Facing the Fire Read online

  It was rather a Barratt family tradition. Find the woman that fascinated them—and just carry her away.

  Not that he was going to do anything like that. He was a civilized man.

  He had far more control than Houghton, after all.

  She had a worried look in her big green eyes that struck him hard. “Hello, little one. What’s wrong?”

  She just looked at him, then glanced at her sister beside her. Marin had on clothing far more casual and sedate than he was used to seeing her in, in just the week he’d been around. The same worry was in her blue eyes.

  She had a familiar baby strapped to her chest, watching the crowd around them all.

  Violet.

  The baby recognized him. “Ban-Ban!”

  Marin slipped her out of the carrier and passed him his favorite girl of all time. Brandt cuddled her close. “What’s going on? Maggie ok?”

  Marin was the one who answered. “Clint and Maggie’s home caught fire and burned last night. Maggie’s still sleeping at the inn. Violet is staying with me today.”

  Brandt’s arms tightened around the little girl he adored. “What happened?”

  Marin shot him a level look. “It was arson, Mr. Barratt. Someone burned down their home deliberately. Clint is trying to figure out who now.”

  Brandt made a decision. He was going to find Maggie and convince her to come back to Texas with him as soon as he could get Houghton’s private jet to Masterson County.

  He wasn’t about to let anything happen to Violet or Maggie. Not if he could stop it.

  Sometimes… a hunter had to turn into a protector. It was just the way it was.

  49

  They'd just held each other for a few hours. Neither one of them was going to get more sleep. Not considering what had happened. Maggie rested on his lap, her lips swollen from his kisses. She'd needed his touch—and had needed to touch him. So much. She was going to go back to her brothers' place. She hadn't wanted to, but he was right.

  It was safest for Violet there. In the meantime, she was going to make a list of everything she and Clint and the two babies would need to make the house he'd inherited from his brother their home.

  And it was going to be theirs. She was staying with Clint. No matter what. She’d made her decision watching the ranch house burn. No more doubting.

  She belonged with this man. No matter what came their way.

  "I'm only staying for two days. That's about all I will be able to handle of my brothers. It takes a far stronger woman than I am to deal with the five of them in one place. In two days, we're moving into Jay's house. All of us. It will be ours from here on out." It was a bold statement, but it was the truth. "I have some cash saved up. I didn't just play around with Mel while I was in Texas. I worked."

  "I have some money in savings, too. From selling Clive's house. I was intending it for Violet's college. But we can dip into it, if we have to. To make the house safe and livable. I'll get contractors out there as soon as I can. It'll be a good place for us." His fingers spread over their son. The baby kicked against them.

  "We can make this work." Maggie said it out loud for the first time. "We can do this. Together. Equal say. Partners. Real partners. From this moment on."

  "Always." Clint hugged her close. "I want nothing more than to be with you, and the kids. I actually wouldn't mind five or six, if you are up for it."

  "Only if you carry half." She grinned at him, fighting tears again. "Because this one is sitting on my bladder."

  They were joking around now, but both knew that they were just delaying the inevitable. They had to face the world soon. Face the fire.

  It was just a matter of time. There would be witness statements to give, people would be showing up with donated clothes and food and full of questions. Everyone would want to know what happened.

  And Rex and Clint had to catch the man responsible. She knew they would. She had complete faith in Clint to do just that.

  Worry for him threatened to overwhelm her. "I knew him, Clint. I just can't figure out who he is. He knew me. Knew enough to tell me that he'd always confused me and Pan and Nikki. He had to be close to us, right?"

  "Not really. Masterson is a small town. Anyone seeing your cousins and you together and learning your names could have said the same thing. He won't get close to you again, honey. I can promise that."

  "No one can make those kinds of promises."

  His arms tightened around her. "No. I suppose I can't. But I'm going to do my damnedest."

  "In the meantime, we have things to do. I need to check on Violet. And we need to get moving."

  The world outside the windows waited. they couldn't hide forever.

  Nor could she run away.

  Maggie wasn't going to run away from life ever again.

  50

  “I want to take Maggie back to Texas with me,” Brandt said to the woman walking next to him.

  “I don’t think you’ll be going to Texas anytime soon.”

  He liked Marin Talley a great deal. And while she was one of the sexiest women to have ever walked the planet, he felt almost brotherly to her. He was as comfortable with her as he was Maggie. Although…Maggie made a man want to protect more than Marin. Marin was the kind of woman who would stand at a man’s back, her own sword drawn, ready to fight her own dragons.

  “Why is that?”

  She shot him a mysterious smile. “You’ll find more in Masterson County than you could have ever hoped to find. If you stick around long enough. You’ve buzzed in and out of town since you first arrived. How can you find what you need when you don’t stand still long enough to look around you?”

  Maybe the woman was crazy, but he liked her.

  “Let’s just find Maggie.”

  “I know exactly where she’s at. Question is…is she ready to be found?”

  She led him into the private wing of the inn. “This is where our family lives. Who wants to be wrapped up in the inn 24/7? Not us. Grandma—and our father when he was visiting—wanted to give us as normal a life as possible. We each have a small suite in the hotel somewhere—a few of us are on the first floor, off the kitchen—but we have a large family room on this floor. And a real kitchen. But only Meyra hangs out there, now. She’s the real miracle behind the food you love so much. She’s taken our family recipes next level.” She unlocked a door using the keypad next to it. Brandt followed her into the hall, which led to a reasonably sized family room. An old dog was sprawled out on a low couch in front of a window that overlooked a garden. It felt like a home. If he hadn’t been seeing it with his eyes, he would never have expected it.

  “If so, she’s magnificent.”

  “I’m glad you think so. Most people overlook my sister. She’s the quietest of us all. We had this part of the inn remodeled when I was about five, taking out some of the smaller single rooms and turning this into the family wing.”

  “Nothing wrong with being quiet.”

  “No. There isn’t. Here. Maggie and Clint are in Miranda’s room. It’s the last on this floor.” She stopped at a wooden door and knocked smartly.

  Maggie’s cowboy swung the door open.

  “Da-da!”

  Clint reached for his daughter.

  “Hey, cowboy. We’re here to keep Maggie company while you go do what you got to do.” Marin said, pushing her way in.

  Brandt dutifully followed.

  51

  Jasper couldn't keep using his father-in-law's truck, eventually someone was going to see it and put two and two together. He wasn't ready for that. But he was feeling hopeful, even after the fire.

  When he had returned home, there had been one more message on his answering machine. This time the voice wasn't as distorted as it had been before.

  He had gotten sixteen texts, fourteen emails and twenty-two threatening phone calls. The harassment had continued for well over two months now. Someone wanted that evidence badly.

  It was far more likely that they just wanted J
asper on a string. They were enjoying toying with him.

  There was only two people that it could be.

  Clive Gunderson and Arthur Talley. Clive was in jail, and he was certain it wasn't him doing this shit. So it had to be Arthur Talley. Greedy bastard always was trouble.

  The one thing he could do was protect himself.

  To do that, he had to act on the plan he had come up with earlier. The first thing he did was hit the smallest house Gunderson owned.

  It was barely locked. Jasper had little trouble getting inside. He searched every room, for any possible boxes. It wasn't hard to do; there was almost nothing kept in the house at all.

  Jasper paid careful attention to what he suspected was the dining room and the home office areas. But there was no paneling in the place like Clive had indicated there would be.

  No, it was plaster, the old kind from at least one hundred and fifty years ago. The old plaster was often made with horsehair and lime. There were no holes behind pictures of Gunderson's children anywhere. No. There weren’t even pictures of Gunderson’s children.

  This place was a dead end.

  That left only one more property to search.

  Unless he was searching in vain. What most likely had happened was that every evidence box had burned. It made the most sense.

  Clive was lazy—he wouldn’t have separated out that one particular box of evidence, not considering all of the other foul things Clive had no doubt been involved in.

  If what Jasper had been looking for had been in that storage shed, it was gone now.

  But he had to make sure.

  Clint’s other place was going to prove riskier. For one thing, it was in better shape. Clint would most likely choose it for his family sometime soon. Jasper would. The place was big enough for a good half-dozen kids or so, after all.

  But Jasper would do what he had to do.

  52

  Jay’s house was actually a beautiful place—under the age. Maggie tried to study it objectively.

  There had been some work done on it. By Jay. He’d been cleaning it up while he had been stalking her cousin Pip. Guess he had to have something to do in his non-stalking time.

  She shivered.

  She was determined to move past that. This was the best place for Violet now, and for the baby when he got there. It was in the best condition, was closest to the barns where the horses were, and was even closer to town. And it was larger.

  It just needed a bit more work.

  They could do this.

  It connected to Clint's larger property along the rear acreage and had once been a part of the original Gunderson settlement. Gunderson, Wyoming had had its own post office ninety years ago.

  With only nine houses, all belonging to members of the original Gunderson family and their ranch hands, the post office had dwindled, and the hopes of a small town in that area had been erased. All that remained of those houses was this overly large but slightly rundown ranch house, the two houses that had belonged to the hands, and one place that was uninhabitable, the roof had caved in long ago.

  Most of Clint's ancestors had died young, several being lost in the wars, or had moved out of state to disappear forever more than sixty years ago.

  Now there was just Clint. And Violet. And the baby Maggie carried. They were literally all that was left of Gunderson, Wyoming.

  Maybe she and Clint could do their part to fix that eventually.

  "It doesn't look like much now," Clint said. “But the inside of the house is sound. Safe. It still needs a lot of work.”

  "I heard he was redecorating it and remodeling it for Pip."

  Clint just nodded. "Is that going to bother you? I mean, after what happened to your cousin?"

  Maggie just shook her head. Bad things happened. She couldn't let herself dwell on them. She had more important things to worry about, like having a roof over Violet’s head.

  That was the most important thing now. Taking care of Violet, and the baby. She could do that.

  And Clint.

  That moment in the fire, she’d faced the truth. If he had turned back and been lost to her in the flames, it would have destroyed her.

  Because she loved this man. Loved him just as deeply as Mel loved Houghton. She would never deny that now. "It'll be fine, Clint. It just needs a little work. But I can see the children playing here. Being safe here. I can see where it would be a beautiful home eventually. The babies need a home. We have one right here, just waiting for us now."

  The house had been built in the craftsman style, and was large, larger than the house that had burned. The siding was faded, the paint needing scraped—it looked like the entire siding needed replaced. The porch boards were worn, and it looked like there were some holes in a few places. Those would have to be fixed soon.

  There was character. Charm. It just needed cleaned up. The yard was a little grown-over, and muddy from the melting snow, but she could see places where roses had probably once grown. Probably planted by his great grandparents years ago. She’d have to see if she could rescue those roses somehow. Revive them.

  There was an old hand pump well right there, too. She wondered if it still worked. It would be wonderful in the summer if it did.

  "This was my grandparents’ place. They left it to my mother, who left it to Jay, with the majority of the acreage, and left me a small part of the land behind the house here, since it was assumed I’d inherit everything else someday. They wanted Jay to be set, too."

  He had let it slip before how his father's parents had favored Jay over him. Clive had also favored Jay. Probably because Clint was a stepson, and for some people, some horrible people, there was a difference.

  She reached for the baby in Clint's arms. Violet came to her immediately, and Maggie settled her on her hip.

  She didn’t understand that at all. When you loved a child, it shouldn’t matter who had created them.

  A familiar F150 was coming up the drive. They’d left Marin and Brandt back in town, but apparently, they’d found them again.

  Clint looked at her. "Seems your friends have found us."

  "One thing I can say about Brandt Barratt, he goes after what he wants intensely. Drives his sister insane. But… He has a lot to prove to his older brothers and sister. I can understand that. I think that's why we clicked."

  "And there’s nothing more between you than friendship? He seems like a good man.”

  She saw it. The insecurity in his blue eyes.

  That was probably something he would always battle, because of the way Clive had treated him and Jay.

  Clint would always feel like he was second-best.

  Like…like she had felt she was just convenient to him, he felt he wasn’t good enough for her.

  That was why he had been so focused on telling her he could provide for her and their children. Because he wanted her to think he would be good enough for her.

  Now she understood.

  Everyone had their fears, after all. Their insecurities.

  Their own battles.

  Maggie stretched up on her toes, and pressed her lips to his first. Violet giggled between them. “Da-da, Mag-Mag!”

  Her arms tightened around Violet. "It's not like that between Brandt and me. We connected, yes, I won't deny that, but it's different… Like, we understand each other on a soul deep level because maybe we were siblings in another life. You don't have to worry about my feelings for Brandt. I promise. He’s not you."

  Marin called out a greeting.

  “Marin says he’s destined to be her brother-in-law, too. Hard to look past that.”

  "Like I can see that happening. A Barratt, with Meyra? She’d run and hide just at the mention of it. And as for Miranda… Well, that woman would make mincemeat out of your pal. I think he might be too nice for her."

  "No kidding. We’re just friends, Clint. I promise. I only have room for one man in my life right now.”

  She stepped toward her friends. She was going to figure
out just exactly what she wanted to do about Clint Gunderson later.

  For now, Marin had an intent look in her eyes. One that told Maggie the other woman was up to no good.

  53

  Maggie was holding up well. Probably better than Clint was himself. She greeted her friends calmly, asking what they were doing there.

  "This hot Texas guy and I came to see what you two need to get yourselves and Violet settled. I have groceries in the back. Dry goods, in case the power’s not on out here yet. Donated by the waitresses of the diner—including Nikki and Em, who are filling in for Daisy and Dusty tonight. Enough for a week or so, at least.”

  Marin opened the back seat of the truck and started pulling out bags. Clint went over to help immediately. "Thanks, Marin. It's appreciated. I have a generator in the back, but need to run to town to grab some fuel.”

  He had planned to take Maggie and Violet to her brothers’. Either that, or he had considered dropping her off at the largest Masterson ranch, where her cousin Pan lived. Whichever she had wanted.

  She'd be safe there, with Levi Masterson's ranch hands surrounding her. That it been his best option. She and Violet could've visited with her cousin, Pan.

  But with Marin and Barratt there, she wouldn’t be alone.

  Barratt wore a gun in a holster on his shoulder. He’d carried it for years, he’d told Clint when he’d asked. Since someone had attempted to abduct his twin sister from right next to him when they’d been in college.

  Maggie was already headed up the porch. “I need to make a list of everything we’ll still need. I want to start with Violet, of course. Clint and I can make do as long as we need to, but I want her in a room of her own. She’s had enough transitions lately. So we’ll get her first, then the baby’s room, then ours. And the common areas.”

  Clint followed her. Making note of what he'd need to do to ensure the porch was safe as he did.

  He'd stop off and grab some supplies at the hardware store and the lumberyard; he'd get started on that tonight. Jay’s place had had the wiring updated six years ago—before Jay had gone to prison. There was a new HVAC unit installed, but it had never been used. There were no kitchen appliances and only a toilet, pedestal sink, and bare-minimum shower. That would have to be fixed in a hurry.