A Rancher's Dangerous Affair

by Jennifer Morey

“No. Nothing is going on between us. David was just murdered—”

  “Ever since you came here he’s been different.”

  Different?

  “That night...when you and David arrived. Brandon and I were getting on just fine. We were in the middle of a romantic evening. And then you showed up and his whole demeanor changed. He couldn’t take his eyes off you. You couldn’t take your eyes off him, either. It was like you hadn’t seen each other in years.”

  They hadn’t.

  “David noticed, too, did you know that?”

  Now Eliza bowed her head. That fact would always hurt her. She hadn’t meant to make David feel jealous or worry that she’d leave him for Brandon, or that she loved Brandon more...which she did. What David died never knowing was that there would never be another man she’d love more than Brandon. If only she’d have thought of that before she agreed to marry his brother. It wasn’t fair to David.

  “You should leave Vengeance.”

  Eliza’s head snapped up. It sounded so much like the note she’d received. The second note.

  “You’re taking the man I love away from me.”

  “No. I’m not. And I can’t leave until David’s killer is caught. Look, Jillian, you have nothing to worry about. Brandon doesn’t love me. He never did.”

  “Then stop trying to make him!”

  With that Jillian stormed to her car, got in and raced out of the driveway, spraying up dirt under the exterior lights until all Eliza could see were car lights disappearing over the hill.

  When she headed for the house, Brandon stood in the open doorway, gun at his side.

  “You would have shot her?”

  Inside, Brandon closed the door and returned the weapon to its trusty place in the entryway table drawer. “You didn’t think I’d leave you out there alone with her, did you?”

  Jillian was a chameleon with her emotions. One moment she was normal and the next she was lashing out.

  “What if she lied about the night we caught her with David?”

  “David was last with Naomi, remember.”

  Eliza was still bothered. There was something not quite right about Jillian Marks.

  “The police will find David’s killer. Come on.” He reached for her. “Let’s go heat up dinner. I’m starving.”

  “I am, too.” She walked in front of his arm and he touched her briefly, getting her going in the direction he wanted.

  While the instinct nagged that this friendly ground they were on was dangerous, she did need to eat.

  Not having David around and being with Brandon after so long had a strange but not unappealing mystique. The fact that David was dead did play its part and plagued her with guilt, but it hovered in the recesses of consciousness. The raw connection she had with Brandon couldn’t be denied.

  She watched him move around the kitchen with smooth agility, manly hands giving her some water and then a plate. Then he came around and sat at the island beside her, digging in.

  “You’re a good cook,” Brandon said after he had half his plate devoured.

  “A party girl doesn’t always have others do all the work.” She deliberately didn’t say event planner and eyed him askance to see if he caught that.

  He chuckled.

  “I like cooking. It’s a celebration all on its own.”

  “You would say that.”

  “Only because you expected me to say something like that.”

  “Then it’s not a celebration?”

  “I love to cook. It’s soothing.” She tipped her head up dreamily. “Satisfying. I have some recipes I came up with. I have a collection. I was thinking about doing a cookbook someday.” She hadn’t had the time yet. Upon reflection, she should have made time.

  Why had she kept so busy? Why had her event planning company been so important? She had to make a living.

  Surrogate for love.

  Of course it was that if she truly believed she couldn’t fall in love with anyone other than Brandon. That seemed so...shallow. Like there had to be more depth to it. She could have waited for another man to love.

  “You should.”

  She turned to Brandon in surprise. “Should what?”

  “Do a cookbook.”

  Figures he’d say that. “Why, so I stay at home more?”

  He scooped the last bite from his plate and ate it. After drinking some water, he said, “Don’t go there, Eliza.”

  She couldn’t get past the passion that had led to sex. There had to be something that had survived between them. How could Brandon have ended them so easily back then and want her so much now?

  “If I’d stayed at home more, would we have lasted longer?” she had to ask.

  Pushing his plate away, Brandon turned to her. “If Ryker would have moved his wife out of Vengeance, would they be having the problems they’re having?”

  Why was he asking that? Was he avoiding her question? “Probably.”

  “I disagree. You and your brother have that in common. You both run from love.”

  That again? “I don’t run. Ryker doesn’t, either. He loves Aegina.”

  “And only now realizes it.”

  Now that Aegina is gone. Eliza pushed her food around with her fork. “I wouldn’t have run if you’d loved me in high school.”

  “You ran because of me?”

  Didn’t he know that? She looked at him incredulously.

  His eyes took in the answer on her face. “We were kids.”

  “I loved you.”

  “How could you possibly have loved me at sixteen?”

  “Seventeen. I did love you.” She’d known it then, and she knew it now.

  His head withdrew, jerked back as though the impact of her reply hit him. And then blankness came over him. A trapped kind of blankness. This is what most women probably saw when he began to shy away from them, retreat into the safety of his solitude.

  “You’re doing it again.”

  Confusion put a furrow between his eyebrows. “Doing what?”

  She’d use his word. “Running.”

  He scoffed. “I am not. I just never knew you felt that strongly back then.”

  “You must have.”

  “No. You were young and I didn’t want to hold you back.”

  Convenient. She didn’t say the word out loud. There was no point. He’d have ended them no matter what he felt in return. Standing from the stool, she took her plate to the double-sided sink and rinsed it. As she placed it in the other side, Brandon came up behind her, putting his plate in the sink with the still-running water and, in true boy fashion, not rinsing it.

  His hands touched her biceps, gentle yet packing instant flame.

  “I’m sorry. If I’d have known...”

  He’d have what? Not broken up with her? No. He would have been a little more sensitive than simply stopping his calls. The end would have been the same. Destiny had called him in the direction he’d gone, opposite the party girl. And though she’d ached for him, she’d have been the one to leave if he hadn’t done it. They were getting too close. Her father had just died. She’d been so lost. He must have sensed her need for escape.

  She looked up at him, tipping her head up to see over her shoulder. “We both did what we needed to do.”

  Why did it feel as though everything had changed?

  He seemed to be feeling the same. The way his gaze moved from her eyes to her mouth ignited the fire that had drawn them together the night of David’s disappearance.

  David.

  Eliza stiffened and Brandon’s hands dropped as he stepped back. She turned and leaned against the counter. He stood there, hands at his sides, tall, windblown and handsome...debating.

  That’s when the degree to which she was falling for him crashed down upon her. This was far more involved than it had been when she was seventeen. The adolescent first love paled in comparison to what she’d feel for him if she allowed this to continue.

  And she could not forget David. She could not
allow her marriage to him to fade as though it had never existed. Though David had been a lying, cheating trouble-seeker, he didn’t deserve her disrespect. No man did. No person did. In the name of humanity, she had to back away.

  Brandon would thank her when the time came for her to go home to Hollywood.

  Chapter 9

  Eliza knocked on Aegina’s parents’ front door and waited. It was a clear, sunny day, and the neighborhood was alive with activity. People worked in their yards, washed cars, walked or biked. Kids laughed and shouted from somewhere a block away. No cars drove by. A typical small-town neighborhood where families thrived, something she’d missed out on ever since she’d left Vengeance. It gave her a nostalgic feeling, one that came with a sting of regret.

  The front door opened and Aegina’s plump, gray-haired mother appeared. “Eliza.” She sounded wary.

  “Is Aegina here?”

  “Yeah,” Aegina said from behind her mother’s bulk. “Let her in, Mom.”

  The woman stepped aside, still wary.

  “Thanks.” Eliza hugged Aegina. “I’m so sorry for what my brother did.”

  After glancing over Eliza’s shoulder at her mother, Aegina took her hand and led her through a kitchen that was still messy from lunch. Outside on the back patio, Aegina sat at a table with a bright red umbrella and flowers blooming all around them. A pitcher of sun tea was on the table with a stack of disposable cups.

  “Are you having a barbecue?” Eliza asked.

  “No. Mom just felt like having tea for the day. She thought it would cheer me up.” She dug into the ice bucket beside the pitcher and filled two cups.

  Eliza waited while she poured the tea, and then she accepted one of the glasses and took a sip.

  “Where’s Brandon?” Aegina asked.

  “I left him at the ranch.” It hadn’t been hard to elude him once he’d started work for the day. Although he’d instructed her to come and get him if she needed to go into town for anything, this was one trip he didn’t belong on. This was girl-talk time.

  “Any news on David?”

  Eliza shook her head.

  “Sorry. It must be so hard for you.”

  Losing a husband and over the moon for his brother. Yeah, that was pretty hard.

  “I went out to breakfast this morning with some friends. I heard some things that were kind of surprising.”

  “About David?”

  “No...about you. Is anything going on between you and Brandon?”

  “People are talking about me and Brandon?”

  “He was with you the night you and David fought at the Cork.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “One of my friends said David freaked because he found out about the two of you.”

  “That isn’t true!”

  “And the affair is still going on. You and Brandon are glad David is gone. They even speculated you’re about to get away with murder, that maybe you killed David to be with Brandon.”

  And two other people? Eliza had been away for a long time. Most people in town didn’t know her very well. They may have heard about her strained relationship with her brother and her high school love affair with Brandon. The party girl who left town to plan parties in Hollywood. On the surface she had the résumé for scandal. But murder? Killing one man would require a lot of insensitivity and motive. Killing three, one who was a good friend to her, was too much of a stretch.

  “That’s ridiculous.” Who was spreading those nasty rumors?

  “I set my friends straight, don’t worry, but I thought you’d want to know what’s blowing through town today.”

  “Who told your friend that?”

  “Her sister, who said Jillian Marks told her. Who knows where it started though.”

  “It started right there. Jillian is doing that on purpose.”

  “Really?”

  “She wants Brandon.”

  “That’s right. I heard they were seeing each other.”

  Until Eliza had come to town.

  “Well, it’ll be over by morning, you wait and see. End of the week tops.”

  Eliza sighed her exasperation. “Will that woman never give up? Brandon broke up with her. I’m hardly stealing him from anyone.”

  “You have to admit, the timing is pretty bad. You show up, Brandon breaks up with Jillian and then your husband is murdered.”

  “I didn’t kill David.”

  Aegina put her hand over hers. “I know.”

  Eliza smiled with warm appreciation. It was time to get to what she came here to say. “You’ve always been a good friend to me.”

  “You’ve been a good friend to me, too.” Her tone was tense, preparatory for what was to come.

  “What Ryker did...”

  “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Just hear me out, okay?”

  Aegina sipped her tea. “He kicked open the door and said ugly things to me.”

  “I know. And he deserved to be arrested. But, Aegina, that isn’t my brother. He’s a good man. He’s just confused. And then finding out you’re seeing someone else...he broke down.”

  “He’s not as confused as you think. He’s just upset that I was with another man. Men can’t handle that. Their egos are weak that way. He’s upset, nothing else.”

  “You’re wrong. Ryker loves you.”

  “He’ll love me more after we’re divorced and nothing is stopping him from going anywhere but Vengeance.”

  “You don’t think your kids will stop him?”

  Aegina looked away. “They might, but I won’t.”

  “What about our mother? Ryker is always throwing her in my face. Would he leave her here?”

  Her sister-in-law turned back to her. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over. I’m finished. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be with a man who doesn’t love me enough to have a strong enough reason to want to stay in Vengeance.”

  “But you are enough reason for him. Every bit as much as your kids.”

  “I appreciate you trying, Eliza, but this has been a long time in the making. Ryker and I haven’t had a real marriage for years now. We haven’t had sex in months. We fight all the time.”

  “That’s because Ryker was confused. He isn’t anymore. He loves you, Aegina. You have to believe me.”

  Shaking her head, Aegina looked away again. “No, he doesn’t. He never did.”

  “You’re wrong. He thought leaving Vengeance was what he wanted. It isn’t. Your affair made him see that.”

  Aegina kept her head averted.

  “He’ll forgive you for the affair.”

  “That’s what you don’t get. Ryker will never forgive me for that. It’ll be his convenient excuse for agreeing for a divorce.”

  “No—”

  Aegina stood, the chair scraping on the stone patio. “Thanks for coming by, Eliza. But I think you should go now. We can be friends if you’re able to respect my wishes. I want to divorce Ryker. If he’s had a change of heart, then I’m sorry, it’s too late.”

  It was futile to keep trying to convince her. In time maybe she’d relax her stance. Reluctantly, Eliza stood with her and led the way to the door. Once there, she paused.

  “All I ask is you consider what I’ve said. I know my brother. He wasn’t happy about being stuck with our mother here in Vengeance. What he didn’t realize until now is that has nothing to do with you. I should have helped him more.”

  “Oh, Eliza, stop being such a saint. Your mother has nothing to do with what’s going on between me and Ryker, and you have nothing to do with it, either. We’ve managed to mess that up all on our own.”

  Eliza smiled for lack of anything else to say or do. “I hope you change your mind about him.”

  Aegina said nothing, only hugged her before waving goodbye when Eliza turned on the front walk to do

  the same.

  On the way to her car, her thoughts turned from her brother to what had lain beneath the surface ever since Aegina told her. Davi
d believed she and Brandon were having an affair. If the rumors were true, even partially, he’d died thinking such a horrible thing. That bothered her, festered in her conscience. The wrongness. The scandal. The lack of respect for another human being. Her husband.

  She shut the car door a little harder than necessary, and the glove box bounced open. Leaning over, she saw a cell phone and froze. David’s cell phone. She picked it up and stared at it. She turned it on. The battery was low, but she was able to navigate to his recent call list.

  There was a number she didn’t recognize, and the call was received the night before he was killed. She called the number.

  A man answered. “Who is this?”

  “Who is this? Why was David Reed receiving calls from you?”

  “Are you his wife?”

  Eliza ended the call and started the engine. The man knew David was married. Did he also know he was dead? Had she just talked to his killer? Why would he answer if he killed David?

  She began driving. As the busy town center gave way to a rural landscape, she noticed a car following her. It was the car she’d seen parked on the hill at the ranch. Swallowing a sudden flash of anxiety, she pressed for more gas. The car stayed far enough behind that she couldn’t see the person driving. The bulky shirt suggested it was a man.

  The turnoff for the ranch appeared ahead on the road. Eliza drove onto Brandon’s gravel driveway and watched the car pass along the highway. She breathed a sigh of relief.

  * * *

  Brandon ran out of people to call to find out where Eliza had gone. Damn her. His father could be anywhere. The thought of his dad harming her made him want to punch the wall. He’d suffered enough of his father’s cruelty. No more. Eliza had to stay with him so he could keep an eye on her.

  The sound of tires over gravel spared him. He went out onto the front porch. Seeing her drive up in the rental eased his tension. He waited for her to climb the steps.

  She held up her hand. “Before you say anything, I went to see Aegina. Men weren’t welcome for that talk.” She entered the house.

  “I told you not to go anywhere without me.”

  She swept her hands in front of her body, palms out. “As you can see, I’m fine.”

  More than fine. She looked great in white shorts and a black-and-white summery top. Except she seemed tired and preoccupied with something. And she glanced back at the road, which caught his attention. “You were gone a long time.”