Julián was in awe at the speed with which everyone moved. Ace pulled his vehicle around the far end of the hangar, out of sight, and then ran toward the Lear. Morgan, followed by Seth, was on his heels and got into the jet, too, leaving the door open and the steps down. They’d already hooked the jet up to the pickup—the one the Kendalls had modified for that very purpose. Adam got behind the wheel of the truck and waited.
They’d all figured if they appeared to be hauling the jet out as Broussard approached, the man’s attention would be split between that and keeping an eye on his prisoner, and he wouldn’t notice Morgan, or Adam, or that the noose was about to be pulled tight around his worthless neck.
Julián tucked the “invoice” Morgan had given him in his shirt pocket, and got ready to play the role of his life.
* * * *
“How are you doing there, sweetie?” Robert Jessop looked from the woman whose eyes had just blinked open, to the man and young baby hovering close by. He’d scrubbed up and was, thanks to his woman helping him, ready to don gown and gloves, and get to work.
“Okay, I guess. Woozy.”
“You’re a little woozy because I’ve given you some happy juice so my brother can tend to your wound.” David said.
“Seth? Toby?”
“Right here, baby.” The tattooed man looked at Robert. “I think it would be better for her if we stayed.”
Robert wanted to grin at the slightly confrontational tone that the man—Seth Carter—had just used. He didn’t, of course.
“You see anyone asking you to leave?” Robert turned his attention back to his patient.
He could tell by looking at her that Jayne was a little slow to process the situation. Totally understandable, under the circumstances. “Wound…my roses? My beautiful roses?”
“That is a very pretty tattoo you have there, sweetie. Don’t you worry, that piece of lead didn’t make a mess of it. I promise.”
“’Kay. Good.”
“Even if it had, baby, you know I’d fix it.”
Robert looked from the artwork to the man. “You do good work, Mr. Carter. And so do I.”
“Big brother here earned his stripes as a trauma surgeon at one of Chicago’s busiest hospitals,” David Jessop said. “He’s good.”
Seth Carter nodded. He still held his son, who’d fallen fast asleep on his shoulder, and hovered over Jayne as if he would kill rather than be parted from her.
Robert definitely understood that level of devotion.
Jillian came back into the exam room just then, pushing one of the office chairs. He and David adjusted the stretcher Jayne was on to make room for it.
“Here, Mr. Carter. You sit down and take a load off.”
“Thank you.” Seth sat and seemed to relax the slightest little bit.
Robert met Jillian’s gaze for just a moment. When she smiled, and nodded, he turned his focus back to the matter at hand. “The X-ray shows us the bullet didn’t go deep. It hit a rib and stopped.” He pointed to the single negative on the display box. It had been a simple matter to wheel the stretcher down the hall for the diagnostic procedure and then back again. “The bullet was a small caliber, which is a blessing. But you lost a lot of blood, Jayne, and that’s what made you lose consciousness. That’s why you’ll be on IV for at least the next twelve hours. I’ll use local anesthetic to dull the area, then pull out the bullet and stitch you up.” He looked at Seth. “You ready?”
“Me?”
Robert grinned. “Yeah, you.” He nodded toward Jayne who’d closed her eyes again and appeared to be sleeping. “Your lady isn’t going to feel a thing. You, on the other hand…”
Seth almost laughed. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
Robert stepped forward and got to work. He gave Jayne Sheridan the local anesthetic, and she didn’t do more than murmur in discomfort. Even that much, to Robert’s way of thinking, was too much.
He worked quickly, his experienced eye noting the damage, all things considered, was really fairly minor.
Carter sighed audibly when the extracted bullet hit the metal bowl on the table with a clank. David immediately used tongs to set the slug into a small plastic zippered bag. He wrote on it, citing date and time and location.
Robert knew that Adam was waiting inside the doorway to receive that piece of evidence.
“How’s Julián doing?” he asked of his cousin. Julián Alvarez had been rushed into exam room two, cursing the whole way. Apparently—according to that man’s epithets—getting shot hurt like hell. Robert fought a grin. Who knew?
“Julián?” Jayne turned her head to look at Seth. “I think he helped us, didn’t he?”
Seth reached out and stroked her head. “Yeah, he helped us. He’s fine, baby. He just got a little chicken scratch, is all.”
Adam scoffed. “I send Peter off on recon to protect him from getting shot and what happens? The other Alvarez takes a bullet.”
Robert chuckled because his cousin Adam sounded so disgusted.
Adam stayed by the door of the room, not coming in, and continued his story. “Peter arrives back at the airfield just in time to see Jayne and his brother being loaded into the EMT’s truck, and he tears a strip off me for getting his brother injured. Hell, it was just a graze.”
“Must run in the family,” David said. “That whole getting-shot thing.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said, too, after I assured him that it had all been nothing more than ‘a little dustup.’” Adam sighed. “Sunday dinner is so going to suck for me tomorrow.”
That might be so, but Robert noted Adam seemed a lot more settled than he had been the last time he’d come to the clinic on official business.
“Anyway, Dr. James said Julián is fine.” Adam snickered. “Of course, he had to administer a shot in the ass before he pronounced that to be so.”
“Yeah, that dad does love his ass shots,” David said.
“The other one prefers to scold and then just give one in the arm,” Robert said.
“I’m not sure which one is worse,” Adam Kendall said.
“You have two fathers?” Seth looked at him, his head tilted to the side. Robert was a pretty good judge of men, and he didn’t read censure there. Just curiosity and a whole hell of a lot of fatigue.
“Lusty and Divine have more than one thing in common,” Adam said then. He came all the way into the room. “There’s a room waiting for you and your son at the bed-and-breakfast. Once the docs get Jayne settled, I’ll be happy to take you over there.”
“I’m not leaving her,” Seth said.
Robert could appreciate the emotions running through the man at the moment. If it had been just the two of them, Robert would have no problem letting Seth stay all night. He nodded to the baby asleep in his arms. “You’ll want to go and eat, and then get some rest. Spend some time with your son. We’ll take care of Jayne. If you don’t want her flown to the hospital in Waco—”
“I don’t. Not unless it becomes absolutely, medically necessary.” Seth sighed. He looked from his woman to his baby.
“It’s not. We’ve a room here she can sleep in, and I promise you, she won’t be alone, not even for a moment. But why not take my Jeep? You can follow Adam so he can show you where everything in town is, and that way you can come back when you’re ready.”
Seth looked down at himself.
Robert followed his gaze and knew the blood that had dried on his clothing belonged to his woman.
“Thanks, Dr. Jessop. Hell, I do need a shower and a change of clothes. I don’t suppose there’s a store in town here that sells clothes for both baby and man.”
David laughed. He adjusted the IV drip that was providing Jayne with necessary fluids and the last little bit of happy juice as Robert finished stitching her wound.
“I don’t think Seth is going to need a store, is he, Adam?” Robert asked.
“Hell, no. Waiting room is full already.”
“I don’t understand.” Seth looked from him to Ad
am.
“Family tradition,” David said. “Whenever something happens to one of our own, folks gather. Word would have already gone out that we’d have three overnight guests.”
“Kate got on that before I could even ask her to,” Adam said.
“Kate?” Seth looked like a man trying to keep up with the action at a fast and furious tennis match.
“Kate Benedict. We all call her Grandma Kate,” Adam explained.
“That woman has better communication lines than the Pentagon,” Robert said.
“She’s amazing,” David agreed.
Robert applied an antibacterial spray to the stitches he’d just finished, and then gently taped gauze in place over it.
“Kate is a force of nature,” Adam said, “and the head of the combined families. Bottom line, everything you’re going to need overnight—from the room, to clothes for all of you, and food for this little guy is out in the waiting room, ready when you are.”
“But we’re not family,” Seth said.
“I think Kate would likely disagree with you on that one,” Robert said.
“Seth.”
Carter got to his feet and bent over Jayne. She smiled, and he gave her a light, reverent kiss. “I’ll be fine here. You eat and take care of our baby.”
Robert didn’t have all the details, but something about the way she’d said that—or maybe it was the words themselves—put a look of pride on Seth’s face.
“Okay, baby, but only because you asked it. I love you. And I’ll never forget what you did for our boy.”
Chapter 24
It’s only been six months, but look how my life has changed!
As she stood with her cowboys waiting to greet arriving guests, it occurred to Carrie that something as simple as answering a newspaper ad for a job—which she had done mostly because the name of the restaurant had intrigued her—had been the beginning of an entirely new, and perfectly wonderful life.
“What’s got you smiling, sugar?”
“Aside from the fact that practically the entire town is about to show up here,” Brian said, “and congratulate us for becoming officially engaged.”
“I was just thinking how sometimes the greatest moments in life come without fanfare. You make what you think is a simple choice and you have no idea that you’re actually changing everything in the most profound way possible.”
“Ah.” Chase smiled. “Like answering an ad in the paper, just for the hell of it?”
Carrie grinned. “Exactly like that.”
Country music, the volume turned low, played through the dining room of Lusty Appetites. Not long after she’d come to work for Kelsey, Carrie had helped with the engagement party for Michelle Parker and Joe Grant. At the time she hadn’t realized that the cost of the party was paid for entirely by the town itself—or more specifically, the Town Trust.
She just remembered thinking at the time how wonderful it had been that so many people made the time to come and celebrate with Michelle and Joe.
And now here they all were at Lusty Appetites, guests of honor at their own celebration. Full circle, Carrie thought—to go along with her very full and happy heart.
It didn’t surprise her that the first to arrive were the senior Benedicts. “Ah, look at you. You’re positively radiant! ” Abigail opened her arms, and Carrie went. In a short time she’d come to cherish her fiancés’ mother. Carrie thought she just might become addicted to the woman’s hugs.
She’d never known how much she’d missed mothering until Abigail Benedict decided to lavish some on her.
“I’m so pleased you’re joining our family,” Abigail said. “I couldn’t have picked anyone more perfect for my sons.”
“Thank you, Abigail. Thank you for making me feel so welcome.”
“How could I do anything else? You’re a sweetheart, Carrie Rhodes. I think you and I are going to become good friends.” She gave her sons and then her own husbands a sly glance. “I’m rather enjoying the fact that I now can claim three daughters. It means I’m not quite so outnumbered anymore.”
Carrie knew there was nothing sexist in her statement. When she’d toured the museum the week before, one of the surprising facts she’d learned was that most of the children born in Lusty were boys. Apparently when Penelope Benedict had given birth to little Ellie, it had been the first time in several generations a girl had been born first.
Being few didn’t in any way diminish the imprint the women of Lusty had made on the town’s heritage, however.
Sarah Benedict and Amanda Jessop-Kendall had set the standard toward which every woman in the families strove.
Carrie had grown up without that sense of roots or family heritage. Both her parents had been only children, and while there had been plenty of family friends and social events before the tornado, afterward, there had been no one—certainly no one who bothered to keep in touch.
“Don’t you believe Abigail.” Michael Benedict, one of her future fathers-in-law, laughed. “The women of our family have always outnumbered the men, no matter the actual numbers.”
He gave her a hug and for just a moment Carrie caught the wisp of a memory of another father’s hug, this one buried in the past, the recollection abandoned as being too painful to draw on in the aftermath of grief. When she clung for just a moment, Michael held her tighter, and she thought he might have understood the emotion that had enveloped her within his embrace.
Carson Benedict was just as welcoming as his brother had been. Carrie didn’t know Carson and Michael all that well yet, but she could already see from where her men got their sense of honor—and their sense of humor.
Julia Benedict arrived with her fiancés in tow, and Carrie thought the woman already looked like a bride. Their Commitment Ceremony was going to be held next weekend. They’d waited so that Dev and Drew could use their leave for their honeymoon.
“I’m getting another sister!” Julia hugged her and grinned. “You, Maggie, Tracy, and I can go shopping together! We’ll tap mom, too. Men”—she looked at both her lovers and her brothers—“as sweet as they are, just do not get the whole shopping thing.”
“I’ll look forward to it.” Carrie loved the way both Dev and Drew focused on Julia, their devotion to her out there for everyone to see.
“You told us you hate shopping.” Chase slipped his arm around her so he could speak privately. Standing on her right, dressed in crisp white cotton, fresh denim, and more sex appeal than should be legal, he simply stole her breath.
“I do, for the most part. But I think I’ll like shopping, occasionally, with my new in-laws.”
“Dayum, I love this woman,” Brian said. He laced the fingers of his right hand with her left. Then he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.
Richard, Kevin, and Trevor arrived with Maggie. Both Chase and Brian had confessed that they couldn’t get over the change in their oldest brother since Maggie Morrison had come into his, Trey’s, and Kevin’s lives. Of course, they’d also heard from Julia and her fiancés exactly what it was Richard had done to avenge his sister’s honor after Clarence Conrad had tried to use her as a meal ticket last year.
Carrie had never had any other impression of Richard Benedict except that he was a very caring, if sometimes too serious and socially awkward older brother. And despite the bit of a hard time he’d given her men over their desire to resurrect the Benedict North Ranch, she understood that he was the way he was because he worried about them, and he cared.
She guessed her insights came as a side effect of having been raised in a series of foster homes. She knew real love from phony platitudes when she encountered it.
“Have these old men done the honorable thing yet and agreed on a wedding date?” Chase asked Maggie.
Maggie Morrison laughed. “They’d have had the ceremony months ago if they’d had their way,” she said. “I’ve been the one giving them the runaround, I’m afraid.”
“Don’t worry about it, love,” Richard said. He sli
d his arm around her. “If anyone can understand your desire to get the bed-and-breakfast established and running smoothly before taking time off, it’s the three of us.”
“That’s right, sweetheart.” Trevor nodded. “We’re more than a little devoted to our own business, ourselves. That’s one of the things that makes you so perfect for us.”
Maggie leaned into Richard and caressed Trevor’s cheek. “You’ve all been very patient, and I appreciate it.”
“All part of the master plan, baby.” Kevin grinned. “Which is to keep you happy and fulfilled for the rest of your life.”
“It’s working.” She leaned over and kissed Kevin’s cheek. “Anyway, I feel the business is sound enough now I can hire an assistant. I’ll be putting out feelers for someone with hotel experience, maybe someone from Waco or Houston or Dallas who wants a slower pace. Hopefully, it won’t take long.”
Richard stepped forward. He laid his hand on Chase’s shoulder. “I owe you an apology, little brother. I know I gave you a hard time over becoming a full-time cowboy. I apologize. You and Brian were never happy in the corporate life. I can see you’re happy here. That’s the most important thing. And I can see you’re doing a good job with that ranch.”
Carrie thought both of her loves looked not only stunned and pleased, but very moved by their brother’s words.
“Thanks, man. That means a lot to us both.” Chase and then Brian hugged him. She met Maggie’s gaze and smiled, and felt a little misty-eyed herself.
Carrie watched as Maggie and the triplets made the rounds, visiting with cousins and other family members. There was only one member of the Benedict clan she’d hadn’t yet met.
“Is your other brother going to be coming tonight?”
“No, darlin’, Greg’s not in the country at the moment.” Brian ran his hand down her back. “We actually don’t know exactly where he is, come to that.”
Chase reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. “The last we saw of him was when he came home for the triplets’ and Maggie’s engagement party. When he was leaving, he said something about Alaska.” Chase shivered. “Makes my Texas-bred blood run cold just saying the name of that state.” Then he grinned. “Some of the cousins call him a nomad, but he calls himself an adventurer.”
Love Under Two Cowboys [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 26