by Mary Winter
By the time he pointed out the mutilation locations, and showed where the tent could be set up at the end of the lane, where three gates came together, at least an hour had passed. He drove back, thinking maybe he and Jenny could pick up where they’d left off.
He pulled up to the barn, noticing Bubba stood in the center of the arena saddled, reins draped a bit too low, and Jenny nowhere in sight. Shit. He threw the truck in park and jumped out. “Jenny! Jenny!”
“In here.” Her voice came from the barn with a pained edge to it.
He ran to her, then saw her sitting on a bale of hay, a dishrag wrapped around ice pressed to a nasty looking goose egg on her forehead. Damn it, he shouldn’t have left. The sinking feeling in his stomach had been telling him something was going to go wrong—he should have listened. He gingerly pushed her hair back away from her face. “What happened?”
“Something spooked Bubba. Sounded like a gun shot. We were doing ground work and he kicked out. Caught me just enough to send me tumbling to the ground. Hit my head on a damn rock.” The way she said the last made it clear she thought it was a stupid injury.
“You might have a concussion.”
She shook her head, then braced her hand on his shoulder, as if that wasn’t a good idea. “Nah. I’ve had concussions before. Just hit a bit too hard. I thought I’d put some ice on it and let the swelling go down so I could take care of Bubba.”
“Let me.” The idea that she’d been here, alone, and the sound of a gunshot? He and Bull hadn’t heard anything, which meant it had to be close to the house. “I’ll take care of him and then have a look around. You stay right here. If you need something, yell.”
He waited until she assured him she would, not that he thought she’d get farther than the house at the moment. That was a nasty lump and she’d feel it in the morning. Bubba gave him no trouble as he untacked him and brought the horse back into his stall. He heard her murmur to him that it wasn’t has fault, and when he left, she was leaning on his stall door calling him names and petting him. The big lunk of a gelding was soaking it up, clearly besotted with her.
In the arena, he found what looked like a skid mark across one of the fence boards. There, in the post, about an inch and a half deep, was the bullet. He opened his pocket knife and with a little wiggling was able to pry it out. A jacketed hollow point 9mm round. He didn’t know the specifics and wondered if Hank had a forensics guy on staff. Following the bullet’s trajectory, his blood ran cold. Head height for Jenny, probably level with his shoulder, and just shallow enough into the arena to scare the crap out of someone, or something. Had the assailant planned on Jenny getting hurt? Was it designed to just scare her or harm? Either way, he didn’t like it.
He exited the arena, walking over to a low building he assumed to be either storage or the well house, because a hydrant stood next to the building. Scuffed footprints, sneakers not cowboy boots, indicated someone had stood there. He knelt and stared at the prints. A bit of water had pooled under the hydrant and the sole of the shoe had made an imprint. An odd imprint, maybe something fancy—again a question for a forensics guy—smaller than his own size twelve shoes, maybe a ten. He wondered if Jenny knew her ex’s shoe size. Something else caught his attention. A business card for something called UFOP with a name scrawled on it with a phone number. He flipped the card over; the backside was blank. Frowning, he tucked the card into his pocket, then hurried back to the barn where Jenny once again was sitting on the hay bale.
“You feel like you could make it to the house?”
“Yeah. I’m feeling better.” She held up the soggy towel. “And I could use a refill.” She stood, a little wobbly, but not bad.
Caid wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her into the house. He didn’t want her to have to navigate the stairs to her bedroom, so helped her lay down on the couch, then carried the soggy dish towel into the kitchen and made a fresh ice pack for her. He texted Bull to let him know what had happened and then called Hank.
When he returned, Jenny’s eyes were closed. He thought about going on past, but she held out a hand. “Stay,” she said. “I was right, wasn’t I? It was a gunshot.”
“Yeah.” He pulled out the card. “Do you recognize this handwriting?” He held it out to her.
She sat up, winced, then holding only the edges as he did, looked at the card. Her expression said it all, though when she handed it back she confirmed. “That’s Jon’s writing. Where’d you find that?”
“Over by the hydrant. I think that’s where the shot came from.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “Not about the shot and the card,” she added when he began to explain again. “My ex knew nothing about guns. We never talked about them, but he never hunted or target practiced like my brother or some of the other guys. And why would he want to shoot me? Our breakup wasn’t the easiest, but it was pretty mutual.” She frowned. “I know I keep saying this, but none of it makes sense.”
“Let me get my laptop. See what I can find out about this company.”
The sound of a truck in the driveway made them both look.
“It’s Shelby. I’ll let her in.” Jenny stood and headed for the door.
Caid blocked her. “I’ll get it.”
She sat back down again with a sigh.
Nothing was going to get between them again. Whatever the hell was going on with her ex, he’d found out.
He opened the door. “Shelby.”
“Oh.” A grin spread over her face. “If you and Jenny are busy…” Her tone made it very clear what kind of busy she was talking about.
A man can wish. Caid opened the door wider.
“Jenny!” She rushed in and sat down next to her, leaving Caid to close the door with a bemused smile. “What happened?” She glanced back to Caid. “Did he—?”
“God no!” Jenny said. “Bubba got spooked and knocked me down. I found a rock with my head.” She grinned and put the ice pack down. “Nothing a few aspirin won’t fix. What are you doing here?”
“I had to tell you, I don’t know where your brother finds his friends, but did you know he came in to get a couple slices of pie to take home and had some big guy he kept calling Bull with him. Man, I wish I knew where to find him…”
“He’s in my pasture, keeping a look out while Caid watches out. Shit, Shelby. I didn’t want to worry you, but someone’s been attacking my cattle. We think it’s Jon.” She glanced at him, and he realized they probably should have discussed who to tell what. Then again, having a bit of information in the wild, as it were, might be a good thing.
He nodded, telling Jenny that she could continue.
“That’s horrible! Why would Jon do such a thing?”
He ducked upstairs as Jenny began another rendition of “I don’t know” and grabbed his laptop. He brought it downstairs with him, then sat down with his laptop. “Hey Shelby, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about UFOP.” He pulled the card from his pocket. “Ashlyn?” He struggled to read the scrawl.
“UFOP? Yeah, they’re apparently putting on some big UFO festival somewhere close to Billings I think. Do you think Jon would be working with them? Like maybe as part of the radio station or to get some musical talent in?”
“It sounds possible.” It also made it more likely that Jon had been the shooter. His phone rang; the caller id said it was Hank. “Excuse me,” he said, as he stood and stepped out onto the front porch to answer. He stepped back in and relayed the news that Kellan would be here soon from the state to run the forensics. He glanced at the business card, still held next to his cell. No doubt he’d ruined whatever evidence might be on the card and frowned.
Shelby stood and headed for the door. “When you decide to quit hoarding all the hotties, send ‘em my way,” she said.
Jenny shook her head and Caid admitted the blush creeping over her cheeks looked cute. “I’ll tell Bull you’re looking for him.”
It was Shelby’s turn to blush a vivid pink, striking agains
t her bright red hair. The door closed behind her and she was gone.
“I’m sorry. Shelby can be—”
“A handful?” Caid grinned. “I think Bull can handle her. How are you doing?” He sat down next to her on the couch and brushed his fingers over her forehead. She winced when he neared the goose egg, though it wasn’t as bright purple as it had been.
“I feel better, thanks.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and drew her close, wanting to simply hold her. She nestled against his shoulder, her eyelids drifting closed. The rightness of this moment settled in his chest, made him wonder not for the first time what would happen when this mission was over. Erica and Logan got together during, and after their mission. They’d even gotten married, so he knew it was possible. Other guys had found their life partners. Though Hank’s rules required him to be professional and stay on the job at all times, there was nothing against a little fraternization.
Gently, he smoothed her hair away from her face, listing to her deep, even breathing. Could the cattle mutilations be some kind of stunt? It seemed odd, and why would her ex shoot at her if so, but considering that there was a hungry fan base of anything UFO, and some of the more hard core types followed cattle mutilations or little gray men sightings—like something out of the X-Files—and they could probably make good money selling any “evidence” they had. The theory made as much sense as anything.
He saw a truck pull into the drive with some kind of insignia on the side. Easing his way from beneath Jenny, he left her sleeping on the couch and stepped outdoors.
A woman, tall and muscular, built like she could throw down with any of them, her short dark hair cropped beneath the F.S.D. navy blue ball cap she wore, and the jacket embroidered with her name and Montana Forensics Science Division identified her as Kellan. Caid instantly knew he was going to like her. He stepped forward and held out his hand. “Caid Janda. You must be Kellan.”
“Kellan Tooken,” she said in a slightly Canadian accented voice. “Hank told me you’d be here. What do we have?”
He briefly explained the shot and the cattle mutilations. She seemed particularly interested in those, and he wondered if there were other cases. He made a note to pass it along to Hank. Rank and file guys like him weren’t on the “need to know” list for such things usually. Once he pointed out the bullet hole and fished the bullet from her pocket—clearly aware he’d made a rookie mistake by pocketing it and the business card—and where he’d seen the foot prints, it was obvious Kellan didn’t need him and he was only going to get in the way. He let her know he’d be in the house if she needed anything.
He stopped in the barn. Bubba hung his head over the open stall door looking forlorn, as if he were afraid he’d done something wrong. Maybe that was how he’d ended up at the auction where she’d rescued him from. The big gelding had such as soft eye, Caid went over to him and scratched him behind the ear. “It’s okay, big guy. I know you didn’t mean to hurt her,” he said. The horse sighed and pushed its nose against Caid’s chest as if to further punctuate that it was sorry for whatever happened. He stood there for long moments, thinking how nice it would be to come home to Jenny, to the horses, the farm, even the sounds of cattle in the distance. No bombs. No war zones. No need to rush through downed men and covering fire to try and save people.
Movement at the end of the barn aisle caught his attention. Kellan strode toward him. “Thought I’d find you here. I’m done with my work for now. You’re free to move about the property. I’ll have my people call your people with the results.” She grinned.
“Thanks.”
“Nice horse. Is he yours?” She stopped next to Bubba, who immediately stuck out his neck for attention. She rubbed the side of his neck until he relaxed, lips slack.
“No, but he was in the arena when the bullet was fired. I was making sure he wasn’t harmed.”
“That’s nice.” She stepped back. “Anyway. I should have results in a few days.”
“Thanks.”
A moment later she left the barn and he heard her truck leave. Caid gave Bubba one last pet on his neck, then hurried into the house where Jenny was waking up from her nap.
Chapter Four
At least she hadn’t dreamed her hunky bodyguard and the kiss in her kitchen. Jenny sat up just as Caid entered her living room. “Forensics just left. How are you feeling?”
She rubbed her forehead, then winced and thought better of it. “I’ve been hurt worse. Have you heard from Bull or anyone else?”
He shook his head. “All’s quiet.” He sat down next to her, stretching out his arm along the back of the couch to brush his fingers against the nape of her neck.
She leaned into the touch. Just sitting here like this was a heady elixir, never mind that she knew the heaven those fingers could produce. She still struggled to wrap her mind around Jon, the theory that seemed to be developing, and frankly it was giving her a headache. “When will we hear?”
“Probably tomorrow or a few days.”
Jenny nodded, thinking maybe her life could get back to normal. Except for the ex-Para Rescue guy sleeping in her pasture and Caid’s presence that is. “So we have nothing to do but wait and keep a look out?” It seemed like an odd lull, after discovering the cattle mutilations. Like how could they go about their daily lives knowing Jon, or someone, was still out there trying to kill her livelihood.
“Nope.” He moved closer.
“Good.” She closed the gap between them, her lips finding his. What started as a soft, gentle kiss quickly turned needy, as Caid wrapped his arms around her and drew her against his chest.
She leaned into his strength, his warmth. Flattening a palm on his chest, she curled her fingers into the soft fabric of his shirt. The faint smell of horses clung to him—had he visited the barn or gone riding while she’d been napping? She inhaled the heady mixture of equine and man, opening her mouth as he slid his tongue across her lower lip, then sucked on it gently.
Yes. The danger and the worry faded away. Right now there was just her, Caid, and a hungry need both of them had been denying for a very long time.
Whether her gentle pushes on his chest sent him laying back or he did so, pulling her on top of him, she didn’t know, but she found herself straddling him, knees on either side of his hips as she sprawled across that muscled, magnificent chest of his. She worked the buttons on his shirt, more careful than she had been in the kitchen, until she had it open and his chest bare to her touch. She rose enough to stare at his flat pectorals, the muscled ridges of his abs, all covered with just the right amount of chest hair to rasp deliciously against her breasts and nipples when they made love. She traced the outline of the whorls between his pecs, then down, over the line bisecting his abs.
He caught her wrist before she could explore lower.
With a wicked smile, she twisted her hips against him, her core hot and needy with the memory of how his cock fit perfectly inside her.
Caid groaned.
Jenny nuzzled his neck instead, licking and nibbling with open mouthed kisses down to his shoulders and along his clavicle. She moved lower, until she could draw one of his nipples into her mouth and suck.
Caid bucked beneath her. The ridge of his erection pressed intimately against her, and she knew if she wanted to take it slow, she had to be the one to stay in control. Except, with the need in her body, she wondered if slow was what she really wanted. There’d be time for slow later.
Sitting up, she unbuttoned her shirt, giving him a view as she slipped it from her and then unfastened her bra.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, reaching forward to capture her breasts in his hands. He palmed them, running his fingers over the tops and around the edges. His fingers danced across her nipples, drawing them into tight peaks. This time, she moaned.
Then, he sat up and wrapped his arms around her to draw the tight peak of one nipple into his mouth. As if to give her the same torture she’d given him, he licked and sucked, r
olling the button between his lips and tongue. He moved to her other breast, the light scrape of his teeth across her sensitive flesh erotic.
This was the Caid she remembered; the hot, passionate nights spent exploring each other’s bodies, only to fall asleep right before dawn. His eager hands unbuttoned her jeans, drawing the zipper down. He slipped his fingers inside over the soft cotton fabric of her panties, then hooked one beneath the elastic around one leg. It was as far as he could reach, but the sweep of that single finger across her sensitized flesh had her biting her lip to hold back a moan. She moved her hips, rising just enough so he could tug down her jeans and find her soft folds with his fingers. He stroked her labia, the glide of his fingertip along her slick flesh enough to make her buck her hips and ride the edge of her release.
One finger slipped between to circle her clit. Oh god, she couldn’t hold on anymore. It’d been too long, her body denied while she focused on the ranch and other matters, that a few circles of his finger around her swollen nub had her crying out as her pussy contracted with pleasure. It coursed through her veins, a heady rush that held the promise of more. He penetrated her with his finger, first one, then two, pumping gently while his palm rotated against her clit, not letting her come down from her release, but only taking her higher.
“Caid! Please.” His name was a cry on her lips, a pleading for more. And then she came again, the joyous scream of pleasure echoing on the walls. A fleeting thought of Bull in her pasture, thinking he had to be too far away from the house to hear, crossed her mind, then she didn’t care, for Caid shifted beneath her to unfasten his jeans and pull down his pants just enough to reveal the thick length of his cock.
She licked her lips.
“Keep looking at me like that and I won’t last, sweetheart,” he said, his voice husky with desire and need.