I do not own Janet's characters nor do I profit from them.

Chapter 9

The smell of porky goodness dragged me from my sleep, my mouth watered, waiting to taste Momma's bacon. Turning my head I found Evan wrapped around me, holding me in place. I gently pried his arms from my middle and made my way to the bathroom to take care of my morning needs. Sneaking back into the room, I saw Evan sitting up in bed watching cartoons. "I should have known. Cartoons!" I giggled and slid back into bed next to him. "I want to watch cartoons, but I'm going to retrieve breakfast for us first." I hopped up and shot out of the door.

Down in the kitchen, I found Momma had just pulled a fresh batch of blueberry muffins out of the oven. "Morning Momma." I sing-songed.

"My, we're in a good mood this morning. I just made muffins, Darlin'."

"Smells wonderful. Can I take a tray upstairs, Evan and I are watching cartoons."

She chuckled and shook her head, "Just like when the boys were little. Saturday mornings, they ate breakfast in front of the TV watching their cartoons. I'll put a tray together for you." She quickly had a full tray for me and I kissed her cheek.

"Thanks, Momma. I'll bring the dishes back down after we get dressed."

"No worries Darlin'." She guided me back to the stairs. "I'll get them later, just enjoy yourselves." She smiled and kissed my temple.

I balanced the tray with my hands and climbed the stairs. Pushing the door open with my foot I found Evan laying on his stomach totally engrossed in the tv. "Evan?" No answer. "EVAN!" He glanced up after a second, realized I was standing there with a heavy tray, and jumped up to take it from me. "Into the cartoon I see."

"Sorry. It was getting interesting." He sat me down on the bed, with my back against the headboard. He handed me the tray and climbed in next to me. We watched tv for the next two hours, eating our breakfast of muffins, bacon, fruit salad, scrambled eggs, oj and milk. While the latest cartoon was in commercial, I asked him, 'What were your favorite cartoons growing up?"

"First, GI Joe. Second, Transformers. Third, Thunder Cats." He said whistfull, reveling in the nostalgia.

I giggled, "I loved GI Joe. Ship Wreck was my favorite of them all. I also liked watching Thunder Cats, Snarf was my favorite Thundercat." I chuckled at the long forgotten memories. I stood up and made my way to the bathroom, "I'm going to take a shower and get dressed. I want to go out to the horse barn and see Comfort."

"He'll be happy to see you Angel." Evan replied as I turned the shower on and jumped in.

Thirty minutes later both Evan and I walked hand in hand out to the horse barn. Walking through, we found Comfort's stall empty. We searched the nearest pasture and found him grazing in the warm October sun. He noticed motion coming from our direction and raised his head. As soon as he saw me he bolted straight for us, only slowing when he was nearly on top of us. He came forward and nuzzled his head into me, giving an audible sigh. I reached up and scratched his forelock, "Hey Buddy. Long time no see. I missed you." He gave me a whinny and bumped my arm with his head. I pulled out a peppermint candy, unwrapped it and fed it to him.

"Looks like he wanted your peppermint stash." Evan laughed, bumping my shoulder with his.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon out in the barn and pasture, only returning to the house to grab a quick bite to eat. We mucked Comfort's stall after I washed and combed him. I stood back admiring his sleek black coat, running my hand over it enjoying the feeling of the slick hair gliding under my palm. We secured him back into his stall and walked back to the house. Working for so long had made me tired, and I snuggled into the couch in our room to take a quick catnap.

I found Evan and Junior an hour later working in the big barn with Pop moving old equipment out to the far pasture. "Junior, I need the old combine taken out, put her next to the old tractor. I hope she'll start, it's been about two years since I ran her." Junior jumped up into the cab of the combine and turned the key, lucky for him she started and he put her in gear. I walked to Evan's side as Junior drove past us with a few feet to spare. Passing through the enormous doors, he put it into high gear and hauled ass out to the far pasture.

I looked around and realized there was a lot of work yet to be done. "Well, Pop. What can I do?" I asked, hoping he could use me.

"Honey, can I have you box up all the old halters, reins and leads. I'll have one of the boys move it for you after you're done. After that we'll get you to move Momma's gardening stuff." I saluted him and walked away hearing him laugh under his breath. I spent the next hour and a half boxing the halters, and moving Momma's gardening tools. After I had finished, I stood back, placed my hands behind my back and leaned back to stretch. "Hey, Pop. I'm done. I moved Momma's things into the next barn over, just inside the door to the left."

"Good spot for them, Honey. We'll get to work on some more tomorrow. It's time to check the livestock and head in for dinner." He walked out of the big barn and towards the livestock barn. A shout a minute later brought Evan, Junior and I running. "Ev, Junior! Get a stretch of rope and call your Momma. Gerdy went into labor and her calf is breech!"

I watched as Junior ran towards the house as Evan ran and retrieved a length of rope like Pop asked. He handed it to him and I watched as they both entered the stall holding a milk cow clearly in distress. She was breathing heavily and looked uncomfortable, shifting her position every few seconds or so. As she turned I noticed two hoofed feet sticking out from her backside. Pop ran his hand over her head and back until he reached her rear. He gently tied the rope around the feet and placed himself behind her on the ground. He placed his feet on either side of her rear and waited for her next contraction. When I could visibly see her strain, Pop leaned back and pulled on the rope. Evan walked around behind his father and tapped his shoulder, Pop relented and gave his spot to him. I watched as Evan did the same as his father, waiting on a contraction before he tugged on the rope.

Momma ran in just as Evan tugged for the last time, pulling the breech calf out in one swift motion. He scrambled to his feet, untied the rope and backed away from the calf. Gerdy turned around and gave the calf a good once over, then began licking the calf. In a few moments it began to stir, we collectively let out our held breaths and watched as the calf moved it's head and bawled. I cried with happiness, hugging Momma, who was crying as well. "Good job, Gerdy! She's a cutie!"

Evan shook his head, "What about us?" He chuckled.

"You all did a fine job, too." She smiled, "Bringing us another calf into this world is something to celebrate. Let's head to Rita's for supper. I burned the roast anyway."

Pop's head nodded in agreement, "Nothin' worse than a burned roast."

We walked into Rita's and found a table far in the back. Rita came out and found us chatting away. "Steph! Mack! You're back. Guess you're getting ready for the wedding, huh?"

"Hey, Rita. Yeah. Just trying to relax a little before the madness begins." Evan laughed. "Hey can we get burgers and fries all around?"

"Sure thing. Beer for everyone?" Rita asked.

"I'll have a water." Rita stopped and looked at me like I had grown two heads.

"You sure, Honey?" She eyed me suspiciously.

"Yeah, I just don't feel like having a beer tonight."

She nodded, "Alright, four beers and a water. Be right back." She sauntered away and parted the swinging doors to the kitchen as she passed through.

"I wonder how long before Deeter and Sissy show up?" I said, watching the door. Sure enough a minute later I watched Sissy peek her head in and make a bee line for us. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight. "Sissy! I was going to call you tomorrow. I didn't expect to be here so soon, but Evan surprised me."

"Steph. Honey, I'm glad you're here." She smiled, and tugged at my hand. "Can I borrow you outside for a moment?" I got up and followed her out the door and over to her truck. "I have some news for you, and you might have a problem with it."

"What's that?"

"I just found out from a cousin of mine that works as a guard at the jail, that word going around is someone has put a hit out on you." She whispered the last portion.

"Do they know who?" I crossed my arms, brows furrowed, deep in thought. "I can only think of one person here who would want to hurt me. Brittany. Why would she do such a thing? How stupid does she think I am? I can handle myself."

"Honey, we all know it's her. But no one will say it was her that ordered it. The Sheriff is pissed and put her into temporary isolation, but still allows her visitors."

"Well, I guess, we'll just have to be careful. There's not much more I can do than that."

"Please, be careful." She begged me.

"I have to be. Let's go in and sit." I suggested, then walked through the front doors to find Deeter sitting at the table. "I knew it wasn't going to be long before we saw you too." I giggled and hugged him.

"Steph, how you been?"

"Okay, I guess. We made partners at Rangeman."

"Wow, congratulations."

Sissy smiled and bumped my shoulder with hers. "So you get any say in where those hot guys go?"

I smiled wickedly, "Oh, you bet." We broke into wild laughter, tears streaming down our cheeks.

Momma chuckled at us, "It's nice to hear two young women laughing, especially with a house full of men."

"Momma, we're going to inundated in testosterone by the begining of next week. Lester will be here on Friday, Ranger and the guys will be here on Tuesday and on Wednesday my family and the girls come. We're going to have a full house."

"Thank goodness we had those extra bunk houses, or we'd never have enough space."

"I know that Ranger and the guys are bringing a couple of Army issue canvas tents for the guys to sleep in. Originally we were only going to have 10 guys but since things have gotten kinda hairy at home, 15 are coming and possibly more."

Sissy and Deeter paled at the mention of problems in Trenton. "Honey, what do you mean by 'things have gotten kinda hairy at home'?"

"Deeter, man. Thing went south after we got home. Steph had a run in with her ex, and let's just say things did not end well for him." Evan stated, his lips a thin line across his handsome face. "And now Angel's got another stalker."

"Another?" Sissy whispered. "Dang, Steph, you sure do collect them don't you?"

"You have no idea." I turned to Evan and touched his arm. "Baby. I think you should know, Sissy told me there might be a problems regarding Brittany." He stiffened at the mention of her name.

"What problems?" He gave me a 'don't bullshit me' look.

"Um... word on the cell block is, she put out a hit on me." I winced waiting for his reaction.

"SON OF A BITCH!" He roared, his fists slammed down onto the table making us all jump. "Who's Sheriff now? Is it still Buster?"

Pop answered, "Yup. Re-elected again, and still living in Broadus. You gonna go see him tomorrow?" Pop watched the storm rage in Evan's eyes. "Son, I'll go with you. Buster owes me a favor, I might have to call it in."

"Yes, Sir."

"Baby?"

"Yes, Angel?" Evan softened his voice when he answered me. "You want to go too don't you?"

"Yes. I'm the one in danger and I'm the one who should be there to talk to the Sheriff." My eyes narrowed, glaring at him while I crossed my arms for good measure.

"Fine. But at the first sign of trouble, we're out of there and back here. YYou understand me?" He was being a hardass but I knew it was to keep me and Peanut safe.

We ate our burger and fries chatting with Deeter and Sissy before we headed back to the ranch. I fell asleep on Momma's shoulder, her arm wrapped around me. I felt so safe and loved being a part of this family, deep down I felt as if it had been destiny that I become part of it.

Sheriff Buster West was a tall lanky man, a think head of dark brown hair complimented his almost black eyes. Nearing the age of sixty, he didn't look a day over 45. "Mack you're sure you still want to go through with the wedding?"

"Positive. We don't want to wait any longer. Besides we'll be on the ranch, where we can control who has access." Evan explained.

"I want you to excuse me for a moment while I make a quick phone call." He rose from his chair and made his way out to the front of the office.

I turned to Evan, "Baby, I think he's calling Ranger." I had noticed he had pocketed Evan's business card, and was pulling it out of his pocket as he exited the room.

"I think so too. Ranger'll explain your situation better than we did, plus he'll explain about our security team." I noticed that Pop had remained quiet through the entire meeting thus far, and he patted my hand in reassurance.

"Honey, we'll get this sorted out. Between Ranger and Buster, you'll be safe." Just then Sheriff Buster walked back into his office and sat at his desk.

"I just talked with your business partner, Mr. Manoso, and he has explained the security situation to me. I find it completely acceptable, but I would still like to station a deputy at the ranch for the wedding." He held up a hand to stop me as I opened my mouth to protest. "I know I don't usually discuss official matter with people other than my staff, but I think in your position, I think I can make an exception."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat before he continued. ". I know there has been an order issued for a hit on you. I can not confirm nor deny it officially, but we all know who ordered it. The real question is who will try to make good on the threat?"

"Has she had many visitors?" I asked.

"Around twenty different men." He laughed in disgust, "All of them sure you are framing her." He pointed at me.

"Fat chance, Sheriff." I laughed and shook my head.

"I want you to know there is a lot more at stake in this situation now. Stephanie is pregnant." Evan's hand rested on top of my shoulder, I looked up into his eyes with a smile on my lips.

"Congratulations. You think she's met with her accomplice? I guess maybe I should look into monitored visitation for her from now on."

"I think it's great idea, maybe we can catch an accomplice in the process. But what about the deputy? Will he just be patrolling around the property or will he have an active part in the whole security situation?"

"Well, you can ask him yourself." Deputy Bear Smoltz walked in and shook Evan and Pop's hands before giving mine a polite shake as well.

"Mack, Steph, Pop. Good to see you."

"Will you be taking an active role in the security, Bear?" I asked as he settled himself against the wall to our right.

"I'd like to."

"Good. I think Ranger would prefer it that way, but I do have to let you know he's kinda anal about giving orders."

"Deputy Smoltz has been ordered to follow Mr. Manoso's orders." The Sheriff reassured me, as we rose to leave, "I will contact again later today."

Leaving the Sheriff's office, I asked Evan, "Do you think we'll be okay?"

"I hope so Angel."

Pop wrapped his arm over my shoulder and walked me to the truck. "Pop. How do you feel about this whole thing?"

"Somethin's not sittin' quite right with me. I know something fishy is going on and I just can't put my finger on it." He helped my climb into Evan's massive truck, before he slid into the seat next to me. Evan drove down the street before he pulled into an empty parking lot.

"Angel. I set up a meeting with the caterer, Carol Jensen. She's got a tasting set up for us. You're welcome to tag along Pop, she said there was plenty to eat."

Pop brightened, "Food? Well, why not." We piled out and walked to a nice unassuming storefront. We walked into a small office located in the front of an old house converted into a business. Evan rang the bell on the counter and a familiar face greeted us.

"Mack! Pop! Steph! So good to finally see you again." She came around the counter and greeted us with warm handshakes. "Let's head on back and get this started." She led us back into the rear of the building, to a medium sized room with a table and chairs set for four. We sat and she poured glasses of water, setting them in front of us.

"I have the three main courses and two vegi's to try today. Bar-b-que'd garlic marinated tri tip, lemon tarragon chicken cutlets, herb crusted pork roullade, roasted winter vegetables, and roasted rosemary red potatoes. They're my favorite and, I think you will enjoy them." She pushed a button on the wall and returned to her seat.

A moment later a man bearing a striking resemblance to Carol strolled into the room carrying four plates on a tray. "Mack!"

"Ben!" Evan stood and shook his hand, 'Haven't seen you in years, man."

"I know." He turned to look at me. I noticed he forced a smile as he shook my hand politely, "You must be Stephanie. So nice to meet you. I'm Ben Jensen, my mother has told me wonderful things about you."

So this was the Ben both Carol and Evan had mentioned at the teleconference. "Thank you. It's nice to meet you too."

"Well, enjoy. I have to get back to the kitchens. I have baking I have to do. Nice to see you again, Mack."

"Good to see you again, Ben."

He walked out leaving us with the food, Carol explained, "Ben will be helping me at the wedding. He usually is in charge of the servers, and final plating. Any how, please dig in and let me know what you think." I grabbed my fork and dug in. At my first bite I was moaning in delight, much to the delight of Carol. "My, it's nice to know you appreciate good food, Steph."

I blushed, "Sorry. I can't help it. I do it at home all the time and the guys all hate it." I tried to explain.

"It's not we hate it Angel. We just feel a little uncomfortable sometimes." He chuckled as he popped another bite of tri tip into his mouth. "Carol, we can't thank you enough for taking us on so close to the wedding."

"It's nothing Dear. As soon as Ben saw the e-mail from you both, he told me we had to take you as clients. He didn't want you going without food at your wedding, he felt like he owed you after you helped him with his stance at the finals."

"He had everything under control, he just got nervous. All I did was talk to him. But all the same I'm glad you chose to do this. Your food is excellent!"

"She could give Ella a run for her money that's for sure." I joked, Evan laughed and nodded his head, Carol looked at us unsure if it was a compliment or insult.

"Our company housekeeper. She cooks meals for the men on duty as well as keep house for 40 men." I giggled.

"40 men? Good lord this woman must be a saint!" Carole exclaimed.

"She must be to put up with all the men we work with." I smiled and finished my plate.

We shook Carols hands as we left, fully satisfied in our choice for caterer. "We will see you a week from Friday night for the set up, say around 6?" Evan suggested.

"Great. See you then." She smiled and waved through the window as we walked to the truck.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the flowers tucked under the windshield wipers. I ran over to the bushes and lost my lunch, Pop patted my back soothing me. The bunch of red roses were wrapped in a bloody towel, a card was tucked into the knot. Evan used Pop's handkerchief to tug the card from it's position and read it out loud.

"You can run, but you can't hide. Bang bang she's dead!" He grimaced and pursed his lips tightly. "Pop, can you get her back into Carol's. I gotta call this in." Pop walked me back into Carol's office and sat me down in a chair.

Carol walked back out of the office and Pop told her about what had just happened. "Oh, dear! Steph let me get you a glass of water, you're pale." She returned and I drank some of the cool liquid, making me feel much better.

Evan walked into the office and knelt down to my side. "Angel. Are you okay?" He kissed my temple gently. "Smoltz will be here in a minute or so. They're bringing their CSI kits too."

"Mack. Who would do such a thing?" Carol asked as she comforted me. "She's such a sweet thing. Who would want to hurt her?"

"I don't know Ma'am?" I could tell by the way Evan answered Carol he had assumed his identity as Ram, Rangeman bad ass. "I called Ranger. He's sending Lester tonight. We're going to pick him up in Billings at 1900."

"Okay. I hope he remembers the suitcases." I replied, trying to lighten the somber mood.

Smoltz pulled up next to Evan's truck and surveyed the scene. Evan walked out to meet him and take care of the evidence. An hour later we mounted up into the truck and drove back to the ranch. Evan and Pop had spent nearly the whole time Smotlz was processing the evidence, going over the truck with a fine tooth comb, making sure no devices had been planted. They didn't want to risk a bomb or tracker being attached to the truck. After the all clear, we headed out. Pop called Momma on my cell phone and updated her on the events from earlier.

We pulled up into the driveway and got out to find Momma and Junior waiting on us. Momma wrapped her arms around me, "Darlin' you just can't seem to shake these losers can you? That's alright, we'll get you a nap and things will be better when you get up." She led me upstairs and to bed. I have to admit, taking a nap sounded like a good idea. I could live in denial land for a while, as I slept.

Nestled under the covers, Evan came up to check on me. He tucked a stray curl behind my ear, "Angel. I love you." He brushed his warm soft lips across mine, garnering a low moan in response. "Tonight. I promise." He knew my body had responded to his touch, and knew when I was aroused. Pouting, my lower lips stuck out slightly. He captured it between his teeth and sucked lightly, sending shiver down my spine, as warmth began to spread from my chest outward. "Tonight, I promise Angel." He got up and strode out of the room, leaving me frustrated and horny. I fell asleep a little later dreaming of making love to Evan.

A/N: Please R&R