Love Under Three Titans (22 page)

* * * *

Maggie only hoped that she didn’t throw up. Her head pounded, her stomach churned, and terror painted a copper taste inside her mouth.

Yet she goaded him, pushing him, part of her wondering if she was insane while the other part of her couldn’t seem to stop.

She’d come back to consciousness to a stinging on her face and a throbbing in her skull, and the sight of Clarence Conrad pacing back and forth in front of the bookcases, muttering to himself, using her trusty hammer like a gavel against the palm of his left hand.

She’d only intended to give him hell, but when he’d disavowed responsibility for his own actions, something inside her snapped, and she’d lost it.

He was too far away for her to fight back. But maybe if she could goad him into coming at her, she could kick him hard enough to make him lose the hammer, maybe even fall on his ass.

Then she’d run like hell.

It wasn’t much of a plan, she’d admit it, but there was no handy snow globe waiting for her to use as a weapon on his head, like she’d done against the bastard who’d come at her in New Jersey. She thought about Deke Walters, the man who’d made Ginny’s life a living hell.

What is it about me that makes self-centered assholes want to slap me around?

Maggie felt her heart thud when the look in Conrad’s eyes changed from petulant to hate-filled. She’d already figured out the man was more than a little bit loony tunes. Now she had to wonder if he could be dangerous, too.

“Perhaps you’re right, perhaps he won’t go down—but he can suffer. I can make him suffer. All I have to do is hurt you.”

Oh, shit
. Maybe she should just shut up and cower in the corner of the love seat like a frightened little girl. Surely to God someone would come by or try to phone. By now the men would know Conrad had stood them up. Maybe they’d figure out she was in trouble and she needed them. They were connected to her, heart and mind and body and soul.

Maybe they’d hear her silent screams for help in their minds.

Maggie meant to keep quiet. Instead, her mouth opened and she said, “You pathetic little ineffectual asshole. You can’t do anything right. You’re such a loser. You won’t even be able to hurt me. And then you’ll be in jail, and we’ll all come and laugh at you.”

Conrad’s expression wavered, and for one instant she thought that he would simply slip into some fugue state.

And then, to her horror, he raised the hammer high above his head and screamed. “You bastards! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”

Maggie had no time to think and only one chance to get it right.

Conrad, his face contorted in hate and fury, rushed toward her, hammer raised, a weapon ready to maim or kill.

It felt as if she tensed to strike back forever, but she knew only seconds, mere heartbeats of time, had passed.

She brought her knees up, legs together, and kicked out with all her might.

She caught Conrad low in the abdomen, a solid two-footed assault to his stomach that immediately winded him. The jar of contact vibrated up her legs, but Maggie ignored the pain, ignored her nausea, as she straightened her legs, pushing him off-balance, thrusting him back.

She let her momentum bring her from sitting to standing, and then
yes
, she ran like hell.

“Bitch!”

Conrad’s scream echoed, but she didn’t look back. Not when she heard a loud crack, not even when she heard another scream.

She didn’t look back when it felt as if the house shook from a hard, heavy thud.

She ran, her feet taking her to the front door, then out onto the front porch, finally to slam into a solid male body.

“Easy, Maggie, I have you. Matt!”

Maggie recognized the voice of Adam Kendall. She made herself stop struggling and inhaled deeply. Help had come. She didn’t have to run.
Thank God
.

“Here. Come here, Ms. Morrison. Why don’t you hang on to me for a bit?”

Adam had passed Maggie to his deputy—one of her men’s cousins—and then stepped into the house, his gun drawn.

Maggie inhaled deeply and then swallowed quickly when her stomach did one sickening roll.

The screech of brakes made her look up, but she didn’t recognize the big black Jeep that had just skidded to a stop. And then the back doors sprang open and her men all but erupted out of the vehicle.

“Maggie!”

Nothing had sounded more wonderful to her than her name on three pairs of lips.

Matt continued to hold her up until his cousins vaulted onto the porch. They reached for her, pulled her close, surrounding her.

Maggie inhaled deeply, taking in the essence of the men she loved.

“Are you all right, love?”

“Did he hurt you, sweetheart?”

“Let’s have a look at you, baby.”

Snuggled and then set at arm’s length, she watched as their wonderful faces clouded, as brows furrowed and mouths scowled.

“He hurt you. I’ll kill him.”

Maggie had never heard Richard sound so fierce. She held on to him as her stomach rolled again, as her head resumed its pounding in earnest. She smiled at him, then looked at Trevor and Kevin.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I love you. I love you all so much.”

She thought her declaration would have put smiles on their faces, not make them look as if the world was coming to an end.

Maggie closed her eyes, felt herself begin to fall, and simply let go.

* * * *

Trevor had never been so terrified in his entire life. Maggie had simply crumpled, as if someone had found her “off” switch and flipped it.

Rick caught her and lifted her into his arms, calling Matt’s name. Matt looked back just as he’d been about to enter the inn. Instead he’d spun on his heel, shouted something out to Adam, and raced for his cruiser, telling them he’d get them to the clinic in minutes.

“I’m going to say this one more time, gentlemen, so please pay attention. Maggie has a minor concussion, but she’s going to be fine. The CAT scan came out clean.” Robert Jessop looked down at Maggie, and the smile he gave her was a much nicer look than he’d been giving Trevor and his brothers.

“Have the pills kicked in yet, Maggie?”

Propped up on a stretcher, the ice pack he and his brothers had been taking turns holding to her head now lying on the pillow beside her, Maggie smiled. She didn’t look nearly as white has she had when she’d passed out barely an hour before.

“They have. My stomach has settled, too. Thank you, Robert.” Maggie closed her eyes, and Trevor wondered if she was really all right.

“You’re welcome. Bed rest, fluids, and acetaminophen for the pain, if necessary.” He looked up and met Trevor’s gaze, as well as Rick’s and then Kevin’s. Then he looked back down at Maggie. “If you have any of the symptoms we talked about, you call and we’ll get you to Waco. Otherwise, come back in three days, and we’ll see how you’re doing.” Robert nodded and left the exam room.

Trevor exhaled, the panic that had lived inside him for the last hour finally easing. He stood on Maggie’s left, while Kev and Rick stood on her right. All three of them had their hands on her. He didn’t want to stop touching her, and he figured that there was no way in hell he would be able to let her out of his sight. Not for a good long while.

He bet his brothers felt the exact same way.

“Sweetheart? Are you ready to go home?”

Maggie opened her eyes and gave him a look he had no trouble interpreting. “I don’t know. Is that crazy man still at my house?”

“No, ma’am. He’s in my jail at the moment.” Adam stepped into the room and came to stand at the foot of the bed. “How is she?”

He directed his question at all three of them.

“Concussion,” Rick said. “Doc junior says she’ll be fine.”

“Doc junior?” Maggie looked at each of them in turn.

“Yep. That’s what we’ve all decided to call both Robert and David when they’re on duty here,” Adam said.

“They have to earn anything more respectful,” Trevor said. “That’s the Benedict way.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much how Kendalls do things, too,” Adam said.

Maggie laughed but not as energetically as she normally did.

“I’m going to need a statement from you, please, Aunt Maggie.” Adam’s deferential tone brought Trevor’s eyebrow up.

Adam shrugged. “This woman managed to use her feet—while suffering from a concussion, mind you—and kick that son of a bitch hard enough to push him across the room, making him hit the bookcase, which then toppled over and pinned him to the floor.” Adam smiled, then turned his gaze on Maggie and spoke directly to her. “It took me, Dev, Drew, and Jake to lift that sucker off of him. So you can bet I’ll be doing all I can to make sure I don’t get you mad at me. Ma’am.”

Maggie frowned. “The bookcase fell over and pinned him?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

A look of concern came over her. “Oh dear. Is it all right? The bookcase?”

Trevor snickered. “That’s not kind, sweetheart. Delicious, and deserved, but not kind.”

Adam pulled out a small recorder and held it up. “If you feel up to it, you can just tell me what happened. Then I’ll get it typed up and bring it over later for you to sign.”

“Yes, please. I want to get this done. I want to go home with my men.”

Trevor felt his smile blooming wide. He really liked being called one of Maggie’s men.

“We want that too, love,” Rick said.

Then Maggie began to speak and Trevor had to work hard at not letting his anxiety show as she detailed her encounter with Clarence Conrad.

Stark terror gave way to fury, then ping-ponged right back to terror.

“You egged him on? On purpose? The man is a murderer. Are you
crazy
?” Trevor felt proud of the fact that his tone sounded so reasonable.

Adam cursed. He turned off the recorder and said, “Hello? Taking an official statement, here. If you can’t behave, you’ll all three have to leave.”

“Yeah, like that would ever happen,” Kevin said.

“We’ll try and hold our comments until you’re done.” Rick brought Maggie’s hand up to his lips and kissed it. “We wouldn’t want to be caught on tape threatening to spank our woman.”

“He’s a
murderer
?”

“Suspected,” Adam said.

Maggie’s demeanor changed when she heard about Conrad’s grandmother and the fact that the man himself was a person of interest in the case.

“Person of interest just means ‘we know you did it, we just can’t prove it yet,’ doesn’t it?” she asked.

Adam nodded. “Yes, pretty much. Come on, let’s get this done.”

“All right. Where was I?” Maggie tried to sit up a bit straighter. All three of them did what they could to help her.

“You were describing the conversation you were having with Clarence Conrad and the way you were recklessly and foolishly baiting him,” Adam said.

“I never said I was being reckless or foolish. What happened to the part where you didn’t want to get me mad at you?”

Adam grinned. “My bad. Please continue, Aunt Maggie.”

She did, and when she told how she’d come off the love seat and ran like hell for the door, Trevor got mad and anxious all over again. He’d seen that part, seen the way she’d practically exploded out of the house.

More, he’d seen the look of terror on her face. It was a look he doubted he’d ever forget.

Adam turned off the recorder. He once more met Trevor’s gaze, and then his brothers’. “I won’t lecture you, Maggie, about how dangerous that was. I have a feeling my cousins are going to cover that fairly well. I’ll just say now I understand where Ginny gets it from. And I’m very glad you’re okay.”

Trevor didn’t snicker, which did surprise him some. He’d heard the way Ginny had gone after the man who’d been her abuser for two years and had intended to kidnap her. He remembered he’d laughed long and loud when Colt Evans had told him about it.

He wasn’t laughing now.

Trevor had never understood the true meaning of the word “relieved” until this afternoon. He stepped back so that Adam could kiss Maggie on the cheek. “Speaking of Ginny, she and Mom are waiting for you back at the inn. But there’s a mess of family to be got through between here and there. The waiting room is full. If you need me to, I’ll clear them out.”

“No. No, please don’t.” Her eyes shimmered, and Trevor felt his heart thud in his chest.

“Sweetheart? Are you all right?”

“Baby, do you need anything?”

“Does it hurt, love?”

Trevor shook his head, as he and his brothers had all spoken at the same time.

“No, I’m fine. Really.” She looked at Adam. “We’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later.”

As soon as Adam left the room, Maggie inhaled deeply. She blinked and reached up and wiped a tear. “He said that as if it was a given. Family.”

“Why wouldn’t it be, sweetheart? You have to know by now the entire town considers you one of us.”

“It’s not what the entire town thinks that matters to me. It’s what you think. The last time we discussed that, y’all said what we had between us was nothing more than fun and games.”

“Baby, you said ‘y’all’ like a real Texan!” Kevin beamed and Maggie smiled. Then she tilted her head to one side and said, “Is that your way of changing the subject?”

Trevor met his brothers’ gazes and knew one thing without a doubt. The time had definitely come for them to come clean with the woman they loved.