Canyon Standoff by Valerie Hansen

Author:Valerie Hansen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-01-10T18:18:35+00:00

* * *

Eric dived, dragging Morgan down and instinctively rolling her beneath him. Gravel and dirt rained around them.

His ears rang, the initial shock of sound nearly blinding him. He fought to recover his senses, to remember this was Arizona, not overseas. This was safe ground.

Or what should be safe ground. He reached for his hip. No pistol. It was secured in his rental vehicle.

As the blast echoed away, he sat up and tucked Morgan behind him. A handful of people in the parking lot emerged from behind vehicles, pale and shaken.

Rangers rushed from every direction. They called orders and herded frightened visitors to safety.

No one seemed to be injured, although everyone was shaken.

It was likely a prank, but the explosion had been too loud to be fireworks or a soda-bottle bomb. It didn’t matter. The entire government would descend soon, no matter how small the device.

“You okay?” He pivoted and reached for her, needing to reassure himself she was safe.

Morgan was pale. Too pale. Her deep brown eyes found the source of the explosion and she locked her gaze onto the smoking trash can. She might be present, but her mind was clearly somewhere else.

Eric had seen it in too many soldiers, when post-traumatic stress disorder and memories knocked them out of the present and into a past they refused to talk about.

Morgan was rattled, but not by what was happening in the moment. Something else haunted her.

Something much worse.

“Hey.” Forgetting everything around them, Eric cradled her chin in his palms. His fingers lay across her cheek, over faint scars he had noticed years ago. Scars she’d never explained.

Pieces clicked into place. Sometime, somewhere, something had literally exploded in Morgan’s face. Every piece of his heart that had ever loved her had to let her know she was safe.

Had to protect her. She might not be his any longer, but he would never let anything hurt her. “Morgan, it’s me. It’s Eric. You’re safe. It’s okay. It’s really okay.”

Her eyes shifted and narrowed as she searched his face. She blinked rapidly and jerked her chin, tearing her gaze from his and ripping his hands from her face.

As though a switch flipped, the Morgan who’d vanished regained her park ranger bravado. She was on her feet, hand resting on the pistol at her hip, scanning the area. “What happened? Is everyone okay?” Her voice trembled, but anyone who didn’t know her would likely miss it.

“Everyone seems to be fine.” Eric urged her inside to safety, but she jerked away.

“I’ve got this. Get into the building and wait for instructions.” She was already walking away, holding a hand out toward a group huddled in front of the wood-and-glass building, waving them toward the lobby. “I mean it, Eric.”

Sure she did. He’d been wrong to treat her like a weak female in need of protection. She was competent and trained.

But she still needed someone to watch her back.

Eric dogged Morgan’s footsteps into the lobby and stood to the side while the other

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