Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right [The Chisholms of Texas 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (24 page)

“Really, Abby. It’ll be no trouble at all. Chisholm doesn’t have to come all the way into town to get you when I could easily take you out there.” He was picking up her things and shoving them back into her purse while he talked.

“Hey, what’s this?” he asked, staring at one of the pregnancy pamphlets the doctor had given her before she left the clinic. “Abby, what the hell is this? You’re pregnant? You’re going to have Chisholm’s brat?” His voice had been steadily rising as he seemed to get angrier by the second. He reached out and grabbed her arm in a punishing grip. As he turned toward his truck, he started to pull her with him, seeming intent on getting her inside. Suddenly, her arm was free as the hand he had been using to pull on her with was twisted up behind his back by a bad-ass-looking man wearing jeans and a black T-shirt. The man shoved Jaime up against his truck and kept him in place with one hand pressed tightly into the smaller man’s shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing?” sputtered Jaime. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong. You can’t do this to me. You’d better let me go or I’ll press assault charges.” The larger man ignored him and asked Abby if she was all right.

“Sorry I didn’t get to you before he touched you, ma’am. I didn’t want to take the chance that you would get hurt while you were both bending down over your purse. You’re not hurt, are you? Rio will kick my ass if you are. I wasn’t supposed to let the guy get his hands on you at all.”

“I’m okay. He just wrenched my arm a little bit. It’s no big deal. Thank you. I don’t know what he would have done if you hadn’t been here.” It was beginning to dawn on Abby just what could have happened if Rio’s man hadn’t intervened. There wasn’t anybody in the parking lot, and Jaime could have had her in his truck within seconds if he hadn’t been stopped.

She watched the big man pull out what looked like a long piece of plastic from his back pocket. He held it in his teeth while he wrestled Jaime’s other arm behind his back and secured them with the tie. Some sort of plastic handcuffs, Abby figured out. The big man wasn’t being gentle, and Jaime was still trying to threaten him while periodically crying out in pain. Once he had Jaime secured, he pushed him down to his knees on the asphalt.

“Shut the fuck up, pervert. Or I’ll use my duct tape on your mouth,” the big man threatened as he got out his phone and hit speed dial. Jaime evidently recognized the tone of the threat and shut up quickly. “Cops will be here shortly. They have an arrest warrant and will take him away. Why don’t you call Mr. Chisholm. I’m sure he’d like to hear that you’re all right.” He transferred his attention back to the phone conversation.

“Yeah. I’ve got him in zip cuffs. He tried to manhandle her into his truck.” He paused a few seconds. “Yeah, I got him off as soon as I could without her getting hurt.” He listened again. “No, she’s right here.” He turned to Abby. “Is something the matter with your phone? Mr. Chisholm’s been trying to reach you most of the day. He’s been worried.”

“My phone is dead and my car won’t start. I was going to go back in to Raymond’s to call Dillon to come get me.”

“Did you catch that?” he asked. “Yeah. Hey, the cops just showed up. How soon you going to be here? I’ll probably need to go to the sheriff’s office to make a statement, and I don’t want to leave Ms. Barnes alone.” Another pause while he listened. “Okay, see you in a few.”

Turning his attention back to Abby, he asked her, “Do you want to go wait in Raymond’s for Rio and Mr. Chisholm? You’d be more comfortable.”

“No, I want to know what’s going on. Why are the police here when you never called them, and why are Rio and Dillon on their way here? By the way, what’s your name?”

“Dallas, ma’am,” he said with a smile. “There they are now. I’ll let them explain.” He turned his attention to the police officers who were leading Jaime to their patrol car and started telling them what had happened.

Abby was watching the truck carrying Rio and Dillon as it approached the back of Jaime’s truck. Dillon swung out of the truck before Rio could even bring it to a full stop. He ran over to her and pulled her into his arms, hugging her to him tightly. “Are you okay, baby? Did that bastard hurt you?” He held her away from him as he looked her up and down for any sign of injury. He saw the red mark on her arm and swore, pulling her back against him.

“I’m okay, Dillon. Really. Dallas got to him before he could really do anything. What’s going on? I feel like something is going on that I don’t know about. Tell me everything.”

“Damn, baby. It’s a long story. Let’s get you home first and I’ll tell you everything. I promise.”

“I probably need to give a statement or something before I go. Let’s go talk to the officer over there. What are they looking for in Jaime’s truck? He didn’t get me inside. Dallas stopped him before he could even get the door open.”

“They can get your statement tomorrow morning when the sheriff and prosecutor come out. They already had an arrest warrant out for the son of a bitch before he attacked you. They don’t need your statement to take him in right now. Rio can take us to my truck and I’ll take you home. We’ll come back later for your car.”

“The car wouldn’t start. That’s why Jaime stopped. Supposedly to help me. He said he’d give me a lift back to the Ranch, but I refused. That’s when he got physical.” Abby wanted to tell him about Jaime’s reaction to her pregnancy but held back until they could be alone and she could tell Dillon he was going to be a father.

She went to the side of her car and bent down, shoving everything back into her purse while Dillon and Rio went to talk to the deputies. She also grabbed the takeout from Raymond’s from the backseat. She let Dillon hand her into Rio’s truck and they drove the short distance to the sheriff’s office, where Dillon’s truck was parked. After he helped her down from the cab, he and Rio had a few quiet words before Dillon shut the door and Rio drove off.

Dillon helped her into his truck and fastened her seat belt. When Dillon got into the driver’s seat, she started to ask him to explain everything and he asked her to wait until they were at home as he didn’t think he could drive and tell her everything that had happened today at the same time. Abby agreed and waited until they had gotten into the house and were sitting on the love seat. Realizing there was a lot more to the story than she knew, she waited for Dillon to gather his thoughts so that he could tell her everything she had missed today.

Abby didn’t know whether to be royally pissed off or hanging onto Dillon like a limpet. On the one hand, she was so angry at him for keeping their investigation into Jaime Hernandez a secret that she could spit nails. On the other hand, he’d been right and, due to his gut instincts, she had been protected when Jaime tried to grab her in that parking lot. Her feelings were leaning toward the limpet as she sat on his lap on the love seat and listened to him tell the story as only he knew it. They were alone in the house for now but there had been quite a few calls from the family checking on Abby’s welfare.

The local paper, the
Deseo Courier
, had gotten wind that the sheriff’s office had executed a search warrant on Jaime Hernandez’s house and truck. The sheriff’s deputies had confiscated boxes of items from the house, especially in the master bedroom. They had still been at it when the photographer for the newspaper had arrived on the scene. He got several shots of boxes of evidence bags being carried out. One of the reporters for the paper started checking further and found out Jaime had been arrested. The arrest warrant was a public document, so all the reporter had to do was read the warrant to know if someone else had been involved. In addition, the prosecutor had filed more paperwork charging Jaime with assault and attempted kidnapping of Abigail Barnes.

The intrepid reporter followed the paper trail and tracked Abby down at the Ranch to ask if she would give him an interview. Abby immediately answered with a firm “No comment.” She had no desire to have her life, or that of the Chisholms, turned into a media frenzy. Dillon turned the phone off after that call. All the family and any friends they wanted to hear from had their cell phone numbers and could get a hold of them if they needed to.

So, right now, she was snuggled against Dillon in the love seat as they waited for the rolls Cassie had brought to heat up in the oven. Cassie, had brought over beef Stroganoff so they didn’t have to worry about cooking tonight. She didn’t hound them about any details, obviously seeing that Abby wasn’t up to discussing what had happened today. Before leaving, she hugged Abby tightly and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m so thankful that you’re all right. Don’t worry about anything. You’re family now, and we take care of family.” With that, she gave Dillon a quick hug and kiss and left.

* * * *

Although Dillon didn’t know for sure what had been in that bedroom, based on Sheriff Decker’s and his deputies’ reactions at the time, he could hazard a guess. He was glad everything was being dismantled and taken in as evidence. He hoped Abby never even had to see pictures of the room let alone any items that had been in it. Decker called about an hour ago and said they were about done taking apart the room and cataloguing the contents. He told Dillon a little about how the room was set up and advised Dillon to prepare Abby before he and the prosecutor got to the Ranch in the morning. They would be bringing several items of evidence for Abby to identify and showing her several pictures of the room in order to test one of their theories about Hernandez’s motive and plans.

Right now, all Dillon wanted was to hold the woman he loved more than anything in his arms and keep her safe from the world. For now, she seemed content to let him. He knew once she got over the shock she’d be all up in his face about the details he had kept from her regarding his suspicions about the identity of the stalker. He would deal with that later. In hindsight, it might have been better to let her in on his suspicions. That way, the bastard wouldn’t have even gotten as close to her as he had. Thank God one of Rio’s team had been watching the pervert and had been in a position to intervene before things had escalated.

Dillon owed Dallas Scott a debt of gratitude. He knew that Dallas and Rio had been team members while they were in the Navy SEALs. Dallas had gotten out a couple of years after Rio and looked him up when he got out. Rio had immediately offered him a job helping with security for the Ranch. Although it wasn’t the Old West, large ranches like CRE still had to deal with poachers, high-tech cattle rustling, and the like. CRE outfitted their security personnel with everything they needed to do their job. Since Rio had taken over, his new security measures had brought missing cattle and poaching to a near standstill. Many of the members of the security team Rio was putting together had military backgrounds like Dallas. As far as Dillon knew, Dallas was single and playing the field in Deseo. Everything he found out about the man told him he was a stand-up guy.

Dillon served Abby the supper his mother had brought over for them. He could tell Abby was exhausted from the physical and emotional upheaval of the day. She still had to get past tomorrow, and he was very afraid that it would be even worse than today. Dillon wished they were in their new house already. He would have sent Abby into their master bathroom for a long soak in the giant garden tub. He would have joined her and held her in his arms just to savor the feel her sweet body against his.

As it was, he started a nice, warm shower for her and gently stripped her of her clothing. Quickly getting rid of his own clothes, he joined her in the shower and shampooed and conditioned her hair. Once he was done with that, he poured her scented bodywash onto a washcloth and bathed her himself. Helping her out of the shower, he dried her off and wrapped her in her bathrobe. He sat her in a chair and dried her long, thick hair.

Despite Abby’s fatigue, Dillon knew that they would make love tonight. They needed the reconnection after what had been a horrendous day. Dillon shuddered when he thought about what could have gone wrong today and what could have happened if he hadn’t listened to his gut about Jaime Hernandez. Leading her to the bed, he quickly pulled down the comforter and sheet, divested her of her robe, and tucked her into bed. He crawled into his side of the bed and pulled her body gently to his so that they were spooning each other. His hand glided over her smooth skin as he reassured himself that she was all right. As always, his cock reacted to her body being so close and grew thick with need.

“You okay, baby?” he asked quietly.

“Yes. Thanks to you. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you about Jaime. It could have turned out very badly today if you hadn’t taken the precautions you took. Thank you, Dillon. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Abby. I would never let anything bad happen to you. You mean the world to me. Let’s forget about everything tonight and just be together. I need you, baby. I need to feel you in my arms and know that you’re all right.”

“I need you, too, Dillon. Make love to me. I need you to make love to me.”

Sensual lips slid up the side of her neck. Abby shivered as Dillon’s tongue traced the shell of her ear, nipping at the lobe. His palm skimmed up her leg as her body began to heat up. A pulse throbbed in her groin. She was already swollen and wet for him. Abby loved the feel of Dillon touching her. He was strong and masterful, even when he was being gentle. She felt cherished and protected by him.

His hard body was pressed closely against her back and his hot and turgid erection pulsed against her skin. He slid his hand up to cup her breast, kneading gently, rolling the nipple between his fingers. Alternating between her breasts, he touched and stroked until her nipples were stiff peaks. A simple brush of his fingers across the tips sent an electric current skittering through her wet heat.

Her buttocks cradled his growing erection, and she moaned in anticipation. Dillon lifted her leg and eased it back over his until she was open and waiting for him. Although his cock lay between her thighs, it was his fingers that found her swollen pussy.