Lone Star Justice Page 8

  She lifted the edge of the curtain on the window and peered out. No one on the porch. Her anxiety ratcheted up a notch as she scanned the front yard and driveway. Nothing. She knew she needed to open the door and take a closer look, but the memory of the dummy on her porch in Oklahoma made her hesitate.

  She wished for the first time that she had a gun. She'd refused to learn to shoot because she hadn't wanted a gun in the house when Brandy was little. Now it seemed urgent that she get one and learn to use it. But she had no idea where to begin.

  A noise out front sent her back to the window and her knees sagged in relief when she saw Rand's patrol car at the curb. On shaky legs, she crossed to the door and yanked it open before he could knock, all the while berating herself for being so weak that the mere sight of him made her feel safe. She wasn't a weakling, darn it. But she was acting like one, and that had to stop.

  Rand took one look at Maddie's white face and trembling hands and knew something had happened. "What's wrong?"

  She turned away and drew in a deep breath. "Nothing. It's silly. Someone knocked on the door, but when I looked there was no one there."

  He placed a hand on her arm, but dropped it when she stiffened and stepped away. "Maddie, you've had a stressful week. It's natural to be afraid when someone's threatened someone you love. I was afraid for a long time after my parents were killed, always wondering if someone was going to come after me next."

  When she turned back to face him, her eyes were wide with surprise. "But, why? My father was in jail. He couldn't have hurt you."

  "I never had a chance to tell you, but I wasn't sure your father was the one who killed them. He insisted they were already dead when he arrived. He never wavered from that statement until the day he died." He struggled to keep the accusation from his voice when he added, "You'd have known that if you hadn't run away."

  "I followed the investigation in the paper. But I was there when he grabbed his shotgun. I watched him leave home, so angry it scared me. I tried to call you, to warn you. But no one answered."

  "Which just makes me more certain he was telling the truth. I wasn't home, but my parents were." At her look of confusion, he tried to find the words to explain a feeling he'd buried for years. "Do you remember how much my mother loved phone calls? She always tried to answer on the first ring so she wouldn't miss one. I think if they'd been alive, she would have answered."

  "But you blamed me and my father. I'll never forget the look in your eyes at the funeral, Rand. You hated me that day."

  He shook his head, but he realized he'd never be able to make up for the way he'd treated her. "I was angry at the world, Maddie. I'd just lost my parents and I was on so much medication and in so much pain I didn't even know you were there. If I looked at you, I didn't see you. And if you'd stuck around for a few more days, we could have worked things out."

  A look of anguish flashed across her face before she wrestled her emotions under control once again. "No, I don't think so. The fact that my father killed your parents will always be between us. If I'd stayed we would have destroyed each other. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the current situation."

  "Ah, yes. Stick with the business at hand. Is that how you want it, Maddie?"

  She nodded, then cleared her throat and said, "Yes. The past is past. Let's leave it there. Right now, I need you to teach me to handle a gun, and help me buy one."

  "I can protect you. You don't need a gun."

  "Are you going to be here twenty-four hours a day? What if someone had broken in here instead of knocking and running away? What if someone goes after Brandy and you're not there to stop them? I need a gun, Rand." She balled her fists and set them resolutely on her hips. "If you won't teach me, I'll get someone else to do it."

  He could see she'd made up her mind and nothing he said would change it. "Fine. You'll have to take the concealed handgun course and pass the test. Then we'll file for your license. In the meantime, I'll take you and Brandy out to the firing range and give you some lessons."

  "Brandy? I don't want her handling a gun."

  "If you're going to have one in the house, you both need to know how to use it, and how to do it without hurting yourselves. If she doesn't learn, too, I won't teach you.

  The rental store truck pulled into the driveway, interrupting their conversation. Maddie was tired of arguing, anyway. And Rand was right. If she kept a gun around, then Brandy should at least know the basics of gun safety. The idea of her daughter handling a gun was scary, but having one around without Brandy understanding how dangerous they could be was worse.

  ***

  The summer sun beat down on Maddie's head, sending beads of perspiration trickling across her forehead. She tried to ignore it as she aimed at the target, but it irritated her like a pesky fly. Her shot landed in the upper right quadrant.

  "If that had been a pirate, you'd have shot the parrot right off his shoulder." Rand stood off to the side, arms crossed, a cocky grin on his face. His hat shaded his face, something Maddie resented as much as his smart-assed commentary.

  She used her right hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, forgetting about the gun she held.

  "Hey, watch it! Those are live bullets in that thing. What did I tell you about keeping it pointed at the ground unless you're ready to fire?"

  Maddie carefully lowered the gun and pulled the ear protectors off. "Rand, I'm exhausted. I'm never going to hit that stupid target from this far back. Can't we call it good enough?"

  "Not if you want to pass the CHL test. So what if you can hit a target at point blank range? If you're that close, most likely the bad guy would just take the gun away from you. You have to learn to squeeze that trigger in one smooth stroke instead of anticipating the shot. If you keep jerking it like you've been doing, you're liable to shoot an innocent bystander."

  Brandy watched their exchange as she reloaded her Glock. "Watch, Mom. Do it just like this." With a smooth, confident motion, she brought the gun up and aimed. A hole bloomed in the middle of the target and she turned back with a grin. "See? It's easy."

  Maddie blew her bangs off her face, covered her ears, and raised the gun toward the target once again. Before she could steady her hand, Rand was behind her, so close she could smell the faint odor of aftershave on his skin. His arms came around her and he covered her hands with his callused ones. She shivered in spite of the heat and resisted the temptation to lean back against his broad chest.

  He slid her hearing protector back and his deep voice whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her skin. "Why are you trembling, Maddie? No wonder you can't hit the target."

  She didn't think that had anything to do with missing the target, because the trembling didn't start until his arms closed around her. It had been so long since a man--this man--had held her close.

  "Concentrate. Look at the target. That man is after your daughter. If you don't shoot him, he's going to hurt her. Remember what I taught you. Now, Maddie. Do it now." He settled the earmuff into place and stepped back.

  Maddie mourned the loss of his strength, his closeness, but she shook it off and zeroed in on the target. "I'm going to give him a new belly button." She pulled the trigger back, careful not to flinch when her finger met with resistance. With steady pressure, she squeezed. A neat hole appeared right where she'd aimed.

  "Way to go, Mom!" Brandy gave her two thumbs up and headed back to the picnic tables nestled under the tall oak trees to get a soft drink from the cooler.

  "That was excellent, Maddie." Rand brushed a damp tendril of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

  The path his finger took burned like fire on her sunburned skin and she winced.

  "Why didn't you remind me that you burn easily? You should have worn a hat." He pulled off his hat and was about to place it on her head when she wrinkled her nose at the sweat-stained band. With a grin, he shrugged and said, "Hmmm, maybe not. Hang on. I have a clean one in the unit."

  As he strode away,
Maddie stole a peek at his retreating form and couldn't help but admire the way he'd grown up and filled out. At eighteen, he'd still been skinny and gangly, not having quite gotten used to his longer limbs or having built up the muscles that now rippled against the back of his shirt. His chest was as smooth as his cheeks when they'd made love so many years earlier, but she noticed a mat of dark hair now grew beneath his crisp white t-shirt. And he still had a mighty fine ass.

  The boy had grown into the man she'd only seen glimpses of as a teenager. And he'd kept his word, staying in the town she'd been so anxious to leave. If only he'd kept his word to her--that he would love her until one minute past eternity.

  With a swift move, Maddie turned back to the target and fired. But she never got to see where her bullet landed as a searing pain ripped across her temple and knocked her to the ground.

  ***

  Rand heard the bullet whiz by his cheek a split second before Maddie hit the ground. "Maddie!"

  "Mom!"

  Rand turned to see Brandy racing for her mother. "Get down, Brandy! Dammit, hit the ground!"

  Brandy obeyed, ducking under the squad car. Smart girl.

  Rand dropped to the ground as well and crawled on his belly across the grass to where Maddie lay still as death, her face white. But her eyes were open. "Did someone just shoot me? Or did I somehow manage to shoot myself?"

  He'd never been so glad to hear that smart-assed mouth. "Someone shot at you." He checked her quickly, half-covering her with his body in case they tried again. "Looks like the bullet grazed your temple."

  "Yeah, it burns like hell. Can you let me up now?" She pushed at his chest, but he refused to budge.

  Her eyes widened and he knew she could feel the rapid hardening of his erection against her leg.

  "Unless you're planning to use that weapon, Sheriff, you need to move."

  "Not until I'm sure they aren't going to try another shot. You'll just have to deal with me being on top of you again, at least for the moment." He smiled down at her, and her cheeks reddened.

  She pushed again, harder. "I need to get to Brandy! What if he goes for her next?"

  "Brandy's fine. She's hiding under the car. Not much way he could shoot her unless he's on the ground too, and directly across from her. Most likely he's hightailing it out of here about now."

  Maddie gave up the struggle and lay still. "Aren't you going to go after him?"

  "Nope. We'll bring the dogs in and track him as soon as I get some help out here. First, I'm taking you to Doc so he can check you over."

  "Doc? He hates me. Hell, he might even be the one who shot at me."

  "I doubt it. But now's as good a time as any to find out if he's in the office or out traipsing through the woods." Rand carefully searched the surrounding trees, for any hint of movement, any glint of sun on a rifle barrel. Nothing. "Okay, let's get you up. But keep your head down and stay close to me."

  They made it to the car without being shot, which was a big plus as far as he was concerned. Brandy scooted from beneath the vehicle and wrapped her arms around Maddie's neck. "Oh my Go…goodness, Mom. Are you okay?"

  "Get in the car, both of you. Stay low in the seat until we get to town, okay?" Rand opened the back door and they climbed in. Maddie promptly passed out, her head in Brandy's lap. Brandy bent low over Maddie's head, just below window level.

  Rand took one last look around, then climbed in the car and pulled away from the firing range. If he got his hands on whoever had done this, the guy wouldn't have to worry about jail time. He wouldn't make it that far. But he'd sure picked a hell of a place to pull this off. With discarded shell casings all around the area, and the occasional stray bullet stuck in trees and the dirt mound that served as a back stop, finding the right slug would have been impossible if he hadn't seen the dirt scatter where it hit the ground.

  And that brought up a question. Who had known they'd be out here in the first place?

  ***

  "Damn fool woman. And you're just as big a fool for letting her handle a gun." Doc Meyers kept up a running commentary of derision as he cleaned the bullet wound on Maddie's temple. He made no attempt to be gentle as he scrubbed antiseptic across the wound.

  "Take it easy, Doc." Rand was about ready to go against everything he believed in and deck the man right there in the examining room, in front of nurses he'd known his whole life. "This wasn't her fault. Someone shot at her from the trees. The only thing that kept her from getting killed was the fact that she twisted around at the last second and the bullet grazed her instead of going through the back of her head."

  Doc mumbled something Rand didn't catch, but he was pretty sure it wasn't complimentary. Rand clenched his fists but bit back a retort. Doc noticed his tense stance and subsided into surly silence. With quick movements, he finished cleaning the wound and covered it with gauze.

  Maddie moaned, and Rand picked up her hand and laid it across his palm. She squeezed it tightly, not relaxing until Doc stepped away and stripped off his surgical gloves. As soon as he'd left the room, her eyes opened and searched for Rand.

  "I'm here, Maddie. Are you okay?"

  "Other than being shot, knocked on my ass, then manhandled by Dr. Jeckyl? Oh, and having a killer headache, yeah, I'm doing fine. Where's Brandy?"

  "She's out in the waiting room. Cody is with her. Don't worry, she's fine."

  Maddie's gaze searched his as though to be sure he was telling her the truth. "You sure she wasn't hurt?"

  "No. She's scared and fighting mad, but the shooter only fired once, then took off. I sent a couple of deputies out with the dogs, but the guy had killed a skunk and used it to throw them off his scent."

  "So he got away." Her jaw clenched and she banged her fist against the gurney. "Damn it."

  "This time," he grudgingly admitted. "But we'll catch him and send him to prison where he belongs." If he didn't kill the scumbag first. He never wanted a repeat of the terror he'd experienced when he'd heard the crack of the rifle, then watched Maddie jerk around and collapse to the ground.

  As soon as Doc released her, he was moving into her house, and he'd stay there until this madman was caught or dead. He knew Maddie would be furious but she would just have to deal with it. Nothing she could say would stop him. He hadn't been there when his parents needed him. But, by God, he would be there for Maddie. Even though she hadn't been there for him.

  ***

  "No. You can't move in here. And we're not moving out to the ranch." Maddie wished she could stomp her foot for emphasis, but that would jar her aching head, which wouldleave her howling in pain. She didn't dare show any sign of weakness or Rand would win.

  He leaned against the wall, one booted foot in front of the other, arms crossed. His stance appeared deceptively relaxed, but Maddie could tell by the set of his jaw that he was settled in for a fight. It seemed that much hadn't changed from when they were teenagers. How many times had she seen that look on his face when she'd refused an invitation to have dinner at his house? Or when she'd resisted his efforts to include her in activities with his friends?

  He'd never understood how she felt. She was beneath him. His father had made that very clear the one and only time she'd dared enter the McCade home. She'd remedied that problem by making something of herself, and she'd rebuilt her bruised self-esteem over the years. But she'd also learned to be independent. She needed Rand's help, but she didn't want him to try to take over her life.

  Which he would, if she let him move in with her.

  "You can't stay here alone, unprotected. Granted, I can't be here twenty-four seven, but I can at least keep watch at night." A muscle twitched in his jaw, the only movement in his body that gave away his agitation.

  "That's why you were teaching me to shoot, remember? And I want to get back to it as soon as we can."

  "That's then, and this is now. Doc said you had a mild concussion. Until you've healed, I'm staying here." He pushed away from the wall and stepped forward until they were nose
to nose.

  Maddie didn't flinch, didn't even blink. "No, you're not."

  With a frustrated sigh, he shoved one hand through his hair. Or he would have if there'd been enough of it left after his haircut that morning. She fought back an urge to grin at the familiar gesture, one he'd used often when his long hair blew into his eyes as they rode the horses down to the swimming hole.

  "Maddie, you have to have protection."

  She thought for a moment, knowing he was right. "Okay, I'll get a dog."

  "Not good enough." His gaze bore into hers with an intensity that made her uncomfortable.

  Giving in to that discomfort dented her pride just a bit, but she stepped back. "A dog would be great. He'd bark if someone came near, and protect us if anyone tried to get into the house."

  She could tell he was considering the idea instead of rejecting it again, so she pressed her advantage. "We could get a Pit Bull."

  "No, too unpredictable."

  "Fine, then you tell me what kind. You know a lot about working dogs. Which would be best?" It was an old tactic, giving him input in the decision when he hadn't even agreed to it yet, but it rarely failed. And it didn't fail her this time, either.

  "A Malanois. That's what we use in the K-9 Corp. Problem with that is it would take time to match you with a dog and train you both."

  "So, find me one and I'll do whatever I have to. In the mean time, we could put an alarm on the windows and doors and motion sensor lights outside. I can keep my cell phone with me and call you if there's a problem."

  Rand took a step forward, closing the gap between them once again. "You're more stubborn than I remember." With one finger, he traced the line of her jaw. "And more beautiful."

  "Rand..." She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. "Don't."

  "Don't what? Don't touch you? Don't tell you you're beautiful? I can't help it." He moved his hand into her hair and twirled a curl around his finger. "You don't know what it did to me, seeing you on the ground with blood running from your head. It nearly killed me, Maddie."