Undercover K-9 Cowboy
“I’m willing to help you. I’m willing to go to the mat and press my family and even run the risk that we’ll all put ourselves on the front line of danger. Because you’re wrong. I do care about those people. I care about them and their families.”
“So you will help?”
“On one condition.”
His mouth opened slightly before snapping shut once more, his lips compressing into a firm line. As if outside of herself, Arden saw the moment with stark clarity.
Ryder knew what she was going to ask and Arden knew it. Knew it with the same sureness as when a storm was coming in or when a mare was about to foal.
With nothing to lose, she leaned forward.
Because she also knew he was desperate enough not to deny her what she asked.
“I want to know the truth of who you’re really after. And what’s really behind this operation you’re so hell-bent to run.”
* * *
We hope you enjoy the Midnight Pass, Texas miniseries
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Midnight Pass, Texas. The Reynolds family has dealt with their fair share of danger over the past year and the three Reynolds brothers—Ace, Tate and Hoyt—believed it behind them. But the fresh wind blowing into town just ahead of spring has brought even more trouble, and it has set its sights on their little sister, Arden.
Arden has buried her personal pain, determined to erase her sad past. With it, she’s focused on the family ranch, her new niece or nephew coming any day now and her business in town: running a well-respected yoga and fitness studio. What she isn’t counting on is a romance with charming FBI agent and K-9 expert Ryder Durant.
As Arden comes to realize Ryder is more than what’s on the surface, she allows him to unearth the quiet secrets she’s been carrying so close to the vest. But just as she’s about to let him in, their world goes sideways. A threat no one saw coming has been biding its time in the Pass.
And now he’s prepared to strike.
I’m so excited to share Arden’s story with you. And if you’d like to go back to the start of the series and read all about her brothers’ HEAs, Tate’s story begins the fun with The Cowboy’s Deadly Mission.
Best,
Addison Fox
UNDERCOVER K-9 COWBOY
Addison Fox
Addison Fox is a lifelong romance reader, addicted to happily-ever-afters. After discovering she found as much joy writing about romance as she did reading it, she’s never looked back. Addison lives in New York with an apartment full of books, a laptop that’s rarely out of sight and a wily beagle who keeps her running. You can find her at her home on the web at www.addisonfox.com or on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/addisonfoxauthor) and Twitter (@addisonfox).
Books by Addison Fox
Harlequin Romantic Suspense
Midnight Pass, Texas
The Cowboy’s Deadly Mission
Special Ops Cowboy
Under the Rancher’s Protection
Undercover K-9 Cowboy
The Coltons of Grave Gulch
Colton’s Covert Witness
The Coltons of Mustang Valley
Deadly Colton Search
The Coltons of Roaring Springs
The Colton Sheriff
Visit the Author Profile page at
Harlequin.com for more titles.
For those who never give up hope.
And for those who have, may yours find its way back to you. You are stronger than you know.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
Excerpt from Prison Break Hostage by Anna J. Stewart
Chapter 1
“We want to set a trap.”
Arden Reynolds stared at the attractive stranger sitting across her warm, peach-colored kitchen and wondered if the world had lost its mind. Or maybe just her corner of it.
Her brothers and their wives had taken up positions around their solid Texas pine table, but in the subtle gesture of respect she’d received from the women who had come into her life over the past year—each a sister now—Arden sat at the head.
And listened to the most outrageous scheme of her life.
“What sort of trap?” Ace, her oldest brother and de facto head of their ranch, Reynolds Station, finally spoke up.
“The vastness of your land and proximity to the Rio Grande makes you an easy mark for drug trafficking. We’ve watched patterns for the past few years and every four to six months, one cartel or another works up the courage to try passage through your land again.”
“We know.” Tate spoke up, her brother’s own experiences with discoveries on their property still obviously fresh in his mind, even after a year. “It’s why we now make a significant investment in security here in our little corner of paradise.”
The stranger didn’t miss the sarcasm but he did deftly ignore it. “That’s where the FBI can help.”
“Why don’t you map it out for everyone, Ryder,” Tate’s wife, Belle, finally spoke up. Her role as one of the leading detectives for the Midnight Pass Police Department had given her a front-facing opportunity to observe the increasing presence of the Feds in their small Texas border town. Although she’d been vocal about her frustration with some of their tactics, in her more private moments she’d admitted the help was welcome.
And, unfortunately, necessary.
Arden considered Ryder and had to admit stranger wasn’t quite the right term. Until this evening she hadn’t known Agent Durant’s last name, but she had seen him around town. The prior fall they’d spoken outside the town coffee shop after one of her yoga practices, an introduction fraught with some sort of unspoken joke only Ryder seemed to understand. At least his trained K-9 dog, Murphy, had been friendly.
Then Belle had introduced them briefly at the New Year’s Day festival on the town square. Agent Durant had been busy with Murphy and the ready attention the chocolate Lab received from eager children. The steady stream of visitors had kept him from doing much talking or visiting.
But she’d noticed him.
He was hard to miss. Tall and rangy, he was a man who garnered a woman’s attention. Add on the dog, and he was damn near lethally attractive.
Shame he seemed well aware of that fact, Arden lamented to herself.
“As I said, we’ve been following the various paths in and around Midnight Pass. Even with federal presence, it hasn’t deterred the drug trade from moving back and forth over the border.”
“Why’s that?” Although she still chafed a bit from their initial meeting, Arden asked the question of the agent in all sincerity.
“Excuse me?” Ryder asked.
“Why is that? You’d think a federal presence would be a mighty large deterrent. The Pass is an easy transfer point but these are rather intelligent criminals and the Texas-Mexico border is long. Yet they keep traipsing back and forth over the border right here in our town. Do you have a leak?”
“Arden.” Ace’s voice was low, but she didn’t miss the subtle note of warning.
Ryder cocked his head, his dar
k gaze direct and unyielding. “Why do you ask that, Miss Reynolds?”
“The very last thing the cartels need is to get caught. Why risk it with the Feds so close if not for some additional benefit?”
“We run a tight operation.” The agent kept his smile firmly in place.
Although she had no reason to keep taunting, Arden pressed him further. This man was here, in her home, asking her and her loved ones to set a trap for ruthless criminals.
Was it so far-fetched to ask him to assess his own house? Or his proverbial one, at least.
She’d been blessed with her mother’s spunk in spades, and when her three older brothers wore nothing more than resigned looks, she pressed on.
“You say you run a tight operation. Yet we still have a problem in Midnight Pass. Seems rather shortsighted not to consider the reasons why.”
* * *
Ryder Durant liked fiery women. He’d never understood men who looked for passive females and had no desire to change his mind on that count.
But damn, he’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that Arden Reynolds was quite a piece of work.
An incredibly attractive one, too, with her slim frame and lush hips and that long flow of red hair that spilled over her shoulders. She wore what he’d come to think of as something of her standard uniform—yoga pants and some sort of stretchy top that did nothing to hide more curves. He’d seen her around town a few times since arriving in Midnight Pass the prior August and had been intrigued by her from the start.
But there was something about sparring with her in the middle of her kitchen that had his interest shifting from intrigued straight on to attracted.
Murphy loved her. His K-9 was a good working dog and a sound and trusted partner, but he was tentative in how he warmed to others. His training had ensured he knew duty first. But there was sheer adoration in his chocolate Lab’s eyes the first time those dark orbs had settled on the attractive Miss Reynolds.
Nor had he missed how Murphy had taken up a spot in the corner of the kitchen, in direct line of sight to Arden.
“The Bureau is sound,” he finally answered. “We take care of our own.”
As answers went, it was rather weak and evasive, but he wasn’t about to give the woman any runway for her speculations. Add on the fact that she’d keyed in on something he’d worried about himself, vague and ambiguous was all he was prepared to give at the moment.
It did gnaw at him that things seemed different since top agent Noah Ross was transferred to a new post around the same time Ryder was transferred in. Ross had a stellar reputation and with his reassignment to the larger Bureau office in Dallas, Ryder couldn’t help but feel that he was fending for himself down in Midnight Pass.
“Can you be sure about that, Agent Durant?” Arden’s sister-in-law Reese spoke up. “Even the most stalwart can lose their way.”
Ryder knew there was more to Reese Grantham Reynolds’s question. Yet she’d sat through his pitch anyway. Her back had remained straight and her attention had never wavered as she gently soothed circles over her pregnant belly.
Reese and, Ryder suspected, everyone else gathered around the table, understood the stakes. But he needed access to their land for what he had in mind.
In the quiet that came after Reese’s statement, Belle took the opportunity to shift the conversation. “No institution is infallible. But for the moment, let’s rule out an internal problem there and consider Agent Durant’s proposal to us.” Belle turned her full attention toward him. “What’s involved?”
Although he had the briefest urge to spar a few more rounds with Arden, Ryder focused on the question. Belle Granger Reynolds was a good detective—she’d proven her commitment to upholding the law and working collaboratively with his office whenever necessary—and he appreciated her partnership.
“Not much from any of you. This ranch is a place of business and we’re not looking to interfere with that. We need to find a way to cordon off the acreage at the southern end of the property, yet continue to make it look like there’s work going on. Two of my colleagues and I would pose as ranch hands and work that end of the land as our focus. We can disguise surveillance equipment within what looks to be regular fence posts and set up a perimeter.”
Reynolds Station was nestled in a prime location near the border. The land in and around Midnight Pass had been named as such because of the ravines and gullies that allowed passage over the Rio Grande. The Reynolds property sat at the apex of that, with some of the easiest passages across the border.
It was why the bad guys kept trying.
And it was why he was determined to shut them down once and for all.
“My wife and I are about to have a baby. I have no interest in inviting trouble right here onto our property.” Hoyt Reynolds had been quiet up to now, the stoic rancher never moving far from his position behind his very pregnant wife’s chair. “We’ve all worked good and hard to get away from trouble. No sense in going looking for it.”
Even as a relative newcomer to The Pass, Ryder had heard all about how Hoyt’s wife, Reese, had suffered a family tragedy when her father had taken on his own brand of vigilante justice the prior spring.
Russ Grantham had been the well-respected captain of the Midnight Pass Police Department. The death of his teenage son to a drug overdose more than a decade before had done more psychological damage than anyone had realized, and it was Russ’s determination to pick off drug dealers, one at a time with a dark and deadly hand that had ultimately led to the man’s downfall.
“I can understand your concern, but with the size of your land and our ability to remain hidden, we are confident we can keep you and your family away from any danger,” Ryder said.
It was a bold statement, but a fair one. And a promise he was determined to uphold.
“We’re not interested in sitting by, unaware or uninformed of what’s happening on our land,” Hoyt added, clearly unconvinced by Ryder’s promise.
“Hoyt’s right,” Ace chimed in. “We’re not even going to consider this if it means we’re kept in the dark. This is our home and our property. We have a right to know what’s going on.”
Ryder had never subscribed to the notion that the FBI’s role as federal peacekeepers forgave any manner of sins. But neither could he compromise an op by bringing too many civilians in on the plans.
“The Bureau will protect your family, Mr. Reynolds.”
“That’s not what I’m asking,” Ace said.
“But it is what I’m prepared to give.”
* * *
Arden had spent more than enough time growing up with three brothers to know when a situation had nowhere to go but sideways. With that foremost in her thoughts, she caught Belle’s eye and gave the slightest of head nods. Her sister-in-law caught the message easily enough and smoothly cut in.
“Agent Durant. I think you’ve given us plenty to think about. Perhaps we can pick this conversation up at a later time. After everyone’s had a chance to spend a bit more time thinking about things.”
Dark eyes the color of the gooey center of a chocolate lava cake crinkled at the corners as his mouth drifted into an easy smile. Arden would have bet a mighty sum the agent was nowhere near to feeling that carefree and easy, but you’d never know it by the simple lift of his shoulders or his easy tone. “Fair enough.”
Which only put her antennae up even more. What was his game?
She didn’t doubt he believed what he was saying—Reynolds Station sat on one of the most easily traversed corridors over the border—but that didn’t mean federal agents regularly showed up, politely asking for a hall pass to monitor the traffic.
Which was why she finally spoke up.
“Why don’t I leave you all to talk for a few minutes, and I’ll take Agent Durant out to see the stables?”
Although she was under no delusion any
of them were ready to say yes, she wanted a few minutes of her own with the agent to see what else she could find out. She also knew Hoyt was hanging on by the slightest thread, his anxiety for Reese and the baby his foremost concern. Continuing the discussion would only push Hoyt further toward a no vote. Despite her misgivings, Arden wasn’t sure that was the best option. And while she had her own concerns, including the baby’s safety, she wanted to remain open to the discussion.
“We’ll be back in a few minutes.” She gestured toward the door, Murphy already scrambling to his feet, his toenails clipping lightly on the hardwood floor. The sound was oddly comforting, in the midst of a dangerous and unpleasant conversation, and she smiled at Ryder’s handsome companion as they went out.
It was only once they’d cleared the back of the ranch house and were headed for the large, recently rebuilt stable that Ryder finally spoke. “You take care of them.”
The late winter air was cold as it swirled around them and Arden ran a hand over the sleeves of her multicolored workout sweatshirt. “Of course I do.”
“But you’re the youngest.”
“So?”
“So isn’t that their job?”
“For starters, we’re family. We look out for each other. It’d be a mistake to underestimate us. Any one of us.” She eyed him beside her before stopping and turning to look at him fully. “Do you have siblings?”
“Sisters.”
“And what do your sisters think of your high-handed tactics?”
“They don’t know.” He grinned broadly. “And who said I was underestimating anyone?”
“It didn’t need saying. It was all over your face and it’s an even more evident trait if you assume your sisters are unaware of your attitude.”
He looked momentarily chagrined so Arden pressed on, taking the small advantage while she had it. “Sort of like us.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
His lazy tone had a slight bite and Arden warmed to the idea that she was getting somewhere. “You want to run your op and you want our blessing to do it.”