Riding Shotgun Read online

  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

  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 Joanna at PO Box 852, Montgomery, TX 77356, or connect with her at joannawayne.com.

  Books by Joanna Wayne

  Harlequin Intrigue

  The Kavanaughs

  Riding Shotgun

  Big “D” Dads: The Daltons

  Trumped Up Charges

  Unrepentant Cowboy

  Hard Ride to Dry Gulch

  Midnight Rider

  Showdown at Shadow Junction

  Ambush at Dry Gulch

  Sons of Troy Ledger

  Cowboy Swagger

  Genuine Cowboy

  AK-Cowboy

  Cowboy Fever

  Cowboy Conspiracy

  Big “D” Dads

  Son of a Gun

  Live Ammo

  Big Shot

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Grace Addison—At twenty-four, she is running scared, living a nightmare that she is sure will

  never end.

  Pierce Lawrence—Former navy SEAL, a hero in every sense of the word.

  Jaci Lawrence—Pierce’s daughter.

  Charlie and Esther Kavanaugh—The couple who took Pierce and his two younger brothers in after the death of their parents.

  Riley and Tucker Lawrence—Pierce’s younger brothers.

  Sheriff Cavazos—The local sheriff.

  Andy Malone—Former SEAL buddy of Pierce who is now with the FBI.

  Buck Stalling—Part-time wrangler at the Double K Ranch.

  Dudley Miles—Imprisoned now but was the best friend of Charlie Kavanaugh.

  Reid Peterson—A member of a drug gang in San Antonio.

  Tom Lacoste—Grace’s ex-husband.

  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

  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

  Excerpt from One Tough Texan by Barb Han

  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 h
erself 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.

 
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