Falling for the Cougar

by Terry Spear

  “She was caught transferring funds in the finance office. They couldn’t prove she was stealing the money. Because of that, charges couldn’t be preferred, not for a regular trial. But there was enough evidence of mishandling of funds that they convened an administrative discharge board and booted her out.”

  Relieved to hear the news, the tension in her body drained. “She didn’t leave then because she was pregnant and thought you wanted her?”

  “No, she didn’t want me. She just wanted a good time for a while. It looks like maybe she was having it with some other guys too.”

  Marrying Scott was going to be all right. Well, better than all right. Being married to him was going to be great. “So when did you want to do it?”

  He glanced at her. “What?”

  “When do you want to get married?”

  Chapter 16

  Nicole kept her eyes on the road, but she knew Scott was staring at her. “Did I pop the question too suddenly? Do you want to think on it for a while?”

  He laughed. “You amaze me. Okay as soon as we can, we’ll start making the arrangements.”

  Saying she would marry him was a lot easier than she ever thought it could be. She was happier than she’d ever been.

  He cleared his throat. “My mother might want to get a bit involved, seeing as you don’t have any family to help you plan for a wedding. I will too, but she’ll really want to help, mother thing, you know.”

  “I don’t want anything too big.”

  “Yeah.”

  The way he said it made Nicole think she was in for trouble. “I mean it. I’m not into a lot of pomp and ceremony. There’s no way I want to waste a lot of money on a wedding. Honeymoon, yes.”

  He didn’t say anything, and she glanced over to see him smiling broadly. She could see she was going to have mother-in-law problems already.

  “Turn here,” he said abruptly.

  “But we’re not to Amarillo yet.”

  “No, Mom lives in the country.”

  “Oh.”

  “She has horses and cattle run on her property.”

  Nicole drove down a paved road for three miles, stretching across acres and acres of cattle and horse-grazing grasslands. “Are you certain this is the right way? All we’ve seen are…” A car flashed his lights at her. “There must be a cop around.” She slowed down. After driving over a rise in the flat ground, her heart nearly stopped dead. She slammed on her brakes. Bovines from big beasts to small calves cluttered the road. “What is this? Remnants of the old open range laws?”

  He chuckled. “No someone’s gate is open, or a fence is down.”

  She pulled his car slowly through the hefty figures of beef on hooves. Finally making her way through the obstacle course, Scott motioned for her to turn at a road to the right.

  They continued driving on a narrower road, then rode over a cattle guard. “I thought we’d fall in.”

  “It’s to keep the cattle from leaving the property and no hassle of having a gate.”

  “So your mother runs cattle?”

  “No, she leases the land for it. We also have horses she raises.”

  They finally came in sight of a two-story white colonial. Across the front was a porch furnished with love seats and cushioned chairs. Soft lights glowed on the porch though the sun still hadn’t faded on the summer day. “Lovely place.”

  “Yeah, it will be nice to sit on the front porch in the evening with a glass of wine with my fiancée.”

  She couldn’t get over the notion she was getting married. “You sure your mother won’t mind—”

  Scott frowned as he saw a red pickup truck parked at a cottage-sized home to the south of the colonial.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Uncle Bill is here.”

  “Oh, you didn’t mention any Uncle Bill. Bad, eh?”

  “No, well, he’s my father’s younger brother, and he’ll be sure to give you the second degree.”

  “Oh?”

  “Sorry. He’s like that with everyone. He thinks he’s an amateur sleuth, I believe. But he knows a lot of law enforcement officers and maybe he can help with the case. Come on.”

  Then Scott motioned to another truck pulling a trailer. “That’s Hal Haverton’s pickup and trailer. He runs a horse ranch and is a part-time deputy sheriff out of Yuma Town, Colorado, a whole cougar run town.”

  “Wow, a cougar run town?”

  “Yeah, if I didn’t have family here and I wasn’t in the service, I’d consider moving there. I’m betting my Uncle Ted is with him. He’s Uncle Bill’s twin brother. They were all in the horse business until my grandfather died. Then Uncle Ted got a job at the Haverton’s ranch out of Yuma Town, raising horses, and Uncle Bill began doing PI work. At least that’s what he says it is.”

  “Okay.” Nicole pulled the car to a stop and stretched for a second. Maybe his Uncle Bill and the deputy sheriff could help them figure out this deadly business they were dealing with and they would believe them.

  Before they made it to the front porch, Scott’s dark-headed nephews dove out of the house and tackled him on the spot. He groaned and laughed. After grabbing the smaller of the two boys up, he carried him on his back. The other grasped his hand as he tugged him toward the house. Seeing the way Scott was with his nephews, Nicole figured he’d do just fine with children of his own. The notion warmed her. She wanted children too and hadn’t realized how much until she saw Scott playing with the boys.

  “Uncle Scott, Great Uncle Bill’s here,” the oldest of Scott’s nephews said.

  “So I see.”

  “And Great Uncle Ted too,” the boy said. “And his boss, Hal.”

  “I noticed Hals’ truck too.”

  A woman wearing denim shorts and a spandex shirt, her dark hair curling over her shoulders, walked onto the patio and smiled at Scott. She cast Nicole a welcoming smile. “I see the kids got to you first. I told them to take it easy on you, ‘cause you’re getting old,” she said.

  He chuckled. “It’s not my getting old that’s the problem. It’s them growing too big too quickly.”

  She turned her attention to Nicole. “Hi, I’m Janice, Scott’s sister.”

  “Hi, Janice.” Nicole held her hand out to shake hers, but the lady glanced at Scott instead. “You’re marrying her, aren’t you?”

  “Darn right.”

  Janice smiled broadly. “No need for handshakes then.”

  She hugged Nicole warmly to her surprise. “And you are?”

  “Nicole Welsh.” She was really taken aback. Never had anyone she hadn’t known, treated her with so much affection.

  “Ahh. Scott was keeping your name a secret. We were having a contest of what it might be. None of us were close though. All right, well the boys ate a couple of hours ago, but Mom’s waiting supper for the rest of us.” Janice motioned to her boys as Scott put the youngest down. “Off to the den, both of you.”

  They ran off as the adults walked into the dining room. An older woman, whose dark brown curls were coiled on top of her head, hurried out of the kitchen dressed in a denim dress. She and Janice were about the same height, slimly built and taller than Nicole making her feel like a shrimp. The mother said, “Thank goodness you’re both here. Food’s done. Let’s eat.”

  She disappeared into the kitchen and Scott winked at Nicole. “She’s worried about ruining her meal. She likes to make a good impression with her cooking around special guests. She’ll welcome you properly to the family in a bit.”

  Nicole could see how Scott could be such a warm and loving guy if all his family was like that.

  Janice disappeared into the kitchen behind her mother and Scott took Nicole’s hand in his. “You’ll sit by me.”

  She stared at the feast set before them, then as his mother brought out a platter of steaks, Scott said, “I saw Uncle Bill’s truck. Is he here? And where are Hal and Uncle Ted?”

  “He said they’d be right over, as soon as you arrived. You know him. He’s wor
king on a job over at the cottage, and Hal and Ted already checked out the colts. They’re taking a couple back with them to Hal’s ranch.”

  “So Uncle Bill’s on the internet?”

  “Yep.”

  They all took their seats, then the back door slammed shut. The three men strode into the dining room, all tall, wearing western shirts, jeans, and cowboy boots. They all looked like bona fide cowboys. The mother quickly introduced her brothers and Hal to Nicole. Like the rest of the family, Bill and Ted had rich coffee-colored hair, twists of sun-streaked strands threaded through theirs, but their eyes were blue. Their hair was slightly longer than Scott’s and tussled by the steady wind that blew over the West Texas landscape. The twin brothers were younger than she had imagined. Scott’s mother had to have been around forty-five or so, but the brothers couldn’t have been any older than their early thirties. Hal Haverton’s hair was blonder and his eyes blue too.

  “Welcome,” Bill drawled with a slight Texas accent.

  Ted was all smiles.

  “I want you to meet Nicole Welsh, my bride-to-be.”

  She reached her hand out to shake their hands, but Bill gave her a bear hug instead. Her whole body heated ten degrees with embarrassment. He let go of her and quirked his mouth in a partial grin. “Not bad pickings, my boy.”

  Ted gave her a hug too.

  Hal was smiling, but not a family member, so he looked like he didn’t know what to do. She gave him a hug. Might as well. She could tell it made him feel better about the dilemma.

  Scott’s mother had disappeared into the kitchen again.

  As soon as they all sat down at the table, Scott’s mother passed the steak platter and then the rest of the food followed. Mashed potatoes, brown gravy, green beans, potato rolls, enough for a much bigger party.

  Bill stabbed his steak with his fork and readied his knife. “So where did you meet Scott?”

  Should she say, tripping over him on the beach at Galveston Island? Heavens forbid.

  The interrogation had begun. She glanced at Scott who attempted to cheer her with a half-hearted smile and squeezed her hand with encouragement. “She needs to have some nourishment, Uncle Bill.”

  “Sure.”

  Ted and Hal were smiling but remained quiet.

  As soon as Nicole finished buttering her roll, Bill said, “Josephine told me you met in Galveston.”

  So why had he asked her if he already knew? She nodded.

  “How?”

  She didn’t know why she said it, but the words just tumbled out. “I sort of tripped over him at the beach by accident.”

  Bill smiled. “Ah. Then you discovered you were both from Fort Hood and that cinched the deal.”

  “That’s about the gist of it, Uncle Bill,” Scott said. “So what project are you working on now?”

  Bill sliced off a bite of steak. “Same old stuff.”

  “Another runaway husband who’s not paying support money to his ex-wife?”

  “Something like that.”

  The next words out of Scott’s mouth confounded Nicole. She couldn’t believe her ears.

  “So, Uncle Bill, have you ever delved into Russian espionage or anything interesting like that?”

  Bill sat back in his chair and smiled. “Why? Got some Russian spies after you? Someone trying to learn the secrets of the finance office at Fort Hood?”

  “Nothing fun like that. But what if there was a Russian who had hidden secrets somewhere, and—”

  “Well, I’d have to have a name first.” Bill took a bite of his roll.

  Janice chuckled. “We’ve played these ‘I Spy’ games before where the fellows conjure up mystery stories, if you wonder what this is all about.”

  “Oh.” But Nicole knew Scott wasn’t making up the mystery.

  “Name.” Scott seemed deep in thought as he sliced into his thick, juicy steak. “How about Boris Nikolayevich?”

  Bill’s silence made Nicole glance at him to see what the matter was. He was staring hard at Scott as his brown eyes darkened with what she could only assume was concern. Then he looked down at his meal and stabbed a stack of green beans with his fork. “Boris Nikolayevich, eh? Sounds like a good Russian name. So what kind of documents has he got?”

  “That’s the mystery.”

  “Okay. Key players?”

  “A Navy man translates Russian communications in a sub. Later, he retires, and some government officials visit him from time to time and interview him, ensuring he keeps quiet about the translations he’s made. Now, sometime later he dies in a mysterious car crash. Before this, he expresses his concern to his grown…son, that he believes someone is following him and tells him the kind of work he did while he served in the Navy.”

  “Okay.” Bill poured more gravy onto his potatoes.

  “So this Boris gives the son—”

  “Name of the son?”

  “Matt Carnahan.”

  Bill nodded and scooped up a spoonful of gravy-soaked potatoes. “All right.”

  “So Boris gives Matt a stuffed toy.”

  Bill stopped the spoon midair. “A stuffed toy?”

  Ted chuckled. Nicole wondered if he’d played these games too before.

  “Yeah. Anyway, Matt thinks it’s rather odd, but the weirdest part is he’s being followed, and he thinks that whoever is stalking him intends to kill him.”

  “Hmm. Because?”

  “They think Matt’s father told him something about the work he did on the sub? I don’t know. And then perhaps they’re after the toy.”

  Bill chuckled and ate his potatoes. “Okay, back it up a bit. We have Boris, a Russian spy, who gives Matt a stuffed toy and he doesn’t even know him?”

  “No,” Nicole blurted out. “He used to bring venison to the house, and she didn’t like eating deer meat. So when her parents died, he gave her a Bambi.”

  All eyes were on her and she shrank in her seat.

  Janice laughed. “You’ve found a perfect mate. I didn’t think any woman would have ever gone along with your games with Uncle Bill. So did you think this one up on the way here, or what?” She grabbed some of the empty dishes and carried them into the kitchen.

  Nicole blushed uncontrollably.

  Scott reached over and grabbed her hand, attempting to bolster her. “Yeah, well, we kind of were at odds when we were trying to come up with the story, calling the child a son or a daughter.”

  “Nicole’s got it right. It would make more sense if it were a daughter that this Boris gave a stuffed toy to. Her name would be?”

  “Jessica Wright,” Scott said as Nicole froze in place. She couldn’t believe she’d said what she did. What was wrong with her anyway?

  Bill’s eyes remained fixed on Nicole and she turned from his scrutiny and sipped her wine. Bill poked his fork into another slice of steak. “So about this Jessica…what kind of real trouble is she in?”

  “There have been attempts on her life. She thinks the stuffed toy has the key, but when she takes it apart, she finds nothing.”

  Bill shook his head. “Oh, okay. She’s not a spy, just a civilian. She wouldn’t have a clue as to what to look for.”

  “A hidden flash drive.” Nicole couldn’t believe she said anything again. She rose slowly from her seat. “Can I help you with the dishes,” she asked Janice.

  “Certainly not,” Scott’s mother said. “Just sit there and tell the story. It’s fascinating.”

  Nicole hadn’t even noticed his mother watching her with great anticipation. Instead, Nicole’s focus had been on the uncle. She retook her seat as Scott wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze.

  Janice grabbed up her mother’s plate. “Certainly. You’re our special guest.” She sauntered back to the kitchen.

  “Still,” Bill said as he extracted another roll from the bread basket, “she wouldn’t know where to look.”

  “So where should she have looked, Uncle Bill?” Scott asked.

  “Well, it depends. What ab
out—”

  “Uncle Scott,” his nephew, Shawn, said nearly out of breath, “we’ve hauled in your bags and look what Roy found under one of the seats.”

  Roy held up Bambi with care so as not to lose any stuffing. “But he’s got a boo-boo.”

  Janice laughed as she walked back into the dining room. “You even have props for the game.”

  “Can you fix Bambi?” Roy asked, his small voice filled with concern.

  “I’m sure we can sew him up in a jif,” Scott’s mother said.

  Ted and Hal were eyeing Bambi as much as Bill was and Nicole didn’t think they’d believe it was all just a story now.

  “Why don’t we sit out on the patio a spell?” Bill asked, his voice more than questioning, filled with concern.

  “Sure, but let us get the rest of the dishes cleared. Don’t you go telling the rest of this mystery without us,” Janice said.

  Scott pulled Nicole’s chair out for her. He rescued Bambi from Roy for her, then he and Nicole followed Bill out to the front porch. Ted and Hal joined them.

  As Scott and Nicole settled on the loveseat, the other guys sat on wide winged rockers. Bill’s gaze focused on the stuffed toy, then he turned his attention to Scott. “So what’s really going on here?”

  Scott took a deep breath. “Nicole’s father was in the Navy and translated Russian transmissions on a sub. He made friends with this Boris Nikolayevich who brought the family venison when he hunted for deer. Nicole wouldn’t eat the deer, and they joked and said she had a Bambi hang-up. On one of his visits, Boris gave Nicole the stuffed Bambi. Just before her father and mother died in a car crash, her father told Nicole about the kind of business he had been in and that he was concerned he was being followed.”

  Bill nodded. “But there wasn’t any reason for them having the car accident in the first place.”

  “No.”

  “The coroner’s or police reports didn’t indicate any foul play?” Hal asked, sounding like a deputy sheriff now. Nicole was glad he was here.

  “No,” Nicole said. “It was a clear day, no reason for them to crash like they did.”