Facing the Fire Read online

  Clint turned to Rex. He couldn’t explain Marin, but he also couldn’t discount what he had seen through the years. "I know you think it's bunk, but she's right far more than she's wrong. Just don't do anything to antagonize her. She's one of Maggie's closest friends. And I don't need Maggie telling me—or you—to take a hike right now."

  "Let's just get the paperwork. And just pretend that woman doesn't exist."

  Clint barely heard him; he was still focused on the idea that Finley Creek had followed Maggie to Masterson County.

  What would it take for someone from Texas to convince her that her life was down there now—instead of up here with him and Violet?

  He couldn't lose her now. Not to mention, he didn’t want his son growing up with only occasional visits between them. No.

  She couldn’t go back to Texas.

  And he feared that was exactly what was going to happen. Unless he found some way to stop her.

  16

  Maggie enjoyed the evening with Marin—most of Marin's snark was directed at Clint's closest friend. Marin got under Commander Weatherby's skin.

  And Marin enjoyed that.

  Meyra arrived around six, a passenger side full of delivery meals from the diner. She stared at Clint and the commander, as if she hadn't expected to see them both there. Meyra was exceptionally shy, and it wasn’t just because of the mild autism. She always had been, even when they were in school together. "Hello. I have a delivery from the diner. Marin's supposed to be here—and pay for this."

  "I'm here. Come in, Mey, I ordered extra—and I’ll settle up the tab in the morning. I have enough extra for two grown men—and one baby sister—to eat as well," Marin said from the dining room. "I'm going to leave my car here for Maggie to use until her brothers bring hers over. She’ll need it. Meyra can take me home."

  Meyra was hesitant to join them, but she usually did what one of her older sisters or cousins told her. Marin was always arranging ways for Meyra to get out of the diner and interact with other people outside their safe little world at the diner and the inn. "I wondered why you ordered extra."

  "Just a feeling I had that I would need it." She shot a pointed look at the commander. "I hope you like meatloaf. You look like a simple meat and potatoes kind of man. Nothing too exotic for you."

  Maggie missed what was said next. Clint had come up behind her, one hot hand draping over her shoulder. "What did the doctor say?"

  "We’re both fine. I really liked her. She reminds me of Dr. Kaur in Finley Creek."

  "You liked it down there in Texas, didn't you?"

  She nodded. "Not at first. At first, I was terrified. I had never been away from home for more than a weekend until I moved in here with you. I have only been out of the state twice when Dusty and Marin made me go to Billings with them one weekend. To be clear across the country, with a baby, with people I didn't know—it was terrifying. Then Mel took me under her wing—I started to find people who understood me. It was better. It wasn't home, but it was better."

  "I'm glad. I hated the idea that you were off alone somewhere, you and Violet, and I couldn't get to you. No matter how I tried. I had nightmares about that almost every damned night." His arm slipped around her shoulders so casually as they stood in the kitchen and watched the three people in his dining room arranging the containers of take-out. This was the most people his place had had probably in a long while. It felt good; if he would take a chance, and let people in, he could have the support system he’d told her once he envied her.

  She was a Tyler. She had family everywhere she turned. She’d always known that.

  Clint had no one. Just Rex Weatherby and Marin’s older sister, Miranda.

  "Mags, I got the baby some mashed potatoes and peas, and chicken bites. I had Dixie make them plain,” Marin said, moving around Rex like the other man didn’t even exist.

  "Thanks." Maggie didn't want to move away from where Clint held her. It felt good.

  It felt right.

  But she knew it was just a lie.

  She deliberately stepped away. Before she curled up against his hard, perfect chest and just let him keep holding her forever.

  17

  Clint felt bereft the instant she moved. The woman just felt right when she was next to him. Those two months after they'd slept together had been the dumbest of his life.

  He should have carried her off to a preacher first thing that next morning. The way a man would one hundred years ago. Just scooped her up and made her a promise that would last a lifetime.

  Then spent their days building the life between them that she deserved. Only his cowardice had stopped that from happening.

  Then again, if Maggie hadn’t been avoiding him that day—she would have been right there in the front room of his house, possibly waiting for him, as he’d headed out there on his lunch break.

  To check on her and the baby.

  They would have been right in the path of the bullets. Fourteen. There had been twelve rounds shot into the front of his home. They’d gone through the front exterior wall and lodged in the living room drywall.

  Two had struck the nearest barn, probably from a final couple of wild shots.

  Maggie and Violet wouldn’t have stood a chance if they’d been in the house. Those first twelve bullets would have destroyed them.

  The only reason they’d survived had been because Maggie had thought the shooter was Clint and she’d wanted to avoid him. She’d slipped out the back door to take Violet to the barn nearby to see the horses.

  Two bullets had struck that barn. One had caused a wooden beam to splinter. Shards of that wood had struck Maggie.

  It had been that close.

  He could have lost them both.

  "Dinner is served," Marin said. "Come on, Mag, you barely ate anything at lunch."

  A guilty look went over Maggie's face. "That's because I had oatmeal-cranberry cookies in my room this morning.”

  "Good one," Marin said. She took the chair furthest away from the commander.

  Violet giggled from her high chair. She was hungry; her little mouth made smacking sounds and she babbled.

  It seemed so normal. The two of them sitting down to eat with their friends and family around them.

  Clint wanted that. He wanted a family, friends, a life.

  Something different than the dark nightmare he'd grown up in. He wanted light for his children.

  Both of them.

  And any others that came along.

  First, he had to convince the woman he wanted to have at his side that he wasn't the lost cause she thought he was.

  He deliberately took the chair next to Maggie. Marin's sister settled down next to Maggie's other side.

  Leaving the open chair next to Marin as all that was available for Rex. Clint smirked.

  The guy couldn't escape—not without the paperwork he'd come for, nor without looking rude to the woman who had bought him dinner. Rex’s mother had been a stickler for manners for her four sons. Rex knew how to behave. If he chose to.

  Clint was enjoying seeing how Rex handled her. He hadn't forgotten Rex handcuffing him to a damned rail in the police precinct five months ago when Maggie had first disappeared with his baby.

  To keep Clint from killing the man responsible.

  Marin was exactly what Rex deserved.

  If nothing else, Maggie was laughing with her friends. That was what mattered, after all.

  Maggie was happy.

  Clint didn’t really want anything more than that.

  18

  Clive Gunderson’s stupidity was going to cost Jasper now. The other man had had his own secrets, too. Apparently, those secrets had erupted to destroy him.

  Now Jasper had to clean up the mess. He hadn’t stopped sweating since he’d gotten the latest message.

  A secret was only a secret if one person knew it. He believed that even more than he had before. Now he had to clean up that mess—before it destroyed everything he'd worked for. His childr
en…

  He was a man in the public eye. He had done good things for the county. He would continue to do good things for the district. For the state.

  Perhaps he'd one day step into the gubernatorial seat. Wyoming deserved a strong leader, one who cared about families more than business.

  But first, he had to clean up the other men’s messes.

  He had done good things for his family, bringing them from a run down two-bedroom bungalow in the worst part of Masterson when his oldest was a baby to the three-story home that was now far too quiet.

  He had three daughters and two sons who were making their way in the world. Beautiful daughters and strong sons. Confident children he was so proud of he could burst. They were the best of him.

  This…could destroy their worlds.

  Jasper would do anything to keep that from happening.

  That meant cleaning up this mess before it spilled over onto Jasper any more than it already had.

  He was so close to having the answers he was looking for.

  Jasper would clean this up, protect his children’s well-being, and his own future.

  Then he would move on.

  It was going to be as simple as it sounded.

  He was almost there. Had almost found the person responsible.

  An investigation of this scale was something he had done before. He could do this. It should be simple textbook.

  He'd gotten his start as a stupid, wet-behind-the-ears sheriff's deputy when he'd been all of twenty-four years old. He'd worked for the Masterson County sheriff's department, for his second-cousin Clive, while taking night classes to get his law degree.

  He'd spent six years being Clive's whipping boy.

  Earning his stripes.

  It had taken him almost all those six years to take the classes he needed and to pass the bar. Night school for law took a damned long time, especially when a man had a family to support and no real financial aid, and the college was more than four hours away. He’d drive up, take a few classes, then drive back in time to put in another eight to ten hours working for Clive.

  It had been tough—on him, on his older kids, and on Jody. Maybe too hard. He’d always wondered if the strain of his education had contributed to her not being in the greatest of health after little Clancy had been born. Both she and the baby had taken a while to bounce back after Clancy’s birth.

  Jasper had managed. Triumphed. He’d wanted to do good things for his town. For his family.

  A law degree had helped him support five children much better than a small-town deputy’s salary ever could have. His children had had what they needed.

  He’d do it all over again if he had to.

  He couldn't let that all collapse now because nightmares had eaten away at Clive's sanity.

  He had searched Clive's place before. Half-heartedly. But that was before someone had sent him that damned email two months ago—they knew what he'd done.

  What he had watched happen, rather.

  Jasper had never touched the people involved. He’d just been there after. For some, that was enough.

  It would ruin his career. Embarrass his children. Bring them trouble none of them needed.

  The blackmailer—there was no other real word for the person doing this—had mentioned details Jasper never wanted getting out.

  They knew exactly how involved he’d been with Arthur Talley and his idiotic get-rich property scheme. And they knew about the woman who had blown the whistle all those years ago.

  Jasper had thought he’d covered all his tracks. Years ago. He’d been tense for a year or two when Arthur had first hauled ass out of the county, taking his wife with him.

  Hell, Arthur had even left his four kids behind he’d left so quickly.

  Not Jasper. He’d stayed. Had a tightness in his gut for years, until enough time had passed that Arthur’s little games had been almost forgotten. Until what had happened after was just a distant memory.

  He would never have left his kids like that. Not like that. They’d needed him.

  Arthur’s kids had been lucky their grandmother was there to take them all four in. Flo Talley was a remarkable woman he’d thought of as a friend for years. He’d been friends with Flo’s daughter, Jessica Lynn, as well.

  Jasper and Arthur hadn’t been friends. They hadn’t even been colleagues.

  Jasper had just seen something he shouldn’t have.

  It had almost destroyed Jasper’s life. That was one of the worst years of his life—it had almost cost him everything he’d worked for, and everyone he’d loved.

  Jody had almost left him during that year, too. He’d been so tense and angry, he had taken it out on her when he never should have.

  Had they not had five children, she probably would have left him.

  He would never forget that.

  It was only after the five-year mark, and no sign that Clive was the least bit interested in digging into Arthur Talley, had Jasper settled some.

  Gotten on with his life. He had three daughters and two sons to raise, after all. And a very ill wife that he had greatly loved, that he lost a bit more every day.

  Unlike Arthur, Jasper hadn’t abandoned his five children like a coward.

  He’d stayed and made damned sure he was a better parent after that. It was just a matter of time before his own sins rose to haunt him.

  Someone knew. And someone was out there, ready to destroy everything he had ever worked for.

  Jasper couldn’t let that happen.

  That proof of what he’d done had to be in Clive’s old files. Somewhere.

  Sources at the WHP had told him months ago that Clint had taken everything Clive had ever worked on, made copies, and left them at the WHP.

  Clint had followed procedure.

  Jasper hadn’t. He’d removed all signs of his own involvement from computer records years ago. But the blackmailer had told him—he’d missed something. There were more copies out there.

  Clive had kept them for years.

  Clint Gunderson had them now. Jasper just prayed the younger man didn’t know it.

  All of Clive’s things were somewhere on his son’s property. Properties. Clint had more than one, though they connected in a few places.

  Jasper just had to find what he was looking for.

  Hell, he couldn't seem to even get past the younger Gunderson’s dog.

  Jasper didn't want to hurt the goofy yellow lunkhead. He'd always had a thing for big stupid dogs. The last thing he wanted to do was betray the fact that he'd been inside Clint Gunderson’s ranch.

  He just wanted to get inside, find what he needed to find, and live the rest of his life without this hanging over his head.

  Without getting his ass caught in the process.

  Somehow.

  Jasper searched the immediate area. This was a risk; one he wasn’t so certain he should be taking right now.

  No one seemed to be around. That was good.

  Jasper stepped onto the back porch. Reached for the door handle.

  That was when he saw the little SUV parked at an angle by the back porch. He had missed it; how could he have missed her?

  It was such a bright blue color, it stood out.

  Marin. Sweat slicked his palms immediately, soaking into the black gloves Cloe had given him for Christmas.

  That was Marin’s car.

  Damn it. He had been stupid. He should have checked the front of the house instead of assuming Gunderson was still out.

  He wasn’t alone, after all.

  19

  They were halfway through the dinner when an alarm sounded. Violet immediately started wailing. Rex and Clint both jumped from their seats. Clint swung the baby toward Maggie. She took the baby and held her close as she stood. "Stay inside."

  Maggie gasped when Rex pulled a handgun from somewhere. She hadn’t realized he’d been armed. Clint immediately silenced the alarm, then opened the gun cabinet in the corner. When he pulled out a rifle and loaded it
before her very eyes, Maggie started shaking.

  Marin's arms went around her.

  Maggie's tightened on the baby. "What's happening?”

  "Security system around the perimeter of the house. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you worried. And it was just as a precaution."

  "It's probably a deer or the dog wandered too close to the back porch,” Rex said. "But just in case—" He shot a significant look at Clint that Maggie didn't miss. "You three and the baby—stay inside. Stay away from the windows. Lock the doors behind us. All of the doors."

  "Already done," Marin said, quietly. "I locked the back door after I changed the baby earlier."

  "Sure you did."

  "Check for yourself if you don't believe me,” Marin said, with a frightened look at the door in question.

  "No time. Keep yourselves inside."

  “Be…careful…out there, Commander.”

  He grunted in response.

  "Don't you think this is overreacting?" Maggie asked. There was more going on; she just knew it. Clint was hiding something from her. Her hands tightened on Violet. "Why would someone be out there now?"

  "They shouldn't," Clint said, bluntly. "Probably aren't. But I pissed off a lot of people in my time as a cop. I will never sit back and let a threat come toward my family again. I have an outer security system in place, but this one on the porches is new. I put it in last week. Haven’t had time to figure out the kinks and adjust them. Kody might damned well be heavy enough to trip it."

  "And I'm just a snarly bastard whose made a truck ton of enemies, honey," Rex added. He surprised Maggie by brushing a kiss over her forehead, then patting Violet on her back. "Who doesn't like my evening interrupted. It was most likely wildlife—security systems aren't foolproof, especially new ones. You stay here with Madam Zelda and her sister, honey. I'll see to it that Clint is taken care of."

  Then the two men were outside. Marin acted first—reaching out behind them and locking the door. "You two, take Violet into the hallway. Stay there. Just in case."