Risky Christmas (15 page)

He looked down at Chloe's beautiful face and last night's feverish loss of control gripped him. If he never got a chance to tell her what it meant to him, he'd live with a weighty regret, and yet the thought of facing that gave him a cold chill of dread.

“She was trying to protect me,” CC said, beginning to cry.

“She'll be all right,” Mason said, but he had no way of knowing that for sure until she had medical help. He'd take care of her. He'd make sure she was okay. And then what? He didn't want to think about anything beyond getting her better.

“She told me to run and she stayed behind to shoot at Axel.”

Mason looked up at CC and down again at Chloe. Had she? She'd had a gun tucked in her pants. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised she knew how to shoot guns. He'd just never met anyone like her before.

Teddy was on his cell talking to the local doctor, arranging to meet at the clinic. It was too far to Great Falls. If necessary, Chloe could be transported from the clinic.

“Where did she get the gun?” Mason asked CC.

“She kicked Axel and took his. You should have seen her. The way she moved! It was like watching a movie.”

So she'd learned how to fight, too. That shouldn't have surprised him, either, given where she came from. He felt a surge of pride and gladness. She'd kept a clear enough head to save herself and CC.

“She held the gun to Axel's head and made the other man let me go. And then she made him give her his gun. She took both of their guns! It was amazing. We'd have been dead if it hadn't been for her.” CC faced forward in the passenger seat. “Or I would have been.”

That bit of news alerted Mason. “What other man?” Chloe had forced guns from two men?

CC looked over her shoulder. “There was another man waiting at the cabin.”

“Who was he?”

“I don't know. He never said his name and neither did Axel.”

“What did he look like?”

He watched his sister try to remember and realized she'd been too frightened to register much. “Tall…I think. Brown hair…everything happened so fast, I…”

Chloe began to stir. He looked down and saw her eyes flutter open. The stunning blue of them pierced his armor. The intimacy they'd shared was a living thing between them, arresting his heart.

“Chloe?”

She met his gaze with eyes still out of focus. “Mason?”

She knew his name. Another good sign. “Yes.” She tried to sit up but he stopped her. “Stay still.”

“What happened?”

“Do you remember falling?”

“No.” She seemed to struggle remembering. “The last thing I remember is running from Axel.”

Teddy pulled the car to a stop in front of the clinic. The doctor and the nurse practitioner emerged with a stretcher. Mason helped get her onto it, following them inside and watching them take her into a room. Inside the small waiting area, he took out his cell and called his SAC.

“Mason.” Reid answered. “Is everything all right? We still haven't found Axel. With Christmas and all…”

“Axel is here.”

“In Montana?”

“Yeah. And he's got company.”

The long silence spoke for his boss. “Who?”

“That's what I'd like to know.”

“How did he find you?”

He explained what he and Chloe had already talked about when they'd seen Axel during the sleigh ride. Tanner had talked.

“Then we have to assume Donovan knew who you were,” Reid said.

“Yeah, and if he did, why question me when I arrived at the party? Why wait for Axel?”

“Who never showed.”

“Exactly.”

“You think he never told Donovan who you were?”

“It's crossed my mind.”

“Why would he do that?”

“To take over his operation. Start fresh in Chicago with no competition.”

“With the FBI on to him? Doubtful.”

“Unless he had help. Partnered up with someone not associated with Donovan. There was a man with him at the cabin.”

“I see where you're going with this. I'm going to send some people your way. They'll be watching but out of sight. Don't say anything to your family. Let's keep it quiet and get this wrapped up in time for the New Year.”

“I'd like that.” Mason spotted the nurse heading toward them. He'd also like good news about Chloe.

Mason disconnected just as the nurse stopped before CC and Teddy. He walked over to them.

“It looks like she dodged the bullet, as it were,” the nurse began. “No sign of a skull fracture, but you might want to take her to Great Falls for tests. We don't have those services here. Otherwise, I'd suggest making sure she rests over the next couple of days as long as you don't notice any worsening in her condition. Things like nausea, signs of lethargy or confusion, that sort of thing. No lifting or strenuous exertion. She needs rest.”

“That won't be a problem.” His mother would insist on pampering her.

“I bandaged up the cut on her thigh,” the nurse said. “That will heal fine. Sheriff will want to question her. I had to report the gunshot wound.”

Mason nodded. “When can she go home?”

“We're bringing her out now.”

Mason was so caught up in how it felt to say
home
that he barely registered what the nurse said. He'd rather just let her go back to the apartment she'd rented from Hank, but that was out of the question until Axel was caught. The idea of taking her home felt too right for his already spinning confusion. Home was exactly where he wanted her. But he was afraid once she was there, he'd never want her to leave. And then he'd really be in trouble. Again.

C
hloe hadn't been happy to discover Mason brought her back to his parents' house. More than the pain in her head and leg had kept her up all night. Sometime during the early morning hours, she'd finally fallen asleep, and now it was after seven at night. Showered and dressed, she reluctantly limped her way down the stairs. She wasn't looking forward to facing him. CC, too, who for some absurd reason felt responsible for her injuries.

The house was quiet, and Chloe relaxed when she discovered no one was in the kitchen. While her stomach growled, she sneaked leftover tater tots and hot dogs from the kids from the refrigerator.

“You're up!”

She jumped and turned to see Bevy rush into the kitchen, her dark hair bobbing and her borderline plump form in jeans and a blue, green and red knit sweater.

“Go sit down. I'll get this for you.” She took the
containers Chloe held and reached for a plate. “Hot dogs?”

“I'm fine, really. I can do it.” She'd already doted on her enough. “I love hot dogs.”

“Sit.” Bevy pointed to the kitchen island. “Hot dogs it is, then.” She shook her head in marvel.

Knowing it was useless to argue, Chloe went to a stool and sat. “Where is everyone?” Mason, especially, so she could avoid him.

Bevy heated the tater tots and hot dogs in the microwave. “Mason and Teddy are out doing another patrol around the house. Karl's upstairs checking the windows. Deirdra is down in the rec room with the kids. CC was—”

“I'm right here.” She appeared in the kitchen, sitting next to Chloe. “How are you? Are you all right?” She surveyed Chloe.

“I'm fine,” she repeated, feeling the two women's overdone concern. There was a good measure of guilt in there, too.

“How does your head feel? Does it still hurt? Maybe you shouldn't be up yet.”

“I'm fine,” she said with more force.

“But you—”

“Really, I'm fine.”

Bevy set the plate of food in front of her. The hot dog was just as juicy with ketchup and relish as she loved. She looked from one anguished face to the other. “You both did nothing wrong, all right? If anything, Mason is to blame since he's the one who brought all this here. Me included.”

That only marginally pacified both women.

“I panicked,” CC said. “If I'd have kept my head you wouldn't have been shot.”

“And I should have never let you out of this house,” Bevy chimed in.

Moved by how much they cared, Chloe had to fight a wave of affection. “I would have fought those men regardless of what you did, CC, and Bevy, there's nothing you could have done to keep me here.”

After a few seconds, Bevy's face eased with understanding. “You're a strong woman. The strongest of any Mason's brought home. I knew that about you from the start. I just didn't see it until now.”

“Mason didn't, either,” CC added. “You should have seen him when I told him what you did.”

Mason was only glad she'd kept his sister from being hurt. Other than protecting her from Axel, he didn't care about her.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” Bevy asked.

Chloe didn't want to talk about it. Learning self-defense had been a necessity. “I took some classes.” From a thirty-year-old gang member who lived next door to her until he was arrested for murder. She picked up a tater tot, dipped it in ketchup and ate.

“It was amazing,” CC said.

To Chloe, fighting wasn't a source of pride. Someone entering the kitchen saved her from further hero worship. But that someone was Mason. Seeing him made her heart flutter with excitement that she didn't want. He stopped short when he saw her.

“You two could use some privacy.” Bevy moved around the island counter.

“No, it's okay,” Mason said. “I'll just…go back outside.”

“Oh, stop it, Mason, you're acting like a sixteen-year-old.”

He appeared stunned as his mother ushered CC out
of the kitchen. And then he stood there staring at her as if he didn't know what to do.

Deciding to save him—and her—any more discomfort, Chloe abandoned her hot dog and stood from the stool. Intending to march past him, she was taken aback when he stopped her with his hand on her arm.

Reluctantly, she looked up at him. He still seemed rigid, but in his eyes she saw confusion, which only made it worse.

“Let go.”

“Chloe…”

“I get it, okay? You made a mistake. But let me reassure you, it wasn't as big as the one I made letting it happen.”

That made him pull his head back in bemusement. Hadn't he considered how she'd feel? She fumed.

“It's not…”

“Let go of me, Mason.”

Heeding her stern tone, he let her go. Uncertainty all but radiated from him. Chloe didn't like how that made her speculate if he felt more than she thought. She had to get some fresh air. Clear her head.

 

Mason stood in the kitchen for several minutes, wracked with the same terrible sense of disorder that had afflicted him after he made love with Chloe. Only now it was worse. She sounded like him. She sounded like she was the one being left in the cold. And wasn't that exactly what he'd done? Funny, how he'd endeavored to avoid getting hurt again and he was the one doing the hurting now.

His mother was right. He was acting like a sixteen-year-old.

Christmas night had thrown him so off-kilter that
he hadn't been able to face Chloe. He'd discovered that nothing made him feel like running more than a woman he wanted to go the distance with.

Walking to the front door, he debated whether he should go after her. What would he say to her? What did he want to say? That they were finished?
No.
Can they just be friends?

No.

This Christmas was the best he'd ever had. Christmas night was one he'd never forget. He wanted to be with the woman who made it that way. He didn't want to stop seeing her.

Slipping on his jacket, he saw her heading along the path that led around the house to the stable. He'd just finished a patrol of the property with Teddy, but it was dark and anything could happen. She stopped in front of the stable door just as he'd anticipated. Unlatching the double doors, she opened one just enough to enter, pausing to look behind her.

Mason ducked behind a pine tree, happy she was at least practicing a little precaution. She'd already proven she could defend herself. When she disappeared inside the stable, he jogged to the door and pushed it open enough to see inside.

She stood before one of the Clydesdales, petting its cheek and gazing up at its huge head. Then she let her forehead fall against its nose. The Clydesdale nickered but didn't protest.

Mason heard her sigh.

“Mason talked a lot about this place.”

Mason looked toward the far end of the stable along with Chloe. A man emerged from the shadows. He knew that voice. The man came farther into the light, wearing snow pants and a heavy jacket and winter boots. But
his shaggy brown hair and eyes were familiar. Shock rendered him still.

Tanner?

His partner. His ex-girlfriend's husband…

“You.” Chloe murmured her surprise, doing a fine job of hiding her fear, if she was afraid. Maybe she wasn't. He was going to have to get used to that. And then what she'd said registered.

Was Tanner the second man who'd been with Axel? How could it be?

Mason drew his gun and entered the stable. “Stay away from her.”

Tanner stopped when he saw Mason's weapon. “I should have known you wouldn't be far behind.” He glanced over at Chloe. “A fine woman like that under the same roof would make me follow her around, too.”

Missing pieces poured through Mason's mind. Axel's suspicion had always bothered him. Except it hadn't been suspicion, it had been knowledge. And it was that knowledge that had kept him away from Donovan's party. Donovan hadn't known who Mason was. Axel had. Tanner had told him everything and had warned him the raid would probably be moved up. Maybe he and Tanner had planned it that way. To get rid of Donovan.

“Was it convenient for you to have the FBI raid Donovan's party?” he asked Tanner.

“I haven't flipped sides, if that's what you're implying.”

“No? Chloe, go back into the house.”

She sidled her way over to him and stopped. “I'm staying with you.”

She had to know he didn't have time to argue with her. And she was a fighter.

“I got close to Axel. So close that he told me what he wanted to do.”

“Take down Donovan and anyone who followed him so he could run his own prostitution operation? Run it under a false name?”

“You were always quick.”

Mason shook his head. “Why? Why throw away a legitimate career for…Axel?”

“I told you, I haven't flipped sides.”

“You really expect anyone to believe you faked your own death for the sake of the investigation? Without telling anyone? You know the rules. That's one you don't break.”

Tanner seemed to realize his tactic wasn't going to work. “I don't have rich parents, Mason. I have to live off what the government pays me, and that isn't enough.”

“Does your wife know what you've done?”

Tanner's face hardened and he said nothing. Mason also sensed Chloe looking at him. Was she alarmed that he'd asked such a question? Or had she just realized Tanner was his partner?

He couldn't stop to explain. He had to know what had driven Tanner to this extreme. How could he leave a beautiful wife for a life of emptiness and crime? “I wonder how she felt when they showed up to tell her you were dead?”

“She probably celebrated,” Tanner sneered.

Mason began to get a bad feeling about this. There was more that drove Tanner than making money illegally.

“Oh, come on, Mason. Don't play it like you didn't know. It was always you she wanted, not me.”

Chloe's head turned toward him again.

He couldn't reassure her now. “We were finished a year before you started seeing her. She might have loved me once but she didn't when she met you.”

Tanner grunted a derisive laugh. “Being married to her made teaming up with Axel real easy. What did I have to lose? A lousy paying job and a wife who didn't love me? I can make a lot of money working with Axel. Like I said, it was an easy choice.”

“Tanner. Think about what you're doing. You're making a mistake. You're basing your decisions on the belief that Renee still loves me.”

“She does, Mason. She stayed away, but she does love you.”

Mason shook his head, not buying it. “Is that why you're here? Did you and Axel have some kind of agreement to get me before you went into business together?”

Unmoved, Tanner said, “When we had sex on our honeymoon, it was your name she cried out, not mine. I started to hate her after that. You, too. Do you think I enjoyed working with you knowing my wife was probably thinking of you every time I slept with her?”

“You don't know that.”

“She told me she still loved you. You, Mason. It killed me to hear it but I needed to know for sure before I started to work with Axel. I asked her and she said she got so tired of waiting for you to come around that she thought she'd fallen out of love with you. She said it wasn't until shortly before our wedding that she realized she was marrying the wrong man, and that the man she should have married was you.”

Mason shook his head, confused and then…not. He looked over at Chloe. It had never been as good with any woman as it was with her. Renee was nice and beautiful but she'd turned her back on him. Granted, he may
have deserved it, but she'd allowed too much time and pain to pass. It only made him doubt that she ever truly loved him. He wouldn't have known that if he'd never met Chloe. Renee didn't have her special qualities. He couldn't even name them all. The survivor in her defined a lot of who she was, but she also had professional drive. And heart. She had a pure, honest, loving heart, something he'd been craving without even knowing. Until now.

Realizing he was still looking at Chloe and she was as immersed in the exchange as much as him, he wanted to tell her. He wanted her to know how much last night meant. How much he wanted to keep seeing her.

Just as Mason began to turn his attention back to Tanner, the man drew his gun and moved quick in bringing the barrel against Chloe's forehead.

“Drop your gun, partner.”

Chloe's mouth dropped open, caught as off guard as Mason.

“Think about what you're doing,” Mason tried again. “It might not be too late to fix this. Give us Axel and work a deal. Don't go any further.”

“It's already too late for that.”

Mason's cell phone rang.

Tanner glanced down to Mason's jean pocket and then back up at him. “Don't answer it. There's only one person I came here for tonight, but the problem is, now we have a witness.”

Chloe remained calm.

“If I kill you both, Axel will be blamed.”

“I wouldn't be so sure about that,” Mason said, keeping his gun on Tanner.

“I'm not the only one who saw you at that cabin,” Chloe added. “CC will be able to describe you.”

Mason didn't correct her and say she wouldn't.

“Then I guess my work isn't finished tonight.” And then with more force, “Drop your gun.”

What, he'd actually try to kill CC with Teddy and Mason's dad prepared for an attack? The deadly change in Tanner's eyes warned him that he was about to shoot Chloe. He glanced at her and read her readiness. Keeping his gun aimed at Tanner, he waited for her move. She began to crouch. Knocking Tanner's gun arm, he punched him. Chloe landed backward onto her hands, lifting her legs acrobatically and ramming the side of Tanner's knee with the uninjured one.

It was enough for Mason to block Tanner's swinging aim and grab hold of his wrist to keep him from shooting anything living. Shoving his pistol under his chin, he felt Tanner go still.