He had to look only as far as his own mother, and his sister-in-law Carol, to know how that could happen. Sometimes, as in the case of Carol’s mom, that damage could be mended.
And sometimes, as it had been for his mother and her mother, it would never be.
He’d have to talk with his brothers and see what they thought. Maybe it would be a good idea to bring Kat’s mother for a visit.
He couldn’t imagine anyone or anything keeping his mother from his side if she thought for one minute he needed her.
Paul thanked Robert, and the exchange between cousins brought Wes back to the moment. One look at Kat and he knew Robert’s parting words had put her right back to being pissy.
The moment all four were outside the clinic, Wes said, “Lunch.”
“We only had breakfast a couple of hours ago.” Kat sounded surly, and that made Wes smile because he understood the cause.
They had, and it had been a memorable meal, mainly because Kat had tried to lure them all into making love to her.
That’s likely where the pissiness started for her this morning. After that spectacular time they’d had yesterday morning, they’d decided to wait to see what Robert said before making love to her again.
They’d managed to get her to fall asleep last night with a combination of the hot tub and a massage.
Thank God we don’t have to resist much longer.
“You’re acting puckish,” Paul said. “Maybe you’ll feel better with a full tummy.”
Kat’s response was a growl, one that grew when he and his brothers chuckled. Wes decided to take his life into his hands and slipped his arm around her.
“Let’s have some lunch at the restaurant and then go home and see what mischief we can get up to. Now that we know you’re cleared for moderate exercise, we can take care of that frustration you’re feeling.”
“Well, if it’s only moderate exercise, maybe you need to wait even longer. Just in case I get overly excited by your studly selves and overdo it.”
Her snarky tone just made him smile.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Paul said. “We can ensure that doesn’t happen.”
“That’s right.” Wesley hugged her. “We’ll just make sure you’re immobilized first.”
“When all you can do is take what we give you, you won’t possibly be able to overdo,” Lucas said. Of them all, he could usually be counted on to reach their woman, even when she was at her most stressed.
One look at Kat, and Wesley figured there might be a limit to even his brother’s near magical abilities, after all.
Chapter 14
There was no way in hell that Booker James was going to tell Toller Garwood that they had lost Katrina Lawson. He took a moment to calm himself, to look at the situation logically.
Booker hadn’t promised the man instantaneous results—just that there would be results. The situation he was dealing with was different from the one Garwood had taken on. Larry Borden had been an easy target, a sitting duck right there behind bars.
It had been a simple matter for Garwood to take care of that particular loose end. It was a hell of a lot easier to kill a con in the joint than to assassinate a woman on the streets of one of the country’s major cities.
But Booker didn’t fool himself, not for one minute. They had to find the Lawson woman, and they had to do it fast. It occurred to him as he waited for his call to connect that maybe, just maybe, he should come up with a plan B.
“Clancy here.”
Raymond Clancy was a private investigator in Los Angeles, a man known not to care too much who hired him, as long as the dollars were there. Booker had gotten his name from an old friend who said Clancy could be trusted.
Since Booker didn’t trust anyone, he’d given the man a phony name. Booker, an avid movie fan and a lover of irony, had given his name as Jack Ryan. And, of course, Clancy had no idea there was a hit man waiting for whatever information he’d managed to dig up.
“What’s the situation?”
“The woman is gone, Mr. Ryan.”
Fucking brilliant. “Gone? Are you sure about that?”
“I’m sure she’s not in the city. Personally, I don’t think she’s even in the state.”
“If she’s not in California, then where the hell is she?”
“My best guess? Texas. One of my sources at the hospital where the woman was treated last week said the ER doc got a call from a friend and fellow MD, somewhere in Texas, and that he e-mailed the woman’s treatment file to him. She’s going to see what she can do about getting that e-mail address for you, but it’s going to cost a couple of Bennies extra.”
“Fine. Two hundred for that e-mail address would be money well spent.”
“Do you want me to keep the Lawson woman’s parents under surveillance?”
“Yeah.” Just because the emergency room doctor’s friend was from Texas didn’t mean he was in Texas. He could be anywhere. Booker couldn’t imagine the cops would let a witness to a crime—even if the witness had been the victim of said crime—leave the state just like that. And he couldn’t imagine a woman—any woman—cutting herself off from her mommy, either. It was probably only a matter of time before Mrs. Lawson headed out to be with her baby girl. “Keep the mother, especially, under surveillance, twenty-four seven. What about your source at the LAPD?”
“The guy came through for us once, but he says that suspicions were raised. He isn’t willing to stick his neck out again on this one.”
Booker had to remind himself who he was talking to. Clancy didn’t feel the same urgency he did because the stakes for him weren’t so high.
“All right. Let me know, this number, if anything happens in the next twenty-four hours. I’ll call you from another location tomorrow.”
“Sure, Mr. Ryan. It’s your dime.”
Save me from cliché-dropping private investigators.
Booker hung up the phone and began to pace. Too many things were happening that seemed completely over the top. It had been a simple and prudent idea to take out someone who may or may not have been in possession of incriminating evidence. But carrying out that mission was quickly turning complicated.
He picked up the second burner phone and considered. The woman’s office and apartment had both been searched—by him—and netted zero results. He’d looked everywhere and had to conclude that there very likely wasn’t any evidence to be had. His gut had told him at the time that Borden was just blowing smoke, trying to make himself appear more important than he was, and thus a risky entity to take on. Borden had been on the edge, desperate, and he’d bartered with the only thing he had—himself. He couldn’t have known that his very cleverness had signed his own death warrant—and extended the execution order to the woman who’d had a hand in returning the man to the hands of the authorities.
Booker personally believed that Borden had been full of shit, but he knew his client. Garwood had insisted Katrina Lawson had to die, just in case. Self-made billionaire and crime boss Toller Garwood wasn’t a man to be crossed. Unless, of course, one wanted to pull the ultimate double cross.
Booker stopped pacing and looked at the phone in his hand. That would be a bold move, indeed. And maybe one that it was time for him to consider. The perfect and permanent plan B.
Booker had a few friends in Texas, and he had the names of the men whose house Katrina Lawson was at when the gunman had taken his shot—a trio of screenwriters who also happened to be from Texas. That was enough coincidence to give credence to Clancy’s assessment.
Booker would give it another couple of days, wait and see if Katrina Lawson turned up, and in the meantime, he would see what information he could turn up from his friends in Texas.
And then, for better or worse, Booker James would make a decision.
* * * *
“I’m so glad y’all decided to join us for lunch.”
After Lucas’s last comment about being restrained, Kat had been fit to be tied—she nearly winced at her own
mental pun—when they’d stepped into Lusty Appetites. And then a sweet little old lady had waved at the Jessops, and the next thing Kat knew, she was having lunch with those three scoundrels and their grandmother, and their grandmother’s friend.
She’d expected Kate Benedict to wax poetic to Angela Monroe about the famous trio of screenwriters but had been completely dumbfounded when the woman had, instead, told Mrs. Monroe about her.
Grandma Kate, as she insisted on being called, sure as hell knew a lot about Kat’s professional accomplishments.
“You’re a braver woman than I am,” Angela said to her. “Just the idea of confronting someone who outweighs me and has a shitload of mean to boot makes me quiver in fear, and I don’t care who knows it.”
Angela’s comment sent a shaft of discomfort through her. She knew the woman had no idea...Kat let the thought go. She answered Angela, and her own inner voice. “It’s scary sometimes,” Kat agreed. “But I find I can minimize the fear by going into a situation prepared.”
“I imagine you’ve a lot of specialized training, too,” Kate said. “My husbands saw to it I knew how to handle a gun, but then this is Texas. I still make time to practice at the range, at least once a week.” Kate nodded. “You never know when you’ll need to use your gun. And there’s no greater foolishness, to my way of thinking, than carrying a gun and not knowing how to use it effectively.”
“Adam told me you had occasion to use your Colt not all that long ago, Grandma Kate,” Paul said. He grinned at Kat. “She stopped a man from trying to kidnap Ari Stein—Cord and Jackson Benedict’s fiancée at the time, now their wife. Shot him right in the thigh and dropped him like a stone, or so I’ve been told.”
Kat felt her eyes go wide as she looked at the tiny white-haired woman whose blush was as pretty as a schoolgirl’s.
All right, time for a reassessment. Seems like Kate Benedict isn’t anyone’s little old lady.
“I’m sure you would have handled the situation much more efficiently,” Kate told her. “But it’s the pure truth I couldn’t let that odious man hurt our Ari. She’d already been through so much in her young life.”
“From all I’ve heard since coming to town, you should fit right in here, Kat.” Angela lifted her glass of sweet tea in salute. “The women of Lusty, Texas, are an inspiration to us all.”
Kat thought she imagined the tone of regret in Angela’s voice. But apparently not because Kate patted Angela’s hand.
“Now, Angela, you mustn’t let the past loom so large. Times are far different now than they were thirty years ago.” Kate Benedict met her friend’s gaze, and Kat saw a backbone in Grandma Kate that was unmistakable. “But one thing is the same, then and now, and always has been, and that’s the responsibility of a father to protect his daughter from evil, not deliver her into the hands of it.”
Kat sensed Mrs. Monroe’s discomfort. Although she guessed that Kate’s words were meant in a very personal way to her friend, Kat decided to give them another interpretation entirely.
“I toured the museum the first time I was in town,” she said. “I don’t know when I’ve ever felt my feminism riled the way it was, hearing about the way Sarah Carmichael was married off to that devil, Tyrone Maddox.”
Kate smiled at her, and Kat felt as if she’d received the greatest gift ever. “My point, exactly. Sarah’s father fell down on his sacred duty to protect his daughter. For that sin, no member of the families has ever claimed the man as kin.” Kate nodded. “And Sarah, for her part, once she was free from the slavery she’d been sold into, grew into a woman of strength, one who was able to handle two husbands and lay the foundation for a town and a way of life. That’s not a bad legacy.”
“No,” Angela said, “that’s not a bad legacy at all.”
“I hear you’re opening a roadhouse out by the highway, Mrs. Monroe.” Lucas turned on his charm, and Kat realized she wasn’t the only person aware of the subtext happening at the table.
“Angela, please. And, yes, I am. Jordan Kendall has a crew working on the gutted interior of the building right now, and it’s really coming along. I’m hoping to be open for the Fourth of July.”
“It’ll be good for folks in town to have a choice for date night that doesn’t involve driving for an hour to get there first,” Paul said.
“Kate convinced me that there was a definite need in the area.”
A pretty blonde waitress came over and began to clear the lunch plates. “Does anyone here want dessert? What about you, Grandma Kate? Tracy made some cream puffs this morning.”
“I just can’t resist her cream puffs, so, yes, please, Michelle, I’ll have one of those.” Then she leaned closer to Kat. “You have to try one, Kat. You’re still on the mend, and you need the extra calories. Trust me on this. I’m a nurse.”
Kat grinned. “That’s the best logic I’ve heard in a long time.” She looked up at Michelle. “I’ll have one, too, please. And a cup of coffee.”
Of course, the Jessops didn’t have to be convinced to have dessert. They each ordered two of the pastries. It didn’t take long for the rest of the dishes to be removed and the desserts to be delivered.
“These are seriously good.” Kat had bolted her first bite and then savored her second. The pastry was light and flaky and the cream filling smooth and just sweet enough.
“I need to get back.” Angela sighed. “I have a trailer on the site of my roadhouse. I can get the thousand and one organizational details seen to, and if there’s anything that needs my attention, well, I’m right there for Jordan or his lead hand to ask.”
“Is Jordan going to set your office up soon inside the building?” Kate asked.
Angela nodded, and then she looked at Kat. “I’ve asked him to rough frame one in for me, as soon as they finish shoring up the structure. He promised to go one better, so that I’d have a bit of a buffer from the sounds of construction. But for now, the trailer works.” She looked over at Kate. “Jordan had a look at the small house that’s out there. He tells me there’s no hope for it. So I’ve asked him if he can have it torn down and build something else for me there, once the roadhouse is done.”
“I thought perhaps the house would have to go. It was in pretty sorry shape even before I picked up that piece of property.”
“I hope your trailer has air conditioning,” Wesley said. “Another month, two at the most, and it’s going to be hot.”
Angela nodded. “I grew up in Texas. I remember the heat of summer.” A look crossed her face that stirred Kat’s curiosity. There’s a story here. But then the look was gone.
The men got to their feet when Angela did. She hugged Kate and then nodded to the rest of them. “It was nice meeting y’all.”
Kat’s gaze followed Angela as she stopped at the cash register and then left the restaurant. Kat was a woman who excelled at reading people. That was an asset in her work. And what she read in Angela was a bundle of nerves and a ton of regret.
She’s a woman who’s had to forge her own path in life. Kat could relate. She felt gazes on her and knew she had the Jessops’ full attention.
“Thanks for inviting us to join you, Grandma Kate.” Paul leaned over and kissed the woman on her cheek. “We always love spending time with you.”
“You’re sweet boys,” Kate said. “You parents did a very good job raising you.” Then she met each of their gazes in turn. “I know that Kat is safe with you. You’ll take good care of her and see to it that she doesn’t overdo.”
Kat felt herself bristle until Kate Benedict turned her light blue gaze on her. “We women sometimes don’t do a very good job taking care of ourselves. And we can be especially difficult when we feel vulnerable. Give yourself a break, sweet girl. And give your body and your mind time to heal.”
How does she know what I’m going through when I’ve barely admitted it to myself? Kat didn’t believe in the supernatural. But right then and there, she wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that Kate Benedict had second sigh
t.
As to her words of wisdom, Kat would take them out and consider them later. She found herself returning Grandma Kate’s grin.
Nope, Kate Benedict is nobody’s little old lady, not by a long shot.
Chapter 15
Kat had been a city girl all her life. Even vacations—the few there’d been—had been taken in one cosmopolitan center or another.
Lusty, Texas, wasn’t just a distance away from her life in LA It was a world away. Late February in Lusty was a mixture of sun, clouds, and rain, with the temperatures bouncing between the thirties and the sixties.
She might have teased the Jessops about their cold weather, except there’d been a few chilly days in California this winter, too. Either Mother Nature was PMSing or there was something to the warnings of the climate change proponents after all.
Kat took another moment, letting her gaze wander over the fields behind the Jessop brothers’ very nice wood-and-glass house. Having such a large window look out over such a vast expanse was brilliant. She wondered what kind of wildflowers might bloom here in the next few weeks. Wondered, too, if she would stay here long enough to find out.
There was something to be said about taking the time to slow down and smell the flowers, wasn’t there? Slow wasn’t a speed she was used to. But right at that moment, Kat thought the idea had merit. In fact, the concept of slow felt just about perfect.
She didn’t need to go running back to life in the fast lane. She didn’t have to go running back at all.
Kat felt the heat first, an all-encompassing kind of warmth that had less to do with their physical presence and more to do with the sense of caring they engendered.
Closing her eyes, she inhaled and smiled because she recognized the scent and the touch of the hands that enveloped her and the press of the body against her back. Paul wrapped his arms around her from behind and gave her a gentle squeeze.
Love Under Three Valentinos [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 14