by SJ McCoy
“And what’s the problem?”
“It’s not fair on anyone else. It might help Matt and Autumn out, but it’s not exactly fair to the rest of you, to have the press at your wedding, is it?”
Cassidy shrugged. “It’s no big deal, is it? I don’t care.”
“You don’t think it’d be a horrible intrusion?”
“No. Why would it? They wouldn’t be there to get the scoop on any of us. They’d just want a few quick snaps of Matt and that’d be it.”
That surprised Summer. “I thought you’d hate the idea.”
“No, it’s no problem for me if that’s what you want to do. What did Carter say?”
“He said we could do it, but we’d have to get married a different day from the rest of you so it didn’t put any of you out.”
“I don’t like that idea. I don’t like that at all. I say you check with the others first and if they do mind, just tell Autumn no. She’ll understand.”
Summer nodded. She knew that was what she should do. She just hated to put the others out on their wedding day, and she hated to let her sister down.
Chapter Seventeen
Shane pulled up in front of the gallery. It made him so sad to see the place like that—all charred out and boarded up. Cassidy said she wasn’t going to worry about it until after the wedding. She had enough on her plate trying to salvage her business. At least that’s how it seemed to him. She insisted that it wasn’t so bad really. All that she had lost were original paintings, most of which were also available as prints. He hadn’t liked to point out to her that, before the fire, the one thing she’d managed to teach him about the art world was that originals were all that really mattered. She was putting a brave face on, and he understood why—it was all she could do—but he still hurt for her. He wanted to make things better for her somehow. Trouble was he didn’t know how.
He’d arranged to meet Luke Wallis here this morning. For all things seemed to have gone quiet on the Preston front since the night of the fire, apparently the wheels of justice were still turning in the background. He got out of the truck when he saw Luke’s patrol car pull up.
“Shane.”
“Luke. What’s going on?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“I gathered that much. What about?”
“Guy Preston.”
“What about him? Has he turned up?”
“Not yet, but I have a feeling he’s going to.”
Shane nodded grimly. Part of him had been hoping Guy would turn up, just to stop the rumors that were flying that Chance had murdered him and buried him in the foothills somewhere. The rest of him wished that Guy was gone for good. “What makes you think that?”
“We’ve been keeping an eye on his place, since we now have a warrant for his arrest.”
“You do? Don’t you think that might have been the first thing we needed to know?”
“Yeah, but it’s not standard procedure to just pick up the phone and call people once a warrant is issued. Especially people suspected of having something to do with his disappearance.”
“Suspected sounds like an official word.”
Luke shook his head. “Chance is fine, for now.”
That for now didn’t sit too easy with Shane. “And when will he be completely fine?”
“When we have Guy in custody and can prove that he’s still breathing.”
Shane nodded. “And what am I supposed to do?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to let one of you Remingtons know where we’re up to. You seemed like the logical choice.”
“Why’s that?”
Luke gave him a rueful smile. “You’re the one least likely to interrogate me and make me tell you anything I shouldn’t.”
“Great.” Shane felt like he should be offended, but he wasn’t. “So I’m the soft touch?”
“Nah, you’re the easiest to talk to, how about that?”
“I’ll take it, I guess. But just explain it to me one more time, would you? You now have a warrant out for him. You’ve been keeping an eye on his place, and you think he might be about to resurface. Right?”
“Right.”
“But what makes you think that?”
“Because things have started to move again at his ranch. When he disappeared, and Anna went to stay with you guys, everything went quiet at the Preston ranch. These last few days there’s been signs of life, but never anything happening when we’re there. We can’t exactly stake the place out twenty-four hours a day, not with our manpower and budget.”
Shane nodded. “So you think he’s back and laying low?”
“That’d be my guess.”
“Okay. And what am I supposed to do?”
Luke shrugged. “That’s up to you. My only suggestion is that you keep Chance as far away as possible.”
Shane let out a short laugh. “And do you have any ideas as to just how I might go about that?”
“With a lot of determination, because if he beats the crap out of him again…”
“Who says he did?” Shane was totally out of his depth here, but he knew you should never admit to anything.
Luke held up a hand. “This conversation is off the record, don’t worry.”
Shane nodded.
“The thing that worries me is that you have your big wedding coming up, right?”
“Yeah, what’s that got to do with anything?”
“Think about it, all the Remingtons in the same place, at the same time, celebrating what’s supposed to be the happiest day of your lives? I don’t claim to know how a crazy bastard thinks, but if I did, I’d say that’d be a pretty good time to get revenge on people you hate, people you thought had ruined you. Right?”
“It would.” Shane’s blood ran cold. The threat of Guy somehow ruining the wedding day seemed all too real. He’d told Cassidy that the others all had spidey senses when it came to Guy that he himself was lacking. Right now his spidey sense had just kicked into overdrive and was telling him without any room for doubt that Guy was going to try to ruin their wedding day.
~ ~ ~
Mason was sitting in his office in the barn when he heard a truck pull up outside. He pushed his chair away from his desk and leaned his head back against the wall. Whoever was coming wasn’t bringing good news. He could feel it, or maybe it was just that there didn’t seem to be any good news happening lately for anyone to bring.
He knew from the sound of the footsteps as they approached that it was Shane.
“Come on in,” he called.
Shane came in and sat down heavily in the seat on the other side of the desk.
“Uh-oh. What’s happened now, littlest brother? It looks like it’s finally raining in Mr. Sunshine’s world.”
That didn’t even raise a smile. “They’ve issued a warrant for Guy’s arrest.”
Mason frowned. “Isn’t that good news?”
“I guess, if they can find him. They think he’s back and mooching around at his place.”
“They only think?”
Shane nodded. “They’ve been keeping an eye on the place, but haven’t found him there yet.”
“What else?”
“Luke thinks he’s going to go after us on the wedding day.”
Mason frowned. “It’d make sense.”
Shane let out a short laugh. “Yeah, I guess it would if you were a crazy bastard hell-bent on revenge.”
“And that’s what he is.”
“So how do we stop him before that day comes? How do we get him locked up?”
“If we want him locked up, we have to keep Chance away from him.”
“Agreed.”
As if he’d been summoned by the sound of his name, Chance stuck his head around the office door.
“Can I come in?”
“Course you can.”
Chance took the armchair in the corner and gave them both a grim look. “I just talked to April.”
“What now?” Mason was overcome with a sense of w
eariness. He’d been fighting with Guy in one way or another for what felt like his whole life. In fact, it was almost his whole life; this stupid vendetta had started back in grade school.
“She’s coming up here.”
“Why?” asked Mason. He hated the thought of her coming back and getting in harm’s way. She’d been married to Guy for almost ten years. He felt responsible for her ever having married him in the first place. Guy had only gone after her because he thought Mason was interested in her. Mason and Chance had helped her escape, and he felt responsible for making sure she should stay away and stay safe.
“She’s had enough. Apparently I didn’t make myself clear enough to Guy. He’s been calling her, making threats. Telling her she’ll never get the ranch.”
“Doesn’t her boyfriend own it already—technically?” asked Shane.
“He does, and they’ve decided it’s time to take possession and run him out.”
“Won’t that take months to go through the legal process?” Mason was hoping that April would realize that and stay away until she needed to be here.
Chance shrugged. “I don’t know how any of that works. All I know is she’s had enough and she’s coming up here planning to go head to head with him one way or another. She’s not the same woman who left here. She’s not scared anymore; she’d not scared of anything. I can’t even say she’s good and mad. She’s just…I dunno. Calm. Had enough. Determined to see things set straight for herself and her kid.” He nodded. “She’s also determined that she’s going to get Guy locked up.”
Mason exchanged a glance with Shane. “She doesn’t need to come back here to do that. They’ve already got a warrant out for him.”
“They do?”
“Yeah,” said Shane. “So can you please stay away from him and let the police take care of it, so they don’t put one out for you, too?”
Chance shook his head. “I made him a promise, Shane.”
Mason did not like the sound of that. “You don’t do promises. What makes him so special?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I do want to know; I need to know. I don’t plan on letting you fuck up the rest of your life over that asshole. Especially not now, not when the law will take care of it if you just stay out of the damned way.”
Chance rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. “I’m not made that way, Mase. I see the sense of what you’re saying. I know you’re right.” He looked up, “But something, something inside me just breaks loose when I think about him, when I think about what he’s done. What he did to April and the boy, what he did to you and Gina, for fuck’s sake. How can you just calmly sit there and say we’ll let the law take care of it? Don’t you want to tear him limb from limb?”
“Of course I do!” Mason slammed his fist on his desk. “Don’t you think I want to do exactly the same as you do?” He sighed. “But I can’t. Just because I want to, doesn’t mean I can. What we want and what we do can’t always be the same thing, not if we want to live as part of a society. Do I wish we could revert to the Old West and make our own laws as we go? Hell, yeah! I’d love nothing more than to dish out my own form of justice to that bastard, but I can’t. I live here, in this valley, in this town, in the great state of Montana, in this great country of ours. And because I do, I accept I have to live by the law.”
Chance nodded. “And that is why you are your father’s son.” He got up and made his way to the door. “And I’m not,” he finished as it closed behind him.
Shane blew out a sigh. “That went well, huh?”
“Just fucking wonderful!” Mason rested his head in his hands. “Why can’t he see it? Why can’t he just hold off and let the law run its course.”
“I dunno. I suppose given what happened with his girlfriend, he doesn’t trust the law to be the same thing as justice.”
“But he can’t just dish out his own justice. The law won’t let him.”
“You’re preaching to the converted, Mase. I’m as frustrated as you are, but what can we do?”
“Damned if I know. I guess we just keep trying to talk to him.” Mason shook his head. “I hate the idea of April coming, but maybe, if she does, she’ll draw Guy out and the police will get to him before Chance.”
“We can hope.”
Mason nodded. He didn’t have a good feeling about it. “I think I’m going to call April, ask her what she’s thinking.”
“Are you going to invite her to the wedding?”
Mason considered it. “I don’t know. I need to talk to Gina first. See what she thinks. Plus, if April is going to bring on the final confrontation with Guy, I think I’d rather it was all over and done with before the wedding. It’d be nice not to have to look over our shoulders on that day.”
Shane smiled. “Yeah, it’d be kind of cool not to have to watch the barn for flames while I’m saying my vows.”
Mason smiled back at him. “That conjures up images of Gina and Cassidy hunting him down on horseback—with shotguns, in wedding dresses.”
Shane laughed. “That’d be even funnier if I didn’t have the nasty suspicion it could turn out to be a reality.”
“We need to get him taken care of before the wedding.”
“Yep, and before Chance finds him. I’ll let you get on. Let me know what April has to say when you talk to her.”
“Will do. Are you going by the cottage to see Cassidy and Gina?”
“I am. I said I’d stop in to see how they’re doing when I got back from town.”
“Do me a favor?”
“Sure, what?”
Mason smiled. “Give Gina a hug for me; tell her I won’t be too late.”
Shane ginned. “Course I will. How’s she holding up?”
“She’s tired, but I think the sickness is dying off now.”
“It’s hard to believe that the two of you are going to be parents soon. Hard to believe, but at the same time it just feels right. Like everything is turning out as it was always supposed to—finally.”
Mason felt the same way. “Yeah, hopefully everything else will turn out as it’s supposed to as well.”
~ ~ ~
Beau looked around as he waited in the carpool line to collect Ruby. He waved when he spotted Susie who was standing chatting with some of the moms. He’d offered to take her girls and collect them with Ruby when the troubles with Guy had started. Chance and Carter had both said they’d take them, too. Susie had refused though. Beau wanted to think that she simply enjoyed the time with her granddaughters, but he had a feeling it was more about keeping them safe. Guy was hardly likely to go after Josie and Tara, but if they were with Ruby and he wanted to go after her… Beau shook his head. He didn’t want to think about any of that.
Shane had told him there was finally a warrant out for Guy’s arrest. Mason had told him that Chance was getting antsy again. He pulled forward a few feet as the line moved up. What he really wanted was for someone to tell him that Guy was locked up. That it was all over and they could relax.
His phone rang and he hit the button to answer. “What’s up, Wanda?”
“Nothing’s up, boss man. I just wanted to let you know that Carly called.”
“What did she say?”
“That she and James will be able to get here on the Thursday after all, but she doesn’t want you to tell Corinne. She wants to surprise her.”
Beau smiled. Corinne’s sister had said that she and her husband might not be able to get to Montana until the day of the wedding. James had meetings in San Diego that week. Corinne had told her it was no big deal and she was fine with it, but Beau knew how disappointed she was. He’d called Carly and asked if there was any way they could come earlier. All the other girls had guests arriving midweek before the wedding on the Saturday.
“You still there?” asked Wanda.
“Sorry, yeah. I’m just at school picking up Ruby. Did Carly say anything else?”
“She did. She said to tell you that
he signed the papers.”
“Yes!” Beau punched the air. He was so damned happy.
Wanda laughed. “It’s hard to believe you’re the same Beau who had his head so far up his ass there was no talking to him to just a few months ago.”
Beau tried to sound angry. “Is that any way to talk to your boss, woman?”
She laughed again. “It is when he’s a big old softie, whose heart has been stolen by a little girl he used to be shit-scared of. It is when he’s trying to make sure his bride has the perfect day and he’s even running around making it happen behind her back. It’s the way I want to talk to a boss who has come so far in the last few months, that I have to say I’m damned proud of him and honored to know him.”
Beau swallowed and had to blink a couple of times. She’d sure as hell caught him off guard with that one!
“Are you still there or did you hang up on me for getting too sentimental on you?” she asked with an embarrassed laugh.
“I’m still here.” He swallowed again. “Thanks, Wanda.”
“Yes, well, just saying it like it is. Anyway, I can’t stay on the phone all afternoon gas-bagging with you. You might be out gallivanting, but someone has to stay here in the office and keep the place going. Talk to you later.”
Beau smiled. Wanda was no better at this than he was. She’d shared her feelings and now they both needed to brush them under the carpet and get back to their usual banter. “Yeah, and don’t you go locking up early and sloping off home just because I’m not there to check up on you.”
She chuckled. “I might, I might not, you’ll never know. See ya.”
Beau smiled at the phone after she hung up. He’d never admitted it to himself before, but he loved that woman. She made his life so much better by being in it. Not that he’d ever tell her that. He pulled forward again. He was almost at the head of the line now and he could see Ruby waiting by her teacher, smiling at him and waving. She tugged on her teacher’s sleeve and pointed at him.
Beau couldn’t hear her with his windows up, but he could lip read well enough. Here’s my daddy!