“You sound surprised,” Cade said with a frown.
“I have to admit that I imagined women going in and out of your bedroom in shifts. Wife or not.”
“You wouldn’t be the first journalist to think that. But they were wrong. There’s only been one woman in my bed since I married and that was my wife. Of course, I don’t have to worry about you putting that in your story. It would hurt sales. You and I both know that all those horny women who read your magazine want to know they stand a chance with a rodeo star, married or not.” Cade pushed away from the table and stood and carried his plate over to the sink and tossed it in with a clatter.
Lacy turned off the recorder. This wasn’t going to work. She wasn’t any better than all those ‘horny women’ Cade referred to. Her ending up in his bed had been purely accidental. Her wishing he had been in it with her made her one of those desperate women who fantasized about being with a man like Cade.
“Excuse me.” Grabbing her things, Lacy fled to the privacy of the guestroom, closing the door behind her. She sagged against it with a sigh. Not once in all her years of being a reporter had she ever considered giving up an assignment, but this time she had no choice. Things had gotten too complicated. She would call Mac in the morning and let him know. Then she’d start the job search all over again.
She crossed the room and knelt by the bed to pull out her suitcase. Setting it on the bed, she had just reached for the zipper when her cell phone rang. Pulling it from her purse, she flipped it open.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Dalton?”
“Yes.”
“Please hold, Dr. Michaels will be right with you.”
She dropped onto her stomach across the bed and waited for her grandmother’s doctor to come to the phone, her heart sinking with every passing second.
The classical music playing in the phone during her wait was replaced by a man’s voice. “Lacy?”
Dr. Michaels. She tightened her grip on the phone. “Yes.”
“I’m calling about your grandmother.”
She closed her eyes. “She’s gotten worse?”
“I’m afraid so.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “I’ll head back to Denver as soon as I pack.”
“It might be better if you didn’t come.”
“What?”
“Remember what happened the last time you visited your grandmother. I know it wasn’t your fault, but I don’t think her heart could take that again.”
She remembered it all too well. It was the most heartbreaking day of her life. Her grandmother, who hadn’t recognized her own granddaughter at all for months, went crazy. She would never forget the fear she’d seen in her grandmother’s eyes, or her screams for someone to get Lacy out of her room. Her grandmother had been convinced Lacy was there to kill her. They finally had to sedate her grandmother to end her terrified ranting. That day Lacy had to accept the painful truth. The woman who had raised her, had loved her unconditionally all her life, was gone.
“I understand,” she said, her words strained.
“I know you are out of town on business, but I thought you would want to know.”
“Yes, thank you for that.”
“I’m sorry, Lacy. I know how hard this has been on you. Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease for all of those involved. Know that we’re keeping your grandmother as comfortable as we possibly can.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Do whatever you have to do.”
“We will. I’ll be in touch.”
“Thank you, doctor.” Pressing END, she dropped the phone on the comforter and buried her face in her arms, letting the tears fall.
* * *
“Dalton?” Cade tapped on the door again.
Silence.
What had he done to upset her? He was the one under the microscope. One she wielded. Only now, for some reason, she was the one acting as if she’d been wronged.
With a sigh, he opened the door and stepped into the room uninvited. Her head rose from the pillow with a startled gasp, drawing his gaze.
“I’m sorry,” he said, immediately regretting barging in. “I didn’t realize you were lying down. I thought...”
She sat up and slid from the bed, dragging a hand across her cheek. “Did you need something?”
He pressed further into the room. “I guess I was sort of hoping you’d consider striking our last conversation from the record. It’s not anyone’s business who I have or haven’t slept with.”
It was then he noticed her red, puffy eyes. “Dalton? You okay?” He hadn’t exactly been in the best of moods at dinner and had taken it out on her. Was he the cause of her tears?
“I’m fine.”
“Then why were you crying?”
“It’s nothing.” She turned away and walked over to the window. “Just cheap contacts. Suppose that’s what I get for buying them at one of those quickie places.”
He hadn’t realized that she wore contacts. And he’d been pretty close to those striking, whiskey colored eyes. “So about our last conversation...”
“Consider it stricken,” she muttered over her shoulder.
“Thanks. It’s just that I don’t want Karen dragged into this interview if at all possible. Her name was dragged through the mud enough after she died.”
She turned to face him. “Why?”
She didn’t know? “Her accident wasn’t big enough news for them,” he answered thickly. “They had to make it sound like she’d driven off the road on purpose. That I was having some sort of illicit affair and had driven her to it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not true, you know. There was no other woman. And Karen would never hurt herself that way. Her death was an accident.”
“Cade...”
Their conversation was getting too deep. He hated digging into his emotions, into his past, that way. It was easier to feel nothing at all.
“How’s the room?” he asked, needing to divert the flow of their conversation. “I know it’s not much, but-”
“The room is fine,” she said, cutting him off. She made her way around the bed and grabbed for her jacket.
He eyed the jacket in her hand. “Where are you going?”
“Out for a while.” She slipped it on and started past him. “Thanks for dinner.”
“Thank Burk. He made it.” Cade followed her out to the kitchen. “Isn’t it kind of late to be heading out?”
“Not for me.”
“You really ought to get some sleep, Dalton. I wasn’t joking when I said we get up at five-thirty around here. Not only that, but I expect my ranch hands to follow my orders. I’d hate to have to fire you before you actually did some real work.”
She glanced down at her watch. “It’s not even eight yet.”
“Eight is late on a ranch.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll be up at five-thirty to do whatever exciting ranch duty you throw my way.” She opened the door and then turned back to Cade. “Your wife was a very lucky woman.” That said she walked out, closing the door behind her.
Her last statement surprised him. Truth was, her behavior since quitting dinner seemed off for Lacy. Not that he knew her well, but something had clearly upset her. That something most likely being him. He wasn’t buying her story about cheap contacts.
He stared at the door with a frown. He should have apologized to her for his earlier behavior. Idiot he was, he had practically called her a hooker. And he’d only done that because she was getting to him. Everything about her got to him. That sexy little body. Those heavily lashed, gold-flecked eyes. That beautiful smile.
Burk was right. He’d gone too damn long without a woman.
The back door opened and Burk stepped into the house, pulling off his hat. Speak of the devil. “I saw Lacy driving off on my way back from the barn. Where’s she headed to at this time of night?”
He shrugged. “She didn’t say. I’m going to bed. Leave the porch light on and the door unl
ocked.”
“You sure you ought to let her go wandering about those roads alone at this time of night?” Burk asked as he peered out the window above the kitchen sink. “One wrong turn on those back roads and she’s as good as lost.”
“Lacy’s a big girl. She’ll find her way home.” Despite his words of reassurance, Cade found himself fighting the urge to go after her. He didn’t want to care. But damn it, he did. There was only one way to get his mind off of Lacy and the emotions she evoked in him.
“Where you going?”
“To bed.”
* * *
Country music blared from the open T-top of the Corvette as it flew down the darkened country road. The wind whipped Lacy’s hair and cooled her heated flesh.
She was trying to outrun her life. The fear of losing her grandmother and the unexpected feelings she was developing for Cade. Pulse racing and heart drumming she pushed the gas a little harder. Maybe she wasn’t doing 110, but doing 70mph down a dark, country road gave her the escape she needed.
Flashing red lights in the rear view mirror put a quick end to that.
“Shoot!”
She slowed and the lights came up behind her, siren blaring. Lacy groaned. There was probably one cop in the entire county and she’d chosen his road to drive down.
Grudgingly, she pulled over and waited, watching in the mirror as the officer got out of his car. He started toward hers, making his way around to the driver’s side door.
“Ma’am.” He lifted the brim of his hat and lowered his head to peer inside. The beam from the flashlight he held in his hand moved swiftly across the front seat and then back onto her face. “I’ll need to see some ID.”
“Sure thing, officer,” she replied, half-blinded by the bright light. She reached for her purse. It wasn’t there. Turning back to the sheriff, she attempted a sweet smile. “I seem to have forgotten my purse.”
The sheriff raised a bushy brow, his already stiff smile fading. “So what you’re telling me, ma’am, is that you have no I.D. on your person?”
She shrugged. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid not.”
He rested an arm on the open window and did a quick search of the backseat with his flashlight. “Where you from?”
“Denver.”
He said nothing as he continued his search of her car.
“What do you say you let me off with a warning? I’ll even throw in a pair of tickets to the next Rockies’ home game.” She laughed.
He didn’t. Instead, the sheriff stepped away from the door. “Step out of the car with your hands in the air.” He aimed the flashlight toward her with one hand, the other curled firmly over the handle of the gun in his holster.
Surely, he wouldn’t shoot her for speeding. She didn’t care to find out, so she got out of her car. “Look, just give me a ticket and I’ll drop off a check in the morning.”
His gaze skimmed over her, then his bushy gray brows drew together to form a single line. “Now you listen here, young lady. We don’t cotton to your type here in our town.”
“My type?” she repeated. What exactly was her type?
He gave a derisive snort. “The kind of woman who makes money by tempting men with short skirts and pretty smiles.”
He was joking, right? Lacy laughed. “There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding here.”
He wasn’t hearing it. “Save your explanations for the judge.” Tucking the flashlight beneath his arm, he removed the handcuffs from his belt and pointed toward her car. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
“My back?” she gasped. Then she stiffened. “I most certainly will not!”
“Excuse me?” the sheriff drawled with a frown.
“I said no.” She hated the way he was looking at her, like she was some sort of streetwalker. “I was speeding, not robbing a bank. Just give me a ticket.”
“I make the rules here,” he growled. “Now turn around.”
Lacy eyed the handcuffs dangling from his hand. “I have no intention of letting you put those things on me. I’ve read stories about this kind of thing”
“Lady, are you just plain nuts?”
Before she could reply, Lacy found herself handcuffed and seated in the back of the sheriff’s car. She sat watching her car fade away into the darkness through the rear window of the cruiser as it sped off in the direction of what she hoped was town.
CHAPTER FIVE
The phone rang, dragging Cade from a deep sleep. Rolling over, he fumbled in the dark for the cordless he kept on the nightstand.
He focused on the neon green numbers of the alarm clock. One o’clock in the morning. 1:25 to be exact. “Who in the world...” he muttered and then dropped back onto his pillow with a tired groan, bringing the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
“Cade, it’s Sheriff Jenkins.”
He shot upright. “Sheriff?”
“I’m real sorry to wake you, it being the middle of the night and all, but I’ve got a woman here, and mind you I’m using the term loosely, who insists she works for you as,” he chortled, “a ranch hand.”
“Lacy,” Cade muttered.
“You know her?”
“Ah, hell!” he groaned as he dragged a splayed hand down over his face.
“Anyway,” the sheriff continued, “I picked her up for speeding and she had no I.D. on her. She insists she left her purse at your house.”
“I’ll check the bedroom,” he said with a yawn.
“Mmm hmm, just as I suspected.”
Still fighting his way out of sleep, Cade said, “Excuse me?”
“I must say I’m a bit surprised to learn you associate with women like her, but I suppose you do get lonely, being a widower and all. Hell, Cade, there’s plenty of nice girls—”
“Sheriff,” Cade cut in, his voice tight, “is Miss Dalton all right?”
“She’s about as happy as a tom cat that’s just had its tail yanked. You wanna come down and bail her out before she drives me crazy?”
He was almost afraid to ask. “What’s she doing?”
“Singing something about being held prisoner in what sounds like three different languages.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Worse.”
Cade was caught up between the urge to laugh and the urge to strangle Lacy Dalton’s pretty little neck. He climbed from his bed and made his way out to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee.
“Cade? You still there?”
“Yep.” His sleep-dazed mind finally catching up with the conversation. He shoved the cup of cold coffee into the microwave. Damned if he wasn’t tempted to let Lacy spend the night in jail, but had no desire to get on the bad side of the law by doing so. “Where’s her car?”
“Cutter’s road. She says there’s a spare key in her purse.”
“Thanks.”
“So are you coming to get her now or should I simply gag her until morning? My nerves can’t take much more of this.”
Sure enough, he could hear Lacy singing in the background, or at least trying to. He could see why she’d chosen to become a journalist instead of a professional singer.
“I’ll be there as soon as I get dressed.”
The sheriff let out a long sigh. “I ain’t never said this to another man before, but I could kiss you for this.”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t or I might find myself in jail right alongside Miss Dalton.”
The sheriff laughed. “I’ll let her know you’re on your way. Maybe that’ll shut her up.”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell her that I’m coming to get her. Let her think she’s there for the duration. Maybe she’ll think twice next time before flying down a country road in that damned sports car of hers.”
The thought of what might have happened had his smile fading. Didn’t she realize she could have gotten herself killed driving like that? One wrong turn...
The sheriff hesitated. “All right, but you’d best hurry. I’m tempted to
shoot her. What were you thinking bringing her kind into this town?”
“She’s not what you think she is. Lacy is a reporter who’s here to do a story on my wonderfully exciting life.”
“A reporter? But she dresses like—”
“A hooker,” Cade finished for him. “But she’s not. She only put that on to get back at me for insulting her fashion sense.”
“The old look but don’t touch type of revenge? Because there sure was plenty to look at.”
He couldn’t argue there. Dalton’s shorts definitely left little to the imagination. It was no wonder the sheriff thought...
“That’s pretty much it.”
“You’ve got your hands full with that one.”
That was the problem. He wanted his hands filled with her. Irritation at the way she affected him settled in once again, deepening his frown.
“I’ll be there in a few.” He hung up and turned to find Burk lounging against the doorframe.
Running a hand through his sleep rumpled hair, his friend nodded toward the phone in Cade’s hand. “Problem?”
“You could say that. Dalton’s gone and landed herself in jail.”
Burk’s eyes widened. “Jail?”
“Yeah. Seems she was speeding in that car of hers and then the sheriff mistook her for a hooker.”
“Bet that went over real well.”
“She’s in jail if that tells you anything. I told you she needed to put some more clothes on. Now I have to go bail her out.”
Burk’s chuckle echoed through the room.
“Glad you find this situation humorous. I can promise you neither Dalton nor I do. Now go put some clothes on,” Cade said as he retrieved his coffee from the microwave.
“What for?”
“I need you to drive her car home.”
“I’d rather be there to watch the fireworks fly when you bail her out.”
“Too bad.”
“I miss all the fun,” Burk grumbled. “Guess I’ll go get dressed.”
Cade headed for the guestroom to find Lacy’s purse. It was amazing how much havoc one woman could wreak in a man’s life in such a short time.
* * *
Less than thirty-five minutes after receiving Sheriff Jenkins call, Cade walked into the Deep Creek jailhouse.
Capturing the Cowboy's Heart Page 6