Love Under Two Benedicts(59)

“Sorry son-of-a-bitch better not show his face around here again. The women alone would beat him to bloody death for threatening two of our own,” Jonathan Benedict said.

“Damn right,” Caleb agreed.

Kelsey felt warmth suffuse her at those words. She turned to Jonathan, who sat beside her.

“You need to insist your son sees the doctor.”

Both men smiled. “Don’t you worry, sweetheart,” Jonathan said. “As soon as they find the evidence, Bernice will see to it if he doesn’t.”

“He’s doing what he can to take care of you,” Caleb said. “That’s the Benedict way. Once they’ve finished their search, he’ll head on over because you asked him to.”

“I’m sorry he got hurt. I don’t understand why anyone would try—”

“Now, sweetheart, if you’re apologizing, you can stop right there. None of this is your fault. It’s the fault of the man who pulled that trigger,” Jonathan said.

“And the fault of the man who sent him,” Caleb said.

“You think someone…”

“The first attempt was some asshole, pardon my language, behind the wheel of a car running you off the road and the second a sniper attack. Speaks to two separate M.O.’s.” Caleb said.

Since Caleb had been a Texas Ranger, she guessed he knew what he was talking about. She turned her attention back to the men. Steven held up his hand, and everyone seemed to stop. Adam and Matthew both came over to him. Matt got down on his knees beside his brother. A few seconds later, he held up what looked like a baggie with something in it.

“Good.” Caleb turned to Kelsey. “Now they’ll be able to know what caliber bullet, and from that, the make and model of gun. If they seize the weapon, they’ll be able to prove it was the one used because they have that casing.”

Matthew handed the bag to Adam, then came toward the car. He leaned in through the open back window and placed a kiss on Kelsey’s face.

“We’ve done all we can going over where the shooter stood,” Matthew said. “Adam’s going to get all the volunteers together, see if their canvass turned up any descriptions of the perp. In the mean time, we need to talk. Since Mom’s still with Benny at the ranch, let’s head over to the big house.”

“Certainly,” Kelsey said. “Just as soon as one of the doctors over at the clinic has a look at Steven’s arm and gives him a proper bandage.”



* * * *



It seemed the most natural thing in the world to Steven to worry about his woman and do everything in his power to protect her and keep her safe. Being the recipient of that same treatment was something else again.

He’d known she’d been taken back to that other shooting five years before. That knowledge had kept his voice calm, his actions gentle even as he’d wanted to swear with the pain from his wound. He did his best to downplay his injury. He hadn’t lied to her. He really had only been grazed. But it hurt like hell.

“There,” Dr. Adam Jessop said as he smoothed the bandage into place. “Cleaned, disinfected, and antibiotic cream applied. I imagine it stings like hell.” He raised one eyebrow, and even though Kelsey sat next to him and he wanted to spare her, he never could lie to his Uncle Adam.

“It stings,” he said.

Steven felt himself scowl when Dr. Adam looked over at Kelsey. “I’ll give him a prescription for Tylenol with codeine.” He went over to the PC that sat on the counter in the exam room. The clinic had gone to computers a few years back, which made the pharmacist in town happy as all prescriptions were now printed out and legible.

“And it appears you need a tetanus booster.”

“Well, hell,” Steven said.

Kelsey leaned in and kissed his shoulder. “Sorry, sweetheart.”

He looked over at Matthew who stood on the other side of Kelsey. His brother’s smirk grounded him as much as Kelsey’s affection soothed him.

“Just a pinch.”

Steven wondered why doctors always said that before jabbing those big ass needles into his arm and twisting them every which way. At least it felt as if they did. Uncle Adam gave him the shot in his left arm. Steven supposed it was better than having to stand and lower his pants, but not by much.

He couldn’t help the slight hiss as he inhaled sharply.

“F…ooey, that hurts.”

“It was just a little pinch,” Dr. Adam reiterated. Steven noted the twinkle in the man’s eyes.

It was a sad world, Steven thought, when your own doctor, who was also a family member, laughed at your pain.

“Come on, tough guy. By now the dads will have the coffee made and some of Mom’s cookies out,” Matthew said.