by Diana Palmer
“There has to be some way we can trap this chameleon,” Tank said curtly. “Listen, we know he’s targeting me, even though we don’t know why. We know he’s targeting you, too.” He indicated Hayes. “But you have powerful connections. Maybe he’s not willing to tangle with your new father-in-law. But I’m on my own. I don’t have a network behind me.”
“You do now,” Cash said.
“Indeed,” Hayes agreed.
“Thanks,” Tank said, smiling.
“You’re also forgetting that the late El Ladŕon’s men hired your father-in-law’s temporary employee to kill you,” Carson told Hayes. “If they’re plotting anything, he’ll be the first to know.”
“Assuming they haven’t rumbled him,” Cash told him. “Never underestimate an organized network of criminals.”
“Good advice,” Hayes seconded.
“But the point is, regardless of by whom,” Tank interjected, “I’m being actively targeted. Rourke’s got my back. But it wouldn’t hurt to bring in a little help. Do we know somebody in the FBI or Eb Scott’s group who has some free time and would like to hire on as a cowboy in Wyoming?”
There were amused glances between the other men.
“I can ride a horse,” Carson said surprisingly.
“You’d need to talk to Cy Parks about that,” Hayes remarked.
“Like Mr. Parks would miss him,” Carlie said under her breath, and she didn’t look at Carson when she spoke. “Coffee’s up,” she added as she sat down at her desk.
“Why don’t you go?” Carson shot at her, embarrassed by his former outburst and angry that she’d made him look like an idiot in front of the other men. “You seem to know how to do everything. Can you ride a horse?” he added sarcastically.
She glared at him. “Yes, I can,” she said. “And use a lasso and even shoot a gun if I have to.”
“No more talk of shooting guns, please,” Cash groaned. “First you have to learn how, especially after the last fiasco at the firing range.”
She glared at him, too. “I could learn if somebody would teach me!”
“Don’t look at me,” Carson drawled with pure venom. “I’m not teaching you anything.”
“Mr. Carson...or whatever your last name actually is...I was not speaking to you,” she said icily.
“You couldn’t pronounce my last name,” he returned, dripping even more venom. “It’s Lakota.”
She flushed and averted her eyes.
He saw that, frowning. Why should his heritage provoke such a reaction?
“Lakota?” Tank asked softly.
Carson nodded. “I grew up on a reservation in Kyle, South Dakota,” he said.
“No wonder you’re so good at tracking,” Hayes remarked.
Carson glared at him.
Hayes held up both hands. “I’m not stereotyping. I mean, growing up in relatively rural places, like Jacobsville, or rural South Dakota, people learn to use their senses more, and most rural men hunt and track.”
“I see.” Carson relaxed a little.
“Touchy,” Cash Grier remarked with narrowed eyes.
“You don’t know me,” Carson replied quietly. “Or you’d understand why.” He turned to Tank. “You can hire me on for a few weeks. I’ll do some checking, make some inquiries. In your part of Wyoming, I won’t even raise eyebrows much. There are communities with native people all over the place.”
“Not so many as you might think,” Tank began.
Carson smiled. “That’s because you don’t know where they are. I do. I have Cheyenne cousins.”
“In that case, I’d love to give you your very own horse and a new rope.” Tank chuckled.
“A new one? Gee, thanks,” Carson said sarcastically.
“You can stretch it between a tree and the rear bumper of a truck and it’ll work really nicely,” Tank assured him.
All the men laughed.
“I’ll talk to Mr. Parks about it tonight,” Carson assured Tank. “But I don’t think he’ll mind. He has plenty of other employees to look after things. And it’s Christmas in three days. He can call it a holiday vacation.”
“I’d better get back there, it’s late,” Tank said, glancing at his watch.
“I’ll drive you,” Hayes said.
“We’ll talk again,” Cash said, shaking hands. They wished each other a Merry Christmas. Cash smiled and went back into his office. Tank and Hayes said their goodbyes to Carlie and walked out.
That left an embarrassed, heartsick Carlie at her desk alone with a ravenous wolf.
Carson stood over the desk looking down his straight nose at her. “Well done,” he said coldly. “I felt like a slab of meat on a grill.”
She looked up at him without her usual tartness. Her eyes showed the wound. “Don’t you have something earthshaking to do elsewhere?” she asked in a subdued tone and pulled out a file from her lower drawer. It humiliated her that her hands were shaking.
He saw that and felt even smaller. He hated her. It was so odd; he didn’t usually dislike women, even plain ones. But she antagonized him. She confused him, unsettled him. He didn’t like having his calm shattered. Besides that, she looked a little like Jessie...
His face closed up. His black eyes narrowed, stabbing at her.
“Do you mind?” she gritted. “I have work to do.”
“You could always call the chief out to protect you,” he drawled.
She looked up at him with quiet pride. “I can defend myself, thanks.”
He had sharp eyes. He was used to dealing with hazardous situations, with dangerous people. He saw more than most people did. His eyes strayed to her shoulder, where the T-shirt was a little tight, just over the fleshy part of her arm. Odd, the way the shirt fit. There was a wrinkle, as if the flesh underneath wasn’t quite smooth...
She put her hand over her shoulder defensively. “Was there something else you wanted?” she asked harshly.
His eyebrows arched. “No. There’s nothing here that I want, or ever will.” He even smiled. He turned and walked out the door.
Carlie shivered. She’d seen where his eyes were. She rubbed the scar self-consciously. She’d really have to go back to button-up shirts. Or make sure her T-shirts and sweaters were big enough not to draw attention to certain things.
She turned on the computer and focused on the task at hand.
* * *
TANK WAS ON his way back to Wyoming the next morning. He didn’t like being away from the ranch. More specifically, he didn’t like being away from Merissa. He’d missed her like crazy. He couldn’t wait to get home, to see her, to touch her, to kiss her...
Across the aisle, Carson had yet another admirer, a blonde flight attendant with a smile so big that it seemed to go from ear to ear. He really did know how to lure women. But it was a shame he’d been so cruel to Cash Grier’s little secretary. She might not be pretty, but she had a livewire personality and a good sense of humor, and she seemed to be a person of faith; that alone was rare in this jaded world. He wondered why Carson was so antagonistic toward her. So he liked pretty women. That was no excuse to make cruel comments about a woman who wasn’t.
Carson was an odd duck. He never seemed to fit in anywhere. He was a maverick who hated authority. But it had amused Tank to see how much he respected Cash Grier. One word from the police chief and Carson had shut up immediately.
The men had something in common, probably a covert background that gave them a point of reference as well as a mutual respect. It had occurred to Tank that Carson didn’t seem to mind leaving Texas for a while, either. He wondered if it had anything to do with Cash’s secretary.
* * *
ROURKE MET THEM at the airport. His blond eyebrows met above the black eye patch over one eye, and the brown eye twinkled.
“What the hell are you doing up here?” he asked Carson as he shook hands with Tank.
“Hunting.” Carson grinned.
Rourke chuckled. “Welcome, then. I could use the help.”<
br />
“He’s my latest hire,” Tank said meaningfully. “I have a lot to tell you.”
“Let’s go back to the ranch. I have a few things to tell you, too,” Rourke said, and that wasn’t a pleasant tone in his voice.
* * *
“WHAT’S UP?” TANK asked when they were in the double-cabbed ranch pickup on the way to the ranch.
“It’s Merissa Baker,” Rourke said.
“What the hell...!” Tank burst out. “Is she hurt? Is she all right?”
“No,” Rourke said.
“Then what...!”
Rourke pulled the truck over into a convenience store parking lot and turned to Tank. “Some things have happened since you’ve been away. Clara’s ex-husband showed up at their cabin. He claims that it’s his and he has the papers to prove it.”
“Does he?” Tank asked coldly.
“It’s up to her to prove he isn’t the owner,” Rourke said. “And somehow a whole file of her important papers went missing.”
“I thought he’d been gone for years,” Tank said. “Why would he come back now?”
“That’s a very good question” was the reply. “I don’t know. He moved into the house with them. Clara’s terrified of him. Merissa is trying to stay out of his way. I went over to check on her and he literally blocked the door and refused to let me speak to her.”
“Head that way,” Tank instructed. His expression and tone of voice was harder than Rourke had ever heard from Tank.
“Now that’s amazing,” Rourke said as he pulled back onto the highway. “You know, that was exactly what I was going to advise.”
“You packing?” Tank asked him.
“Always,” Rourke replied.
“So am I,” Carson said from the cramped backseat.
“Bowie knives don’t count,” Rourke jibed.
“They do if you know how to use one,” Carson said haughtily.
The two men in front laughed, but there was no real amusement. Tank was worried. He knew what the man had done to the women in his family, and it disturbed him that they were at his mercy. Well, that was something he was about to fix. Right now.
* * *
THE TRUCK PULLED up at the front of the house and the three men got out. As they approached the house, a tall, powerfully built man with thinning black hair and a mean expression came out to meet them.
“I came to see Merissa,” Tank said pleasantly.
“I’m afraid she’s not available,” the man said with an arrogant look.
Tank went right up to him. “You don’t know me,” he told the man with a cold smile. “My name is Dalton Kirk. My brothers and I own the Rancho Real. We have a whole damned team of corporate attorneys with a little time on their hands. If I don’t get in that house, right now, I’ll have my private investigator do some digging. You say you own the place, right? Prove it!”
The man was less aggressive now. In fact, he shifted his belligerent posture and lost his arrogance. “Hey, no problem, you can see her if you want to. No need to go calling attorneys, for God’s sake. Merissa, come out here!”
The tone of his voice made Tank furious. He held in his rage and waited, not too patiently, until a subdued, worried Merissa came out onto the porch. She looked ragged. Her eyes had dark circles under them and she was obviously distressed.
“Come here, honey,” Tank said softly and held out his arm.
She ran to him, sobbing, to be enclosed hungrily in his embrace.
“It’s all right,” he whispered. “It’s going to be all right.”
She clung closer.
“What the hell is that all about?” the man on the porch growled. “I haven’t hurt you!”
“Make him let Mama come out here,” she whispered urgently in Tank’s ear, so that the man couldn’t overhear her. “Please, Dalton!”
Tank smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry.” He let her go. “I want to talk to Clara,” he said out loud.
Now the man really looked unsettled. “She’s indisposed.”
“Rourke,” Tank said, nodding toward him.
Rourke pulled back his wool jacket and disclosed a holstered .45 automatic. At the same time, Carson moved to his right and pushed back his own jacket, showing the big Bowie knife.
“Are you...threatening me?” the man stammered.
“I want to see Clara,” Tank told him. “Whether or not it’s a threat depends on whether or not she comes out here.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Our sheriff, Cody Banks, is a good friend of mine. I have his number on speed dial.”
Now the man was really unsettled. He swallowed. “She had a fall,” he said quickly. “She has a few bruises. It ain’t my fault!”
“Clara!” Tank called shortly.
The door opened. Little Clara, nervous and shivering, came into view. There were bruises on her face.
“Come here to me,” Tank said softly. “It’s all right,” he added when she looked with evident fear at her ex-husband. “Come on. He isn’t going to touch you!” He glared at the man as he said it, and his expression was dangerous.
Clara ran down the steps, almost stumbling. Tank put his arm around her. “You okay?” he asked softly.
She sobbed. “I am now, thanks.”
He hugged her and then let her go. He pushed the speed dial on the phone. “Cody?” he asked when his friend answered. “We’ve got a little situation here, and I need some help.”
“Hey, there’s no need for that!” the man on the porch yelled. “No need at all!”
Rourke walked up on the porch. He stood beside the man and looked down at Clara. “Did he strike you, Mrs. Baker? Please don’t be afraid to answer me. He will not touch you again. You have my word on it.”
Clara drew in a shattered breath. “Yes. He beat me up because I asked him to leave,” she said in a defeated tone.
“That’s a damned lie!” the man yelled. “She fell! You tell him you fell, Clara, or you’ll regret it!”
“Terroristic threats and acts,” Rourke said quietly. “Assault and battery. My, my, you are going to be in trouble.”
“Like hell I am,” the man said nervously and tried to make a run for it. Rourke had him on the floor in a heartbeat, and cuffed.
“You carry handcuffs around with you?” Carson asked in a shocked tone.
“Hey, you never know when they might come in handy,” Rourke told him. “No, actually, I bought them a week ago, with other...intentions in mind.”
“You let me go! I want to go!” the man groaned. “It wasn’t even my idea to come back here, but I’ve got an outstanding warrant in San Diego and he threatened to go to my parole officer!”
“He, who?” Rourke asked, jerking him to his feet.
The man hesitated. He actually looked afraid.
Tank joined Rourke on the porch. “Who?”
“Don’t know his name,” Baker said miserably. “He wore a suit. Said he was a fed and he could lock me up for ten years. He said to come here and say the house was mine. Don’t know why. He paid for the plane ticket. Listen, I don’t want no more trouble! I just want to go home!”
“Not just yet,” Tank told him acidly. “First there’s a little matter of assault and battery and some missing paperwork.”
“Damned paperwork’s under the mattress in the spare bedroom,” he grumbled. “And I’m sorry I hit her, but she told me to get out.” His face flamed. “Ain’t no woman alive talking to me like that on my own place!”
“It’s not your place,” Merissa said with cold pride. She was shaking but her voice was almost steady. “It’s ours. And it will suit us both very well if we never have to see you again.”
“You won’t,” Tank assured her. He looked at the man with icy eyes. “He’s going to jail for a long, long time.”
“He’ll get me a lawyer,” Baker told him. “He’ll pay for it. He’ll say those women lied.”
“You want to take a look at Clara’s face and run that line by me again?” Tank de
manded.
“Well, I ain’t going to jail!”
He broke away from the men and took off out the back of the cabin.
“Carson, you’re quicker than I am,” Rourke began.
Just as Carson started to the side of the cabin, there was a loud report.
Tank swore once, violently. “Stay with Clara and Merissa,” he told Rourke. He and Carson ran around to the back of the cabin. Just down the trail there was a crumpled body.
Carson went down on one knee. He felt for a pulse he knew he wouldn’t find and got to his feet again. “Better call the coroner,” he told Tank, and deliberately stood in front of him. “Judging from the size of the exit wound, it was a high caliber rifle. Get out of here, quick!” he added. “Go! He isn’t after me!”
Tank went around the side of the house and up onto the porch. “We’d better get inside,” he said.
“Bill?” Clara asked worriedly.
“Dead,” Tank said bluntly. “I’m sorry.”
Clara wept quietly. “I’m sorry he’s dead, but only because he was once my husband. He was the most cruel human being I’ve ever known.”
“I can understand why,” Tank said, looking at her ravaged, bruised face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” He put an arm around Merissa, who was shaking, and held her close. He pulled Clara to his other side. “It’s going to be all right,” he said softly. “Nobody’s hurting my girls on my watch.”
They both sobbed. He just held them closer.
* * *
THE SHERIFF CAME first, followed by EMTs, and a deputy stood watch over the remains until the coroner was able to get there.
Sheriff Cody Banks was furious when he saw Clara’s face. “Any man who would do that to a woman should be shot,” he muttered furiously.
“That’s why I phoned you,” Tank said. “I meant to have him arrested for it. But he ran, and someone took him out. The same someone,” he added heavily, “that I think is after me.”
“You want to run that by me again?” Cody asked.
Tank nodded. “You can come to supper. We’ll tell you everything we know.” He indicated his two male companions. “There’s a lot going on.”