Read Online Twice A Target (Task Force Eagle) by Susan Vaughan - Free Book Online Page B

No social calls. This was investigation to
find out who had harbored a grudge against Rob, who might’ve wanted him dead.
    By eight o’clock, he’d had a real breakfast and they
were on the road with Bobby in his car seat behind Maddy. “First ranch is a
ways south of Rangewood. Greg Harper was high-school quarterback when I was a
freshman. Married Irene Ingraham in my class. They took over the Double-X when
his parents moved to Sonoma. Greg should be waiting for me. Us.” He’d phoned
yesterday to ask if they could stop by.
    Ensconced in the Silverado’s passenger seat, Maddy
nodded, then chattered away about the greening hillsides and distant views of
cattle grazing.
    “You always so chirpy about ordinary stuff?” He didn’t
mean to sound so gruff but hell, the woman got to him.
    She cocked her head and eyed him for a moment. Instead
of blasting him for being so sour, she smiled. A sort of wistful smile that
made him feel like shit on a boot heel for sniping at her. “I don’t usually get
to experience what you call ordinary stuff. Instead of peaceful hillsides, I
see bombed out villages or bunkers bristling with big guns. Instead of huge
herds of fat steers grazing in lush pastures, I see a few scrawny cattle with
skeletal ribs being herded by ragged children through parched scrub. Instead
of—”
    “Enough. I get the picture.”
    “The picture?” She chuckled, a trill like a spring
brook. “Holt Donovan, was that a joke?”
    Hell, no, but he’d never admit it. “There’s the
Double-X up ahead.”
    Thank God she let the subject drop and peered ahead at
the big sign announcing the home of prize-winning Herefords and beyond at the
stone-fronted ranch house with the wrap-around porch.
    He, on the other hand, needed to concentrate on
something other than Maddy.
    Why had he gone on the attack again? Not as bad as the
other day when he’d pounced like a cougar on a stray calf. All because Rob
couldn’t let go. Every time Holt had come home, he watched his brother obsess
about turning another woman into Madelyn McCoy. But how much of that was her
fault? Hell, she hadn’t known how Rob felt. Hadn’t known how absorbed he’d been
in the ideal Maddy, all in his head, not the flesh-and-blood Maddy beside Holt
in the truck.
    Holt had witnessed the disbelief in her eyes when he
told her about Sara. Maddy’d gone jet-setting and taking her pictures all over
the damned world and left them—not them, Rob—and any regrets behind. Maybe
jet-setting wasn’t the right term but it amounted to the same thing. She left.
    But his temper didn’t explain his behavior. What did
was his fascination with her. With her maternal care for the baby. With her
boldness and quick energy. And with her sexy body. Hell, he kept picturing her
in that skimpy nightshirt. And out of it.
    When he’d held her, her slender form tight against
him, his body detonated with fireworks he hadn’t experienced in years. The
flowery fragrance of her corn-silk hair clouded his brain and shot all his
blood south.
    She wasn’t immune to him either. Her breath caught and
she curled into him. He needed to ditch all emotion where she was concerned and
focus on Bobby and finding his parents’ murderer. He’d asked Maddy to join him
today because she provided a trained pair of eyes and ears. Nothing more.
Today’s visits would be all business.
    If he had to grit his teeth to ignore her softness and
womanly scent beside him to make it work, he’d do it or break a tooth trying.
    “Howdy, Donovan. It’s been way too long.” Greg Harper
greeted him with a big smile in his sun-creased face and an outstretched hand.
These days, the former football star’s belly was bigger than his shoulders.
    They shook hands and clapped each other on the back
while Maddy extricated the baby from his car seat. Bobby waved his arms and
babbled with glee at being freed and out with the grownups.
    The rancher’s wife skipped down the porch steps and
gave Holt a hug. Her