A Man of Means. Diana Palmer

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      Rey got a hotel room near the hospital, so that he could have a bath and get some rest. The night staff had the phone number, so they could call him immediately if he was needed.

      He phoned Simon before he went to bed.

      ‘‘Leo’s been mugged?’’ Simon exclaimed. ‘‘And you didn’t call me last night?’’

      That tone was still intimidating, even though Rey was thirty-one. Simon was the eldest of the five brothers, and the bossiest, next to Cag.

      ‘‘I was too upset to phone anybody,’’ Rey returned, ‘‘and too busy trying to handle…another problem that cropped up. He’s all right. Honest. I didn’t find out until the early hours of the morning, and it’s been a long day. He was already out of danger before it occurred to me that I needed to let you know.’’

      ‘‘All right,’’ Simon said, sounding as if he was more relaxed. ‘‘Do they have a suspect?’’

      ‘‘No. I thought we did, but it turned out to be a dead end,’’ he added, without going into details about Meredith Johns. ‘‘There were two of them, and they haven’t been caught. It’s a miracle he wasn’t killed, and that they were stopped in time before they robbed him. You might give the local police chief a call. Just to let him know we’re all interested in solving the case.’’

      ‘‘You want me to use my influence for personal gain?’’ Simon drawled.

      ‘‘Hell, yes, I do!’’ Rey shot back. ‘‘This is our brother, for God’s sake! If a big, strong man like Leo can get mugged in a residential neighborhood, so can anybody else! It doesn’t say a lot for the security in this area.’’

      ‘‘No, it doesn’t,’’ Simon agreed. ‘‘I’ll point that out to the police commissioner, first thing tomorrow. Then I’ll run down to Jacobsville and get Cag and Corrigan and we’ll be right up to see about Leo.’’

      Rey chuckled. It was the first bit of humor he’d felt so far. The five brothers rarely went so far as to gang up on people, but considering the size and reputation of them, they got results when they did. This was an emergency, anyway. They could have lost a brother. The perpetrators had to be caught.

      ‘‘They should be home by now,’’ Rey replied. ‘‘I couldn’t phone them because they were showing those Japanese businessmen around the ranch and the town.’’

      ‘‘I’ll see how much luck they had. Japan is very careful about its import beef. The fact that we run organically raised cattle will certainly go in our favor,’’ Simon said.

      ‘‘Yes, it will. Get some sleep. And don’t worry about Leo. He’s fine. I’d never have left the hospital if I’d had one doubt about that.’’

      ‘‘I’ll stop worrying.’’

      ‘‘Give my love to Tira and the boys,’’ Rey added.

      ‘‘I’ll do that. See you tomorrow.’’

      Rey hung up, thinking about Simon and his family. Tira was redheaded and gorgeous, and the boys favored both of them, although they had Simon’s dark eyes and hair. Corrigan and Dorie had a boy and a girl. Cag and Tess had just a boy, but they were talking about how nice a daughter would be. Meanwhile, Rey and Leo enjoyed being uncles, but had no interest in joining the ranks of the married.

      If it wasn’t for those biscuits, Rey thought miserably. It was going to be expensive to have the local café make biscuits for them every day until they employed a new biscuit maker, but if they got desperate enough, and offered enough of an incentive, they could probably manage it.

      Turning his attention elsewhere, Rey gave a thought to poor Leo with his stitches and his headache, and another to Meredith Johns’s bruised face. Tomorrow, he’d have to deal with Leo’s СКАЧАТЬ