Taming the Wild Cougar

  She noticed again the expressions of surprise that she would see her captor like that. But he had been that for her. One minute, she’d been alone in the cold wash of water, struggling to hold on, knowing that this could be the end as her body temperature plummeted. And the next, he was there, encouraging her, protecting her, pulling her to safety when he’d faced the strength of the creek all on his own, moments before this.

  “Have you heard from him?” Shannon asked.

  Kate hated telling them no, that she was hopeful every waking day that he would get in touch. That at night, she wished he’d knock on her door, sweep her into his arms, and kiss her like he loved her and never wanted this to end between them.

  She shook her head.

  “He’s undercover,” Dottie reminded her, very seriously, as if she believed everything Kate had said about him.

  Which Kate appreciated. “I agree. I just hope…” She let out her breath. “I just hope he’s all right. That the man he’s after hasn’t killed him this time.”

  “He’s too resourceful for that,” Shannon said.

  “He’s Ranger trained. A real survivalist,” Dottie agreed.

  “He’ll contact you,” Tracey said, surprising everyone, because Kate was sure that’s what they were all thinking, but she hadn’t believed anyone would actually say it out loud. “I know he will.”

  “I hope so,” Kate admitted.

  And then the conversation went on to other things, but all Kate could think about was how much she wished Leyton would get in touch with her to let her know he was well.

  She was glad she’d shared some of what had happened with the ladies. She knew Shannon had an ordeal with wilderness survival on her own while her ex-boyfriend’s family had tried to hunt her down. And Tracey, in the business she was involved in, could relate because of the dangerous situations she would be in when trying to apprehend wildlife traffickers.

  Dottie hadn’t been, but being the town’s dispatcher, she’d heard enough cases where individuals had been in trouble.

  Best of all, her friends were there for her, no matter what the outcome. They wanted the best for her, unlike their mates, or the sheriff, who wanted to take Leyton down if they ever caught sight of him.

  * * *

  Leyton was exhausted by the time he reached his friend’s safe house. Travis was gone on a mission too, like usual. Something covert, most likely. Leyton wished he could have shared a beer and swapped a couple of war stories when he arrived at his house, but no such luck. Leyton had thought maybe they could get together for Christmas, though who knew what either of them would be involved in at that point in time.

  Leyton took a hot shower and didn’t want to ever leave it. He’d thought continuously of Dr. Kate Ellen Parker, unable to get her off his mind. The way she had rolled her eyes at him, or ran with him as a cougar, sitting on the tree with him as the bear tried to get into her backpack and being pissed about it, making love to her.

  Hell, as soon as he thought of his hands running all over that sweet body of hers, he was already hard. He hated that he hadn’t been able to call her, not while running as a cougar. And he wondered if he did call her, she’d just be angry with him for leaving her like he had done. But he knew the law enforcement officers from Yuma Town would interrogate him mercilessly, and he wouldn’t be able to tell them who he really was or what he really did. He’d told Kate too much already. It wasn’t like him to tell his business to anyone who wasn’t in their organization and even then only if they had a need to know.

  When he’d left Kate, he’d gone back to doing his job and finally located Butch’s cabin, though other men had used it. But Butch had used it repeatedly and so Leyton figured that this was his, or maybe a friend’s or even a partner’s place, who was involved in the same crimes. But there had been no evidence left behind that indicated where he might have gone next.

  Once Leyton didn’t have any fresh leads, he figured he’d regroup and drive down to search the area again, only this time as a human. He wanted to send Kate the money for his clothes, but he couldn’t do it. He was afraid she’d feel offended, yet he had to make it up to her somehow.

  Hell, he had done his job as far as he was able. He had to see her and make it right with her. He figured he’d have some explaining to do with the local police force, but he had decided Kate Parker was too much she-cat to leave alone in Yuma Town for very long before some other male cat began making the moves on her.

  He called her clinic, but of course couldn’t get through to her directly. April, the receptionist at the front desk, said, “May I ask who’s calling?”

  “Tell her it’s Leyton.”

  “Leyton…”

  She was waiting for a last name.

  He hadn’t given it to Kate. He wasn’t giving it to the receptionist.

  “All right. She might be in with a patient and then this will go to voice mail.”

  “Thanks.” He hated voice mail.

  And that’s all he got. Damn it. Kate didn’t have a listed number either so he could call her at home. Now she’d be doubly upset with him, he figured, because he wouldn’t leave a message on her blasted answering machine. But he was an undercover agent. He never left messages.

  * * *

  Snuggling with Sheba, Kate loved living in Yuma Town. All the outpouring of love for her when she returned home made her know that she was living right where she needed to be, but she couldn’t help feeling a part of her was missing. When she’d returned home, she’d smelled all the law enforcement officers had been there—all over her place. Even checking out her bedroom and bathroom. They would know Leyton had slept with her but hadn’t had sex with her. Dan had taken over talking to her about the incident because Stryker was too furious about Leyton abducting her, though she’d told them all along he’d needed help, just like he said he had. She told them she had still planned to go to the campground, and he was going in the same direction as she was to check out the cabin where the shooter had been, which had been within a few miles of her campsite. He needed the transportation, and she was willing to help a fellow cougar and an undercover agent. Which had prompted further questions about why Leyton hadn’t gone to them for help. And why she didn’t let anyone know what was going on with her, even if she was going to insist on taking him herself.

  Which led to her telling them repeatedly he was undercover!

  She knew they were thinking, yeah, right—in her bed and in her sleeping bag…with her!

  She’d been asked a number of times where the cabin was, but Leyton had never said. Dan and the others didn’t believe her. They knew she was covering for him.

  She was actually beginning to believe the story she was telling herself, so it didn’t matter. She thought she’d never see Leyton again, that this Butch Sanders might have finished Leyton off this time for good, though she told herself it wouldn’t happen. That this time Leyton would get him. But what if she had just been a convenient and pleasurable way to warm up a cold night as far as Leyton was concerned? Like he’d been for her, if she hadn’t fallen for the rogue.

  And then, she got the call from Leyton so out of the blue, it had sent her heart racing to the moon and back. Though she’d tried to tell herself not to get all worked up about it. Before she went home for the night, April Hightower, her receptionist, had told her she’d received one from Leyton, curious about who he was since Kate never got calls from unknown men who wanted to speak to her specifically, not about a medical problem. As soon as April told her, Kate tried to show unconcern, though her heart was palpitating with excitement. She waited to get home and once she locked her door behind her, she checked her voice mail. And checked her messages again. And again. As if somehow a message would suddenly just pop up on her cell. She couldn’t believe he hadn’t left a message on her voice mail!

  She growled.

  Hating to cause April to speculate any more about the situation than she was probably already doing, Kate called her at home, which she never d
id. Kate had to ask what Leyton had said to her...in his exact words. Maybe he had left a clue for her. Was she desperate, or what?

  “April, about that message from Leyton. Can you tell me exactly what he said and the way he said it?”

  “He just said he wanted to talk to you, and he didn’t give a last name. I told him his call would go to voice mail if you were busy and couldn’t pick up. He seemed perturbed that I wouldn’t just walk back there and make you take the call. Didn’t he leave a message?”

  “No. If…if he calls again while I’m at work, put him right through to me.”

  “Even if you’re in the middle of surgery or delivering a baby?” April sounded surprised.

  “Tell him I’ll get right back to him. Don’t make him go to voice mail. Get his phone number. Or, well, give him my personal number.”

  “All right. Will do. Is everything all right, Dr. Parker?”

  No, it wasn’t. Hope had sprung anew that he wanted to see her again, and she knew she’d lost her mind. “Yes, yes, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Kate set her phone on her dresser, praying Leyton would call her back, ready to kill him if he said again that he was sending her the money for the clothes she’d had to buy him. She hoped he had caught the bad guy and had the free time and the strong need to come and see her.

  Yet, she knew he only meant to keep his promise—he’d pay her back for all the trouble he had caused her. But she was glad to hear that he was still alive and kicking.

  * * *

  When Leyton got the call from his boss that night, waking him from pleasant dreams of making wild and passionate love to Kate wearing only her stethoscope, he swore under his breath. Chuck Warner never called Leyton when he was currently on a mission. Leyton was supposed to call him and…hell, about three weeks ago. Okay, so he’d been rather out of touch while running as a cougar. And he’d been so exhausted, grimy, and hungry when he’d gotten in, all he’d thought of was showering, grabbing a quick supper, and a long Rip Van Winkle’s lengthy nap.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Chuck asked, getting to the point of the call immediately, his voice gruff and irritated. “I send you out on a mission, you get shot, and hook up with some hot she-cat doctor?”

  Hell. Leyton sat up in bed, his mind racing over all that had happened, again. He should have known his boss would have been looking into his disappearance when he didn’t call in.

  “Just got back. Long story. Lost Butch and went looking for him in my cougar coat again, trying to locate him. Lost him when we both fell off a cliff and ended up losing track of him. Checked out his cabin, burned his clothes, and got rid of his rifle. No luck on catching him after that. I’m at Travis’s at the moment.”

  “I know you’re at Travis’s. That’s why I could get hold of you. What the hell was up with the doctor?”

  “I was shot and needed bandages. The clinic was dark and looked like nobody was there. But she was there, napping, and caught me. What else could I do?”

  “Tie her up? Leave her there? Let someone know she needed help, after you left the area? You’re a damn good undercover agent, Leyton. But this is one for the books.”

  “If you want my badge, the one I don’t have to work this job, you can have it.”

  “What are you going to do about the gun Butch framed you with?” Chuck asked, ignoring Leyton’s comment.

  Leyton frowned. “You know about that?”

  “You think I was born yesterday? Yeah. I know everything. Only a little later than I should have. Travis got hold of another informant who said Butch has been bragging about it.”

  “Hell.” Then Leyton perked up. “Travis is on my case?”

  “What do you think? You disappear off the radar, and we have nothing on you for nearly three damn weeks? I gave Travis another job, but he refused to take it. Refused! Hell, you guys are working for me. When will you ever learn that? So why did he refuse? Because he wanted to save your ass. And then what does he find? You’ve been shacking up with some hot doctor! He was furious with me for assigning the job to you in the first place. He wanted to be in your shoes instead.”

  Leyton smiled a little.

  “So now I haven’t had any communication from Travis since last Friday, when he was supposed to check in. Everyone is out on a mission and--”

  “Where was he at, according to the last report?” Leyton was grabbing clothes out of his drawers. Even though the place was Travis’s, he used this guest bedroom whenever he had to use it as a stopping off point. Travis did the same at his place when he was in his neck of the woods, like other agents would also.

  “Around Yuma Town thereabouts. Said he was reconnoitering a gold mine and that was the last I heard from him. He was supposed to check back in at noon, yesterday. After you went missing over this same case, I wanted it investigated right away.”

  “Why the hell didn’t you say so?” Leyton growled, pulling on his clothes in a hurry, the phone on speaker now.

  “This is the first damn time I’ve been able to get hold of you.”

  “What’s the name of the gold mine and what are the coordinates?”

  “Pine Ridge Gold Mine.” Chuck gave him the coordinates, then warned, “If Travis is injured and ends up at Dr. Kate Parker’s house in the middle of the night for some tender loving care, it’s not my fault. Good luck, Leyton. And don’t get yourself shot again. I can’t afford it.”

  “Wait,” Leyton said, holstering his gun and heading out the door. “They’ve got a hot bed of trouble in Yuma Town. I want to be in charge of a field office down there.”

  Silence.

  “Clear it with the locals for me.”

  “Hell, Leyton, now you know why I picked you for the team. You clear it with the locals. It’s your office. Though I hear rumors a couple of the deputies, maybe even the sheriff, want your head on a platter. So good luck with that.” Chuck hung up on him.

  If Travis was wounded and took Kate hostage, Leyton was killing him, forget saving his ass. As to the field office in Yuma Town? They’d better be ready for him because he wasn’t giving the notion up. Next vacation Kate took, he was riding shotgun, and anything else she needed him for. He couldn’t quit thinking of her the whole time he’d been running as a cougar while trying to locate Butch. His focus definitely hadn’t been totally job-related. He knew then that he might have taken her hostage, but now she held him hostage.

  He headed out to the car and called Kate’s office. Because of the late hour, all he got was the answering machine telling him the office hours, but if this was an emergency, to please stay on the line.

  He hated to have to talk to anyone else about this, just Kate, especially when it wasn’t a medical emergency. But it might become one, so he was going to give her a heads up this time.

  “What is the medical emergency?” the woman asked.

  He thought she might have said something else, but he’d missed it if she had.

  “I need to speak with Dr. Parker. Tell her Leyton called.”

  Silence.

  “This is the service that takes any calls for medical emergencies, sir. Is this an emergency?”

  “It sure the hell is.”

  “What is the state of the emergency, sir?”

  “It’s private. Just tell her I called and I’m coming in.”

  “Sir, I can’t forward a call like this without knowing what the medical emergency is.”

  “Just. Tell. Her. I’m. Coming,” he gritted out.

  “Sir, are you in pain? Just calm down. I’ve heard everything, so you don’t have to be embarrassed to discuss this with me.”

  “I’m having chest pains. All right? In the vicinity of the heart. Tell her that.” He hung up. Damn it. He wanted to talk to Kate, not discuss his personal problems with some stranger on the phone.

  But he was desperate to find his buddy, Travis, too, as long as he wasn’t at Kate’s house.

  * * *

  Kate was sound asleep when something woke her.
Headlights flashing through her blinds in her bedroom. Then more. And more. What in the world was going on?

  Worried there’d been a medical emergency and no one had alerted her about it first, she got out of bed and hurried to dress in scrubs. Then she looked out the back door and saw all the police vehicles in Yuma Town sitting either in the parking lot between the clinic and her home, or parked out front.

  Omigod, had her receptionist told Dan that Leyton had tried calling her at the clinic and then he’d gotten all worried and thought Leyton was going to come and spirit her away again?

  She’d had her vacation, and she had no plans to take another anytime soon. Then again, something more must have happened. No way would Dan have called the whole force up to “protect” her unless there was some indication Leyton was actually coming to see her. That made her heart skip a little.

  She looked at all the forces outside and was angry all over again. Damn it. She’d told them already Leyton was harmless. At least with her. If he got hold of Butch, she doubted he would be. And she wanted to see Leyton. Desperately wanted to see him. If Dan and his deputies were going to make that difficult for him, she would…

  Well, she didn’t know what she would do except she wasn’t going to stand for it!

  She slipped on her tennis shoes and headed outside, the glare of lights in her eyes, and she folded her arms and glowered. She couldn’t even see anyone, just knew they all were there, no conversation at all. Then Dan moved beyond the lights as if to rescue her and pull her to safety.