“Yeah.”
“Congratulations, man,” Mac said, his voice ringing with sincerity.
“I wasn’t sure you’d feel that way.”
“Normally I wouldn’t. But you and Jess are special. You’ve always been meant for each other. When did you decide none of those men on the list would do?”
Cal cleared his throat. No lies here. “I realized I didn’t want anyone else to father those children she wanted.”
“I’m glad you came to your senses,” Mac assured him with a laugh.
Spence, too, was happy for them. “Cal, that’s great. I’m glad you didn’t tell me earlier and ask me to keep it a secret. This way I can tell my mom I knew nothing.”
“Yeah. Well, it’s not like we kept it a big secret. We just—I mean, she only said yes today.”
“And you got your ring on her finger right away.”
“Yep.”
“Good thinking.”
Tuck looked at all his friends before saying, “Are you sure?”
“Sure that I want to marry Jessica?” Cal asked in surprise. “Yeah, I’m sure. We’re talking about Jess.”
“I know, but marriage is serious business. We all vowed not to fall into that trap.” Tuck’s voice was tense, serious.
Cal repeated, “It’s Jess. There’s no trap.”
“No, I guess not. But it’s going to change things.”
“What will it change?” Mac asked.
“Cal won’t be able to hang out anymore.”
“Hey, Tuck, we don’t hang out all that often,” Mac said. “Mostly just Saturdays now. And lots of times, when we do, Jess joins us.”
“Yeah. I’m happy for both of you, Cal,” Tuck hurriedly assured his friend. “Really, I am.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, we’ve got to have another party!”
“Another party? We’ve just had two. Why would—”
“To celebrate your engagement, Cal,” Tuck explained. “Our mothers will probably arrange something, but if they don’t, then we will.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“When’s the wedding?” Spence asked.
“We’re going to wait until after Jess gets her restaurant up and running.”
“Man, you really know how to torture yourself, don’t you? Unless you and Jess have already—I mean, it’s none of my business but... Never mind.” Tuck abruptly ended what he’d been trying to say.
Cal didn’t have any difficulty understanding Tuck. If he wasn’t going to sleep with Jess before the ceremony, then a quick marriage would be wise.
Grimacing, Cal reminded himself that Tuck didn’t know just how much torture he’d volunteered himself for. No sex. Just a few kisses in public.
Enough to get him all hot and bothered, even just thinking about those kisses. He ran his finger inside his shirt collar, hoping to ease the steam that seemed to be rising from him.
“You hot?” Mac asked, watching him.
“Nope.” He smiled, trying to distract himself. “You guys should be hot, doing all the work.”
“It was half done before you left. And we’d do more than that for you and Jess to be happy,” Spence said.
Cal smiled at his friends. “You’re the best. I don’t know what I’d do without the three of you.”
Tuck grinned. “You’d still be out there unloading hay, that’s what you’d do.”
“Right,” Cal agreed with a laugh. Then he’d have an excuse for being all hot and bothered.
IF JESSICA THOUGHT her time had been consumed by certain men calling and pursuing her, it was nothing compared to her afternoon after becoming engaged. Everyone in town called. Or, at least, it seemed like it.
Each one wanted her to tell every detail of her engagement and to describe her engagement ring. They all asked when the wedding would take place, and asked when the engagement party invitations would be sent out. Several offered to host showers for her, asking her to start on a guest list as soon as possible.
She finally turned off her phone and got in the shower, hoping to calm down before Cal came to pick her up for dinner. She wanted to be sure she was ready to go when he got there. It wouldn’t do for them to spend much time alone in her town house.
She shuddered as she stood under the warm shower. Just the thought of Cal’s hands on her brought shivers to her. How far would he take the pretend engagement? She’d loved him forever, but the sexual element of the relationship was new. She wasn’t sure what he would do.
Or what she wanted him to do.
That was the scary part. Today, in the car, she’d stopped him only because it was during the day. They might have been seen. She’d longed for Cal for so long, she wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to resist if he wanted to love her.
As she stepped out of the shower, she heard her doorbell ring. She wrapped her hair in a towel and pulled on a green silk wrapper before she hurried down the stairs, hoping and praying it wasn’t Cal.
She swung open the door to a short man whose face was almost hidden by a large vase of a dozen red roses.
“Ms. Hoya?”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly, unable to believe that Cal had been so romantic. But she remembered the kiss on her ring. Maybe he was more romantic than she thought.
“Flowers, ma’am,” the man said, shoving the vase into Jessica’s hands.
“Oh, thank you,” she said as she set the flowers on the entry table and found her purse to tip the deliveryman. As soon as she closed the door behind him, she searched for the pristine white card pinned to the ribbon around the vase.
Welcome to our family.
You’re already in our hearts.
Mabel and Ed
Even though the roses weren’t from Cal, the message brought tears to Jessica’s eyes. What wonderful people. Ed and Mabel had been her family ever since her mother’s death. The only person she loved more in the world was their son.
After sniffing the perfume of the roses, she hurried back upstairs. Cal could be here any minute.
She was ready when he arrived, only a few minutes before six-thirty. Obviously he’d realized too much time alone would be a problem. She opened the door, ready to step outside.
“Evenin’, baby. Aren’t you going to ask me in?”
“I thought we should hurry. I don’t want to be late.”
Instead of looking at her, Cal gazed over her shoulder. “Nice flowers.”
“Yes, they’re beautiful.”
“Who sent them?”
You’d think he was conducting an investigation. Irritated, Jessica raised her brows. “I assumed they would be from you. But I was wrong.”
“Sorry. I had a lot to do this afternoon. I didn’t think of sending flowers.” His voice was stiff until he saw her roll her eyes. “Okay, I wouldn’t have thought of sending flowers anyway, but I’ve never gotten engaged before.”
“Me, neither,” she reminded him, and pulled the door closed behind her.
“So, really, who are they from?”
He followed her around his truck and held open the door for her. Today she was dressed in a soft denim skirt that made it easy to climb into the high seat. “Jealous?” she asked as she settled in and waited for him to close the door.
He reached up to cup her neck and pulled her face lower so he could kiss her. As his warmth invaded her, Jessica was glad they weren’t still in the house. The bed upstairs would be too tempting.
When he pulled back, he asked again, “Who are they from?” She hesitated and he added, “Hell, yes, I’m jealous. You’re engaged to me. I won’t have some other man sending you flowers.”
“Even your father?” she whispered, and dropped another kiss, a brief one, on his tight lips.
“Dad?” he replied, his voice rising. “Dad sent you red roses?”
“Well, actually, they’re from Mabel and Ed, to welcome me to the family.”
“You little witch, teasing me like that.”
“You deserve it. My day has
been a disaster, worse than before.”
“Men have been calling you?”
“No, but every woman in town wants to hear all about our big romance, and the engagement, and the wedding, and they’re offering to give showers and—”
“Whoa! Didn’t you tell them we hadn’t set a date?”
“I tried. They insisted you were too much of a man to wait that long.”
Cal groaned, and Jessica knew just how he felt. She wasn’t sure she could wait that long, except that there would be no wedding at the end of her wait.
“Come on, Cal, we’re going to be late.”
He stared at her, not moving, and her heart raced, wondering what he would do next.
“Well, now, I think I’d better kiss you one more time before we go to my parents’. If you don’t look thoroughly kissed, I think Mom will send us back outside. By then, it will be dark, and who knows how I’ll contain myself.”
He was right. And the real danger was when he brought her home tonight. She’d have to be sure she kept her distance then.
“Okay,” she agreed, which surprised him. “You can kiss me now, but not when you bring me home.”
He considered her words, then nodded, as if he agreed with her thoughts. “Okay. But this kiss had better be a good one.”
She slid down from the high seat, her arms going around his neck, her body pressing against his, and she gave him the kiss of his life.
She arrived at Mabel’s looking thoroughly kissed.
Chapter Twelve
After their private celebration with Ed and Mabel, Jessica assumed her life would settle down.
Wrong.
Early the next morning, the phone began ringing again, more friends or neighbors, or gossips, wanting the lowdown on their romance.
Melanie Rule called and offered to host a shower.
“Oh, Melanie, that’s so nice of you, but we’re not setting a date yet.”
“Is Cal wary about getting married?” she asked. “Oh, I don’t mean that as a slam against you, Jessica. But you know those four guys have long protested against marriage.”
“You’re right. But we just thought it would be better to wait. My new restaurant is going to take a lot of time.”
“Your new restaurant? You’re still going to start another one?”
“Yes, a steak house.”
“Wow. If there are any new jobs going, I’d be interested.”
“I thought you were happy at the drugstore.”
“I meant a night job. I’d like to make some extra money.”
Jessica immediately knew where she’d like to have Melanie. She was skillful at dealing with the drugstore customers. “I could use you as hostess in the evenings, if you think you wouldn’t be too tired after working all day.”
“No, I’d be fine. That would be great. Let me know, okay?” She added, “And when you set the date for the wedding, we’ll plan a shower.”
“Thanks, Melanie.”
Jessica really appreciated Melanie’s call. But the rest of them were bothersome. Every time she came up with a new idea, a call would interrupt her concentration.
Finally, in frustration, she turned off the ringer on her phone and left the answering machine to deal with the callers.
Sitting at the kitchen table, she couldn’t hear the answering machine in her bedroom upstairs. At last, she had peace and quiet for her work.
CAL ARRIVED AT WORK that morning with a smile on his face.
He liked being engaged to Jessica. He liked thinking about holding her in his arms. He liked the thought of making babies with her.
In fact, he amazed himself. The idea of marriage had never interested him until now. Maybe it was because he hadn’t let himself think of marrying Jessica. And no one else seemed right.
But Jessica was the right woman for him.
And he intended to make sure the fake engagement led to a real marriage. Then he could spend the rest of his life with Jessica.
The past and the future coming full circle.
And that thought made him smile even more.
His staff teased him quite a bit that morning. All of them but the new guy, Pete, were married. Each of them came up with some unique advice. They were all laughing over the last piece of advice when the phone rang.
Betty handled the call, and it became apparent to everyone that it was serious. She immediately passed it on to Cal.
“Sheriff Baxter, this is the FBI—Agent Colbrook in Dallas.”
“Yes, sir. How can I help you?”
“We have two dangerous criminals we believe are heading in your direction. They’re involved in a string of robberies and carjackings in Dallas, one of which ended in a fatality. We’re alerting all the law enforcement agencies in the Panhandle that these men may be heading your way. We’re going to fax their pictures and information right now.”
“Thanks for the info. We’ll be alert.”
Cal crossed to the fax machine, taking the pages as they began to appear. “Betty, call up Ricky and Pete, let them know what we have here. They need to be alert if they pull someone over. The FBI thinks they’re driving a stolen pickup.”
He handed the pages over to Betty so that his men out working the county wouldn’t be caught unawares.
“And you tell them to put on those bulletproof vests before they even think of getting out of their vehicles.”
Then he organized the rest of his staff, except for one who was to maintain the office, asking them to cover the different roads that led from Lubbock to New Mexico. He himself took the road that headed southwest, toward Mexico.
Betty stopped Cal as he was about to leave. “Where’s your vest?”
“I think it’s in the Jeep,” he muttered, checking the rifle he’d taken from the wall.
Betty circled him and entered his office. Thirty seconds later she returned, holding it out. “You left it in the closet.”
Cal grimaced. The new jackets were lightweight, but he still didn’t like wearing them. “Thanks, Betty.”
“You promise to wear it. Otherwise, your deputies won’t, either.”
He shrugged into it, nodding in agreement. “Right, as usual. Pass on anything suspicious.”
“Will do.”
Cal left the office with another smile, this one for Betty. She was a mother hen, with all her hovering over the men, but she was a good woman.
Several hours later everything seemed quiet in their county. None of his men had reported any suspicious activity. His mind was dwelling on seeing Jessica again as he drove slowly back toward Cactus.
About five miles out of town, a car sped past him heading in the other direction. It wasn’t a truck, but Cal figured even if it wasn’t the bad guys, it would be someone who needed to think about their driving habits.
He made a U-turn and stuck the magnetized flashing red light on his roof. Then he pressed down on the gas. It was going to require some speed to catch up. He picked up the microphone and called in to Betty.
“Betty, I’m after a low-flyer, a blue Buick, looks like two men, heading south on County Road 19.”
“Cal, you be careful. I just got a report that they found the abandoned truck in Lubbock.”
He considered that information. “Find out who’s closest and send a backup.”
As he gained on them, thanks to the new motor in his old Jeep, Cal picked up the rifle lying on the seat. These men weren’t interested in stopping.
He pulled even with the car and motioned the driver to pull over. When he caught the gleam of metal, he ducked and eased up on the gas. Bullets pierced his windshield, shattering the glass. Cal put the rifle out the left window, braced it against his Jeep and fired several rounds, hoping to get lucky.
He must’ve been living right, because one of his bullets caught the Buick’s back left tire. As the driver fought to control the car, the other man discharged more bullets.
Cal came to a halt a few yards behind them and scooted across the front seat of the Jee
p to open the passenger door. “Come out with your hands up,” he yelled
“Yeah, right!” the passenger snarled, and came out of the car with two guns pointed at Cal. He began firing from both guns. Cal jumped back in the Jeep, knowing the door wouldn’t be much of a shield.
The man ran forward and sent several bullets into the vehicle as Cal fired back.
And that was the last he knew.
JESSICA WAS ENJOYING a cup of hot tea, reviewing her notes, humming along to a country-western song on the radio. Music soothed her.
“We interrupt our programming with a special bulletin. A local sheriff has been shot while attempting to apprehend two murder and armed robbery suspects. Sheriff Cal Baxter of Cactus has been taken to County Hospital. No word yet on his condition. We’ll update our information as soon as it’s available.”
Jessica stared at the radio as if it had sprouted horns. She couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Cal wasn’t in danger. They never had serious crime in Cactus. The information couldn’t be true. She must’ve imagined it. Why hadn’t anyone called her if Cal was in trouble?
Then she remembered turning off her phone. She raced upstairs and pushed Play on her answering machine, hitting the skip button when she recognized another lazy, happy drawl.
Then Mabel’s tense voice came out of the machine. “Jess, Cal’s been shot, they’re taking him to—”
Jessica never heard the rest of the message. She tumbled down the stairs, grabbed her purse and keys from the kitchen cabinet, and raced to her car.
“Dear God, please let him be all right! Please!” How could this happen? Cactus was a quiet, peaceful town. What had gone wrong?
She drove like a maniac to the hospital, abandoning her car, keys still in it, near the emergency entrance.
“Hey, lady, you can’t park there,” a security guard called.
She ignored him and kept running for the automatic door to the emergency room. She vaguely recognized the nurse behind the desk as someone she’d known in school, but it didn’t matter. “Cal? Where—”
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