Cowboy Behind the Badge (15 page)

Chapter Fifteen

The slow-burning hunger was finally quiet. For a little while, anyway. Laine's body was slack from the pleasure, but she had no doubts—
none—
that the sizzling need would return with a vengeance. Maybe in a day or two, when she and Tucker had this investigation under control.

Or sooner.

The heat trickled through her again when he lifted his head and looked down at her. She'd never been immune to that handsome face. Never would be. Those alarmingly good looks made her want him all over again.

Too bad it wasn't only his looks that drew her in.

Sadly, it was the man himself, the total package, and she wondered if she'd ever get over this thing she had for Tucker.

Probably not.

Making love with him had only strengthened her desire. And that meant she was setting herself up for a broken heart.

“Man,” Tucker mumbled. “When I mess things up, I go for broke.”

Laine dredged up a smile, located his mouth and kissed him. “I should probably be insulted by that.”

He made a sound of disagreement. “You should probably slug me and toss me out of your bed.”

Slugging and tossing Tucker were the last things she wanted. Well, unless he continued to talk like that. Yes, it was a mistake, but it certainly hadn't felt like one, and she wanted him to feel the same conflicted emotions she was—but not for another few minutes.

Tucker groaned, moved off her and flopped onto his back beside her. Laine braced herself for more chatter about how wrong all of that had been, but he merely leaned over and returned the kiss she'd given him earlier.

“I can't stay,” he mumbled, easing off the bed.

And she wondered just how many times he had said that to a woman. Tucker certainly wasn't the sort to linger after landing in bed, but she'd hoped for a little more time.

Well, at least she had a view to admire.

Mercy. How could any man look that good with so little sleep, especially after all the stress they'd been through?

“I want to call Egan and make sure the twins arrived at the safe house,” he added.

That got her moving off the bed, too. Laine certainly hadn't forgotten about the babies, but she hadn't thought they'd be able to contact them so soon. Or at all.

“Will they be there already?” she asked.

“Maybe. I doubt he'll take them too far away since there are several safe houses in the area. But if they haven't gotten to one of them yet, I'll find out when they're due to arrive and how much backup Egan has with him.”

Good. She wanted every precaution to be taken. “A call will be secure?” The last thing she wanted was for the kidnappers to find the twins and go after them again.

“Our phones are secure.” And he pressed the Ranger's number. Sergeant Egan Caldwell answered on the first ring.

“We're still driving around,” he volunteered. “The kiddos are fine.”

Laine prayed that it would stay that way.

“Someone did try to follow us,” the Ranger went on. “The guy was darn persistent, too, but I managed to lose him about fifteen minutes ago.”

Had her heart stopped for a few seconds? It'd certainly felt like it. She'd known the kidnappers were likely watching them. Would perhaps try to follow them, too. But it was gut-wrenching to hear it spelled out.

“You're certain you lost the guys following you?” Tucker asked Egan.

“Positive. And I won't go anywhere near the safe house until I'm sure they haven't picked up our trail. It's not that far from town so I'll call you once I have everyone settled.”

Tucker thanked him and ended the call, but then he just stared at the phone. The muscles in his jaw started to work hard against each other.

“If you decide to adopt them, I'll help.” He didn't exactly look comfortable with that offer, but when his eyes met hers, Laine could see that it was genuine. “Not that I know much about babies, but—”

“But you care for them,” she finished for him. “I understand.”

Her mind immediately started to weave a fantasy. Of the two of them taking care of the babies together. Of them landing in bed for another mind-blowing round of lovemaking. But Laine forced aside those images. Tucker's offer certainly hadn't included playing house with her.

Had it?

The fantasy took off again like a bee-stung horse, but this time it was the sound of Tucker's phone that nipped it in the bud. Laine's attention snapped to the screen, where she thought she might see Sergeant Caldwell's name, but instead she saw Colt's.

“We found Buford,” Colt announced the moment Tucker answered.

Both fear and relief jolted through her. She wanted the monster found, but Laine prayed he was nowhere near the babies.

“Where is he?” Tucker asked his brother.

“At your house.”

Laine did a mental double take. Tucker's house was only a quarter mile away. Way too close.

The muscles in Tucker's face tightened again. “Please tell me you have him under arrest.”

“Not yet. One of the deputies from Appaloosa Pass spotted Buford and went in pursuit. Buford ditched his truck not far from the ranch and ran on foot through the pasture to get to your house. He's inside, but we have him surrounded. Some of the ranch hands are coming to help so Buford won't be able to sneak out.”

“Good. I'll be there in a few minutes.” Tucker ended the call and immediately finished dressing. “You'll stay here,” he insisted before she could say a word.

Not that Laine wanted to go with him. But she also didn't want him rushing out into possible gunfire.

Even if it was his job.

She got a solid reminder of that when he put on his shirt, badge attached, and then slid on his shoulder holster. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he dropped another kiss on her mouth, and Laine had to hurry to keep up with him when he rushed out of the room and down the stairs.

“Reset the security system and stay away from the windows when you go back up to your room,” Tucker instructed at the front door. “I'll call my dad and let him know what's going on so he can come upstairs and stay with you. Rosalie's in the house, too.”

He rattled off the security code, and just like that, Tucker was gone.

Laine watched him from one of the sidelight windows. It was already dusk, but she had no trouble seeing him get into one of the trucks parked alongside the house. And he wasn't alone. Two armed ranch hands got in with him, and they sped away. Another ranch hand stayed, standing guard in front of the house.

She hadn't realized she was shaking until she locked the door and pressed in the security code. Once she had that done, Laine didn't waste any time getting upstairs. She turned off the lights, and despite the fact she wanted to see if she could spot Tucker's place from any of the windows, she stayed back.

And she waited.

The seconds crawled by. So did the thoughts in her suddenly wild imagination.

This time it was not a fantasy of playing house with Tucker, but rather a stream of images of another gunfight. She seriously doubted that Buford would just surrender, and that meant Tucker, his brother and anyone else out there were in danger because Buford would have come armed and ready to kill.

Since she couldn't see what was going on, Laine tried to level her breathing so she could hear. Tucker's place was just up the road. Thankfully, she didn't hear any gunshots.

Laine was so focused on listening for those shots that she nearly jumped out of her skin when there was a knock at the door. She eased it open to see Tucker's father. He had a gun tucked in the waist of his jeans.

Roy slipped a phone into her hand. “Tucker said he'd call you on this number when he had Buford.”

“Thanks.” She must have looked even more terrified than she felt because Roy gave her arm a gentle pat. A generous gesture, considering what had gone on between their families.

“I'll be in my room right across the hall.” He started to turn, but then he stopped and caught her gaze. “I'm old but I'm not blind. I can see what's happening between Tucker and you.”

Uh-oh. She braced herself for another lecture like the one her mother had given her, but that wasn't a lecturing look in Roy's eyes.

“For what it's worth, I've always thought you were a good woman. Good for Tucker, too.”

Laine had to stop her mouth from dropping open.

“Neither of you can probably see that because of the way circumstances put you in the middle of a mountain-sized mess,” Roy went on. “Still, if I were you, I wouldn't give up on him just yet.”

She shook her head. “But what about the rest of your family?”

He lifted his shoulder, gave a weary sigh. “Sometimes folks don't know what's best for them until it knocks them upside the head.”

They shared a smile so brief that when Roy walked away, Laine wasn't even sure it'd happened. Once Roy was inside his room, Laine went back into hers. However, she'd barely managed to get the door shut when she heard a sound.

Not gunfire.

This was a loud humming noise, and it took her a moment to realize what it was. The security alarm. Someone had opened a window or a door.

She forced herself not to panic. After all, Rayanne, Rosalie and Mary were in the house, and any one of them could have gone outside. She stepped into the hall, waiting for someone to punch in the access code so the humming wouldn't go to a full wail.

But that didn't happen.

The alarm blasted through the house, and Roy hurried out into the hall. Soon other doors opened, too, and Rosalie came out from the guest room that she'd been using when the babies had been at the ranch.

“Where's your sister?” Roy immediately asked.

Rosalie shook her head. “She went back over to the guesthouse right after the Rangers took the twins. She said something about going through some of Seth's notes for the trial. Mary's in town. As far as I know, we're the only ones here.”

Roy hurried to the keypad on the wall near the front of the stairs. “Someone triggered the alarm in one of the downstairs windows.”

That sent Laine's stomach to her knees. Rayanne and Mary wouldn't have come in that way. She grabbed her phone and saw that she had no service.

Had someone managed to jam it?

Laine knew there were devices that people could use to disrupt phone signals. There'd been news reports about them. Had that happened now? And if so, who'd done it?

“Mary? Rayanne?” Roy shouted. “Who's down there?”

No one answered.

But even over the screech of the alarm, Laine heard the footsteps on the stairs. Someone was coming directly toward them.

* * *

T
UCKER
 
STEPPED
 
FROM
 
his truck, and with the two ranch hands following, he made his way to Colt, who'd taken cover behind his sheriff's cruiser.

Parked next to Colt and also behind cover was the deputy from Appaloosa Pass. With two hands guarding the back of the house, hopefully there was no way Buford could escape.

“Any sign of where he is in the house?” Tucker asked his brother.

Colt shook his head. “But Deputy Grange said he saw him go in through the back door.”

A door that Tucker had likely left unlocked in his hurry to get Laine and the babies out of there the last time Buford had paid them a visit. Not that a simple lock would have stopped a man like Buford, but it might have slowed him down enough for the deputy to make an arrest.

Or kill him.

“Deputy Grange said Buford seemed to be staggering when he ran inside,” Colt added.

Tucker shook his head. “You mean staggering like a wounded man?”

“Maybe. He couldn't tell. But it's possible Buford hurt his ankle or something.”

Too bad the injury hadn't been enough to make him collapse in the yard. Being inside put the man in the catbird seat since there were plenty of windows through which to take shots at them.

Colt glanced at Tucker and did a double take. “You okay?”

Tucker automatically scowled, since he really didn't want to be questioned about his state of mind. Or maybe it was the well-pleasured vibe he might be giving off. “Yeah. Well, okay for someone about to face down a killer. Why?”

“You just look funny, that's all.” And Colt took another long glance.

Probably at Tucker's messed-up hair, wrinkled clothes and few missed buttons on his shirt. Tucker probably had Laine's scent all over him. A brother would pick up on that.

A smart brother would keep his mouth shut about it, though.

Especially since Laine was a topic on which Colt and he would probably never see eye to eye.

Heck, two days before Tucker and she hadn't seen eye to eye, either. Sex changed things. It broke down barriers. Put the past in a different perspective. It was also distracting the heck out of him at the worst possible time.

Obviously, Colt was a smart brother, because he didn't push the subject.

“Right before all of this happened, I got a call about the twins,” Colt continued a moment later. He reached into the cruiser and took out a tear-gas-canister gun. “SAPD talked with Dawn's aunt. She's sixty-four and about to retire. She doesn't want to raise the twins.”

Despite everything else going on, that was a relief. It would be for Laine, too, and he couldn't wait to tell her the news.

Except it might only be temporary good news.

“What about Laverty's family?” Tucker asked. After all, Laverty was the birth father, and his kin would have a say in custody. “Is it possible they'll want to claim the babies?”

“No next of kin. He has some distant cousins, all in jail. None of them would pass a background check, much less qualify to get custody of his offspring.”

Again, that was good, and once he had Buford out of the house and back in custody, it might be something Laine and he could celebrate.