Six-Gun Showdown

by Delores Fossen

  Jax lifted his shoulder. “If Darrin knew where she was, why not just go after her and confront her?”

  Yet another chilling thought.

  “Because I think Darrin wants to torment her first,” Leland continued. “Over the past months, Paige and I talked a lot. About her life. About the attack. I think that’s how Darrin found out the details of the attack that hadn’t been released to the press. And I believe he used those details to set up that meeting yesterday. The one that nearly got Paige killed—again.”

  Paige looked at Jax, but he wasn’t dismissing any of this. Neither was she. As sickening as it was to think Darrin might have tried to kill her, it was also somewhat of a relief. Because it would mean the Moonlight Strangler might not be after her.

  “Paige’s apartment needs to be thoroughly searched,” Jax insisted. “Any computers she used, as well.”

  Leland nodded. “I’m working on it. I’ve also arranged a safe house for Paige.” His gaze shifted back to her. “And I’d like you to go there with me now. Before you say no, just think it through. If you’re away from the Crockett ranch, your son will be safe.”

  If only that were true.

  However, Jax might believe that. He might want to send her far, far away. But just the thought of it crushed her heart. She’d barely gotten to spend any time with Matthew, and now she might have to leave.

  Or not.

  The look Jax shot Leland could have frozen the Sahara. “Paige isn’t going anywhere with you.”

  She hadn’t even realized she was holding her breath until it rushed out. But Jax obviously wasn’t feeling any relief. It was a mix of anger and frustration. Some of it aimed at Leland. Some at her. The rest, at himself.

  “You think that’s wise?” Leland pressed. “You said someone had broken into your house. That someone could have planted a bug like the one in her apartment. Paige shouldn’t be here until there’s been a thorough sweep. She could stay at the safe house until you’re sure everything is clean here.”

  “Paige isn’t going with you,” Jax said again, without hesitation. “I’m making arrangements for a place for Matthew and her, and I’ll be the one to take them there.”

  Maybe he truly believed Leland could be the bad guy in all of this, or maybe Jax just didn’t trust the man because Leland had helped her fake her death. Either way, Leland’s safe house was out.

  Thank God.

  “You need to go to the sheriff’s office,” Jax reminded Leland. Without holstering his gun, Levi returned from talking to the ranch hands and came onto the porch with Jax and her. And he hurried, too. “My brother needs to ask you some questions.”

  “Because you Crocketts think I’m dirty,” Leland snarled. “I’m not. And I can’t help it if you’re jealous of me and your ex-wife.” He put a lot of emphasis on the words jealous and ex.

  Words that caused Jax’s eyes to narrow, but that still didn’t stop him from getting to her. “If you’re waiting for me to thank you for not telling me that Paige was alive, you’ll be waiting an eternity.”

  Leland stood there, looking at her, no doubt waiting for her to agree to go with him. But Paige only shook her head.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  With all the harsh words and glares that’d gone on in the past ten minutes, her generic apology seemed to bother Leland the most. He looked down at the ground a moment and mumbled something she didn’t catch before he turned and headed back to his truck.

  Jax didn’t even wait until Leland had driven away before he turned to Levi. “Get Chase and Matthew out here. We all need to leave right now. Leland was right about one thing. Whoever’s behind this could have planted a bug. Or something worse.”

  “Worse?” Levi asked.

  Jax grabbed the keys for the cruiser. “There could be a bomb.”

  Chapter Nine

  Jax wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do, but he didn’t want to risk keeping Matthew in their home even a second longer.

  He wanted to kick himself for not considering sooner that the killer—or rather the would-be killer—could have set a second bomb. One that would blow up the house and kill them all.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Paige asked when Jax pulled the cruiser to a stop in front of the main ranch house. His family’s home.

  She was eyeing the place as if it were the lion’s den. And considering how much his family disliked her, in a way it was. Still, he didn’t have a lot of options at the moment. He’d had to move fast to get Matthew, Paige and his brothers away from his house, and he needed to regroup.

  “We won’t be here long,” he assured her.

  And hoped that was true.

  Since Chase had called ahead with a warning of their arrival and the reason for it, his mother, Iris, was already in the door, frantically motioning for them to come in. Jax got them moving, fast, so they wouldn’t be out in the open any longer than necessary. Chase had Matthew bundled in his arms, and they hurried up the steps, his mother maneuvering them all inside. The moment they were all in, she locked the door and set the security alarm.

  “Are you all right?” his mother asked, her attention landing on each of them before it settled on Paige. His mom made a face, but Jax didn’t think it was solely of disapproval but had more to do with Paige’s bruises and stitches.

  “We’re fine,” Jax lied. Paige mumbled something similar.

  At least the tension and fear weren’t bothering Matthew. He grinned when he saw his grandmother and reached for her. Iris took him into her arms right away and kissed him.

  “Paige,” his mother said. Sort of a greeting, but there was no welcome-back in her tone. Nor her eyes.

  “Iris,” Paige answered. And her discomfort came through loud and clear even though her voice was a hoarse whisper. “Thank you for allowing me to be here.”

  Right. He figured Paige wasn’t nearly as thankful as she was just glad to be out of a place that might have a bomb in it.

  The silence settled in. Thick and uncomfortable before Jax did something about it. After all, it wasn’t as if there weren’t things to do.

  “I didn’t bring any of Matthew’s clothes or toys,” Jax explained to his mother. “I’ll need to change him out of those jammies.”

  “I’ll do it,” she offered. “He has plenty of extra clothes here. And I’m sure we can find some toys.” She winked at her grandson.

  Jax was sure of that, too, since Matthew often stayed the night with his grandmother, Aunt Addie and Addie’s husband, Weston, who all lived in the house. Matthew had been especially eager to do that since Addie had given birth to her son, Daniel. Even though Daniel was still way too young to actually play with Matthew, Matthew enjoyed being around him. It also helped that Addie and his mom spoiled him and had a huge playroom filled with every kind of toy a kid could ever want.

  “Mommy,” Matthew said, and he pointed to Paige. “Her home.”

  “Yes, I can see that.” Iris managed a smile. Not a genuine one, of course, but it seemed to make Matthew happy.

  “Cookie?” Matthew asked his grandmother.

  Despite the mess they were in, Jax had to smile. His son already knew the perks of coming to Grandma’s house.

  “It’s a little too early for a cookie,” Iris explained, “but maybe after I’ve changed your clothes and you’ve had your breakfast. Are you hungry?”

  Matthew nodded, but his mischievous grin let Jax know that the kid was still hoping for that cookie. And would likely get one.

  Iris glanced at Paige, then Jax. “You can get Paige settled into one of the guest rooms. I’ll go ahead and take care of Matthew.”

  Jax wasn’t sure they’d be there long enough for Paige to need a guest room, but she might want a place to escape while he was making plans to get them to a safe location.

  “I’ll have the cruiser searched,” Chase volunteered when his mother left with Matthew.

  “Thanks. But don’t search the house just yet. I want the bomb squad
to go through it first.”

  Chase made a sound of agreement. “I’ll call and get as many people out here as possible to look for those cameras.”

  Yeah, because until that was cleared up, Jax couldn’t take Paige and Matthew to the safe house. It was a call that Jax could have made himself, but after one look at Paige, he figured that the guest room wasn’t just optional. She needed it.

  “I should have apologized to your mother,” she said when Chase stepped away. “Not that it would have done any good.”

  It wouldn’t have. Iris had taken it hard when Paige and he divorced. Had taken it even harder when she thought Paige had been murdered. It would be difficult to undo all that grief and hurt. Still, it would have to happen. He had to believe they’d catch the person behind the attacks and move on with their lives.

  Eventually.

  And that meant somehow he had to come to terms with the fact that Paige would want partial custody of Matthew. She’d want to be his mother. But that was a worry for a different time.

  Jax led her to the first guest room, only to remember it’d once been his room. A room where Paige and he had made out when they’d been in high school. No sex here. That’d happened later after they’d hooked up when she had come home from college. Still, those make-out memories seemed to be still lingering around.

  Of course, his body egged those memories on.

  Jax wasn’t sure if Paige remembered their time together here, mainly because she dodged his gaze when they walked in. However, when the gaze-dodging ended, he saw plenty in the quick glance she gave him.

  “I’ll just freshen up.” She fluttered her fingers toward the bathroom. “And then I can come down and help you with any arrangements that need to be made. I can spend some time with Matthew, too.”

  He certainly couldn’t fault her for wanting to do that. She loved their son as much as Jax did. That’s why this hurt so much.

  “Am I responsible for that?” she asked. She touched the center of his forehead, which was bunched up.

  “Yeah,” he admitted. Probably shouldn’t have, though. Because his bunched-up forehead was from worry about a subject he should probably wait until later to discuss with her. But his body had a different notion about that, too.

  “I’m not used to sharing Matthew,” he admitted. Which didn’t make sense. Jax shared him all the time with his family. Still, this was different.

  “I understand.” And that’s all Paige said for several moments. “Just know that I won’t interfere with the life you’ve made for him. Or the life you’ve made for yourself. I’ll just figure out a way to fit into it.”

  The words were right. Heck, they were probably even true. For now, anyway. But soon, once the danger had passed, Paige would want more. She’d want to be a mother to her son.

  She stepped away but then stopped, touching her fingers to her stitches. “You think you can get me some aspirin or maybe even something stronger?”

  “Sure. How bad is the pain?” Something he should have already asked. Not just for the stitches but for her other scrapes and bruises, as well.

  “Not bad.”

  Probably a lie. Definitely a lie, he amended, when he looked into her eyes. Yep, there it was. The pain, the fear...everything.

  Everything.

  Including the old attraction.

  It was like a dangerous, hot powder keg sitting in the room. Something that should have had him moving away so he could get her some pain meds. But he didn’t move. Not away from her, anyway.

  Jax moved toward her, and while he was still in midstep, he slid his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to him. No resistance. None. In fact, it was Paige who upped the ante by putting her mouth to his. He did something about that, fast.

  He kissed right back.

  Oh, man. There it was, that powder keg going off in his head.

  The heat, fire and taste of her roared through him, and it only took a second for him to want not only this but a whole lot more.

  She moved into the kiss when he deepened it and took hold of his arms. Anchoring him. Unless she thought he was about to run off. He wasn’t. Jax stayed there, body to body with her, and kissed her until he couldn’t stand the ache any more. Only then did he move back.

  And he instantly felt his body urging him to return.

  Paige’s breath was gusting now. His wasn’t exactly level, either, and they stood there staring at each other. Maybe waiting for the other to admit that had been a stupid mistake. Playing with fire, and they could both get burned.

  Matthew, too.

  Because that kind of mistake could cause Jax to lose focus.

  “Well, at least I don’t need the pain meds now,” she said, and before he could think of a smart-ass comeback, she headed to the bathroom. “Let me wash my face, and we’ll go back downstairs.”

  She paused only a second to glance in the direction of the bed. He doubted she was in any shape for sex, but whenever they were near each other, sex came up.

  Paige nixed the sex and did indeed go into the bathroom. Jax thought this might be a good time to ram his head against the wall. He might just knock some sense into himself. However, that thought disappeared when he heard something he didn’t want to hear. A voice coming from downstairs.

  Cord.

  Oh, joy. Just what he didn’t need, another run-in with what had to be the surliest DEA agent in the country. Of course, it didn’t help that Cord had been the one to help Paige keep her death a secret. Soon, Jax wanted to have a discussion about that.

  When Paige came out of the bathroom, she must have noticed his change in expression, but she must have also heard Cord’s voice because she hurried past him and went downstairs. Cord was still at the door, talking with Chase, but that ended when he spotted Paige.

  “I think we have a problem,” Cord said, snagging her gaze and moving closer to her.

  “He’s been analyzing Paige’s phone records and text messages,” Chase relayed, and he sounded as unhappy as Jax was about having Cord part of his investigation.

  Of course, Chase probably didn’t have the same motivation as Jax for that particular unhappiness. Chase just wouldn’t like having a renegade lawman who operated with plenty of shades of gray. Jax didn’t like it that Cord had formed this bond with Paige. The last time Paige had teamed up with someone to catch the serial killer, she’d nearly died.

  The same could happen this time.

  And this time, the danger could pose a threat to Matthew.

  Even though he already knew that, Jax let that thought settle in his mind. It didn’t settle well. And this time not just because of Matthew but because of Paige herself.

  Damn.

  This was about that kiss.

  He’d known from the start that it was a stupid thing to do, and now it was playing into his mind-set. Not good. Because the only mind-set he needed right now was to protect his little boy.

  Chase locked the door, reset the security system, but he continued to keep watch out the side windows.

  “I don’t think any of those messages yesterday came from the Moonlight Strangler,” Cord continued, his attention on Paige. “I’ve gone through every word, and it’s just not the same as the other messages he sent earlier to you. Something’s off.”

  Paige nodded. And groaned softly. “We have suspects. Two of them—Darrin Pittman and Leland Fountain. My money’s on Darrin.”

  So was Jax’s. But there was another possibility. “Maybe the Moonlight Strangler purposely altered the wording. He likes to play games. Likes to torment Paige. Maybe he wants her to believe she’s got more than one person gunning for her.”

  “Cord,” someone said before he had a chance to respond to that.

  Addie, Jax’s sister. Cord’s sister, too, Jax had to remind himself. His parents had adopted Addie when she was three, the same age Jax had been at the time, and to him she’d always be his sister.

  Addie went to Cord, hugged him and then turned to Paige to do the same
thing. Paige went a little stiff, no doubt from surprise, but she stiffened even more when Levi’s fiancée, Alexa Dearborn, came into the foyer.

  The tension suddenly got a whole lot thicker.

  Jax braced himself for Alexa to lash out at Paige. After all, they’d been best friends, and Alexa had blamed herself for getting Paige killed. But Paige wasn’t dead, and that meant Alexa had grieved for nothing.

  But there was no lashing out.

  The breath Alexa took was one of relief, and she hurried to Paige to hug her, too. No relief for Paige, though. Jax was watching her and saw the guilt in her eyes. The fear, too. Because while Alexa and the rest of them had lived with Paige’s so-called death, her return had put them all in danger.

  “I wish I’d been able to let you know,” Paige said.

  “I’m just glad you’re home,” Alexa assured her. She volleyed some glances between Paige and him. “Are you two back together?”

  “No,” Paige blurted out. It was certainly a fast enough response. Adamant enough, too. But it didn’t exactly ring true.

  That kiss again.

  It’d screwed up a lot of things, but mainly Jax’s head. He wanted to believe it wouldn’t happen again, but he didn’t even try to lie to himself about it. That attraction wasn’t going away, so the best solution was to try to keep some distance between Paige and him. That wasn’t going to happen, though, either, until this danger had passed.

  Alexa lightly touched her fingers to the crescent-shaped scar on Paige’s cheek. It wasn’t as pronounced as the recent bruises and stitches, but it would be a lifelong reminder of just how close she had really come to dying.

  “We need to catch that monster.” Alexa’s voice was barely a whisper, but it came through loud and clear.

  Cord was the first to nod, though they all agreed. “We have to figure out for sure if there are any other players in this,” Cord added. “I personally don’t think the Moonlight Strangler would have partnered with anyone else to go after Paige. He’s had no trouble killing women on his own.”

  Like the scar, it was yet another brutal reminder. And the truth.