Taking Aim At The Sheriff

“I need a favor. A big one. I need you to marry me. Tonight.”

The look Jericho gave her let Laurel know that he thought she’d lost her mind. Maybe she had. But she didn't exactly have a lot of options, and Jericho was still her best bet.

“Marry you?” he repeated.

He was no doubt remembering the bad history between them. “What’s going on?” He turned as if he was about to show her to the door but then stopped. And studied her with those cop’s eyes. The warm amber-brown-colored eyes weren't so warm right now, but Laurel had firsthand knowledge that they could be.

Every part of Jericho could be warm.

Again, it was firsthand knowledge fed by years of experience of kissing him. Touching him, wanting him.

Taking Aim

at the Sheriff

Delores Fossen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received the Booksellers’ Best Award and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA^® Award. You can contact the author through her webpage at www.dfossen.net.

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Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Sheriff Jericho Crockett didn’t have time to react. The SUV flew out from the side road and slammed right into the side of his truck.

The jolt was instant, tossing him around, and the seat belt snapped like a vise across Jericho’s body. It knocked the breath out of him and dazed him for a couple of seconds.

He couldn’t say the same for the driver of the SUV.

No dazed moments for the person behind that heavily tinted windshield. The driver backed up a few yards and came at Jericho again. This time, the front end of the SUV collided with his pickup’s engine and then pulled back before coming onto the main road behind Jericho.

Much to Jericho’s surprise, the guy didn’t bolt. The SUV stayed put, the driver revving up the engine as if it were some kind of wild animal on the verge of pouncing for an attack.

What the hell was going on here?

Was someone trying to kill him? Or at least put him in the hospital? Jericho wasn’t about to let either of those things happen. He drew his Smith & Wesson from his waist holster and threw open his door.

The blast of December air came right at him, spiking a chill in him that went bone deep. But the cold didn’t stop him. Jericho leaned out just enough so that he’d still have some cover but so this clown would see his gun.

What Jericho still couldn’t do was get a glimpse of the person inside. Of course, the darkness didn’t help. Nor did the fact that the driver didn’t even have on his headlights.

“I’m Sheriff Crockett!” Jericho shouted. “Get out of your vehicle now!”

Since this crazy attack had come out of the blue, Jericho wasn’t sure what to expect, but he braced himself in case someone in that SUV tried to take shots at him.

But that didn’t happen.

The SUV came at him again, slamming into the back of his truck and causing Jericho’s arm and shoulder to bash against the steering wheel. He held on to his gun, thank God, and he used it. Jericho sent two bullets into the SUV’s engine, but they ricocheted off. Obviously, it’d been reinforced in some kind of way, because the front fender wasn’t even crushed.

“The next shot goes through the windshield,” Jericho warned him. Easier than putting bullets through metal, anyway. “And right into you.”

The warning must have worked because this time the guy didn’t crash into him. The driver threw the SUV into Reverse and hit the accelerator, the tires kicking up smoke and stench as they squealed away.

Since this was a farm road, less than a quarter of a mile from Jericho’s family ranch, there wasn’t much traffic, but he didn’t want an innocent bystander hit by someone who was either drunk or just plain dangerous. He was more than ready to go after the idiot, but the spewing steam from his engine stopped him. The radiator had probably been busted in the collision, and he wasn’t going to get far. Best to try to get to the ranch and regroup.

Cursing, Jericho took out his phone and pressed his brother’s number. Jax, who was a deputy and still at work, answered on the first ring.

“I think somebody just tried to kill me,” Jericho said instead of a greeting. He eased his foot down on the accelerator, hoping the truck would make it home.

“Again?” Jax asked. It wasn’t exactly a smart-mouthed question. Earlier in the day, Jericho had been shot at during a domestic dispute. Now, this.

“A black SUV rammed into me three times, tore up my truck and then drove off. Run the plates for me.” Jericho rattled off the license numbers, and he heard the clicks his brother was making on the computer keyboard back at the sheriff’s office in the nearby town of Appaloosa Pass.

“You okay?” Jax sounded considerably more concerned with this question than his last one.

“I’m fine.” Well, except for what would no doubt be a god-awful bruise on his shoulder. It was already throbbing like a toothache.

“The plates aren’t registered,” Jax provided a moment later. “They’re bogus.”

Of course they were. “Find this moron and arrest his sorry butt. Once I’m at my house, I’ll get another vehicle and help you look for him.”

“I can handle this. No need for you—”

“I’ll be there,” Jericho insisted, and he ended the call.

Well, there went his plans for a quiet night. Dinner and sleep. Maybe not even in that order since he was fully spent after pulling a twelve-hour shift. But apparently his shift wasn’t over. Yes, his brother could handle this. Jax could handle pretty much anything when it came to a lawman’s work. But this was personal, and that meant Jericho would have his hands in it.

The truck engine continued to chug and spew steam, but he was finally able to reach his place. Thankfully, it was at the front of the ranch property, the house that’d once belonged to his great-aunt and -uncle.

Jericho kept watch around him, just in case the bad-driving nut job returned, and he hurried up the back steps and into his kitchen so he could get the keys for his spare truck. He instantly spotted the note taped to his door.

“‘I put up a tree for you. Love, Mom,” he read aloud.

He automatically scowled. He wasn’t much of a Christmas person. Definitely didn’t put up trees—even though Christmas was only two days away. But he made a mental note to thank his mother, anyway.

Jericho stepped inside and cursed again once he turned on the lights and noticed the blood on his shirt.

Then, on his shoulder.

He peeled off his jacket and cowboy hat, dropping them on the table, and after he removed his badge, he sent the shirt flying straight toward the washer in the adjoining laundry room. It wasn’t a deep cut, barely a nick, but it was bleeding enough that he’d need a bandage.

Jericho made it one step into the living room when he heard someone moving around.

And he put down his badge and drew his gun.

Great day in the morning, had the idiot in the SUV gotten here ahead of him?

“Jericho,” a woman said. Her voice was a whisper.

He picked through the dark room and located her. Right next to a Christmas tree with all the trimmings. Even though he could barely see the brunette sitting on his sofa, he knew exactly who she was.

Laurel Tate.

She wasn’t the very last person on earth that he would have expected to see in his house, but it was close. Jericho hadn’t laid eyes on Laurel in over two years, since she’d moved from her father’s nearby ranch to Dallas where she was supposed to run one of her family’s businesses.

A shady one, no doubt.

Which pretty much described all her family’s businesses.

Heck, Jericho’s nights with her had been shady of a different sort since she was hands off. But those nights had been memorable, as well. He wasn’t very happy about that. Wasn’t happy about giving in to this scalding heat that’d always been between them.

Still was.

Much to his disgust.

“Nice tree,” she remarked. “Your mother’s doing?”

“Really? I doubt this visit is about Christmas trees. Or my mother. Why are you here?” he growled. “And how’d you get in?”

She fluttered her fingers toward the back door. “It wasn’t locked, and I had to see you, alone, so I didn’t want to go to your office,” Laurel said, as if that explained everything.

It didn’t explain squat. “Well, you can use that same unlocked door to let yourself out. I don’t have time for a visit.”

Laurel got to her feet. Slowly. Her cool blue eyes fastened to him. Not just on his face, either. Her gaze slid over his upper body, reminding him that he was bleeding and shirtless. Jericho hoped it was the blood that caused her breath to go all shivery like that, because he wasn’t the least bit interested in having her react to his body.

They were enemies now. But lovers once.

Okay, not just once.

They’d been sixteen when they’d first discovered sex together, in this very house the summer he’d been staying at the place when his great-aunt and -uncle had been away. Jericho had actually discovered sex a year earlier with the cute cheerleader whose name he couldn’t remember, but he’d been Laurel’s first. A first had turned to a second, third and so on until his father’s murder two years later.

Things had changed big-time between them then.

Everything had changed.

But he damn sure remembered Laurel’s name.

Every inch of her body, too. A reminder that Jericho told to take a hike.

“You’re bleeding,” she said.

“And you’re leaving so I can take care of it.” But then he got a bad thought. Really bad. “Did you have something to do with the guy in the SUV who ran into me? Let me rephrase that. Did your scummy father have anything to do with it?”

Because Laurel wasn’t the sort to get her hands dirty. She just associated with the lowlifes who did.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head. “Someone tried to hurt you?” And yeah, it sounded like a genuine question from a concerned, surprised woman.

“Is your father responsible for my bloody shoulder and bashed-up truck?” he pressed.

It wouldn’t have been Herschel Tate’s MO to be so obvious. He was more a knife-to-the-back sort of guy. Too bad Jericho had never been able to pin any crimes on him. Especially one big crime.

The murder of Jericho’s own father.

Twenty years later, the pain of that still cut him to the bone. And that pain spilled over onto Laurel because she’d refused to see the truth or help him put her murdering father behind bars.

“I don’t think my father was involved with anything that happened to you tonight.” Laurel shook her head again. “But I can’t be positive.”

Well, that was a first—having her admit that her precious daddy could do anything wrong. But Laurel didn’t elaborate. She hurried past him, and for a moment Jericho thought she was leaving. Instead, she came back from the kitchen with some paper towels that she pressed to his shoulder.

Jericho eyed her. Her nursing attempt put her fingers in contact with his bare skin. “How’d you get here?” he snapped. “Did your father or somebody else drop you off?”

Though he couldn’t imagine why Herschel would do that. The hatred Jericho felt for the man was mutual.

“No. My father doesn’t know I’m here. No one does. I parked behind your barn.”

Since he had a big driveway and side yard, there was only one reason to park behind the barn. To conceal the vehicle. Jericho couldn’t think of a single good reason for her to do that, but since he was a cop, he could think of some bad ones.

“Start talking,” he insisted.

Laurel didn’t do that, though. She kept dabbing at the cut. And more. Now that she was this close to him, Jericho could see her bottom lip tremble a little. He could also see that the whites of her eyes had some red in them.

Had she been crying?

“Your hair’s longer,” she said, her breath hitting against his neck right next to the hair she was apparently noticing. “It suits you.”

That earned her a flat stare, and to end the little touching session, Jericho snatched the paper towels from her. “Are you really here to chat about my infrequent trips to the barbershop?”

“No.” She moved away from him, repeated her answer and tucked a strand of her own loose hair behind her ear. “But we need to talk.”

“So you’ve said. Well, start talking. Jax is waiting on me to come back to the station so we can go after the guy who hit my truck.”

Jericho made sure he sounded impatient enough. Because he was. But Laurel didn’t seem to be in a hurry to start this conversation that he didn’t exactly want to have. So, Jericho started it for her.

“If you’re here on your father’s behalf—to try to make some kind of truce or deliver a threat—I’m not in a truce-making or threat-listening kind of mood.”

“It’s not anything like that.” Laurel paused, pulled in her breath. “It’s about...marriage.”

Jericho went still. The woman sure knew how to keep him surprised. After all, Laurel was already married. Or at least she was supposed to be. But now that he had a better look at her left hand, she wasn’t sporting a flashy diamond or a wedding band.

She followed his gaze to her ring finger and shook her head. “I didn’t go through with the wedding. I called it off.” Laurel looked up at him, clearly waiting, as if she expected him to ask why.

He’d rather eat a magazine of bullets first. But if the gossip was right, Laurel was supposed to be married to one of her father’s rich lackey lawyers. Considering that she, too, was an equally rich lackey lawyer, it was no doubt a match made in some place other than heaven.

“Look, Laurel, like I keep saying, this isn’t a good time—”

The rest of what he was about to remind her just stopped there in his throat when she opened her hand, and Jericho saw the small blue stone. She’d obviously been holding it for a while, because there was a mark on her palm.

“You remember what this is?” she asked.

Yeah, he did. And while it would seem petty to deny that, Jericho nearly went with petty.

Nearly.

“It’s the rock we found on the banks of Mercy Creek twenty years ago,” he supplied.

“We went walking there after we, well, afterward.” Laurel tipped her head toward the bedroom, to the very place where she’d lost her virginity to him. “We found the two rocks. They were almost identical in size, shape and color. We’d never seen rocks that color before, so we decided it was some kind of sign, maybe even good-luck charms.”

Jericho couldn’t remember if he’d paid his electric bill this month, but he remembered that twenty-year-old conversation with Laurel. Every blasted word of it. And he knew that silly teenage notions of signs and charms like that came with a price tag attached.

“You said we’d each keep one, and that this rock could be a marker of sorts. Payment for any favor down the road. Anything,” Laurel added. “In all these years, I’ve never used it because we said it should be for something very important. And we’d know just how important it was because we’d used this marker.”

Jericho nodded. “I figured that’d come more in the form of a favor, like buying you a horse or something. Or if you needed me to whip somebody’s butt for messing with you.”

And then it hit him. What this visit might really be about. “You don’t think we’re going to make the same mistake again of having sex?” he asked.

“A mistake,” she said under her breath. Not exactly an agreement, but Jericho couldn’t quite put his finger on the tone in her voice. And he certainly didn’t see a let’s-have-sex look in her eyes.

Not exactly, anyway. Of course, when it came to Laurel and him, there was always heat. Unwanted heat. But heat nonetheless.

“No. I’m not here for that,” she verified.

“Good.”

His body didn’t exactly agree with that. Never did when it came to Laurel, but after that last fiasco together, Jericho had learned his lesson. Play with fire. Get burned. Or in their case, get burned bad, because for a couple of hours, it had made him forget her scummy family.

And Jericho had paid for it.

Hell, he was still paying.

It was a good reminder because it made Jericho realize it was time for Laurel to leave. However, before he could even point to the door again, Laurel took his hand and put the rock in it.

“I do need a favor. A big one.” She swallowed hard. “Jericho, I need you to marry me. Tonight.”

Chapter Two

Laurel wished she’d been able to come up with a better way to do this. Hard to come up with anything, though, with the tornado of emotions going on in her head. Of course, Jericho now had some emotions, too.

Bad ones, obviously.

Because the look he gave her let Laurel know that he thought she’d lost her mind. Maybe she had. But she didn’t exactly have a lot of options here, and Jericho was still her best bet.

Even if he didn’t believe that right now.

“Marry you?” Jericho repeated.

He was no doubt remembering the bad history between them. And he probably included their last one-nighter in that heap of bad history.

“It’ll take more than a rock to make that happen.” He cursed, dropped it on the table. “What’s going on here?”

Laurel had figured that would be his first response—anger and demands. It was certainly hers when this idea had first come to her. Still, she was hoping the blue rock and the promise that had gone along with it would buy her enough time so she could explain things before Jericho kicked her out.

No such luck.

He turned as if he was about to show her to the door, but then stopped. And studied her with those cop’s eyes. The warm amber-brown color wasn’t so warm right now, but Laurel had firsthand knowledge that they could be.

Every part of Jericho could be warm.

Again, it was firsthand knowledge fed by years of experience of kissing him. Touching him, wanting him. And then having that warmth vanish and cool to iceberg temperatures like those outside right now.

Well, except for that night over two years ago.

Those two years seemed like a lifetime. For her, anyway. Jericho looked the same except for the slightly longer brown hair. In other words, he still looked like the hot cowboy he’d always been. Maybe it was his DNA, those eyes or the fit of his jeans, but when a woman saw Jericho Crockett, she noticed.

Laurel had been no different.

“I need an explanation,” he pressed. “Like right now.”

Where to start?

She doubted Jericho would want her to get into the little details. Not just yet, anyway. Judging from the impatient stare, he was looking for the condensed version of why she’d called in a very old marker that to him was probably worthless.

Laurel picked up the rock, slipped it into the front pocket of his jeans, careful not to touch too much of him.

“I had a baby,” she finally said. “A son named Maddox. And my father is challenging me for custody.”

It crushed her to say that.

Crushed her even more to think that her father might succeed.

The tears came again, and Laurel tried to blink them back. She’d already cried an ocean of tears, and they didn’t help. Now she had to focus on a fix for this. She had to do whatever it took to save her son.

“A baby?” His gaze skimmed over her body. “You don’t look like you’ve had a kid. And the gossips around town sure haven’t gotten hold of that tidbit.”

“I guess being several hundred miles away has kept the gossips from putting their noses in my business.” Added to that, she’d worked very hard to make sure the news stayed within her family and a very small circle of friends.

For all the good that’d done her.

Jericho huffed, and his hands went on his hips. “So, your father’s challenging you for custody, huh? Guess that means you two had some kind of falling-out. Or maybe you finally learned what a sack of dirt he really is.”

“I’ve always known.” She let that hang in the air for a few moments. “But I stayed for my mother’s sake. As sort of a buffer between him and her.”

He studied her. With some obvious skepticism in his gaze. There was a reason for that. Laurel had indeed defended her father over the years. Had believed his lies when he’d told her that his businesses would all be legitimate. Most of his lies, anyway.

And even that little shred of belief had cost her, big-time.

It’d cost Laurel her freedom. Her safety. It’d also cost her Jericho. What she needed to tell him wouldn’t help, either.

“My mother had cancer and passed away,” Laurel said. “She died two weeks ago.”

“I’m sorry. Losing a parent is hard.” The look of sympathy that he gave her was genuine, but it didn’t last. “I’m guessing after her death was when things fell apart with your father?”

“More or less.” Mainly less, but she’d save that for another time. “I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to you that my father has influence over several judges. Doctors and psychiatrists, too. He’s trying to declare me mentally and morally incompetent to raise my son. There’s no truth to it,” she added, just in case Jericho doubted it.

Which he probably did.

But he also no doubt believed that her father wasn’t competent to raise Maddox, either.

Jericho stayed quiet a moment. “And you think if you’re married, to me, that your father will...what? Step back from this fight he has with you? Herschel’s never backed off from anything, period.”

Her father wouldn’t do that this time, either. Unless he had no choice. She had to make sure he didn’t get that choice.

Because she needed it, Laurel took a moment, too. “If we’re married, I’d sign over custody to you. Immediately. My father might have enough dirt on me to declare me incompetent, but he can’t do the same to you.”

She hoped.

After all, Jericho had been the sheriff of Appaloosa Pass for well over a decade. He was respected by some. Feared by others. It would be next to impossible to fabricate enough to smear his reputation, and Laurel was hoping a corrupt judge would back down from trying to go after Jericho.

“What kind of dirt does Herschel have on you?” he asked. Of course, Jericho wasn’t going to let that slide.

“My father manufactured some of it. Some of it was my own stupidity in handling one of his business accounts.”

And again, that was an explanation best saved for another day. She hadn’t done anything knowingly, but she had known her father. Had known what he was capable of doing. Now that her father knew the whole truth, he would use anything to hurt her where it hurt the most.

By going after Maddox.

Jericho’s stare got worse. So did his profanity. “Surely there’s somebody other than me who can do this for you. Like your ex-fiancé?”

“He can’t help,” she settled for saying. And, in fact, he was a big part of the problem.

“Really? You’d think the kid’s father would have something to say about you asking another man to marry you.” A muscle flickered in his jaw. “What’s your ex’s name, anyway? Leo-something-or-other.”

“Theo James,” she supplied.

Jericho lifted his right eyebrow. “Oh, I get it now. Theo doesn’t have a clean record, either, and your father will use that to get custody of his only grandson.” His eyebrow went higher. “You probably should have picked a different guy to hook up with, Laurel.”

She had. And Laurel would have told Jericho that, too, if the sound hadn’t shot through the room. Since her nerves were already right there at the surface, she gasped, her body readying itself to fight yet another battle.

But it was just Jericho’s phone.

“It’s Jax,” he said, and quickly answered it.

Even though Jericho didn’t put the call on speaker, Laurel was close enough to hear what Jax told him. “We caught the guy in the SUV. He was on the side of the road trying to switch out the bogus plates. I’m bringing him in now.”

The news caused Jericho’s shoulders to relax a little, but that quickly ended when his gaze snapped back to her. “Good,” he said to his brother. “Has he said anything about why he did it?”

“Not a word. He’s already lawyered up, but I’ll see if I can get anything from him.”

“I want to talk to him,” Jericho insisted. “I won’t be long. Laurel Tate’s here, and I need to finish up some things with her.”

Jax paused. For a long time. “Laurel,” he repeated, the venom clearly in his voice. “Why the heck is she at your place?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

No, he wouldn’t. Nor would Jax approve. Because like the rest of the Crocketts, Jax blamed her in part for his father’s death. They’d never forgive her for that.

Laurel wouldn’t forgive herself, either.

She wouldn’t forgive herself for a lot of things.

Jax cursed, and she had no trouble hearing it. “Please tell me you’re not getting mixed up with Laurel again,” he said to Jericho.

“No.” Jericho didn’t hesitate. Of course, Laurel had known he wouldn’t simply agree to marry her. But hopefully he would when he understood the big picture.

She could practically see Jax’s puzzled expression, but he didn’t press things. “I’ll see you when you get here.”

And at that time, Jax would no doubt want a full explanation as to why their enemy’s daughter was in his brother’s house.

Jericho pushed the end call button and walked right past her. First to the kitchen so he could retrieve his badge from the counter. Then, toward his bathroom, she quickly realized, when she followed him.

“Look, I sympathize with this problem you’re having with your father,” he said, taking a bandage from the medicine cabinet. “Herschel shouldn’t be raising any kid. But I can’t help you.” Jericho slapped the bandage on his shoulder and then went into his bedroom.

She followed him there, too.

Even though there were dozens of things on her mind, important things, Laurel still felt the punch from the old memories here. The room hadn’t changed much in the twenty-two years since she’d been here for the first time.

Since she’d landed in that bed with Jericho.

Laurel made the mistake of looking at him before she could rein in the heat that trickled through her. A big mistake. Because Jericho saw that heat, and he scowled at her.

“My answer’s not going to change,” he insisted, taking a gray shirt from the closet. Once he had it on, he clipped on his badge. “It doesn’t matter what happened between us on that bed. Or what happened over two years ago.”

Laurel was about to tell him that it did indeed matter, but this time it was her phone that rang. She took it from her pocket, and when she saw her father’s name on the screen, she let it go to voice mail—along with the other dozen messages he’d left her in the past couple of hours. She didn’t have to listen to the message to know what he was demanding again.

That she hand Maddox over to him.

Or else agree to every detail of his sick plan.

She didn’t intend to do either one of those.

“I can’t let him get his hands on my son,” she whispered.

“Good luck with that.” It sounded like a dismissal, but she thought she saw some concern in Jericho’s eyes. “I take it you’ve hidden the baby so that Herschel can’t find him?”

She nodded. “He’s with a friend I trust.”

“A friend,” he repeated, that cop’s stare coming at her again. “But I’m guessing this is a friend who can’t help you with your marriage problem.”

“No.”

He huffed, scrubbed his hand over his face. “I can’t do this. What I can do is make some calls and arrange a safe house where you can stay until you work things out with Herschel. For now, I need to get to the station to question this dirt-for-brains suspect.”

Yes, Jericho had made it crystal clear that he had more important things to do and no intention of helping her. So, Laurel pulled out the big guns. Or rather, the picture. It was the screen saver on her phone, and she held it up for him to see.

“That’s my son, Maddox,” she said.

Laurel didn’t need to see the picture to be able to describe it in complete detail. The precious little boy with the blondish-brown hair, amber eyes and a melt-your-heart kind of smile.

Not a newborn baby.

As Jericho had likely been expecting.

Since Laurel was watching him so closely, she saw the change in his expression when he began to connect the dots. It wasn’t a huge change. Just the muscles in his face going tight for a moment. Followed by a head shake, and then that lethal stare came back to her.

“How old is he?” Jericho asked. Except it wasn’t just a question. It was a demand spoken through clenched teeth, and he practically ripped the phone from her hand for a closer look at the picture.