Chapter 8 The Delivery #3
“I do.” His heart pounded crazily. “I love you, Mal.” Saying it aloud made it feel a thousand times more real.
“I love you more, Tuck. ”
He gripped the steering wheel with both hands. “I highly doubt it.”
“Uh…” There was a weepy quality to Chip’s voice from the backseat. “Can we get back to the part about me being deader than dead?”
“We’re not gonna let you die, Chip.” Mallory’s voice was as warm as a drizzle of icing on a fresh-baked cinnamon roll. “I like you too much.”
He made a gulping sound. “What for?”
“I don’t know. I just do.” To Tucker’s immense relief, she rested her gun on her knee. “You’re smart and nerdy. Plus, I’ve always wanted a sibling, and you’re in that age range.”
“Smart?” His voice was derisive. “I’m a high school dropout, remember?”
“Not by choice.” She sobered. “Just as soon as we bring the rustlers to justice, you’re gonna go back to school and graduate.”
Tucker still didn’t understand why she was going to bat for the kid, but he was learning to trust her instincts.
“As nice as that sounds,” Chip muttered, “it’s never gonna happen.”
“Not as long as you keep beating around the bush.” She glared at him.
“So, how about you tell us about your parents? About whoever’s stealing my cattle.
About who’s got a hit out on Tucker. Until I understand what we’re up against, you’re right.
We can’t protect you. But we can,” she held up a finger, “if you let us.”
He grew teary-eyed again. “I don’t know who has a hit out on Tucker. I just know it exists.” He stared out the window. “They don’t tell me much. I did overhear my mom tell my stepdad that cooperating with the hit could be our ticket to the next level. ”
“Next level of what?” Mallory pressed.
“In the cartel.” He all but whispered the words, as if saying them aloud might be enough to seal his doom.
“Ever since Mom married Dex, and he got her a job with them, she’s been obsessed with making more money.
” He went on to give a somewhat convoluted explanation of how his mom’s current role within the cartel involved moving around the country to clean things up , as he put it.
“We never stay anywhere for long,” he concluded.
“The only reason we’re in Heart Lake is to… ” He coughed and fell silent.
Take me out. Tucker finished the sentence inside his head.
Chip started talking again. “The turf war sorta came out of nowhere. I don’t think my mom was expecting it, but she’s the cleaner,” he bragged. “She’ll put the challenger out of business in no time with the bad product she’s feeding them.”
Wait a sec! At the risk of making Chip clam up again, Tucker jumped back into the conversation.
“Are you telling us that the drugs that poisoned Mallory’s steers were tainted somehow?
” Not that all illicit drugs weren’t their own brand of poison, but if the Silvas were peddling stuff designed to be lethal…
? Man! It was a whole new brand of evil.
Chip nodded sheepishly at him through the rear-view mirror.
“Nobody’s come right out and said it to me, but I saw some stuff in a file on Mom’s computer that I wasn’t supposed to see.
” He started speaking more rapidly. “I know it was stupid of me to get involved, but I copied the formula and sent it in an encrypted file to the FBI. It only seemed right to give them a heads up that a bunch of people are about to die. ”
You did what? If the kid was telling it straight, then Mallory may have been right about him after all. He wasn’t cut from the same cloth as his parents. All signs were pointing to his wanting out of the mess he was in.
That was something Tucker and his higher-ups could work with.
Mallory let out a long, gusty sigh. “I really liked your mom before I found out her real occupation.”
“Yeah, I could tell.” Chip sounded wry. “She’s good at making friends.”
“I liked Dex, too,” Mallory continued mournfully.
“Most people do.” Chip sounded like he was trying to comfort her, which Tucker found oddly endearing.
While Chip was spilling his guts, Tucker threw out another puzzling question. “Where does Cruz fit into all of this?”
“He’s the one they were gonna keep at Mallory’s ranch after my parents moved to their next assignment.”
“Were?” Tucker hoped he would elaborate on why he was speaking in the past tense.
Chip shrugged. “Now that the police are on to him, their original plan is a no-go. He’ll be gone by the time we get back to the ranch. My stepdad will make up some story about how he caught him stealing or something. He’ll make it sound like he did you a big favor by letting him go.”
As Tucker drove past the Heart Lake welcome sign, he mulled over everything Chip had told them.
“After everything that’s happened, I don’t like the idea of sending you two back to Evans Ranch alone.
It’s too dangerous.” Sending them back with a security detail would tip their hand to the Silvas. There had to be a better way.
“What do you have in mind, partner?” Mallory reached across the console for his hand, making his mind momentarily go blank—in a good way.
He threaded his fingers through hers and said the first thing that came to mind. “Marry me.”
She made a choking sound. “Are you joking?”
“Nope.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers. “It doesn’t take long to apply for a marriage license in Texas. Pretty sure it only takes a few days.”
Chip settled into stunned silence in the back.
Since Mallory didn’t immediately shoot down the idea of marrying him, Tucker felt emboldened to press his suit. “If you can’t stand the thought of spending the rest of your life with me, we can make it a temporary thing. I think it’s called a marriage of convenience. We can have it annulled later.”
She yanked her hand from his to punch him in the shoulder. “I’m not trying on marriage like a pair of boots. It had better be the real thing, or no deal.”
He feathered his brakes to slow the truck and pulled over to the shoulder. After rolling to a stop, he turned to her. “Do you want me to do this outside on my knees or here?”
She blushed to the roots of her short, sassy haircut. “It’s too dangerous out there.”
“Then we’ll do it here.” He reached for her hand again and cradled it between his.
“Hoh, boy,” Chip muttered.
Tucker ignored him. “When we first met, I thought you were annoying, opinionated, and outspoken.”
“Thank you.” Her prim voice drew a snort of humor from him. He should’ve known they were qualities she would be proud of.
“And determined,” he added in a tender voice.
“Loyal, honest, and so kindhearted that you assume the best about others, even when they don’t deserve it.
You’re beautiful, Mal, through and through.
” So beautiful that he could no longer imagine living without her.
“Never thought of myself as the marrying type, but you’ve changed me.
There’s nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life making you happy.
” And keeping you safe. He added that last part inside his head, unsure if she’d appreciate the idea of him watchdogging over her. “What do you say, darling?”
Her eyes glistened. “Now that’s a proposal I can say yes to.”
“Then say it.” He felt a little emotional himself.
“Yes, Tuck. I will marry you.” She reached over to curl a hand around his neck, drawing his head to hers.
As they sealed their newest agreement with a kiss, the sound of gagging noises rose from the backseat. “Come oooooooon,” Chip groaned. “I’m dying back here.”
Mallory smiled against Tucker’s mouth. “You were already dying. You said so yourself.” She settled back in her seat, looking uncharacteristically soft and vulnerable. “But my new partnership with Private Investigator Pratt might just be the one thing that keeps us all alive.”
Tucker’s gaze burned into hers, telling her without words that his heart was fully hers, along with his name and protection. After being alone and without a family for so long, it meant the world to him to belong to someone again.
“Fair warning.” She pursed her lips speculatively at him. “This isn’t a one-sided arrangement. I intend to protect you as well. Someone wants you dead, and I don’t think they’re bluffing.”
Her words touched him deeply. They also struck a reckless chord in him. “Wanna get married this weekend?” He waggled his eyebrows at her, fully expecting her to shoot down the suggestion.
She blinked in consideration. “That might be pushing it. I could probably scrape together a cake and flowers before Christmas, though.”
He could live with that. He could more than live with that. Without dropping her gaze, he directed his next question to the teenager sitting behind them. “Any interest in being my best man, Chip?”
Mallory’s eyes grew wide. “I figured we’d just go stand before the Justice of the Peace.”
“Then you figured wrong.” Tucker curled his upper lip at her. “If you want the real deal, it needs to be in a church.”
Chip inquired hesitantly, “Do I have to dress up?”
“No,” Mallory assured.
“Yes,” Tucker said at the same time. “Do you own a suit?”
“I have a blazer,” he admitted.
“That’ll do.” Tucker winked at his new fiancée. “I think that’s a yes.”
“Yeah, count me in,” Chip muttered, not sounding too thrilled about it.
She made a comical face at Tucker. “Do you own a suit?”
“Yup. Do you own a dress?”
She looked like she was thinking hard. “I think so.”
Tucker held in a chuckle as he reached over to flick a finger against the tip of her nose. “Honestly? I’m surprised to hear it.”
She swatted his hand away. “I’m full of surprises, mister, so you’d better buckle up for the ride of your life.”
“I can’t wait.” The look he gave her made Chip start gagging again.