The parking lot was filled with vehicles belonging to the twins’ known associates. She’d love to be part of the team who took them down, although she hated the fact that whenever she was assigned to any job, her brother Carson made sure he was assigned to the same job. She was twenty-six years old. Jeez, couldn’t a girl get a break?
She wanted to be the one to cuff one of the twins, not just because they were a menace to society, but because they stole a prized German shepherd named Nico from the RRK9 Training Center and got away with it, and they were also suspected of having one of their thugs steal a puppy from the center. Evan and Noel had clearly had an immoral veterinarian remove Nico’s microchip and replace it with one declaring them the dog’s owner. Nico had been a day or two from being paired with a K9 handler; that’s how highly trained he was. Now he was in the wrong hands. And the puppy had cost the center a small fortune. Elle knew the Larson twins were slimeball criminals, but stealing a dog? For that crime alone, the two should be jailed for the rest of their lives.
Crouching, she moved a couple of steps closer, still hugging the body of the pickup that was her cover. All she was waiting for was the official word to go in.
Tonight she would prove to everyone that she was a good cop and could hold her own under any circumstances. Tonight she would prove to her brother that she didn’t need them babysitting her anymore.
Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, unsurprised to see her brother Carson’s number. She punched the button to answer, but before she could say anything, Merlin released a deep, loud grunt, his trained alert for danger.
Elle whirled around in time to see a big man barreling down on her. She dropped her phone and raised her hands in a defensive posture, her heart nearly beating out of her chest.
He was about to make full-body contact with her. She had no time to think but could only react. She quickly sidestepped and when he brushed by her body, she used her elbow to chop him on the back. Obviously surprised by her quick action, he went down hard on his hands and knees.
She gave him no time to recover. She kicked his midsection as hard as she could once, twice, and a third time. He groaned and attempted to regain his footing, but before he could get to his feet, she had drawn her gun.
“Raise up slowly and turn around,” she commanded. “Ignore my instructions and I’ll shoot you,” she warned. He turned and she quickly snapped cuffs on his wrists. It was only then that she leaned over, breathing hard, but not as hard as her prisoner who, even though he was winded, managed to gasp out some ugly language directed at her.
“Shut up,” she said as she picked up her phone from the pavement. “All I have to do is say one word and my partner here will tear out your throat.”
He’d obviously thought she’d be an easy takedown because she was a woman. The joke was on him for underestimating her skill and clear focus. She’d had the same training as the men and she was as good as any one of them...including her brother.
Footsteps slapped pavement, coming toward her. She held her gun tight, unsure if it was more danger approaching. She relaxed as she saw her brother and his partner running toward her.
“Elle, are you okay?” Carson asked, his eyes blazing with concern. He stopped abruptly at the sight of her prisoner.
“Elle, why didn’t you yell for help? I was on the phone with you,” he said angrily. “All you had to do was say that you were in trouble.”
“Cool your jets, Carson. I didn’t need any help from you. He attacked me and I handled the situation.” A sense of pride swept through her as she watched his panic turn to grudging respect.
“Good job,” he replied. “I heard the commotion on the phone and knew you were in trouble.”
“Like I said, I handled it. This is one bad guy—a thug associate of the Larson twins—who will be off the streets for a while,” she replied. At that moment her phone vibrated again. Carson took control of the prisoner while she answered her phone.
It was Chief Finn Colton. “I want you to get over to the foreman’s cabin on the Double C Ranch. A baby has been abandoned there with Anders Colton. Your brother can handle the surveillance without you.”
An abandoned baby. It was a nonthreatening job and if she didn’t know better she’d swear that her brother had talked to the chief and told him to pull her off this more dangerous case.
She hated to leave the surveillance at the warehouse. She really wanted to catch one of the Larson twins red-handed and put at least one—if not both—away.
At least her sense of pride stayed with her as she and Merlin got into her car and headed for the Double C Ranch. She’d taken care of the thug all by herself, without the help of one of her Overly Protective Brothers. She hadn’t even had to set Merlin into motion.
She wasn’t particularly happy to be going to interact with any Colton other than the police chief and her fellow officers. The feud between the Coltons and the Gages was legendary. It began a century ago when the Gage family lost a good plot of land to the Coltons in a poker game. There had been cheating accusations, and the bad blood between the two families remained today.
Most recently she had a wealth of rage directed toward one particular Colton...Demetria “Demi” Colton, the woman she believed had murdered her brother, Bo.
On the night before his wedding he’d been found shot through the heart and with a black cummerbund stuffed in his mouth. It was supposed to be a bachelor party at the Pour House, a dive bar in a sketchy area of Red Ridge, but there had been no party, only the murder of her brother.
Bo. Bo. His name blew through her on a wind of pain and terrible regret. The last time she’d seen him they’d had a terrible fight...and then he was dead. How she wished she could take back some of the things she’d said to him. How she wished he were still alive instead of the first victim of someone the police and press were now calling the Groom Killer.
She cast all of these things out of her mind as she pulled into the entrance of the Double C Ranch. She drove slowly past the huge mansion where Judson and Joanelle lived. The lights in the house were all dark, so apparently Anders hadn’t disturbed anyone there.
Anders Colton. The only thing she really knew about him was that he was a wealthy cowboy and definitely a piece of eye candy. He was a tall, muscular man with dark hair and bright blue eyes.
Elle was immune to all men right now. At twenty-six years old, her entire focus was on her work and the need to prove herself to everyone in her family and on the police force.
In any case Anders Colton would be the last man she’d have any interest in. First of all, he was a Colton and that was enough to make her keep her distance. But, secondly and more important, it was possible he was aiding and abetting his cousin Demi, who was still on the run from authorities. Had Demi killed Bo? Was she the Groom Killer? Evidence said she was. Witnesses said so, too. And the fact that she’d fled town before she could be arrested and had been on the run ever since made a lot of people, her own relatives on the force included, think she was guilty. But the FBI had caught sightings of her far from Red Ridge on the night of subsequent murders with the same MO. Some said Demi had been framed. Others said she was smart and setting it all up herself.
All Elle wanted was for the murders to stop. And justice for her brother.
Although she didn’t know specifically where the foreman’s cabin was on the property, she followed the dirt road that took her past a huge barn and a wooded area.
Then she spied the cozy cabin with the porch light on. Seated on the porch was Anders Colton, rocking the baby in his arms. He didn’t move as she parked her car and then got out with Merlin at her heels.
As