Cowboy Love in Peril [Love: The Cowboy Way 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (5 page)

And the pressure from Brandon wasn’t making things easier for her. He seemed to think that marriage between Kimber and Wade was the answer to all their problems. Brandon claimed he was happy to stay on the edges of the relationship for the sake of the kids. He planned to continue to work with Wade but keep his family ranch and, as far as anyone else was concerned, that would be where he lived. Kimber felt a little ashamed that his willingness to step back in order to make things simpler for her and the girls had her wondering at the depth of his feelings for her. He had no family of his own outside of the one he shared with her, Wade, and the kids. Why was he so eager for her to be someone else’s wife? Okay, so she totally agreed with his point about how her parents would ask questions if she suddenly married someone other than Wade, but he didn’t need to seem so damn keen about the idea!

Kimber felt a pang of yearning as she thought of her parents living with her grandmother over the border in Arizona. She hadn’t been back to see them in a while and the twins had changed so much in the months since. The fear that they might start dropping not-so-subtle hints again, about why she and Wade still hadn’t made things legal, gave her a moment’s hesitation, but she was damned if she was gonna deprive her kids of their extended family because she was scared of a difficult conversation.

A wave of nausea hit her without warning, as the thought of another difficult conversation she was going to be forced to start one day soon tore through her mind. Brandon and Wade loved the children so much, every bit as much as she did. Kimber had known that, one day, they’d have to deal with the paternity of the kids. She just wasn’t prepared for it to become an issue so soon, or become so obvious—to her, at least. Maybe she was the only one who could see how much the kids looked like their father. Brandon nor Wade had mentioned it at all.

As the minutes ticked by and the night deepened around her, Kimber decided she would be leaving for Arizona in the morning. How long for, she didn’t yet know. A knot formed in her stomach at the thought of being away from Brandon and Wade for even a few days. She felt tears prick the back of her eyes when she realized that she couldn’t tell them her plans. They would do their best to talk her out of leaving, but she desperately needed the time and space to figure out what
she
wanted,
and
find the courage to tell them about the children.

She tiptoed from the babies’ room and crept back into bed. Wade and Brandon didn’t stir, not even when she reached for their hands, clutching them to her chest, as silent tears coursed down her cheeks long into the night.

“Where the hell is everyone?”

Wade’s shout echoed around the empty kitchen and he listened for a moment to see if he got a reply before heading to the fridge to grab a glass of juice.

Neither Kimber, Brandon, nor the kids were in the house as he’d expected them to be, and he was starting to get an uneasy feeling about it. Brandon had disappeared first thing with some vague excuse about Seth needing help, but when Wade had gone to see if everything was okay at the Reed place, Seth claimed not to have seen Brandon at all.

Wade had left the house early that morning, foregoing the usual routine he shared with Brandon of getting the girls up and giving them their breakfast so Kimber could sleep in a little. He loved sharing that time with them every day. He missed out on so many of the fun parts of having babies around, due to the relentless demands of running two ranches, that every moment he had with the girls was precious, and he knew Brandon felt the same way.

He groaned as he thought of Brandon and the storm brewing between them. Wade had done his best to avoid the subject of marriage, and he knew Kimber and Brandon were hurt and bewildered by his reluctance to talk about it. He couldn’t explain it to them, not until one of them noticed what he’d seen a few months back.

Jessica and Emily were angelic little girls, blessed with blonde hair and cornflower-blue eyes like their mother. They were also starting to look a hell of a lot like Brandon.

Wade had first noticed one morning a couple of months earlier when he’d walked in to the nursery to find Brandon dozing in the rocking chair, holding the sleeping girls in his arms. Emily’s lips were pursed as if ready to kiss someone and Wade got a lump in his throat at how cute she looked doing it. Jessica was doing it, too. And so was Brandon.

The shared likeness between the three was so obvious, Wade laughed a little at first, stunned that he’d never noticed it before. But the smile slipped from his face and he didn’t feel like laughing any more as a thousand emotions rushed through him and the sound of his pounding heart drowned out every other noise.

The sense that he’d inserted himself into what was meant to be Kimber and Brandon’s lifelong love affair tied his gut in knots. Fate had brought Brandon back to Kimber, despite all the years and misunderstandings that had separated them, and now they had children to bind them even closer. Their lives would probably have turned out exactly the same way, Wade or no Wade. For all the difference he’d made, he may as well not have been involved at all.

The room got lighter as the sun rose higher in the sky, and Wade had no idea how long he’d actually been standing in the doorway staring at Brandon and the kids, when the sound of Kimber’s voice behind him startled him out of his trance.

“They look like a trio of sleeping angels, don’t they?” Kimber’s voice trailed away, and Wade wondered for a moment if she was seeing what he was. The girls may not have been identical twins but they were still so much alike, they might only have one father. But before he could read her face to see if she was thinking the same thing, she tiptoed across to Brandon and the children, kissing each of them on the cheeks until they began to wake up.

“Grab Emily for me, will you?” Kimber said to Wade, holding the wriggling child out to him. He smiled as he took her, turning away from the others so they wouldn’t see the sudden moisture in his eyes. Emily stared up at him in that weird way babies do, like they can see right through your soul, and Wade smacked his lips at her, encouraging her into playing the “blow daddy a kiss” game, until Kimber came and whisked her away.

Pain mingled with relief as he was suddenly left alone to his thoughts, and he knew he had to get away for a few hours. Kimber and Brandon had bought his lame excuse about going into town for parts for some machinery he claimed was broken, the pair of them engrossed in the kids again seconds after he’d spoken. Wade lurked in the doorway a moment, watching the family he was no longer sure he was a part of, start their day.

“Where’s Kimber?”

Brandon’s sudden appearance in the kitchen brought Wade out of his reverie. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“I’ve been busy all morning and haven’t been up to the house until now.”

“You sure you two haven’t been off playing hooky together?” Wade cussed himself out mentally moments after he’d asked the damn fool question.
Since when didn’t he trust Brandon?

“Didn’t her note say where she was going?” Wade looked at Brandon to see what in hell he was going on about, then followed his gaze over to the vase in the center of the table with an envelope propped up against it. “I hope she’ll be back soon, because I really have to talk to you both.”

“Was that there this whole time?” He laughed at his stupidity but it sounded strained, even to his own ears. The concern etched into Brandon’s face spiked Wade’s nerves but he went ahead and tore the envelope open, curiosity over the discovering the contents of the letter Kimber had left them winning out over his need to find out what Brandon might say.

He stared at the words for a second, unable to make sense of them at first. “She’s gone to her parents. Doesn’t say when she’ll be back.”

Brandon came over and took the note off Wade to check it for himself, as if he didn’t believe what he’d been told, and scanned it quickly. He shoved the note back at Wade and began to pace, his hand rubbing at the back of his neck, a sure sign he was stressing out about something. But when he spoke, his voice was calm and steady. “Okay, maybe it’s for the best.”

“What do you mean?”
Did he know about the kids? Come to think of it, did Kimber? Maybe they both knew and that’s why she’d run off and Brandon seemed so fucking calm about it?

Brandon looked at his watch and grimaced, as if the clock was ticking down on something vital. “Why don’t you go with her? Go join her and the girls in Arizona and check she’s really okay and not still upset about what happened the other day.”

“First, I’m pretty sure she didn’t take off with the kids without telling us because she wanted to see either of us right now. And second, I ain’t going anywhere ‘til you tell me what in hell is going on.”

“I don’t have time.” Brandon turned toward the door.

Wade got to him before he made it out of the room, grabbing his arm in a vise-like grip. “Make time.”

Brandon looked about ready to make a fight of it, but the anger drained out of his face almost immediately and he became cold and efficient, like the soldier he used to be—a side of him Wade hadn’t seen in a very long time. “You’ve got half an hour to tell the foreman he’s gonna have to run the place until you get back, then meet me at my place, ready to travel. Tell Jake I heard there are rustlers about and to keep his rifle on him at all times. If he apprehends anyone, I want to know immediately, understood?”

“But, what—”

“I don’t have time!” Brandon’s patience snapped, but he reigned it back in quickly. “I’ll explain when we’re on the road. Don’t wait around to pack anything, just take your wallet and lock up the house. I’m leaving in thirty minutes, with or without you.”

Brandon tore out of Wade’s grip and bolted through the door. Something was very wrong, but what the fuck was it? His gut tightened into a cold knot of fear as a terrifying thought hit him. Had Travers escaped?

Wade moved faster than he needed to, doing as he’d been instructed, and getting to Brandon’s place with fifteen minutes to spare. He tooted the horn, swearing to himself that he was gonna go in and beat the truth out of Brandon if he didn’t get his ass out here and in the truck. Finally, Brandon appeared, his expression grim.

“Drop me at the base, then head for her grandma’s place in Eagar,” he said as he ran to the truck. “We can’t be sure how long it will take you to get there with the weekend traffic, but I’ll be happier once you’re with her.”

“What do you mean ‘we can’t be sure’? Who else you been talking with?”

Brandon gestured that Wade should start driving. “The captain.”

“So I was right, this is something to do with Travers. Has he escaped?”

“No, he’s dead.”

Wade cast a glance at Brandon. “Isn’t that good news as far as we are concerned?”

Brandon shook his head. “Not when it was Costanza who had him killed. At cell check this morning, Travers was found dead in his bunk with a bullet in the back of his head. A couple of hours later, I got a call from Costanza.”

“How the fuck did he get your number?”

“I don’t know. He’s got somebody working on the outside for him though. He told me his men have taken a judge hostage, and he will have them executed if I don’t go to him today.”

“What!” Wade swerved the truck onto a dusty verge, spinning in his seat to face Brandon. “Tell me you’re not going.”

“I have to.”

“Why does it have to be you? Let someone else handle it. Anyway, you can’t just walk into a prison. Why the fuck is your boss letting you do this?”

Brandon placed his hand on Wade’s forearm, squeezing it hard. “I’ll explain everything, but we’ve got to keep moving. I need you to drop me at the base and leave the truck there. Can you catch a bus to get you to Eager? I don’t want to risk anyone following you.”

“Okay.” Wade pulled onto the highway and threw a glance Brandon’s way. “Explain to me again why you have to be the one to go.”

Brandon ignored Wade’s sarcasm. “I’m the one Costanza wants. He’s settling old scores, I guess. Someone must have smuggled in a phone so he could organize everything from inside. He knew when he spoke to me that I’d have to get the authorities involved, but he doesn’t care. Costanza won’t tell anyone but me who the judge is or where they’re being held.”

“You sure he’s not bluffing? I’m damn sure someone would have noticed if a judge had gone missing.”

Brandon shrugged. “It’s the weekend so maybe nobody has noticed yet. The Feds just confirmed they’ve got a lead on one—some female judge who hasn’t been seen by her family since yesterday.”

Wade could hear Brandon’s words, but they weren’t sinking in. All he could think of, all that mattered, the only thought going round and round in his head, was that Brandon would be dead before sundown if he went to Costanza. “He’s gonna kill you.”

“He’s gonna try. But I’m not going in alone. I’ll have some of the team close by for back up. They’ve already infiltrated the prison population. There are so many guys going in and out of those places on a daily basis, Costanza and anyone he has on his payroll won’t be suspicious of any new faces.”

“None of that matters if he’s not planning to come out of this alive. If he can organize something like this, then he could have escaped. Why didn’t he—have you thought of that?”

“He wants me dead. And he wants to be the one to do it.”