Katherine Garbera - The Texan's Contested Claim

He knew of only one place that fit his needs: his stepmother’s son’s ranch.

Muttering a curse, he paced his room. He didn’t want to call Jase. Calling him meant explaining where he was, what he was up to, and his stepmother had made them promise they wouldn’t search for Ali, that they would respect her request for privacy and leave her alone.

But he hadn’t promised, he reminded himself. Jase and Eddie, Jase’s father, had promised.

Admonishing himself of any guilt for his actions, he pulled his cell phone from his briefcase and scrolled through the address book until he found Jase’s home number.

Mandy, Jase’s wife, answered on the second ring.

“Hello?” she said sleepily.

“Mandy, it’s Garrett.”

“Well, hey, Garrett,” she said, sounding surprised to hear from him. “What are you doing calling me in the middle of the night?”

“I’m in a jam. Is Jase there?”

“He’s in Washington visiting his mother. Haven’t you seen him?”

“No, and I really need his help.”

“Call him at Barbara’s. I’m sure he’ll do whatever he can to help you out.”

“I can’t call him at Barbara’s,” he said in frustration. “You’ll have to help.”

“You know I’ll do whatever I can, but wouldn’t it make better sense to just call Jase, since he’s in Washington and I’m in Texas?”

“That’s just it. I’m in Texas, too.”

“What!” she cried. “Where?”

“Ali Moran’s house.”

A pregnant pause followed his announcement.

“You’re at Ali’s?” she said.

“Yes. I’ll explain later, but we need a place to hide out for a couple of days. I was hoping we could stay in one of the hunting cabins.”

“Of course you can,” she told him, then asked hesitantly, “Does Ali know you’re Barbara’s stepson?”

“No, and you’ve got to promise me you’ll keep it that way.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” she asked doubtfully. “Barbara made y’all promise you’d leave Ali alone.”

He felt a stab of guilt and quickly shrugged it off. “Jase and Eddie promised. I promised nothing.”

“That’s splitting hairs, don’t you think?”

He drew in a breath. “We can discuss this later, okay? Right now I’ve got to get us out of Austin.”

“Okay. But when Barbara finds out about this, I’m pointing all ten fingers at you, buddy. Understand? I’m not chancing getting on my mother-in-law’s bad side just to save your butt, even if it is a cute one.”

The next call Garrett made was to the head of his company’s security department.

“Joe, it’s Garrett. We’ve got a problem.”

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