...she got a Texas Ranger.
Vivian Watts's mission to prove her brother's innocence has left her destitute and desperate.
So when Texas Ranger Slate Thompson arrives with his knock-me-out blue eyes and belief in her case, she dares to hope again...until her apartment is burned to the ground.
Slate offers refuge at his ranch, but when evidence suggests Vivian is being hunted...can he face down the real killer to protect her?
Join me this afternoon on The Readers' Spot for more giveaways and fun. And check out Just Romantic Suspense for the Origins of the Ranger Defender killer. (JRS exclusive giveaway)
EXCERPT (
read a little more)
“How can a little research and a few interviews get
you in trouble?” Wade Hamilton asked. “Besides, I’ve done all the hard work.”
Slate Thompson wasn’t on as thin ice as his fellow
Texas Ranger. But the entire team knew that one wrong step would shake up
Company B—and not in a good way. Wade's hunches about cases were putting more
than one of them in the hot seat. So Slate had a right to be wary.
“Then do it yourself,” Slate countered.
“You know I’m out of a job if I break ranks again.
Come on, you can do this in your sleep, Slate. You’re one of the best
investigators I know.”
“That’s beside the point, and if you’re attempting
to schmooze someone, stating that they are the best
is better. Especially if it’s the truth.”
“You read the journal about Subject Nineteen?”
“You stood over my shoulder while I did.” Slate
stretched backward in his wheeled chair, balancing himself with a booted toe
under his desk. He tossed a ball of rubber bands over to Wade. “Moron.”
“Just verifying you can read.”
Slate popped forward, clicking off the screen as
Major Clements walked through the office. Recently, he managed to stop by and
check on Wade’s progress through the “punishment” boxes—files that were either
a last check on cases coming up for trial or completely cold.
“How you doing, Wade? Slate, you aren’t busy? Need
something to help that along?”
“No, sir. I’m about to head out the door.
I…uh…have a lunch date, sir.”
Major Clements clapped Wade on the shoulder, then
tapped the multiple file folders at the corner of the desk. “Power through,
son. We’re a little shorthanded out there.” Then he continued to his office.
Clements was about fifteen or maybe even twenty
years older than either Wade or Slate. But he looked ancient, like a cowboy
that had spent one too many years in the saddle. He walked straight, but his
belly hung over his belt buckle, a serious silver piece of artwork with the
Texas Ranger emblem over the Texas flag. He was one of the few men, in Wade’s
humble opinion, who wore the uniform’s white hat exceptionally well. Like it
fit.
Slate, on the other hand, always felt better
wearing a ball cap.
“You going to look at that case for me?” Wade
whispered. “Victor Watts confessed so it looks like a slam dunk. But my gut’s
telling me that something’s not right. I’d do it myself but…”
Slate waved for him to pass over the file. “You’re
damn lucky I’m not reporting you to the old man.”
“Now why would you do that, Slate? We get along so
well. If I was gone, you’d have to break in another ranger and you know how fun
that is.” Wade locked his fingers behind his neck and leaned back in his chair.
The bruising had faded, but he was still squinting
through a severely beaten eye. The man had spent days in the hospital and come
back to work with a cloud hanging around him so thick, everyone was pretending
they couldn’t see him.
Everyone except Wade’s partner Jack MacKinnon,
Heath Murray and himself. They were a team. They’d come into Company B at the
same time and had a special bond. Didn’t seem like anything could break it.
Even Wade being assigned the punishment boxes.
Most of the reasons Wade had been desked weren’t
public knowledge. Jack knew more than anyone in the Company and he wasn’t talking.
But over beers, both Jack and Wade has considered themselves very lucky to have
a job.
Jack’s temporary assignment to help the Dallas PD
hadn’t gone without speculation. It also coincided with his new roommate—of the
feminine persuasion. Heath, Wade and himself included hadn’t spent any serious
time with the lady…Megan Harper.
Yet.
Everyone in Company B had seen the results of “the
Harper case” as it was referenced. However, Wade and Jack had gotten involved,
it was Wade’s fault for playing a hunch. His saving grace was that whatever
he’d done had saved Megan Harper’s life and captured a man whose mental health
was still waiting to be evaluated.
Saying yes to one of Wade’s hunches was usually
easy. Hell, this particular ranger had a long line of successful hunches that
had played out with many a bad man behind bars. Slate opened the file. He had
to admit that he wanted to help.
“You’d be on your own most of the time, buddy,”
Wade said from the next desk. “Of course, if I’m wrong, then there’s nothing to
do anyway.”
Slate nodded, contemplating. Breaking the rules
really wasn’t his thing. Then again, he’d wanted to be in law enforcement to
help people…not knowingly send an innocent man to jail.
Yeah, there was a chance that Wade was wrong. But
when the man went with his gut, he just rarely was.
“I’ll do it.”
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Do you trust hunches?
Join me this afternoon on The Readers' Spot for more giveaways and fun. And check out Just Romantic Suspense for the Origins of the Ranger Defender killer. (JRS exclusive giveaway)
