Rough Ride Read online

  Rough Ride

  Brotherhood Protectors World

  Jen Talty

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Also by Jen Talty

  About Jen Talty

  Original Brotherhood Protectors Series

  About Elle James

  Copyright © 2019, Jen Talty

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  © 2019 Twisted Page Press, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this book may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Brotherhood Protectors

  Original Series by Elle James

  Brotherhood Protectors Series

  Montana SEAL (#1)

  Bride Protector SEAL (#2)

  Montana D-Force (#3)

  Cowboy D-Force (#4)

  Montana Ranger (#5)

  Montana Dog Soldier (#6)

  Montana SEAL Daddy (#7)

  Montana Ranger’s Wedding Vow (#8)

  Montana SEAL Undercover Daddy (#9)

  Cape Cod SEAL Rescue (#10)

  Montana SEAL Friendly Fire (#11)

  Montana SEAL’s Bride (#12)

  Montana Rescue

  Hot SEAL, Salty Dog

  To Carrie Ann Ryan. Thanks for the best baked potato ever!

  Praise for Jen Talty

  "I positively loved In Two Weeks, and highly recommend it. The writing is wonderful, the story is fantastic, and the characters will keep you coming back for more. I can't wait to get my hands on future installments of the NYS Troopers series." Long and Short Reviews

  "In Two Weeks hooks the reader from page one. This is a fast paced story where the development of the romance grabs you emotionally and the suspense keeps you sitting on the edge of your chair. Great characters, great writing, and a believable plot that can be a warning to all of us." Desiree Holt, USA Today Bestseller

  "Dark Water delivers an engaging portrait of wounded hearts as the memorable characters take you on a healing journey of love. A mysterious death brings danger and intrigue into the drama, while sultry passions brew into a believable plot that melts the reader's heart. Jen Talty pens an entertaining romance that grips the heart as the colorful and dangerous story unfolds into a chilling ending." Night Owl Reviews

  "This is not the typical love story, nor is it the typical mystery. The characters are well rounded and interesting." You Gotta Read Reviews

  "Deadly Secrets is the best of romance and suspense in one hot read!" NYT Bestselling Author Jennifer Probst

  "A charming setting and a steamy couple heat up the pages in an suspenseful story I couldn't put down!" NY Times and USA today Bestselling Author Donna Grant

  "Murder in Paradise Bay is a fast-paced romantic thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. You won't want to miss this one..." USA Today bestselling author Janice Maynard

  Chapter 1

  Hogan “Kick” McGregor prided himself on his mad observation skills, and the petite brunette with rosy lips, dark lashes that went on forever, deep-almond eyes, and muscular legs he wouldn’t mind wrapped around his waist as he hoisted her up on the kitchen counter, was on the run.

  Only question was: from what?

  His inquisitive mind rattled off a dozen things that could have this pretty lady biting her already gnawed nails while her heeled cowboy boots tapped erratically against the faded blue carpet in the airport terminal.

  Without drawing attention to himself, he dropped his gaze to her hand. No ring on her ring finger and no indentation on the skin. That didn’t mean she wasn’t running away from a man.

  The airline agent’s voice echoed over the speaker, startling her, sending a piece of paper to the ground.

  Quickly, Kick bent over, snagging it between his fingertips, trying to ignore the words on the page. Something about a country music singer and remembering the past. He wasn’t generally a nosy man, but this woman intrigued him. “Here you go,” he said with a big Montana grin. He held the note with the writing toward the floor, wondering if the note was from a past lover, or a current one.

  He hoped the former because if she was headed for the same neck of the woods, he planned on asking her out for drinks.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled, glancing over her left shoulder before twisting her head and looking in the other direction.

  Or maybe not. He didn’t need a woman with baggage.

  “Headed home or on vacation?” So much for cutting off the conversation. Well, no one could ever call Kick shy, especially when it came to the ladies. He could strike up a conversion with anyone. His mother used to tell him one day being so friendly would get him in trouble. So, when Eliza Jane broke his heart a few months ago, he had made a pact with himself that he wouldn’t get tangled up in anything other than a good time.

  He’d spent a lifetime having short-lived relationships with women that didn’t have staying power because they were always looking for the next man with more money, which is why he tried to live a modest life.

  Women dated him for his looks, not his money.

  Except Eliza Jane.

  “Visiting a friend,” she said, her gaze landing everywhere but on him.

  He let out a long sigh. She certainly wasn’t interested in helping him pass the time on the flight to Montana, and he could take a hint. One thing he liked about flying Southwest was that he could pick his seatmate if he played his cards right. This time he’d gotten a number at the beginning of the C group, which meant based on the sparse number of people milling about, the plane wasn’t empty, but there should be plenty of empty seats. Maybe he should just find a window seat in the back and catch up on some shut-eye. Spending the Fourth of July with his family had been exhausting. His two brothers had four kids collectively, and all his nieces and nephews wanted was a ride on Uncle Kick’s back. That had taken a toll on his aching body.

  The airline agent called out the next boarding group, and he followed the brunette down the walkway toward the plane, trying desperately not to stare at her round ass swaying gracefully with every step.

  Damn. That was one sexy woman.

  Once on the plane, he eyed a row of seats in the back where no one had sat yet. A yawn tugged at his mouth just as the jittery woman sat in an aisle seat where he planned on plopping his ass down. He glanced over his shoulder as the few remaining window seats were taken. No aisle seats were open. Only middle ones. Sitting next to her would only cause him to want to talk to her more.

  “How full is the plane?” he asked the flight attendant standing near the laboratory.

  “There are forty empty seats, but if you don’t want to sit in the middle, I suggest you take that seat there.”

  He nodded. “Excuse me. Mind if I join you?” he asked the pretty brunette.

  She stood without saying a word, letting him slip in.

  He pushed his backpack under the seat and set his Stetson down between them. “Hopef
ully, that will keep anyone from sitting there.”

  “Looks like they are closing the door, so we should be good,” she said. Her voice sounded like a warm summer ocean breeze trickling across the sand while it rustled the palm trees. His sister once told him he not only had bad taste in women but also had a habit of picking expensive women.

  His first long-term girlfriend had cost him his entire summer salary, demanding that her birthday be celebrated for an entire month. Less than a week after her birthday, she dumped him for someone with a better job, a new car, and unlimited funds. He resented his father that year, since they were well-off, but his dad required all of his kids to work, and not necessarily on the family horse farm.

  The pretty woman sitting next to him didn’t appear to have expensive tastes. She also didn’t appear to be a gold-digging liar, like Eliza Jane.

  He mental scolded himself for even thinking this young lady would be any different from every other woman he met.

  For the next ten minutes, he stared out the window as they taxied down the runway. The nose of the plane lifted into the air with ease. He missed being a pilot for the Army, but not enough to fly a commercial jet. Working for the Brotherhood Protectors was more his style. He got to live on a farm amidst glorious mountain ranges that went on forever. Vastly different from the farms in Florida. That state should be named the flat state, not the sunshine state. He didn’t care that the latter was true; it didn’t make up for the fact there wasn’t a single peak anywhere.

  He shut the window shade and closed his eyes, hoping sleep would come soon, otherwise he knew he’d find himself trying to engage the woman shifting nervously in her seat. Peeking open one eye, he noticed she hugged her purse as if it were a life vest, and they had just plummeted into the ocean.

  Shit.

  “Want to watch a movie?” He leaned down, yanking out his laptop. “I’ve got a splitter and an extra headset. Might help with your anxiety.”

  “Who says I’m anxious?” She narrowed her eyes, glaring at him as if he’d insulted her with opening his mouth.

  “Your body language says so.” He pulled the middle tray down, setting his computer on the flimsy plastic. “And I totally understand. I’m not a fan of giving up control.” He didn’t want to dwell on her phobias, so he opted to push forward with a movie. “Do you like action or comedy?”

  “Comedy,” she said as she set her purse on the floor. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  “Not at all.” He handed her a set of earbuds. “I’m Kick. And you are?”

  “Cassandra.”

  “Nice to meet you.” He tapped the mousepad and brought up all the movies he’d downloaded for this trip, and he’d yet to watch a single one, except for those kiddie movies he’d watched with all his nieces and nephews.

  Cassandra pointed to the screen and laughed. “’Finding Nemo’?”

  “Kayla, my niece’s favorite movie.”

  “I’ve never seen it.”

  “I’ve seen it a hundred times, so might as well make it a hundred and one.” He leaned a little closer, catching a whiff of Cassandra’s mango perfume. “It’s actually very good.”

  “I’m game, if it keeps me from thinking about crashing.”

  And it might help him keep his mind out of the gutter. The more he talked to her, the more he wanted to ask her where her final destination was and if she wanted to have a drink with him sometime in the near future. “If it makes you feel any better, I used to fly C-130s for the Army, and the pilot for this aircraft is a retired Marine.”

  “How do you know that?” she asked. Her dark eyes widened with a combination of surprise and curiosity. The left side of her mouth twitched with a hint of a smile.

  “I chatted with him before they got on the plane. I kind of like to know who’s flying me around since I prefer to do it myself, but I think we’re in very capable hands.”

  “I’ll believe that when we land,” she muttered right before she pushed the buds into her ears.

  He took the hint and pressed play. Sinking back into his seat, he folded his arms across his chest and smiled. He really did love this stupid movie. Along with a dozen other movies meant for kids. His sister told him he had the mentality of a ten-year-old, and this movie probably proved that point.

  Stealing a glance at Cassandra, his breath hitched. She still gnawed at her nail, but the tightness in her face had been replaced with a fresh glow. Her tanned skin didn’t have a single wrinkle that he could find. Not even around the eyes, but there was a maturity about them that made him think she was older than she looked.

  He found himself watching her more than the movie, enjoying how she smiled and occasionally let out a slight laugh. After Nemo ended, he found his nephew’s favorite avenger movie and clicked play. She seemed to enjoy that one just as much. Whatever troubled her still kept her from letting go completely, but at least he’d given her a little bit of peace, until the plane bucked to the left, then the right.

  Then dropped a good five hundred feet before getting bounced around again.

  Cassandra grabbed his arm in a death grip while he made sure the computer didn’t crash to the floor.

  A collective gasp from all the passengers echoed in his ears. The seatbelt sign dinged, and the intercom on the plane crackled.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I’m going to have to ask our flight attendants to stop our beverage service and take their seats for the remainder of the flight. High winds and a storm are passing through Helena. It’s moving quickly and should be gone before we land, but since we’re starting our descent, we feel it’s best if everyone remain seated with their seats upright and their tray tables secure until we land. We should be on the ground in forty minutes.”

  “That’s got to be bad if they are asking the flight attendants to sit.” Cassandra continued to hold his arm, digging her nails into his skin.

  He patted her trembling hand in an awkward motion, resisting the urge pull her into his arms and hold her tight. “It’s protocol when so close to landing.” Out the window, he could see the dark clouds and flashes of lightning. The plane bounced as he closed his computer, storing it in his backpack. He’d flown through worse, but his pulse kicked up a notch. It was never fun landing in an electrical storm.

  Another wind pocket pushed the plane, and it dropped, sending his stomach on a roll. A deafening silence filled the cabin.

  “I’ve flown through much worse.” He wasn’t lying, but this would be a tricky landing.

  The plane continued to rattle as it bounced around in the sky. Gasps and grunts were the only sounds. As a pilot, he knew without a doubt he’d be able to land this bird safely, but as a passenger, he understood why people were so afraid of flying. The total lack of control at thirty thousand feet wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

  Carefully, he pried her hand from his wrist before her nails broke his skin. He laced his fingers through hers, holding firmly but not too tightly. “Trust me, it’s going to be fine. If it were a serious problem, they’d divert us to a different airport.”

  “You are not making me feel better.”

  “Cassandra, it’s going to be fine,” he said, keeping his focus on the woman shaking in her seat. He’d seen a lot of scared flyers over the years, but something else had her nerves standing on the cliff.

  She turned her head, leaning across the seat as she stared out the window. Her lashes fluttered wildly across her dark eyes.

  “Look at me.” He tilted her chin with his thumb. “Keep your eyes focused on mine and listen to my voice, okay?”

  She nodded.

  “This should make you laugh. My name isn’t really Kick. That’s a nickname.”

  “I figured,” she said, biting down on her plump lower lip.

  “Want to know where I got it?” This was where he wished he could sing like his buddy, Jaden. That would be less embarrassing.

  “Sure.”

  “I have two older brothers, Kevin and Liam. And o
ne older sister, Colleen.”

  “I take it you’re Irish.”

  He smiled. “My grandparents live in Ireland. My dad came over here for college, met my mom, and couldn’t leave. Ironically, she has a ton of family from the same town my dad grew up in, and there is a picture of them when they were like five at a family gathering, but they don’t remember meeting back then.”

  “That’s really cute.” The tension in her face hadn’t eased at all. “So, what is your real name?”

  “Hogan. It’s my mom’s maiden name.”

  “Where did Kick come from?” The plane rattled with a violent shudder. Fear filled her mesmerizing eyes.

  He leaned in a little closer, keeping their gazes locked. “I’m the youngest, and sometimes my brothers didn’t want to play with me, so I did whatever they asked in order to hang with them. One of those things was being their sidekick. Kevin was always Batman, so I was Robin. Liam was always the Lone Ranger, so I was Tonto. They got my sister to do the same thing to me, and she was always Wonder Woman.”

  “Wait a second. You were Super Girl to your sister’s Wonder Woman?”

  He nodded.

  She burst out laughing.

  “It’s not that funny.”

  “Oh, yes, it is. I have a little brother, and all he wanted to do when we were kids was play hockey. I told him if he played barbies or dress up with me, I’d strap on the goalie pads. But then I always got a stomachache and never played what he wanted.”

  “That’s just mean,” he said with a cocked brow.

  “I know. But what’s even funnier, I ended up loving the game. I played D3 college hockey.”

  “Did your brother as well?”