He moved faster now, jerked open the door of his black half-ton, and slid behind the wheel. Jamming the key into the ignition, the motor roared to life. “Where’s your aunt, sugarplum?”
A tiny voice wavered through the phone. “Daddy tried to pull our ears off, but Aunt Harley saved us.” A sniffle. Another whimper. “And now we’re very ’cared we’ll lose her like we lost Mommy.”
Gage shoved the gearstick into reverse and stepped on the gas pedal. As he backed the truck down the driveway, tires squealed and the stench of burned rubber followed. “Either of you hurt?”
“Daddy tried to pull off my ear.”
“Me, too.”
The truck jolted onto the street. Gage cranked on the wheel, straightening out the tires as he shoved the gearshift into drive. “Where’re you girls now?”
“In our secret hiding place.”
“Shush, Laura,” Lisa’s tiny voice hissed. “Don’t tell him where it is.”
Gage pressed down on the gas pedal and the tires screeched against the hot pavement. As the back end of the truck fishtailed up the street, he took a deep breath, regaining control of the vehicle and his runaway emotions. “You girls stay out of sight until I get there. Don’t go near the house or your daddy. I’m on my way.”
“Unca Gage?”
Uncertainty filled the girl’s voice and Gage pressed down harder on the accelerator. “What, sugarpie?”
“We luv you.”
He closed off his emotions and focused on maneuvering the truck through the town traffic. “Girls, I need to hang up now. If your daddy comes looking for you, you get on the phone and call me right away. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Thumbing the END button, he made one more phone call. “Adam? I think Mike’s lost it. I’m heading out to the farm right now to check up on Harley and the girls. Can you call social services and inform them of the situation?”
“Do you need backup?”
“It’s Mike.” Mike, who was always gentle and patient and so unlike their old man. He recalled the backhanded slap he’d interrupted. “It might not hurt. See you there.”
Without waiting for an answer, knowing his partner would back him up no matter what, he ended the call and set the phone down on the seat beside him so he could focus on the road.
By the time he got through the town traffic and onto the country road, panic made his foot heavy and his heart even heavier. When he reached his brother’s farm, he killed the truck motor and was out of the cab and running for the house before the vehicle rolled to a stop. Feet pounding up the wooden steps, he flung open the door and barreled into the kitchen.
Mike had Harley backed against the wall, her wrists manacled in one hand, gripping her chin with the fingers of his other hand. At the interruption, he glanced over his shoulder and gave Gage a cocky grin. “Come to negotiate?”
Negotiate?
Hell, the only deal he was making with his brother would land Mike in the psychiatric ward.
Gage shot across the room, grabbed Mike by the shoulder, and planted his fist dead center of the other man’s jaw. Knees buckling, his brother crumpled to the floor.
Not giving him more than a second look, Gage turned his attention to Harley. She wiped the back of her arm across her mouth and without a word, stepped over her brother-in-law, elbowed Gage out of the way, and headed for the front door.
With one final glance to ensure his brother was out cold, Gage turned on his heel and followed her. “Are you hurt?”
She answered his question with one of her own. “What are you doing here?”
“The girls called, said there was trouble.” Fear squeezed his chest. “Are you hurt?”
“They shouldn’t have bothered you. It was nothing I couldn’t handle.” She sounded calm and cool, and it appeared that Gage was the only one freaked out. “Where are they?”
“In their secret hiding place, wherever that is.” He raked one hand through his hair and tried to steady the erratic beat of his heart. “Harley, are you okay?”
She reached the back door and hand on the knob, paused. “I should leave Mike a note.”
“I’ll do it.” Fire blazed through his system. He closed the distance between them and slammed the palm of his hand against the door before she could escape. “I asked you a question. Are you okay? A simple yes or no will suffice.”
She jumped and turned to face him, fear in her clear brown eyes, trepidation in the stiff set of her shoulders as she leaned back against the door, and with her hands against his chest, tried to shove him back. “Don’t you manhandle me, too.”
He took a step back, raised his hands where she could see them, still so worried he was having problems catching his breath. “I’m not manhandling you.”
Her dark brown eyes flashed with a mixture of anger and fear, and he backed up another step. “Good, because I’m not putting up with it from you or anyone else.”
He was ready to make reparations now. Not like this, though. Not so angry that he frightened her. He harnessed his temper and gentled his voice and demeanor. “You’re free to go anytime you’d like. I promise, I won’t stop you.”
As she turned to the door and headed outside, he noticed the reddish marks at the side of her mouth and on her chin. “By the way, I’m fine. I’m worried about the girls. Where are they?”
She stopped in the yard near the truck, hands on hips, looking about as ferocious as a mouse, and waited for his reply.
Gage shrugged and stared back at her. “They said they were calling from their secret hiding place. Don’t you know where that is?”
Her mouth thinned. “No. I’m not their mother or their father. I haven’t got a freaking clue what I’m doing here.” Her voice broke and she turned toward the yard, swiped at her eyes.
What made her think she could protect herself against his brother? Or against any man? Look how easily he’d backed her against the door.
He shook off the thought, reached through the open window of the truck, and grabbed his cell off the seat. “They used Mike’s cell. I’ll give them a call and we’ll track them down.”
Hands twisting at her waist, she nodded silently while Gage hit the speed dial button. The girls answered it on the first ring.
“H’lo?”
“Can you girls see me from where you’re hiding?” He squinted toward the setting sun. “I’m standing near the house with your aunt.”
“Where’s Daddy?”
“He’s sleeping, sugarplum. It’s okay to come out now.”
The sound of straw rustling and feet pounding against floorboards came clearly through the open line. Gage pointed to the entrance of the barn and Harley’s gaze followed his gesture. The barn door swung open and the two girls stumbled through the opening. Harley raced forward, her arms outstretched, a sob in her voice as she cried out the girls’ names.
Somewhere along the line, she’d gotten under his skin. Or maybe while he’d been staying away from her all those years, she’d always been there. He trailed after her, smiling as the girls tackled her and laid her flat out against the tinder dry grass.
If he wasn’t in a rush to get them away from here, it might be fun to join them.
“Come on, we better get going,” he said gruffly, setting his hat lower over his eyes to keep out the glare of the early evening sun. He watched, somewhat distracted from their current situation by the tangle of female legs and arms.
Harley gained her feet first and stopped to brush the grass from her back end. The twins imitated her perfectly. She smiled down at them, and Gage realized that if they were all strangers meeting on the street for the very first time, he would have assumed she was their mother.
His body warmed as she sauntered closer, the girls clinging to her hands as though they’d never let her go again.
Reaching him, she gave the twins a gentle push in his direction. “Girls, why don’t you climb into the truck with your Uncle Gage?”
A chill of foreboding disrupted the w
armth. “What are you doing, Harley?”
“The girls need clothes.”
He shook his head. “We’ll go shopping for them.”
“I need clothes, too.”
He thought of her naked, in his arms and his bed. “No, you don’t.”
Her face flushed red.
“Ha ha. Not funny.” She glanced toward the girls, who as usual it seemed, had disobeyed her order to get into the truck. Leaning toward him, she lowered her voice. “I can’t leave like this. He needs to know his daughters are safe.”
“You’re not going back in there. I’ll go.”
“There’s no need for you to get involved.”
“Mike is family. So are you and the girls.”
“He should know where we’re staying.” A stillness came over her and she cocked one eyebrow. “Where are we staying?”
Suddenly, he was looking at three pairs of identical dark brown eyes. As the full extent of his involvement hit him, he backpedalled before he could stop himself. “Maybe if I talk to Mike, we can get this mess straightened out.”
Their eyes averted from his face, all three girls poked at the grass with their polished toenails, until Harley spoke, her tone neutral, toneless, worrisome. “Sure. Whatever you think is best.”
Right. And the moment he turned his back, she’d take matters into her own hands and disappear. Because Harley knew the odds. If Mike didn’t get help, sooner or later he’d go over the edge, and Harley and the twins would be stuck in the vortex of his descent.
“Maybe a motel,” he suggested.
“Uh huh. Definitely better,” she agreed. “Preferably one with a park nearby. You know, so the girls have somewhere to play.”
He had a huge backyard they’d love. They’d be safe, happy, and—
His gut tightened. Come on, man, they’d be safer at the motel. All he had to do was make sure Mike knew what he’d do to him if he dared go near the twins or Harley without Gage being present. If necessary, he’d help her get a restraining order to keep them all safe.
Once again, the annoying and interfering voice of his conscience whispered that they’d be protected at his house.
He turned away. “I’ll go speak with Mike.”
A tug on his pant leg halted him mid-stride. He hunkered down to eye level, uncertain which twin this was. What did it matter? They wouldn’t be around long enough for him to figure it out.
“I like the big bed at your house, Unca Gage.”
A part of him—the crazy insane part of him that thought he could keep a family safe—wanted to open his arms and open his house to the twins.
The second twin wiggled into the space between him and her sister. “Don’t you like little girls, Unca Gage?”
“Sure I do, sugarplum.” It wasn’t a lie. He liked these little girls and their very sexy aunt.
“How come we can’t live with you?” The one in the back gave her sister a shove and nearly knocked her off her feet. Shoulder to shoulder, they jockeyed for position closest to him. “You got all that room in your house. Aren’t you lonely?”
Harley came to stand behind the twins. “We’ll be quiet, won’t we, girls?”
Unfolding his frame, he came face-to-face with the plea in her eyes.
“Verrry quiet,” one twin whispered.
“Baby mouse quiet,” the other one said.
In the distance, a siren sounded.
He wondered how long the quiet would last, because he remembered it had taken years of beatings from his dad before either Mike or him had finally learned to be quiet. His dad was better now, leaving Gage with only one question.
Did he have enough control to keep them safe while they turned his house—and his life—upside down?
“Please,” Harley implored, her eyes soft and trusting and fearful for the wrong reason.
His gaze dropped to her mouth and he contemplated the possibility of a brief fling. Hell, he’d need something to distract him from the girls disassembling his house, room by room. Finally, he nodded.
With a laugh of pure joy, she threw her arms around his neck, knocked the hat off his head, and squished the twins between them. They squealed out a protest as they wiggled out from between them.
“We’re going to live with Unca Gage,” they screamed in unison.
“Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?” Harley breathed into his ear.
A goofy smile took control of his mouth and lasted till a squad car turned onto the property, Harley released him, and he picked his hat up off the ground. By the time he joined Adam and the other patrol cops and went to confront Mike, his brother was gone.
Afraid to leave Harley and the twins alone, Gage returned to the truck.
And the elation of doing something good had vanished along with his peace of mind.
Where was Mike?
If Mike couldn’t deal with Harley and the kids, how the hell was Gage supposed to keep this ready-made family safe from himself?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dusk fell as they headed back to town, the twins squished in between Gage and Harley because they hadn’t wanted to sit in the truck’s backseat by themselves. From beneath the cover of her lashes, Harley studied the man in the driver’s seat.
He’d returned from the house, obviously concerned, silently climbed into the truck, and hadn’t said a word since. Thank goodness she’d had the foresight to get the girls into the truck and buckled up before he’d returned. If he’d witnessed the trouble they’d given her, she was pretty sure he’d have left them all behind.
Less than two minutes on the road, the peaceful harmony inside the cab came to an abrupt end.
“He’s hogging all the room,” Lisa griped as she gave Gage an elbow in the gut. His surprised oouff earned a satisfied smirk from the grouchy girl. She craned her neck to look up at his face. “How come you get all the room, buster? Cause you’re bigger’n’me?”
“Sweetie, don’t bother your Uncle Gage while he’s driving.” Harley smoothed her hand across Lisa’s head, her own patience wearing thin. If she didn’t hold it together, if she didn’t do something to keep Lisa’s elbow out of Gage’s ribs, she feared he’d stop in the middle of the road, order them all out, and make them walk back to town.
Shifting toward the door, Harley pulled Laura closer. The exhausted, older-by-two-minutes twin, snuggled up against her breast, stuck her thumb into her mouth, and closed her eyes. One down, one to go. “How’s that, sweetie? Do you have enough room now?”
“I want him to move.”
At the girl’s petulant growl, Gage’s jaw tightened. “I can’t move, sugarplum. I have to sit here, right here, so I can steer the truck.”
Lisa drove another elbow into his ribs. Exasperated, Harley caught the child by the upper arm and tried to remain calm. “Come here, sweetie. Lay your head on your sister’s shoulder. I know you’re tired.”
“Am not.”
The shrill response startled Harley and made Gage sit up straight. With a tug on the younger twin’s arm, Harley attempted to coax her away from Gage.
The child’s shrillness turned into a bloody-murder scream.
Teeth gritted, Gage covered Harley’s hand with his and shouted into the racket. “You’re making things worse.”
Making things worse? She dropped Lisa’s arm, pushed as far against the door as she could, and dragged Laura tight against her.
Fine, let him deal with the little brat. After two days of whining and whimpering and plain hardheadedness from the girl, Harley was sick and tired of her niece. Maybe she shouldn’t feel this way. Maybe she ought to have more patience for the poor, motherless child. The truth of it was, nothing she’d ever done had mentally prepared her for round-the-clock babysitting.
Blinking back tears, she turned her face toward the window. Darn it all. She’d really wanted to succeed at this motherhood business.
Gage’s voice was low with suppressed anger. “You better listen to your aunt.”
Either Lisa
didn’t notice or the foolish girl didn’t care because she crossed her chubby arms over her chest and glared at the dash. “How come?”
“Because I have a room in my basement for bad little girls.”
Oh no. Tears threatening to overflow, Harley stifled a groan, dropped her chin to her chest, and shook her head. Gage didn’t have a clue what he was up against. Should she warn him now or wait till Lisa showed her true colors?
Yeah, she’d wait, she decided as she turned to watch the outcome of their battle. After all, he’d told her she’d made things worse. Let him fix this problem on his own. Gage may be a well-respected police officer, but his reputation meant squat to a four-year-old.
The glare vanished from Lisa’s face as her eyebrows disappeared into her bangs, her interest piqued. “Like a dungeon?”
With a white-knuckled grip, Gage clutched the steering wheel. A muscle in his jaw worked overtime. “Sure. Like a dungeon.”
“With ’piders and snakes and all kinds o’ ’cary things?”
He met Harley’s gaze briefly before he fixed the younger twin with a dubious look. “Yeah, sure, kid. Even worse things than those.”
“Ghosts and witches and…um…axe-murderers, too?” Grabbing Gage’s right wrist, Lisa manhandled his arm over her head and settled it across her shoulders. “Don’t tell, Laura, ’kay? She doesn’t like to be ’cared.”
Across the cab, Harley saw the confusion in Gage’s gaze and gave him a weak smile. Later she’d have to warn him that his threats of dark places and spiders only worked on Laura. Lisa, on the other hand, lived for things that went bump in the night.
As the child snuggled up against Gage’s chest, Harley wished she had a camera. With the sweet-faced girl relaxing against the big man, and Gage sending her those dark I’m-gonna-get-you looks, the picture made her heart swell with yearning and at the same time, ache with despair.
“Unca Gage?”
He grunted and lifted his arm to resettle his hat. Lisa reached up, grabbed hold of his bicep with both hands, and tugged his arm back around her shoulders. Leaning against his chest, she stretched out her short legs and purposely dislodged her sister’s legs from the seat. Laura grumbled under her breath, then thankfully drifted back to sleep.
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