Twice the Malone by Laylah Roberts

24

“Are you sure I can’t help?”

“Um, no, that’s okay.” Mia gave her a cautious look, as though expecting her to jump up and immediately start cooking.

You set the oven on fire one time and suddenly you were watched like you were a criminal.

She’s been here a month now, living in the big house on the Lonely Horse Ranch. And while she admitted to having reservations about moving out here, especially into someone else’s house, she actually loved it.

It was strange going from being on her own to living with so many people, most of them a bunch of crazy males. Seriously, Beau and Maddox’s older brothers were pretty normal. Although Alec was seriously intense, and West was a complete grump. But their younger brothers were trouble-makers. Each and every one of them.

And she absolutely loved them.

The same went with Mia and Flick. They’d welcomed her with open arms. Even if she wasn’t allowed to use anything in the kitchen without supervision. But her favorite person was baby Seb. That little guy had wormed his way into her heart. And Alec was only too happy to let her have practice looking after him while he dragged his wife into his office. She’d seen Mia after she came out, and she was usually much more relaxed, so she had a fair idea of what they were doing in there.

What had really surprised her, though was how much she adored living in the country. The fresh air, land everywhere, the animals. She loved it all. But especially the people who lived in Haven. They were so accepting of her and their unusual relationship. Of course, their relationship wasn’t odd here. There was one woman who had three husbands.

Scarlett had no idea how she managed that. She could barely cope with two. If their appetites were anything like Maddox’s and Beau’s, well, that poor woman probably didn’t walk straight.

The only thing she missed was Margo, but she’d promised to come visit soon. She couldn’t wait for her friend to meet all the other Malone men.

“What’s going on in here, ladies?” Beau asked as he strolled in. He moved immediately over to her, placing his hand on her tummy, which wasn’t showing much yet. But Beau still loved to touch it whenever he could. Both men did. And they talked to the babies constantly. She’d caught Maddox telling them that they better be boys because he didn’t know how to handle girls, which she thought was pretty adorable.

More charges had been laid on Richard, including manslaughter when it came to light that one of his victims had committed suicide. Whether that charge would stick, she wasn’t sure. But he’d been remanded without bail.

Alec had sent someone in to ask him some questions. Turns out he did hire the guy who had mugged her then destroyed her apartment. When he’d gone into his office after she left, he’d immediately realized that his chair wasn’t in the exact same position he’d left it. Suspicious about what she’d been up to, he’d logged onto his computer and run a report to see what had been opened. Which was his secret file.

The missing cattle from the ranch had never been recovered, however, thanks to some nosy locals, the sheriff had found a couple of guys camping out on a ranch not far away. And their car matched the description of the one that had run Tanner off the road. The men had both confessed that they’d been paid to harass Maddox Malone. They weren’t the smartest and hadn’t bothered to make sure it was Maddox in the truck at the time they’d run it off the road.

“Scarlett’s offering to help cook again,” Mia told him.

Beau actually blanched. “No helping to cook, Snow. You know the rules.”

She huffed out a sigh. “Fine.”

“I’ve got to go out and check some fences. I’ll be back in a few hours, okay? Maddox and Butch will be home soon and if you need him, you can get Raid on the radio.”

“Okay,” she replied. He laid a kiss on her that soon turned rather heated. Mia cleared her throat.

Blushing, she drew back and looked over at her friend.

“If you want to kiss like that, take it out of the kitchen, huh? It’s already hot enough in here.”

“Aw, Mia, you feeling left out? You want some lovin’ too?” Beau grabbed his sister-in-law and blew a raspberry on her neck.

“Ew, get away from me, you ass. Jesus, Alec will skin you alive if he catches you doing that.”

Beau just laughed and ran out of the room.

“I don’t know how you deal with him and Maddox.”

“There’s some benefits.” Scarlett smiled dreamily.

“Well, I don’t need to know any details. Oh drat.” Mia shut the fridge door.

“What is it?”

“I need sour cream for this recipe, and we’ve run out. I thought we had some.”

“Um, whoops. That’s my fault. I had a craving for sour cream and pickles last night.”

“Ew, well, okay. What am I going to do?” Mia mused. “Seb’s going to wake soon but then he’ll want to be fed. I won’t get to town and back in time before he wakes up.”

“It’s my fault, I’ll go out and grab some more.”

“Oh no, you can’t do that.”

“Course I can. I’ll just have to take Beau’s truck since Maddox is out. I mean, it’s been a while since I drove a stick shift, but I’ll be fine.”

“But will Maddox want you to go out on your own?” Mia worried.

“There’s no threat to me anymore. I’ll be fine. It’s time I went off the ranch alone, Maddox or Beau has always gone with me. It will be fun. Do you need anything else?”

“No, just, you’re sure?”

“Mia, I’ll be fine.” She waved as she left the room, grabbing her wallet. Maybe she’d get some pecan ice cream while she was out. And more pickles. Oh, and pretzels. Pretzels, pickles, and ice cream. That was a winning combination.

It took her a bit to get used to the gears in the truck. They made a funny grinding noise as she changed them. She was grateful she wasn’t short like Flick or she’d never be able to see over the dash.

Her phone rang and she put it through the Bluetooth as she saw it was Maddox.

“Hey, little one. You all right?”

Maddox had been at a cattle sale with Butch, and they’d stayed away overnight. It was just one night, but she’d missed him.

“I’m fine. Are you far away?”

“About an hour. Maybe a bit less with the way Butch is driving.”

“Hey! You’re the one who kept griping about missing your girl.”

“Hey, Butch!” she said loudly.

“Baby girl!”

“Don’t call her that,” Maddox snapped. “Scarlett? Are you in a vehicle?”

“Uh-huh, I’m in Beau’s truck.”

“Beau’s there?”

“Nope.”

“Then who’s driving?”

“I am.” She changed gears, wincing as they made a strange noise. “I think Beau needs to get his truck looked at. It makes a lot of odd noises.”

“That’s because you’re riding the clutch. Why are you driving? Who’s with you?”

“No one’s with me.”

“What? What are you doing on your own?”

“Chill, I’m a big girl. I’m just popping into Haven for sour cream and then going straight home. I kind of ate it all last night.”

“Let me guess, with pickles?”

“Um, yep. No one else was home, so I told Mia I’d drive into Haven and get it.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Maddox, I’ll be fine. There’s no threat anymore. You’re being overprotective.”

“I want you to call me when you arrive in town. Then again when you leave. And when you get home.”

She sighed. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. Or your ass is toast.”

She heard Butch laughing in the background.

“Oh, all right.” She changed gears again.

“And Jesus, little one, I think you might need some more driving lessons.”

Really? How rude!

Fifteen minutes later, she was walking around the store trying to decide on what sort of ice cream she wanted.

“Hey, Scarlett.”

She looked up with a smile as Hannah, the medical receptionist, walked toward her. She’d met her a couple of times now when Maddox had forced her into the doctor’s for various reasons. The guy was a hypochondriac, but about her, not himself. It was sweet and annoying.

“How are you?” Hannah asked. “Haven’t seen you this week.”

She groaned. “No, Maddox has been busy with other things, thank goodness. I swear, he’s gone nuts.”

“It’s sweet he worries about you so much. So, I—” the other woman was interrupted as someone let out a cry. Then there was a shout from the front of the store.

“Rodney, what are you doing! Put that gun down!”

Gun? Hannah took hold of her arm and quickly led her toward the back of the store.

“I know she’s here! I saw her come in! Where’s that bitch! He took that land from me and now I’m taking her from him. Scarlett? Scarlett?”

Wait. What? There was a guy with a gun looking for her?

She put her hand over her stomach. Her babies, she had to protect them.

“Come on, this way.” Hannah tugged her along.

Then a shot fired, making her scream.

“Shit, shit,” Hannah muttered.

“There you are, Scarlett.”

She froze, peering down at the end of the aisle where an ill-kempt man stood, swaying. He held a rifle in one hand. What was wrong with him? Who was he?

“I’ve been waiting for you, Scarlett. Waiting to get you away from him. It’s his fault. He has to pay. The land was meant to be mine, not Malone’s.”

Who was this guy?

“What land?” she asked. “What are you talking about?”

“The land my uncle and those idiots owned. It’s full of oil. I told Stanson about it. He was gonna buy it and we were both gonna get rich. But then Malone bought it out from under us. He took it from me and now I’m gonna take you from him.”

He raised the rifle, and she froze, she couldn’t move. Then she was shoved. Hannah slammed her to the ground as the rifle went off.

She screamed, certain he was going to come after them again. But then she realized no more shots were being fired.

“Scarlett, are you hurt? Are you all right?”

She opened her eyes to peer up at Hannah. She looked around, searching for him.

“He’s going to kill me. Hurt my babies.”

“No, Scarlett. It’s okay. They’ve got him. See?” Hannah pointed down the aisle where one of the sheriff’s deputies had the crazy guy pinned to the floor. The sheriff was then striding toward them. And suddenly, it was just all too much. The sheriff grew blurred, the store started to go dark, and Hannah’s frantic cries faded.

Everything went black.

* * *

“Where is she?”a voice roared.

“Well, seems like Maddox has arrived,” the sheriff said dryly.

She was lying on a hospital bed, connected to some monitoring equipment and a drip. She’d only fainted, but the paramedics had insisted on bringing her in because she was pregnant. And then her blood pressure had been a touch on the high side, so the doctor wanted to monitor her.

Jake, Haven’s sheriff, had just finished taking her and Hannah’s statement. He stood as Maddox came racing in, followed by Beau.

Both of their faces filled with relief at the sight of her.

“Little one. Are you all right?” Maddox asked.

“Did he hit you? They said he didn’t hit you? Did he?” Beau patted her down, as though searching her for injury.

“I’m fine, guys. I promise. I’m not hurt at all.”

“You’re in the hospital on a drip and monitors,” Maddox pointed out.

“It’s more of a precaution. Right, Hannah?”

“Yep.” Hannah stood up. “Her blood pressure is a bit high, though. Probably due to the stress so the doctor wants to keep her overnight.”

“I don’t need it though. I can go home.”

“You’ll do what the doctor wants,” Maddox growled.

“Damn straight,” Beau added.

She sighed. Great. When they teamed up she knew she was doomed.

“Seems like you’re in good hands,” Jake said. “I’ll take Hannah home now.”

Maddox turned to him. “Rodney’s in custody?”

“Yep. Got him locked up tight. He’d been drinking. By the looks of him, he hasn’t slept or eaten in days. I’d say he’s been hiding out somewhere, waiting to get to Scarlett.”

“Shit. Shit.” Maddox ran his fingers through his hair. “And it was all over the land? Because he had a deal with Stanson?”

“He said there was oil in the land,” she explained. “He must have told Richard, who agreed to buy and they’d, I don’t know, split the profits. I’m sure Richard wouldn’t have honored any agreement though.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know anything about this. I didn’t know Rodney wanted the land. Darren never said anything. Has he been contacted?”

Jake nodded. “I called and spoke to him. He said that Rodney had been acting strangely ever since he moved back here from Chicago. Turns out, he and Stanson used to go to the same gym and got friendly. Then Rodney lost all his money with some bad investments and came back here. He must have discovered there was oil on the land Darren and the others owned. But instead of telling Darren, he decided to be greedy.”

“Damn it,” Maddox swore.

“It’s not your fault, Maddox,” she reassured him.

He nodded, but he didn’t look happy. She knew he wasn’t going to get over this for a long while. Coming so soon after the threat of Richard coming after them. Yeah, it would take them all a while to recover.

“Thank fuck, he didn’t hit you,” Beau said.

“Thanks to Hannah. She saved me.”

Hannah blushed as both men thanked her. Then she and Jake left, leaving her with her men.

“God, little one, when I got that call I nearly had a heart attack. I can’t take it anymore. You’re not to get into any more trouble, understand? I don’t even want you stubbing your toe.”

“Maddox, I’m fine.” She reached out and hugged him.

“I agree,” Beau added. “No more leaving the ranch on your own.”

She sighed but didn’t argue. After all, she knew they were only overprotective because they loved her.

And she loved them back just as much.