Bucking Bronc Lodge 04(18)

He sensed the heat between the two of them. Just like animals that couldn’t stop following their natural instincts.

She was just another slut who would use her body to get what she wanted.

His sex stirred. Hell, how could he blame McGregor? His own body hummed with arousal.

She was pretty in a simple kind of way, not dark and exotic like Marie or the others, but her hair looked silky and her throat...pale and begging to be touched.

He ran his fingers over his thigh, up and down, up and down, his fingers itching to tame that wild hair and wind it around his hand. To tilt her head back and place his mouth on that delicate skin.

To sink his teeth into her flesh for a taste.

To watch the first spurt of blood as he pierced her throat. To smell the metallic odor as it flowed from her body and drained the life from her.

Soon...soon he would have her.

And the kid...he’d take care of him, too. That wouldn’t be easy. But he would make it fast. He would get no pleasure from taking the boy’s life, but the job had to be done.

Then all his loose ends would be tied up.

All except for killing McGregor.

But that would have to wait. McGregor liked the hunt. The game.

He wasn’t ready to give it up either....





Chapter Five




Jordan couldn’t shake the haunted look in Miles’s eyes as she walked back to her cabin.

Dried twigs crunched beneath her boots, the wind swirling dust around her ankles. Somewhere in the distance, the sound of night creatures livened the air, but the hiss of cold from the images bombarding her made her shiver with the thought of death.

After seeing that picture of the murdered woman, the one who’d helped Dugan, she understood the depth of Miles’s anguish. She didn’t know the woman, yet she felt a sad ache for her and her family, and a fury toward the monster who’d butchered her.

Miles had seen Marie lying in a bloodbath like that.

And so had Timmy...

“But why would Dugan kill the woman who gave him an alibi?” Jordan asked, unable to decipher his motive.

Dugan shrugged. “Because he was done with her.”

If he truly was a sociopath, that made sense. “Or maybe she realized what she’d done and decided to come forward.”

“That’s possible, too.”

A limb cracked on a nearby tree, and she jerked her head toward the woods. A shadow moved...or had she imagined it?

She paused, searching the area, but suddenly everything went still. The leaves didn’t move, the wind quieted, even the air seemed to freeze as if waiting for danger to strike.

Miles’s warning about Timmy taunted her. She had to stay alert.

Deciding she’d imagined the noise, that it was probably an animal foraging for food, she shook off her nerves and hurried back toward her cabin. But each step she took, she sensed someone behind her. Someone watching her.

Something that felt sinister and dark hovering above her as if she had now garnered a stalker.

Clouds shrouded the stars tonight, yet the distant lights of the campfire burning low as the boys settled down for the night reminded her that the ranch was safe. Brody had security. Miles was armed and guarding Timmy.

And she was far away from the gang who had stolen her brother’s life.

She was safe tonight as well.

The porch light she’d left on broke the darkness, and she ordered herself to relax. Miles had the sheriff, and deputies were hunting Dugan and his accomplice. All she needed to do was to focus on Timmy and his recovery.

She dug in her pocket for her keys, climbed the porch and let herself inside. But the moment she stepped through the door, she sensed something was amiss.

Instantly, she scanned the den and adjoining kitchen. The books she’d brought to read, the files on the gang, her computer, everything was exactly where she’d left them.

She crossed to her bedroom, and sighed with relief when she didn’t see anyone inside. Just her clothing, which was all in place. Even the pillows were stacked on the bed the way she’d arranged them.

Her experience with the B-2-8s’ intimidation tactics had taught her to pay attention to details.

They had vandalized her apartment, scrawled graffiti on the side of her car, all warning signs that she had been targeted for testifying against them, the police suggested.

That was only one of the reasons she’d come to the BBL. But her main focus was not to escape, it was to help other lost kids.

She had to do that or it meant Richie had died for nothing.

Another twig snapped, the sound of footsteps maybe? She craned her neck to look out the window and peered through the darkness, but a dozen different night shadows moved. Horses galloping in the distance, cows grazing, the wind picking up steam and hurling tumbleweeds across the dirt paths.

The ranch housed dozens of employees and far more campers, yet it seemed deserted and spooky tonight.