Ruby Echols watched as the door closed. Adam was walking out the door once more. It was all happening again. At least she’d had her husband by her side that night twenty years before. She hadn’t been forced to face ensuing tragedy alone. This time she didn’t know where Hal had gotten off to. He should have been here. He could have made Adam listen to reason.

“Ma’am?” The maid’s voice cut through her dark thoughts. “I have your medication.”

She looked up and her eyes focused on the young woman in her black uniform. It was too tight. She would have to say something to the housekeeper about the help she was hiring. They weren’t up to the Echols’s standards. The brunette maid held a glass of water and a familiar bottle of pills. Which one was this? There were so many pills these days.

“I don’t want it,” she snapped. “Get my son.”

The young woman looked slightly confused, but Ruby had long since decided that all young people were confused. The public education system was in shambles. They weren’t even allowed to spank the children anymore. How would they learn anything?

“Ma’am, Walter moved out a couple of days ago. He left a number to call.” The young woman stood by the phone. “Would you like me to call him for you?”

“How can Walter move out?” she asked irritably. “He’s fourteen years old.”

The idiot simply looked at her. Ruby huffed. Good help was impossible to find these days. She pointed out the window where she could hear a door closing and the engine to a car purr to life. “Go and stop Adam from leaving. He just walked out the door. Tell him his brother is missing. That should stop him.”

Yes, she could use that. If Walter was in trouble then Adam would take time out of chasing that tramp to help him. They were brothers. A much stronger connection. Why hadn’t she thought of that before? The stupid girl stood there doing nothing.

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

“Ma’am,” the girl chirped in her irritatingly young voice, “the only person who walked out of here was Jack Barnes. He’s a rancher. He owns the Barnes-Fleetwood Ranch outside town.”

Ruby’s head hurt. She put a hand to her temple to rub the throbbing there. So much pain. It was better when the fog came over her.

Yes, Jack Barnes had come by and threatened her. He’d been calm about it, so she knew he was serious. She understood that a man like Barnes was infinitely more dangerous when he was calm. He’d told her he could ruin her socially and financially and that he’d do it without a second’s remorse if she hurt Abigail Moore again.

He was marrying Abigail Moore on Thursday. He was giving that slut his name and his protection.

Or had it been Adam who said that?

“Ma’am, please take your medication.” The girl’s voice grated on her nerves.

Without thought, she downed the pill and took a drink of the water. She needed to rest. She had to plan. It was obvious Adam wasn’t going to see reason, and neither her husband nor her younger son could see how it all would end. They would tell her she was overreacting, but she would not have that tramp in her family. Sometimes Ruby felt like Cassandra from the old Greek stories. She told them all what would happen, and no one would listen to her.

Ruby heard the door close softly and settled back against the plush cushions of the couch. She had to think, and this time she wasn’t going to bring anyone else into it. That had been her mistake. She let others influence her. She was Adam’s mother, and she was the only one who knew what he needed.

This time would be different. She would take care of that siren and save Adam. Could a mother do any less for her son?

 

* * * *

 

Jack growled at the reflection in the mirror. Well, he was really growling at the tie he couldn’t seem to get right. Damn tie.

Sam shook his head and turned him around. There was a slight smile on his face, indulgent and knowing. “You never learn.”

The sound echoed against the walls. The men’s bathroom at the Hamilton County Courthouse was empty save for Sam and Jack. It was a good thing, too. He didn’t need a bunch of men watching him screw up menswear. Damn, but he was nervous. Trying to fix his tie was a nearly impossible task. Sam sighed and took over.

“Well, I don’t have occasion to wear them very often,” Jack admitted.

He allowed Sam to pull the silk tie off and stood quietly as his partner efficiently began to retie the knot.

Sam worked the silk with an easy hand. “You should be glad one of us listened to Julian’s numerous lectures on proper dress. I have to admit, it’s fun to see you so nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” he lied.

Sam finished and looked over the pristine pinstriped suit Jack was wearing. “You look perfect.”

He felt awkward. It was there between them. He could remember the way Sam felt underneath his hands, his mouth moving. Sam had been submissive and giving.

Sam stepped back, worry lines forming around his eyes. “Is there something wrong? Besides the tie?”

He thought about it for a moment. The truth was Sam had felt good under his hands. It had felt right to have them both under his control in that room.

He put a hand on Sam’s shoulder and gave him a smile. “There is nothing else wrong and everything right.”

The words brought the smile back to Sam’s sunny face.

This new relationship with Sam was something they could explore. The possibilities suddenly seemed endless. But first, he had some formalities to get through.

“Do you think we should have driven into Tyler and gotten her roses?” He looked down at the store-bought bouquet of lilies on the counter. It was wrapped in green tissue paper and covered with plastic.

“No,” Sam replied. “Abby loves lilies. She’ll like the flowers, Jack. They’re the best we can get in Willow Fork. Now, I believe you’ll find that when we get to Hawaii, we’ll have to upgrade. Don’t worry. I planned everything out. We have the best suite, the finest hotel, first-class tickets to everything.”

He nodded. “Good. I want that…for both of you.”

Sam grinned. “Yes, you made that plain when you gave Abby the go-ahead to redecorate. I saw the check you wrote to the contractor. That was a lot of zeroes. I write the next one, okay?”

He wanted to argue but shrugged instead. “All right. She’s your wife, too. Well, she will be in twenty minutes.”

Jack turned and looked at himself in the mirror, praying he didn’t look like an idiot. Everything seemed to be in the right place. He needed a haircut, but when he’d mentioned it, Abigail had sweetly pleaded with him not to. She’d told him she liked his hair longer.

Damn. He pushed the thick black stuff back. The things he was willing to do for that woman.

There were, however, some things he was not willing to do. “You talk to Kyle Morgan about what’s wrong with his football players? You tell the coach that it is not my responsibility to give his players work. Ranching is not a part-time business.”

For the last several days, the ranch had been inundated with high school boys looking for part-time work.

“I don’t think they really want to learn the business. Besides, a couple of them offered to mow the lawn or clean the pool…for free.”

“Why the hell would they do that for free?” he asked, letting irritation tinge his tone. “Why are they trying to do me favors?”

Sam shook his head and readjusted his own tie. “I don’t think they give a damn about you. If you haven’t noticed, it’s Abby they ask for.” Sam looked down at his watch. “We have to go. It’s time”

He didn’t really care about the time in that moment. “Are you telling me we’ve got twenty horny high school boys sniffing around our wife?”

“Get used to it.” Sam slapped him on the back. “She’s one hell of a woman. That’s the good news. She loves us. I doubt she’ll be running off with the high school quarterback. He’s the one who offered to wash her Benz.” Sam guided him out of the bathroom and into the corridor that led to the justice of the peace’s office. “The running back has written a few lines of poetry to welcome Abby back into town.”

He heard Sam, but his words didn’t really register. His attention was wholly on the woman in front of him. The rest of the world fell away the minute he caught sight of her.

Abigail sat on a bench outside the office. She was talking to Christa and her mother. Mike stood in his best Sunday suit. He murmured something to the women, who looked up. Abby stood and smiled.

She wore a form-fitting, cream-colored suit with black heels. Her glorious hair was in an elegant bun tied at the nape of her neck. A small hat sat dashingly on her head. She looked every inch the gracious lady, and he had no idea why a woman as beautiful as Abigail wanted to marry the two of them.

“You still nervous?” Sam’s voice was full of emotion.

“I was never nervous, Sam,” he replied, his own voice thick. “I’m anxious. We need to get her to sign those papers before she comes to her senses.”

She walked toward them, glowing with happiness.

“She’s never coming to her senses,” Sam vowed. “She’s going to love us forever.”

“Thank god,” Jack breathed.

“I was beginning to wonder if I was getting stood up,” Abigail complained good-naturedly.

“Never,” the men managed to say in complete synchronicity. They each took a hand and led her into the office.

 

* * * *

 

The justice of the peace had never actually married a couple where the woman held hands with two men. He supposed sometimes the bride held hands with her father before he gave the bride away, but Fred Johnson didn’t think the other man in this scenario had any intentions of giving the bride away on a permanent basis.

All in all, it was one for the record books.

Abigail Moore said her vows with a steady voice, but the judge saw her squeezing Sam Fleetwood’s hand, though she was legally becoming Jack Barnes’s wife. It was an odd but emotional ceremony. Barnes didn’t seem to have a problem with Fleetwood kissing the bride after the ceremony. It wasn’t a friendly peck, either. It was quite the passionate kiss, but the new groom merely smiled indulgently before taking another kiss for himself. The small wedding party congratulated the bride, the groom, and Sam Fleetwood.

And there had been a nice tip for him. Yes, it was clear that things were changing around Willow Fork.

With a simple signature, the former outcast of Willow Fork became its queen. One simple “I do” and Abigail Barnes became the richest woman in the county, so the judge wasn’t about to say a thing about the odd, apparently true rumors about the ranchers’ habits. Money turned perversity into eccentricity, and the judge was smart enough to know it. He simply signed all the paperwork and wished the happy couple a good marriage.

Or should he say threesome? He wasn’t sure, but as long as everyone was happy, it was all in a good day’s work.

 

* * * *

 

Abby held her new husbands’ hands as they walked out of the judge’s office and toward the exit of the courthouse. A sense of satisfaction flowed through her. It was going to be all right. It would be more than all right. It was going to be good. She would build a life with Jack and Sam, a life filled with love and joy.

Sam dropped her hand and hurried ahead to open the door for her.

“I know that the three of you are anxious to get on with the honeymoon,” Christa announced as the small party began to march out of the courthouse. “Still, I put together a lunch reception at the café. Some of your friends and neighbors would like to celebrate. You aren’t flying out until tomorrow, so come by and do your duty.”

Jack frowned as they walked into the brilliant fall day. “Are there going to be any high school boys there?”

Christa’s laughter had more than one head turning. She’d hoped Jack hadn’t noticed the mob of high school boys plaguing their door.

“No, Jack. They’re all in school. Abby is safe,” Christa assured him.

“Then let’s go have lunch,” Jack offered magnanimously. “Now that I have a wife, I should get used to doing more social things.”

Abby grinned. He didn’t sound like he was looking forward to it.

He would get used to being social because she intended to fit in, even if it killed her. It had occurred to her that this town needed a few things. Willow Fork lacked a free healthcare clinic. Young girls, like she’d been, had nowhere to go for healthcare. Abby felt a crusade beginning and knew Jack and Sam would have to put in face time with the county politicians if she wanted to turn her clinic idea into something real.

Jack offered to bring the truck around when she caught sight of trouble.

“Damn that woman,” Diane Moore cursed.

Ruby Echols strode toward them, dressed in a pale blue suit and elegant pumps. She’d had her hair done and carried a large designer bag. It looked far too big for such a small woman to carry, but Ruby managed with her usual flair. The older woman looked all around with great disdain for the ordinary men and women walking in and out of the courthouse. Her steely-eyed gaze moved around the park in front of the courthouse, and Abby had no doubt who she was looking for. Abby sighed. She wasn’t about to let that old biddy ruin her wedding day.

“I’ll call Walter,” Mike offered, pulling his cell phone out.

Sam tugged on her hand, but she resisted. Ruby had backed her down a couple of days ago. It wasn’t going to happen again. That woman needed to understand that Abigail Moore…Barnes wasn’t going anywhere.

“No, Sam. It’s long past time for me to stand up to that bat. I’m not letting her push me around anymore.”

“Mrs. Echols.” Jack greeted her with a low warning as she stepped tentatively onto the courthouse stairs.

Ruby had the strangest expression on her face as she walked up to the group. There was an odd affection in her gaze as she looked at Jack. Her eyes went slightly watery, and her hand disappeared into her bag, searching for something.

“Hello, dear,” Ruby said, her voice warmer than Abby could ever remember it. “You look so manly in a suit. I always knew you would be a handsome man.”

Jack and Sam exchanged a nervous look. Mike seemed to have gotten in touch with Walter. He was explaining the situation in low tones.

There was something wrong with Ruby Echols and her son needed to take care of it.

“Mrs. Echols,” Mike said gently as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Your son is on his way. Why don’t we go sit down and wait for him?”

Ruby’s silver head shook. “Silly boy, my son is right here.” She looked at Jack with a maternal smile. “He’s here making the biggest mistake of his life. Luckily, he has his mama to correct it.”

Abby gasped as Ruby pulled a revolver out of her bag.

The world seemed to shift into slow motion, the moment elongating, horror drawing out. Her heart threatened to stop as Ruby held the gun up with surprising strength. It would hit her in the head. She was going to die. The sound of the gun firing split the air around her. She felt Sam jerk on her hand, but it didn’t do any good.

And then she was on the ground, covered completely by Jack’s big body. She hit the concrete steps with a resounding thud and felt the wind knocked out of her body.

She couldn’t breathe. Where was she hit? Pain wracked her body, but she didn’t think it was from a bullet. Her body ached from being thrown to the concrete. Had Ruby missed?

The keening sound of someone wailing cut through the pain of slamming into the ground.

“Jack?”

Everything around her was chaos. Mike was rushing forward to do something. Someone was crying and screaming about her baby. Was that Ruby? Christa was down on her knees beside Abby, tears streaking down her face.

Through it all she heard her mother talking on a cell phone.

“Yes, there’s been a shooting,” her mother was saying.

But she was okay. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t find the air in her lungs.

“Yes, we have a man down,” her mother said.

Oh, god. Something worse than pain struck her. If she wasn’t hit…

Sam was suddenly staring down at her, his face a ghostly white. “I’m going to move Jack. I’ll get you out in a second.”

Panic welled inside her. “He’s been shot?”

“Yeah,” Sam replied, his voice grim.

“You can’t move him. Moving him could cause more damage,” she insisted.

But Sam had already shifted Jack’s heavy body. “I don’t think I can do any more damage.”

How bad was it? This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not today. She’d just found them. She couldn’t lose one of them. Abby looked down at him, at the man she’d married. Ten minutes before her world had been open and full of hope.

Jack had promised to protect her, and Jack never went back on his word. He’d leapt in front of the bullet meant to end her life. His dress shirt was covered with blood. He’d been shot in the chest.

Shot in the chest. Calm down. He was breathing. It was shallow but he wasn’t gone yet. She could panic or she could use decades of training and experience to do everything she could to pull him through this.

It had been worth it. All the pain had been worth it if she could do this one thing. One thing was going to go right. She hadn’t fought, sacrificed, raised a child while going to school, worked her way to the top of her trauma unit to let the love of her life die in front of her eyes.

She glanced up because the first thing she needed to do was take control of the scene. Sam looked like he was going to be sick. Christa was weeping. Mike had Ruby’s gun in his hand and was holding her back. She could do what she needed to.

Abby got to her knees, slapping at Sam’s hands when he tried to pull her to her feet.

“He isn’t dead,” she barked in a voice that would have let any intern know to back off. “Don’t move him any more than we have to.”

She quickly took the phone out of her mother’s hand. “My name is Abigail Barnes. I am a trauma nurse. We have one man down with a GSW to what looks like his left lung.” She listened to the 911 operator as she felt for a pulse. “It missed the heart, but the victim is unconscious and…I’ve got air bubbles in the blood. I’m passing you off to someone else, but we need a care flight. He needs surgery and possibly life support. He needs to get to Tyler as soon as possible.”

She handed the phone back to her mom. Suddenly, Jack’s green eyes opened. She felt a flood of relief that she didn’t allow to slow her down one bit.

“You okay?” He struggled to get the question out.

She looked around for something suitable to use. Jack’s lung was punctured, and he was losing air out of the hole in his chest. It was what they called a “sucking chest wound” in her field. She had to get it covered. The big bouquet of lilies caught her eye. “Sam, tear the cellophane off those flowers.”

While Sam went to do her bidding, she stared down at her patient. “I’m fine, Jack. And so are you.”

He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t. The pain was evident on his face. It was pinched and stark white.

“I bet it hurts like hell, baby,” she said sternly. “That’s what you get for jumping in front of a bullet, Jack Barnes. Listen here, husband of mine, there’s no eternal rest for you today, got that?”

Sam handed her the piece of plastic, and she gingerly covered the wound. Jack groaned when she pressed down, but his breathing eased immediately.

“Better,” he managed. “I’m not allowed to see a white light?”

She let a small smile tug on her lips. He still had a sense of humor, and as a nurse, she knew the value of that. “You can see it all you like, but don’t you dare walk into it.”

Abby felt Sam at her side. His hands were shaking.

“I love you,” Jack said, a weariness taking over. His body went slack.

In the distance, she heard the thud of a helicopter coming to take Jack. Abby held her hand against his chest and prayed they would make it in time.