by Sharon Dunn
“I think you found your true calling. Good thing you didn’t stay in that room with no windows,” she said.
Alex smiled. “I agree. What about you? Do you feel like you found your calling?”
Morgan’s heart squeezed tight. She let out a heavy breath. She’d thought she’d found her calling in Mexico. “I’m not sure.”
“I don’t know you that well, but I’d say that your work at The Stables with those kids comes close.” His tone held a note of affection.
She was having a hard time receiving the compliment. Everything she was doing at The Stables was based on a lie. How could it be her calling? If things went well with the forensic artist today, they might catch the guy who had followed her at the horse sale. Maybe he was the same man responsible for the other things that had happened. There hadn’t been any accidents since Burke had been put on duty.
The drive into the city and their conversation had been so comfortable. It was the first time they’d spent any time together since the car accident. It was easy to relax around Alex. She could feel her guard going down. “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
Alex stopped at a red light. His expression gave away that he was confused. “What are you talking about?”
She had said too much already, opened the door too wide. Morgan stared out at the street ahead. Time to change the subject. “So what’s your meeting about?” she asked.
“There is another horse-boarding business in the area and another one being built. The owners want to strategize how we can step up our game in terms of customer service and promotion to remain competitive.”
“Sounds interesting,” she said.
“Who are you meeting at the café?”
“Just a friend.” She turned her head toward the window so he wouldn’t look into her eyes. It was so easy to tread into dangerous water with him. “I think I’m only a few blocks away from where you can let me out.”
“Okay, Morgan.” His words held an undercurrent of weariness.
He pulled into a parking space in front of the café.
She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. All he’d done was ask a simple question after he had graciously answered hers. She hated doing this to him. “I’ll call when I’m done.” She slammed the door and raced up the steps to the café.
Still trying to shake off how upset evading Alex made her, she gave her name to the hostess, who pointed out a table where a man sat with a laptop and sketch pad. The man stood up as she approached. “Morgan?”
“Yes.”
He held out his hand. “I’m Keith Miller. Our time is limited so we should probably get started. If you want to take a seat, I’ve got the identification software all fired up.”
She scooted into the booth and Keith sat down beside her. “What’s the sketch pad for?”
“Sometimes if the software isn’t giving us helpful options, it’s easier to do things the old-fashioned way.” He placed his hands on the keyboard. “So why don’t we start with what you remember about this man?”
Morgan thought for a moment. “The thing I remember is that he was bulky, wide through the chest like a football player or boxer.”
Keith nodded. “What can you tell me about his facial features?”
Morgan closed her eyes. The horse sale seemed like ages ago. Despite the scare, she’d had a good day because she’d been with Alex. She’d seen his passion for the horses and been attracted to how protective he was of her.
“Miss Smith?”
“Oh, sorry.” She closed her eyes, trying to recall what the man had looked like. “He had a baseball cap pulled low on his face.... I do remember his eyes.”
After working for nearly an hour, Morgan felt frustrated. She hadn’t seen the man long enough to come up with anything substantial. The face they’d managed to put together was vague at best. “I know if I saw him again, I would recognize him. It’s really hard to pull things out of thin air.”
Keith offered some sympathetic comments as he closed out his program. “Maybe we can revisit this if details come back to you.”
“But I really haven’t given you enough to work with, have I?” The hope she had started the day with shrank.
Keith shook his head. “We’ll try again. Maybe something will come back to you.”
As she watched Keith leave the café, despair clouded her mind. Any possibility that she could come up with something solid for the marshals was dashed. Morgan paid for her coffee and headed out to the street to walk off her frustration. After a few blocks she called Alex and let him know she’d be waiting on a bench outside the gardens. His response was short and to the point. Maybe his meeting with the owners hadn’t gone well, and maybe he was still mad about how she’d treated him.
The café and Botanical Gardens were close to trails that looked out on a river. She made her way toward a park bench that allowed her a view of the street so she could see Alex coming. She sat down, still upset over not being able to ID that man she’d seen at the horse sale.
A strange car with dark windows eased by her on the street. She didn’t become alarmed until the car did a U-turn in the parking lot and passed by her a second time. She’d let her guard down. She shouldn’t be alone. Morgan shot to her feet and started walking back toward the gardens where the crowds were. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Deputy Trier’s car parked by the curb.
* * *
Alex hung up the phone and pulled into traffic. His conversation with Morgan had been icy. He didn’t want to give away how upset he was. The car ride had been their first chance to spend time together since the accident. And she had been just as cold as ever to him.
Jealousy sparked through him every time he saw her with Burke. The heat of the emotion surprised him. He didn’t have any sort of claim on her. All through his meeting, he’d been distracted, unable to deny the strong feelings he had for her. Stuffing them down wasn’t working. He hated himself for the jealousy. The other side of envy was affection. Despite all his efforts, he couldn’t stop caring about her. No amount of denial or pushing away of emotion would change that.
He pressed the brake as the light in front of him turned red. He was still about ten minutes away from her, assuming that traffic wouldn’t get any worse. Alex tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, then eased forward when the light changed.
How had she managed to get under his skin anyway, as closed off as she was? He found a parking space close to where she said she would be. The bench where she was supposed to be waiting was empty. Alex pushed open the car door and strode toward the trails and river. He walked the grounds around the bench and scanned along the riverfront. No Morgan.
He tried her cell phone.
“Hello?” Her voice sounded shaky.
“Morgan, are you all right?”
“Alex, you got here fast. I...decided to go for a walk. I’m on that busy corner across from the gardens.”
“There’s parking by the gardens, so why don’t you meet me there?” He hung up, found a parking space and made his way toward the street corner, wondering what had upset Morgan so much.
ELEVEN
As she stood on the busy corner waiting to cross, Morgan tried not to dwell on how discouraging the day had been. The car that had gone past her twice had not been a threat. But the incident was a reminder of how she could never let her guard down. She wanted all this to be over, to get back to a normal life. She tried to picture a time when this would all be behind her. Would she be able to get married, have children, see her family?
She stared across the busy street, willing the walk sign to come on. Traffic zoomed by. The light changed and she stepped out into the street. A car barreled toward her. Her vision filled with a blur of color as tires squealed and horns honked.
Arms wrapped around her, yanked
her toward the curb and spun her around. Alex pulled her close. Her heart pounded out a wild rhythm. Around her, she could hear drivers shouting as traffic resumed. Her hand rested on his chest.
“Oh, dear, you were nearly killed.” An older woman put her hand over her mouth. “That driver ran the light.” The woman gazed at Alex. “It’s a good thing we have brave young men like you who can run the hundred-yard dash in three seconds flat.”
Alex laughed. “I don’t think I was quite that far away.”
Morgan relished the warmth of Alex’s arms around her. “Thank you—that was quite a rescue.” She winced as pain sliced through her rib cage.
He gazed down at her as people maneuvered around them on the street. “You all right?”
“Just a reminder that I haven’t totally healed.” She couldn’t stop trembling. “Guess I was so lost in thought I wasn’t paying attention.”
“You’re still a little shaken up. You want to sit down? Catch your breath.” Alex glanced around and then pointed toward the Botanical Gardens. “It’s restful in there.”
“That would be nice.” Her voice gave away how upset she was. As they walked up to the entrance, she was grateful for the calming effect of Alex’s hand on her back.
The gardens were in a geodesic dome with a huge sculpture at the entrance, half circles of metal in rainbow colors. They paid the fee and entered. An abundance of tropical plants interspersed with waterfalls and bridges and walkways greeted them. She eased down onto a bench in a secluded spot.
Alex sat beside her. “That guy nearly ran you over. Crazy city drivers, huh?”
She nodded, wishing that she could believe it was only an inattentive driver. She hadn’t noticed anyone following her. Would this ever be over? Right now it felt like there would never be a time when she didn’t have to be on her guard.
A waterfall hummed in the background as people’s voices echoed off the dome. The events of the day weakened her emotional resolve. “It’s beautiful here, isn’t?”
“I’ve always liked it.”
When she looked at Alex she knew she was falling apart. Being in this romantic place and peering into his eyes only reminded her of what she didn’t have. What she couldn’t have. Her eyes rimmed with moisture.
“Hey.” Alex’s voice was filled with compassion. “You’re safe now.” He reached over and wiped the tear from her cheek. “It was just some bad driver trying to get someplace ten seconds faster.”
He leaned close, and she breathed in the soapy clean of his skin. His hand rested on her cheek. He looked into her eyes. The affection she saw there was heartbreaking.
“You don’t need to be afraid.” His voice had become husky.
How she wanted that to be true. His gaze held a magnetic pull. She could not look away. Her longing for him intensified. If only... Tears flowed down her cheek.
He leaned in as though he were going to kiss her but stopped. “Maybe I’m out of line.”
She shook her head, not understanding.
“You and Burke.”
She laughed. “There’s nothing between us.” She looked at the ground.
“In that case.” He placed his finger under her chin, tilted her head up and kissed her. She melted beneath his touch as his mouth covered hers. His arms surrounded her, pulling her close. She responded to the strength and warmth of his kiss. In his arms she felt released from the pain and uncertainty of her life. She’d wanted this for a long time.
His arm wrapped around her waist. His stubble grazed her smooth cheek as he deepened the kiss. His hand brushed through her hair and touched her ear. She couldn’t pull away if she’d wanted to. He kissed her lightly several more times before tilting his head back.
Breathless, she opened her eyes.
“Guess I don’t like to see you cry.” The look in his eyes made her skin tingle.
Even as she basked in the afterglow of his kiss, she knew it had been a mistake. He had accepted her completely. He hadn’t demanded answers from her. She could give him nothing in return. Any romance between them was doomed.
His face remained close to hers, his eyes searching. “That was quite a kiss. I hope there’s more,” he said.
She scooted away. His proximity was enticing. Her mind told her it was cruel to both of them to set up any expectation for romantic involvement, but her heart only wanted him to hold her. She pulled the words from the pit of her stomach. “I can’t.”
His expression clouded with disappointment. “But I thought...”
“I can’t be in a relationship right now.” Even as the words spilled out, the heat of his touch, the way her lips had yielded to him, lingered.
He let out a heavy breath. “Whatever you want, Morgan.” His words tinged with anger as he shot to his feet.
Morgan crumpled inside. She’d hurt him. “It wasn’t a bad kiss, though,” she said with a small smile.
He sat back down, his voice softening. “No, not at all.”
His hand rested on the bench. She could feel her own hand magnetically drawn to it. She crossed her arms.
Don’t mess it up by sending him mixed signals.
Alex stood up. “Let’s get back to The Stables where things make a little more sense, shall we? We’ve got that overnight trail ride coming up in a couple of weeks. I think we should start planning right away.”
So they were back to talking about work as though nothing had happened. That’s the way it had to be.
Morgan followed. As they moved through the lush green plants past scented flowers, she knew the kiss would be impossible to forget.
* * *
Alex awoke to the buzzing of the door. It was nearly 2:00 a.m. That could mean only one thing: There was some emergency with the horses. He shoved on his boots and shirt and hurried from his private quarters through the lobby of the guesthouse.
Morgan stood on the porch. Her hair was loose, and it looked like she’d slipped her jeans on over her pajamas. “The horses got out of that pasture where we put them to graze. The gate must not have been latched right.”
It had been weeks since the car accident. Morgan had healed enough to start riding again. She spent much of her time scouting trails for the overnight camping trip, and he had confined himself to the office as much as he could. Alex found himself thinking about their kiss more often than he wanted to admit. Confusion clouded his thoughts. He had seen desire in her eyes right before he kissed her. Why, then, had she denied she had those feelings?
“Craig was supposed to fix the latch on that gate.” He walked over to grab his jacket off the hook.
Morgan followed him into the coat room. “You’ve been keeping Craig pretty busy lately. Maybe he didn’t have time to get to it.”
Craig seemed to be becoming a bigger and bigger point of contention between them. Alex knew their fights weren’t really about Craig. The subtext of all their disagreement was his frustration over his unrequited affection.
Pushing aside his ire, he placed his hat on his head and tried to come up with a plan for getting the horses in. “So we don’t have any horses we can ride to catch the others?”
“Chipper’s Boy came right up to the cottage. He wanted to be caught.” Morgan still had not calmed down.
“He’s a good horse.” Alex’s mind raced. “I’ll get the two-way radios. There should be some flashlights in the utility shed.”
They met up a few minutes later by the corral. Several of the horses hung close to the perimeter. They could be led in easily enough. It was the horses running across property lines and ending up hurt that concerned him.
Morgan had already saddled Chipper’s Boy.
“Let’s get the easy ones in first. Then I’ll take the truck out on the road. You can work the trails with Chipper. Let me know when you spot one. Are you any good at lassoing
?”
“I can handle it,” Morgan said.
“Let’s get this done.” He’d missed being around her, working closely with her, but avoidance seemed the best strategy because his attraction to her held sway over his ability to think straight. She couldn’t have been any clearer than she had been at the gardens. He had to accept that there could be nothing between them.
In all, twelve of the horses were easily led back into their stalls. That meant four more were unaccounted for. Alex drove out into the trail area. He could see Morgan’s light in the distance. He searched the landscape. They had to get the horses in. This could end up costing money, and it was a huge safety risk to the horses. If one of the boarded horses ended up injured, The Stables’ reputation was on the line. With two other stables in the area stepping up their game, he didn’t need the bad PR something like this would generate. The fire had already caused him to lose some clients.
Static noises came across his radio and then he heard Morgan’s voice. “I got one over here. I’ll lead him over and we can tie him up behind the truck.”
After a few hours of searching, they’d located all the horses but Bluebell. Morgan tethered the last horse to the back of Alex’s truck. “I’m going to keep looking for Bluebell if you want to take those guys in.”
“I can do that, but I’ll come back out and give you a hand,” Alex offered.
Of all the horses, losing Bluebell held the most dire consequences. Stephanie Bliss was not an easy client to deal with. Bluebell was an extremely valuable horse. Plus theft could be an issue if someone dishonest found the horse.
His frustration rose back to the surface. “Did you see if Craig fixed that latch?”
Morgan tied off the rope with a jerking motion. “I don’t know one way or the other. Could we not point the finger at that kid?”
“Why do you keep defending him? He’s not even nice to you.” His words came out angrier than he had intended. Before his words were even out, he knew he wasn’t really angry about Craig. This was about her rejection of him.