“Much better than the last time you were here. Your daughter has been taking good care of me.”
“Glad to hear that.” Anna smiled at him. “Now let’s eat.”
Steve ate a good meal, more than he had been eating. Jessica kept a sharp eye on him, but she tried to hide that fact from her parents.
When lunch was over, she suggested they leave the dishes for later and have a visit.
The two men had already moved to the living room. When the ladies joined them, Brett said, “Steve and I are in agreement that Jessica shouldn’t go to D.C. with him.”
“So?” Jessica asked, a challenge in her voice.
“So that settles it.”
“It certainly does not!”
“Steve,” Anna said, catching the other man’s attention, “have you heard Jessica’s plan?”
“I heard that she wants to go to D.C. with me. That would be too dangerous, Mrs. Randall. I can’t allow that.”
“I think you should hear the details of her plan before you say no,” she said gently.
“Anna!” Brett protested. “Whose side are you on?”
“Sweetheart, I’m not taking sides. I just suggested that Jessica have the opportunity to explain.”
Steve looked at Jessica. “Okay, explain it to me.”
Jessica explained her young tourists plan in great detail. Then she sat silently while Steve gave it some thought.
“Do you really think we could pull it off?”
“Of course, Steve. You’ve been undercover for a long time. This is simply another role. And I’ve been doing it for three years. With proper preparation, no one will recognize you. And if Dad can arrange an appointment, no one will suspect a thing.”
“I’ll admit, Jess, it’s not as wild as I thought it would be. It might even work,” Steve said, frowning.
“Steve, you said you didn’t think it was a good idea,” Brett reminded him, alarm rising in his voice.
“But, Mr. Randall, I hadn’t heard her idea,” Steve explained.
“Even if her idea is a good one, you could go with someone else. It doesn’t have to be Jess,” Brett said.
“Yes, it does!” Jessica returned. “I saved him.”
“Jess, your dad is right. It’ll still be dangerous. Maybe someone else could—”
Anna stepped in to calm the tempers. “I think we can make that decision later. Right now Brett needs to contact whoever he knows in D.C. to get the appointment. Until that happens, there’s no need to make any decisions.”
“You’re right, Mrs. Randall.”
“Please, call me Anna. There are way too many Mrs. Randalls.”
“Yes, I heard there were a lot of you,” Steve added with a grin that seemed to charm Anna.
Brett moved over and sat on the arm of the sofa, putting his arm around Anna. “My wife is a reasonable woman. And the center of my universe,” Brett said fiercely. “I’m not losing her to some smooth-talking stranger.”
Steve tried to jump to his feet, but he fell back down onto the sofa. “Sir, I wasn’t trying to flirt with your wife.”
Jessica hurried to his side. “You’ve been up long enough. It’s time for you to go back to bed.” She helped him to his feet and led him to the bedroom.
As soon as Steve and Jessica left the room, Anna turned on her husband. “Brett Randall, shame on you. You know no one is going to steal me away from you!” She gave him a light kiss. “Now, I need to go check his wound. Do you feel the need to supervise me?
“No, but be sure he behaves himself.”
AFTER HER PARENTS LEFT, Jessica returned to the bedroom where Steve lay. The late-afternoon sun slanted into the room, bathing him in light. He was awake, she could see, facing the door on his side, but he didn’t acknowledge her arrival.
“Did your dad forgive me?” He spoke but he stayed still, not looking at her.
She walked farther into the room and stood beside him. “He knew you weren’t flirting with my mother. But he gets jealous anyway. I hope you’re not angry with him.”
“No, it’s kind of cute, actually.” He turned onto his back and there was a hint of a smile on his face.
“Remember when you were a kid and you were so embarrassed to see your parents kissing?” Jessica asked.
The smile disappeared and he shook his head. “I don’t remember that.”
Those memories were so vivid for her. How could he not recall them? Did his parents not love each other, or— “Were your parents divorced?”
Steve drew a deep breath. “Yeah. Ever since I was about six months old, I’m told.”
“So you didn’t know your father?”
“Not at all.”
“How sad for you. And for your mom. Does she still live in L.A.?”
Steve shifted under the covers, drawing his leg up as if trying to shield himself from her probing questions. “She’s dead, Jess.” He blew out a breath. “She was a druggie, so dependent on that poison that she didn’t care what happened to me. Half the time she didn’t even know I existed.”
“Oh, Steve, I’m sorry,” She reached for him then, her hands cupping his face as she sat beside him on the bed. “How old were you when she died?”
“Twelve. But she’d already left me several years earlier. I was in a foster home when she died.”
Filled with empathy, she couldn’t resist. She bent over and wrapped him in her arms.
He accepted her hug, even encouraged it, his arm going around her shoulder. When she turned her head to him and their lips were mere millimeters from each other, he didn’t turn away as she covered the distance.
His lips felt soft and warm, their touch gentle and tentative. An exploration. And invitation. The kiss was everything she thought it would be. Until he suddenly jerked back.
“We can’t do this,” he said in a choked voice. “I promised your father.”
Jessica stared at him. “What did you promise my father?”
“He—he noticed that the second pillow was indented and he wanted to know who’d been sleeping in the bed with me.” He didn’t look at her as he spoke. “I couldn’t lie to him!”
“Why not? You’ve been working undercover for a long time. What’s one little lie?”
His gaze shot to hers. “Because this wasn’t undercover. This was real. I told him it wasn’t what it looked like. That we weren’t…messing around.”
“So now you’re saying I’m wrong to kiss you?”
“Of course you are, Jess. I have no future, remember?”
Reining in the anger that threatened to break out, she asked, “I thought my plan sounded good to you.”
Steve reached out for her. “Jess, I—”
“Shh!” she warned him, turning from him to stare into the living room. “Did you hear that?”
Steve struggled to rise, but Jessica pushed him back on the bed. “Stay here,” she whispered.
Jessica padded silently into the living room, picking up her gun first. After taking off the safety, she grabbed the phone and dialed the sheriff’s office, her gaze fixed on the front door.
“Sheriff’s office,” said a voice on the other end of the line.
“I need to talk to Mike right away,” she whispered.
“I beg your pardon? I can’t hear you.”
“Get me Mike now,” she said urgently just as someone knocked on the door.
She didn’t make a move toward the door. She had a weird feeling about whoever was out there. They made no attempt to let her know who it was.
From the phone came a voice, “This is Mike.”
“It’s Jess,” she said in a barely audible tone. There’s someone—”
Then the fireworks started.
After the first shot, Jessica moved just inside the bedroom, holding the gun pointed to the floor, waiting, as Mike had said.
Since she’d dropped the phone, she figured Mike would be right up there, but she wasn’t sure there would be time for him to rescue them.
“
Jess?” Steve yelled. She heard him hit the floor. She hoped he stayed down there.
The door, what was left of it, slammed back against the wall and a man came through it, tall and lean but obviously strong and capable.
Jessica knew instantly this was one of Steve’s former partners, one of the guys she’d seen here before, and she opened fire. After what she thought were four rapid-fire shots, he fell to the ground. Her eyes shot to the door but no one else followed him in.
Mike came pounding up the stairs. “Jess!” he yelled.
“Come in, Mike. It’s clear,” she called. She held her gun so that the barrel pointed up at the ceiling, but her hand was shaking.
Mike’s appearance in the doorway relieved her somewhat.
He bent next to the man lying on the floor in her doorway. After feeling for a pulse, he shook his head. Then he stepped over him and came to Jessica. He took the gun from her limp hand. “It’s okay, Jess. You did good.”
Just then Steve managed to crawl through the door of the bedroom.
“Jess!” he called, panic in his voice. “What happened?”
He reached for Jessica and pulled her down into his arms as he sat on the floor. She curled up against him, burying her face in his neck.
“Jess protected you by shooting this guy,” Mike explained. “Can you identify him?”
“Yeah, in a minute,” Steve said, keeping his attention focused on Jessica. “Honey, are you all right?”
She nodded, but she didn’t raise her head.
“You didn’t get hit, did you?”
She shook her head.
“I need to go identify the guy. Why don’t you go in the bedroom and wait for me.”
Shielding her eyes from the body on the floor, Jessica hurried to the bedroom.
Mike came around to help Steve to his feet.
“Doesn’t Jess’s sister live nearby?” Steve asked as he stood. “I think we should call her to be with Jess.”
“Actually, she’s across the street. She’s probably outside now.” Mike moved to the door and called for Tori, motioning with his arm.
“She’s coming. You got something we can cover the body with?”
Steve stepped back into the bedroom and pulled the top sheet off the bed. There was no sign of Jess, who obviously was in the bathroom.
Mike just got the body covered as Tori reached the top of the stairs.
“Mike! What happened? Where’s Jessica?”
“She’s fine. Just a little shook up. Steve thought maybe she’d need to talk to you.”
Steve was standing by the sofa. “She’s in the bathroom, I think.”
Tori gingerly stepped over the shrouded white mound on the floor, without asking any more questions.
Once she’d closed the bedroom door, Mike turned a serious expression to Steve. “I’ve got to find out what went wrong this time. This guy was one of your partners, right?”
Steve moved over to the body and raised the sheet. “Yeah. That’s Marcus.”
“Okay, I’m going to send a couple of deputies up here while I go check on my man who was supposed to be watching the stairs. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Steve sank onto the sofa. The door was shot up, and several bullets were in the sofa, too. There was a pool of blood forming on the floor. He was going to owe for a lot of damages. But Jessica had saved his life once again.
He hadn’t even known Jessica had a gun, much less knew how to use it so effectively. He’d only glanced at the body, but the shots had all been centered in the torso, he’d noticed. He felt bad about Marcus, but there was no way to save him, and he’d done more than enough damage with his dope dealing to merit his death.
Steve heard steps on the stairs and tensed, but it was Mike along with several other men. He carried a body bag that he handed to two of the men, his deputies. The other one, in street clothes, followed Mike into the room.
“Steve, I don’t think you’ve met Jessica’s cousin, Russ Randall. He and Jess’s sister, Tori, are partners in the accounting firm across the street.”
“Hello,” Steve said, offering his hand.
“Glad to meet you.”
“I don’t think Jess’s dad was glad to meet me,” Steve returned. “Especially after the trouble I’ve gotten his daughter in.”
Mike was giving orders to his men. “Don’t zip up the bag or move him yet. Jon’s coming to pronounce him dead.” Then he turned back to Steve. “We’re going to have to move you out of here until we get some repairs done.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry about that. I’ll be glad to pay for them.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure the family will chip in the money.”
“But—”
Russ interrupted his protest. “Listen to Mike, Steve. We Randalls have the money. Tori invests the money for all of us, and she’s a near genius about the stock market.”
So, Steve remarked to himself, it seemed the Randall women were as smart as they were beautiful.
But were they safe? Especially one Jessica Randall?
Because as Steve heard footsteps thundering up the stairs, he suddenly realized that though Marcus was no longer a threat, his partner was still out there.
Chapter Eight
Mike moved to the door to intercept the new arrival.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Brett. Immediately, he said, “She’s fine, Brett, I promise.”
“What happened? It looks like World War III took place here!” Brett exclaimed, his gaze focused on the body. “Is Steve okay, too?”
“Yes, he’s fine.” Mike gestured to Steve, talking with Russ.
“So where’s Jessica?” Brett demanded.
“She’s in the bedroom with her sister. Jess was a little shaken by what happened and we thought— Steve thought Tori could steady her.”
Brett walked over to Steve and slapped him on the shoulder. Unfortunately, it was the shoulder that had been shot, and Steve’s knees buckled.
Russ reached for him and got him to the sofa.
“Sorry, I forgot about the shoulder wound.” Brett sat next to him. “Hey, there are even holes in the sofa. How could this happen?”
“There was a second man who knocked my deputy on the head while his partner went up the stairs,” Mike explained in disgust.
“So there’s still one out there?” Brett asked, anxiety building in his voice. “How are you going to protect Jess now?”
Mike rubbed the back of his neck. “I was kind of thinking she and Steve should go to the ranch. Would you consider that? I know it would put all of you in danger, but—”
Brett didn’t need time to think. He shot to his feet. “I think it’s a great idea. Let’s get packed up.”
MOST OF THE RANDALL family showed up at the ranch that evening for a welcome-home dinner for Jessica. Steve watched in amazement as he was introduced to yet another Randall. He’d already met thirty or forty of them, he was sure.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nick. You’re related to Jessica how?”
Nick Randall smiled. “I’m a second cousin, though I didn’t discover that fact until a couple of years ago. I was adopted shortly after I was born. You’ve probably met my twin, Gabe Randall.”
“That explains it. Here I thought I was seeing double.” Steve nodded in amusement. “Jessica certainly has a big family.”
“Isn’t it amazing?” Nick asked with an understanding look. “There was only me and my parents. After they died, I felt disconnected, lost. Then I discovered my real identity and found this terrific family. And my wife.” His smile softened. “I met Sarah, and my life changed. We have two children now.”
“Congratulations. That’s wonderful.” Steve’s gaze traveled to Jessica before he’d realized it.
Beside him, Nick laughed. “I can see you’ve fallen too, huh?”
“What?” Steve regrouped suddenly and followed Nick’s line of thinking. This newest Randall thought he was smitten with Jessica. “No! Not me! I wa
s just— I need to sit down. I’ve been standing too long.”
“I heard you had a gunshot wound,” Nick said. “Are you in pain?”
Steve sat down on the nearby sofa and before he could answer, Jessica appeared at his side.
“Are you all right, Steve?” Her concern was obvious.
“I just needed to sit down, Jess. Relax. Sit with me. You certainly have a big family,” he said, looking around the living room filled with Randalls. With all the people and activity he worried that someone could slip in easily.
After the shooting, Mike and his men had circled the town but there was no sign of Baldwin. They were sure he’d run as soon as the shooting had begun.
But what would prevent him from returning?
“Uh, Jess, is Mike here?”
Nick said, “I saw him come in a few minutes ago. Want me to bring him over?”
“If you don’t mind, I’d appreciate it,” Steve replied.
“What do you need Mike for?” Jessica asked.
“I just don’t think it’s safe here. What if—”
“The dogs will alert us if any stranger comes near. Especially Murphy. He’s here in the house with us.”
“I know, but…I could endanger your entire family, and they’re a really special group of people.”
Jessica stared at him. “You didn’t have a family, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. I told you I was in foster care. Your family is a real gift, Jess, and I don’t want anything to happen to them.”
“You’re not going anywhere, Steve,” Jessica said. “Not until you agree to my plan.”
“Your father is not going to forgive me if I let you go to D.C. with me, Jess. I’d like to be able to come back here, but that won’t happen if you go with me.”
“It might not happen if I don’t go with you,” Jessica protested, her hands on her trim hips. “My plan will keep you safe. And it will bring you back home safely.”
“Jess, I don’t belong here. I don’t have a way to support myself here. I’m not a cowboy, or a lawyer or—”
“Or a lawman?” a deep voice asked.
Steve turned to see Mike standing there.
“Not the kind you are, Mike,” he explained. “I don’t think I should stay here. You know as well as I do that the other guy wouldn’t hesitate to kill innocent people if it led to me.”
Randall on the Run Page 8
