Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Dana Mentink (novels to improve english txt) 📗

The trembling in her limbs started up again. “Kenny’s probably armed. He’ll kill you.”

“If he manages, it’s going to be the hardest thing he ever does in his entire miserable life.”

His tone was flat and hard as granite, and it scared her more than his words. “No,” she said, using her “put-my-foot-down voice,” trying to grab for his hand. Her stern tone was offset by an ill-timed wash of tears. Why now? Beckett wasn’t her soul mate anymore, but she could not stand to think of harm coming to him.

His smile was almost undetectable in the darkness. He touched two fingers lightly to her belly for the briefest of moments. “Muffin’s been through enough tonight.”

Baby or no baby, he was not going to distract her with sweet talk. “Listen to me. Please. This isn’t smart.”

His chuckle was soft, almost inaudible. “Nobody ever accused me of being smart.” He kissed her on the forehead.

“Beckett,” she said, trying to hold on to his shirt to keep him from going.

He pressed another kiss to her hand. Without thinking, she turned so that her fingers were cupping his cheek. She felt rather than heard his sigh, the soft of his lips nuzzling her palm. For a moment, perhaps it was a trick of the starlight, she thought he looked younger, as he might have been before that tragic high school wrestling match.

“Go,” he said, one more time before he vanished into the shadows.

* * *

Beckett crept back toward the center of the ruins, filling his palm with stones as he went. Sheltering behind a rusted ore cart, he listened. At first there was nothing except the sound of the wind riffling the bits of detritus along the base of the old structure. Then he caught sound of a cautious footfall. The noise ceased abruptly. Kenny was tracking him too.

Palming a couple of stones, he waited two counts. He hurled them in the direction of the old twenty-mule-team wagon perched to the side of the ruins, a source of fascination for scores of travelers every season. The rocks landed in a quiet patter, but it was enough. The footsteps stopped. Beckett counted silently to five and then launched a second stone, which pinged off the rear wagon wheel.

A tiny light flicked to life, enough that Beckett caught a second of Kenny’s profile before he smothered his phone against his chest. Found you. Wary as a cat on the hunt, Kenny moved several feet away from Beckett, skirting the ruined wall, still unaware of Beckett’s position. The sight of Kenny standing there after he’d nearly killed them sent a hot streak of anger ripping through him.

Because of Kenny, his pregnant wife was running through the desert, where a host of additional threats might harm her. The land surrounding the borax works was riddled with potential hazards: snakes, heat… She could fall, become dehydrated, lost… The list ballooned in his mind along with the ire. Jaw tight, he kept his thoughts from those scenarios and forced himself to breathe slowly through his nose. He had to keep it together and deal with Kenny.

Kenny moved a step forward, close enough that Beckett caught the smell of cigarettes.

Everything in him wanted to hurtle out of his hiding place and crush Kenny into the sandy ground. Instead he bent and picked up another rock. All he had to do was play the diversion game long enough for Laney to get away. Just like firefighting… Move the victim to safety and then deal with everything else.

Give her another few minutes. When Kenny took a step to his right, Beckett readied his rock. He intended to land the rock on the other side of the wagon to mimic movement, but as soon as the pebble left his fingertips, Kenny jerked the light in Beckett’s direction.

Before Beckett could work out what to do next, Kenny lunged, the knife flashing in his hand. There was nowhere to hide.

Beckett had one second to grab at Kenny’s outthrust wrist to keep the blade from ripping into his abdomen. They went over backward, banging into the half-buried rocks, rolling over and over. Dust filled Beckett’s mouth and stung his eyes as they struggled.

Kenny dug his elbow into Beckett’s chest. Beckett’s muscles locked tight as he held fast to Kenny’s wrist, but he knew he could not sustain the effort indefinitely. Kenny was younger and stronger, and he had not just run at breakneck speed to escape a car bearing down on him. Painstakingly, he freed his leg just enough. With a sudden motion, he rammed his knee into Kenny’s stomach. The breath whooshed out, followed by a grunt, and the knife spiraled away into the darkness. Both men scrambled up.

Kenny panted, bent at the waist, head angled to keep Beckett in sight.

Beckett’s breath was ragged too as he squared off. “No knife now, Kenny. Got any guts without it?”

Kenny swiped at a dribble of blood on his chin. “Just as much as you had when you killed my sister with your bare hands. Did it make you feel like a man to kill her, tough guy?”

“I didn’t…” Beckett broke off. It was a waste of effort trying to explain the truth again. Eyes on his opponent, he circled around until he could flick a glance toward the wide flat of desert beyond. Had Laney gotten away? He saw no sign of headlights on the road, but maybe she must have been able to place a call to Jude with his satellite phone, and maybe one to his cousin. Willow would only be twenty minutes away with the tour group by now. Maybe she had already started back.

Kenny eased off a few steps. Retreating? Beckett didn’t think so. Kenny flicked a glance at his phone, reading the screen before his gaze locked on Beckett.

What was going on? He remembered Rita’s attention to her cell phone after she’d returned from the horseback ride. “Getting a text from your pal Rita?”

Kenny’s