the silky waves at Robin’s temple. “Not anymore.” He couldn’t take his gaze away from those pretty eyes that seemed to like looking at him. “Thanks for finding me, Nash.”
“Yeah, well next time you get shot in the head, don’t make it so hard to track you down.”
Nash left and Jake scooted forward on the gurney, slipping his good arm around Robin’s waist and pulling her closer. “I don’t want to be a free man. I want connections. I want to be tied to a home and a family.”
She lay her hand against his scarred face. “Anyone in particular?”
“The Carter girls. If they’ll have me. I happen to have fallen in love with both of them.”
“All right, Joe.”
He frowned. That didn’t sound right. “Call me Jake.”
“Okay. Jake.”
He pulled her up to his chest and covered her mouth with his, claiming her lips, claiming her heart, claiming this family. They traded a dozen more kisses, some hard and fast, others sensual and lingering, and still others that were gentle and healing and perfect.
The doors closed and the ambulance shifted into gear. Jake settled both the Carter girls into his arms. He was dozing off toward a peaceful sleep when he realized the unthinkable and sat up. “Hey. Did I just win an argument?”
* * * * *
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Chapter One
“This special news report just in—an amber alert has been issued for six-year-old Hank Forte. Hank was last seen at the county fair in Amarillo.”
Brody Bloodworth’s heart clenched as a photo of the boy appeared on screen. The little boy had blond hair, was wearing a black T-shirt, jeans and cowboy boots. He could be one of the kids on the BBL, the Bucking Bronc Lodge he had started for needy children.
But he reminded him more of his own little brother, Will, and launched him back seven years ago to the day Will had gone missing.
Not from a county fair but from the rodeo where he was supposed to be watching him.
Self-loathing and guilt suffused him, once again robbing his lungs of air. He understood what the family of that little boy was going through now. The panic. The fear.
The guilt.
If only they’d kept a better eye on him. If only they hadn’t turned their head for a minute.
What was happening to him? Had he just wandered off? Would they find him hiding out or playing somewhere at the fair? Maybe he had fallen asleep in a stall housing one of the animals...
Or had someone taken him? Maybe a desperate woman who’d lost a child and was out of her mind? A child predator who’d do God knows what?
A killer?
The reporter turned the microphone to Hank’s parents, a couple who were huddled together, teary-eyed and frightened. A second later, they began to plead for their son’s return, and the mother broke down into sobs.
Brody hit the remote, silencing the heart-wrenching scene, but it played over and over in his head. But it wasn’t the Forte family’s cries he heard; it was his own family’s.
His father who’d blamed him from the get-go.
Because it was his fault.
He glanced through the window at the sprawling acres and acres of land he’d bought, to the horse stables and pens and the boys that he’d taken in. All kids who had troubles, boys who needed homes and love and guidance.
But no matter how much he did for them, it wouldn’t make up for losing his little brother.
The clock in the hall struck 6:00 p.m., and he stood, pulled on his duster jacket and headed outside. One of his best men, Mason Blackpaw, and his fiancée, Cara Winchester, were getting married on the ranch in a few minutes. He’d promised he’d be there, and he was happy for his friend, but weddings always made him uncomfortable.
And he’d attended a hell of a