Double Her Pleasure (12 page)

“I’ll apologize, and they’ll love telling the
story tomorrow. Garret McGatlin called them in the middle of the
night.” He took the phone from her and pressed to call the number.
“Even if it is just after ten.”

She’d love to meet the Ungers—once all this
blew over.
If
it blew over. Which made her more determined
to find a course of action and follow it.

“Hello, Mr. Unger, it’s Garret. I’m sorry to
disturb you this late.” He winked at Megan as Mr. Unger’s voice
rambled on. “I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t urgent. Yeah. It’s about
those flowers. Can I talk with Mrs. Unger, please?”

She smiled. It was cute how respectful he was
of his elders.

Garret recited the description of the stalker
that the Yoder boy had given them. After listening for a few
minutes, he let out a long breath. “Okay, thank you, Mrs. Unger.
I’ll have the sheriff talk to you in the morning about this. Good
night.” He hung up and set the phone down.

“Well?” Megan turned toward him.

“When she held her hand up a foot over her
head?”

“Yes?”

Garret growled. “She meant he was that tall
when she’d been sitting down at the chair behind the counter.”

Megan smiled, then sobered. “We could have
been in danger tonight. We shouldn’t have left the ranch.”

He set his hand at the nape of her neck. “We
were safe. Nothing happened.” Rubbing her tense muscles, he caught
her eye. “You can’t live locked up so he can’t get you. We have to
find this bastard and take him out.”

Take. Him. Out. How many times had she
thought of buying a gun, learning to shoot, and just getting it
over with, even if she had to serve time?

They rode in silence until the house was in
sight. “Who the hell is here this time of night?” A big red pickup
sat in the driveway. Garret pulled into the garage and walked Megan
into the kitchen.

Trey stood from the table, and so did a tall
older man with light hair and a big gray mustache.

“Dad?” Garret spoke from behind her.
“Mom.”

Her knees almost gave out. Could she take any
more shocks today?

Their mother sat at the table holding a
coffee mug in two hands. She was gorgeously plump with dark blue
eyes. Her short, blonde hair framed her unwrinkled face. All except
the line above her nose where her brows drew down over her blue
eyes.

When no one spoke, their mother got up and
walked to Megan. “Dearie, we’re so sorry to hear about what’s been
happening.” She gestured to the table. “Come. Sit.” She patted her
arm. “I’ll make you some herbal tea.” She padded toward the sink
and the instant hot water tap.

“Thank you.” She looked at Trey. “It hasn’t
really hit me yet, but...” But what? She should be hiding under a
bed.

Trey stepped around the table and pulled out
a chair. “Megan Shore, this is our mom, Patty, and our dad,
Derrick.”

Derrick nodded. “Pleased to meet you.”
Although his face bore a mix of both Trey and Garret’s features,
his eyes shone a unique, light blue. Megan had almost forgotten
that Trey’s legal name was Derrick McGatlin the Third. And now
she’d met ‘the Second.’

“Sit down, dearie.” Patty pointed to the
chair. “Before you fall down.”

Megan’s knees wobbled as she walked to the
table, but she sat without incident. She glanced at Trey and
watched him exchanging laser stares with Garret.

“Don’t mind them, Megan.” Derrick took his
seat and wrapped his big hand around his beer bottle. “They can
talk without words.” He cocked his head toward his wife. “Used to
drive her crazy.”

“Now all I have is you to keep me completely
nuts.” Patty walked to the table and set a steaming cup in front of
Megan. “Drink.” She sat. “It’ll calm you.”

Megan took the first full breath she’d dared
to inhale since seeing the rose. With her exhale, tears burned
behind her eyes. She blinked to hold them back.

Garret walked up behind her. “I didn’t know
you were coming.”

Derrick shrugged. “We wanted to surprise you.
Inez called and said you were home.” He gave Trey a glare, then
moved it to Garret’s face. “Why would we expect our sons to tell us
that the big Hollywood star was making an appearance—”

“Derrick.” His wife cut him off. “There are
other things more important now.” She looked at Garret. “Your
brother did try to warn you. He called your phone twice and left
messages that the old folks had infested the place.”

Derrick chuckled.

“Mom.” Trey sat. “That’s not anything close
to what I said.” He looked at Garret. “But I did try to warn
you.”

Garret grumped and walked to the fridge.

“You live in Brownsville, now?” Megan tried
to remember what her men had told her in Chicago.

“Near there.” Derrick smiled at her. “And
you’re here all the way from Canada.”

She nodded. Not for long, though. A flash of
panic tore through her. She stared into her mug, feeling that sense
of unreality slide over her.

“Megan.” Patty’s voice had a calming quality
that made Megan want to curl into her arms. “Trey told us what has
been going on with the flowers. We want to help.”

“No.” She looked at the other three at the
table, then behind her at Garret who stood leaning on the counter
holding a beer. “I don’t want to get anyone else involved in this.
I need to go home.”

“No!” Both Trey and Garret said the word but
Derrick was the one who held up a hand as if to stop her. “Don’t
let that bastard scare you away.” His eyes grew steely. “I’m a good
friend of one of the Assistant Directors of the Texas Rangers.
After we talk with the local sheriff in the morning, I’m going to
get him on the line.” He made a fist and pounded the table. “We’re
going to nail this rat’s ass and make sure he never gets out of
prison this time.”

His wife patted his forearm. “Don’t scare the
girl.”

“Sorry, Megan, but men in our family do not
let things like this happen to women.
Any
woman.”

Trey nodded. Garret raised his beer. “Damn
right.” Patty lifted her mug. “If anyone can do it, you boys
can.”

This time, the burn of tears behind her eyes
wasn’t fear, it was the swell of emotion from the kindness these
people showed her. She tipped her head down to hide the tear that
trickled along her cheek.

“We should be going.” Patty stood.

“Going?” Derrick didn’t move. “I think we
should hear the whole story tonight. We can make plans before the
sheriff—”

Trey stood. “She’s been through enough for
one day. We’ll hear it in the morning.”

“You’re not staying here?” Garret set down
his beer and walked toward his mother.

Megan hadn’t considered the sleeping
arrangements. With the parents in the same house, Trey, Garret, and
she would get a lot more sleep than they had the last few
nights.

“When we heard you had a guest in the house,”
Patty shrugged. “We asked Inez to get the old homestead ready for
us.”

Megan wiped away the moisture from her cheek.
“Old homestead?”

Derrick gestured out the window. “It’s nearly
three miles downstream, on the river.” He chuckled. “It sounds
worse than it is. It’s on the site where my grandfather built his
original shack. Now there’s a big guest house designed to meet Ms.
Patty’s expensive specifications.”

Patty sent her husband a look then pulled
Garret into a tight, loving hug only a mother could give. She
planted a big smooch on his cheek. “I love you, sweet boy. We’ll
see you tomorrow.”

“Love you, Mom.”

She repeated the hug and kiss with Trey. He
kissed her cheek. “Love you. I’m glad you’re here.”

Derrick and his sons shared hugs and
backslaps. “Call us when the sheriff gets here.” The parents
trailed out the door and drove off in their sporty red pickup.

Silence fell over the kitchen. Megan sipped
her tea. Garret sat across the table from her, and Trey paced.

She wanted nothing more than to head upstairs
to the bedroom, sandwich herself between her two men, and let the
world slip away for a few hours. It didn’t feel right, though. She
needed to make a plan of action, but first she had to get
everything out in the open. “I want to tell you about it. About
him.”

“Tonight? Wouldn’t you rather rest?” Trey set
his hands on her shoulders. She hadn’t realized how much she’d
needed the contact. Neither of the brothers had touched her while
their parents were in the room. She shook her head to clear it of
that implication, and focus on what was urgent.

She touched Trey’s fingers. “Right now would
be best.”

In the heavy silence and bright light of the
kitchen, Garret held Megan’s hand. She was cold. “Let’s sit in the
living room.” Garret stood. “Do you want more tea?”

She shook her head as he helped her up. “Some
of that fancy Scotch you have next to the hearth might help.”

They sat on the couch facing the fireplace.
Trey switched on the gas flame but turned on the chimney fan so the
heat didn’t overwhelm them.

Megan shivered as the warm air blanketed
them, and her first swallow of Scotch hit her belly. “Where do I
start?”

Trey sat next to her and brushed her hair
back from her face. “Wherever you want, sweetheart.” He laid his
arm across her shoulders.

Garret placed his palm on her thigh,
squeezing to give her strength. What he really wanted to know was
how the fucker found Megan in Texas, and why he waited until she
was out of Canada to go after her.

“The stalker wrote ‘Maggie’ on the note.” She
looked at Garret. “My real name, before I changed it, was Magdalene
Larnfrow.”

Before he could stop it, he let out a
snort.

Trey leaned forward and glared at him.

Garret’s brows rose. “Hey, she thinks Texas
names are challenging.”

Megan smiled. “You can see why I used Maggie
for short.”

“Magdalene. Biblical.” Trey’s fingers made
patterns on her shoulder. His brother could feel Megan’s tension,
too.

“That’s what you get when your parents are
missionaries. I haven’t seen them in years, but we talk on the
phone every few months.” She waved a hand. “They’ve always said I
invited the trouble with the stalker when I left the security of
their home.”

“But you left to go to college.” Garret
rubbed her thigh, wanting to pull her into his arms and kiss away
all her troubles.

“There’s no arguing with them. I received no
support from them while I was being stalked, through the...through
the rest of it, and the trial, nothing.”

What was she skipping over?

“You know we’re here, Megan.” Trey brushed
his lips on her temple. “We’ll support you, protect you, and do
anything we need to do to keep you safe.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at Trey and set her
hand on Garret’s. “They just gave me warnings that I needed to give
up my lifestyle and come back to Alaska.” She shivered again and
her gaze seemed to travel to the cold, dark north.

“Lifestyle?” Garret had no idea what that
meant.

She sighed. “A secular college, I was told,
is a hotbed of evil.”

He flipped his hand over and held hers. “Tell
us everything, Megan. We’re not interested in judging you. We know
none of it was your fault.”

She stared at him for a minute, looking a
little surprised. “Okay, here it is. The stalker’s name is Larry
Heins. He was a senior and I was a sophomore when it started.”
Megan paused. “I haven’t told this story since the trial.”

Garret could kill the asshole for making her
life hell again, after all she’d been put through.

“He was a tutor and I was failing chemistry.
He wanted to get into geology, oil production.” She swirled her
Scotch. “He was nice enough. Had long, brown hair he’d pull into a
ponytail. But there was something about his eyes; the way he’d
watch me too closely.”

“How long before...” Trey waited.

“It was a few months before he started
sending me flowers. Cards. Little gifts. I’d hand them back to him
and tell him I wasn’t interested. I worked two jobs and carried a
full load, even through summers.” She shrugged. “I wanted to finish
school as quickly as possible and go into interior design.”

Garret had a flash of guilt. He’d let his
parents pay for his college, apartment, and expenses, and had
screwed around the whole time.

She stood and walked in front of the
fireplace, staring into the flames. “After a few weeks, it
escalated. He’d call constantly, he scared my dorm mate into moving
out, he threatened anyone who talked to me.” She turned to face
them. “The campus police finally believed me and the dozens of
witnesses, but he disappeared. Somehow he knew they were going to
arrest him.”

“Someone inside the police force?” Trey sat
forward, resting his elbows on his thighs.

“It could have been anyone.” She downed the
drink, set the glass on a side table, and looked out the window.
“Then one night, he came back.” Megan seemed to shrink as she
wrapped her arms around herself.

Trey glanced over at him and Garret braced
himself for what she was about to tell them.

“He was waiting outside the restaurant I
worked at. He held something—a cloth with some chemical on it—over
my face and I passed out.” Her head dropped. “When I came around, I
was in the hospital. One of the chefs had seen him carrying me to
his car, got the license plate numbers, and called it in.” Megan
took a long breath and shivered. “Thank God.”

Garret couldn’t imagine the fear she’d felt,
the helplessness.

“That was it.” She walked back to the
fireplace and stood with her back to it.

Garret had a dozen questions, but he was
mostly concerned that she wasn’t coming near them. This had to be
hard for her to talk about, but why was she distancing herself from
them?

“Until the trial.” She gave them a sad smile.
“But that went as expected and he was put away for eleven years. I
changed my name, enrolled in a new college, changed from design
school to graphic arts.”