It surprised her some that she was okay with that.
“Did you read the story of how the Benedicts came to be settled on this land?” Steven asked as the horses began to move.
“Didn’t Sarah bring the ranch into the family when she married Caleb Benedict? She’d been widowed, hadn’t she?”
Steven raised both eyebrows as he shot her a teasing look. “You only skimmed the barest amount of information when we took you to the museum, didn’t you?”
“You expected me to read and retain when I was still trying to adjust to the fact that you and your brother wanted to share me? When all the hormones in my body were jumping up and down with fevered excitement, yelling at me to strip and get started?”
Steven grinned. “We got to you right away, did we?” He brought his horse to a stop, and she mimicked the move. Then he leaned over and kissed her quickly. He sat back, apparently not really expecting an answer. “I suppose for someone who didn’t grow up in Lusty, the concept would be a strange one.”
“You think?” Kelsey asked.
Steven only laughed and clucked at his horse.
Kelsey followed him as he led the way away from the house and barns out into the open fields of the ranch. “I only employ a handful of men now,” Steven said, “as the ranch is more of a tradition than anything else. Most of the family’s wealth comes from investments, land and property development, and manufacturing businesses purchased over the years. And then there’s the oil, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Actually, I think it could be said that oil was the foundation of the whole damn thing.”
When he didn’t say any more, Kelsey fell silent, wondering if she was going to have to drag the story out of him. He led her to a small hillock or one that looked small. Once they were on top of it, he brought his horse to a halt and turned in his saddle. When she turned her gaze in the direction he indicated, she gasped, for she could see the big house, and the “new house,” and most of Lusty.
“When Caleb, Joshua, and Sarah moved into the big house, it was shortly after the death of its owner, a man named Maddox. Maddox had struck a business deal with Sarah’s father for her hand in marriage. They discovered after several attempts were made on her life that Maddox had married Sarah solely for the inheritance left to her by her paternal grandfather. He’d planned to have her killed to get it.”
“That’s horrible! Oh, I’m so glad I didn’t live in those days. Why, women were little more than chattel in the eighteen hundreds!”
“That’s a fact,” Steven said. “Anyway, in the end Maddox died at the hand of Joshua Benedict, and Sarah inherited his entire estate as well as the one left to her by her grandfather.”
“I’ll bet she shared it with her men,” Kelsey said.
“You’d win that bet.”
Daisy responded well to Sarah’s guidance. “I’ve missed this. I really love riding.”
“Matt and I would go out as often as we could when we were kids. Since he came back home from Chicago, we’ve picked up the habit again. Most Sundays we go for a nice long ride. This next Sunday, we’ll all three go together.”
“What was she like? Matthew’s wife?”
“I only met her once, and I didn’t like her. I think he fell in lust with her, and she fell in lust with the family fortune.”
“Huh.” Kelsey never gave much thought to the fact that the Benedicts were extremely wealthy. Knowing Susan as she did, it was hard to think of the Benedicts as being rich.
“Matthew refers to the years he was in Chicago as his rebellious stage.” Steven stopped then, his gaze somber. “I thought I’d never get the chance to meet you.”
What an odd thing to say. Kelsey turned to ask him what he meant when a gunshot exploded, kicking dust up by her horse’s hooves.
* * * *
“The Rangers are going to send an alert to the truck stops and service centers between Coleman and here,” Adam said. “Beyond that, there’s not much we can do to find Ginny.”
They entered Lusty city limits, and in moments, Matthew pulled the cruiser to the curb in front of the sheriff’s office.
“I’ll follow up, speak to some of them by phone,” Matthew said as he got out of the car. “Let them know Ginny isn’t a criminal. I don’t want them spooking her away.”
Once inside the building, Adam went to his desk, tossing his hat on the rack as he passed. “Matt. There are a lot of people who think that when a mother deserts her son, it’s a pretty criminal act.”
Matthew looked over at his best friend and understood that Adam wasn’t seeing the situation the same way that he, Steven, and Kelsey were.
“She was in an impossible situation and did what she could to keep her son safe. The little guy was clean, healthy, and happy. He’s not an abused kid, Adam. Every indication is that Ginny loves Benny and has been a good mother to him. I think Ginny left Deke because the reality of having given her son up got through to her like nothing else could.”
Adam scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay. That letter pretty much speaks to her intent. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. If she shows up here, we’ll talk to her and then reassess the situation.”
“Thanks. We feel pretty strongly about this. Kelsey does, especially.”
He sat down at his own desk and turned on his computer. First, he’d check his e-mail and then he’d contact the Waco police. Just before they drove over to Coleman, the Waco PD called Adam and told him they had seized the mall’s surveillance tapes. Matthew was hoping they’d had some luck there.
As soon as he saw the e-mail from the Austin P.D., Matthew opened it. He’d nearly forgotten about the request he’d put in to Patrick Carmichael yesterday. The detective had sent the case file as a download attachment.
Matthew hadn’t expected any surprises as he read, but he got a couple of them. The first rocked him.
“She witnessed the shooting.” He looked over at Adam when that man swore and didn’t wonder that he didn’t have to explain himself.
“No wonder it took her so long to open up about it.”
“I thought she meant that she’d just waited outside in the car when it happened and saw them after the gunman escaped. But she actually saw it happen.” Matthew kept reading.
He got his second shock, and this one made all the pieces fall in to place.
“Son of a bitch. I know who’s trying to kill her.”
Before he could explain to Adam, his cell phone rang. He looked at the call display. Seeing his brother’s name inexplicably sent a chill down his spine.
Chapter 19
Kelsey refused to go back to the house. She knew neither Steven nor Matt were happy with her implacability. That was just too damn bad.
She wasn’t too happy about Steven’s refusal to go to the clinic either.
“It’s only a graze, honey. I’m fine.” He’d hugged her, and she’d finally started breathing again. Eventually, the internal shaking had stopped. Then the fear disintegrated under a barrage of red, hot fury.
Some son-of-a-bitch had taken a couple of shots at them, wounding Steven.
Her gaze found her men among the twenty or so people combing the slight rise on the edge of town between the general store and the ranchland. Matthew’s brown uniform stood out, as did Steven’s hastily bandaged arm.
She sat in the back of Matthew’s cruiser, with one of his fathers in the front seat and the other in the back beside her.
“Unless that bastard picked up his shell casings, they should be finding something soon,” Caleb Benedict said.
“Sorry son-of-a-bitch better not show his face around here again. The women alone would beat him to bloody death for threatening two of our own,” Jonathan Benedict said.
“Damn right,” Caleb agreed.
Kelsey felt warmth suffuse her at those words. She turned to Jonathan, who sat beside her.
“You need to insist your son sees the doctor.”
Both men smiled. “Don’t
you worry, sweetheart,” Jonathan said. “As soon as they find the evidence, Bernice will see to it if he doesn’t.”
“He’s doing what he can to take care of you,” Caleb said. “That’s the Benedict way. Once they’ve finished their search, he’ll head on over because you asked him to.”
“I’m sorry he got hurt. I don’t understand why anyone would try—”
“Now, sweetheart, if you’re apologizing, you can stop right there. None of this is your fault. It’s the fault of the man who pulled that trigger,” Jonathan said.
“And the fault of the man who sent him,” Caleb said.
“You think someone…”
“The first attempt was some asshole, pardon my language, behind the wheel of a car running you off the road and the second a sniper attack. Speaks to two separate M.O.’s.” Caleb said.
Since Caleb had been a Texas Ranger, she guessed he knew what he was talking about. She turned her attention back to the men. Steven held up his hand, and everyone seemed to stop. Adam and Matthew both came over to him. Matt got down on his knees beside his brother. A few seconds later, he held up what looked like a baggie with something in it.
“Good.” Caleb turned to Kelsey. “Now they’ll be able to know what caliber bullet, and from that, the make and model of gun. If they seize the weapon, they’ll be able to prove it was the one used because they have that casing.”
Matthew handed the bag to Adam, then came toward the car. He leaned in through the open back window and placed a kiss on Kelsey’s face.
“We’ve done all we can going over where the shooter stood,” Matthew said. “Adam’s going to get all the volunteers together, see if their canvass turned up any descriptions of the perp. In the mean time, we need to talk. Since Mom’s still with Benny at the ranch, let’s head over to the big house.”
“Certainly,” Kelsey said. “Just as soon as one of the doctors over at the clinic has a look at Steven’s arm and gives him a proper bandage.”
* * * *
It seemed the most natural thing in the world to Steven to worry about his woman and do everything in his power to protect her and keep her safe. Being the recipient of that same treatment was something else again.
He’d known she’d been taken back to that other shooting five years before. That knowledge had kept his voice calm, his actions gentle even as he’d wanted to swear with the pain from his wound. He did his best to downplay his injury. He hadn’t lied to her. He really had only been grazed. But it hurt like hell.
“There,” Dr. Adam Jessop said as he smoothed the bandage into place. “Cleaned, disinfected, and antibiotic cream applied. I imagine it stings like hell.” He raised one eyebrow, and even though Kelsey sat next to him and he wanted to spare her, he never could lie to his Uncle Adam.
“It stings,” he said.
Steven felt himself scowl when Dr. Adam looked over at Kelsey. “I’ll give him a prescription for Tylenol with codeine.” He went over to the PC that sat on the counter in the exam room. The clinic had gone to computers a few years back, which made the pharmacist in town happy as all prescriptions were now printed out and legible.
“And it appears you need a tetanus booster.”
“Well, hell,” Steven said.
Kelsey leaned in and kissed his shoulder. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
He looked over at Matthew who stood on the other side of Kelsey. His brother’s smirk grounded him as much as Kelsey’s affection soothed him.
“Just a pinch.”
Steven wondered why doctors always said that before jabbing those big ass needles into his arm and twisting them every which way. At least it felt as if they did. Uncle Adam gave him the shot in his left arm. Steven supposed it was better than having to stand and lower his pants, but not by much.
He couldn’t help the slight hiss as he inhaled sharply.
“F…ooey, that hurts.”
“It was just a little pinch,” Dr. Adam reiterated. Steven noted the twinkle in the man’s eyes.
It was a sad world, Steven thought, when your own doctor, who was also a family member, laughed at your pain.
“Come on, tough guy. By now the dads will have the coffee made and some of Mom’s cookies out,” Matthew said.
“One day, it will be your turn in here,” Steven said to his brother. “And I will remember your lack of sympathy.”
“Men,” Kelsey said, “are such babies.”
It took only a few minutes to drive over to the big house. When he’d been a kid, this was where they came for Sunday dinner to visit Grandpa Pat and Grandpa Gerald and Grandma Kate. His grandfathers were gone, but Grandma Kate was still alive, and about four years ago, his fathers had retired from ranching, turned the operation over to him, and moved with his mother into the big house.
He’d never lived here, but it always had felt like home.
As he suspected, his fathers were in the dining room, setting out refreshments. When they stopped ranching, they both decided to learn how to cook and bake to give their wife a break—so that she could, in effect, share in the concept of retirement.
Already comfortable at the table and happily eating some cookies, Lusty’s sheriff nodded to him when they came into the room.
While they’d been combing the grass looking for those shell casings, Matthew had told him what he’d learned just moments before Steven had called him.
“Sit down, Steven. I’ll pour you some coffee,” Kelsey said.
“I’ve got it, sweetheart. You sit down and take it easy, now.” Jonathan waved her into a chair. Steven sat on one side of her and Matthew the other. Matt turned his chair slightly so that he faced her.
“How’s the shoulder?” Matthew asked her.
“Sore. Coming off Daisy and rolling on the ground to get behind those rocks wasn’t fun, but it sure as hell beat the alternative. I forgot,” Kelsey turned to Steven. “How are the horses?”
Both mounts had run off, spooked by the gunfire. Steven was pleased to give Kelsey one bit of good news anyway. “They made it back to the barn. Jim, one of the hands, checked them over. Not a scratch. They’re both fine.”
“That’s a relief.” Then she turned her attention to Matthew. “Your mom’s all right staying with Benny a little longer? I just feel like we should—”
“Kelsey.”
Steven knew it was Matthew’s tone that got Kelsey to stop talking. He shared a look with his brother. Their woman was nervous, as if she knew she wasn’t going to like whatever it was Matthew was going to say to her.
“Yes, Matthew?” Kelsey said.
“Sweetheart, we need to talk.”
* * * *
Kelsey didn’t know why she felt so damn nervous. Maybe it was part of an adrenaline crash. In a few short hours, she’d gone from being in a great mood, to terror, then worry, to fury. There’d only been one time before like it, and she really didn’t want to think about that other time right now.
But it was time for her to pull up her big girl panties and hear whatever Matthew needed to tell her. She couldn’t afford to hide or withdraw from reality. That bullet had only grazed Steven, but it so easily could have killed him.
Inside her head a voice of rebellion whispered, this is why it’s a bad idea to get involved with anyone. People you love get hurt, and sometimes they die.
Kelsey ignored that voice. It was already too late. She’d become involved with the brothers Benedict. She’d found love under two Benedicts, and she would not, could not, go back.
“All right. I just know I’m not going to like this.” She inhaled deeply. Then she let the air out and nodded.
“We know there’ve been two attempts now aimed at you. We couldn’t figure out why, so it didn’t make any sense. Kelsey, this afternoon the Austin P.D. sent me the file on Philip and Sean’s deaths.”
Kelsey felt her heart sink. “They killed the man who did that. His face was caught on the store’s surveillance camera. Then the police closed in, and there was a gunfight and he died.�
�� Kelsey stopped for a moment, steadied herself. Beside her, Steven moved closer, and put his hand on her shoulder.
That simple touch helped.
“There was absolutely no doubt he was the one,” Kelsey said.
“All that is true. But the authorities never caught the second man.”
“There was no second man.” She’d said that automatically. At the time, the Austin police had told her there had been a second man, a getaway driver. They’d questioned her because they’d believed she’d seen this man.
According to the police, he’d been behind the wheel of a car that had also been in the store’s parking lot.
“Sweetheart? I need you to listen to me, and I need you to believe me. The Austin police never pushed the matter because of the trauma you suffered. However, that store had two cameras, one inside, one outside. The outside camera clearly shows you in your car and shows the getaway car. He was parked right in front of you, facing you. It wasn’t even full dark out, so you must have seen him.”
“I…” Kelsey was shaking inside, and she couldn’t seem to stop it. “I really don’t remember seeing him.”
“I believe you,” Matthew said.
“Sometimes, when we witness horrific things, our subconscious will take over and edit our memory of the event,” Steven said. “I think the moment you witnessed your family being murdered, your subconscious just shut your mind off for a little bit.”
“I remember seeing them shot, and then the next thing I remember is being at the hospital.” No one said anything. Steven’s arm had come all the way around her, and Matthew held both her hands, his thumbs rubbing the backs of them. In that moment, it felt as if the world only contained her, Steven, and Matthew.
“You think the getaway driver is the person trying to kill me now?” Kelsey asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“Why now? It’s been five years.”
“I don’t have an answer for that,” Matthew said.
Covington, Cara - Love Under Two Benedicts [Lusty, Texas 1] (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) Page 16
