by Leah Brooke
Royce shot a look of apology to Nat and Hoyt before facing Ace. “Sorry to interrupt you, but Linc asked me to tell you that Rafe’s on his way to the hospital to talk to the guard and the other two men. Ace, you should have seen Hoyt in action. He was incredible.”
Coming farther into the room, Royce began pacing back and forth behind Nat and Hoyt. “Even if you’d seen it, you wouldn’t have believed it. I still don’t know how he did it. Christ, those maniacs came in, shot the guard, and started waving those guns around. They had us all facedown on the floor before we knew it.”
He kept glancing at Ace as he paced. “It all happened so fast. The next thing I knew, Hoyt and Nat strolled in. I was hoping that they’d just hit the floor so those assholes would leave without shooting anyone else. Hoyt shoved Nat behind him and said something to her over his shoulder, and thank God, she dropped to the floor. He didn’t, though. Just stood there. Christ, I’ve never seen such a cold look before. Sent a fucking chill down my spine.”
Pausing, he shook his head. “The one guy rushed up to him and Hoyt moved. Don’t ask me what he did, because I couldn’t tell you how he did it. He moved and everything happened at once. I think Hoyt’s the only one who knew what the hell happened. Shots rang out and all three of those assholes were lying on the floor. I swear, it didn’t take more than a second. He moved so damned fast. It was all a blur.”
Nat turned to Royce. “You said that Rafe was going to talk to the guard and the other two men. There were three of them.”
Ace nodded abruptly. “Thanks, Royce. I’ll be out in couple of minutes. Take Nat with you. Jake’s outside waiting for her. I want to talk to Hoyt alone.”
Nat sat forward. “Why? What’s going on? Ace, you’re not going to arrest him for shooting those men, are you?”
Anger and fury combined, and without thinking, she jumped to her feet, waving a finger at him. “You heard what Royce said. Those men were waving guns around. Did you expect him to let them shoot us?”
Hoyt reached for her. “Natalie.”
Shaking off the hand Hoyt laid on her arm, Nat leaned over the desk, getting in Ace’s face, so angry she shook with it. So scared. “I can’t believe you would arrest him for that! What was he supposed to do?”
Hoyt closed his hand over her forearm. “Baby, calm down.”
Ace leaned toward her. “He could have just gotten on the floor like everyone else and waited until the guys left.”
“Natalie—”
Nat shrugged off Hoyt’s hand again, crossing her arms over her chest and raising a brow at Ace. “Is that what you would have done?”
Ace raised a brow as well. “No, but Hoyt isn’t the law in this town, now is he?”
Fear that Ace would arrest Hoyt shook her to her core, and with a curse, she slammed her hand on the desk. “Damn it, Ace! You can’t arrest him. Don’t you pull that tough-guy stuff with me. How do you know those bastards wouldn’t have shot all of us on the way out the door?”
With a sigh, Ace leaned back again. “Nat, I understand you’re upset. I’ve got to question him, and then the state police and Feds are going to want to question him, too. We’re going to have to look at the video and—”
Straightening, she avoided the hand Hoyt held out to her. “Good! Look at the fucking video and you’ll see that he did what he had to do.”
When Hoyt got to his feet and wrapped himself around her from behind, she elbowed him in his hard stomach before turning her head to look up at him. “Why the hell aren’t you saying anything?”
Hoyt’s lips twitched. “You’re doing enough talking for both of us. Why don’t you go with Royce and let me talk to the sheriff?”
Spinning to face Hoyt squarely, she shook her head. “I don’t see how you can just stand there while Ace—”
Hoyt’s brow went up. “While Ace—what? Wants to question me because I shot two men?”
“Why the hell do all of you keep talking about two men. There were three!”
Royce and Ace both stilled, Royce looking decidedly uncomfortable, and a far cry from the playful man she knew.
Ace sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Nat—”
Hoyt ran a hand over her hair. “The one that I grabbed died. I used him as a shield and the leader shot him while aiming for me. There was a death, Natalie. Ace just needs to ask me some questions about it. Now, go to Jake and I’ll be there when I can.” Meeting her frown with a smile, he tapped her chin. “Don’t worry. If I’m arrested, you’ll know about it. You can come visit me.”
Nat poked his stomach, and scowled at him to hide her fear that he would be arrested. “That’s not funny.”
Hoyt bent to touch his lips to hers. “It’ll be fine, honey. Go to Jake. I think you both need a little time together to settle.”
* * * *
Hoyt waited until the door closed behind Royce and Natalie before taking his seat again and facing Ace. “The teller was in on it. The woman with the short blonde hair.”
Ace stilled, his eyes hardening. “What makes you say that?”
Hoyt expected suspicion, but Ace displayed nothing except interest. Adopting a relaxed pose, he met the sheriff’s gaze. “She and the man standing on the counter—the leader—kept exchanging glances. He also turned his back on her without thinking twice about it, and when he did, she didn’t take the opportunity to hit the alarm. She actually looked worried about him.”
Ace jotted down several lines of notes before looking up again. “You said that they exchanged glances. What kind of glances?”
“Intimate glances. It was clear that she was worried.”
Ace’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Hoyt sat forward. “Look, Ace, you know that I’ve been trained, as you have, to be observant. I see things a lot of other people might miss. I’m telling you what I saw.”
Sitting back, he continued. “She’s also the only one who screamed when I shot him and started to cry. She started around the counter before she remembered, and rushed back, but it was clear that she wasn’t happy that it ended the way it did.”
Ace took a few more notes. “What happened?”
Hoyt automatically adopted the tone he used when giving a report, keeping his expression emotionless. “I disarmed the target closest to me, and used him as a shield, while firing his weapon to shoot the leader before he could get off a shot. I then turned to the third target, the man standing over the guard, who’d already fired one round and hit the man I was holding. He shot again just as I shot, and that round went into the wall behind me. There were four shots, not three. I fired two of them.”
He didn’t tell Ace about his horror when he realized that Natalie had been trying to stand, or the mind-numbing fear he’d felt when he saw her on her knees and thought that the stray bullet had ricocheted and hit her.
Ace wrote several more lines, and looked up, his eyes searching. “Ballistics and the video will confirm that.” Sitting back, he tossed his pen onto the desk, and for the first time since they’d walked into the room, Ace smiled. “I saw the video. It matches your story. Royce was right. Even watching it, it was hard to tell what happened. I had to watch it in slow motion to catch the details. I’ll go back and look at it again, this time watching the teller.”
Voices came from the other side of the door. “Feds are here. They’re going to have questions, but it’s nothing you should have to worry about. I have no doubt that ballistics, the video, and the eyewitnesses will confirm your story.”
Getting to his feet, Ace held out a hand. “Anytime you want a job, there’s a position open for you.” Chuckling softly, Ace rounded the desk. “I’ve seen you in action. You’re more than qualified, and sure as hell know how to handle yourself. You can ride with me to the office. They can question you there. I heard you didn’t have lunch. I’ll have some sandwiches brought in.”
Amused, Hoyt grinned. “Do you know everything that happens around here?”
Ace grimaced, glancing o
ut toward the lobby. “Sometimes, I slip up.”
* * * *
Looking down at Nat as she whimpered and shifted in her sleep, Jake tucked the light blanket more firmly around her shoulder. He’d been holding her in his arms for the last forty-five minutes or so, just staring down at her, nestled safely against his chest. He pushed her hair back, studying her features, unable to get rid of the tightness in his chest.
He’d come closer to losing her today than he ever had, and he still hadn’t stopped shaking.
Thank God Hoyt had been there.
Blowing out a breath, he scrubbed a hand over her face and went back to watching the late-night news. It didn’t keep his attention for long.
He couldn’t stop looking out her, his stomach still clenched at the thought of what could have happened.
Her features, flushed with sleep, still had a pinched look to them. She hadn’t truly relaxed, and slept fitfully, whimpering periodically in her sleep, the sound ripping his heart to shreds.
Toying with the ends of her hair, he stared down at her, feeling like the luckiest man in the world.
This precious woman belonged to him.
The front door opened, startling him. Looking up, he saw Hoyt walking through the doorway, and glanced at the clock as Hoyt closed and locked the door behind him. “It’s late. They must have had a hell of a lot of questions.”
His friend looked beat, but there was a restlessness about him that Jake hadn’t seen since the night he convinced Hoyt to let him marry Nat.
“They did. A lot of them.” Hoyt’s gaze swept over Nat, the concern in his eyes sharp despite his obvious fatigue. “Then we talked shop.”
Glancing at Nat, Jake kept his voice low as he adjusted the blanket, running his fingers over the sleeve of her cotton nightgown. “We were worried. She wouldn’t go to bed until you got home. She even called Ace to make sure you hadn’t been arrested. I finally got her to sit down here about an hour ago, and started rubbing her back. She tried, but she couldn’t fight it anymore. She went out like a light.”
Hoyt shrugged off his coat, sat at the other end of the sofa, and pulled off his boots. “Ace told me she called. He thought it was funny as hell. The Feds didn’t.” Setting his boots aside, Hoyt leaned back, eyeing Nat as he lifted her feet to his lap. “She okay?”
Nodding, Jake ran a hand over her arm, unable to fight his possessiveness. “Yeah, but she can’t quite settle. She keeps whimpering in her sleep and she’s restless.”
He reached for the hand she rested on his chest, running his finger back and forth over her wedding band. “She told me what you did.” He glanced up at him, unsurprised to find him staring longingly at Nat. “The phone’s been ringing ever since we got home. Everyone wanted to make sure that both of you were okay, to tell me that you and Nat looked pretty cozy walking around town, and to ask if the stories they were hearing about what you did in the bank were true. She must have told the story a dozen times. Jesse, Clay, and Rio came by a couple of hours ago, and Nat couldn’t sit still. I think she finally wore herself out.”
When Nat moved again, stretching her legs, Hoyt took the foot that peeked out from the blanket in his hand, running a thumb back and forth over her fuzzy-sock-covered toes. “Adrenaline crash, too. When I picked her up off the bank floor, she was as white as a sheet and shaking so hard that her teeth chattered.” Hoyt sighed and stared down at her foot, apparently deep in thought.
Sensing that something bothered him, and knowing that Hoyt wouldn’t talk about it until he was ready, Jake turned his attention back to the television, not really paying attention to it as he continued to play with Nat’s fingers.
As the silence continued, Jake glanced at Hoyt to find him still staring down at Nat’s foot. “Joe called.”
Hoyt’s head jerked up. “Oh, hell. He heard about the robbery. I didn’t even think of that. Christ, I’m fucking this up.”
Jake hid a smile. “It’s going to take some time for you to get used to other people caring about you. Joe heard about the bank robbery on the news and wanted to know if anyone got hurt. When he found out you and Nat were inside and what happened, he freaked out. He talked to Nat, and she managed to calm him down, but he wants to talk to you. He wants to hear from you that you’re okay, and he and his cousins want a blow-by-blow description of how you managed to take down three armed men without a weapon.”
Hoyt’s smile appeared strained. “I’ll call him in a few minutes.” Dropping his head back against the cushion, he blew out a breath and stared at the ceiling. “I was so fucking scared that the shot that hit the wall ricocheted and hit her. Every time I think about it, it makes me sick to my stomach. I was too damned slow.”
Stunned, Jake whipped his head around. “What the hell are you talking about? I talked to Rafe. He said that you took those men out so fast that they had to slow the video to see how you did it.”
Setting Nat’s feet back on the cushion, Hoyt got to his feet. “Doing what I did at the bank was just years of training kicking in. Christ, Jake.”
Blowing out a breath, he scrubbed a hand over his face. “I can handle any gun out there—shoot it, clean it, take it apart and put it back together with my eyes closed. I can handle myself in a fight. I can handle explosives, fly a helicopter, and not only plan a mission down to the last detail, but lead a team to carry it out.”
Staring down at Nat, he shook his head, his expression softening. “But dealing with Natalie scares the hell out of me.” Pacing back and forth, he couldn’t seem to stop glancing at her. “When I first got here, and was talking to you, that’s what I was thinking while we waited for her to get back from Jesse’s. Today, when I thought a bullet might hit her, I realized that loving her is scarier than I first thought. I feel like all I’m doing is making mistakes—stumbling along and winging it.”
Jake chuckled. “I have to say I’ve been there a time or two, especially when we first married.” He glanced down at her, bringing her fingers to his lips. “I knew she loved you and that it was going to take some time for us to get comfortable with each other. For a long time, I woke up every morning with my heart in my throat, wondering if that was the day she was going to tell me that she’d made a mistake. The first time she told me that she loved me—Christ.”
He could still remember that feeling in the pit of his stomach, the elation and dizziness that had him grinning like an idiot for weeks.
Hoyt turned away. “And now I’m in that position. I’m scared to death I’m going to fuck this up and I’ll never get a chance to make it right. She deserves so much from me.”
Shaking his head, he blew out another breath. “I’m starving. Ace got some sandwiches, but that was hours ago. Do you mind if I fix myself something to eat?”
Jake sighed, and shook his head, blaming himself for Hoyt feeling uncomfortable. He knew it would take time, but also knew that he hadn’t done enough to make his best friend feel at home. “Hoyt, damn it, this is your home now. You can help yourself to whatever’s out there, but Nat left a plate for you in the oven. You know she cooks when she’s nervous. There’s more in the fridge.”
Glancing at Nat, Hoyt nodded, his eyes unreadable. “Thanks.”
With another sigh, Jake eased his wife from his lap, placing a pillow under her head as he got to his feet. He couldn’t let Hoyt go on this way. The tension in the house had all of them on edge, making it more difficult for everyone. Following Hoyt to the kitchen, Jake leaned against the doorway and watched his friend take a warm plate from the oven. “The only way you can fuck this up is by walking away.”
Straightening, Jake went to the refrigerator and retrieved two bottles of beer. He handed one to Hoyt before twisting the cap from the other and tossing it into the trash can. “She finds it hard to believe, that after all these years, you still want her. She feels boring compared to what you’re used to, and that living here will bore you out of your mind. She needs to know that you’re not going to walk away again.”
Ho
yt’s eyes flared, his grip on his fork turning his knuckles white. “Damn it, I had no fucking choice!” Glancing toward the doorway, Hoyt took several deep breaths, obviously struggling for control.
He leaned forward again, the anguish in his eyes making Jake feel even worse. “What was I supposed to do—kidnap her? I begged her to marry me and come with me, but she wouldn’t. Leaving her here was the hardest thing I ever did. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that you would take care of her. I knew you loved her, and I could see how much she cared about you. I came to see all of you as often as I could. I couldn’t stay away—until it hurt too damned much to come back just for visits. I had to figure out how the hell I was going to approach you about letting me into your lives for good.”
“I know, Hoyt. I know how much you love her.” Shaking his head, Jake smiled. “I always knew. I just don’t think she does.” Jake pulled out a chair and sat across from him. “I understand that you had no choice. She understands it, too. Rationally, she knows you had no choice. Emotionally, though, she still has issues with it. You said it yourself—she’s scared to fight with you. She’s not secure enough to believe that you’re going to stay.”
Hoyt picked up his fork again, a faint smile curving his lips. “She sure as hell didn’t have any trouble fighting with me when she thought Ace was going to arrest me.”
Jake laughed, careful to keep his voice low so that he didn’t wake his wife. “She told me about that as soon as she came out of the bank. She was sure wound up. Went on about it for twenty minutes.”
Hoyt sighed. “I told her that I was staying. I don’t know what else I can do to convince her.”
Watching Hoyt dig into his food, Jake frowned and ran his thumb up and down the neck of the beer bottle. “Sleeping in the spare room probably isn’t a good idea.” At Hoyt’s sharp look, Jake shrugged and picked up his beer again. “There are going to be times we’re going to want to spend the night alone with her, but for now, she needs to know that we’re both here for her. You’re going to have to start acting like this is your home, and she’s your woman, instead of acting like a guest here. Standing on the sidelines has never been your style, Hoyt. I think your hesitancy is making her nervous.”