by Barbara Gee
“Did you get pegged?” Ryan asked, unscrewing the top and taking long gulps.
“Flesh wound, in and out I think. It’s already almost stopped bleeding.”
“And your head? Any chance of concussion?”
“No, just flying rock. I should have been watching for a trip wire. Jimmy loves them. These guys are no explosives experts, though. The blast went mostly straight up rather than out. It sounded a lot worse than it was.”
“I’m glad I was a little slow on the charge. You got the jump on me, and I dropped when you yelled, so I was far enough back I didn’t get hit at all. I have to say, your reflexes are pretty damn quick,” Ryan added. “That was an impressive dive off the cliff.”
“Not exactly a cliff, but I’m glad that bank was there. I was below the worst of the flying stuff.”
Ryan pointed toward the ranch house in the distance, where a flurry of flashing lights lit up the night. “Looks like they’re coming right through the pasture,” he said.
“Whatever gets them here the quickest is fine with me. I need to get to the house.” Tuck closed his eyes, his longing for Maddy escaping from where he had been so determinedly holding it at bay.
He bent over, his hands on his knees, his physical discomfort forgotten as relief and need surged through him. It was over. It hadn’t been pretty, but it was over. The last loose end had been taken care of, just as he’d promised Maddy it would be. And now he needed to have her in his arms as badly as he needed to breathe.
Ryan clapped him on the back. “Soon, man,” he said quietly.
Tuck exhaled slowly, taking another moment before he straightened. He looked Ryan in the eye and smiled crookedly. “I’m sure glad you opted not to flip your buddy’s house this week. You’re as good in a fight as anyone I’ve seen.”
“No one I’d rather back up,” Ryan said. “I say we commandeer a car as soon as that caravan gets out here. It’s going to take ages to get these guys evacuated, and we can’t do anything to help.”
“My thoughts exactly. We can debrief at the house once the sheriff is done here. Let’s go down.”
The two men had reached the base of the butte when three sheriff department cars bumped to a stop nearby. Tucker signaled them over and gave them a quick rundown of what had happened. He also told them they had a helicopter at their disposal if it would be of use. The deputies on the scene said to bring it in, so Tuck called the pilot and secured the man’s help. Meanwhile, Ryan gave the deputies the locations of the eight men down, then asked permission to take one of their vehicles to the house.
“Appreciate it,” he said when permission was granted.
“Hey, looks like you need medical attention yourself,” one of the deputies said when their portable spotlights lit up the night and he saw the blood on Tuck’s face.
“I’ll get to it,” Tuck said, following Ryan quickly to the car he’d been given the keys to. “Don’t go slow on my account,” he told his partner as he closed his door.
Chapter 37
Deputy McCoy had seen the blast out on the butte. He couldn’t tell how far away it was, or how bad, but an explosion of light in the night couldn’t be a good thing. Unfortunately the girls saw his reaction as he looked out the window, and insisted he tell them what he had seen.
Maddy was still sitting on the floor in the kitchen, and she drew her legs up and dropped her forehead to rest on her knees. Joining her, Libby put her arms around her friend.
“He’s okay, Maddy. He has to be okay.”
“I’d rather suffer a thousand beatings by Jimmy Callahan than go through this,” Maddy said, her voice muffled against her jeans.
“Maybe Tuck set off the explosion himself,” Libby said hopefully.
The minutes ticked by. Five, ten, fifteen. Suddenly there was a flurry of activity and noise outside the house. McCoy tried to stop the girls from going to the window but they pushed past him, peering out as deputies broke cover and ran for their cars before taking off through the field, lights flashing.
“Anything on your radio?” Maddy asked urgently. “Where are they going?”
“Still have radio silence,” McCoy said, obviously frustrated to be out of the loop.
“Let’s go upstairs, Maddy, we’ll have a better view from up there.” Libby took off for the stairs, Maddy at her heels. The deputy didn’t even try to stop them. The fact that his colleagues had taken off meant the threat to the house had greatly diminished. He would stay on guard, but if the girls wanted to look out the window, he wasn’t going to stop them.
“Looks like they’re going out toward our butte,” Libby said as they ran into a spare bedroom on the west side of the house, facing the pasture.
They watched in silence. Maddy’s hands were shaking and she clasped them together, letting her forehead fall against the window as she prayed for Tuck’s safety. Soon the vehicles were out of sight, hidden by the rolling terrain.
“I’m sure they’re going to the butte,” Libby said. “There’s nothing else out that direction. That must be where Abe was holed up.”
More waiting. Interminable waiting.
“They’re coming back. Someone is, anyway. One vehicle. Maybe they’ll be able to tell us what’s going on.” Libby squeezed Maddy’s shoulder. “Keep watching, I’m going to go see if I can get McCoy to go out and flag them down.”
Maddy watched, tensing as the vehicle got nearer. Finally it came through the gate a short distance out, turned, and headed on a direct line to the house. Maddy straightened, her breath coming in short puffs. Please, please, please.
The driver got out and she sagged in defeat. She could tell by the man’s build it wasn’t Tuck. Then a man got out of the passenger side and jogged up to the front door. Maybe, maybe….
Maddy turned and ran from the room and down the hall. She heard pounding on the front door as she ran up to the railing on the balcony overlooking the great room. The deputy was asking for identification before he opened the door, but Libby ran up behind him.
“It’s Tuck! Let him in! Tuck!” she flipped on the lights and pushed past McCoy, trying to shove the heavy love seat away from where they had positioned it in front of the door. McCoy helped her, and then the door was flung open.
“Oh thank God, Tuck.” Libby threw her arms around her brother.
Maddy looked down on them, seeing Tucker’s filthy torn clothes, his face smudged with black paint and blood. For a moment she couldn’t move. She was floored by the realization that while she’d been waiting in the comfort of the house, safe because he’d made it so, he had faced death out on that butte, and she could have so easily lost him.
She breathed his name and he looked up. Their eyes met, and then she ran for the stairs. He met her halfway up, reaching up for her when she was still three steps above him, wrapping his arms around her, pressing his face against her stomach.
“Tuck,” she said, tenderly touching his head, finding his hair matted with dirt and blood. “Tuck, you’re hurt.”
He loosened his hold on her slightly, letting her slide down his body until her feet touched the step he was on.
“I’m okay. Now I’m okay.”
Maddy pressed against him, not caring that the blood and dirt covering him was being transferred onto her. She heard Libby down below them, suggesting that McCoy and the other man join her in the kitchen, thus giving her friend and brother some privacy.
“We got them, Maddy,” Tuck said softly. “The sheriff should be picking Abe up right about now, and all of his men will soon be either at the hospital or the jail. It’s over.”
“All I care about is that you’re here,” she said against his chest, her throat aching with unshed tears. “Nothing else matters. I love you, Tuck. I should have told you before now. I love you so much.”
He took her head in his hands and tilted her face up until their eyes met. “I love you, too, Madison.” He lowered his head and claimed her lips in a kiss that had her rising up on her toes, pressing closer and r
unning her hands over whatever parts of him she could reach, needing to reassure herself that he was okay.
Only he wasn’t. Her left hand found his wet, blood soaked sleeve and she whimpered against his mouth. The blood hadn’t been visible on the black fabric, but she could certainly feel it.
“Tuck,” she said, pulling away. “You’re bleeding. You’re not as okay as you’re telling me.”
“Just a flesh wound,” he said.
Maddy pressed another kiss to his mouth. “From what?”
He shrugged. “There was a lot going on there for a while,” he said evasively.
Her eyes widened and she put her hands on his face. “Were you shot, Tucker?” she asked urgently.
“It went straight through, didn’t hit anything important.”
“It hit you,” Maddy said, emotion finally getting the best of her as she realized just how close he had come to dying out there. Her eyes flooded and she took his hand and led him down the stairs. “Take your shirt off, Tuck. Let me see.”
“You don’t need to see it, baby. It’s not even worth going all the way to the hospital. I’ll head in to the clinic in town after a while, I’m sure the doc will come in for me. I just need a few stitches and some antibiotics.”
“I’ll take you to the clinic,” Maddy said adamantly. “I’m not letting you out of my sight any time soon.”
He grinned, and it was beautiful to her, even with the black paint and blood smears. “Not even gonna argue with that, Maddy,” he said.
Just then they heard a shriek from the kitchen.
“Ryan?” Libby sounded outraged. “Detective Ryan Anderson? I knew you looked familiar, but all that face paint was throwing me off! What in the world are you doing here? No one left in Chandler to kidnap?”
Tuck gave a low chuckle. “We’d better go rescue my partner,” he said, starting for the kitchen.
“And then to the doctor,” Maddy said.
Tuck stopped and turned back to her, drawing her close one more time. “I love you, Maddy.”
“I love you, Tuck.”
When Maddy said she wasn’t letting him out of her sight, she meant it. All four of them went to the clinic, but while Libby and Ryan waited in the lobby, Maddy went with Tuck to the exam room. The doctor told him to go ahead and take his shirt off while he went to get a couple of suture kits.
Tuck winced as he raised his good arm and reached back, trying to tug his shirt over his head. Maddy quickly took over, helping him get his left arm out of the sleeve first, then lifting it over his head before ever so gently slipping it off his injured arm.
“Tuck,” she breathed, her eyes filling again.
“Shhh, Maddy, I’m fine.”
“I hate seeing you hurt,” she said.
“I know the feeling.”
She leaned forward and kissed him. “Let’s not get hurt anymore, okay?”
“Deal,” he replied.
When they returned from the clinic, the sheriff was waiting to talk to Tuck and Ryan about the events of the night. Tucker made him wait a little while longer, going into the study to call Tim and let him know how everything had gone down. He had sent a text to Emma earlier, letting her know that they were okay and eight men plus Abe had been apprehended. Now he gave Tim all the details.
When he and Ryan finally sat down with the sheriff, Tuck insisted that Maddy and Libby be allowed to sit in. They were going to hear the whole story eventually anyway, so it night as well be now. The only stipulation the sheriff had was that they didn’t interrupt.
The sheriff first assured them that Abe had been arrested without incident, and the old man who owned the house was unharmed. Abe would be held in the county jail until Tuck was ready to extradite him back to North Carolina.
“Now I got a lot of paperwork to complete,” the sheriff said, “so tell me exactly what happened out there, and don’t leave out the details.”
Tuck and Ryan took him through their night step by step.
The two girls sat on a sofa during the debrief, horrified as they realized Tuck and Ryan had been outnumbered eight to two. Maddy felt a surge of pride that Tuck had come out on top in spite of it all, but the pride was tempered by the chilling realization that it could have gone the other way.
When the men had finished telling about the events out on the butte and were answering some general questions, Libby and Maddy went to the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee. The horror of the evening was starting to fade just a bit, replaced by euphoria that Tuck was okay and the last of the bad guys had been captured.
As the coffee perked, Libby drummed her fingers on the countertop. “I admit that Detective Ryan Anderson isn’t my favorite person in the world, but after hearing all that, I’m sure glad he came. Tuck needed him. It’s pretty obvious that none of the deputies here could have done what he did.”
Maddy smiled and nodded. “They’re obviously a great team.” She looked at her friend, unable to hide a knowing smile. “Lib, have you noticed that your detective is seriously hot?”
Libby actually blushed and turned away, not even bothering to answer.
An hour later, with everyone yawning and exhausted, Libby got Ryan settled into a guest room, borrowing a tee shirt and sweatpants for him from Tuck, who had fortunately left a stash of clothes at the house to save carrying a suitcase on his frequent trips. Maddy left Tuck to get showered, then jumped into the shower herself. Afterward she dressed in flannel pajama pants and a tee shirt, leaving her hair wet because she didn’t want to be away from Tucker any longer than necessary.
He was still in the shower when she got back to his bedroom, and she turned down his bed and then sat on the edge of it, waiting to tuck him in. She heard the water turn off and wished she could help him dry off instead of him having to do it virtually one handed. She knew all too well how difficult that was.
Finally the bathroom door opened and he came out, dressed in only a pair of black basketball shorts. He smiled at her and she drank him in, beyond relieved to see no trace of the black paint or blood. Save for the stitches in his forehead and shoulder, and multiple abrasions marring his smooth golden skin, he was her Tuck again, smelling so good she had to catch her breath.
She patted the bed. “Get in here, Agent Simon. You’re done saving the world for now.”
He carried his phone over to the bedside table and then sat down beside her. She hopped up and held the blankets for him.
“I haven’t been tucked into bed in more than twenty years,” he mused, obediently sliding between the sheets before reclining back against the pile of pillows Maddy had fluffed for him.
Maddy drew the sheets up to his waist, unable to bring herself to cover his mouth watering chest quite yet.
“I brought you water,” she said, indicating the bottle on the table. “Do you need anything else.”
His blue eyes met hers for a long moment, then he reached over and pulled back the blankets beside him.
“I need you, Madison. Right here, beside me.”
She swallowed hard and he saw temptation in her eyes, but also uncertainty.
“It’s safe,” he assured her with a crooked grin. “I might think about ravaging you, but I’m in no shape to follow through. I just want you to stay with me. Will you do that?”
Maddy stood and went over to the corner of the room, turning on a small lamp on the dresser. Then she turned off the room light and walked around the bed, sliding between the smooth sheets and immediately scooting up against him, putting her arm across his stomach and nestling her head in the crook of his arm as he brought it around her back.
“I love you, Tuck,” she murmured, breathing him in and reveling in the feel of his long, lean body against hers. “Thank you for coming back to me.”
“Madison.”
“Mmm hmm,” she said, snuggling closer.
“I’ll make sure you don’t have anything else to worry about from Jimmy’s people. Wilfred is a talker, I already know that. It’ll be easy to find
out everything he knows. And I’ll spend some quality time with Abe as well. I’m pretty confident he’s going to see the wisdom of cooperating with us.”
“That’s good, Tuck. They need to be locked up, otherwise they’ll just get hired by the next psychopath with deep pockets.”
Tuck’s arm tightened around her. “Today was a hell of a day.”
Maddy nodded. “You and Ryan going up against eight guys—yeah, I’d say that qualifies as a hell of a day.”
“That wasn’t the bad part,” Tuck said, his low voice rumbling in his chest below her ear. “The bad part was all those hours when I was trying to get here as fast as I could and everything seemed to move in slow motion. Your life was in danger, again, and I was caught too far away.”
“You came as soon as you knew, that’s all anyone can do, Tuck.”
“The point is, I don’t want to be caught that far away from you again. Actually, I don’t want to be away from you at all. I know we’ve only known each other for a few months, Maddy, but it feels like it’s been so much longer than that. We’ve been through so much, worked through so many things, and regardless of the actual time frame, I know exactly what I want.”
Tuck gently grasped her shoulders and urged her up so he could see her face. She propped herself up on her elbow, watching him, waiting to see where he was headed.
“What I want is you, Madison. I’ll always want you.” His blue eyes held hers, and his fingers tightened. “Will you marry me, baby?”
She went perfectly still, not even breathing. She didn’t say anything because she couldn’t. She just looked at him with her heart in her eyes.
Tuck wrapped a strand of her damp hair around his finger. “I know I shouldn’t ask you like this. I should wait and plan something elaborate with roses and a fancy dinner and a huge diamond, but I don’t want to go another night without knowing you’re mine forever. I want to marry you, Maddy. I want take you to bed every night, wake up to you every morning, and come home to you every evening. I don’t want to wait, either. I want to get married as soon as we can get a license. If you decide you want a big fancy wedding, we can do that later. Right now I just need to know. Will you marry me, Madison? Soon?”