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Chapter One W as the driver crazy? At this rate he was going to hit her! The headlights in Lucita Sanchez’s rearview mirror were growing closer and closer, blinding her view of the secluded black highway in front of her. Fear rifled through her, shooting adrenaline to every nerve in her body. Her knuckles in a white grip on the steering wheel, she pressed on the car’s accelerator, hoping to pull away from the approaching vehicle. Was the driver deliberately trying to ram into her? Maybe the driver couldn’t see her? Don’t try to kid yourself, Lucita. Someone has been tailing you for weeks now. Long before you moved back to the Sandbur. The broken white lines in the middle of the highway became one long blur as the speedometer crept toward ninety, then ninety-five. Behind her, the vehicle didn’t appear to be relenting. Instead, the headlights seemed to be inching closer and closer to her back bumper. Her mind was snatching for ways to escape when a jolt from behind lurched her forward in
Chapter One
Chapter Two H er head now throbbing with pain, Lucita pulled her handbag onto her lap and began to search for a painkiller. She was still pawing her way through lipstick tubes and crumpled receipts when the cab door opened again and Deputy McCleod slid beneath the steering wheel. With him came the warm night air and his distinctly male scent. A prickle of awareness suddenly dotted her skin with goose bumps. “No hog, Ms. Sanchez,” he told her. “Once it’s daylight, the department will have a closer inspection of your car. Of course, if we find anything, we’ll inform you.” She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “Actually, I’m glad you didn’t find the hog. I didn’t want to think I’d ended its life, even if it would have helped me avoid a ticket.” He reached for the clipboard and the paper where he’d jotted down her license information. “Hog. Tailgater. Whatever. You were obviously driving way too fast, Ms. Sanchez. I’d say if you put any value on that neck of yours, you’
Chapter Two
Chapter Three L ong before daylight the next morning, Ripp was sitting at his kitchen table wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and sipping his first cup of coffee. Outside, down the dirt road that ran past his property, a rooster was crowing and somewhere nearby he could hear Chester, his black Labrador, barking, probably at an armadillo that was determined to dig up the last of the potatoes in the vegetable garden. Ripp had moved into the small, shotgun-style house five years ago, after his father, Owen McCleod, had lost a long battle with lung disease. The family farm, where Ripp and his older brother, Mac, had once helped their father raise corn and cotton, had held too many painful memories for both men. They’d sold the place and used most of the money to settle up the enormous medical bills that had piled up while their father fought to stay alive. As for their mother, Frankie, she’d left the family farm long ago, when her sons had been mere children of eight and ten years old. N
Chapter Three
Chapter Four L ater that evening the living room of the Sanchez house was full of voices, the loudest belonging to Lucita’s brother, Matt, who also happened to be the head ramrod of the Sandbur now that Geraldine Saddler was in semiretirement. Pacing from one end of the room to the other, he punctuated each word by slashing his arm through the air. “The best thing Luci can do now is quit that damn job at St. Francis. There’s no sense in her getting out on the highway and making herself a target for this predator.” Grateful that her aunt Geraldine had taken Marti out for the evening and away from the discussion of this worrisome turn of events, Lucita stared in dismay at her brother. Juliet, Matt’s wife, spoke up before Lucita had a chance to utter any sort of protest. “Matt, can you hear yourself? Lucita has a life! She loves teaching just like you love what you do. Would you want someone demanding that you quit?” Matt’s brows arched. “That’s a ridiculous comparison! Can’t you understa
Chapter Four
Chapter Five T hough dazed by the sudden interruption, Lucita still leaped away from Ripp and smiled as brightly as she could at her son. “What’s he doing here?” Marti asked with childlike candor. Lucita opened her mouth to explain, but before she could get a word out, Ripp walked over to the tall, slender boy with a face full of freckles and a wary look in his gray eyes. Extending his hand to Lucita’s son, Ripp introduced himself, “Hello, young man. I’m Ripp McCleod. A deputy for Goliad County.” Still obviously rattled to find a man in the house, particularly a lawman, Marti turned one eye toward his mother while he shook hands with Ripp. “Mr. McCleod is Sheriff Travers’s chief deputy, Marti,” Lucita explained, then glanced uncertainly up at Ripp. “And—uh, he came by the ranch this evening because—” Sensing her unease, Ripp quickly intervened. “I was the officer who reported your mother’s car accident the other night. I came by this evening to deliver some papers to her that she neede
Chapter Five
Chapter Six R ipp. Even though Lucita hadn’t seen the sexy deputy since she’d kissed him last Friday evening in the kitchen, the man continued to dwell in her thoughts. In the past five days, she’d spoken to him twice on the phone. He’d called to update her on the investigation of the extortion note, but even the seriousness of the situation hadn’t stopped her mind from wandering to the low, husky lilt of his voice and envisioning his strong face. You’re losing it, Lucita. Now isn’t the time to be thinking about a man in that sort of way. There will never be a time. Unless you want to put your heart on the chopping block again. With a weary sigh, Lucita hefted the duffel bag filled with work she was taking home and left the St. Francis building. For the past two days since she’d returned to work, a wrangler had followed her from the Sandbur all the way to school in the morning and would reappear when it was time for her to make the trip home. This evening as she made her way across the
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven I t was Jess’s fussy whimpers that finally entered Lucita’s awareness and reminded her that the kiss had gone on far too long. In fact, it could no longer be called simply a kiss. It was an all-out heated embrace and her face felt scorched as she disengaged her fingers from the back of his neck and eased her mouth away. “I—uh—” She gulped for air and looked down at Jess, who was tugging at the hem of her shorts and beginning to cry with frustration. Obviously the child was tired of being ignored. “I think Jess needs to find his parents.” Quickly, before Ripp could make any sort of reply, she rose to her feet. But as she bent to lift the toddler into her arms, he brushed her to one side. “Let me,” he said huskily. “He’s a hefty little guy.” Ripp picked up the boy and adjusted the baby’s weight in the crook of one arm. Immediately Jess was pacified and his tiny hand went straight to the shiny badge pinned to the left pocket on Ripp’s shirt. While the baby amused himself, Ri
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight T he thirty-minute drive into Victoria passed in a nightmarish daze for Lucita. It only got worse when they entered the southeastern side of the city and began to encounter roadblocks and jammed lines of traffic. Once Ripp flashed his badge, a path was made for them to pass, but the going was slow. As the truck inched its way through the stalled traffic, Lucita had to fight to keep from bursting into sobs and screaming at the top of her lungs. “I…can’t think that someone—someone evil has my boy,” Lucita choked out for the third time since they’d entered the city. “I’m trying not to let myself imagine what he might be going through right now. But I—I can’t stop myself, Ripp! Oh, God,” she prayed aloud, “Please let him be found safe and sound.” Reaching over, Ripp gripped her hand. “Try not to think the worst, Lucita. I know that’s a damn lame thing to say, but you can’t let your imagination take over.” Wiping at her tears, she swallowed and nodded. “You’re right. Yes, you’
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine F ive miles down Salt Lick Road was a low hill with a wide pull-off decorated with a row of rural mailboxes. It was a lonely spot out in the countryside, a place where a rancher once had a maze of feedlots. Many years ago, the wooden corrals had been torn down. Now the only things left were a windmill, a water tank and a molasses lick for the herd of cattle pastured there. There were no houses or neighboring structures to be seen for at least two miles surrounding the old salt lick. The only thing suggesting that people lived on the finger roads branching off Salt Lick were the mailboxes. The isolation was no doubt one of the main reasons the kidnapper had specified the place for the money to be dropped. The rough dirt road was hardly traveled and when it was, the dust boiling behind a vehicle was a dead giveaway. Lucita drove the SUV slowly; her hands white-knuckle, her heart pounding like thunder in her ears. Somewhere in the near vicinity was a group of Rangers and depu
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten O n the way to Ripp’s place, Lucita tried not to think about his comment. Make love to her? Had he meant that literally? Just thinking of being connected to Ripp in such an intimate way was enough to curl her toes. She found it very hard to think about anything else as they drove toward Goliad. But when he finally turned down a short dirt lane and pulled to a stop in front of a wood-sided house, she was suddenly piqued with curiosity. This was Ripp’s home. It was an important part of him and she was eager to see everything. The house and nearby garage were white, trimmed with green. The house was built in long, shotgun style with a porch running across the front. Several Chinese Pistache trees, slash pines and one enormous pecan tree shaded the structure, while at one end of the porch a huge oleander bush dripped with white blossoms. “Sorry the grass is a little long,” he said as he helped her to the ground. “I’ve been too busy to mow.” “Oh, don’t apologize. It all looks ve
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven T he Cattle Call Café was a country-style restaurant located in downtown Goliad, a short distance away from the courthouse. The interior was a long rectangular room with a high ceiling fitted with a number of bladed fans to stir the smoke of cooking grease and cigarettes that mingled with the twangy country tunes coming from a radio. A long bar lined with swiveling stools crossed one end of the room, while the remaining area was fitted with round wooden tables and chairs. The walls were plastered with historical photos and paintings depicting the local area, some of them going as far back as Colonel Fannin’s battle at Coleto Creek during the Texas war for Independence. The café had long been a gathering place for townsfolk, local ranchers and lawmen. Down through the years, Ripp had enjoyed many meals here with his father and brother. He’d sat with Sheriff Travers and his fellow deputies as they’d gobbled down hurried lunches or sometimes were even forced to race away be
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve T he next evening, in a room at the back of the sheriff’s department, Ripp sat on the edge of a metal chair while Officer Tava Hollis wound a bandage around his upper arm. Only an hour earlier Ripp and the sheriff had responded to a domestic incidence on the south side of town. While the two of them listened to the woman’s version of the confrontation, Ripp had glanced around just in time to see the male offender armed with a butcher knife, running straight for the sheriff’s back. Ripp hadn’t hesitated or even taken one split second to react. He’d lunged between the sheriff and the offender and wrestled the knife from his hand. But not before Ripp’s arm had taken a deep stab from the kitchen utensil. “This needs stitches, Ripp,” the young woman exclaimed with a frown. “Before you head home, you’d better go by the emergency room and let a doctor deal with this.” Ripp grunted. “It’s just a scratch and it hasn’t been that long ago since I got a tetanus shot. I’ll live.” Tav
Chapter Twelve
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