by Miley Maine
“Cavalry’s a little late,” I said. “Can you handle this? And can you send someone to take care of Smith?” I asked her. “I need to get back to Bree.”
“Of course,” she said, and I took off.
“What the Hell took so long?” I asked the rest of the team as I jogged back to my SUV.
“There were two more of them here. We caught them over by the library and got tied up over there.”
More of them? The town was freaking infested. “I’ll get debriefed soon,” I said over my shoulder.
Before I could get back to the SUV, a figure came running at me.
Bree.
She slammed into me, grabbing onto my shoulders and wrapping her arms around my neck. I lifted her, holding her close and inhaling that same lemon scent that always clung to her skin.
“I am so glad to see you,” she said. She sniffled. “You have no idea.”
“Oh, I do have an idea,” I said. “You’ve taken about fifty years off my life tonight. I thought I told you to stay in the SUV.”
“You know I don’t listen,” she said. “Besides, I heard gunshots. I thought you’d been shot again.” She pulled back and ran her hands over my shoulders. “You weren’t hit?”
“No, I’m all good.”
“And the rest of your team? What about Lacy? I saw the sheriff and all the deputies go flying by.”
“Everyone’s fine. I saw Lacy go running by.”
She dropped her forehead back onto my shoulder. “I’m so relieved.”
“So am I. When I saw your purse and your phone on the Johnson's porch, I flipped.”
“Ugh. Dr. Smith. What a sleaze.”
Part of me regretted leaving the bastard alive. “What did he do?”
“Nothing you don’t know about. As soon as I got to the Johnson’s, I had a funny feeling. I almost didn’t go in. But I heard screaming and I couldn’t ignore it, or even wait on back up.” She shook her head. “Stupid, I know.”
“Not stupid. Just invested. Go on.”
“I walked in. I think he had a recording so that the screaming sounded like a woman. He told me he was from Brazil and this was part of the revenge he wanted for his brother, who was killed by our government. He’s been funding this terrorist operation.”
“Oh, boy,” I said. “I’ll have to take your statement in a little bit.” I wrapped my arm around her. “Anything else?”
“He had a syringe, and he stuck me with it. Then I passed out and woke up in a barn.”
“I am so sorry.”
“Not your fault. You didn’t bring these guys here.”
“But it was my job to catch them.”
“And now you’ve done that,” she said, wincing as I jostled her arm.
I lifted her arm carefully and shined my flashlight on it. The abraded skin was raw and bloody. “We need to get these cleaned and get you some antibiotics.”
“The only doctor in town is a little tied up right now,” she said.
“While I appreciate that you have a sense of humor about this, he’s not going to be a doctor for long. That asshole’s going to lose his license and he’s going to prison.” The thought of him touching her—the way he’d stabbed her with a needle, and then carried her to her car, then manhandled her into a chair and tied her up…the thought made my blood boil. How dare that fucker lay his hands on her?
“Hey,” she said. “It’s okay.”
It wasn’t okay, but she shouldn’t have to be comforting me right now, not when she’d been through plenty.
“I want to get you to a doctor right now,” I said. “Who knows what he injected you with. You need to get checked out.”
“Shouldn’t you be with your team?”
“You’re my priority.”
“I’m fine,” she said. “But I could call Dr. Smith’s nurse.”
“No way. Until she’s been interviewed, I don’t want you alone with her.”
“Okay. I don’t really like her anyway.” She smiled. “I can call my boss. She always says human medicine and horse medicine are pretty much the same.”
“Let me check in with my team, and then I’ll take you to a clinic outside Dallas.”
“There’s no rush,” she said.
This was really not the time or the place, but I wasn’t willing to wait another night. Hell, I didn’t want to wait another second. It would be hard for it to go any worse than it had the first time.
On a dusty highway, in the dark and without a ring, I got down on one knee.
“Bree Easton, I know we still have a lot to work through, but I love you, and you are an amazing mother to our son, and that’s enough for me. Will you marry me?”
She dropped to her knees in front of me. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” I said. “I am.”
“How did you get here from where we were yesterday?”
“I never stopped loving you. And I don’t want you putting yourself in danger, ever. But seeing your commitment to the people in this town, as well as to Ian, I don’t want to be apart anymore. I want to be with you.”
“Then yes, James Wakefield. I will marry you.” She leaned into me and ducked her head. Then her shoulders started to shake.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’m laughing,” she said.
“Can I ask why?”
“Because this time I don’t have a ring to throw.”
“If you did have a ring, I’m hoping you wouldn’t want to throw it.”
“No, I absolutely wouldn’t want to throw it.” She tilted her head. “Although there is a ditch nearby…”
“Do not get any ideas,” I said, but I was smiling.
I hadn’t expected this to happen, especially not tonight. But a few hours ago, I thought I’d lost Bree forever for the second time. Now that I had her back, I wasn’t taking any chances.
27
Bree
I was engaged.
To James. Again. But this time, we’d already lasted longer than the first attempt.
This was not the way I’d expected the day to end. As happy as I was to be engaged, I was ready for this day to be fucking over. How many people could say they’d been kidnapped on the same day they got engaged? Probably not very many.
I grabbed James and held on, and we just stood there in someone’s abandoned field, hugging. In the distance, every sheriff’s deputy in Laurel Bay was congregated around the old house, along with the other FBI agents. Now an ambulance had shown up, all the way from the outskirts of Dallas, along with several other officials that I lost track of.
“Bree?” a woman’s voice said.
Shit. Someone was super close to us. Whoever said my name had snuck right up close without either of us noticing. I jumped about ten feet in the air.
I lifted my head and my vision focused. My breath slowed down to a normal pace when I saw who it was. “Lacy, you just about gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry, I should have thought. I’m sure you’ll be jumpy for a while after what happened.” She looked over at James. “Hi, James.”
“Hello, Lacy,” he said. He didn’t move away, but he did pull his phone out and start tapping away, maybe to give us the impression of privacy.
My best friend stood with her hands clenched at her sides, not touching me. That was not going to work for me. “Hey, don’t be crazy. Come here.”
She still was over-the-top cautious when she leaned forward, but I grabbed her and squeezed her just like I’d done with James. “I’m so glad you didn’t get shot,” I said.
“Me, too,” she replied. “And I’m so glad you didn’t get shot either. When I heard you’d been kidnapped by that jackass, I just about went through the roof. I always knew there was something fishy about that weirdo.”
“You did always wonder why he was here when he seemed to hate it.”
“I did. I’m only sorry I didn’t get my hands on him.”
“I’m sure being in prison will be punishment enough for him,�
�� I said.
“Uh, no. It most certainly will not. But since I’m an officer of the law, I’m just going to have to cope.”
“Agreed,” James chimed in.
“Oh, no,” I said. “You two cannot gang up on me. Oh!” I grabbed Lacy by the shoulders. “We’re engaged.” I pointed to James as if she wouldn’t know who I was talking about.
“What?” Lacy’s hands flew to her face. “How was I not aware of this?”
“It just happened.”
“Like, right here? On this road?”
“Yep,” I said.
“James!” she squealed. “That’s not very romantic!”
He lifted one eyebrow enough that I could see it clearly in the moonlight. “I planned the first one out as a textbook proposal. You know how well that went. I figured this time it wouldn’t hurt to be a little more spontaneous.”
“You do have a point. I’m guessing there was no ring to throw?”
“Nope,” I said. “He couldn’t even offer me the handcuffs because they’re on Dr. Smith.”
“I will be getting a ring,” James grumbled.
“We’re teasing you,” I said. “It was perfect. Very life-affirming.”
“Speaking of,” Lacy said, “we heard you were drugged, and there’s a nurse in the ambulance who says she can take a look at your wrists and take some blood to see what’s in your system.”
“I’m fine,” I started to say, but James cut me off.
He grabbed me by the elbow. “Thank you, Lacy. We’ll be heading to the ambulance right now.”
He wrapped his arm firmly around my shoulders. He flashed his badge at the medics and the nurse, and demanded, in a polite way, that I be treated immediately.
James sat right next to me and held my hand while the nurse gave me a shot of antibiotics, washed out the ripped-up skin on my wrists, and then wrapped them in gauze.
After being alone for the last five years, it was nice to have some moral support. Support from my smoking hot fiancé. Just like at the town hall James had conducted, he got appreciative looks everywhere he went.
Back up, ladies, he’s mine.
“Lacy called us,” Walter said, with a little less gruffness than usual.
“We’re very happy you’re okay,” Mary added.
I had no idea what to do with that. I was going to be Walter’s daughter-in-law and I was the mother of his grandson, but we’d never had an affectionate relationship. And Mary and I were friendly, but not close. “I love her, but she sure does have a big mouth,” I said.
“She knew they’d be worried when they heard the sirens,” James explained.
Damn. I had forgotten all about that. If they’d felt one fraction of the worry I’d experienced when I was waiting on James, then they’d had a miserable night.
“Did Ian hear them?” I really hoped he hadn’t—at this point in his life, fire trucks were fun and exciting, and sirens usually meant someone’s burn pile had gotten out of control, not that someone’s life was in danger.
“No,” Mary said, coming to stand close to me. “He didn’t wake up.”
“We’re also happy you’re okay, son,” Walter said. And then he did something I’d never seen him do in the twenty years I’d known James—Walter hugged his son.
He didn’t just do a guy side-hug or an uncomfortable pat; he gave him a real hug and wrapped both arms around him. James stood totally stiff at first, not reacting, but gradually began to chill out a little. He didn’t squeeze back at the level Walter did, but his arms did come up.
I didn’t have any energy left at this point. I intended to just sit down in one of the kitchen chairs, but I kind of slumped forward and rested my head on the table.
“Bree!” Mary cried out, and then she was right over me, pulling the hair back from my face. “James, is she okay? Do we need to go to the ER?”
James was close now, too, then his fingers were on my neck. I guessed he was feeling my pulse. I felt very far away, a little bit floaty, and a little bit dreamy.
“The medics said she should be fine. I’m guessing the adrenaline’s worn off,” James said. His large hand came to rest on my back. “That doctor tricked her. He lured her out to the Johnson’s old farm and then—” James paused for a second. “Then he drugged her, and he dragged her off, and he tied her to a chair. That’s what happened to her wrists.”
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry,” Mary said, apparently talking to James.
“I could have killed him,” James said. “I wanted to.”
No one spoke then, but there was some rustling around and what sounded like more hugging.
James coughed and then cleared his throat. “I’m going to take Bree upstairs,” he said. And then he was picking me up.
“Whoo,” I said, letting my head fall back. “It’s like a roller coaster.”
“You really need to sleep,” he said.
“Are you sleeping on the couch again?”
“I wasn’t planning to,” he said. “Do you want me to sleep on the couch?”
“No. I want you to sleep in the bed. But I wasn’t sure you would want to.”
“We’re engaged now. Of course I’ll sleep in the bed.”
“But you’re probably still mad.”
“I’m not mad. We do have a lot of stuff to work through, but that can wait.”
“Don't wanna wait,” I said.
“We’ll talk later. You can’t even keep your eyes open.”
He pulled the covers up over my shoulders. I heard some weird scraping sounds. I cracked my eyes open with a lot of effort and saw that he’d dragged the armchair next to the bed and was sitting there looking at me.
“What are you doing?” I asked, letting my eyes close again.
“Sitting here.”
“But why?”
“Because I want to.”
“Tell me why,” I said, trying to push my way to a sitting position.
He got up and pushed me down. “Go to sleep. I’m sitting here in case you have a reaction.”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Clearly.”
He leaned over and stroked his hands through my hair. “Feels nice,” I said as my scalp tingled. It was a welcome feeling after the stabbing headache I’d had on and off. Then I really couldn't stay awake anymore.
I drifted off as James continued to run his fingers through my hair.
When I woke up, the headache was back. It wasn’t stabbing, though, just a dull, steady ache. The angle of the sun through the blinds told me I’d slept well past my normal wake up time. I rolled over and buried my face in the pillow.
James wasn’t in the bed, but he was standing in the doorway holding a mug.
“Ugh. I don’t think I can get up. Maybe if you dump ice cubes on my face.”
“There’s no reason for you to get up,” he said.
“Um, multiple horses, cows, chickens, and one human child.”
“Already taken care of.”
I turned my head to the side to look at James standing there, neatly groomed and dressed in a fresh suit. “You look nice,” I said. “More than nice. You look like a model, and I feel like death. And what do you mean, already taken care of?”
“I got up early and did everything that’s crucial. Mary and my father will handle the rest.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“You’re welcome, but there’s no need to thank me. If we’re getting married, then this is my ranch, too.”
Hmm. That was a pleasant thought.
“Busy day?”
“I have to meet with the team today to get all the paperwork finished, question Dr. Smith, and coordinate with the sheriff’s office. And my supervisor will be here in an hour.”
“Sounds important.”
“It is. But if I’m leaving, I need you to promise to take it easy today. Lacy’s already been here to check on you, and so has your boss from the vet clinic.”
“That’s nice of them.”
“They w
ere worried.” He brushed his hand over my forehead. “Are you feeling bad? You said you felt like death.”
“No worse than a hangover combined with the flu,” I said.
“That sounds pretty crappy to me.”
“I’m already feeling better, knowing that you’re the one that did my chores.”
He laughed. “I’ve got to go. I’ll be back tonight. If you’re feeling up to it, we can go out.”
“I’d love to.” I vaguely remembered telling him we needed to talk last night. It was hazy, but I’d felt pretty adamant at the time. I wasn’t going to bring that up now though; any discussion could wait until he was done working.
There was so much between us that was unresolved. There was no way to go from the level of animosity we’d reached, and then be one-hundred percent happy with no issues and no discussion.
James felt like I’d betrayed him, and he had every right to that feeling. Maybe we should see a therapist. There weren’t any in Laurel Bay, which was just as well. There was no way I’d tell anyone in this town our business; they could never be objective. But it would hardly stay a secret for long.
Pretty soon everyone was going to have their suspicions confirmed about who exactly Ian’s father was. And I would definitely get all kinds of invasive questions about why I lied to him. I’d have to be ready to face all of that without freaking out every time. Sure, it wasn’t their business, but everyone in town knew us and they were going to be nosy. I had to admit, if the story was about a family I knew, I’d be nosy, too—the details were pretty juicy.
But juicy or not, the truth was painful for James, and I was going to have to address that head on and not try to sweep it under the rug.
A thought occurred to me that I’d completely neglected—I was going to have to tell Ian that James was his father.
The sooner the better. The only question was should I tell him in front of James or just the two of us? I was very aware of not taking any more choices away from James, so I called him.
“Hey. Sorry to bother you. I want Ian to know you’re his dad as soon as possible. I thought about telling him today, but I thought you might want to do it together.”
