“What are you going to do?” Jade asked, hurrying after him into the great room.
“If they haven’t killed him, I’ll give him a message.”
“No, Chase!” Jade cried, catching up with him in the kitchen. “Don’t you go out there!”
“Hell yes, I am.” Picking up a pair of rawhide gloves off the kitchen counter, he turned to the gorgeous blonde clad only in the tummy shirt and panties. Pulling on his gloves, he said protectively, “But you stay in the house.”
Jade followed him to the back door. “Please be careful.”
“I’ve got this.” Chase slammed the door shut.
* * *
On the enclosed back porch,Jade opened a window overlooking the backyard. Floodlights illuminated the area around the garage, which, of the three structures Chase had mentioned, was the closest to the house. Besides Chase, Bob, Reno, and Faro, she saw their father, Red. Mean Pete was there, and he looked plenty mean tonight. Reno and Faro had Ragsdale, his face dripping blood, in their grips. Reno grabbed Ragsdale’s hair and jerked his head back as Chase stopped in front of him. She could hear voices, but not the words. Chase spoke, and Ragsdale spat what appeared to be a mouthful of blood near his booted feet.
She heard expletives from everyone but Chase. When Chase spoke again, Reno and Faro immediately released their hold on Ragsdale. Chase’s voice was deep and steady. Ragsdale hollered and threw a punch at Chase. Quicker than lightning, Chase dodged Ragsdale’s fist and struck him hard on the chin. Ragsdale lurched backward, but Faro caught him and shoved him toward Chase. Chase spoke again, and this time, Ragsdale yelled the foulest of crude curses so loudly Jade heard them end with her name. Chase grabbed him by the front of his shirt and rammed his knee between Ragsdale’s legs. Ragsdale dropped in a crumpled heap. As Ragsdale grunted and writhed in the dirt, Chase squatted down beside him. She could tell Chase was speaking but couldn’t hear his words. Ragsdale nodded and mumbled an answer.
When Chase stood again, his back was to her. She clearly saw his gun and breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t had to use it. His hands went to his hips as he addressed his men. When Chase stepped back, Reno and Faro jerked Ragsdale off the ground. They hauled a drooping, stumbling Ragsdale out of sight. Bob, Red, and Mean Pete huddled close to Chase for a moment before breaking up and going their separate ways. When Chase’s cell phone rang, he pulled it out of his back pocket and swaggered, as only he could, toward the house.
Jade realized, as she gasped for air, that she’d been holding her breath—for how long or how many times, she had no idea. Her heart thumping from fear and adrenaline, she quickly closed and locked the window. With a shaking hand, she swung open the door for Chase. Holding the cell phone to his ear with his shoulder, he removed his gloves. He walked into the house, and Jade locked the door behind him.
Seeing Ragsdale’s blood splattered on his shirt, she unbuttoned it. Power and strength resonating from Chase, he shrugged out of his shirt and ran a hand through his hair, making the muscles tighten on his six-pack torso. He listened to the voice on his phone and winked at her. The knuckles of both hands were red but not scraped, thanks to the gloves. She led him to a barstool, and when he sat, she tried to tug off his boot. He chuckled and motioned for her to turn around and try it. She did and managed to pull off his left boot. When she struggled with the right boot, he put his bare left foot to her bottom and pushed. A laugh from who knows where, under the circumstances, escaped her. She felt better and tugged off his boot. Placing it next to his other boot, she snuggled herself between his muscular thighs. When she rested her head on his shoulder, his arm came around her, and he patted her fanny.
“Took a .22 and a scalpel from him. Cut the spurs off his boots and kept ‘em this time,” Chase told the caller and chuckled before hanging up. “Cash is pissed he missed the action.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR
“You stupid idiot!” Franco sneered at Ragsdale after opening the sliding door to the side porch at dawn. He wasn’t about to let this loser, covered in blood and dirt, into his pristine house. Well, pristine except for that torn painting of the goddess being stolen from him. “You’re telling me Chase has my tracker, my .22, and a scalpel engraved with Spatafore Clinic in his possession?”
“I guess so.”
“You gave him your fingerprints and mine.” Holding his backup .22 on Ragsdale, Franco said, “I should shoot you on the spot.” Ragsdale raised both hands, warding him off. “What happened to you being able to sneak in, get the tracker, and sneak out?”
“I guess I didn’t work there long enough to realize he has his ranch wired with alarms,” Ragsdale said, dragging a filthy, torn shirtsleeve across his battered face. “I guess he had his men guarding the garage. So I guess he probably already had your tracker.”
“I guess, I guess, I guess!” Franco mimicked, waving his gun at Ragsdale. “Iguessyou’re worthless to me. You can forget the plastic surgery on your broken nose.”
“No, no, I have a message from Chase for you.”
“Do tell,” Franco said. Keeping his gun pointed with his right hand, he crossed his left arm over his chest and tapped his fingers on his right upper arm. Ragsdale swallowed hard, his eyes shifting right and left as if afraid to deliver the message. “Speak!”
“When Chase used your scalpel to slice off my spurs—”
“Ha!” Franco shrieked. “Chase replaced our fingerprints with his.”
“Uh…he had on gloves.”
“Damn him!” Franco blared. “What was his message?”
“He said to ship Jade Taylor’s trunk and family photo to his ranch. He said it’s the only time he’s going to ask, and the last time he’d be polite.”
“Polite?” Franco spat, shaking with rage. “Chase terrified Axel into quitting, he destroyed my expensive gate, and fired a cannon at me! Now he sends you crawling back like a half-dead dog, and he calls that polite?”
“I was outnumbered and outgunned.”
“You weren’t when Chase knocked you into that downtown gutter. By your own admission, you threw the first punch both times.”
“Chase’s a lot bigger’n me.”
