New Beginnings

Tommy stepped from the brush, his finger wrapped tightly around the cold metal of the trigger of his .45.

One minute, he had caught sight of Jude being dangled over the well. The next, she had disappeared. Now it was pure ice water that coursed through his veins.

"Drop the pistol, Jamie. Drop it now."

"I'm not dropping anything." Jamie leaned over the well and pointed the gun straight into it. "You shoot me, and I'll shoot Jude. Fair trade, cowboy?"

"Are you all right, Jude?" He waited for her answer.

"Kill him, Tommy. If you don't, he'll kill the both of us. He has the video now, the one he was after."

Tommy itched to pull the trigger, but if he did, Jamie would fire into the well. Jude was a sitting duck. If he didn't shoot Jamie, then the man would do just as Jude said. He'd kill them both.

His only chance was to distract Jamie, and fast. "Is that what you were looking for, Jamie, the video?"

Jamie kept his gaze on Tommy, his gun still pointing into the well. "It's my starring role, compliments of my mentor."

"I'm sure the FBI will be real interested in that. The big boys are coming for you, Jamie."

"They don't know anything about me."

"They know everything about you. All they need is the video and they'll lock you away for so long you'll forget the sun is hot."

"But they're never going to get that video."

Tommy took a step toward the well. The video lay only a few inches from the edge. And just beyond it, he could see Jude's fingers, still clutching the rim of the well. Her knuckles were white. She couldn't hold on much longer. He had to act now.

He touched the toe of his right boot to the video. "I'll tell you what. I called my brothers when I couldn't find Jude. They're on their way over in the helicopter. They should be here any second, so I'll just kick this into the well for safekeeping."

"Get your foot off that video. I'm warning you, Tommy."

But Tommy was playing the only card he had. "Now that I think about it, they probably won't lock you away for all that long, Jamie. A multiple killer like yourself will probably get the death penalty."

"Don't mess with that video." Sweat beaded on jamie's brow and rolled down his face.

"You see what it feels like when you're looking death in the eye. It's not as much fun from that end, is it?"

Tommy kicked the video but not toward the well as he'd threatened. He sent it flying through the air in the opposite direction.

Jamie took the bait. He fired repeatedly, and the video case exploded in a rain of shattered plastic and slivers of tape. Tommy fired, as well, hitting his target dead on. The pistol flew from Jamie's grasp. Yelling profanities Jamie grabbed his bullet-torn hand and took off into the brush like a scared rabbit.

Tommy rushed to the well. He grabbed Jude's hands and pulled her up. Out of the well and into his arms. She fell against him, talking a mile a minute, but he couldn't hear a word she said over the deafening roar of the helicopter that circled over their heads.

So he just shut her up the best way he knew how, with his mouth on hers.

Jude stood at the front door of the cabin, tired but happy as she waved goodbye to Tommy, Mary, Kwest and baby Betsy. She'd thrown a party to celebrate the return of her memory and her life. The entire Quincy family had come and bragged endlessly about her Cajun feast–gumbo, jambalaya and even crawfish etouffee.

It would have been the perfect time for a marriage proposal. She'd even worn the red dress Tommy liked so much, only tonight he'd seemed to have no trouble keeping his hands off her.

She walked back inside the cabin, remembering what it had looked like when she'd stepped inside it for the first time. Then she'd shuddered in horror. Now she hated the thought of leaving.

But tomorrow morning, she'd be meeting with Liam. Just as Tommy had thought, Darius had sold some of the steers. But Liam insisted that Darius hadn't pocketed the money. Darius was brining a check tomorrow for the full amount received at auction. And he still wanted to purchase the ranch.

She hadn't given him an answer. The screen door squeaked open behind her. She spun around as Tommy stepped inside.

"I thought you'd gone home with the others."

"I wanted to make sure you didn't need any more cleanup help."

"It's almost done. I just have a couple of pans left to wash."

Tommy stepped to the kitchen door. "It looks like more than a couple to me. Tell you what. I'll wash and you dry." Not waiting for an answer, he picked up a pot and buried it under the suds. "The party was a success," he said, applying a generous helping of elbow grease. "You wowed everyone with your Cajun cooking."

"Did I wow you?"

"Yeah, but I'm easy."

"That's not what Jamie thinks."

"No, but he's talking now, blabbing everything and hoping for leniency. He admitted he found a letter that you'd written to Stewart. You'd included your travel plans and suggested that your father keep the video until you got here rather than mailing it as he'd suggested."

"Then why did Jamie think I would have it with me in New Orleans?"

"Because he searched the cabin after he killed your father. It wasn't there. He thought your letter might have arrived after he'd mailed the video. And, if all else failed, Jamie had your address in Paris."

"Paris." She stopped drying. "It seems a world away from Kelman, Texas, but it explains why no one reported me as missing. I'd been living there for two years. But my roommate was starting to get worried that I hadn't called. We talked for an hour today. I hate to see my phone bill."

"At least now you have money to pay it. Not only do you have access to your own funds since you have your identity back, but the ranch is officially yours to sell."

"But I still don't understand why the hotel I was staying in hadn't noticed that I didn't check out."

"But you did. Jamie used the hotel key from your purse to go into your room and check you out by video."

Tommy finished rinsing the last pot and set it in the drainer. "The man's a professional. That's why we didn't find his prints in the house or any of his hairs on the clothes he'd tied around the dummy. It's also why he knew to make up a name and identity for himself that couldn't be checked. Your father trained him well."

Jude stretched and rubbed the muscles in the back of her neck. "I guess if you've lived life outside the law like Stewart did, it isn't all that surprising that you'd surround yourself with the same kind of people."

Jude touched her fingers to the silver charm at her neck. "But even Stewart had a soft spot in his heart for my mother."

"It would have been far better for you if he hadn't. His soft spot almost got you killed."

"Ironic, since I came here hoping to find a long-lost father and to get my life back."

Tommy dried his hands and stepped away from the sink. "You were half-successful. The amnesia's lifted. You remember growing up in a small southern Louisiana town with a mother who loved you. And even though she's dead, you have wonderful memories of her."

"A much nicer heritage than being raised by someone like Stewart. That would have been a bitter pill to swallow."

He leaned against the counter, finally letting his gaze meet hers. "You've been through a lot, but you'll be able to put the bad behind you when you return to Paris. You're that kind of woman."

"It's not the bad that's troubling me." She took off her apron and laid it across the back of one of the kitchen chairs. "Let's sit on the porch, Tommy."

"It's late and it's turned cool."

"Not too cool for me," she teased. "I've got my Cajun heritage, remember? We're pretty hot-blooded."

"That's not something I'll likely forget."

He grabbed his Stetson and followed her out the door, but he didn't take the seat beside her in the swing. Instead, he settled on the top step. Close enough to talk. Far enough away their shoulders or thighs wouldn't accidentally brush against each other.

He'd been acting that way since she told him that she'd talked to her old boss in Paris and that he'd offered a promotion and a raise when she returned to the consulting firm where she was employed. It seemed as if Tommy was resigned to her leaving. But she'd seen his face when he pulled her from the well, and she knew love when she saw it.

"Kwest was cute with Betsy tonight," she said, baiting Tommy with talk of babies and family. "He's really getting into the role of daddy."

"I'll say. The way he struts around, you'd think he was the only man to ever get a woman pregnant. And I'm sure you've noticed that my mom misses no opportunity to point out that she knew Betsy was a Quincy all along."

"Come sit by me, Tommy." She reached out her hand and beckoned him over. "I'm tired of talking about everyone else. Let's talk about us."

He fingered the brim of his hat, a sure sign she was making him nervous, but he stood and walked over to the swing. She tugged him down beside her.

"I've been thinking about ranching."

"You're meeting with Liam tomorrow to discuss his buying the ranch."

"I'm meeting with him, but I've still been thinking about ranching."

"You're a consultant, not a rancher."

She snaked her arm around his shoulders and nibbled on his earlobe. "If I had the right teacher, I could probably learn to be a rancher."

"It might be hard to find a good teacher in Paris."

"I know, but I heard somewhere that if there was anything Tommy Quincy didn't know about cows, it probably hasn't been discovered yet."

"You can't believe everything you hear."

"Kiss me, Tommy. If you don't want to teach me about cows, then maybe I can teach you a thing or two."

He hesitated. She didn't. She climbed onto his lap and locked her lips with his. The kiss was long and sweet and so rife with passion she was trembling when she came up for air.

"I love you, Tommy."

"Why are you doing this, Jude? Is this some kind of French torture routine I haven't heard of? Leave the man in misery and go flying back to your glamorous life in Paris?"

"The proper response is, I love you too, Jude."

He swallowed hard. "I do, you know. I love you more than I ever dreamed I'd love a woman. But I belong to the ranch as much as it belongs to me. I could never fit in anywhere else."

"I don't have to live in Paris."

He shook his head. "Even if you were willing to stay here with me, I love you way too much to saddle you with a life on the ranch. The novelty would wear off, and you'd miss the excitement of big-city life. You said yourself that you loved it in Paris."

"I did. And now I love it here."

"But you wouldn't be happy here forever, and I couldn't bear to take you for my wife and then have to give you up." He trailed a finger down her cheek and looked into her eyes. "I have nothing to offer you, Jude, except life on a dusty ranch."

"There are picnics at Branson Creek." She unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt and tangled her fingers in his hair. "There are long, slow kisses and waking up in the morning in your arms. There's you, Tommy."

"It would never be enough."

"This isn't the way I planned it, but it looks like it'll have to be the way it is." She dropped to her knees in front of the swing and took his hands in hers. "Marry me, cowboy. I'll even throw in a dowry of a small ranch if you'll say yes quickly."

"Oh, Jude. You're making this so hard. Not that it wasn't already."

"Believe me, this is much harder on me. My knees are too scratched up to stay on them much longer."

He stood and lifted her in his arms. "You're crazy, do you know that?"

"I've heard rumors."

He kissed her so thoroughly she doubted she could stand alone. Fortunately, she didn't have to. He carried her back inside.

"There's no mattress," he whispered, "but there's a quilt in the bedroom."

"Should I take that as a yes?"

"Are there cows in Texas?"

It took her about two seconds to forget Paris. South Texas with Tommy Quincy was as good as it got.

The End

A/N- Thank You everyone who has read my story and stuck with me. And thanks to a lot of the new readers as well. Though it took me forever to get it all done. Hope you enjoyed it.

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