ROYAL'S CHILD

by Sharon Sala

  Royal nodded. At that moment, words were beyond him. When he'd first come out of the house and seen their heads above the rows in the garden, he thought someone had been hurt. The closer he'd come, the less his worry had been. He'd seen them laugh. He'd seen them hug. He'd watched Angel's tenderness as she'd settled Maddie close in her lap. And then he'd watched his daughter's eyes droop, secure in the knowledge that if she was with Angel, she was safe.

  Angel watched Royal striding away with his child in his arms, then sighed and got to her feet to finish what she'd been doing. There was a satisfaction within her that hadn't been there before. An affirmation that what they were doing was right. Not just for the passion that bound her and Royal, but for the love she also felt for his child. She palmed a warm, red tomato and tugged, then set it in the bucket with the others she'd picked. She smiled. And her child, too.

  By the time she looked up again, Royal was coming back.

  "Look," she said, holding up the bounty for him to see. "You and Maddie sure know how to plant a garden. Just look at what you've—"

  He took the bucket out of her hands and set it on the ground, then put his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet. His face was buried against the heat of her neck, his body trembling against hers.

  "Woman, you are breaking my heart."

  Tears shattered Angel's vision as a burst of love for this man hit her square in the belly. One of her shoes dropped to the ground.

  "Wait, Royal. My shoe."

  He set her down, but instead of retrieving the shoe, he took the other one off, too. Then he scooped her into his arms and started toward the house, carrying her as if she weighed nothing at all.

  Surprised by his intensity, she brushed her hand against the side of his face.

  "Where are we going?"

  He paused and closed his eyes, turning his face so his mouth was centered in the middle of her palm. The scent of the earth was on her—from the land on which they were standing to the pungent odor of crushed tomato leaves from the crop she'd been harvesting. He shuddered with longing.

  "Inside. If I don't make love to you within the next five minutes, I might not come out of this day alive."

  She smiled, then playfully rubbed her hand across the breadth of his chest.

  "I never thought of myself as medicine before, but if I can help a good man with a great big ache…"

  His eyes narrowed dangerously. There was a muscle jerking at the side of his jaw.

  "You ever made love in the dirt before?"

  She shook her head, her eyes widening nervously. All she could think was he wouldn't dare.

  "Then don't mess with me, woman, until I get you behind closed doors."

  * * *

  Four days passed. Days in which joy came to the house in myriad ways and cemented Angel's presence in their lives. Angel hugged the memories to her, and each night before she went to bed, she stood before the mirror and looked at the woman she was becoming. Her hair was still the same. Long, thick, and black—sooty black. Her eyes were still large and brown, her brows finely arched. Her nose was still small and straight with a slight flare at the nostrils. Her lips had not changed. They were still shaped in a perpetual pout.

  But the differences were there. In the glow in her eyes. In the tilt of her smile. In the tenderness of her touch. In the way her heart beat. Rock steady. Like the love she had for Royal Justice and his child.

  The Angel Rojas who'd left Fat Louie rolling on the floor of his bar—defiant, disbelieving, distrusting of anyone or anything except herself—was gone. And each day that dawned brought a finer sense of purpose to her life. Since the day they'd put her mother in the ground, she'd been searching for a place to call home. It was now within reach. She'd accepted shelter from Royal, then a job. Now she was about to become his wife. Her life was full. Her heart was content. The only shadow on her horizon was the distant threat of having to one day face a killer. But it was so far removed from the life she was living that she gave herself permission to forget. Only now and then, when she happened to catch an update on the investigation and the drawing was flashed on the television screen, did she let herself remember the loose ends of her past.

  * * *

  But Royal hadn't forgotten a thing. When it came to the women he loved, he went all the way and then some. He had not forgotten that Angel was the only witness in a federal investigation, and while the chance that she would be in danger was remote, the fact that it was there was enough for him to act upon.

  When a graying, middle-aged wrangler showed up on the Justice doorstep looking for a job, Angel thought nothing of it. His truck was old and rusting. Besides a suitcase, there were a couple of saddles and some tack in the truck bed. Nothing but a cowboy looking for work. When Royal hired him on the spot, she still didn't wonder. After all, he'd hired her with far less need and reason.

  His name was Rusty. He tossed his meager belongings into the two-bed bunkhouse and went to work the same day. He ate meals with them, and in the rare times when there was nothing to do, he could be found sitting in a shady spot, whittling on a small piece of wood.

  Maddie was fascinated with him … and with the knife. It took an entire day for Royal to impress upon her the trouble she would be in if she ever tried it herself. After that, everything settled. On August the first, just over a month away, Maddie would turn five. And before that month was out, she would be going to school. Everything was moving at an unstoppable pace.

  * * *

  Royal stood in the hallway with his Stetson in his hands. He'd been ready for the better part of thirty minutes waiting on women of all ages to get ready, too. Angel had poked her head out her bedroom door, blown him a kiss and waggled two fingers at him as an indication of how much more time she needed. His daughter wasn't any better. She'd dawdled on the porch with the kittens too long. And while he could have followed her in her room and done it all for her, it wouldn't have taught her a thing. So he'd taken a deep breath and calmed his frayed nerves and bellowed instead of screamed.

  "Madeline Michelle, if I have to tell you again to brush your teeth—"

  Maddie was running before he finished. She didn't have to hear the rest of it to recognize the implied threat. She'd never had the nerve to test her daddy that far and see what he really would do.

  "I'm brushing. I'm washing. I'm changing my clothes," she shrieked.

  He jammed his Stetson on his head and pivoted sharply. Out. He needed out.

  "I'll be waiting on the porch," he yelled to anyone in general.

  The door slammed behind him and hot air hit him in the face. Tomorrow was the first of July. He had hay on the field drying, and it looked like rain. And while he had some control over the women in his life, there was nothing he could do about the weather. Until the hay was dry enough to bale, there it would lay.

  He caught movement out the corner of his eye and turned. It was Rusty coming from the back yard.

  "We're driving into Dallas," Royal said. "Maddie starts school in a few weeks." He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Buying clothes for school. My God, I knew this day was coming, and I'm still not ready."

  Rusty nodded. "Mine are grown and gone for more than ten years now," he said. "But I remember how it was. It's hard to let go."

  Royal glanced over his shoulder, making sure they were alone. "We should be back before three. If something happens, I'll call."

  The older man's smile shifted. It wasn't much, but his expression had hardened.

  "I suppose I'd better get at that tack," Rusty said. "There's a couple of bridles that need mending."

  Royal nodded. "See you later. Oh, and don't forget. Angel said to tell you there's plenty of leftover roast and some of her chocolate pie in the refrigerator. Help yourself."

  Rusty's smile shifted again, rekindling the light in his eyes. "I'll be doing just that," he said, and waved as he walked away.

  The door opened behind Royal, and he turned. Angel was coming out the door, holding Ma
ddie's hand. She was wearing gauzy white pants and a loose matching top, a recent purchase from a mail-order catalog. White backless sandals flopped against her heels as she walked.

  Royal whistled appreciatively and winced when Maddie, wearing red shorts and a red and white top, put a matching sway in her walk as she headed toward the truck. It reminded him of the day she'd gone to Paige Sullivan's party with the nail polish still wet on her fingernails. He groaned beneath his breath and sighed as Angel slipped an arm around his waist.

  "Poor Daddy. It's going to be all right."

  "Oh, I know that," Royal said. "It's simple, really. She just won't be allowed to date until she's twenty-one."

  Angel giggled and squealed with delight when he spun her off her feet and planted a swift, hard kiss upon her lips.

  Maddie stopped in midsway and spun, her foray into adult behavior instantly forgotten. She was giggling and squealing along with Angel before she reached Royal's side.

  "Do me next, Daddy! Do me!"

  Royal laughed. His world was complete.

  * * *

  Chapter 16

  « ^ »

  The light was turning red as Tommy Boy braked to a stop on the outskirts of Dallas. He had seventy-five dollars in his pocket and less than four hundred in the bank back home. It was as close to broke as he'd ever been in his life.

  For the last two days, he'd been so mad at himself for turning south instead of north that it was all he could do to keep driving. He'd never listened to his daddy all that much when he'd been alive. He didn't know why he was listening to him now.

  The engine in his pickup coughed and sputtered, and he gunned the accelerator to keep it from dying right there in the street.

  "Sorry ass piece of junk," he mumbled.

  If it hadn't been for that black-haired bitch flapping her mouth, he would still have his good truck. Better yet, he would already be home. The engine sputtered again, and this time it died.

  The light turned green.

  Tommy Boy cursed.

  Behind him, cars began to honk. He rolled down the window, stuck out his arm and flipped everyone off before popping the hood. His stride was short and jerky, evidence of his anger.

  Waves of heat washed over his skin as he leaned inside. He turned his head, squinting to protect his eyes from a stream of escaping steam, and that's when he saw her. In the left-turn lane, sitting in the front seat of a late-model pickup. At first he thought he was dreaming. He'd looked for her for so long. He stood and stared. There was a child in the seat beside her, and a big cowboy behind the wheel. His heart leaped. It was her—the bitch who'd gotten away. By God, he'd found her.

  He started to run for his truck and then remembered the piece of junk wouldn't start. He watched in horror as the light changed to green. They started to turn away from Tommy Boy, moving into a thick stream of traffic.

  "No," he shouted, and clapped a hand over his mouth in shock.

  He didn't want her to see him. He couldn't let her go. Frantic, he began to run behind the truck as it moved into traffic, ignoring the shouts and honks from other drivers as they swerved to miss him. He was looking for something—anything—that would tell him what he needed to know. A tag number wouldn't do. He certainly had no way to access the records. And he would have bet his life that wasn't the only blue Chevy truck in the state of Texas. Desperation kept him moving when the logical thing would have been to give up. But he couldn't. His life depended on ending hers.

  He kept running. His lungs began to burn, and there was a stitch in his side. To make matters worse, the truck was stretching the distance between them. Out of nowhere, a man on a motorcycle roared past him. It was reflex that sent him diving into the grass in the center median. When he looked up, the truck was turning a corner.

  "Oh, no," he groaned. They were gone.

  And that's when he saw it. There on the side, in neat white letters on that dark blue paint.

  Justice Ranch, Alvarado, Texas.

  He started to grin. Another car honked at him as he crawled to his feet. He grinned and waved, then started hoofing it toward his down-and-out truck. The smile on his face didn't fit his situation. But Tommy Boy knew something no one else did. His luck had just changed.

  * * *

  School clothes weren't all Royal bought at the mall. While Angel and Maddie were in the bathroom, he'd slipped into the jewelry store and bought Angel a ring. All the way home, one scenario after another ran through his mind about how he would give it to her. It had to be special. And the timing had to be right.

  There was a smile on his face he couldn't control. After tonight, there would be no more misunderstandings about what Angel Rojas meant to him. The ring was his brand. The woman was going to be his wife.

  He grinned again.

  His wife.

  They topped the hill above the ranch. Out of habit, his gaze raked the area for anything out of place. Roman's car surprised him. Although they talked on the phone every day, he hadn't seen him since the day he'd brought Maddie home.

  "Uncle Roman's here," Maddie squealed.

  "So I see," Royal muttered.

  Surprised by his tone, Angel stared. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

  Royal hesitated, then told himself he was just borrowing trouble.

  "No, I doubt it. He usually calls before he comes, that's all."

  Angel nodded, but she had picked up on the hesitation in Royal's voice and couldn't help but wonder.

  Roman was sitting on the porch with Maddie's kitten in his lap. He stood as they parked, and the cat scampered off the porch and under the lilac bush.

  "Uncle Roman!" Maddie shrieked, and ran with her arms outstretched.

  He caught her on the run and hugged her a dozen times over, kissing her between each embrace.

  Madeline Michelle, princess of it all, soaked up the love like a sponge. It was no more than she expected.

  "Aunt Holly sent you some brownies," he said. "They're in the kitchen. Ask Daddy if you can have some."

  Maddie hit the door running and didn't look back.

  Royal rolled his eyes and announced to anyone who cared to hear, "Yeah, sure, Maddie, you can have a brownie. Don't forget to wash your hands first."

  Angel laughed. "She ate all her lunch, remember?"

  He was smiling when Roman stepped off the porch.

  "Rusty's gone," Roman said.

  Royal pivoted. "Why and where?"

  "Appendicitis. He called me over two hours ago. Said he was driving himself to the hospital." He glanced at his watch. "In fact, I'd be guessing he's probably going into surgery about now."

  "Oh, no," Angel gasped. Her face fell. "Oh, Royal, he was all by himself."

  Roman started to say more, but something made him look at Royal. Royal was frowning slightly and shaking his head. It wasn't much, but Roman realized Angel didn't know about Rusty's real identity or why he'd been hired.

  "Well, I just wanted to let you know," he said.

  "I guess I'd better get Maddie's packages," Angel said, and started toward the truck.

  Royal caught her by the wrist, then cupped the back of her head in a tender gesture. "No, baby, I'll get them," Royal said. "You go check on Maddie. And if she's had more than two of those brownies, put the damned things away."

  "Or maybe I'll get a glass of milk and join her," Angel said. "Chocolate sounds just about right." She started toward the house then stopped and turned. "Roman, tell Holly thank you."

  "Sure thing, honey," he said, smiling. The moment she was out of sight, he turned. "What do you want me to do? I'll hire someone else today."

  Royal sighed, stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked away from the house. Roman followed.

  "What are you thinking?" Roman asked.

  Royal turned. The wide brim of his Stetson was shading his face from the rays of the sun, but Roman could see the worry on his brother's face.

  "About what I'd do if anything ever happened to her."

  Roman stoo
d watching Royal struggle with his emotions.

  "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

  Royal took off his hat and combed his hand through his hair. "Oh, yeah, big time," he drawled.

  Roman grinned.

  "If we didn't have bigger fish to fry, I'd say I told you so."

  Royal set his Stetson on his head and then looked at the house. It was so familiar … so safe. He'd been born here. He'd brought his first wife here. And God willing, he would grow old and die here someday. And yet as comfortable as this place was to him, there was a pall on his soul. Something kept pushing at him to take his family and run. If he'd been another sort of man, he might have done so. But Royal had never run from a fight in his life, and he wasn't about to start now. He clenched his jaw and curled his hands into fists, then turned to Roman.

  "Get someone else out here as soon as you can. If not tonight, then tomorrow at the latest. I've got a feeling in my gut that won't go away, and until that son of a bitch is caught and put behind bars, I won't feel right."

  "Consider it already done," Roman said. "But how are you going to explain another hired hand to Angel? She's not stupid, you know."

  Royal nodded. "It's her life that's on the line. I won't lie to her again."

  A few minutes later, Royal was alone, watching the dust settle in the driveway and wondering where to go from here. As he started toward the house, the bulge of the ring box in his pocket reminded him of better things. When he entered the house, there was a grin on his face.

  "Did anyone save me some brownies?" he yelled.

  Two voices in the back of the house shouted no.

  He was still laughing when he tackled them both on the bed.

  * * *

  All good plans and intentions were subject to change. Finding the right moment to give Angel the ring kept coming and then going without it having been done. Royal's frustration was mounting, and by nine o'clock, if he'd had a cage, he might have put Maddie in it. It was almost as if she sensed something was up and didn't want to miss it happening. They'd put her to bed twice already, and he could still hear her singing to her teddy bear.