Texas Witness. Barb Han

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СКАЧАТЬ a sober reminder of how dangerous Richard could be. A thought struck. Could she leave Angelina with Colin? The ranch was probably safer than the US Treasury.

      No. It wouldn’t work. Richard believed Angelina was his daughter. If he heard or saw her with Colin it would be too easy to put the pieces together. Until Richard was safely locked away or dead, she couldn’t risk it. She mumbled an apology under her breath and a prayer for forgiveness.

      “What happened to them?” she asked.

      “At first, we believed Dad had a heart attack while driving and wrecked with both him and Mom in the car. Something felt off to Tommy so he ran labs. Toxicology report came back with poison in their systems,” he said.

      “That’s awful. How on earth could they be poisoned?” Melissa’s heart broke at hearing the details.

      “Tommy doesn’t know. It would have to be someone who had access to both of them. Mom had hosted their annual party for local artists earlier that night, so a few people had admission to the ranch,” he said.

      “I’m guessing Tommy already checked everyone out at the party, including staff,” she said, still trying to absorb the news. It was selfish to think about the fact that Angelina would never know her grandparents. There was always some small part of Melissa wishing things would magically work out and she and Colin would end up together. It was a crazy notion that had given her the tiniest sliver of hope in what had been the worst year of her life save for the birth of her child.

      “He did. All he has so far is the poison. He doesn’t know how it got in their systems or what the motive for murder could be,” Colin said. “There’s a slight chance that they ingested the poison accidentally.”

      “Except what are the chances they both ingested the same thing at the same time?” she said out loud, not meaning to. She shouldn’t add fuel to the fire. Colin might find out the truth about his father and that would crush him. She still could scarcely believe that the man would have an affair. She’d argued with Richard, putting up more of a fight than she knew better to, refusing to accept his accusation at first. And that had led to an even bigger fight between them when he’d accused her of defending the O’Briens because she still loved Colin.

      In order to survive, she’d had to swallow her emotions and convince Richard that she loved him. Only him. If someone had told her that she’d be able to sell that lie a year ago she would’ve laughed. Finding out she was pregnant had changed her priorities. Nothing mattered more to her than keeping Colin’s baby safe.

      As a mother, she’d found a new well of strength to draw from than she had ever known existed inside her. Angelina’s safety took precedence over everyone and everything.

      “It’s late, Colin. I need to go,” she said, using all the courage she could muster to speak those words. Being with Colin again was taking a toll on her, body, soul and mind. She was grateful that Angelina was a sound sleeper. Melissa had a prayer of getting out of this situation without doing any more damage.

      Coming back to Bluff had been a mistake. Seeing the pain in Colin’s eyes was heartbreaking. And that would be the last image she would have of him to hold on to. She had hoped to see him happy, to see his charismatic smile. His sexy half grin that had been so good at making her pulse race and her body ache in that perfect way. She hadn’t counted on seeing him still so miserable. Or wanting to touch him so much that she physically hurt.

      Blocking out the pain, an act she’d mastered in the past twelve months, she pushed past him and then opened the front door wide. She needed to meet her handler so she could disappear. The thought she was running from her problems struck. She pushed it aside.

      Yes, the man standing in front of her was an issue. Yes, he deserved to know about Angelina. Yes, his daughter deserved to know about him. Not now. Not if it meant putting their little girl in danger. Even Colin would agree that Angelina had to come first.

      She pushed the door open as wide as it would go.

      “Please, Colin, don’t make me ask again.” She prayed he didn’t pick up on the desperate note in her tone.

      * * *

      COLIN SAT IN his vehicle contemplating the conversation he’d just had with Melissa for a good twenty minutes. Something about the way she’d asked him to leave didn’t sit right. Forget the electricity they still shared, sex had always been a whole other experience with her, and it was muscle memory causing the heat between them to sizzle like it was yesterday. He’d felt the chemistry, loud and powerful, when her back had been against the wall and there wasn’t more than a foot of space between her full breasts and his chest.

      She was married to someone else and Colin would never act on his impulses. He’d stopped having sex for sex’s sake when he became old enough to fight for his country. He’d done a tour and then returned home. His reputation for dating around might be true, but he was selective when it came to who he spent time with and even more so with women he slept with.

      Colin had an ironclad commandment about not messing around with another man’s wife. Even if he and Melissa had belonged to each other at one time, his rule was etched in stone and applied no matter how much his heart tried to protest. Or tell him that she was still his after all this time.

      Logic ruled. It was time to move on.

      Then there was the reaction she’d had to the news about his parents and the questions that had followed.

      What was the point of worrying about it? She’d said that she was about to move and was homesick. Colin needed to accept it and move on. He was just about to start his ignition and drive off when he saw twin headlights exit the alley. Curiosity got the best of him, so he followed Melissa’s car. All he needed was to see her with Richard to imprint the new reality of her being married to someone else into his brain. Colin was visual and he needed that image in order to stamp out all those other thoughts that kept creeping in. Thoughts of how sweet she still smelled, all floral and sunshine. Thoughts of how soft her skin still was when he’d touched her arm. Thoughts of how rapid her breathing had become when they were standing too close. All of which was dangerous for Colin to acknowledge.

      Melissa was married to Richard Rancic. The words sat bitter on his tongue as he cut right, allowing enough distance between cars so that she wouldn’t realize she was being followed. She’d made her choice. She was Melissa Rancic now. It was high time his mind caught up.

      Cutting right a few seconds after she did, he was flooded with memories—memories he fought to keep from overtaking his thoughts. Letting go of her wasn’t going to be easy but he’d find a way. He had to. Because a little voice, the one that still knew her, said that once she left town she wasn’t coming back this time. Colin’s heart fisted again. He reminded himself that it was a good thing to acknowledge and accept the situation for what it was.

      Melissa made another turn into the parking lot of the lawnmower store at the edge of town. It was located at the edge of the last neighborhood in Bluff before hay bales and country roads dotted the landscape. The lots were one-to-two acres in this area.

      On three sides of the parking lot were woods, basically mesquite trees with two feet of underbrush. It was most likely Colin’s military training that had him checking the perimeter for any signs of danger and not the hairs that pricked on the back of his neck. Why would she meet her husband after midnight in an empty parking lot?

      Scenarios started running through his mind as he pulled past the lot, turned off his headlights and then made a U-turn. Was it his heart and not his logical mind СКАЧАТЬ