Gunslinger

He slid his hands to her elbows, stopping her. “I’m not treating our first time together like we’re teenagers looking for a fast thrill in a game room. We’re not only too old for that, we deserve better.”

Dusting her hands as if she was done, she hurried away. “Fine. This is all I have, Bryce. All I can do.”

He touched her shoulder and she stopped. Did she want him to change her mind? Show her how much he cared about her? “If it were me … If our positions were reversed, and I was the one with scars, what would you do right now, Kylie? Would you let me run away? Continue to be afraid?” She covered her face. “I am afraid.”

He could barely hear her. He asked just as quietly, “Of me?”

“Strangely enough, no. But yes, maybe of you most of all.”

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ANGI MORGAN writes Mills & Boon Intrigue novels “where honor and danger collide with love.” She combines actual Texas settings with characters who are in realistic and dangerous situations. Angi’s work has been a finalist for numerous awards, including the Booksellers’ Best Award and the Daphne du Maurier Award. Angi and her husband live in north Texas.

Visit her website, www.angimorgan.com, or follow her on Facebook at Angi Morgan Books. She loves to hang out with fans in her closed group: bit.ly/angifriends.

There is never a book completed without my pals Jan and Robin.

This one also goes to my wonderful agent, Jill, and to the patience of my amazing editor, Allison! Thanks, ladies, for hanging in there with me.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

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

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

Austin, Texas, five years ago

Sissy Jorgenson-Tenoreno attempted a smile at her friends to make the empty parking lot less spooky. It didn’t work. “This is an odd place to meet, even for Xander.”

The food truck’s inside lights were glowing. So were the Christmas lights strung around the single picnic table out front. Daddy Cade’s Po’Boys didn’t seem to be one of the more popular gourmet trucks in town. Good thing she’d brought her entourage of Darren, Janna and Linda with her.

Xander should think twice if he thought she’d meet him anywhere alone.

“Your soon-to-be ex-husband probably chose this place because he knew you’d never eat here,” Darren said. “You make every calorie count twice. Especially now that you need your figure back.”

She was still the same size as when they’d eloped eight months ago. In fact, the outfit she was wearing had been bought on their unofficial honeymoon trip to Paris.

“Sissy Jorgenson shouldn’t be forced to come to a place like this,” Janna complained. “You should send the police for your things. Even the cat.”

Xander’s father owns the police.

Did it really bother her that they talked as if they understood the life she’d led before getting married? Teen model, then married to the mob? They had no clue. Not really. A different location every week was glamorous to them. A different hotel each week was appealing. A life of travel and what appeared to be one party after another.

Even the parties got old. The same faces night after night. There weren’t any sleepy movie days in front of the television. No study binges, no spontaneous orders of pizza and beer. No darting to the store for milk and bread, which were never on the menu anyway.

One day someone might ask what had been going through her mind when she got married. Her friends shrugged the divorce off as if it was no big deal. What had she expected? Happily ever after? Looking back, she hadn’t really expected anything. She might not have known what marriage would be like, but she knew what she wanted.

The answer was so simple. She’d wanted a home. A place to belong, a family and a pet. She’d never had one and always wanted to save the strays she saw while traveling. Instead, being married was equivalent to being locked inside a mansion surrounded by people who had no love in their hearts.

“I need a bottle of water or maybe this place sells Gel Shots. Five or six of those and we’ll be ready to party again.” Linda staggered across the gravel parking lot to the food truck and banged on the window. When no one answered, she swayed back to the group. “I’m so envious. In three days you’ll be jet-setting halfway across the world for a fabulous Roman adventure. I, on the other hand, will be starting another boring semester of school.”

While starving herself to drop down to her agent’s ideal weight, she’d be wishing every minute for her friend’s boring life.

“Anybody want a fried oyster po’boy? Of course Sissy’s answer is no. She can’t waste calories on stinky food. The bun alone would be—”