by Joanna Wayne
“You have the money now, Lester. Trick is going to take Petey and me to the house.”
“Wrong, lady. Trick can take Petey, but I have other plans for you. I spent seven years in prison. And you never planned on my seeing a penny of that money. You were going to walk away with every cent.”
Lester knotted his hands into fists, his face beet red. “Smart as a tack, you were. Move the money out of the country in your son’s toys. Where’s the rest of it, Ashley? Already stashed away in the Caymans or maybe Switzerland? Smuggled out in a toy dump truck? No, lady. You will not be walking away.”
He grabbed the gun from the holster at his waist and pointed it at her head.
It was now or never. Ashley threw herself to the floor, going for the makeshift balance beam. Adrenaline powered her arms as she came up swinging. The crashing sound of a firing shot was the last thing she remembered as she slid to the hard dirt floor.
Chapter Seventeen
Dillon gathered Ashley’s limp body in his arms. “The Randolph Wonder Woman. You pack a mean wallop.”
She opened her eyes and stared at him, reaching up to run a trembling finger down his chin. “Is it really you?”
“It is, and remind me never to get in a board-slinging fight with you.” He bent and kissed her sweet, beautiful lips. “You’re a brave woman.”
“Where’s Petey?”
“He’s outside with Branson and a couple of Texas Rangers. I think they’re signing him up. According to Trick, he gave Lester a nasty kick in the shins. He’s good at it, too. Believe me, I know.”
Her gaze swept the shack. “What happened to Lester?”
“Nothing, yet. He shot at you, but missed his mark when you crowned him with the board. He was still reeling when Branson and I busted through the door.”
“And I passed out and missed the rest of the action.”
“Actually, you tripped from the force of the swing and hit your head.”
“Then I passed out,” she said, rubbing the bump on her forehead.
“Thank goodness. Or else you wouldn’t have needed me at all. It’s hard on a man trying to protect a woman who’s a lot better at it than he is.”
“The money was inside Bear. It couldn’t be, but it was.”
“I know. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it later, when the surroundings are a little more comfortable. Are you ready to go home?”
“I’m ready. I’m really ready. But I didn’t get to tell you. I had changed my mind. I wasn’t going to run away this time.”
“I know.”
“How did you know?”
“Because we’re a family.” He kissed her again, lightly, but completely. Then he helped her to her feet. It was past time to take his heroic wife and his son home.
“HAPPY BIRFDAY to me!” Petey sang the line for the dozenth time and clapped his hands.
Ashley sat on the couch beside Dillon, listening to the conversation. Dillon had told the story more than once, first to Langley, then to Riff. Now he was telling it to Ryder.
“Trick seemed like such a nice guy. It’s still hard to believe he engineered such a wild scheme,” Ryder said, cutting his third piece of birthday cake.
“Greed does strange things to a man. It didn’t make him a murderer, though. The fact is, we might never have found Ashley in time if he hadn’t finally figured out she was going to bite a bullet if he didn’t do something. He called us on the cellular and told us where they were.
“When Branson couldn’t get Trick to answer, he called Langley. Langley organized all the ranch hands and security cops into a search party as soon as he realized Ashley, Petey and Trick were nowhere to be found. But forty thousand acres is a lot to comb, and that was if they stayed on our ranch.”
“But Trick was the one who shot you at the wedding and then came looking for a job? That takes some nerve,” Ryder said between bites.
“According to the story he told the police, he didn’t mean to hit me. He was supposed to be following Lester’s orders to frighten Ashley into not giving me the money. But then when he realized he might be charged with murder if he was caught delivering Lester’s notes, he started destroying them.
“He figured if he hired on, he could follow Ashley and find the money. When she disappeared, he stayed on, thinking sooner or later she’d show up again.”
“Besides, by then, he liked working here,” Branson added. “And he was still in contact with Lester, so he still had hopes of getting a cut of the money.”
“Over a million, all told. As much as Bear would hold, and the rest in a deserted well in east Texas. The note inside the bear’s stomach was a map to the rest of the money.”
“I still don’t get it. If Trick was the witness at Lester’s trial, why didn’t that show up in the records? We knew his real name was Ernest Gonz all along. I’d forgotten, since we never use it, but Branson would have recognized it on the witness list.”
“He wasn’t the witness. He saw an opportunity and jumped on it, the true con man,” Langley said. “But he went too far.”
“It all sounds way too complicated for me,” Ryder said. “I’ll take a bull for challenge and a pretty little filly for excitement. I’ll be heading out to find both about daybreak tomorrow.”
Mary walked over to stand beside Ryder, and he gave her a bear hug, lifting her off the ground.
“I’ll just be glad when he finds a little filly to make him settle down and move to the ranch before some bull breaks his neck,” she said. “I need a lot more grandchildren.”
“When Mom starts talking like that, I know it’s time for me to cut out. I might not make it until morning.”
“Well, we do need some more grandchildren, don’t we, Sylvia?”
“Lots more. With all the love that’s in this room, we could handle a houseful.”
Ashley smiled, tired but content. Inviting her mother to Petey’s birthday party had been the right thing to do. Nothing would be worked out overnight. Perhaps they would never be more than acquaintances. But at least Ashley would know she had given the two of them a chance to touch somewhere in the middle of now and forever.
Mistakes could be forgiven over time. She came a heartbeat close to making a huge one herself. If she’d walked away from her son, even though she thought there was no other way, she might have been in her mother’s shoes one day, begging the son she loved more than life itself to give her a chance.
“The rest of you can keep on partying,” Ashley said, “but it’s bedtime for Petey and Bear. A bear who looks as good as new, thanks to my mother.”
Sylvia beamed, and a flutter of warmth flushed Ashley’s heart.
“Give kisses to everyone, Petey, and Mommy will read you a bedtime story.”
“No, Daddy read story.” He tugged Dillon’s hand.
“That’s what happens when Daddy shows up and saves Bear from the bad men. Instant hero status.” Dillon winked and hoisted his son to his shoulders for a ride to his bedroom.
Ashley gave a mock frown. “I guess I’ll just have to stay downstairs and visit.”
Dillon took Petey upstairs, and slowly the stragglers left, one by one, until only Branson remained. “Let me help you with those dishes,” he said, carrying a stack of dessert plates to the sink.
“I can get them.”
“I’d like to help.” He slid the plates under the spray of water and added them to the dishwasher. “Actually, I’d like to apologize.”
“You don’t have to apologize for saying how you felt.”
“It’s not the saying I’m sorry for.
It’s the feeling that was wrong. I thought you were a liability to Dillon.”
“And you were right. If he’d married a nice girl with a spotless past, none of this would have happened. He wouldn’t have been shot on the day of his wedding and he wouldn’t have been face-to-face with a murderer last night.”
“If he’d married anyone besides you, he wouldn’t be nearly as happy as he is tonight
. He’s a lucky man. I told him so, but I wanted to tell you that, as well.”
“Thank you. And thank you for the part you played in the rescue yesterday.”
“I’m just glad I was able to help. We all went crazy when we found you and Petey were missing.”
Ashley dropped the dish towel over the rack. “And for what it’s worth, Branson, I love your brother every bit as much as he loves me.”
“Yeah. It shows. Love isn’t for me. I’m smart enough to know that. But I’m glad it worked out for you and Dillon.”
She walked him to the door. He needed a woman. She’d work on that, but another day. Tonight she was tired and happier than she’d ever been in all her life.
“Is everybody gone?” Dillon called from the top of the stairs.
“Every last one of them. Mary and Sylvia left hand in hand, chatting about the advantages of large families. Sylvia may never give up the guest room in the big house.” Still talking, Ashley flicked off the downstairs lights.
“The water’s hot in the shower.” Dillon’s voice was softer than usual. Sexy and inviting. “You can join me if you want.”
The tingly feeling started again, down her spine and running hot into her thighs. Well, maybe she wasn’t as tired as she’d thought.
And maybe Mother Randolph and Sylvia would get that next grandchild a lot sooner than they expected.
eISBN 9781459268609
FAMILY TIES
Copyright© 1997 by Jo Ann Vest
All rights reserved Except for use in any review, the reproduction or ublization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone beanng the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure Invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A
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Printed in U.S.A.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Books by Joanna Wayne
Dedication
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Copyright
