Covington, Cara - Love Under Two Navy SEALs [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  “What in the name of all that’s holy are they doing?” Hearing Ginny’s name included in Caleb’s litany shook him, badly.

  “I don’t know but it looked like Ginny was wearing a hospital gown and Bernie had on a lab coat, looking like a doctor. Oh, and Tamara had some sort of video camera, I think.”

  Apparently Grandma Kate reached Caleb just then. Adam was able to hear both sides of the conversation.

  “Mother, what in tarnation are y’all doing?”

  “We’re just seeing to it that all the bases are covered, dear. Nothing for you to worry about.”

  “Mother…”

  “Hush now, Caleb. If you want to be useful, you might tell whoever’s coordinating your communications that we’re here. And keep an eye out. Of course, if that Ramos fellow shows up, why then, we’d be happy for a little backup.”

  “Mother, come back!”

  “I can’t, I have to go and…”

  Adam didn’t hear the rest, but then, he didn’t have to. It took him only a few seconds to understand just exactly what was going on. When he did, he swore, long and loud.

  Finally he said, “They think Ramos is going to head for the clinic instead of Jordan’s.”

  There was a short silence in Adam’s ear, and then a few choice expletives as Caleb agreed.

  “What the hell do you want me to do? You want I should try and get them to go home?”

  Like you could. “No. They’re in the clinic, they’re armed, and safe for the moment. I’ll alert the others, because Ramos going there makes a certain kind of sense. We missed something in our planning.”

  “I don’t see what,” Caleb grumbled.

  “I don’t, either. But I trust Grandma Kate’s instincts. If she’s involved—”

  Caleb cut him off. “Damn it, Adam, they could be right. Here comes an old brown Chevy I don’t recognize, and, hell, it just turned in at the clinic, too. Single driver, male, wearing a hat. Older man, judging by the way he’s moving. Shit, he just went inside. I have to get over there.”

  “No!”

  “What the hell do you mean, no?”

  It was the toughest call he’d ever made. “Caleb, the women obviously have a plan. If you go bursting in there waving your gun, you could mess it up.”

  “Damn easy for you to say, Adam Kendall. You don’t have a woman over there in harm’s way.”

  “Guess again. Ginny’s in there, Caleb, so you just wait one damn minute. I’ll alert the others. In the meantime, you get Jon and Mike Murphy to join you. I have an idea. I’ll be there in five.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Well I do, and I’m still the sheriff of this town. Do as I say, now!”

  Adam switched channels, alerted Dev, and headed out to his car. At the last moment he veered away from the cruiser and slid behind the wheel of Morgan’s Jeep. He’d have to approach Caleb’s position from the north, and he sure as hell didn’t want that bastard, Ramos, to spot his cruiser and get spooked.

  His heart pounded loud in his chest, and it sounded very much like Ginny’s name.

  Chapter 20

  Julia sat in the waiting room, magazine open, and hat pulled low, her very favorite Smith & Wesson 9mm in her hand, safety off. Across from her, Grandma Kate manned the reception desk. She had the telephone receiver in one hand, and her gaze, much like Julia’s, was fixed on the door.

  Because of her vantage point, Grandma Kate would see him first when he arrived.

  “We have to be prepared, because Caleb was wearing a Bluetooth, so the men know by now what we’re up to.”

  “Do you think they’ll storm their way in here?” Julia asked.

  “Lord, I hope not. They should have more brains than that. Not that I wouldn’t mind a discreet entrance, mind you.”

  Julia grinned. “I’m with you.”

  Julia knew full well if they’d called Adam, or any of the men, and tried to convince them they’d picked the wrong spot, it wouldn’t have worked.

  But they’d been alerted now, and would be ready to move at a moment’s notice. Every one of the women getting ready to face a drug lord and murderer counted on the men getting here, and getting it right.

  Julia had never fired her gun at a human being, and didn’t relish the idea she might have to do so before this scene played out. But she’d do whatever she had to do to bring an end to that bastard’s intimidation of her family.

  The uncles hadn’t been very happy about having their clinic invaded by the women of Lusty, Texas. But once Bernice and her mother had explained things to them, they’d agreed to help.

  Her mother and Tracy were concealed behind the doors to exam rooms one and two respectively. In room three, Ginny lay on the bed, her head bandaged, looking suitably concussed. Beside her, Susie acted the grieving older sister, her hair frazzled, tears streaking down her face—and her Glock loaded and concealed on her lap.

  “I have to admit, the Glock beats a shovel as a weapon of choice,” she’d said as she headed toward exam room three.

  Julia found she had to agree with her, there.

  Along one wall, tall supply cupboards held everything from linens to tongue depressors. Today they held considerably more as, hidden by strategically draped linens that gave her just enough of a vantage point, Tamara sat with a camcorder, ready to document the coming confrontation.

  Bernice, along with Dr. James, came to stand near the reception desk. Bernice’s lab coat concealed her weapon of choice, a small derringer that Julia had never seen before. Uncle James wasn’t armed, but he stood at the reception desk, ready to say his lines the moment Kate gave him his cue.

  Ramos would come. Julia could feel it.

  She was just wondering how long they’d have to wait when Grandma Kate got this look on her face and Julia realized the waiting was over.

  The door to the clinic swung open, and it was as if some unseen director had said “action.”

  “Kate, try and get hold of Peter Alvarez again. See how long he thinks it’ll be before he gets here. Tell him he’d best hurry. It’s not looking good for his fiancée. No, it’s not looking good at all.”

  “Right away, Doctor. It’s such a shame. Those two lovebirds had such plans for the future.” Kate picked up the phone and pretended to be placing the call.

  Julia tried not to roll her eyes as she continued to appear to be reading her magazine. In fact she watched as the man known as Don Miguel Ramos made his way toward her family.

  She recognized him from the photo her men had shown her on their cell phones as they’d tried to talk her into going into hiding with the rest of the women.

  “Excuse me, Doctor…I am Ricardo Alvarez. I heard you mention the name of mi sobrino nieto…my great-nephew, Peter. I have come to see him and su novia…his fiancée. Such a tragedy. Please, will you take me to them?”

  Julia thought Ramos was a better actor than he was a drug lord. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she felt a bead of sweat travel down her back.

  Her uncle James, bless him, frowned as he considered the request.

  “Peter’s not here yet. He’s on his way, but a traffic tie up on the Interstate…” He let the sentence trail off, and treated the man to a look of doctoral concern.

  “I will be glad to represent la familia Alvarez, until Peter arrives.”

  Ramos had stood taller when he’d said that, as if he was indeed “manning up” in a difficult situation.

  “Well, I don’t know, it would be highly unusual, but—”

  The door swung open to the sound of moans and groans. Into the reception area came her Uncles Caleb and Jonathan, with Mike Murphy between them.

  “Take it easy, damn it, it hurts!” Mike Murphy surely sounded like a man in pain.

  “It’s what you get for being a damn fool and trying to jump off the tailgate of that truck,” Caleb said. Then he looked up. “Hey, Doc, glad you’re there. I think Mike busted his leg again.”

  Bernice reached out and touched Dr. James�
��s arm. “Why don’t I take Mr. Alvarez back, Doctor, while you tend to these new patients?”

  Julia had to bite back a giggle. Clearly that was not what Aunt Bernice’s husbands had in mind. But that was, indeed, the script they’d all agreed upon.

  By now the phone extension in all three exam rooms would have buzzed twice, so everyone would be ready.

  “There is no need. I do not wish to take you away from these men in need,” Ramos said. “Just point me in the right direction. I will go to the senorita’s side at once.”

  Bernice looked at Doctor James who sighed, then nodded.

  “She’s in room three,” Bernice said. “Just down that corridor. She’s the only patient we have here today.”

  If Julia ever got it in mind to open a “little theater” here in Lusty, she knew that at least she’d have a wealth of talent from which to draw.

  So far, everyone had played their role to perfection.

  “Gracias.” Ramos bowed, and then made his way in the direction Bernice had pointed him.

  Julia didn’t wait around to see to what degree her uncles were about to give her aunt and grandmother hell. She simply set her magazine aside, and very quickly, but very quietly, followed Ramos.

  Their plan hadn’t been perfect, and one tiny detail none of them ever considered was that he might go into the exam room and close the door.

  Susan’s quick thinking saved them all.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here in my sister’s room?”

  Because she’d spoken so loudly and with such attitude, Ramos gave up on closing the door and stepped further into the room, perhaps focusing on calming her.

  Julia crept closer, followed by Tracy and her mother. They all listened intently, waiting for their cue.

  “Senorita, por favor. I am Ricardo Alvarez. Peter is my nephew. I am here to…to show my support at this difficult time.”

  “I didn’t know Peter had an uncle.” Susan’s tone sounded considering.

  “We are a very large family, yet not always as close as one would hope. Please, if you would give me a few moments alone with your sister. I would…I would like to pray over her.”

  “No way. I don’t know you, and I am not leaving this room. You’ll just have to pray with me here.”

  “That is most unfortunate.”

  Julia heard Susan’s gasp, Ginny’s moan, and moved.

  She stepped into the room, her S&W ready to fire, and brought the barrel to rest at the base of Ramos’s skull. The man might have made a move against her, but then he must have spotted Susan’s Glock, because he tensed and held still.

  “I’ve never heard of a religion that prays with a gun, Señor Ramos,” Julia said.

  Ginny sat up, tossed the single blanket off her, and swung her legs to hang over the side of the bed. Julia noted her trembling and figured her newest friend was pretty darn brave to have done what she had, despite being scared enough to tremble.

  “I will kill you, all three of you, just as I killed Juan Pecos, just as I kill anyone who dares to challenge me. Dios. You’re nothing but weak-willed, pampered women. How dare you think even for a moment you can stop me!”

  “And yet, we are the ones holding you at gunpoint. Now lower your weapon.” Julia prayed like she never had before that the man would comply.

  In her peripheral vision she saw her mother and Tracy enter the room, their guns trained on Ramos.

  “Hay cuatro de nosotros con armas entrenados sobre usted, señor,” her mother said.

  Ramos only grunted in response to being told four of them had him at gunpoint. He began to lower his gun. But then, instead of following through, he brought his arm up again.

  And cried out in pain when Ginny’s foot shot out, strong and fast and sure and kicked the weapon right out of his hand.

  The door exploded open, and the air was suddenly ripe with testosterone.

  “Down! On your knees, Ramos! Now!”

  Julia intended to step completely out of the way so that Peter Alvarez could arrest the man who’d put a price on his head. But she found herself surrounded by strong male arms, picked up as if she weighed nothing, and carried right out of the room.

  Dev set her down in a corner of the reception area and turned her around. Drew stood beside him, and she honestly didn’t know if they wanted to kiss her or throttle her.

  He’d kept his hands on her shoulders, and she could feel him trembling.

  “Honest to God, woman, I ought to turn you over my knee and paddle your ass till you can’t sit down for a week!”

  “That makes two of us,” Drew said.

  Julia had never seen such fierce warriors in all her life. She fought her smile and said, “You’d probably better disarm me, first, then.”

  * * * *

  Dev blinked, and for a moment was somehow unable to process exactly what it was Julia had just said. Then he looked down at the handgun she held.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “As soon as you lifted me, I put the safety back on.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Dev took the pistol from her and looked at it. Smith & Wesson M&P Compact, 9 millimeter, capacity 12 +1 rounds. “Do you at least know how to use that thing?”

  “I’m a Texan woman, I’ll remind you. Of course I know how to use it. I’m a hell of a shot, too.”

  Dev looked from the gun to her, meeting her gaze. In her amazing hazel eyes he saw determination, pride, and love.

  “You’re not even a little bit afraid of us, are you, baby doll?”

  Julia looked from him to Drew, then back again. “Of course not. Why would I be afraid of you? You love me.”

  Dev nodded. “Good. Then in a week or so, when you’ve recovered from your concussion and we take turns paddling your ass, you won’t be scared.”

  Julia grinned at him. “Scared, no. Turned on…maybe.”

  He shook his head, then pulled her into his arms.

  “Holy hell, woman, you did what?” Adam’s voice carried over the entire assemblage, and Dev eased his hold on Julia so they could all turn their attention to Lusty’s sheriff and the woman who apparently had him tied in knots.

  So that’s why Adam sounded like he was losing it when he contacted us.

  “Well, boy howdy, what was I supposed to do?” Ginny asked, her hands on her hips. “I’d been watching his eyes and I saw that he decided it didn’t matter there were four guns trained on him, he was going to shoot somebody. My foot reacted before I even had a chance to think!”

  Adam ran both hands over his face, an act of frustration Dev could identify with.

  “Do you have any idea how many men—and women—that bastard has murdered, brutally?” Adam asked her.

  “Now see, that’s what I don’t get. Why do y’all—lawmen that is—say ‘brutally’ murdered? I mean, murdered is murdered, isn’t it? Would the opposite to ‘brutally murdered’ be ‘gently’ murdered?”

  Dev heard Julia’s snicker and shot her a hard glare. In turn, she mimicked a kiss, aimed right at him.

  “I got the whole thing on film,” Tamara announced. She walked right up to Adam and gave him her camcorder. “You can watch it again and again, if you like. Ginny was amazing. We all were.”

  As soon as Adam took the device, Tamara took Ginny’s hand and began to lead her away.

  “We’re not done, Ginny Rose,” Adam called after her.

  The young woman looked over her shoulder and gave Adam a solemn look. “I sincerely hope not, Sheriff Kendall.”

  Dev looked back at Julia. Her gaze had followed the unfolding tableau. He noted the smile on her face, and wondered what she thought about her cousin the sheriff and the pretty little single mom.

  “Let’s see who we have to see,” he said. He looked over at Drew and knew his best friend was as eager to be alone with their woman as he was.

  “Who do we have to see?” Julia frowned, and looked around the room. “Adam and Peter and that other Fed seem to have the situation under control.”

  �
�You’ll have to give a statement,” Drew said.

  “So let’s get that done so we can go home.” Dev ran his hand up and down Julia’s back. She leaned into his caress. She had to be exhausted. He sincerely hoped she wasn’t too exhausted.

  “Yeah.” Her sigh made him think she could almost read his mind. “I want to go home. I’ve been imagining us together in that hot tub since early this morning when I awoke on the ground.”

  “You weren’t on the ground for long,” Drew said. “Mostly, you were on me.”

  “Yeah.” And this time her sigh sounded downright feline.

  Dev led her over to Adam, who directed her to Matthew. Her cousin duly recorded her statement, at times goggle-eyed.

  Finally, unable to help himself, he set the deputy sheriff within him aside and asked, “Grandma Kate went along with this? And Mom? And Aunt Abby?”

  “Actually, it was Grandma Kate who urged us to figure things out and then do something.” Julia patted his shoulder. “Once we thought the situation over, we knew that Ramos wouldn’t go to the house—his man had taken the wrong woman, remember, and none of us imagined that he knew Peter and Tracy lived at Jordan’s house.”

  “Why in hell didn’t you call us and tell us that?”

  Julia scowled at him. “Would you have listened to our logic?”

  Dev gave Matt credit. He figured the deputy’s first impulse was to answer in the affirmative. Instead, Matt closed his mouth and looked at him and Drew.

  Dev decided, then, to give his woman her due. “Honest answer? We’d have thanked you for what we would have all considered to be useless information, and stayed right where we were.”

  Julia grinned, then stretched up and gave him a light kiss. Then she turned to her cousin. “Are we done, now? Because I seriously need to go home and get naked with my men.”

  Matt didn’t stammer or swear. He simply closed his notebook and treated them all to a wave toward the door. “Tomorrow, my office. Be there, or be square.”

  “Thanks.” She gave her cousin a quick kiss on the cheek then turned and looked at first Dev, then Drew.