Anya tightened her fingers around his as he led her to the porch. He waited for Rafe to make the first move but surprisingly it was Linda who took the lead. Leaving her husband's side, she hurried down the steps to Gus, gave him a brief hug, then turned to Anya.
"I am so happy to meet you," she said in her soft voice. "I just wish it could have been under different circumstance. Welcome to our home."
"Thank you." Anya's voice was equally soft and more subdued. 'I'm sorry we're barging in like this."
Linda smiled, the smile that had once warmed Gus' heart and then ripped it apart. Now it was just…a smile. She linked her arm through Anya's and tugged her away from Gus.
"Come into the house. You must be a wreck. I have coffee and tea so just tell me which one you prefer." She guided Anya up the porch steps and into the house, keeping up her soft chatter. Making Anya feel not so out of place.
Gus and Rafe stood in the parking area looking at each other. Taking their measure. Letting the past wash over them…and hopefully away.
Gus cleared his throat. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you letting us come here."
For a moment Rafe didn't say anything. Then he stepped forward and clasped his brother in a bear hug.
"Welcome home, Gus. It's about damn time."
Gus couldn't say anything. His throat was too clogged with emotion. He just stood there hanging onto his brother.
"I wasn't sure," he began, then stopped. "I didn't know if you…"
Rafe clasped his shoulders. "Family is family, Gus. We've let this thing go on for too long. I guess because you and I are both very stubborn assholes. Too bad it took something like this to break it all down."
"My bad," Gus said roughly. "All on my head."
"It doesn't matter. You're here now and we're going to do whatever we can to help."
"I thought you said Linda was going to her folks' with the kids? And by the way, how many kids do you have? I'm ashamed to say I don't even know."
Rafe laughed. "Let me tell you, that is one stubborn woman, Said she wasn't about to be shuttled off. Besides, she thought it might help having another female here."
Gus' throat tightened up again. "Thanks," was all he could manager. He'd had no right to expect anything from these two people yet they opened their home as if the past had never happened.
"And we've got two—Jared who's eight and Elissa who's six. Hope you get to meet them when this is all over."
"Count on it."
"Why don't you come inside," Rafe said at last. "You can tell me about the trouble dogging your heels. I assume it has something to do with the beautiful woman who's put that She's mine forever look in your eyes."
Anya and Linda were already seated at the kitchen table when the men entered the house. Gus looked quickly at Anya to make sure she was okay, and was relieved to see her in conversation with Linda. The blonde woman looked up as they walked in, smiled at Rafe with a look of great love in her eyes and winked at Gus.
When they all had full mugs of coffee, Gus explained the situation to Rafe and Linda in great detail. He left out nothing, especially the episode at the safe house that had sent them running.
"They won't be able to get at you here," Rafe promised. "But what are you going to do about the scumbag, Virgil Branson? If I know you, you won't be happy just to sit around and wait for someone else to make things happen. Especially if you can't trust your own people."
"The last thing I can afford to do is sit on my hands," Gus said. "As soon as we get our things inside and Anya's settled, I'm going to make some calls. Work my snitches."
"I'll take care of Anya," Linda said. "I've got the big guest room at the top of the stairs ready for you. Bring in whatever you need and go to work. Anya and I can take our coffee out on the back porch." She looked at Anya. "I could sure use some girl time for a change."
Gus stood up and slipped his hands beneath Anya's elbow, guiding her up from the chair. Ignoring the others at the table, he pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
"It'll be okay," he assured her. "We're safe here. You're safe, and that's the most important thing to me." He pulled her tight against him for a moment, pressing her body against his in a quick, hard hug. "Go on with Linda now. I'm going to make some calls."
When the women were settled on the back porch Gus sat down in his chair again and pulled his cell phone from the holster on his belt. Rafe was watching him from across the table with an unreadable expression.
Gus frowned. "What?"
"She's lovely, Gus. And the way you look at her? You never, ever looked at Linda like that."
Gus dipped his head. "Yeah, about that…"
"Nothing to say." Rafe clapped him on the shoulder. "You've got with Anya what Linda and I have. Enough said, okay?"
Gus nodded. "Okay." And just like that, surprisingly, it really was.
Rafe finished his coffee and left to head toward the barn. Gus began to dial numbers from memory, hoping to reach someone who could give him a clue to where Virgil Branson was holed up and who was helping him pull strings. By the time he finished gathering in information from his contacts, the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach had grown to enormous proportions.
He was glad Linda was keeping Anya occupied because he needed to get a grip on himself before sharing any information with her. Even then he'd have to be very careful what he told her. He knew she was barely holding herself together and some of what he'd learned could shatter her fragile self-control.
"You look like you bit into a sour apple," Rafe said, coming into the kitchen through the back door. "Want to talk about it?
Gus nodded. "Yes and no. I'd really like to take Anya and run to someplace where no one can find us. The problem with that is we'd always be running while Branson's still on the loose."
Rafe dropped down into the chair opposite him. "Okay. Let's hear what you've got. Maybe between us we can come up with a plan."
Again Gus felt a wave of emotion sweep over him and a surge of gratitude that his brother and sister-in-law had pushed aside the past and welcomed him the way they did.
"I'm finding out we only scratched the surface of Virgil Branson's operation," he began. "We shut him down in Texas and cut off his ties to Mexico, but apparently he operates out of other cities, too. He's stayed under the FBI radar because someone's been helping him all this time." Someone on the inside." The words left a sour taste in his mouth.
"And is that someone helping to hide him? To get Anya?"
Gus nodded. "That's what my key snitch is telling me. And he's so scared of what could happen to him I had to pry every word out of him. He told me not to call him again, said he could end up buried in a federal prison for good."
"Do you really think it's your boss, like Jimmy said?" Rafe wanted to know.
"It's the most logical answer. He could easily have engineered the prison escape and provided Branson with a hiding place, resources, whatever. And a lead to where Anya is."
"So what now?"
"I'm going to call Jimmy. See what he's found out and see if we can put together some kind of plan, to locate Branson and identify the rogue agent."
"Let us know what we can do, okay?"
"You're doing it," Gus told him. "Just by having us here."
Linda served chili and cornbread for lunch, then Rafe went back outside to work with the cattle, Linda said she was going into the office in the barn to work on the ranch books and Gus took a rattled Anya upstairs to lie down. He'd called Jimmy, who said he'd dig even harder. He thought maybe he could break into Dean Barton's personal files and see what he could find and Gus should call him back later. By then they might be able to put a real plan together.
"I'm so scared," Anya said, burrowing into his arms. "I just want this all to be over."
"Me, too, darlin'." Gus rubbed her back and shoulders. "But if Jimmy can dig up the information on Barton we need, it will be."
"And if he can't?"