Instinctively reaching for her, Jared rubbed her back, frowning when she pulled away from him.
“You sent him here. He could have killed my husbands. My baby! My sister!”
“Erin, listen! I went to Desire to warn you, but I didn’t get the chance. I wanted you to go away with me. Then you wouldn’t have been in danger at all.”
Jared fought to hold on to his temper, but each word Wes uttered made it more difficult.
Wes’s voice lowered in an apparent attempt at seduction. “We can still go away. Just you and me. No one will ever find us. No one will ever know we have the money. Wait. You didn’t tell your husbands about the money, did you?”
Duncan rose from the sofa, circling behind it, his fists clenched on the back of it.
Reese picked up Erin’s glass of water, meeting Jared’s gaze over her head as he approached and handed it to her.
After taking a sip, she turned away. “Of course not. It’s mine, and if I ever need an escape plan, I’ve got one.”
“I don’t believe you. I saw the way you looked at them. You’re making this up.”
“Whatever, Wes. Jared’s on his way in. I have to go.”
She disconnected and handed the phone to Jared. “So, how’d I do?”
After tossing the phone to Duncan, Jared hugged her close. “You did good, baby. I didn’t expect anything less. You’re good at everything you do.”
Duncan tossed the phone to Reese and closed in behind her, kissing her temple. “In fact, you were so convincing I started wondering how many times you’ve fooled me.”
Erin smiled, but Jared could see that it cost her. “That would be telling.”
Ace frowned and shared a look with Jared. “She’s beat. We’ll be watching the house, but keep a gun handy just in case Cramer believes her enough to come here first.”
“They have a gun?” One of the agents frowned, eyeing each of them in turn.”
Ace retrieved his hat from a side table. “They have several. There isn’t a house in town that doesn’t have a gun in it.”
Reese rose, facing the agents. “Our wife’s done what you wanted. She needs to rest now, so it’s time for you to go.”
While the other agents packed up their equipment, Agent Price came forward, flipping through a small notepad. “We didn’t know anything about there being two green duffel bags.”
Erin straightened, narrowing her gaze at Agent Price. “Nelson told me.”
Agent Price scribbled in her notebook and tucked it away, her lips thinning. “You didn’t share that with us.”
“I knew about it.” Ace placed himself between Agent Price and Erin. “So did her husbands. Get your stuff packed up. Erin is still recovering from an attack, but she did what you wanted. Get out.”
* * * *
Duncan could feel the tension in Erin and mentally cursed, glancing at Jared, who gently massaged her forehead.
His stubborn wife didn’t want to show any weakness in front of the others, but he felt her trembling, which told him just how badly her head hurt and just how much her show of strength cost her.
As soon as the agents left, and the door closed behind Ace, Erin slumped against him. “Just give me a minute.”
“You need more than a minute.” Meeting Jared’s scowl, Duncan lifted her as carefully as he could in deference to her headache and cracked rib. “Just relax, baby. I’ve got you.”
He carried her into the bedroom and placed her in the center of the bed, alarmed at her stillness. “We should have put the feds off a couple more days.”
“No. I wanted to get it over with. I’m so sorry about your store. So many beautiful things gone.”
“That’s nothing compared to what we could have lost.” Unable to resist, he touched his lips to hers. “We can rebuild the store and replace the inventory. You, darlin’, are irreplaceable. Every time I close my eyes, I see him holding you with a gun pressed against your side.”
Easing her out of her clothes, he ran a finger lightly over the tape binding her ribs.
He took her hand when she reached for him, lifting it to his lips and staring down at her too-still form, noting that she hadn’t opened her eyes since he picked her up. “The headache’s bad, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
His alarm grew when she opened her eyes to slits and forced a smile. “Be still. I’ll get your nightgown.”
Furious at all that had happened in the last few days, he retrieved one of her softest nightgowns from her drawer and turned to see Reese coming into the room. “We need to call the doctor.”
Holding a glass of water in one hand and the bottle of her pain medicine in the other, Reese didn’t take his eyes from Erin. “Jared’s on the phone with him now. Doc said to give her a pain pill and make her lie down. He said that stress probably made it worse. If it doesn’t ease after she takes the pain pill, he wants us to take her to the ER.”