Chapter 32
It should’ve ended there. Clayton had hoped it would end there. Then he saw that wild look in Ronnie’s eyes, and he had known bloodshed was coming.
The first bullet ricocheted off the tree to his left. Bark splintered and slammed into him. Clayton dove to the ground, rolling to the right as Gus turned his horse around and attempted to flee.
He didn’t get far because Ronnie shot him in the back.
Clayton held out his hand for Shane to toss him his rifle.
Shane stayed close to Brice to ensure the teen wouldn’t get hurt.
Knowing Brice was safe, Clayton turned his attention to Ronnie.
It would be so easy to shoot the bastard and end it all, but Clayton was tired of the killing.
It was one of the reasons he’d left the Navy.
And he wasn’t going to bring that home with him now.
The sound of gunfire erupted as Baxter and his two other men opened fire while the cattle began to shift, looking to get away from the noise .
In short order, the two other rustlers were tossing aside their weapons and dismounting.
Ronnie targeted a few shots at Danny before turning his gun on Clayton.
Clayton took aim, and with one pull of the trigger, shot the gun from Ronnie’s hand.
Baxter let out a yelp as the herd broke through a fence and started running away.
Several of the ranch hands ran to the horses and raced to contain the cattle.
Clayton knew they would get the animals back, so he kept his attention on Baxter.
He walked to Ronnie who pulled a knife from the scabbard attached to his saddle and jumped from his horse. Clayton looked at the long blade of the weapon as he tossed Shane the rifle. Then he calmly reached down and pulled the knife from his boot.
“I’m not scared of you,” Baxter said.
Clayton began circling him. “Good.”
“You think you’re something special, don’t you,” Ronnie sneered as he flung away his hat. “All that money and good looks got you a lot. Then you became a hero. All that’s going to change soon.”
All around Clayton, he could hear Danny and the deputies handcuffing Ronnie’s two other men. “It’s going to be pretty hard for you to do that behind bars.”
“Oh, I’m not going to jail.” Ronnie lobbed his blade back and forth between his hands.
“Are you going to play with that thing or do something with it?” Clayton challenged.
Ronnie’s face mottled red with rage as he attacked.
Clayton backed up, evading the slicing movements.
Baxter was better than he’d expected. Ronnie ducked one of Clayton’s jabs before lunging at him, knocking his hat off.
Clayton jerked back, sucking in his stomach and hunching over as the knife came close to slicing him.
Again and again, they each attacked, both coming close to drawing blood on the other numerous times.
Baxter laughed as he kicked Clayton in the chest, shoving him backward. “You thought you’d take me down easily, but you don’t know me.”
“And you don’t know me,” Clayton said.
They came together in a clash of strength. Clayton blocked Baxter’s downward arc. They stood face-to-face, each trying to overpower the other. Ronnie was using brute strength, and while Clayton was trained to look for an opponent’s weakness and exploit it.
Clayton swung his leg wide before wrapping it around Baxter’s and leaning into him. The force of his momentum knocked Ronnie onto his back where Clayton quickly divested him of the weapon and had his knife at Baxter’s throat.
Ronnie looked up at him and scoffed. “You’ll never win.”
“I did today, and that’s what matters.”
“I knew that little shit would tell you.”
Clayton pushed the blade harder against Ronnie’s throat, drawing blood. “Brice didn’t tell us anything. You thought you were a great mastermind, when in fact, you left a paper trail, Baxter. It was Abby who figured it out.”
“Gus should’ve killed her.”
It would be so simple to slit his throat. All Clayton had to do was pull his arm away while applying pressure. Then he could watch Ronnie bleed out right there.
“Clayton.”
It was Brice’s voice that got through Clayton’s red haze of fury. He leaned down close to Ronnie. “Know that I’m giving you your life today, but if you harm my family or the Harpers or I even think you sent someone to hurt them, I’ll come for you. And I will kill you.”
Clayton rose to his feet and turned his back to Ronnie. He heard Danny reading Baxter his rights while cuffing him. Clayton looked down at Brice, who stood beside him holding his hat.
“We did it,” Brice said.
Clayton took his hat and set it on his head. “We certainly did.”
Danny came to stand beside them. “Gus is dead.”
Shane removed his hat to run his hands through his hair. “Shot in the back by a coward.”
“I can’t believe I thought I could learn anything from these men,” Brice said.
Danny blew out a breath and looked at the approaching herd of cattle. “Lessons, son. That’s what life is all about.”
“Come on, Brice,” Shane said. “Let’s help the others get the cattle into pens so we can get them loaded into trailers and back onto East land.” Shane paused and looked at Clayton. “By the way, Cochise has been found as well.”
They really had done it. Clayton watched Shane and Brice mount their horses and ride away. Somehow, it had all worked out, but he knew more than anyone just how close he’d come to killing Ronnie.
“I suppose you’ll come to the station and file charges,” Danny said.
He nodded. “Definitely.”
“You did good here today, Clayton. And if you had killed Baxter, it would’ve been in self-defense.”
He looked at Danny and smiled. “I’ll always be a SEAL, but that part of my life is behind me. I’ve got something else to look forward to.”
“You mean someone else,” Danny said with a wink.
“Yeah. I do.”
Danny slapped him on the back. “Good for you. Now, let’s get you home so you can get moving on that. I suppose there’ll be a wedding soon.”
A wedding. Clayton stood there as a slow smile spread across his face.
“I take that to mean yes,” Danny said with a chuckle. His laugh grew louder as he walked to the patrol car.
The waiting was the worst. Abby could practically feel years being taken from her as she anxiously waited for some type of word.
Each time she thought of Clayton getting hurt, she felt sick inside. In a short amount of time, he’d come to mean so very much to her. She’d tried to ignore it and even attempted to run from it. But there was no getting away from someone like Clayton—and she didn’t want to.
That’s when she knew what her brothers had apparently already seen—she was in love with Clayton East. It terrified her, but worse was the thought of him not being with her, of them not sharing their lives together.
When she and Justine saw Ben jump into his truck, Abby opened the door to ask Caleb what was going on. Before she could get a word out, her youngest brother ran to the vehicle.
“Caleb!” she yelled as he got into the truck and it sped off.
Justine sighed loudly. “It must be good news. Ben was grinning.”
“I just wish I knew,” Abby said as she walked back into the house and closed the door.
“You should take one of your pain pills. I can see you’re hurting.”
Abby shook her head. “I can’t. Not yet.”
“You’ve been saying that since dawn.”
“I’m good,” she insisted.
Frankly, she was. Being so worried about Brice and Clayton, she didn’t feel the ache in her arm as much. That would probably come back to bite her later, but for now, she was grateful.
To pass the time, she helped decorate another batch of cookies. Abby then went into the office. There was no way she could stare out the window, letting all sorts of scenarios run through her mind.
One way to take her mind off everything was to immerse herself in the ranch’s books. So she took a deep breath and pulled up the form she’d been working from as well as the papers. Then she got to work.
To her surprise, while working, she found three instances where it looked as if Gilroy had purposefully transposed numbers. A thousand dollars here, two thousand there, and so on, and it added up quickly.
Now that she knew what to look for, Abby was able to quickly scan through the each month and locate the easiest places where the CPA had begun taking the money.
But one question remained. Why? The Easts were paying him a very nice salary, so why would he need to take more.
That had her picking up the phone and calling the bank.
Because she still technically worked for Gloria, the bank was used to her calling to see about certain clients and how many accounts they had open. Within minutes, she learned that Nathan Gilroy had opened another account at the branch three years earlier.
Abby quickly added up a few months of sums that had gone missing and asked if those exact deposits had been made in each of those months.
Once the banker confirmed it, Abby knew for sure how Gilroy had begun embezzling money.
But something must have happened that made him need a much larger sum. Or he just got greedy.
She hung up the phone and sat back in the chair.
She lifted her eyes, her gaze clashing with Clayton’s.
Her heart missed a beat as she jerked upright.
His hair was stuck to his head with sweat, and he was covered in dust, but he was smiling and safe.
He pushed away from the door and started toward her.
Abby rushed around the desk and threw her arm around him.
He pressed his lips against the top of her head and kissed her. “It’s over. Baxter and his men are in jail, the cattle are back in our pasture, and there’s no longer a threat hanging over your family.”
She leaned back to look up at him. “I’ve been so worried.”
“I told you everything would be all right, and I always keep my word.”
Abby nodded and hugged him again. “God, it’s so good to have you back in my arms.”
His hands came to either side of her face as he tilted her head up to look at him. “You and I need to talk. There are things I need to say to you.”
“And there are things I need to say to you,” she said.
A brow quirked up. “Do you now?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
His pale green eyes grew laden with desire as his head lowered to hers. Just before their lips touched, Brice and Caleb began shouting her name.
They barreled into the office, both talking at once.
“Abby, you should’ve seen Clayton fight. It was amazing.”
“I got to herd cattle, Abby. On top of a horse. I want a horse. Can I have a horse?”
“I really want to work on the ranch. I’ll even do it for free.”
“Me, too. Free.”
She had trouble listening to both of them talk over each other, so she just nodded and smiled. Beside her, Clayton kept his arm around her while looking between the two teens.
“I think I need a shot of tequila now,” he said when they finally quieted.
But all he did was turn her brothers’ attention to him. They began talking again, this time bombarding him with questions about the ranch. As Abby watched the three most important men in her life, she was finally able to admit to herself that she was happy and that this was the life she wanted.