Undercover Texas (19 page)
Erin burst into tears and he drew her close.
Brandon crawled into Hunter’s lap.
“Da,” he sniffled, exhausted and unhappy.
“Hey, sport.” Hunter wiped the tears from his son’s eyes, ignoring his own. “You’ve had yourself a rough day for a one-year-old.”
Hunter hugged Brandon close, kissing his soft locks. “If I lost you like Miller did his son, I’m not sure I would survive with my sanity intact, either,” Hunter whispered.
“But you wouldn’t risk innocent people for revenge,” Erin said. She clung to Hunter’s arm. “Is it over? Can I have my life back?”
Hunter looked over at Noah and Daniel. They wouldn’t meet his gaze. They all knew.
“I’m sorry, Erin. Ali has been bragging about the prototype, and others want it, too. The chatter has gone wild. Your name’s everywhere.” He stroked his finger down her cheek. “You’re the prototype’s creator, and they want you. You’ll have to stay dead or be hunted the rest of your life.”
* * *
E
RIN
HELD
B
RANDON
in her lap and listened to the roar of the cascading waterfall. The stream danced over the rocks and ended in a pool. If she’d had the energy, she would have washed the dirt and smoke from her skin, but nothing seemed to matter anymore.
If she was a normal woman, this would have been a beautiful place to camp, to lie under the stars or to make love beneath the cascading sheets of water.
Instead, Hunter, Noah and Daniel were still sifting through the scene. Hunter had ushered her out of the clearing as fast as he could, but he hadn’t been able to hide the smoldering body of General Miller.
This would be a tough situation to explain, especially since she and Brandon were supposedly dead. No trace evidence of their being here could remain.
She kissed her son’s head and laid her cheek against his soft hair. Everything inside her just wanted to shatter. Even breathing hurt.
Trees parted, the bushes shaking. Erin tensed, waiting as Hunter walked over to her. “Daniel and Noah will be set to go soon. They’ll take you to Logan’s plane and stop at various places to confuse where you’re going. You’ll be safe until you reach your new home.”
“Where will that be?” She looked up at Hunter.
“I don’t know. I asked them not to tell me,” he said. He knelt beside the rock and cupped her uninjured cheek. “If I knew where you were, I don’t know if I could stay away from you.”
Erin wanted nothing more than to lean into his touch. “But you’re sending us away anyway. Ali is dead. Miller is dead.”
“With my ties to Miller and my past ops, I’m on more assassination lists than I can name. I won’t risk you or our son.”
She clutched at his shirt. “Find a way to be with me. I know you can.”
“If I do—” he kissed her nose “—I’ll find you. Somehow, I will. I promise, Erin.”
Daniel and Noah pushed their way through the trees. “It’s time.”
Erin’s eyes filled. “I love you, Hunter. I always will.”
He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, but didn’t say the words back to her. He’d never actually said the words.
The realization made her entire body freeze.
She held Brandon close and stood. “I understand,” she lied. “I was fine before. I’ll be fine again. Just me and my son. The way it’s always been.”
Hunter simply stared, the anguish in his eyes devastating. But he remained silent.
Her heart breaking, Erin followed Noah and Daniel back to an SUV standing in wait. They loaded what little she had collected with Hunter over the past few days into the back.
Hunter opened the door and placed Brandon in the car seat. He rested his lips on his son’s hair. “Goodbye,” he whispered.
She slid into the backseat and rolled up the window. She couldn’t stop the tears flowing down her cheeks as the car pulled away. She didn’t look back, just whispered one last time, “Goodbye, my love. You will always have my heart.”
* * *
“R
ANSOM
!” L
EONA
’
S
VOICE
called out from the next room at Logan’s ranch.
Hunter was securing some equipment in the bunker, and he bumped his head trying to get out from beneath the desk.
“Ransom!” she called again.
“Give me a minute, Leona,” Hunter groused. He still didn’t know when he’d get used to his new name, but it broke his heart every time he heard it. He’d thought of changing it again, but it was the last bond he had with Erin and his son. Fictitious names for a fictitious family. In his heart, it was all real.
Leona had worked her magic. Even the company believed he was dead. “Hunter Graham” had been killed in an automobile accident in New Orleans not far from his home. “Clay Griffin” had met his Maker in a small plane crash over the Mediterranean. Now only Ransom Grainger existed. A broken man with a shattered past. He wondered if he’d ever be okay again.
He wiped his face with a rag and crawled out from beneath the console.
Logan had called and as of two weeks ago, Clay’s name had been scrubbed from the assassin watch lists. Ali’s terrorist organization had taken credit for the hit. One last act in honor of their fallen leader.
Trace Padgett had let him know that the terrorist group had scattered. At least for now.
Hunter had been fantasizing about finding Erin. Maybe, if things continued the way they were, he could finally do that in a year or so.
If he was lucky, it might not be too late.
Frustrated, Hunter straightened and surveyed Logan’s underground bunker. It looked better now. It had taken a month of dirty, intensive work to clean up, but the generator had been repaired, the new electronics installed and Hunter had just put up the last of Erin’s camera design at the front gate for testing.
Damn it, he missed her. He missed her brainy observations, her beautiful smile, her love for their son.
If Erin’s loss had shattered Hunter’s heart, Brandon’s loss had eviscerated him. He wanted to teach his little boy to ride and rope and have fun on a ranch. He wanted to teach him to have solid convictions and stand by them. He wanted to have that talk with him about girls.
None of it would happen.
Was there any worse feeling than what might have been?
“Ransom. You have a phone call. It’s Logan.” Leona looked down at him from the escape hatch and tossed him the secure satellite phone.
“What’s up, Your Highness?” Hunter smiled for the first time in days.
“Stow it,
Ransom,
” Logan countered. “Are you used to it yet?”
“It’ll come.”
“I may never get used to your new name, but I’ll try.”
Hunter sat back in a folding chair and stared at the open hatch. The July sun beat down on him through the opening. “What’s going on? I know we’re spending a lot of money—”
“That’s not the issue.” Logan took a deep breath. “Kat and I have been talking. While we’d like to visit the ranch to get the kids away from this crazy palace life, I won’t have the time to commit to the company. Not like we discussed.” He lowered his voice. “Kat’s pregnant, and I need to be here for her. She needs me to take on more responsibilities in Bellevaux. I have to bow out, Hunter.”
Hunter’s stomach dropped. “I understand. Family is the most important thing, Logan. I learned that the hard way. Do you want me to stop work?”
“No way. Covert Technology Confidential, Incorporated, is needed. Just not with me at the helm. People like Annie need us. I want you to run CTC, Hunter.”
Hunter fell back in his chair and hit his head on the concrete floor. He blinked. “You can’t be serious. What about Daniel?”
“He’s AWOL at the moment. He needs time. When he’s ready we’ll bring him back in, if he wants to be part of CTC.” Logan paused. “You’ve been ready for this a long time, Hunter. With Leona and Chuck to help you, I don’t see how you won’t succeed.”
Hunter picked himself off the floor and paced back and forth, his mind whirling with ideas. CTC would be a way to give back, to help those who couldn’t help themselves. The organization would give people like Annie and Erin a chance at a life when there seemed to be nowhere to turn. And his life would have purpose again. Even if his heart was broken. “You’ve got yourself a deal,” he agreed. “Partner.”
He ended the call, stunned, and looked around the room. Empty. No one here with whom to share his new life. What he wouldn’t give to have Erin next to him.
An alarm sounded at the console he’d just hooked up. The front gate. He activated the camera.
A black SUV sat parked in front of the newly erected barrier. Hunter tensed, his hand reaching for a weapon. He wasn’t expecting anyone.
The door opened and a dark-haired woman with long, slim legs stepped into the sun.
She looked into the camera and smiled.
She was beautiful, and his stomach gave a jolt. There was something familiar...
She reached into the backseat and pulled out a baby carrier. She lifted a small boy into her arms, pointed up to the camera and waved.
The baby let out a big grin.
Hunter swayed.
Brandon.
He vaulted out of the exit and sprinted to the gate. When he reached the edge of the property, he skidded to a halt.
A stranger stood before him. But not a stranger.
He studied her features, then stared into her eyes. Emerald-green, with a smile hidden behind them. Maybe not so innocent anymore, but honest and forthright.
He knew those eyes, only her face and hair color were different.
“Erin....”
She tilted her head. “So, what do you think of my new look? The color is still in the experimental stage, but this one’s not bad.”
Hunter swallowed, unable to believe she was standing there.
He pressed the release button, and the gate swung open. He stepped through. His shaking hand hovered over her high cheekbones, traveled across her narrowed nose and down to her fuller lips. “What did you do?”
She bit her lip, that nervous habit that made him want to hold her and make everything better.
“My cheekbone was shattered. They had to do reconstructive surgery, so I decided if I couldn’t be Erin Jamison anymore, the least I could do was start over completely. I don’t want to look over my shoulder all the time. And, I hoped, if no one could recognize me, maybe...maybe I could have what I really want.”
He held his breath, afraid to hope.
“More than any career as a scientist, more than fame or accolades, I want you, Hunter. I think you love me. I hope I’m not wrong.”
His chest tightened. He drank in her presence. She was everything he ever wanted. She made his life complete. “I love you more than life itself. You and Brandon.”
The words tumbled out of him, words he’d longed to say for nearly two years.
She threw herself into Hunter’s arms.
Noah exited the SUV and dropped two suitcases at Hunter’s feet. “Don’t screw this up,
Ransom.
I wish I could find a woman who loves me like she does you.”
His friend jumped into the SUV and took off toward the highway leading away from the CTC Ranch.
She looked over Hunter’s shoulder. “I see you installed my camera design.”
He smiled. “It’s brilliant. Why wouldn’t I use it?”
She clutched his shirt, her expression earnest. “Let me be a part of this. Noah told me about CTC. I can help. Let me use my talents to save people. Let me be what I was meant to be. Here, with you. As Marina Grainger. We make a great team.”
Was he dreaming? “Are you sure?”
Erin gripped his fingers. “This is my choice, Clay, Hunter, Ransom...or whoever you are today. I love you. I go to sleep dreaming of you. My heart misses you. My mind misses you. No one else makes me feel the way you do. I watched you fight to save our lives. Now I’m fighting for your heart. You’re my son’s father, and I won’t let you go. Not again.”
She held his face in her hands. “Do you truly love me?”
Hunter couldn’t stop the indescribable joy welling inside of him. His heart burst from within. He wouldn’t let his dream slip through his fingers, not again.
“I fell in love with you the moment I saw you on that beach in Santorini and you started lecturing me about that shell. You were so alive. So excited. I’d never known what hope was until I found you. I love you, Erin.”
“Marina,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around him. “No matter what our names, our hearts will always know each other.”
“Da!” Brandon called out.
“Good thing that name still works.” Hunter released Erin, and looked down at his son. He picked him up and cuddled the boy.
“Da...da...da.”
With a sigh, he pulled Erin close into his arms. “I’ll do everything in my power to protect you both. I promise.”
She laid her head against his shoulder. “No. This time, my love, we’ll protect each other.”
He tugged her dark hair. “It’s the same color as Brandon’s now. Do I need a disguise? Do you think I’d look good as a blond? Or I could shave my head?”
“Or, Mr. Grainger—”
she kissed Hunter “—you could take me up to the cabin and make love to me all night long.”
He could feel the passion and the love through every caress of her lips. Hunter held her close, relishing the feel of her body against his. These curves, he remembered. He spun her around. “I like your ideas so much better than mine, Marina. You are a genius. Now
let’s go be a family.”
Her eyes shining, she gazed up at him. “Does this mean we have to get remarried, Mr. Grainger?”
Her tear-filled eyes held such hope and such love, he couldn’t breathe. He hugged his family close and closed his eyes, sending a prayer to heaven. He would never let them go.
“It most assuredly does, Mrs. Grainger. And I know the perfect beach in Santorini for a honeymoon.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt of
Ultimate Cowboy
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