Last Chance Cowboy

by Leigh Riker

  “Your sister worries about you. You have to start somewhere, Derek.”

  “For minimum wage?”

  “If that’s what it takes, yeah. Maybe you should adjust your expectations.”

  Derek’s light-blue eyes cooled. “Seems to me you haven’t changed yours one bit.”

  Grey blinked. For an instant he couldn’t think what Derek had meant, but then he knew. He and Derek rarely had any other topic to discuss. Plus, he remembered what Finn had said. “I’m not going to talk with you about Shadow.”

  Derek stepped closer, into his face. “I’m going to tell you this one time, Mr. Big Deal Rancher. Stay away from my sister. She left here years ago—best thing she ever did—and frankly, I wish she hadn’t come home again. That can only mean more trouble from you.” He added, “A wonder people in this town didn’t ride you out on a rail.”

  Grey’s jaw clenched. He entertained the idea of punching Derek, then thought better of it. Derek had been just fifteen when Jared got shot, and Grey wouldn’t get anywhere with him now. Derek might be well on his way to becoming a flawed man like his father, but Grey hoped there was still a chance for him. And he’d always tried to cut Derek some slack. The kid had been there the night Jared died, and Grey couldn’t blame him for standing up for his big sister today, even playing the tough guy, though that didn’t sit well with Grey.

  “Message received,” he said anyway. He turned from Derek to his truck’s open door. “Now move that Chevy—before I move it for you.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  LATER THAT AFTERNOON, Grey drove over to the Circle H, needing someone to talk to, someone he trusted. He and Logan stood at the corral fence, where he started with Finn Donovan’s refusal to reopen the Jared Moran case.

  “Sorry to hear that, Grey. I know you were hoping for a different result.”

  What had he expected Logan to say? He couldn’t change the sheriff’s decision. The past few days had been one long frustration. “Then, for good measure, I had to run into Shadow’s brother.” He related the parking incident. “I hate to think like this, but I swear he’s turning into the spitting image of his dad.”

  Logan rubbed the back of his neck. “Derek didn’t have a good role model, that’s for sure. It’s a sorry tale,” he said. “Like Jared’s death. Wish I’d been here for you when all that happened, Grey.” Logan had been in the air force then.

  “Nothing else you can do now, either. Except to keep being my friend,” Grey said. “I know you’ve taken heat for that more than once.”

  He started to peel away from the fence. “Better get on home. We had a sick cow earlier—one of my best breeders—with a weak calf at her side that may not survive. When my men and I weren’t seeing to that pair, we were branding other calves. I doubt they’ll want to stand watch tonight, looking for rustlers.” He half smiled. “Besides, they’re still hazing Cody. He gets all the dirty jobs.” Of which there were many on a ranch. At least he hadn’t forgotten to feed the horses that morning, but Grey remembered Finn’s statement earlier. What kind of man did you hire? Was Cody just a careless kid or could he be hiding a more sinister side? Grey changed his mind. “I’ll take watch myself if I have to.”

  “Tobias and Willy will keep watch here,” Logan said. “Sure hope we come up with some clue—or even better, an actual sighting. That white truck couldn’t just disappear.”

  “Unless it’s not local. Maybe Finn can expand the search to other counties, too—even the rest of the state. See what turns up.”

  He had one booted foot still on the fence rail when Logan said, “Before you go, come inside for a cold beer. We can strategize.”

  Grey was about to say yes—he’d worked up a thirst branding with his men all day—when he glanced down the long driveway to the road and saw Blossom’s shiny new car turn in. Logan had bought it for her as an engagement gift to replace her old tan sedan.

  As the car neared, he saw there were two people inside. When they got closer, he realized the other person was Shadow. He didn’t see her red Mustang anywhere, and he hadn’t seen her since she’d told him about going to Doc and then that she’d changed her mind about putting the baby up for adoption. Also, to Grey’s relief, he’d heard she’d changed her mind about the wedding and agreed to be Blossom’s maid of honor, after all. He didn’t want their friends to be pawns in his chess game with Shadow.

  Logan waved at the approaching car. “Blossom and Shadow drove to Wichita today to shop for a wedding dress.”

  “Guess we’ll hear all about it,” Grey commented.

  You’d look real nice in a long white gown.

  Logan raised a brow. “I’m told I can’t see it before the ceremony.”

  “That’s supposed to be bad luck.” Grey knew little about weddings, but his sister had told him about the superstition years ago when she was making preparations to marry Logan. Now they were divorced and Logan was about to wed again, which had left Olivia as a single mother to their seven-year-old son. She and Logan shared custody.

  As soon as Blossom’s car stopped, Shadow flung open her door. Obviously she’d seen Grey. Her chin set, she started toward the rear of the house where she must have left her car, but Logan caught her arm. “Hold on. You don’t say hello before you take off? There are people who want to hear about that shopping trip.”

  Joining them, Blossom beamed. “I found it!” She made a zipping motion across her lips. “And that’s all I’m going to say.”

  Shadow eased her arm from Logan’s light grasp. “Before I spill the beans—because, Logan, you won’t be disappointed, her gown is absolutely gorgeous—I’m going home.”

  “Grey and I were just going to have a drink. Join us.”

  “Thanks, but I have to... I need to...” She ran out of steam. Grey knew Shadow wouldn’t invent some lame excuse just to get away from him, and she didn’t.

  “Don’t mind me,” he said.

  Logan had walked off with Blossom, and at the back door he guided her into the kitchen. “You two stay there for a minute.” He grinned over his shoulder. “You can practice being nice to each other for the wedding, which—like this house—will be a stress-free zone. Another warning—so will our weekend with the wedding party in Kansas City. Hope neither of you have forgotten about that. We need you there—and Shadow has to pick a dress, too.”

  Grey almost groaned. The bridal party was supposed to spend a few days in KC to firm up some of the plans and the time was fast approaching. He imagined Shadow wasn’t looking forward to that, either. Their last talk hadn’t gone that well, and Grey still had questions. For a start.

  The door shut behind Logan, leaving Grey alone with Shadow. She avoided his gaze. “What did I get myself into here? A whole weekend? When Blossom asked me, I thought it would be just the two of us again, like going to Wichita for her dress today. Why do we all need to go to Kansas City when the ceremony’s going to be here?”

  “Logan says we have to get tuxedoes fitted. There’ll be some kind of cake tasting, too, and he and I are supposed to rent a wooden dance floor for the reception.” He couldn’t resist adding, “Imagine us all dancing under the cottonwoods with lights strung through the trees.” But that didn’t seem to appeal to Shadow.

  Grey studied her. Beautiful, he thought, even prettier than ten years ago. Her face was more refined, and she had a stronger sense of herself. He recognized her expression as if he were looking in a mirror. He knew her every smile and frown like the back of his hand. “What’s wrong? Other than the trip?”

  She turned away. “Nothing. I guess I’ll see you in Kansas City.”

  From the kitchen Grey heard the refrigerator door open then close. Several bottles clinked onto the table. A cupboard door banged shut. Blossom was probably preparing snacks to go with the drinks.

  He tracked Shadow toward the Mustang. There was
definitely something bothering her, other than the prospect of a weekend away with him. Grey realized what that was. No wonder she didn’t want to talk. “Shadow, I asked to see her. When?”

  She briefly pressed her lips together. “I’ve planned to bring her to Barren. Unfortunately, my nine-year-old daughter doesn’t agree and neither does my sister. I don’t quite know what to do about the impasse...”

  “Or me?” he asked, and in that instant made up his mind. Jared’s death wasn’t the only issue between them. “I have a right to see her, Shadow. Make it happen.”

  As if she’d been expecting that, her eyes grew moist. They glistened, their deep brown turning as dark as black onyx before she turned away again, fishing in her bag for her car keys. “I told you that’s not a good idea just now. I can’t bring her home just like that, either. She needs to be prepared and Jenna might dig in her heels,” Shadow said. “It’s not as if she has any legal right. She’s not a guardian, but I know I’ll be damaging our relationship—mine and Ava’s—maybe irrevocably. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to upset my child. And as far as you’re concerned, Jenna hasn’t forgotten about Jared, either.”

  “Neither have I. You think it wasn’t hard for me, too, being accused of something I didn’t do?” Probably didn’t do, he thought. He resettled his Stetson. “And if you haven’t noticed, the second you hit town again, all of that came back.

  “I know,” she said.

  “Just this morning two people went out of their way in front of the bank to avoid me. They didn’t say a word, but they didn’t have to.” His mouth tightened. “And Derek recently gave me an ultimatum to keep away from you. People here don’t forget, Shadow—just like Jenna. They can see me every day, doing my job, keeping my nose clean, and still they wonder...who really killed Jared? I don’t know how to stop all that except to find the truth myself.”

  “I understand that. I hope you do.”

  Grey kept one hand on her door. That car with its bright-red paint job seemed to shriek at him. Stop. Go away. He’d be darned if he would. “That’s all you can say? Then I have another question. What made you decide, after arranging for that adoption, to keep the baby, after all?”

  He’d startled her enough that at first she didn’t react. Then she looked over his shoulder at the house as if hoping to be rescued. Her voice quavered. “I always wished things could be different. That this wasn’t how it was supposed to be, and every day I felt more disloyal to Mrs. Merritt.” She hesitated. “Every morning, lying there with the baby, alone for those few minutes together in that sunny room, I kept thinking—what if we hadn’t broken up and Jared didn’t die? And I thought...” She removed his hand from her door latch. “I always thought of you.”

  Grey was so surprised, even stunned, that he couldn’t say a word. He wanted to pull her close, hold her, draw her in for a kiss that might heal them both. Instead, he watched her get into her car and heard the engine start, but he didn’t move.

  What could he say to that?

  He was still standing there when she drove off in a cloud of dust that nearly choked him. Grey looked after her, aching. And he knew that she must be hurting, too.

  * * *

  SHADOW FLEW ALONG the country road toward town, paying little attention to the speed limit. She passed the local ranches in a blur, driving from the Circle H toward town with her hands clammy on the wheel. On such straight roads, she found it hard to rein in her Mustang. The classic red beauty wanted to run.

  So did Shadow. She couldn’t get home fast enough.

  Why had she let Grey see so deeply into her soul? Just as she’d gotten a fresh look into his. Remembering that lonely time before Ava was born, she’d wanted to cry out for him when he wasn’t there. Now that he was, how would they find the common ground they needed for Ava’s sake? She was no longer alone in making those choices. And Grey would be right to blame her for some of the decisions she had made. Without him.

  The flashing red lights behind her came out of nowhere. So did the siren.

  Worried about Grey, regretting that she’d bared herself to him emotionally, she reacted in slow motion. Saw the sheriff’s car in her rearview mirror. Saw him motion her to pull over. And yet it was another half mile down the two-lane before she pulled to the side of the road, put on her flashers and sighed. Finn Donovan. She slapped the steering wheel with the heel of her hand as he strode from his cruiser to her car.

  He shook his head. “Shadow Moran.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I clocked you doing eighty-five. This is a fifty-five mile per hour zone.”

  “Guilty as charged.”

  Finn quirked an eyebrow. His dark hair gleamed in the late-afternoon sun that slanted across the road. “No excuses?”

  “None.” She was still trembling from her confrontation with Grey. “Write me the ticket, okay?”

  He cocked his head, barely suppressing a smile. “Maybe I need to impound this car,” he said. “Let you spend the night in a cell downtown.”

  Shadow knew what he really meant. Pushing aside her concerns for Grey, if not for Ava, she tried to relax. With every day that dragged on without her, she missed her daughter even more. She needed a laugh. “Maybe you’d like to drive this classic car around town. That really why you stopped me?”

  “No, ma’am. You were speeding.” He brandished his citation pad like some trophy won at a high school sports banquet. Since Finn was relatively new in town, she hadn’t known him in what people called his glory days. Finn had been a star quarterback somewhere in Indiana, and rumor had it the wall of shelves in his living room here was loaded with awards. Shadow hadn’t seen them or his house, yet she and Finn kept meeting up in the most unlikely places. Where had he been hiding? There wasn’t a bush or tree in sight, an outcropping of rock. They both surveyed the pancake-flat plains. The wind was picking up, a spring curse every year. By now, it should have become a milder, summer breeze.

  “I spied you from near the Wilsons’ place. Obviously you didn’t see me.”

  No, she’d been lost in her thoughts. The wedding trip to Kansas City, Grey, the adoption she hadn’t gone through with, Ava...

  She tried to capture a strand of hair that swept across her face. “So. Just write me up and I’ll be on my way. You’ll have your quota for this month—everyone says you have one—and you’re welcome. I’m happy to support the town of Barren and Stewart County.”

  He grinned. “You’ve got a lot of chili pepper in you, Shadow.”

  She half smiled in spite of her grim mood. “Watch it, Finn.”

  “That’s Sheriff Donovan to you.” He looked mildly affronted for a moment before he said, “But instead of giving you a ticket, I’d rather take you to dinner tonight.”

  Shadow swiped at her hair again, trying to hold it back against the wind. “That’s an abuse of your power as an officer of the law. It’s—”

  “A pretty good idea.” His eyes twinkled with mischief, tempting her to set aside her problems. “Come on, why not?” he said. “Bet you don’t have anything better to do.”

  “How would you know that?”

  “Because neither do I,” he said, his mouth suddenly turned down like a pouting boy who’d been caught stealing cookies from a jar. “Take pity. I’m isolated by this very badge—” he pointed at his chest, where Shadow saw no badge “—and being in such a position of power, as you said, gets lonely.”

  She clapped her still-clammy hands. “Bravo, that was an award-winning performance.”

  “You’ll never know I’m serious if you don’t say yes. It’s only dinner.”

  At last Shadow tucked the wayward strand of hair behind one ear. With only a brief spurt of what might be guilt, she took Finn’s challenge. Besides, in spite of the tension she’d carried with her from the Circle H, her stomach was already growling. By
tomorrow morning it would be all over town that she and the sheriff had been sighted at Annabelle’s Diner, the only place for a dinner date in Barren. The café down the street served only breakfast and lunch.

  But at the moment she didn’t care about other people’s gossip. She needed to escape the persistent memories of Grey and her concern for Ava, the newer image of Grey standing, speechless, in the driveway after she’d all but admitted that her feelings for him hadn’t died with Jared.

  It’s only dinner. A few hours of conversation, some shared laughter and she’d be home. Shadow wouldn’t think of Finn’s invitation as a date.

  Just as she wouldn’t allow herself to think again of Grey tonight.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  AT HER MOTHER’S kitchen table, Shadow reread the notice from the county tax assessor’s office. Her heart sank all over again.

  After she’d driven the rest of the way home yesterday, the months she’d spent with the Merritts during her pregnancy, always knowing that Ava would be theirs, had kept playing in her mind like an old, bittersweet tune made new again since she’d told Grey that the adoption hadn’t gone through. And with Ava to consider, she wasn’t ready for another relationship—with Grey or with Finn.

  As soon as she’d gotten home, Shadow had called the sheriff’s office and left a message.

  Sorry, I won’t be able to do dinner, after all.

  She had to put Ava’s well-being first. And that would mean spending every spare moment with her once she moved back to Barren. Baking cookies. Shopping for those new summer clothes. Sharing good-night kisses in Ava’s new room, which was waiting for her. Shadow had always started with a kiss on top of her head then the tip of her nose and on both cheeks before she finished with a light peck on Ava’s lips. That had been their nightly ritual. It would be again.

  Shadow held up the notice. “When did this come?”