Shattered

5

“Did my father send you here?” Wyatt snarled at Jack, as the two men faced off on Kate’s covered front porch.

“Hell, no!” Jack retorted. “What are you doing here?”

“None of your damn business,” Wyatt said.

Kate’s blood ran cold as she watched Wyatt and Jack face off like vicious junkyard dogs claiming the same territory. She was shocked by their verbal exchange, which suggested the two men knew each other.

Wyatt shot Kate a veiled look, then said to Jack, “You tell D’Amato to keep his nose out of my business.”

“Tell him yourself,” Jack said as he backed his way down her front steps, never taking his eyes off Shaw.

Kate felt like she was watching a movie in a foreign tongue with no translation under the picture. She was both confused and terrified. It seemed Wyatt thought Jack, a man wearing the uniform and badge of a Texas Ranger, took orders from his father, the mob boss. And Jack was playing along.

The explanation came to her in a flash.

Jack is on some kind of undercover assignment for the Rangers. Wyatt has seen him talking in private with D’Amato and made the assumption that Jack is on his father’s payroll.

It was the only thing that made sense. Jack had to be working—or pretending to work—for D’Amato, collecting enough information about the mobster’s criminal activities to put him behind bars.

Why hadn’t Jack simply told Shaw that he and Kate were romantically involved?

Because if Jack is working undercover for the mob, it might put me and my sons in danger.

Kate shuddered at the thought of what D’Amato might do to Jack—or to those Jack loved—if he learned the Texas Ranger was still one of the good guys.

“Did he hurt you?” Wyatt asked.

“Of course not!”

“Did he ask you any questions about the twins?”

“Why would he?”

Wyatt frowned. “You said you were dating a Texas Ranger. Is he the one you’re seeing? The one you’re planning to marry?”

Kate’s heart pumped a burst of adrenaline into her bloodstream. Should she tell Shaw the truth? Or lie? She decided on the literal truth. “I may have exaggerated my relationship to Jack,” she said. “Under the circumstances, it seemed safer to say I was involved with another man.”

“You’re not engaged?”

“No. I’m not involved romantically with anyone at the moment. Jack’s just a friend.”

“What was he doing here?” Wyatt demanded.

“He came to see how I’m doing, now that I’m home from rehab. Jack and his parents were kind enough to take care of the twins at his ranch while I was in a coma and for the past six weeks while I’ve been recuperating. You do know that I was shot in the arm and the chest last October, and that I was in a coma for four months?”

He nodded curtly. “I assumed your parents kept the twins.”

Kate shook her head. “My mother was in delicate health—pregnant with a late-in-life baby—so Jack stepped in.”

Wyatt followed Jack’s progress, his eyes narrowed, till he reached his SUV, then turned back to face her. Jack shot her an anxious look behind Wyatt’s back that asked, What the hell is he doing here?

Apparently, he couldn’t stay and demand answers from her without blowing whatever cover he’d established for himself as one of Dante D’Amato’s minions.

In a raspy voice too soft for Jack to hear, Shaw said, “Did you tell him?”

“Tell him what?”

“Don’t play dumb. Did you tell him the twins are mine?”

“No, I didn’t.” But she’d come very close.

“Thank God for that.”

Kate blanched as she realized why Shaw was so upset. He thought Dante D’Amato had also discovered the truth about who’d fathered the twins and sent Jack here to get Kate to confirm or deny what he’d heard.

“By the time my father knows for sure that Lucky and Chance are my sons,” Shaw said, “I’ll have you all somewhere he can’t get to you.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Kate said, her voice sharp with fear. “Neither are my sons. Why should your father be any threat to us? I would think he’d be glad to know he has grandchildren.”

“You don’t know Dante D’Amato.”

Kate glanced toward where she’d last seen Jack, but his SUV had already disappeared down a small hill under a canopy of live oaks. Why had he abandoned her with Shaw? Was protecting his cover more important than protecting the woman he loved and her children from someone with Wyatt Shaw’s reputation?

It must be.

Or maybe the best way to protect her was to pretend not to be romantically involved with her. Which gave her way too much food for thought.

Kate stood with a hand on either side of the doorway, blocking Shaw’s entrance, and said in a cold voice, “I told you not to come back.”

“Let me in, Kate.”

It was a command, pure and simple. Kate’s neck hairs rose. “Go away. I don’t want you here.”

“I know the twins are home. I intend to see them.”

She tried slamming the door in his face, but he caught it again with his hand.

“We’re not going through this again, are we?”

Kate realized she wasn’t physically capable of keeping him out. She was trying to think of an argument that would convince him to go away when Lucky and Chance came barreling into the living room.

“Mom! Chance is cheating at Mario Brothers Galaxy on the Wii!” Lucky complained. “He won’t give me my turn.”

“I was not!” Chance said, shoving Lucky in the back. “You’re just afraid I’ll beat you.”

Lucky turned and socked Chance in the shoulder.

Kate left Shaw standing where he was to intervene between her sons. “Chance! Lucky! Stop that right now!”

Shaw moved into the open doorway behind her, where she knew he could see the fracas.

Kate grimaced. Her sons weren’t making a very good first impression on their father. “We have company,” she announced.

But Chance had already tripped Lucky, who turned and grabbed Chance’s school uniform shirtfront on the way down. Both boys landed hard on the floor. They rolled, hitting at each other with their fists and knocking into the furniture with their thrashing feet.

Kate wished she could tell Shaw that this behavior was unusual. But ever since she’d come home from rehab, they’d roughhoused like this at least once a day. She supposed Jack must have tolerated this sort of behavior over the past four months while the boys had been living at his ranch house.

“That’s enough.”

Kate watched as her sons’ heads snapped toward the door. She wondered whether it was the mere sound of a male speaking, or the stern, no-nonsense tone of Wyatt’s voice, that had gotten their attention.

They untangled themselves and sat up, staring at the stranger who’d spoken.

Wyatt closed the door behind him and crossed to stand beside her. She knew he was waiting for her to introduce him to her—their—sons. “Come over here,” she said gently. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

That wasn’t true. She didn’t like anything about this situation. But she figured this traumatic moment in her sons’ lives would be less devastating if she orchestrated it.

The twins never took their curious gazes off Shaw. A quick glance at Shaw revealed that his gray eyes were focused intently on Lucky and Chance. His impenetrable gaze gave nothing away, but Kate could see the tension in his shoulders, the muscle that worked in his jaw. She felt a moment of guilt for depriving him of knowing his sons and quickly squelched it.

Wyatt Shaw was a ruthless man capable of anything, maybe even murder. Just because the police hadn’t found enough evidence to arrest him didn’t mean he wasn’t guilty of strangling that poor woman with his bare hands. Could he possibly be as innocent as his expensive lawyer had told the press he was? If Shaw hadn’t killed that woman, who had? And why had she been found in his bed?

Kate couldn’t believe the direction her thoughts had taken. She was realizing, far too late, that just because this stranger had been gentle with her during the night they’d spent together, didn’t mean he wasn’t a killer.

“Mom?” Chance said anxiously.

Kate flushed when she realized she’d been staring at Shaw—perhaps with the fear she was feeling showing in her eyes. She took a deep breath and said, “This is Wyatt Shaw. Mr. Shaw is…”

Kate’s throat suddenly constricted. How was she supposed to introduce him? It seemed too abrupt to baldly announce to her sons that this man was their biological father. She turned to Shaw, looking for help. She found no sympathy in his steel-gray eyes. She realized she would rather tell the boys herself than have Shaw say the words, which he surely would, if she didn’t speak them soon.

Kate turned back to her sons and saw the innocence Shaw was forcing her to steal. She took a deep breath and said, “Mr. Shaw is—”

“I’m an old friend of your mother’s,” Shaw interrupted.

Kate shot a surprised—and grateful—look in Shaw’s direction.

“I’m Lucky,” Lucky said, holding out his hand to be shaken.

Kate watched as Wyatt solemnly took his son’s hand. Shaw’s hand completely enveloped the smaller one. His hold lingered long enough that Lucky pulled free.

“I’m Chance.” Chance thrust his hand out to be shaken.

This time Wyatt let go before the boy felt the need to pull away.

“Is it all right if we go play on the Wii again, Mom?” Lucky asked.

Kate turned to Wyatt, wondering if he wanted to talk further with the boys. He met her gaze, the look in his eyes still obscure, and gave the slightest nod of agreement. She turned back to her sons and said, “Can you do it without fighting?”

The twins exchanged grins, then turned to her and simultaneously said, “You bet.”

“All right. Another half hour. Then you need to go wash your hands for supper.”

Kate waited for the boys to disappear before she turned back to Shaw. “You’ve met them. Now I’d like you to leave.”

“Is that normal behavior?”

Kate bristled at the implied criticism but forced herself to stay calm. She refused to care what Wyatt Shaw thought. He wasn’t going to be around long enough for it to matter. She shrugged and said, “They’re boys.”

“You allow them to fight like that in the house?”

She opened her mouth to explain that the twins’ behavior was more rambunctious now than it had been before her accident and snapped it shut again. She would not apologize to this man for anything her sons did.

“I’ve made arrangements to fly the three of you to Houston tonight,” he said. “You’ll be living with me. You should pack a few bags with whatever you need for tonight and maybe tomorrow. I’ll be providing everything you need from now on.”

Kate felt as though he’d punched her in the gut. It took a moment to recover enough air to speak. “You can just tear up the tickets, because we’re not going anywhere.”

A smile flickered across his face. “We’re traveling on my private jet.”

“I have a job here. I have to earn a living.”

“Not anymore. I’ll be taking care of any expenses associated with my sons. And their mother, of course.”

“I enjoy my work,” Kate said angrily.

“You enjoy providing physical therapy to amputees at Brooke Army Medical Center?”

“Yes!” she said, unsettled that Wyatt knew what she did and where she worked. “You can see how special—and unique—my work is. I can’t do it just anywhere or with just anyone.”

“You can find a comparable job at M.D. Anderson.”

Kate gasped. “Jobs like mine don’t grow on trees.”

“They’ll give you a job.”

“What makes you so sure?” she demanded.

“I’m a benefactor.”

“Oh, so you’ll buy me a job, is that what you’re saying?”

“You’re the one who said you wanted to work. I told you, there’s no need.”

“I don’t want your money. I make enough to support us.”

“My sons are entitled to whatever I can give them,” Wyatt said. “And I can give them more than this.” He gestured around her tiny living room.

She could understand the male need to be the provider. But she was stung by his disdain for her home, which was filled with love, even if it was small. She lifted her chin and said, “There’s more to being a good parent than living in a big house.”

“Thanks to you, I wouldn’t know about that,” he shot back.

“What makes you think you can be a good father to my sons?” she challenged.

“I’m sure you’ll let me know where I go wrong.”

“You have an answer for everything.”

“There’s nothing you can say to make me change my mind.”

Kate made a rumbling sound of frustration. There was another very good reason she didn’t want to go anywhere near Houston and M.D. Anderson. Holly would be living and working there. But she wasn’t about to mention that to Shaw.

“The boys attend a good school.”

“There are good schools in Houston.”

“Their friends are here.”

“They can make new friends.”

“You mean they’re going to be allowed to socialize with other human beings,” Kate said sarcastically. “I thought we were going to be hiding behind high stone walls.”

“Now you’re being absurd.”

Kate fought the tears that threatened. She gripped her hands together to keep him from seeing how badly they were trembling. “I’m happy living here. I don’t want to move.”

“You can’t stay here,” Wyatt said flatly. “It’s not safe. Your Texas Ranger friend isn’t going to be any help to you. He’s proved his loyalty to my father.”

Kate wondered what Jack had done to prove his loyalty to the mob boss. It didn’t bear thinking about. “I can hire protection,” she said.

“It won’t be enough.”

“Who says?”

“You don’t even have a garage for your car. It would be easy to put a bomb in it.”

Kate felt gooseflesh rise on her arms. “Who would do such a thing?”

He didn’t answer her, just lifted a brow and let her imagine the worst. Which she easily did.

Kate was startled by a hard knock on the door. Her heart leapt with the hope that Jack had returned. His name was already on her lips, when the door swung open with a bang.

A giant with the face of a gargoyle stepped inside.

“Oh, God!” Kate cried. She turned to run toward the bedroom, where the boys were playing, but Shaw grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back tight against his chest. His other hand came up to cover her mouth but never closed over it.

“Don’t scream,” he warned.

Kate whimpered, but she didn’t scream. She wasn’t sure she could have, because all the air had been frightened out of her lungs. She remained silent because she didn’t want to draw Lucky and Chance into the living room to witness her death.

“If you’re going to kill me,” she said in a shaky voice, “I’d rather you didn’t do it in front of my sons.”

“Boss?” the big man said, his scarred brow furrowing.

“It’s all right, Bruce,” Shaw said. “I think Mrs. Pendleton thought my father sent you to take care of both of us.” He angled Kate’s chin so she could see his face and said, “I asked Bruce to join us.”

Kate sagged in Wyatt’s arms and put a hand to her mouth to hold back a sob of relief. Tears brimmed in her eyes and she blinked them back. “Why?” she gasped.

“What?”

“Why did he burst in here like that?”

“Bruce was waiting outside in the limo with my driver. I told him to give me fifteen minutes and join us.”

“It’s all right, ma’am,” Bruce said. “I’m here to protect you. Actually, I’m going to be keeping an eye on the Boss’s kids.” He glanced at Shaw, smiled crookedly and said, “I think the Boss is going to be keeping an eye on you himself.”

A polite giant. Who knew?

Kate would have laughed, except her throat was still choked with leftover terror.

“Can you stand if I let you go?” Shaw asked, easing her feet back onto the ground.

Kate’s legs were limp noodles. The instant Shaw set her down, she stumbled away from him and turned to face both men. “You had this planned from the beginning,” she said bitterly. “I never had any choice in the matter, did I?”

“No.”

“What if I refuse to go with you?”

“You can stay. But the boys are coming with me.”

Kate was horrified. “They won’t leave the house without me, not without a fight.”

“Whatever it takes, they’re coming with me.”

Kate realized what he was saying. “You’d use force on your own sons?”

“I’d rather not,” he admitted.

But he would. He’d obviously brought the big man in to help him manhandle the twins, if that became necessary. Kate felt panicked. She glanced toward the landline in the living room, but knew she wouldn’t have time to dial 911 before Shaw stopped her. Maybe she could call for help when she was in her bedroom supposedly packing.

“Don’t even think it,” Shaw said.

“What?”

“Don’t think about calling the police. Or anyone else. I promise you, you’ll regret it.”

It was a threat that left everything to her imagination. Which was working overtime.

“Call the twins back in here,” Shaw said. “We need to tell them what’s going on. Then Bruce will help them pack.”

“What about me?”

“Are you coming?”

Her mind was racing, trying to think of a way out of the trap Shaw had sprung. But she—and her sons—were well and truly caught. “What’s to keep me from calling the police later? I mean, if I’m going to be allowed to work, I’m not always going to be stuck behind high stone walls.”

He didn’t even dignify her question with an answer.

He would have an explanation ready that would satisfy the police. And he had a secret weapon. He was the twins’ father. He could prove it, if need be. He might seek joint custody or, if she became too troublesome, sole custody of the twins.

And he had the money to make it all happen.

Her family was wealthy, and she knew both her grandfathers would be happy to fight Shaw. But a nasty legal fight like that was bound to impact her sons’ lives. And not in a good way.

She met Wyatt’s implacable gaze and said, “Suppose I go with you willingly and give Lucky and Chance a reason for this visit that will keep them from hating your guts. When is this forced imprisonment going to end? When is it going to be safe for my sons to come back home?”

His answer was blunt and uncompromising. “From now on, their home will be with me.”

6

“I need cash, Mother. I’m tapped out.”

Ann Wade Pendleton pursed her lips as she stared at her wayward son. She’d received some shockingly bad news this morning and had abandoned the campaign trail for her ranch in Midland, Texas, seeking solitude to think about what she should do. Surprise, surprise, she’d discovered J.D. hiding out at the ranch, which boasted far more oil wells than cattle.

Luckily, she’d kept her Secret Service contingent out of the house, so knowledge of her “dead” son’s presence, and the public relations disaster that would have resulted, had been narrowly averted.

She could remember being glad, as her only son grew from a boy into a man, that he’d inherited his father’s good looks and athletic ability. J.D. was tall and blond and blue-eyed. He’d become a star football player. He’d also learned at the master’s knee how to charm a woman, how to lie to her and cheat on her and still smile at her without a hint of guilt.

She almost didn’t recognize the gaunt figure with shaggy blond hair and sunken blue eyes who sat slumped in the studded black leather chair across from her. The charm was long gone. What she saw in her son’s eyes was desperation. And despair.

She contemplated the road to J.D.’s downfall from her seat behind the ancient oak desk where her deceased husband had kept track of his dwindling fortune. Dwindling because Jonas David Pendleton, Jr. had gambled his oil money on every half-assed hare-brained investment scheme that came along. Another trait he’d passed along to his son.

J.D. had married a woman with enough money to keep them living in luxury their entire lives and had frittered it away in a few years. It was her son’s enormous unpaid gambling debts that had gotten him into trouble with D’Amato, and given the mobster the leverage he needed to involve J.D. in the brokering of guns for heroin that had led to her son’s ruin.