Montana Dad

by Jeannie Watt

  She’d stop at Rosalie’s and slip the dogs into the kennel, then continue on to the park so that they wouldn’t have to sit in the hot car. And then she was going to keep her word and allow Nick to help her deal with the issue at hand.

  Nick and quite possibly his seventh-grade main squeeze who was now a deputy.

  And she wanted to see the evidence from the thefts as soon as possible. If her laptop wasn’t part of the loot, then it was very possible that the local burglar hadn’t been the one who’d stolen it.

  * * *

  NICK PACED AROUND the booth that he’d helped put together prior to the kickoff of June in Bloom, watching the parking lots at either end of the park and willing Alex to drive into one of them. He wanted to know exactly how she knew that her ex’s brother was there in Montana, and he wanted to know just what that meant.

  She’d been upset, so it obviously meant something bad, but he had no facts, and not knowing was killing him.

  “Nick...is something wrong?” Gloria asked when they had a break in customers. The booth had been swamped during the early hours, and they were almost out of cupcakes and had only a few more gift baskets to raffle off. The girls were having a ball charming customers and eating things that they were going to regret later.

  “He’s waiting for someone,” Katie said with a knowing smile before Bailey took her by one hand and Kendra by the other.

  “We want to play the duck game,” Bailey said.

  “Duck game it is,” Katie laughed.

  Nick smiled at his grandmother, who’d been watching him closely. Like his sisters, she had some kind of radar, and the last thing he wanted was for her to start trying to work information out of him. He glanced at his phone, noting that it’d been only five minutes since Alex called him a couple of miles from town to tell him she was dropping the dogs at the kennel at her grandmother’s house. He understood why she’d brought them and agreed that the kennel was a good idea. They weren’t allowed in the park, and it wasn’t a fit day for anything to be in a car.

  “Nick,” Gloria said, pointing up at the quilt that was working its way free from the clip that held it in place as a backdrop. “Could you re-clip that? I’m not tall enough.”

  “Sure.” He reached over her head to fasten the quilt more securely.

  “That’s one of Alex’s quilt tops that she got from her aunt,” Gloria explained.

  “Very nice.” And speaking of Alex... “If you have everything under control, I need to make a call.”

  “Totally under control,” Gloria said as she shifted a gift basket to make room for another.

  Alex’s phone didn’t ring through. She was either in the dead spot just out of town, or she’d turned it off. That was it. He was going to look for her.

  Nick worked his way along the colorful displays toward the parking lot and had just spotted Katie and the girls near the plastic pool filled with yellow ducks when Emmie Cooper called his name. He raised a hand to acknowledge the greeting, then shifted course when he caught sight of the serious look on her face.

  “What’s up?” he asked as he approached the building-supply booth.

  “I was about to ask you the same,” she said. Jenna appeared from around the back of the tent.

  “Some guy has been asking about your neighbor’s spending habits.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah,” Jenna said. “He’s like an inept private eye according to Reggie, asking questions in an awkwardly casual way.”

  “When?”

  “Yesterday for sure.”

  Nick ended the conversation with a nod. Katie and the girls were no longer at the pool, so he turned and headed back to Rosalie’s booth. “I have to go,” he said. “I’d like to leave the girls with you and Katie.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I have to check on Alex.”

  “Where is she?” Rosalie asked.

  “That’s what I need to check on. She’s supposed to be here, so I want to make sure she hasn’t had a flat or something.”

  * * *

  ROGER AND GUS sniffed around the dog yard while Alex waited for her phone, which had frozen, to come alive again so she could call Nick and ask him to meet her at Rosalie’s, if possible. The quiet Victorian house was a much better setting for her to discuss what might be happening in her life than a crowded park, although she really didn’t mind the idea of a crowd.

  The house was locked, but she’d been able to access the kennel through the side gate she and Rosalie had marched through on their way to rescue Roger. Had that been only a little more than a week ago?

  Her life, her perspective, had changed so much over the past few hours that it seemed like weeks had passed. Was Lawrence dangerous? Was he simply obsessed with her because of her relationship to his brother?

  The screen finally lit up and Alex made a couple of attempts at touch ID before giving up and typing in the pass code. The home screen appeared just as the sound of the gate squeaking open brought her head snapping up.

  “Hey, Alex. Long time.”

  For one horrifying moment, Alex’s entire body froze, just as it did in the dreams she’d had after the assault in her apartment, where danger was coming, and she couldn’t get out of the way because her legs wouldn’t respond to her brain.

  “Lawrence.”

  He smiled, and she couldn’t say that it was a particularly evil smile. He looked like he had every other time she’d met him. But the fact that he was there, in Rosalie’s backyard, led her to believe that his intentions were not pure.

  “There’s no need to look alarmed, Alex. All I want is the key.”

  “What key?”

  “The safety-deposit box key,” he explained, as if spelling something out for a child.

  “I... There’s nothing in the safety-deposit box. The police checked.”

  A shadow crossed his face and his mouth tightened. “Not that safety-deposit box.”

  Alex looked past him to the gate, judging the distance. “Do you think that Jason gave me a key to something?”

  “Yes.” He said the word in a deadly tone. “You know, as planned.”

  Alex knew nothing about the plan. She also knew Lawrence would never believe that.

  “Just give me the key, Alex. Because I swear, if you don’t—”

  Alex rushed him, knocking him sideways as she dove for the gate. Behind her, Roger and Gus went nuts in the kennel, roaring and yipping frantically. She was almost to the gate when something hooked her ankle and she went down hard, her chin hitting the ground and sending stars shooting in all directions. She kicked frantically and started screaming.

  The gate burst open, and in the part of her brain that worked in slow motion, she wondered how Nick had gotten there so fast. But when her vision cleared, it was Vince Taylor who pushed his way into the yard, the picture of outrage.

  “Leave this woman alone!” he demanded.

  Lawrence’s expression went blank, but he slowly released his grasp on Alex’s ankle. She scooted toward the fence as he then rose to his feet, reached into his pocket and calmly pulled out a small gun. “I want you to close the gate and go stand next to the kennel.”

  Vince didn’t move.

  “Now.” He waved the gun and Vince slowly closed the gate. Alex met Vince’s gaze, and he gave her a desperate look before starting to move toward the kennel as commanded. Lawrence turned, keeping the man covered as he walked.

  “The young woman and I are going to continue this conversation elsewhere. Now open the kennel and get inside.”

  Vince lifted the latch and edged the door open. Roger shot out, heading straight to Alex and taking a stand in front of her, bristles standing up on the back of his neck.

  “Get. In,” Lawrence repeated. Once Vince was inside, he snapped the latch in place—a latch Vince wouldn’t be able to get at f
rom the inside due to the fine mesh of the chain link.

  “If you climb out of that pen before I’m gone, I’ll make sure you regret it.” He waved the weapon at Alex. “She will really regret it.”

  Vince held his chin high, glaring at Lawrence through the mesh. Lawrence laughed, then shook his head.

  “Come on, Alex. Let’s get that key and I’ll be on my way.”

  No, he wouldn’t. She knew it as certainly as she knew that the sound of the engine coming down the street was that of Nick’s truck. How many people were going to be put in jeopardy because she’d chosen to hide in this community? To try to become part of it?

  She got to her feet while Roger held his stiff-legged position next her, his lips pulled back menacingly, the effect totally ruined by his bat ears. She met and held Lawrence’s gaze in a challenging way, hoping he wouldn’t know that the truck coming down the street was destined to pull in right behind her car.

  “Think, Alex,” Lawrence said in a reasoning tone.

  Oh, she was thinking all right. She was thinking that there was no way he was going to hurt her or someone she loved. Or Vince Taylor, for that matter.

  She pulled in a deep breath and said, “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  NICK CAUGHT SIGHT of Alex’s car parked in front of his grandmother’s house as soon as he turned the corner onto High Street, and a wave of relief rolled over him. He would not have to go looking, and now they could get down to the business of figuring out exactly what was going on with the embezzler’s brother visiting their fair state and apparently asking questions about Alex’s finances.

  He drove past Vince Taylor’s impeccably restored Victorian house and was about to pull to the curb behind Alex’s car when a flash of movement in the side yard caught his eye. His neck tightened and he realized that whatever he’d seen, it hadn’t been Alex. He rolled on by, as if looking for an address, then parked a few houses away and picked up his phone to dial 911.

  “Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?”

  He was pretty certain it was Dora Mellow on the other end. “This is Nick Callahan at 455 High Street. There’s a trespasser on the premises and I think he’s threatening someone.”

  “Do you know who it is, Nick?”

  His hand tightened around the phone as Alex and a man he didn’t recognize came out the side gate. The man was holding her arm in a seemingly congenial way, while little Roger walked stiff-legged behind her, his lips curled back, his eyes trained on Alex.

  Son of a... “It might be a kidnapping, Dora. Get someone here fast.”

  He dropped the phone and opened the truck door just as Alex tripped and went down, making a valiant effort to knock the man’s legs out from under him. He wobbled but kept his balance and then tried to jerk Alex to her feet as Nick raced down the sidewalk.

  The man turned to stare stupidly when he heard the sound of Nick’s boots on the concrete, then Roger sprang into action, leaping into the air and biting the man first on the thigh and then on the belly. The guy howled and clutched at his leg as Nick launched himself, knocking him sideways.

  Nick grunted as a small weapon slid across the grass, then he jerked the man’s arm up between his shoulder blades, not caring in the least if he broke it, and put a knee in his back. Meanwhile, Roger kept darting in, biting the guy anywhere he could reach, accidentally getting Nick a few times in the process.

  The man writhed and jerked beneath him. He was strong, but Nick had spent most of his teen years wrestling calves to the ground, and after he took hold of the guy’s hair with one hand and pulled it back, he quieted.

  That was when Alex grabbed the gun and threw it over Vince Taylor’s fence.

  Nick gave her an incredulous look. “I don’t want him to get it again,” she said. “He almost got away the last time Roger bit him.”

  “Makes sense,” Nick said through his teeth as the deputy sheriff drove up.

  Lauren Colby got out of the SUV, bent over Lawrence and, without a word, cuffed him. “You can get off him now,” she told Nick, who rolled onto the grass and sat with his forearms on his knees catching his breath. “Want to tell me what happened?”

  An outraged cry came from the kennel, and Colby squinted as she peered through the side gate. “Is that Vince Taylor all kenneled up?”

  “Yeah,” Nick said. “I think it is.”

  “Huh.”

  A short time later, Lawrence Stoddard was in the back seat of the SUV, Vince Taylor and Gus had been released from the kennel, and the unloaded gun retrieved from Vince’s yard. Another deputy had arrived, and he took charge of Stoddard while Colby took statements. Except for when she and Nick had given their statements, Alex had kept close to Nick’s side, but it didn’t seem to be because she was nervous about her safety or because she was in shock—it seemed to be because she felt protective of Nick. And he couldn’t say that he minded.

  “Does it matter that the gun was unloaded?” Alex asked Colby.

  “He’s going to be in deep trouble regardless,” Colby replied. “I think we will have a kidnapping charge here, and who knows what else the DA might come up with. Out-of-towner threatening a local...” She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “It won’t be pretty.” She jerked her head toward the street. “We’ll be in contact, and if you have any concerns, just call.”

  “Thank you,” Alex murmured from beside him.

  A few seconds after Colby drove off, Will McGuire’s truck pulled up and Will and Rosalie got out.

  “What happened?” Rosalie demanded, her gaze bouncing between Nick and Alex, as if expecting them to hedge on the truth with her.

  Nick filled her in on the essentials of the situation, and as he spoke, Will put an arm around Rosalie, pulling her to his side. And Rosalie, he noticed, didn’t seem to mind.

  “There’s a lot more to tell,” Alex said. “I’ll explain everything later. I...uh... I’m sorry to have brought this to your home.”

  Rosalie gave her an affronted look. “Did you twist that man’s arm and force him to do what he did? I don’t think so,” she said sternly. She reached out to put a hand on Alex’s arm. “I always sensed something was bothering you. I hope this is the end of it.”

  “I’m taking Alex to the ranch,” Nick said abruptly. “Can the girls stay with you tonight?”

  Alex tensed at the mention of the girls but didn’t argue about going to the ranch.

  “Certainly.”

  “And...be careful not to say anything to upset them.”

  The corner of his grandmother’s mouth tightened. “That is a given. Now go on home.” She glanced at Will, then back at Nick. “Will and I are going to have a word with Vince.”

  “He tried to save me,” Alex said.

  “Yes,” Rosalie said. “The villain redeems himself. I want to thank him.”

  * * *

  “ARE YOU OKAY?” Alex asked as Nick drove past the Gavin city limits sign. He gave her a sharp look.

  “I think that’s my line.”

  She directed her gaze straight ahead, marveling at the sense of well-being that had settled over her after Lawrence had been handcuffed. “I’m good. Remarkably good.” She bit her lip, then shot him a quick glance. “I feel like for the first time since Jason took off with all that money that my life is once again my own.”

  “Really?” He sounded pleased.

  “I know.” She now knew who had broken into her place in Virginia, and the fact that no one who’d investigated Jason’s crime had contacted her since her move to Montana made her feel as if she truly was in the clear. And if she wasn’t, well, she had people she could lean on.

  Speaking of which...

  “You know that I like to do things on my own. Handle my problems alone.”

  He let out a short breath. “I kind of noticed.”

  “I want to thank you fo
r helping me on this one. And I’m talking about more than the tackle and wrestling Lawrence to the ground. I also mean in helping me to understand that there are people who honestly are there for you. Through thick and thin.”

  In answer, Nick set his hand, palm up, on the gearshift. Alex put her hand in his and laced their fingers together before smiling at him, then turning her attention to the road ahead. Sometimes actions truly did speak more loudly than words, and she liked Nick’s answer.

  They rode in silence, holding hands until Nick needed both hands to make the turn off the highway onto Ambrose River Road. And then he surprised her by turning into a small picnic area along the river. Roger and Gus both crowded to the window in the back seat.

  Alex gave him a curious look as he turned off the ignition and then slid his hand along the back of her seat, leaning close enough to kiss her. But their lips didn’t quite meet.

  “You know that I am here for you through thick and thin.”

  “And me for you.” She would do anything for this man and his family.

  He touched his forehead to hers. “You know that I love you.”

  The utter sincerity of his statement warmed her.

  “And you know that we’re probably both going to have some kind of delayed reaction to what happened today,” he continued.

  “Probably,” she agreed, unable to stop herself from lightly brushing his firm lips with her own. She knew all about post-trauma syndrome. “I’m hoping we can have our delayed reaction together.”

  He smiled and kissed her back, a little longer this time. “That was exactly what I was about to suggest. That we meet the challenges together.”

  Her hand slid up around the back of his neck as she whispered, “I can’t think of anything I’d like better.”

  He gave her a smile that made her breath catch. “Through thick and thin.”

  She smiled back. “Through thick and thin.”

  EPILOGUE

  “YOU BROUGHT THE GOAT?” Alex asked as Bailey and Kendra and Lizzie Belle emerged from the back seat of Nick’s truck.