High Desert Detective, A Fiona Marlowe Mystery (Fiona Marlowe Mysteries)

by Thelen, Marjorie

  “That was quite a speech, Jake Manyhorses,” said Fiona. She leaned into his side of the seat, pulled his face to her and kissed him. “You may be right.”

  * * * * *

  It was late when they got back to the ranch. They had found Hoover and told him Mort Glory’s story. Hoover said he’d talk to Glory and keep an eye on him. The doctor would not release Glory. He wanted to keep him for observation. They were to call tomorrow to see how Glory was. Maybe he could go home in the afternoon, if he showed signs of improvement. Fiona would come to the hospital in the morning to check on him.

  Sammie was sitting in the living room reading a book when they entered the ranch house, and she greeted them with a smile. “How did your day go? Opal and I spent a quiet day resting. She turned in early. She needed some down time. Tomorrow I’ll take her for the next treatment.”

  “I could do it, if you want a break,” said Fiona. “I’m going to town to check on Glory.”

  They sat in the big couches in the living room and brought her up-to-date on Glory. Soft light from the table lamps cast a warm glow on the room.

  Sammie listened to the story in amazement. “I’m with you. I think there is more to Glory’s story. I’m glad you’re looking out for him. I’ll hang around here tomorrow, if you are going in, Fiona. Opal’s been worrying about her garden, and it will give me a chance to do some weeding and watering.” She picked up her book and rose. “I think I’ll finish this book tonight in bed. Pleasant dreams, you two.”

  Jake stretched out his legs after she left. “I could use some pleasant dreams about now,” he said.

  Fiona studied his legs. Her eyes traveled up his body the whole way to his face.

  He lay with his head against the back of the couch, eyes closed.

  Whatever was she waiting for? She placed her hand on his chest, barely touching.

  He half-opened his eyes and looked at her. She lowered her lips to his mouth and planted soft kisses around it, following his jaw line to his eyes.

  “Fiona, don’t do this to me.”

  Her lips brushed his ear. “I am going to do this to you.”

  She took his hand in hers and rose, tugging him up from the couch.

  He stood facing her, his eyes questioning what she was doing.

  With her arms she encircled his neck and pulled his lips to hers. Almost reluctantly, he placed his hands on her waist. His eyes still held the question that only she could answer. He stopped right before their lips touched.

  “I love you, Fiona. I would never hurt you.”

  “I know. I’m not playing with you this time, if that is what you are thinking. I’m serious now.”

  He closed the kiss, and her body caught fire. It went up in flames like the old bunkhouse, unguarded, unbridled, meant to burn everything in sight. Jake responded in kind, and they danced around the room to a tune only they could hear. He eased the vest from her shoulders, and it dropped to the floor. She pulled his bolo tie loose, opened his vest, and he shrugged out of it. She threw tie and vest on the chair as they danced by, Jake maneuvering them in a halting two step down the hall to his bedroom. He stopped in the hallway and opened the buttons to her blouse one at time, pausing each time to watch the reaction on her face. She smiled and worked on the buttons of his shirt, following his lead.

  “This is your last chance to say no,” he said in his low baritone whisper.

  She unbuckled his cowboy belt.

  “I take that as a yes,” he said, sounding like he was in pain.

  She led him by the hand the rest of the way down the hall to his room and closed and locked the door behind them.

  * * * * *

  Opal rose early the next morning, feeling amazingly good for an old woman with a terminal disease. She dressed and had in mind to do some work in the garden before she had to go into town. She walked through the living room. Someone had left the table lights on and she walked from lamp to lamp, turning them off. She stumbled across something on the floor and reached down to see what it was. She held up a pretty black sequined vest that she had last seen on Fiona. Her eyes found the vest and bolo tie on the chair by the hallway that she had last seen on Jake. She smiled and looked down the hall to the closed bedroom door.

  At last.

  Sammie walked into the kitchen a little later.

  “Fiona said she’d take you to town today. I’ll work in the garden.”

  Opal smiled over her coffee mug. “Let’s change our plans. We’ll do the garden tomorrow. You can drive me in today.”

  * * * * *

  Jake finished showering and grabbed a big, white fluffy towel to dry off. He sang the words to Hey, Good Lookin’ in a low, happy voice. He smiled into the mirror, lathered his face and started shaving, still softly humming the old Hank Williams song. He didn’t want to wake up the love of his life who lay sleeping on his big, king size bed. He thought it would never happen, but it did, and what a night it had been. It was like the lid had finally blown off and all the pent up feeling they had for each other had finally manifested. It had gone on just about all night. Finally, toward dawn they had fallen asleep wrapped around each other.

  He couldn’t remember when he had felt this good. Of course, all of it had to do with Fiona. Fiona, Fiona, Fiona. What a girl. God, he loved her. Finally, finally, finally. He felt like he had been waiting all of his life for her. Boy, when she decided to do something, she did it with all her body and soul. He felt like she had absorbed his whole being into hers.

  He finished at the sink and walked softly into the bedroom. She turned over and opened her eyes. When he saw her beautiful body again, he wanted to jump back into bed with her. He slid in beside her and gathered her sleepy self into his arms. She was almost purring.

  “Hey, are we going to start again?” she said.

  “What about a little one?” he said.

  “I don’t think you and I can have a little one,” she said and smiled into his eyes. “You’re all clean and smell good. Where are you going?”

  “Got a ranch to run and the day is already half over.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Nine o’clock in the morning.”

  She threw her arm back over her head and yawned.

  He kissed her beautiful breasts. He couldn’t help it. Everything about her was luscious. She looked at him and smiled, and he pulled her to him. They started again, and, like Fiona had predicted, it wasn’t a little one. They lay entwined, enjoying the afterglow.

  Jake checked his watch. “Good heaven, now it’s ten o’clock.”

  “We could take the day off and stay in bed all day,” she said.

  That was mighty tempting. Jake tried to remember what he had to do today. Monday morning was usually paper work. He had to call the bank to see if they had had made any decision about loaning him money to buy a ranch. Then he remembered Glory and Opal.

  “Glory,” Jake said. “We have to check on Glory.”

  “Oh, my, gosh,” said Fiona. “I was going to take Opal to town.”

  “Considering the time, I’d say Sammie probably took her, but I’ll check. Be right back. Don’t go away, maybe we can take the day off and spend it in bed together.”

  “I’ll take a shower while you check. It’s your fault. You made me totally forget that I was going to town this morning.”

  He watched her cross the room to the bathroom. She stopped and smiled back at him over her shoulder. She had the longest, sexiest legs and the prettiest body. Slowly she closed the bathroom door. He shook his head, smiling. She was wicked. Wicked, wicked, wicked. He found his jeans, pulled them on and walked out into the hall to see if the ranch was running without his close supervision.

  Opal and Sammie were gone. But he ran into Olympia in the kitchen. She looked surprised to see him.

  “Wow, look at you,” she said. “Nice musculature. You’ll have to excuse my staring, but I notice things like that being a writer of romance. Are you just getting up? And where is my dear friend,
Fiona? She is nowhere to be seen. I guess you haven’t seen her, have you?”

  Jake felt the heat rising in his face.

  She laughed. “You are holding her prisoner in your bedroom, I bet.”

  Jake found his voice. “She came of her own volition. Actually, she seduced me.”

  “Perfect. Great. This will make a great love scene in my next novel which I’m going to start today.”

  She poured him a mug of coffee. “Here, you might need this.”

  Jake smiled and said thanks. Olympia could grow on you after a while.

  “What have you been up to?” he asked, taking an exploratory sip of the coffee.

  She smiled. “I just got back this morning. I’ve been with Paul, the new love of my life. He’s an interesting guy. I like him. He took off this early morning for a consulting job down in Nevada.”

  “Why didn’t you go with him?”

  “I’m going to join him later this week. I found a ranch yesterday that I like, and I’m going to put in an offer today. It’s a real steal. Pretty setting, but the house and buildings are run down. I’m going to tear the house down and build a big old ranch house like Opal’s. Paul looked at it with me and says the soil and rock formations are good for ranching. I might even invest in a small herd.”

  “Sounds nice,” said Jake. “Where is it?”

  “Not too far from here. An old man has it and has to get rid of it because the bank is going to foreclose. He’s looking for a quick sale.”

  Jake frowned. “What’s the old man’s name?”

  “Lovejoy. I just love the name. I might have to use it for one of my new characters. I didn’t meet him. He wasn’t there.”

  Jake’s frown deepened. How many Lovejoys could there be nearby? “Was there new equipment in the barn?”

  Olympia frowned. “No, there wasn’t anything in what, I guess, you call a barn. It looked like a lean-to. Just some old dusty broken down stuff was in it. Why?”

  “Fiona and I looked at the same place on Friday. It wasn’t on the market then.”

  “Really? Are you sure? Are you interested? I thought you wanted Opal’s ranch.”

  “I’m interested. Opal isn’t selling me this ranch because of family problems. Opal’s nephew, Doc, told me Lovejoy’s place might be up for sale so Fiona and I drove over there to have a look. We talked to Mr. Lovejoy. He’s very forgetful and can’t walk very well. I don’t know how a real estate agent picked up on the place so fast.”

  It was Olympia’s turn to frown. “She said it had just come on the market the day before.”

  Jake shook his head. “I don’t know how the old man mustered up the energy to put it on the market that quick unless he had started the process and forgot to mention it.”

  Olympia pursed her lips. “This bears sorting out.”

  Jake leaned against the kitchen counter and thought about the equipment being gone. It had to be the same ranch. But where did the equipment go? He might take another drive over there.

  “I’ll call the real estate agent,” Olympia said. “I’ll ask her if it is the same place. Were you going to make an offer?”

  “I was thinking about it. With things being so unsettled here, I haven’t made a decision. There’s too much going on, and Fiona and I haven’t had a chance to talk it over.”

  “You and Fiona? I see. It sounds like this is getting serious.”

  “I asked her to marry me when we were over at Lovejoy’s place, as a matter of fact.”

  Olympia’s eyes widened. “That is so romantic. Fiona Marlowe has a marriage proposal? She said yes, of course.”

  “No, she didn’t. She said she needs to think it over. She’s not ready. She told me about the guy back in Virginia she was in love with.”

  “What? Rob? She needs to get over him. That was doomed from the start and went on way too long. He was using her.”

  “She said it was mutual.”

  Olympia sputtered and said, “Right. You don’t want to get me started on that jerk. I need to talk to her. You are probably the best thing that ever happened to Fiona. I’ve known her a long, long time. She needs to settle down with a good man like you.”

  “That’s what I told her,” Jake said with a laugh.

  Olympia lowered her voice. “Let me tell you something. It is a good sign that she went to bed with you. She’s a one man woman.”

  Jake cleared his throat. “I guess that’s good to know.”

  “I’m serious. She gets totally devoted to one man and can’t think of anything else. That’s the reason she put you off so long. Mark my words. If you and Fiona want Lovejoy’s ranch, I’ll find another one. There are plenty for sale. I want to see Fiona happy.”

  “I don’t know if a ranch is going to make Fiona happy.”

  “I’ll talk to her.”

  Jake was quiet then said, “I think Fiona Marlowe has to make up her mind in her own good time. I hear what you are saying, but I think it is important to give her the time she needs.”

  His cell phone was ringing, and he pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. “I got to take this call. Excuse me.” He walked out to the back patio, answered the call, and listened. “I’ll come over and bring the part. Give me fifteen minutes.”

  He closed the connection and sighed. A ranch was a living thing. It didn’t care about whether a man wanted to spend the day in bed with his woman. It demanded the last ounce all the time every day.

  “I got a ranch to run,” he said to Olympia when he walked through the kitchen. “Fiona should be out soon. She’s in the shower.” And he kept on going.

  In the bedroom, Fiona emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

  He pulled her to him and kissed her. “Sorry, darlin’, but I’ve got to go out to the second pivot. The baler has broken down. Olympia’s in the kitchen ready to make an offer on Lovejoy’s ranch, Sammie took Opal to town, and would you do me the favor of calling the hospital about Glory?”

  She smiled at him. “Yes, dear, I can do that.”

  He touched her damp hair. It smelled good and fell around her shoulders. “I like when you call me ‘dear’. It has a nice ring to it.”

  She gave him a quizzical look. “Wait a minute. Did you say Olympia was going to make an offer on Lovejoy’s ranch?”

  He started pulling on shirt, socks, and boots. “Yes, ma’am, that’s what I said.”

  “But . . . .”

  “Better ask her. I got to run. Call me if you need me. My phone’s always on for you.”

  He pulled her into one last kiss. “Too bad that rake had to break down. But we’ll continue where we left off tonight.”

  “Is that a promise?” she said.

  “You bet.”

  Sixteen

  Fiona took her time dressing, enjoying the glow of a satisfied woman. Jake was way beyond anything she had expected. Way, way beyond. He had an enthusiasm for bodily expression that she had never experienced before. She had welcomed his exploration of her body without a backward glance and had responded in kind.

  Lovingly, she made the bed. The anticipation of another night like last night made it a joy to arrange the sheets and blankets for more loving from Jake. She shook her head and laughed out loud. It had been so much fun. If she had known, she would have jumped in sooner. But waiting made it all the more intense and exciting.

  She walked to the window that looked out toward the flat fields green with new cut rows of alfalfa. The tall irrigation pivots were still. The water shut off. In the far distance she could see a piece of machinery standing in the field. Maybe that was the baler that Jake had to repair. She was learning fast about the life of a ranch. She knew what a rake was now and a swather and a baler. She liked the rhythm of a ranch. It was hard work, but it had a steady solidness to it that she hadn’t had in her life. Not far from her thoughts was Jake’s proposal of marriage. It entwined itself into her waking day and into her dreams.

  Taking one last look in the mirror, she reluctantly left Jake’
s room and walked toward the kitchen. She needed to call the hospital about Glory, but first she needed coffee. Olympia was not in the kitchen but the coffee pot was on the warmer, and she poured a mug. She wanted to know what was going on with Olympia so she walked toward the guest room her friend was occupying and looked in the open door.

  There sat Olympia before her lap top computer, typing away.

  “Are you working?” Fiona asked.

  Olympia kept typing and didn’t look up. “I started a new book. It’s been clamoring in my head these last few days to be set down in black and white. I can’t stop now.”

  Fiona walked over to stand beside her friend and watch the writer in the grips of the writing muse.

  “Can I ask just one thing?” Fiona said.

  Olympia sighed, took off her rhinestone encrusted glasses, and looked at her. “Fiona, you know I can’t talk when I’m writing. If it doesn’t involve blood or fire, I don’t want to be bothered.”

  “It doesn’t, but I have to ask one little question.”

  Olympia squinted at Fiona. “All right. One little question. What is it?”

  “Are you putting an offer on Lovejoy’s ranch?”

  Olympia smiled. “Only if you and Jake don’t get married and buy it.”

  Fiona laughed. “Jake told you.”

  With a deadpan face Olympia said, “Fiona Marlowe you will receive a full blown lecture from me on why you need to marry Jake when I’ve finished writing for the day. You have been forewarned. Now go, go, go. I have to get back to this scene.” She flicked her hands in a shooing motion and turned back to her work. “And close the door on your way out.” She looked up and smiled. “Please.”

  Fiona did as directed. She could hear Olympia’s lecture now. She had heard it before about how she should fall in love and settle down. Trouble was Olympia saw the whole world as a romance novel. Real life wasn’t like that.