Safe in the Lawman's Arms

by Patricia Johns

“Look, after talking to you, I knew you’d never give me any money. And I needed it. Bad.”

  “Bad enough to break into my house?” Mike snapped.

  “I knew you were working. I called the station just to be sure. It was better than someone else’s house.”

  “Counting on my forgiving nature?” Mike snapped.

  “Sort of, yeah,” his father replied. “Look, I owe some money, and the guy I owe it to will kill me if I don’t pay up.”

  “How much are we talking?” Mike asked.

  “Ten grand.”

  “That’s more than you could steal in my house,” Mike said. “And what about these?” He lifted the guns and knife to eye level.

  “Just a little protection.”

  “So you break into my house armed to the teeth, and I’m supposed to believe you weren’t going to use them?” Mike demanded.

  “No. Not like that. These guys who are after me are dangerous. It’s self-defense, I swear.”

  “And what exactly did you hope to take from my place that would be worth ten grand on the black market?”

  “I’ve got some of the money,” his father replied, shifting again uncomfortably. “Just not all. I’m desperate here.”

  “So just out of wild curiosity,” Mike said, his tone flat, “what kind of debt is this? Gambling? Drugs?”

  “Gambling.”

  “Ah.” Mike sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Well, you were right the first time. I’m not giving you a cent, but I’m also not setting you loose.”

  “What are you gonna do with me?” his father asked warily.

  “You’ve already been arrested, Dad. I’m putting you in lockup. You’re facing trial. I can’t get you out of this one.”

  “Trial?” His father gasped. “With my record, they’ll put me away for twenty years!”

  “Probably.” Mike shrugged. “But I’m pretty ticked off right now, and I’m not bubbling over with sympathy.” In fact, he was barely containing his rage, and he wanted to make his father pay for every single tear that Malory and Katy had shed up there while they’d hunched in terror in a closet.

  He rose to his feet and beckoned to his partner, who stood across the room, pretending not to listen. “Tuck, you can take him back to the station.”

  Tuck nodded. “Sure thing, Mike. Ready to go, Nate?”

  “I get the feeling you’re enjoying this,” Nate grumbled, and Tuck shrugged.

  “A bit.” He chuckled. “Hey, we all know you, Nate. It’s a bit of a reunion, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Wait—” Nate turned back and stumbled a step when Tuck kept moving. “Wait.”

  “What?” Mike demanded, his tone like gravel.

  “I’ve got a woman in my life—Gina. She’ll worry. I told her I was visiting family.”

  “And she believed you?” Mike said, then sighed. “I’ll let you have two calls—Gina and your attorney.”

  “Thanks, kid.” Nate nodded and allowed himself to be led out the door.

  Mike crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn’t going to stop until he got to the bottom of whatever was going on here. He knew for a fact that his father wasn’t telling everything—Cruises never told everything.

  He also knew that Malory and Katy were no longer safe. This was more than a break-in—this had just turned personal.

  Chapter Nine

  That night, the only one who could get to sleep was Katy, but that was because she was snuggled up in Malory’s arms. Malory got up to investigate every sound, and each time, she found Mike up, talking on his radio to the cops patrolling, or looking out a window into the darkness.

  By morning, Malory was pretty sure she wasn’t looking her best, but her back was sore from sleeping scrunched in Katy’s bed. So she carefully slid her arm out from underneath the sleeping girl and yawned.

  Morning sunlight streamed into the room from the crack in the curtains, and as Malory scooted off the bed, Katy sighed in her sleep and rolled over onto her back, damp curls sticking to her forehead. In the morning light, everything was normal again. The drama of the night before seemed more like a dream.

  She moved a curl off Katy’s forehead. Life had been hard enough on this little girl, but she understood now why Mike was so insistent that Katy go to another family. He knew best.

  Downstairs, she could make out the pop and sizzle of bacon frying, and her stomach rumbled. The house was quiet, and she shook her head. What was it about Hope, Montana, that absorbed the chaos and left everything feeling as pure and sweet as ever?

  “Morning,” she said as she shuffled into the kitchen, and Mike looked over his shoulder, a forkful of bacon dripping fat back into the pan.

  “How’d you sleep?” he asked.

  “Horribly, but not as badly as you. I don’t think you slept at all.”

  “I catnapped. It was enough.”

  Malory gave him a sympathetic smile. “Are you off to work?”

  “That’s not exactly how this works,” he replied, half smiling in return. “I’m assigned to you.”

  “To me?”

  “Well, to both you and Katy. I’m your escort until we figure out what’s going on here.”

  “Escort?” Malory frowned. “Is it as serious as all that?”

  “Don’t know.” He slid the plate of bacon across the counter toward her. “But I’m not about to take any chances.”

  “I know what you mean now about your father.” An image had been tattooed on her brain of the man standing in the middle of Katy’s darkened bedroom, a gun held casually in one hand. She shivered.

  Mike grimaced. “Desperate people do desperate things. They don’t have to be evil to the core to be dangerous, just backed into a corner.”

  Dangerous was exactly how she’d describe Nate Cruise—very dangerous.

  “And you think your father is backed into a corner?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  “Are we safe now?” she asked, looking nervously toward the door, its broken window taped over with cardboard.

  “There are some cruisers patrolling, my dad is in lockup and I’m here with you two. I think you can relax.”

  Malory took a crisp strip of bacon and munched for a moment, savoring the salty perfection. Mike turned back to the pan and cracked in a couple of eggs.

  “So what did your dad say?” she asked.

  “That he owes a rather bad man some money.” Mike’s tone didn’t change. He might as well have been announcing that it was going to rain that day.

  “So why was he here?”

  “He claimed he was going to rob me.”

  “And you don’t believe him?”

  “Even if he sold every piece of furniture I own, he couldn’t have come up with that kind of cash, so I don’t exactly trust his story right now.”

  Malory nodded slowly. “Do you think this is about Katy somehow?”

  “I don’t know what to think. I should probably go have a chat with my cousin Crystal, though, one of these days soon. She might know something.”

  He sounded as if he were simply making morning conversation, but underneath it all, she sensed the tension. These people were his family—his blood relatives—and he couldn’t trust a word that came from their lips. He seemed so different from that world, so honorable and kind, yet she could tell that his link to them chafed him.

  Mike busied himself with the eggs. “Don’t worry about it,” he said.

  “Easier said than done,” she retorted. “Last night I was crouching in a closet, calling 911.”

  “I know.” He winced. “And I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for that.” His expression grew grim. “I know you like to take care of yourself. I get that. I even respect it. But right now keeping you safe is my job.”

  “Good!”

  He closed the space between them, reaching up to push a strand of hair away from her eyes. The gentle gesture stood in stark contrast with the grate in his voice. “I want you to do exactly as I tell you when I tell you
to do it. If I say to drop to the ground, you take Katy and you flatten yourselves against that floor. If I say run, you run. If I say come, you come. Got it?”

  She eyed him cautiously.

  “As soon as this is cleared up, I’ll back right off, I swear,” he said, his steely eyes locked on hers. “But right now your life might depend on it.”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  “Good.” He relaxed but only slightly. “Because if something happened to you, I’d turn into one of those damaged, angry cops who drinks too much.”

  “Damaged?”

  He put a finger under her chin, tilting her face upward, his dark eyes smoldering down into hers. “It wouldn’t be pretty. So just cooperate, okay?”

  She felt a little weak-kneed looking up into those eyes. He leaned closer, so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath against her face. He ran a finger down her cheek, then pressed his soft lips against hers in a brief kiss.

  “Just be careful, okay?” He glanced back out the window. “By the way, that cooperating thing needs to start now.”

  Dread dropped into the center of Malory’s stomach. “What’s wrong?”

  “Someone’s out there. I want you to go upstairs with the phone and stay with Katy until I give you the all clear.”

  Malory’s heart hammered in her throat, and she nodded quickly. “Okay.”

  And with that, he pulled a gun from his back holster and slipped out the back door, closing it behind him with a soft click. Malory bolted for the stairs.

  * * *

  MIKE EDGED AROUND the house and pulled out his radio.

  “This is Sheriff Cruise requesting backup,” he murmured into the radio. Then he dialed down the volume and tucked it back onto his belt, not waiting for an answer. They heard him, and they’d respond—he could count on that.

  As he crept along the edge of the house, he mentally kicked himself. He was comfortable chasing down bad guys. He was built for this kind of thing. He’d always been athletic and at ease with his body, but his heart was another matter completely.

  I never should have kissed her. What he’d been thinking, he had no idea. He hadn’t been thinking—that was the problem. He’d wanted to kiss her a little more passionately than he had, but a kiss was a kiss. Bosses didn’t kiss employees. Sheriffs didn’t kiss the civilians they were charged with protecting.

  A stick snapped under his shoe, and he stopped, scanning the yard in front of the house. Empty. He’d seen someone quite clearly in his backyard, and he wasn’t given to imagining things. He angled his steps across the yard and surveyed the street. Nothing.

  “Where are you?” he muttered under his breath, then headed around the other side of the house. Everything looked calm and peaceful.

  Was he getting paranoid? The chief had seemed to think so—until he saw exactly how armed Nate had been. That had sparked his suspicions, as well. But Mike was now responsible for a little girl and her nanny. If it were just him, he might have simply waited it out to see if anyone else would make a move. But it wasn’t just him anymore, and he wasn’t exactly sure how to do this “family man” routine.

  And I’m making myself look like an idiot.

  Heading back toward the house, he saw it—a flash of red in the scraggly bushes by the kitchen window. He pulled aside the branches to reveal a faded baseball cap snagged on a branch.

  “And that wasn’t there last night.” He knew that for a fact. He’d checked this area himself three times, and it had been gone over by two other officers, too.

  “I shouldn’t be so self-congratulatory,” he reminded himself. He didn’t want to be proven right.

  He picked up the hat and slapped it against his palm. He didn’t have a detailed enough description to pass along for the cruisers, but at least he knew he wasn’t getting soft.

  He went back inside and headed up the stairs.

  “All clear,” he called.

  He could hear Katy in the bedroom chattering about a tea party. Stopping at the doorway, he felt himself smile when he saw the girl pouring a pretend cup of tea for her nanny.

  “Everything okay?” Malory asked. Her face was pale, and her eyes were wide with anxiety.

  “Yeah, it’s fine.”

  “Was someone out there?” she pressed.

  “Not anymore.” He shot her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Nothing to worry about.”

  “Ready for breakfast?” Malory asked Katy a little too brightly, and the girl bounded from the bedroom.

  Mike cleared his throat as Malory rose to her feet.

  “Look. About before...”

  “No, it’s fine,” she said quickly, but she didn’t meet his gaze, a blush blooming in her cheeks.

  “I mean, I shouldn’t have done that—kissed you, I mean. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “It was just a weird situation,” she said with a quick shake of her head. “It’s forgotten. It never happened.”

  She rushed past him and out into the hallway, leaving him alone in the bedroom with the lingering scent of that floral perfume.

  “Idiot,” he muttered to himself. He’d made her uncomfortable. He’d crossed a line. He had to pull things together and stop this foolishness. Obviously, he was getting more attached than he’d realized, and it was time to rein his feelings in. Kissing her was one mistake he wouldn’t be making again.

  * * *

  AS MALORY HEADED down the stairs, her heart felt sodden, as if she could wring it out into a puddle on the floor. She felt filled to the brim with heavy emotion that she didn’t know what to do with.

  We’re fine. We’re safe, she reminded herself, but she knew it wasn’t only the break-in that was nagging at her. It was that kiss. Mike had been right—he’d overstepped.

  The gesture had been sweet, but it also reminded her a little too vividly of the boyfriend who had up and left, breaking her heart and callously denying their child in one fell swoop. Steve had kissed her tenderly. Steve had cared about her comfort—until one day when he simply hadn’t anymore.

  She’d been so wrapped up with her pregnancy that she’d pushed those feelings aside, but when it came right down to it, she didn’t want to feel overly safe. She didn’t want to feel overly protected. It was better to be rational and look out for herself. That way, she’d stay strong and confident instead of being rocked to the core when things didn’t work out the way she expected. It was reckless to get used to something that wasn’t going to last anyway.

  She might not always be something special to a man, but she would always be a mother, and that was the role she was going to hold on to.

  Mike came into the kitchen behind them and she turned away. The eggs were ruined, so she reached for the cereal that was irritatingly just out of reach. The entire kitchen was geared for the tall sheriff, not for his petite nanny.

  “Need a hand?”

  She hoped her tight smile came across as professional. “Please.”

  Mike moved up behind her, the warmth emanating from him as he brought the boxes of cereal down.

  “Thanks.” She headed back to the table.

  “You mad at me?” he asked cautiously.

  “Not at all.” She filled a little bowl for Katy, then headed back to the fridge for the milk. He stepped back as she swept by. It was the truth—she wasn’t angry, just more vulnerable than she’d thought.

  “You sure about that?” There was humor in his tone, which served only to irritate her more.

  “Absolutely positive,” she snapped. “I think I’d know.”

  She didn’t want to rely on Mike, or to get used to his gruff protectiveness. It felt too nice, and it wasn’t a permanent arrangement. It was like giving a poor kid a night in a mansion—some things were better left alone if you were going to be happy with your life.

  She poured the milk over Katy’s cereal, then pushed it gently toward the little girl. Katy sank her spoon happily into her bowl and took a big, dribbling bite.

  “So
...” Mike grabbed his own bowl from the cupboard and joined them. “You said you have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow?”

  “An ultrasound,” she replied.

  “Are you going to find out the sex of the baby?” he asked, eyebrows raised in interest, and she turned to meet his gaze for the first time.

  “Yes,” she said simply. “I’m going to see if my maternal instinct is right or not.”

  He wouldn’t understand how deep those words ran, she knew. Being a mom was all she had left, and she could only hope that she’d be good at it. Her first personal test of motherhood was this one—her instincts about the baby inside her. The feeling that this baby was a girl had blossomed into something bigger, something more insistent...and she was terrified of being wrong.

  She needed to be right about something. And that was something that she doubted Mike would be able to understand.

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning, Malory checked her watch for the umpteenth time since they’d started out for the medical clinic in the neighboring town. The morning had been hectic. Malory had started getting Katy ready early, but everything had gone wrong. There had been two full tantrums from Katy, a change of clothes, and then after everyone was loaded up into Mike’s truck, Katy had announced that she needed to use the bathroom so Malory had dashed her back inside.

  By the time they finally started driving, they were twenty minutes behind, and Malory could only pray that they’d arrive on time. Stressing out wasn’t going to help the situation, and she tried to calm her already frayed nerves.

  “Nanny Mal, am I coming with you?” Katy asked from the backseat.

  “You’ll stay with Uncle Mike,” Malory said for the fourth time, glancing back at the little girl. “I just have to go for an appointment.”

  “But I want to go,” Katy implored. “I don’t wanna stay with Uncle Mike.”

  “Aren’t you happy you get to come for the ride?” Malory asked, infusing extra cheerfulness into her tone. “Rides are fun. We can look out the window and count all the cows we can see.”

  “I like cows,” Katy declared.

  “Me, too,” Malory replied. “So let’s look for cows, okay?”