Showdown in West Texas

by Amanda Stevens

  “I couldn’t even if I wanted to. She’s not here.”

  “Do you know when she’ll be back?”

  Lily shrugged. “I guess that depends on Jesse.”

  Cage’s fingers tightened around the steel bar. “Grace went to see Jesse Nance? Why?”

  “She said you guys missed him when you were out there yesterday. I guess she still wants to ask him some questions about the body that was found out by the canyon. Or maybe…” The sly smile came back. “Maybe she wants to reminisce about old times.”

  “Lily, you have to listen to me,” Cage said.

  Something in his voice must have caught her attention, because she took a step closer to the cell. “What?”

  “Grace could be in big trouble. You have to get me out of here.”

  JESSE PUSHED THE SCREEN DOOR open and stepped out on the porch.

  Grace resisted the urge to let her hand creep up to her gun where it rested in its holster. As far as she could tell, Jesse was unarmed. He was fully dressed though, even at this time of morning. Grace supposed the responsibilities of the ranch had made an early riser out of him. She could remember coming over here as a teenager and finding him still in bed at noon.

  A lot of other things had changed about him, too. He was still an attractive man, but the sparkle of mischief in his eyes had hardened into a cold, brittle gleam. He looked older than his thirty-three years and a little heavier than she remembered, but the smile he flashed her was pure Jesse.

  “Look at you, Gracie. All grown up and packing heat. You still know how to get a man’s heart racing first thing in the morning.” He leaned a shoulder against a newel post and crossed his arms, his gaze never leaving hers. “How you been?”

  “Not too bad,” she said. “But I’m sorry to say this isn’t a social call.”

  “Didn’t think it was,” he said. “Sookie told me you stopped by yesterday. Something about a body found out by the canyon.”

  “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  He frowned and the gleam in his eyes hardened. “You think I had something to do with that guy’s death? Come on, Gracie. You know me better than that.”

  “I don’t know you at all,” she said. “Fifteen years is a long time.”

  “It seems like yesterday to me. We had some good times out here, didn’t we? You and me and Colt. But mostly you and me.” He looked her up and down, smiling. “You were something, Gracie. I never did get over you.”

  “Is that why you hired someone to kill me?” Grace watched him carefully. She saw surprise flash across his features, and maybe just the barest hint of anger.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I know about the deed, Jesse.”

  He sucked in a sharp breath, his gaze going from Grace out to the desert and then back again. “That was Mama’s doing. I guess she didn’t trust me with this place. Thought with your name on the deed you’d keep me from selling it and blowing all the money. Pretty slick of her, I guess. I didn’t even know about it until after she died.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

  His head was slightly bowed and he gazed up at her through his lashes. “Gracie. Come on. We’re talking about a lot of money here.”

  “How much?”

  “Quarter of a million. And call me crazy,” he said as he straightened, “but I’m not too keen on sharing it with the woman who walked out on me.”

  He took a step toward her, and Grace’s hand flew to the handle of her gun. “You just stay right where you are, Jesse.”

  His gaze dropped to the gun, then slowly raised. “Gracie, Gracie, Gracie. We’ve got a score to settle, you and me. And it’s been a long time coming.”

  She heard the creak of the screen door and whirled. No one was there.

  “It’s just the wind, babe,” Jesse said softly as he slipped up behind her.

  A DUST CLOUD ROLLED over the squad car as Lily slammed the car to a halt in front of the house. She shot Cage a warning look as she reached for the door. “I don’t know how I let you talk me into this, but now that we’re here, I’m going to handle this my way. You just sit your ass in the car and keep your mouth shut.”

  “I thought you brought me out here for backup,” Cage said. “Don’t you think you should at least take these off?” He held up his cuffed hands.

  Lily laughed. “Oh, God, is that really what you thought? I brought you out here so you could have the pleasure of witnessing Jesse and Grace’s tender little reunion. If that doesn’t open your eyes, I don’t know what will.” She climbed out of the car.

  “Hey, Lily?”

  She leaned down.

  “It’s okay to be worried about your sister. After everything I told you, you should be worried.”

  She gave him a dirty look. “I need my head examined, is what I need. Let me just say this. If you’re conning me like you conned Grace, I will kick your sorry butt six ways to Sunday. And don’t think I can’t do it.”

  Slamming the door shut, she marched across the yard and up the porch steps to knock on the door. While she had her back to him, Cage climbed out of the car, and by the time Jesse Nance appeared in the doorway, Cage was halfway up the porch steps.

  “Mornin’, Jesse.”

  “Well, well, well, it seems to be my lot in life to be constantly sought after by beautiful women. What brings you out here, darlin’?” He opened the screen door and stepped out on the porch. His gaze lit on Cage and he took in the handcuffs with a raised brow. “This guy your prisoner, Lily?”

  She shot Cage a murderous look. “Yeah, much to my sorrow.”

  “What’d he do?”

  “What didn’t he do? Stole a car, stole an identity, maybe even killed a guy.”

  Jesse whistled. “What’s he doing out here then? What are you doing out here?”

  “I’m looking for Grace. Have you seen her this morning?”

  “This morning you say?”

  “Just answer the question,” Cage said.

  Jesse cut his glance to Lily. “Who is this clown?”

  “Answer the question, damn it. Where’s Grace?”

  “Why is Grace’s whereabouts any business of yours?” he demanded. When Cage made a move toward him, he said, “Oh, you want a piece of this? Come on, hotshot. Bring it on.”

  Lily threw an arm up and gave Cage a shove in the chest as he lunged up the stairs. “Would you two just knock it off? I do not need this kind of grief. You!” She pointed a finger at Cage. “Get your butt down those steps and stay there. And you…” She turned on Jesse. “You tell me right now where Grace is or I might just decide to throw you two in a jail cell and let you duke it out.”

  Jesse was still glowering at Cage. “She was out here earlier but she left. And come to think of it, why are you asking me where she is when she left thirty minutes ago to meet you.”

  “Me? What makes you think that?”

  “Because you called her and told her to meet you at home. At least that’s what she told me.”

  Lily glanced down the steps at Cage. “I never called Grace.”

  “Well, somebody did,” Jesse said. “She stood right here and told me it was you.”

  “If you’re lying—” Lily was already punching in numbers on her cell phone. She listened for a moment, then disconnected. “She’s not answering her phone.”

  “Let’s go,” Cage said. And as she hurried down the steps, he could see his own fear reflected in Lily’s soft gray eyes.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The door was unlocked and Grace pushed it open with her toe. She drew her gun and kept it pointed downward as she eased inside. The house was cool and dim and so quiet, she could hear the thud of her own heartbeat in her ears.

  Her sister’s car wasn’t in the driveway nor was it around back. Grace hadn’t checked the barn, but she didn’t think she needed to. Her sister wasn’t here.

  Someone had called her on her cell phone, pretending to be Lily. The call h
ad come from inside the ranch because the number had shown up on Grace’s display. But it hadn’t been Lily. Grace was almost certain of that now.

  Whoever was inside this house had lured Grace out here for one purpose. To trap her. She’d already called for backup, but Grace was not going to wait around and let her would-be killer get away. This was it. Time for a showdown.

  She went through the bottom floor room by room, and then she climbed the stairs, pausing on the landing, just as her parents’ killer had done all those years ago. Slowly she moved down the hallway, hesitating again just outside the open door to her and Lily’s old bedroom.

  With her gun gripped in both hands, she quickly stepped inside and swept the weapon back and forth as her gaze darted about the room, searching every nook and corner for a shadow, a movement that didn’t belong.

  The gauzy curtains at the window flared, and Grace realized the window was open. Had someone climbed out to the roof?

  She moved over to the window and glanced out. Someone could have easily gone out that way, crept down the sloping roof, hopped onto the top of the porch and shimmied down one of the columns. Grace had done it herself as a kid.

  But why go to all the trouble of getting her out here just to play this game of cat and mouse?

  She moved away from the window and stood listening to the house for a moment. It was so quiet inside…

  And then she heard it. The squeak of the windmill. The sound froze her in place as dread mushroomed in her chest, and for a moment, she couldn’t catch her breath. Sweat trickled down her temple as she willed herself to move. To get out of that house. She recognized the beginning symptoms of a panic attack. If she didn’t leave now…

  She looked down at the floor where an arm had snaked out from underneath the bed. Grace jumped back, but not before the hand clamped like a vise around her ankle.

  LILY HANDED CAGE the key and he managed to release himself from the cuffs while she drove like a bat out of hell down the road. “What if we don’t make it in time—”

  “Just drive,” he said. “Don’t think.”

  She reached down and pulled a .38 from her ankle holster. “Here,” she said, and tossed it to him.

  GRACE WAS YANKED off her feet and she twisted as she fell, so that she landed facedown on the hardwood floor. She broke her momentum with her hands, but her gun went flying. As she scrambled for it, the assailant slid out from the bed and in one roll was on her. Grace tried to turn and fight him off, but he clipped her on the side of the head with something hard and metal. She fell back against the floor, hand to her head, so dazed that for a moment she lost all sense of where she was.

  Then slowly the stars faded and she saw Ethan Brennan standing over her with a gun. No, that couldn’t be right. Ethan?

  “Get up,” he said. “Come on. On your feet.”

  As Grace struggled to rise, he grabbed her arm and yanked her up.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Just shut up.”

  “This is crazy,” she said. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to pull here.”

  “You don’t have to understand. All you have to do is go away. Forever.”

  “Why?” She used her shoulder to wipe the blood from her face. “What did I ever do to you?”

  “It’s simple, Grace. Lily doesn’t want you here.”

  “You’re doing this for Lily?”

  “Oh, don’t make me sound like some love-starved geek. I’m doing this for me, too. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Ever since I can remember, really. I thought it might be fitting to kill you here in the same house where your parents were murdered. Symmetry and all that.”

  “You’re not the one who called me earlier,” Grace said. “Who’s helping you?”

  “Someone who doesn’t want you here, either. But you don’t need to worry about that. You don’t need to worry about anything. I’ll try to make it quick. Not too quick, though. Where would be the fun in that?”

  Through the open window, Grace heard a car coming up the drive. Her heart surged and she saw that Ethan had heard it, too. He eased over to the window, keeping her in his line of sight as he glanced out.

  “It’s over,” Grace said. “The police are here.”

  “Shut up.” But a note of panic had crept into his voice. Grace waited until he glanced down at the drive again, and then she lunged. The momentum took them both through the window and as they rolled down the sloping roof, Grace grabbed for Ethan. Her hand closed around a silver medallion he wore around his neck, and she felt the cord snap as she tumbled over the side of the roof.

  LILY SCREAMED when she saw Grace go over the edge of the roof, and then she spotted the silhouette of a man racing back up the slope.

  It looked like…Ethan.

  She and Cage were both out of the car, racing toward the house. “He went back inside,” Lily said. “Go!”

  When she came around the side of the house and saw Grace lying on the ground, her heart literally stopped as she dropped to her knees beside her sister.

  “Grace! Can you hear me?”

  Grace drew a breath and opened her eyes. “Lily?”

  “Grace, are you okay? How badly are you hurt? Can you move?”

  “I’m okay. I just had the wind knocked out of me.”

  “When I saw you go over that roof—” Lily swallowed. “I’m so sorry…”

  “It’s okay.” Grace caught her sister’s hand. “Everything will be okay, but right now we have to get some backup out here.”

  “We are the backup,” Lily said. “Cage is inside the house with Ethan.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Cage found the little bastard hiding upstairs under a bed, along with a backpack filled with guns, ammo, knives, nunchakus and a garrote. Everything a do-it-yourselfer could possibly need.

  It had taken very little persuasion to find out that he’d hooked up with the hired gun via an online chat room for like-minded aficionados, and that when said hired gun failed to show up at their appointed rendezvous, Ethan had decided to take matters into his own hands.

  As to what happened to the real Dale Walsh, that would have to be left to speculation. Since he and the hit man had been traveling the same route, it was possible that the hit man had overheard Dale mention his destination and decided stealing another man’s identity would allow him to show up in Jericho Pass without arousing suspicion. He may not even have known Walsh was a police detective.

  It was also possible that Walsh had recognized the guy or otherwise caught on to him, and was shot in an ensuing confrontation. Since both principles were dead, no one would likely ever know for sure what had happened.

  Cage could live with that. With the psycho geek in jail and his hired gun six feet under, a few unanswered questions was a small price to pay because Grace was safe. As safe as a sheriff in a border county could be these days.

  Which brought Cage back to his problem. He was still a hunted man. If the bad cops weren’t yet in Jericho Pass, they soon would be. It was time for him to make tracks, before they caught up with him or before Grace remembered that he was supposed to be in jail.

  Still, sundown found him lingering on the steps at Miss Nelda’s, waiting for Grace to show up. The fire in the sky was spectacular that evening, orange on the horizon and deep purple overhead streaked with crimson and gold.

  Say what you will about the barren landscape of West Texas, Cage thought, but the sunsets couldn’t be beat.

  As the day melted into a soft twilight, the air cooled and the dry wind blowing off the desert was tinged with the scent of lemon verbena from the sisters’ garden and the more medicinal scent of the creosote bush that grew near the stairs.

  When Grace finally drove up in her truck, she must not have seen Cage sitting there on the stairs. Or else she was trying to avoid him. She went straight inside, and a few moments later, he saw a light come on in her room. He watched her silhouette moving back and forth in front of the win
dow, counted to ten, then rose and climbed the steps to the balcony.

  She looked surprised to see him when she answered his knock, and he thought—hoped—the emotion that flickered across her face was relief.

  She placed a hand on the door, the other on her hip. “I thought you’d skipped town.”

  “Thought about it.” He folded his arms and leaned a shoulder against the frame. “Somehow it didn’t seem right leaving without saying goodbye.”

  “Well, that’s mighty brave of you,” she said. “Or stupid, since by all rights, I should take you back into custody.”

  “I’m hoping you’ll at least hear me out before you throw the cuffs on me. Grace, look, there’s something—”

  “Shut up, Cage.”

  “What—?”

  She drummed her fingers on the door facing. “I said be quiet. Every time you open your mouth, a pack of lies spills out, so maybe you just shouldn’t talk for a while.”

  He stood there staring down at her, grinning in spite of himself because she was just so damn likable even when she wasn’t.

  “Well, if you don’t want me to talk,” he said softly, “how do you suggest we communicate?”

  He barely had the words out of his mouth before she grabbed his shirt, hauled him inside, and before he knew it, she’d shoved him against the wall and planted the mother of all kisses on him.

  When they finally broke apart, Cage didn’t know what had hit him.

  “Damn, Grace.”

  She was struggling with the buttons on his shirt, and he saved her the trouble by pulling it over his head and flinging it aside once he got the pesky buttoned cuffs over his hands. She was busy with her own shirt now, and Cage hopped on first one foot and then the other as he kicked off his boots. But this time, Grace was down to her underwear, and Cage felt as if someone had just flattened him with a two-by-four.

  The woman had curves, he’d already known that. But to see them in all their glory…

  His mouth watered to taste her beautiful breasts, and his hands itched to stroke every inch of those long, sexy legs. He was already rock hard and they were just getting started.