Crime Tells: Cady's Cowboy

by Jory Strong

  “I started my operation here about a year and a half ago.”

  “Where were you before that?”

  “New Jersey and Florida.”

  “Why the move?”

  Adrienne hesitated before saying, “Alex.”

  Cady’s heart did a little jump, though it would take a monster earthquake—or a game of poker with her sisters—to get her to admit how happy Adrienne’s answer made her. “How are your horses running?”

  “Overall, I’ve been happy with them.” Adrienne grimaced. “There isn’t a lot of big money to be made up here. When I want to run for the big purses I have to ship them down south or back east.”

  “Santa Anita?”

  “Yes, and Del Mar.”

  “How successful have they been?”

  “Well, including the horses I still have an interest in on the east coast, plus the winnings from betting on them, last year they pulled in over five million.”

  “Not too shoddy.”

  “It kept the family members off my back.” Adrienne’s eyes sparkled when she smiled.

  Somewhere in the house a door slammed and Adrienne’s smile disappeared as footsteps pounded down the hallway toward the office. A moment later a girl-woman stormed in.

  She was lean, mean, and jockey-tiny. And while she didn’t look like she’d visited the front cover of Glamour magazine, the family resemblance between Adrienne and her was obvious.

  “Goddammit, Adrienne. Nobody’ll put me up. I can’t even get on as an exercise rider. Nobody’ll touch me! It’s like they think what happened to you will rub off on them.”

  Adrienne’s mouth tightened. “We’ll talk later, Terry.”

  “Fuck that, Adrienne! My life is going down the shit-hole because of this mess.” She jerked a thumb in Kix’s direction. “I thought he was going to get things fixed up. Instead he’s sitting here on his ass.”

  Kix stood and moved in front of the angry girl. “Well, Terry, I figure you’ve had your say. Now get out.”

  In response, Terry took a swing at Kix and Cady’s heart pulsed with shock, then turned over at the sound of his amused laughter. “That’s no way to behave,” he said as he deftly dogged the punch and grabbed the girl’s arm, twisting so that he had her locked against his body. “We can play this two ways.” His drawl faded into a cop voice. “Either you settle on down, or I’ll call in a favor and you’ll spend the night downtown sorting things out in a cell.”

  “Let me go!”

  “Soon as you decide how you want to play this, Teresa.”

  “Fuck you, Kix!”

  Kix shot a look over at Adrienne. “You mind dialing for me?”

  “Kix…”

  “No, seems to me that Terry has made her choice. She’s old enough to know what she wants.”

  With a worried expression Adrienne picked up the phone. Terry stopped struggling and Cady could see the moment when the angry girl realized that Kix wasn’t bluffing.

  “Okay, fine. We can talk later,” Terry mumbled, her face sullen.

  Kix slowly released her. “Talk if you’ve got something helpful to say but keep your mouth shut if you’re just planning on bitching. Understand?”

  Terry’s face went ugly and Cady’s breath locked in her chest as she waited for another violent scene. Tense silence hung for several seconds before Terry said, “Fuck it. Fuck you,” and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

  Adrienne’s sigh was shaky as she glanced at Cady and offered an embarrassed smile. “I’m sorry you had to witness that. She’s my cousin. Unfortunately she’s part of an arrangement I have with my uncle. I get the horses, and her.”

  “She lives with you?”

  Adrienne sighed again. “Yes. Terry lives here and works for me. She’s a jockey.”

  “Is she any good?”

  “She’s got tremendous talent and most of the time her personality is…less objectionable.”

  Kix snorted and sat back down on the couch. “That’s true if your idea of ‘less objectionable’ is a rabid ranch dog that’s tethered instead of running free. If it was me running the show, I’d load up those horses and Terry and pay the freight to send them back home, ‘cause one thing’s for sure, you send’em COD and nobody is going to accept the delivery.”

  Cady did her best to hide a smile. Adrienne frowned at Kix but Cady thought the other woman was having a hard time maintaining it.

  “Is there anything else I can tell you?” Adrienne asked.

  “No. I’ll give you a call if something comes up. In the meantime, I’ll follow up with some people I know and see if there are any rumors floating around at the track.”

  Adrienne’s hand shook just a little bit as her hand settled on a trophy and she traced her fingers down the sleek legs of a galloping horse cast in bronze. “I really appreciate your help. It’s like being dropped in the middle of a nightmare and not being able to wake up.”

  Cady’s heart went out to her. “My sisters will also be working the case if needed. Between the three of us, we’ll find out who’s behind this.” She stood and said, “Well, I’d better get going.”

  Kix stood also. “I’m right with you, darlin’.” He moved around the desk and gave Adrienne a hug. “You hang in there, Addy.”

  Adrienne hugged him back. “Call if you find out anything.”

  “I’ll do that.” He winked. “Don’t wait up for me.”

  Cady’s heart did a happy dance before she could tell it that Kix was just trying to lighten the mood and not implying that he’d be spending time with her. She gave Adrienne a quick smile and headed back toward the front door. Within seconds she felt Kix’s presence in the hall.

  “Whoa, there,” he said and Cady’s heart started trotting at the sound of his voice. He caught up to her before she could get through the front door. “What’s your hurry, little darlin’? Seems to me that we should figure out how we’re going to work together.”

  Cady stopped but didn’t look at him for fear of making a complete fool of herself by drooling. “Maybe we could touch base over the phone,” she mumbled.

  Kix’s low rumble of laughter felt like a warm tongue stroking her clit and Cady’s already damp panties grew damper. He was lethal!

  As if guessing the direction of her thoughts, he murmured, “Don’t worry. I don’t bite, not unless I get asked.”

  Cady closed her eyes briefly and willed herself to get a grip on her hormones. A guy like Kix probably got by on his charm and good looks. Heck, he probably couldn’t stop himself—in fact, maybe he wasn’t even aware of what he was doing. She risked a peek. Strike that, he was well aware of what he was doing. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Okay, but if we’re going to work together, do you think you could tone down the randy ole cowboy routine? I’d like to help Adrienne, but I’d like to keep things professional between us.”

  Kix’s smile was slow and sure. “Anything you say, darlin’, any way you want it.”

  Chapter Two

  Cady wasn’t sure how she ended up with Kix in her truck, though she had a sneaking suspicion her hormones had overridden her brain. That was a first.

  Well, at least she’d managed to prevail when it came to who was driving. That was something, wasn’t it? She hadn’t gone totally brain-dead when Kix had turned the charm on full blast.

  “Well, little darlin’, where are we heading?” Kix asked as he flipped through her collection of CDs and selected one.

  “Hermosa Ranch. That’s where Erin and Cole and I keep our horses.”

  Kix’s eyelids dropped and his mouth quirked up. “You like to ride?”

  Heat washed across Cady’s face at the images his question evoked. Damn! Did everything out of his mouth have to feed into an erotic fantasy?

  “Yes,” she answered, knowing it applied to both his question and hers. “Do you ride?”

  “Every chance I get.”

  Cady’s knuckles tightened on the steering wheel. I’ll just bet you do.

&nbs
p; Kix chuckled. Hell, he didn’t know what it was about Cady, but he couldn’t stop himself from teasing her. ‘Course, it could be the major hard-on he’d been sporting since he’d first seen her. Damn, those wild curls and that tight little body made him want to fall into bed and ride her from sunup to sundown. And her little speech about “toning down the randy cowboy routine” and keeping things professional was like waving a flag at an excited bull. Goddamn but she was something else.

  Cady snuck a look at Kix and relaxed when he seemed to be deep in thought. So far she’d managed to hold her own, but she wasn’t sure she could handle being around him for long stretches—not that she hadn’t been hit on before, but he was way out of her league.

  Pulling into the ranch, Cady spotted the real reason she’d decided to stop there first. Miguel Hermosa. Seventy if he was day, Miguel had practically grown up at Bay Downs—stall cleaner, groom, exercise rider, and finally jockey. He’d lived to ride, but it had eventually chewed him up and spat him out. Like a lot of jockeys, he’d lost his way in the bottle—trying to hold on to a dream that required him to be pounds lighter than his body wanted to be.

  Miguel was sitting under the shade of the shoeing area. As soon as Cady slipped out of the truck, he pushed back his hat and said, “Hi there, sweetie. Who’ve you got riding shotgun today?”

  Without turning, Cady could feel the warmth of Kix’s body next to hers. She introduced the two men then asked, “Do you still have any friends working at Bay Downs?”

  “Nope. All dead or they finally smartened up.” He shook his head. “Still got a few who think they’re going to strike it rich in the grandstands.”

  “Professional gamblers?”

  Miguel snorted. “More like fools. Hanging out every race day, throwing good money after bad.”

  Kix laughed and Cady wondered why the sound was powerful enough to melt her insides. She said, “You think they’d be willing to talk to me?”

  Miguel stroked the short gray stubble on his cheeks. “Sure, sweetie, not every day a pretty young thing wants to spend some time with them. Red would get a kick out of it. So would Jimmy and Ernie.”

  “What do they look like?”

  “You can’t miss ’em. They’ll be sitting right down near the rail. Red wears a straw cowboy hat with a red feather sticking out of it. Jimmy the Sweep looks like you’d need a big shoehorn to get him in and out of his chair—man lives to eat and bet the horses. And Ernie is a small guy. Sometimes we call him The Weasel. He’s got a face that kind of reminds you of one. But more than that, he’s got a way of digging around and picking up information.”

  “Thanks, Miguel.”

  “You be careful, sweetie.”

  Cady couldn’t help shooting a sideways glance at Kix. “Always.”

  Kix laughed softly at the challenge she’d just issued. He couldn’t wait to get her underneath him. Hell, he couldn’t wait to get her on top of him. He’d give her a no-holds-barred ride that she wouldn’t get anywhere else. Damn, but she was driving him crazy.

  Truth be told, he hardly had to lift a finger and the women came running. Between being the sheriff and being part of the Branaman clan, he almost had to use the nightstick to beat them off.

  There’d been a couple of fillies along the way who’d tried to play hard to get, but Cady was the real deal—a heap of honesty laced together with sensuality. She’d probably be a hellcat in bed—with the right man. And he was planning to be that man.

  Kix grinned. She felt the attraction, and he’d bet his favorite truck that her cunt was all slicked up and waiting for him. And her nipples—they’d been as hard as his cock from the moment Adrienne had introduced them. Now he just had to get her to stop dancing out of reach and accept what was going to happen between them.

  “Not a bad lead, darlin’. The Weasel sounds like a good man to talk to,” Kix said when they were on their way to the racetrack. He couldn’t resist the temptation to lean closer and brush the wild curls back from her face.

  For a split second she allowed the touch, then color rushed to her face and she jerked away from him. “Do you think you could stay on your side of the truck?”

  “I reckon I can try if you really want me to.”

  Cady risked a glance in his direction and immediately wished she hadn’t. He was just…too masculine…too sexy…too adorable…too everything…and definitely too much for her. “Are you sure you’re really a sheriff?”

  “Yeah, been one for the last five years.” He grinned and she was immediately entranced by the sparkle in his eyes and the little dimple next to those kissable lips. His eyebrows moved up and down. “You want me to bring out the handcuffs, or do you want to move right to the nightstick?”

  Cady forced her eyes back to the road, though she had a harder time forcing erotic images of being cuffed to the bed out of her mind. Not that she’d ever even come close to experiencing that fantasy, but with Kix—whoa, nix that. She was not going to get involved with him. He was trouble with a capital H for heartbreak.

  When they got to Bay Downs, Cady pulled out her camera and made sure she had release forms along with film. Besides being a great cover for investigating, she genuinely loved photography—it was one of many things she had in common with Erin and Lyric.

  Kix quirked an eyebrow. “No digital camera?”

  “Not on Bulldog’s cases. He wants to have negatives.”

  Kix picked up her camera case and studied the laminated business card glued to the front. “Cady Montgomery, Professional Pet Photography.” He grinned. “This for real?”

  “Yes.” Cady cringed inwardly when she heard the defensiveness in her voice.

  “Would have pegged you for a doer instead of a looker.”

  “What does that mean?”

  A slow grin settled on Kix’s face. Damn if she wasn’t as prickly as a hedgehog. “I’m just surprised you’re a picture taker. Way I’ve always seen it, there are two kinds of people—those that stand around watching life go by and those that take it by the horns and ride it for all it’s worth.”

  Cady frowned at him. “A person can be a professional photographer and live life to the fullest, just like a person can be good at multiple things. Not everyone”—her eyes conveyed a silent like you—”is good at only one thing. I’m also a good PI and a damn fine poker player.”

  His laugh stroked right over her. “Well darlin’, I’m good at a lot of things, too. In fact, I’ve been known to play a mean game of strip poker, myself. Maybe later we can see who’s better—just to set the record straight.”

  Before she could stop herself, Cady’s eyes dropped to the still very noticeable bulge in his jeans. “Pass.”

  Kix chuckled. “Darlin’, at least hesitate for a minute before you slam my ego.”

  Her eyes moved back up his body until she met his gaze. God, he was hard to resist. She was a sucker for men who had a sense of humor and didn’t take themselves so seriously. “I’ll bet you weren’t even raised on a ranch. You probably grew up in the city watching westerns.”

  Kix slapped his hand on his chest. “Darlin’, you wound me. I was born and raised on the Kicking A Ranch—home of fine horses, fine cattle and mighty fine men.”

  “Of which you’re the exception.”

  Kix took the opportunity he’d been waiting for and moved in, trapping her against the side of the truck before she could escape. He speared his fingers through the silk of her hair and turned her face up to his, delighting in the way her cheeks flushed with color and her eyes couldn’t hide the fact that she wanted this as badly as he did. “Darlin’, I can’t let that insult to my manhood go unchallenged.” He dipped his head and sealed her lips with his own.

  Cady melted the moment his mouth covered hers. When his tongue teased her lips open and stroked inside, she felt like someone had poured warm honey into her.

  The man could kiss. That didn’t surprise Cady in the least—what did was the fact that she not only let him, but couldn’t help returning the k
iss. She wanted to eat him up.

  Kix groaned in response and pulled her even tighter against him, thrusting his tongue in and out in a rhythm that had her cunt clenching and her nipples straining. Cady shivered and pressed closer. God, he should be banned or jailed—everything about him was sinful and tempting.

  He shifted again, burrowing his cock closer to where it wanted to be. Damn, but this attraction had him feeling like a bull rider who got tossed and stomped on right out of the chute. If he didn’t get a tighter hold on himself, he was going to end up hog-tied and too sorry-assed in love to care.

  They were both breathing hard by the time the kiss ended. Cady somehow managed to move away from him, her eyes once again dropping to the erection that pressed boldly against his faded jeans.

  Kix grinned. He was randy as a stud and lighthearted to boot. “You’re a mighty fine distraction, little darlin’.”

  “I do have a name,” Cady muttered.

  Kix pulled her against his body, tight enough so that his heavy cock pressed against her. She shivered in response. His answering laugh was low and husky as he whispered a kiss along her neck before nuzzling her ear. “Oh, I plan on using your name all right, Cady, just like I plan on hearing you scream mine.”

  Cady’s nipples were so tight that they ached. She closed her eyes against the sensations bombarding her. She was swollen and wet and so needy that she wasn’t even sure masturbating would provide any relief. Damn, how had she gotten into this mess?

  Kix brushed a kiss against her neck. Damn if touching her hadn’t been a big mistake. Sure enough, he could do more than one thing at a time, but walking around with more blood in his cock than in his brain was a damn nuisance. He grinned. But one he was surely going to enjoy dealing with later.

  Cady escaped as soon as Kix dropped his arms. Her body felt like it’d go nova if he touched her again. Forcing a stern expression on her face she said, “Adrienne’s counting on us to help her…so maybe we should concentrate on that instead of out-of-control hormones.”