Cooper Security 06 - Secret Intentions (25 page)

“Maybe it’s not all that shaky.”

“Evie Marsh, I think I love you.”

Her heart skipped a beat, but she maintained her cool. “Think?”

He smiled. “Okay, I know. I love you. Beyond all sense.”

“Because it’s not sensible to love me?” she said, feigning seriousness even though her heart was soaring toward the stars glittering overhead.

“Because I love you until I’m utterly senseless,” he countered, brushing his mouth across her brow. “Because I’ve been falling in love with you since you were seventeen years old and I was still chasing your sister, only it took me until now to realize it was happening. If that’s not senseless, I don’t know what is.” He dropped kisses down her temple and over her cheek, moving inexorably closer to her mouth.

“How about falling in love with your sister’s fiancé and staying that way for ten years without any reason to hope for his love in return?” she whispered as his lips brushed over hers.

He pulled back, staring down at her with a frown. “Ten years?”

“Senseless,” she said with a sigh.

He cradled her face between his hands. “So we’ll be senseless together.”

“That sounds sensible,” she said, lifting her face for a kiss.

Epilogue

On December 18, in the middle of a Cooper Security video conference with the U.S. attorney in charge of the widespread investigation into AfterAssets, the Espera Group, and over a dozen politicians, lobbyists and executive branch staffers, Amanda Cooper’s water broke.

Jesse put the U.S. attorney on hold and turned to Rick, who was looking comically panic-stricken as he tried to help his wife deal with the mess. “Just go, Rick. Get her to the hospital and have that baby. We’ll handle this.”

As his sister Megan and her husband stepped in to clean up, Jesse adjusted the webcam to hide their activity and resumed the conference, trying not to hurry the U.S. attorney off. The energy in the room had changed with the onset of Amanda’s labor. Their baby would be the first Cooper grandchild in their branch of the family, and every Cooper in the conference room was nearly as excited as Rick had been.

The U.S. attorney, Laura Pelham, looked impatient when her image reappeared on the screen. “Is this a bad time?”

“No, sorry. We had a brief interruption, but we’re back. Has there been any progress in apprehending the fugitive AfterAssets operatives?”

“We’ve rounded up about two dozen, but based on the information Nolan Cavanaugh managed to archive, we think there are at least twenty more operatives. Apparently they expanded their personnel beyond the original twenty-three Special Service Unit members MacLear employed.”

“Is Cavanaugh in protective custody?” Evie asked.

“Yes. He’s safe. A bit hard to handle, but safe.”

Jesse smiled at Evie before turning back to Pelham. “Anything Cooper Security can do to help out, you let us know.”

“Will do,” Pelham promised. “But don’t assume all the danger is over, Mr. Cooper. There are still people out there who might see you and your company as an obstacle.”

There always were, Jesse thought.

He ended the conference call and turned to look at the others gathered around the table. Most of them were his brothers and sisters, including Wade, who was back after nearly three months of guard duty protecting Annie Harlowe and her family. He and Annie were engaged, planning a quick and stress-free wedding after the first of the year. Quick and stress-free was turning out to be a Cooper family tradition for weddings; just last week, Shannon and Gideon had taken a long weekend in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and returned to surprise the family with their wedding license and a pair of carved stone rings they’d bought for wedding bands.

“Can we go to the hospital now?” Isabel broke the silence.

“Go,” Jesse said with a laugh, waving them toward the door. “We have a new Cooper to welcome into the world.”

He caught Evie’s hand as she started out after the others, drawing her back to the table.

She turned to look at him, a quizzical expression in her blue eyes. “Aren’t we going to the hospital, too?”

“In a minute.” He stood and tugged her into his arms. “I’ve been thinking about us.”

Her brow creased. “Is that good or bad?”

“Good, I hope.” He briefly considered going down on one knee, old-style, but decided to just say what he wanted to say straight-out. No fuss, no flowery words. That wasn’t how he and Evie operated. “I think we should get married.”

Her lips quirked. “You think so?”

He smiled back. “You don’t?”

“No, of course I do. I just remembered the elaborate way you proposed to Rita.”

“But you’re not Rita.” He cradled her face between his hands. “And I’m not that man anymore. You and I don’t need the silly trappings, do we?”

She shook her head. “I love you. I know you love me.”

“I do, you know. More than anything in this life.”

She brushed her lips against his. “Can we elope like everyone else did? And really soon?”

He laughed. “Mind reader.”

“But first you have a niece or nephew to meet.” Evie pulled away and tugged his hand, leading him toward the door.

“Wait.” He stopped just outside in the corridor. “I may not be the most traditional fiancé in the world, but I did remember the ring.” He pulled the small velvet box from his jacket pocket, where it had been burning a hole all day. He opened it to reveal a slim gold band with a square-cut sapphire flanked by diamonds. “It reminded me of your eyes.”

She gazed up at him with those bright blue eyes, grinning with delight. “It’s amazing.”

“So, yes?”

“Yes.” She hugged him fiercely. “When?”

“How about Christmas? So I’ll never forget our anniversary.”

“Lazy, Cooper. Very lazy.” Laughing, she kissed him, pushing him against the wall of the corridor.

By the time they made it to the hospital, much, much later, Audrey Jane Cooper had emerged, red-faced and screaming, into the world. A world, Jesse hoped as he watched his brother and sister-in-law cradle their newborn, just a little bit safer today than three months ago.

But not safe enough.

Never safe enough.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt of
Mason
by Delores Fossen!

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Chapter One

The scream woke Deputy Mason Ryland.

His eyes flew open, and Mason stumbled from the sofa in his office where he’d fallen asleep. He reached for his shirt but couldn’t find it. He had better luck with the Smith & Wesson handgun that he’d left on his desk.

He threw open his office door and caught the scent of something he darn sure didn’t want to smell on the grounds of his family’s ranch.

Smoke
.

The wispy gray streaks coiled around him, quickly followed by a second scream and a loud cry for help.

Mason went in the direction of both the smoke and the voice, racing out into the chilly October night air. He wasn’t the only one who’d been alerted. A handful of his ranch hands were running toward the cabin-style guesthouse about a hundred yards away. It was on fire, the orangey flames licking their way up the sides and roof. And the place wasn’t empty.

His newly hired horse trainer, Abbie Baker, was staying there.

That got Mason running even harder. So did another shout for help. Oh, yeah, that shout was coming from the guesthouse all right.

“Call the fire department,” he yelled to one of the ranch hands.

Mason also shouted out for someone to call his brothers as well even though they would soon know anyway. All five of them, their wives and their children lived in the family home or on the grounds of the ranch.

Mason made it to the guesthouse ahead of the others, and he tried to pick through the smoke and the embers flicking through the night air. He hurried to the sound of his trainer’s pleas for help.

And he cursed when he saw her.

Abbie was in the doorway, her body half in and half out of the house, and what was left of the door was on her back, anchoring her in place.

The smoke was thick and black, and the area was already hot from the flames, but Mason fought his way through just as one of the ranch hands caught up with him. Rusty Burke. Together, they latched on to the door and started to drag it off Abbie. Not easily. It was heavy and bulky, and it didn’t help that the flames were snapping at them.

Mason didn’t usually think in terms of worst-case scenarios, but he had a split-second thought that his new trainer might burn to death. The possibility gave him a much-needed jolt of adrenaline, and Rusty and he threw the door off her. In the same motion, Mason latched on to her arm and dragged her away from the guesthouse.

“I couldn’t get out,” she said, her voice clogged with smoke and fear.

“You’re out now,” he let her know.

Out but not necessarily safe. The ranch hands were already there with the hoses, but he doubted the house would stand much longer. If it collapsed, Abbie could still be burned or hurt from the flying debris.

“Are the horses okay?” she asked. Mason was more than a little surprised that she’d think of the animals at a time like this.

“They’re fine.” At least he was pretty sure of that. “This is the only building on fire.”

Mason scooped her up, and she looked at him. It was pitch-dark, probably two or three in the morning, but thanks to the flames and the hunter’s moon, he saw her eyes widen. A single word left her mouth.

“No.”

Mason didn’t have time to question that
no
before she started struggling. She wasn’t a large woman, five-five at the most and on the lean side, but she managed to pack a punch when she rammed her elbow against his bare chest. He cursed and put her in a death grip so she couldn’t fight her way out of his arms.

“I’m trying to save you,” he reminded her, and he added more profanity when she didn’t stop fighting.

Abbie was probably still caught up in the fear and the adrenaline, but Mason was finding it a little hard to be sympathetic with the cold rocky ground biting into his bare feet and with her arms and legs waggling around.

“We have to get away from the fire,” he snarled.

Those wide frightened eyes looked at the flames, and she stopped struggling just long enough for Mason to get a better grip on her.

He started running toward the ranch office where lately he’d been spending most of his days and nights because of the heavy workload. He could deposit Abbie there and hurry back to see if the guesthouse could be saved. He wasn’t hopeful, especially because the ranch wasn’t exactly in city limits. It would take the fire department a good twenty minutes to reach them.

The door to his office and quarters was still open, and he hurried inside, flipped on the lights with his elbow and placed her on the sofa. Mason looked down at her, to make sure she wasn’t injured.

She didn’t appear to be.

Visibly shaken, yes. Trembling, too. Pale and breathing way too fast. All normal responses under the circumstances.

Her eyes met his again, and Mason saw the fear that was still there. And maybe something else that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Did you try to kill me?” she asked.

That single question seemed to be all she could muster because she groaned, closed her eyes, and the back of her head dropped against the sofa.

Mason huffed. That definitely wasn’t something he expected to hear her say. He’d been a deputy for fifteen years, and his employee no doubt knew it. Even though most people were leery of him because…well, because he wasn’t a friendly sort, they didn’t usually accuse him of arson or attempted murder.

“Why would I set this fire?” he demanded.

Abbie opened her mouth, closed it and shook her head. She also dodged his gaze. “I’m not sure what I’m saying right now. I thought I was going to die.”

Mason guessed that was a normal response, but he was beginning to get a bad feeling about this. “How did the fire start?”

Abbie shook her head again. “I’m not sure. I woke up, and there was smoke all around me. I tried to get to the door, but I started coughing and couldn’t see.” She paused, shivered. “When I got to the door and opened it, it fell on me.” Another pause. “Or something.”

“Or something?”
he pushed.

Oh, man. The bad feeling was getting worse, and Mason blamed it on that stupid question. Was there a nonstupid reason that she thought someone had tried to kill her, or was this the ramblings of a woman whose mind had been clouded with fear and adrenaline?