Rill edged up right next to the opening of the door, his expression intent as he listened to Stash talking. Katie realized with rising anxiety he was waiting for the sound of Stash’s voice so he could tell the moment when he turned his back to Rill.
“If I had some solid proof, it’d be one thing. But I can’t take that chance. I’ve got to stop Fordham. He’s taking away my rights as a citizen,” Stash ranted. “I’m the last line of defense Vulture’s Canyon has.” He seemed to be gaining momentum as he listened to himself talk. Katie watched in a misery of anticipation as Stash pivoted and turned away from Rill. “I’ve got to stop that son of a bitch before he ruins—”
Thwack.
Rill had lunged out of the pantry and swung the thick part of the crutch at the back of Stash’s head like a baseball bat. Katie recalled the way he’d chopped logs with one clean, powerful blow. He had a similar effect on a human being, she realized through a haze of shock.
Marcus Stash fell to the floor like he was a robot that had suddenly had its battery yanked. His gun slid all the way across the wood floor where it disappeared down the back hall. Sherona went after it and returned to the storeroom. She trained the weapon on the fallen Stash. Katie was impressed by how confidently she handled the gun.
“Where is it?” Rill asked Katie, and she knew he meant the switch box.
“There.” Katie nodded toward the crate behind him.
They all breathed a collective sigh of relief when Rill flipped a switch and the light on the mechanical box blinked out.
Katie jumped up from her sitting position like she was on springs. She flew at Rill, who caught her against him after a surprised umph at the impact of her body hitting his.
“You okay, Katie?”
His low, lyrical voice vibrated next to her ear.
“I’m fine. I thought you weren’t going to come back.” She lifted her head.
“I told you I was coming back, Shine. I’m back for good.”
“For good?” Katie asked breathlessly, worried she was misinterpreting the message broadcast in his blue eyes.
Rill nodded and pulled her closer to him. He spoke quietly near her lips, so that no one else could hear. It didn’t appear to matter, as the other hostages were talking among themselves excitedly.
“I’ve been thinking—what do you say we get some work done on the house? The baby will need a new room,” he said.
“And the exterior needs painting,” Katie whispered breathlessly as his mouth brushed against hers. “I adopted Barnyard.”
“Yeah, I saw,” he said before his head sank, and Katie forgot about gun-wielding maniacs and house decoration.
Rill had come back.
He’d come back.
“Do you suppose you two could untie us before you get on with your happily-ever-after?”
Katie leaned back from Rill’s kiss, grinning at the sound of Monty’s wry question.
Thirty
It was past midnight andRill’s muscle began to grow heavy with exhaustion. He’d slept for only a few hours last night, eager as he’d been to get back to Katie. He’d wanted to snatch her and take her away to the privacy of the hilltop house once Stash had been revived and arrested, but Mulligan had kept all of them at the diner, taking their statements.
The diner had filled with Vulture’s Canyon citizens as the night progressed, each of them being harangued by Sheriff Mulligan for their presence and told to go home. Most of them, like Olive Fanatoon, had just ignored him, and cuddled up to their previously endangered loved ones, refusing to let go. The federal agents, who had arrived about a half hour after the crisis was over, became flateyed and dangerous when Mulligan approached them.
Several of the agents started to dig into Sherona’s award-winning pies with relish. A manic sort of party atmosphere prevailed as the townspeople celebrated the hostages’ narrow escape and speculated on Marcus Stash’s character and motives.
When Rill had heard Katie give her statement about trying to get Stash to believe her story about Fordham being involved in prostitution, he’d been amazed at her courage.
Now they were finally home. Rill noticed Barnyard was growing as heavy-eyed as him as the dog stretched in front of the fire on his belly.
Katie walked into the living room, saying her good-byes to her mother on her cell phone. Rill’s fatigue seemed to vanish as he watched her. They’d talked a lot in the past few hours, filled each other in on facts and details of the past week plus, but they hadn’t really touched . . . hadn’t really communed save for that pressured, emotional exchange in the storeroom of the diner.
Katie had changed while he’d been in the shower—he had gotten filthy as he’d chased Sherona across the cinders in the coal room. She’d been so determined in trying to confront Stash and save Derek, Rill had finally come to the conclusion he had no choice but to help her. If he kept arguing with her, Stash would have heard them, and all hell would have broken loose.