by Becky McGraw
Katie was speechless as she dragged her eyes from his down to the gorgeous ring he held out to her. Her breath was caught in her throat, and she put a fist to her heart, because it was so full it hurt.
Tears filled her eyes, and she saw his face fall as fear showed in his eyes. She finally forced words past the knot in her throat, “Oh, Tommy…yes, I’ll marry you, for the second time…you didn’t have to do all this, sugar, but I appreciate it. I love you so much.”
Katie threw her arm around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. He rubbed her back and hugged her tightly, then pulled back and took the ring from the box, and tried to put it on her left hand, but her fingers were still too swollen. He laughed and said, “I forgot your left arm was the one that you broke…let’s try the right for now.” He grabbed her right hand and slid the beautiful ring on her finger and it fit perfectly. She sighed, and held it up admiring it, then leaned forward and placed a lingering kiss on his lips.
“You done good sugar, thank you…you’re damned romantic for a rough old cowboy,” she told him with a chuckle, then put her forehead to his.
Katie heard keys scrape the doorknob of the front door, and he got to his feet and walked that way. Dixie came bouncing in squealing about the movie she and Karlie had seen, and Katie smiled, then got up to slowly walk that way too. When she rounded the door frame, Dixie came running toward her and she held up a hand to stop her from barreling into her. “Whoa there cowgirl, I’m still sore,” she told her with a chuckle.
Karlie stood right inside the door and looked from Tommy to her, then asked, “How’s the temperature? Do we need to go out for ice cream now?”
Tommy laughed and so did Katie, then she grabbed Dixie’s hand and walked over to Karlie and Tommy, then dropped Dixie’s hand and stuck hers out to Karlie. The whoop her sister let out bounced off the walls and about deafened her. Her sister evidently forgot about Katie’s sore ribs, because she threw herself against Katie and squeezed for all she was worth.
“Congratulations, sis…I’m so happy for you,” she told her in a trembling voice. When she finally let her go, Katie clutched her ribs and bent over taking short breaths. Karlie looked at Tommy and grinned, then said, “Bout damned time, brother-in-law to be.”
Dixie walked up and tugged on the sleeve of Katie’s robe then asked with fear in her eyes, “What happened?”
Oh, god, Katie thought, she hadn’t even thought to tell Dixie first. She took her hand again, then walked back to the kitchen with her and sat down, then pulled her between her knees.
She put her hand on Dixie’s cheek and told her, “Your daddy and I are getting married, sugar…is that okay with you?”
Her eyes got very round and a grin split her round little face, then she let out a whoop identical to Karlie’s and Katie flinched then laughed. “It’s okay with you, then?”
“Heck yeah!! You’re gonna be my mama!” Dixie squealed then did a jig around the kitchen. Then she said, “And we’re gonna have two babies, and I’m gonna be a big sister! I can’t wait to tell Susie!”
Tommy stalked across the kitchen and picked up Dixie in a bear hug, and she squeezed his neck, while he spun her around. When he set her down, she saw tears pooling in his eyes, and he wiped them with the back of his arm, then cleared his throat and said, “You’re gonna be the best big sister, ever squirt…the boys will be very lucky.”
Dixie scrunched her face up then said, “Boys?”
“Yep, you’re gonna have two baby brothers in about five and a half months,” he told her and grinned, then turned to Katie and said, “And a new mama sooner than that.”
Dixie stopped dancing and walked back over to Katie and asked her seriously, “Can I call you mama now Miss Katie?”
Katie couldn’t hold back the whimper, as emotion pushed up into her throat and tears started down her cheeks. She grabbed Dixie in a hug and said, “Yeah, baby you can call me mama, but only if you want to. I’ll never replace your mother…she loved you very much too…but I’d like being your mama.”
She heard a broken sob and looked up to see Tommy had turned his back and his shoulders were shaking, and Karlie was crying too, which made her own tears fall faster. “Ya’ll stop with the water works…I feel like a busted hose already,” she said with a watery chuckle.
Katie stood up and hugged Dixie to her hip, and Tommy swiped at his eyes, then turned around and they all converged in a group hug. Katie whispered, “This is the best day of my life…thank you, Tommy.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Tommy was in Lubbock, meeting with Gabe and the team he’d assembled to help bring down Edith Preston for hacking into his security system. It had taken more than a week for them to all get their ducks in a row, which frustrated him, but what choice did he have but to wait?
He’d paid for an airline ticket to fly Gabe’s computer guru, Joey Sims, in from Phoenix for the meeting. Tommy always believed that face-to-face meetings were the best way to get things done, and he’d been right. This was an awesome group, and they’d come up with a lot to help him, but he could only hope it was enough to take down the person ultimately responsible.
“So, you’re sure, a computer in her house is responsible for the hacking?” Tommy asked Joey, barely able to contain the elation that filled him.
“Yep, no doubt about it, I traced the footprints right to her doorstep,” Joey told him confidently.
Glen Baker, Gabe’s friend with the FBI, shook his head and told them, “I need your report, then I’ll go to my boss with it and see if it’s enough to get a search warrant.”
Tommy shook his head, then told them, “I don’t know who could be doing it for her, because she certainly isn’t into computers or technology that I’m aware of…and neither is her husband.” He let his mind wander over the possibilities then a thought hit him, “Jesus, I bet it’s her son, Mark…he was a kid when Maggie and I got married. Do a background check on Mark Preston and see what you can find out. I don’t know what kind of work he went into, but he was in school forever, and I think he got a degree from UT about five years ago.”
Joey started tapping on the keyboard of his laptop, and then he smiled at them and said, “Bingo…”
Tommy leaned forward on the table and asked with an indrawn breath, “What?”
“Mark Preston of Dumas, Texas went to the University of Texas and got an undergrad degree in computer science and then a masters in computer security…hacking into your security system would be a piece of cake for him,” Joey told him.
Beau Bowman, Gabe’s brother, and a Texas Ranger, who’d been pretty quiet during this meeting so far, smiled then leaned his elbows on the table. “Nice work, I think we have our perp, guys…how fast can you get that report to me, Joey?”
“You have a printer I can use?” he asked.
They were at the Texas Ranger headquarters in Lubbock, Beau’s home base, so there had to be a printer around here somewhere, Tommy thought impatiently, wanting to get something moving now.
“Yep, in my office,” Beau said then stood up, and said to the FBI guy, “Glen, how fast can you get a search warrant? I’m going to my boss too and see if we can get one too…there will be state charges.”
“As soon as I can get a judge to sign one,” Glen replied with a half smile, then added, “You know how that goes…”
“Yeah, I do, I’m hoping we can wrestle one into submission today, if not, we’ll keep at it, until we do. We should coordinate the take down, so we don’t step on each other,” Beau told him.
“Yeah, we should make it a joint operation, I’ll get a team together, and then we can have a meeting later today to work out a plan. Does that work for you?”
“That’s perfect…I’ll give you a call…be right back with the report,” Beau told him, then he and Joey left the room.
“I need to call my attorney and let him know what’s going on,” Tommy told them then stood up and walked out in the hallway to make the call. His high-priced legal muscle answ
ered on the second ring, and Tommy asked him, “You out of court?” because he hadn’t been able to come to the meeting today for that reason.
“Yeah, just got back in the office, what’s up?” he asked, breathing hard like he’d just had a long walk.
Tommy tried to contain the anticipation and excitement in his voice, but failed, “Good news, man—I think we’ve got her! Joey traced the connection back to a computer at Edith Preston’s house. Her son has a computer science degree with a masters in security, so Joey says it would be a cake walk for him to be the hacker. Bowman with the Rangers and Glen agree, and they’re getting search warrants right now.”
“Can they tie it back to Edith specifically?” Roger asked him, and it was the question Tommy been dreading.
Tommy’s elation faded a little, and he said flatly, “No…”, then added, “But once they get his computer, the federal guys will tear it apart to get all the evidence they can. I think if they nail him, he’ll eventually turn on Edith…from what I remember of him he was always a snot-nosed mama’s boy.”
“Well he might not turn on her, so don’t get your hopes too high, yet…I have good news for you too though.” Roger told him smugly.
Tommy huffed out a frustrated sigh, cursing his realist, Debbie Downer, of an attorney for bursting his bubble of hope. Slightly irritated, he asked shortly, “What?”
“I talked to that sneaky bastard of a judge in Moore County, and he’s going to throw out Edith’s filing, because we filed against her first here…he’s going to join her petition with ours in Lubbock.”
Tommy pumped a fist in the air, danced in a couple of circles, then hissed, “Yes!”
He finally felt like he was getting somewhere, and a knot of emotion choked him. Thanks to Katie and her oil well, and Karlie and her husband’s contacts, he was going to be able to defeat Edith once and for all. He owed them all so much.
“Like that, do you?” Roger chuckled, and Tommy heard the squeak of a chair as he evidently sat down.
“Damn right I do,” Tommy said happily, then added, “I’ll bet she’s livid…and that judge will probably be out of office come the next election…how’d you pull it off? She has all of them in her pocket.”
“I told him I was going to file a complaint with the conduct commission, because if he proceeded with her claim he wasn’t procedurally compliant with state law, and I also told him that I was sure the commission would be interested in looking at his campaign contributions from Edith Preston. I was shooting in the dark, but evidently I hit a tree, because he folded.”
“Great job, man…I owe you so much. Thank you,” Tommy told him humbly.
“You do owe me…try not to have a heart attack when you get my bill,” Roger told him then laughed.
“I would give you every penny I have to keep my daughter, and get that woman off our backs forever.”
“Never, never, say that to an attorney, Tommy,” Roger told him in amused tone.
Tommy laughed a little too, then said, “Okay then, just send me your bill,” then he hung up and put the phone to his forehead sending up a silent prayer of thanks. Things were going to work out, and he was a thankful man.
***
Katie sat at the breakfast bar eating the delicious chicken salad croissant that the new housekeeper, Gerrie had fixed for her. The woman was a godsend, Katie thought so anyway. Dixie still hadn’t warmed up to her, because Gerrie kept an eagle eye on her, and she couldn’t get away with much…and she made her take care of Snuggles. She told Katie she was doing it, because she felt that would teach the ‘munchkin’ some responsibility. When Katie found out that not only was Gerrie a former nurse, she was a former military nurse, that explained a lot of her spit shine way of doing things.
Tommy was still on the fence with his opinion about Gerrie, but only because he hadn’t been around much the last few days…he was working on something. That was as much as he’d tell her, but she figured it must be something big for him to leave her side for three days to go to Lubbock. She missed him, but he called all the time, so she was appeased a little bit, but not enough. Katie wanted him home, because she was feeling better, her ribs were only a little sore now, and she was ready for some action that only her handsome cowboy could give her.
Her cell phone rang and Katie answered it without looking, because she figured it was Tommy…it was always Tommy. Excitement and desire shot through her and she purred, “Hey, good looking, whatcha got cooking?”
There was a long pause and she thought maybe the call had dropped, but then a deep sexy voice replied, “I’m cooking with oil, baby, and if you’ve got something other than a bun in the oven, I’m game.”
Katie sucked in a breath and felt blood rush to her face. She put a hand to her cheek and said, “Oh, my god…Chase?” then held the phone away and saw from the caller ID it was him. “I’m so sorry!”
“Thought I was the asshole cowboy, I take it?” he said with disappointment in his tone.
“Stop it! He’s not an asshole anymore,” she said with a chuckle.
Katie sucked in a sharp breath when warm strong arms wrapped around her waist, then tingles coursed through her as a wet kiss touched her neck. Tommy murmured by her ear, “Who’s not an asshole anymore?” then he licked a spot right behind her ear, and nuzzled her hair.
Katie moaned and Chase asked her, “Was that for me?”
She grabbed Tommy’s hand as it migrated up her side toward her breast. “Um, Chase can I call you back in a few minutes?” she asked breathlessly as Tommy’s heat and scent overwhelmed her. She sucked in a breath when his thumb circled her nipple on the other breast. Tommy’s hand stilled, his body stiffened and she’d swear his body temperature dropped fifteen degrees, before he stood up and tried to pull his hand from under hers. She held on tight and used her thumb to disconnect the call.
Katie grabbed his wrist then turned around to face him on the bar stool, and he asked her angrily, “So you told Chase Rhodes I was an asshole?”
She wasn’t going to get in an argument with him, she knew he was jealous of Chase, and wasn’t going to play that game with him. She snorted and said, “No he drew that conclusion all on his own that day you came out to the ranch,” then she stood up and took a step and put her good arm around his waist and hugged him, then took a deep breath to inhale his scent. Today, he had on a light citrusy cologne along with his usual intoxicating aroma, and it was doubly potent.
“My god, I thought you couldn’t look any better than you do in those tight Wranglers, but I was wrong, sugar…that suit does things for me,” she purred then tiptoed to lick the corner of his unsmiling mouth. “I missed you so damned much, kiss me,” she said teasingly, then put her lips to his and nibbled his lower lip. She felt him tremble, and sucked his lip into her mouth, and coaxed, “C’mon, baby, give me a kiss.”
“Your boyfriend get you all hot and bothered, and you need some relief?” he said gruffly then stepped back, his hazel eyes glittering angrily.
She put her hand on her hip and glared at him. “No, my boyfriend is an asshole that likes to get me hot and bothered, and leave me to dangle on a limb, evidently,” she replied sassily.
“I’ll show you fucking dangle, baby…” Tommy growled then pulled her into his arms and slammed his mouth over hers and kissed roughly, starting fires from every direction inside of her.
Katie moaned and slid her hand from his chest down to the front of his slacks and stroked him, he was hard, hot and ready, and she whimpered breathlessly, “I need you, Tommy…”
Without taking his mouth from hers, he scooped her up in his arms and stalked toward the downstairs bedroom. When he got there, the door was partially open, and he kicked it in with his foot, and closed with his heel. He didn’t stop until he laid her on the bed, and jerked her shorts and panties off, then he reached for his belt buckle and dropped his pants, then slid his jacket off, and pushed her further up on the bed, then laid beside her.