Son of a Gun (29 page)
“If you kill me, Damien will track you to the ends of the world and make you pay.”
“Do you honestly think I’m afraid of a cowboy?”
Damien had never killed a man before, yet he relished the idea of putting a bullet in Caudillo’s head.
And the way he saw it, Caudillo gave him no other choice. One yank of the rope and Emma was dead, and he had no doubt that if Caudillo saw him, he’d make sure Emma’s neck was broken.
Damien would have one shot. He’d have to make it count. He fit his finger around the trigger, held steady and pulled.
* * *
EMMA HEARD THE BLAST OF gunfire and thought for a second it was the crack of death. Belle’s screams jerked her back to reality.
Caudillo lay on the ground in a pool of blood.
Damien rushed over, took the noose from her neck and pulled her into his arms. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“No, he was just getting warmed up. It’s the mental game he loved.” She began to shake. “Is he dead?”
“He’s dead. Even Caudillo can’t live with his brain splattered across Bent Pine grass.”
He yanked off his shirt and wrapped it around her. “I have never been that afraid in all my life. I don’t ever want to be that afraid again.”
“Apparently neither does Belle.” She hurried over to pick up the screaming baby. Belle hushed almost immediately. She handed the baby off to Damien while she slipped back into her jeans.
He put his arm around Emma and pulled her back into the shelter of his embrace.
“I’m crazy in love with you, Emma. I don’t know how I fell so hard and so fast, but I’m there.”
“I feel the same, Damien. I think I loved you since you found me in the snow. Like your dad and mother, we were meant to be.”
“Does that mean you’ll marry me?”
“In a heartbeat.”
Emma looked up as Tague and Durk came running through the trees.
“What the hell is going on? Mother yelled at me to get home fast and then I hear— Whoa.” Durk stopped and stared at the body.
“Is that who I think it is?”
“That’s the monster,” Emma said. “He wasn’t dead, but he is now. Your brother just saved my life.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll fill you in later,” Damien told him. “Right now, call the sheriff. Tell him we have another self-defense killing at the Bent Pine Ranch.”
“I’ll call Delaney, too,” Durk said. “He’s going to have a devil of a time getting his head around this.”
“Are you and Belle both okay?” Tague asked.
“Better than okay. We’re alive,” Emma said.
She fit Belle against her right shoulder as Damien wrapped an arm about her waist.
“Let’s go home, cowboy.” Home to stay.
Carolina was right. A woman should always choose love.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459226319
Copyright © 2012 by Jo Ann Vest
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