Love Under Two Wranglers [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  Those two bastards had played a part in ending the sweetest deal he’d ever had.

  The added benefit, of course, was being able to lure Mary Ellen to a place that would prove advantageous to him.

  Now the only thing left for him to do was to take care of her.

  When the cops found her, she’d be on the bed, the rifle he’d used in Lusty covered with her prints—he’d already wiped it down so it didn’t hold any of his own.

  The cops would see the evidence, especially the fact that she’d blown her own brains out—and they wouldn’t look any further.

  Cops are all not only stupid, they’re lazy. Look how easy I got away with everything before.

  No one who might have seen him with her would be able to describe him. He’d let her check into this motel on her own, even giving her the cash to do so. There was no trace of him here at all—and really no trace of her, either.

  He reached into his pockets and pulled out a pair of latex gloves. It took a few minutes to wipe down the room. He picked up her glass and thoroughly rinsed it out, Rather than leave it behind, he set it in his duffel. Then he grabbed the bag, and carried it to the window that faced opposite the only door. He opened the window, and tossed his bag out. They had a ground floor unit, which was what he’d told her to get. Then he closed the drapes. He knew he likely wouldn’t have much time once the gun went off to get out before the manager, or some maid came running.

  But then, he didn’t need much time.

  He took the rifle out of the case, and approached the bed. “Wanna hold it?” He took her hands and placed them on the rifle, even putting her finger on the trigger. She gave him a questioning look. “I’m getting rid of it shortly and thought you would want to touch the instrument of your revenge.”

  She blinked and he took back the gun. Placement wasn’t really important, because the cops wouldn’t look past the blood and grey matter.

  Tooms set the rifle against the wall, beside the dresser. He took the bourbon and spilled some around the bed, and then dropped the bottle to the floor.

  The scene was set. Only one thing left to do.

  He took his Glock 17 out of the waist band of his pants, and then leaned over the bed once more, his right knee bent close to Mary Ellen.

  He took her hand and fit it around the butt of the gun. He met her gaze, saw the fear, and knew one moment of regret.

  “Sorry, baby. I’ve got no choice. This won’t hurt. I promise.”

  He held her finger to the trigger and took a deep breath.

  The door burst open, startling him, making him squeeze the trigger before it was aimed, sending the 19mm slug into the ceiling.

  “Drop the weapon! Drop the weapon now!”

  Oscar Tooms looked at the six officers all focusing their guns on him, and slowly released Mary Ellen’s hand, took back the Glock, and laid it on the bed.

  “Hands behind your head! Do it!”

  Tooms complied, and didn’t fight when the cops grabbed him and cuffed him.

  He took one last look at the woman who lay motionless on the bed, save for the tears streaming from her eyes.

  “Bitch. You always could fall in a bucket of shit and come up smelling like a rose.”

  * * * *

  “Ah, another repeat customer, I see.”

  Holly’s attention was yanked to the doorway of the exam room. She recognized the older man standing there, a smirk on his face, only because he looked a lot like Dr. Robert.

  “Indeed.” Robert Jessop didn’t look up from his examination of Alan’s wound. “Word of our excellent service and stellar bedside manner must be spreading.”

  Holly had been more than a little surprised when she and Duncan were both allowed into the exam room with Alan. The doctor had moved the stretcher so that they could stay on Alan’s right side, near his head, and out of the way of his wound.

  She’d felt her tummy quiver when Robert had removed the makeshift bandage from Alan’s shoulder. She’d never seen a gunshot wound before.

  Duncan put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently.

  “Young man,” the older one said to Alan, “you need to learn to stay out of the way of flying metal—be it barbed wire or bullets.”

  “That’s just become my new number-one career goal, sir,” Alan said.

  “This is my father, Dr. Adam Jessop,” Robert said. He was carefully examining the damage, and looked up for just a moment, giving them all a grin. “He’s understandably disappointed that you’re not going to need a tetanus shot today.”

  “Ah,” Alan said. “So you’re the one who likes to give ass shots.”

  “My reputation precedes me, I see.” Adam Jessop grinned, then looked at his son. “You’re right, son. Word is spreading.”

  “Well, sir, your son here, as well as Jordan Kendall, both told me about your preferred target area.”

  “Actually, Alan is the only person I’ve met so far who understood perfectly why that was so,” Robert said.

  “Now that’s impressive.” Adam stepped in closer and looked over his son’s shoulder. “I bet this is a nasty reminder of those years you spent up north, son,” he said.

  “I’ve seen my share of GSWs, that’s for sure.” He looked up at Holly. “That’s—”

  “Gunshot wounds,” Holly finished for him. “Yes, sir. I recognized the term from reruns of Emergency!”

  Robert met her gaze briefly. “I’m just Robert, Holly. Are you feeling all right, sweetheart?”

  “Yes.” She sighed and squeezed Alan’s hand. “I think the terror is nearly gone.”

  “Nothing’s harder than seeing someone you love suffer,” Adam Jessop said.

  “No. Nothing’s harder than that,” she agreed. And when Alan turned a surprised look her way, she knew he could see the love she felt for him right there in her eyes.

  Doctor Adam went over to the sink and scrubbed up. He donned a pair of latex gloves, and then went over to one of the cabinets and quickly prepared a hypodermic needle. He came back to the stretcher and administered the medication right into Alan’s IV.

  “All right, folks, here’s the game plan,” Robert said. “Alan, we’re going to take you down the hall and get an X-ray of that shoulder. I want to be absolutely certain there are no small metal fragments floating around in there somewhere. Then we’ll come back here and I’ll remove the bullet. Dad’s just given you a sedative to ease some of the pain and help you relax. I’ll give you a local anesthetic before I begin to work. And we’ll keep you here for a few hours after that’s done, because I’m going to give you some antibiotics via the IV, and I want to keep an eye on you while I do.”

  “Okay. You’re the boss.” Alan was sounding tired. He closed his eyes, and Holly looked up at the doctor.

  “Yes. Yes, I am indeed the boss.” Then to Holly, he said, “Sleep is a normal reaction, now that the pain is easing for him. Just as the shakes that are beginning to affect you are a normal reaction to the situation. It’s called an adrenaline crash. He really is going to be fine, sweetie.” Then he looked at Duncan. “Dad and I are just going to wheel him down the hall to x-ray. We’ll be back in about five minutes. You two stay here and hang on to each other until we come back.”

  The two doctors wheeled the stretcher with Alan on it out of the room. Holly blinked when they also closed the door behind them.

  Duncan sighed. Holly didn’t move. She felt like a porcelain doll that had just sustained a run of cracks. Any movement, however small, might make her shatter completely.

  “Come here, baby. We better follow doctor’s orders.” He turned her in his arms, and then pulled her in tight.

  Holly couldn’t hold back the sob. She clung to Duncan, her hold fierce. “I was so scared. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to either one of you. I love you both so much.”

  “Holly.” Duncan eased her back and cupped her face. “Sweetheart, you have to know we love you, too. I love you. I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on y
ou. I looked up that night in Lusty Appetites, and my soul said, there she is.”

  “It took me just a little longer.”

  Duncan’s cheeky grin lifted her spirits. “I know.” He used his thumb to wipe her tears, and then gave her a sweet kiss. “Now come here and let me hold you for a while.”

  “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.”

  Holly lost herself in the comfort of Duncan’s embrace, knowing that she gave him comfort, too. His hands stroking her back soothed the trembles away. She returned the favor, using her hands to caress up and down his back. Holly took a cleansing breath. Everything was going to be all right.

  When the door opened several minutes later, she turned in Duncan’s arms, her equilibrium restored.

  “Good news,” Robert said. “The bullet didn’t fragment. Removing it won’t be difficult at all.”

  Holly figured if the two Drs. Jessop wanted them to leave, they would say so. Duncan must have thought the same thing because he tightened his arms around her, and set his chin on her shoulder.

  They watched quietly as the doctors prepped Alan. He opened his eyes when they swabbed the site of the wound with what she guessed was a disinfectant.

  “Hey.” He gave her a small smile when he saw her.

  “Hey, yourself.”

  “Alan doesn’t want to think about what we’re about to do, sweetie. Why don’t you hold his hand?”

  She didn’t have to be asked twice, and sighed when Duncan took those two steps with her.

  “How’re you doing, brother?”

  “I’m okay. Doc says I have to stay for a few hours while they run some antibiotics through me. I told Chase to be careful of his field dressing.”

  Holly grinned, because she knew Alan was trying to lighten the mood.

  “Anyway, there’s no need for the two of you to stick around. You can head on to the house, if you want, come back when they’re ready to spring me.”

  Holly gave a very inelegant snort. “No. We’re staying, wrangler. Period.”

  “What she said, pal. Because next time it could be either one of us on that stretcher, and neither one of us wants to be there without you.”

  “You fit right in here,” Dr. Adam said to Duncan. Holly heard the approval in his voice.

  She thought it interesting that the father assisted the son. Then she recalled that Dr. Robert was well versed in gunshot wounds.

  “How’s my daughter-in-law doing?” Dr. Adam asked his son.

  “Morning sickness has been getting the best of her the last few days. So for the next week or so, David and I will be trading off mornings.” Robert sighed. “She says it’s normal and she’ll be fine, and absolutely insists on coming in to work every day, but I don’t like that she’s suffering.”

  “Your mother had a hell of a time carrying Grant,” Dr. Adam said. “I imagine that Jillian knows what she’s talking about when she tells you she’s fine, and that this will pass. Even if you don’t know better, David should, for God’s sake. He’s an ob-gyn.”

  Robert snorted from behind his mask as he bent over Alan’s shoulder. “Yeah, we’re both pretty much pathetic when it comes to our Jillian. And if any of you tell our wife I said that, I’ll deny it.”

  Holly grinned. She couldn’t help but listen to the banter, even as for most part she kept her gaze locked with Alan’s. He didn’t so much as flinch, which told her the local anesthetic Dr. Robert had administered was working.

  A loud metallic clink nearly made her jump.

  “It’s out. You can’t have it as a souvenir as Adam Kendall will want it for evidence. Now I just have to clean and close. I had to snip a bit to uncover the slug completely. It’ll only take a couple of stitches.”

  “I’m not looking and I’m not counting.” Alan winked at her, and that one gesture made her feel a whole lot better.

  “It’s okay, buddy, don’t worry about it. I’ll do that little thing for you,” Duncan said.

  Alan shot Duncan a narrow-eyed stare. “Somebody has been listening to Jordan Kendall about the last time I was in here, I think.”

  Duncan grinned. “I might have heard a thing or two.”

  Chapter 23

  By Alan’s calculation, he had another thirty minutes before Dr. Robert sprung him from the clinic. The local anesthetic was beginning to wear off. Alan knew many men who, in this same situation, would turn their back on filling the prescription he’d been given for pain medication.

  Alan wasn’t one of them.

  Jillian Jessop, the administrator of the clinic, and her other husband, Dr. David Jessop, had arrived just as Robert had been finishing up with the stitching. Mrs. Jessop had gotten straight to work, bringing chairs in so that Holly and Duncan could at least relax while they waited with him. She even brought coffee in for them—and after some pleading and downright begging on his part, and consulting with her husband Robert on her part, she brought him a cup of decaf.

  He usually didn’t drink decaf, but the cup of it he was served tasted like the best cup of coffee he’d ever enjoyed.

  “They haven’t sprung you yet?”

  Alan looked over at the door and the familiar face of Chase Benedict. Alan could see the concern in his boss’s face. “No. Dr. Robert wants me to get some more antibiotic juice first.” He indicated the IV he was connected to.

  “Huh.” Chase entered the room, followed by Adam Kendall.

  “How are you feeling, Alan?” the sheriff asked.

  “It’s starting to throb again,” Alan said. “But I really am glad to be alive.”

  “I thought I’d give you an update on the case.”

  “I appreciate that. Did they arrest that crazy woman?”

  Adam Kendall looked like he was trying not to laugh. “In a manner of speaking. We—the state police were kind enough to let me tag along—got the drop on the man the investigators, seven years ago, referred to as Doctor Death just as he was about to kill Mary Ellen Potsy. Guess you could say you had a hand—or perhaps I should say a shoulder—in saving that crazy woman’s life.”

  “They finally got the bastard who killed those horses?” Duncan looked as pleased as Alan felt.

  “Yes—he was also the man who shot you, Alan. Right about now, Oscar Tooms is facing a shitload of charges.”

  “Fuck! Oscar Tooms? He was the guy who came looking for a job the other day.” Alan looked up at Chase. “Ricoh was the one who spoke to him. Bastard gave me the creeps. Now I know why.”

  Chase nodded. “Yeah, Adam filled us all in at the ranch a few minutes ago. Ricoh told us about Tooms showing up—and about his general attitude.” Chase grinned. “He also said you’d taken an instant dislike to the man.”

  Alan chuckled. “I was going to tell you about that if it looked like you were going to give him a shot at a job.”

  “He would have had to pass the background check the Town Trust runs—which likely wouldn’t have happened.” Then Chase looked at Adam. “They got him red-handed, from what Adam said.”

  “He had his hand over a drugged-out Mary Ellen Potsy’s hand, with his finger pressing hers to the trigger.” Adam shook his head. “The room was staged, and he was only a few seconds from pulling that trigger, making it look as if the woman killed herself. Our breaking down the door to the room startled him and he released her hand and fired a shot into the ceiling.”

  “She was drugged?”

  “The same drug predators use on unsuspecting dates,” Adam said. “I received an update from my contact with the State Police just a few minutes ago. She’s going to make a full recovery. Also, it appears that the deal the prosecutors wanted Potsy to take last time that she didn’t, is going to be accepted by her this time around. Her testimony, on top of the evidence recovered from the motel, will absolutely seal Tooms’s fate.” Adam shrugged. “Apparently, as soon as the drug he slipped her began to wear off, she broke down and confessed that she couldn’t testify against him last time because she was terrified of the man. But even her
so-called loyalty didn’t protect her, because he’d forced her from her new home in Louisville and brought her with him to try and kill the two of you.”

  “The cops are buying that shit?” Duncan asked.

  “In view of the evidence, and her willingness now that Tooms is in custody to testify against him, I would say so. Was she really forced, or was she just blindsided by the evil Doctor Death?” Adam shrugged his shoulders. “Sometimes, guys, you take what you can get. The horse murderer, and your assailant, is behind bars—and will be for many years to come.”

  “Well, as long as Mary Ellen Potsy stays the hell away from us, I have no complaints.”

  Holly stroked his hand. She hadn’t let go of him for more than a second for the last couple of hours. He turned his attention to her.

  “If she nearly died, maybe it was enough of a shock to cause a change in her. People can and do change, baby.”

  Because she looked so earnest, he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “You’re right. Maybe it was.” Not for the world would he say anything to discourage her optimism.

  Holly had no experience with the truly selfish or criminally perverted, and he meant to see to it that was one kind of experience she never gained.

  “You take it easy—and no coming back to work until the doctor says you can,” Chase said.

  “I really am damn sorry about those cows, Chase,” Alan said.

  “I had a phone call from your friend Ted Miller,” Chase said. “He said his company is going to see to it we’re reimbursed for the loss. Even without that, I count it a bargain, if the result is that murderer is behind bars.”

  “Yeah.” Alan sighed. “We were pissed, all those years ago, that the man who we believed was at the heart of the scheme was the only one who got away.”

  “Well I can assure you,” Adam said, “that Oscar Tooms is definitely not getting away this time.”

  Alan guessed that something else Adam had said was true, too. Sometimes you took what you could get.