brides for brothers 14 - a randall thanksgiving

by Judy Christenberry

  The snow would make it easier to see, but it was still going to be difficult to hit their targets. But with the fence closed, the rustlers wouldn’t have any place to go.

  Suddenly, Mike fired. The deputies all joined in as the herd came into view. Harry worked to keep a steady aim. The rustlers were firing back, and a loud gun battle raged for a few minutes. Several of the horsemen galloped off across the ranch land. That left four. Two were down and the other two injured.

  Mike asked him to undo the fence long enough to get the four horses and men through the opening. Harry approached each of the downed men carefully, holding his gun at the ready. No need. They were dead. He managed to get the two wounded men on their feet with Dale’s help. Then they gathered the reins of the horses.

  When they returned to the road the sheriff said, “You’ll have to take the two wounded rustlers and Steve to the hospital.”

  Harry nodded. “You can keep Steve here if you need him,” Harry said.

  “No, I can’t. He’s wounded. I’ll keep Dale.”

  “Is Steve hurt bad?” Harry asked, sympathy and concern immediately pouring through him. He’d been afraid that would happen to him.

  “No. He’s scared as much as anything. But we don’t want to let him lose too much blood.”

  Harry handcuffed the two rustlers and got them into the back seat of the SUV. Then he put Steve, wounded in the arm, in the front with him. As he got started back to town, he called the hospital on his cell phone. “This is the Sheriff’s Office. We’re bringing in three wounded men. Two are cattle rustlers and the other is one of our deputies. Our ETA is five minutes.”

  He was pressing hard on the gas pedal. He didn’t like the look of Steve, who was pale and sweaty. Steve might not be the best deputy, but he wanted to be; he worked hard and Harry had partnered with him for a long time.

  Mentally he went over the encounter with the rustlers. Dale had certainly acquitted himself well. He’d followed orders without question and was willing to stay to help Mike with the details.

  When Harry got to the hospital, both Jon and Caro were there to meet them. To his surprise, Melissa came out after them.

  “Melissa, what—”

  She threw herself at him, cutting off any further words. Her arms went around his neck. “You weren’t the one wounded? You’re not hurt?” she demanded.

  “No, Melissa,” he said softly, taking a moment to hold her tightly against him. Then he had to put her aside. “I’m fine, honey, but I have to get these guys inside.”

  “Oh. Oh, yes. It was Steve who got wounded?”

  “Yeah.” He saw Caroline leading his partner into the clinic.

  Jon was waiting to help him with the rustlers. Once they got them inside, Harry stayed in the room, his gun at the ready while they were evaluated and treated. Then he cuffed them to their beds in a standard precautionary procedure.

  As he turned around, he almost ran over Melissa.

  “Uh, honey, I’ve got to check on Steve.”

  Melissa, devouring him with her eyes, asked, “Will he be all right?”

  “I don’t know,” Harry said, moving rapidly down the hall. Melissa followed him to the room where a nurse was working on the deputy.

  Caroline entered right behind them. “Tell me what you found, Betsy.”

  “The bullet is still in his arm. He’s lost a fair amount of blood and he’s—” she lowered her voice “—scared out of his mind.”

  “All right.” Caro stepped toward the wounded deputy. “Good evening, Steve. We’re going to have to get that bullet out of you, but it won’t be a problem. Do you want us to call your wife?”

  “Yes, please. I want to see her before I go under.”

  Caroline glanced at Harry and he understood her unspoken request. He moved out into the hallway, accompanied by Melissa, and pulled out his cell phone. “Mrs. Lawson? This is Harry Gowan. I work with Steve. He’s been injured— No, no, he’s going to be fine. But they have to do a small operation to get a bullet out. He’d like for you to come down here before they operate.”

  Even Melissa could hear the hysterical woman crying into the phone.

  “No, I can’t come get you because I have to guard our prisoners,” Harry said, and realized Melissa was tugging on his arm.

  “I’ll go get her. I’ll borrow Caro’s truck and go pick her up,” she whispered.

  Harry smiled at her in gratitude. “Yes, Melissa Randall is going to come get you. Just stay where you are and she’ll be right there.”

  After hanging up the phone, he hugged Melissa and kissed her forehead. “Thanks, honey, I owe you one. The lady is hysterical. I should’ve expected it. I think Steve is, too.”

  “I’ll hurry,” Melissa promised. He gave her directions, and she went in the room to get the car keys from Caroline, who handed them over without question.

  Harry thanked her for her cooperation, but the doctor just nodded. He could see she was putting all her efforts into soothing her patient. Steve was already hooked up to an IV drip, and he seemed calmer.

  “I need to talk to Jon. Can you stay with Steve?” she asked.

  “I’ll go get him. The perps are cuffed and sedated.”

  “Thanks, Harry.”

  Fifteen minutes later Melissa was back. Harry knew it because he heard a hysterical woman enter the hospital. Steve’s wife.

  He had a feeling his partner wouldn’t be on the force much longer. His wife had already wanted him to quit, and this injury would only make her more persistent. Besides, Steve would be more willing to consider leaving now.

  Harry figured in a couple of weeks old Trev would be coming to Rawhide, just like he wanted.

  At least it didn’t appear Dale needed much training.

  Melissa slipped into the room.

  “Thanks, honey, for going to get her. She would’ve had a wreck for sure if she’d driven herself.”

  “Yes, she almost made me have a wreck. She kept grabbing my arm, asking for reassurance. But no matter how often I tried to calm her, it didn’t seem to help.”

  “Yeah. I don’t think Steve will be long on the job.”

  “You think she’ll make him resign?”

  “I don’t think it will take much pleading on her part. Steve’s not reacting much better than his wife. It’s only a flesh wound!”

  “Well, it’s easy for us to say. We haven’t been shot,” Melissa muttered.

  Harry gave a wry smile. “I have worse than Steve’s. Ironically, it happened because he didn’t do his job. He was a lot younger and greener then.”

  Melissa’s eyes widened. “Where were you shot?”

  “In the gut. But Caro said I got lucky. It missed my vital organs. I spent about a week in the hospital.”

  “Do you have a scar?” Melissa asked, her hands going to his chest, then sliding down his torso, as if feeling for the scar.

  He stopped her before she let them slide too low. “Yeah, right about here, but you can’t feel it through my clothes.”

  He’d dreamed of having her hands on him, albeit for different reasons. Now there was nothing sexual in her touch. Concern, not passion, was etched in her face.

  Putting himself in the line of fire was part of his job, something he’d accepted long ago. He could tell from her expression Melissa wasn’t used to it.

  She looked at him, her big blue eyes serious. “I hadn’t thought—”

  She broke off then, but he knew what she was going to say. She hadn’t thought about what could happen to him. For a moment there in the shootout, he had to admit he’d thought about dying and not seeing Melissa again.

  He reached out and took her hand. “I know. But I’m fine. Mike’s fine, too. I assured Caroline of that as soon as I could. By the way, the new guy arrived this evening and went with us. I think he’s going to be okay. He follows directions well.”

  Harry’s phone rang, and with an apologetic look at Melissa, he answered it. It was the sheriff, giving him his orders for the nigh
t.

  “No problem, Mike,” he replied. “I’ll take care of them.” Then Mike went on to fill him in about Dale Henry.

  “I guess he’s multitalented,” Harry said a bit later. “Yeah, tell him to stop by here, and I’ll give him the key to my apartment. Okay. Good night.”

  “Who’s multitalented?” Melissa asked.

  “The new deputy. He knows how to drive a big rig. He’s bringing the truck into town tonight.”

  “But where will he park it?”

  “In front of Mike’s house for tonight.”

  Melissa frowned. “You know, they’re my own family, but I don’t even know where Mike and Caro live. Isn’t that strange?”

  “They have a cozy house on a back street close to the Sheriff’s Office. But they’re having another one built a little nearer the hospital.”

  “What are they going to do with their house when they move?”

  “I guess sell it. I never asked Mike. Why?”

  “I don’t know. I just wondered.”

  “Well, you’d better get back to your mother. I’ll be staying the night here with the prisoners.”

  “But that doesn’t sound safe. What if you need help?”

  With a grin, he said, “I’ll push the call button.”

  THE SUN HAD JUST RISEN WHEN Melissa got up the next morning. She went immediately to the nurse’s desk. “Have you talked to Harry this morning? Is everything all right?”

  “It was at two, when I checked on the patients,” the nurse, Betsy, said. Her eyes looked a little tired, Melissa noted.

  “Maybe I should go check now.”

  “We were told not to let anyone in the room. It seems not all of the rustlers were captured last night.”

  Melissa’s eyes widened. “Is it possible they might come here to see their friends?”

  The nurse nodded. “According to the sheriff, that’s a possibility. So far, though, no one has even called to ask about them.”

  “That’s good. I suppose you’ll order breakfast for them, too. You’re busy. Do you want me to go to the café, and get the food for you? I don’t mind.”

  “That would be great, Melissa. I’ll call in the order and they’ll pack it up and have it ready in fifteen minutes.”

  “I’ll just go on down there and have some coffee while I wait.”

  Later, as Melissa was returning with the meals, she saw a pickup truck pull up in front of the hospital. It looked exactly like old man Lindstrom’s rusty green truck, she decided. As teenagers, she and her friends had thought it would fall apart, but apparently it was still going.

  Only it wasn’t old man Lindstrom who got out.

  Melissa immediately turned around and ran to the Sheriff’s Office. She explained her fears to the deputies on duty, and one of them ran to the hospital, while the other called the nurse to warn Harry, then called the sheriff.

  Melissa hoped she hadn’t made a mistake, but she remembered Mr. Lindstrom had always left his key in the truck, figuring no one would steal it. But it appeared someone had.

  Minutes later, when she reached the hospital with the food, she found all the excitement was over. The nurse told Melissa she’d spoken to Harry. He’d realized at once what was happening, pulled his gun, and hid by the door. He’d told the nurse to point the two men to their buddies room and then duck down behind the desk.

  Harry had been holding the two visitors at gunpoint when two more deputies arrived. They’d put the rustlers in handcuffs and were leading them to the jail as Melissa walked in. Both thanked Melissa as she set the food down on the nurse’s desk.

  “Why did they thank you?” Harry asked her.

  “Because I told them the robbers were here,” she said, beaming at him.

  “How did you know?”

  “They pulled up in Mr. Lindstrom’s truck. He always leaves the key in it. I figured they stole it. I was afraid I was wrong, but I thought I should tell them, anyway.”

  Harry hugged her right in front of the nurse and planted a quick but fervent kiss on her lips. “Good girl!”

  “I wouldn’t have thought of it, but Betsy told me two of the rustlers had escaped, and I know Mr. Lindstrom never lets anyone drive his truck.”

  Mike arrived just then, and Harry suggested he check on Mr. Lindstrom, relating Melissa’s role in the successful capture of the two other rustlers.

  “Good job, Melissa. You just saved us a lot of trouble. It would’ve been bad if we’d had a shootout here.”

  “Yes, it would have,” Caroline proclaimed. She’d followed Mike in, determined to protect her hospital. She handed Mike a gun she was carrying. “You can take this back home. I’ll just stay here.”

  “No you won’t,” he said, reaching for his wife. “You’re going with me for breakfast.” He kissed Caro and led her away, leaving Melissa with a smile on her face.

  AS MELISSA SHARED breakfast with her mother, she told her about her exciting morning.

  “My goodness,” Camille exclaimed. “That was very observant of you.”

  “Well, when I was a teenager my friends and I speculated about how much trouble we’d get in if we ever took his truck one night. We knew he always left the key in it. Then I thought about Dad and decided it wouldn’t be worth it.”

  “Good. I’m glad. Mr. Lindstrom would be very upset. I guess he’ll be upset now, too. Have they talked to him?”

  “Harry said one of the deputies went out to his place and checked on him,” Melissa explained. “He was sleeping soundly.”

  Silence filled the room for a few minutes while they ate. Then Melissa said, “Mom, has Dad ever done something risky?”

  “On a ranch, dear, most things are risky.”

  “I know, but—”

  “You mean has he ever put himself in harm’s way intentionally?”

  “Yes.”

  “Once.” She put down her fork and gave Melissa her complete attention. “Your cousin Jim went up into the mountains to save Patience and her little boy. The child’s father had taken the boy away, intending to make him a soldier. I think he was three or four. Patience went after them because the sheriff at that time said he couldn’t legally do anything.

  “Jim went after her. When the other Randall men realized what he was facing, they formed a posse and followed his trail up into the mountains. Your father joined them.”

  “I had no idea!” Melissa exclaimed.

  “So, to give you a short answer, yes, one time. And I couldn’t disagree with your father for going. The Randalls have always stood together.”

  “Yes, that’s one of the things I love about our family,” Melissa said. “How does Caroline manage when Mike is in danger?”

  “She struggles with it. But she knows he’s really good at what he does. And they seldom have injuries. Harry had a bad one, but it only happened because his partner wasn’t well trained. That’s when Mike started working hard on training and fitness.”

  “Yes, Harry was telling me, but I just hadn’t realized… It finally hit me last night that he does dangerous work.”

  “But he’s very good at what he does.”

  “Yes, I guess so.”

  “Caroline says she’d rather have whatever time she can spend with Mike than be with anyone else. I think all us Randall ladies feel the same way.”

  Melissa nodded, not saying anything, while thoughts of Harry filled her mind.

  Chapter Ten

  Harry and Dale were ready to set out for the Randall ranch the next morning to pick up some furniture when they stopped off at the Sheriff’s Office to check in. “We’re on our way, Mike,” Harry announced.

  He hadn’t realized Mike was on the phone. The sheriff held up his hand for them to wait.

  “That’ll be fine. They’re ready to go right now. Okay, I’ll tell him.”

  He hung up the phone. “That was Melissa. She wants to ride out to the Randall ranch with the two of you.”

  “Sort of like taking a guide who understands the territory?�
� Harry teased, smiling.

  Mike laughed. “More a case of her being on the bad side of the family. Apparently she hasn’t visited yet.”

  Harry nodded. “Do we pick her up at the hospital?”

  “Nope. She’s coming down here.” Mike turned to Dale. “Have you met Melissa yet?”

  “Melissa who?” he asked.

  “Melissa Randall,” Harry clarified, though he didn’t want to. The last thing he wanted was for Dale and Melissa to get chummy.

  “No, I haven’t met her.”

  Harry whirled around as he heard rapid footsteps. Melissa hurried into the office. “I didn’t hold you up, did I, Harry?”

  “No, Melissa, you didn’t hold us up. Uh, this is Dale Henry, our new deputy. Dale, this is Melissa Randall. She’s only visiting. She’s returning to Paris after the holidays.”

  “How do you do, Miss Randall,” Dale said.

  “Make it Melissa, please. There are way too many Randall women in town.” She gave him a bright smile, but as hard as Harry studied the two of them, he didn’t see any signs of flirtation.

  “Are we ready to go?” he asked, starting toward the door.

  “Yes,” Melissa agreed, and Dale followed along behind them. When they reached the truck, they piled into the cab, Melissa in the center.

  “Have you talked to Red and Mildred to see what furniture they have?” she asked.

  “No,” Harry answered, as he swung his truck onto the road. “I think Dale will pretty much take whatever they offer. He’s not picky, right, Dale?”

  “Absolutely. I’m grateful for the assistance,” he said.

  “Have you seen your apartment?” Melissa asked.

  “No, Mike told me it was nice. That’s good enough for me. By the way, there are two apartments up there. Do you know who rents the other one?”

  “I haven’t heard,” Harry said, not too interested in the topic.

  Melissa and Dale talked occasionally on the drive out to the ranch, but Harry didn’t say much. He didn’t like Melissa spending this time with Dale, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

  When they reached the ranch, Melissa got out of the truck and began running toward the house.