Love’s Sweet Revenge(91)

She pulled away from Peter but kept hold of his hands, while Jeff set a silver tray that held a decanter and four coffee cups on a dresser.

“Not this trip,” Peter answered. “I figured I’d wait until things are back to normal for you and we’re sure you and Jake can go home. Then maybe I can bring Treena out to the ranch for a visit. Jeff has told me how beautiful it is.”

“He’s right, Peter! It is beautiful!” Randy agreed.

Jake watched Randy finally let go of Peter’s hands and turn to Jeff for a hug. He caught the way Peter watched her then. Yes, the man was most certainly still in love with her.

“I’d love to see both of you and your families come to the J&L,” Randy was telling them, grasping both their hands then. “Once all this is—” She hesitated, her smile fading. “Over.” Her eyes suddenly teared. “You did come here to help, didn’t you, Peter?”

“When I heard the news, I knew I had to come.” Peter turned to Jake. “I’m so damn sorry about Lloyd, Jake. Sorry about everything. Jeff and I came as soon as we could. We took a train from Chicago. Thank goodness we can travel to places a lot faster than we used to.”

Jake nodded. “Yeah.”

Jeff turned and looked up at Jake. At six feet four inches, Jake towered over his five-foot-eight-inch frame. He reached out to shake Jake’s hand, and Jake jerked him closer, slapping the young man on the back.

“Jeff, it’s damn good to see you! Damn good!”

“You, too, Jake, but I don’t like the circumstances that brought me here.”

“Well, my good friend, you are always looking for a headliner story. You know me. I can always provide one for you.” Jake stepped around him and closer to Randy. “It’s been a mess.”

Peter noted the tired, strained look in Jake’s eyes. “We knew this would be hell for you, Jake.” He glanced at Jake’s guns. “I have to say you’re looking a bit intimidating at the moment. Are things really so bad that you have to wear those guns?”

“They are. You must know by now everything that’s happened, and I’m not leaving this hotel until I know my son is completely well. These guns are keeping the law from coming for me.” Jake put out his hand. “Thanks for coming.”

Peter took his hand a bit hesitantly. He knew Jake Harkner well, and that meant being careful when he was in the kind of mood Peter guessed him to be in. Neither of them needed to say it. Peter had come as much for Randy’s sake as anyone’s. They shook hands firmly…two men in love with the same woman…two men as different as sand and water. But that woman had eyes for only one of them, as devoted a wife as a man could ask for.

“Jake, you’re in every headline in every newspaper across the country by now,” Jeff told him. “I know for a fact you made the Chronical in San Francisco and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It hit the papers in Chicago the very next day after the shooting, and Peter and I knew right away you might need some help out here. Thanks to the railroad, we were able to get here in just a couple of days.”

“Oh, my goodness, I didn’t know half the country knew about this,” Randy exclaimed, putting a hand to her chest. She cast Jake a worried look.

“There are people milling around outside and in the lobby,” Jeff added. “Mostly reporters, all of them wanting to get a look at the infamous Jake Harkner. Half of them expect some kind of shoot-out.”

“There will be if they try to come for me before Lloyd is up and walking,” Jake told him. “He’ll need a lot of care, and he’s a big man. Katie and Evie are both with child, so I need to be here to help move and lift Lloyd and help keep him bathed and all the other things that need doing for something like this.”

Peter smiled softly. “So, you have two more grandchildren on the way.”

“We do. I always have trouble believing our growing family is really mine. That’s something I never dreamed would happen to me.” Jake turned to Jeff. “I’m not leaving my son’s side, Jeff. You know how it is between me and Lloyd.”

“I know all too well,” Jeff answered. “A man doesn’t ride with the likes of Jake and Lloyd Harkner like I did and forget it anytime soon.”

“Jeff, how is your wife?” Randy asked. “We were so happy to learn you got married.”

“She’s fine. She is also going to have a baby. I was afraid the trip might be too much for her, so I left her back in Chicago.”

“You be sure to let us know when the baby is born,” Randy asked. “We’ll want to send a gift.”