by Jodi Thomas
“Shouldn’t we do the dishes first?” she whispered in his ear.
“No, we have hours.” His hands moved along her back and over her hips. “I have an important investigation to do right now.”
“What’s that?” she asked, unbuttoning her blouse slowly as he stared.
When the silk opened, revealing her bra, she saw the hunger in his eyes.
“I need to find that tattoo.”
She felt suddenly very young again as he took her hand and led her into his bedroom. Neither thought of turning on a light; the glow from the deck lamp was enough to see.
The room was plain, no pictures on the walls, no junk scattered around. Everything had its place, and right now, her place was here with him.
When he locked the door, he whispered that from now on there would be no talking.
She nodded in agreement as she let her blouse drift to the floor.
He sat on the room’s only chair and unlaced his boots. When she put her foot on his knee, he stopped long enough to tug her sock off and slide his hand up her leg to the calf he’d been feeling earlier in the café. “I like this part of you, pretty lady, among other parts.”
“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere until you’re finished.” She loved that he didn’t hurry the beginning. It somehow made the ending so much sweeter.
“Lift your other foot,” he ordered, and when she did, he tugged off the other sock with the same care. But he took his time stroking her leg, pressing hard enough to almost leave a bruise one moment and featherlight the next. “Your skin’s warm, Brandi,” he said. “Tell me, are you warm all over?”
She stood close in front of him as she unbuckled her belt and started to slip out of her pants, but his hand covered her, stopping her progress.
Raising her arms in surrender, she let him push the pants down slowly, taking his time watching as she appeared before him one inch at a time. When the fabric bundled just below her stomach, she let out a little cry when he leaned forward and kissed her there.
His strong fingers on either side of her hips held her still as he kissed his way up to her waist and back down again. The pleasure of it, the pure raw enjoyment he took, almost bucked her knees.
He pushed the material lower and kissed her bare body now, and she was so hot she felt like she was on fire.
When he finally looked up, her hands were on the clasp at the front of her bra. She wanted more, much more, all over.
As she stared into his eyes, she slowly released the clasp. Breathe, she silently ordered as she watched him staring, admiring. She turned her back to him and tossed the bra on top of her blouse.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” he whispered as his hand curved over her hip.
He waited until she was down to skin before he admitted that he’d been the one who lost the bet.
“You complaining, Sheriff?”
“Not a chance. You’re so much fun to watch undress I couldn’t make myself admit I should be the one undressing first.”
“I told you I wasn’t shy,” she whispered, as she sat in his lap, facing him.
He kissed her then, the way she’d always dreamed of being kissed. His hand caressed her bare body and she laughed with pure joy at how great it felt to be touched so lovingly.
Then, she insisted on helping him strip.
They made love with a caring that surprised and delighted her. They kissed and explored and whispered to each other all the way. This slow, passionate journey was new to her, and she couldn’t get enough.
Whenever he turned her body to explore, to truly see her, she gave him a show and loved seeing passion fire in his eyes. She wasn’t hesitant with him. He wanted to make her happy, please her, and she wanted to return the pleasure.
After they made love the first time, he barely gave her time to let her heart slow before they started again. This time he was even bolder and just as hungry. The kisses were deeper. Only she kept pushing him away when he got too close. She teased him until she was convinced that no man had ever wanted a woman like he wanted her.
The surrender wasn’t sweet, but wild and maddening. It left both too exhausted to move. She could feel his breathing slow against her chest, but his hand still moved over her.
“I’ve never...” he whispered.
“Me neither,” she answered. “I didn’t even know it could be like this. Once in a lifetime. The Fourth of July and Christmas rolled in chocolate.”
He laughed softly. “If I ever recover, we should do this again just to see if that’s true.”
She pushed him to his side. “I can’t. My heart won’t take it again.”
He was gently caressing her now with his fingers along her side. Every now and then, he’d move a few inches and brush the side of her breast. She lifted her arms and let him explore, knowing that there would be a next time, and a next. She’d never been so open with a man, so free, so loving. She trusted him, and she knew she was the drug he was quickly becoming addicted to. The next few weeks with him would be one long high. Even now, when they’d already made love twice, his nearness was turning her on again.
When she curled in his arms under the covers, Brandi realized that she’d never felt this way before. Safe, cherished, loved. For the first time in her life, she’d met a man who wouldn’t be easy to walk away from. But she would. It’s what they both wanted—a memory. Nothing more.
Even in his sleep he moved his hand over her body. He was making love to her in his dreams. She drifted, half asleep, half wrapped in the pleasure of him near. Deep in the night, she woke him silently, demanding satisfaction. He surrendered without a fight and gave her what she wanted.
The sheriff had kept his promise. He’d given her something she’d never had: a memory to take with her forever. A perfect night of lovemaking. Sanctuary in his arms. No matter how cold the nights got, she’d have this one time to remember, to hold on to.
She’d have one night in her life when she knew she was cherished by a man with honest eyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CODY HAD SUFFERED through a hell of a day, and Tess still hadn’t shown up at the hospital. She’d said she would check in, and if he got released, she’d come get him, but that obviously wasn’t happening.
If he had a cell phone, he’d call her.
If he knew her number.
The sun was shining, melting off snow and ice as fast as it melted away any hope of ever having Tess Adams as a friend. He didn’t need her. He didn’t need anyone. If you depend on people, they either let you down or die on you. He needed to get used to that fact.
Cody swore. If she didn’t show up soon, he’d tell the nurse that his wife had run off with a biker. If he could make up a wife, he might as well make up her biker lover.
Finally, half asleep and tired of waiting, he heard the door to his room slowly open. “That you, honey?” he snapped.
A man in a sheriff’s uniform stepped in. “No, it’s not, darlin’.”
Cody swore again. “What are you doing here, Sheriff Brigman? Near as I can tell, falling off a horse isn’t a crime. Of course, I’ve been missing a park ranger for two days who said she’d come get me. You think I could file a missing person’s report while you’re here?”
Dan Brigman walked to the side of the bed. “I haven’t got time for any paperwork right now. I’m your taxi back to your land. Miss Adams isn’t missing, she has got her hands full at your place with another injured man.” He looked over at the stack of supplies. “I see you’re packed and ready.”
“I have been for hours, but I didn’t know home deliveries were part of the sheriff’s job.” Cody frowned. “What other man is at my place?”
“I’ll explain in the car. I’ll also have plenty of time to talk you into doing me a favor on the ride home.”
He grinned. “Lucky for you Tess called to tell me to bring you something to wear. All I had handy was this coat. Sorry about the dust.”
Dan handed Cody a long raincoat that looked like it had been riding around in a police car for years.
“I don’t care.” Cody scooted to the edge of the bed and put his good foot on the floor. “I just want to get out of here. I need air that doesn’t smell like medicine. Hell, everything smells around this place.”
He opened the coat and shook it out. Dust flew, but Cody breathed in deep. “Ah, I never thought I’d say it, but dirt smells good after this place. At least this coat will keep the back of my butt from showing. Then you’d have to arrest me for indecent exposure.”
Two nurses came in to help. By the way they were smiling, Cody guessed he hadn’t been an easy patient to handle.
While they worked getting the coat over his broad shoulders made even wider by the bandages and tucked him into a wheelchair, Cody told the truth to the sheriff. “I’m not worth much, lately. You might look for a favor somewhere else.”
He knew the sheriff was surveying his injuries, but it was the scars inside that made him unfit for duty. “I’m not sure I could be of any help, but I appreciate the ride home.”
Dan leaned down while the nurses were busy and whispered, “Can you handle a weapon if I need a guard?”
“I can.” Cody had never turned down an assignment. When he was put on leave, he was fighting mad and that hadn’t helped. He wanted to be in the field working, not behind a desk.
Officially, he was still a ranger on leave, but mentally, Cody knew he was messed up. Nightmares still haunted him, even though he’d told the psychiatrist that they didn’t. Cody wasn’t sure how he’d react if he heard gunfire again. After you’ve lain in the mud for hours listening to it, you started to wonder if you were dead and your hearing was simply the last sense to go.
Brigman picked up a plastic bag of things like bedpans, little pitchers and tissue boxes. The two nurses started rolling Cody into the hallway.
“Let’s get you home, Ranger Winslow, and we’ll talk about the assignment waiting for you.” Brigman led the parade to the elevator.
One nurse pushed Cody in the wheelchair and the other followed with a cart.
“You want this junk?” Brigman lifted the plastic bag of plastic stuff.
“No,” Cody answered.
Brigman dumped it in the first trash container they passed.
Cody smiled for the first time in days. “You’ve had a stay in a hospital before, I’m guessing.”
“Yep. And believe me, you’ll never miss a pink pitcher.”
Right then Cody decided he liked the sheriff. Whatever this favor was, he’d do it. He’d been delivered here by the chopper with nothing but his clothes, and most of them were cut off during the flight in. He was leaving with one hospital gown under a borrowed raincoat, a pair of crutches, a walker, a shower seat and his cowboy boots. At least the medic hadn’t cut them off.
Cody raised an eyebrow, wondering if the sheriff was playing a trick on him. Brigman must be pretty hard up for help if he was recruiting out of the hospital. Maybe the nurses had called and said they planned to murder him in his sleep if someone didn’t come get him. It was possible. His main physical therapy had been fighting with them.
When they rolled him to the passenger side of a one-ton truck that had HARRY’S WELDING painted on the side, Cody asked, “Undercover vehicle?”
“It was all I could find in a pinch,” Dan said.
Cody shrugged. “I’m surprised Harry, whoever he is, loaned it to you.”
“He didn’t exactly, but when he gets back from Hawaii I’ll ask him. He told me to watch over his place while he was gone.”
Cody lifted himself slowly up into the truck as both nurses shouted orders and tried to push, as if he were an overweight Santa Claus being stuffed down the chimney.
Once he was seated, the head nurse leaned in to tuck a blanket around him. As she backed out, she kissed him on the cheek. “You’re a hard man, Cody Winslow, but you couldn’t be all that mean or that sweet wife of yours would never love you or put up with you.”
“What makes you think she does?” Cody grumbled.
They both laughed. “We see it in her eyes,” the other nurse answered. “She’s got the most expressive eyes.”
Great, Cody thought. My imaginary wife loves me. The nurses must have been dipping into the drug cabinet. He and Tess Adams were barely on the like shelf, and once she got to know him better, she’d fall off that, too.
On the way home, Dan told him all about Thatcher Jones and how the kid had ended up at Cody’s place. “He’s not hurt bad, but he needs some time to heal, and I need to have him safe so I can work.”
Cody understood. This actually sounded like something he could do. How hard could it be to watch over a hurt kid? He could hear any car when it turned off the road, so no one was likely to sneak up on the house.
“I’ll take the assignment,” he said. “If you’ll help Tess move the half bed in the spare room into the living room, I’ll never let the kid out of my sight.”
Dan was silent a few miles, then said, as if it was no big deal, “I’ve asked Tess to stay at the ranch. I don’t even want her going after the mail or groceries.” The sheriff laid out his plan. “I want you two to isolate Thatcher until I know it’s safe. I’ve okayed it with her boss, so as of right now you both are on twenty-four-hour duty. A ranger in plain clothes or I will deliver anything you need every other day. I’m hoping this assignment you’ve been drafted into will all be over in less than a week, but I’m not taking any chances with Thatcher’s life. Since I couldn’t protect him in my jail, I’m counting on you to do a better job.”
Cody knew the routine. Even laid up with a broken leg, he could do this. “Any chance you could get me another partner? I don’t like the idea of putting Tess in danger.”
Dan shook his head. “She knows the risks and she’s already accepted the assignment. I know it’s unusual, but Ranger Winslow, this time your wife is also going to be your partner.”
Cody let his head fall back against the headrest so hard he added another knot on his skull to the half dozen he already had. The secret marriage he’d made up had spread to the sheriff.
Now didn’t seem the time to admit to lying. If she was playing along with the farce, he could, too.
“You all right, Cody?” Dan slowed the truck.
“I’m fine,” he answered. “I just have a headache. It’ll pass.” Or get worse, he decided. Once he was alone with Tess, she was going to kill him. Teasing about asking her to marry him was one thing; making everyone believe it was a done deal was another.
The sheriff spent the next half hour telling Cody how lucky he was to be alive. There had been a few others fall into the canyon over the years, and Cody was the first he’d ever heard who survived.
Cody didn’t want to hear how lucky he was. People had said that when he’d lived after the battle with drug runners at the border. He hadn’t felt very lucky then, and he didn’t feel lucky now. “What else is going on?” he asked, needing to change the subject.
Dan filled him in on the fire at the Nowhere Club over by the county line. It was obviously set, but no one could come up with a motive.
Cody got the feeling that Dan Brigman needed to talk things out with someone in the profession. Who knew? Cody might be able to help with the investigation. This was a safe subject. One he could handle.
“Check the other bars around, Sheriff. Sometimes competition can heat things up, if you know what I mean.”
“I’ll look into it.”
The two lawmen moved from the fire to the attack in the jail.
“When I talked to Thatcher, he mentioned a little girl in an old red coat that he was worried about. Said
the guy who cut him may have beat her. He guessed she was about the same size as Charley Collins’s kid, Lillie, when he first met her.”
“How old was Lillie when Thatcher met her?” Cody asked.
Dan thought a minute. “Lillie Collins was about five then. She’s about nine now.”
“How does this kid at my place know the red coat girl?”
“He admitted he’d seen her stealing canned goods at the truck stop. He gave her a ride home, gave her money and was taking the cans back when Luther, the truck stop owner, caught him.” Dan was silent for a minute then added, “I think she reminded him of Charley’s Lillie. Thatcher was just trying to help out. He’s like a big brother to Lillie.”
“Where is the little girl he’s worried about now?” Cody asked.
“We can’t find her. I walked through the trailers behind the gas station in Crossroads where Thatcher said he dropped her off. With all the construction going on, the mud hole they call a model-home park has doubled since spring. There must be forty or more trailers parked out there. There’s no order to most of it, no roads, not enough hookups. Most of the folks out there are workers on a construction project in town, and half a dozen more are oil-field workers out of jobs this time of year. I asked around. No one said they’d seen a little girl about five or six wearing a red coat, but some aren’t cop-friendly.”
Cody found the possibilities easy to put together. “You think if we find the little girl, we find the two guys who tried to kidnap Thatcher Jones? Somehow the two things are related.”
“I do, only Thatcher’s not telling me everything he knows. I’m guessing he thinks he’s somehow protecting her. Maybe he saw something or heard something.”
Cody was interested suddenly. “You think he’s that kind of kid? The kind who’d risk his life for a little girl he doesn’t even know?”