Soul Deep (18 page)

Janet met Jack’s gaze, and he saw
determination in her eyes, not fear.

“Toss your piece over here.” Luke’s gaze was
on Jack’s Colt. “Nice and easy.”

Jack kept his aim steady, sighting on Luke’s
forehead. “If you think I’m going to hand over my weapon just
because you’re pointing a gun at Ms. Killeen, you’ve been watching
too much television.”

Luke glared at him. “You don’t understand.
All I have to do is pull this trigger—”

“Harm the woman I love, and there will be no
escape for you anywhere on this earth. Do you understand me?” Jack
waited for an answer, then repeated his question, this time
shouting. “
Do you understand me?
”

Luke jumped, but didn’t lower the pistol. “It
didn’t have to be like this, you know. You were starting to trust
me, and then she had to get involved.”

Jack couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You shot Chinook, my champion stallion, to make me trust you?”

Goddamn.

Janet had been right.

“I wanted you to see how good I was with
horses so you’d let me take care of Chinook and the mares on my own
instead of making me work with that scar-faced son of yours. But
instead of asking for my help, you made me shovel snow and do all
kinds of meaningless shit. You even sent me off to make coffee like
I was a woman or something. So I came up with a better way to
impress you.”

There was no doubt in Jack’s mind now.

Luke was a sociopath.

Fear spread like ice through Jack’s veins.
“You shot yourself to make it look like you’d risked your life
defending Chinook.”

“It took a lot of guts, you have to admit. If
I didn’t aim exactly right, I’d blow my own head off or shoot
myself through the heart.”

“Well, I’m impressed with your marksmanship,
but you’re a gutless coward. You’re holding a gun to the head of an
unarmed woman, hiding behind her.”

“She’s not a woman, not really. She’s a fed.”
Luke spat those last words with contempt. “If I let her go, you’ll
just shoot me.”

“Why don’t I give you the keys to one of my
trucks? I’ll toss them over to you, and you can take whichever
truck you like and go anywhere.” Jack took one hand off his pistol
and reached into his coat pocket, his gaze never leaving
Luke’s.

Luke waved his weapon at Jack. “No! Get your
hands out of your pocket!”

But Jack had already dialed out on his sat
phone. He didn’t remember whom he’d spoken to last, but that person
was about to get a strange call. He hoped whoever it was would
listen long enough to realize what was happening. He slowly
withdrew his hand from his pocket, his keys in hand. “What’s the
problem? You getting jumpy, son?”

“You’ll toss those keys over, and the moment
I reach for them, you’ll shoot me.”

Jack tossed the keys onto the cot. “I’m not
going to do that, but I’m glad you’re thinking about your
situation. You’re in a world of trouble. We know the truth.
Detective Sergeant Taylor is on to you, too. How do you think this
is going to end? Do you think killing us will make your troubles
disappear? It won’t.”

“Listen to him, Luke,” Janet said. “Right
now, you’re only looking at animal abuse and false reporting. You
might even get probation. If you kill us, you—”

“Shut up!” Luke tightened his grip on Janet,
choking her.

Damn it!

“You are one crazy son of a bitch if you
think being rough with her is going to improve your situation. If
you want to get out of this in one piece, you’d best let her go.
And I mean now.”

Luke’s face turned red, and he took a step
toward Jack, dragging Janet with him. “You don’t give me orders
anymore, old man.”

Janet’s leg couldn’t support the sudden
movement, and she slipped, leaving Luke exposed from the waist
down.

It had been more than forty years since Jack
had shot a man, but when he saw his chance he took it.

BAM! BAM!

Luke dropped the pistol, releasing Janet as
he collapsed to the ground, shrieking in pain, hands pressed
against his right thigh.

Janet fell forward, grabbed for the Kimber.
But Luke lunged for it, too, throwing himself on top of her,
slamming his fist into her face, the two of them struggling for it
out of Jack’s view on the other side of the cot.

He rushed in, weapon raised.

BAM!

A shot rang out, but it wasn’t Jack who’d
pulled the trigger.

His heart seemed to explode. “Janet!”

Luke sat bolt upright, grinned at Jack, a
strange expression on his face.

Agony exploded in Jack’s chest, his heart
shattering.

Janet!

His finger tightened on the trigger, black
rage driving him. “You son of a bitch!”

Then blood bubbled up from Luke’s mouth, and
he toppled sideways, a hole shot clean through his chest.

“Janet?” On a surge of relief, Jack closed
the distance, grabbed the bastard’s coat, and dragged his body off
her.

Janet lay on her back, pistol in both hands,
blood on her cheek, a stunned expression on her face. “Oh,
Jack!”

Jack took the pistol from her, drew her into
his arms. “Jesus, are you okay?”

Chuck appeared in the doorway, sat phone in
his hand. “Holy shit!”

“Call nine-one-one. We need an ambulance and
the sheriff out here. Luke just tried to kill the two of us.
Janet’s been injured.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine, really.”

“Like hell you are.” He caught her chin,
tilted her head so that he could see. “He split your cheek.”

She drew back. “We should check him … maybe
do first aid.”

“He’s dead.” Jack gathered her in his arms.
“Would you please just let me hold you? God, woman! For a moment
there, I thought I’d lost you.”

Her arms went around him. “I thought you’d
lost me, too.”

And for a time they held each other, barely
aware of the men who gathered at the stable door.

# # #

The next several hours passed in a blur of
questions—questions from detectives, questions from paramedics,
questions from hospital staff. Images from the night ran through
her mind. Jack pointing his Colt at Luke, cold fury on his face.
Luke’s surprise when she’d shot him. His corpse lying in a pool of
blood on the straw-covered concrete.

It was sometime after midnight when she
finally found herself alone with Jack in one of the ER bays. “Have
you ever killed anyone?”

He nodded. “Yes, though I couldn’t say for
sure how many. It was a long time ago, and I didn’t keep
count.”

Vietnam. Of course. How could she have been
so stupid?

“I’m sorry. That was a thoughtless
question.”

He gave her hand a squeeze. “How about
you?”

She shook her head. “Not till tonight.”

She had taken a life. She didn’t regret it.
If Luke had gotten his hands on that pistol, he’d have killed her
and Jack without a second thought.

“I’m so sorry.” Jack watched her through
troubled eyes. “I’m so sorry this happened. I should have brought
you back to Denver the moment the highway reopened.”

Janet ought to have realized he’d torture
himself. “Stop! How could you have known this was going to happen?
Besides, I helped, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you certainly did. You figured it out
before any of them.”

“Taylor knew.” Janet was sure of it. “He was
just trying to put all the pieces together before making an
accusation that might end his career.”

“You’ll learn to live with having killed,”
Jack said.

It bothered her that she felt so troubled by
it. “I don’t regret it.”

“Of course you don’t, but it gnaws at you
just the same.”

“Yes.” That’s exactly how it was.

Jack raised her hand to his lips, kissed it.
“When that shot went off and Luke sat up, there was a split second
when I thought he’d gotten the gun and you were … ” He closed his
eyes, his anguish putting a lump in her throat. “I don’t know what
I would have done if he’d killed you, Janet. You mean more to me
than—”

The doctor walked in, interrupting them. “It
looks like your MRI results are normal. Let’s get that laceration
cleaned up, and we’ll send you home. I’d like you to stay with
someone tonight. They’ll need to keep an eye on you and make sure
you’re not showing signs of head trauma.”

“I’ll be with her,” Jack said.

His words, full of confidence and affection,
helped melt away some of the darkness that had wrapped itself
around her heart. Yes, she had taken a life, but because of that,
she and Jack were still here, free to live theirs.

By the time her discharge papers were ready
and Jack had paid her insurance co-pay—he’d insisted—it was early
in the morning, and all she wanted was to sleep.

“Take me home, Jack.”

He nodded. “Do you want to stop by the ranch
to get your things, or do you want to head straight to Denver?”

As tired as she was, she smiled. “Take me
home—to the ranch.”

He grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

She fell asleep in the truck, and he had to
wake her. He helped her inside, brought her water and a pain pill.
She accepted it gratefully, undressing while he lit a fire in the
fireplace. Then she sank into bed.

He tucked the duvet under her chin. “Sleep,
angel.”

“You’re coming to bed, too, aren’t you?”

“In a minute. I just want to make sure
everything is locked up tight.”

She was asleep before he returned. When
nightmares woke her, as she’d feared they might, he was right there
to hold her and to banish those dreams to the darkness.

# # #

Jack had known Nate would be pissed off. He’d
just gotten off the phone with Kip, who’d been released from jail
this morning, all charges dropped, when Nate cornered him in his
office and shut the door.

“What the hell were you thinking? Luke gets
shot, and I don’t hear a damned thing about it? You should have
called me. I’d have left Megan and Emily in Denver and come up here
to help out. Javier would have come with me. Luke wouldn’t have
tried this shit with the two of us around.”

Nate had read the email Jack had sent him
last night and had headed up the canyon with Megan and Emily at the
crack of dawn.

“Things seemed under control, and I felt you
had enough to worry about with a child and a pregnant wife in law
school.”

“Dad, we’re talking about bullets here! The
two of you could have been shot or killed. When the heat is on, my
place is here at the ranch by your side.”

“You’re right, son. I should have called you.
I apologize.”

“How could this have happened? I thought Luke
came with a glowing recommendation from one of Chuck’s
buddies.”

“Taylor checked into that. It seems Chuck’s
friend gave him a recommendation in hopes of getting rid of Luke.
Some of the men felt uncomfortable around him, and one of their
mares had some unexplained injuries.”

“So they dumped their personnel problem on
us.”

“Seems like.” It had infuriated Jack when
he’d heard this news.

“Why did Luke blame Kip, and how in the hell
did he ID Kip in a lineup when he’d never seen the man?”

“Turns out he did see him for just a few
minutes when he went into town with Chuck for supplies. Chuck
stopped at Kip’s place to pick up his key to the bunkhouse. Luke
didn’t meet him, but we figure he caught a glimpse of Kip when he
opened his door.”

“Ah, well, that explains that. But let’s talk
about
why
you didn’t call me.”

“Haven’t we already gone over that?”

“You wanted time alone with Janet.” It was a
statement, not a question.

Jack saw no point in denying his feelings. “I
love her. One day, I hope to convince her that the Cimarron is her
home.”

Nate’s eyebrows rose. “You want to
marry
her?”

“Now that you mention it, yes, I do.”

“What does she think of this?”

“Well, I don’t know. I haven’t asked her
yet.”

“Isn’t this kind of sudden?”

“When you get to be my age, son, you don’t
have a lot of time for bullshit. I can’t explain it. She and I just
clicked. How long were you and Megan together before you knew you
were in love with her?”

Nate opened his mouth, shut it, looked at the
floor.

“Exactly.”

Some of the anger left Nate’s face. “You
really care about her.”

“Yeah, I do. I never thought I’d feel this
way about a woman again. I didn’t go looking for this, but it
happened. I know it must be hard for you to think about another
woman being in the house.”

Nate shook his head. “You’re wrong about
that. Mom would want you to be happy. That’s what I want, too.”

“No one will ever replace your mother, but my
heart seems to be big enough to love two women in this lifetime. I
consider that a blessing.”

Nate smiled. “So do I.”

“I hope you’ll make her feel welcome. She’s a
special woman. She’s had a terrible hard time of it since getting
shot. Being here with me, riding horses again, working in the
stables—it’s been good for her. It’s helped her recapture a part of
her life she thought she’d lost. If anyone ought to understand
that, son, it’s you.”

Nate nodded. “When do I get to meet her?”

# # #

Janet recognized Nate the moment she walked
into the kitchen. “I’m so happy finally to meet you. You look so
much like your father.”

Nate smiled. “We almost met last time you
were here. I was just driving up when the old man tossed you off
the property.”

“Why do you have to remind her of that?”
Jack, who was busy stirring pancake batter, glowered at his
son.

Nate introduced her to Megan, who was tall
and willowy, with brilliant green eyes and long auburn hair pulled
back in a ponytail. She sat at the table looking miserable, a cup
of tea and a few crackers sitting on a plate in front of her.