Devoted to Love

by Shayla Black

  Oh, we already have a problem. “Goodbye.”

  The minute she slammed the door behind the creepy trio and locked it, they backed out and drove down the lane. Maggie let out a pent-up breath. But not for a second did she think she’d seen the last of Enlightenment Fields.

  Josiah emerged from the kitchen and came around the corner, to her side. “Holy shit. You okay?”

  Maggie relaxed when she felt his arms around her. In this moment, her world was right. “Fine.”

  “You get all that, brother?” Zyron asked.

  “Hard to miss their buckets full of crazy. But they obviously mean business.”

  “And they will resort to violence again.” Trees nodded in agreement. “They all but told us that.”

  “Their threats weren’t very veiled,” Josiah said.

  “What do we do?” She tried not to panic, but having those three on her property, coupled with Mercy wanting her claws in Josiah, put Maggie on edge. “The next time they talk to us, they obviously won’t be using words.”

  “I’m working on a plan. Give me another day or two. I think we have that long.”

  But probably not much more.

  Maggie was glad her grandparents weren’t here, but for the first time since coming to live at the ranch, she didn’t feel safe.

  * * *

  • • •

  Two days later, Josiah wasn’t terribly shocked when a taxi pulled in front of the ranch and Glenda and Jim West climbed out. Yeah, he’d figured the conversation he’d had over the phone with the older man on Monday night had rattled a few nerves. As much as Josiah had insisted the couple stay in California, Jim was a man’s man. He would always do as he damn well pleased and feel it was his responsibility to protect those around him, especially his woman and grandkids.

  As Josiah ducked out the front door, the bright January chill and the old man’s scowl greeted him. “Hi, Jim, Glenda,” He bowed his head to the older woman, then turned back to Maggie’s grandfather. “You shouldn’t have come home.”

  “It’s my land and my granddaughter you’re messing with.”

  “With all due respect, I have only the best, most honest intentions when it comes to both, as I did my best to explain on the phone.”

  “As soon as I get in and get Glenda settled, you and I are going to have a sit-down.”

  “I welcome that, sir.”

  “You say that now, but I don’t think—”

  “At least get in the warm house before you start arguing, Jim. Good lord . . .” Glenda tsked and shook her head.

  “Yes, dear.”

  Despite the grim situation, Josiah resisted a smile. Jim didn’t bend for much, but he’d do almost anything to make his wife happy.

  “Let me help with those bags.” Josiah took a makeup case from Glenda and tucked it under his arm, then lifted the two suitcases the driver unloaded near the porch.

  “Granna? Papa?” Maggie met them in the foyer, looking stunned. “W-what are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to be home until Sunday.”

  “The weather out west was lovely, but I’ve had enough of California to last me,” her grandmother said as she shut the door on the January chill. “When we told the Santiagos we’d decided to find a commercial flight back to Texas, they said they wouldn’t mind returning home early, especially since Javier and Xander have an unexpected meeting in D.C. on Friday. So they flew us to San Antonio before heading on to Louisiana.”

  “Then we found the least smelly cab we could to bring us the rest of the way. Cost me a hundred and twenty dollars, plus tip!” he grumbled.

  Maggie turned to Josiah with a wide-eyed stare that silently asked him what they should do now. Good question.

  “I hear Mildred’s funeral is Friday morning?” Glenda asked.

  “Ten A.M. at the cemetery.” Maggie nodded. “Lunch afterward at her house. Her kids are hosting. The viewing is at Schaetter tomorrow evening at seven. Her family will be going back to Oregon on Sunday.”

  “What will her daughter and son-in-law do with the land? Mildred told me once that Cora said when she moved away that she’d never move back, but that land has been in the family for nearly a hundred years.” Glenda looked worried.

  Jim scowled. “Don’t like the idea of it going to Enlightenment Fields.”

  “I have no doubt the group is planning to make them an offer. They paid us a visit two days ago to remind us they intend to own most of the county, including this spread.” Josiah leveled a serious glance at Maggie’s grandfather.

  The older man’s scowl deepened. “Let’s have that talk now.”

  “Happy to, sir.”

  “Oh, dear . . .” Glenda looked nervous.

  Jim patted her shoulder and kissed her forehead. “Don’t you worry, honey. We’ll work everything out. You and Maggie have a nice catch-up and talk about dinner tonight. I’ll let Josiah fill me in on what we missed before I speak with Sawyer. Everything’s fine.”

  The women drifted toward the kitchen. Josiah watched Maggie go with a lingering stare. Except during the orgasms he’d cajoled her into, she’d been on edge since Enlightenment Fields’ visit. She was still distracted, worried. He had to find some way to put an end to this mess so he could figure out, once and for all, where he stood with her.

  Locking the front door behind them, Josiah headed through the house with the suitcases. The rest of the place was already secure; he’d seen to that. As soon as he dropped the luggage in the master bedroom, he headed back to the study to find Jim sitting behind his big, rough-hewn desk with a grim expression.

  Without being told, Josiah shut the study door and sat across from the older man. “I won’t bullshit you. It’s not good.”

  “Boy, I can read a map. I know we’re surrounded. I know what those people want. I’ll be goddamned if I’m going to sell out.”

  “Maggie feels the same. My fellow operatives, Zyron and Trees, are working with me on this. We’re doing our best, but I fear this matter is bigger than we can handle. We’re trying to get the feds involved, to no avail so far. I have reason to believe the cult is up to their eyeballs in all kinds of criminal activity—illegal narcotics, weapons stockpiling, violating child labor laws, assisted suicide . . .”

  “And murder.” Jim leaned forward. “Don’t look surprised I figured that out. Ben Haney didn’t fall on a pitchfork, and Mildred McIntyre didn’t run herself over with a car. I knew exactly why you and Maggie suggested that Glenda and I visit California. I tried to keep her there longer, but that stubborn woman wouldn’t hear of staying. Now we have to think of an alternate plan.”

  “I don’t suppose she’d go out of town again?”

  “Not until after Mildred’s service.”

  “Does she know or understand the safety concerns?”

  “I tried to be honest without scaring her to death. I think she has this notion that nearly four hundred acres of buffer between us and them will keep the family safe.” Jim shook his head. “What I can’t understand is where would these cultists come up with the nearly eight million dollars it would take to buy me out?”

  Josiah gaped. He’d known the spread was large, but the value of the land staggered him. The Wests were sitting on a fortune, but the man asked a valid question. “I don’t know. Sure, they’re fleecing the newcomers of all their worldly goods, but they’ve already purchased much of the county and they have a lot of mouths to feed. I suspect they take donations from outsiders happily. After a little research, I found out they were granted 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. I don’t know how; I never heard mention of religion while I was there, just general spirituality. Maybe that’s enough? Not my area of expertise.”

  “Mine, either.”

  “I’ll call my bosses back in Louisiana and see if we can get someone at the IRS poking into that. We might be able to cripple them financially.”
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  The older man banged a fist on his desk. “Even so, will that be fast enough to help us or will it really stop them for good? They want this land, they know Glenda and I stand in their way, and they’ve killed before.”

  Those facts were unavoidable. “You’re right. Maggie stands in their way, too. And I have to admit, I’m as worried about her as you are about your wife.”

  Jim leaned in with a frown. “You still think you’re in love with her?”

  “No, sir. I know I am. Like I said on the phone the other night, I want to marry her and I want your blessing.”

  He huffed. “You’ve known her . . . what? Ten days.”

  “Eleven, actually.” Josiah shrugged. “Doesn’t change the fact you’ve raised an extraordinary woman who’s managed to wrap herself around my heart. I understand she needs love, affection, and a gentle but firm hand. If I can persuade her to say yes, she’ll be the center of my world. That’s a promise.”

  “And you’ll take her off to Louisiana. She’ll come home on holidays until Glenda and I kick off. Then Shealyn will have her glamorous life with Cutter in California. Maggie will be entrenched five hundred miles away. What will happen to this land?” He shook his head. “No. What she needs is a local boy.”

  “With all due respect, she’s already ripped through all of them. Not one of them can hold her. I will.”

  “You think you’re strong enough?” Jim challenged.

  “I have no doubt. You met anyone else able to do a better job?”

  Jim avoided the question, probably because he didn’t like the answer. “What about her feelings for you?”

  “She hasn’t said the words yet, but she’s almost there. Another few days, maybe a week . . . Look, I know you’re concerned about the land, especially with everything going on, but Maggie’s future simply might not be here.”

  Jim sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers. “If you think that, you don’t know Maggie. I want that girl happy. God knows she deserves it after her rough start in life. Would you be willing to settle out this way?”

  And do what? He knew next to nothing about ranching. Maybe there were firms in San Antonio who could use his expertise . . . Shit, everything was happening so fast. He had to make life-affecting decisions he’d had zero time to think through. Normally, he’d take a spell to ruminate about the challenges, then do his best to come up with workable solutions. But his personal and professional worlds had never collided like this. How the hell could he decide the rest of his life while worrying about the safety of everyone around him?

  “I could look into it. As I sit here now, I can’t promise you more without exploring my options.”

  The older man tapped his thumb on his desk. “I like you. I suspect you understand Maggie’s mind better than most of her former beaus. You might even have the will to hold her. Like you, I guess I have some thinking to do.”

  It wasn’t the answer Josiah had been looking for, but Jim wasn’t refusing to give his blessing. It was progress.

  “Understood, sir. Could I possibly suggest you and your wife think somewhere else—I’m sure Hawaii would be nice this time of year. Maybe you could leave right after Mrs. McIntyre’s funeral?”

  “Glenda will resist. Neither of us likes being away from the comforts of home, but I think it’s time I put my foot down.” The older man cracked a smile. “Like Maggie, my wife can be . . . interesting to manage. And once upon a time, I was convinced I was the only man who could do the job. Still am. I’ll talk to her.”

  “It would ease Maggie’s mind to have y’all somewhere safe. If you could convince Glenda to vacation for another couple of weeks . . .”

  It wasn’t a perfect solution by any means. But Josiah had to hope that somehow something would break—he’d get proof of Enlightenment Fields’ wrongdoing or he’d get federal help. Something that would bring this situation to a head. None of them could continue this way indefinitely.

  The big rancher nodded and stood. “I guess I’d better start catching up around here and preparing to go away again so that—”

  The loud crack of a gun, something high-powered, resounded outside and echoed through the house. It had been fired from a long distance; Josiah knew the sound. He jumped to his feet, dread hitting as he heard shouts outside. He was halfway to the patio door before pandemonium erupted. Then he heard a bellowing cry for help, followed by a shrill, distinctly female scream of fear.

  His heart stopped.

  “Who got shot?” Jim demanded behind him.

  So the other man understood that violence had come.

  As Josiah shoved his way outside, he dashed across the yard, toward Maggie bent over a prone figure. Cowboys clustered around her, including Sawyer. They offered their help, their shirts—whatever she needed. Others tried to coax her to safety.

  Fuck, someone had clearly been hit by the bullet.

  Frantically, Maggie pressed down on the supine victim. From a distance, he heard her wrenching sobs. He ran faster.

  Finally, a pair of boots beside her shifted left, and Josiah got a glimpse of the shooter’s target.

  “Glenda!” Jim suddenly moved like a man half his age to reach his fallen wife’s side.

  Josiah turned and shoved the man back. “Get in the house.”

  “That’s my wife—”

  “And an active shooter who probably wants both of you dead. I’ll see to this. You can’t help her if you take a bullet, too.”

  He hoped like hell common sense prevailed. He had to get Maggie to cover now. She’d be another good target, and this guy wasn’t done. Josiah could feel danger hanging in the air.

  With his blood screaming and his lungs burning, he ran and plucked her from the dirt, into his arms. She screamed in protest, kicking and clawing as panic and adrenaline raced through her veins. Carrying her to safety was like hauling a sack of angry cats as he dragged her toward the house.

  Then he heard the report of the rifle again.

  Josiah hit the ground, covering Maggie’s body with his own. A fraction of a second later, a bullet whizzed over his head.

  Manual bolt-action rifle. Definitely at a distance, maybe half a mile or more, to the southwest. But this guy had already hit a target once and come close a second time. He was really fucking good, and they couldn’t take more chances.

  “Let me go. That’s my grandmother,” Maggie shrieked.

  “It’ll be you next if you don’t get in the damn house. Call an ambulance and comfort your grandfather. I’ll see to Glenda.”

  “But—”

  “While you argue, your grandmother is bleeding, and the shooter is setting up for his next shot. Listen, goddamn it!”

  Finally, he got her to the relative safety of the porch. Under the overhang, the bricks of the house would shelter them—at least for a few moments.

  He shoved her against the wall. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “Yes, but . . .” Tears stained her cheeks. She pointed to her grandmother, her whole body shaking.

  Josiah understood. Maggie wasn’t trained for dangerous situations. She’d probably never been on the receiving end of live fire in her life. It was typical for people to react without thinking, for their instincts to be less than logical. It said a lot that her first thought was to protect the woman who had raised her, not to protect herself.

  “I’ll do everything I can. Go! And stay away from windows.”

  Maggie bit back a sob as she tore into the house. He didn’t want to leave her alone and upset, but he had to help Glenda West. Since he’d had medical field training, he would probably be her best chance to survive—if it wasn’t already too late.

  CHAPTER 15

  Maggie paced the waiting room at the hospital in San Antonio. The entire evening had been somewhere between a nightmare and a blur. Her grandmother had been shot. On their ranch.
And she was clinging to life. Maggie knew precisely who to blame. Terror would probably set in soon enough. Right now, she was angrier than she’d ever been in her life.

  “Come here, baby.”

  Josiah’s quiet demand filtered through her ears and penetrated her brain. Though she’d never liked being told what to do, his voice steadied her because he was coming from a place of concern, not control.

  Funny, she had never believed herself capable of real trust. Today, he’d proven she could trust him in virtually any situation. He hadn’t wanted to move Granna while injured, but getting her to safety had come first, and he’d risked his own life to do it.

  Her heart had been in her throat as she’d watched him lift Granna gently and bring her to the dining room. Once there, Josiah had done his best to curb the profuse bleeding. It had seemed like interminable minutes before Neil had arrived with the ambulance. He and another EMT had struggled to stabilize her grandmother as she’d gone into what Josiah called hypovolemic shock from loss of blood. They’d nearly lost Granna, but Neil had quickly called Life Flight when her blood pressure fell dangerously low, her heart rate skyrocketed, and the bleeding couldn’t be stemmed.

  While Maggie and her grandfather had been grappling with the sudden, terrible new reality, Josiah had stepped in and arranged for Papa to ride in the helicopter with Granna. Then Josiah had hustled her into his truck and they’d raced to San Antonio. Despite his clothes being covered in blood, he’d expressed zero regard for his own comfort.

  On that harrowing, panic-filled trek to reach Granna, Maggie had come to another realization. She’d always believed herself too removed from the people around her to genuinely be attached. Clearly, she’d been fooling herself. If she lost her grandmother, it would utterly devastate her. She’d have a hole in her life she’d never be able to fill.

  The same was true of Josiah. She wasn’t possibly falling in love with the man; she was already there.

  So thankful for his calming presence, she made her way to him on the uncomfortable industrial orange sofa.