by Terry Spear
And then she ended the call.
* * *
Leyton called Dan and said, “Listen, maybe nothing’s up, but Kate canceled on supper with me.”
“Don’t tell me she’s got cold feet,” Dan said.
“No. I…just feel like something’s wrong. She told me she loves me.”
Dan didn’t get it. “Well, hell, I hope so.”
“In a way that said if something bad happened to her, like it was a farewell, just in case, she had to tell me. She didn’t give me a chance to even tell her I love her again back. She just abruptly ended the call. If that wasn’t warning me she was in trouble, I don’t know what would.”
“Are you headed over there?”
“Yeah, but no siren’s blaring. No squad cars. Or parked somewhere not close by. She said Dottie was coming over with the kids for last minute wedding preparations. Can you check on that for me?”
“No one’s said a word to me about it. Hal’s over there, but I’ll check. And damn it, Leyton, don’t get yourself shot up this time.”
“I just worry about Kate.”
“I hear you. Put your phone on vibrate.”
“No way in hell. If Butch’s there, he’ll hear it. I’m going in silent on this one.”
“Wait for backup.”
“Yeah, got to go,” Leyton said. Butch was a dead man. He wasn’t leaving here alive.
“What’s up?” Travis said, as Leyton began tearing off his clothes.
“I think Butch’s at Kate’s place. I’m not for sure, but highly suspect it.”
“Do you want me to go as cougar backup or bring the gun?”
“Bring a gun. I’ll try to slip in through the cat door, but if you get a shot at the bastard, take it. Even if it means hitting me. I don’t want Kate hurt, no matter the cost.”
“Understand.”
“Let me go first. It’s still too light out to make this completely clandestine. You’ll have to really work at it to keep out of sight.”
“Agreed.”
Leyton knew Travis was well aware of that. He just couldn’t help telling him that. Then he shifted and headed out through the pet door, one of the first things they did to renovate the place to make it perfect for the cougars staying there.
He ran through his gardens and through the two lots behind him, the last one butting up to Kate’s gardens. She had a white picket fence covered in red roses, and he leapt over it, careful not to run into anything and make a noise. His heart was thudding in his ears, and he wanted to quell the sound of the blood rushing through his veins as he attempted to listen for any conversation between Butch and Kate. He had to know if he was even there, for one thing. Then he moved close to the house, brushing his body alongside the white siding so that if anyone peered out the windows, he wouldn’t see Leyton. When he reached the cat door, he paused to listen. That was the hardest part for him. Waiting until he knew it was as safe as possible for Kate for him to make his move.
If Butch was in there, Leyton had to know where everyone was. He couldn’t bolt through the pet door if they were in the living room and could see him tear through there.
From the kitchen, Kate said, “You don’t want to do this, Jeffrey.”
For a second, Leyton wondered who the hell Jeffrey was, then remembering Jeffrey Brown was the name he went by while living here, though he wondered if it had been an alias even then, Leyton waited. Though it was killing him, until he heard Butch’s response. If he was in the kitchen…
“I mean, what do you intend to do with Dottie and the kids?”
“My kids,” he growled.
“I know. But if you took them from here, all of Yuma Town would hunt you down. What could you hope for by doing that?”
Leyton poked his head through the cat door, hoping it wouldn’t make any sound—especially as sensitive as their hearing was. Humans might not hear anything, but the cats could.
All of a sudden there was a huge crash in the kitchen, the sound of water splashing. “Damn it,” Kate said. “You’re making me nervous. Put the gun away, will you?”
But the noise she made was enough to cover Leyton’s pushing the rest of the way through the door and running for the kitchen. He didn’t know if she was aware he was coming for her, or not, but knowing they were in the kitchen and that the bastard had a gun on her helped.
He wasn’t taking this slow now, glancing at the mirror in the dining room, seeing Butch standing straight, but his head was bent as if he was watching her, and she was making a racket as if she was mad, cleaning up the mess nearer the floor, so she wasn’t visible in the mirror.
Taking a chance that if he came around the wall blocking his view of the kitchen, he could take Butch down before he could shoot at Kate—or him—Leyton took a couple of leaps toward the kitchen on silent paws, his ears still tilted to hear every movement in the kitchen, the paper towels dripping water, and Kate throwing them in the trash. Then she tore off more paper towels and leaned down to mop up the remaining spill.
Butch never saw him coming as he focused on Kate. Leyton’s teeth sank into Butch’s juggler, his fish-hook claws digging into the bastard’s front and back. Leyton wasn’t sure what happened exactly, but he heard a heavy thud and a crack of bone above his head, and the clatter of the gun as it hit the floor.
Leyton severed Butch’s spinal cord, only regretting that he’d done so in Kate’s kitchen and not outside or better yet, farther away that she would never have to see the brutality of the scene. But he wouldn’t have done anything differently with Kate’s life on the line. Or Dottie’s and her kids’ either.
Butch collapsed on the floor, dead, having breathed his last breath holding a gun on Leyton’s mate. Never again.
Leyton shifted and Kate dropped the heavy skillet she’d been holding. Hell, that was the sound he’d heard hitting Butch’s skull, his mate swinging the heavy cast iron skillet. She threw her arms around Leyton and held on tight, sobbing against his naked chest.
He meant to alert everyone that Butch was dead. But Kate was kissing Leyton, and she needed this more, right now, no talking, nothing but their shared love and hugs and kisses.
When she finally came up for air and he looked down at her teary eyes, he smiled. “Hell of a swing, Kate. I was sure glad the skillet didn’t hit me.”
She smiled a little. “Even after you had him by the neck, he wasn’t dropping the gun. I was afraid he’d try to fire it. If he’d hit you, I figured no one would ever get to use that hospital bed but you. Besides, we have a wedding tomorrow.” She sniffled, then hugged him again. “How did you know that he was here? Did you guess because I had the phone on speaker?”
“That, and I didn’t believe Dottie and the kids were coming over. Dan didn’t know anything about it, though I was coming over to check on you no matter what. But the biggest reason? You didn’t want to have supper with me. We’d planned this all along. I really didn’t believe you’d cancel on me. And you didn’t let me tell you I loved you in return. Just hung up on me.”
Kate’s phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket, but she wasn’t letting go of Leyton for anything. “Dan,” she said, and put the phone on speaker. “Butch, Jeffrey is dead. Leyton killed him. We’re both fine.”
“We’re all out here, coming in.” Dan ended the call.
“I have to unlock the door,” she said, but Leyton wouldn’t let her go, and with his arm wrapped around her, they went together and unlocked it.
Then Dan, Travis, and the deputies—all but Hal who was still at Dottie’s place keeping her and the kids safe until he had word that everything was okay—barged into the house. Leyton pulled an afghan off Kate’s couch and wrapped it around his waist.
Dan stayed with them while everyone else hauled the body out.
“Hell of a job, Leyton,” Dan said, everyone else echoing his comment.
“Hell, if Kate hadn’t hit him with the skillet, the outcome could still have been different,” Leyton said, squeezing her tight, a
nd she appreciated he’d given her credit for helping and was glad she was able to.
Even though that wasn’t her kind of job, mates helped each other out in times of crises.
With gloved hands, Travis carefully took Butch’s gun into evidence. “This could be the same gun Butch planned to frame you with. No serial number on it. Bet we don’t discover who it belonged to. And how much do you want to bet your fingerprints are on it.”
“Got a car a block down the street that has false plates. Figure it’s Butch’s,” Stryker said. “Found a gun and a rifle in it. One of them might be the one used to shoot you twice, Leyton. And the other? Might still be the one he planned to plant as evidence. It would be more likely that he wouldn’t be using it or worry that he would smudge your fingerprints on it.”
“We’ll have it investigated further,” Dan said. “But we can’t go reporting this to any regular authorities.”
“Hey, it’s not a blue Mustang, is it?” Travis asked.
“Yeah,” Stryker said.
“Hot damn. Bet it’s mine.” Travis frowned. “The condition?”
“Looks as good as new.”
Travis sighed with relief. “Got to check it out.”
“Do you want to stay at my place tonight?” Leyton asked, rubbing Kate’s arm.
“No. Butch’s not going to make me feel bad about staying in my own house.”
“Do you mind if I stay here?”
“I want you to.” She hugged him again. She didn’t want to ever let go. If the bastard had shot Leyton in some place that wasn’t vital, she could imagine him going to the wedding no matter what and camping with her too even if it nearly killed him. She didn’t even want to think of what might have happened if he had been killed.
Dan was helping direct the cleanup in the kitchen, making it appear as though nothing bad had happened there, which she so appreciated. “Good,” Dan said as if he was part of the conversation. “Otherwise someone else would have stayed with you, Kate.”
“Did you want one of the ladies to stay with you instead?” Leyton asked, but he looked like the notion didn’t appeal to him in the least.
“No. You can leave after breakfast. You just won’t see me wearing my wedding dress. The ladies will be over at ten. You have to be out by then.”
He nodded, took a deep breath, and hugged her tight again.
Even though she wanted to fix supper for them, she just couldn’t. The cleanup was done, including the mess she’d made when she’d dropped the pot of water she was going to use to boil bell peppers.
“I was afraid when I used the cat door, Butch might have heard me. Is that why you dropped the pot of water?”
“Yeah. I was making supper, anything to keep busy while Butch was holding the gun on me. But when I heard someone come in through my pet door, I quickly dropped the pot of water, hoping to disguise the noise, hoping someone was coming to the rescue.”
Even so, when Leyton went flying through the air as a cougar so all of a sudden and latched himself onto Butch, she hadn’t expected it. She’d been so scared that Butch would still get the best of Leyton that it took her a moment to realize she had the perfect weapon sitting on the burner, the skillet she was about to cook the hamburger in.
“You folks want dinner out, on me?” Stryker asked.
Leyton waited for Kate to say. “Yeah, I’d like that.” She smiled at him.
And that was it. The next thing they knew, they were having a barbecue at Hal’s ranch with everyone who lived at the ranch, Tracey, Ted, the ranch foreman, and the boys, Ricky and Kolby, Dottie and Dan, and her kids, Shannon and Chase and their kids, Stryker, and Travis. They stayed up too late, but everyone was cognizant of what had happened earlier this evening—how Leyton had saved Kate’s life, and she could very well have saved his. How they had protected Dottie and her kids. And the threat to even Travis had been eliminated. But Kate was glad for it. She loved seeing the sunset, and sitting with Leyton together on one of the loveseats, enjoyed the talk of anything else but about what had happened at her home tonight. Until everyone with sound-asleep children began to say their goodnights. And then Leyton and she headed home.
Tonight on the drive back, they were quiet, contemplative. When they arrived at her home, Kate said, “Because of all the people and excitement of the wedding and our trip, I was leaving Sheba at the clinic. But if you don’t mind, I want to bring her home for the night.” She really wanted to cuddle her one last time before she was gone for a couple of weeks, though Sheba loved everyone and seemed perfectly happy to visit with the patients at the clinic while she was gone.
“She’s family. Let’s go get her,” Leyton said.
As soon as Kate and Leyton went to bed, Sheba jumped onto the mattress and was trying to pick a spot to curl up next to them.
“No, Sheba,” Kate said. “Not with Leyton here.” She should have realized Sheba might want to sleep with them. Sometimes she slept with Kate, but mostly in the winter months and not so much in the summer.
Leyton smiled and reached out and scratched Sheba between the ears. Sheba purred and snuggled up on the other side of him as if he was her best friend now. Leyton chuckled and pulled Kate into his arms to sleep.
“You are going to be a terrible influence on her, I can see,” she said, serious. What would happen when they had kids? She could just imagine him spoiling them terribly. She smiled at the thought of him playing with the kids and she couldn’t wait.
He just kissed Kate and held her tighter.
Before they knew it, it was morning and time to send Leyton on his way.
“Are you sure?” he groaned, trying to pull her into his arms and brushing his whiskery cheek against hers.
“Yes! I’ll fix you a quick breakfast. The ladies will be here in just half an hour. We slept in too late.”
Leyton smiled and pulled her down for a real kiss, deepening it, loving her. In truth, they had made love twice during the night and it was way too early for getting up. He should have said they’d have a wedding late in the evening. But she finally pulled away from him and practically leapt out of bed before he could grab her again. He smiled and folded his arms behind his head.
He had never seen her so anxious before, and he watched her hurry into the bathroom to shower, sighed, and got up, threw on some briefs and headed for the kitchen to make a quick breakfast for them. Then he finished dressing.
She looked frazzled, her hair wet, but once she ate a little of her breakfast, he pulled her close and kissed her. “See you in a little bit, honey. Love you.”
“Love you too,” she said, practically shoving him out the door.
He laughed and was glad he wasn’t feeling anxious. The ladies smiled at him as they hurried to exit their cars and pile into Kate’s house.
* * *
Kate was so excited. Her big wedding day. The biggest tower wedding cake she’d ever seen with two cougars sitting on top, nuzzling each other, the icing white but covered in bits of chocolate to commemorate the s’mores she and Leyton had shared during their camping experience was sitting in the kitchen, waiting to do its part. Melanie Whittington had created the cake at her home in Loveland, where she made all kinds of cakes for every occasion, since she was Tracey’s mother. Tracey and her sister, Jessie, and their dad, Jack, were there also. Ricky and his brother, Kolby, were dressed up as much for the occasion, and she thought how fetching they were.
All the ladies had helped her pick out a princess wedding gown—Dottie, Tracey, her sister, Jessie, their photographer, Shannon, her nurses, Helen Kretchen and Elsie, and they’d had a ball. They’d had their nails done, though once they shifted, they’d lose the nail coloring, and had their hair all curled.
The babies and toddlers she’d delivered were just as cute all dressed up in their finery. And Leyton couldn’t have been more dapper. She’d never seen such a handsome cougar in her life, but then she was totally biased.
The retired FBI agents, Rick and Yvonne Mueller were there
to help her celebrate, and she’d just learned from them they had been investigating Leyton from the evidence left behind in her house when she decided to take him with her camping—the story that everyone was now sharing—and learned he was one of the good guys. But she already knew that.
April Hightower, her receptionist, and Becky Sorenson, her emergency on-call operator, were there too, smiling broadly.
And Hal’s parents were there, Roger and Milly Haverton. Roger was the reporter and making several big announcements about the wedding beforehand and would be afterward, and Milly owned the newspaper and was making it headline news. Luckily, Leyton didn’t seem to mind, despite loving being undercover.
Travis was so happy for his friend. Even Leyton and Travis’s boss, Chuck Warner, was there, just shaking his head and giving her a kiss.
Kate had been disappointed that she couldn’t get hold of her parents to attend the celebration, but she hoped they’d come for Christmas and meet their new son-in-law then.
Everyone was beautiful, she thought, as they shared in the celebration of her and Leyton’s wedding, then enjoyed a steak dinner, champagne, and cake.
But what was coming next was what Leyton had planned. The two-week vacation camping trip that Kate had missed out on. Only they weren’t going to her original camping sites either. They drove on the dead-end road, found the pile of rocks that Leyton had set up to let everyone know that they’d had a wreck here, and then parked.
“I can’t believe we’re coming back here,” she said, excited about camping with him here, only this time, on purpose.
They had climbing gear this time, and though they had all the gear they needed and enough food for two weeks, plenty of bear noise makers, and even champagne, they didn’t bring fishing gear. They’d fish to their hearts’ content as cougars.