Riding Shotgun

A cowboy returns home a war hero to protect his family in the exciting new Kavanaughs series from Joanna Wayne

With his life in shambles and desperate to bond with the five-year-old daughter he barely knows, ex-SEAL Pierce Lawrence returns to his Texas childhood home, the Double K Ranch. There he meets the intriguing Grace Addison, a mystery woman on the run…who is loath to get involved with the ruggedly handsome cowboy.

Pierce, instantly attracted to Grace, would do anything to help her escape her living nightmare…if only she’d let him. But how can she allow him to get close, when she fears the killer targeting her could also endanger Pierce—and his innocent daughter?

The Kavanaughs

“If you’re in trouble, I can help,” Pierce said.

Grace took a deep breath and pulled one of her rehearsed stories from her repertoire. “If you must know, I didn’t lose my job. I had a bad breakup with an ex. I took all of his possessions he’d left at my place and dumped them. I decided to take a short vacation while he cools down.”

“Remind me not to make you mad.”

He reached over and took both her hands in his. The touch sent her emotions on a dangerous spiral. She couldn’t give in to the desire that sparked inside her. A relationship with Pierce had nowhere to go. It would cause her to make bad decisions.

Pierce placed a thumb under her chin and tilted her face until his lips were only a hairbreadth away. “I want you to stay, Grace, because I really like having you here.”

His lips touched hers. A longing struck full force, a need so intense she had to struggle to breathe.

Riding Shotgun

Joanna Wayne

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JOANNA WAYNE began her professional writing career in 1994. Now, more than fifty published books later, Joanna has gained a worldwide following with her cutting-edge romantic suspense and Texas family series, such as Sons of Troy Ledger and Big “D” Dads. Joanna currently resides in a small community north of Houston, Texas, with her husband. You may write to Joanna at PO Box 852, Montgomery, TX 77356, USA or connect with her at www.joannawayne.com.

To all my readers who love a good family story

with a fairy-tale ending. A special thanks to my own

wonderful family, who make my life so special,

and to my fantastic editor, who has made

my last twenty years of writing a joy.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

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

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

Esther Kavanaugh lifted the lid and sniffed the aroma of pinto beans, spices and the hunk of pork she’d added for flavor. Probably too much salt and fat for their health, but it was just the way Charlie liked it. Fifty-three years of eating her cooking and he still bragged that she was the best cook in Texas.

She grabbed her oversize metal spoon and gave the beans a final stir before cutting off the gas. Beans were ready. So were the turnip greens and corn bread. Fresh onion was sliced. She didn’t need the clock to tell her it was lunchtime. Her stomach was doing that for her.

Still, she glanced up and checked the hands on the loud ticking metal clock hanging on the opposite wall. Ten after twelve, which meant it was pushing twelve thirty. Old clock always ran slow, but it was close enough for Esther. At seventy-two, she was starting to run a bit slow herself these days.

Charlie had never worried much with punctuality, though he was up with the sun each morning. Claimed his cows didn’t watch the clock, so why should he.

He was seldom late for lunch, though. Must be trying to finish up some chore, probably working on that old tractor of his. She tried to get him to replace it, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Never throw away what can be fixed, he insisted.

She filled two glasses with ice and poured one to the top with fresh brewed sweet tea. She took her drink to the back porch to wait for Charlie. Mid-September but the sun was blazing down like August, making the humid air practically steamy.

Settling in the wooden rocker, she let her thoughts drift to the past. That was another thing about getting older, not that seventy-two was all that old, but she did find herself thinking backward more and more these days.

Like the first time she’d seen Charlie come hurtling through the gate at their small-town rodeo on the back of a snorting, kicking giant of a bull. He hadn’t lasted the required eight seconds. Hadn’t even lasted two.

But when he’d gotten up, dusted off his jeans, looked right at her and tipped his hat, she was a goner. She’d loved that man every day since.

She sipped her tea and rocked.

Thirty minutes later, her glass was empty except for small chunks of melting ice. Where in the world was that old man of hers? It wasn’t like Charlie to be this late when he knew food was waiting. She went back inside, picked up the house phone and called his cell number.

No answer. She called again. And again.

Finally, she left a message urging him to call her back. No use to panic, she reminded herself as her nerves grew edgier. His hearing wasn’t that great anymore and he was too damned stubborn to admit he needed hearing aids. He probably couldn’t hear the phone over the equipment he was operating.

No doubt he’d be calling her back any moment. After all, the only reason he’d agreed to carry what he called the most annoying invention of all time was in case she had an emergency and needed him.

Ten minutes later, he hadn’t called back. Her stomach churned, though she’d lost her appetite.

She’d best go check on Charlie. She took off down the worn path, past the chicken coop and to the barn. The tractor was in plain sight. Charlie wasn’t. She was almost running by the time she neared the open barn door.

She stopped stock-still. A stream of crimson snaked out of the barn and spread over the dirt. She went numb, struck with sudden, paralyzing fear.

Then, heart pounding, she grabbed her chest and stumbled inside.

A pool of blood. A head split wide-open. A gun.

The images ripped through her. Icy fingers wrapped around her heart, squeezing so hard that her chest seemed to explode. The last thing she remembered was the metallic taste on her tongue as she collapsed face-first into the river of Charlie’s blood.

Chapter One

Three months later

Grace Cotton looked up and into a pair of twinkling gray-blue eyes encircled by deep wrinkles and saggy skin. Elizabeth Howe was just one of the many reasons she loved working in the small-town Tennessee library.

“You’re all set,” Grace said. “As soon as the book is available, I’ll give you a call.”

“Tell them not to dally too long. At ninety-two, I don’t have time to wait around on a novel. I don’t even buy green bananas.”

Grace smiled at the joke even though Mrs. Howe repeated it every time she visited the library. Still, the feisty woman was amazing for her age. Got around just fine with the help of a jeweled, engraved cane, a gift to her from an English duke she’d met on a cruise aboard the Queen Mary a few years back. She’d obviously enchanted him the way she did everyone who knew her.

“Buy all the green bananas you want,” Grace teased. “I expect you’ll still be devouring romance novels long after I’ve retired.”

“No chance of that, but I’ll be reading them as long as I can. Even old worn-out bodies like mine need a little fantasy.”

Young bodies, too, though Grace steered clear of it. Longing bred temptation, and she didn’t dare so much as flirt with temptation.

“Bundle up before you go outside,” Grace reminded her. “That north wind cuts to the bone.”

“Don’t I know it,” Elizabeth said, pulling her parka tight over her slender body. She zipped it and tugged the hood over short silver wisps of her hair until she was just a wrinkled face peeking out of a furry frame.

She reached for the books she’d chosen from the shelves, several Grace knew she’d read before.

“Let me help you get those to the car,” Grace offered.

Elizabeth waved her off. “I don’t need help. I’m parked under the overhang in the book drop-off lane. Right by the no-parking sign.” She winked. “I figure having a great-grandson who’s a deputy ought to get me a perk on a day like this.”

“I’d say you’re right.” Not that anyone in town would question where Elizabeth parked her fifteen-year-old blue Honda. She was a living legend in this mountain town where she’d been born and lived all her life.

Grace envied her that. Having so many close friends, living in one place so long she was part of the town’s fabric.

Elizabeth picked up her books with her left hand and took her cane in her right. Grace would at least open the heavy front door for her. As Grace stepped from behind the counter, the door swung open, ushering in an icy blast.

Grace turned to see who else had ventured out on this cold December afternoon. The library was practically deserted today.

The young man was in jeans, an unzipped black leather jacket and no hat, clearly paying little heed to the area’s first real taste of winter.

He held the door for Elizabeth and then stepped inside. His earth-colored eyes fastened on Grace, his gaze searing into hers. The intensity rattled her. She stared back.

She’d looked into those eyes before. Three days ago in the cereal aisle of Tatum’s grocery. She’d looked up as she dropped a package of granola into her cart and spotted the man a few feet away, his stare as penetrating as it was now.

She’d seen him again yesterday, practically running into him on the sidewalk when she’d walked out of the town’s pharmacy. Again he had stared before disappearing into the shop himself.

Panic knotted her stomach. Her fingers tightened around the corner of the counter. She took a deep breath and struggled to separate her fears from reality.

This was a small town. Running into him didn’t mean the stranger was following her. But it didn’t guarantee that he wasn’t, either.

He let his gaze drop from hers and glanced around the library.

“May I help you?” she asked as he approached the counter.

“I’m new in town. What do I do to get a library card?”

“You’ll need a photo ID and a local address.”

“No problem.” He pulled out his wallet and flashed a Louisiana driver’s license. A new wave of panic hit. She forced her hands not to shake as she pulled a printed form from the niche below the counter.

“Just fill this out, read the requirements for checking out books and sign your consent,” she said.

“How long before I get the card?”

“I can give you a number that will allow you to check out books today. The permanent card will be mailed to your local home address.”

“That’ll work.”

“What brings you to our area?” she asked.

“A job.”

He didn’t offer more. She tensed again. The small town of Mountain Edge was not a mecca for employment opportunities.

He looked over the form and then took a pen from the black plastic cup. Before making a mark, he shook his head and returned the pen to its holder. “Sorry. My phone always interrupts at the most inconvenient times.”

She hadn’t heard it ring. Either he had it on vibrate as the note on the counter requested or he was stalling.

He pulled his phone from his pocket as he stepped away from the counter and then walked back to the deserted reference section.

“This is it for today.”

Grace startled, then turned as John Everly, a local retired attorney, set a stack of books on the counter.

She glanced at the books he’d chosen, a mix of thrillers, political intrigue and history. “Nice choices.”

“Hope so. Looks like we’re going to have a few more days of arctic blasts, so figured I better stock up on reading material.”

“You’re right,” she agreed, “nothing better than getting lost in an engrossing novel while cuddled in front of a roaring fire in this type of weather.”

“And it’s only mid-December,” he said. “I hate to think what January’s going to bring.”

She checked out the books and pushed them back to him. “Stay warm.”

“You, too.”

As he walked away, she scanned the room until she spotted the suspicious stranger near the end of one of the stacks, phone in hand, but not held to his ear. He was taking her picture.

When he saw her looking back, he quickly shoved the phone in his jacket pocket.

He knew who she was. Why else would he be taking her picture?

She fought the urge to jump across the counter and bolt for the door. But panic could lead to bad decisions. Forcing herself to stay in control, she considered her options.

But there was really only one. She’d run again, blindly, like a fox fleeing a team of vicious hunting dogs. She’d have to change her appearance, might even try out that horrible wig she’d purchased online from a costume website. She looked at least forty in that. She’d swap her contact lens for some big-rimmed glasses.

She’d find a new identity, a new job, a new town. She’d start over once again, always living on the precipice of fear and ready to run on a minute’s notice.

Chapter Two

The wheels hit the runway with a thump and then bumped along a few yards before steadying. Back in the United States. Home again. For the first time in over a year.

But home to what?

A divorce from a wife who’d grown so emotionally distant that they’d stopped communicating altogether except for things concerning their daughter, Jaci.

No job prospects. No plans. And no more ties to the navy SEALs and the sense of purpose and comradery that had been his life for the past eight years.

The plane pulled up to the Jetway and jerked to a stop.

“Please remain seated until the captain turns off the seat-belt sign.”

No one did, including Pierce Lawrence. He opened the overhead storage compartment and retrieved his duffel and the one of the middle-aged woman who’d had the seat next to him. They’d barely exchanged a hello on the long flight. She’d slept. He’d struggled through silent rehearsals for what he was about to face.

As wary as if he were preparing for enemy fire, he followed the crowd of passengers to baggage claim.

He spotted Leslie before she saw him. Her long blond hair fell into curls that cascaded about her narrow shoulders. Her body was as spectacular as it had been when they’d met six years ago. She wore knee-high boots, a pale blue sweater and a short fitted skirt.

He slowed and stared, half expecting a jolt of desire to take his breath away. All he felt was a foreboding sense of loss for what they’d never really had.

His gaze fell to the five-year-old girl holding tight to her hand. Jaci shifted from foot to foot expectantly, or perhaps just impatiently. Her hair was red like his mother’s had been, curly like Leslie’s.

His daughter looked his way but made no sign that she recognized him. The jolt hit him then. Hard, as if someone had sucker punched him in the gut.

His daughter. The reason he was back in Chicago. The reason he’d turned his back on the lifestyle he’d loved. Yet he didn’t really know her and she certainly didn’t know him.

It was too late to save his marriage, but he was a dad and smart enough to know that if he didn’t bond with Jaci now, he might lose her forever. She’d be swallowed up by the new life Leslie would make for the two of them.

He hurried to where Leslie and Jaci were waiting. He dropped his duffel to the floor by his feet. Leslie managed a smile and slipped into his arms. Her hug lacked warmth. When he tried to kiss her, she dodged it, offering her cheek in place of her lips.

What did he expect? Their divorce would be final tomorrow.

“How was the flight?” Leslie asked.

“Long.” He bent to pick up his daughter.

Jaci scooted away from him, trying to hide behind her mother’s shapely legs.

“Say hello to your father, Jaci. He’s come a long way to see you.”

Jaci shook her head.

“That’s okay,” he said, though it hurt like hell. “I’m not going anywhere. We’ll have plenty of time to get reacquainted.”

“Yes,” Leslie said. “If all goes well, the two of you will be spending a lot of time together.”

Not exactly sure what that meant, he decided to let it ride. “I’ll grab the rest of my luggage from baggage claim, and then let’s get out of here. Maybe grab something to eat. I’m starved for some real food.”

“We can have lunch at the apartment,” Leslie said. “We need to talk.”

They needed to talk and get this divorce and the child custody situation over and done with. Couldn’t say it much plainer than that. This was definitely not the homecoming any serviceman dreamed about.

Talk during the drive to her apartment was all about Jaci, who sat in the backseat playing on an iPad. She shrugged or totally ignored his attempts to make conversation with her.

The apartment was in a luxury complex, gated, with gardens at the entrance and a man-made brook meandering through the three-story, balconied structures. Leslie hadn’t mentioned a raise or a promotion, but she’d upgraded significantly from the apartment they’d rented together when he’d last been home on leave. She clearly wasn’t living like this on his military salary.

She parked next to the curb. He followed her and Jaci up the path to the front door. Jaci’s hand was securely encased in her mother’s as if she needed protection from the stranger referred to as her father.

He was a stranger. That was the problem. A stranger to Leslie, too. A stranger to this life that seemed positively foreign to the secret mission he’d been on in the Middle East for the past nine months.

“Nice digs,” he said as he followed Leslie through the door.

“We needed more space,” she said as if that explained it all. “Jaci, why don’t you show your father your room and some of your favorite toys while I put lunch on the table.”

Jaci looked as if she’d been asked to pick up a slimy fish with her bare hands. Pierce had a handful of medals that claimed he was brave and tough, yet facing Jaci alone daunted him.

“I can help you in the kitchen first if you’d like,” he offered.

“No help needed. All I have to do is toss a salad. Everything else I picked up at the deli earlier. I thought it would be easier to talk here than at a noisy restaurant.”

“No doubt.”

Jaci left the kitchen and he followed her to her room. It was even more daunting than Jaci. Pink satin and lace everywhere from the curtains to the bed with its multitude of throw pillows. Looked like it had come straight from a designer’s showroom. He wouldn’t have dared sit on the bed and put a wrinkle in the frilly coverlet.

He wondered if Jaci did.

Not a toy out of place. Books in perfect order along a low bookshelf. Dolls on display.

“It’s a very pretty room,” Pierce offered.

“It’s okay, I guess.”

“You don’t like it?”

“I wanted a cowboy coverlet like my friend Joey has, but Mommy said no.”

“So, you like cowboys?” Maybe they did have some common ground. He’d loved the cowboy lifestyle himself once, had been sure he’d own his own ranch one day.

“I like horses,” Jaci said.

“Have you ever ridden one?”

“Once. At Joey’s birthday party, but they just walked around real slow in a circle. And they were all tied together. I don’t think they liked it.”

“I’m guessing they didn’t,” Pierce agreed. “I’ll take you riding on a real horse.”

Jaci tilted her head and cut her eyes at him. “Mommy says they’re dangerous.”

“For Mommy, maybe. But I’ve ridden lots of horses. I can keep you safe.”

Here he was, back in her life less than an hour and already usurping Leslie’s authority. That might not be the best of ideas. “We’ll get your mommy’s approval before we ride.”

“She’ll say no.”

“But she must let you do lots of fun things.” He wasn’t about to fall into the trap of competing with Leslie. “So show me those favorite toys your mother was talking about.”

“It’s just kid stuff. You wouldn’t like it.”

“I was a kid once.”

Jaci didn’t look convinced. She went to the shelf and pulled out a basket of Lego. “I like to build things.”

“What kind of things?”

“Towers. As tall as I can. And bridges. They’re the hardest.”

“I bet.”

“How come you went away for so long? Joey’s daddy comes home every night and they go to the park and play. Sometimes they take me with them.”

“I had an important job to do that was too far away to come home every night, but I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere. How about you show me that park after lunch?”

For a half second he thought she was going to smile, but the curve to her lip turned downward as quickly as it had appeared.

“Lunch is ready.”

Pierce looked up. Leslie was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest, her expression troubled.

Leslie crossed the room and put a hand on Jaci’s shoulder. “Go wash up, sweetie. Your dad and I will meet you in the kitchen in a few minutes.”

Jaci marched off. The tension in the room soared. Pierce figured the moment of truth had come, but he stayed silent. Always better to know the enemy’s position before you sprang into action.

“I thought this could wait until after lunch,” Leslie said, “but I’m not good at these games.”

“I’m not too keen on them myself.” Especially when he didn’t know the rules of engagement. “Don’t spare my feelings. I’m a big boy. Hit me with it.”

“I’m planning to remarry in the spring. I felt you should know.”

“Is the groom anyone I know?”

“Does it matter?”

“Probably not.”

He waited for the sting of betrayal. Or rejection. Or whatever a guy was supposed to feel when his wife of six years told him she’d replaced him with someone new. It didn’t come.

He’d known it was over for months, would have been even if there wasn’t another man in the picture.

They’d tried the last couple of times they were together—at least he’d given it a halfhearted shot. Things had gone fine in bed from his standpoint. Leslie was a beautiful, sexy woman.