Last Stand Sheriff

by Tyler Anne Snell

  “I’m going to cut to the chase and tell you it’s not your fault,” he said. “You watching him sleep off his pain meds isn’t going to do anything other than feed that guilt fire I know you’ve been stoking for the last two hours.”

  “And me pretending he didn’t take a bullet that was probably meant for me isn’t going to make me walk around this hospital with any pep in my step.” Her words were more harsh than she’d meant them. Still, she didn’t take them back.

  Declan’s face went a bit stony.

  “All you did was tell that man you were pregnant. He’s the one who shot Sam. Not you. I’d like to see anyone else in your shoes do anything differently.” Declan motioned to Sam on the bed. He was asleep, his biceps bandaged. The damage hadn’t been that bad, but Sam was a local and his friend had been the attending nurse. Remi imagined that had played into the swiftness of the pain meds he’d been given, despite his injury not being severe. It was more of a graze than anything, they’d been told. “Sam didn’t blame you for what happened. No reason to blame yourself. Okay?”

  Remi sighed and nodded. She followed him back out into the hallway.

  Since Declan had come through the café’s doors they hadn’t been alone. Now, though, Remi didn’t know what to say or how to act.

  Seeing Declan, after he’d chased Rose’s attacker, come back into the café unhurt had been a relief unlike any other. That relief seemed to be reflected in him, though Remi couldn’t know how much. Chaos had erupted around them. Only now was it calming down.

  Remi didn’t know how to handle it so she stuck with the questions that had been piling up since the man and woman in the suits had left.

  “I heard the man you chased got away?” she started in, following along with Declan as he led them down the hallway.

  His body tensed. He nodded.

  “After the two at the café left they hightailed it around the block and made the men holding him let go.” He swore and made no looks of apology for it. “My guess was he was only meant to get me away from Claire’s so the other two could go in without meeting me and my gun.”

  “But why? What was the point of all of that? It seems a lot of trouble to go through for not trying to steal from us or kidnap anyone.”

  If it was possible, Declan tensed more.

  “They were making a statement.”

  Remi felt her eyebrow rise in question. Declan seemed to catch himself. He shook his head slightly and stopped.

  “I’ll tell you more later when I know more. For now I need to talk to Rose and then go back to the scene. I can get a deputy to take you home, but I thought you might like some company.” He rapped his knuckles against the closed door next to them. “Since this town talks so much I figured you might want to get on top of the news.” Now he looked apologetic. “And if not, I’m sorry.”

  Remi had a sudden fear of whoever was on the other side of the door, but it vanished as soon as it opened. Jonah gave a nod to Declan and then surprised her with a tight embrace.

  “I ran into Declan in the lobby when I was at the vending machine,” he said into her hair. “He told me to wait here since it was so hectic with everyone trying to get what happened straight.”

  Jonah pulled back and looked her up and down.

  “Rusty called me and said he saw you coming out of the café with a woman who was all bloody. Are you okay?”

  Remi nodded.

  This was why Declan had already apologized. He must have known she wouldn’t have told her family about what had happened if she could avoid it. Instead, apparently, the news was already traveling. It was best she get on top of it, starting with the closest relation to her.

  She met Declan’s eye. His expression was pinched. He was already getting lost in his own thoughts.

  “I’ll stay here, if that’s okay,” she said to him. Then she said to her brother, “If that’s okay with you.”

  “I wasn’t going to let you leave without telling me what’s going on.”

  “Then this is where I’ll leave you,” Declan decided. He seemed to want to say more but stopped himself.

  “Call me later?”

  He nodded. It was a rigid movement.

  Then he was gone.

  Remi sighed and faced her brother. Then she realized why Jonah was there in the first place. Peeking around his shoulder she saw the covered legs of someone lying down in the bed in the center of the room.

  “Is that Lydia?” she whispered.

  “Yeah, she’s asleep now, though. They just gave her something for the pain. She asked me not to leave her since she doesn’t have anyone else in town.” He smiled a little. Lydia must have left quite the impression on him.

  Jonah motioned her farther inside the room and over to a couch next to the bed. Remi cringed as she saw the bandages over most of Lydia’s face.

  “It looks a lot worse than it is, I think,” he said at her side. “But we can talk in here. I’ve been watching TV and it didn’t bother her.”

  Remi settled into the seat next to him. Like being alone with Declan for the first time since everything had happened at Claire’s, Remi was at a loss of what exactly to say to her brother. She loved him, she knew that, but there was more of a disconnect between them than there ever was one of understanding.

  The Hudsons weren’t the Nashes.

  Tragedy hadn’t tightly fused an already tightly fused family.

  There was no triplet connection that created a unique bond between them.

  There wasn’t a sense of protectiveness that was forged from being in the public eye and at the center of rumors for years.

  There was just a family of people who didn’t understand the others’ choices in life.

  Which was why she became a coward when recounting what had happened at the café. Remi hesitated without an ounce of grace when she got to the reason the man in the suit had shot Sam instead of her.

  She could have lied.

  She could have omitted that part altogether.

  She’d been caught between loving her brother and worrying at his reaction to the news that he’d be an uncle.

  He wasn’t an idiot. He knew something was off.

  “What aren’t you saying, Remi? Tell me.”

  She felt like sighing and then realized how much she’d been doing that lately. Acting defeated or frustrated when, given everything that had happened, she had made it out unscathed. Lucky.

  Plus, she figured she’d have to tell her family at some point. Why not now?

  “The reason the man in the suit shot Sam and not me was because I told him something that changed his mind.” Jonah gave her a questioning look. Remi put her hand on her stomach as she finished. “I told him I was pregnant.”

  Jonah’s eyes widened. They trailed to her stomach and then back up to her gaze.

  “And was that true or were you lying?”

  “It’s true.”

  Suspicion was quick to line his expression.

  “Why didn’t you tell us then?”

  This time Remi did sigh.

  “I wanted the father to be the first to know. I told him yesterday. We were supposed to talk about it today at the café when everything happened.”

  Jonah had never been considered book smart—he’d rather be outside than studying—but he was well versed in common sense. Remi watched as he connected the dots from the little information he had.

  When he spoke his voice rose an octave.

  “Declan Nash is the father.” It wasn’t a question. “When you gave him a ride back to Overlook...” He shook his head. “That’s why he came to the house personally today instead of sending his brother or a deputy. He wanted to talk to you.”

  Remi nodded.

  “No one else knows. Well, no one else knew. I was going to tell you and Josh and Dad after Christmas.”


  “After?” A look akin to hurt passed over his face. It pushed guilt and anger to the surface for Remi.

  “I figured if I told you all right before I left I wouldn’t have to hear everyone complaining that long.” Jonah opened his mouth to, she guessed, protest. She cut him off. “Dad hasn’t liked the Nashes for a long time. He’s disliked Declan, specifically, for longer. Throw in the fact that the three of you love to tell me with every other breath that I’m dishonoring my family by ‘abandoning’ Heartland, I thought that hiding an unexpected, out-of-matrimony pregnancy until I had an escape was a smart, sane move to make. Don’t you think?”

  Jonah again looked like he wanted to object but then stopped himself. He let out a long breath and nodded.

  “We’re not the easiest people to talk with, huh?” He gave her a small smile. Remi snorted.

  “Not unless we’re talking horses.”

  Jonah gave an identical snort. Then his expression softened.

  “And how do you feel about being pregnant with Declan’s kid?”

  Remi was honest.

  “Nervous, terrified and weirdly excited.”

  “So... I’m allowed to be excited, too, right?” he asked.

  “Right.”

  Jonah smiled.

  “You know, I’ve always wanted to be an uncle.”

  Remi couldn’t deny hearing him say that was a relief. It was a feeling that relaxed the part of her that had been tense since finding out she was pregnant.

  However, with one glance at Lydia, bandaged and still in the nearby bed, Remi slid fully back into her worries.

  Why had the man and woman in the suits attacked Sam?

  Why had the other man attacked Rose?

  And when was the next attack going to happen?

  * * *

  THE ONLY REASON Declan went back to the hospital that night was because he knew Remi was there.

  He’d spent the last several hours putting out fires their suited attackers had created. There was no keeping their brazen attacks against Rose and Sam under wraps as they’d somewhat been able to do with Cooper Mann’s attack on Lydia.

  And even that news hadn’t been out of the spotlight for long. Declan had gone to the press conference set up for what had happened with Lydia as planned and then had to add a vague recount of that morning’s chase and attacks. The news editor Claire had warned him about, Kellyn, stood on the front lines with a recorder in her hand and hungry excitement in her eyes.

  For once, Declan couldn’t blame her or any of the others in attendance.

  If Declan hadn’t been used to chaos, he would have been overwhelmed.

  The note in the wall.

  An attempted kidnapping.

  The reappearance of a man in a suit.

  Three culprits getting away.

  Remi Hudson pregnant with his child.

  Declan didn’t count the last point as a bad one, though he couldn’t deny it was heavier than the rest.

  Almost as heavy as the exhaustion weighing him down as he made his way to the hospital from the department. He’d called Remi when there was nothing more he could do for the night. When she said she’d brought dinner for her brother and Lydia, Declan had changed course without a second thought.

  And when she came out to the lobby to meet him, Declan did something else without a second thought.

  He relaxed. If only a little.

  “You okay?” he said in greeting. She didn’t look tired, but she did look annoyed.

  “Well, I thought I was hungry, and then I smelled the chicken I brought Jonah and it made me gag,” she said in one hurried breath. “And now all I can think about is Pop-Tarts.” Her eyes swept over him. Her pink lips turned into a line of concern. “But I shouldn’t complain. How are you?”

  Declan opened his mouth, fully intending to lie, and then found that the idea didn’t sit well with him. Not to Remi.

  So he didn’t.

  “I’m dog-tired.” It was a simple answer and a simple truth. “I haven’t gotten much sleep lately.”

  The corner of Remi’s lips turned up into a grin. She reached her hand out, palm facing upward. Declan felt his eyebrow rise in question.

  “Then you’re in luck. It sounds like you need a trusted friend and confidante to take the lead for a little bit. Give me your keys and I’ll drive Fiona and you back to the ranch. All the while I can regale you with some of my most harrowing accounting stories, guaranteed to help you fall into a deep, relaxing sleep.” When Declan didn’t immediately agree, Remi pressed on. There was an edge to her voice. “You might not be the same boy I remember on some fronts, but your stubbornness seems to be intact. Then again, so is mine. You look exhausted and need some sleep. I’m fine and know how to get you home. Let me.”

  “What about your car?” he tried.

  She rolled her eyes.

  “I trust it’ll be just fine in the parking lot, but I’ll let Jonah know so he can check on it when he leaves. Okay?”

  Declan relented. He dug out his keys and dropped them onto her palm.

  “Good sheriff,” she said with a smile. “Now, let’s go home.”

  She took his elbow and turned him toward the door. Through the weight of exhaustion, the best Declan could tell, Remi didn’t realize what she’d said.

  Her gaze remained ahead, and there was no blush in her cheeks, no hesitation in her steps.

  An off-the-cuff comment that didn’t mean anything past a friend taking another home.

  Yet those three words had packed quite the blow.

  Let’s go home.

  It was right then that Declan realized something.

  Something big. Something life changing.

  But something he wasn’t going to think about just yet.

  Not when the men in the suits were out there.

  Chapter Ten

  Declan Nash lived in a simple house furnished with simple things. Remi walked into the entry and slowly turned in a circle to take in the open floor plan. The living room was to the left, the kitchen was straight ahead, and an open archway to the right showed a small office. The door off the living room must have led to the bedroom. Declan moved to it while waving her toward the kitchen.

  She’d spent most of the car ride to the Nash Family Ranch complaining about being hungry, complaining about not being able to drink more than a cup of coffee and then complaining about how cold it was getting.

  Remi didn’t know if it was pregnancy hormones making her grumpy or if she was looking for safe topics to talk about. Nothing that brought their future with a child into account. Nothing about the uptick in Overlook’s bad-guy population. Nothing about any notes in the wall.

  Just the two of them going down a dark road, her complaining about nothing in particular and him nodding along.

  It was nice in a way.

  Comfortable.

  But now they weren’t on the road.

  Remi accepted his hospitality by raiding his pantry with a squeal.

  “You okay?” Declan called out from the open bedroom door.

  “You have Pop-Tarts,” she yelled back, mouth already watering.

  Declan didn’t respond, and Remi settled at the small four-chair dining table set up between the kitchen and the living room couch. She was already through half of her pastry when Declan reemerged.

  It was a struggle to keep her jaw from hitting the tabletop.

  Remi had seen Declan naked. That was how she came to be sitting at his table, scarfing down Pop-Tarts and knowing in less than ten minutes she’d have to go pee. Again. She knew that the boy she’d grown up around had developed a firm chest and stomach and all the lines that muscles had carved in between. He even had the V that some actors and models sported in the movies and magazines. The one that led the eyes from the stomach and right down into the imagi
nation.

  She’d run her fingers along one of those very same lines, marveling that she had found herself in the situation where that touch was wanted.

  After that Remi hadn’t had to imagine where those lines led.

  So when her lust for the sheriff went from a passive five out of ten to a red-hot, volcanic two thousand in the span of him walking through the doorway to dropping down onto the couch cushion, Remi had to double-check the scene.

  Declan wasn’t naked, first of all.

  In fact, he’d merely swapped out his button-down and pants for a plain tee and sleep pants.

  But, boy oh boy, was he wearing them.

  The shirt hugged his muscled frame while the pants hung lower and a bit baggier than his jeans. It was such a casual outfit, and yet somehow sexier.

  It was a glimpse into Declan behind the scenes.

  A place where he could just be.

  It spoke of vulnerability and it spoke right to Remi’s hormones, apparently.

  “I couldn’t remember if I had them or not,” Declan said from his spot on the couch. He leaned back, put his feet up on the coffee table and met her eyes with a smile. If she looked like an idiot, he didn’t say it. Even when she scrambled to look normal while finishing her bite of Pop-Tart. “I babysat Riley’s nephew the other week and that boy was all about some frosted strawberry. I didn’t really think about it until we were in the car.”

  Remi held up the uneaten portion in a salute.

  “Well, I thank you for it.”

  Declan seemed satisfied that she was satisfied and leaned his head back, put his arms over his chest and closed his eyes.

  “I’m sorry I’m so tired,” he said after a yawn. “Sometimes I forget that I need to recharge, even though I tell Caleb and my deputies to do it all the time.” His eyes opened again, but there was a lag to the movement. He didn’t move his head as two grass-green eyes found hers.

  Remi put her food down. She felt a tug at her heartstrings. Declan Nash might not be a great talker, but when he did speak he managed to put a whole lot into what he said. Simple statements, yet with so much depth they were nearly overwhelming for Remi to hear, especially when she thought of the always-smiling and mischievous boy she’d once kissed on a dare beneath the moon and stars when she was nothing more than a quiet girl.