by Kat Martin
“He going to be all right?” Kade asked.
“In time, he should be fine. But he’s going to need some care while he recovers. A quiet place with someone who can change his dressings and see to his needs till he gets back on his feet would be best.”
“He can stay in the main house,” Kade said. “I’ll have a nurse brought in.”
“I’ll take care of him,” Maria said firmly. “I can do my work and still have time to look after him.”
Kade frowned. Ellie figured he was worried about Alejandro taking advantage of Maria’s tender feelings, but considering the polite way the ranch hand had always treated the girl, Ellie didn’t think he would.
“Fine,” Kade said. “Maria, are you sure this is what you want?”
“Sí, Señor Kade. I promise he will get the best of care.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will,” Kade said with enough sarcasm to send warm color into Maria’s cheeks. “You can stay in one of the guest cabins. The one with two bedrooms,” he added pointedly.
Maria glanced away. “Thank you.”
“Mr. Ramirez won’t be awake for at least a few more hours,” the doctor said. “I suggest you all go home and come back in the morning.”
Maria’s chin firmed. “I’d like to stay here tonight. I don’t want Alejandro to wake up alone.” She looked at Ellie. “But I don’t want to leave you with too much work.”
Ellie smiled. “Supper’s handled. It’s just breakfast. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll have one of the men come into town in the morning to get you,” Kade said. “He can drive you back to the ranch to get your car, and you can return to the hospital anytime you want.”
Maria looked relieved. “Thank you. Thank you both so much.”
“You just watch over Alejandro,” Kade said. “The rest will take care of itself.”
They left Maria and headed back to the ranch, both of them quiet along the way. From the set of his jaw, Ellie knew Kade was thinking about Frank Keller.
“It’ll be dark by the time we get home,” Kade said. “In the morning, I’ll ride out to the pasture where the men were working, have Wyatt show me exactly where Alejandro was shot. With any luck, I can figure out where the bastard was hiding and be able to track him from there.”
“I’ll ride with you,” Ellie said. “We can go over the crime scene together. Two of us tracking Keller puts the odds in our favor. And if you run into trouble, you’ll have backup.”
“I can take one of the men.”
“You’re down two men already. I’m a detective. I have my own weapon, and I’m a damned good shot. Let me do my job.”
Kade looked as if he wanted to argue. In the end, he gave her a single stiff nod. Tomorrow they were going hunting.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
AT BREAKFAST THAT MORNING, KADE SPOKE TO THE MEN ABOUT Frank Keller. They remembered him from the short time he had worked the roundup. Kade told them he believed Keller was behind the shootings and an explosion that had happened up at the Red Hawk Mine. He told them the sheriff would be out sometime today to ask questions and take a look at the crime scene.
He asked Wyatt to handle the sheriff, then told the men he was going after Keller himself. With the ranch so shorthanded, he was taking Ellie as backup. She had proved herself during the storm, he explained, had shown herself to be as capable as any of the hands, and she had volunteered for the job.
Roy Cobb grumbled a little. Wyatt cast Kade a long, searching glance, but in the end, the men accepted his judgment. Kade had thought about telling them the truth, that Ellie was a private investigator from Denver he had hired to look into his wife’s murder. These were men he trusted. Men he had known and worked with for years.
But Heather had been killed eight years ago. Roy and Seth had both come aboard after her death, but the other guys were all working on the ranch at the time. Was it possible one of them had murdered her? He didn’t believe it, but until the killer was found, there was no way to know for sure.
Add to that, he didn’t want Ellie’s true purpose leaking to anyone in town. It wouldn’t be fair, not when she was doing her best to track down the killer.
“What’s the situation with Delaney and the security we need?” Kade asked Ellie as she finished cleaning up the breakfast dishes, with Turtle Farley pitching in to help. Kade had a hunch Turtle was infatuated with the pretty redhead. Fortunately, he was smart enough to know his interest wasn’t returned.
“Conn’s sending a team out today. They’ll need someone to show them around and find a place they can stay.”
“They can use the other guesthouse. I’ll talk to Slate, have him show the men around.” Kade left with the hands, talked to Wyatt about the day’s assignments, and returned to the ranch house.
“You ready to head out?” he asked Ellie.
“I just need to grab my gear, some food, and my weapon. I’ll be right back.”
Kade watched her walk away, her ponytail moving with the same tantalizing rhythm as her hips. Which returned his thoughts to the hot kiss in his study. Jesus, he couldn’t remember wanting a woman the way he did this one. Not even Heather. But he had been younger then, without much experience with women. In the years since his wife’s death, his sexual needs had changed. He was a man now, not the boy he had been back then.
A man who needed a woman, and the woman he wanted was Eleanor Bowman.
* * *
A weak sun lit the horizon by the time they all set out, Kade on Hannibal, his big buckskin, Ellie riding Painted Lady. She and the brown-and-white mare had already bonded. Ellie trusted the horse, and the horse trusted her. They made a good team, both of them spirited and unique.
The hands split up a half mile down the dirt road and headed off to tend herds grazing in different pastures. Wyatt led the way to the place the men had been working when Alejandro was shot, a grassy meadow surrounded by hills that rose to mountain peaks.
Kade didn’t like it. The pasture was way too close to the house.
“First the steers, then the mine, Smoke, and now one of the men. He’s getting bolder.”
Ellie nodded. “He escalating—or he’s trying to draw you out. Which is exactly what’s happening right now.”
A muscle tightened in Kade’s cheek. “Well, if that’s his plan, he’s in for a big surprise when I find the sonofabitch.”
“You need to be careful, Kade. There’s every chance he’s lying in wait somewhere to take you out.”
Kade studied Ellie from beneath the brim of his hat. She was right. She was smart and good at her job. He was paying her top dollar for her skills. Still, he hated the idea of putting her in danger.
Wyatt rode to a spot in the meadow and dismounted. “We were working right here.” He collected his horse’s reins. “Clearing a downed tree at the edge of the pasture.”
Kade dismounted. He noticed a set of tire tracks where Slate’s pickup had driven across the wet field to pick up the injured man. The meadow was muddy, and there were still patches of snow on the ground.
“This is where Alejandro went down, right?” Ellie led the paint horse close to the spot and looked up at Wyatt.
“That’s right.” Wyatt smoothed his handlebar mustache as Ellie crouched to examine a dark patch of blood on the ground and the area around it.
She rose and studied the landscape. “Which way was he facing when the bullet struck?”
“We were talking. I was here, so he was looking north. Bullet had to have come from the south.”
Ellie nodded, as if that was what she’d been thinking, and tugged on Lady’s reins, leading the mare toward a cluster of trees on a far-distant ridge.
“You think he’s that good a shot?” Kade asked as he and Hannibal walked beside her. Wyatt and his horse followed.
Ellie paused and looked around, her gaze moving along the southern perimeter. “Where would you have been if you wanted to hit your target and get away clean?”
Kade studied the ridge, turned to see
if he could find a better position. “You’re right. The ridge was his best option.” He turned to Wyatt. “You’ve got things to do. I’ll call you, let you know if we find what we’re looking for.”
Wyatt nodded, but both of them knew cell service was sketchy out there. Wyatt swung up on his horse and reined the animal toward the road, riding off to catch up with the hands.
Kade and Ellie continued toward the ridge, both of them keeping an eye on the line of sight between where Alejandro had been shot and where the bullet must have been fired.
Keeping watch in case the guy was still up there somewhere. Once they reached the trees, they tied the horses to a branch and spread out to study the ground, looking for any sign the shooter might have left. Twenty minutes later, Kade stared down at a set of muddy boot prints that led to an impression on the ground behind a granite boulder.
“Over here!” he shouted.
Ellie looked up from her search and hurried toward him. “What is it?”
“Boot prints leading up to that rock. Looks like he knelt right here.” He pointed to the depression in the dirt. “Used the boulder to steady his rifle and also hide his position.”
Ellie studied the scene. “No rain last night to wash away his tracks.” She looked up. “Or maybe he wants you to find him.”
Kade’s jaw hardened. “Then let’s give him what he wants.”
* * *
They followed the boot prints south, the tracks ending where hoofprints began. The shooter had been on horseback, a relatively silent way to travel and easier for him to disappear in rough country.
Leading Hannibal, Kade followed the shooter’s tracks higher up into the hills. At one point, the hoofprints disappeared into a rocky outcropping of granite, forcing him to pause. He and Ellie spread out, searching the ground, hoping to pick up the trail on the far side of the boulders.
Kade spotted hoofprints in a patch of mud, returned and signaled for Ellie to follow, and quietly led the way over the rocks and down the other side, where he’d picked up Keller’s trail.
They mounted and followed the prints, winding up on a game trail Keller had used to climb higher up the mountain. Kade swung down from the buckskin and crouched on the ground to make a closer examination.
“Looks like he came through here last night. The mud has dried a little. He’s still heading south. He keeps going, he’ll hit Copper Spur Road. If he’s got a truck and trailer parked somewhere nearby, he could load his horse and just disappear.”
They rode for two more hours, taking a short break to water the animals and eat the sandwiches Ellie had packed, then continuing south, exactly the way Kade figured.
At one point, the shooter had ridden into a stream to hide his tracks. Kade dismounted and walked the bank, first heading north to be sure the guy hadn’t backtracked. Seeing no sign of him, he led Hannibal south along the bank and finally found the place where the shooter had ridden out of the water.
Kade mounted and waited for Ellie to catch up with him. They had stopped talking a while back, just to be safe, and were using hand signals to communicate. There was a chance the guy had set up camp somewhere in the area. Or was lying in wait along the trail.
They finally reached Copper Spur Road, just a narrow lane, most of the pavement washed out over the years and never replaced. Ellie pointed to a wide spot that served as a turnout. Tire tracks marked the place where a vehicle had been parked, and the trail of hoofprints ended there.
Kade cursed. “He’s gone. We’ve lost him.”
“At least now we know he’s pulling a horse trailer. We need to tell the sheriff.”
Kade nodded, pulled out his phone, and looked down at the screen. “No service.”
“We’ll call as soon as we get in range.”
That’s when the first shot rang out.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ELLIE’S HEART JERKED. SHE AND KADE QUICKLY LED THEIR HORSES down a slope off the road into a copse of trees dense enough to provide some measure of cover. Two more shots rang out, then two more.
“Stay here. I’ll take a look.” Kade handed her Hannibal’s reins. Ellie wasn’t used to staying behind, but two moving targets were easier to hit than one, and Kade was already on his way. She watched him weaving between the rocks, staying low as he made his way toward the ridge where the shots had come from. She caught occasional glimpses of his brown canvas duster and the crown of his hat before he disappeared.
Ellie chafed to go with him. Time ticked past, and her worry increased. Tying the horses to a tree branch, she prepared to follow Kade and make sure he was all right. Just then he reappeared.
“Couple of kids target practicing.”
Ellie breathed a sigh of relief.
Kade glanced back at the muddy road. “He’s got wheels now. No way we can track him very far.” He untied Hannibal’s reins, raised them over the horse’s thick neck, and swung up into the saddle. “We’ve got a long ride back. Might as well head on home.”
Ellie swung up onto Painted Lady. She was tired and a little stiff, but after the hours she had spent in the saddle during the storm, her muscle memory had returned. She hadn’t ridden much the last few years, but she’d practically been raised on the back of a horse.
They set out at an easy canter, the return trip not nearly as difficult as the one out. Kade knew the area, so they were able to travel the fastest, easiest route. Still, it was a long day on horseback and dark by the time they got home. Ellie was bone-tired, and she could tell Kade was angry and disappointed.
As it was a school night, Billy had already gone home, so they unsaddled and put away their own mounts. Wyatt came out of the bunkhouse to talk to them, and Kade filled him in on the day’s progress—or lack thereof.
“The security team arrived,” Wyatt said.
“That’s good news.”
“Six guys, including Delaney, all former military or police. Slate spent part of the day with them, getting them acquainted with the layout of the ranch. They seem extremely efficient, happy to live on MREs, but I figured we’d be able to come up with at least one meal for them a day. They’ll be working in shifts, so we won’t know exactly when they’ll be coming in.” He looked over at Ellie.
“I’ll keep something in the kitchen for whenever they show up. It won’t be a problem.”
“Looks like Delaney gives the orders. He said not to expect to see them around. Staying out of sight is part of their job. That’s how they work.”
“Sounds like they know what they’re doing,” Kade said. “Which is a helluva relief. I don’t want anyone else getting shot.”
Wyatt turned to Ellie. “Turtle made dinner tonight. Said he cooked on a ranch as a kid.” Wyatt smiled. “It wasn’t half bad. Not as good as your cooking, ma’am, but not half bad.”
Ellie returned the smile. “I’m grateful for the help.” While the men finished talking, Ellie went on up to the house. Turtle had left food on the stove, the last of a pot of stew, but Ellie was too tired to eat.
Something was bothering her about all of this. Shooting a couple of steers? Maybe a guy who got fired would be angry enough to go that far. Shooting Kade’s dog was definitely personal. But setting off a bomb in a mine? Shooting one of the ranch hands? Why would a guy go that far? If the shooter was Keller, it had to be more than just getting back at Kade for firing him.
The question stayed with her as she showered and got ready for bed. She needed to talk to Kade, see if there was something else he could tell her, maybe something he had forgotten.
She brushed out her hair, pulled on a soft fleece robe, and headed barefoot down the hall to his study. There was no light beneath the door. He had probably gone up to bed.
She thought of the day they had spent, the ease with which they had worked together. She thought of the way her gaze kept drifting over him, the wide shoulders and long legs, the way he sat his horse, as if he and the buckskin were one inseparable being.
She thought of the competent way his big hand
s held the reins, imagined how they would feel skimming over her body. In scuffed boots, a long canvas slicker, and a battered cowboy hat, he looked as if he’d walked off the set of a western movie. The chaps he occasionally wore outlined the masculine bulge at the front of his jeans and made her feel hot all over.
Several times during the day, she had noticed him watching her the way she’d been watching him. She hadn’t missed the heat in those golden-brown eyes.
Ellie shook off the notion. She couldn’t risk getting involved with Kade. She didn’t trust men in general, especially not one who undoubtedly had left a string of broken hearts in his wake.
She looked down at her fleecy robe. She wasn’t dressed for seduction. She just needed to talk to the man.
Renewing her resolve, Ellie climbed the stairs and knocked on Kade’s bedroom door. When he abruptly pulled it open, she stumbled forward into his arms.
“Ellie.” Barefoot and shirtless, he wore only a pair of faded jeans so soft they clung to the muscles in his long legs and hugged his narrow hips. His chest was all lean muscle, his biceps thick and solid. A working man’s body, darkened to teak by the sun. Ellie’s mouth went dry.
Kade’s gaze slid over the fluffy robe that covered her from neck to toe, modest by any standard, and the dark copper curls that hung down her back. The gold in his eyes glittered with heat. Kade pulled her into the room and closed the door.
“Ellie . . .” he repeated as a hard arm wrapped around her waist and he dragged her against him. Kade slid his fingers into her hair to anchor her in place, and his mouth crushed down over hers.
Heat enveloped her, like warm honey sliding through her veins. Ellie moaned. The kiss went on and on, coaxing at first, then deeper, more demanding, wild and reckless and completely irresistible. Her arms went around his neck. Kade parted her robe and filled his hands with her breasts.
“Jesus, I want you.” He toyed with her nipples, turning them pebble-hard, then lowered his mouth to suckle one aching tip while his hand kneaded and caressed the fullness.
“Kade . . .”
“I need you, Ellie. Don’t say no.”