Facing the Fire Page 21

  Maggie cried out again.

  She doubled over, clutching her stomach. When she looked up at him, Clint knew.

  The baby.

  She slipped to the floor. Grady cursed. Grabbed for her.

  Clint dove.

  Straight at Jasper Grady.

  74

  A skinny arm went around her. Maggie was dragged across the old linoleum toward the back door. The sound of scuffling echoed around the kitchen. Grady yelled. Screamed.

  As Clint pummeled him.

  Maggie just watched. Marin's arm tightened around her shoulder. Her hands rose to clutch the arm holding her. Her hand came away wet.

  And crimson. No doubt from Brandt’s blood.

  Her gaze flew to Brandt. He was ashen, barely moving. His eyes were open. He stared at them all.

  Marin held her tight.

  Clint jerked Jasper Grady to one side with an audible thud. He slammed the man's arm to the floor. The gun skittered across the linoleum.

  Maggie didn't even hesitate. She reached for it.

  Her hand wrapped around the grip. She lifted it. She had his gun. He couldn't shoot anyone ever again.

  If he came toward her again, she’d shoot him, just like Martin and Michael had taught her to protect herself years ago.

  It was practically over. It was almost over.

  "It's almost over. It's...almost over...it's almost over," Maggie said, clutching her abdomen. The baby was going crazy. He must have felt her tension. Her fear.

  Marin still had her arm around her. Marin pulled Maggie to her feet, pulled her to the door. "Do the door, Mags. I can't. My arm...We have to get outside. Get help. My cell's in Brandt's truck."

  "I can't leave Clint, I can't leave him in there with Grady."

  Maggie turned back around.

  Just as Clint shoved his fist into Jasper Grady's face and the older man fell to the floor.

  And didn't move again.

  When Clint looked at her, she knew.

  It was over. “It’s over. Thank God it’s over.”

  75

  The scene was under control. Jasper Grady waited in the back of a squad car.

  His own daughter stood next to an IAB representative, her face filled with horror.

  It would be burned into Rex’s memory for eternity.

  Movement caught his attention.

  Madam Zelda was striding across the yard, straight to him.

  There was a determined look in her eyes that the red and blue of the flashers enhanced.

  There was blood on the woman. She'd have to be processed. Her skirt and sweater were ruined. The thing was a monstrosity against modern fashion anyway. All flower-child hippie.

  The sight of the blood covering her just pissed him off. That it was her made that anger far worse.

  She kept coming at him.

  He crossed his arms over his chest before he did something stupid like yank her close and lecture her on not tempting the devil. Instead he said nothing.

  There was something in the way the woman was walking that kept his mouth shut.

  She stopped right in front of him.

  The next thing he knew the fool woman hooked one skinny arm around his shoulders, and pressed her mouth to his.

  Rex kissed her back, careful not to disturb the blood evidence on the damned woman.

  He was a man, she was a beautiful woman, even if she was as nutty as a fruitcake. She wanted to kiss him, he would let her.

  The kiss lasted less than twenty seconds. Then she jerked away and looked up at him, a completely broken look in those witch's eyes of hers.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  "I just had to get the taste of that man out of my mouth. I'm not going to my bed tonight remembering him kissing me. Not tonight.”

  Then the fool woman turned and walked away, leaving Rex staring at her like an idiot. What in the hell was she talking about?

  They loaded Maggie and that Barratt guy into the helicopter together. Clint climbed in last.

  Rex would handle things from here.

  He turned. Joel Masterson was around someplace.

  Rex had work to do—time to erase the taste of that woman. No doubt it would be easier said than done.

  That woman truly was a witch, in every way possible.

  76

  Clint wasn't ever letting go of her again. He wanted to tell her that, but the damned helicopter was too loud. She was in the back, holding Barratt's hand.

  Barratt had been in and out, from the blood loss. But he was holding on.

  He just hoped he'd get a chance to tell the man thanks for what he had done.

  None of them had been doing this alone.

  He hadn't missed that. Nor would he ever forget that.

  The hospital parking lot was filling up. Joel Masterson had made it to Clint's place through some private back road Clint hadn't even known existed. Word had gone out what had happened.

  People were coming.

  Tylers and Talleys. They would all be there as soon as they possibly could.

  He wanted Maggie checked out before that happened.

  He pushed the wheelchair with his woman in it himself. He needed to be the one to take care of her right now.

  They hadn't said anything to one another since he'd first met her eyes over the body of Jasper Grady.

  There was too much he wanted to say to her.

  Marin's cousin Dixie was one of the nurses on duty in the ER. She met them at the entrance. Masterson must have radioed in. "Maggie, we've got exam room one set up for you now. Dr. Paterson is on duty tonight. And Nate and Perci are on their way."

  "I'm ok, Dixie. It's just Brandt that we're worried about. He was shot twice, and he...I tried to stop the bleeding, but..."

  "We'll take care of him," Dixie said, as a team of physicians ran out to see to the gurney carrying the man in question. "I promise. Let's just get you and Baby-Clint checked out while we wait to find out how your friend is doing."

  "I'll need to call his family. He's pretty close with his sister and his brothers. His cousins. They're almost as bad as we Tylers. His twin Powell will want to be here."

  "We'll take care of that. He's been staying at the inn. I’ll have Darcey track them down. We'll handle it, ok?"

  Clint just kept pushing the wheelchair closer to the first exam bay. Maggie needed to fuss over her friend—to distract her from fear over their baby. He knew her enough now to see that. He helped her out of the chair and lifted her gently onto the exam gurney. "You'll be ok."

  Her hands wrapped around his forearms and then she was looking up at him. For the first time since everything had ended at the ranch. "Clint."

  "I love you." He was vaguely aware of Dixie fluttering around the exam room grabbing a clean gown. It didn't matter. "I haven't said it enough and I'm going to start right now. I love you, Maggie Tyler. And that will never change. You are my very breath. The last woman I said that to died and left me alone. I was afraid of losing you too. More than anything in the world I am afraid of losing you. And I can't stand even the thought of it. You and the baby and Violet—you are everything that matters to me. I can't lose you. I just can't."

  She stared at him for a moment as Dixie stepped out through the curtain. "Clint...I'm not going anywhere."

  "You can't know that. I can't know that either. That's something today just shoved down my throat. None of us knows when anything will end for any of us." He was sounding like a ranting lunatic. And he wasn't keeping his voice down. He didn't need to be yelling at her, but that was what he was doing. Clint jerked away and turned. "I need..."

  He turned back to the woman he loved more than anything. "I need you. That's all I can say. I need you, Maggie. With every breath I take."

  77

  This was the man she was destined for. If she believed Marin that sometimes the stars aligned, and someone somewhere had something planned for certain people's lives. Maggie was meant for Clint. And had been forever. From that first
time he'd brushed against her, and she'd realized that he could matter to her.

  He did matter. He mattered more than anyone else on the planet. She had just been too afraid to see that at first. Or too young, too naive to go after what she wanted—to even see what it was she did want. "Clint, we're both stubborn idiots."

  He stopped pacing. Dixie returned, a pair of thick socks in her hands. "Maggie, do you need some help getting changed into the gown?"

  "Clint can help me," Maggie said, as a sudden pain shot through her. The baby kicked. She focused on breathing, like her OB had told her.

  He took the gown and the socks and looked at them with an almost helpless look in his eyes. It had her melting. "Clint, you dork. I love you. In every way imaginable. I am not going anywhere, ever again."

  Her eyes met Dixie's and she saw the approval as the woman who looked very much like Marin slipped out of the room to give them some privacy.

  Maggie slipped out of her maternity top and pants, knowing that she would never be putting them on again. They had blood all over them. She wanted them gone. Out of sight.

  So she could focus on what she had to do now.

  She bent over to slip off her shoes, when a gush of liquid drenched her. She cried out.

  "What? What is it?" Clint took a step toward her, pulling her closer. "Honey?"

  "Clint, you'd better go get Dixie again. Fast." Maggie forced herself to remain calm. The man was two inches away from panicking as it was. "My water just broke."

  "It's a month too early. At least a month too early." There was the panic. Right there.

  "Clint...go get Dixie, ok? I'm going to change clothes. And while you're at it, call Junie and Augie, and have them bring Violet here. Then call Martin, let him know what’s going on. My brothers will want to be here for this."

  He was just staring at her. All of the fear he felt right there in his blue eyes.

  Maggie walked toward him, and wrapped her arms around him, not caring that she was in her bra and wet pants. She hugged him as closely as she could. "We're going to get through this. Now, go."

  Clint went.

  78

  Rex knew something was wrong the moment Joel cursed and took off toward one of his deputy's SUVs.

  Rex didn't question. When a sheriff started running, a commander followed.

  He just followed. In time to see Madam Zelda collapse right into Deputy Lowell's arms.

  The younger man scooped her from the ground.

  "What in the hell?" Rex asked, reaching out for her himself without thinking about it. He didn't want to put his hands on that damned woman again.

  "Her sweater’s soaked,” Lowell said. Rex reached out. Saw what he meant for himself.

  “She’s been hit,” Joel yelled. “Get me a first aid kit!”

  All of the medical personnel had left when the helicopter pulled out.

  "She was hit? Why in the hell didn't someone say something? Why didn’t she? Damned foolish woman." Rex lifted her into the rear of the nearby open SUV. He looked at Lowell. "You're driving."

  Rex pulled the rear door closed behind himself, shoving the rear seat down and out of his way. She was all damned legs and elbows and blond hair everywhere. That damned flowing dress got tangled on his hand when he shoved the sleeve out of the way.

  There.

  "Through and through. She's tied a scarf around it." He’d seen the scarf, blue and red poppies all over it. The blood had blended in. He was so used to seeing her with scraps of silk tied around various body parts he hadn’t even looked closer. Stupid woman. She had no business running around free like she did. "She needs a damned keeper. One with balls of steel and a damned whip or chain."

  Lowell floored it. "Yeah, so I've heard. But what man is brave enough to step up? Thought about it myself. But women like her can terrify a man."

  "No damned kidding." She'd been bleeding for a good hour or more. The scarf had slowed that bleeding some. But the inevitable had happened. There was no telling how much blood on her dress was hers and how much was that bastard's and how much was Barratt’s. Why? "Why didn't she say anything?"

  "My guess? She was waiting to make sure Maggie was all taken care of before she did. She's a bit protective of the people she loves. The whole lot of the Talleys are, from what I can see."

  Her head was resting against Rex's chest. Madam Zelda was a tall woman, thin. She looked a hell of a lot more vulnerable than Rex wanted to think about. "Just get her to the hospital. I'll turn her over to her family there. Maybe they can do something to keep her out of trouble. Like put her in a straight jacket and lock her away in the attic of the inn.”

  He could still feel her lips pressed to his. Damn it.

  She had a way of getting under a man's skin. But she hadn't deserved this.

  He just held on during the forty-five-mile drive back to Masterson, his fingers wrapped around her wrist. Counting her pulse. Just in case.

  Her eyes fluttered open ten minutes before Lowell yanked the SUV into the parking lot.

  Marin just watched Rex. Her watched her face right back.

  She never said a word.

  Neither did he.

  79

  Clint was holding himself together by a thread, doing the traditional call in the troops call. He'd not gotten to do that with Violet. The only "troop" he'd had had been Miranda. He called Flo Talley first. Then Phil Tyler. He figured the two of them together could handle notifying the rest of the Tyler clan.

  He called Miranda. That wasn't a call he was looking forward to making. No one probably knew what had happened to Maggie and Marin today. Not yet.

  He didn't have time to say much more than what he did. "Maggie and Marin were held hostage today. The guy is dead. Maggie's in labor, Marin is just fine. Get your ass here. I can really use some backup."

  Between Miranda and Rex, they might just be able to keep the Tylers from killing him for what he had let happen to Maggie.

  He hightailed back to Maggie's side, just as Dixie wheeled her out of the ER and to Maternity.

  This was really happening.

  Maggie held her hand out to him. Clint took it.

  "Where's Violet? Is she here yet? What about Marin?"

  "Not yet. They're on their way." He had no idea where Marin was, actually. He assumed Rex would handle that.

  Rex. He should probably call the only man he considered anything close to his family.

  He settled for texting instead.

  Just as a Masterson County deputy ran through the pneumatic doors, Rex in his wake.

  With Marin limp in his arms.

  Maggie cried out, calling her friend’s name. Tried to get out of the wheelchair to go to her friend. Clint stopped her.

  "What in the hell?"

  "She was hit today and never bothered to tell anyone. I don't know how much damned blood she's lost," Rex was furious. "How's Barratt?"

  "I don't have a clue. Now Maggie's in labor."

  Rex swore creatively.

  Another nurse ran by, barking orders at a pair of orderlies. Rex put Marin down carefully on a gurney.

  Then he turned back to Clint. "The damned Talleys can take care of her now. That woman needs a keeper. And a cage."

  Clint rather thought Rex would fit the bill, but he kept his damned mouth shut. He had other things to worry about.

  "Clint, I...Marin...She pushed me out of the way. When we first walked in. She yelled at me right before I walked in and grabbed my arm. Pulled me to one side. Did he hit her then?" Maggie's eyes were wet and terrified. Her hands were resting on their son. "She...I didn't know he hit her."

  Clint didn't know what else to do. He looked at Rex. His friend nodded. "I'll stick close to her. Keep you both updated. You just get in there and get my godson born. I'm interested to see if he's as ugly as his old man. I’ll take care of Madam Zelda. Just for today. Go.”

  Epilogue

  Birthing a baby was the most terrifying experience of her life. Even more so than being tak
en hostage by a maniacal mayor.

  Maggie wanted to think she'd held up well. Even if it had taken an additional seven hours and forty-two minutes to accomplish the task.

  She had done it. Their son now rested in his father's arms. Rexford Clinton Brandt Gunderson had a lot of name to grow into, but at almost ten pounds, he was a bit closer to it than she would have expected. To her eyes, he looked just like his father.

  He was perfect, with the requisite ten fingers and ten toes and a healthy set of lungs that demanded she nurse him immediately.

  Clint slipped onto the bed near her knee, his gaze on their son. He'd barely looked away. "He's got your determination."

  "I can work with that. He has your chin."

  "Stubborn. We might as well get prepared." Clint looked at her. "He's perfect. You're perfect. I...what happened today just makes that clear. I love you. I'm never going to stop saying that."

  "I'll never get used to hearing it. We could have lost each other. I think we both learned that today." Maggie slipped her fingers over his, where his hand rested on their son's small back.

  Their son.

  Their world, along with the little girl who had gone home with Flo and the rest of the Talleys.

  Someone knocked on their door and she leaned against Clint as he called for them to enter.

  Two women walked in.

  Miranda and Marin. Who walked on unsteady legs.

  "Marin!" Maggie's eyes immediately filled. "I was going to come see you first thing in the morning."

  "They've finally discharged me. I'm good to go. Stitches."

  "And a bag of O Positive. She's part vampire now," her older sister said. "And she agrees never to get in front of a bullet again. I just can't handle the stress of worrying about her. I’m the one who is supposed to deal with bad guys—not you two. So just quit it, will you?"

  "Heard Rex said she needed a keeper more than a few times," Clint said. “And a cage was mentioned.”