Chapter Eighteen

Maggie was amazed that she actually slept in the next morning. Regardless of the rather snug conditions, she woke up comfortable and warm, still in Aiden’s embrace.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” he teased from beneath her.

At first she squirmed a little, not wishing to admit to being awake, but then she remembered where she was and almost leaped off the bed. Luckily Aiden had a tight grip on her.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he told her, looking worried.

“You didn’t,” she assured him. “It’s just that it’s late. I should be at work.” Her brain whirled with confusion. “I mean…I’m here. What’s going to happen?”

“Well, I’m glad to see there is life at this end, after all,” Dyson teased them, walking up the short passageway that led to the cells. The door had been left wide open all night, so their only constraint had been the size of the bed, which hadn’t actually proved to be a problem at all.

“She’s worried about work,” Aiden said as he followed her off the bed.

“It’s fine. I told your boss you wouldn’t be in today. I said you were feeling poorly.” Dyson smiled.

“Thanks.” She could just imagine what Mr. Burton would say if he knew she had been taken in on suspicion of stealing. The thought made her stomach churn.

“I brought some warm muffins over, and there’s fresh coffee in the pot,” Dyson went on. “Help yourselves.”

Maggie smiled. It was clear that Dyson didn’t really believe any of that bullshit about her stealing the necklace. Hell, he’d already heard that Lorraine had proof Rossington had taken it himself. It was just a case of going through the motions for the time being.

She and Aiden ate their breakfast at one end of the large desk while Dyson made a few calls. Maggie ran her hand gently over the wood, remembering the last time she had been so close to the desk, and she noticed a snigger from Aiden, which suggested he was thinking the same thing.

“I meant what I said, darlin’,” he murmured in her ear.

Maggie flushed. He had said that he loved her. And she loved him. It was unbelievable but true. She beamed at him, suddenly imagining waking up beside him every morning and having breakfast together.

“We’ll soon have all this sorted out,” he promised her, clearly noticing her looking around the room.

She smiled. She trusted him. When Aiden was around, things never seemed quite so bad, somehow. He had certainly made last night much more tolerable.

“Frank’s on his way,” Dyson told them as Maggie cleared the desk.

“I’ll just go freshen up,” she said.

Aiden looked as though he was about to follow suit, but then Dyson called him back. She suddenly felt sick at her stomach as she saw Aiden walk over to the sheriff, and they started muttering something she couldn’t hear.

Maggie got washed up as she wondered just what they were talking about. Was she being paranoid? They could be discussing anything.

Frank had already arrived when she emerged from the bathroom a short while later.

“Maggie, how are you?” He put his arms out to hug her, and she breathed in his cologne. Frank looked refreshed and clean, and she wished she was a little less disheveled.

“I’m fine,” she assured him with a smile.

“Frank’s got some news,” Dyson announced as they sat around the table with fresh coffees.

Maggie’s gut roiled again, and she guessed this was what the guys had been murmuring about. Aiden grabbed her hand, and her anxiety ratcheted up another few notches.

“I’m afraid it’s not good.” Frank frowned from his position opposite her. “Maggie, do you still see your folks?”

Maggie suddenly went cold. He must have noticed her expression as he quickly added “Oh it’s okay. They’re both fine.”

She swallowed hard. Having spent the past couple of years resenting her parents for not believing her when Robert had lied about her, the thought of losing one of them had suddenly seared her heart. She shook her head slowly. “I haven’t seen either of them since Robert and I split up,” she admitted, instantly feeling a wave of guilt wash over her.

Frank pursed his lips. “It seems your dad has been involved in some kind of deal with Rossington.”

Her heart sank at the thought and she just stared at the older man.

“Rossington was supposed to have invested some of your folks’ savings for them,” he went on.

Bile rose in Maggie’s throat as she could imagine the rest. “And lost it all,” she finished for him.

Frank nodded sadly. “However, your dad had the good sense to get a decent contract drawn up with one of my colleagues over at the attorney’s office, who happened to be a pal of his, so he’s got a good chance of getting it all back.” He looked a little brighter. “I hear he’s been down there instructing his legal team to enforce the agreement to make good the loss.”

“So it’ll be okay?” She was trembling, not daring to believe it.

“They’ve got a legal right to have their money returned,” Frank said with a grimace, “but it might take some time if Rossington hasn’t actually got the funds to back it up.”

“But he’s got no choice, surely?” Aiden frowned.

Frank sighed. “It’s not quite as simple as that, son,” he replied. “Morally, he will have to refund the money. It just might take a while. That’s all.”

Maggie gave a little sigh of relief.

“In the meantime, I believe your parents are finding things quite difficult.” Frank looked over at Maggie sympathetically.

She closed her eyes momentarily as the horror of it all hit her like a wrecking ball. A thought suddenly struck her, and her eyes popped open again. “That’s why Robert stole the necklace. He was going to use the cash to repay them to prevent them from taking him to court.” She felt a germ of hope and excitement as she stared across at Dyson, but she was disappointed when he shook his head.

“Or there’s Rossington’s version,” he said gently. “He’s claiming that you stole the necklace to raise funds for your parents because of the predicament he’d left them in—a sort of act of revenge against him at the same time.”

She leaped to her feet. “No!” she shouted across the table. “How could anyone possibly believe that?” Her whole body glowed like hot coals, and she clung to the edge of the desk to support herself as she suddenly felt weak and helpless.

“It’s all right, darlin’. No one believes a word of it,” Aiden assured her, then he put his arm around her and helped her back into her seat.

Hot, uncontrollable tears streamed down her cheeks, and she grabbed hold of him as he rocked her gently, cooing soothingly in her ear.

Dyson poured her a glass of cool water that Aiden held to her lips, and she sipped it slowly, forcing herself to focus.

She was aware of muttering and a little movement around her, but she closed her eyes, sobbing inconsolably into Aiden’s muscular chest. She marveled at how he managed to stay calm as the steady pounding of his heart reverberated through her, eventually slowing the hammering of her own pulse as though they had morphed into one being.

Whether she had drifted off to sleep or fainted, she wasn’t sure, but Maggie awoke lying on the cushioned sofa which also doubled as Dyson’s bed when the need arose. Aiden was sitting on the floor next to her, gently stroking her hair. He smiled at her and, suddenly, warmth spread through her whole body.

“Dyson got the results back on the necklace. There were only two sets of prints, Lorraine’s and Rossington’s.” His voice was soft and calming.

Maggie smiled as she slowly sat up. “Then I’m in the clear?”

“Just a little more paperwork in the light of Rossington’s further allegations, but you’ll be home by supper time,” Dyson assured her.

She frowned, looking over at the wall clock. It was almost three.

“I just need to check on a couple of things,” Aiden said, “but I didn’t want to leave until you woke up. Frank’s lending me his truck for an hour.”

She felt a hitch in her heart when he stood up to go, and she got up with him. “You’re going?”

He threw her a dazzling smile. “Not for long. Just a couple of things I need to do then I’ll be right back to pick you up.”

He leaned down and gave her a lingering kiss on the lips that speared right through to her core. She smiled up at him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll look after her for you.” Dyson rolled his eyes, clearly quite unperturbed by their show of affection.

“I won’t be long,” Aiden promised before giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head.

* * * *

Aiden really didn’t want to leave his blonde beauty in the sheriff’s office, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before he was back to fetch her. He grinned as he patted his back pocket where he had hidden the key to Maggie’s apartment. She wouldn’t be needing it for a while and probably wouldn’t even notice it was gone from her purse.

He hummed along to an Alan Jackson song as he drove through the leafy country lanes that led to the Fielding Ranch. It was a good job old Frank had good taste in music!

He was relieved to see that everything seemed to be functioning quite well in his absence, and he skipped up the steps to his cabin. It was good to get into some clean clothes, and he had a quick shave before making his way over to the main house. Josie was waiting for him in her large kitchen.

“I made a chocolate cake,” she told him with a smile. “I thought it might welcome her home.”

“Great idea. Thanks, sis.” He bent down and kissed the top of her head. Josie’s hair smelled of citrus, a stark contrast to Maggie’s floral-scented tresses. He smiled at the thought. “I’m just on my way over there now. Thought I’d air the place and tidy up a little before she gets let out.”

“Those sheriffs aren’t exactly adept at housekeeping,” Josie replied. “It would be really awful for her to get back to find her stuff strewn all over the place.”

Aiden chuckled. “They weren’t that bad,” he assured her. “Though I thought it would be nicer for her to find it all nice and tidy when she got there—sort of flush out a few ghosts or whatever.” He shrugged.

“You really are a thoughtful, guy,” Josie teased. “Who’d have thought it? My own brother…”

He laughed. “Yeah, all right.” He could feel himself blush a little and quickly looked out of the window for a distraction. “Looks like it’s gonna rain,” he said. His eyes wandered over to a mass of white in the distance. “Is that the tent for the wedding?”

Josie sighed. “Yeah, that’s it. They’ve been working on it all day. It’ll be mighty muddy down there if this weather closes in.”

“Especially as it’ll probably continue all night,” Aiden said.

“And I thought rain on your wedding day was supposed to be lucky.” Josie shook her head sadly. “Poor Lorraine.”

“She’s not really planning on going through with it, is she?” Aiden felt slightly sick at the thought.

“Ben’s been over there most of the morning trying to persuade her not to,” Josie told him. “Sure seems worried she might be holding out on him over something. He’s gone on over to the bank at Almondine now, but he wasn’t very hopeful about her when he left. Maybe once she knows Maggie’s getting out of jail, she might change her mind. Seemed to think they just didn’t have enough evidence against Rossington yet, and she knows if she refused to marry him, he’s likely to go to ground. Her lawyers are working flat out to gather all the papers they need to prove he tried to swindle her dad, but she wants to make sure Maggie gets her money back, as well.”

“What is it about you determined women?” Aiden shook his head incredulously.

“You know what they say about a woman scorned, bro.” Josie punched him playfully on the arm, then giggled.

“And talking of which, I promised a certain young lady I’d be there to collect her once the sheriff had finished that dang paperwork. I’d best get a move on.” He kissed his sister on the head one more time. “Thanks for this. You go get your feet up now. Don’t want Greg blaming me for your swollen ankles.” He picked up the cake and hooted as his sister playfully threw a tea towel at him on his way out of the door.

* * * *

Aiden enjoyed singing along to Good Time as he pulled up in the parking lot alongside his own pickup that he’d left at Maggie’s place last night. He was still singing when he unlocked the door and let himself in. A shudder ran down his back as he remembered the last time he’d been here, and, after placing the cake and his cell on the kitchen counter, he quickly dived into the bedroom to rectify the mess that had been left. He frowned when he saw there was even more to tidy up than he remembered, and he guessed Cam Taylor must have continued to search for more evidence after they’d left.

A loud knock at the door made him jump while he was folding up some of Maggie’s clothes, ready to replace in the drawers, and he went through to answer it.

“Aiden, Josie said you’d be here. I can’t get hold of Ben.” Lorraine looked ashen as she stared up at him.

“Come on in, darlin’. I was just doing a little tidying. That’s all. Is something up?”

She nodded, following him into the bedroom. “Robert’s onto us,” she blurted out breathlessly. “He found all the papers I’d hidden in my safe. There’s messages between him and Cam Taylor planning to take Maggie’s money and some stuff about my dad’s business that I meant to pass on to the lawyers.”

Aiden gawped at her. “Your safe? How in hell did he—?”

“I don’t know. He must have had another key cut or something. I always keep mine hidden along with these. They’re the only things he didn’t get his hands on.” She held up a computer memory stick and a small SD card. “I never keep all my eggs in one basket,” she told him.

“Well, hallelujah for that!” Aiden felt a surge of relief, followed swiftly by something sharp being jabbed into his back.

“Didn’t take you for a religious man, Fielding.” Rossington’s drawl could be heard from just behind the door where he must have been hiding until they were both in place. Lorraine was already in the room, standing by the bed, her eyes burning into her fiancé’s. “I’ll take those.” His voice was a menacing snarl as he reached out his other hand to her.

“Or what?” She clearly tried to sound derisive but couldn’t keep the tremble from her voice.

“Or he’s a dead man.” There was a click when Rossington released the safety catch on the gun that was now pointed directly at Aiden’s head. “And I don’t think his brother will be too happy about that now, do you?”

Aiden’s whole body glowed hot, and he watched Lorraine bite her lip. Her fingers quivered as she reached over and placed the software into his hand.

“I knew there had to be more,” Rossington told her with a sneer. “I just figured you’d go running to the other brother—the one you’re so fucking fond of.”

Lorraine pursed her lips while she panted hard, clearly trying to keep her emotions in check. “You’ve got what you wanted, now let him go!” she demanded.

Aiden felt Rossington’s body tense behind him before the bastard let out a loud guffaw.

“You must think I’m a total dumbass!” he leered.

Aiden bit his tongue to stop himself from affirming the answer, and saw Lorraine open her mouth as though to speak, then stop herself at the last minute. She gave Rossington an incredulous look. He seemed a little taken aback at her expression, then snorted before continuing.

“You really think I’d trust you after this? You’ve been planning to expose all my plans to alleviate you from your dear old dad’s estate and a whole lot more besides.” He looked treacherous, and Aiden noticed that Lorraine seemed terrified. It made him wonder what other tactics the bastard had used to scare her.

“So you never really wanted to marry me for love?”

Aiden admired her stalling tactics. He just hoped they might be sufficient to buy him enough time to figure a way out of this dang mess. Rossington appeared to be a little thrown by her question, too. Good.

Just then Rossington’s phone rang. Aiden held his breath, hoping for a chance to catch the fucker off-guard, but, instead, Rossington ignored it and continued his tirade.

“Love? Your sort don’t know the meaning of the word. You’re all the same—stuck-up little bitches with more money than sense. If I have to marry you to get my hands on your cash, then so be it, but I’d rather not have all the aggravation, to be honest.” He spat the words out as though they tasted sour in his mouth.

“So, because you weren’t able to get my daddy’s money while he was alive, you thought you’d steal it from me instead? Just like you stole Maggie’s money?” Lorraine seemed more furious than sad, Aiden noticed.

“That’s about the size of it!” Rossington shrugged complacently.

“Well, at least you won’t have to worry about marrying me now,” Lorraine derided.

Rossington chortled. “Oh, that’s exactly where you’re wrong,” he announced, digging the gun hard into Aiden’s temple. “The only way to get that dang money is to marry you, so that’s exactly what I intend to do. Tomorrow at nine-thirty a.m., right in front of your precious boyfriend, on the land he wants to pay me a small fortune for. Just think, every time he sees that field, he can remember our wedding. Won’t that be nice?” His snively voice was really grating on Aiden’s nerves.

Lorraine looked horrified. “You still think you can marry me after all this?”

“Of course, sweetheart. Like I said, it’s the only way to get my hands on your daddy’s estate. Don’t worry. Once you’ve signed it all over to me, I might think about granting you a divorce. After all, I might not want to be associated with your family once everyone knows that your daddy reneged on our bargain—or that your mother attacked me and will probably end up in a mental home.”

Lorraine stared at him with fire in her eyes. “That’s a pack of damn lies and you know it!”

“Like I told you before, dear, it won’t stop everyone believing it, especially when Deputy Taylor backs me up.” Rossington sneered.

Aiden couldn’t believe his ears. So Lorraine was being blackmailed into marrying the bastard! Rossington would actually discredit her family like that—both parents who couldn’t defend themselves. That sure explained a lot.

Just then there was a sound from the hallway, and Maggie stepped into the room.

“He’s got a gun!” she yelled frantically over her shoulder.

Aiden breathed a sigh of relief. She must have given up waiting for him to fetch her and now Dyson had brought her over instead.

But it wasn’t Dyson Shearer who appeared in the doorway behind the blonde beauty. It was Cam Taylor.

“What the fuck’s going on?” Cam had his gun poised but seemed disappointed at the scene before him.

“Slight change of plan,” Rossington told him, a little sheepishly. “They came in while I was looking for evidence.”

“You fucking imbecile!” Cam shook his head in disbelief.

“It wasn’t my fault. I thought she had the only key.” Rossington nodded to Maggie, who stood open-mouthed in the middle of the room.

“He took it.” Cam pointed to Aiden with his gun before lowering it and replacing it in its holster. “I rang you to say I was bringing her over, in case you were still here.”

Aiden frowned. What the hell was Cam playing at?

“Well, I’ve got all the evidence I need…except that!” Rossington barked at Maggie as she was hurriedly trying to tuck her cell into her pocket.

Cam huffed. “We’ll be out of here before anyone comes to her rescue,” he claimed, shaking his head. “What’re you planning to do? Make a run for it?”

Aiden felt his blood boil at the realization that they were both in on this. He had hoped that Cam Taylor was just a slightly crooked cop who bent the rules a bit to make himself a little cash on the side, but he was clearly much more sinister than that.

“I can’t. I’ve got a wedding to attend to in the morning,” Rossington sneered. “Now all we have to do is ensure that none of this lot wreck everything. Get that dang cell off of the bitch. For all we know, she could have recorded us.”

Maggie took a step away from Taylor. “You’re in this with him?” She stared at him, clearly struggling to compute what was going on.

“That’s right, bitch. Now you hand over that cell or you can say goodbye to your lover-boy!” Rossington jabbed the gun into Aiden’s head harder, making him wince with the pain.

Maggie was still gaping in disbelief as she immediately passed her cell to her ex.

“You take it,” he snapped at Taylor, obviously noticing her ploy to distract him.

Taylor went over and took the cell from her, switching it off as he did so.

“Fucking bitch! I told you she was recording everything. She thinks she’s so smart.” Rossington’s whole body felt rigid against Aiden’s, making him glad that the fucker couldn’t get any closer to his girl. A glow of pride washed over the cowboy at the knowledge that Maggie had at least tried to gain more evidence.

“You’ll have to take him.” Aiden could practically see the cogs whirring in Rossington’s brain as he snapped out his orders to Taylor. “We’ve got a wedding first thing.” He leered over at Lorraine, who looked like she had been about to object but then clearly thought better of it.

“What about her?” Taylor nodded toward Maggie. “You want me to take her, as well?”

Rossington narrowed his eyes. “Nah. She can watch us get married. Show her what she’s missed.” Venom dripped from Rossington’s lips as he jeered at Maggie.

“And what makes you think she won’t rat on us? I know Shearer’s out of town, but he and the marshal should be back tomorrow.”

Rossington dug the gun into Aiden’s head even deeper. “If either of them blab, this one gets it. Simple.”

“I still think I should—”

“No! If she’s not there, questions will be asked. No one’s going to miss him.” Rossington was adamant.

Aiden felt bile rise in his throat. He wasn’t sure whether Maggie would be safer with him or not, but he sure didn’t like the idea of her facing all this alone. He watched her wringing her quivering hands, her face pale and drawn. Such a change from the gorgeous, relaxed girl who had slept so peacefully in his arms this morning when it had looked as though it was all going to work out. His heart went out to her. Hadn’t that bastard put her through enough?