The Texas Lawman's Last Stand (8 page)

She repeated the name to see if it would jog any memories. It didn’t. “No. He works for Kendall?”

“We’re not sure. His lawyer hasn’t allowed him to say much.”

Yes, his lawyer. “Ian Kaplan.”

“Just how well do you know him?” Bo pressed.

“I worked with him for months, but I knew him before that. I thought he was a decent guy.” Mattie paused again. “I think he had a crush on me or something, because he seemed to be jealous of Brody, my late fiancé.”

Now she got a grunt. And silence. The only sound came from the sizzling bacon.

“Nadine said you were, and I quote, ‘the best husband in the world.’” Mattie waited for a response but didn’t get one. Bo continued to beat the eggs that he’d just cracked into a small bowl. “She talked about you almost the whole time she was in labor.”

Even through his T-shirt, she saw the muscles in his back tense. “Did she blame me for not being there to rescue her?”

Oh. So, that’s what was going on in his mind. “No. Just the opposite. She insisted that you would come for her. And you did.”

“Too little, too late,” he mumbled. He set aside the eggs he’d been beating as if they were suddenly too fragile to be in his hands, probably because he had a death grip on the glass bowl. Then he turned around to face her.

“Not too late for Jacob and Holly,” Mattie insisted. “And as for Nadine, that wasn’t your fault.”

“The hell it wasn’t.” His gaze fired all around the room as if he were looking for someplace to aim the dangerous energy that was a powder keg inside him.

It was a massive risk, but Mattie got up and walked over to him. “Despite the circumstances, Nadine was happy when she gave birth to your son.” She reached out, touched his arm.

Bo jerked away from her at first, but when Mattie caught his wrist, he didn’t fight it. He just stared at her, and she could see and feel every ounce of the pain that he was experiencing.

“Nadine knew she was going to die?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Mattie shook her head. “I’m not sure.” She inched even closer and blinked back the tears that were burning her eyes. “She said you were the love of her life. The answer to her prayers. She also said you would help me.”

Now he tried to pull away, but Mattie held on. “I need your help, Bo. I need you to tell me what Nadine said when you got to her in the nurses’ lounge.”

For a moment, she thought that was the end of their conversation. He was putting up that wall again. But then, something changed. Bo didn’t dodge her gaze. Instead, he looked deep into her eyes.

She was aware of the sounds. The smells. The bacon was either burning or close to it. But the only thing she saw was Bo.

A raw groan tore from his throat, and he pulled her to him, against him. Not a punishing grip. A hug. He pulled her into his arms.

“Nadine said, ‘We have to protect her.’ And then she closed her eyes and didn’t open them again.”

“Her,”
Mattie repeated. “Nadine meant Holly. I told her to ask you to protect my baby.”

She held her breath, waiting for Bo to admit that Holly was hers, but the sounds stopped him from saying anything.

It was a giggle. Followed by footsteps.

Bo jerked away from her and moved the bacon off the burner. He pushed past her and headed for the hall just as Jacob rounded the corner. He was wearing only a diaper and a single blue sock.

Even though the little boy was obviously a novice at walking, he was doing a good job making his way to his dad. He had a big grin on his face as if he’d just done something naughty but fun. Mattie found herself smiling despite the tense, heart-wrenching conversation she’d just had with Bo.

“Jacob?” Rosalie called out. “Get back in here.”

The little boy giggled and made a beeline for his father. Bo scooped him up his arms and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Did you escape?”

Jacob babbled something the two males must have understood, because they shared a grin.

A moment later, a harried-looking Rosalie appeared in the doorway. But Mattie’s heart sank, because Holly wasn’t with her.

“That boy’s getting faster every day,” Rosalie complained, laughing. “And they both got up way too early this morning.”

“Go ahead and tend to Holly,” Bo told her. “I’ll get Jacob some breakfast.”

Jacob’s attention landed on Mattie, and he reached for her. “Tiss,” he insisted.

Mattie was certain she looked confused, but before she could ask what the little boy wanted, Jacob shifted his weight and practically plunged into her arms.

“Tiss,” Jacob repeated, and he gave her a kiss on the end of her nose.

For such a simple gesture, it filled her with more emotion than she would have thought possible. Mattie felt the tears threaten again.

So this was what it was like to have a child.

“Jacob obviously likes to kiss,” Bo mumbled, and he pulled out one of the two high chairs that were stored against the wall. “And run around half naked. Come on, son. Time to eat.”

That got Jacob’s attention, and he went right back to Bo so his dad could put him in the high chair. Bo sprinkled some dry cereal O’s right onto the tray and went back to finish the scrambled eggs.

Bo’s cell phone rang, and he pulled it from his pocket and sandwiched the phone between his ear and shoulder so he could continue to cook. His motions were seamless. He’d obviously fallen right into the daddy routine.

“He wants what?” Bo asked, causing Mattie to walk closer. His body language suddenly indicated there was a problem. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Mattie tried to listen to the conversation, but it was drowned out by the sound of Rosalie’s voice. The nanny was talking to Holly, and she walked into the kitchen with the little girl in her arms.

Mattie froze, unable to take her eyes off the child. Yes, she’d seen her the night before, but not this close. So close she could finally touch those curls. And that’s exactly what Mattie tried to do. But unlike Jacob, Holly pulled back, burying her face against Rosalie’s neck.

“She’s shy around strangers,” Rosalie remarked, and the nanny looked to Bo for what appeared to be some kind of approval. But Bo was caught up in his phone call.

Mattie figured that call was important, but she couldn’t take her attention off her daughter. She reached out, hoping that Holly would have a change of heart and come to her, but the baby shook her head and grumbled, “No.”

Jacob, however, wanted her attention, and he grabbed Mattie’s hand, turning her toward him. He held out one of the cereal bits for her to take. She did, and that earned her one of those grins from the little boy.

“Everything okay?” Rosalie asked Bo the moment he ended the call. The nanny put Holly in the high chair next to Jacob.

“I’m not sure.” Bo shook his head, and he glanced at Mattie before heading out of the kitchen and into the living room. “Ian Kaplan is out front, and he wants to see you.”

“What?” Mattie raced after him and went to the sidelight window of the front door. The sun was just beginning to rise, but there was enough light for her to spot the blond-haired man leaning against the pricey red sports car.

It was Ian, all right.

“How did he even know I was here?” she asked.

Bo walked to her side and stared out the window with her. “He won’t tell the officers that.”

Mattie was betting either Kendall told him or else Ian had learned it from his new client, Terrance Arturo, the guy in the black van.

“Ian wanted me to give you a message,” Bo continued. “He says he can save your life, and all you have to do is walk out there and talk to him.”

Chapter Seven

Walk out there and talk to him.

Right. As if Bo would let that happen. But one glance at Mattie, and he knew she was considering it.

“Ian could gun you down on the way out the door,” Bo reminded her.

“The two officers are out there. I doubt they’d let him pull a gun.” However, she didn’t sound completely convinced of that.

Bo tried again. “I don’t want to risk a shootout with my kids in the house.” Since he was trying to reason with her, he probably should have said
the
kids instead of
my
kids, but the truth was, they were his. Both of them. And that didn’t have anything to do with DNA. It made his heart ache just thinking of the possibility that he might lose a child he loved more than life itself.

Of course, Mattie no doubt loved Holly, too.

Still, Mattie hadn’t raised Holly for the past thirteen months. She had no history with the baby. She only had a mountain of danger that might fall down on her at any minute. And because of that danger, Bo needed to move Jacob and Holly as soon as he got Ian away from the house.

“But what if Ian can put an end to this mess?” Mattie asked.

Bo took out his phone and pressed in the number to the officers out front. “Then he can tell you all about it while he’s out there and you’re in here.”

“Let me speak to our visitor,” Bo told the officer when he answered, and he watched as the young cop did just that.

“Lieutenant Duggan,” Ian spat out, making it sound like profanity. “I want to see Mattie.”

Bo moved Mattie in front of the sidelight window for just a second and then pulled her back. “There, you’ve seen her. Now, tell me how you knew she was here.”

Ian flashed a snarky smile. “Well, the cops in front of your house were a dead giveaway.”

“Wrong answer.” Bo put some snark in his voice. “Try again.”

That at least wiped the smile off Ian’s face. “Look, Mattie and I are on the same side here. I just want to make sure she’s safe.”

“She is. And you dodged the question again. How did you know she was here?”

Definitely no smile now. The man’s eyes narrowed. “Put Mattie on the phone, and I’ll tell her.”

Bo merely clicked on the speaker function. “She’s listening.”

“Mattie,” Ian said after several seconds. “I want to talk to you
in private.
”

She looked up at Bo, and he shook his head.

“Ian, what is this all about?” Mattie asked. “Why are you here?”

“Why?” he snapped as if the answer were obvious. “Because I care about you. Because I want to keep you alive. I can do that, Mattie. All you have to do is talk to me.”

“I will…if you’ll tell me how you knew I was here.”

Good for her. Because Bo was certain that information would give him some critical details about Ian—like his motive for this untimely visit.

Ian huffed and shook his head before he responded. “I hired Terrance Arturo to find you.”

Mattie’s mouth dropped open. “The man in the van that you’re representing?”

“Yes. He’s not exactly a P.I., but he’s done this sort of work for me before. And for the record, he didn’t know about the phony plates on the van. He borrowed the vehicle from a friend.”

Bo figured that would be easy enough to confirm. “But how did Arturo find Mattie? She’s been in hiding.”

More hesitation. “Arturo found Mattie through you.”

Mattie pressed her fingers to her lips, and groaned softly.

“Explain that,” Bo demanded.

“I’ve been trying to find Mattie all this time, and I hired several people to look for her. I figured she might visit her old friends. Or Brody’s grave.” Ian paused again. “I also anticipated that she might want to talk to you, since Mattie and your wife were in the hospital the day the maternity hostages were taken. Mattie’s got a good heart, and she probably wanted to tell you about your wife’s last hours. Am I right?”

Bo didn’t answer.

“I mean, why else would she have gone to you?” Ian added. Maybe he was faking it, but there didn’t seem to be any smugness in that remark. “I also had some of the other hostages and the nurses from the hospital followed. I figured it was one of the nurses who’d taken Mattie’s baby.”

Interesting theory, especially since that had happened with one of the other hostages. But did Ian believe that had also happened with Mattie’s newborn, or was Ian’s explanation designed to try to put Mattie more at ease?

Bo didn’t care right now. He only wanted this man away from his home.

“Marshal Larry Tolivar also helped me find Mattie,” Ian commented.

That grabbed Bo’s attention. “Helped how?”

“Inadvertently.” Ian’s smiled returned. “The marshal was pressing any- and everyone who knew Mattie to give up her whereabouts, so I figured he’d find her. So, I had him followed, as well.”

That was a lot of time and manpower to locate Mattie.

“How can you save my life?” Mattie asked. She glanced over her shoulder when she heard Holly start to fuss. Bo knew that whine. Rosalie was likely wiping the baby’s face. But it obviously spiked Mattie’s nerves.

“I’ll tell you that when I can actually see you,” Ian insisted.

Bo was tired of this game and decided to put an end to it. “Mattie and I will meet you at police headquarters. You can tell her there.”

He saw the flash of surprise in Ian’s expression, and he expected the lawyer to turn him down flat. But Ian checked his watch. “How soon?” Ian pressed.

“An hour.” Bo looked at Mattie, and she agreed with a nod.

“I’ll be there.” Ian turned as if to get back into his vehicle but then stopped. “Mattie, don’t go on the run again. It’s not necessary. I’ve worked out a deal for you. A deal that will keep you safe.” Ian handed the phone back to the officer, got in his car and drove away.

“A deal,” Mattie repeated. She looked both hopeful and frightened. After all the attempts that had been made to get to her, Bo understood the reaction.

He also understood what he had to do. He ended the call and called his captain. Yes, it was early, but this was too important to wait.

“Tell Rosalie to get the kids dressed and ready to leave,” he instructed Mattie.

Mattie must have wholeheartedly agreed with that request because she hurried away. Or maybe she was just anxious to get back in the room with Holly.

“One of the officers at your house just gave me an update,” the captain greeted him.

“Yeah. Ian Kaplan was here. Mattie and I are meeting with him at headquarters in one hour. But I want to move the kids before we go.”