the glass on the floor was digging into her knees.

Carter screeched and swerved to the right in a fast turn. Car horns blared, and another vehicle’s tires squealed as if the car was about to hit it. She braced herself, but Carter must have managed to miss the collision, then he whipped the truck around onto the highway. For the next few minutes, she closed her eyes and prayed as he wove back and forth through town, then she heard the hum of other traffic and realized he’d turned onto the main road.

“I think it’s safe. You can get up now,” he said in a gruff tone.

Sadie was shaking all over. The truck cab swirled as she lifted her head and looked up at him. His jaw was clenched in anger, the beard stubble making him appear rough and dangerous.

So did the feral look on his face.

“Where is he?” she said in a raspy whisper.

“I think we lost him.” He reached his hand out to help her up, and Sadie stared at it for a moment, unsure if she was ready to completely trust him.

Regret flared in his eyes. “For God’s sake, Sadie. I’m not going to hurt you.” He lowered his hand and brushed glass from the seat. “If I’d wanted to, I would have back there at the house.”

But he had threatened her. And he hated her.

Still, he was all the protection she had, and he had saved her life. So she slowly pulled herself from her shock and climbed in the seat.

“Buckle up,” Carter said. “For all I know he had a partner waiting to ambush us.”

Sadie nodded and hooked her seat belt, then leaned her head back, her body racked with tension.

“Did you get a look at him?” Carter asked.

She shook her head. “No, did you?”

“Not his face. He was a big guy, dressed in all black. Wore a face mask.”

“It has to be the same man who threatened me,” Sadie said. “The last few days I sensed someone was following me.”

Carter jerked his head toward her. “You mean since I escaped?”

She clenched her hands together. “Yes. I thought it might be you.”

Carter worked his mouth from side to side. “He probably figured I’d come after you to find out the truth.”

“Because I was the only one who could clear you,” Sadie said, the guilt once again suffocating her.

“Right. And of course, I played right into his hands.” He shot her a dark look. “That means he won’t stop until he kills both of us.”

A shudder rippled up Sadie’s spine, and she turned to stare through the window. Clouds gathered in an ominous gray haze, obliterating the stars. A quarter moon hung low in the Texas sky, the dim glow casting shadows across the cacti, scrub brush and mesquites dotting the wilderness.

Carter steered the truck to the right onto a dusty road, and in spite of the heat Sadie suddenly felt a chill as she realized they were heading out into the country where it would be deserted.

And they would be alone.

She hadn’t been alone with a man in five years.

BITTERNESS AND THE NEED for revenge fueled Carter’s temper. Sadie had helped ruin his life.

But she’d been tortured and threatened to keep her from going to the police on his behalf.

Had the killer targeted him personally because he had a grudge against Carter? Or had he simply been an easy mark because of his drinking?

Sadie’s breathing rattled in the silence, and she rubbed that scar. Anguish rolled through him. The night they’d made love he’d actually thought he’d felt something special with her.

Then everything had gone wrong.

And now she was afraid of him. That was obvious.

Not that he could blame her. Hell, he was a convicted felon. He’d served five years in prison with murderers and rapists and other hardened criminals. He’d tangled with plenty of them in fistfights and knife fights, and spent time in solitary confinement.

And he had held her at gunpoint.

“Where are we going?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“Some place to lay low for a while.”

Her eyes widened, her fear a palpable force vibrating in the air between them.

Suddenly aware he was practically kidnapping her, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed. But they’d left the town and civilization behind. Making a snap decision, he swerved off the road, careened to a stop and faced Sadie.

She gasped and clenched her arms around her body as if to protect herself. A mixture of emotions slammed into him again. For God’s sake, she thought he was going to attack her.

Shame washed over him. It had been so long since he’d dealt with anybody but criminals and prison guards who’d treated him like an animal that he’d forgotten how to be human. Gentle.

Reining in his temper, he held up his hand to indicate he didn’t intend to accost her. “I’m sorry about tonight. Is there someplace you’d like to go? Someone you trust to keep you safe?”

Surprise flickered across Sadie’s face, then she seemed to relax slightly. Still, she twisted her skirt in her fingers. “No. There’s no place.”

“Don’t you have family?”

She shook her head. “No. My mother died last year.”

She looked so small and lost and vulnerable that his chest clenched. He wanted to pull her in his arms and comfort her.

But the moment he lifted a hand toward her, she shrank like a delicate flower wilting in the sun. He gritted his teeth, silently cursing the past and the circumstances that had led them to this point.

“How about a friend?” he asked, intentionally lowering his voice. “Someone at the reservation?”

Her eyes widened, pits of steel. “I can’t endanger them, Carter. This man has kept track of me for five years. He knows you’re out, and now that he’s seen us together, he’s not going to give up until he silences us.” She heaved a weary sigh. “And he’ll hurt anyone we care about to get to us.”

Carter grimaced, hating that she was right. He’d long ago learned to stop living on empty hopes and senseless fantasies that people were good. No…most of the time they stabbed you in the back.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, struggling to formulate a plan, but his head ached from trying to figure out his next move. He was a cowboy, not a cop or the devious criminal everyone had pegged him to be.

But he had to think like one if he was going to survive and clear himself.

Having Sadie with him would make it more difficult to hide out. Then again, the police were looking for him, not a man and a woman, so it might serve to his advantage to travel as a couple.

Although if the police discovered they were together, they could arrest Sadie for aiding and abetting a convicted felon.

But what choice did they have? If he left her alone and that jerk found her, no telling what he’d do to her this time before he killed her.

And he would kill her.

Dammit. He had enough guilt to last a lifetime.

He couldn’t live with Sadie’s death on his conscience.