Page 28 of Disappearance at Angel’s Landing (Red Rock Murders #2)

Branch would not go gentle into that good night.

Okay. It wasn’t that serious. The bullet wound to his shoulder hurt like hell, though. There’d been no exit wound.

Once Risner and the SAR team had found him and Lila—much to the ego inflation of the district ranger—a helicopter had been dispatched to their location.

The ride itself had taken no more than a few minutes, a definite improvement over having to ascend Angel’s Landing with a hole in his shoulder.

He’d been swept into surgery within minutes short a pint of blood or two.

When he’d asked if his day could get any worse, it’d been a rhetorical question. Not a challenge.

And Lila had kept her word after the EMTs had forced her into the trauma surgeon’s hands in the Sprindale ER.

Once in recovery, she’d stayed outside his surgical suite until the nurses had threatened to have her handcuffed to the bed.

But true to Lila’s nature, she’d promised to return with straitjackets and a referral to a mental institution for each of them if something happened to him.

Seemed she was as reluctant to be apart from him and he was from her.

Unfortunately, to the detriment of her own health.

Which only made him love her more.

Branch scooped another spoonful of Cherry Garcia into his mouth, taking his time sucking on the hard-as-bricks chocolate chips.

His favorite part. Because once he broke through their hard shell, there was nothing but sweetness and pleasure underneath.

Just like Lila. Thank heaven she’d somehow gotten her roommate to smuggle in a couple pints.

He was about to throw the next cup of Jell-O he saw against the wall.

Though the unending days of lying in a hospital bed were made much better by the blond beauty currently glued to the romantic comedy on TV in the bed beside him.

Bruises darkened the side of her face, a new butterfly bandage interrupted the line of smooth skin along her temple, and she’d sustained a life-threatening injury herself.

While the stab wound hadn’t hit anything major, she’d bled for a couple hours between facing off with the killer and the time Branch had found her in the grove of burned trees.

The damage to her ribs would heal in a few weeks, but it made sitting up and walking much harder.

Which she made sure to complain about as often as possible.

Turned out, Lila wasn’t good at staying in one place with nothing to hyperfixate on, but they would both be out of here in a couple days.

For now, he’d revel in the time they had together right here in this room.

The killer—Jeremy Lantos—was, in fact, Sarah Lantos’s brother. Risner and the rest of the search and rescue team had managed to hold him until the law enforcement rangers could make an official arrest and run his fingerprints through the federal system.

Upon release from a mental institution where he’d spent the past ten years of his life, Jeremy had set out to have his revenge against the very woman who’d driven him to kill.

While most of his testimony would remain between him, the Springdale PD and his attorney, it seemed Sarah Lantos had tried to destroy her brother thoroughly and completely since he’d been born.

What little Branch had been privy to over the past few days, he understood Jeremy’s medical records had shown broken bones, burns, bruises, strangulation attempts and more—all from the time he’d been about two years old.

In the end, Sarah Lantos had done such a good job of convincing the people around her of her innocence, she’d actually made Jeremy out to be unstable.

It’d only taken manipulating their parents and filing a false police report detailing an attack at the hands of her brother to have Jeremy Lantos legally committed to the institution.

Repeated claims he’d been framed and wrongly committed had gone unheard for over a decade before he’d been allowed to step back into the outside world.

Only to become victim to his own delusions.

A knock sounded at the door, and Branch did his best to hide the Ben & Jerry’s in case one of the nurses took it upon themselves to confiscate it. But it wasn’t a nurse. Suspicion turned sweetness bitter at the back of his throat as Risner stepped inside.

“Ugh.” Lila didn’t need a mood ring. Her face revealed everything she was feeling, and the painkiller they had her on had stripped away any kind of filter she’d honed over the years. “What the hell do you want, dearly detested? My esteemed rival? My beloved nemesis?”

It took everything Branch had not to laugh, but since he was technically still employed by the National Park Service, he’d see how this played out.

“Now, now, Jordan, is that any way to talk to your superior?” Risner clasped his hands behind his back, taking position between their beds.

“Sorry. What the hell do you want, sir, whose presence I barely tolerate? No. That’s not it.

Fellow person who has improbably managed to live past the age of nine.

No. I can do better. To whom it may concern, because rest assured, that person is not me.

Wait. Does that work?” She tried to see the TV around the district ranger’s rail-thin frame but must’ve overdone it.

Slapping a hand over her side, she turned her face into her pillow to mutter a few favored curses.

“Stop moving. You’ll tear your stitches.

” Branch had lost count of the number of times he’d had to remind her the pain meds didn’t fix everything.

She still had to rest to heal, but he also understood memories of the last time she’d been in a hospital brought back feelings of all the hopelessness she must’ve felt at seventeen.

“Too late.” Her groan broke on a shallow whine. “Just leave me here to die. Okay? Live your life. Find new love. See Antarctica. But send me a postcard. I’ll be with you in spirit.”

“Are you done?” Risner watched with nothing but contempt etched into his expression. Contempt for the woman Branch loved. Strike one. “Good heavens, Jordan, what the hell happened to your neck?”

Color drained from Lila’s face, and she stilled.

A deer in headlights. No comeback. No death threats.

His Ranger Barbie was on the verge of breaking due to the extreme stress they’d undergone during this investigation, the pain medication the doctors had her on and the attention of a man she didn’t respect.

All right. Strike three. Branch’s defenses snapped into place, and he set the ice cream on the side table, brushing his hands together. “What do you want, Risner?”

The district ranger’s gaze snapped to Branch, his eyes widening as though he couldn’t believe an employee who’d done nothing but follow orders might not like him.

It took a few seconds for Risner’s little rat brain to catch up.

“Murray Simpson heads the law enforcement rangers in Zion. He came to me a couple hours ago after reading through both of your statements. He’d like to make a job offer, if you’ll have it. ”

“Not interested.” Wherever Lila was, that was where Branch would go.

They’d fought like hell to find each other.

Battling mountain lions and killers, a landslide and the most powerful storm of the year.

Not to mention their pasts. There was no way he’d ever let something as small as a job opportunity keep them apart.

“The job offer isn’t for you.” Risner rocked back on his heels, gaze directed at Lila. “It’s for Jordan.”

“Come again?” Lila’s voice broke on the last word, and Branch couldn’t help but lock his attention on her to gauge her reaction.

“Murray was impressed with the insights you had into the investigation, especially considering you’ve never had any formal training.

He wants you on his team as soon as you’re ready to return to the field.

” Ducking his chin to his chest, Risner lowered his voice.

“Without you, we might not have ever figured out that Sarah Lantos was related to her killer or that she’d been stabbed before being pushed over that cliff.

Due to the condition of her remains, we might have classified her death as an accident.

I was wrong to assume your involvement would only complicate the investigation. ”

Lila pressed her palms into the mattress, pushing herself upright, the romantic comedy on TV forgotten. “Could you say that a bit louder? I’m going to need all the other female rangers under your command to hear it.”

Risner puffed his chest, a defense mechanism that did nothing except make him look ridiculous. The district ranger licked his lips. “I was wrong, and I’m sorry. Do you want the job or not?”

“Count me in.” A wide smile—nothing like the fake one she’d been pasting on for everyone around her—flashed across Lila’s face.

It was genuine and true to the free spirit she’d locked up inside of her all these years.

And, yeah, a little terrifying. But Branch would do whatever it took to make it appear as often as he could or spend the rest of his life trying.

“I’d say it’s been a pleasure, Risner, but I’d be lying.

So I’ll be filing a complaint with the park superintendent about your behavior toward the female rangers under your command.

I’m sure he’ll be very interested in talking with you about it. You can go.”

Branch made an effort not to roll his eyes. This woman. She’d been to hell and back, but something about the smirk on her face told him she was the boss down there, too.

“Oh, wait.” Lila sat a bit straighter. “What happened to the mountain lion that was shot? Is he okay?”

“The vet was able to recover the bullet without any problems. He’ll recover in a few weeks, and the vet team will release him back into the wild.” Risner left the hospital room with a nod as goodbye.

The second the door closed behind him, Branch was swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

“What are you doing? You’re going to hurt something.” That intense blue gaze he’d happily take another bullet for centered on him, and Branch’s entire world threatened to explode in vivid color all over again.

“I’m already hurting.” He grabbed for his half-full pint of Cherry Garcia and hobbled to her side of the room. Then offered her the goods. “Might as well get some other benefits out of it.”

She took the Ben & Jerry’s and the spoon, diving right in. Her face smoothed into pure pleasure as the ice cream melted in her mouth, and suddenly he couldn’t wait to get the hell out of this place and into his bed. “You know me so well.”

“Apparently not well enough.” He settled on the edge of her bed, no longer willing to accept the distance between them.

Every cell in his body pined after every cell in hers.

To the point it hurt not to touch her. To make sure this all hadn’t been some screwed-up dream.

Threading his free hand over the back of hers, he brought her knuckles to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the scabbed skin there.

She’d fought a killer—twice—and lived to tell the tale.

Was there anything this magnificent woman couldn’t do? “Didn’t expect you to take the job.”

Her face lit up as though she’d just learned the secrets of the universe and intended to use them to her own advantage. “Do you think law enforcement rangers like pranks?”

Dread pooled in the pit of his stomach. “You cannot under any circumstances pull pranks on rangers that carry guns, Lila.”

“You’re no fun.” Her pout didn’t last long as he pressed another kiss to her wrist. Then higher at her inner elbow. Her breathing turned shallow, her pupils growing wider.

“But you still love me.” He’d never felt so sure of anything in his life.

The past—the divorce, the betrayal, the fear of trusting someone new—could stay where it belonged.

He was ready for the future. With Lila, Ranger Barbie and any other personalities she picked up along the way.

“And you’re going to be an amazing law enforcement ranger. ”

“Damn right I love you, Grizzly Bear.” She smiled for him then. “And you love me, too.”

“You got that right, Barbie.” His next kiss feathered over her mouth, and he sucked in an inhale laced with cherries, chocolate and cream. His favorite combination. “Forever.”