by Becky McGraw
"That may be, but this guy is the main reason she left...and now he has her twin sister." Gabe shoved a hand through his hair and huffed out a breath. "I'm damned worried about her too. Karlie has the balls between her and Katie, and she is terrified of the guy, I can only imagine how scared Katie is, and Karlie never told her sister about Jake Johnson either."
"Twins, huh? I knew Karlie had a sister, but I didn't know they were twins," Tommy gave him a rueful smile. "Double the trouble?" he asked then laughed.
"Yeah, I guess...I hear they were on the rodeo circuit anyway. Katie was Karlie's roping partner, and they were a top ranked team."
"I look forward to meeting Katie then...if she's half as good as Karlie, I might have to hire her too," he said with a grin, then asked, "Okay, how about a park? There's one on the outskirts of Amarillo, not far north of here. I've taken Dixie there before for the playground."
"That sounds like just the place...as long as there aren't any kids there, when we meet."
"If you meet around noon, it's too damned hot out there, and most of the mothers will have taken their kids to lunch, or at least have them out of the sun. There's a lot of acreage out there, so get him to meet you away from the playground. There's an old tennis court near the back, and a parking lot...I can go with you to show you. I'd like to go anyway. I can't stand men bullying women. It pisses me off."
"You have a gun?" Gabe asked him.
"This is Texas, man," Tommy laughed and slapped his desk, "Of course I have a gun...several of them."
"We could probably use the help, just in case this guy goes off the deep end. Karlie says he's a little nuts, and a lot unpredictable."
"Just the kind my Kimber was made for," Tommy told him then grinned. Jealousy poured through Gabe, he'd always wanted to own a Kimber handgun. It looked like his new friend had good taste in horses and handguns...women too, because he seemed to like Karlie.
"Okay, then let's get Karlie to make that call, and see what happens...and thanks Tommy."
"Hell, it's time for a little excitement around here, I was getting bored...glad I can help."
Gabe and Tommy walked out of the study and went to the kitchen, where they found Cole and Karlie, sitting at the huge arc-shaped breakfast bar talking. He glanced across the living room behind the bar and saw wide floor to ceiling windows on the far wall. Gabe thought it should be hot in the room with all that glass, but instead it was pleasantly cool. He bet the man's electric bill was out of this world to keep it that way, though. Although the house was enormous, a band of gypsies could probably live in this place and still have room to spare, it was comfortable, not intimidating.
"Hey, what'd you guys find out?" Gabe asked walking over to them.
"Karlie had more luck than I did," Cole said, then added, "Amarillo can't help, unless we can verify that she is indeed with him against her will, just like we thought. I told them where we were probably meeting him and what time tomorrow, and they said they'd send patrols by, but that's the best they could do."
"Better than nothing, I guess..." Gabe told him and then looked at Karlie, "What did the lawyers say?"
Karlie's beautiful smile split her face, then she said, "They said they had a feeling he wasn't taking proper care of Sarge, and they were glad that I called them, and that I have Sarge. I told them it wasn't about money, I didn't want the money, but they insisted that the will only stipulates that the caregiver receive the stipend to take care of Sarge, not Jake specifically. They have the right to choose who that caregiver is, and they said they felt comfortable with me having him for now. They want to set up a meeting so they can make sure he's in a good place, then they want to pay me to take care of him. Jake's gonna be pissed."
It was so good to see her smiling, and Gabe couldn't help but smile himself. "That's great, honey," he told her, then added with a laugh, "Congratulations, I know Sarge will be happy too...that dog loves you." Why did his brain want to add on 'so do I'?
Gabe shook his head and purged that thought. He didn't even really know Karlie that well, how the hell could he think he loved her? They hadn't even had sex...oh, but how he wanted to.
They'd only kissed a few times, even if they had been earth-moving kisses, this connection he was feeling toward her was unexplainable. It had never happened to him before with any other woman. He wanted to take care of her, be with her, and when he wasn't he missed her. But he didn't have time to think about that now, they had to find Katie.
"Okay, time to call Kate...you ready?" Gabe asked, then watched her smile fade to be replaced by seriousness and determination.
"Yep...I want my sister back," she said and then picked up her cell and dialed.
Karlie let out a relieved sigh when Katie picked up on the third ring. For a minute, she was afraid she wasn't going to answer. "Katie?" she said haltingly.
"Yeah, hey, sis," her twin's voice sounded flat and exhausted, not at all like her normally bubbly self.
Panic that Jake had hurt her flooded through Karlie. "Are you okay, Katie?"
"Um...yeah," Kate told her then sucked in a breath before she moaned and said, "Look, Sis, Jake wants his dog back, and he wants him now. He'll hurt me if you don't give him back...he's tired of chasing you."
Karlie figured this was the prime opportunity for her to ask the question Gabe wanted answered, "Did he force you to go with him? Did he kidnap you?"
"Not exactly...I wanted to make sure you were okay, when he found you...thought I could help him find you." Karlie read that to mean, she wanted to make sure he didn't hurt Karlie when he caught up with her, she wanted to keep an eye on Jake, and she wanted to put him off her trail if she could.
"I see...okay I've decided to give him Sarge back. Are you in Amarillo?" Karlie asked carefully.
"Yes, we're in Amarillo," Katie replied, then Karlie heard the phone rustle, before Jake's voice came over the line.
"Listen, slut...I want my fucking dog back now. You can have your sister back when I get my dog. I'd hate to see her have an accident, Karlene...break up the set, if you know what I mean," he said with a nasty laugh, evidently thinking he was clever.
"You hurt my sister asshole, and there won't be enough acreage in this country for you to hide from me--I promise you that," Karlie hissed, then told him, "I'll give your fucking dog back, meet me at this park at noon," she said then gave him the address Tommy had looked up for her. Her hand was shaking so violently by the time she pressed the end button, she almost dropped the phone. "It's set...he'll be there."
"Did Katie say he kidnapped her? Or forced her to go with him?"
"No, she didn't. She went with him to make sure she could protect me...so she knew where he was...and she was leading him on a goose chase."
"You used your debit card in Amarillo...that's how he found you," Gabe told her and saw horror flash over her face.
"Shit..." Karlie said and slapped her forehead, then finished, "I didn't even think about him having access to my account. I was out of money, and there was two dollars left in my account. I rolled into that station on fumes, and I needed gas to get here."
"It's okay, honey...this will work out better anyway. You get to keep the dog, we get your sister back, and maybe get to arrest the asshole. Did he threaten you or Katie on the phone?"
"Not really...he just said that he'd hate to see Katie have an accident and break up the matched set."
"Well, shit," Gabe said and ran his hand across his face. "Looks like we're not going to get help from the locals with that."
"Nope," Cole agreed, then added, "Unless he does something stupid at the meeting, he'll leave there without being arrested."
"Odds are he'll do something stupid," Karlie told them. "When I tell him I'm keeping Sarge, he'll probably go off."
"Okay, Cole and I will just head into Amarillo and get a hotel room, then come back tomorrow morning, so we can all w
ork out a plan..." Gabe said and pinned Karlie with his eyes. They told her he didn't want to leave her, but had to.
"No need for that, I have plenty enough room for ya'll..." Tommy said then slapped Cole on the shoulder, "I'll just tell Cookie to throw on a couple more steaks for supper. Wouldn't mind the company anyway."
"Thanks, Tommy...we appreciate it," Gabe told him, but smiled at Karlie, then asked her, "You left that spotted horse out in the arena with that calf, darlin'. Want me to come help you get him in?"
"Paint horse, Gabe...not spotted horse. Spotted horses are Appaloosas," she corrected him with a grin. His face became a mask of confusion, and she wanted to laugh. God, he was cute, she thought and wanted to squeeze him. "Yeah, I could use your help...but Dixie has first dibs. She's my assistant."
"You have an assistant? Well, la te da..." Gabe said with a smug grin.
"Tommy's ten-year-old daughter...she's been helping me today," Karlie told him then looked at Tommy and smiled. "Your daughter is a natural horse trainer."
Tommy huffed out a breath, "Thanks for keeping her occupied. I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with her lately, and she's been a handful."
Karlie frowned when she glanced over at the door and saw Dixie step into the room with Sarge on his leash. The smile she had on her face melted off and her eyes filled with tears. Karlie realized she'd evidently heard her daddy's words. Dixie dropped the leash and took off for the stairs across the room. "Dixie, wait!" Karlie yelled and ran after her.
The little girl was quick though and she was up the stairs, before Karlie even hit the landing, and she heard her door slam then a lock turn. Karlie walked to her door and knocked, then said gently, "Dixie, open the door, sugar..."
"Go away!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, and Karlie could tell she was crying. "I don't need anybody to oxify me!" she added then Karlie heard something bounce off the door.
"You were helping me, baby...I wasn't just occupying you. Come on, open up the door, Dix...we're friends remember?" Karlie pleaded with her palm on the door.
"You're not my friend, I don't have any friends!" Dixie yelled then said in a wobbly voice, "Just go away and leave me alone."
She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Tommy behind her, his eyes sad and concerned. "This is what I've been dealing with...I'm sorry," he told her then ran his hand through his dark hair.
Rage boiled up inside of her and her fists clenched at her sides. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she told Tommy in a lowered voice, "She doesn't want to be bad, she's scared, Tommy...nothing in her life is under control in her mind. She acts out to try and make sense of it, to control things, not because she wants to be bad."
Tommy put his hands on her shoulders then said with compassion filling his warm brown eyes, "You sound like you know from personal experience."
"That's exactly how I know, so you can take it to the bank. She heard what you said and thinks you hate her...that she's worthless."
Pulling her into his arms, Tommy hugged her to him and said into the top of her hair, "I'm sorry, sugar...I'll make it up to her. You're right this is all my fault. I need to watch what I say around her."
Someone cleared their throat behind them and Karlie leaned around Tommy's shoulder and saw Gabe standing there his fists in knots at his side, and his jaw tight. His blue eyes glittered with hurt and anger. "I was just coming up here to make sure you were okay...looks like you're fine," he said in a gravelly voice then turned and went back down the stairs quickly. Karlie followed him, but he was too fast, and almost slammed the front door in her face, when he went outside.
Flinging it back on its hinges, Karlie ran out then slammed it behind her, and ran after Gabe. He was almost inside of the patrol car with the keys in his hand when she caught him. "Don't be an ass, Gabe..." she said out of breath from running behind him. "That wasn't what you think."
She saw him take two deep breaths, then release them, but his breathing was still erratic. He looked at her and his eyes were so hot and pained, she flinched. "What did I think, Karlie?"
"The same thing I saw when I thought you were making time with my sister at the bar in Bowie," she told him sassily then sobered, "We were talking about Dixie...that's all, Gabe. I don't think about Tommy like that. Like you said about Katie, he does nothing for me."
Gabe heaved out a huge shuddering sigh, then closed the car door, before pulling her into his arms. When his mouth claimed hers in a heated kiss, her arms slid up around his neck and she leaned into him. This is what she'd been missing, and it felt like heaven.
After a minute, she pulled back to put sweet kisses at the corner of his lips, and she told him, "God, I've missed you," then licked his lower lip, before sliding her tongue inside his mouth and sealing her lips over his again.
His hands found her ass and he pulled her tighter against his steely erection and she ground her hips against him. She couldn't help herself, she wanted him so badly, had missed him so much even just being gone two days. No matter how long they'd known each other, she wanted this man, and she was going to have him soon.
"Mmm...Gabe, you feel so damned good, darlin'...taste so damned good," she whispered in short jerky breaths against his mouth, rubbing her breasts against his chest. "I want to climb you like a cat on a scratching post."
His hands stilled her hips and he groaned then swallowed, before he said, "Honey, keep talking like that and I'll embarrass myself right here." She felt his heart pounding against her breasts and saw he was gritting his teeth. He took a deep breath then stepped away from her. "Let's go take a walk so I can get things under control...we need to get that Paint horse put up anyway."
Taking her hand he started walking toward the outdoor arena and she fell into step beside him. "So what are we going to do about our 'situation'?" she asked him heatedly.
Gabe snorted then looked at her, "You sure are blunt, aren't you, darlin'?"
"As a brass tack..." she said then laughed and added with a wink, "Gets me into some trouble sometimes too...but some of it's the kind I like."
CHAPTER SEVEN
After a fitful night of dreaming about Gabe and worrying about what would happen today, Karlie woke as the first ray of sunshine peeped through the window of the large bedroom she'd slept in. Tired and grumpy, she threw back the covers, rubbed her eyes, then forced her feet over the side of the bed and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and pee.
Like a zombie looking for a new brain, Karlie schlepped down the stairs to find a cup of coffee, the magic fluid that would reassure her she was actually still alive. She found Gabe sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal and drinking a cup of coffee, and he looked up and smiled that sexy smile of his, but she walked right past him to the coffee pot. It was too early, and she was too tired, for sexy smiles.
"Morning to you too, sugar," he said with a chuckle.
She grunted, then pulled down a mug and filled it to the brim, then drank half of it down black, before she added a spoon of sugar and a little cream. Her eyes opened a little then she looked at Gabe again and then they widened more. The tight white t-shirt he had on accentuated every muscle of his broad chest and made her hungry for a lot more than waffles. Karlie was sure if he'd been beside her last night, she'd have gotten much less sleep, but she'd be in a much better mood this morning.
The sexy smile reappeared on his handsome unshaven face, and seeing it ratcheted up her grumpiness a notch and she asked him, "What the hell has you smiling like a bucktooth beaver this morning?"
Gabe stopped chewing and his eyes bulged then he swallowed and dropped his spoon, before throwing his head back and letting out a booming belly laugh, his arm going across his stomach. He laughed a good half-minute then looked back at her, his eyes filled with mirth, "God, Karlie, don't say shit like that when I have my mouth full. I almost painted you with my cornflakes."
"Okay...so what has you in such a grumpy mood this morning, sugar? Today is the day we're going to get your sister back, and get Jake Johnson off of your back for good."
"For one, I didn't sleep well last night, thanks to you," she told him and raised an eyebrow for emphasis. "Secondly, I'm worried about Katie and what's going to happen today."
"Nothing is going to go wrong...don't even go there. Stay positive, and stop worrying," Gabe told her then got up from the bar stool and carried his bowl to the sink and rinsed it out, then refilled his coffee mug. His cheerfulness was positively making her want to toss her coffee at him.
"Easier said than done, sugar," Karlie told him and shook her head. "I just have a bad feeling here," she said and put her hand to her stomach. He walked over and put his hand over hers and his other arm around her waist, then he leaned down and put kisses along her neck to her ear. Shivers danced along her spine and her hair stood on end.
