Cole, Kaliana - No Bag Limit [Liberty Springs, Wyoming 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Kaliana Cole

  * * * *

  “God, sweetheart, you keep doing that and we won’t be getting home at all.”

  Emma gave Colby an impish grin from where her head rested in his lap. The big bench seat of the Ford was ideal for a little hanky-panky. Prudence dictated she should have waited until they stopped, but she couldn’t resist stirring Colby up a bit. The little wiggles could have been her innocently trying to get comfortable, but he knew exactly what she was doing as her temple rubbed against the ever-growing bulge of his cock.

  She rolled to her side, the lap belt easily accommodating her contortions. A thud as something was knocked from the seat had her glancing onto the floor boards. She reached down and retrieved Colby’s phone.

  “Shit, I forgot about that. Turn it back on for me, sweet.”

  “Twenty six missed calls and four messages. My, my, aren’t you popular. They’re all from Zach.”

  Colby chuckled. The deep sound tweaked nerve endings inside her that had been thoroughly sated today but didn’t know when to quit. “Put it on speaker. This should be interesting.”

  His smile faded with alacrity halfway through the first message. Emma blanched and sat up. She knew her face was as white as Colby’s knuckles strangling the steering wheel. “Yeah, Colb, call me as soon as you finish what you’re doing. We need to make sure Emma is all right. Hawkins has escaped from hospital. No one knows where he is. Call me.”

  Blue eyes drained of all warmth locked with hers as she pressed the button to play the next. “Come on, Colb, pick up, this isn’t funny, man. I know you cut me off.”

  The third was just as short. “For fuck’s sake, no one takes this long. Call me. Andy is coming over here.”

  The fourth made Emma’s heart stutter. “Listen, you little shit, I’m going to tear you a new one when you get home. We’re worried sick. Ty’s trying to track you down… here, Dozer…what’s wrong with that fool dog…What the fuck?...” There was a thud and a sharp crash as the phone struck something. “Hello, Zachary.” The cultivated intonation chilled Emma to the bone. There was the sound of fingers fumbling with the phone and then silence.

  “That’s Hawkins!” Heart pounding, she gripped Zach’s corded forearm. “He’s got Zach.”

  Colby’s foot hit the brake and he swung the wheel, sliding the back end of the pickup out as he headed for Liberty Springs and goosed the accelerator. “Pass me the phone.” Emma watched as he divided his attention between the phone and the road, her consuming fear for Zach overriding any anxiety over the blinding speed at which they traveled.

  “Come on, come on,” Colby muttered, clearly waiting for someone to pick up. “Fuck it.” He pressed more buttons and tried again.

  “Shit! No one is picking up at home and Andy is not answering his. I’ll try the station.” A few seconds later he spoke, “Jane, it’s Colby Whelan. Is Andy about?”

  “He is? How long ago did he head there?”

  “Thanks, Jane.”

  He glanced at Emma, all traces of the laughing bad boy gone. What remained was all man, a man concerned for those he loved. “Andy headed out home to meet with Ty and Zach half an hour ago, about the same time as that last message from Zach. Jane said the whole area is being patrolled, but they don’t want to cause a panic. Andy isn’t answering his shoulder mic, but he hasn’t put in any distress calls.”

  Emma could only sit in silence, adrenaline making her shaky. “We have to assume Hawkins has Andy, too. That means he is armed. If the cops go in there, they put my brothers and Andy at risk. I’ll drop you off at the diner and go in on foot.” He dug in his pocket and handed her a small key. “Get me the 9mm out and load both clips.”

  She reached under the seat and pulled the gun case out. “Not fucking likely, Colby. There is no way in hell I am going to sit back and watch while you get yourself killed.” She lifted her chin and fixed him with the cold fury blazing in her hazel depths. “You can’t creep for shit and I have got a better plan.”

  Emma outlined the idea as she thumbed bullets into the clips. She could tell Colby didn’t like parts of it, but he didn’t have anything better.

  Stealth wouldn’t work. Her plan had a chance, but it would take balls of steel and enough guts to make them clang.

  She saw her resolve echoed back in the glacial blue of Colby’s eyes. “We can do this.”

  * * * *

  Ty watched the madman walk around the kitchen, hands fondling Andy’s sidearm. He noticed Hawkins limped, courtesy of the two slugs they had dug out of his hip. If he waited until he passed close again he could topple the chair into that hip. His eyes must have telegraphed his intentions because Andy’s gaze narrowed and there was an imperceptible shake of his head.

  The tall man glanced toward Zach and showed three fingers.

  He was right. It would take the three of them acting in concert to take him out with any chance of success, considering they were trussed up like Christmas turkeys. Zach hadn’t so much as twitched yet. The extra fifty odd pounds they both had over him was showing in his reaction to the sedative.

  He just hoped to hell Zach woke up before Colby came waltzing through that door with Emma.

  The sound of Emma’s truck pulling up outside came loud and clear through the open kitchen window. He wished he could see out of it, but Andy was the only one beside their captor who had a line of sight. Ty could hear the sweet sound of Emma’s laughter, ringing bell-like through the silence of the late afternoon and Colby’s deeper chuckle harmonizing with it.

  He had to make a noise and alert them. If Hawkins shot him, it would be a small price to pay to warn them and keep Emma safe. But he saw something on Andy’s face that held him back.

  Hope.

  He wished to Christ he could see whatever it was that had put that look on the deputy’s face. It was killing him, feeling so useless and not being able to see what was going on. The gleeful sound became clearer as the couple got closer to the front door.

  “Promises, promises, wench! As soon as I get you inside I’m gonna make you live up to every single one.” There was the sound of kissing, wet and enthusiastic.

  Typical fucking Colby, Ty thought, the world is about to fall down around him and all he can think about is getting his end in.

  There was a thud against the front door. The sound of a body being pushed against it and pinned for pleasure. “If you don’t stop that I’m gonna do you right here on the door step, darlin’.”

  Ty froze. Colby never called a woman “darlin’.” He always told Ty it was condescending and old fashioned, but his little brother knew damn well it was what Ty called Emma.

  Did the little shit know?

  Was he trying to give them a message?

  Hope flared in his heart, but the organ skipped a beat when the doorknob turned. Colby’s broad back appeared, clad in a black jacket. He could see where Emma’s arms disappeared under the bulk. But the couple was oblivious, kissing as if trying to eat each other from the mouth down. Growls and moans echoed through the silent kitchen.

  Ty saw Zach stir and hoped to hell he stayed still.

  Hawkins trained the weapon on the couple and unnecessarily cocked the double-action handgun. “I am afraid I will have to interrupt your little make-out session, children.”

  Colby, God bless him, dove for the ground, taking Emma with him, and Andy surged to his feet, barreling into Hawkins’s hip. The sound of gunfire deafened everyone in the kitchen. Ty overturned his chair in a rush to incapacitate Hawkins, but the job was already done. From his position on the ground he took in the scene.

  Emma was propped atop his youngest brother’s side, looking down the sights of Colby’s 9mm held rock steady on the spreading patch of red on Hawkins’s chest. The wild fury in her eyes roared that she was willing him to move so she could put another one in him.

  Andy, like him, was no better than a turtle on its back.

  Zach was wondering what the fuck was going on, gray eyes scrunched against the blinding headache gripping h
im.

  Through his ringing ears Ty perceived a deep groan. He knew he wasn’t imagining things when Emma looked down sharply and the hand she touched Colby with came away covered in blood. He saw her panic, looking frantically around. She needed help but didn’t want to leave her injured lover.

  Her frantic gaze alighted on him. He willed her to calm, hoping his eyes carried his emotions as clearly as hers. He flicked his gaze to the bench where the knife block sat. Ty thanked God when she moved.

  He felt a little nervous when she sliced the tape holding his right arm but didn’t flinch. She was shaking enough for the both of them. He ripped the tape off his mouth. “Give me the knife. You keep pressure on that wound, darlin’. Everything is going to be all right.” His mouth was dry, but he forced the words out as he cut off the remaining tape. It was a struggle to get free of the chair lying on his side, but he managed eventually. He cut Andy’s hands free and passed him the knife before going to Emma. He slid his arm around her shoulders as she pushed on the cloth she had wadded up and pressed to the wound high on Colby’s back. “Give me a look, darlin’.”

  A quick inspection proved it to be a through-and-through, entering above his shoulder blade and coming out just below his collar bone. Ty grabbed a clean dishtowel and held it to the exit wound, alarmed by the amount of blood soaking into it. “Andy, we need an ambulance. About now would be good.”

  He heard the crackle of the police radio as the tall man put through his request. Zach’s sudden cursing alerted Ty to his release. It didn’t take five seconds for him to drop to his knees on the other side of Emma.

  A quick glance showed Andy standing over the still form of John Hawkins, but other than a nudge with his boot he made no attempt to revive the man. Blood had long since ceased squirting from his chest. If he wasn’t dead yet, it wouldn’t be long.

  Ty knew he would testify Andy had done everything in his power to revive the man. Hell, Ty wouldn’t have even kicked him.

  The wail of sirens heralded the arrival of the paramedics, and not before time. Colby had lost a hell of a lot of blood. Pushed aside by experienced hands, Ty and Zach held Emma between them, sharing the comfort of touch and wiping away her tears.

  Ty noticed she paid Hawkins’s body no attention. She didn’t avoid looking at it but showed absolutely no remorse or emotion if she glanced that way. She was one hell of a woman, but right now she was worried about one of her men.

  “He’ll be okay, darlin’. It was nice and high, there’s not much of any great importance where the bullet went through. They’ll patch him up, and he’ll be right as rain.” He lifted his face out of her hair as Andy came over.

  “How did you know?” It had been puzzling Ty since he saw the hope flare in Andy’s eyes.

  “Colby had his jacket on. He’s too damn proud of that body to cover it up when there’s a pretty woman around. I’ve seen him strip down when there is snow on the ground if he thinks someone’s watching, and it’s a warm afternoon. He had a reason to cover up. And Emma was wearing a long shirt, too, one that doesn’t match the shirt underneath.”

  He put out his big hand. “Cough it up, honey, I know you’re holding out on me. You pulled the nine from under Colby’s jacket.”

  Ty stepped before her so that he and Andy screened her from the rest of the room and watched her slide her hand to the small of her back. He was prepared for the small matte black Browning to come out, but he choked when the big stainless .44 emerged from concealment instead.

  Andy blinked a time or two as she expertly cleared the weapon before laying it in his hand. He put the other hand out for the lethal, fat shells.

  “Where the fuck did that come from?” Zach’s eyes were wide as he lifted the back of her shirt. “You had that thing shoved down the back of your jeans? You could have shot your ass off.”

  “Only if my butt worked out how to pull the trigger, dumbass.” She rubbed her rump through the denim. “I am going to be sore for a while. I landed on the bloody thing when Colby took me to the ground.”

  Andy shook his head. “I’m glad she is your problem and not mine.” He looked up, professional persona in place. “I need you all to accompany me for questioning, but we can do it at the hospital. I don’t like my chances of trying to get Emma to go anywhere else right now.”

  He sighed as the crime scene crew swarmed over Hawkins’s body. “Do you have any idea just how much paperwork you lot have caused me? It will be a month before I dig myself out of it.” He tugged off a piece of tape still sticking to his sleeve. “Come on, only one of you can ride with Colb, and I’ll get there quicker.”

  Ty watched Emma, seeing her pain as she was torn between wanting to go with Colby, who was being stretchered out to the waiting vehicle, and staying right where she was in the shelter of their arms. “It’s okay, darlin. We’ll beat the ambulance there anyway. Go with him.” He kissed her temple and patted her to get her moving like he would a horse. He smiled softly when she laid her hand on Colby’s and climbed into the ambulance, her love plain to see.

  “You’ve caught a good one there, boys. Don’t be foolish enough to let her get away,” Andy said.

  Ty saw the pain that flashed in his eyes and the tension that pulled the pale scars tight. Andy knew all about letting them get away. “She’s stuck with us now, Andy. We’re not dumb enough to let her go again.” He smiled at Zach. “Ready to go? Emma’s going to be pissed when they won’t let her stay with him.”

  “At least she’s not armed any more. I can’t believe we missed that thing down her pants. It was kinda hot when she pulled it out, though.”

  Andy chuckled his agreement, and all Ty could do was shake his head. For once he agreed with Beth. Men were dumb.

  As he walked out he grinned when Zach automatically flipped the bird at Brody and Luke who were gawking over the fence. Ty had never had a problem with the Marshall brothers, but Zach and Colb both went out of their way to antagonize them. It was a silent war of pranks and one-upmanship, both lots carrying on like testosterone-driven adolescents instead of grown men.

  “Get in the car and leave them alone, Zach,” Andy advised, slipping into his patrol car. “When are you lot going to grow up?”

  Both Whelans treated that as rhetorical.

  Chapter 16

  Emma paced the linoleum-tiled floor of the waiting room, four steps across, turn, and repeat. It grew too much for Zach. He snared her as she passed and pulled her down into his lap. “Sit down before you wear a hole in the floor.”

  Andy had already got the details he could remember out of Zach and was now questioning Ty. The process had gone quickly as the big officer had been there for most of it.

  It was hard questioning a man whose attention was divided between the woman who had been pacing the floor and the door from which they expected the news to come of Colby. He had been in surgery for the best part of an hour now.

  Marley Richards had come through twice assuring them everything would be fine. The surgeon was just dealing with a few more damaged blood vessels than first thought.

  Andy was sure the woman only came through to taunt him with all that tall, slender grace that had sprung from the stocky little tomboy she had been.

  She had always followed him around like a bad smell. At sixteen she had snared a two-week stint at the station on work experience. He had spent the time struggling to contain the need to put the kid over his knee and teach her a valuable lesson about pulling lions’ tails with the flat of his hand.

  But he hadn’t trusted himself. The fourteen years that separated them hadn’t mattered to his cock. While he never took orders from anything below his shoulders, the temptation had been there, immoral and deplorable.

  She had been a hormonal child struggling with awakening appetites, he a grown man.

  She should have grown out of the childish crush by now, but it had only worsened. She never missed a chance to antagonize him or flaunt that goddess’s body.

  The month spent in hosp
ital after his accident had been plagued by her. The thought of a sponge bath now made him cringe even as his dick surged to life. She was merciless in her quest to snare him. He was too old and too jaded for a fresh little thing like her, but each time he saw her, his resolve weakened, sandstone worn beneath the lap of a persistent tide.

  He braced himself as the door opened once more, but the doctor accompanied Marley this time. Those in the waiting room rose as one to their feet.

  The surgeon gave them a tired but pleased smile. “Colby is going to be fine. He is fit and healthy and will recover in no time. He should come around in the next twenty minutes or so. You will all be able to see him briefly,” he assured them. “Nurse Richards will come and get you then. He will need a day or two in hospital to guard against infection. We’ll have him on an antibiotic drip, but he is going to be fine.”

  Andy saw the relief he felt reflected and multiplied in three smiling faces. Bright green eyes flashed their own relief from across the room, and he mentally kicked himself. The Whelans had been like older brothers to Marley growing up. Colby’s plight had been worrying her, too. She hadn’t been hovering just to tease him.

  He turned and picked up his hat. “I’ll come by tomorrow and talk to Colb. I’ve got to get started on this paperwork.” He couldn’t help but feel the love when he looked at Emma smiling between Zach and Ty. “Look after them, Emma, and yourself.”

  He tuned and left, wondering when the realization that she had taken a life was going to hit her.

  * * * *

  Emma stood by the bed, Colby’s hand in both of hers and Ty’s reassuring bulk at her back, his big hands resting on her waist. Zach loomed beside her. Colby looked pale and weak. A wide swath of white bandage wrapped his chest and shoulder but his sense of humor was undaunted. “Come on, Em, you’re little enough to hide in here. I’ll just tell them you’re my teddy bear.” He held the sheet up with his drip-impaled hand.