Texas Lullaby. Tina Leonard

countryside that night kept Gabriel inside and feeling caged. He paced the house, watching lightning crack through the windows of the two-story house. The TV had gone out; the phone lines were dead. He could hear water dripping frenzied and fast into the overgrown gardens.

      There wasn’t a lot to do in a house one didn’t call home. So far he’d mainly confined himself to his room on the second floor, and the den. He passed through the kitchen occasionally to forage from the goodies the ladies had left for him. The house, he estimated, was around six thousand square feet. Eventually, he’d have to investigate the rest of Pop’s place.

      Actually, there was no better time than the present, he decided. The sound of something not quite right caught his ear; instantly he listened intently, all the old survival skills surging into action. Someone was at the front door; someone with a key that wouldn’t fit easily. Gabriel considered flinging the door open and confronting whoever was out there, some idiot so dumb they didn’t know it was storming like hell outside, then relented. Let the water drown them. If they made it inside, then he’d deal with them.

      He thought about Laura’s father’s threats against Pop and figured he couldn’t kill the man in cold blood. So he selected one of his father’s many travel guides he had in the den—the heaviest one, something about the South Seas—and waited behind the door.

      It suddenly blew open with a gust of wind and rain and vituperative cursing. Gabriel raised the eight-hundred-page tourist guide high over his head, preparing to crack it over his visitor’s skull.

      “Damn it, I hate Texas with a passion!” he heard, and lowered his arms.

      “Dane?”

      His brother swung to look at him. “What the hell are you hiding back there for? And with a book on the South Seas?”

      “Preparing to coldcock you.” Gabriel closed the door.

      “I’m supposed to be here.” Dane glared at him, his coat dripping water all over the floor.

      “Your e-mail said you were coming in January.”

      “And I’ve since changed my mind. You got a problem with that?” Dane asked as he threw his bags in a corner.

      Gabriel sighed. “Calm down, Sam Houston. Food’s in the fridge.”

      “Don’t call me that. I detest Texas.”

      In the kitchen, Gabriel settled into a chair. “Are you starting your year of duty early?”

      “Figured I might as well get it over with.” Dane stuck his head inside the refrigerator door, ending the conversation for the moment. “Fried chicken! Watermelon!”

      Gabriel shook his head and began to read the travel guide to the South Seas, which was starting to sound appealing.

      “You get your letter from Pop?” Dane asked while he emptied the contents of the fridge on to the kitchen counter.

      “What letter?”

      “The one with the sob story about watching over this woman and her twins who have no man in the house.”

      “Twins?” Gabriel sat up. Laura only had a toddler and a baby—didn’t she?

      “I despise kids almost as much as I hate Texas,” Dane said.

      Gabriel couldn’t think for the shock of adding more kids to Laura’s equation. “You’re a Texas Ranger. Get over it.”

      “I’m done. I retired from active duty.”

      “Congratulations. So back to the family of four—”

      “Yeah. I’m supposed to look out for this little mom because of some mess Pop made.”

      Gabriel frowned. He was supposed to be the reluctant knight in shining armor. Possessive emotions and a sense of I saw her first crowded his skull.

      Dane shuddered. “Her name is Suzy something.”

      “Suzy? Not Laura?”

      Dane sat down across from him with a beer and a plate of fried chicken. “How do you get Laura from Suzy?”

      Gabriel shook his head. “This doesn’t sound good.”

      “Tell me about it. I nearly took off for New York, never to be seen or heard from again. But in the end, I knew I had to do this, or I’d really never be free of Pop. He’ll try to rule us from the grave if we don’t prove to him that nothing he does can screw up our lives anymore.”

      “And then there’s the million bucks.”

      “A small price for putting up with Pop,” Dane said glumly. “You know it’s going to get ugly. Suzy.” He shuddered.

      At least it wasn’t Laura Pop had sent Dane to rescue. It didn’t really matter, Gabriel reminded himself. One year and he was gone. Outta here.

      But now apparently there was a family of four in the mix, and an additional problem to be solved. Gabriel stared out the window at the pelting rain.

      It was indeed beginning to get ugly.