A Silverhill Christmas (17 page)

Four men dropped into the middle of the cave, and Tori rolled her body over Max's, peeking over her shoulder at the chaos unfolding. Rod struggled with one of the men, finally smacking him on the back of the head with the butt of his gun. Ryder had already subdued his man with a chokehold, and the man slithered to the floor, unconscious. Rafe had positioned himself at the cave's entrance, weapon aloft, securing the area.

And Rio. Rio! He and Alexi grappled on the cave floor until a gunshot echoed through the caverns. Tori gasped and covered her ringing ears. Her gaze locked on to the two figures. One peeled away from the other.

Rio lurched to his knees, holding his shoulder. Then he scuffled to her side wrapping his arms around her and an awakening Max. Tori pressed Max's face against her side and buried her own in Rio's wet jacket.

“I thought…he told me…” She couldn't finish the thought that had ripped her apart, darkened her world for ever.

“Shh.” He kissed her hair while he rubbed circles on her back. “He left me for dead, but remember? I never finished that soup. How'd you wake up so quickly? I figured we'd find you unconscious.”

“Alexi gave me something to revive me. He just had to gloat. Is he…?”

Ryder dropped Alexi's arm and nodded, running a zipper across his lips and pointing to Max.

“I think he's drifting off again. He had some of our soup. We need to get him to the hospital.”

Rafe burst through the cave opening, waving his gun. “Everything secure? Are there any more, Tori?”

“I didn't see any. What are you going to do with these two?” She gestured to the two men laid out on the cave floor.

“The Agency will pick them up, but you need to lock them up tonight, bro.”

Rod unraveled a length of rope. “We need to revive them to march them out of here. I sure as hell am not going to carry them out of the mountains.”

Rio pushed to his feet and helped Tori to hers, taking a dozing Max from her arms.

A shudder coursed through her body. Alexi dead. Her
nightmare had just ended in the caves of Silverhill. She placed her hand over Rio's heart and even beneath the layers of his jacket, shirt and long underwear she could still feel its steady beat.

“How'd you know? How'd you find me here?”

Rio jerked his thumb toward the three men rousing the prisoners and tying them together for the trek out of the mountains, the mountains they knew like an old familiar friend. “My brothers showed me the way.”

Rio brushed the pad of his thumb across Tori's cheek as she blinked back tears watching Max rip into his biggest present under the tree. A present from the McClintock brothers.

Max dragged a saddle out of the box and shrieked above the already deafening sound of the other McClintock kids tearing wrapping paper and demolishing boxes. Rod's boy, Jesse, crawled to Max on his hands and knees nudging Ryder's little girl, Shelby, out of the way to have a look at Max's big gift. Rafe's daughter, Kelsey, the oldest of the brood, looked on with a superior smirk on her face.

Their mothers, Callie, Dana and Julia, clustered on the sofa, cooing over Julia and Ryder's newborn baby boy.

Max lugged the saddle to his mother. “Can I ride a horse now, Mommy?”

She stroked a curl out of his eye. “Well, someone has to teach your first. You can't just go jumping on a horse, even with a brand-new saddle.”

Max turned his green eyes on Rio. “Can you teach me, Rio?”

Rafe erupted in laughter. “You're going to have to find a better teacher than Rio, son.”

Rio clenched his jaw momentarily until he met his brother's bright blue gaze. He grinned and ruffled Max's hair. “Rafe is right, Max. I think your best bet is Rod 'cuz I heard Rafe is reckless and irresponsible.”

This time Rod laughed as Rafe's mouth hung open. “You got that right, but don't let it get out. He's the sheriff of Silverhill, you know.”

“Help me out here, bro.” Rafe turned to Ryder who had plucked his son from his wife's arms and was dabbing drool from the baby's mouth.

Ryder skewered Rod with a piercing look. “Talk about reckless. At least Rafe met his wife in high school. Rod picked his up by the side of the road, already wearing a wedding dress.”

Callie jumped from the sofa and draped her arms around Rod's shoulders. “Hey, that's totally uncalled for. He was just living up to the McClintock code—protect, serve and rescue.”

“Yeah, and at least he does it here at home instead of in fifty different countries around the world.” Rafe leveled an accusing finger at Ryder.

“You're attacking a man holding a baby? Why are you on me anyway? I just nailed Rod for you since you're still too scared of him to do it yourself.”

Rio's shoulders relaxed as he watched his brothers' inter actions. He knew they fought. He'd heard about some of their disagreements. But it all came back to this—the camaraderie among brothers.

And they had extended that to him. Sure, he knew rescuing Tori and Max had fueled their motivation for helping out the other night, but they hadn't hesitated for
one second. Once Rio had given them the direction of Alexi's truck, they'd known immediately where he had headed…and they'd known how to get there.

Rio had formulated the rescue plan and they had listened. They hadn't tried to tell him to remain behind, even though his presence on the trek could've endangered them all. They'd respected the fact that Rio had to be the one to save Tori and Max. They'd respected him.

He nuzzled Tori's ear. “Are they always like this?”

She curved her hand around his neck. “Yeah, you'll get used to it if you stick around.”

He ran a finger along the crease between her brows. They hadn't discussed the future. Max had been too sleepy to remember much of anything. They'd convinced him that his father had come around to say goodbye because he was ill and had to go away to get better. The CIA had taken custody of Alexi's two thugs, and they'd notified the State Department of the Prince of Glazkova's death.

Glazkova would fly his body home and give him a royal funeral with honors. Alexi's cousin would take over the reins of the little country. Rio hoped he didn't have the same criminal intent as the rest of the royal family because Glazkova's throne would belong to Maksim Zherkov one of these days.

Rio's gaze tracked around the room. A family…a big family with roots. It's all he'd ever dreamed of as a kid. Then he glanced into Tori's green eyes, clouded with questions and uncertainties.

“You will get used to it, won't you?”

He bent down and kissed her mouth. “Right now, I just want to get used to you.”

She smiled beneath his lips and weaved her fingers through his hair to pull him closer. Brothers were handy, but he found all he'd ever dreamed of in Tori's kiss.