Breathing hard with legs pumping as fast as she could force them, she ran down the road—until strong arms jerked her off her feet. A hand clamped over her mouth, smothering her scream.
“Damn it, woman,” Tank ground out. “You can’t just burst in there. Listen. Ace isn’t answering his phone. Neither is Kemp. Something is going on.” He gestured at the house, now close enough that she could hear Toy Story playing in the backyard over her panting.
“Four Bits. He has her. If he gets away, I’ll never see my daughter again.” She put a hand over her own mouth to stifle the urge to wail it at the top of her lungs.
Tank lifted his head. “You hear that? Those sirens will let him know something is up. We need to hurry,” Tank said after putting his finger to her lips. “Quietly.”
Very little was audible over the pounding of her heart, but she believed the need for urgency. She’d been driven by that same urgency when he’d stopped her, but she didn’t waste breath pointing that out. He wouldn’t let her hand go as they ran down the road that led up to the cement driveway circling in front of the house.
* * * *
Behind the couch on the other side of the fireplace, Rose Marie frowned up at Four Bit’s back, easing the rope farther out. He held Bella tight in his arm as he stepped back, both booted feet landing right in the loop.
Erin was reminded that Rose Marie was used to dealing with large animals when the little hellion growled, jumped up onto the brick hearth, and yanked upward on the rope with every bit of strength her little body possessed, tightening the loop just above his knees.
Demonstrating he’d forgotten Rose Marie was behind him, or dismissed her as harmless, Four Bits backed away and stumbled in the snare just as Jessica burst through the front door with Tank Drummond at her back.
“Bella!”
“Woman, I said wait a second!” Tank grabbed her around the middle and shuffled her behind him. “Put down the weapon! You’re surrounded!”
The order might’ve carried more weight if he’d been armed himself. Relief filled Erin when she heard sirens in the distance.
Four Bits turned toward the newcomers, his weapon arcing wildly in the air as his feet tangled up and he tottered, trying to regain his balance.
Rose Marie threw her weight into the side and back of Four Bits’ left knee. Erin heard a muffled pop, and Four Bits cried out in pain and toppled, taking Rose Marie down with him, while a screaming Bella fell from his arm to the thick rug. Four Bits’ head cracked against the brick fireplace, dazing him.
Whimpering, Bella rose to her feet and pulled a stunned Rose Marie free while Grace advanced. Big hands clasped Erin’s upper arms, and she realized Ace and Kemp were trying to get her behind them.
Jessica rushed across the room, gathering up Bella and Rose Marie, the closest girls, into her arms, reaching out a hand to Teresa, who was clutching Izzie to her.
Four Bits growled as he groped around for his gun, but Grace kicked it away as she kept hers aimed squarely at his head.
Grace said, “Jessica, can you help Erin check on all the kids, those outside and inside? We need to do a head count. And someone needs to call—”
Hank Stinson charged through the front door, weapon drawn and at the ready, pointed at the ground.
“Welcome to the party, Sheriff,” Grace said in a shaky voice.
“Tank and Troy contacted me,” he said as he advanced, taking in the scene. “When all hell started breaking loose around town, I knew it was a matter of time until Four Bits showed his”—he tilted his head to look at the semi-conscious Four Bits—“ugly face out here.” He holstered his weapon, squatted down, and slipped a pair of handcuffs from a pouch on his belt.
“What took you so long?” Grace asked. The color was leaving her face now that adrenaline was no longer fueling her.
“Two fires were set in abandoned buildings and an accident, involving Justin, Val, and Ransome.” After securing the creep, Hank went to her. “Here, now, Grace. You need to sit down before you fall down. Everyone’s all right. Let me take that from you for safekeeping.” If she hadn’t released her weapon to Hank, she might’ve dropped it.
“And Charity?”
“No, she’s fine. She was at the auction. She’s at the hospital right now, with them.”
“With them?” Grace said with inquiry in her tone.
“They’re in the ER. The SUV caught fire under the hood while they were driving into town. Probably his work,” he said, pointing at Four Bits on the floor. “They were able to escape in time. Just a little bit of road rash from jumping out of a moving vehicle, and I think Justin may have sprained his ankle. The SUV is toast—literally. Could’ve been worse. We have to investigate, of course, but through his association with Trevor Dornan, he has motive to go after them. EMTs just arrived, and they’re taking Brian Dornan back to the ER at Divine Memorial.”
Jessica hurried over, Bella in her arms, clinging to her like a little monkey. “Is Brian going to be all right?”
Hank shrugged. “Not sure. The EMTs said it was a gut wound so he may need exploratory surgery. But he told my deputy that Four Bits was the attacker.”
“Wha—” Four Bits grunted out before his eyes rolled.
Hank stood over Four Bits’ limp form and frowned at the rope around his knees. Erin grimaced when she noticed the odd angle of Four Bits’ left knee.
Hank turned back to Grace, blinked slowly, and said, “Please tell me she didn’t.”
“She did,” Grace said with a nod at her feisty daughter, who growled at the unconscious Four Bits and made to kick at him before Grace got hold of her and bundled her up in her arms. “Child of mine, wait until I tell your daddies what a brave girl you are. They’re going to bust your little fanny good for you.”
“Nuh-uh,” Rose Marie said, suddenly looking a little weepy. “I’m a hero. He’s a bad man and I had to do somethin’ before he hurt us.”
“Damn straight!” Ellie suddenly chimed in as she helped her cousin out of her hiding spot behind the other corner recliner. “My granny says sometimes you gotta woman up and take care of business. Isn’t that right, Madi?”
“Sure does,” Madison said. “I need the potty.”
Looking a little discomfited, Ace and Kemp zip-tied Four Bits, also known as Augusto Bentley-Gutierrez, to the gurney onto which he’d been loaded none too gently. His knee had wobbled oddly when they’d loaded him, and Erin had a feeling something was broken or seriously dislocated.
Ace went to Hank, to return his handcuffs, and said, “We were witnesses to what happened. I’m sorry to say, by the time we knew something was going on, it was too risky to intervene. We both had him in our gun sights in case he looked like he was about to pull the trigger.”
Kemp said, “We didn’t want to shoot unless we absolutely had to—not with all the children in the room.”
Hank nodded. “Admirable. I’ll need to get statements from both of you.” He cleared a path so the EMTs could maneuver the gurney out the front door and instructed a deputy to follow them to the hospital and place Four Bits under arrest when he came to.
“What in the hell happened here?” Ethan said as he squeezed in behind Erin in the back doorway. The men who’d been helping with the cattle crowded the porch and the backyard.
“It’s a long story,” Grace said wearily as she went to him and Jack and Adam. “But your daughter is a hero.”
“Is ‘hero’ code for ‘in trouble’?” Adam said as he made note of the calf rope lying jumbled up on the living room floor.
“Oh, Daddy,” Rose Marie murmured, her voice catching as she reached for him. She sounded like all the fight had gone out of her. “There was a baaad maaan.”
Adam made a consoling sound in his throat as he wrapped his little girl up in his arms nice and tight. Erin pooched out her lip, feeling like bawling a little herself as Rose Marie cried in her bewildered daddy’s arms.
“Can someone check on Callie Beth?” Grace asked. “I don�
��t think my legs will carry me up the stairs.”
“On it.” Jack was up the stairs in a flash.
Erin smiled, loving the fact that her tough brother and cousins dropped everything for Grace.
Ethan kneeled on the floor by the chair Grace sat in. “I checked the fence once we got out there, and someone had obviously used wire cutters to let the herd loose. I’m so sorry we all took off and left you undefended.”
Hank snorted. “When I came in the front door, Grace was holding Four Bits at gunpoint. It was chaotic, but I think she had everything under control. It’s a good thing she took that concealed handgun carry class. You can have this back since it was never fired,” he said as he offered the unloaded .38 back to Grace, and she promptly entrusted all of it to Ethan.
Erin bumped Ethan’s shoulder with her knee and folded her arms over her chest as she gazed down at him. “So maybe the ‘man whores’ did their job after all?” She was pissed at Luka and Matthias, but that didn’t mean she liked hearing them denigrated by others.
Ethan wouldn’t look directly at her. With a soft growl, he said, “I guess so.”
“Mama’s the real hero,” Rose Marie said. “That bad man was gonna take Bella right outta here, and Mama stopped him.”
“We stopped him,” Grace said with a smile. “No one here was going to let that man take Bella or anyone else, out of here, including you, honey.”
“I’m gonna learn to shoot, too, aren’t I, Daddy?” Rose Marie said, the twinkle returning to her eyes.
Ethan chuckled weakly. “Let us recover from this David and Goliath moment before you go learning any new skills, sweetheart.”
“I can do it, you know? I roped that big giant as good as any boy,” she piped up as Angel and Joaquin came in the room and went straight to Teresa and Izzie, followed closely by their sons, Michael and Eleazar. Michael had been in the truck with Ethan and Jack when they’d left earlier.
Michael and Eleazar crowded in around Rose Marie, and Michael said, “He was a giant? Really?” He and his brother looked suitably impressed.
Rose Marie nodded. “He was to me. You shoulda seen him. I roped him just like we practiced with Bubba.”
Little Grant put his arm around his father’s shoulders, where he still knelt next to Grace’s chair, rolled his eyes, and made a weary sound. “I’m not being the roping dummy anymore.”
Hank turned back to Grace, a smile on his face. “By the way, I heard your bachelor auction went better than predicted.”
Grace chuckled absently as she rubbed her head. “I forgot all about it in the hubbub. What did you hear?”
“If you combine the donations from this morning’s Drag Race Relay with the dinner and auction ticket proceeds and the bids for all the items and the bachelors, it looks like your efforts will help local charities to the tune of roughly one point five million dollars.”
Shock rippled through the gathering, and Grace let loose a slightly hysterical giggle. “One point five million dollars? Are you sure?”
Erin was thrilled for Grace. She and Charity and all the other ladies had worked so hard. This outcome far exceeded their hopeful estimate for the fundraiser. But it also reminded her that Luka and Matthias had been auctioned off to the highest bidder. And knowing those horn dogs, they were currently doing the winner’s bidding.
Dessert all but forgotten, she headed to the kitchen. She’d had a gun pointed at her that evening, and she didn’t care what anyone thought of the babysitter taking a shot.
She was just pouring the whiskey when Hank joined her on a barstool. Once the burning in her throat eased from Ethan’s good whiskey, she told him from beginning to end what had happened.
She’d returned to Divine because she wanted peace and quiet, less stress. She really should’ve known better.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Troy went down on one knee in front of Bella in the Divine Creek Ranch house and opened his arms. “Ready to go home, Belly-blooper?”
It said a lot about how worn out she was that she didn’t even argue she was supposed to be spending the night. She just nodded and put her arms around his neck and let him lift her.
She was dressed in her yellow Princess Belle dress and her little feet were bare so he wrapped his hand around them to warm them for her. She responded by snuggling her face up to his neck.
“Nice knees,” Grace said with a chuckle. “I’m glad we got to see you two dressed in all your Highland finery. So the bachelor auction went well?”
Tank nodded. “You could say that again. The #gingerhotties were chopped liver once the audience found out True and Noble Strong were going on the auction block.”
“Who won you?” Jessica asked. He could hear the nonchalance in her voice, but there was uncertainty in her beautiful brown eyes.
Silly woman. You won our hearts long before we stepped out on that stage.
“Well, we were hoping it would be you, but with the bright lights on the stage, we couldn’t see you in the crowd. So you didn’t bid one hundred and fifty thousand dollars on us?” Tank asked, obviously trying to keep it light.
Grace’s jaw dropped, and the other ladies who hadn’t been there gasped. “How much?”
“One fifty. And Luka and Matthias auctioned for twenty-five thousand,” Tank replied. “Honestly? I thought we might go for maybe ten thousand if someone in the audience got a wild hair.”
“So there was a bidding war? Who won you?” Grace asked, pulling Grant carefully into her lap for a cuddle.
“We’re not sure. Cassie came running backstage right after the bidding closed and told us that Ivan was worried about Jessica.”
“Oh Lord,” Jessica whispered at his side. “It’d just been a long day. I didn’t particularly care to see anyone gloat about winning you. But…I was happy about being able to give you this, Grace.” With a shy smile, she walked over to her and handed her a rumpled piece of paper. “Sorry, it was in my pocket all evening and then with all the craziness…”
“That’s okay,” Grace said, confusion knitting her brow. “This check is made out for thirty-five thousand dollars, Jessica.” The questions were obvious in her gaze.
“We can talk about it more later,” Jessica said. “Just suffice it to say that what evil men intended for their own selfish purposes has been used for a good cause.” Grace’s eyebrows shot up as she looked at Jessica, and Jessica nodded. “It can’t make up for everything we’ve gone through. Nothing can. But this makes it better.”
Grace folded the check and said, “I will make sure it’s put to very good use in the community.”
“I know you will. How do we find out who won Tank and Troy?”
“I’ll handle that and let you know tomorrow. It’s been a long night, and we have lots of sleepy kids to take care of, don’t we?”
When Troy had arrived at the ranch house earlier, after seeing Brian’s ambulance off, he’d been concerned by what he’d find. Seeing the perpetrator of the night’s violence strapped and zip-tied to a gurney had been an ideal outcome, but imagining the tall, malevolent stranger threatening the women of the Divine Creek Ranch, young and old, had put a fine edge on his anxiety. He could control it only because he knew he was needed. There would be time to deal with feelings later.
“But we don’t want the risk losing that winning bid, do we?” Tank asked hesitantly. He was big on protocol and following rules.
Grace set Grant on his feet and got up from the chair, waving a hand to reassure her men that she was fine. “The bidders were all notified when signing up for their paddles that the bachelors being auctioned off would contact the winners within twenty-four hours to set up their dates. We couldn’t have women just dragging men out of the convention center, ready to start the date as soon as the event ended.” She looked down at her phone when it buzzed and giggled. “True and Noble went for a whopping two hundred thousand. Their date includes an acoustic event with them and up to twenty friends.” She gave Tank and Troy teasing conciliatory sm
iles. “Sorry you weren’t the high bid.”
Troy shook his head. “I’m more worried about who won us and that they weren’t offended we didn’t go over and thank them before we ran out of there.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Bella is going to be asleep by the time you get her in her car seat.”
They said their good-byes, and Troy was glad to end the night, feeling unsatisfied that he’d not been the one to take Four Bits down. He patted Rose Marie’s head as she said good-bye to Bella. That little blonde was going to be a force of nature when she came into her own if half the stories he’d been hearing from the night were true.
He offered to drive for Jessica, and she took him up on it. On the way home, they got a call from Hank that Brian was in surgery but the outlook was good. They planned to visit him in the hospital in the morning.
Back at his and Tank’s cabin, Jessica changed Bella into her fuzzy one-piece sleeper pajamas while the little girl was mostly asleep and put her to bed. They chuckled outside Tank’s old bedroom as the little one whispered to herself or maybe to the “spuhzarkely” woman she’d mentioned before. “We haz the best fambly ever now.”
“How are you?” he asked as he stood before her in the hallway, with Tank standing at her back.
“Tired, of course. It’s been a long day and way too much excitement for one night. But mostly, I just feel so relieved. And wired, I guess.”
“Not sleepy?”
“Not like I’d expect. I know it’s just the adrenaline talking, but I could go for the rest of the night.” She put her arms around herself as if she was cold.
“That won’t last long now that you can relax,” Tank said, removing his brooch and spreading his plaid around her shoulders. “Let’s get you warmed up.”
Jessica looked at the tidy bed and then at them. She pulled them close and looked back and forth from his face to Tank’s, and then the most gorgeous smile broke across her face, lighting her up, and tears flooded her eyes.
Operation Ginger Avenger Page 30