Wyoming Bold (Mills & Boon M&B) Read Online Free Page B

past, there’s a chance somebody will remember him.”
    “It’s possible, I suppose. But in covert work, I don’t imagine using disguises is exactly a rare thing,” Hayes said. He hesitated. “There’s another interesting connection, in my case.”
    “What?”
    “My fiancée’s father, her real father, is one of the biggest drug cartel leaders on the continent.”
    There was a very significant silence on the other end of the line.
    “He helped us shut down El Ladŕon,” Hayes added quietly. “And he saved the man’s family who helped rescue me and Minette. For a bad man, he’s something of a closet angel. They call him El Jefe.”
    “A sheriff with an outlaw for a future father-in-law,” Tank said. “Well, it’s unique.”
    “So is he. I can ask him to dig into his sources and see if he can come up with anything, like a budding politician with drug cartel ties.”
    “That would be a help. Thanks.”
    “I’m just as much involved as you are. Stay in touch.”
    “I’ll do that. And we should both watch our backs in the meantime.”
    “Couldn’t agree more.”
    * * *
    T ANK ’ S   NEXT   MOVE   was to drive over to Merissa’s house through the blinding snow. What he wanted to talk to her about wasn’t something he was comfortable discussing over the phone. If there was an assassin after him, he might monitor calls. Anyone in black ops would have that talent.
    When he pulled up at the front door of the small cabin, Clara, Merissa’s mother, was waiting there. She smiled as Tank got out of the truck and came up the steps.
    “She said you’d come,” Clara said with a sheepish smile. “She’s lying down with a migraine headache,” she added worriedly. “She woke up with it, so the medicine isn’t working very well.”
    “Medicine from a doctor?” Tank asked softly, and with a smile.
    Clara lowered her eyes. “Herbal medicine. My grandfather was a Comanche shaman,” she said.
    His eyebrows arched.
    “I know, I’m blonde and so is Merissa, but it’s true just the same. I had a little boy just after I had Merissa. He died—” she hesitated, still upset about it after all the years “—when he was just a week old. But he had black hair and dark brown eyes. It’s recessive genes with Merissa and me, you see. Our coloring, I mean.”
    He moved a step closer. He noticed that Clara, like Merissa, immediately backed up, looking uneasy.
    He stopped dead, frowning. “Recessive genes.”
    She nodded. She swallowed, relaxing when she saw that he wasn’t coming closer.
    “Clara, I don’t really know you well enough to pry,” he began softly, “but it’s noticeable that you and Merissa start backing away from me if I come close.”
    Clara hesitated. Oddly, she trusted Tank, even though she barely knew him. “My...ex-husband...he was scary when he lost his temper.” She managed a laugh. “It’s an old reflex. Sorry.”
    “No offense taken,” he replied gently.
    She looked back up at him with wide green eyes the same shade as Merissa’s. “I divorced him, with help from our local sheriff—the one before this one. He was so kind. He got help for us, sheltered us through the divorce and made sure my ex-husband left not only the town, but the state.” She managed a weak smile. She swallowed, not dealing with it well, even now. “We were always afraid of him, when...when he got mad. He was big, like you. Tall and big.”
    Tank looked into her eyes. “I’m a teddy bear,” he told her with pursed lips. “But if you tell anybody on my ranch that, I’ll send an email to Santa Claus and you’ll get coal in your stocking.”
    Clara, shocked, burst out laughing. “Okay.” She sobered. “Merissa says the man who led you into the ambush is coming.”
    His face hardened. “When?”
    “It doesn’t work like that,” she said. “It’s why you can’t prove it scientifically, because experiments under scientific control very rarely work. It’s sporadic. I know things, but