Home on the Ranch: Colorado Cowboy SEAL
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Laura Marie Altom
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HarlequinChapter 1
“Help! Please! He’s got my baby!”
Newly retired Navy SEAL, Laredo “Lion” Tucker, squinted against the setting August sun’s glare, removing the gas nozzle from his more-rust-than-red Ford truck. What the hell?
Hand to his forehead, shading his eyes, it took two seconds to realize the woman at the next pump was being carjacked. An infant seat was visible through the white Focus’s rear window.
California plates.
The guy doing the jacking had hold of the hysterical woman, wrestling her from the running vehicle before shoving her to the truck stop’s concrete lot.
Not thinking, just doing, pulse pounding with adrenaline he hadn’t felt since combat, Laredo reached through his truck’s open window for his crossbow. Before the jacker drove more than twenty yards toward the desolate, two-lane state highway, Laredo shot the car’s left rear tire, then the right. Though the guy had gunned the engine, the four-cylinder couldn’t have been going much over thirty miles per hour when the tires blew.
The vehicle fishtailed onto the dusty adjoining lot. The force killed the motor.
Time stood still.
Above the omnipresent wind’s lonely wail rose the baby’s cries.
Crossbow at his side, Laredo charged across the lot.
By the time the thug jumped from the driver’s-side door, Laredo flung his bow to the weeds, then pummeled the guy with a hard left to his jaw. The jacker held a gun but tumbled backward.
The cheap 9 mm fell harmlessly to the ground.
Wrenching the guy’s arms behind him, Laredo flipped him onto his belly, pinning him to the ground with a knee to the center of his lower back. Laredo slid off his leather belt, wrapping it around the man’s wrists.
During the chase and ensuing capture, Laredo had been so hyperfocused on saving the screaming woman’s baby, he hadn’t noticed the citizen army gathering behind him.
An approaching siren’s wail cut the animated crowd’s chatter. Red-and-blue lights stole twilight’s usual peace. For the plains of Dandelion Gulch, Colorado, this was some crazy excitement of the sort Laredo was damned glad they didn’t see every day.
Lulu—the truck stop’s owner—had been kind enough to wrap a blanket around the infant’s sobbing mother’s shoulders while leading her across the lot toward her baby. Though the air was warm, she shivered. Shock?
Laredo hefted the carjacking bastard onto his feet, shoving him toward a half-dozen angry locals. “Would y’all mind looking after this piece of shit till the sheriff can deal with him.”
They were all too happy to oblige.
“Oh—and once he’s cuffed, kindly get my belt.” Laredo opened the rear door to rescue the bawling infant.
“Waaaahuh! Waaaaahuh!”
“Shh...” As gingerly as possible with his meaty hands, Laredo lifted the tiny pink bundle from her safety seat, then cradled her to his chest. “It’s okay, little lady. Your mama’s on her way.”
“H-how can I ever thank you?” The petite brunette with big brown eyes didn’t try hiding free-flowing tears.
“No thanks necessary, ma’am.” Over a foot taller than her, he had to duck to pass the baby into her waiting arms. The sight of the reunited mother and child should have been enchanting. Instead, it felt like a fist to his gut.
A reminder of what might’ve been.
“You dropped this.” Lulu handed him his brown leather cowboy hat. “It fell off while you were running.”
“I didn’t notice.” Laredo wiped the forearm of his long-sleeve denim shirt across his brow, then slapped the hat back on his head. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure, cowboy.” It was no secret the bottle-blond owner had a thing for him, but he wasn’t in the market for anything she—or any woman—had to offer.
The crowd followed the action, meaning everyone save for Lulu left as soon as the citizen militia took the carjacker to where the sheriff had parked near the pumps.
“Where were you headed?” he asked the woman with the baby.
“South.”
“Hmm.” He might be a retired Navy SEAL, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t enough of the highly trained soldier left in him to suspect there was a whole lot more the woman wasn’t saying. “I guess before we get you back on your way, even if I put on your spare, you’ll need another new tire and spare. There’s a repair shop down the road. I’ll—”
“How much will that cost?” Her gaze welled with fresh tears.
“Tell you what, since I was the one who wrecked them, I suppose it should be me buying the new ones.”
“I couldn’t accept that large of a gift.”
“It wouldn’t be a gift, but me making good. In the meantime, let’s get you a place to stay. There’s a motel not too far from the repair shop. I’ll get you a room.”
“Thanks, but I’ll stay with my car.”
“With all due respect, I’m pretty sure Jimmy’s—the repair shop—is closed till morning. That’s why I suggested the room. If cost is an issue, I’ll cover that, too.” Before joining the Navy, he’d known tough times. A quick appraisal showed the woman dressed well enough. Black leather boots into which she’d tucked the hems of hip-hugging designer jeans. Her pale V-necked sweater lent the impression of expensive softness. A wild tumble of thick dark hair framed her pretty face. No makeup, but even her smooth complexion read the kind of money it took for fancy department store lotions.
On the other hand, her car didn’t.
And maybe he was overanalyzing when the good Lord had merely blessed her with unblemished skin. Maybe Laredo had spent too much time focused on terrorists and not enough on the kinds of things that gave a man the deep-down satisfaction he’d never found.
In another place and time, he might have seen himself holding the woman’s petite frame, skimming his fingers over her hair while whispering words of comfort.
Now, all he was capable of feeling was numb.
“I’ve got an idea,” Lulu said, having watched the exchange with one perfectly arched eyebrow raised. “Ma’am, I’m sure Kyle—our sheriff—will want to question you. How about you relax in our best corner booth till Laredo finds out about the tire. Maybe Jimmy will still be at his shop and do a rush job for you.”
“Yes,” the stranger said with a halting nod. “That sounds good. But no need to bother the sheriff since he already has the bad guy. Thanks—to both of you.”
“No problem, sugar.” The woman put her arm around the mother and her child, turning her toward the truck stop’s entrance. “Laredo, hon, how about you grab her purse and any baby gear from her car?”
“I’ll get all of that.” The woman lurched free from Lulu to angle back toward her crippled ride.
She marched toward her car with what Laredo could only describe as a sort of desperation not to have him touch her belongings.
On instinct, he backed away, holding out his hands palms up to prove he was no threat.
Keeping one eye on him, she fished in the back seat for a diaper bag. Rounding the car, she took her purse and a small duffel bag from the passenger side before slamming the door. Including the baby, she held more than a good pack mule.
“I’m Laredo,” he said to put her at ease, or if not that, to at least be neighborly. “Let me lighten your load.” He took the diaper bag and duffel. “Navy friends call me Lion. Both names suck, but my mother was homesick for Texas back when she delivered me on Guam. Dad was stationed there. My SEAL brothers gave me the other one during hell week and it stuck.”
“You never mentioned that to me,” Lulu said.
Funny, Laredo had forgotten the truck stop’s owner and waitress was still there. He was transfixed by the sight of this doe-eyed stranger and her baby. He typically didn’t say a whole lot, but the timid beauty had him babbling like a brook.
“I’m Lulu.” The truck stop’s owner held out her hand to the woman. “Seeing how we’re all getting to know each other, what’s your name?”
The stranger seemed caught off guard by the question. But then she half smiled. “I’m Mary Smith.”
Right. And he was next in line for the presidency.
“Well, Mary.” Lulu wrapped her arm around the woman’s shoulders. “I’m awfully sorry to be meeting under these circumstances, but around here, we take care of our own. Let’s get you and your baby settled with coffee and a nice piece of Cook’s famous chocolate pie, then you can fill in the sheriff on exactly what happened.”
Mary shook her head, but then nodded.
Watching the women leave, Laredo slowly exhaled.
The fairer sex made him feel about as lost as last year’s Easter eggs. It had been about Easter of last year when his life had gone to hell in a basket.
As soon as Laredo ensured Lulu and Mary were safely inside, he set their gear alongside the booth, then hopped in his truck for the short ride into town.
The sun had almost tucked itself in, casting an orange, red and yellow net over the barren land Laredo called home. When he’d bought his ranch here, it had been a dream come true. A way to calm the demons a decade of war and the wrong gal had left in his heart. With wide-open skies and tall grasses that on a cloudless day resembled a vast inland sea, Laredo was here to heal.
His encounter with Mary may be counterproductive to that goal, but it wasn’t like he’d had a choice. The woman had needed him, and though he may have traded his SEAL Trident for a tractor, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t always be first to lend a hand when needed.
Jimmy Schmidt’s repair shop was just past the feed store.
Sadly, as Laredo had suspected, the place was shut down for the night. Jimmy’s fiancée was planning the Halloween wedding of the decade and she kept her man on a tight leash. No doubt he was home tying candy corn bags or helping with the seating plan. She said his handwriting wasn’t good enough to help with invitations.
Since replacement tires were no longer on the agenda, Laredo figured he’d best rent Mary a room at the town’s only motel—The Lonely Cactus Motor Court. The task took all of five minutes. Once he’d pocketed the old-fashioned key that dangled by a plastic cowboy boot, he reluctantly climbed back behind his truck’s wheel to break the bad news to Mary and hand over the key to her home for the night.
Ten minutes later, the sky had grown a little too dark for his liking. It would be a long ride home.
Laredo entered the truck stop’s diner to find it still hopping. Business hadn’t been this good since the last blizzard when Lulu’s was the only place in town with a satellite signal strong enough to catch the Super Bowl.
George Strait crooned on the jukebox and on the big-screen TV the Cubs beat the Cardinals.
Laredo scanned the rowdy crowd to find Mary and her baby holding court in the big corner booth. Knowing he was on a deadline to get home, the last thing he wanted was to enter the fray, but he did need to give Mary her room key.
He would have expected a woman in her situation to be relieved. Maybe talkative from the adrenaline rush and resulting relief of a potentially catastrophic situation taking a good turn. Instead, she sat with her head bowed, clutching her baby.
Maybe she was still in shock?
“There he is!” Sheriff Kyle Marsh waved him over. Kyle had been a Marine, so the two of them had long since bonded over military service and venison jerky recipes. Kyle stood, meeting Laredo midway to the booth to shake his hand. “Our hero! What the hell? You’re making me look bad in front of my constituents.”
“All twenty of them?” Laredo and Kyle shared a laugh.
“Always bustin’ my balls. Slide in here and have a piece of pie on me. You’ve earned it.”
“Stop.” After easing into the booth seat, Laredo clasped his hands on the table. “I did what anyone else would have. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Turns out it was.” Lulu put her left hand atop his right.
He tried casually extricating his digits, but the woman had an iron grip. He didn’t want to make a scene but it looked like he and the buxom truck stop owner needed to have a serious talk.
He glanced across the table to find Mary eyeing him and Lulu. He didn’t want Mary getting the wrong impression about the two of them being an item. On the flip side, he wasn’t sure why it mattered. But it did. Which was even more unsettling than Lulu’s proprietary hold.
“Kyle, do you want to share the big news, or shall I?”
“Go for it,” Kyle said.
“Well...” Lulu paused for dramatic effect. “Turns out Mary’s carjacker was a felon. His name is John Paul Matthews and he’s wanted for a whole slew of convenience store robberies down in Louisiana. How he found his way up here, I’ll never know, but thank goodness we have our very own big, strong Navy SEAL to help out when the sheriff isn’t around.”
“I’m retired,” Laredo said.
“Once a SEAL, always a SEAL.” Kyle tipped his beer to him. “Face it, you’re a hero. My deputy took Mr. Matthews to a nice, comfy cell, so now all we need to worry about is getting Miss Smith’s car back on the road.”
“Working on it.” Laredo fished the motel room key from his jeans pocket, then slid it across the brown laminate table past coffee cups and saucers filled with piecrust crumbs. “No tires tonight, Mary, but I got you a room. I’ll run you over as soon as you’re ready.”
She frowned. “We already talked about this.”
“Look...” He leaned in. “Your car is currently in a field. You’ve been through a traumatic event and you and your baby need a safe, quiet place to grab some shut-eye. I already paid for the room. You’re not in any way beholden to me. But I do feel bad about your tires.”
“You saved my baby’s life. You’ve done enough.”
“Honey,” Lulu said, “take the room.”
Mary nodded. “Thanks.”
“Come on.” Laredo rose from the booth. “I’ll give you a ride.”
“That’s okay,” Lulu said. “I’ll be happy to drive her. I haven’t visited with Sarah in ages.” Sarah Ziegler had taken over the motel when her parents retired to Arizona. Luckily, she hadn’t been on duty when Laredo booked the room.
Dandelion Gulch was a hotbed of single women on the prowl for potential husbands.
“Sounds good. I’ll hit up Jimmy first thing in the morning about the tires.” Laredo limited trips to town in hopes of staying off the groom candidate roster. It sucked that he’d have to make a return trip tomorrow, but he’d deal. His more pressing issue was getting safely home tonight. “Mary? You okay with this plan?”
“Yes. Thank you. You’re very kind.”
Laredo winced.
Actually, he was a selfish bastard for resenting the time this stranger had already unwittingly taken from his day. And tomorrow. His whole point for leaving the Navy and moving to this lonely corner of the world was to escape. Hide. But none of that was feasible when he was surrounded by flirting women and now a random violent crime.
“See y’all in the morning.” With a backward wave, he retreated from the diner.
Unfortunately, the sound of clicking heels followed.
“Not so fast, cowboy.” Lulu passed, cutting him off before he reached the door. “I wanted to thank you for helping with this fiasco. It’s not every day a man literally tackles a criminal while helping a lady in distress.”
“No problem.”
“Yes, but—”
“I don’t mean to be rude,” he said, “but I’ve got even more ladies in distress back home. If I don’t feed my hens, they’ll bust into the house and peck me to death in my sleep.”
Lulu laughed. “You’re so funny.” Hand on his forearm, she added, “Just know that if you ever find yourself needing a favor from me—anything at all—I’m here for you. It must get lonely out there on your ranch, and a man has needs that—”
“Whoa.” He lowered his voice, ensuring no one else could hear. “Hon, you are a smart, savvy businesswoman and just about the hottest firecracker any man could hold, but I’m not in the market, okay?”
“I’m confused. Do you bat for the other team? If so, I could hook you up with—”
He sighed. “Nothing personal, but I really just want to be left alone.”
Making the already awkward moment all the more difficult was Mary. Laredo glanced up, accidentally catching her gaze. In the moment, she looked as hollow as he felt.
What was her story?
Why did he care?
“I know you don’t mean any of that,” Lulu said. “I understand that as a proud man who’s served our country, you’ve seen things I can’t even imagine. But that doesn’t mean—”
“I’ll see you the next time I get a hankering for meat loaf.” In case of crocodile tears, Laredo took off, punching open the door with its chirpy bell, then making a beeline for his truck.
Thankfully, Lulu and her heels didn’t follow.
What did?
Mary Smith’s haunted expression.
