Striking Distance by Pamela Clare Read Free Book Online

ranch. Things turned out all right for you.”
    The Cimarron was like nothing Javier had ever seen. Whenever Nate had spoken of “the ranch,” Javier had imagined something rustic, like the log house in
Bonanza
. How wrong he’d been! Oh, there were logs, all right, but they were polished and stood like columns, welcoming visitors through a portico that led to a massive three-story house, complete with a library, a home theater, a gym with a sauna, a wine cellar, a five-car heated garage, and enough bedrooms to house Javier’s entire family. Outside there were barns where Nate bred prized quarter horses, an indoor riding arena, and bunkhouses for the ranch hands—not to mention mile after mile of open mountain valley and a view of the Rockies that had blown Javier away.
    As for Nate’s old man . . . Well, he was something else.
    Jack West, a decorated veteran and former Army Ranger, had welcomed Javier to the ranch as if he were a long-lost son, crushing him in a bear hug. “Thank you for being there for Nate. You saved my boy’s life, stood by him. As far as I’m concerned, you’re family—a son of this house. What’s ours is yours.”
    Strange to think that Nate, the son of a wealthy Colorado rancher, and Javier, a kid from a poor inner-city Puerto Rican family, had become close buddies. But that was what happened when men put on a uniform and served together. Their differences faded in the face of shared duties—and dangers.
    “I’m happy for you, man. I really am.”
    “I’m a lucky man.” Nate smiled, not an ounce of self-pity on his scarred face.
    It was humbling.
    Megan reappeared, a glass of water in her hand. “Days start pretty early around here, so I’m headed to bed. Let us know if you need anything.”
    Javier gave her a nod. “Will do. Good night.”
    Nate got to his feet. “Daddy duty calls. I’ll be back in a few.”
    Javier settled back on the sofa, his thoughts turning once again to Laura.
    * * *
    LAURA WRITHED ON
the floor in agony, pain wrapping itself around her until she couldn’t help but cry out. “Zainab has poisoned me!”
    “She is crazy!” Zainab forced her onto her back, her hand pressing against Laura’s belly where it hurt the worst. “Be still!”
    But she couldn’t be still. The pain was unbearable. “I’m going to be sick!”
    Zainab motioned to Safiya, who pushed the wooden bowl closer.
    Laura pushed herself up with one arm and vomited, her entire abdomen knotted against whatever Zainab had put in her food to kill her.
    Why had they done this? Hadn’t she made them all promise to shoot her if a time came when they chose at last to kill her? What had she done to anger them, to make them break that promise?
    The nausea passed, but another wave of agony had begun. Moaning, she wiped her mouth on the wet cloth Safiya handed her. She met Safiya’s gaze. “Please, sister, help me! I am dying!”
    “We
are
helping you, you stupid woman!” Zainab hissed.
    Then Zainab and Safiya stood and left the room, leaving her alone, her pain suddenly gone, her body weak and shaking.
    But they had taken something from her. What had they taken? She didn’t know, and it terrified her.
    Too weak to stand, she screamed after them. “No!”
    Laura sat upright, a cry trapped in her throat. In a panic, she glanced around to find that she was home in Denver in her own bedroom, the light she’d left on in the kitchen casting its glow in the hallway outside her door. Shaking, nauseated, and covered in cold sweat, she closed her eyes again, drew deep steadying breaths.
    A nightmare. It was only a nightmare.
    She glanced at her alarm clock.
    Two in the morning.
    She’d been asleep for all of an hour.
    She ought to have expected this. It had been much harder than she’d imagined to testify, to dredge up old memories and emotions, to see
him
once more. But she’d do it again in a heartbeat just for the chance to confront him.
    She wasn’t sure what had come over her there at