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Someone peeled him off Taggert who was writhing on the ground, blood gurgling from his lips.
“You’re hurt!” Claire cried, staring at his shirt and the bloody stain on it.
“It’s Taggert’s.” Styles still had his weapon trained on Taggert.
“Who the hell are you?” Kane demanded.
“FBI. Undercover. Taggert was into a lot of illegal shit.”
“Where’s Sean?” Claire asked, and for the first time Styles smiled. “With his grandfather. I don’t think Dutch is going to make a run for governor after all.”
“We need life flight!” the EMT who was working on Taggert said and Styles nodded, walked to the van and barked orders into a walkie-talkie.
Kane held Claire close. It was over. Taggert, if he lived would be in custody. Claire was safe. Sean was safe. He’d finally come home. He kissed Claire’s tear-stained face and sighed. “Come on, Princess,” he said. “Let’s go get our boy.”
Epilogue
“So Denver Styles was with the FBI?” Claire asked. She and her sisters were seated around the outdoor table two weeks after Weston Taggert had been captured. It was near twilight. Sean was shooting baskets and Samantha was upstairs listening to the radio, some of the strains of music filtering through the thick branches of the fir trees surrounding the patio.
“Styles was deep undercover, so deep that no one here in Chinook, not even the police knew it,” Miranda said, and her irritation was visible as she twirled the stem of her wineglass between her fingers.
“You thought he should confide in you, is that it?” Tessa said, as she lit a cigarette and placed one bare foot on an empty chair. “When you were a part of the investigation.”
“It would have been nice.”
“Oh come on, Randa, it would have compromised the entire sting or operation or whatever it’s called.”
“She’s right,” Claire added and smiled. “Admit it, the real reason you’re ticked off is that you started to fall for him.”
“If that’s what you want to think,” she said and sipped from her glass.
“That’s the way it is.”
“He called here looking for you,” Tessa added.
“I heard.”
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“Did you call him back?”
One side of Miranda’s mouth lifted a bit. “I’m considering it.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, go for it. So you were embarrassed, so what? He was just doing his job and he does have a nice ass.”
“Tessa!” Miranda said, as if shocked.
“Yeah, like you haven’t noticed.”
Claire giggled. “Shh. My daughter might hear you.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Tessa said. “Like that’s the biggest one of your problems.”
“Okay, okay, you’re right.” Claire did have more than her share of situations that needed her attention. Even though Kane had helped save his mother, Sean wasn’t certain he trusted the man who was his father. He was still stung from dealing with Paul and wasn’t eager to let another man, regardless of being blood related, into his life. Recently he’d voiced his opinions about Claire remarrying.
“Are you nuts, Mom?” he’d asked while trying to perfect a skateboard jump over a retaining wall near the lake. “You just got out of one bad marriage and now you’re jumping back in. Can’t you give it some time? Isn’t that what you always tell me to do?”
She’d argued of course, even told Sean that Kane had been her first true love. Her son had indelicately thrown Harley into her face and the implication, though unstated, was that she was fickle. She’d decided he had a point. Then Sean had pushed the issue. “And I don’t like the way he calls you ‘princess.’”
