Takin' The Reins

by Stacey Coverstone

  Screams erupted through the crowd as the man jumped on top of him and started battering. Wyatt tried to defend himself with his good arm, the one not burning with pain, but the attacker was ignited with determined rage.

  Cole exited the restroom and saw Wyatt being beaten. As he ran to his aid, another man tackled him broadside. More screams. Cimarron Cruz raised his fist in the air to strike, but Cole was faster. He blocked the punch with one arm and pummeled his other fist into Cruz’s gut, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to drop like a sack of potatoes.

  Hearing the commotion, Jordan hurried outside. She watched in frightened shock as Cole grabbed the shirt of an enraged man who was smashing his fist into another man on the ground. When Cole dragged him off the guy on the ground and spun him around, she saw it was Joe Campbell, and Wyatt was the man on the ground. Horrified, she shrieked and ran toward them. Fortunately, she wasn’t able to get in the middle of the brawl where she could have been hurt.

  Cole threw Joe Campbell onto his back and was straddling him, ready to splinter his nose, when three uniformed policemen charged onto the scene and broke up the fight, which had been cheered on by people standing by in the crowd. The cops hauled Cole off Joe as Rachel appeared beside Jordan.

  Jordan fell to her knees and cradled Wyatt’s head in her hands. Someone in the crowd threw a cup of water in Cruz’s face, and he sputtered awake and grabbed his stomach. One of the cops jerked him to his feet and handcuffed him as he moaned in pain. Another office slapped cuffs on Campbell as he staggered to his feet. The third was trying to handcuff Cole when Officer Rafael approached and shouted that Cole was not under arrest.

  “Help me up,” Wyatt told Jordan.

  “No. Stay down. You need medical attention.”

  Struggling to get to his knees, he said, “I’m not that bad. Give me a hand, Jordan.”

  “Let me assist you, Mr. Brannigan.”Wyatt squinted through a cut eye and saw Officer Rafael standing over him. The young policeman signaled to Jordan with a nod of his head, and the two of them hauled Wyatt to his feet. Wyatt leaned into Rafael’s ear and spoke quietly, “It’s nine. She has to go.”

  Hearing what he’d said, Jordan’s eyes enlarged. They misted with tears. “No. Forget Stillwell. We need to get you to the hospital.”

  Wyatt slumped against her shoulder, obviously hurting. “Jordan. Go,” he ordered. “Right now. It’s your chance to get this over with, once and for all. Officer Rafael will be right behind you. Won’t you?”

  “Yes,” Rafael said. He glanced at his watch. “You must hurry, Ms. Mackenzie. It’s nine o’clock on the dot.”

  Cole tossed an arm around Wyatt’s shoulder so Jordan could scoot out from under him. “I’ve got him, Jordan. He’s right. You have to go now. It’s your only chance to end this with Addison.”

  She wiped the tears from her cheeks and sprinted off, dashing through the crowd, not waiting for Officer Rafael.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  The policeman left Wyatt in Cole’s care and went after Jordan, following behind at a safe distance. She reached the front gate and gazed around. The ticket booth was closed. No Stillwell. She drew in a ragged breath. There was no one around except for a few people walking to their cars in the parking lot. Where was he?

  “Mr. Stillwell!” she cried out. “I’m here. It’s Jordan Mackenzie.” looked all around, panic- stricken. Was she too late? Had he not waited one damned minute past nine for her? “Mr. Stillwell!” she repeated.

  “I’m here, Ms. Mackenzie.”

  She spun and came face-to-face with her archenemy. Splaying a hand over her chest to still the erratic beats of her heart, she wheezed, “You scared me.”

  His pudgy face glowed in the light of the full moon. “Have you got the deed?” he barked.

  She tapped the purse hanging on her shoulder. “Yes,” she lied. “But you can’t have it until I have proof my horse is still alive. I want to see her.”

  His beady eyes drilled a hole into her. “That mare is still alive. She’s at Joe Campbell’s house, right where he and that other idiot put her when they stole her from your barn. The morons were supposed to grab you, too…” He shook his head in fury. “Now they’re trying to blackmail me. Imagine that.” He threw his head back and chortled and then grew sober again. “If the fools had kidnapped you that day in Bent like I’d ordered, this would be over already, and I’d be the owner of the Lucky Seven. My destiny would be fulfilled.”

  Rafael and two other policemen stepped out from the shadows with their weapons drawn. “I’ve heard enough,” Rafael said. “Addison Stillwell, put your hands up where I can see them.”

  Stillwell’s body twisted spasmodically. He made a mad dash for it, but was easily apprehended by the other two officers. They roughly drew his hands behind his back. As he was being cuffed, Rafael said, “Addison Stillwell, you’re under arrest for theft, harassment, vehicular endangerment, attempted kidnapping, blackmail, and I suspect there will more charges added to the list before we’re through with you.” He was read his rights and put into the squad car while hollering for his lawyer.

  “Where’s Brannigan?”Jordan asked Rafael, trying to keep her emotions intact. She felt like she was held together with strings, about to fall apart. “He needs to go to the hospital.”

  Just then, Wyatt, Cole and Rachel appeared from behind the ticket booth. Jordan ran to the limping Wyatt. “Look at you!” she cried, horrified by the bruises already covering his face.

  “I’m all right, honey,” he groaned, clutching his ribs.

  “No, you’re not. You’re beaten to a pulp.” She let the tears fall, not caring who saw them.

  “I assure you,” Rafael interjected, “Joe Campbell’s list of charges are growing, too, and attacking Mr. Brannigan will be added to them.” As he spoke, Campbell and Cruz were ushered through the crowd by several more cops. Two more squad cars with sirens blaring pulled into the parking lot and the men were pushed inside.

  “Thanks for jumping in back there, Cole,” Wyatt said as the foursome watched the cars drive away.”I was really getting my bell rung.”

  “No problem. Glad to help a friend.” Jordan noticed Cole was no worse for the wear.

  Rafael hollered into the group of onlookers milling around. “Anyone who was a witness to the fight, please step over here so we can take your statement.” He instructed his remaining officers to begin taking witness accounts before returning to Wyatt, Jordan, Cole and Rachel.

  “Mr. Brannigan, whenever you’re ready, you can give Officer Sanchez your version of what happened. Mr. Roberts, you can speak to Officer Otto. I’m going to the station to begin questioning our suspects.”

  “Can we come over when we’re done here?” Wyatt asked. Jordan’s mouth gaped, because she felt he should go to the ER, but she stopped short of saying more.

  “Of course. You can watch the interrogation from behind a one-way mirror if you’d like.”

  After he’d given his statement, Wyatt insisted on going to the police station. Jordan begged him to let her drive him to the emergency room first.

  “I look worse than I feel.” He leaned on her as they made their way to his truck.

  She didn’t believe him. “You said you heard a pop in your shoulder. It could be broken.”

  He rolled it to show her it wasn’t. “I’m gonna be sore all over, but I’m not bleeding bad and my guts aren’t hanging out. Believe it or not, baby, but I’ve been in brawls before. None of them have killed me yet.”

  “Yeah, but you’re not a young man anymore. You might not mend as easily as you used to.”

  He winced. “Oh, now that comment really hurts.”

  “Only your pride,” she said, finally offering him a weak smile.

  ~ * ~

  Just as they had originally hoped, Cimarron Cruz broke down when interrogated and spilled his guts. He admitted Stillwell directed him and Joe to pay Jordan a visit the first night she arrived in town, and then to return and paint o
bscenities on her barn and destroy her ranch sign. He confessed that Joe made crank phone calls to her, including placing the anonymous call about the sick horse in order to get her alone so they could kidnap her.

  “So, you were right,” Jordan said to Wyatt later. “There never was a horse in Bent.” She’d decided not to watch the interrogations at the police station, so he was giving her all the details as she drove them back to her place in his pickup.

  “Nope. That day, Cruz said, they were prepared to grab you and take you to some previously determined destination where they’d hold you until you handed the deed to your property over to Addison. They had rope and duct tape with them. When Rafael’s men searched Joe’s truck, the items were still there in the cab.”

  Jordan gasped. It was like a bad Lifetime movie.

  Wyatt continued. “Cruz admitted Stillwell became obsessed and was thinking up all kinds of crazy things to do to get you to sell the ranch. He’d begun to ramble often about his Indian soothsayer and how his destiny had to be fulfilled, but you were standing in the way. That first kidnapping plan was ruined, of course, when I showed up with you.”

  “Thank goodness you were there. But why did they shoot at us? Were they trying to kill us?”

  Wyatt adjusted himself in the seat and groaned. “Nah. Apparently, they did it out of frustration and for the hell of it.”

  She shook her head in disgust and turned into her driveway. “What about the day they forced me off the road? They could have killed me then.”

  “Stillwell ordered that, too. Cruz stated they were told to bump you into the ditch. At that point, it was just another way to intimidate you. They weren’t trying to kill you.”

  Jordan sighed. “Then Stillwell had them steal Buttercup.”

  “Yep. But by then those two losers were apparently fed up. Addison hadn’t paid them according to their agreement, but he was still forcing them to take all the risks. They came up with their own scheme to blackmail him with the horse, but they hadn’t carried through with it yet. As far as Addison knew, the horse was still at Joe’s being held as ransom until you gave him the deed to the ranch. He had no idea Cole and I had stolen her back.”

  “What’s going to happen to Cruz now?” she asked.

  “The cops cut him a deal for cooperating, but he’ll still serve some time. Stillwell and Campbell got charged with a whole slew of crimes. Once a jury convicts them, they’ll likely end up in the state pen for a very long time. I’d like to be a fly on the wall when Addison first enters prison. He’ll probably soil his pants when the first catcall flies his way.” He chuckled and then winced and touched his sore rib.

  Jordan cut off the motor. “What’s going to happen to you and Cole for burning down that shed?”

  Wyatt shook his head. “Nothing. I offered to pay for the damages, but Officer Rafael wrote it off. Joe’s not going to be needing a new shed anytime soon anyway.”

  Jordan came around to the passenger side and helped him out of the truck. He slung his arm around her shoulder and limped to the house. “We should call Cole right away with the news,” she said, unlocking the front door.

  Wyatt disagreed. “He can wait.”

  ~ * ~

  It was after midnight when Jordan tucked Wyatt into her bed and gave him some much-needed doctoring and TLC. First, she dispensed extra-strength aspirin for his head and body aches. Then she gently washed away dried blood and dressed the wounds on his face and around his eye. She gently removed his clothes and bandaged his sore ribs, taking extra care not to press hard. As she rubbed Arnica all over his upper body, which was splotched with green and purple bruises, he leaned back on the pillow, closed his eyes, and let her healing hands work their magic.

  “Does that make you feel better?” she asked softly when she was done. He nodded, and she climbed into bed next to him. “Is there any place where I can lay my head that doesn’t hurt?”

  He thought a moment. “Don’t think so.”

  “We’ll get to bring Buttercup home after you’ve recuperated, right, Brannigan?” she asked.

  “Yes. Cole will provide for her until then.”

  Jordan expelled a long and satisfied breath. “I can’t believe it’s finally over.”

  He turned his head toward her and took her chin in his fingers. “You’re wrong about that, Jordan. It’s only just begun.”

  She gazed into his brilliant green eyes. “What do you mean?”

  He took her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist, where her pulse beat. “It means I love you. I fell in love with you the moment we met.”

  Her face broke into a smile. Those were the words she’d been yearning to hear. “Oh, sweetheart, I love you, too.”

  “You do?” He seemed surprised, though she couldn’t imagine why. She nodded her head. “I was sure hoping you’d say that. I never wanted it to be one-sided.”

  She chuckled.

  “Now, I want to ask you something,” he said.

  “Okay.” She held her breath, barely able to contain herself.

  “I want us to be together for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”

  Jordan thought her heart would fly out her chest. She had no intention of making him wait for an answer. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “Yes, Wyatt. It’d make me the happiest woman alive to be your wife.”

  His eyes gleamed. “You called me Wyatt,” he said, grinning that crooked grin she loved so much.

  “Well, that is your name, isn’t it?”

  They laughed and gently snuggled together, as close to each other’s hearts as they could manage. And out in the living room, from the vicinity of the fireplace, came a soft “Maaaaa.”

  About the Author

  Stacey Coverstone is a multi-published author of western romance, Gothic suspense, ghost stories, and the Briony Martin Mystery Series. She lives in Maryland with her husband, their dogs and cats, and a paint horse named Bill. They have two grown daughters and a baby granddaughter. In her spare time, Stacey enjoys reading, photography, target shooting, traveling, and making scrapbooks of her adventures.

  For information on all of Stacey’s books, please visit her Website at: http://www.staceycoverstone.com. If you’d like to be notified when she has a new book release, please feel free to join her Announce Only Newsletter.

  If you enjoyed this story, please consider posting a short review on Amazon. Thank you!

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