Page 36 of Dusty
He’d spent years avoiding attachments, keeping people at arm’s length, telling himself it was safer that way. The one time he’d thought about getting married, it hadn’t been for love. It had simply been because he and his then fiancée had grown close, and decided marriage was the next logical step. Until she’d fallen in love with somebody else, had broken the engagement, and eloped the same day. Nothing like having your engagement implode in a spectacular fashion to turn you against all thoughts of making another commitment.
Then Sharon had walked into his life with her fierce determination and vulnerable heart, and something had shifted inside him, making him rethink all the vows he’d made not to get involved emotionally with anybody again.
The truth he could no longer deny pressed against his chest: he had fallen in love with her. And now she was in the hands of the man she’d risked everything to destroy.
“We’ve got something,” Dane announced, ending a call. “One of my contacts at the airfield confirmed a private jet registered to one of Madison’s shell companies took off thirty minutes ago. Flight plan says Chicago.”
Dusty’s jaw tightened. “I’m going to Chicago on the next flight out.”
“We’re going to Chicago,” Rafe corrected, meeting Dusty’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “All of us.”
“This isn’t your fight,” Dusty said, though the protest sounded hollow even to his own ears.
Antonio turned in his seat to face him. “When Lennox took Sharon from that barn, he made it our fight. He is interfering with an official FBI investigation. Besides, we don’t leave our own behind.”
“She’s one of us now,” Dane added simply. “Has been since the moment Momma found her, gave her help and shelter. You might as well surrender to the inevitable. Sharon belongs in Shiloh Springs—with you.”
A lump formed in Dusty’s throat at their loyalty. These men had come running at his call, no questions asked, and now they were willing to face down one of the most dangerous men in Chicago for a woman most of them had barely spoken with.
Rafe’s voice was steady with conviction. “We’re going to get her back, Dusty. We’re going to bring her home to Shiloh Springs where she belongs.”
Home.The word resonated in Dusty’s chest with unexpected power. For the first time in years, it meant something beyond four walls and a roof. Home was becoming a place where Sharon would be. Where they might build something together, if they survived what was coming.
Dusty looked out at the Texas sunset bleeding crimson across the horizon. Somewhere far ahead, a plane carried Sharon away from him, back to the monster she’d been running from. But Dusty had never backed down from a fight, and he wasn’t about to start now.
“Hold on, Sharon,” he whispered to the gathering darkness. “I’m coming for you.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sharon’s cheek stungwhere Cooper had struck her, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of reaching up to touch it. Outside the study windows, snow fell gently against the darkness, Christmas lights from neighboring estates twinkling in the distance, mocking reminders of holiday cheer.
“You were always stubborn,” Cooper said, straightening his custom Italian suit jacket with manicured hands. “It’s what I loved about you.” His voice carried that familiar smooth cadence that had once fooled her, but now sounded hollow, rehearsed.
“You never loved me, Cooper. I was simply a pretty toy, a possession you wanted. I don’t think you’ve ever loved anyone your whole life.”
Cooper’s eyes blazed, and his face turned a mottled red before regaining his composure, that practiced smile decorating his lips. Ever the consummate professional, he’d charmed hundreds of people with his charisma, and he could turn it on and off at will.
“You’re wrong, of course, Sharon. I do—did—love you. We could have had a happy life together, if you hadn’t been foolish enough to try and cross me. Just like Vincent did and look what happened to him.”
Sharon winced at the memory. It wasn’t like she needed a reminder of how Vincent had died at Cooper’s hands, how he’d forced her fingerprints on the gun. Had called his friends at the police station, claiming to have witnessed Sharon’s attack on the unsuspecting and innocent man. As if. Vincent had been the onewho’d gone to the FBI in the first place. A whistleblower, intent on bringing down Cooper and his empire, one that Vincent helped him build, so he knew where all the skeletons were buried. He’d planned on making a deal to escape prosecution, after which he’d leave the country with all the money he’d socked away in the Cayman Islands.
The enormous Douglas fir in the corner of the library dripped with expensive ornaments, professionally decorated to perfection like everything else in Cooper’s life. He never settled for anything less. A fire crackled in the marble fireplace, casting dancing shadows across the room. The elegant holiday scene made a grotesque backdrop for what was unfolding in real time.
Cooper’s eyes skipped over her to Lennox, who’d just entered the library. He’d practically frog-marched her from the entryway to the library, his grip on her arm tight enough she knew she’d have bruises by morning.
If I’m still alive in the morning.
“I double-checked with the men. They searched the barn high and low and didn’t find anything. She didn’t have the evidence when we found her in the barn with that guy.”
Cooper took a step toward Lennox before catching himself and smoothing a hand over his suit jacket again. “What…guy?”
Lennox swallowed. “Um, she was with a man when we found her. Same one she was with at the women’s shelter in San Antonio. He was driving. Definitely has some experience with defensive driving, because Ollie tried a PIT maneuver, and he was able to avoid it. My guess, he’s law enforcement of some kind, though I didn’t peg him for a fed.”
“And where is this man now?” The edge in Cooper’s voice had Sharon straightening in her chair. This wasn’t good. When Cooper got that emotionless tone, somebody was going to pay. Hopefully it wasn’t her.
“I knocked him out. Dude’s probably got a concussion. He’s been shot too, so he’ll probably bleed out. Brought Sharon to the airport and came straight here.”
Cooper spun and walked to his desk, and Sharon kept her gaze on his every move. He was already angry with her, and now he knew about Dusty. Luckily, it didn’t sound like Lennox had done his homework, because he hadn’t mentioned Dusty by name yet. He’d known Dusty’s name when they’d barged into the barn, but maybe he didn’t know that Dusty was a sheriff’s deputy, or that he was from Shiloh Springs. She’d love to be able to keep Dusty out of her drama, and the way her life was spinning out of control. That would be one final small mercy she could accomplish.
