“No, it wouldn’t. Kurt would never behave in such a callous manner. Losing my wife, hell yes, that was hard, but a child, Roy, that’s a kick in the gut you can’t imagine. I’ll be damned if I lose my son too.”
Greed ended up costing Malone everything. Giving up after ten minutes, he started to crawl back onto the ATV only to see a cloud of dust hailing the arrival of multiple trucks and horseback riders converging on him. He was so fucked, he groaned, seeing the hard, grim faces staring at him, the number of guns leveled his way, but he aimed to get some satisfaction before going down.
“How’d they get here so fast?” Leslie took a deep breath of relief as she heard and then saw the cavalry coming to their rescue. Less than fifteen minutes had passed since those first shots had threatened her life and her sanity.
“Like I told you, sweetheart, you’re safe with me. Don’t move. They have him penned in between them and us. He’d be a fool to try anything now, but he might be desperate enough to prefer going down in a fight.”
Another truck roared up, slamming to a stop in front of the semicircle of vehicles and horses, all of the cowhands aiming rifles at the lone assailant still squatting behind his ATV. Kurt almost fell over when his father slid out of the passenger seat and lifted his rifle above the door.
“Drop it you motherfucker,” Leland ordered, his voice strong and sure, vibrating with a rage Kurt had never heard before.
“What the hell?” he muttered, confused and yet pleased beyond measure.
Despite the still dicey situation they were in, Leslie giggled, leaning into him. “He loves you, he just hasn’t known how to ask for your forgiveness.”
“But… shit!” Kurt lifted his rifle as their attacker stood and took aim their way, this time looking through binoculars at the same time. Before he could get off a shot, Leland beat him to it, his bullet hitting the man in the shoulder with enough force to drop him. A grin split his face as he grabbed Leslie’s hand and led her out from behind the tree. “That’s my dad. Come on, let’s go home.”
Word traveled fast and by the time they returned to the house, Grayson and his deputies were arriving with sirens blaring, the county ambulance right behind them. After loading his prisoner into the ambulance along with a deputy, the sheriff spent the next hour taking statements from everyone and calling the Feds with an update. The vet arrived to tend Atlas’ wound, which only needed a few stitches and an antibiotic shot, much to Kurt and Leslie’s relief.
As the cowhands started to disperse and return to their chores, Babs stepped onto the porch and announced sloppy joes and corn on the cob for everyone in two hours, a loud cheer greeting her offer. “Let me help,” Leslie insisted, following Babs back into the house. After giving her brief statement that matched Kurt’s to Grayson, she had needed to get out of the testosterone filled den and it had been nice to sit outside without worry. The inner shakes that had begun the moment Kurt had thrown her off Anna Leigh and that gunshot had tossed her back into the nightmare of walking in on Alessandro’s murder were starting to subside. Now, all that was left to contend with was anxiety over the future. Just because one culprit had been taken out didn’t mean another wouldn’t follow.
They made a good team, Leslie thought, working with Babs to brown hamburger and fill buns with the barbequed meat. A long table was set up out front and the simple meal was devoured in no time, the camaraderie among the hands evident in the way they joked around as if nothing untoward had occurred that afternoon. Here less than two weeks, and Leslie realized how much she would miss them, the ranch, and even Leland if she couldn’t stay.
“What’s wrong?” Babs asked, giving her a one-arm hug as they stood side-by-side at the counter cleaning up several hours later. The sun no longer shone through the window and the gray evening cast of twilight mirrored her bleak mood. “Bad guy has been hauled off and everyone is safe, fed and happy.”
“Yes, this time, but what about the next time? I can’t stay here and risk everyone’s safety forever.”
“You won’t be.” Kurt strode into the kitchen, hauling her against him and kissing her with his usual deep possessiveness that she welcomed with a rush of heat. “I needed that. Been a hell of a day.”
“What did you mean?” she asked, licking her lips.
Reaching for the last brownie sitting on a platter, he replied, “If you’d answer your phone, you would know. Edwin Glascott, that albatross around your neck for the last four years, committed suicide, apparently after hearing his hired thug was singing like a canary. You’re free of him, sweetheart, and free to live openly wherever you want.”
“I am?” she squeaked, thrilled beyond measure and yet saddened by another death as Kurt dragged her out of the kitchen.
“You are. Now,” he stated, leading her onto the front porch, “all you have to decide is whether you love me enough to stay here with me, or if you need more time and want to return to your apartment.”
Giddy with relief and pleasure, she flipped him a look of curiosity as he sat down and pulled her onto his lap. “Isn’t returning to Reno one of my options?”
“No. There’s nothing left for you there. Everything you want is here, and now yours for the taking. All you have to do is say yes.” Gripping her hands together, he held them at the wrist as he bent and nipped at her neck before sliding his lips up to her ear. “I love you, Leslie. Is there really anything left for you to think about?”
“Well,” she breathed with a catch as he flicked a nipple and she responded with a flood of liquid heat, “when you put it that way, no, there’s not, Sir. Yes, I’ll stay.”
“That’s my girl.”
Kurt left Leslie soaking in his big bathtub, intending to join her as soon as he wrapped up one more loose end to the day. He found his father in the den, sitting in his favorite recliner, a walker next to him, gazing at Brittany’s picture. How could he have not seen Leland’s ruse before now?
“Did you really think I couldn’t forgive you for lashing out?” he asked, taking a seat on the sofa next to his chair.
“I would have had trouble, if the situation had been reversed.” Leland slid his gaze from his deceased daughter to the son he’d come too close to losing. “But I should have tried. I’m sorry, Kurt. Once you came back, all I could think about was how to keep you here. I feared if I got back on my feet too soon, you would return to Houston, and I would lose my chance to slowly make amends.” He sighed, shaking his head at his own culpability. “Brittany was spoiled, you know that. You were nine when we found out we were going to have another child, and it was such unexpected and wonderful news. When her behavior turned wild in her teens, it was only her close relationship with your mother that kept her in check, I know that now. Without her, Brittany lost her way.”
“We tried, Dad, both of us.” Kurt saw the pain reflected in his father’s eyes and his heart went out to him.
“No.” He shook his head. “I didn’t, not near enough. I laid it all on you because I couldn’t get past my own grief. You were right to leave.”
Eager to get back to Leslie, Kurt stood and reached out to squeeze his dad’s hand. “We’re good, Dad. I’m not leaving again, you’re going to quit hiding your progress and push it even more now, and with luck, you’ll be a grandfather by this time next year.”