Loe raamatut: «Marked By The Marshal»

Chapter One

Kara tilted her face away from the scalding July sun. It was the hottest, driest summer on record in Shadow Point, Kentucky, and she was eternally grateful for the misty breeze blowing off the fountain at Memorial Park. Her sleeping infant, Casey, on the other hand, seemed utterly unaware that her mother was slowly melting in the afternoon heat. Casey was like that. Naturally content, perpetually at ease. Not at all like the other moms had warned Kara babies could be. Casey had slept through the night by eight weeks and continued to be as lovely and charming as ever at four months.

Kara wiped the back of one sweaty arm across her forehead. A year ago, she’d run three miles before dawn. These days she was lucky to power walk half that before dinner. The heat wasn’t helping. She parked the three-wheeled jogging stroller in a berth of shade from an ancient oak and checked her step counter for time and distance. Already 10:00 a.m., and she was a thousand steps shy of her goal. She’d have to make them up indoors. The temperature was rising, and Casey would soon be ready for lunch.

Kara inhaled the sweet scent of blooming flower beds and the busy vendor carts positioned throughout Memorial Park. She eased her backside onto the fountain’s wide marble edge and waited for her heart rate to fizzle back to a steady thrum before making the final trek to her car. She gulped the dregs of warm water from her bottle and let her eyes slide shut.

“Beautiful day.” A man’s voice sprung her lids open. The brim of his dark ball cap was pulled low over his forehead, casting shadows over his wide, deep-set eyes. His dark blue jeans and shirt clung to his bulky frame, likely applied there by a dewy coat of sweat. He clasped his hands behind him and peered into Casey’s stroller. “Pretty lady you’ve got there.”

“Thank you.” Kara set a protective hand on the stroller’s side. She concentrated on Casey’s sleeping face instead of keeping eye contact with the man, hoping he’d take the hint. Kara wasn’t interested in a conversation or anything else he had to offer. What she needed was to go home and take a shower. Maybe change into something that wasn’t soaked in sweat.

“She looks like you,” he marveled. “Is her daddy at work? He must be missing her fiercely.”

Kara’s gut clenched at the thought of Casey’s father. A man she’d thought was good and decent, one who’d claimed to love her until a small pink cross appeared on the pregnancy test. Suddenly, he wasn’t ready for a life with her. Certainly not prepared for fatherhood. He was sorry, but he just couldn’t do it, and how did this happen anyway?

Kara forced the hard rock of emotion down her throat. This had happened because she’d allowed herself to let him in, when she knew full well there was only one man in the world meant for her, and it wasn’t the man making excuses about commitment.

“No,” she answered with more bite than intended.

Casey’s father wasn’t at work, as far as she knew, and he wasn’t missing Casey at all, but that was his loss and Kara’s gain. Casey was a gift. Kara knew that now, but for months she’d thought the pregnancy was her punishment for naively letting another man into her life. She figured this was what happened when women were gullible and stupid. The idea, of course, was laughable now. Her pregnancy had been a blessing that changed the shape of her world, and for the first time since the real love of her life had left her, Kara was profoundly at peace.

Except for this guy, contentedly pursuing a conversation, despite the fact that she’d barely looked in his direction. “I’m sorry,” she said, looking pointedly at her wrist. “I really should get going. It’s time for her bottle, and I want to get her out of this heat.” She stood on tired noodle legs and set her hand firmly on the stroller handle. Kara leaned forward, but the carriage didn’t budge.

The man had moved his hand to the stroller’s opposite side, curling meaty fingers over the edge and effectively holding it in place. “Must you go so soon?” He hitched one side of his mouth into a sinister half smile.

“Yes.”

Something dark flashed in his eyes. “May I hold her before you go? Just for a moment?”

“No.” The word leapt off Kara’s tongue with venomous warning. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, stiffening her posture and renewing her strength. “Please remove your hand from my baby’s stroller,” she seethed. Her stance widened on instinct and her muscles tensed to fight. It was a new and semi-frightening sensation, but in that moment she was sure she could flatten this man if needed. If he attempted to lay a finger on her daughter, they’d soon find out if she was right.

He stared, unmoving.

“Now,” she ground out the word.

Slowly, his fingers pulled away from the stroller. He slid the offending hand into his pocket. The other hung limply at his side. The oily smile she longed to knock off his face had morphed into something like disappointment or distaste. A silver lighter appeared in his hand, pulled swiftly from his pocket. He flicked it to life and watched with the same menacing expression he’d just given her. The flame sputtered, then died with a closing snap of the lid. He tugged the brim of his hat and lifted his gaze back to Kara. “Watch yourself,” he warned. “I hear it’s going to be an inferno.”

With that, he strode away, angling deftly through throngs of parents and caregivers gathered at the little water park nearby. The musical sounds of children’s laughter sent a shiver down her spine. The contrast of their happiness to her own fear was unnerving. She watched raptly until he was out of sight, just in case he decided he’d like to hold one of those splashing children the way he’d wanted to hold Casey.

Kara’s lungs filled suddenly on a deep intake of air. “Time to go, baby doll.”

Casey squirmed at the sound of her mama’s voice. A small complaint fell from her tiny rosebud lips. Eyes still pinched shut, she flailed her arms before going limp once more. Someone was due for a feeding.

Kara whirled the stroller away from the fountain, thankful to have left her car parked in the opposite direction from the water park where the man was last seen. If she never saw him again, it would be too soon. In fact, the way her skin was crawling right now, never returning to Memorial Park would be fine by her. Matter of fact, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if that guy harassed anyone else today because she hadn’t spoken up. Heaven forbid he lay a hand on any child. The minute they were safely locked inside her car, Kara would call the local sheriff and file a report.

* * *

US MARSHAL RYDER GARRETT listened with slow burning fury as his brother West, the Cade County sheriff, relayed a report made by Kara Noble about a strange man at Memorial Park. The fact that someone had upset Ryder’s former fiancée was enough to tighten his jaw. The fact that her description of the man in question matched fugitive Timothy Sand had Ryder packing his bags. Even the remote possibility that Sand was anywhere near Kara was enough to send Ryder back to Shadow Point. He hadn’t been home in three years, but he was already making plans to obliterate the speed limit on his way.

“She said that?” Ryder asked for the third time, shoving clothes haphazardly into a duffel. “She told you the man said it was going to be an inferno?”

“Yep,” West answered. “I remember you saying something like that once when you still lived in town. Your fugitive liked to say it. Any chance he’s free again?”

Ryder recognized the leaden weight of failure cooling on his shoulders. “Yes.” The word was a knife to his chest. Sand was never put away for what he’d done, and now Kara was in danger because of it.

“I didn’t mention it to her,” West said. “Didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was, but I figured it was worth a phone call to see what you thought.”

“To see what I thought?” Ryder snapped. “I think a damn fugitive threatened my—” He stopped short. His what? She was nothing to him anymore, and he’d allowed it to be that way. Caused it to be. “Kara.”

“All right. So, what happened with Sand? I thought he was arrested.”

“He was. Another marshal took over my cases while I relocated a family for witness protection. He caught Sand on a lark. A call to the tip line actually paid off, but the marshal was new and overzealous. He didn’t have the right evidence to make his case, and Sand’s weasel of a lawyer got the whole thing whittled down to parole and time served.” Ryder had been sick when he came back to town and heard they’d had Sand and didn’t lock him up. He couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. Ryder got busy preparing a watertight case against Sand for the murder of Sand’s first wife. The crime that started it all. He was darn close to having everything he needed to make sure Sand never saw sunlight. Then Sand’s parole had ended, the ankle bracelet had come off and Sand had gone MIA. Until now. “I won’t let him get away this time,” Ryder promised.

“Well, let’s hope that’s true. Meanwhile, I can’t ignore the possibility there’s a murdering arsonist in my county. I put Cole on patrol in Kara’s neighborhood and added a deputy to Memorial Park. What are you going to do?”

A low swear slid off Ryder’s tongue. He gave his forehead a rough scrub. Kara had unequivocally expelled him from her life. She’d packed his bags and set them on the porch with a note telling him he had to go. Her heart couldn’t take watching him waste away any longer in pursuit of one fugitive. It wasn’t worth it to her. Was it worth it to him?

Sadly, yes. It had been. Putting Sand behind bars had become symbolic of Ryder’s ability to be a marshal, to protect his family, fiancée and anyone else in his charge. He’d bound his self-worth to the apprehension of this man, and he couldn’t catch him.

Ryder yanked the zipper on his duffel and slung it over one shoulder. Now he had to go back and protect Kara from a danger he’d inadvertently caused her. West wanted to know what he was going to do? There was only one answer. “I’m coming home, brother.”

“Good,” West agreed. “For what it’s worth, and at the risk of sounding like Mom, it’s long past time for the two of you to talk. I hate that Sand is the reason you finally will, but I’m glad anyway. Kara will be, too.”

Ryder barked a humorless laugh. Yeah. Kara would be thrilled to see him. He’d stewed in his losses every day, but she’d gone on to find love with someone else, apparently. “Did you say she has a baby?”

West didn’t respond. They both knew that was exactly what he’d said.

Did he have to protect the new man in her life as well? His gut fisted at the thought. “How old’s the kid?”

“Only a few months. A girl.”

Ryder let his eyes drift shut, momentarily frozen in remorse. “She’s married, then?”

“Nope. Rumor is that the guy left her when he found out about the pregnancy. That was just over a year ago. Only guy she’s dated since you, I believe, assuming the gossip mill’s still working fine.”

Ryder clenched his teeth. “Best oiled machine in town.”

Now there were two men in Shadow Point he wanted to get his hands on. “What kind of jerk does something like that to a woman? To his child?”

“Not one worth having around,” West said. “She’s better off without him.”

Folks had probably said the same thing after she’d kicked Ryder out. They wouldn’t have been wrong then, either.

He grabbed his key, badge and sidearm, then headed into the sunset. There’d be plenty of time to fixate on all the ways he’d ruined his life during the three-hour drive back to Shadow Point. Right now, he needed to get moving.

* * *

IT WAS AFTER ten when Kara put on her second pot of coffee. It had been twelve hours since her hasty exit from Memorial Park with Casey, and Kara’s nerves were still in bundles. Casey, on the other hand, was sound asleep in the nursery. Kara was glad for her, but personally, she couldn’t shake the sensation she was being watched.

She’d locked all the doors and shut the windows the moment they’d gotten home. She’d even pulled the curtains in an effort to stop the heebie-jeebies crawling over her skin. Nothing had worked. On any other night, she’d have poured a glass of sweet tea and sat on the porch swing to unwind from her troubles. Tonight, she was a prisoner in her home. A very hot home.

The central air was set to seventy-seven, the lowest she could afford to keep it on her public teacher’s salary, and she was dressed accordingly. A worn-out pair of cotton shorts and a pre-pregnancy tank top. The perfect pajamas for nights like these. Though hers were being tested at every seam by the added pounds of stubborn baby weight, she wouldn’t complain. Those pounds were hard earned and well worth the prize.

Kara poured a cup of fresh coffee and sank onto a kitchen chair. This wasn’t supposed to be her life. If things had turned out the way she’d planned, she wouldn’t be shaking the willies right now over some man in the park. She’d be sharing a late-night snack with Ryder Garrett, and laughing as he told her all the ways he could keep that man from ever looking her way again. And he’d mean it. Kara smiled against the rim of her cup. She’d never been afraid of anything when Ryder was in her life.

Let it go, she chastised herself. You shouldn’t want him. Ryder had chosen a life of compulsion, danger and near madness over her. Based on that alone, she shouldn’t love him anymore, but all these years later she still couldn’t go twenty-four hours without thinking of him. Ridiculous. Especially since he’d left town and never looked back.

The sound of a car door drew Kara’s attention back to the moment, and she was irrationally glad to have something else to think about. Even the possibility of an unwanted guest. Kara padded across the living room carpet for a peek between the curtains. There was no movement on the street or in her driveway. Whoever had arrived or gone in the car had already done so, and the neighborhood had settled back into the hazy calm of a sweltering summer night. She checked the door and window locks again for good measure, moving methodically around the first floor, then up to the second.

It was nothing. Just a neighbor coming or going. No reason to overthink this.

The tug of sleep pulled at her muscles and eyelids as she tested the final window. She rubbed the fine hairs on her forearms, smoothing them where they stood at attention, sent on alert by the goose bumps covering her skin. She’d reported her weird exchange at the park to the local sheriff, a man who had nearly become her brother-in-law once. What more could she do? Thankfully, he hadn’t judged her for her paranoia. Instead, he’d promised to look into it and to add a night patrol to her street. She really couldn’t ask for more, especially considering nothing had actually happened. Kara had dealt with pushy men all her life, ones who leered at her and said crude things. She imagined all women had, but it was the first time she’d been confronted so blatantly with her baby present. Maybe that was what had upset her so much. The idea her baby was there. That he’d wanted to touch her. Is her daddy at work? Was that his creepy way of asking if Kara was involved with anyone since her ring finger was bare?

Kara moved to Casey’s room for another look at her sweet princess. She needed a nice vision to replace the man’s face burned into her mind. He’d had a slightly crazed expression like the one Ryder had worn at his worst, during the sleepless weeks of obsession over a fugitive named Timothy Sand. Ryder was barely human in those days, distant and monosyllabic. Like an addict or a man coming slowly unhinged. If only. Had either of those things been the problem, she could’ve gotten him help, sheltered him through the storm, but Ryder’s problems were of his choosing, and no one could’ve put him on another path, not even her.

Kara stopped the still-turning mobile that dangled high above Casey’s slack face. Baby drool edged from her droopy bottom lip, perhaps a sign of a first tooth on its way. One sweet dimpled arm lay across the stuffed dolly that had once belonged to Kara. Kara had gotten Rainy Rosie and her little yellow raincoat in an Easter basket during fourth grade and kept her in a memory box for years before Casey was born. Now, Rosie was gnawed on endlessly by her precious daughter. Kara suppressed a chuckle and slid back into the hallway, tugging the door nearly closed behind her.

The trip back downstairs seemed endless, like a dream hallway that grew longer with every step. Maybe tonight was a good night to sleep in the nursery. She’d fallen asleep in the glider many times before. She could bring a glass of water and a book. Let sleep take her at will.

Kara flipped the light switches and tugged the lamp chains one by one as she shut the house down for the night. Coffeepot off. She poured a glass of water and tucked a worn paperback under one bent arm, then grabbed the baby monitor from the counter. She liked her plan more and more by the second. Locked inside the nursery, she and Casey would be together, and they would be safe. Tomorrow was a new day, and tonight’s fears would likely seem as silly as they really were.

She checked the door lock once more and peeked through the front window for the last time. Breath caught in her throat as a tiny movement registered across the street. The glass of water jostled in her trembling hand. Kara shut her eyes and whispered, “It’s nothing, there’s nothing there, it’s okay, you’re okay.” She reopened her lids and gave the darkened street another cautious look.

Slowly, the shadow of a man peeled away from a broad oak tree and started a path in her direction.