Roping Ryan (The West Series Book 6) (3 page)

Ryan gripped the wheel tighter and tried to ignore the woman sleeping next to him. They were over an hour out of Houston, and he was desperately trying to wind down.

He’d known she would live in a freaking mansion of a place. The entryway was bigger than his last hotel room. Not to mention all the expensive items she’d had filling the place. She probably had a maid come in and clean once a week, too. He shook his head and tried not to think about the differences between them.

Then his mind switched gears. Rick was dead and he was screwed. Did they torture Rick beforehand? What did they know about him? He’d been assured by Chief Zane that Rick’s family had been moved to safety. He glanced over at Nikki and frowned when he saw her looking out the window.

How long did they have? How long would it take them to track her down and find out what she did?

He shuffled and tried to get more comfortable in her little car. It had been years since he’d driven. Actually, it had been a long time since he’d led any sort of real life. Dating included. He glanced over at Nikki again.

There had been a time when he would have known the right words to sweep her off her feet. He and Reece used to bet one other who could get the attentions of a particular girl. He smiled. Reece had always been smoother with animals and Ryan had been better with women.

Of course, he hadn’t stayed a saint during the last seven years, but for the most part, his work had come first; it was hard to explain to a girlfriend why you needed to disappear constantly.

When he pulled off the highway into a gas station, Nikki sat up and looked around.

“Are we there?” He watched her stretch her legs and arms. She’d changed into a pair of tight jeans that hugged her beautiful ass and a large sweatshirt that hid the perfect breasts he’d enjoyed looking at when she was wearing the tight dress.

“No. Pit stop. Do you have cash?”

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t you?”

He laughed. “Of course, but since it’s your car...” She glared at him. “Buy the gas and get me a Coke.” He got out of the car. “Use one of those fancy credit cards you have tucked in that expensive bag.”

She got out of the car and glared over at him. “I’m not stupid. If they are looking for us...”

“I know, but for now we want to leave a trail for them.”

She looked at him questioningly, but when he didn’t explain further, she nodded and walked into the small store. He could see her move around in the brightly lit place. She grabbed his Coke along with a water bottle and a bag of chips. When she walked up to the clerk to pay, he started pumping the gas.

When he turned back towards her, it looked like she was looking down at a phone. He touched his pocket and confirmed that her cell phone was still in it.

She walked back outside, and he watched her closely. The way she glided across the dirty parking lot told him that she was even more of a princess than he’d first imagined. She belonged on a runway rather than in a rundown gas station at three in the morning on some back road highway in middle-of-nowhere Texas.

She looked at him as she got back into the car. He finished filling up and got back in. “We’ll need to leave this car somewhere.” She jerked her head towards him.

“What? Leave my car?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I’m not sure how high tech Hijo del Diablo is, but we’ll need to be careful.” Then he held out his hand and waited.

When she handed him the Coke, he shook his head and set it down, holding his hand out again.

“What?” She looked at his hand. “Do you want some chips?” She held up a large bag of chips.

He laughed. “Listen, princess, it’s time you stopped playing games. Hand the phone over.”

She frowned. “What phone? You still have mine.”

He smiled a little and looked at her, waiting.

N
ikki tried not to throw her emergency phone at him, but when she let it go, it hit his chest and she got a little satisfaction when he grunted.

He flipped it on and silently read the text messages between her and her father.

“Your father is a PI too?”

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Good.” He swiped the phone and to her horror, called her dad.

“Hello, Mr. Dawson?” Ryan looked over at her. “This is Detective Ryan West.” He paused. “Yes, I’m sure she has. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.” He waited again. “Yes.” He looked over at her. “I can’t go into too many details, but I promise I’ll keep her safe until this whole thing gets worked out.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, listening to her father. “Yes, we’re heading there now.” She desperately wished she could hear the entire conversation. “Fine, I’ll let you know when I can.” He hung up and pocketed the phone, then reached in his pocket and took her personal phone out of his other pocket. When he started driving out of the gas station, he shocked her by throwing it out the window.

“What are you doing?” She looked out the back window. “That was my new iPhone.”

He shook his head. “Which was registered to you. This one”—he patted his pocket—“your father assures me, isn’t.”

She frowned. “You could have asked me and I would have told you that.”

He chuckled. “You’re old man is more cooperative than you are.”

“What did he say?” She reached down and opened the bag of chips she’d bought. She was starving for some reason.

“He agreed with me. You’ll be my guest until things cool off.”

She shoved a few chips into her mouth and savored the richness of them. “What do you mean? Where are we going?”

“As I said before, to see my brother. And until I hear back that it’s safe, we’ll stay there.”

“I can’t stay in Fairplay.” She thought of a million things she had to do. Of the pile of jobs her father had given her, all of her friends, her bills. She couldn’t just take off without notice. “I have a job.”

He glanced over at her. “Not according to your father. Not for a while anyway.”

They drove in silence for another hour. She tried to focus on where they were going, but her eyes kept closing.

“Well, we’re here,” he said, as he pulled into a dark parking lot.

She looked around and laughed. “This isn’t Fairplay.” She looked harder. “Where are we?” She’d been so tired that she’d dozed off and hadn’t seen where they were going.

“Austin.” She watched him grab her bag and get out of the car.

“Austin!” She grabbed her water and chips. “That’s nowhere near Fairplay.”

He nodded. “I know.” He started walking away from the car.

“But what are we doing here?” She followed him.

“Grabbing a bus.” He glanced over his shoulder at her.

“A bus?” She stopped walking. “I’m not taking a bus.”

He turned to her and gave her one of his sexy smiles. “Listen, princess, I know it’s far beneath you, but at this point, we have little choice.”

She stood there. “What about a rental?”

He shook his head. “Low on funds.” He turned and started walking. “I have enough for two bus tickets.” He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Unless you want to thumb it?”

She glared as she caught up with him. “We can’t just leave my car there.” She glanced back at her Honda. She only had a year left on her payments and then it was all hers.

“Your dad is seeing to it.” He kept walking and she had to practically jog to keep up with him. She didn’t like that he wasn’t giving her all of the information, but she trusted her father. If he had made plans with Ryan, then she just had to follow along. She wished she could hear it directly from her father, but she doubted Ryan was going to give up the cell phone anytime soon.

They walked in silence for almost half an hour. By the time they walked into the bus station, she was completely exhausted and her feet hurt. She was at least thankful she’d put on her tennis shoes.

She stood by Ryan as he bought the tickets and paid with the last of his cash. She didn’t mention that there was a couple hundred in the bag he was carrying; she thought she’d keep that information to herself, at least for a while.

He walked over and sat on one of the benches by the door, crossed his ankles, and leaned back. The bus didn’t leave for over an hour, so she sat next to him on the uncomfortable bench.

“Are you going to share?” He looked over at her.

She looked back at him, perplexed.

He nodded to the bag of chips she held next to her. “Sure.” She handed him the entire bag as she looked around the bus station.

He sat next to her and ate half of what was left in the bag. When she complained, he handed her the bag and drank the rest of his Coke.

“So, tell me about this case.” She took a drink of her water and finished off the last of the chips.

He looked over at her. “Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Since I’m now involved in all this.” She motioned towards the almost empty bus station.

He nodded. “Sounds fair. I started working it a little under three years ago, when I had to be pulled from my first case.” He paused.

“Was that when you were shot?” she asked.

He glanced at her, looking surprised, and then nodded. “It took a while to recover, but once I was back on my feet and cleared for action, I took over as lead trying to bring Hijo del Diablo down. Rick had already been on the case for a while.” He frowned and she could tell he was thinking about his colleague. Then he shook his head and continued. “Hijo del Diablo—that’s what we call him, anyway—is one of the biggest Mexican drug lords hiding in the US. He’s eluded the department for over ten years.” He shook his head.

“How long have you been working with the department?”

“Almost seven years.” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“When you left home?” She was shocked. He’d left home and immediately gone into the force.

He glanced over at her and nodded. “I started training first, then”—he shrugged—“I was put on my first case.” He smiled. “I was young enough to take a few jobs undercover at some schools.”

She frowned at him. “Why did you leave home without a word?” she asked, but he was interrupted when boarding for their bus was announced. He followed her closely as she got on their bus. She took the seat by the window and he sat next to her, stowing her bug-out bag under their seat.

Once the bus was on its way, she leaned her head back and looked at him. It really was too bad he wasn’t her type.

Her father had always wanted her to marry in the force. Her family had law enforcement in it for as far back as anyone could remember. Her father had even worked the beat before he’d been injured and had retired. Then he’d started his own PI business, and she’d joined him a few years later.

She glanced at Ryan again. His head was leaning back against his seat and his eyes were closed. He really was handsome, if a little rough around the edges.

She’d dated a few men, but none of them had lasted long, especially after she had started to work with her dad. Something about a woman that carried more guns than most police officers scared away most of them. She thought about the gun in the bag below Ryan’s feet.

Even in high school, it had been hard to date. Most men had viewed her as untouchable. She didn’t know what she did to warrant that label, but it had always annoyed her. The fact that Ryan called her princess just added to it all.

She rested her head back and let the weariness overcome her. When she woke several hours later, she almost screamed when she saw Ryan looking at her. Gone were the full scruffy beard and his long hair. His hair was cut very short. He’d shaved and changed shirts and jeans. She didn’t know how he’d done it. Even his shoes were different. She wouldn’t have known it was him except for those green eyes looking down and almost laughing at her.

“How…?” She looked around. She couldn’t have been asleep for that long. Could she? “How did you get those clothes?”

He smiled and shook his head. “You have your secrets, I have mine.” Then he stood up and grabbed her bag from under his seat. “Time to go.”

She looked out the window and saw that the sun was rising over a very large wheat field.

“Is this Fairplay?”

He looked out the window and shook his head no.

She looked back at him. “Then why are we getting off here?” She stood up and followed him towards the front of the bus. He didn’t answer her, instead asked the driver to pull over and let them off there. In the middle of nowhere. From what she could tell, there wasn’t even a gas station nearby.

When they stood on the road, watching the bus disappear into the sunrise, she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him.

“Now will you tell me why we got off the bus in the middle of nowhere?”

He smiled. “Because that”—he nodded towards the land—“is the beginning of my cousins’ land.”

He tried not to let his excitement show. But Saddleback Ranch was one of the only places he and Reece had ever been truly happy. Throwing her bag over his shoulder, he started walking across the field. He knew his way around the ranch and they were about an hour’s walk away from the main house. Just across this field and over a few hills, the big white house would come into sight. He glanced down at his watch and smiled. “We’ll be in time for breakfast.”

“You mean we are walking the whole way into town?”

He laughed. “No, Saddleback is a few miles out of town.”

“Oh.” She jogged to catch up with him.

“How did you change?”

He smiled and shook his head. “Secret.”

She frowned. “I know what’s in that bag, and those clothes are not in there.”

“Nope, all that’s in here are girl clothes, a 9MM, and three hundred in cash.” He glanced at her as her frown grew.

“Then how?” She pulled on his sleeve until he stopped.

“If I tell you, will you walk faster? I’m starving and I know that my cousin will gladly make me some homemade waffles and eggs.”

He heard her stomach growl and smiled. Then she looked up at him and nodded. “Agreed.”

“Fine. I found someone on the bus fitting my size and paid him for a change of clothes, razor, and a pair of very dull clippers.” He turned and started walking again.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” she said, following him as she shook her head. “I must be more tired than I thought.”

He chuckled. “Now…” He turned towards her. “Tell me how you found me.”

He watched her blush, then start walking again. “Oh, no, you don’t. I answered your question, you have to answer mine.”

She stopped and put her hands on her hips. “I ran into you.”

He nodded. “And?”

“Literally.” She watched him frown.

He looked at her, not getting it. “I don’t understand.”

“I’d been all over Houston. To the hospitals, nightclubs, everywhere. No one knew anything about you. I had no leads. Then, I was coming out of a gas station and there you were.” She turned and started walking again.

“Wait.” He pulled on her arm again, chuckling. “You saw me on the street and knew who I was?” She nodded. “How?”

She laughed. “Well, for starters I had a picture of you from when you were in the hospital.”

“And?”

“I’ve met your brother.” She shrugged her shoulders and blushed a little. “You
are
identical twins. I didn’t need much more than seeing you on the street to know who you were.” She started walking again.

After a moment of silence, he caught up with her. “How is Reece?”

“This is the first time you’ve asked me about him.”

It was his turn to blush. “We’ve been busy.”

When she just looked at him, he shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I feel bad for how things turned out.”

“You left him.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down.

“It wasn’t as if I had much of a choice. Not at first.”