by Unknown
“Well, I do. What have you turned into, a weeping willow?”
“Wild!” Dianna immediately pulled away from Duel and wrapped her arms around Wild’s neck.
Her younger brother patted her back in the same awkward way Duel had. “Stop blubbering, little girl. You’ll have us all bawling like year old calves weaned from their mama’s teats.”
She gave a choked laugh. “I want you to meet someone.” Dianna turned to where Taylor had been sitting in his wheelchair. He was gone. “Oh,” she gasped. “He’s not here.” She smiled through her tears. “Maybe later.”
“Sure.” Wild shrugged.
“I have to report in at the office,” Danger stated. “In the meantime, everyone stay close to the house.”
Jace followed him outside. “We can’t remain prisoners in the house, Danger. This is a working ranch.”
“I realize that. I’m just worried about all of you out here. You’re isolated.”
“Kaycee has an appointment December fifteenth with Doc Snelling.” Jace raked unsteady fingers through his hair. “How the hell do I convince her Jillian’s baby isn’t mine?”
Danger’s thick brows knitted together in a deep scowl. “I hate to ask this, Jace, but why the hell were you taking a shower with Jillian?”
Jace heaved a deep breath and raked fingers through his hair. “I wasn’t. You have no idea the bombshell you dropped when you announced Jillian was pregnant.”
Danger shook his head. “You slept with Jillian in the past? Never mind, I see the answer on your face. Jesus, Jace.”
“Hell, I had no choice.”
“So you had sex with her in the past. In the recent past, like in the last few weeks?”
Jace hesitated, shook his head. “No, not really.”
Danger gave him a killing glare. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means…hell, I don’t know. It’s been a losing battle just keeping her out of my bedroom, out of my bed. I can’t tell you how many times in the last few weeks I woke from a deep sleep in the middle of the night with her curled up in my arms, both of us naked and her fondling me.”
“What?”
“I’d wake up so hard, hell I was all but coming.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“No.”
“Jace.”
“I don’t know what she might have done to me while I was sleeping. Once I woke up with her riding my cock. I wasn’t in her, but I had ejaculated, you know, I was wet and…so was she. I don’t know if she put my dick in her before I woke up. It wasn’t like it was something I planned. I wasn’t fucking her.”
“Jesus Christ, Jace. When was this? Before or after you married Kaycee?”
“About a week before I met and married Kaycee.”
“And the shower?”
“A week after I married her.”
“You think you might have ejaculated inside Jillian at either one of those times?
“Yes. I’m pretty sure I did. You know, when I woke when she was riding my dick, it just felt as if I’d been inside her. Fuck! And yes, in the shower. Maybe.”
“You ever try locking your door?”
“Every damn night.”
“Jillian was a full six and a half weeks in her pregnancy. I need your honesty here. Do you think the baby belongs to you?”
“Yes, I suppose there’s a chance.
“How much time has passed since you might have fucked Jillian?
“The right time for the baby to be mine, I don’t want to think that I fucked her at any time, but…she…in the shower…she said I did.”
“What,” Danger shouted, then lowered his voice. “What?”
Inwardly, Jace squirmed. “This is embarrassing. I don’t like discussing my sex life.”
“I don’t like hearing it, either. But I have to know exactly what happened between you and Jillian.”
“I can’t tell you exactly what happened. It’s all hazy. She said I fucked her twice in the shower, came inside her both times. I don’t know if she was telling the truth or not. I can’t remember. Fuck! One of the stallions kicked me in the knee that morning. I grabbed a fifth of Jack and two pain killers and headed to the shower. I don’t know how long I was there. When I realized what was happening between Jillian and me, she was on her knees giving me a blowjob. It took me to my knees. She got me off so damn fast I didn’t have time to think about it. I grabbed her and tossed her ass out of the shower.” Jace raked his fingers through his hair. “I wasn’t feeling any pain. And I was horny as hell—for my wife! I might have fucked Jillian. Goddamnit! I just don’t know!”
“So you probably screwed her blind in the shower. This was when?”
“I told you, the perfect time for Jillian to be at least six weeks pregnant.”
“But you were already married to Kaycee when the shower incidence happened?”
“Yes! Shit, yes! Why?”
“And Kaycee is aware you had the opportunity to screw Jillian before your marriage?”
“Yes, she knows there was a previous relationship, but I told her I hadn’t touched Jillian in years and to my knowledge, I haven’t. Damn it, Danger, I didn’t invite the bitch to my bed or to join me in the shower. I didn’t touch her while she was in my bed that I know of. She touched me. There is a difference.”
“With the same result if you come inside her. You know—”
“Yes, I know if I fucked her, then I probably knocked her up. That would have been her goal.”
“Okay, so Kaycee thinks you haven’t touched Jillian in years, but she’s aware you might have had sex in the shower with Jillian and it happened after your marriage?”
“Yes. She believes I did.”
“Jesus, Jace, she has plenty of motive to kill Jillian.”
“Bullshit! Kaycee isn’t a murderer.”
“Then why was she carrying a knife?”
“For protection.”
“And a weapon she just happened to threaten Jillian with. She cut her. Has she threatened anyone else with the knife? Cut anyone?”
“Damn it, Kaycee isn’t like—”
“Answer the question, Jace. Has she threatened anyone else or cut anyone that you know of?”
“No.”
“Jace, I already know she cut you.”
“All right! Yes, she cut me, but it—”
“Jesus Christ, you weren’t going to tell me?”
“Lacey once held you at gunpoint. It didn’t mean she was going to kill you.”
“Lacey didn’t pull the trigger. Kaycee cut you and Jillian. That’s a little more than a threat.”
“No. No, it wasn’t.”
“Yes, it was. I’m sure Kaycee believed Jillian was telling the truth when she said she was pregnant by you. Even you admit Jillian’s baby might belong to you.”
Jace clenched his fists and nodded. “I’ve always been careful with Jillian but…that morning, the Jack and pain killers hit me hard. I was tired. I hadn’t eaten all day and I was miserable. I lost two hours…I might have done Jillian in the shower at some point. Damn it! I just don’t know.”
“Kaycee’s fingerprints are on the knife, Jace. With what you’ve just told me, together with her cutting both you and Jillian, I have enough to take her in right now and book her.”
“Jesus! Jillian told Kaycee I screwed her that morning, so yes, Kaycee has a motive. But I swear to you, Danger, if you knew Kaycee better, you’d know there isn’t a mean bone in her body.”
Danger snorted. “I beg to differ, my friend. You’re under the mistaken impression you have a wimpy-ass female for a wife. I’d say Kaycee is like my wife, when the going gets tough, she’ll hold her own.”
“Yeah, I lost that mistaken impression when she cut me. She’s not a wimp, but she isn’t mean, either.”
“I need to formally question her. I’ll wait until after her doctor’s appointment to bring her in for further questioning, but I’ll be honest,
I might have to arrest her for Jillian’s murder.”
Jace clenched his fists. “I did it. Take me in. Now.”
Danger shook his head. “It isn’t going to happen. Kaycee’s already a murder suspect in Reno. Right now, all the evidence here points to her killing Jillian. Adam will want her arrested.”
“All right,” Jace snapped. “If that happens, will you at least allow me to bring her in, instead of you coming out here to get her like she’s some kind of criminal?”
Danger chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. “You want her to hate you the rest of your life? If you bring her to me it will destroy any chance you have to make your marriage work.”
“Christ, what a mess.” Jace raked unsteady hands through his hair. “The fucking woman was nothing but trouble when she was alive, and she’s bigger trouble now that she’s dead.”
Danger frowned. “Is there anyone in Rimrock besides me who didn’t sleep with Jillian?”
“I don’t know.” Jace sounded defeated. His dark eyes were bleak as he met Danger’s inquisitive gaze. “I don’t know,” he repeated.
“You’re pretty certain the baby is yours?”
“Yes. I hadn’t touched her since I was eighteen. And except for the first time, when I was fourteen, I always used protection. But the day…in the shower…Christ, I told you I don’t know what happened, but two missing hours? Two hours with Jillian in the shower with me, yeah, I have no doubt I fucked her. I didn’t have rubbers in the shower with me, but I was too gone on the Jack and pain killers to care.”
Danger whistled softly. “Fourteen? You nailed her at fourteen?”
“She nailed me.”
“Hell, I didn’t get my first piece until I was seventeen.”
“I would never risk impregnating her on purpose.”
“I know. She was sick, but she ran into someone sicker.”
Jace nodded. “I don’t know who else slept with her.” Jace gave a bitter laugh. “I’d give anything if I could change the things that happened between Jillian and me. I hated her, Danger. I didn’t kill her, but I could have. It scares me to know I don’t care that she’s dead.” He blew out a puff of air. “I can’t bring myself to be sorry. You have no idea how much misery she’s caused.”
“You wouldn’t have killed her, Jace.” Danger met his friend’s tortured gaze. “If you were going to do it, you’d have done it years ago. What about her family? Did she have any besides the Remingtons?”
Jace snorted. “Believe me, we weren’t her family. I heard her mention once she came here from Kansas. You might check it out. But you better understand I would have killed her over Kaycee. I love her, Danger. There’s no way I’d fall in love with a murderess.”
“Bring Kaycee by my office on the fifteenth. Maybe by then I’ll have your DNA results back.”
Jace nodded. “I’ll see you on the fifteenth.”
Danger watched Jace return to the house and sighed. He wished he could say he loved his wife, but those days were long past.
His friend was in trouble and hurting.
In his opinion, the best candidate for the honor of being the father of Jillian’s baby was Rodney Blake. Or there was the chance of an unknown Mr. X. He mulled this over in his mind. Jillian had been back at the ranch long enough for the baby to belong to Jace. That possibility left Kaycee wide open and top of his list of suspects, plus the knife had her fingerprints on it and it was one of the weapons used on Jillian. He hoped for Jace’s sake, Jillian’s baby didn’t belong to him.
He rubbed his jaw. Of course, there was the mayor, Clyde Hemphill, who turned his head the other way while his wife presented him with three illegitimate little Blake’s and soon to be another.
Clyde couldn’t get it up, so he accepted his wife’s little packages, constant proof of her infidelity, without anger or protest? He didn’t believe it. No man enjoyed looking like a fool. But why, after all these years kill Rodney for humping Cynthia? That made less sense.
He knew Jace would never commit the type of atrocities that were done to Rodney and Jillian. He didn’t know Kaycee well enough to know what she was capable of doing, but if Jace loved her, then it was enough proof of her innocence for him. He needed other DNA samples. Fast!
If it meant bringing in Mayor Hemphill and stirring up a hornet’s nest, then so be it. Clyde Hemphill had plenty of reason to want Rodney dead, on the other hand, why would he want to kill Jillian?
Who else hated Jillian enough to kill her? Who else had she taken showers with? Apparently the only person in Rimrock not getting ‘any’ was the mayor. He’d have a little discussion with Mayor Hemphill and see if he couldn’t stir up the mayor’s true feelings about his wife’s little bundles of joy.
Hell, maybe the mayor killed Rodney Blake after all.
He knew if he was wearing Hemphill’s shoes, he’d probably kill both Rodney and Cynthia. He froze and clenched his fists at his sides. Hell, what was he thinking? If things went according to his plans, he’d soon be in the same exact place as Clyde Hemphill, at least for the part where his wife slept with another man, and he wouldn’t kill the other man who touched Lacey. He’d encourage him to take Lacey off his hands.
He didn’t love Lacey.
He didn’t love Lacey!
Fuck! No, he couldn’t start having doubts now. It was way too late. He’d slept with another woman, not once, but numerous times since August. That woman carried his child.
No, he didn’t love Lacey.
And that thought caused the pain between his eyes to intensify. It brought him right back to square one with Jillian dead—a wife who believed her husband had been unfaithful might want to kill the other woman.
That left only one potential suspect—Kaycee Remington.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Don’t worry about bitin’ off more’n you can chew, your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger’n you think.
~Cowboy Quotes
Rimrock, Montana
December 15, Monday 10:00 a.m.
Kaycee turned her face away from Jace while Doctor Snelling examined her. She hadn’t wanted him to go back to the examination room with her when her name was called, but he took her arm.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said lowly. “I won’t let you shut me out.”
They followed the nurse down the hall. She was still furious with him for lying to her. As far as she was concerned, there wasn’t a thing he could do or say to make things right. He might think differently, but he wasn’t going to remain a part of her life as he insisted. It was difficult enough to accept he cheated on her, but add lying to it and she knew Jace wasn’t the man she wanted to share her life with.
She glanced at the kindly faced, silver-haired man who flashed a big, toothy smile at her.
What was he so damn happy about?
Did it give him some kind of perverted thrill to poke his finger inside her and feel around as if he hunted for a lost tampon or something?
“How have you been feeling, Mrs. Remington?” Doctor Snelling asked, tossing the exam gloves in the trash receptacle. He smiled again.
Men!
As far as she could tell, there wasn’t a thing pleasant about a pelvic exam for either one of them, so there wasn’t any need for him to smile and act like there was. She gave the doctor a patently toothy smile. “Oh, the usual, morning sickness day and night, a lying, cheating husband who really makes me want to have his baby.”
Jace choked.
The doctor stopped scribbling on her chart and looked up. His gaze shifted from her to Jace and back to her. He cleared his throat. “I see.” He chuckled and flipped another page on the chart. “Yes. Hmm. I see where you’ve been bothered with it quite a lot.”
“Which part?” Kaycee asked sweetly.
“Uh…the morning sickness.”
“Yes. And I’ve been bothered by the other, too.”
“Kaycee!”
“Yes, darling?”
He turned a sick grin on the doc
tor. “My wife has a wicked sense of humor.”
“I’m fast losing it.”
“I see,” Doc Snelling said again. He picked up the lab reports and frowned. “You’re a little anemic. Been eating right?”
“No, she hasn’t,” Jace answered for her.
Kaycee bit her lip to keep from ripping in to him. She could talk for herself, thank you very much! “I’m already thick through the waist,” she chirped up. “I’m going to get fat.” She glanced at Jace, batted her lashes and smiled. “Very fat. I already can’t button my jeans.”
“You’re right at eight weeks.” The doctor scratched his head a moment, scowled at the chart and grunted.
She started to sit up on the side of the exam table.
“Don’t get dressed just yet, Mrs. Remington. I think we’ll go ahead and get an ultrasound today.” She flicked a glance at Jace. His brows were knitted in a puzzled scowl.
Doctor Snelling patted his shoulder. “I’ll go tell the nurse to set everything up and be right back.”
It wasn’t long before the nurse rolled in the ultrasound machine, and the doctor walked in right behind her. “This gel is cold,” the nurse warned and squeezed a lump of the icy stuff on Kaycee’s belly.
Doctor Snelling guided the scope across her stomach, stopped and grunted.
Kaycee twisted her head to watch the screen. “Is that the baby? It’s so tiny. It feels a lot bigger than it looks.”
The doctor grinned and slid the scope over a few inches.
She blinked and felt the color drain from her face. “Oh, my God!”
“What?” Jace asked. “What is it?”
“Two,” she whispered. “I think there are two.”
“Twins?” Jace asked. “We’re having twins?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“No? There aren’t two babies?”
“No,” Doctor Snelling said. “There’s three, an egg sac with a single embryo and one with two embryos, identical twins and a third. Triplets.”
Jace jerked away from the wall where he’d been leaning.
Kaycee swept a quick look his way. He looked as if he’d been pole-axed.
