tracks, to consistently lie. Eventually he would trip up.
Luke walked over and leaned against the side of the barn. "It was just
a matter of time and he'd know who'd committed the murder. And Luke
had all the time in the world to wait for the guilty to be brought to
justice.
An hour later as Luke pounded nails to strengthen the corral railing,
he saw Abby come out of the house and head in his direction. Blackheart
danced in the corral, already saddled and awaiting a run.
Luke paused in his work and shoved his hat to the back of his head,
watching her approach. Whether guilty or innocent, something about
Abby Connor definitely stirred desire in him. Although he wanted to
believe her to be a coldhearted witch, what he saw was a strong woman
with too much vulnerability in her eyes. Which was the real Abby
Connor?
"He looks eager for a run," Luke said, gesturing to the prancing black
horse.
"And I'm hoping a good run will blow the cobwebs out of my head. Two
cups of coffee didn't do the trick," she said as she unlatched the gate
and entered the corral.
Blackheart immediately walked over to her and nuzzled her shirt pocket.
"Ah, you're a spoiled one,;' she said softly as she pulled a lump of
sugar from her pocket and offered it to the horse.
"If you'd talk so sweet to me, I'd let you ride on my back," Luke
observed with a wry grin.
She turued around and looked at him, a hint of amusement in her gaze.
"If I were going to fide on your back, I think I'd need spurs and a
whip to maintain control."
"I suppose that could be intriguing, if that's your taste."
"You're incorrigible," Abby replied, a blush staining her cheeks.
"Something about you makes me that way, and I think something about me
makes you feel the same."
"I think it sounds like you suffer from an abundance of ego. The best
cure I know for that is good hard labor." She eyed the hammer and
nails pointedly.
Luke laughed and picked up his hammer, although his gaze remained on
her. He watched as she petted the horse and whispered in his ear, then
moved to the side to mount.
With one smooth movement, she swung her leg over the horse's back and
settled in the saddle. At the same moment her bottom hit the saddle,
Blackheart's eyes rolled back in his head and with a scream he reared
up on his hind legs. As his front hooves hit the dirt, his back legs
kicked out, unseating Abby and flinging her like a rag doll into the
air. She curled up in a protective ball and landed on her back with a
dull thud that stirred dust around her.
"Abby!" Luke tossed the hammer aside and raced to where she'd been
thrown.
As he reached her, she sat up, gasping for breath. "I'm ... I'm all
right. I'll be okay ... but please, get Blackheart ... something's
wrong with him."
Despite the fact that Blackheart had managed to dislodge Abby from his
back, the horse still bucked and kicked, eyes rolling wildly as he
emitted high-pitched neighs of distress.
Luke struggled to contain the animal in the co ruer of the corral, at
the same time trying to' grab the reins to gain control. He finally
managed to get hold of the reins, only to have Abby take them from
him.
"It's okay, baby. It's all right, sweetheart." She spoke in a low,
soothing voice as she rubbed the horse's nose. "See if you can get the
saddle off him."
The horse gentled as Abby continued to soothe and stroke and Luke
managed to unfasten the girth and slide the saddle from his' back. When
he pulled off the blanket, he instantly saw what had caused
Black-heart's distress. He pulled the tack nail from the horse's hide,
the end of the nail bloody from where it had punctured Blackheart's
skin.
"What the hell?" He held up the offensive nail to Abby.
She paled and moved to check the wound on Blackheart's back. "I want
to get some salve on this, then I want to know who saddled up
Blackheart this morning." As she led Blackheart into the barn and
toward his stall, Luke followed.
"Abby, are you sure you're all right? You took quite a fall."
She paused at a cabinet and pulled out a jar of medicine. "I'm fine.
I'll probably be sore tomorrow, but for now I'm fine." She got
Blackheart settled in his stall, then put the salve on the wound, her
features darkening as she worked.
Luke held the nail in his hand, wondering how in the hell it had gotten
beneath her saddle blanket. Apparently the nail hadn't pierced
Blackheart's hide until she'd sat down. It had either been carefully
positioned, or it was a freak accident that could have had deadly
consequences. Had Abby been a less experienced rider, her neck could
have been broken in the fall.
Surely it had been a freak accident. Nothing else made sense. Besides
himself, who else would have a motive to harm Abby? And even his own
desire didn't include physical harm to her.
He watched as she finished up with the horse, then he followed her back
outside. Anger wafted from her. Her eyes snapped and her footsteps
were heavy with it. "Rusty." She yelled to the old man who, with
several other hands, was loading a wagon with fence material. He left
the men and approached where Abby and Luke stood.
"Rusty, who saddled Blackheart this morning?" she asked, her words
clipped with emotion.
"I had Billy Sims do it. Why, there a problem?"
"Tell Billy I want to talk to him." Abby's voice radiated a strength
without vulnerability, an anger not tainted with any other emotion.
It took Rusty only a minute to walk back to the wagon and instruct
Billy that Abby wanted to speak with him. Billy Sims approached them
with a sullen sneer on his face. When he got closer, Luke was able to
smell the scent of soured alcohol that clung to him. His eyes were
bloodshot. He looked like a man coming off a two-week drunk.
"Billy, you saddled Blackheart this morning?" Abby asked.
"Yeah, why?" Billy's red eyes radiated a dullness. "You're fired."
Both Luke and Billy looked at her in surprise. "For what?" Billy
asked, all dullness gone as anger tightened his features.
Abby gestured for Luke to give her the nail. She held it up for Billy
to see. "This was in Blackheart's back, stuck beneath the saddle and
blanket. Not only could I have been killed when I climbed on
Black-heart's back, but the horse is hurt where the nail punctured
him."
"I didn't put no nail under the saddle," Billy protested.
"It doesn't matter whether you put it there or not.
You should have seen it, you should have been more careful," Abby
retorted.
"Ah, Miss Abby, don't fire me. You know I got no place else to go."
"Billy, I warned you last time that there would be no more second
chances. I can't have a man who's drinking working here."
Luke noticed no charity in her eyes, rather they were a cold, arctic
blue.
Billy's eyes filled with tears and his lips trembled. "Please, Miss
Abby. Just give me one more chance. I swear I didn't see that nail.
I didn't know it was there."
"I'm sorry, Billy, but I've already given you too many chances and you
keep proving me wrong. Pack your things and come by the office before
you leave. I'll pay you what you're owed."
As Abby turned to walk away, Luke realized he'd just seen the cold,
heartless woman he'd heard about before arriving at the ranch. He'd
just seen a woman who might very well be capable of murder.
Chapter Six
Abby walked around to the porch and leaned heavily against the railing.
She hated having to fire people. She felt sick inside as she
remembered the desperate look on Billy's face. But he'd left her no
choice. She'd warned him time and again to stop his drinking. She'd
overlooked too many careless mistakes and could do it no longer.
"You were pretty rough on him." Luke joined her on the porch.
She nodded. "And now you know how I got my reputation. Somebody has
to be willing to do the difficult jobs." She sank onto the wicker
chair. "I can't let Billy stay on any longer. He's made too many
mistakes and sooner or later his mistakes will be costly. I can't
depend on a man who drinks all night then tries to work hung over."
"Then it sounds like you did the right thing."
"If I were a man, it would be the right thing to do. Because I'm a
woman, most of the workers will say it was a bitchy thing to do." She
knew well how the ranch hands talked about her behind her back.
Luke smiled. "I have a feeling you can deal with the workers'
opinions."
She shrugged. "I don't have a choice. I've got to make my decisions
based on what's best for the ranch. Things are difficult enough around
here without having to deal with a drunken ranch hand."
"I haven't seen your sister around this morning," Luke observed.
"She went into town to spend the day and tonight with a girlfriend."
Abby knew with Colette married, and Abby so busy with the ranch and
Cody, Belinda had been feeling rather displaced lately. She'd
encouraged her to accept her friend's offer to spend a day and a night
away from the ranch.
"Bulldog had 'a little talk with me this morning. He gave me a
not-so-friendly warning."
Abby looked at him in surprise. "Bulldog? What on earth would Bulldog
have to warn you about?"
"You." Luke leaned against the railing and shoved his hat back so his
eyes were fully visible to her. "It seems Bulldog saw me kissing you
last night. He warned me that if I hurt you he'd hunt me down and do
me bodily harm."
Warmth swept up Abby's neck and burned her cheeks. "Bulldog can be a
little overprotective."
"Overprotective enough to kill Greg?" "Absolutely not," Abby replied
without hesitation. "Bulldog doesn't have the capacity to harm anyone.
He's got a gentle spirit and a loving heart."
"He didn't sound so loving when he spoke to me this morning," Luke
replied.
"He loves us. My father took Bulldog in when he was eighteen and his
own family threw him out. Bulldog considers us his family, but even as
much as he loves us, he's just not capable of violence.,
"Every man is capable of violence if pushed hard enough." His gaze was
darkly intent as he stared at her. "I'll warrant most women are the
same. Push hard enough, corner anyone, and their instincts are to
fight back."
"Do you think I killed Greg?" Abby's breath pressed hard against her
ribs as she awaited his answer. For some reason, it was important to
her that he believe in her innocence.
"To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what to think."
Abby nodded, slightly disappointed, but not surprised. After all, they
had known each other less than a week. He'd hardly had enough time to
assess her sum and total character. She drew in a breath and frowned
as her gaze caught the rise of dust in the distance, portending a car
approaching.
As the vehicle came into view, she realized it was not one car, but
two. Two patrol cars with lights flashing official business, and they
were headed for the ranch. "Oh, no, now what?"
Both Abby and Luke watched in silence as the cars pulled up in front of
the house and Deputy Helstrom got out of the first car. Abby stood and
took a step closer to Luke, as if he might offer some measure of
protection from whatever was about to happen.
"Abby. I've got a search warrant here," Richard Helstrom said.
"A search warrant? For what?"
As an answer, Richard handed her a sheath of papers, then he and
several other officers entered the house. "Wait..." Abby followed
after them, her heart pounding violently.
"If you'll just point us to your bedroom, there's no reason to bother
your sisters' things right now," Richard said.
Abby gestured toward her bedroom, feeling as if she'd been plunged
headfirst into another nightmare. As the officers invaded her room,
she leaned against the doorjamb. Luke came up behind her and placed a
hand on her shoulder. As two officers began pulling clothes from her
drawers, and Richard started removing items from her closet, she leaned
back against Luke and closed her eyes, wishing herself far away.
Luke squeezed her shoulder, as if attempting to give her strength.
Somehow it helped. She opened her eyes and stifled a groan as one of
the officers dumped her underwear drawer on the bed. She suddenly
wished they were multicolored silk and lace instead of serviceable
white cotton.
She moved away from the door, away from Luke. "If you'll tell me what
you're looking for, perhaps I can get it for you."
"I think I just found it," Richard said as he pulled one of her blouses
from the closet. "Is this what you were wearing the night of Greg's
death?"
"Yes ... that blouse and a pair of jeans." Abby wondered how he knew
that's what she'd worn. Had somebody described her outfit from that
night in the diner? Did they expect to find something incriminating on
the blouse?
She watched, her heart thudding painfully as Richard placed the blouse
in a brown paper bag. He folded the top of the bag, then pulled
another piece of paper from his breast pocket. "Abby Connor, I have a
warrant here for your arrest for the murder of Greg Foxwood."
"No," Abby gasped. "No, please. This is all a mistake, a horrible
mistake." Tears burned in her eyes and she turned to look at Luke,
wanting him to do something, stop this madness before it advanced any
further. His eyes held uncertain bewilderment and she knew there was
nothing he could do for her.
She backed away, unbelieving as Richard read her the Miranda rights.
She wanted to run, hide . escape from the tall deputy and his minions.
This couldn't be happening. How could anyone really think she was
guilty of Greg's death?
"Abby, don't make this any more difficult than it has to be," Richard
said as he removed a set of handcuffs from his belt.
"But this is wrong. I didn't kill Greg. I swear, I had nothing to do
with his
death," Abby cried as Richard moved behind her to place her in
the handcuffs.
"Is that really necessary?" Luke asked, his voice tense.
"Standard procedure," Richard answered.
The click of the handcuffs resounded in Abby's head at the same time
the circles of steel bit into her flesh. She felt nauseous, faint,
unable to believe this was happening. She fought against a rising
panic.
Cody. Dear God, what would happen to Cody if she went to prison?
As Richard and the other officers led her out of the house, she turned
frantically to Luke, "Maria went to stay with her sister who's been
sick and I don't know when she'll be back. Please, you've got to take
care of Cody for me. He'll be scared when he gets home and I'm not
here. Promise me you'll take care of him until I get out or Belinda or
Maria gets home."
Luke nodded. "I promise. You want me to call your sister and
brother-in-law in Las Vegas?"
"No, there's no point. There's nothing they can do."
"Abby, You have a lawyer?" Luke asked.
"Yes, our family lawyer, although I don't know how good he is in
criminal cases." She took a deep breath. "I'm sure he'll have me out
of jail before nightfall." The optimism rang in her voice for only a
Cassidy, Carla - Midnight Wishes Page 8