Scorned Justice: The Men of Texas Rangers Series #3 (Men of the Texas Rangers)

by Margaret Daley

  Brody gave her a lopsided grin and said, “I hope I’m invited to go riding with y’all. I could use the break.”

  Kim peeled herself away from Rebecca and twisted around, leaning her head back to look up at him. “I’ll show you my secret place. It’s so peaceful. I like to go out there to think.”

  “That sounds perfect.” Brody held out his hand and Kim took it.

  As Brody and Kim walked toward the elevator, Rebecca fought back the tears that were threatening. Hope that Thomas would be all right blossomed within her. With Aubrey in tow, she started after the pair. More than anything she wanted to stay, but the girls didn’t need to spend hours at the hospital waiting for their daddy to wake up again.

  The sound of giggles drifted to Rebecca as Kim and Aubrey played in the stream, trying to catch fish with their hands after Brody showed them how.

  Sitting under the shade of an oak, Rebecca twisted around toward Brody. “We should have brought towels to dry them off with.”

  “It’s unusually hot today. I bet it doesn’t take too long for them to dry in the sun.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen either one stand still so long, waiting for a fish to swim by.”

  “Good training in patience. Dad taught me. Can’t say that I caught very many while I was growing up.”

  “But you did today.”

  “I’ve learned to wait when I want something.” His gaze held hers.

  Suddenly breathless, she asked, “What do you want?” Her heartbeat kicked up a notch from the intensity of his look.

  “That’s changing.”

  She finally lowered her gaze. “What’s that mean?” Her pulse beat even faster.

  “My life has changed since I move back to San Antonio. For one thing, I have my dad to think about.”

  “Oh.” For a few seconds she’d thought he meant something else—something involving her. “I know I’ve enjoyed renewing our friendship. I hope you won’t be a stranger. The girls talk about you a lot. ‘Mr. Calhoun did this.’ ‘Mr. Calhoun showed me how to do that.’ ”

  “Thomas was my best friend. He still is. We may not have seen each other a lot in the past ten years, but that friendship is still there. I intend to be in his life and in his daughters’ lives. They’re special.”

  “Yes, they are.” Glancing toward the girls, who trudged out of the stream and plopped down on the grass a few yards away, Rebecca remembered the times she and Garrett had talked about having children. She still wanted them. Being with her nieces only reinforced that.

  Kim held up a medium-sized turtle. “Look what we found in the water, Aunt Becky.”

  Aubrey took the reptile and put it in the thick grass, sunlight streaking the lush green carpet. She offered the turtle something to eat. “He likes leaves.”

  “I recall when we used to come out here and play. That’s probably a baby of a baby of the same turtle we captured. Dad wouldn’t let your daddy and me keep it. We had to come back and put it on the bank.”

  “So can we keep it?” Kim propped herself up on her elbows.

  “No, they belong here.”

  “Then can we visit him?” Aubrey got down low to watch the turtle eat a leaf.

  “Sure.”

  As the girls took the turtle back to the water’s edge, Brody said, “I seem to recall one you named Spot.”

  “Yep, you were with us that day. Remember that it had spots on its back?”

  “I remember how you carefully cradled it as you rode back to the stable.”

  “He hid in his shell the whole way.”

  “Do you blame him? Here is a huge person picking him up and carrying him around. He didn’t know what to expect.”

  She laughed. “The second I put him down on the bank, he moved faster than he probably ever did. He would have beaten the hare into the water.”

  Brody watched the girls return to the grassy patch after letting the turtle go. “We had some good times playing, in spite of the fact that you were a girl.”

  “I made the perfect damsel in distress.”

  The laugh lines at the corners of his eyes deepened. “Let’s see. We rescued you from robbers. The bad man who had kidnapped you. A cougar. A burning building. And in real life we saved you when you climbed up the cliff and got stuck.”

  “Trying to follow you and Thomas. To this day I don’t like heights. Clinging to the side of a mountain will do that to you.”

  “It wasn’t a mountain. Maybe a hill.”

  “I had to be sixty or seventy feet off the ground.”

  “That’s right—a hill.”

  She’d forgotten how much they used to banter back and forth. She’d missed that. For years she could tell Brody anything and then one day, when she was sixteen and he was eighteen, things began to change. No more shared confidences. Secrets sprang up between them. Slowly they drifted apart. They went to different colleges. She became busy with her life, he with his.

  “I’m glad you’re back in San Antonio. I know your dad is.”

  “You wouldn’t know it, the way he gripes sometimes, but yes, I do know Dad appreciates me being here. This heart attack scared him. He won’t admit it, but I’ve seen it in his eyes. In the past he would dismiss most pain like the indigestion he had. Now he realizes it might cost him his life.” Brody cocked a grin. “He keeps telling me he’s waiting around for more grandchildren. One just isn’t enough.”

  “You would make a good father. Like I said, the girls love you. It didn’t take you long to win them over.”

  His gaze drifted to Kim and Aubrey, now lying in the grass, peering up at the clouds and pointing at them. “Ah, I see they’ve got the right idea.”

  “The hectic way their life has been going I won’t be surprised if they fall asleep.”

  “Sleep. A commodity that lately we have been short in.” Leaning back against the tree trunk, Brody wound his arm around her. “Take a nap. I’ll wake you before it gets dark.”

  She cuddled against him. “I’ll rest my eyes for a little while. But I doubt I’ll fall asleep.”

  “That’s fine, too. It’s nice just slowing down for a bit. Did I ever tell you about the time Thomas and I went camping in Big Bend National Park and had a run-in with a bear?”

  She shook her head. He began telling her the story, but instead of listening to what he was saying, she focused on the sound of his deep voice, its cadence, the Texas drawl.

  Before she knew it, a soft whisper tickled her ear with, “Wake up, Rebecca. We need to get back before dark. The girls are still asleep.”

  Her eyes popped open. Somehow she’d managed to turn over and cushion her head against his thigh. Looking straight up into the amusement in his expression, she zeroed in on the slight curve to his full lips, the cleft in his chin. Then their gazes met, and she couldn’t look anywhere else but into the bright silver of his eyes. Smoldering. Totally intent on her.

  Slowly he bent over and touched his mouth to hers. And everything else faded but the feel of his lips on hers, the taste of him, and the sense she had come home in his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him and held him against her. Connected for a moment. At peace as she’d not been in years.

  “Aunt Becky,” Aubrey cried out.

  Rebecca jerked up, pulling herself from Brody’s embrace. Raising her hands to her hair, she smoothed it into place and rose to her feet.

  Aubrey sat straight up in the grass, looking around as if she didn’t know where she was.

  She hurried toward her niece. “I’m right here, honey. You’re okay.”

  “Where am I?” Aubrey blinked over and over.

  Kim rubbed her eyes and looked around. “We’re at the ranch, silly.”

  The five-year-old screwed her mouth up into a pout. “I had a bad dream. A fire was trying to get me.”

  Rebecca enveloped Aubrey in an embrace. “It’s not real, sweetie. You fell asleep by the stream.” Leaning back, she captured the child’s attention. “Ready to ride back to the stable?” Aubr
ey nodded.

  Brody scooped Aubrey into his arms and carried her to her mare. After he set her on the horse, she kissed him on the cheek.

  Rebecca and Kim untied their mounts, and Brody gave Kim a leg up, then Rebecca. She glanced down at him and said in a low whisper, “You’ve already gotten your kiss from me.”

  He tipped the edge of his cowboy hat, said, “I’m always open for more,” then sauntered toward his gelding. In one smooth motion, he swung up into his saddle. “Ready?”

  “Can we race?” Kim asked as they reached the open pasture.

  “We’d better not. It’s getting dark.”

  “Ah, Aunt Becky, it’s not that dark.”

  “Kim Nicole, no faster than a trot.”

  “C’mon, Aubrey, let’s leave the old folks behind.”

  As her nieces took off across the pasture, the sun dipped down near the western horizon. Orange, rose, and purple mingled with the blue sky, fingering their way outward from the bright yellow ball. The fresh outdoors scent and the soft breeze brushing across her added to the tranquility of the day, a welcome reprieve after the past couple of weeks.

  “I need a few more days like today to feel normal again. I’m glad we did this.” She slanted a look toward Brody, whose gelding moved in perfect harmony with her mare. In sync. Like she and Brody were. In that moment, she realized if she gave into these feelings growing inside of her, she would fall in love with him and be right back where she had been with Garrett, involved with a man who had a dangerous occupation.

  Except now she knew about the very real possibility that one day he wouldn’t come home. That she would receive a call from one of his colleagues to meet them at the hospital.

  By the time they arrived at the stables, Rebecca was glad that the case she and he were involved in was over. After this weekend, they wouldn’t have to be together much, certainly not every day as they had been recently. Somehow she would keep her distance. That, or she would end up brokenhearted again.

  Monday morning, before Rebecca needed to be at the courthouse, she entered her brother’s hospital room to find him awake and talking with the nurse. He spied her in the doorway, and his eyes brightened.

  The woman swept around toward Rebecca. “Mr. Sinclair has been up for a while. Each time he wakes up, he’s more alert and stays up longer. I’ll leave you two to talk.”

  As the nurse left, Rebecca moved to the chair at the side of the bed and sat, her gaze never straying from Thomas. She smiled. “It’s so good to see you this way.” Her throat constricted, memories of the past couple of weeks tumbling through her mind. “I thought I was going to lose you.”

  “Me. No way. Someone has to be here to keep an eye on you,” Thomas said in a raspy voice that grew stronger as he spoke.

  “I’ll have you know I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for thirty-five years. Well, maybe not so much the first five or six years, but after that.”

  His chuckles turned into coughs. “That’s why I love you. You won’t take my grief,” he finally said when he got his coughing under control.

  “Where’s Tory?”

  “I told her to go home and get a really good night’s sleep.” He glanced toward the window through which the sunlight poured into the room. “I know it’s morning, but she was practically falling asleep in the chair you’re in. Every time I wake up, she’s been right here.”

  “She didn’t want you to wake up without seeing one of us. I was here yesterday some to give her a break, but she insisted on being here most of the time herself. She’s been devoted to you.” Rebecca scooted the chair closer and took his hand. “Thomas, can you tell me how you ended up getting hurt?”

  His eyebrows bunched together. “Tory asked me the same thing. I don’t remember anything but seeing the calf in the gully, carrying on. I think it was hurt, but I’m not sure. Everything else is blank until I woke up here.” He yawned, wincing when he opened his mouth wide.

  “The calf had a big gash on its backside. I’m surprised it didn’t break a leg or two in its fall. But it’s with its mother now, happy.”

  “Its carrying on was what drew me to it in the first place.”

  “Do you remember getting your rope and hitching it to Rocket?”

  “No.” Thomas’s eyes closed for a few seconds.

  “Do you want me to get you anything? Something to eat, drink?”

  “That’s—okay. I’m tired. I think . . .” His voice faded into silence.

  Still holding his hand, Rebecca waited for ten minutes, hoping he would open his eyes again, but his healing face evened out into the peace of sleep. She let go of him and sat back, drinking in the wonderful sight of her brother, alive, out of his coma, making sense when he talked. She wasn’t going to kid herself. The next few months to full recovery would be a hard road. The doctor said he didn’t think Thomas was going to be paralyzed, but with his leg fractured severely in two places, he would need a good deal of physical therapy after the breaks healed.

  As she started for the door, it opened and Brody came into the room. “Does he remember anything about the accident? Tory told me he hadn’t yesterday. I was hoping to catch him awake.”

  “He was for a while but fell asleep about ten minutes ago. He’s more responsive and talkative today, but, no, he didn’t remember anything other than seeing the calf in the gully.” Rebecca tried to look any place but at Brody’s mouth. Each time her gaze brushed across his lips, she remembered the kiss they’d shared late last Saturday afternoon.

  “He remembers seeing the calf? That’s a little more than what he said to Tory yesterday. I can’t seem to get here in time to talk to him.”

  “Tory and I decided not to tell him much about what has been going on at the ranch. He doesn’t need to worry. He needs to totally focus on getting better. I haven’t mentioned that you have been staying there, either. He’d want to know why.” Brody wouldn’t be staying at the ranch anymore, which would give her some time to distance herself from him emotionally. Seeing him confirmed she needed that. She had missed him and Sean last night and this morning. In a short time she’d come to depend on him, and she had to stop that. Now. She had her life back and could move forward.

  “Good to know. I’ll hang around until I have to go back to speak with Ethan Johnston about his meat-packing company. I have to wait until his lawyer can come. Yesterday I discovered the man has ties to New Jersey, where Alexandrov is originally from. Then this morning, I found out he had a large gambling debt that has been paid off recently.”

  “So it’s looking like Alexandrov might be behind the cattle rustling.” She stepped to the side to let Brody go past her, but he didn’t move. He remained close, making the small area shrink even more.

  “That’s what I’m thinking. He was using the company for laundering money. With the high cost of beef, he was also using the cattle that were rustled from various places in Texas as a way to make some money overseas. We’re just starting to unravel it all. But if I can get Johnston to turn on Alexandrov, we can get him on a number of additional charges. Especially since Nicholas Saldat refuses to say anything about the murder of the witness. The case is building against him, and he won’t cut a deal.”

  “I guess there’s loyalty among the bad guys after all. Closer to the trial, he may change his mind. His DNA at the crime scene is hard to refute.”

  “Alexandrov and Johnston weren’t too smart going after cattle near their operation. Harassing you may be the man’s downfall. Although ranches lose millions of dollars every year to cattle rustling, there was more than just local law enforcement investigating the people who were working your area. The task force we formed put a lot of effort into catching them. An unmarked car followed a semi to the meat-packing plant the same night your neighbor lost his cattle—the night before the fire.”

  “Since he sent the cattle rustlers, Alexandrov has to be behind the fire.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. I’m going to give Johnston a deal
he can’t turn down. Getting Alexandrov is our primary objective.”

  “Sometimes the good guys do win.” She looked toward her escape route. “I’d better go.”

  Rebecca hurried from the room, glancing back at the place where the officer had stood for so many days guarding Thomas. The empty space, coupled with Brody not escorting her everywhere, affirmed she really did have her life back. So why didn’t she feel happier about it?

  On the drive to the courthouse, she wrestled with the question and in the end knew the only reason was that she would miss Brody. She never wanted to repeat the last few weeks, but Brody had reminded her of the relationship they’d once had. They could have that again. Just as soon as she could put a halt to anything beyond friendship.

  When she arrived at her office, she put up her purse and went in search of Laura. But when she didn’t find her at her desk, she checked for a note left by her friend about some errand she needed to run. When she didn’t find one, she listened to her three messages. None of them were from Laura. Strange. Come to think about it, she should have heard from Laura about her big date on Saturday night. With all that had been going on, it wasn’t until now that she realized she hadn’t.

  Before she went into the trial that was beginning that morning, Rebecca made a call to Laura. After the fifth ring, the answering machine came on, and she left a message. Maybe she was sick and hadn’t gotten up yet to let Rebecca know she wouldn’t be in to work. Wait ‘til she hears the good news about Alexandrov and the cattle rustlers. Rebecca could hardly wait to tell her friend.

  In the interview room at the sheriff’s office, the FBI agent said, “If you agree to testify against Alexandrov about the money laundering, cattle rustling, and arson, you’ll be put into Witness Protection and won’t do jail time. It’s your call, Mr. Johnston. I suggest you talk it over with your lawyer. Time is of the essence if you want assurances of safety.”