Page 92 of Snow in Texas

Her heart contracted, already anticipating the bullet. Gooseflesh rippled down her arms, but she didn’t waver with the .45. It was her only defense against this – the man who’d ruined her life.

Her stomach heaved and she thought of the baby, that little precious thing growing inside her minute-by-minute. If Riley shot her, the baby would die with her; the thought brought tears to her eyes that she blinked away furiously. Her first chance at motherhood, that faded, distant dream from her past, and he was trying to take it away from her, like he’d taken her privacy, her dignity, her safety…her sanity.

“Get back,” she said through her teeth. “Or I swear to God, I’ll blow your head clean off your neck.”

His wound was right in the juncture of shoulder and arm, and the blood was running slowly down his chest, bleeding through his shirt. His eyes were glassy with pain. He held the arm rigid at his side, but unless the round had shattered bone, he’d still be able to use it. He could still overpower her. He’d always been a strong man, and still was.

He smiled, and it looked like a grimace. “Listen to you. Whoever you’re fucking, he doesn’t know how to keep you in line, does he?”

Colin! What would he do when he learned Riley had killed her? His baby?

She shoved him roughly from her mind.Go, go, like she’d told Pup. She couldn’t think about him now or she’d crumble.

“You’re stalling,” she said, fighting to keep her voice calm. “And God knows why, but let the prospect go and you can explain it to me while I patch your shoulder up.”

He snorted.

“You’re losing a lot of blood. You lose too much, and you’ll pass out.”

“That won’t matter if I shoot you first.”

“Riley!” she snapped. “What do you want?”

“I want my club back.”

Jenny wet her lips, but her tongue was too dry to do much good. “Turn him loose, and I can make that happen.”

“Yeah?” he scoffed. “What’re you gonna do, bitch?”

“I’m your bait. Candy’ll come for me. You think he cares about this kid?” She jerked her head toward Pup. “But he’ll come after me, and Crockett, and you know that. That’s the only reason you didn’t shoot me the second I came through the door.”

He stared at her.

She dropped her gun, so it dangled from her finger by its trigger guard. “I promise,” she said. “I’m yours. Now let him go.”

“No, but…” Pup said, head swiveling between the two of them.

“It’s okay, sweetie. This has been a long time coming.”

Riley eased forward a step, snarling as he was forced to take her gun with his bad arm. He shoved the .45 into his waistband and stepped around her to open the door. “Let him through,” he called to his men.

Jenny almost couldn’t bear the anguished look Pup sent her way.

Call Candy, she mouthed.

His eyes filled with tears.

Go.

And he went.

Thirty-Four

Jenny

Crockett sobbed into his hands, the sound heartbreaking, and disturbing. In his prime, he would have killed a man rather than allow him to witness his crying. Now, he blubbered all over himself like a baby. Or like a once-great man afflicted with dementia, which was what he was.

He was also no help whatsoever.

---