The Cowboy's Deadly Mission Read online

  In Midnight Pass, Texas, the law is this cop’s passion

  ...and one rancher’s problem.

  Ten years after they broke up, the sparks—and the enmity—between sexy cowboy Tate Reynolds and Detective Belle Granger are just as hot as ever. When a body turns up on Tate’s family ranch, headstrong Belle catches the case and falls right back into her ex’s protective arms. This time, will a savage crime unite them...or shatter their love forever?

  The same frustration from before—hell, from forever—darkened his gaze once more but other than a small sneer, he held his frustration. “That’s not what I meant. This is dangerous. You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”

  “Which is why I’ve been trained. It’s my job.”

  His hand fell away and Tate took a few steps back. The physical withdrawal was mimicked by the way his gaze shuttered and his mouth firmed into a straight line. “The job. Just like always.”

  Belle wanted to argue. She wanted to rant and rail and give him the litany of reasons why she was not only good at her job, but called to it. But the day had begun too early. And the pain of seeing him again, so up close and personal, always left her slightly empty and more than a bit bruised emotionally. So she skipped the ready defense and nodded instead.

  “Just like always.”

  * * *

  We hope you enjoy the Midnight Pass,

  Texas miniseries.

  * * *

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  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to Midnight Pass, Texas. Nestled along the banks of the Rio Grande, the Pass is home to several ranching families and some of the hardest-working police teams in the Lone Star State.

  Tate Reynolds is the middle son of one of those ranching families. Along with his siblings, he’s worked hard to return Reynolds Station to its former glory and he’s horrified to discover a body on their property early one spring morning. His upset quickly takes on a new direction when the detective assigned to the case is his old flame, Belle Granger.

  Belle hasn’t fully gotten over her relationship with Tate, which ended because of his unwillingness to accept her job choice. Their decade-long feud has always churned up a fair amount of gossip in the Pass on account of the sparks that still fly whenever the two of them get within striking distance. But when town gossip shifts to a new subject—a serial killer on the loose—Belle has to work with Tate and his family to uncover what evil lurks at the edges of the ranch.

  When she uncovers a threat that’s far closer than anyone could have suspected, Tate will need to make a decision. Will he keep his distance from the woman he let go of all those years ago? Or will he hold her close and try to protect her from a dangerous killer?

  I hope you enjoy The Cowboy’s Deadly Mission, the first in my new Midnight Pass series. Tate’s siblings, Hoyt, Ace and Arden, have their own stories still to come and I hope you’ll love the Reynolds family as much as I do.

  Best,

  Addison Fox

  THE COWBOY’S DEADLY MISSION

  Addison Fox

  Addison Fox is a lifelong romance reader, addicted to happy-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 (Facebook.com/addisonfoxauthor) and Twitter (@addisonfox).

  Books by Addison Fox

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  Midnight Pass, Texas

  The Cowboy’s Deadly Mission

  The Coltons of Red Ridge

  Colton’s Deadly Engagement

  The Coltons of Shadow Creek

  Cold Case Colton

  The Coltons of Texas

  Colton’s Surprise Heir

  Harlequin Intrigue

  The Coltons of Shadow Creek

  Colton K-9 Cop

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.

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  For Grant

  Sweetness and light and giggles and love. How wonderful it will be to watch you grow.

  I’m so lucky to be your aunt.

  And, in the immortal words of Monica Geller, “I will always have gum.”

  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

  Excerpt from His Forgotten Colton Fiancée by Bonnie Vanak

  Chapter 1

  Midnight Pass, Texas, had exactly three things to recommend it: the finest pool hall in all the state; thick, rich, foamy beer brewed off the waters of the Rio Grande; and the Reynolds boys, who had grown into the finest-looking cowboys in the entire Southwest.

  Annabelle Granger was well aware she’d been born with the gift of keen observation and a tendency to exaggerate what she saw, but there was nothing exaggerated about the swagger that gripped Ace Reynolds’s hips when he walked. The firm grip of Hoyt Reynolds’s long, thick fingers on his Stetson. Or Tate Reynolds’s wicked smile that had removed the panties of more than a few lucky women.

  Belle, sadly, had been one of them.

  Tamping down on the old feelings that had no place in a criminal investigation, she ignored the cocky grin Tate shot her across the wide expanse of damaged fence she’d been sent out to investigate.

  “Thanks for coming, ma’am.”

  “It’s Detective.”

  “Of course.” He nodded. “Detective Ma’am.”

  Tate wasn’t remorseful—the infuriating man didn’t do contrite. And she was convinced he’d never used the word “sorry” in his life. Yet try as she might, she couldn’t quite work up the degree of anger required to squelch the demon bats that dive-bombed her stomach every time they got within thirty feet of each other.

  “‘Detective Granger’ will be just fine. Or have you managed to forget my name after thirteen years of school, one miserable year as biology lab partners and a rather ill-advised date to the Sadie Hawkins dance senior year?”

  She avoided mentioning the six glorious weeks they’d been as wild and carefree as mustangs, falling into each other’s arms every moment they could.

  “I know your name.”

  She risked a stare straight into those vivid green eyes. “So you’re threatened by my authority, then?”

  “Yep. That’s it.”

  Belle ignored the sarcasm and dropped to her knee. It gave her a break from staring at those broad shoulders, lean hips and his thick brown hair streaked blond from the sun. The fence had been cut clean through, the work likely as swift and efficient as it looked. “You lose any of your cattle?”

  “No. I found the breach early enough to manage and the herd’s grazing on a different sector. This stretch hasn’t been tried before and I don’t have cameras out here.”

  Belle filed that
information away, the likelihood this was a well-planned—illegal—use of private property increasing exponentially. “Notice anything or anyone suspicious lately?”

  “Other than a twenty-foot section of barbed wire cut clean through? No.”

  A few of Tate’s ranch hands worked in the distance, preparing the stretch of fence for repair by removing what was cut. Their hands were coated in thick gloves but even with the barrier, they worked quickly.

  “I’m here to help you.”

  The eyes that usually flashed with easygoing humor clouded, transforming into a hard, cold emerald. “You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t take comfort in that. You’re the third member of our esteemed police force out here in the past six months and no one seems able to fix the little intrusion problem I seem to have developed on my land. That fence isn’t cutting itself.”

  Belle chafed at the suggestion her department wasn’t doing enough, but she damn well knew problems along the border had grown nigh impossible to contain. Between drug trafficking and illegal immigration, the local cops had their hands as full as the Feds.

  And both problems were only growing worse.

  She got to her feet, her gaze roaming over the dry footprints that were barely visible in the scrub grass that surrounded the fence. They’d likely never even be visible if it hadn’t been for the spring rains that had softened up the land. “You put the patrol on like the chief asked you to?”

  “So now it’s my problem?”

  “It’s all our problems, Tate. I’m asking if you’ve done your part.”

  Tate’s shoulders hunched before he turned back to the men cutting wire. Stubble still coated the firm jaw that was hardening in anger. “We all take turns. I’ve got extra patrols on each night. Added several men on top of that and I let the Feds roam around here with all that Yankee finesse they’re known for. Doesn’t change the fact that it’s a hell of a lot of acreage to cover over every night after a long day of work.”

  “And people looking for a way in observe patterns. Weak spots. The Pass has more than most.”

  While she refrained from saying much to the contrary at work, she wasn’t going to sugarcoat it for Tate. Midnight Pass had gotten its name for the deep ravines and many hiding places that ran along a small tributary of the Rio Grande. That tributary—and the larger river a half mile away—made up a stretch of Texas-Mexico border that was a challenge to patrol.

  The rich, fertile land was home to the three largest ranching clans in the county. The Reynolds, Vasquez and Crown families had built massive cattle operations over the lush earth. And for the past decade, their land had increasingly become the conduit to a drug trade that was far more lucrative than cattle.

  “You think anyone on your team’s letting them in?”

  “Ace, Hoyt and I have a zero tolerance policy and make that known. Our older guys keep an eye out, as well. Best I can say is we watch out for it.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Tate moved in, his fingers snaking out to toy with several strands of hair that had come loose at her ear. The 6:00 a.m. wake-up call ordering her out to Reynolds Station hadn’t allowed for much prep time and putting her hair in a hasty bun and some slapdash makeup was all the armor she’d had time for. “Why are you here, Belly? You know this is a dangerous job.”

  The whispered endearment only increased the flapping wings of the demon bats and she slapped at his hand. “You know how I feel about that name.”

  “Which is why I use it.”

  “And you know how I feel about my job, dangerous or otherwise. You have no say in the matter.”

  “I never did.”

  * * *

  Tate stared at the only woman who had the ability to wrap him in knots and dropped the curl winding around his finger. Annabelle Granger had been his nemesis since the first grade and little had changed in the ensuing quarter century. Trite as it was—he’d pulled her pigtails then and had been proverbially doing so ever since—he couldn’t remember a single moment of his life that Belle Granger hadn’t occupied space in his head. The amount of real estate changed pending how recently they’d seen each other, but she was always there.

  His Belle.

  With her blond curls that made his fingers itch. Vivid blue eyes with a gaze as sharp as her tongue. And the small dent in her chin that fascinated him as much at thirty-two as it had at six. There’d even been a time—a short, gloriously wonderful time—when he’d run his tongue over that little dent while his hands roamed over—

  On a hard, mental curse, Tate shut down that unproductive line of thought and focused on his problem. Once again, Reynolds Station had been used for trafficking—either drugs or illegal immigrants. He was committed to finding a solution to the poor souls who gave everything they had to come across the border, no matter the cost, a stance that didn’t make him incredibly popular with the locals. He had no time for the abuse so many of those individuals suffered in the process and made his feelings known as a voting member of the town council.

  The drugs, on the other hand, had gone positively nuclear. What had been an irritating problem had mushroomed over the past decade into an all-out war. And there were far too many days Tate believed he and his brothers were losing. Every time they found a cut line of fence or line of footprints tracking over their land, it was another skirmish they’d fought and lost.

  And no amount of manpower seemed to be helping.

  “When did you discover this? I got the dispatch around six.”

  “About five.” When she only stared at him, he added, “I was out early.”

  Her gaze narrowed, that sharp blue spiking even sharper points. “You’re not sleeping?”

  Her lack of response over his barb about her choices, coupled with the sudden focus and attention on his lack of sleep, had Tate sliding back into the familiar comfort of their usual sparring. “Just because you’d gladly hug your pillow until noon doesn’t mean some of us aren’t early risers.”

  “Sun’s not even up at five this time of year.”

  “I took a flashlight.”

  Tate had no idea what had pulled him out to this end of the property but he’d had the urge and had pushed Tot this direction on their early morning ride. Good thing he had because they were planning on rotating the herd to this section later this week.

  Belle dropped to her knee again, her gaze roaming over the ground. Clear signs of feet were stamped into the earth, but unlike that volume of prints he’d expect from a border crossing, there seemed to be far too few for a group of people spirited across the border. The coyotes—those guides who led those desperate for opportunity or freedom from poverty over the border—had increasingly been replaced of late with drug smugglers. Criminals who saw the border crossing as an opportunity to use their charges as drug mules, all while promising them freedom.

  Even with that change, there should have been more variance in the footprints.

  Her gaze remained focused on the ground as she duckwalked, stopping every few feet to assess from a new angle. She was an observer—had been one since she was in those pigtails—but it always fascinated him to watch her work. He might not like her professional choices but he couldn’t argue she was damn good at her job. Dedicated, too.

  And hadn’t that been the problem?

  “You see this?”

  Her question pulled him from his musings and Tate crossed the distance, crouching down when she gestured once more to the depressed earth. “Here. There are a few sets of footprints, then this depression, rounded out like someone set down something heavy.”

  “You can see that?”

  The depression she spoke of was nothing more than a soft bending of grass, but now that he looked, he could see the rounded outline of a heavier shape.

  “It looks like a heavy bag or weight was set down. Could be a bag of drugs, set down out of the way.”

/>   Tate scanned the length of fence. “They did all this for one duffel bag full? It hardly seems worth it.” She shot him one lone raised eyebrow and he pressed on. “I’m not condoning anything. I’m suggesting if I were planning an illegal border crossing with drugs, I’d look to move a hell of a lot more to make it worth the risk.”

  “I don’t disagree.”

  “You think it’s something else?” Knowledge flashed in the cool blue of her eyes—a sure and recognizable sign Belle had already formed an opinion—and Tate moved closer, curious. “What?”

  “I’m thinking it’s the payoff.”

  Her words hovered there, the brisk air swirling around them in a rush like an exclamation point. Before he could even muster up a response, she had her phone out, snapping several quick pictures from a variety of angles. She then pulled a packet of bright yellow tape out of her pocket. “Let me mark this. I’ll get Julio out to review the area and give his impressions.”

  “He’s been training you well.”

  “He’s patient with me. He’d have seen this the moment he walked up but that’s okay. I’m learning.”

  Learning? He’d say she was doing a damn fine job, spotting a small patch of earth he’d have missed after fifty tries. Add on the implication that someone he and his brothers trusted let the problem onto Reynolds land and Tate struggled under the weight of her suspicions.

  “What about my fence? Can the guys get started on it?”

  “Can you hold them off a few hours? Keep them and anyone else out of this area to leave the tracks as clean as possible.”

  “Sure.”

  The urge to bait her was strong but the frustration at more lost hours of work was stronger. How much damn time were they expected to give in to this BS? Every few months, he and his brothers dealt with another attempt to breach their land. In the past year alone they’d dealt with six such issues, never in the same place twice and always done with maximum precision.

  “Tate, come on. I know it’s an inconvenience but it’ll only be a few hours.”