Christmas Rescue at Mustang Ridge

by Delores Fossen

  “All of this is just talk,” Jake said, “and I have a lot more important things I need to be doing.” He turned to walk away.

  “I can find out who my father hired to come after Maggie,” David said.

  That stopped Jake in his tracks, and he turned back around to face the man. “How? If you’re on the outs with your father, as you say you are, why would he give you that kind of information?”

  “He wouldn’t give it to me,” David verified. “But I still have access to some of his old contacts.” He checked his watch. “Give me a couple of hours, and I’ll have a name for you. Maybe then you’ll see I’m trying to help you.”

  With that, David turned and walked to his car.

  Chapter Seven

  Jake glanced around the hunting cabin and hoped he hadn’t made a huge mistake bringing Maggie here. Of course, anything he did at this point could turn into a huge mistake, so he just took a deep breath, unlocked the door and ushered her inside.

  Maggie glanced around the place. Not that her glances could go far. There was a set of bunk beds and a couple of chairs on one side and a small kitchen and table on the other. The equally small bathroom was at the back, and there wasn’t even a door to close it off, just a sliding curtain.

  “We should only have to be here one night,” he reminded her.

  If that.

  It was still a little before five, and if the test results turned out to be a match, they could be on their way to the hospital in the nearby town of Corner’s Lake where Jake had arranged for the marrow harvesting. There were several hotels in the town, but he hadn’t wanted to risk taking Maggie there just yet. Jake figured Tanner’s goons would be watching the hospitals.

  Watching for Maggie and him, too.

  But thankfully Royce, Nell and his father had managed to sneak Sunny into an Amarillo hospital under a fake name. Staying there meant it would essentially tie up his family since they couldn’t risk leaving, and that meant Jake had no real backup. There was only one other night deputy, Billy Kilpatrick, and he’d have to man the sheriff’s office on his own.

  Jake set the bags on the kitchen table, locked the door and set the security alarm he’d had installed the year before when they’d had a problem with kids vandalizing the place. The cabin wasn’t on a path, beaten or otherwise, but he knew there was a chance that someone could still find them there.

  Especially someone who was looking hard.

  Maggie knelt down and turned on the electric heater. It would keep them from freezing, but he doubted it would make the place warm. No. They were in for a long, cold night. And the weather was only partially responsible for that.

  Sunny’s condition had certainly made Maggie and him strange bedfellows. Or rather bunk mates. At least they wouldn’t actually have to share a bed.

  Jake was beyond thankful for that.

  He blamed that on the small quarters and the clothes that Nell had lent Maggie. When she’d been wearing the ugly waitress uniform, he hadn’t been able to see much of her body. But he did now because she was wearing slim jeans. She also had a sweater and coat, but they, too, seemed to skim her curves. It was a stupid reminder that she was an attractive woman, and Jake told himself it was a reminder he was going to forget. Now.

  “I need to clean something,” Maggie said, rubbing her hands down the side of her coat. “It helps me relax.”

  Well, that was a first, and even though Jake didn’t see the need to clean the temporary quarters, he tipped his head to the sink. “There should be some supplies in the cabinet beneath.”

  She gave him a shaky nod and didn’t waste any time taking out some paper towels and a bottle of spray cleaner. Maggie stepped into the bathroom to tackle the sink that probably didn’t even need cleaning. While she did that, he took out the food and extra blankets they’d packed. The extra weapon and ammunition, too.

  He heard Maggie mumbling something and looked at her through the narrow opening of the bathroom. Her back was to him, her attention focused on the sink. She stopped, turned slightly, leaning her shoulder against the wall, and she touched the back of her hand to her mouth.

  Maybe to choke back a sob.

  He didn’t go to her, but he didn’t turn away, either. Jake watched her from the corner of his eye, but he also kept taking out the supplies so she wouldn’t get suspicious from the sudden silence. Maggie didn’t need to know he was gawking at her.

  She kept her hand pressed to her mouth for several moments, but her gaze drifted to the denim shirt that was a peg on the wall.

  His shirt.

  He’d left it there months ago, the last time he’d used the cabin. She might have recognized it since he’d worn it a lot over the years.

  With the paper towel in her right hand, she set the cleaning bottle in the sink, reached out with her left and skimmed her finger over the shirtsleeve.

  Oh, man.

  He hadn’t expected a reaction to that, but he got one. It felt as if she’d touched him.

  Her fingers slid from the sleeve to the collar. But not just the collar. Inside it, along the neck. He got another punch of heat that he didn’t want.

  And then he saw something else.

  The look on her face. Not fear, or the aftermath of a near sob. But the look of a woman remembering something. A touch. A kiss, maybe. Whatever was on her mind, his shirt had brought it all back.

  Her mouth opened slightly, and he heard her breath. Saw the slight tremble of her mouth. She drew back her hand, touching her lips with her fingertips. Not like before...

  It was more a memory she was reliving.

  Jake was suddenly reliving it, too. He could feel her in his arms. The way she’d fitted against him—the softness of her breasts against his chest. The taste of her. Man, that taste had haunted him.

  Still did.

  Her fingers slipped from her mouth. To her bare throat. Before she slid her hand over her breast and to her belly, where she flattened her palm.

  Yeah, Jake felt her there, too.

  In his belly. And lower. She didn’t move her hand lower, but Jake’s mind seemed to be filling in the blanks. Imagining it, his mouth went dry. The blood started to pump fast through him. And, damn, he got an erection. That stupid part of him didn’t know when to lie low.

  When Sunny was better, he really needed to be with a woman. Not Maggie. But someone.

  The buzzing sound shot through the room, and for a moment Jake thought it was all in his head. It wasn’t. It was his new phone. One of those prepaid cells that couldn’t be easily traced. He’d set it up so that any call made to the house phone or his other cell would be forwarded to him. Good thing, too, because he recognized the number of the caller. It was Tommy Rester, and Jake was glad for the interruption.

  “It’s me,” Jake answered. Maggie came back into the room, but Jake turned away from her so she wouldn’t see the obvious bulge behind his zipper. “Please tell me you have good news.”

  “Not yet. I got the blood to the lab, but there’s only one tech working, and she’s doing something on a high-profile murder case.”

  Yeah, definitely not good. “Can you press her to run it?”

  “I am pressing,” Tommy insisted, “but tomorrow’s Christmas Eve, and she’s not happy about working any later than she already is.”

  Jake tried to hold back the fear that rose inside him. “Just try,” Jake said, “and if necessary I’ll resort to begging or bribes.” Hell, he’d already broken the law once, and he’d break it a dozen more times to save Sunny.

  “I take it that wasn’t David with the name he promised?” Maggie asked. She didn’t seem to notice his erection, thank goodness, but there was a slight tremble in her voice when she said David’s name.

  It was a reminder of his conversation with Tanner’s son. Jake figured most, if not all, were just lies to cover for Tanner or maybe just to torment him. Except for that one thing.

  There’s a lot I’m just learning about Maggie’s investigation. How much has she
told you?

  It was a puzzling comment and maybe designed to get Jake thinking about things that shouldn’t be occupying his thoughts. A distraction that would prevent him from seeing the real truth—that both Tanner and his son were very dangerous men.

  “It wasn’t David,” Jake explained to her. “And even if he does call, I’m not holding out much hope that he’ll give us anything.” Especially the name of the person his father had hired to kill Maggie and anyone else he felt like killing. “That was the ranch hand who took your blood sample to the crime lab. He’s working on getting it processed.”

  “Working on it,” Maggie repeated in a mumble, and she started scrubbing the sink in the kitchenette. If she kept it up, she’d have scrapes and bruises on her hands.

  Jake reached out and took her arm to stop her.

  She looked up at him, shook her head. “It’s just so hard being here.”

  Yeah, but Jake wasn’t sure they were hard for the same reasons. But then, she glanced down. At his zipper.

  Maggie blinked and did a double take.

  “An involuntary reaction,” he grumbled.

  Her forehead bunched up. “To me?”

  More than anything he wanted to deny it, but he doubted Maggie would believe he’d gotten that reaction from anything else in this man-cave of a cabin.

  “I see,” she said, and Jake knew his silence was the loudest of confirmations. “Funny, I was just thinking about, well, about a lot of things.” She put the cleaning supplies on the counter and fluttered her fingers toward the bathroom. “Your shirt’s in there, and it’s the one you were wearing when you kissed me. I had an involuntary reaction to it.”

  If he hadn’t seen her touch it, this would have been a very confusing conversation. But if he hadn’t seen that, or the way she’d touched herself, he wouldn’t have this asinine erection.

  “You don’t know how many times I had to force myself not to lust after my sister’s husband,” she said. She waved him off before he could answer that, but the wave was for no reason because Jake didn’t have an answer for it anyway. “Old water, old bridge.”

  But the attraction was still there.

  “You’re the one who left Mustang Ridge after you finished college,” he reminded her.

  She nodded. “To move to Amarillo. I wanted to be a cop and I wasn’t sure you’d hire me.”

  “You didn’t ask.”

  Another nod, followed by a sound in her throat. “Didn’t think it was a good idea. Besides, by then Anna had told me she wanted you.”

  Jake didn’t doubt that. Ten years ago if someone had asked him which Gallagher sister he would have ended up with, he would have said Maggie. But after she’d left town and focused on her career, Anna and he had started spending more time together. Had gotten closer. And eventually Anna had gotten pregnant.

  That’s when Jake had proposed.

  And he didn’t regret it or the pregnancy.

  “It all worked out,” she said. “Well, in some ways. You got Sunny.”

  Yeah. And even though his marriage to Anna hadn’t been perfect, not by a long shot, Sunny was worth it.

  Maggie stepped back, though the small space didn’t allow her to go far. “Sunny’s so sick.” And that’s all she said for several moments. “I mean, you warned me, but seeing her...”

  “Yeah,” Jake settled for saying.

  “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t done that investigation, Anna would be alive and probably a match. Sunny would already be well.”

  Jake automatically stiffened at the sound of his late wife’s name. A conditioned reflex. Like the punch of pain and hatred he felt. But it was hard to hang on to that hatred when Maggie was risking her life. It didn’t make up for what had happened, but it wasn’t something Jake could just push aside.

  Neither was the tear that spilled down her cheek.

  Cursing, he reached for her, but Maggie batted his hands away. “I’m not tough like I use to be. If I lean on your shoulder, I might not be able to quit leaning.”

  Jake knew that was a huge confession coming from the woman who never showed any signs of weakness. Worse, he was afraid it might be true. That, however, didn’t stop Jake from making what was probably a huge mistake.

  He reached out, put his arm around her and pulled Maggie to him so she could use his shoulder.

  It didn’t help her tears. They came faster and harder now until she was sobbing. Jake didn’t try to stop her because he’d had his own battle with coming to terms with how sick Sunny was. Maggie had only had hours to adjust and, during that time, someone had tried to kill her.

  “Sorry.” She pushed herself away from him and used one of the paper towels to dry her face. “Just what you need right now—a woman blubbering all over you and giving you...involuntary reactions.”

  No, he didn’t need it, and Jake didn’t need the reminder of how Maggie felt in his arms. He’d held her like this two months after Anna’s death, when they’d both been so racked with grief. She’d had his shoulder then, too.

  And his mouth.

  Hell, she’d had a lot of him since Jake had been ready to forget everything and lose his mind in her body.

  “Yes,” Maggie mumbled as if she knew what he was thinking. And maybe she did. Because Jake could have sworn that the thought of those memories changed the air between them.

  It suddenly didn’t seem so freezing cold.

  Maggie shoved her hands in her coat pockets and drew in a deep breath. “We should eat or something.”

  But she didn’t move. Nor did she look at the food that Jake had placed on the table. Jake didn’t, either. But he did do something, and he was a hundred percent certain that it was wrong.

  Before he could talk himself out of it, he hooked his arm around Maggie’s waist and yanked her to him. His mouth went to hers. Not for some gentle kiss between lovers.

  No.

  There was no gentleness between them, and in that moment Jake wasn’t sure if this was about the heat between them or the pain this heat had caused.

  He kissed her hard. Punishing both of them with the way he slammed her body against his. He wasn’t sure who he wanted to hurt more—her or himself. He settled for hurting both of them, and he poured all the pain, the grief and the anger into that kiss.

  Maggie took everything he dished out to her, everything, and she didn’t try to push away. Just the opposite. Her fingers dug into shoulder, pulling him closer, until he felt his muscles cramp there. In the back of his mind he figured he’d have bruises.

  He deserved worse.

  He deserved the physical scars to go with the raw emotions he felt.

  Maggie made a soft, helpless sound. The kind a person might make if they were drowning and there was no hope of survival. It was that sound of surrender that had him breaking the kiss, and Jake stared down into her eyes.

  He should tell her he was sorry for the kiss, but the words wouldn’t help. They were past that now. So, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. He didn’t touch her with his hands. Nor with his body.

  Jake just kissed her.

  It was slow. Lingering. And he let the taste of her slide through him. Yeah. He remembered that taste. Remembered how it had made him burn. It still did.

  Maggie made another sound. Not surrender. But one of pure pleasure, and she deepened the kiss. Jake was a willing participant, however, and he did some deepening of his own.

  He came to his senses. Not slowly. It hit him like a heavyweight’s fist, and this time he did step way back from her.

  They stood there, their breathing hard. Every part of them was primed for something that wouldn’t happen.

  “Don’t you dare apologize,” she said, and it wasn’t a weak mumble, either. It sounded a lot like the old Maggie, the one who didn’t work in the Tip Top Diner.

  The formidable Maggie.

  “The same goes for you,” he answered.

  And much to his surprise, Jake realized he didn’t sound like a grieving widowe
r but more like the man who’d felt he could weather anything. He didn’t consider that a good thing. Not now anyway, when it could break down barriers between Maggie and him.

  He needed those barriers to keep Anna in his heart.

  Jake’s phone buzzed again. And this time he didn’t recognize the number. He pressed the answer button and put the call on Speaker so that Maggie could hear.

  “It’s me, Wade,” the caller immediately said.

  Well, Jake had intended to call the young man for questioning, but apparently Wade had beat him to him.

  “We need to talk.” There was a frantic edge to Wade’s voice.

  “I’m listening.”

  “No,” Wade argued. “I mean I need to see you. We need to talk in person.”

  “That can’t happen, but I do need to know something—how fast did you go to Tanner after you hacked into the Justice Department files for me?”

  “I didn’t go to him,” Wade snapped. “In fact, Tanner’s the reason I’m calling you. Someone’s been following me, and I got a glimpse of the guy, and he was carrying a gun.”

  Jake didn’t like the sound of that, if Wade was telling the truth. “Who was he?”

  “I don’t know. Never seen him before in my life, but I think Tanner might have hired him. I mean, we already know the guy’s a killer.”

  “Yeah, but he’s got no reason to come after you,” Jake pointed out.

  “You’re wrong. David called me and said his father might be riled that I helped you find Maggie Gallagher.”

  “David called you?” Jake repeated.

  “To warn me,” Wade clarified.

  Jake figured that David had made it sound like a warning, but David was a Tanner, and he could have had another motive for contacting Wade. What that motive might be, Jake didn’t know, but he wasn’t about to trust David or his father.

  Or Wade.

  “David said I should get out of town for a while or lie low,” Wade went on. “It’s nearly Christmas. Hardly the time for leaving town. And that’s why I called you. I want some kind of police protection from Tanner. The man scares me.”