Lawfully Wild Read online

  Lawfully Wild

  Ginny Sterling

  Contents

  Foreword

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Ginny Sterling

  Lawfully Mine

  Lawfully Freed

  Lawfully Defended by Elle E. Kay

  Lawfully His by Natalie Middleton

  About the Author

  Foreword

  There’s just something fascinating about a man wearing an emblem of authority. The way the light gleams off that shiny star on his badge makes us stare with respect. Couple that with a uniform hugging his body in just the right way, confidence, and mission to save and protect, it’s no wonder we want to know what lies underneath.

  Yes, what echoes deep inside those beating hearts is inspiring. Certainly appealing. Definitely enticing. Although those ripped muscles and strong shoulders can make a woman’s heart skip a beat—or two—it takes a strong, confident person to choose to love someone who risks it all every day. Anyone willing to become part of a lawkeeper’s world might have a story of their own to tell.

  The undeniable charisma lawmen possess make all of us pause and take note. It’s probably why there are so many movies and TV shows themed around the justice system. We’re captivated by their ability to save babies, help strangers, and rescue damsels in distress. We’re captivated by their ability to protect and save, defend the innocent, risk their lives, and face danger without hesitation. Of course, we expect our heroes to stay solid when we’re in a mess. We count on them for safety, security, and peace of mind. From yesterday to today, that truth remains constant.

  Their valor inspires us, their integrity comforts, and their courage melts our hearts—irresistibly. But there’s far more to them than their courageous efforts. How do they deal with the difficulties they face? Can they balance work and life? And how do they find time for love outside their life of service?

  We want to invite you on a journey—come with us as we explore the complex lives of the men and women who serve and protect us every day. Join us in a fast-paced world of adventure. Walk into our tight-knit world of close friendships, extended family, and danger—as our super heroes navigate the most treacherous path of all—the road to love.

  The Lawkeepers.

  Historical and modern-day super heroes; men and women of bravery and valor, taking love and law seriously. A multi-author series, sure to lock up your attention and take your heart into custody.

  One

  Melanie Strow was supposed to be returning from the trip of a lifetime. It was a girl’s outing. A last fling before school started back in session and the three teachers dedicated themselves once again to caring for others. It was supposed to be a purely selfish trip, one that was to be full of entertainment and adventure. Bahamas, Nassau, Curacao, Brazil…a hopper cruise, going from port to port with excursions at every stop. She’d never done anything like this before in her life and they’d teased her into it. Her nickname among the other teachers was ‘old woman’. At twenty-five, she was far from being old, even if she loved the timelessness of another era. She couldn’t help it. Melanie loved the peace that came with reading, baking, cleaning, crocheting and quilting. She loved creating with her hands and using her mind to make something from nothing.

  Maybe it was the trip of a lifetime for the other girls, but for Melanie? It was physically exhausting and not what she would have chosen. She felt lost and out of her routine, agreeing to leave her books and stitching at home. She craved them as a crutch when the first bout of sickness hit her.

  She’d never been so ill in all her life, so quickly.

  The first night she’d emptied her body of all contaminants and the sweating began. Dehydrated, dizzy, nauseated on the cruise, she managed to limp her way to the infirmary only to find out that the nurse on the ship had left for the land excursions just like everyone else. Crawling onto the gurney in the empty room, she fell asleep waiting for them to return much later. After several bags of IV fluid and potassium, she was able to stop the bodily cramps and just exist through the fever that wracked her.

  The fever that lasted the rest of the trip.

  Cruises were something that she’d never chance again without some promise of nausea medicine, antibiotics or a strict guarantee of a refund due to incident. All of which was not happening on this trip, she thought dejectedly as she stood in line at customs. It had seemed like a great idea to escape for a bit, but now she realized that she was stuck in the middle of nowhere feeling awful. She wanted to sleep in her own bed.

  Her savings was gone and she had nothing to show for it other than she’d lost twelve pounds of water weight in the last four days. She couldn’t even say that she’d gained camaraderie with the other girls, as she’d not really hung out with them much. They’d texted and she’d texted back, saying that she was dying from some rogue intestinal parasite that she’d named Stan. They’d laughed, but she’d been serious. Maybe she’d write a children’s novel and develop Stan as a character, she mused silently. She was certain he had elongated canines that chewed on her large intestine. Perhaps Stan the Parasite had bristles on his skin to scratch his way down through the dredges of her guts.

  Smiling wanly at herself and her macabre humor, she waved to Melissa and Joan as they cleared through customs inspection. They’d been ahead of her in line because she had to visit the porcelain throne yet again. She’d promised to meet up with them at a later date to share colored corrugated paper borders, construction paper and supplies necessary for the decoration of their classrooms. The ladies had been assigned rooms near each other and thankfully they got along fairly well, even if they called her an old woman. It helped tremendously on her wallet, especially when she had to go buy stuff to decorate her classroom on her own.

  “Those your friends?” she heard a deep voice behind her. Nodding tiredly, she smiled politely. He seemed very nice, nothing overly aggressive or suave. The man looked the part of a middle-aged dad, complete with a receding hairline and rounded tummy. His nose was sunburned and starting to peel, indicating that he’d also been traveling to a sunny location. Melanie was far from sunburnt. Her normally fair skin had a sallow look to it. She was extremely pale as she’d not seen the light of day for the last several days.

  “Yes.”

  “How come they are up there and you are back here?”

  “I’ve been sick,” she admitted, watching the custom’s officers walk the length of the airport slowly. They were extremely intimidating. Tall, quite robust and armed to the teeth. Even the dogs with them on tethers looked like they could do some serious damage. One of them was the size of a small bear that she’d seen at the zoo last fall. The man looked quite handsome but ambivalent to the people around him. Instead, he was focused on walking the dog near the line and standing close by. The other officer was farther down the customs line, doing the exact same thing.

  “Are you contagious?” he man said in alarm and stepped back away from her. She noticed the diaper bag on his shoulder and instantly felt guilty. Last thing she wanted to do was get anyone’s child sick.

  “No, I think I ate something that didn’t agree with me honestly. You’ll be fine. Where’s your baby?” she asked, pointing at the diaper bag with a smile. She’d not seen a carrier, but then again? She’d not paid attention to much other than getting through the next few hours until she got home.

  “Oh, my wife and baby are in the restroom.”

  “A litt
le boy or a girl?”

  “Huh? Oh, it’s a boy,” he said quickly with a fake smile. Instantly, Melanie felt something was off. Her internal radar was going off but being drowned out by the pain in her stomach. Usually parents were quick to whip out photos on their cell phone or something. This guy looked like he honestly didn’t know what kind of child he had or where it was. He looked distracted and almost as uncomfortable as she felt.

  “What’s his name?”

  “George.”

  “That’s a nice name,” she said idly, making small talk. She could feel her stomach clench again as it cramped painfully. She hated to get out of line once more. She wanted to get home, curl up in a ball and go to bed. Maybe her stomach could wait a bit? She had five people ahead of her now and was almost through customs. So very close!

  “I think I need to go see what’s taking my wife so long,” the man behind her told her suddenly just as Melanie was feeling herself break out in a cold sweat again. Oh no! Her body was not going to allow her to wait. Her stomach was now cramping hard, making her legs ache and tremble. She heard people around her, but it all sounded foggy as she focused on trying to calm her raging intestines.

  “Oh, my word, this is awful.”

  “Miss? You okay?” someone asked from far away. The voice sounded so warm and welcoming, she found herself blindly responding to the spicy timbre that called to her. She turned and met the officer’s stony face, feeling herself weave with nausea.

  “Not really,” she admitted weakly. “I’m going to be ill again.” Grabbing the handle of her roll-around bag, she started to get out of line. It would not be long before she was ill publicly. Her mouth was salivating, her body aching, heart pounding. She needed privacy and a place to hide while her body emptied itself further from any remnants of whatever virus she’d picked up.

  “Miss? You forgot your bag,” he barked out, stopping her immediately in her tracks with that authoritative voice. There was a command in it that brooked no argument from her.

  “I have my things, officer,” she told him faintly and looked back to where she’d once been standing. The diaper bag had been left on the floor as a marker of where she’d once been. The man had left it there? He and his wife would be looking for it, wouldn’t they?

  Horrified, she stared at the bag as she suddenly realized that it had been left on purpose. Deliberately. People backed away from the abandoned back, staring at her in abject fear. Melanie began backing away involuntarily as dread and nausea washed over her. The large dog that looked like a bear was tugging at his leash bodily and growling pointedly at the bag. The struggle was real and to anyone watching them, that dog would have launched himself at the bag if allowed. The leash was so taut that it reminded her of a guitar string tightened to the point it would snap. To the massive German Shepherd, that bag was the enemy to be taken down immediately!

  The other officer that had been farther down the line quickly joined them, yelling for people to calm down as panic began to ensue. Everyone had seen the news and feared the worst. A panicked crowd was a dangerous crowd -and they looked to her as the culprit. She only wanted a bathroom!

  “There a problem?”

  “Sheba’s got one,” the officer standing closest to her responded quickly, grabbing his handheld mic that was clipped to his uniform shirt, speaking quickly and calling for backup.

  “Miss? Miss!” he called out repeatedly, snapping his fingers at her as she stared at the bag in stunned horror. The faces around her were filled with loathing directed towards her. “Is that your bag?”

  “No. I am going to be sick.” Melanie put her hands over her face and wished for a cool glass of water to settle her stomach. The muffling of the sounds around her were symptomatic of her getting ready to collapse or faint. It had happened on the ship and she recognized it. She needed help, relief, simply anything to relieve her. She was flushed and beginning to sweat again just like on the cruise liner. Her legs clenched as she shook with fierce chills.

  “You aren’t going anywhere. Rick, check the bag. I’ve got her.”

  Unzipping it, he looked inside and nodded to the tall officer that was holding back the large dog. Her intestines gave another massive lurch and her body knew there was no waiting any longer. She was about to disgrace herself if she didn’t get in the restroom immediately.

  “Look- can this wait five minutes?” she blurted out and darted into the family restroom, throwing the lock. She heard pounding on the door and intense yelling just on the other side of it. Fists pounded like drums, echoing her rapid heartbeat, but she tuned them out as the room spun around her. The fluorescent lights were making her head hurt something fierce.

  “I’m sick!” she called out again, blindly reaching for anything to keep her from collapsing. She grabbed the somewhat clean handicap bar uncaringly, thankful for the cool metal under her fingertips. “Go away!”

  “You are under arrest for smuggling.”

  “I didn’t do anythi-… ohhh gosh,” she breathed as it finally hit her. She became sick yet again. Her body was aching and cramping something fierce. Her stomach burned with rancid acid, gagging while her body tried desperately to rid itself of Stan the parasite. Virus. Amoeba. Tapeworm? She’d caught something terrible and was certain of it now. Food poisoning never lasted four days and it was ripping through her just as strongly now as it was on day one. She was dying…of embarrassment and from Stan.

  Flushing the toilet, Melanie unlocked the door and barely glanced at the two handsome officers dressed in black waiting for her with guns drawn, the once aggressively hostile dog now stood there on alert between them. The black eyes focused beadily on her as she raised her hands in surrender. Her ears were ringing, and she saw spots in her vision.

  “I need a hospital,” she breathed, and promptly fainted limply at their feet.

  Two

  All Melanie remembered was her body feeling like it was on fire with pain and shame. Shame at how coldly the officers stared at her as they handcuffed her. Thankfully they’d handcuffed her in front and she was able to curl into a fetal position until the stretcher arrived. She was laying on the cold floor of the airport, just outside of the bathroom where she’d collapsed. Melanie vaguely recalled being picked up bodily and placed on the stretcher as the cuffs moved from being placed on both hands, to one hand and the stretcher railing.

  “Did you ingest the coke too?”

  “Do you have it hidden on you?”

  “Is it hidden in a cavity?”

  What? She thought wildly and fainted limply again. Rapid fire questions flew at her and she couldn’t concentrate. Fire, pain, and blessed blackness were swamping her senses. She was barely cognizant of the ride to the hospital. All she knew is that they were giving her medicine again. She’d felt the prick on the back of her hand and the coolness as the fluid entered her heated body. She felt awful. Opening her eyes, she glanced unseeingly around her.

  “The diaper bag wasn’t mine. He left it,” she whispered briefly, horrified at what was happening. She was a good Christian woman, a teacher.

  “We’ll talk after you’ve been examined and seen,” he said from far away. Everything sounded fuzzy to her. She heard his voice reading her rights to her. She was so tired and hurt so much. Right now, she was filled with regret and shame.

  Regret, that the trip had gone so badly and that she couldn’t have met the handsome officer under different conditions. Shame, that she’d been arrested for possession and was now in the hands of the police. Maybe when she got to feeling better, she could explain her side of the story. Maybe she wouldn’t lose her job with the district for being wrongly convicted of possession of drugs. Perhaps this was all a nightmare that would be washed away when she awoke? That, or maybe she needed a really good attorney.

  * * *

  Waking slowly, she turned her head away from the bright light that caused sharp pangs in her head. Her neck felt so stiff. The want was there but the ability was not yet. Her head felt like it weigh
ed a thousand pounds as she struggled to turn away from the light. She felt so weak and beyond exhausted. The sheets felt like they were sandpaper on her arms and legs. The cotton hospital gown felt like it was too big and rubbed against her. Everything just hurt.

  “How are you feeling?” she heard a rich husky voice ask gently from far away.

  “Like I’ve had someone roto-rooter my entire body. Is that even possible?” she whispered with her eyes shut against the light. She’d never thought of what her innards would normally feel like in her body before, but now she was certain of the outline of her intestines. It was from the bottom of her ribcage to her pelvis, covered in cactus needles. If she opened her eyes against the bright light, she was certain that she looked like a pin cushion from the pain she felt. A large pin cushion just like the tomato she had at home on her sewing desk. She was positive of it.

  “Can we dim the lights? I’m dying over here.”

  “Sure.”

  As the bright fluorescent lights faded blessedly, she cracked open her eyes to see the officer from the airport sitting nearby. He was devastatingly beautiful. Short, cropped brown hair with golden-brown eyes that seemed so kind. No wonder he kept them hidden behind sunglasses when he was at the airport. They’d have made all the ladies want to talk to him and flirt with him. If he was on duty, he couldn’t do that. But now, he was here. Sitting in the hospital room with her, his dark sunglasses propped on his head casually. He looked quite tired, like he’d been there for quite a while.