This was the twenty-first century, for heaven’s sake, not the Dark Ages, when women had no choices, no options available.
Mary Lou thought about her neat, tidy little lab in her parents old RV and smiled. She had options.
Now to take control at home.
She wanted to do naughty, shameful things, starting today. No one else in town need ever know if she turned her husband into the man she wanted him to be—in the bedroom.
In public, he could still be staid. Conservative. Average.
But this room was now hers. If he wanted sex, they were going to do it her way, on her terms.
They did it her way, and then another way, and yet another.
He was late picking up the children.
* * *
SHANNON STOOD ON the back porch watching the stable, but nothing moved. She’d gone for her run this morning and had come home to find the horses out and in the corral. Cash had come while she’d been gone.
He’d returned to the ranch an hour ago, had gone into the barn and hadn’t come out since.
What was he doing in there all that time? Not that she cared.
She spun away from the window. She was kidding herself. Perversely, she did care.
Last night’s first kiss with Cash had been…interesting. More than interesting. Warm and fun. He had wanted her, she would swear to that, but had had enough self-restraint to deny her. So, having sex with a woman would be more than a knee-jerk response to a woman’s advances. She had to admire that in a man.
But then his kiss at the car…hell’s bells, it had been hot, positively scorching. She’d never believed all of that romantic crap about going weak in the knees, but he had done that to her. No other man ever had.
She would have to be careful with Cash.
And yet, he drew her.
She wondered what his reaction to her would be this morning. He had to have been as affected by that kiss as she. How could he not have been?
Her curiosity got the better of her. She made a pot of coffee and rummaged in the cupboards until she found a battered travel mug. She rinsed it, filled it, shrugged into a jacket and stepped outside.
Shannon was a city girl, but had to admit Janey lived on a slice of paradise.
Autumn-brown fields stretched away from the outbuildings. Mauve hills defined the horizon.
In the backyard, sunlight played hide and seek with the remaining leaves on a weeping willow.
C.J. kept his land clean, his buildings and fences painted white.
She approached the stable. Dried leaves crunched underfoot, kicking up the scent of autumn decay.
This was all foreign to her.
Her eyes took a moment to adjust as she stepped into the cool shadows inside the barn. Nothing moved.
At the far end of the aisle, she spotted a pair of long, jean-clad legs crossed at the cowboy boots. She walked toward them. Even though she wasn’t trying to be quiet, to sneak up on him, the feet didn’t move. When she rounded the last stall to a small desk area, she realized why. The guy was nearly comatose.
Sitting on an old wooden kitchen chair and wrapped in his large sheepskin coat, Cash had his arms across his chest and his cowboy hat pulled forward over his face. A soft snore emanated from inside the hat.
He must be beat. Was policing Ordinary really that exhausting? Really? Nothing happened here.
She placed the coffee on the desk beside him. For a long moment, she stared at him.
They wanted different things in life. Too bad. They could have had so much fun together.
Sometimes the job got to her and all she wanted was to walk away and enjoy life, but it was so much more than just a career. It was her calling.
Because she wanted to lift that cowboy hat from his face and do interesting things with his lips to wake him up, and because that definitely wasn’t a good idea, she tiptoed away.
Outside, she stopped at the corral to look at the horses. She breathed deeply. The past week had been a tough one. She wanted this investigation done and over with.
She had nothing on her agenda today and that frustrated her.
She’d already researched as many of the town’s residents as she could on the internet and hadn’t come up with a whole lot.
They were the normal blend of upstanding citizens, rich, poor and everything in between. There were a couple of people who’d been in a little trouble with the law. Nothing serious.
She’d already called Cole at the biker farm. He was going away for a couple of weeks—to some kind of big biker rally in Wyoming. Yet again her frustration grew. The wheels were turning too slowly.
The good news was that he’d agreed to let her interview him when he got back.
When she realized she was gnawing on her lip and her shoulders were tense, she forced herself to accept the situation.
Relax, girl. As Sam Morgans had said every time he’d tried to convince her to take a vacation, sometimes cops needed to get away and rest. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d rested.
Today’s rest was enforced.
A big beige horse approached her.
“Hey, girl,” Shannon cooed. She patted the horse’s nose. Her very, very big nose. What a huge head. Was this girl unusually big, or were all horses so intimidating?
Shannon didn’t have a clue.
The horse seemed to like the attention, so Shannon kept it up, talking in a singsong voice that the horse responded to by head-butting Shannon on the shoulder whenever she stopped.
She didn’t know what to do with horses, but in the movies she’d seen people brushing them. She went into the stable, found a brush, brought it back out and started on the horse’s mane.
“Such a pretty girl,” she said. The mane was thick and long and flopped onto one side. Shannon brushed until her arm grew tired, reaching over the fence to groom the entire mane.
After a while, she realized that her shoulders had relaxed, and so had she. This was therapeutic, so she kept it up.
She wanted to go into the enclosure to brush the horse all over, but hesitated. This horse might be friendly, but Shannon wasn’t sure what the other horses were like.
“Be right back.” She turned to head to the house only to stop short when something pulled her hair.
The horse had her ponytail between his teeth. She giggled. “Okay,” she said, “I’ll stay.”
When the horse relaxed and let go, Shannon jumped away and ran to the house, smiling. Who knew horses were playful?
She gathered a bunch of her hair ribbons and elastics and ran back out to the corral. The horse liked the fussing, so Shannon would fuss to the horse’s content.
While she gathered the mane into evenly spaced sections, the animal whickered softly and hummed in her throat. Shannon had no idea whether that was normal.
She wrapped ribbons around the elastics and tied them into bows then tucked the leftover elastics into her jacket pocket.
“Hey!”
The voice startled Shannon and she jumped. The horse neighed.
Cash strode from the stable, his hat firmly on his head and the travel mug in his hand. Even though he’d only just awakened, he looked good enough to eat.
Last night, when she’d kissed him, his body had felt fabulous against to hers, solid and hard.
Get your mind away from that, Shannon.
“You should step away from my horse,” Cash said. “He isn’t friendly.”
He?
“You shouldn’t approach animals you aren’t familiar with. You might get hurt.”
She was still stuck on the he part of Cash’s first statement. Oh, no. Oh, wait until he saw what she’d done. She tried not to smile. Tried really hard not to laugh.
Despite his flowers and the carved pum
pkin, she was fairly certain he wouldn’t want his male horse decorated with ribbons.
Glancing at the horse, she noticed that the mane was on the side of the neck facing away from Cash.
“He’s plenty friendly with me,” she said. “Watch.” She made as if to walk away and the horse caught her ponytail in his teeth, not hard enough to hurt but firmly enough to stake a claim.
She grinned. “See? He doesn’t want me to stop paying him attention.”
“Victor, drop her hair.” The horse held on. Cash took one step toward the horse and he let go.
“Thanks for the coffee,” Cash said.
“No problem. You shouldn’t have been sleeping out in the cold. Why didn’t you just go home to nap?”
“I want to take Victor out for a run. He needs exercise.”
She turned to leave and Victor grabbed her hair.
“Victor,” Cash said in a repressive tone. The horse dropped her ponytail.
As Shannon walked away, he whinnied. She held her breath, waiting for the explosion she was fairly certain was only a minute away.
“Come on, Victor,” she heard Cash say, “let’s go get you saddled.”
A second later, he roared, “What the— What did you do to my horse?”
Shannon giggled until her sides hurt as she ran into the house for a jelly donut. She hummed while she bit into it. There was something to be said for taking a day off.
* * *
WHILE HE SADDLED Victor, Cash tried to reason with his horse.
“C’mon, buddy, I won’t touch the elastics, but let me at least take off the ribbons.”
Victor bugled and pulled away.
“Okay. Fine. Have it your way.”
Cash walked him out of the stable, mounted and rode across C.J.’s fields while those pretty colored ribbons on his horse mocked his virility.
“Victor,” he muttered. “Have you no manly pride?”
Cash couldn’t really blame his horse, though. Shannon had looked cute as hell this morning with her hair gathered into a pert ponytail. Her bomber jacket left her bum and hips showcased by skinny jeans tucked into a pair of flat-soled suede boots.
And Cash was a little bit in love with her.
One thing wreaking havoc with his peace of mind was that he wanted Shannon’s hands to stay away from his horse…and to reach for him instead. But she didn’t want him in the way he wanted her, and anyway, he shouldn’t want her the way he did. There was no future there.
Damn!
“Heeyah!” he yelled and Victor set off at a gallop while Cash hoped the speed of the ride and the rushing wind would cool his careless libido.
CHAPTER EIGHT
KNOWING THAT THE Wrights were coming home this evening, Cash returned to the ranch early to put the horses to bed so C.J. wouldn’t have to when he got home tired.
He had just finished when he heard a footfall behind him.
“What do you think?” C.J. stood in the doorway of the stable.
Cash laughed and approached. “Hey, buddy, how was your holiday?”
They man-hugged, slapping each other on the back, then separated.
Cash had heard the noisy lot of Wrights return home about ten minutes ago.
“Great vacation,” C.J. said, “but I’m glad to be home.”
He took turns at each stall saying hello to the horses. It was obvious he’d missed them, even Victor.
“Shannon’s been here a few days,” C.J. said. “What do you think?”
“Of what?”
C.J. picked up a broom, sweeping up bits of straw in the centre aisle. “Of my pretty sister-in-law?”
Cash clammed up. C.J. was his best friend, but his feelings for Shannon ran too deeply, too quickly. They unnerved him—already—and he barely knew her.
When he didn’t respond, C.J. said, “That bad, huh? I always thought the two of you would get something going if you ever spent time together.”
“There’s nothing going on.”
“Ri-i-ight.”
“What makes you think there is?”
“Shannon blushed when Janey asked if she’d seen you around the ranch or town.”
“She did?” Really?
“In the eleven years I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her blush. She’s fearless. Barely has any use for men outside of working with a bunch of them at the DEA.” One of C.J.’s horses nudged his shoulder and he turned to scratch her neck. “Then I come out here and ask you what you think of her and don’t get an answer. It’s pretty fishy to me.”
C.J. grinned. “The girls sent me out to bring you back inside. Shannon made a welcome home dinner and you’re invited.”
“Yeah? Is she a good cook?”
C.J. blew a raspberry. “In your dreams. She’s even worse than Janey is. Our grand homecoming dinner is canned tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.”
Cash followed him to the house and squeezed into a kitchen full of Wrights, including kids who were tired but all keyed-up from traveling. Joyful noise bounced off the walls and ceiling.
Janey barely controlled the bedlam and distributed sandwiches and soup.
And there in the middle of it all was Shannon with a broad smile on her face. Each of the twins had her arms wrapped around Shannon’s waist while Ben begged to be picked up.
Seven-year-old Sierra stood watching quietly. Of the whole noisy bunch of Wrights, she was the shy one, and a special favorite of his. She took his hand when he entered the room and held it. She had her father’s blond looks and her mother’s sharp chin, but with a delicacy that left her looking sweet and vulnerable.
“Hi, Uncle Cash.”
“Hey, Sierra. How was Disneyland?”
“Really good. I won a whole bag full of stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“Books and dolls and pencil crayons. I gave the baby books to Ben and kept the chapter books for me. The bag has flowers on it and it’s reusable.”
“No fooling. Sit beside me for supper and tell me about your trip.”
Shannon directed the children to the table. “It’s time for dinner.”
Sarah and Hannah, both jet-haired, ten-year-old versions of their beautiful mother, sat on either side of her.
Sixteen-year-old Liam sat across from her. He was C.J.’s son from a relationship that pre-dated Janey. Janey had been instrumental, though, in helping C.J. get full custody of his son from the boy’s drug-addicted mother. Janey loved Liam and treated him every bit as well as she did her own.
Ben cried. “I wanna sit with Shannon.”
Shannon laughed. “Come here.” She lifted him onto her lap, took a spoonful of soup and blew on it. “We’ll share dinner, okay?” She spooned the soup into Ben’s mouth.
The woman who Cash thought cared little about having a family sure looked good surrounded by one. In fact, he’d say she was in her element.
She engaged Liam in conversation. Liam seemed like maybe he was infatuated with Shannon.
I know how you feel, buddy.
Cash watched the byplay between Shannon and the children while he ate a grilled cheese sandwich that was barely toasted on one side and burned on the other. The soup was good, though.
Sierra caught him checking out his half-raw, half-burned sandwich and they shared a secret smile. Shannon obviously hadn’t really cared much about the cooking once the children had arrived.
So what had happened in her life that had turned her away from having serious relationships with men, that had turned her away from the thought of having children of her own? Just because her mother had died when she was young and her father hadn’t really been there for her?
There had to be more to the tale.
He knew only the bare bones of J
aney’s story—that she’d been raped and impregnated when only fourteen, that she’d kept and adored the child, Cheryl, who’d got cancer when she was five. Cheryl had gone into remission but had then had been struck by a car and killed when she was six—more heartache than one woman should bear.
Whatever went on in Janey’s childhood before the rape, though… What had her family been like? Cash didn’t really know.
Did he want to know all of Shannon’s history? Yeah, despite himself, he did. He was fascinated by her.
That tidbit she’d shared the other day explained a certain amount, but there was more. He was sure of it.
Her laugh caught his attention. For a woman who prided herself on a fierce independence, who could probably arm wrestle a lot of men, and certainly most women, she had a sweet, high-pitched giggle. He’d expected something husky and sexy, not a girlish giggle.
She giggled now and he smiled, couldn’t help himself. Her laugh was contagious.
Then she caught him watching her and the ambience shifted, heated up, became serious. He didn’t remember another woman affecting him so quickly or so profoundly. Ever.
And the attraction was wrong on so many levels.
He fought it.
After the adults had washed the dinner dishes, Janey and C.J. left to put the children to bed. Liam walked outside to say his own hello to the animals.
“Shannon come upstairs, too!” the twins sang together. Cash watched her leave the kitchen.
He wandered to the living room and listened to the sounds of the children upstairs.
It sounded like Ben was overtired and becoming fractious.
Despite the closed bathroom door, Cash heard one of the kids let loose an echoing fart in the bathtub, which started a serious case of the giggles in a couple of them.
He heard the bathroom door open and close and Sierra say, “Pee-ew. Hannah farted in the bathroom. It’s stinky. I can’t wash my face in there.”
That got those girls giggling even harder and Cash couldn’t help but smile.
“Did you brush your teeth, honey?” That was Janey’s voice, coming from one of the bedrooms.
No Ordinary Sheriff Page 10