“Severe stomach pain,” she whispered, and then bent forward.
Cory heard the screen on the front door thwack shut, boots stomping up the wooden stairs and then two more people appeared in the doorway. Tania and the vet, he presumed.
Sam lay against him, and he gently held her in his arms “Doc, I know you only treat animals, but she’s got what they have.”
“What’s going on?” Tania’s eyes grew to double their size.
“Don’t drink the water, it’s been tainted.”
“I’m Gord Hennings.” The vet knelt beside them and tried to examine Samantha, but she vaulted forward, retching into the toilet.
Cory fished in his pocket and handed the doc the sample. “Something’s in the water. It poisoned the horses and Sam. They both have the same symptoms. Ambulance is on the way.”
Sam curled into a ball and Cory drew her between his thighs and held her close. “You’re going to be okay. Just got to get you to a hospital.” She shook her head. “I know you don’t want to go, but you will.”
Tania muscled her way into the bathroom. “Sam, you gotta go.” Her worried gaze flitted to Cory, asking a silent question.
“I don’t think so,” he said quietly, but wasn’t sure. “The poison hasn’t killed the horses yet. Think it was only meant to take them out of commission.” Tainting water was an age old warfare tactic. He’d find the source and make damn sure he found out who did this.
Mackenzie Ackerson was at the top of the list.
****
Twenty-four hours later, Sam returned home, now fast asleep up in her room. Several people sat at the kitchen table: Tania, Carl, Sheriff Barron, Hank, Sadie, and Bear, his old friend from D-force.
“Cory, I had Mack in the jailhouse until noon on Saturday, but he swears up and down he didn’t do this. The tox report showed it was a common pesticide used in farming. The amount in the water leads me to believe it wasn’t by chance. Someone added it to the holding tanks, which means foul play,” the sheriff explained.
“Mack has access to that stuff and motive,” Cory added. “He lost the bid on the film to supply his horses. If he poisoned Tania and Sam’s herd, the production company would use his horses.”
“But they didn’t.” Tania threw in.
Cory and the rest of the ranch hands had ridden up to the ridge and brought down the other herd. They worked half the night and had the twenty horses delivered this morning.
Hank turned his gaze on Cory. “This is now officially a security issue. You mentioned the barn door had been left open as well.”
Carl nodded. “Wasn’t one of us. Someone did it, probably hoping a critter might come along and cause some damage. I’m sure of that now.”
Tania rose and brought the coffee pot back to the table, filling everyone’s cups. “I don’t care about the horses.” She paused. “Well, I do, but I care more that Sam had to endure so much pain last night.”
“How is she?” Sadie asked.
“Better. She’s exhausted. It really knocked her on her ass, and she makes a lousy patient.”
Cory grinned. In the wee hours of the morning, after they’d finished with the horses, he’d driven Tania into Bozeman to the hospital. They waited until Sam could be released and brought her home. He’d sent Tania to bed because she was done in and carried Sam to her bedroom.
He’d laid her down, and she’d sighed with relief to be in her own bed. Then he’d found a pair of scissors in her bathroom cabinet and snipped the plastic bracelet from her wrist.
“Stay,” she said with her eyes closed.
He debated the wisdom of his actions against his attraction, then kicked his boots off and slid between the sheets next to her. Sam’s head rolled back against his upper arm. His hand brushed comforting strokes over her hip and into the swell of her waist. Not to entice, but to reassure. When he’d found her in the bathroom yesterday, her little slip of a top and thong underwear barely covered her, but he hadn’t really noticed. Tania had brought some clothes to the hospital, but now she was back to wearing practically nothing. He definitely noticed.
“Not exactly the same vision I’d hoped for being in bed with you,” he teased.
Sam rolled to her side, her sexy ass pressed against his groin and his cock acted on its own. She reached around and pulled his arm to encircle her. “It’s good to be home.”
He rested his head next to hers. Her hair still soft, although flattened by the high fever. He loved the color of it and the feel of her curls next to his cheek. “You have to rest for a couple more days. Easy on the food and drink, but the doc says you’ll recover back to your ice queen self in no time.”
She huffed out a laugh. “I’m not an ice queen. I’m a sad sack of sick.”
“Think I like you a little vulnerable.”
She breathed in a deep breath and turned in his arms, her big blue eyes staring into his. “Thanks for taking care of me.”
He brushed her bottom lip. “Any time,” he whispered, and watched as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
“Cory? Cory?” Sadie called for a second time, bringing his attention back to the kitchen table.
“Yeah.”
“What do you think?” she asked.
His gaze raked the faces staring at him. “About?”
Tania’s brow furrowed. “I say again, that’s lingo you understand right? I think you should stay here at the ranch, if you’re willing. Obviously, somebody has it out for Sam and me.”
“Sure. I can do that.”
Bear had his arms crossed and started to chuckle from the other side of the table.
“What the fuck’s the matter with you?” Cory asked, feeling transparent in front of another D-force guy.
“Nothin’, bro,” Bear said. “Nothing’ at all.”
“Screw you. It’s for security reasons.”
“Uh-huh.” Bear sipped his coffee, his brows rising at the same time.
Tania plopped down in her chair. “Least there’s some romance budding around here since mine’s fizzled out.”
Sadie’s head jerked back. “What are you talking about?”
“Tucker and I had a fight. The wedding’s off.”
“That’s a pretty bad fight,” Sadie said. What about?”
“The ranch. Sam. I suggested maybe I could live here part time to begin with. I don’t feel right leaving Sam by herself.” She smiled at Carl. “I know you and the guys are here during the day, but what if something happened? An accident with the machinery. She uses it all the time. She could be hurt with no one to come help until morning—or worse, Monday morning if it happened on the weekend.” Tania shook her head in frustration. “Tucker didn’t understand. He got angry. Really angry. We exchanged some nasty words and I left. I stayed at a hotel all weekend in Bozeman trying to cool off.” Tania propped her elbows on the table and cradled her chin in her palm. “Tucker will come to his senses, right? I mean, you and Hank make it work.”
Sadie reached across the table and gripped her hand. “You’ll make it work, too. Until then, the Brotherhood Protectors and Sheriff Barron need to find out who poisoned your water. And I need to get back to my daughter, and that leaves you, Cory, to keep Sam out of trouble.”
The thought crossed his mind that Sam was trouble. Trouble to him and maybe his way of life. Being a bachelor in particular.
Chapter Six
Three days later, Sam was on her feet and feeling pretty good. Not that every once in a while she got the urge to hurl, but drinking ginger tea helped and she’d never cracked the plastic wrap on the meds the hospital prescribed.
“Bluebell Ranch,” she answered, after picking up the ringing phone. She buttered some whole wheat toast at the same time.
“You sound a lot better, Samantha.”
Uh-huh, oh crap! “Dr. Bellows, morning.” As luck would have it, Tucker’s partner happened to be the emergency room physician on duty when she was admitted. Lucky her. Not. “What can I do for you?”
She chuckled good-naturedly. “I see. Didn’t think doctor’s made house calls anymore,” she replied, spoofing on the old practice.
He chuckled, too. “Well, if you’re that quick on your feet at eight in the morning, I’d have to say you’re feeling better.”
“I am. I threw away your meds and I’m drinking tea.”
Sam heard Cory’s footsteps come down the stairs. They’d given him the spare guest bedroom to stay in. He nodded and poured a cup of coffee. She pointed at the fry pan where she’d left a few strips of warm bacon for him.
“Thought I’d do things the old fashioned way and make an actual house call,” Dr. Bellows offered.
The phone slipped from between her chin and shoulder and she grabbed it before the cell hit the floor. “I’m doing fine, doctor.”
“Was hoping you might call me, Brad.”
“Brad. Okay.” She glanced across the kitchen. Cory hadn’t looked her way, but the muscles in his clenched jaw ticked. “No house call required. I’m feeling pretty good.”
“Alright, then how about I just ask straight out for a date.”
Sam cringed a little. “Aw, well. Things are kind of busy around here right now, but—”
“This Saturday,” he said. “I’ll drive out to Eagle Rock.”
“That’s a bit of drive, and now’s not a good time. We’re having some issues on the ranch, but thank you. Say hi to Tucker for me. Good bye.” She hung up and chewed on her upper lip.
Cory had cracked an egg into the pan and sat staring out at the Crazy Mountains while munching on a piece of toast.
She approached slowly, scooped her coffee mug from the counter and sat down across from him.
His gaze shifted to hers. He grinned and tore off another piece of toast. “Met Tucker yesterday,” Cory said. “He came by trying to woo Tania back into marrying him.”
“What did she say?”
“Told him something like family mattered and that included hers. Sounded like he caved a little. Think they’re working it out.”
“Good to hear. I don’t want to ruin her future.”
He nodded. “And I don’t want to ruin yours if you want to go out on a date with Dr. Bellows. Even as sick as you were, the Doc’s attraction to you was pretty clear in the hospital.”
She laughed. “I’ll tell ya something about doctors.”
He waited.
“They’re worse than military men when it comes to chasing skirts.”
Cory swallowed and Sam watched entranced as his Adam’s apple bounced in his delicious-looking throat. Every damn thing about Cory was delicious. She liked that he didn’t talk as much as most men. He didn’t brag. He didn’t have to. Only a man solid in his convictions, both strength and weaknesses, could carry himself the way Cory did.
He set his mug down. “More than seventy percent of my team was married. As you know they’re not home a lot, but none of them, least the guys on my team, screwed around once they’d decided to love one woman.” Cory’s blue gaze trapped hers. “When a D-cup, as you call us, falls for a girl, she’s his; body, mind and soul. He knows what he has isn’t worth losing over a pretty skirt.” Cory paused while she swallowed thickly. “For better or worse, and as I understand it, it just keeps getting better.”
Sam didn’t know what to do with her fluttering heart, because it had exploded into a thousand wings in her chest. “I’m…I’m going to head to the set today to check on the horses.”
“I’ll come with you,” he said, pushing away from the table.
“You don’t have to be my shadow. I can take care of myself.”
He collected her plate and walked to the sink. Over his shoulder, he said, “No, you can’t. I’ll be ready in five minutes.”
Driving onto the movie set erected as a turn of the century town, it looked authentic to a two dimensional eye. She slowed the truck to keep pace with three men in costume walking down the dirt road. “I’m looking for the horses from the Bluebell Ranch. Do you know where they’re keeping them?”
One of the guys nodded. “About a block in that direction at the end of the set.”
“Thanks.”
She and Cory found the horses and the ranch hands. While she checked the horses, Cory placed new hay into their open stalls. Toby, one of their men, fixed a broken halter and Tex polished a saddle.
“Excuuuuse me. Yeah. Excuse me,” a woman called out.
She and Cory both looked up to see a woman trying to navigate the muddy road in high heeled boots. Her balance teetered, walking like a chicken, kicking out her leg in jerky movements, making her way toward them.
Cory stretched to his full height and nodded. “Ma’am.”
The woman’s long index finger, made longer with manicured red nails too long to pick her nose without carving out a piece of brain, waved it back and forth.
“Um, yeah. I’m Dee-Dee Taylor.” She dug in her purse and offered a card.
Cory took it and glanced at the card, then her. “What can I do for you?”
Sam ran her hand along one of the horse’s backside and joined Cory.
“I’m guessing you’re represented,” Dee-Dee said.
“Represented for?”
“An agent. I’m an agent.” Her perky movements didn’t shift her blonde hair poofed up, out and sideways. “Have you acted before?”
Cory turned a furrowed brow at Sam, then back at Dee-Dee. “No, ma’am.”
“Ha, ma’am, that’s sweet. So western. Um, how about modeling? You’ve done some modeling, right?”
“No.”
Dee-Dee blinked her fake lashes. “So, you’re,”—she looked at the horses, at Sam and back at Cory. “You’re a real cowboy?”
He broke into a laugh and Dee-Dee’s knees buckled just a little.
“I guess.”
“What did you do before being a cowboy?”
He sobered. “I served my country.”
Dee-Dee squealed. “Oh my God, you’re a hero. In the Army?”
He nodded. Delta Force wasn’t really part of the Army but the team guys didn’t usually correct people.
“That’s even better. Do you have time to talk? I mean time right now. We need to talk.” She chirped at a hundred miles an hour.
“About what?” The horse beside him gave him a nudge with her nose, and he massaged her back.
“Honey, have you looked in the mirror? Most men have something wrong. Either their faces are just a tich too wide or too narrow. Their eyes are too far apart or too close, something is just a little wrong, but you—what’s your name?”
“Cory McGregory,” he said slowly.
“You, Cory, are a god, and people…women…would fall to their knees to see you in a magazine. America needs another Marlboro Man,” she stalled for a moment. “Not that smoking is good. It’s not, I’m just saying women need a man to dream about. A man like you.”
Sam couldn’t help it and started to chuckle, and then she covered her mouth to suppress the laugh.
“Don’t you agree?” Dee-Dee said, brows lifting to her hairline, voice rising four octaves.
“Certainly,” Sam agreed.
“Thanks,” he said out of the side of his mouth.
“Welcome.” She spit out another laugh.
“Please, let’s find somewhere to talk. I promise you in six months, you could be bringing in six figures. In a year, seven figures,” Dee-Dee spouted.
Cory burst out laughing. “Listen, I appreciate it, really, but—”
“Go,” Sam interceded. He turned a look on her like she was crazy, his brow creased tight. “Don’t look at me like that. She’s right. Most men aren’t perfect. You are.”
His long, dark lashes shuttered his very blue eyes and his lips parted just a little. The firm bow above them so amazing. So kissable. Dee-Dee knew what she was talking about. “Who says a D-cup can’t become a model. You could be famous. Turn your destiny over to her. Least give her
five minutes to make a pitch.”
His gaze hadn’t parted from hers when he said, “Dee-Dee, can you give me a minute? I need to talk with Sam.”
“Sure, honey. But just a minute. We don’t have any time to waste before making you famous.” She wandered off, her ankles all wobbly traversing the uneven ground.
“What are you getting me into?”
“Oh, come on. You know you’re handsome. I’m sure you have a line of broken hearts trailing behind you.”
“Not really.”
She laughed and bowed her head. “Okay, if you say so.”
He moved a step closer and wrapped his warm hand around her neck, bringing her attention back to him. “You ever looked into someone’s eyes and had instant attraction? I’m not talking about a single head turning moment. I’m talking about wanting to tear into another human being because they make you wild.”
Little birds in her chest fluttered back to perch on her heart. “Maybe.”
He nodded and a slip of a grin cracked his lips. “Doesn’t happen very often. When it does we need to pay attention. Need to admit it.”
“Hey, if you’re going to be a supermodel, I’m sure you’ll get that chance.”
His fingers tightened ever so slightly. His gaze hot—past hot, a volcano. “I don’t play games, Samantha. I want you. I’ve had this insane drive to protect you from the moment I saw you.” He leaned a little closer, close enough that his mouth hovered just a paper width from her lips. “In time, I’m going to have you, and it’s going to be hot and wild.” He paused, his thumb brushing her cheek. “But not until you stop throwing down the I’m-resisting-any-guy-in-the-military card. When you’re ready, you’ll come to me.” His thumb traced her bottom lip. “And just so we’re clear. I’m more than ready.”
He backed away without kissing her. Her heart beat so fast, it felt like it might explode and her mouth gaped, but just a little.
He winked at her. “See you in a few minutes.”
Fucking alpha men.
Sam watched him walk down the muddy street like some hero from the old west. Large, unstoppable, irresistible, until he disappeared behind one of the sets. She darted a look over both shoulders and no one seemed to be staring.
Brotherhood Protectors_Montana Freedom Page 6