Page 56 of Lone Star Protector

No charges for Eddie, though. Like Bodie, he was being carried off in a body bag. Again, Caroline couldn’t muster up even a little sadness over that. The man had been willing to kill them.

And for what?

To help a sick bastard carry through on an old grudge against her? A grudge that Bodie had started when he’d stabbed her. Yeah, Eddie wasn’t going to get any sympathy from her.

She looked up when Ruby started her way. Her mother wasn’t her usual put-together self. Probably because of the blood on her clothes and her disheveled hair.

Caroline thought she’d never looked better.

Then again, that Zen thing was likely coloring her view. Her mother was alive, and one wrong flick of the knife, and she might not have been.

“How’s your coffee?” her mother asked. She was drinking her own cup of the nasty brew and grimacing with each sip.

“I think they soaked old tires in stagnant water and called it coffee.” Caroline moved over a bit so Ruby could sit next to her. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. “Just scratches. I know when some men say that, it’s really a gash, but in my case, it isn’t.” She sipped more coffee, and like Caroline, her gaze was fixed on Nash.

Speaking of never looking better, Nash fit into that category as well. The combat warrior/guardian angel. With an amazing face. And butt. Yes, that butt was rather superior.

As if Nash had known she was thinking of him, he turned, and their gazes collided. A thousand things seemed to pass between them. And Caroline liked that very much. That even without words, they were connected.

“I’m sorry,” Ruby said, re-snagging Caroline’s attention. “I shouldn’t have let Bodie get to me so he could use me to draw you out.”

Caroline glanced at her. Frowned. Then, huffed. “Apology not accepted. Because it’s not needed,” she added when she saw her mother’s fallen expression. “He was going to come after me one way or another. If he hadn’t used you, it would have been someone else. Someone who might not have been able to survive.”

Her mother made a slight sound of agreement, but Caroline thought that agreement would grow by leaps and bounds when she gave it more thought. Yes, Ruby was banged up, but she was mentally and physically tough. This wouldn’t break her the way it would have done to someone else.

“My life flashed before my eyes,” her mother went on while sipping more coffee and grimacing from the taste. “Never happened to me before.”

“Oh, and what did you see?” she asked, and because Ruby’s tone suddenly seemed so deep and intense, Caroline found herself drinking more of the sludge as well.

You.” Ruby leaned over and brushed a kiss on Caroline’s forehead. “My baby. My daughter. A woman capable of, well, anything. Not to make light of this, but you kicked his ass.”

“I did,” Caroline verified.

“How’d you learn to throw a knife like that?” she asked.

“Training and lots of practice. I’ve gone through eleven wooden targets over the years.” She paused. “Somehow, I always knew it would come down to him and me, and I wanted to be ready this time.”

“Oh, you were ready. So ready that I should offer you a job at Maverick Ops.”

Caroline shook her head and figured Ruby was joking. Maybe not, though. But that kind of work wasn’t for her.

“We haven’t talked like this in a long time,” her mother continued a moment later. “It feels like some kind of turning point.”

“It is. Forgive and forget,” Caroline muttered. Then, she shrugged. “Well, forgive anyway. I, uh, think what I was feeling about the attack eighteen years ago got tangled up with feelings of Dad dying. Of you not being there. It became that barrier between us. Maybe this is the post-adrenaline junk talking, but I think it’s time for that barrier to come down.”

She looked at her mother and was surprised to see tears in her eyes. Surprised, too, to feel them in her own.

Ruby smiled, leaned over and kissed her on the forehead again. “Barrier is down. Maybe that means you can come for dinner.” Her mother paused a heartbeat. “And bring Nash.”

Now, Caroline smiled. “I think that’s a nice invitation to what would be a very uncomfortable meal for him. I’ll bring him, though if you promise not to glare at him for sleeping with the boss’ daughter.”

Oops. She hadn’t meant to blurt that out. But judging from Ruby’s casual lift of the shoulder, she had already known.

Of course, she had. She was Ruby Maverick.

Ruby sipped more coffee and spoke with her gaze now fixed on Nash. “You’re in love with him?”

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