“It’s that Lusty takes care of her own.” Grandpa Noah nodded as he said that, and Ian did not miss the look of pride he wore.
“She does indeed,” Grandma Kate said.
That was a sentiment that Ian had heard expressed a few times in his life. He’d just never imagined—even knowing the plan was to come here, to sink down roots here—that the sentiment would ever apply to him and Ken, and to their woman.
Kate Benedict sat forward. “What’s the plan, going forward, Mel?”
“We’ll be doing some knocking on doors, seeing if anyone saw anything. We’ll talk to all the employees and have a word with Bob Travis. Maybe they saw someone or had someone in the store in the last few days that raised some hackles.” Mel Richardson looked to his associates.
“People see things they don’t know they’ve seen, until you ask them.” April Bixby-Jessop grinned. “They see what someone wants them to see, almost ninety-nine percent of the time. But once you ask them, well, the memory often clears.”
“I downloaded the video feed from the security company’s file and will spend the next few hours reviewing it,” Connor Talbot said. “If our unsub didn’t know enough to understand the two of you would not profit from a fire, then he likely didn’t know about the security cameras, either. We probably lost a couple of those, but we had the building under complete surveillance, inside and out. Something should show up.”
“Unsub?” Alice asked.
“Unidentified suspect,” Grandpa Noah said.
“You know I haven’t been to Waco in a while.” Grandma Kate looked around the table. “I think I’ll go see if Tony Corbett is available for lunch.”
Ian didn’t recognize that name, and neither did his cousin, his woman, or his grandfather.
“He’s Lieutenant Anthony Corbett,” Caleb Benedict said. “He’s in the running to be the next chief of police, as the current one has announced his retirement.”
“He’s also a good friend of the family,” Jake said. “Good thinking, Grandma.”
“I’m so glad you agree, Jake dear. I would appreciate your company on the trek to Waco.”
Jake smiled. “Of course.”
“We’ve called a meeting with the employees for ten-thirty tomorrow morning, at that coffee shop a couple of blocks from the store.” Ian looked over at the detectives. “I suggest at least one of you comes with me. We’ll be giving the staff a month off with pay, and some of them will likely take advantage of the opportunity and go on vacation. This might be your best chance to talk to them.”
“While Ian is doing that, Alice and I will be diving into our records to see if anything pops for us. It occurs to me that for someone to target us, they should at least appear in our records. If they have that big of a grudge, then we probably have, in one fashion or another, crossed paths with them in the past.”
“Research!” Alice rubbed her hands together in glee.
Ian couldn’t hold back his own smile. If our ultimate goal is to please Alice, we’re doing one hell of a job, so far.
“Whatever we learn, we should, of course, turn that information over to Sergeant Portman—in due course.” Kate Benedict’s grin was pure mischief.
“Yes, ma’am. Definitely in due course.” Adam Kendall nodded to the assembled family. “We’ll report back here tomorrow afternoon. We should know something by then.”
“Good. As soon as you come up with some strings to pull, we’ll see if we can tap some of our many sources,” Preston Kendall said. “We have quite a network of connections to the business and legal communities, in Texas and beyond.”
“All of us working together.” Aunt Samantha sent the three of them a soft smile. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. And we will prevail.”
Ian was bolstered not only by the family’s unquestioned support but by the sense that this exercise was something they’d all done and succeeded at in the past.
Until that moment, he hadn’t understood what having a good, solid, united family at his back could mean—or how it would feel. Ian made a determination right then and there that family at his back was something he’d never be without again.
Chapter Twelve
Alice felt her men actually trembling as they held her hands and led her into the house. They paused barely long enough for Ken to enter the security code, and then they walked her, very fast, to the bedroom.
The slam of the door still echoed when she found herself in Ian’s arms, with Ken bracing her back, his hands bracketing her hips.
She opened her mouth to ask a question but never had a chance to utter a single word. Instead, a moan of pleasure seeped from her soul. Ian’s mouth covered hers, his tongue suave in its seduction. He drank her down, and for a wild moment, she hoped he would take all of her into all of him.
He lifted his head, and his hot gaze seared her. Then, with his cousin, he turned her so she faced Ken. That lover’s gaze gleamed hot as he lowered his head. She stretched up to help, to ensure that he could drink from her, too.
“Thank you for helping me stay calm.” Ken’s words, whispered against her lips as he left them, stroked her feminine ego.
“You helped me too, so right back at you.” Her men were pressed close to her, and the outline of their erect cocks, front and back, hardened her nipples and dampened her panties.
“Do you know how much you mean to us, already?” Vibrating with passion, Ian’s words caressed her inner woman.
“Tell me.” Alice had always been a woman who’d needed the words. She understood in that moment that finally, finally, she’d receive from these men all the words she’d ever need.
Ian’s expression filled with such love that Alice began to tremble herself. “Your faith in us, your willingness to take on the devil for us…God, woman, how could we not love you?”
“Do you?” She looked from Ian to Ken. The sense of rightness, of destiny fairly shimmered
