“I want you to promise me that if you get another mystery gift, before you freak out and do something impulsive like leave town, you’ll call me. I don’t want you to be afraid, Trisha, but I also don’t want you to go away.”
The inner cold that had threatened to grip her never took complete hold as she saw the strength, the sweet possibilities that shone from his eyes. “Okay, it’s a deal,” she replied.
The blond-haired, blue-eyed man was definitely getting beneath her defenses far more quickly than she could have ever imagined. For the next few minutes the conversation turned to her desire to move out of the motel.
“I’d really like to buy a house, but right now it just isn’t feasible,” she explained. “I did find two rentals in the paper this morning and I think I’m going to check them out before I go in to work tomorrow. I want to make a move out of that motel room soon.”
“I’d be glad to go with you to check them out,” he said. “You know, kick the foundation and check out the roof.”
“I wouldn’t want to take you away from your work here,” she replied, although she wouldn’t mind having a second pair of eyes to see any potential issues that might arise.
“Our work schedule here is fairly flexible. Cassie doesn’t care how many hours we work or when we work them, all she cares about is that the daily chores get done.”
“Then I’d love to have you tag along. I’m planning on heading out around eleven. I have to be at work at the café by two.”
“Then I’ll meet you at the motel at eleven,” he replied with an easy smile.
Trisha was slightly surprised by her pleasure at the idea of spending more time with him the next day. Things were definitely moving fast between them, but she wasn’t at all sure that she wanted them to slow down.
“Is it time to go fishing again?” Cooper asked as he popped up from his prone position and rubbed his eyes with the back of his fists.
Dusty laughed and sat up. “Yeah, I think maybe the fish are especially hungry by now.”
“Good, ’cause I ’specially want to catch a big fish,” Cooper replied.
“Before we go let me hit you with some sunscreen again,” Trisha said and pulled a tube of cream out of her purse.
Minutes later Cooper once again wore his life jacket and the three of them were back on the dock with fishing poles in hand. Trisha watched in amusement how Cooper imitated not only Dusty’s stance but his facial expressions and actions, as well.
There was definitely a little bit of hero worship going on. Did she worry that Dusty might break her son’s heart? Absolutely, but she also wouldn’t take this wonderful experience away from Cooper for the world.
As they waited for a bite, Cooper asked a hundred more questions. Did fish have ears? Did they play games in the water? Did Dusty like fish sticks? Did he like fish sticks with ketchup?
Dusty answered each and every question with thoughtful consideration. And then it happened... Cooper’s bobber took a dive. He squealed and vibrated with excitement as Dusty hurriedly set down his own pole and helped Cooper reel in his catch.
Cooper whooped and hollered until they had the tiny perch on the dock. “I catched a fish! I catched a fish!”
“You sure did,” Dusty replied and crouched down next to the dancing boy.
Cooper grabbed Dusty by the face and kissed him on the cheek. Trisha didn’t know who was more surprised, herself or Dusty. He looked up at her with a stunned expression and then quickly gazed back down at the flopping fish on the dock.
“Ah, it’s just a baby,” Cooper said with disappointment. “It wouldn’t even make one fish stick, so I guess we’d better put it back and let it grow bigger.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Trisha said.
“Now I wanna catch a bigger one,” Cooper said once the fish had been returned to the water and his hook was once again baited and ready.
For the next half an hour nobody got any bites and Cooper showed all indications of becoming bored. Trisha had been surprised by how attentive he’d been throughout the day, but now that focus had been lost.
A glance at her wristwatch let her know it was almost seven. She was surprised by how quickly the hours had flown by. She was just about to tell Dusty that it was probably time for them to head back to the motel when he ripped up his pole and his line went taut.
“You got a fish, Dusty?” Cooper asked excitedly.
“I think so.” Dusty began to reel in with effort. Trisha couldn’t help but notice how his biceps popped with his exertion. Sunlight danced in his hair and she wondered how those golden strands would feel against her fingers.
Get a grip, she told herself even as the memory of their kiss played provocatively in her head once again. They were still early in their courtship—or whatever they were doing together.
“Is it big, Dusty? Is it a big fish?” Cooper asked.
“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t think it’s a fish after all,” Dusty said with a frown. “It feels like I’m reeling in a tree branch or a big stick.” He continued to reel in a little more easily.
Ripples appeared in the water and suddenly something bobbed to the surface. Smooth and covered with algae, the object shot a wave of horror through her. Was it...was it really...?
“Trisha, take Cooper over to the blanket.” Dusty’s voice registered a terse alarm.
“But I wanna see the big stick,” Cooper protested.
“Come on, son,” she said and grabbed him by his shoulder. “You’ve seen plenty of sticks before.” She hurried him away from the dock.
It wasn’t until they were seated on the blanket that she fully processed what had been on the end of Dusty’s line...a human skull.
CHAPTER 5
“I’m sorry about the way the day ended,” Dusty said two and a half hours later when they were finally in his truck and headed back to the motel. Cooper was sound asleep in his car seat and the deep shadows of night had moved in.
“You don’t have to apologize,” she replied easily. “I’m sure you didn’t plan for this to happen.”
He grimaced. No, there was no way in hell he would plan to fish up a human skull from the depths of the pond. The horror of the unexpected catch still rose up in the back of his throat.
“Thank goodness Chief Bowie was already on the property,” Trisha said.
Dusty didn’t reply. He knew why Dillon had been at the ranch. He’d been conducting more interviews with the men. If the skull turned out to be the one missing from one of the skeletons, it would only make the lawman look more closely at the cowboys on the Holiday ranch. And Dusty couldn’t imagine that the skull didn’t belong to the skeleton from the burial site.
“I’m just glad Dillon spoke to me away from you and Cooper and removed the...uh...item before Cooper got a glimpse of it,” he finally said. “I’d hate to be responsible for him having nightmares.” He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, surprised by the surge of protectiveness that rose up inside him as he thought of the little boy.
“I appreciate you calling some of your friends to come down and help distract Cooper.”
“No problem.” Dusty had called Tony and Mac McBride to the pond to keep Trisha and Cooper company while he’d talked to Dillon and several other officers had combed the area around the pond.
He’d been comforted by the sound of Mac’s guitar and Cooper’s laughter as they’d sung “Old McDonald” and “Bingo” and other childhood songs.
At least for Cooper it had been a wonderful ending to the day. For Dusty it had been a grim reminder of the murders that remained unsolved, murders that cast a pall over all the men who worked on the ranch.
“Dusty, thank you for everything you did to make today so wonderful,” she said as he slowed and turned in to the motel parking lot.
He
pulled into the empty parking space next to her car. “It was definitely my pleasure,” he replied. He shut off the engine and then unfastened his seat belt as she did the same.
He got out of the truck and hurried to the passenger side, where she had opened the back door to get Cooper. “Let me,” he said and gently nudged her aside.
She stepped back and Dusty unfastened the belt that held Cooper and then lifted the sleeping child into his arms. Cooper snuggled against him without awakening. Dusty’s heart constricted in an alien but not unpleasant way at the warmth of the little body nestled against him. Cooper’s trust, his wonderful innocence, felt like a precious gift.
Dusty carried him to the door, where Trisha pulled out a key and unlocked it, then gestured for Dusty to place Cooper on the king-size bed.
The room smelled of her, of the heady scent of wildflowers and a hint of vanilla. Desire rose up inside him, a desire he quickly tamped down.
She walked back with him to the door and they stepped just outside. “I’ll get the car seat out of my truck and put it back into your car,” he said.
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Her eyes glowed silver in the moonlight and beckoned him to repeat the kiss they’d shared the night before. She apparently sensed his intent, for she raised her face and parted her lips as if in anticipation.
He didn’t hesitate. He gathered her in his arms and kissed her with all the desire he’d battled through the day unleashed.
She responded in kind, wrapping her arms around his neck and molding her body against his. Her mouth was hot and tasted faintly of the chocolate cake they’d eaten earlier.
The sweet press of her full breasts against his chest, the length of her legs so intimately against his own, created a fiery heat that spread throughout his body. He’d never had such a visceral reaction to any woman before.
He ended the kiss abruptly and stepped back from her, not wanting her to know that he was fully aroused. Her lips were plumped and trembled slightly as she looked up at him.
She raised a hand and touched her lower lip. “You scare me just a little bit, Dusty Crawford.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets, afraid if he didn’t contain them he’d only reach out for her once again. “I’d never do anything to hurt you, Trisha, although I have to admit, you do stir up my blood.”
She dropped her hand to her side. “I have to take things slow, Dusty. It’s been a long time since I’ve had any kind of a relationship with a man. I don’t want to jump into anything too fast.”
“I don’t expect you to. I can be a patient man, Trisha, and I realize we’ve only just begun to really get to know each other. But I can’t promise that I won’t kiss you again if the opportunity presents itself.”
She laughed softly. “I consider myself duly warned.”
He pulled his hands out of his pockets. “So, are we still on for tomorrow?”
“I’d love for you to go with me to look at the rentals,” she agreed.
“Then I’ll see you here at eleven tomorrow.” He stepped out of the doorway so she could close and lock it.
As he moved the car seat from his truck to the back of her car, he thought of that moment when Cooper had grabbed his face with warm little hands and kissed him on the cheek.
Was Dusty supposed to feel so affectionate toward a child who wasn’t his own flesh and blood? He shoved away the question. It didn’t really matter how he was supposed to feel.
At least Trisha hadn’t found any more gifts left at her doorstep tonight. She hadn’t told him much about her stalking experience in her past, but Dusty could only guess that a situation like that would frighten any woman.
It was only when he was on the road back to the ranch that the vision of the skull filled his head once again. Talk about a gruesome catch of the day. How many years had that skull been in the pond water only to somehow get dislodged enough that his hook had caught it?
There was little doubt in Dusty’s mind that the skull belonged to a skeleton from the burial pit. When he’d reeled it in, he’d seen the jagged wound in the bone, indicating that the person had been hit with a sharp instrument in the back of the head. Just like the others, he thought grimly.
Dillon hadn’t been willing to make a call about a match until he sent it off to the Oklahoma City lab and got an official match between body and skull, but Dusty had seen the certainty in his eyes, as well.
When Dusty got back to the bunkhouse, Tony was sitting outside his door on a camp chair. “Want a cold one?” He snagged a bottle of beer from a small cooler at his feet.
“Sounds like a plan,” Dusty replied. “Just let me get a chair.” He opened his door and grabbed a canvas folding chair from his room and then opened it next to Tony’s.
“I figured you could use a beer or two after the whopper you pulled out of the pond earlier,” Tony said.
Dusty cracked open the bottle Tony handed him and took a long deep swallow of the cold liquid. “I appreciate you and Mac helping me out with Trisha and Cooper. The last thing I wanted was for Cooper to see that skull.”
“It was no problem. He’s a cute kid.”
“Yeah, he is,” Dusty agreed. “Have you ever thought about being a father?”
“Never,” Tony replied firmly. “I’m not cut out to be anybody’s father. What about you? Are you ready to take on that kind of responsibility?”
“I don’t know,” Dusty replied truthfully. “It isn’t something I’ve given much thought to in the past.”
The two men fell into a comfortable silence. Dusty sipped his beer and stared up into the night sky as the events of the day played in his mind.
There was no question that an intense sexual chemistry existed between him and Trisha. But his feelings for her were already so much more than just that. It shocked him how quickly she and her son were worming a path straight into the center of his heart.
Was it simply loneliness that had him feeling this way so quickly? Would he feel the same about any woman he’d decided to ask out? Somehow, he didn’t think so. There was just something extra special about Trisha Cahill.
“Have you ever wondered if maybe, just maybe one of us might have killed those boys?” Tony asked.
Dusty turned and looked at him in shocked surprise. The moonlight shone starkly on Tony’s high cheekbones and his long black hair. His dark eyes held Dusty’s gaze steadily.
“Never...have you?”
Tony broke the eye contact and stared out in the direction of the blue tent that had protected the burial pit where the skeletons had been found. “Just in the past week or so.”
He took another drink of his beer, leaned forward and placed the empty bottle in the cooler, and then looked at Dusty once again.
“We both know that the skull you fished up this evening is from the skeleton that was missing a head. I just keep thinking about the fact that somebody murdered those boys and then buried them beneath the loose floorboards of the shed. It had to be somebody who had free access to this property, somebody who knew about those loose floorboards and a deep pond where a skull could be thrown into the water and hopefully never found.”
“I can’t imagine why the skull wasn’t buried with the rest of the body like the other ones,” Dusty replied. It was macabre, to say the very least.
“I guess only the killer knows the answer to that,” Tony replied.
“So, do you have a particular suspect in mind?” Dusty asked, even though he didn’t want to consider that one of the men he considered his family could possibly be responsible for the murders.
“Definitely not you,” Tony replied. “You and Forest were the last boys Francine Rogers brought here. I think the murders had already taken place by that time.”
He reached down and grabbed a fresh beer. He cracked it open and then continued, �
�Brody has always had one hell of a temper, and Jerrod keeps to himself and hasn’t ever really shared things about his past like the rest of us have.” He released a sigh filled with frustration. “And what about Adam? He was the first to be here, and I don’t think he’s ever fished in that pond. I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy.”
“I hope you’re crazy,” Dusty replied. “All I know is that I never saw any other boys here when me and Forest arrived and I’ve never heard any of the men talk about any other boys who might have been here before us.”
How many of the other men now entertained thoughts like Tony’s? Would the suspicion of one another tear apart the brotherhood they had all shared for so long?
Dusty frowned thoughtfully and his heart grew heavy. Would this be the ultimate end of the family Cass Holiday had so lovingly nurtured?
* * *
Trisha dreamed of dead people and skulls and headless skeletons that chased her through the night. She awakened at dawn with her heart pounding rapidly and a scream trapped deep inside her. With a quick glance at Cooper, who still slept soundly beside her, she got out of bed and went into the bathroom.
Thank goodness she hadn’t screamed with the horrible visions that had invaded her sleep. The last thing she wanted was to awaken her son with her night terror.
She stood in front of the sink and sluiced cool water on her face and then sat down on the edge of the tub and drew in deep, steadying breaths until her heartbeat finally slowed to a more normal pace.
She occasionally suffered from nightmares, but last night her bad dreams had been even worse than usual. At least Cooper hadn’t seen the skull. He hadn’t even known that anything bad was happening. Trisha appreciated the way Dusty had handled the situation, not only telling her to get Cooper away from the dock as quickly as he had, but then calling in a couple of his fellow cowboys to entertain her and her son while Dillon and his men dealt with the skull. It had definitely been a ghastly end to a magical day.
As she took a shower she replayed the day in her mind, ending with the kiss they had shared. She had no idea where her relationship with Dusty was going, but there was no question that they shared an intense physical connection.
Harlequin Romantic Suspense March 2016 Box Set Page 6