Page 56 of Lone Star Target

What hadn’t been found was any record of Deanna having an actual dirty cop in her pocket. But one of the now-dead hired thugs had once been a reserve deputy in Bandera Bluffs, so that’s probably why the second hired thug had referred to him that way in those texts that had been on the burners.

The burners that Deanna had used to try to set up Trevor.

So, a whole lot of planning from her. Planning that had thankfully gone wrong. If Deanna had succeeded, Kit, Marvin, and he likely would all be dead with Trevor holding the bag for their murders.

Jace shoved that thought aside when Brandon moved in front of them and hugged Kit. “I’m so sorry,” he told her.

“None of this was your fault,” she was quick to assure him. “None,” Kit emphasized.

“I know, but it, uh…I just wish I’d realized sooner what Mom and Granddad were planning and I could have stopped them.” Brandon squeezed his eyes closed for a moment.

“So do I,” Kit muttered, and she sighed. There was plenty of regret in that slight sound.

Jace had plenty of regrets, too. But one of them wasn’t getting this second chance with Kit. Still, he wished it hadn’t had such a high price for both Brandon and her.

“Kit and I are going back to my house,” Jace said to Brandon. “Would you like to come with us?”

The young man shook his head. “I need to get away for a little while. But I’ll text you so you know where I am.” He paused, sliding glances at both of them. “Will you two be okay?”

“We will be.” Again, Kit gave a fast answer, and Jace hoped like the devil it was true.

While he was hoping, Jace added one more thing. That this second chance with Kit wasn’t just another of their hookups. That this time, she would stay. But beneath that hope was a bitter taste of reality. A reality that Kit might not want more than those hookups.

Brandon nodded and hugged her again. Then, surprised Jace by hugging him before he walked out of the courtroom.

Sighing, Kit looked up at him. “I really do want to go back to your place. I think we could use some downtime.”

They could indeed, and Ruby would give that to him. The past forty-eight hours had been a whirl of police interviews, too many phone calls and reports to count, and dealing with the fact that just outside his gate, there was a crime scene being processed.

For Kit, there’d been the added stress of dealing with medical experts who had basically tossed out her father’s insanity claim and had certified him capable of standing trial. Since Trevor and she were Ramsey’s next of kin, they’d gotten pulled into that.

Or rather, Kit had.

Trevor had pretty much checked out of life and seemed resigned to his future in a jail cell. That’d left Kit and Brandon to handle the legalities of giving Brandon temporary control of the family estate. Since Ramsey would likely never come out of prison, Jace figured the temporary would become permanent.

During Kit’s and the CSI’s time in Ramsey’s office, one of the CSIs had found a note in the shredder that had been pieced together to get them a lead on who’d help Ramsey with his attack. A tech who’d sold Ramsey the jammer and had also sneaked into the courthouse and installed tiny devices on the doors that allowed Ramsey to double lock them all with just a flick of a controller that he’d had in his pocket. That’s why no one had been able to get in or out.

The tech had already been located. And arrested.

Along with the trips to her father’s estate and to his lawyer’s office, Kit had also gone to her own house and office to tie up some work ends and to get more of her clothes. She hadn’t mentioned anything about actually staying at her place, and that suited him just fine. He wanted her with him. Wanted her in his bed.

And not temporarily either.

But he had to do it right this time. No rush to get married. No pressure for anything more than what they had right now.

He frowned and called himself on the big-assed lie he’d just told himself. If there was no pressure, then why the hell were the rings in his pocket?

Her rings.

The ones he’d taken that very morning from the little box in his desk. A box he’d carried from assignment to assignment until his move back to the Texas Hill Country.

Several days ago, when she’d asked him what he had done with the rings, he’d asked her if it mattered. He’d tried to blow off their importance. But they did matter because those rings had been symbols of what they once had.

And what he wanted again.

No, he wasn’t mentally taking things slow at all.

Jace slid his arm around her and got her moving toward the door. They paused though when Marvin turned in their direction. Jace expected the man to smirk or shoot them a scowl, but he only shrugged. Marvin probably wasn’t jumping with joy over going to jail, but he knew it could have been a whole lot worse. If Deanna or Ramsey had been able to get to him, he’d be dead.

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