Six-Gun Showdown

by Delores Fossen

  It was something he was definitely going to have to get over.

  “No change in the Moonlight Strangler’s condition, either,” Jericho went on. “The doc said that’s not good, that the longer he’s in the coma, then the chances are that he’ll stay that way for the rest of his miserable life.”

  Which meant they’d never be able to question him. They’d never be able to ask him why he’d murdered all those women.

  Of course, he probably wouldn’t have told them, anyway. Killers rarely spoke the truth, and the bottom line was the Moonlight Strangler might be just an ordinary sociopath with no real motive for murder. Not a motive that would make sense to anyone else, anyway.

  Paige glanced up at Jax, maybe because she’d heard him mention the killer, but she didn’t get up and join Jericho and him in the conversation. Which was good. She didn’t need to hear any more details about the man who’d made her life a living hell.

  “How long will the Moonlight Strangler be at the hospital?” Jax asked. Because it was only about fifteen miles from the ranch.

  Too damn close.

  Of course, a million miles was too close. Jax wanted the killer as far away as possible from Paige and the rest of his family, and he wanted that to happen yesterday.

  “The doc thinks they can transfer him to the prison hospital as early as tomorrow,” Jericho answered. “His condition is stable, and they can better guard him there than in Appaloosa Pass.”

  Agreed. A monster like that needed to be behind layers and layers of bars and security.

  “What about Darrin?” Jax continued.

  Jericho shook his head. “He didn’t make it. By the time the ambulance got to his house, he’d been dead for a half hour or longer.”

  Another of Leland’s victims. It was hard for Jax to feel sorry for the man who’d caused Paige so much pain, but Darrin didn’t deserve to be murdered.

  Jericho tipped his head to Paige. Her attention was still fixed on Matthew. “How’s she holding up?”

  Jax was about to put that shaken up label on her the way he had Belinda. And she was indeed shaken to the core. But she was also tough as nails. She’d gone straight from nearly being killed by a crazy cop to the main house to see Matthew. Paige had even managed to give their son a smile and make this seem like playtime.

  “How are you holding up?” Jericho pressed. “And how are you holding up with Paige?”

  There it was. Jericho’s famous ESP. Jericho’s tone let him know that he was certain that Jax and she had become lovers again.

  Jax lifted his shoulder. “I’m not sure.” And sadly it was true. Yeah, they had indeed become lovers again, but Jax wasn’t sure if that was because of their feelings for each other or because it’d been just sex and a good release for tension.

  Paige glanced at him again.

  Jax knew what he wanted it to be—much more than just sex, that was for sure—but it was hard to undo all the arguments that had torn them apart. And there was her lie about being dead.

  That suddenly didn’t seem so big in the grand scheme of things.

  “Want my advice?” Jericho asked, but he didn’t wait for Jax to answer. “You should have sex with her again.”

  Jax gave him a flat look.

  But Jericho only flashed him that all-knowing brotherly half smile. “I know people say that sex messes with your head, but sometimes it can make things a whole lot clearer.”

  Yes. It could.

  And it had for him.

  However, this wasn’t something Jax intended to keep discussing with Jericho. Even if it was good advice.

  “I don’t expect the family just to welcome Paige back with open arms,” Jax said, speaking more to himself than Jericho now.

  “Well, you sure as hell should, considering how you feel about her.” With that, Jericho gave him a pat on the back and strolled away.

  Now Paige got to her feet. She kissed Matthew on his cheek, eased him onto the quilt that had been stretched on the floor and made her way to Jax.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  Jax considered giving her a summary of all the updates he’d just gotten from Jericho, but that could wait. Because he thought they could both use it, he slipped his arm around her waist, eased her to him. And he kissed her.

  Man, he wasn’t sure how she managed, but every kiss with Paige felt like the first one. Even though there’d been a ton of them in between the first one and now.

  The kiss went on a little longer than Jax had planned. Mainly because she tasted so good and because Paige slipped right into the kiss, and his arms, as if she could spend the rest of the night doing just this.

  And maybe they could.

  He stopped the kiss only because he heard his mother clear her throat. Jax looked into the playroom, expecting to have to dole out a lukewarm apology for carrying on in front of her. He darn sure wasn’t about to apologize for the kiss itself, though.

  But his mother was smiling. Alexa, too.

  Jax hadn’t especially needed the green light from either of them, but he’d take it, and he moved Paige out of the doorway and into the hall so they could have some privacy.

  He kissed her again. And again.

  His plan was to make her mind a little cloudy and to remind her of this heat between them. Of course, in doing that, he also reminded himself.

  “You saved my life tonight,” she whispered against his mouth. “Today, too,” she added. And just like that, she shuddered, the flashbacks no doubt getting through the haze of the kiss.

  Jax pulled her back to him. “I’m a cop. It’s my job.” He tried for it to sound like a joke, and she managed a little smile. But the smile didn’t quite make it all the way to her eyes.

  But the tears did, and she started blinking them back. “I’m so sorry—”

  No way did he want to hear this, so he gave her one more kiss. Jax made it long and deep, and he pressed her against the wall, body to body, so that she’d remember some other things that didn’t have to do with killers and bullets.

  He kissed her so long that he thought maybe his lungs were about to burst. They broke apart, both of them gasping for air.

  “I don’t need an apology,” he assured her. “None of this was your fault. Or mine. Let’s pin this right on Leland and leave the blame there, agreed?”

  “But I was a fool to let him get so close to me.”

  Ah, hell. This was going to take more than just a kiss. “You’re not a fool,” he assured her.

  Jax let go of her just long enough to step back to the playroom. “Could you watch Matthew for a while?” he asked his mom. “I need to...chat with Paige.”

  He hadn’t meant to pause in the middle of that, and it made it sound as if he had something sexual on his mind.

  Which he did.

  “Of course,” his mother said, smiling. “Take your time.”

  Jax went back to Paige, taking hold of her hand and leading her up the stairs. To the guest room. He got her inside, shut the door and kissed her before she could ask any questions or attempt another apology.

  “Is that to convince me I’m not a fool?” she asked, breathless again.

  “More or less. Less,” he settled on saying. He lowered the kiss to her neck.

  Then to her breasts.

  Finally, he got the results he wanted. That silky sound. Her face flushed, and he could see her pulse on her throat. All good signs. So was the fact that she latched on to him and dragged him back for another kiss.

  And then she dragged him to the floor.

  He was mindful of all her bruises and scrapes, but she wasn’t. Paige pulled him on top of her.

  There it was again. That raging fire. The timing for it sucked since she was probably dealing with a bad adrenaline crash, but maybe there was no bad time for sex when it came to them.

  She reached between them and unhooked his holster, dropping it on the floor next to them, and she went after his shirt. He wanted this. Wanted her naked, too.

&
nbsp; But then Jax froze.

  But he also wanted a heck of a lot more.

  “I’m in love with you,” he said, but then shook his head. “I’m still in love with you.”

  Considering she had him half naked and looked like sex on a silver platter, he was surprised at the soft smile she managed. Not a trace of lust in it. Well, just a little trace. There was always some heat whenever they looked at each other.

  “Good, because I’m still in love with you, too.” She paused. “And I want to move back home with Matthew and you. I want to make up for all the time I lost with both of you.”

  He nodded in approval. That was the best news he’d heard all day. Maybe in his entire life. “You’ll have to marry me again, though. Just so I can make an honest woman out of you.”

  She smiled, too, at his lame joke. “And I can make an honest man out of you.”

  Judging from her next kiss, it wasn’t that kind of honesty she had on her mind. It wasn’t on Jax’s, either. But when they were done here, he was getting Paige back to the altar ASAP.

  “Oh, and I want more kids,” she added, breaking the kiss only long enough for her to speak those few but very important words.

  “Agreed.” He wanted more, too, and at the rate they were going, they’d have one in under a year. Heck, they might be starting one tonight. “Anything else on your wish list?”

  She smiled. “Just you, Jax. Just you.”

  That was his cue to kiss her like he meant it. Which he did. Jax also worked on getting her naked, and he kissed all those places he was uncovering.

  “One day we’re going to actually make it to the bed,” Paige whispered, unzipping him.

  “We’ll work our way there together.” And Jax kissed her again so they could get started on their new-old life together.

  * * * * *

  USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen’s APPALOOSA PASS RANCH

  miniseries continues next month with

  LAYING DOWN THE LAW.

  Look for it wherever

  Harlequin Intrigue books are sold!

  THE MONTANA HAMILTONS Series

  by B.J. Daniels goes on.

  Read on for a sneak peek at INTO DUST...

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  Into Dust

  by B.J. Daniels

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE CEMETERY SEEMED unusually quiet. Jack Durand paused on the narrow walkway to glance toward the Houston skyline. He never came to Houston without stopping by his mother’s grave. He liked to think of his mother here in this beautiful, peaceful place. And he always brought flowers. Today he’d brought her favorite: daisies.

  He breathed in the sweet scent of freshly mown lawn as he moved through shafts of sunlight fingering their way down through the huge oak trees. Long shadows fell across the path, offering a breath of cooler air. Fortunately, the summer day wasn’t hot and the walk felt good after the long drive in from the ranch.

  The silent gravestones and statues gleamed in the sun. His favorites were the angels. He liked the idea of all the angels here watching over his mother, he thought, as he passed the small lake ringed with trees and followed the wide bend of Braes Bayou situated along one side of the property. A flock of ducks took flight, flapping wildly and sending water droplets into the air.

  He’d taken the long way because he needed to relax. He knew it was silly, but he didn’t want to visit his mother upset. He’d promised her on her deathbed that he would try harder to get along with his father.

  Ahead, he saw movement near his mother’s grave and slowed. A man wearing a dark suit stood next to the angel statue that watched over her final resting place. The man wasn’t looking at the grave or the angel. Instead, he appeared to simply be waiting impatiently. As he turned...

  With a start, Jack recognized his father.

  He thought he had to be mistaken at first. Tom Durand had made a point of telling him he would be in Los Angeles the next few days. Had his father’s plans changed? Surely he would have no reason to lie about it.

  Until recently, that his father might have lied would never have occurred to him. But things had been strained between them since Jack had told him he wouldn’t be taking over the family business.

  It wasn’t just seeing his father here when he should have been in Los Angeles. It was seeing him in this cemetery. He knew for a fact that his father hadn’t been here since the funeral.

  “I don’t like cemeteries,” he’d told his son when Jack had asked why he didn’t visit his dead wife. “Anyway, what’s the point? She’s gone.”

  Jack felt close to his mother near her grave. “It’s a sign of respect.”

  His father had shaken his head, clearly displeased with the conversation. “We all mourn in our own ways. I like to remember your mother my own way, so lay off, okay?”

  So why the change of heart? Not that Jack wasn’t glad to see it. He knew that his parents had loved each other. Kate Durand had been sweet and loving, the perfect match for Tom, who was a distant workaholic.

  Jack was debating joining him or leaving him to have this time alone with his wife, when he saw another man approaching his father. He quickly stepped behind a monument. Jack was far enough away that he didn’t recognize the man right away. But while he couldn’t see the man’s face clearly from this distance, he recognized the man’s limp.

  Jack had seen him coming out of the family import/export business office one night after hours. He’d asked his father about him and been told Ed Urdahl worked on the docks.

  Now he frowned as he considered why either of the men was here. His father hadn’t looked at his wife’s grave even once. Instead he seemed to be in the middle of an intense conversation with Ed. The conversation ended abruptly when his father reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a thick envelope and handed it to the man.

  He watched in astonishment as Ed pulled a wad of money from the envelope and proceeded to count it. Even from where he stood, Jack could tell that the gesture irritated his father. Tom Durand expected everyone to take what he said or did as the gospel.

  Ed finished counting the money, put it back in the envelope and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. His father seemed to be giving Ed orders. Then looking around as if worried they might have been seen, Tom Durand turned and walked away toward an exit on the other side of the cemetery—the one farthest from the reception building. He didn’t even give a backward glance to his wife’s gr
ave. Nor had he left any flowers for her. Clearly, his reason for being here had nothing to do with Kate Durand.

  Jack was too stunned to move for a moment. What had that exchange been about? Nothing legal, he thought. A hard knot formed in his stomach. What was his father involved in?

  He noticed that Ed was heading in an entirely different direction. Impulsively, he began to follow him, worrying about what his father had paid the man to do.

  Ed headed for a dark green car parked in the lot near where Jack himself had parked earlier. Jack dropped the daisies, exited the cemetery yards behind him and headed to his ranch pickup. Once behind the wheel, he followed as Ed left the cemetery.

  Staying a few cars back, he tailed the man, all the time trying to convince himself that there was a rational explanation for the strange meeting in the cemetery or his father giving this man so much money. But it just didn’t wash. His father hadn’t been there to visit his dead wife. So what was Tom Durand up to?

  Jack realized that Ed was headed for an older part of Houston that had been gentrified in recent years. A row of brownstones ran along a street shaded in trees. Small cafes and quaint shops were interspersed with the brownstones. Because it was late afternoon, the street wasn’t busy.

  Ed pulled over, parked and cut his engine. Jack turned into a space a few cars back, noticing that Ed still hadn’t gotten out.

  Had he spotted the tail? Jack waited, half expecting Ed to emerge and come stalking toward his truck. And what? Beat him up? Call his father?

  So far all Ed had done from what Jack could tell was sit and watch a brownstone across the street.

  Jack continued to observe the green car, wondering how long he was going to sit here waiting for something to happen. This was crazy. He had no idea what had transpired at the cemetery. While the transaction had looked suspicious, maybe his father had really been visiting his mother’s grave and told Ed to meet him there so he could pay him money he owed him. But for what that required such a large amount of cash? And why in the cemetery?

  Even as Jack thought it, he still didn’t believe what he’d seen was innocent. He couldn’t shake the feeling that his father had hired the man for some kind of job that involved whoever lived in that brownstone across the street.