by Karen Rock
“Even if it means she’s...she’s...” Dani couldn’t say the words she was thinking.
Hurt. Dead.
“We don’t know anything yet. Come here.” The timbre of his voice deepened and he ducked through the fence and put his arms around her and down the length of her back.
She breathed in his clean scent, the smell of honest, hard work, felt the warmth of his skin and the drum of his heart against hers. All the while her unspoken words fluttered in the back of her throat.
“She’s a good person, Jack.”
“I know.”
The conviction in his voice caught her off guard. She would have expected him to be more suspicious than ever. “You do?”
“She’s your friend.”
There it was, the quiet confidence, the belief in her that she didn’t deserve. She felt tears in her eyes and looked away. “How’d it go with Milly today?”
“She wanted no part of that.” He pointed to the saddle and their gazes settled on Milly. She had returned to her distant corner of the pasture and was grazing, her eyes on them.
Concern dropped the bottom out of Dani’s stomach. “Do you think she can be broken in again?”
Jack’s long breath blew out his cheeks. “Not sure. She’s getting better around people...but not enough yet to be pasture sound at a dude ranch. Maybe somewhere else...where she wouldn’t have to interact much or be ridden...”
“Then she’ll have to be euthanized.” Now her eyes full-on stung and she swiped the rush of damp.
“I’m going to do my best to help her avoid that, but I won’t have much more time here.”
“So, you’re leaving?” she asked dully, feeling like the sun had just ducked behind the clouds.
“If Smiley isn’t located, I’ll still need to check those caves at Spark Canyon. Plus, Sam Perkins is still a question I have to answer for the Mays. But that might be only another day, maybe two.”
“The rodeo is at the end of this week. I’d hoped you could ride Milly, since Pokey’s gone—show the Mays that she’s worth keeping.” Stay with me.
Stay with me.
“I’d like that, but I can’t make any promises if the investigation leads me elsewhere.”
What were the chances she’d ever meet someone like him again? Someone she could love forever, someone who would forever love her back the way she knew a man with strong convictions like Jack would love?
A snippet of one of her favorite E. E. Cummings poems came back to her as she stared into his steadfast eyes.
...here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide.
That was Jack.
“Will you be sorry?” he asked, his quiet words dropping in the air between them, quieting her rambling thoughts.
“You know I will.”
He set his forehead against hers and suddenly she didn’t know what to do with her hands or her eyes. “I wish...”
“I know...” She sighed, feeling the other day’s intimacy return, wanting to say something more, knowing she couldn’t, not with his life devoted to capturing his brother’s killers and hers devoted to hiding her past.
Denver Sheriff Department SUVs approached on the dirt road, tires crunching on pebbles, chickens squawking and fluttering out of the way, and she stepped out of Jack’s arms. The caravan rolled up toward the main house while another vehicle, marked Fire Department, veered left toward Tanya’s. What would they find in the ashes? Not Tanya. Dear Lord. Not that.
He rubbed her arms. “You’re cold.”
“No, I’m not,” she said through clenched teeth, fearing they’d chatter.
“You’ve got goose bumps.”
“I’m fine. Really. Listen. The Clarks don’t need us today. Mr. Clark hired some ‘expert’ to come and take him and family fishing. We could search for Tanya and Smiley ourselves.”
“I was planning on checking the area where we spotted the men.”
“Can I go with you?”
A teasing gleam lightened his brown eyes a couple of shades. Made them glow. Like someone had lit a candle behind them. “Can I stop you, partner?”
Jack. When he smiled, Dani couldn’t help smiling. When his face turned sad, something inside her broke a little. She wished she’d met him years ago, before she’d gone left instead of right, taken the wrong turns that kept her from ever traveling beside him.
But she had him for now and she’d make the most of it.
She took his rope and stepped back, twirling the loop until it stretched from her armpit to her toes. Then she twisted it overhead. When she released it, the loop dropped neatly over Jack, tightening when it fell to his waist.
He stared down, then his eyes rose. He whistled. “Nice.”
“I am a former Stampede Princess...” She tugged a bit to make sure it didn’t slide. If only she could rope this cowboy for good. Wouldn’t life be simpler that way? “Looks like you can’t leave me.”
He reeled her in, pulling the rope gently until she stopped a breath away from him, then flipped the hair out of her eyes. “Who says I want to?”
* * *
A FLASH OF blue through the trees stopped Jack in his tracks a few hours later. He reached out and stopped Dani, then lifted a finger to his lips.
Her large eyes met his and he was grateful that she didn’t ask him what was happening. Knew enough to keep quiet. After spotting a fresh trail behind Tanya’s house, they’d been following the same, circuitous trail for the better part of the morning. It was slow, painstaking work as he carefully examined bent branches and shoe impressions until they’d led here, to the same copper mine where he and Dani had waited out the storm.
Where you realized you love her.
He pushed the thought away and pulled her down beside him, ducking behind a group of rocks and waiting. His heartbeat rushed at his eardrums, drowning everything out until he got hold of himself, falling into the familiar patterns and rhythms of his job. Only nothing was the same with Dani along. Keeping her safe was now as much his focus as capturing his target.
Damn.
He should never have agreed to let her come.
The sound of boots, clomping on packed dirt and rocky soil, grew louder and louder. Jack slid his Glock from its holster and cocked it.
Suddenly all was still and he held his breath. Had the man heard him?
Without warning, a hand appeared and grabbed Dani by her shirt collar, yanking her back, hard, so that her boots slid out from under her as she was dragged away.
Jack sprang to his feet, gun drawn, trained on—
“Sam!” he exclaimed, staring hard at the groundskeeper who pressed his 9mm into Dani’s temple. Sam’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Let her go.”
“The hell I will.” When Dani jerked, he threw his arm around her, his elbow digging into her windpipe, a chokehold. “Hold still or I’ll shoot.”
Fury rose inside. Howled through Jack, an unholy anger that washed the world blood red. “What’s your business here?”
Sam’s eyes flitted to a leather saddlebag. “What’s yours?”
“We’re looking for whoever’s responsible for burning Tanya’s house down. And the horse theft. You know anything about that?”
Dani wriggled and Sam pistol whipped her hard enough to make her lashes flutter and her head droop.
Jack’s control slipped ever closer to the edge, but he held on, for Dani’s sake. A hothead didn’t follow logic well. Look what his knee-jerk reaction had cost his brother. “Dani, don’t move.”
Her lids lifted slightly and then her body sagged in Sam’s arms. Alarm rose in him, making his fingers tighten on his gun.
Sam tr
ied to hitch up a slipping Dani, but her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground, the angle catching Sam off-balance.
It was all the opening Jack needed. He prepared to launch at Sam now that the gun wasn’t pointed at Dani, but, without warning, her elbow connected with the most vulnerable part of Sam and he doubled over.
“Oof,” he moaned, and Dani rolled away just as Jack hurtled for the 9mm and scooped it up, now training both guns on Sam.
“On the ground. Now!”
Sam sank to his knees then flopped onto his stomach.
“Arms out from your sides,” ordered Jack.
“Look at this!” he heard Dani exclaim, and he glimpsed her searching through the saddlebag out of the corner of his eye.
“Aren’t these the rings Mrs. Clark reported missing?”
Sam lifted his head slightly, then dropped it. Dani squatted just out of Sam’s reach. “And look at these cell phones. All guests’. You’re the thief.”
He recognized the one he’d glimpsed Mr. Clark talking into the other day. Looked like he could cross that name off his suspect list. The guy was a jerk, but not involved in anything sinister as Lance had suggested.
“Don’t think about it, Sam,” Jack said quietly, when one of Sam’s fingers twitched in Dani’s direction. “Is anyone else with you?” They’d been following only one set of human prints, not the two sets of hoof impressions he’d wanted. And they weren’t the same size and shape as Smiley’s. Still. He had to make sure.
“Nah.” Sam turned his head and closed his eyes.
“Smiley?”
“Haven’t seen him in days.”
“Are you hiding him out here?”
“I’ll check the cave,” Dani called, and before he could stop her, she’d disappeared inside.
“Why did you murder those people in Denver?”
My brother...
Threads of nausea reached up Jack’s windpipe.
“Who?” Sam opened his eyes. Lifted his head and looked confused. An act?
“The Phillipses,” Jack growled. “Remy and Cheryl Ann.”
“Never heard of them. Look. I may be a thief, but I’m no killer,” Sam muttered, sounding indignant. If it was an act, it was a good one.
“So why the gun?”
“Protection.”
“From?”
A sly look entered Sam’s eyes before he shut them again and gave a fake snore. Did this joker think he was funny? Jack was the one with all the punch lines...the kind that hurt.
And where was Dani?
A moment later she emerged, flushed and breathing fast. Her green-gold eyes sparked. “I followed those tracks a ways and found this.” She tilted a box and he glimpsed electronics, cash and jewels.
“Is that why you came up here, Sam?”
He spoke without opening his eyes. “The police are everywhere and the Mays are letting them search our rooms. I had to stash the rest of this week’s loot.”
“Didn’t want to get caught,” Dani snarled, resembling an avenging angel with the light setting her strawberry blonde hair ablaze. “Well. Too bad, Sam.”
Someone’s watched too many Westerns, Jack thought, his mouth hitching up. He half expected to hear her to say, “The jig’s up” next.
“The jig’s up, Sam,” she said, and this time he did smile, full-on, despite his worry, his anguish, his regrets.
“On your feet, Sam,” he ordered.
An hour later, they’d returned to the ranch and turned the man over to Lance. He placed his hand on a cuffed Sam’s head, guided him inside the SUV, then slammed the door behind him.
“We found Tanya’s car just down the highway,” Lance said quietly, keeping his voice low despite their private location behind the May’s house and away from prying eyes.
Dani rose a bit on her toes beside him. Her features sharpened. “Did you find Tanya?”
“It was abandoned. Looks like it ran out of gas. We towed it in and we’ll know more when we run forensics.”
“You don’t see any...any...”
“No. No signs of foul play and the fire marshal ruled out arson for the house. Looks like it started from a tipped over candle.”
She sighed and Jack slid an arm around her.
“What about Sam?”
“We’ll run his prints when we book him. See what comes up that we can connect to the Phillips case. Good work, cousin.”
“Dani’s the one who brought him down.” Pride and admiration coursed through him for her bravado, her heedlessness for her own safety, all things that bugged him, but made him adore her.
Love her.
Lance whistled and Dani shifted beside him, looking a little uncomfortable. “Glad you’re on our side, then. So, how do you feel about family reunions?”
“Pardon?” Her wide eyes swerved between Lance and him.
“Cut it, Lance.”
His cousin chuckled and swung around to the driver’s seat. “Not a chance.” He slid behind the wheel and backed out, dust flying behind his wheels as he sped off.
“What’d he mean about a family reunion?”
“He thinks I should bring a date to mine.” When she opened her mouth, he hurried on because if she said she’d go with him, he honestly didn’t know if he could stay away like he should. “Nice work back there.” He nodded toward the mountain.
“It wasn’t anything.”
“Held at gunpoint?”
“Don’t they tell you to play dead if you’re attacked in the woods?”
She looked so serious, he couldn’t help but chuckle and she joined him, their laughter growing louder until they were holding their sides and she wiped away tears. It felt good to have this moment with her, memories to savor in the lonely nights ahead.
He smoothed her hair off her face. Her skin was as soft as he remembered, smooth as porcelain.
“You’re an idiot,” he said affectionately, his hands on her cheeks.
“It took you that long to figure out? Guess that makes you an idiot, too.”
Before he could respond, Diane May appeared, her hands stirring the air as they lifted and fell. “Larry and I would like a word with you two, if you have a moment.”
He and Dani exchanged a quick look and followed her up into the house.
Bella and Beau leaped at the door as it swung open, then trotted behind, hard on their heels, as Diane led them down the hall.
Larry looked up from his computer when they entered the office.
“Here they are,” he said to the monitor. “Jack. I know you said not to mention anything, but things have gone too far. Tanya’s house burning. Horses stolen. Guests missing things. Smiley... Anyway, I’ve got Ben on Skype here and he’d like to talk to you.”
Jack smothered his disappointment. It was understandable that the Mays would want to tell their son everything, but he needed as few people aware of the situation as possible...especially if it turned out Sam had nothing to do with murdering the Phillipses and he needed to keep searching for Smiley.
“Hello,” came a voice from the computer, and Jack squatted beside Larry’s chair.
A thin, dark-haired man’s smile faded as he squinted at the screen, his eyes as flat and blue as breath mints. He coughed into his hand and pressed a button on his phone.
“Coffee,” he said, then he looked back at the recorder. “Sorry about that. Jack, is it?”
“Yes.”
Ben’s hand flew to his own cheek and Jack fought his old instincts to turn away and spare others from his scar. Dani had taught him to be proud of his marks. He wouldn’t feel self-conscious again, not when the person he’d come to respect the most said otherwise.
A breeze ruffled curtains around a large group of windows behind Ben; a gem-colored oc
ean rippled in the distance.
“Your parents speak highly of you.”
Ben smiled, his earlier unease fading, it seemed. “Exaggerated, I’m sure. Look. Mom and Pop filled me in on what’s been going on, and it’s alarming.”
Jack commiserated. There was nothing worse than feeling far apart from a loved one in danger.
“I agree. I’m keeping an eye out, though.”
“It sounds as though the police have apprehended the suspect. Sam Perkins. Who would have thought?”
“He’s a friend of Smiley’s. It’s not hard to imagine. Plus, we don’t have a clear link to Sam and the Denver homicide, yet.”
“You don’t have a clear link between Smiley and the double homicide, either,” Ben asserted, and Jack remembered Nan saying that he and Smiley had spent summers together as kids, had been close. Understandably, he’d want to defend his friend.
“True. But he’s jumped his bond on the drug charge and we’re hoping that once I bring him in, he’ll confess. Name the other hit man and explain who hired them to kill the Phillipses and why.”
“That seems sophisticated for a local boy like Smiley. I know the guy.” Ben twirled a pen in his fingers, tip tapping the keyboard.
“People can surprise you.”
The pen stilled. “It’d take a lot of proof to convince me. In any case, it sounds as though he’s left the area, so no need for you to stay anymore.”
Jack stared at Ben. “Actually, I have something to share with your parents.” His eyes swung to Diane and Larry, then Dani. She crouched by the file cabinet, scratching the dogs behind their ears, her gaze meeting his.
“Tanya’s car was recovered less than a mile away. If we’re assuming Smiley left in that, he didn’t get far unless he hitchhiked. Also, the fire marshals have ruled out arson.”
Ben bent at the waist and his elbows jerked, as if he tied his shoes. “That’s good. Look, Jack,” he said, straightening. “If you haven’t found Smiley by now, you probably won’t. Like you said, he could have hitchhiked. If Sam was helping him and now Sam’s arrested, that’s another reason Smiley won’t stick around. Your time is valuable. No reason to stay when I’ll be there tomorrow. I’ve already canceled my last meetings here and booked a flight home. I’ll keep an eye out for Smiley in case he shows up.”