Stockyard Snatching

by Barb Han

  What could she tell him? The last thing she wanted to do was lie to her brother.

  “Is Mom okay?” she asked.

  “After popping a pill and having a glass of chardonnay, yeah. This came as a shock. I mean, you’d think if something happened to you that you’d be the one to let us know,” Carter said, and there was a snide quality to his tone.

  Was he upset? Concerned?

  Maybe that was what was bugging Kate. He seemed more distraught that he and their mother had been surprised than worried about her or Jackson being hurt.

  “We were shaken up yesterday, but we’re fine now. Thanks for asking,” she retorted.

  “I figured you were okay, since you answered the phone,” Carter snapped.

  “What has you so upset? If you’re worried about Jackson, he’s fine, too,” she stated. She didn’t like where this was headed one bit.

  Had she overestimated her brother’s love for her? At the moment, he seemed more concerned with being surprised by a deputy. Then there were his overprotective feelings for their mother.

  That stung.

  It had always been she and Carter against the world during their childhood and they’d been thick as thieves.

  Then again, maybe he resented her more than she realized for leaving the business. She’d sold her shares to him and he’d seemed to be on board with her plan once he got used to the idea.

  The times they’d talked, he seemed to be handling work stress fine. He had a lot on his plate, though, and she figured some of that was her fault.

  “Everything okay, Carter?” she asked when he didn’t respond, that same old guilt creeping in. Normally, it was reserved for conversations with her mother.

  “Sorry, Kate. Mother is just freaking out and I haven’t slept in days. We have a new program going live next month at work and I found a hiccup in the code,” he said. Now he was beginning to sound like the old Carter. “I’ve been working twenty-four/seven for a solid week.”

  Once again she felt bad for leaving him holding the bag even though she’d prepped him far in advance. Still, she knew the stresses of running a business better than most, and of the two of them, she was better at dealing with it.

  While she didn’t miss the day-to-day operations or the stress, she did miss seeing her brother. Now that they didn’t work together and she’d been busy with Jackson, she and Carter had practically become strangers.

  “How is the little rug rat who stole you from me?” he finally asked.

  “Growing bigger every day.”

  “Is he allowing you to get any sleep yet?”

  “It’s better. They don’t stay little forever,” she said, ignoring Dallas’s raised eyebrow.

  Their relationship probably did seem odd to an outsider.

  “Tell him to hurry up and get big enough to work at the business so his uncle can finally get some sleep,” Carter said.

  “Sorry. He already said he’s going to be a fireman and has no plans to spend his life at a keyboard.” Kate could only imagine how this conversation sounded to Dallas, coming from such a close-knit family. Odd would most likely be an understatement.

  “Mom will be fine,” Carter said. “You know her. Breaking a nail is cause for a red alert.”

  Sadly, that wasn’t too much of an exaggeration.

  “Have you been spending more time with her lately?” Kate asked, hoping to ease some of her own guilt.

  “Not really. Work has been holding me hostage. She’d like to see you, though.” Was he trying to make her feel worse about her non-relationship with their mom? Since when was he taking up Mother’s cause? “In fact, I better head to the office.”

  “Oh, where are you now?” Kate asked.

  “Nothing. Nowhere. Just out and about,” Carter said, and she picked up on the same tone he’d used when he was trying to hide the last candy bar from her when they were kids.

  Maybe Mother and Carter were becoming closer now that she was at odds with Kate.

  Kate decided not to press the issue, but it ate at her anyway. She should be glad her mom had someone to talk to, since she and Kate’s dad hardly ever spoke about anything important. So why did it gnaw at Kate that her mother and brother were on good terms?

  Other than the fact that protecting Carter had been half the reason she and her mother had been at odds most of Kate’s life?

  This suddenly close relationship felt a little like betrayal. Because when Carter had wanted to quit the soccer team at twelve, it had been Kate who’d fought that battle for him, taking on both their parents.

  It had been unthinkable for them that Carter wouldn’t want to play sports at all. In fact, he’d pretty much hated anything that required him to compete physically. He’d never been the tall, masculine child with a solid throwing arm his father had hoped for and had tried to make him be. Carter had topped out at five foot nine, which pretty much ruled out basketball, a sport their dad had played.

  Carter had been great at math, so their parents decided he should be a doctor. That idea fell apart when he couldn’t stop vomiting in his high school anatomy class.

  It had been Kate who’d stood up to them time and time again on his behalf. She’d let him talk her into the start-up, had worked crazy hours and had sacrificed any kind of social life. Not that she regretted it one bit. She and her brother had been able to do something together that hopefully would last for many years.

  “I better go,” she said to him now.

  “Be careful,” he said.

  She ended the call, deciding she hadn’t had nearly enough rest lately, because she was reading too much into the phone conversation with her brother.

  “I’ve been thinking that maybe you should stay here with Jackson today,” Dallas said.

  He’d been watching her reactions on the phone and she figured he’d have questions about her family.

  “Believe me when I say that I seriously considered it. In fact, that’s just about all I’ve been thinking about for the past few hours,” she said.

  “It’s risky for you to leave the ranch. And there’s no way we can take Jackson with us,” he added.

  “Both good points,” she agreed. Those had been her top two after tossing and turning for a few hours last night.

  Jackson started fussing. She picked up her son and cradled him in her arms.

  “It would be nice if I had more of his toys here,” she said, wishing this whole nightmare was over. “You can’t imagine how helpful it is to be able to set him down once in a while.”

  “I’d be happy to hold him,” Dallas offered, and there was just a hint of insecurity in his voice. “On the off chance that I am a father, I probably need to start getting my arms around taking care of a baby, because I have no clue what to do with them.”

  Actually, he was making a lot of sense.

  “It’s best if you try this for the first time while sitting down.” She stood and walked over to him.

  He held out his arms and she placed Jackson in them.

  Wow, did that kick-start her pulse.

  There was something about seeing such a strong man be gentle with such a tiny baby that hit her square in the chest like a burst of stray voltage. She hadn’t thought much about Jackson missing out on having a father before. It struck her now.

  Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the thought that it might actually be nice to have a partner around to help raise her son.

  Ever since that little angel had come into her life, she questioned pretty much all her decisions. It would be nice to be able to talk her ideas through or just bounce them off someone else for a change.

  Why did all that suddenly flood her thoughts now? She and Jackson had been doing just fine before. Hadn’t they?

  Wishing for something that wasn’t going to happen was about as productive as sucking on a rose petal when she was thirsty.

  It didn’t change a thing and she’d end up with thorns on her face.

  “I hear what you were saying about me sticking arou
nd the ranch for safety’s sake today. I’d like to be there when the sheriff questions Seaver and I want to visit Stacy in the hospital. It might be nice for her to have another woman around. I didn’t get the impression she had anyone to talk to,” Kate said.

  “Same here,” Dallas said.

  “Plus, I feel guilty that those men showed up at her office to begin with. I’m worried that my car drew them to her,” she said.

  “When they didn’t find Jackson with us, they disappeared.” Dallas looked down at the baby. He was beginning to look more at ease.

  Her son being in the cowboy’s arms filled her with warmth.

  “I’ll need to figure out something to do with him while we’re gone,” she said, chalking her emotions up to missing her brother.

  “Janis offered her assistance when I asked for baby supplies,” Dallas said. “She doesn’t know who’s here, but I’m sure she suspects it’s you, since she met you yesterday.”

  “She’s one of the few people I would actually trust with my son,” Kate said, and she meant it. Plus, there was the fact that she was already at the ranch and the security here was top-notch. Dallas had given Kate the rundown. There were armed guards at all three entrances and cameras covering most other areas, especially near the houses.

  Although the entire acreage couldn’t realistically be completely monitored, and there were plenty of blind spots, no one would get anywhere near the houses without being detected.

  That thought would’ve let her sleep peacefully if the handsome cowboy hadn’t been in the bed right down the hall.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “I meant what I said earlier.” Dallas shifted the baby fidgeting in his arms. Was the child just as uncomfortable as him? Was that why the little guy was squirming?

  Sure, holding Jackson felt good in a lot of ways. But he was so little that Dallas was afraid he’d break him without realizing it. Could he break a baby?

  This felt like middle school all over again, when he’d had to carry that egg around for a week. Dallas had broken his on the first day. And he’d already seen how many broken bones his brothers had endured while playing with him.

  Jackson started winding up to cry and Dallas’s shoulders tightened to steel. “I’m afraid I’m not very good at this.” He motioned toward the baby with his head. He was afraid to move anything from the neck down.

  And it didn’t help that Kate was cracking a smile as she walked toward them.

  “You think this is funny?”

  “It’s just a relief to know I’m not the only one who was nervous when I held him those first few times. I thought it would feel so natural to hold a baby, but it didn’t.” She reached his side, but instead of offering to take her son, she perched on the arm of the leather chair.

  “I’m glad my pain bolsters your self-image,” Dallas quipped, feeling even more tense as the first whimpers came.

  “Sorry. It just reminds me how hard it actually was for me in those early days and how far I’ve come since then.” She placed her hand on his shoulder. “I’m convinced babies can read our emotions. The more we relax, the more they do.”

  Relaxed wasn’t the first word that would come to mind if Dallas was trying to describe himself.

  Jackson wound up and then released a wail. Dallas felt a little better knowing that Kate’s presence had done little to calm the child.

  “And then sometimes he just needs a good cry,” she said, finally taking him from Dallas.

  As she did, he got a whiff of something awful smelling. She must have, as well, because her nose wrinkled in the cutest way.

  “I think someone needs a diaper change,” she said as she moved Jackson to the couch and placed him on his back.

  “You need help with that?” Dallas asked.

  She waved him off and went to work.

  “Have you ever done this before?” she asked.

  “Nope.” He was mildly curious and figured he’d need to know all about it at some point when he became a father.

  “Me, either. Well, not until Jackson.” She finished taping the sides of the fresh diaper and then tucked his little legs inside his footed pajamas. “I put the first one on backward and didn’t realize it until he had a leak. I’d also bought a size too big.”

  “Sounds complicated.”

  “You get the hang of it,” she reassured Dallas, neatly folding the used diaper. “We may not want to keep this inside the house.”

  He held out his hand.

  “You sure about that?” she asked.

  “I’ll have to get used to it at some point in my life, right?”

  She nodded.

  When he returned from taking it to the garbage out back, she was pacing. “When should we go?”

  “Anytime you’re ready, if you’re certain you want to leave the property.”

  “Part of me wants to stay right here and never leave,” she said, pensive. “I feel safe here and I don’t want to let go of that feeling. But whoever is trying to take Jackson away from me is still out there and I need to do everything I can to find him or my son will never be safe.”

  Dallas understood that logic. He could see all her emotions in her determined blue eyes.

  And he tried not to focus on the other things he saw there…

  * * *

  DALLAS’S BOOTS CLICKED against the tiled floors of the hospital wing. The nurse had said Stacy was doing fine when he’d called to check on her last night. He needed to see for himself.

  There was a secondary reason for his visit. Maybe there was additional information he could get out of her. Yesterday had felt like a waste of time and he wanted to do everything he could to help locate Morton’s killer. Adding to Dallas’s guilt was the feeling that he’d put Stacy in harm’s way by showing up at her office with Kate.

  Stacy was sitting up when he and Kate reached the opened door.

  “Come in,” she said. Her eyes were puffy from crying and she had a wad of tissues balled in her right fist. Her hair was piled high on her head and she wore a blue hospital gown.

  The room was standard, two beds with a cloth curtain in between. It was opened, since the second bed was empty. Stacy’s was closest to the window.

  “How are you feeling today?” Kate asked, making it to her side in a beat. She had a way with people that made even the worst situation feel like everything would work out all right.

  He chalked it up to motherhood. Kate had the mothering gene. Not everyone did. He couldn’t imagine that Susan would have that same effect on people. She had good qualities, but was more the invite-to-happy-hour personality than the soothing type.

  Of course, being close to Kate brought up all kinds of other feelings Dallas didn’t want to think about. And the sexual chemistry between them was off the charts.

  He mentally shook off the thought, focusing on Stacy instead.

  “Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers.” She motioned toward the bouquet on the side table.

  Dallas nodded and smiled.

  “Did they catch those guys?” she asked.

  “Afraid not,” he said. Tommy had promised to call or text the moment they were in custody, and so far, Dallas hadn’t heard anything. Whoever was behind this had sophisticated ways to disappear when they needed to and that set off all kinds of warning bells for Dallas.

  It had also occurred to him that Susan could’ve gotten herself into some kind of serious trouble. Now that his investigator was dead, there was no one chasing her trail aside from Tommy. And the problem with that was the fact that his friend wouldn’t be able to share a whole lot of information about a murder investigation in progress.

  So Dallas needed to come up with a plan of his own without stepping on the sheriff’s toes.

  “Did you get a look at the men?” Dallas asked. He’d been able to give a basic description to law enforcement of dark hair and medium build, before Stacy had blocked his view, which didn’t rule out a lot of people in Bluff.

  “No, it was a blur,” s
he said. “Everything happened so fast. All I remember seeing was the end of a gun and then a blast of fire, followed by a burning sensation in my shoulder. Once I put two and two together, I honestly thought I was going to die.”

  Dallas could see why she’d focus on the barrel, given that the gun was fired at her a moment later. “I want to catch these bastards but I need your help,” he told her.

  “What can I do?” Her gaze bounced from him to Kate and back.

  “I’d asked about secret files before. I know you’d never want to betray Wayne’s trust, but I need to see mine and any others he has.”

  “If he had files like that, I didn’t know about them.” She glanced down, which usually meant a person was lying or covering.

  “What about his laptop?” Dallas asked.

  “It was in his car,” Stacy said, which meant Tommy or one of his deputies was already tearing it apart.

  Dallas paced, trying to think of another way to come at this, because he was fairly certain Stacy was holding back. Since his straightforward approach was bringing up an empty net, he needed to take another tack.

  “It’s okay if you don’t know,” Kate assured her. “He just wants to find the guy who did this to Wayne.”

  Stacy glanced at Kate and the softer approach seemed to be baiting her. “Isn’t the sheriff already working on it?” she asked.

  “Yes, he is. And we would never do anything to get in the way of that. But these guys are dangerous and they might come back for you if they think you know something,” Kate said calmly. “And I think we can help with the investigation.”

  Stacy stared at the door.

  Dallas turned to look out the window, because whatever Kate was doing seemed to be working.

  “They have his laptop from the office,” Stacy finally started, “but that’s not where he would keep a secret file, because it would be the first place people would look if he was subpoenaed.”

  “He’s smarter than that, isn’t he,” Dallas said, turning toward her.

  Stacy half smiled and a deep sadness settled in her hazel eyes. “Yes. He was.”

  Dallas gave her a minute to recover. “I lost someone very important to me a few months ago,” he finally said. “Actually, two people.”