Luke shook his head. “You’re not calling anyone right now. You can call after the locals get here.”
“He’s stalling,” Ellen said. “He wants to keep us here. Why?”
Parker charged for the woodpile. Luke got him on the ground, twisted his arm behind him and looked at Ellen. “Run. Take cover in the woods. Now.”
“Not without you.”
“Right behind you, babe.”
He grabbed Parker, got him to his feet. “Move or die here. Your choice.”
They reached the woods and took cover in the dense spruce trees just as the shack exploded.
Hugh Parker’s personal IED.
Luke kept Parker in his control. “Were you going to rig Maggie’s cabin?”
“I have better plans for her.” He grinned at Ellen, spittle on the corners of his mouth. “You won’t be able to live with yourself after I’ve finished with her.”
“He’s trying to plant thoughts in your head, Ellen,” Luke said. “Don’t let him.”
She nodded but kept her gaze fixed on Hugh Parker. “Did you think that woodpile was going to protect you?” She laughed, shaking her head. “Dumb, Parker. Real dumb.”
Chapter 9
Maggie knew something was up when her flight landed and both Sam Temple and her father met her at her gate. They were strong, handsome men, both wearing suits and white cowboy hats, clearly on duty. “Ellen’s with Luke,” she said, breathless. “Nothing’s happened, has it?”
“They’re okay,” Sam said. “Hugh Parker is in custody in New York.”
“He tried to kill them?”
Her father nodded, grim. “He put together a homemade bomb in a shack he took over.”
“It wasn’t his first plan, wasn’t it?” Maggie asked. “He was going to hurt me as a way to hurt Ellen. Then kill her. Am I right?”
“It’s all that Jane Austen you read,” Sam said, but his humor seemed forced. “You have good insight into different kinds of people.”
Her father slipped an arm over her shoulders. “We figured out Parker flew from Albany to Austin then back up to Albany right before you did.”
“He’s going to spend a long time in the frozen north,” Sam said. “He’s the man you saw at the lake yesterday. He did a few things to disguise himself. You were right to run.”
Her father nodded. “As I’ve been saying since you were a tot, always trust your instincts. We’ll go back to the Adirondacks one day. You, Ellen, Brent, your mother and me. We’ll rent a cabin on a lake and go swimming and kayaking and enjoy ourselves. It’s a beautiful area.”
“I’d like that,” Maggie said. “But you’ll probably want to invite Luke, too.”
Sam grimaced. “Luke. Right.”
Her father was expressionless.
Maggie laughed. “It’s good to be home.”
She returned to her studio apartment on the third floor of a house owned by professor friends. She had her books and papers, her posters of movies of Jane Austen novels, her collection of Texas Ranger memorabilia. It was okay she wasn't in law enforcement. She was who she was. She felt free of her own restrictions on herself. She wasn’t a coward. Her parents had taught her to trust her instincts and get away from danger—and that was what she’d done.
She got a text from a friend who’d heard she was back from New York. She and a few other friends were getting together that evening. Did Maggie want to join them?
She did. Most definitely.
***
“Maggie’s home safe and sound,” Ellen said, roasting in front of a roaring fire Luke had built in the fireplace at Maggie’s cabin. The temperature had dropped with the waning day but not that much. Either that, or Hugh Parker trying to blow them up was still affecting her. She decided to stay focused on Maggie. “She’s spending the evening with friends and then joining Mom, Dad and Brent and Uncle Sam and Aunt Kara and their two little ones for a picnic tomorrow.”
“You’re quite a family,” Luke said, no sign he was hot.
“Do we intimidate you?”
“A senior Texas Ranger, a money whiz, twin sisters and a bright little brother. You Galways are a great family, but I’m not intimidated. No, ma’am.” He stood in front of her. “You’re asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I be asking?”
He took her hands and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s go outside. I got the fire too hot.”
“So you do feel the heat.”
He winked. “I do.”
They went outside and walked down to the dock. The sun was sinking behind the hills in the west. Luke tossed a stone into the water and watched the ripples for a moment.
“All right,” Ellen said. “What’s the right question to ask you?”
He continued staring at the water. “Ask me if I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” he said, finally turning to her. “Ask me if I love you with all my heart.”