B01EU62FUC (R) (14 page)

Jesse looked at the clock on his phone for the fifteenth time since Valerie left. Where was she? He stood up and walked to the hostess. “Would you check the restroom? My wife went in there a long time ago, and I’m worried about her.”

The blonde shook her head. “I saw her leave the restaurant at least twenty minutes ago.”

“What? Do you know where she was going?”

“She didn’t say anything to me. She went to your car, and then she started running down the street.”

Jesse closed his eyes, fear gripping him. She’d gone to rescue Rikki. There was no doubt in his mind. She must have gotten a call while she was in the bathroom, telling her where her sister was. He hoped she’d gone to the car for the handgun.

He strode toward the exit, almost bumping into a girl no bigger than Valerie. “Sorry, miss.”

“Jesse!” She grabbed his arm. “Valerie went to the motel down the street, so Curtis would let me go. She said to come to you and tell you she was okay, but I’m scared. He was so mad at her for marrying you!”

He’d never seen the girl before, but there was no doubt in his mind this was his new sister-in-law. “Rikki, I need you to call the police. Do you have a phone?”

She shook her head. “No. He took it from me.” Tears were streaming down her face, and her clothes were dirty and wrinkled, but she was a beauty just like her sister.

Jesse looked at the hostess. “Can she use your phone to call the police?”

The hostess nodded, her eyes wide. This kind of situation didn’t happen often in the sleepy little town of Wiggieville, Texas. “Tell me where Valerie is. Do you know the room number?”

“One-twenty-two. She’s in there with him.” Rikki was practically hysterical.

Jesse put his hand on her arm for a moment to calm her before turning and running out the door. It was just minutes before he was at the hotel, pounding on the door to the room. “Valerie! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” she called back. A moment later the door opened, and she handed him the gun in her hands before flinging herself at him. There were no tears, but she was shaking hysterically.

“Where is he?” Jesse couldn’t see Curtis anywhere.

He heard a groan from the other side of the bed, and pushing Valerie behind him, he hurried over to look down at the injured man on the floor. “You shot him.” He turned to Valerie with a combination of shock and pride in his eyes.

“Of course, I shot him. He was about to kill me with his bare hands.”

Jesse looked at her for a moment before looking back down at the man on the floor. It looked like she’d shot him in the shoulder. “Why was he going to kill you?” He’d been sure Curtis would hit her, but killing her had seemed out of the realm of possibilities.

“Because I told him I married you because I loved you. He wanted me to tell him you forced me.”

“Why did you tell him that?” Jesse wasn’t quite able to understand what was happening. He heard the sirens outside and breathed a sigh of relief. Soon he’d have her alone.

“Because it’s the truth.”

“What?” He looked back at her quickly, not feeling like he could keep his eyes off Curtis for long. “You love me?” This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have in front of other people, but he had to know exactly what she was telling him.

She nodded. “Since the first moment we kissed, I craved to be with you. I spent all my time thinking about you. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it sooner.”

“You have the worst sense of timing of any woman I’ve ever met. Do you know that?”

She laughed. “Why? I promised myself I wouldn’t tell you until the danger from Curtis was over. It’s over. Now I’m telling you.”

Jesse felt his heart pounding in his chest. His arms ached to hold her, but he didn’t trust Curtis not to have a weapon on him, so he continued to stand there with his handgun pointed at the other man. “Rikki called the police for us.”

On cue two police officers rushed into the room. The same officer who had helped them with the restraining order was one of them. He looked at Jesse. “Drop your weapon!”

Jesse immediately did as he was told, backing away from the gun. “Just making sure things didn’t get out of hand before you got here.

“That him?” Officer Hamilton asked Valerie.

She nodded. “I shot him when he came after me. He kidnapped my sister in Iowa and brought her here.”

“Where’s your sister?”

“I don’t know.” She looked at Jesse. “She went to get my husband, and she’s the one who called you. Is she still at the steak place?”

“I have no idea.” Jesse frowned. “I guess someone should go see if she’s there.”

Rikki stumbled into the room. “I’m here!”

Officer Hamilton turned to Rikki, while his partner helped Curtis onto the bed. “We’re going to need an ambulance,” the partner said, pulling his radio off his belt. He quickly explained the situation.

Officer Hamilton asked, “Can you tell me what happened?”

Rikki explained about how he’d approached her outside the grocery store where she worked. “He told me that he needed to talk to someone who loved Valerie as much as he did. I thought he was really hurting because of their break up.” She looked over at Valerie, her eyes pleading for understanding.

Valerie leaned against Jesse, her back to his chest. “You have a soft heart.”

Rikki brushed away a tear. “And it almost got you killed.” She sniffled. “So I got in his van with him so we could go get a cup of coffee and talk. He drove us out of town, and I realized what he was doing, so I told him to pull over. I figured I could walk back to town. Instead, he tied my hands together and forced me in the back of the van he was driving.”

Jesse listened, his arms around his wife. He so badly wanted to be alone with her to talk, but he knew they needed to get this over with first.

“So he drove you here from Iowa?” Officer Hamilton prompted.

She nodded. “He took me on Thursday night.”

“Do you know if your disappearance was reported?”

Jesse nodded. “I know it was. I talked to her mother on Friday, and she was filing a police report then.”

“All right, go on.” Officer Hamilton was making note of everything Rikki said.

“He brought me here. I had no idea where we were until he got on the phone with my sister. He called her from my phone, because he said she’d blocked his calls.”

Officer Hamilton met Valerie’s eyes. “I talked to her a couple of weeks ago about the situation. She had already blocked his calls then.”

“Well, he called her and told her how to find me. Then he let me talk to her for a minute, so she’d know I was all right.”

“Why didn’t you call the police at that point, Mrs. Savoy?”

Valerie met the officer’s eyes. “I was afraid he’d hurt Rikki if I didn’t follow his instructions exactly.”

“Where were you when you received the call?”

“Jesse and I spent time in the field near the set today. He taught me how to shoot, because we were worried I’d need to defend myself. When we were finished, we came into town to eat at the little steakhouse down the road.” She took a deep breath, finding strength in her husband’s touch. “I went to the restroom, and while I was in there, I got the phone call. So I went to the car, got the handgun we’d been practicing with, and I loaded it. Curtis never expected me to fight back, so he didn’t look for it.”

“I see. Did you just come in and shoot him? Or did he threaten you?”

Valerie put her hand over Jesse’s where it was resting on her waist. “I whispered to Rikki to go to Jesse while I untied her hands. After Rikki was out of the room, he asked why I’d married my husband. I was honest with him, and told him I loved Jesse. That made him angry, and he got agitated. He told me he was going to kill me, and he walked toward me with his hands outstretched, so I shot him. I was aiming for his shoulder. I didn’t want to kill him, but I needed him not to hurt me.”

Officer Hamilton jotted down a few more notes. “It sounds like you did the right thing. Well, except for the fact that you should have informed the police instead of coming in to save your sister yourself. You do realize how dangerous that was, don’t you?”

She nodded. “I also knew I couldn’t be responsible for anything happening to my sister.”

“I see.” He wrote something else.

The paramedics came in then, taking Curtis out on a stretcher and stalling the discussion. Officer Hamilton’s partner went with them.

Once they were gone, Officer Hamilton turned to Valerie. “I don’t think I’m going to have a problem corroborating your story. If I have more questions, I’ll contact you on the set.”

Valerie nodded. “Thank you.” She turned to her sister. “You’re coming back with us tonight. We’ll call Mom together.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t want me to stay in this hotel room.”

“Never.” Valerie turned in Jesse’s arms. “Amber is on set. I’m sure she’ll be happy to have Rikki stay with her. I’m sure she’s not going to want to be alone for a while.”

“I hope so,” Jesse whispered, his words only loud enough for her to hear. “I need my wife all to myself tonight.” He knew it was selfish with her sister having gone through so much, but he needed her to tell him she loved him again. And he needed to be able to hear it repeatedly as he held her and made love with her.

The three of them walked down the street back to Jesse’s car. “We never did eat,” he said with a frown.

“I’m not up to sitting and eating a steak at this point. I want to get back.” Valerie’s eyes met Jesse’s and he understood her completely.

“Fast food it is,” Rikki said from her position in the back seat. “I’m starving. He hasn’t been feeding me much.”

“Oh, I never thought of that. We can go to the restaurant if you want.”

“I don’t want. I want to get somewhere I can sleep.” Rikki yawned. “I haven’t exactly slept much either.”

They drove through a chain fast food place and ordered their food. Rikki was asleep before they even got there. Valerie ordered for her sister, and they drove back to the set. When they arrived, she woke Rikki. “We need to eat.”

Rikki got out of the car, not quite steady on her feet. She followed Valerie into her trailer. “This is our home away from home.”

Rikki barely glanced around, sitting down at the small table and eating the burger in front of her. While she ate, Valerie called their mother. “Mom, he brought her here. She’s safe. Curtis is in the hospital.”

“What did Jesse do to him?”

Valerie bit her lip for a moment. “Nothing. I shot him.” She couldn’t believe how proud she was that she’d put a bullet through another human. She’d done what she needed to do to protect herself and her sister though, and that’s what mattered.

She could almost hear her mother’s surprise across the phone line. “
You
shot him? Really?”

“Really. He’s in the hospital, but he’ll be going to jail.”

“Can I talk to Rikki?”

Valerie looked at her sister. “Mom needs to hear your voice, I think.”

Rikki took the phone, still munching on a french fry. “Hey, Mom. Yeah, I’m good. Jesse is just as sexy in person as he is on television, but he only has eyes for Valerie. Yeah, I guess it’s good he loves his wife so much, but it would be nice if he just looked at me like I was beautiful for one minute.”

Valerie bit her lip to stifle a laugh, turning to Jesse. “Have I mentioned my sister has a huge celebrity crush on you?”

Jesse grinned at her. “I don’t think you did.”

“She does.” Valerie’s eyes were full of laughter as they met his.

“I gather that.”

She took the step that separated them into his arms and wrapped her arms around him. “I love you so much,” she whispered, her lips going to his.

“Mom, they’re kissing right in front of me. Yeah, it looks just like it does when they kiss on television. They’re getting
me
all hot and bothered.”

Valerie ignored her sister as she clung to her husband. “I’m going to wander over to Amber’s so she can come meet Rikki and let her spend the night.”

“Do you think she’ll mind?”

Valerie shook her head. “I don’t think so. She’s so happy we’re together, she’ll do anything to give us some privacy.”

Valerie walked two trailers down and brought her friend back. When they arrived, Jesse was on the phone with her mother. “I think she probably does need a day or two to recover. We’ll put her on a plane on Monday evening. I think she’d enjoy watching a day of filming.” He paused, a grin on his face. “I think that’s a wonderful idea. We’ll pick you up tomorrow. Text me with your flight information.”

He ended the call and looked at Valerie. “Your mom is going to fly in tomorrow. She doesn’t think Rikki should fly alone yet, and she wants to meet your new husband.”

Valerie sighed. “I’ve been married for over three weeks. I’m practically an old married woman now.” She looked at Amber. “Amber, this is my sister, Rikki. Rikki, my best friend, Amber.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Rikki said, stars in her eyes. “I can’t believe I get to meet so many famous people all at once.” She smiled. “Of course, it’s like Amber and I are the same person, since Amber plays Jo’s sister.”

Amber smiled. “Well, this famous person has decided you’re her sister and not her, so let’s go to my place. You’re camping with me tonight.”

Rikki frowned. “I don’t have any clothes.”

Valerie went to her closet and pulled out jeans and a T-shirt as well as a pair of pajamas. “There. We’re the same size.”

Rikki took the clothes and hugged her sister. “Thank you.”

“No problem.”

After Rikki and Amber had left, Valerie turned to Jesse. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Don’t ever do that to me again. What were you thinking?”

She sighed. “I knew you’d be mad, but I had to do it myself. I had to prove to myself that I’m a strong, capable woman.”

Jesse walked to her, pulling her against him. “You are a very strong capable woman. I don’t know how no one sees it.”

“So you’re going to quit trying to surround me with bubble wrap?”

He shrugged. “Now that Curtis is in custody, I will let you do what you want.” He kissed her softly. “As long as you keep telling me you love me.”

She smiled up into his eyes, her arms wrapping around his shoulders. “I love everything about you. You are the man of my dreams, and I’m so sorry I didn’t realize it years ago.”