Twelve-Gauge Guardian

“Quite. Did I mention that I believe Emily Frank was taken by someone in one of Whitehorse’s more prominent seemingly upstanding families?”

Cordell let out a hoot of laughter. “Like the Winchesters? Think again. We’ve never been upstanding. Not even seemingly.”

“You might be surprised how money and power tip the scales toward upstanding.”

“No, actually I wouldn’t be surprised.” He eyed her, realizing she’d researched his family. Before or after Cyrus had crossed her path? “Winchester is just a name to me. I haven’t been back here in twenty-seven years and if there were any money or power, my father and brother and I have never been a part of it.”

She cocked a brow at him. “What about your grandmother?”

“Not that it is any of your business, but until recently my grandmother was a recluse who hadn’t left the ranch in all those years. None of the rest of us had seen her in all that time or lived anywhere near here. Even if she hadn’t been locked away for twenty-seven years, I can assure you she wouldn’t abduct a child.”

“If you haven’t seen her, then you have no way of knowing—”

“My grandmother,” he interrupted, “is so fond of children she doesn’t even know how many grandchildren she has. She had to pay her lawyer to try to track us all down. I won’t even go into how she treated her own children, even her favorite son.”

“And this is where you’re taking me? To see this grandmother?” She sounded incredulous.

“It wouldn’t be my first choice, but you’ve left us no other option.” Thunder rumbled in the distance. “You know anything about storms up in this country? Unless we get moving and damned soon, that storm is going to catch us and we are going to be stuck, literally, out here until someone comes along and that could be a damned long time. Once it starts raining, this road will become gumbo. We’d never be able to get back to town before the storm hits so we’re going to wait out the storm at the Winchester Ranch. And believe me, I’m much unhappier about that prospect than you could ever be.”

What in her research was she trying so desperately to keep from him? he wondered. Well, he’d soon find out. Once they reached the ranch, he’d go through everything in that satchel. She was his only possible connection to the men who’d put his brother in a coma. She was going to help him even if he had to wring her pretty little neck.

It would make it easier if she trusted him though, but he didn’t take it personally. If he’d learned anything from his first marriage and subsequent divorce, it was that trust is a fragile thing that once broken badly is impossible to get back again.

He wondered, though, who had broken Raine Chandler’s trust. Whoever it was had done a bang-up job.

RAINE REALIZED SHE had little choice but to go with him to the Winchester Ranch. Fighting Cordell would be futile since right now he held all the cards.

Also she wanted the man who’d hurt his brother just as badly as he did. If it was true and Cyrus Winchester was now fighting for his life, she owed him for his chivalry in saving her last night.

Cordell Winchester was another story. He didn’t have a chivalrous bone in his body and she balked at being forced into anything, especially by him.

But she also realized it couldn’t hurt having an obviously high-priced private investigator now helping her find the person who’d been driving that van last night—the same person she’d come to Whitehorse to find.

As she started to gather up her things he’d dumped in the grass, Cordell stopped her. “I’ll take care of this.”

“I’d prefer to carry my own things.”

He smiled. “I’d prefer you not bloody my nose or kick me in the groin or pull a gun on me.”

“That’s right, you have my gun. I’d like that back.”

“I’m sure you would. But you don’t need to worry. From now until we’re finished with this, I will keep you safe.”

She lifted a brow questioning whether he thought he really could handle that job. Fortunately she’d learned to take care of herself. “I’m not sure you won’t need my help.”

He gave her a look that said she was pushing her luck. She heard him swear under his breath as he walked away. She watched him, trying to gauge what kind of man he really was. One thing was for sure—he had no idea who the woman he’d just taken captive really was.

As she watched him, for the first time, she took a good look at Cordell Winchester. She was suddenly aware of the man on some primitive level. He looked like an ad for Montana, a cowboy who was just as comfortable in the wild outdoors as in a large city or a boardroom.

She must have been blind not to have noticed before this how his jeans hugged his tight behind, the legs long, the hips slim. His shoulders seemed broad enough to block out the sun.

Raine felt desire warm her blood. It had been a long time since she’d been even remotely aware of a man. She’d been too busy with her career. She’d apparently forgotten what it felt like to want a man so much it made her ache. Or maybe she’d just never known a man like Cordell Winchester, a man who could unleash that kind of primal need even when she couldn’t stand the sight of him.

This was a man who had to be used to getting what he wanted from women. She was glad she wasn’t that type of woman. But the thought also came with a little regret that she wouldn’t be finding out if Cordell was as sexy as he looked.

As he started to the car with her things, he saw her eyeing him. “Something wrong?”

She scoffed at that. Everything was wrong. She couldn’t wait to see the last of this Winchester and, judging by the expression on Cordell’s face, he felt the same way.

CORDELL HATED THE IDEA of dragging this woman out to the ranch with him as much as he hated going there in the first place. He knew he had no business taking her prisoner and the last person he wanted to see was his grandmother.

But the storm had given him no other option other than being trapped in the small rental car with her. That, he thought, could definitely be worse than the ranch. At least at his grandmother’s they should be able to get something to eat and drink and, if they were stuck there overnight, a place to sleep.

He didn’t trust Raine Chandler as far as he could toss her and needed this time to find out everything he could about her—and this article she was writing.

As it was, he’d have to watch her 24/7. At least at the ranch, she was far enough from Whitehorse that taking off would require she hoof it forty miles. Or take a horse. He couldn’t see that happening.

“This is just temporary,” he said as they climbed into the car. Once he found the person who hurt his brother, Raine Chandler was free to do whatever the hell she wanted.