Summer's Desire (22 page)

She stepped
closer until their bodies met. Slowly she ground her pelvis against his. “I can
feel
“it”
.
” She wanted to burst out laughing.

“
It
will have to see you later. Do you know what you do to
me?”

She glanced
down at his jeans and couldn’t contain her laughter an
y
longer. “You can’t
hide what I do to you.”

He stepped
away. “Well you can have fun later. I heard rumor that Luke and John are
whispering into the horse’s ears. I can only hope they aren’t swear words.”

“Really?”

Holden
laughed. “That’s what I did at their age.” He winked at her before he left.

He had a way
of making her feel special. She glanced at Matt who had hung up the phone. He
had a smile on his face. She had no need to ask him if things went well. She’d
make extra for dinner
since
she had a feeling Mindy Sue would be joining them.

She put a
huge pork roast in the oven. Looking around the kitchen she realized that this
had become her home. The phone rang and Matt answered it.

“It’s for
you.”

Surprised she
picked up the extension in the kitchen. “Hello?”

“Dear, it’s
Beverly. I thought since your mother is gone and all you have no one to counsel
you, I feel it my duty to help where I can. I just had a delightful lunch with
Holden’s fiancée, Sheila. She very distressed that you live in the house alone
with Holden.”

“Thanks for
being such a pillar of society
,
Bev. I loved how you helped me with my troubles in the past. I’m
going to take a pass on your advice.”

“Well—”

Summer hung
up. She could feel Matt’s gaze upon her. She tried to appear normal, whatever that
was. She really didn’t know anymore. One minute she was flying high with love
in her heart and the next she wanted to kick someone. “Are you okay?” Matt
asked.

“I don’t
know. I don’t think Beverly will be inviting me to tea anytime soon.”

Matt laughed.
“That’s a good thing.”

She nodded in
agreement.

*
*
*
*

It never
failed, his phone always rang around dinner time. Jonas asked him to stop by.
Damn and the roast smelled really good. Matt and Mindy Sue were smiling at each
other. He hoped when he was done, he and Summer would be smiling like that too.

Jonas’ place
wasn’t very far away. He mostly had cattle on his ranch. He said something
about barbed wire around a cow’s neck. Holden had dealt with barbed wire
before,
and
it was never pretty.

The barn lights
weren’t on and he found that to be puzzling. He headed over to the house and
knocked on the door. Jonas yelled for him to come in. Holden stepped into the
hallway and walked toward the well-lit kitchen. His heart beat faster when he
saw Sheila standing behind Jonas holding
what appeared to be
a gun to the back of his
head. “What the hell?”

“I’m sorry
but you wouldn’t give me the time of day. This is your fault. If this gun
accidently goes off, you can blame yourself.”

Jonas sat
silently but he kept glancing from Holden to the top of the refrigerator, over
and over. Holden glanced up and saw the pistol on the top of the fridge. “Well
,
what did you want to
talk about?” He crossed his arms in front of him and leaned against the refrigerator
trying to appear casual and unafraid.

“I want to
talk about the wedding and I want that woman out of our house.” Her eyes were
so wide and glassy that Holden thought she might be on drugs. Jonas began to
cough and he leaned forward, distracting Sheila enough for Holden to grab the
gun and put it in his waistband behind him.

“Don’t try
any tricks,” she warned Jonas.

“No
,
ma’am. I never try
anything with a Taser at my head.”

“It could still
kill you so shut up.”

Where did she
get a Taser? She probably didn’t know how to work it. “When did you learn to
shoot?”

“None of your
business. Now are we getting married or not?”

“Of course we
are
,
”
Holden answered.

“Then why did
you send me away from your office today?”

“Awe, sugar,
it wasn’t the place or time. I didn’t want anyone to get the wrong impression
of you.”

She smiled.
“Really?”

“Really.”

Jonas stood
up. “Well if you two love birds want to be alone.”

“If you don’t
mind Jonas, I’ll be taking Sheila here with me.”

Sheila
dropped her arm to her side and began to step toward Holden. Jonas came up
behind her, put her in a choke hold and grabbed the Taser. As soon as he had
the Taser he let go of her throat.

“Give that
back!”

“I don’t
think so. Holden give me my gun. This little lady needs to stay put.”

Holden handed
Jonas his gun. Sheila made a break for it but Holden caught her
, and
sat her down in
the chair Jonas had been sitting on. “What are you doing, Holden?”

“Not marrying
you for starters.”

“You
promised,” she shrieked.

“Well
,
with threats of guns,
a guy will pretty much say anything the criminal wants to hear.” He pulled his
phone out of his pocket and dialed the sheriff’s office. After speaking to one
of the deputies, he put the phone down. “It seems that you’re a wanted
fugitive.”

Sheila shook
her head vehemently. “That was all a mistake. That
other
boy came on to
me.”

Holden looked
at Jonas. “She’s wanted for statutory rape.”

Jonas
frowned. “What the hell is wrong with you lady? You disgust me.”

“Let the
police take me. I’ll just be back. Texas won’t want to come and get me. I’m way
too far away.”

Finally,
Sheriff Brown arrived with two
deputies. They handcuffed a screaming Sheila and the deputies took her away.

“She’s also
wanted on suspicion of a murder,” Sheriff Brown informed them.

Holden closed
his eyes for a moment. “
She killed
the other
kid?”

Sheriff Brown
nodded. “Guess she didn’t want him to testify against her.”

Jonas and
Holden exchanges surprised glances. “I never figured she was that dangerous.”
Holden admitted.

Jonas shook
his head. “I just thought she was a bit loony. Wonder why she had a Taser and
not a gun?”

“Background
check would be my guess,” the sheriff commented.

Holden
nodded. “Makes sense.”

“I thought
the gun
was
real until she put it against my skull,” Jonas explained. “I’d have
taken her down earlier if I had known.”

“She’s in custody
now That’s all that matters.
”
Sheriff Brown shook both men’s hands and left.

Jonas grabbed
a bottle and two glasses. “Whiskey?”

Holden
nodded. “I need one. I never saw that coming. Not in a million years. Crazy
yes, but killing?”

“I’m sorry I
called you out here but I honestly thought she had a gun. She stood behind me
the whole time. Guess I’m a bit rusty. I’m
Army
, retired.”

“Not rusty at
all. I appreciate all your help. I take it no cow is wrapped in barbed wire?”

They both
drank down their whiskey. Jonas shook his head and reached out and shook
Holden’s hand.

“W
e
ll
,
I better get home. I
have some explaining and some courting to do.”

Jonas gave him a sad
smile and he wondered about it all the way home.

Chapter
Twelve

Back at the house,
Summer paced back and forth in
her bedroom.
D
ecisions
needed
to
be
ma
d
e and she didn’t know
if she had the heart to do what was right. Sheila had everyone feeling a bit anxious.
How could that woman have toyed with Matt? Holden was old enough to take the
hit but Matt was a different story. All the boys had been affected. Smiles and
laughter weren’t readily given these last few days. What they really needed was
some alone time. They needed to bond and find their center. She wasn’t included
in the equation. They’d be better off with an older motherly type woman. She
was just a distraction to Holden and he needed to concentrate on his family.

There really
wasn’t a reason that she couldn’t just up and leave. She had money and she had
a bar and grill with two apartments upstairs. Selling it would probably be the
most prudent thing. All along she wanted to leave Carlston and never look back.
Now she had her chance.

What to do
about her breaking heart? Time was supposed to help but the love she felt for
the O’Leary’s was a love that ran deep. He must have loved Sheila very much, to
propose to her
and the
w
hole situation must have been
devastating
.

“Ouch.” She
stubbed her toe on the leg of the bed. She went to the window and peered
outside wondering if Sheila was spying on her. Let her, she’d just see Summer
in her nightgown, pacing back and forth
.

No wonder the
boys
weren’t thrilled
when she first came, looking for work. They probably thought she’d fall in love
with Holden
, and be another
Sheila.
They were right
about one thing
. She loved him heart and soul.
She’d never loved so deeply or completely but her needs were not a priority
now.

Her toe
throbbed as she walked back and forth. She saw the headlight
s
before she heard the
truck pull up. Her room was dark and she hoped that she didn’t have to deal
with Holden tonight. Her mind was over loaded. Her thinking seemed circular to
her and she was right back to where she started.
She continued to pace.

The soft
knock on her door set her heart racing. Hesitating
,
she debated whether
or not to open it. Holden walked in anyway. He turned on the light and immediately
searched her out. He took two long strides and scooped her up into his powerful
arms.

“What are you
doing?” she squeaked.

“I need you.
I need you to hold me.” The sadness in his eyes grabbed at her heart.

“Of course.
Let’s lay down and I’ll hold you all you want.”

Holden set
her on the bed and took his boots off. The weariness creased on his face
worried her. Summer lay down and opened her arms to him
and h
e immediately
got into bed and wrapped his arms around her. They lay on their sides facing
each other, Summer rubbed his tense back. “Were you able to save the cow?”

He pulled her
closer and lay on his back putting her head on his shoulder. “There wasn’t a
cow.”

Summer lifted
her head and stared at him. “What happened?”

Holden took a
deep breath and sighed. “Sheila had what we thought was a gun to Jonas’ head.”

“Oh no
!
Is Jonas all right?
What did she want?”

He closed his
eyes for a moment as though he was gathering his thoughts. “Jonas is fine. She
wanted me to marry her.”

“What? How
did all this happen?”

“Somehow she
got the drop on Jonas and made him call me. I walked into the kitchen and
Sheila had a gun pointed at the back of Jonas’ head. C
a
me to find out it was
a Taser.”

Summer
gasped. “Still
,
that could have killed him.”

“Jonas
motioned to me with his eyes where his gun was. He distracted her, I grabbed
the gun and then Jonas grabbed Shelia and got the Taser from her.”

“What is
wrong with her? She could have gotten you two killed. Where is she now?”

Holden
smiled. “
I
t’s fine, she’s in jail. She’s wanted in Texas for
m
urder
.”

Tears trialed
down her face. “
Murder? How? Oh
God,
I’m so glad that you’re okay
.”

Holden wiped
away a tear from her face with his thumb. “Yes I do know. He’s kicking himself
for letting Sheila get the upper hand.
And yes, murder. There was another boy after Matt she raped then
killed.
”