Cowboy to the Max Read online

  Carter gripped her by the arms. “I don’t believe you.”

  Sadie shivered. “It’s true.”

  For a long, silent moment, his eyes bore into hers, then his fingers loosened slightly. “What happened?”

  Fury and fear and her own sense of injustice bubbled over, and she unleashed on him. “Because he cornered me in the alley when I was walking to my car. Then he did this.”

  Her hands shook as she ripped open the top two buttons of her shirt, revealing the hideous scar the man had left between her breasts.

  “He held me down…then he carved me up so I wouldn’t forget.” Tears flowed freely down her face. The cloying smell of her attacker’s cheap cologne and sweat haunted her. The sound of his low, wheezy voice echoed in her ears. “He told me the next time he’d kill my mother and make me watch, then he’d finish me off.”

  CARTER SANK DOWN onto the club chair, his mind struggling to register Sadie’s story.

  Part of him wanted to deny her claims. Accuse her of lying. Demand she go to the cops, tell the truth and exonerate him.

  But her story…her tone sounded so sincere. Riddled with pain and guilt.

  And that scar…on her chest. It hadn’t been there when he’d slept with her the first time. And he barely remembered crawling in bed with her the second. It was deep and puckered and was only inches from her heart. He’d been in enough knife fights himself to know it had been a serious injury.

  All because of him.

  His hands shook in front of him as he stared at the gun he’d held on her, and shame filled him. Of all the explanations he’d expected to hear, the excuses, the lies, the cunning act he’d thought she’d put on to save her own life, nothing had prepared him for this.

  On the heels of shock, rage choked him. Who in the hell had framed him and terrorized Sadie?

  He slowly lifted his head and looked up at her. The anguish in her expression robbed his breath. The instinct to go to her and hold her, to protect her, surged through him. But he needed answers, so he remained rooted to the spot. Still, he couldn’t drag his eyes off that X carved on her chest between her breasts.

  An X to remind her that the sick bastard was watching and could easily kill her.

  Sadie averted her eyes as if she was ashamed, her fingers fumbling clumsily to rebutton her blouse.

  Fury that some man had assaulted her and scarred her like that ate at him. The man had obviously wanted to destroy her beauty as well as terrorize her with his threats.

  The SOB would not get away with it. If—no, when Carter found him, he’d carve him up just as he had done Sadie.

  “Who was he?” Carter asked in a thick voice.

  Sadie wiped at the tears trickling down her cheeks. “I told you, I don’t know.”

  His gaze shot to hers. “What do you mean, you don’t know? You saw his face, didn’t you?”

  Sadie made a pained sound in her throat. “I…yes, but it was dark. So dark, I’m not sure I would recognize him.”

  Or maybe she’d blocked it out because of the trauma. “Had you ever seen him before? Maybe in the bar?”

  Her small shoulders lifted in a shrug. “I…don’t know. Maybe. But there were men like him in the bar every night. Men pawing at me and watching me. I…tried to ignore them.”

  He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “What do you remember?”

  She sighed, another sound of pain rumbling from her. Then her eyes glazed over, taking on a distant look, as if she was reliving the nightmare. “He was big, almost as tall as you but heavier. And his head was shaved.” She bunched her skirt in between her fingers. “He smelled like cheap cologne and sweat and beer.”

  She was right. That description could fit half the men in Texas, especially at that low-rent bar where she’d been working.

  He cleared his throat. “Go on.”

  She scrubbed at her cheeks as if annoyed with herself for crying. “At first, I was in shock. I…didn’t know where to go.”

  “If you’d called the police, they could have protected you and your mother.” And he would never have gone to jail. “And they might have been able to use DNA to track down the bastard who attacked you.”

  Her eyes flared with derision. “I worked in a bar, Carter. I’m Native American, too. I know how the police work. They would have made me out to be some kind of tramp.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “Besides, my mother was dying of cancer. I was all she had. I could barely afford to care for her, much less drag her through a scandal.”

  “So you just let him get away?” Carter asked, incredulous.

  Sadie folded her hands into fists by her sides. “I wanted to come forward, Carter. Believe me, I did. But I told you I was in shock. In fact, the first few weeks after the attack, I was so weak and disoriented I couldn’t even get out of bed, much less remember the details of what happened.”

  A seed of hope burst through the darkness eating Carter’s soul. “But you went to the hospital, right? So they have records—”

  “I didn’t go to the hospital,” Sadie said in a low voice.

  Disappointment shot through Carter. “No hospital. Why?”

  “Because I thought he’d find me there. That he’d kill my mother and then finish me off.” She paced to the adjoining kitchen and glanced out the window, her body shuddering as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I didn’t know where to turn, so I called a friend from the reservation. He came and took me there to recover, and so the shaman could treat my wound.”

  Carter cursed, strode to her and swung her around to face him. All this time he’d banked on Sadie having the answers he needed to clear himself. He couldn’t accept the fact that she didn’t. “So you’re telling me we have nothing. No evidence. That you can’t identify this man—”

  Her face crumpled. “I’m sorry, Carter. I—”

  Something rattled outside, jerking his attention, and he threw up a finger to shush her. She tensed, her eyes widening, as he peered through the window at the alley.

  A shadow moved across the glass pane then suddenly something crashed through the window where they were standing.

  Sadie screamed. Carter jerked her down to the floor as glass sprayed the counter and carpet.

  Suddenly smoke began to billow through the room, stinging his eyes and throat.

  Dammit. It was a pipe bomb.

  Whoever had set it off wanted to kill them.

  Chapter Three

  Sadie dove down beside Carter, coughing as thick smoke clouded the room. “My God, what’s happening?”

  “It’s a pipe bomb. Come on, we have to get outside.” Carter grabbed her hand. “Stay behind me and keep low.” He wielded his gun as if he was ready to shoot, then tugged her toward the kitchen and the back door.

  Sadie grabbed her shoulder bag on the way out, her heart racing. The man who’d attacked her… He knew Carter had escaped. He’d been following her.

  All those shadows the past few days, the sensation of someone watching her, of someone breathing down her neck…it had been real.

  He had come back to kill her, to kill them both.…

  Carter pushed open the back door and she ducked behind him, clinging to his hand as they stepped onto the tiny cement patio. She struggled to inhale a breath, desperate to escape the smoke, and rubbed her beads, murmuring a Navajo prayer for her and Carter’s safety.

  When she opened her eyes, though, the air smelled rancid and dank, and the alley was dark and filled with more shadows.

  “Come on,” Carter whispered.

  The sweltering heat plastered Sadie’s hair to her skin and clothes as Carter tugged her around the corner of a dilapidated brick building. She nearly stumbled over a pile of garbage someone had thrown in the street, and clung to Carter to keep from falling.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, her lungs churning for air.

  “My truck. It’s down the street.”

  Suddenly the sound of gunfire rent the air. A bullet whizzed by their heads, and Sadie s
creamed again.

  “Dammit, he was waiting.” Carter yanked her behind the corner of the building. “It was a setup to lure us out of the house.”

  “Do you see him?” Sadie asked.

  “No.”

  She scanned the black corners of the alley, trembling as she watched Carter lift his gun and peer around the edge of the building. Voices echoed from somewhere down the street. An engine rumbled. Tires screeched.

  She followed Carter’s gaze, checking the tops of the buildings nearby, the back entrance to the deserted warehouse two doors down, the corner of the street across from them.

  Two cars were parked on the curb. The first, a dented green Ford that belonged to the junkie in the apartment next to her. The other, a silver Jeep that had been abandoned days ago and had been stripped, hubcaps and all.

  Another shot pinged off the concrete wall by Carter’s head, and he pressed his back against the building to dodge it, then pushed her head lower. “Stay here. I’ll see if I can draw him out.”

  Panic streaked through Sadie, and she clutched his arm. “No, don’t go, Carter. He might kill you.”

  Carter swung his gaze back to her, seemingly startled that she might care. “I’ll be fine, Sadie. Just stay here.”

  “No.” She held on to him like a lifeline. “We’re in this together.”

  He narrowed his eyes a fraction, doubt darkening the hues of his eyes, then gave a quick nod. “All right. Let’s make a run for my truck.” He gripped her arm with his hand. “But promise me, if I get hit, you’ll go to the police and tell them everything.”

  Fear closed her throat. “Don’t talk like that. You aren’t going to get hit.”

  “Promise me,” Carter said. “If you can’t make it to the police, call Johnny Long or Brandon Woodstock. They’ll protect you and help clear my name.”

  Sadie nodded, although it terrified her to admit that they might not make it out alive. But if Carter did get killed, she would need help. She couldn’t keep running scared for the rest of her life.

  And without Carter, it was only a matter of time before she ended up dead.

  CARTER REFUSED TO DIE in this damn alley. And he would not let Sadie become a victim to this lowlife.

  Not again.

  He sucked in a sharp breath, then pulled Sadie behind him, keeping low as he crept along the edge of the buildings. Pulse jumping, he searched the alley and streets, his senses honed. Where the hell was the shooter?

  A trash can lid rattled, then rolled across the alley ahead. Footsteps clattered and a shadow moved. A flash of something metal caught in the darkness and drew his eyes toward the roof of the run-down apartment building next to Sadie’s.

  The shooter. Was he up there? Watching? Taking aim?

  His mind raced. The pipe bomb had been thrown into the house from the main level. So if this cretin was on the roof, he had a partner.

  Another bullet pinged off the metal awning above his head.

  “Dammit, this guy is pissing me off,” Carter growled. He turned and fired back at the direction the shot had come from. Not the roof but from behind the Jeep.

  His truck was a few more feet away. “Come on.” He yanked Sadie around the corner then cut through another alley in between the warehouses.

  A mangy dog pawed at a garbage can, knocked it on its side and began to scrounge through the trash. Voices rumbled from inside the next building, and through the foggy cracked window, he spotted two men. A drug deal going down.

  They glanced up, both scowling, mean looking and armed. One headed toward the door as if he thought they might be cops, and Carter picked up his pace, dragging Sadie behind.

  Another bullet pinged toward them just as he reached the truck. He shoved Sadie down behind the bumper, jostled his keys from his pocket, opened the driver’s door then coaxed Sadie inside.

  “Get down on the floor!” Carter shouted, as he spotted the shooter leaving his hiding spot behind the Jeep to chase them. Another bullet shattered the front windshield, spraying glass as Carter jumped inside. He ducked again to avoid being hit, punched the gas and tore from the curb.

  His tires squealed as he raced down the street, and he swerved from side to side to throw off the shooter.

  But the sound of another shot bouncing off the truck bed echoed behind him. He glanced in the rearview mirror hoping to see what the man looked like, but he wore a black face mask, black jacket, black clothes.

  Only the shiny metal of his automatic weapon gleamed in the darkness.

  SADIE CROUCHED LOW, her stomach lurching as Carter spun the truck down the road. The sound of the bullet pinging off the back made her cover her head, and the glass on the floor was digging into her knees.

  Carter screeched and swerved to the right in a fast turn. Car horns blared, and another vehicle’s tires squealed as if the car was about to hit it. She braced herself, but Carter must have managed to miss the collision, then he whipped the truck around onto the highway. For the next few minutes, she closed her eyes and prayed as he wove back and forth through town, then she heard the hum of other traffic and realized he’d turned onto the main road.

  “I think it’s safe. You can get up now,” he said in a gruff tone.

  Sadie was shaking all over. The truck cab swirled as she lifted her head and looked up at him. His jaw was clenched in anger, the beard stubble making him appear rough and dangerous.

  So did the feral look on his face.

  “Where is he?” she said in a raspy whisper.

  “I think we lost him.” He reached his hand out to help her up, and Sadie stared at it for a moment, unsure if she was ready to completely trust him.

  Regret flared in his eyes. “For God’s sake, Sadie. I’m not going to hurt you.” He lowered his hand and brushed glass from the seat. “If I’d wanted to, I would have back there at the house.”

  But he had threatened her. And he hated her.

  Still, he was all the protection she had, and he had saved her life. So she slowly pulled herself from her shock and climbed in the seat.

  “Buckle up,” Carter said. “For all I know he had a partner waiting to ambush us.”

  Sadie nodded and hooked her seat belt, then leaned her head back, her body racked with tension.

  “Did you get a look at him?” Carter asked.

  She shook her head. “No, did you?”

  “Not his face. He was a big guy, dressed in all black. Wore a face mask.”

  “It has to be the same man who threatened me,” Sadie said. “The last few days I sensed someone was following me.”

  Carter jerked his head toward her. “You mean since I escaped?”

  She clenched her hands together. “Yes. I thought it might be you.”

  Carter worked his mouth from side to side. “He probably figured I’d come after you to find out the truth.”

  “Because I was the only one who could clear you,” Sadie said, the guilt once again suffocating her.

  “Right. And of course, I played right into his hands.” He shot her a dark look. “That means he won’t stop until he kills both of us.”

  A shudder rippled up Sadie’s spine, and she turned to stare through the window. Clouds gathered in an ominous gray haze, obliterating the stars. A quarter moon hung low in the Texas sky, the dim glow casting shadows across the cacti, scrub brush and mesquites dotting the wilderness.

  Carter steered the truck to the right onto a dusty road, and in spite of the heat Sadie suddenly felt a chill as she realized they were heading out into the country where it would be deserted.

  And they would be alone.

  She hadn’t been alone with a man in five years.

  BITTERNESS AND THE NEED for revenge fueled Carter’s temper. Sadie had helped ruin his life.

  But she’d been tortured and threatened to keep her from going to the police on his behalf.

  Had the killer targeted him personally because he had a grudge against Carter? Or had he simply been an easy mark because of his drinking?
r />   Sadie’s breathing rattled in the silence, and she rubbed that scar. Anguish rolled through him. The night they’d made love he’d actually thought he’d felt something special with her.

  Then everything had gone wrong.

  And now she was afraid of him. That was obvious.

  Not that he could blame her. Hell, he was a convicted felon. He’d served five years in prison with murderers and rapists and other hardened criminals. He’d tangled with plenty of them in fistfights and knife fights, and spent time in solitary confinement.

  And he had held her at gunpoint.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “Some place to lay low for a while.”

  Her eyes widened, her fear a palpable force vibrating in the air between them.

  Suddenly aware he was practically kidnapping her, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed. But they’d left the town and civilization behind. Making a snap decision, he swerved off the road, careened to a stop and faced Sadie.

  She gasped and clenched her arms around her body as if to protect herself. A mixture of emotions slammed into him again. For God’s sake, she thought he was going to attack her.

  Shame washed over him. It had been so long since he’d dealt with anybody but criminals and prison guards who’d treated him like an animal that he’d forgotten how to be human. Gentle.

  Reining in his temper, he held up his hand to indicate he didn’t intend to accost her. “I’m sorry about tonight. Is there someplace you’d like to go? Someone you trust to keep you safe?”

  Surprise flickered across Sadie’s face, then she seemed to relax slightly. Still, she twisted her skirt in her fingers. “No. There’s no place.”

  “Don’t you have family?”

  She shook her head. “No. My mother died last year.”

  She looked so small and lost and vulnerable that his chest clenched. He wanted to pull her in his arms and comfort her.