by Kat Martin
Kade started the engine. Ellie reached over and turned it off. “Your jealousy is getting old, Kade. And it’s completely misplaced. I’m not like Heather. Not in any way. If you can’t understand that, this isn’t going to work.”
Kade leaned back, took off his hat and tossed it on the dash, raked a hand through his hair. “Goddammit!”
“Jonas Murray isn’t even my type. He’s smug and arrogant, and he thinks he’s God’s gift to women.”
Those golden eyes found hers across the distance between them. “I can’t apologize for hitting some sonofabitch who’s poaching on my territory.”
“That’s what he was doing? Poaching?”
“He was doing his best. I don’t think he’ll try it again.”
“He can try all he wants. He isn’t going to succeed.”
Kade said nothing.
“Jonas could have you arrested for assault, Kade.”
He drilled her with a look. “Not if he wants to live.”
Ellie rolled her eyes.
“You still want lunch?” Kade asked, clearly not backing down.
She would have said no if she hadn’t been so hungry. “Have you talked to the people who work at the café yet?”
Kade shook his head, settled his hat back on and tugged the brim low. “Not yet. I figured we could do that together.”
She released a slow breath. “All right, fine. But no more jealous tantrums and no more fistfights.”
His eyes found hers. “I wasn’t having a tantrum. I was administering a lesson.”
“A lesson. Men.”
Kade grunted, cracked open his door, and went around to her side of the truck while Ellie climbed out to join him.
“Jonas,” Kade said. “He slept with her, didn’t he?”
She should have seen this coming. “I’m not a hundred percent sure.”
“How sure are you?”
She sighed. “Ninety-nine percent.”
“I knew it. I’ve always known. God, I was an idiot.”
She stopped and turned, reached up, and set her palm on his cheek. “You loved her. She just wasn’t worthy of your love.”
Kade caught her hand, laced her fingers with his, and held it as they headed down the street to the café.
The good news was Wendy Cummings, the café owners’ daughter, had seen a dark green Hummer passing through town just after closing last week. She wasn’t sure which night, but she had definitely seen the car on her way home, after she had left the café.
“They’re kind of cool, you know?” She smiled at Kade as if she knew he would agree. “That’s why I remember it.”
Wendy couldn’t think of anything specific about the vehicle, no dents, no antennas, nothing like that, just that it was “cool,” and it was a dark forest green.
But the make and now the color of the killer’s car were more than they’d had before. And something about the car got Ellie to thinking. Kade phoned Sheriff Fischer to let him know, but Ellie was quiet on the ride back to the ranch.
“You still mad at me?”
At the rumble of his deep, masculine voice, she turned. “I should be.”
“I found you kissing another man. What if it had been me with another woman?”
“I wouldn’t like it, that’s for sure. I doubt I would have punched her in the face.”
“So you are still mad.”
She sighed. “Unfortunately, you’re tough to stay mad at.”
Kade smiled. “Good to know.”
Ellie didn’t smile back. She wasn’t sure how to deal with Kade’s jealousy. If they were truly involved, his possessiveness would be a threat to her independence. She had men friends. She worked with men in her office. She wasn’t willing to give them up for Kade or anyone else.
It was something to think about on the long, quiet ride back to the ranch.
* * *
The afternoon sun slanted across the barns and paddock below. Rising from behind a granite boulder, his favorite spot deep in the aspen grove on the hill above the ranch, he looked down on the scene below. He’d parked some distance down the dirt road, then hiked to the spot.
When he’d arrived, Logan’s big dual-wheeled Ford was nowhere in sight. Now, as he looked through the binoculars, he spotted the truck rolling through the tall timber gate, grinding on up the road, then coming to a stop behind the house.
Ellie got out and rounded the vehicle, heading for the kitchen door. She was wearing dark blue stretch jeans that drew a man’s attention to her sexy ass, carrying her jacket, which gave him a solid look at the full breasts moving beneath her sweater.
His dick stirred as he imagined the way he planned to use her. She wouldn’t willingly give him what he wanted, but the thought of taking her while she fought him turned his arousal rock hard.
Since the day six weeks ago when the dark green Subaru had been found in the lake where he had hidden it, he’d been haunted by nightmares. Driven by memories of the beautiful woman he had loved to the depths of his soul, the deceitful bitch who had betrayed him.
Even now, memories of how it had felt to wrap his hands around her slender throat and end her pathetic life filled him with satisfaction.
Heather had loved him, she’d said. But when the time came for her to leave her bastard husband so they could make a life together, she’d faltered. She’d been pathetically weak where Logan was concerned, too spineless to stand up for herself. To stand up for him. She’d decided instead to beg her husband’s forgiveness, try to make her marriage work.
Even now it sickened him to think of it.
Heather had deserved to die, and he didn’t regret it.
Every time he thought of Kade Logan, the fire inside erupted again, scorching through his veins like a blaze flashing out of control. He wanted Logan’s woman. He wanted to feel that power surging through him as it had before.
He took a last look at the ranch house. As he blended into the trees and started back the way he had come, the plan in his head expanded.
And the flames burned hotter.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
NIGHT SURROUNDED THE RANCH HOUSE. STRETCHED OUT IN HIS big, king-size bed, Kade stirred at the sound of men’s voices coming from outside, growing louder as the hands streamed out of the bunkhouse. The glowing hands of the digital clock read three a.m.
Ellie stirred as he lifted her head off his chest and eased her aside, tossed back the covers, and strode to the window.
“What is it?”
“Can’t be anything good.” He pulled on his jeans and zipped them, heard his cell phone ring and grabbed it off the nightstand. Wyatt’s number appeared on the screen.
“What the hell’s going on?” Kade asked.
“Turtle spotted flames on the mountain near Bear Tooth Ridge. We’ve called it in, but the wind’s blowing toward the east pasture, so we’ve got to move the cattle.”
“I’m on my way.” He turned to Ellie, who sat up in bed, anxiously clutching the blanket over her breasts. “Looks like there’s a fire on the mountain near the east pasture. I need to get up there.”
“You might need an extra hand. I’ll go with you.”
He started to argue, caught the mulish expression he recognized as trouble, and nodded. “All right, but we need to get there as fast as we can.”
She was dressed in minutes in jeans and boots, her fiery hair pulled back in a ponytail. They grabbed their jackets off the hooks in the kitchen. Kade grabbed his hat, and Ellie grabbed a bill cap with the Diamond Bar emblem on the front.
The men were ready to leave. The back of a pickup had been loaded with a water tank, picks, shovels, axes, and rakes. The truck towed a horse trailer, the animals inside saddled and ready to go. A Bobcat had been loaded into the bed of a second pickup. Men not riding in the trucks rode ATVs.
Kade brought out his four-wheeler, Ellie climbed on behind him, and they moved to the front of the caravan heading up the hill toward the mountain.
It took twenty minutes to
get there with everybody hauling ass. The fire was burning in a stand of timber at the edge of the far side of the pasture. Once it hit the dry, brown grass in the flat open meadow, it would spread like flaming oil across water.
“Let’s set up a fire break between the edge of the forest and the fence line,” Kade told Wyatt. He pointed. “Right about there looks like a good place to start.”
Wyatt’s gaze followed. “Thirty feet of clear-cut might do it.”
“Fifty would be better, but we’ll do what we can.”
Slate backed the Bobcat down the ramp out of the truck, fired the engine, and started scraping a path through the shrubs on the other side of the grass. Men grabbed shovels and picks, then spread out in a line and went to work. The water tank in the truck bed held only enough for spot fires that managed to jump the line, but it was the best they could do for now.
Ramirez backed the horses out of the trailer. Riders tightened cinches, mounted up, and headed off to move the cattle to a safer spot away from the blaze.
Kade traded his hat for a Diamond Bar bill cap, grabbed a shovel, and looked up to see Ellie grabbing a rake and heading for the fire line.
“You’re with me,” he said in the voice he used to command his men, and for once she didn’t argue. He didn’t like the idea of her working a fire, but she was there, and she refused to stand by and watch. Kade admired her for it, but he was worried about her.
All kinds of accidents happened in a firefight. Drifting chunks of burning ash could set your clothes on fire, a blazing tree could fall and kill you, just breathing the thick damned smoke could make you sick, even kill you if the air was too hot.
Around them, he could hear the crack and roar of the fire as the wind whipped the blaze down the mountain. Red and orange flames leaped from the tall pines into the night-black sky. Sparks exploded, catching another tree afire. The greasy smell of smoke hung heavy in the air.
A couple of deer bounded out of the woods to escape the flames, but so far the area burning didn’t appear to be more than a hundred acres. That could double if the wind kicked up. At least the air was cold, and the fire department was on its way.
Kade wet a bandana from a plastic water bottle, tied it around his nose and mouth, and saw Ellie doing the same. He’d hired her for her skills as a detective, but she was a real hand when it came to ranching. His admiration grew, and his chest tightened with emotions he didn’t have time to feel. At the moment, he just needed to keep her safe.
As they worked beside the men to clear a swath wide enough to deprive the fire of fuel, he glanced at the flames licking their way down the hillside, and an unwelcome thought occurred.
Had the man who’d hired Keller set the fire to cause more trouble? Was it arson? Had the blaze been set to kill cattle and men?
Kade clenched his jaw, tugged down the brim of his bill cap, and kept working, digging up dry bushes, small trees, and dead grass while Ellie raked the debris out of the way.
They worked hard for over an hour. Sam Bridger and some of the cow hands off neighboring ranches showed up to join the fire line. A few minutes later, Kade looked up to see the flashing red lights of fire trucks, two engines plus a water tanker.
In the eerie red glow of the blaze, he could read the emblems on the doors. Coffee Springs Volunteer Fire Department on one truck. The other truck and the water tanker were from Eagle.
The vehicles drove through the hole in the fence the hands had made and pulled to a halt on the opposite side. Men in helmets and firefighting turnout gear streamed out. Two firemen went for the hose attached to the water tanker, while others grabbed shovels and axes.
A big man in a helmet, a tan coat with neon-yellow stripes, and high rubber boots headed toward the hands working the line, and Kade walked over to meet him.
“Chief Wayne Gifford, Eagle Fire Department.” Gifford was darkly tanned, had lots of working-man wrinkles on his face.
“Kade Logan. I own the ranch. Glad to have you here.”
Gifford dipped his chin in greeting, then turned to look around. “Nice work on the break. If the weather holds, we should be able to keep it manageable till the sun comes up. As soon as it’s light, they’re sending in a helo to do some water drops.”
That was good news. “Any idea what caused it?”
“Fire investigators will be here in the morning. They’ll be looking for accelerants, specific burn patterns, something that might suggest arson or whatever natural events could have caused it.”
“What else do you need us to do?”
“Just keep working on the break. The farther along the tree line you can make it, the better chance we have of stopping this thing before it really sinks its fangs into us.”
“Will do.”
“Give me your cell number, and I’ll keep you posted.” Gifford and Kade exchanged numbers, and the fire chief left to join his men.
Kade turned as Ellie walked up.
“They’ve got a helo coming in at first light,” he said. “I’m going to keep the men working until it gets here. In the meantime, I’m sending you back down the hill with Turtle.”
“You’re staying?”
He nodded. “I want to make sure Gifford’s got everything he needs.”
“I’ll stay with you.”
He just shook his head. “No use both of us staying up all night.” He didn’t tell her he wanted to talk to the arson investigators when they arrived.
“I’m staying, Kade. Turtle has work to do here, and I can move branches and dirt as well as any of the men.”
“I’ll feel better if you’re home and safe.”
“I’ll feel better if I’m here doing my part,” Ellie said stubbornly.
He shouldn’t feel amused, but he admired the way she stood up to him. Reluctantly, he agreed. “All right, fine. If you’re sure that’s what you want, let’s get back to work.”
They continued the backbreaking labor till the sky lightened, turned to a washed-out gray-blue, then orange and gold as the sun came up. The sound of a chopper signaled the beginning of the water drops that would help bring the fire under control.
“Time to go home,” Kade said to her. “And no more arguments. We’ll let Chief Gifford and his men take over from here.”
Ellie stretched her neck and tiredly rubbed her lower back. “All right.”
“I’ve got a couple more things to do,” he said. “I’ll see you back at the ranch.”
Soot-smudged and exhausted, she just nodded. Kade sent her home on the back of Turtle’s ATV, watched until she was safely on her way down the road toward the house. The rest of the hands were heading back right behind them, all except Wyatt, who, like Kade, wanted to know what—or who—was responsible for the blaze.
Kade looked at the smoldering remains of the fire, thought of the two dead men in Phippsburg, and a chill ran down his spine that should have been impossible in the hot air generated by the flames.
* * *
Worried about Kade and wishing he had returned with her, Ellie headed for her bedroom. She intended to shower off the soot and smoke and get some sleep, but in the end, she decided to check her email first.
It took longer than she’d expected, but finally she headed into the bathroom to shower off the grit and grime, hoping to get a little sleep before Kade got home.
Pulling the elastic scrunchy off her ponytail, she shook her hair out, then climbed into the shower beneath the warm spray.
A deep, exhausted sigh escaped. As she washed her hair and scrubbed away the soot, worry for Kade hovered at the back of her mind, along with a notion that had been circling round in her head.
Two women dead, killed by their seducer, perhaps the same man. Two men murdered to keep them silent. Four dead people. Three in the past six weeks.
She heard a noise in the bathroom, felt an instant of fear as the shadowy figure of a man appeared through the frosted glass. Recognizing the height and solid, broad-shouldered build, she relaxed as Kade stripped away his
clothes and opened the shower door.
“Mind if I join you?” He stepped in without waiting for permission, which he could surely read on her face. Just looking at him turned her on, the long, powerful legs, the ladder of muscle across his flat stomach. She rested her palms on his chest and felt the warmth of his skin, hotter than the spray rushing over them. Ellie’s insides softened in anticipation.
“Did you get the fire out?” she asked, forcing herself to concentrate.
Big hands settled at her waist. “We got it out, and it wasn’t arson. Lightning strike from the other night. Hit a tree and been smoldering in the trunk. Wind finally whipped it into a blaze. Out now, and everyone’s safe.”
Relief trickled through her. “That’s really good news. I was worried about it.”
“So was I.” He bent his head and softly kissed her. “Want to help me celebrate?” His skillful hands slid over her wet skin to cup her breasts, shaping and molding, turning her nipples hard and her knees weak.
Ellie moaned as his mouth moved down to replace his hands, his tongue licking over her skin, circling her nipple, then pulling the fullness between his teeth. Desire washed through her, and an ache settled between her legs.
Her fingers slid into his wet, dark hair. She loved his hard, workingman’s body, loved the masculine taste of him, the lips that were softer than they appeared, the way they molded so perfectly with hers.
Kade crouched in front of her. Cupping the cheeks of her bottom, he trailed kisses over her stomach and ringed her navel with his tongue. Ellie tipped her head back against the tile as his wicked mouth moved lower and pleasure burned through her. Her limbs trembled, her bones melted, and the world spun away.
Ellie thought that she had never known a man who understood her the way he did, as if he knew every secret her body possessed and exactly how to please her.
Kade lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist, his heavy arousal pressing against her, setting off little flares of heat that curled low in her belly. Kade took her, sliding deep inside, moving in a steady rhythm that drove her up again. No matter what happened, there would never be another man who could touch her the way he did, who could know the deepest needs of her body and satisfy them the way he could.