Stone Cold Charade (A Stone Family Novel) (30 page)

“Running away again?” Max called out.

Ty froze and turned back to Max, shooting
daggers at him.
Maybe the old man really does want to die
, he thought to
himself.

Just then, Parry came charging into the room.
Taking one look at Ty’s face, he thought better about interrupting.

“I…uh…can come back later,” Parry stammered.
Parry, trying to decide if he should leave, shuffled from one foot to another
as he looked from Max to Ty and back again.

“Just spit it out!” Max said, completely
unfriendly.

“Boss, there are reporters all over the front
gate. It’s like a siege out there. Ridge went to find out what they want, and
sent me to give you the heads up,” Parry said, obviously worried. He watched
comprehension settle in Ty’s eyes. The boss wasn’t taking the news very well.
He seemed to have grown angrier than he had been when he’d first come into the
room.
If that’s possible
.

“Blasted vultures! Always snoopin’ around!” Max
said. Turning toward Ty, exclaiming, “Well, aren’t you going to do something?”

“Me? I have nothing to do with this,” Ty said
scornfully. He didn’t know what the reporters were doing on the ranch, and he
didn’t like dealing with the press. Whenever he had to for his work, he tried
to stay in the background, away from scrutiny. The local TV stations usually
requested interviews with Ty when he captured rustlers, and he usually obliged
them to give his business the publicity it needed to grow, but he doubted the
horde of reporters outside had come to interview him about last night’s
capture. Something else had brought them to the ranch.

“Of course you do. You’re in charge of the
blasted security!” Max replied hotly as he moved around the table to stand in
front of Ty.

“And what would you like for me to do?” Ty
asked, exasperated.

Max slammed his cane down on the floor and
bellowed, “Shoot the whole lot of them for trespassing! Don’t you have an Uzi
or a machine gun? Something?” Ty turned away before he laughed at Max’s
suggestion, he didn’t want the old man to know his temper was starting to
subside. He was still furious with him; it was only cooling because of the new
threat against the ranch.

Parry looked horrified by the possibility that
his boss might actually ask him to start shooting the reporters.

Max couldn’t see why it was such a problem,
might
do some good to fire off a few rounds over their idiot heads and watch ‘em
scatter like the cockroaches they are
. He looked up as Ridge entered the
dining room, breathing hard.

“Sorry boss, honeymoon’s over. Someone leaked
the story to the press. They want a statement regarding the new couple. They
also requested an interview with Alex regarding, and I quote, ‘the love story
behind the sudden wedding of Ms. Stone to Mr. Phillips’, end quote,” he stated
sympathetically.

“Who could have leaked it?” Ty swung around to
stare at Parry through narrowing eyes. He reached out to grab him with a
murderous look that had Parry scrambling backwards to dodge his assault.

Parry held up his hands, still backing away
from Ty, as though he was blameless. “Hey, I didn’t do it! I swear boss, it
wasn’t me!” Parry continued his retreat, scared he would find his head rolling
around at his feet if he didn’t stay clear of his reach.

“Boss, he didn’t. He has been with Tennessee
almost all day. He wasn’t ever near a phone. And, when he wasn’t with Tennessee
one of us was with him the entire time,” Ridge defended.

“For all we know it could have been the priest!
Can’t even trust a man of God anymore,” Max stated sadly, shaking his head.
“Well, what ya gonna to do about it?”

“I don’t know yet, and when I figure it out I
won’t let you know so stay out of my way.” Ty marched impatiently out the door
with Parry and Ridge hot on his heels. He moved toward the back of the house.

Parry could see the boss was ready to explode.
“Where are we headed, Boss?”

“To the security room. Please, tell me you got
the cameras up and running today?” Ty glanced hopefully over his shoulder at
Ridge.

“They’re up and operational. What are we
looking for?” Ridge could see he wasn’t happy about the prospect of the press
crawling all over the ranch; especially considering it was his wedding day.

“Anyone trying to go over the fences or breach
the main house.” He flipped the switch to turn on the overhead lights as he
entered the security room. On their left, they had built-in LCD screens that
would show every conceivable angle of the ranch. Turning them on, he saw about
fifty reporters parked out at the main gate. So far none of them were trying to
enter the premises illegally.

“Were going to have to call in back up,” Ty
acknowledged in frustration. Watching the screens he could see the zoo that was
building up in front of the gate. He knew he and his men couldn’t handle this
alone. Even if he grabbed Alex and made a run for it, they would never make it
off the ranch through the front gate.

Taking a cursory glance at each screen, he
could see the reporters were isolated at the front of the property for now, but
that could change.

“I’ll give Kane and Wagner a call, they'll be
able to keep the reporters back and run interference for us.” Ridge reached for
his cell, pausing to get approval before dialing.

“Do it. Get them here asap. Do you think it has
hit the national media circuit yet?” Not taking his eyes off the screens, Ty
heard his cell phone ring on his belt. Glancing at the number that was
displayed, he groaned out loud. There was now no doubt it had hit the news
stations. He removed the phone from his belt he handed it to Parry. “Answer it,
tell her I’m on my honeymoon in the Bahamas and you don’t know how to reach
me,” he said irritably.

Parry looked down at his cell phone like it was
going to bite him. Ty ignored him as he turned to see Ridge hit send on his
cell phone, calling for their back up, not wanting to give the boss the
opportunity to hand him the phone. Ridge and Parry knew from the ring tone who
was on the other end of that phone and he wanted no part of it.

“Me! Boss, come on, Jenny is never going to
believe me. She knows when I lie. Your sister’s not stupid. She’ll drill me
until I confess stuff even I don’t remember doing!” Parry cried.

Ty looked poignantly at him until he obediently
answered the phone.

“Hi, Jenny. How’s it going? Nope, haven’t seen
the Boss. Nope. He’s not standing next to me. No. No don’t know anything about
it. He mentioned something about the Bahamas though. Married! Can’t say that I
have. Jenny, sort of tied up right now… yes. You’re breakin… up …., can y..hear
….me…. honey? Thanks for calling. Yeah, I’ll see he gets the message. Gotta go
now, Jenny. Bye, bye.” Parry hung up, wiping his hand across his brow
dramatically.

“Phew… that was close, man. Ooooh, are you in
trouble Boss!” Parry stated bluntly. Parry handed Ty back his cell and he
grabbed it out of his hand, none to gently. Parry jumped back defensively
before Ty could even decide he wanted to clobber him.

Ty could here Ridge talking to the men they
used for big jobs. They too were ex-military, and he knew they could handle the
press.

Raising his hand up, he tried to ease the
muscles in his neck. He felt as if he was in a walking nightmare. First, Max
drops a bombshell and now this. Ty hadn’t seen Alex since this morning. Damn!
He wanted to see his wife.

He began to smile at the thought of Alex. She
was his wife. He let that thought wash over him. They could walk away from here
and never look back. Max wouldn’t be able to stop them. He knew Max could make
his business suffer if he didn’t finish the job first, but when he did he would
be free to leave, and take Alex with him. Max’s scheming was over the security
for Maximillion Enterprise. That would be someone else’s problem, he wasn’t
interested. He had what he wanted. Alex.

Ridge hung up the phone. “They said they would
hop the first plane out. They should be here by this evening, until then I
think we should call the cops,” Ridge said seriously.

“Call the guys at the sheriff’s office that
we’ve been dealing with. See what they say about coming out to the ranch and
helping us out. Parry, stay with Ridge until I get back,” he called from the
doorway. Stopping, he said off handedly, “Where is Tennessee by the way?
Someone needs to let him know about the reporters.”

Ridge checked in with Tennessee, covering the
mouthpiece as he listened to the other end. “He’s installing the casings to
hide the last of the cameras. I’ll get him up to date on what’s happening,” he
stated before relaying the facts to Tennessee.

“Where are you going?” Parry couldn’t believe
the boss was leaving when they were trying to get the situation under control.

“To see my wife!”

“Oh.” Parry, comprehending, started to smile at
his retreating back.

Reaching the door to the den, Ty started
pounding on it with a heavy fist. He looked up to see Steven and Martha come
running.

“Stay out of this,” Ty commanded.

Sam, concerned by the ruckus, started down the
stairs in a rush. Ty put his full body weight against the door to no avail; he
didn’t even make a dent. He reached in his back pocket to pull out the portable
tool kit he used to pick locks. If he had to jimmy it, he would. He looked up
when the door swung open, and saw Alex’s shocked expression. She stood staring
at Ty, open-mouthed.

“What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?”
she sputtered, confusion clear in her tone.

Alex had been working on a new song all
morning. That is, until she heard what sounded like a bull charging the door?
Reading Ty’s face, Alex knew something was horribly wrong. She moved toward him
reaching out to lay her hand on his cheek. Ty pulled her into his embrace and
smiled down at her. Martha and Sam rolled their eyes, exchanged a look that said,
“get a room”, and left. Steven watched them go before moving back the way he
had come, deciding to give them some privacy.

“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” she asked
anxiously. He was really upset, it was written all over his face.

“If you would come out of this hole once in a
while you would know we’re trapped here. Reporters are camping out in front of
the ranch. Somehow they found out about our wedding,” he stated calmly. Ty
watched the color drain from her face, leaving her looking pale and panicked.
He hadn’t wanted to worry her with what was happening, but he needed to make
sure she stayed put inside the house until he could get the situation under
some semblance of control. Ushering Alex back into the den, the piano, with
papers scattered all over its surface, caught his eye. Shutting the door and
locking it, he pulled her against him.

“How did they find out?” she asked confused.

Alex had not seen him since they had made love.
Locked in his arms again, looking into his face, her fears and insecurities
started to rise. Suddenly feeling unsure, she waited for Ty to humiliate her
again. As she tried to pull out of his arms, he tightened his grip. She felt
her face flaming as the memories of how she had behaved in his arms that
morning surfaced.

Uncomfortable and unable to get him to loosen
his hold, she pushed at her glasses. Causing them to sit further up on her
face, she was then able to hide from his probing eyes behind the false lenses.

He held her close, studying her as she
fidgeted. He knew her fetish for playing with her glasses when she was nervous,
and could guess what was bothering her. He caressed her cheek, tugging gently
to make her meet his eyes. The soft cream color of her skin tinged pink from
her neck to her face at his touch.

“Anyone ever told you that you blush
beautifully?” he whispered softly in her ear.

Stepping back she met his gaze reluctantly. She
saw his eyes darken with the remembered desire they had shared, showing her he
wasn’t going to belittle her about how she had acted in his arms. Demonstrating
quietly that he would not hurt her again in that way, he showed her he was
pleased with her physical response to him. She could put her trust in him.
Melting into his embrace, her breath leaving her lungs at the feel of his
strong arms around her, her apprehension thawed along with her heart.

Ty felt the tension in her muscles dissipate as
she leaned into his chest, snuggling close. Her fragrance filled his lungs and
stirred his body, reminding him of the feel of her wrapped around him.

She tilted her head back to look boldly into
his eyes. She was so awash with feelings for this man, she felt like an
entirely different person. Somewhere in the last few moments her fears had
evaporated and were replaced with a burning confidence that had her body
simmering. She felt sexy, alluring, and mysterious. For the first time she saw
herself through his eyes. Her brows raised with the dawning understanding that
she could be what she had always longed to be with him; free and self assured
in her sexuality.

She fired a look at him that she knew would
make her look very sly and a little devilish. She didn’t know what had changed
deep inside of her, but she welcomed this new Alex. She peered up at him
through slanted, seductive eyes as she explored her new emotions.