The Texas Lawman's Woman

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  A knock sounded on the apartment door.

  Hoping it was Colt, and that he’d located the only thing that would calm her hopelessly distraught child, Shelley rushed to answer it.

  Colt stood on the other side. Clad in jeans and a rumpled cotton shirt, his handsome face covered with a day’s growth of beard, his short, dark hair standing on end, he looked sexy as all get-out, and most important of all, he was holding the much wanted toy aloft like a trophy.

  “Mine!” Austin squealed. He lurched for the miniature vehicle so suddenly Shelley would have lost her grip on him had Colt not been there to step in and take her son in his strong arms.

  “Mine! My truck!” Austin said, showing Colt.

  “And what a fine truck it is,” Colt soothed in his low, reassuring baritone.

  Austin hugged Colt fiercely. “My deppity,” he exclaimed. And it was then, when her son finally stopped sobbing his heart out and actually smiled, that Shelley burst into tears herself.

  * * *

  COLT DIDN’T HAVE MUCH experience rocking a baby to sleep, but he’d seen it done plenty of times, and as it happened, it was pretty easy when a tyke was as absolutely exhausted as Austin.

  Ten minutes after Colt sat down in the rocking chair, Austin and his truck snuggled in a blanket and tucked against his chest, he had a soundly sleeping toddler in his arms.

  Which was good, because Colt was more than a little clumsy as he put Austin back into his crib. Not that it mattered. The little guy was so fast asleep, he didn’t stir in the least. Very aware of the bed where Shelley had been sleeping next to the crib, Colt shut the door and went in search of her.

  She was curled up on the sofa, a wad of damp tissues in her hand.

  Colt sat down beside her, and unable to help himself, sifted a hand through the mussed silk of her auburn hair. “Are you going to be okay?”

  She nodded. However, her red, swollen eyes and trembling lower lip said otherwise.

  He scooted closer. “What else is going on?” he asked gently.

  Shelley shifted toward him. The open V of her pajama top revealed the delectably smooth skin over her collarbone. Lower still, the uppermost curves of her breasts. “You mean beside a distraught baby boy, and a lost toy, an unwanted eviction, two residential moves in three days, and a house that is going to be auctioned off in less than a week?”

  Put that way.... Tenderness welling from deep within him, Colt ran his thumb over the curve of her cheek. “You might just have a little too much on your plate for any one person to deal with.”

  Her expression turned even more vulnerable. “You think?”

  He wrapped his arm about her shoulders, tucking her snugly into the curve of his body. “How did your meeting with Liz go?”

  Cuddling close, she said in a low, muffled voice, “What do you think? It was a disaster.”

  “Because?” He pressed a kiss on her temple. Her head fell wearily back to rest against his biceps.

  She drew a quavering breath. “I had this bright idea that I could place a lien on Tully’s personal property until he paid the money he owed me.”

  “Does he have one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in assets?” Colt asked, curious.

  Shelley raked her teeth across her soft lower lip. “Not since he blew through all the money in his trust fund, but he has a lot of very expensive toys. A Jet Ski and a speed boat, a motorcycle and a sports car. At least he did, when we divorced.” She sighed. “Anyway, I thought maybe if he was forced to surrender some of his toys to pay off the debt that he might suddenly be a lot more motivated to help me find a way to keep the house out of auction.”

  There she was...depending yet again on her ex to come through for her, when they all knew it was a pipe dream.

  Frustration knotted Colt’s gut. “But Liz didn’t think it was a good idea?” he guessed.

  Shelley scrubbed the tears from her face. “Nope. I’d need a court order to do that, and first there would have to be a civil lawsuit filed against Tully, settled in my favor. And that’s not at all feasible because it would cost a minimum of ten thousand dollars just to get the ball rolling. So—” she pressed her fingers beneath her eyes, struggling not to cry again “—I’m back where I started.”

  Colt shifted her over onto his lap, much the way he had, years ago, when they’d been dating. “I could still help you, you know. I could bid on the house for you on Tuesday, and make sure I end up with it.” His attorney wouldn’t like it. Neither would the department. But so what? He’d be helping her.

  Shelley shifted around so she could look into his eyes. She stared at him a long, careful moment. “I appreciate the thought,” she said finally, biting her lip again.

  “But...?” Colt tried his best to figure out what kind of assistance she needed.

  Shelley slowly wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “This is the only kind of help I need...”

  * * *

  SHELLEY HADN’T EXPECTED the night to end with her kissing Colt. But it was what she wanted. He was what she wanted. Right now, she’d take any way to find release and forget the difficulties going on in the rest of her life.

  And Colt, with his strong body and even stronger heart, beckoned like a lighthouse on stormy seas. She reveled in the feel of him, so hard and hot and masculine. She reveled in the spirit of him, so generous and giving and practical, so unafraid to face whatever came his way.

  Shelley needed to lose herself in his strength and find a way to duplicate it in herself during this very difficult time. She needed to make up for the mistakes of the past and find a way to segue into the future.

  Being with Colt, the way they had always been destined to be together, seemed the perfect way. She traced the contours of his face with her fingertips, reveling in the abrasion of his evening beard. “Don’t turn me down tonight,” she whispered, inhaling the sandalwood and leather scent of his cologne.

  His mouth was on her neck, tracing her racing pulse. “Not planning to.”

  His low, smoldering voice made her heart skitter. She sat back to gaze intimately into his beautiful blue eyes. “Really?”

  He smiled. “Really.” He cupped her head in his hands and kissed her deeply, his mouth claiming hers in the way she’d been dreaming about. “You’re all I’ve been able to think about.”

  She let out a breath, ready to let herself need, just for a little bit, wanting this more than she had ever wanted anything in her life. “In that case...” She gave herself up to him, tangling her tongue with his, absorbing the fact he was so big and strong and hard. Everywhere. Processing the fact that this was about to change everything, irrevocably. She broke off the kiss. “This isn’t just because I need rescuing, is it?”

  And kissing and holding and loving....

  His eyes opened, dark and intense. He pulled her all the way onto his lap, rocking her against him, making her quiver. He rubbed his thumb across her lower lip, absorbing the dewy moisture from their kiss. “It may be part of the appeal.”

  She smiled, loving that he was so direct about his desire. Knowing he wanted her as much as she wanted him warmed her from the inside out. She pressed her lips to his again, reveling in the hot, male taste of him. “And the other...?”

  His hand ran down her spine to rest at the small of her back. The other slipped inside her pajama top, to rest atop her racing heart. He looked down at her, his expression suddenly unbearably tender. “Is the fact I’ve always been crazy about you.” His hand slipped lower, across the top of her bare breast. “And curious about you.” He found her nipple, caressing it so gently she moaned. “About what it would be like to finally...”

  Shelley trembled with need. “Make love.”

  He met her gaze. “Yes.”

  She liked the way he said that, too. So open and honest. Liked the way he shifted her again
, so they were prone on the sofa, his body braced against the back cushions, hers lying flat. Head propped on his hand, one leg cozily inserted between the two of hers, he leaned down to kiss her. Long and hard and deep. Soft and sweet. Over and over, pulling her in, the same way he had years before in their long, sexy make-out sessions. Held against him that way, it was impossible not to respond. Button by button, he opened up her pajama top. Paused to look his fill. “You are so beautiful.”

  He made her feel beautiful whenever he looked at her like that. Made her feel that they were destined to be together. His lips blazed a path where his hands had been, creating a firestorm of sensation and pressing need. Throbbing deep inside, Shelley moaned and brought him close. She knew, from experience, how easily he could... “Colt...” She wanted him inside her.

  “I know.”

  She groaned again, not sure she could wait. “I want...”

  “This?” Easing a hand inside her pajama pants, he swept his palm across her lower abdomen, stroking, seeking, discovering, and in the next moment she found the release she sought. He held her, still stroking, still kissing her, until her shudders finally dissipated, and then he shifted again to stretch out over top of her.

  “I still want you,” she whispered. More than ever.

  He smiled. “I know.” He kissed her again, even more thoroughly and lovingly this time. “I want you, too.”

  * * *

  COLT JUST WASN’T SURE THIS WAS the time or place. Not when she was still so distraught about everything. He buried his face in her hair and took a deep bolstering breath, then levered his body off the sofa and stood.

  Shelley rose on her elbows, her pajama top falling open, her pajama pants and silky underwear riding just below her bikini line. She looked aghast. “You’re not leaving.”

  As much as he wanted to make love to her, he wanted to protect her more. Lower body aching, he ran his hands through his hair. “I want you to think about this.”

  “Oh, no.” Shelley scrambled to her feet, her top still falling open, revealing the pale roundness of her breasts and her taut, rosy nipples. She caught his wrist. “We’re not leaving this uneven! With you making love to me and me not making love to you.”

  As much as he did want to make love to her, he wanted to build something solid and long lasting even more. “Shelley...”

  The one thing he did not want was for her to think he took advantage of the situation—and her—by enticing her into something uncharacteristically reckless. Doing so would be worse than standing her up for prom. Far worse. Colt didn’t think he could live with her not wanting to ever see or speak to him again.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Colt rasped.

  But it seemed, as she led him back to the sofa and knelt between his knees, that she did. She lifted her head and looked at him, then pressed a string of kisses from his knee, across the inside of his thigh. The feel of her mouth, so soft and sweet, even through the fabric of his jeans, sent heat soaring through him.

  Smiling at his reaction, Shelley kissed her way past his navel, over his ribs, to his nipples. “Let me adore you,” she whispered again, her nimble fingers already unfastening his belt, then his jeans.

  He groaned as her hand slipped inside. Found what she was looking for and stroked, slow and sure. And suddenly, Colt knew if he didn’t do something soon, another opportunity would be lost. He wasn’t giving up the chance to be close to her again, the way they both wanted. Not when they’d wanted this for so long.

  Hands beneath her shoulders, he lifted her and guided her into a prone position. By the time he had stripped off his clothes, she was naked, too. The sight of her, her eyes misty with longing, breasts swollen and peaking, smooth legs open and waiting, sent him over the edge. He draped her with his body, their hearts pounding in unison. With a cry of surrender, she arched up to meet him, cupping him with impatient hands and guiding him all the way home. Colt caught his breath as hot, wet silk closed around him, her thighs pressed against him, and her lips met his once again.

  Aware this was just the beginning, Colt lifted her legs so they were wrapped tightly around his waist. He dove even deeper, filling her completely, kissing and possessing her with everything he had. White-hot, she kissed and stroked, giving him everything he’d ever wanted in return. Until he no longer knew where she ended and he began. And then, just that quickly, they tumbled into ecstasy...and beyond.

  When it was over, Shelley was the first to move away. She flashed him a wobbly smile. And Colt knew then, without her even uttering a word, that in her view, this was just a temporary hookup in her very temporary world.

  Chapter Nine

  Shelley was in the apartment kitchen Friday morning, slicing bananas, when her cell phone rang. Caller ID let her known it was the bride. “How are things in Maryland?” she asked.

  “Gerry’s temperature finally returned to normal and he’s almost done with his antibiotics,” Kendall announced happily.

  Shelley spooned warm oatmeal over the fruit and sprinkled the top with a little brown sugar. “That’s great!”

  Kendall sighed. “But he still can’t fly and the doctors want him to wait a few more days before he sets off cross-country in a car.”

  Shelley’s heart went out to her friend. “That’s not so great.”

  “Luckily, we’ve still got eight days till the wedding, seven till the rehearsal dinner, so we should easily be able to make it,” Kendall responded with her customary optimism. “Even if we will be arriving at the last minute since the doctors have advised us to split the traveling over three days.”

  Shelley set the bowl on the table and motioned to her son, who was playing nearby with his beloved little red truck. Austin toddled over, and with her help, climbed up into his booster seat. “Well, that is good news.” Shelley scooted her son’s chair closer to the table.

  “Yes, it is. Thankfully, we have a lot of help in addition to what you and the rest of the wedding party are doing for us back in Laramie.” She cleared her throat. “Our dads and a couple of Gerry’s navy pals are loading up a van and driving all our furniture and one of our cars out to California. Our moms will be staying to help us clean our apartment and will drive back with us to Texas.”

  Shelley got Austin started on his cereal and then went back to pour him a sippy cup of milk. “Sounds like you have everything under control.”

  Unlike me.

  “What isn’t so wonderful is that the ring bearer has the chicken pox. So, he’s not going to be able to be in the wedding. I was hoping you’d let Austin do it in his place.”

  The sentiment was sweet—and heartfelt. But... “I don’t know, Kendall. He’s only two and a half. And going through that everything-is-mine stage.”

  “But he’s so smart and so cute. And we could even have you and Colt bring him up the aisle together. Please? It would mean so much to Gerry and me to have Austin be part of the ceremony. We’ll have him hand off the ring pillow as soon as he gets up the aisle.”

  Austin was extremely cooperative with Colt, Shelley knew. Unable to deny her dear friends anything when they had been through so much, Shelley relented with a smile. “Okay. You’ve convinced me.”

  “Fabulous! I can’t wait to tell Gerry. Now, about the rest of the wedding details...”

  * * *

  WHEN COLT TOOK BUDDY for a walk after work, he was still brooding over the abrupt way Shelley had shown him the door following their lovemaking the previous night. He was halfway down Spring Street when he noticed Shelley’s red Prius parked in front of the Meyerson home. Clad in a pair of white cotton shorts, a dark green T-shirt, and sneakers, she was sitting on the porch of her childhood residence, Austin playing beside her.

  The first thing that went through his mind was that she was trespassing. Now that she had been officially evicted, no one—except county and bank
officials involved in the auction and transfer of the property to new owners—was allowed to be there.

  And that included him. Although he had disregarded that fact the evening before when he’d hijacked the key from the sheriff’s department and let himself in to look for Austin’s toy truck. At the time he’d told himself it was a necessary action if he wanted to help Shelley and comfort her inconsolable son.

  When he’d had to use a few stealth moves to get the key back to its rightful place this morning, he realized it had been a colossally stupid move.

  He should have gone through the proper channels, explained the situation and somehow gotten permission, even if it was the middle of the night.

  But he hadn’t.

  Now it was up to him to get back on the right path. And make sure Shelley didn’t get in trouble, too, as a result of his recklessness.

  Aware the first order of business, however, was getting her off the property—without actually throwing her off—he and Buddy headed up the front walk to the front steps.

  “Hey,” he said to her.

  Shelley met his eyes. “Hi,” she returned.

  Austin rose from his place on the wide wooden porch, his cherished red truck in hand. “My deppity!” he yelled. “My doggy!”

  Colt released his hold on Buddy’s leash.

  The aging canine lumbered slowly up the steps, his arthritic hips moving slowly. He went straight to Austin and lay down in front of him, tail thumping.

  Austin ran over to hug Colt, then returned to Buddy. He knelt down and hugged him, too. Buddy wagged all the harder.

  Colt looked at the piles of netting, ribbon and birdseed on the porch floor next to Shelley. Behind her, attached to the porch ceiling, were the heavy metal hooks that had once held her beloved porch swing.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, able to tell from her pensive look that it was something.

  Shelley sighed. “I talked to Kendall today and realized I am way behind on filling these bags.”

  Guilt flooded through him. “I was going to help with that...”