Chasing Trouble (Texas Trouble) (24 page)

"
I'm going to find Jenny," he said and left them there to deal with the man he'd shot.

While he pushed through the trees, Chase heard distant sirens and figured the fire department was on the way to deal with the well fire.  It wasn't the
Bowie Sheriff's department, most of their deputies were already here.    

"Jenny!" Chase yelled, and made his way further into the woods.  He repeated his calls, until he was nearly hoarse. 
She didn't answer, and the more he yelled the more worried he became.

Suddenly he felt cold metal press into the back of his neck, and he stopped walking, standing perfectly still like a deer caught in a hunter's site.  Because that was what he was.

"Don't move asshat...drop the gun," a gravelly voice said behind him.  Chase looked around for a clear spot to throw the gun so he could find it if he somehow managed to get out of this, but the only thing he saw was brush.  He was completely surrounded by it and briars and brambles.  That meant he was also limited on moving, or trying to fight the guy.

Reluctantly, Chase threw the weapon into the brush to the right then put his hands up. 

"Move," the guy told him with a shove. 

Chase stumbled, but pushed
through the briars, with the man right behind him.  When he got to the other side of the thick brush, the briars thinned and it was mostly trees, so he could move a little easier.  Discreetly, he surveyed the area trying to figure out how he was going to save himself, so he could save Jenny. 

Chase sucked in a
surprised breath when his foot caught on a tree root, and he saw the ground coming up to meet him.  A shotgun blast echoed through the trees, then he heard a grunt and something heavy fell on top of him, knocking the breath out of him.  No matter how he tried, he couldn't drag in a breath.  He tried to push the weight off of him, but couldn't do that either. He was trapped, pinned and stars swam before his eyes, until they closed together to form a black curtain and his body relaxed.

Stinging slaps on his cheek woke him up and he sucked in a deep breath, and opened his eyes.  "Oh, good god, Chase...don't tell me you're hurt again.  Your mama is gonna kill me!" Jenny shouted frantically.  "C'mon baby wake up!"

His breathing evened out, then Chase smiled.  His mama would kill
him
if he got hurt again.  She had nothing but praise for Jenny, who was always patching him up.  He took a mental survey of his body from limb to limb and realized that nothing hurt this time.  It looked like he'd been lucky and he'd just lost his wind.  "I'm fine, baby...where's the guy who--"

"Dead," she told him bluntly, then added with a grin, "My aim was better than yours."

Chase felt blood rush to his face and went to sit up.  She stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.  "Are you hurt?"

"Yeah, my butt kinda hurts, you wanna rub it?" he said with a snort.

"Only rubbing you're gonna get after this performance is the kind you don't want," she told him.  "You know they're not going to let you live it down that you shot that guy in the butt."

Chase groaned and asked, "You saw that?"

"Glanced back and saw him grab his ass as I was running.  Didn't stick around to make sure," she told him with a snort.

"
I just wanted to be your hero, baby...I was worried about you," he told her with a smile that went from ear to ear.

Jenny smiled softly
, her eyes filled with tears, then she said, "You are my hero, sugar...you saved my heart."

EPILOGUE

Jenny waited nervously on the bench outside the courtroom.  Absently, she twisted the two-carat engagement ring on her left hand in circles and chewed her lip.

Chase was inside testifying to the Federal Grand Jury
assembled to decide whether the owner of Pinion Drilling, Slim Watkins, was going to go on trial for the multiple offenses against him.  He must be saying a lot, because he'd been in there nearly two hours.

He had a lot to say. 
Pinion had not only ruined eight of his drilling derricks, they'd tried to destroy his company's safety record and reputation, ignored federal safety mandates, and hired people to do their dirty work, killing someone in the process.  Chase's main concern was his employees. 

Pinion's
actions had resulted in one death and four serious injuries.

Jenny didn't know much about the law, she was a doctor, but she did know the charges against him were serious.  Capital murder was serious business.

Slim Watkins claimed not to know about what was going on, that his wife's brother was a vice president in the company, and he was basically handling operations, according to him.  The feds didn't believe him, so they charged both him and his brother-in-law.  It was their position that if he didn't know what was going on, he
should
have.  It was his company.

Jenny didn't think
Watkins or his brother-in-law had a snowball's chance in hell of getting off, and that made her happy.  The case against them was strong, according to Chase.

The idiots
Watkins had hired to sabotage the Rhodes Drilling wells were more than happy to talk, when they realized what they faced.  The prosecutor didn't pull any punches, or cut them deals to talk either.  He didn't have to, because they sang like birds.  One had already spilled the beans to Curly Rhodes, before the police arrived at the mansion to arrest him.

She heard shoe heels clicking on the shiny tile floor and looked to see who was coming.  Papa Jack walked toward her dressed in a suit.  He looked good, but uncomfortable in the fancy attire.  She loved that crotchety old man, almost as much as she loved his grandson. 

She smiled at him and he gave her one back, then sat down beside her.  He nudged her with his elbow, "Hey, pretty lady...wanna make an old man's day and give me a kiss?"

She snorted, "You know Chase is gonna kick your butt for making time with his woman right?  That is one possessive man..." she told him playfully shaking her head.

His face sobered and he told her, "He takes care of what's important to him, sugar...and you're important."

Tears burned her eyes and she looked away.  "Dammit, old man don't do that...you know I'm not far from the watershed these days."

"Could be a reason for that, darlin'," he told her with a glance at her stomach. 

"Yeah, I
guess there is," she said smiling softly and rubbing her still flat tummy.

"
You've made Curly the happiest woman in Texas, I know that."  He chuckled and patted her knee, then added, "That boy is damned lucky, and he knows it...so do we, darlin'...he's accident prone and he's going to marry a doctor.  A match made in heaven, I'd say."

"Or hell," she told him then clarified, "I worry so much about him, it makes me sick.  He climbs up on those damned rigs like a monkey.  He fell from a tree trying to save my cat, how can he think he can do that
and not break his neck?"

"
The only place in the world he's not clumsy is on a derrick, so that's the perfect place for him," Papa Jack told her.

"Yeah, isn't that the damndest thing?" Jenny said
shaking her head.

T
he door of the jury room opened and Chase walked out looking harassed and tired.  When his eyes met hers, he smiled
that
smile, and she felt the warmth of the sun travel through her body.

She stood and asked with concern, "How'd it go?"

"They're toast," he replied with a grin, excitement and happiness sparkling in his blue eyes.  "Prosecutor just has to put a fork in 'em."

Jenny jumped up and down clapping her hands and he put his hands on her shoulders to stop her.  "Don't do that, baby..." he cleared his throat and looked unsure.  "Jostling around like that can't be good, right?"

"I'm fine, Chase," she said with a frustrated huff.  Not only was he the most possessive man in Texas, he was also the most over-protective.  It was taking some getting used to.

Her handsome
fiancé pulled her to his chest and hugged her tightly.  "I love you darlin'...I just want you to be careful, mama said--"

She put her fingers over his lips then said, "Don't say it...I have the audio version of The Book of Pregnancy written by Curly Rhodes
embedded in my brain."

He sucked her fingers into his mouth and ran his tongue over the
tips.  Jenny gasped as heat gathered between her thighs.  She pulled her hand back and said, "Stop being bad, or I'm gonna tell your mama," she threatened with an evil smile.

"She said that's off limits too?" Chase asked quickly,
and his face turned bright red.  She'd almost swear there were beads of sweat on his forehead.

Jenny snorted then told him with a wink, "As if that's gonna stop you,
Monkey Boy."

He growled then covered her lips with his and kissed her until her toes curled. 
The kiss went on until the jury room door opened again, and Joel walked out. 

Jenny looked his way, but Chase didn't let her go. 
Joel had on a suit, which looked funny on him now.  She thought he'd burned them all, when he made the decision to become a rancher.  The cowboy hat and boots he'd taken to wearing lately were gone, and his black hair was slicked back on his head, but the smile he'd been missing when she met him was there now.

"
Ya'll need the key to my hotel room?" he asked in that slow sexy drawl of his.

"I've got it covered," Chase said grumpily.

"I'll bet you do...that damned house ya'll bought is big enough for ten kids."

"According to Chase, we might fill it," Jenny told him.  "But he'll have to take care of them while I'm at school," she said with a wink for her soon to be brother-in-law.

"If you need a break, you know where to find me," he said and winked back.  "I have horses," he teased knowing that was a weakness for her.

"Stop flirting with my wife," Chase grumped and his arms tightened around her.

"She's not your wife yet, brother...I still have time," Joel told him.

"Your time expired the day I met her, brother...I saw my angel, and that was all she wrote," Chase said smiling down at her.

"Aww, you say the sweetest things, baby..." Jenny told him then tiptoed and gave him a gentle kiss.

Joel made gagging sounds and Papa Jack chuckled
, then Joel told them, "I'm not getting married again, I'm going to try out the thirty-one flavors, and pick out my favorites."

"Never say never baby brother, that'll get you in a heap of trouble," Chase warned.

"
Never
," Joel repeated and Jenny saw the hurt flash in his blue eyes. 

Her heart tweaked in her chest.
  She hoped his failed marriage didn't cause him to close himself off from considering it again if the right woman came along.  He was too good a man, had too much going for him to let that happen.

Jenny had almost done that, and she knew it wasn't the way to live.
  Home
was
where the heart is, and hers was with Chase. 

She put a hand on Chase's arm
and said, "Let's go home, baby.