The Lady's Man

by Linda Turner

  It was, he knew, something he would remember for the rest of his life. Long after the wolves had disappeared from view, he and Elizabeth just stood there as silence fell softly around them. When he finally took his eyes from the spot where he’d last seen Queenie and Napoleon in the trees, he glanced down at Elizabeth and wasn’t surprised to see quiet tears trailing down her face. But then she looked up at him and smiled, and he felt the tug of that soft, beautiful smile all the way to his toes.

  “I thought you’d be sad,” he said, surprised.

  “I am,” she said simply. “But it was the right thing to do. Now they’re where they belong.”

  Like magnets her eyes were drawn back to the spot in the forest, but he couldn’t look at anything but Elizabeth. Intrigued, fascinated, he couldn’t figure her out. Who was this woman? he wondered, confused. She could stand in front of the whole town and not even blink at the insults that were thrown at her from all sides, yet she cried like a baby at the thought of never again seeing the wolves she’d unofficially adopted as her own. Anyone with eyes could see that she loved them, but that hadn’t stopped her from doing the right thing and releasing them.

  Damn, he liked her! More than was smart. If she’d been any other woman, he would have reached for her then, but he was already off balance as it was. He had a feeling if he kissed the lady, it’d be a long time before he’d want to come up for air. And neither one of them was ready for that...yet.

  So he resisted the temptation by doing what he did best where she was concerned—he ruffled her feathers. Reaching into his pocket, he handed her his handkerchief and grinned down at her. “Dry your eyes, Lizzie, darlin’. A man’s ego takes a real beating when a woman cries on the first date.”

  Just that quickly, her delicately arched brows snapped into a scowl. “This isn’t a date, McBride.”

  On more solid footing, he teased, “Well, damn! And here I thought I was going to get to kiss you.”

  “McBride!”

  “Don’t get your knickers in a twist,” he chuckled. “You’re safe with me—for now. But later, you’d better watch out!” Giving her a wink, he started down through the trees toward their parked cars. “See you later, honey. I’ve got work to do.”

  He thought he heard her strangle back a curse, then she yelled after him, “I’m not your honey!”

  Waving a hand in acknowledgment, he laughed all the way to town.

  Chapter 4

  When Zeke drove through the entrance of the ranch late the following afternoon, he was tired and disgusted and wanted nothing more than a hot bath and a cold beer, not necessarily in that order. The last day and a half had, to put it bluntly, been hell. Armed with the list of suspects that Nick had drawn up for him, he’d driven all over the county on roads that a mountain goat wouldn’t step foot on, shaking loose what felt like every bone in his body. And in the process, he’d done nothing but run into one dead end after another. He’d finally found the men he was looking for, but if any of the antigovernment wackos he’d questioned knew anything about the poisoned meat left at Eagle Ridge, they weren’t talking. And every damn one of them had an alibi for Wednesday night.

  Back to square one, he’d had no choice but to report back to Nick that he’d struck out, then call it quits for the day. He wasn’t, however, beaten. Whoever had made that threatening phone call to Elizabeth was out there somewhere, so close he could smell his rotten hide. And he was going to find him. Even if he had to turn over every rock in Colorado to do it.

  His mind on the investigation, he pulled into his regular parking spot at Joe’s house and cut the engine. Ever since his brother had built his own place, he’d been baching there whenever he came home for a visit, and this time was no different. He was halfway to the front door when he noticed Merry’s red Explorer parked out front.

  Surprised, he walked inside the house to find her dressed in a green wool dress and heels, all decked out for a party and, as usual, looking absolutely stunning. She might have been his sister, but it was easy to see why she’d been prom queen in both high school and college. Given the chance, she could have put Grace Kelly in the shade.

  Whistling softly, he raised a brow at her. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

  “You,” she said, her sapphire eyes dancing impishly. “There’s a singles’ dance at the VFW hall tonight, and I need you to take me.”

  “Oh, no!” Throwing up his hands, he made the sign of the cross with his two index fingers. “Back off, sister. I steer clear of lonely ladies looking for a husband ”

  “Oh, c’mon, Zeke, don’t be that way,” she wheedled. “It won’t be like that. Yes, it’s for singles, but everyone goes. It’ll be fun.”

  “So go. You don’t need me tagging along.”

  “But I don’t have a date. Well, I did,” she said, wrinkling her nose prettily, “but he got sick and had to cancel. And I hate going to this kind of thing by myself.”

  “Why? People are supposed to go alone—it’s for singles! Anyway, it’s not like you’d be walking into a roomful of strangers. You’ll probably know everybody there.”

  She rolled her eyes at that. “Men! You don’t understand anything. That doesn’t mean I want to walk in alone And I have to go. Laura’s on the organizing committee, and if I don’t show up, my name’ll be mud.”

  He should have known Laura Ralston was involved in this. Merry’s best friend since grade school, she was her partner in crime in just about everything. “What about Joe?” he suggested, even as he knew he was losing the argument. “Why don’t you ask him?”

  “Are you talking about our brother, Joe?” she retorted mockingly. “The one who swore off women the day he and Belinda divorced? The one who won’t even go to church if he thinks he’s going to have to sit next to a single woman? That Joe?”

  She did, he had to admit with a grin, have a point. “All right, forget Joe. What about Janey?”

  Even as he asked, he knew Janey was nearly as bad as Joe when it came to socializing. Quieter than the rest of them and more reserved, she preferred small gatherings or, better yet, one on one. She hadn’t been to a dance since high school, and if he remembered correctly, only once then.

  “Forget that,” he said before she could say anything. “This doesn’t sound like her kind of thing at all. She’d be miserable.”

  Which meant there was no one else but him to go with Merry. Resigned, he groaned “What time does this shindig start?”

  “Seven” Laughing, she gave him a quick hug, then drew back to tease, “Don’t look so down in the mouth. It’s not like I’m asking you to take me to a funeral or something. It’ll be fun. At least three of your old girlfriends will be there Oh, and Elizabeth’s coming.”

  He would have sworn he didn’t so much as flicker an eyelash in response, but Merry knew him too well. Something in his eyes gave him away, and she grinned in triumph. “Aha! That got your attention! Go change, big brother,” she chuckled, pushing him toward the stairs. “We’ve got a party to go to.”

  Given a choice, Elizabeth would rather have had a root canal than spend an evening at a singles’ dance. She hated the awkwardness of it, hated the idea of small talk and phony smiles and dancing with men who held her too close while they pushed her around the dance floor like a broom. But when Merry called her earlier that day and asked her to come, she never gave a thought to refusing. She couldn’t. The word had gotten out that she’d freed the wolves ahead of schedule, and even though it was only by a few days, people were outraged that she’d dared to take such a step without warning them first. She’d tried to explain why the early release had been necessary, but few of the people who called her office to complain had been willing to listen.

  Damage control was drastically needed, but there weren’t that many opportunities to meet and talk with people at any kind of a social gathering in Liberty Hill. Then Merry called, and she’d known better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. She’d put on one of her favorite dresses—a red, princess-style je
rsey that always made her feel like a million bucks—plastered on a smile, and here she was.

  Too late she realized that a dance was hardly the place to try to win over her enemies with any kind of meaningful conversation. Onstage, a country-western band belted out the latest Garth Brooks hit, and she could hardly hear herself think. Even if she could have made herself heard, no one seemed interested in anything but having fun

  Couples whirled around the dance floor, and those who didn’t have partners sized each other up from across the room. Several cowboys started toward her, eyeing her as if she was the cherry on top of their hot-fudge sundae, and suddenly she wished she’d worn anything but her red dress. She knew she looked great in it, but it felt too tight, too low, too revealing. The last thing she wanted to do was draw attention to herself as a woman. That wasn’t why she was here.

  Hot color spilling into her cheeks, she turned away and gave serious thought to leaving. She wasn’t going to accomplish anything here tonight anyway, and if she went back to the office, she could check the radio blips coming from the wolves’ collars and track their progress as they explored the mountains and valleys of their new home.

  The decision made, she started toward the main entrance, but she’d hardly taken two steps when the door opened and Zeke walked in with Merry. In the time it took to stop in her tracks, her heart was knocking crazily in her breast.

  Dressed in pressed jeans, a white long-sleeved shirt, and a Western-cut jacket that was similar to what most of the other men wore, he was hardly dressed to draw attention to himself. But she wasn’t the only one caught flat-footed by his entrance. Women all over the room looked up when he came in, and not surprisingly, a good many of them knew him. Within seconds the bolder ones were rushing toward him with delighted smiles on their faces.

  Stepping out of the way so she wouldn’t get trampled by the stampede, Elizabeth wouldn’t have been surprised if they were all old lovers. He was a man who would leave broken hearts behind him everywhere he went. Not that she cared, she assured herself with a scowl as a busty blond wrapped herself around Zeke like an octopus. If he wanted to stroll down memory lane with every old girlfriend he’d ever flirted with, it was nothing to her. She was here to do a job, nothing else.

  Turning away from the sight of him hugging a redhead who had on a dress that was at least two sizes too small for her, she started to head for the refreshment table, but she never made it that far. Standing directly in front of her was one of the two cowboys that had been ogling her earlier. If she remembered correctly, he was a hired hand at the Double Bar J out west of town and was as harmless as a baby donkey.

  “You sure look pretty in that dress, Ms. Davis,” he said with a crooked grin. “I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Alvin Newton. People call me Fig, though. You know...Fig Newton. Get it?”

  Elizabeth smiled...and wondered what it must be like to go through life being called by the name of a cookie. “Yes, I get it..Fig.”

  “It’s not so bad,” he said, noticing how she hesitated to use his nickname. “Just think what would have happened if my last name would have been Chip. I’d have had to go around answering to Chocolate.”

  “You do have a point,” she laughed.

  Pleased, he grinned. “Would you like to dance? I promise not to step on your toes.”

  If he could get her halfway around the room without annihilating her poor feet, Elizabeth would be surprised, but she didn’t have the heart to turn him down. “As long as you don’t pull anything fancy on me, I’d love to. The two-step is about all I know.”

  “Me, too,” he admitted, and gingerly took her into his arms.

  From across the room, Zeke watched Elizabeth trade partners for the third time in nearly as many minutes and told himself the lady would dance with him before the evening was over. He was a patient man. He could wait his turn.

  It should have been easy. He saw friends—men and women—he hadn’t talked to in years, and there was a lot of catching up to do. But even though he was gracious to his old girlfriends and talked ranching with the guys, the only person he was interested in was Elizabeth. And she never once even looked his way.

  She knew he was there, of course. There weren’t that many people there that she couldn’t have noticed him, but the lady seemed to be going out of her way to avoid him. Another time he might have been amused. But not tonight. Not when every long, tall cowboy in the county was sidling up to her, then sweeping her off in his arms on the dance floor. He wanted to dance with her, dammit! Oh, he could have asked other women—more than a few looked longingly at the dance floor as they reminisced with him about old times—but he didn’t take the hint. If he danced, it would only be with Elizabeth. He was just waiting for her to look his way, and he’d ask her.

  But he could have been on another planet for all the notice she gave him. Amused, he was determined to wait her out. But then she stepped into the arms of a cowboy he’d never seen before. Tall and solid, with an arrogant air that Zeke immediately took exception to, the man pulled her closer than he should and got far too familiar with his hands.

  Stiffening, Zeke’s first instinct was to rush right over there and belt the jerk. But Elizabeth was a lady who could take care of herself, and even as he watched, she eased back in the cowboy’s arms and said something that had him returning his hands to where they belonged.

  After such a reprimand, a gentleman would have behaved himself, but it quickly became apparent that the idiot who shuffled her around the floor was dumber than a fence post. Ignoring her frowns and admonitions, he took advantage of every turn in the dance to let his hands wander.

  Scowling, Zeke tried to stand back and let her handle the situation, but his patience only lasted so long. And when the jerk guided her to a dark corner of the dance floor and she tried to push out of his arms without success, Zeke had seen enough. Excusing himself in mid-sentence from the woman who had once been his eighth-grade sweetheart, he headed straight for Elizabeth.

  Tapping the cowboy hard on the shoulder—and just barely resisting the urge to flatten him—he growled, “I believe the lady’s promised me this dance.”

  When Elizabeth turned to him with blazing eyes, he thought she was going to rake him over the coals for interfering. Then she said coolly, “Zeke’s right. I did say I’d dance the next one with him.” And he realized he wasn’t the one she was angry with. If looks could kill, the cowboy would have drawn his last breath right there in the middle of the dance floor.

  And he was too dumb to know it, Zeke thought in amazement when the big lug just stood there, refusing to release her. What did he think he was going to do? Force her to circle the floor with him again? Like hell!

  He opened his mouth to tell him not to even think about going there, but apparently the jerk wasn’t quite as thick-skinned as Zeke had first thought. Scowling, he let Elizabeth go, but he wasn’t happy about it. Grumbling, he stalked off to the bar just as the band switched to a slow, romantic ballad.

  Grinning, Zeke opened his arms to her. “It sounds like they’re playing our song. Shall we dance?”

  It was a line he’d probably used a thousand times, one that a smart woman wouldn’t have fallen for. But caught in the warmth of his gaze as the music swirled around them like something out of a dream, Elizabeth couldn’t find the strength to resist him. Not when he had eyes only for her and made her feel like the prettiest girl at the ball. It was just one dance. What harm could it do? Without a word she went into his arms.

  She’d spent the past hour dancing with one cowboy after another and could say with all honesty that not a single one had moved her to anything but indifference—except for the last one, of course, who had infuriated her with his arrogance and roaming hands. But when Zeke took her into his arms, the last thing she felt was indifference.

  Startled, she tried to tell herself her imagination was just playing tricks on her. A woman’s bones didn’t melt because a man held her close; her heart didn’t stumble in h
er breast because his hand closed around hers. If her pulse seemed to be pounding and she was more than a little light-headed, it was just because someone had turned up the heat in the building and she needed some air.

  Then she looked into Zeke’s eyes and knew he was feeling the same thing she was, and her heart jumped into her throat. What was happening here? “Zeke...”

  “Let’s just dance,” he said gruffly, and eased her gracefully into a slow, enticing two-step around the dance floor. If she lived to be a hundred, she didn’t think she would ever forget that one dance in his arms. Time ground to a halt. All around them couples swayed to the music, yet she saw nothing but Zeke, heard nothing but the hammering of her heart, felt nothing but the strength of his arms around her, cradling her close, keeping her safe. It was wonderful, exhilarating, terrifying.

  She wanted to run for her life... and never let him go. And that’s when she knew she was in trouble. What was she doing? Had she lost her mind? This was a man who was just like her father, a tease and a flirt who flitted from woman to woman and didn’t give his heart to any of them And she loved being in his arms.

  How had this happened? When? She didn’t want to be attracted to him, didn’t want to like him one way or the other. But he made her laugh, made her feel, whether she wanted to or not, and it shook her to the depth of her being. What had he done to her?

  Shaken, in desperate need of some time to herself to think, she eased out of his arms the second the song ended. The band immediately launched into a country rock number, but neither of them noticed. Over the blare of the music, she would have sworn he could hear the thumping of her heart. “Thank you for the dance,” she murmured.

  “My pleasure,” he replied huskily. “Anytime you want to do it again, just give me a holler.”

  One word, that’s all she had to say and she could step back into his arms. It would be so easy. Too easy. And that was what scared her She could get used to this man’s touch.