by Leah Brooke
She lifted the phone, pressing the button to talk, eyeing him. “Why did you give me that look?”
Pleased that he knew her well enough to know exactly what she was talking about, Jared ignored Agent Price’s glare of impatience. “Agent Price was feeling a little defensive when she spoke to Ace. She lifted her chin the way you do when you know you’ve lost an argument or when you’re feeling particularly vulnerable.”
“I don’t do that.”
“Of course you do, and it’s adorable.” He dropped a kiss on her nose, earning the blush he’d expected.
“Stop that. We have an audience.”
With a sigh, Jared allowed her to put a few inches of space between them, taking her free hand in his. “Yeah. Make the call so we can get them the hell out of here.”
“When I’m finished, I want to go get William.”
Lifting her chin, Jared shook his head, releasing her hand so she could dial. “Not until you’ve rested. Besides, our parents are having a ball with him. They took him to their grocery store and are showing him off to everyone. You’re stalling. That’s not like you. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good. Make the call.”
Nodding, Erin dialed, her gaze going to his as she waited for an answer.
She didn’t wait long.
“Hello, Wes.”
“Erin, what a surprise!”
Agent Price reached out to adjust the volume, lowering it to a level that just barely allowed Jared to hear Cramer’s side of the conversation.
Erin took Jared’s hand. “I’ll bet.” She smiled when Wes rushed to fill in the silence that followed.
“Are you calling about Nelson? I heard about what happened.”
“Oh, you heard that he had me at gunpoint?”
“What? I just heard he was killed. Are you all right?”
Frowning, Erin tightened her grip on Jared’s hand, something he would bet she didn’t notice. “That didn’t sound very sincere, Wes. You might want to work on that.”
“Of course it’s sincere. You know how I feel about you.”
“Do I?”
“I tried to tell you before your redneck husband broke my wrist.”
Smiling up at Jared, Erin squeezed his hand. “Yeah, my husbands are very physical. I’m afraid it’s rubbed off on me. If you were here in front of me, I’d punch you in the face and then knee you in the balls.”
“What?”
Erin’s temper flared, her eyes narrowing and her lips thinning in a way that Jared had seen more times than he cared to remember. “Don’t play stupid with me, Wes. Nelson came after me because you told him that I have the money he embezzled. You know, the money you stole from him. How the hell did you know that I took it?”
Impressed at the convincing vehemence in her tone, Jared pursed his lips, raising a brow, and glanced at his brothers, who seemed equally impressed.
Wes’s voice shook for the first time. “What the hell are you talking about?”
When Erin started to pull her hand from his, Jared lifted it to flatten it on his chest, covering it with his own.
He needed the connection and needed her to feel secure.
Despite the pain in her eyes, her gaze softened and stayed on his.
“You know damned well what I’m talking about! How the hell did you know that I took it? I’ve got news for you, Wes, if you tell anyone about it, they’ll never believe you.”
Jared smiled and shook his head, amazed at how convincing his wife could be.
On the heels of that thought, he couldn’t help but worry that he would believe her if she used that tone with him.
He glanced at his brothers again to find them both frowning while Ace grinned from ear to ear.
“How the hell did you know I stole the money from Nelson, damn it?”
Erin giggled, but her eyed hardened. “Oh, Wes. That was easy. You always seemed a little slimy to me so when Nelson went to prison, I had you watched out of curiosity. Once I saw that you were going in to see him, my curiosity became intrigue. I had to ask myself, why would an attorney who’d worked so hard to put Nelson in prison, and had called him a variety of colorful names while we were building the case, suddenly decide to visit the man?”
“His wife asked me to go. She wanted to divorce him.”
Jared wondered what contrary part of him found her cold smile and sarcasm adorable.
Arousing.
Magnificent.
Idly wondering how he could possibly fall in love with her over and over again, Jared focused on her conversation with Cramer, wincing to see that her headache had worsened.
Grinning, Erin adopted a singsong voice. “You’re not a divorce attorney, Wes.”
“I was the only attorney she knew!”
Erin laughed coldly, lifting a hand to rub her temple. “Whatever. Anyway, I became intrigued so I decided to follow you myself.”
“You’re lying.”
“Am I? Tell me something, Wes. How did you know I took it? I wasn’t followed. I made sure of it.”
Erin gripped his hand again. “I’ll tell you, those two ugly green duffel bags weighed a hell of a lot more than I thought they would. I had to make two trips. Tell me, Wes. Did you have to make two trips, too? I’d bet any one of my husbands could have carried them in one.”
“I carried them in one trip, even after I’d spent an hour digging them up!”
“I’m impressed.”
So was Jared, and apparently Agent Price, as well.
“You don’t have it.”
Erin smiled again. “I don’t understand you, Wes. You had to know I have it. You told Nelson I have it.”
“I made that up! He had a gun. When he got out and went to find the money and it was gone, he knew that I’d taken it. I was the only one who knew where it was.”
“So you threw me under the bus? He would have killed me, you asshole!”
Instinctively reaching for her, Jared rubbed her back, frowning when she pulled away from him.
“You sent him here. He could have killed my husbands. My baby! My sister!”
“Erin, listen! I went to Desire to warn you, but I didn’t get the chance. I wanted you to go away with me. Then you wouldn’t have been in danger at all.”
Jared fought to hold on to his temper, but each word Wes uttered made it more difficult.
Wes’s voice lowered in an apparent attempt at seduction. “We can still go away. Just you and me. No one will ever find us. No one will ever know we have the money. Wait. You didn’t tell your husbands about the money, did you?”
Duncan rose from the sofa, circling behind it, his fists clenched on the back of it.
Reese picked up Erin’s glass of water, meeting Jared’s gaze over her head as he approached and handed it to her.
After taking a sip, she turned away. “Of course not. It’s mine, and if I ever need an escape plan, I’ve got one.”
“I don’t believe you. I saw the way you looked at them. You’re making this up.”
“Whatever, Wes. Jared’s on his way in. I have to go.”
She disconnected and handed the phone to Jared. “So, how’d I do?”
After tossing the phone to Duncan, Jared hugged her close. “You did good, baby. I didn’t expect anything less. You’re good at everything you do.”
Duncan tossed the phone to Reese and closed in behind her, kissing her temple. “In fact, you were so convincing I started wondering how many times you’ve fooled me.”
Erin smiled, but Jared could see that it cost her. “That would be telling.”
Ace frowned and shared a look with Jared. “She’s beat. We’ll be watching the house, but keep a gun handy just in case Cramer believes her enough to come here first.”
“They have a gun?” One of the agents frowned, eyeing each of them in turn.”
Ace retrieved his hat from a side table. “They have several. There isn’t a house in town that doesn’t have a gun in it.”
&nb
sp; Reese rose, facing the agents. “Our wife’s done what you wanted. She needs to rest now, so it’s time for you to go.”
While the other agents packed up their equipment, Agent Price came forward, flipping through a small notepad. “We didn’t know anything about there being two green duffel bags.”
Erin straightened, narrowing her gaze at Agent Price. “Nelson told me.”
Agent Price scribbled in her notebook and tucked it away, her lips thinning. “You didn’t share that with us.”
“I knew about it.” Ace placed himself between Agent Price and Erin. “So did her husbands. Get your stuff packed up. Erin is still recovering from an attack, but she did what you wanted. Get out.”
* * * *
Duncan could feel the tension in Erin and mentally cursed, glancing at Jared, who gently massaged her forehead.
His stubborn wife didn’t want to show any weakness in front of the others, but he felt her trembling, which told him just how badly her head hurt and just how much her show of strength cost her.
As soon as the agents left, and the door closed behind Ace, Erin slumped against him. “Just give me a minute.”
“You need more than a minute.” Meeting Jared’s scowl, Duncan lifted her as carefully as he could in deference to her headache and cracked rib. “Just relax, baby. I’ve got you.”
He carried her into the bedroom and placed her in the center of the bed, alarmed at her stillness. “We should have put the feds off a couple more days.”
“No. I wanted to get it over with. I’m so sorry about your store. So many beautiful things gone.”
“That’s nothing compared to what we could have lost.” Unable to resist, he touched his lips to hers. “We can rebuild the store and replace the inventory. You, darlin’, are irreplaceable. Every time I close my eyes, I see him holding you with a gun pressed against your side.”
Easing her out of her clothes, he ran a finger lightly over the tape binding her ribs.
He took her hand when she reached for him, lifting it to his lips and staring down at her too-still form, noting that she hadn’t opened her eyes since he picked her up. “The headache’s bad, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
His alarm grew when she opened her eyes to slits and forced a smile. “Be still. I’ll get your nightgown.”
Furious at all that had happened in the last few days, he retrieved one of her softest nightgowns from her drawer and turned to see Reese coming into the room. “We need to call the doctor.”
Holding a glass of water in one hand and the bottle of her pain medicine in the other, Reese didn’t take his eyes from Erin. “Jared’s on the phone with him now. Doc said to give her a pain pill and make her lie down. He said that stress probably made it worse. If it doesn’t ease after she takes the pain pill, he wants us to take her to the ER.”
“I’ll be fine. It’s easing already. Just give me a couple of minutes.”
Reese smiled faintly and set the glass aside to shake one of her pills from the bottle. “You can have all the time you want.” Kneeling on the bed, he eased a hand under her back and lifted her. “Come on, baby. Take your pill, and then Duncan and I will help you into your nightgown.”
Circling to her other side, Duncan waited until she’d swallowed the pill before slipping her nightgown over her head, and with Reese’s help, bundled her into it. “That’s my girl.”
Erin opened her eyes to slits. “When I get rid of this headache, I’m going to kick your ass.”
Easing her back down, Duncan smiled. “I know, baby.”
After Reese helped her roll to her side, a position she favored, and one that took pressure from her cracked rib, she sighed.
Duncan fought to hide his fear. “There, honey. Comfortable?”
Closing her eyes again, she smiled. “Hmm. Very. Thank you. Can I take a rain check on the massage?”
Becoming more alarmed that his wife turned down something she always enjoyed—something that always relaxed her—Duncan lifted his gaze to meet Reese’s concerned one.
“Of course.”
Reaching back to a nearby chair, he retrieved the soft blanket draped over it and covered her with it.
Reese edged closer, spooning her. “I’ll stay with her. I could use a couple hours of shut-eye.”
Nodding, Duncan silently closed the curtains, plunging the room into almost complete darkness.
Fingering the material, he heard the muffled footsteps of Jared walking into the room. Duncan turned to glance at him, careful to keep his voice low. “She hated the blinds we used to have in here.”
“They were ugly.”
Dropping the edge of the curtain, Duncan turned with a smile. “So you said.”
Jared circled the bed and lowered himself to a spot near her thighs. “Numerous times. But once I tumbled you into bed, you forgot all about them.”
“Sometimes you didn’t even notice them at all.” Raising himself to smile down at Erin, Reese pressed his lips to her shoulder before adjusting the blanket over it. “It took you months to find the ones you wanted, and when you did, we had to hang them right away.”
To Duncan’s relief, Erin’s smile seemed less forced. “Admit it. You like having room-darkening curtains. Think about how many mornings we got to sleep in. Of course, that was before William.”
Chuckling, Jared reached under the blanket to rub her feet. “Very true. Why don’t you get some sleep while Mom and the dads have him? They have enough bottles to last until tomorrow afternoon.”
Erin smiled again and slid a hand under her pillow. “I would love to sleep, but I have three husbands who won’t shut up.”
Relieved that she sounded more like herself, and noting that she’d begun to slur her words, Duncan bent to touch his lips to her forehead. “Point taken. Go to sleep, darlin’.”
He left the room and made his way to the kitchen, dropping into a chair.
The horror of the previous day played in his mind, tightening his stomach into painful knots.
Sick to his stomach at how close they’d come to losing her, Duncan braced his elbows on the table and dropped his head into his hands, wondering if he’d ever get the horrifying image out of his mind.
* * * *
Satisfied that his wife slept peacefully, and that Reese would watch over her while she did, Jared eased from the bed and went in search of Duncan.
His brother had been unusually quiet and thoughtful since the fire and the attack on Erin, and Jared couldn’t help but worry.
He found Duncan sitting at the kitchen table, his head in his hands and apparently lost in thought.
Reaching into the cupboard, he retrieved two coffee mugs and glanced back, wondering if his brother even realized he was even there.
He filled both cups, setting one in front of Duncan before lowering himself to the chair across from him.
Sitting up, Duncan wrapped his hand around the mug. “Is she asleep?”
“Yes. She should sleep for a couple of hours.”
“Good. She needs it.”
Jared inclined his head, waiting Duncan out, much the same way he did with Erin. “Boone texted me earlier. He and Chase are working on some preliminary plans to rebuild the store and want to go over them with us whenever we’re ready.”
Duncan nodded and took another sip of coffee. “Thank God that, other than some water damage, the warehouse is okay.”
“Boone and Chase want to help us clean that up, too. Of course, the dads are chomping at the bit to get started.”
Nodding again, Duncan stared down into his cup. “We’ll have to make sure Erin has someone with her. Although she would never admit it, handling the baby with that cracked rib hurts her.” Lifting his gaze to Jared’s, he smiled humorlessly. “Looks like we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“And an injured wife and a new baby, but none of that is what’s bothering you. Out with it.”
Waving a hand, Duncan blew out a breath and sat back again. “Watching the fire, I
was mad as hell. I couldn’t think about anything except all the furniture we worked so hard on being destroyed. Thinking about how we’d have to rebuild the store and all the money we’d lose.”
Waving a hand again, he got to his feet. “I know. I know. The money’s not the issue, but I was thinking about Erin and William. With the money we got from the oil found on the property, we don’t have to worry about money, but I still do. I want to give them the security they need. I want to set up a college fund. I want to spoil them a little.”
“I understand that.” Jared turned in his seat to face his brother. “I want that, too. The insurance and a little elbow grease should cover most of the cost of rebuilding and restocking.” Jared paused, crossing his arms over his chest. “None of this has anything to do with what’s bothering you.”
Shaking his head, Duncan blew out a breath. “You’re right. None of it mattered. When I saw that maniac holding a gun to Erin—”
He stopped abruptly, swallowing heavily and taking several deep breaths. “I love that woman.”
Understanding his brother, Jared smiled. “Of course, you do. We all do. You’ve loved her almost since we met her, but it suddenly hit you hard, didn’t it?”
Duncan appeared poleaxed.
Scraping a hand through his hair, Duncan met Jared’s gaze, his lips twitching. “When faced head-on with the possibility of losing her—hell. Christ, if Erin realizes what she is to me, I’m toast.”
Amused, Jared got to his feet. “She knows. Believe me. That woman knows damned well that she can wrap us around her finger whenever she wants to. But she’s smart enough to know that we can wrap her around ours. It intimidates her at times because, like you, she’s more comfortable having the upper hand.”
Duncan moved back to the table, reaching for his mug as he dropped into his seat again. “She usually does have the upper hand.”
Jared smiled. “And it makes her more comfortable, but knowing that we have the upper hand when it comes to her safety and well-being gives her the security she needs. She never had that and sometimes has a hard time accepting it. Little by little, she’s learning to trust it, though.”
Duncan wrapped his hand around his mug again, his expression hardening. “We didn’t keep her safe yesterday, did we?”
