From Here to Texas

by Stella Bagwell

  There had been many a time that Clementine had dreamed of doing just that. Of turning this place into a horse ranch and hopefully winning Quito back to her side.

  Well, he was at her side again. What was she going to do now? she challenged herself with the question. What could she do?

  The motion of the swing stopped abruptly and she looked over to see Quito bending down to place his empty cup to one side.

  “Here,” she told him. “You can put mine down, too. Or I’ll be awake all night.”

  He looked at her, his mouth slanted in a sexy grin. “Maybe that’s the way I want you to be,” he murmured.

  Heat colored her face as if she were a fifteen-year-old. “Quito, I—”

  Reaching over, his fingertips traced the smooth skin exposed along the ruffle of her robe. Shivers of delight raced over her, causing goose bumps to rise all over her body.

  “Clem, this morning I was being—” He stopped, shook his head, then started again. “I was being possessive and unreasonable. I hope you’re not upset with me.”

  With a tiny groan, she leaned into him. “Oh, Quito, I wasn’t upset. I could never be angry with you. I just want you to understand and I don’t know how to make you see that things aren’t exactly simple for me.”

  He pulled her head against his shoulder and stroked the back of her head. “It doesn’t matter right now. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. If you need time, if you have to go back to Houston, it’s all right. I’ve waited for eleven years. I can wait longer if I have to.”

  Her heart was suddenly so full of love she was certain it was going to burst. “I want to do things right this time, Quito. Just give me a chance to do that.”

  His fingers continued to stroke tenderly over her hair and she began to relax and respond to his touch rather than the worries winding round and round in her mind.

  “Clementine, I understand that you’ve been away from here for a long time. You’ve been married to another man and had a life far away from mine. I don’t expect you to still be madly in love with me after all that. Hell, I wished it could be that way. But it’s enough right now just to have you here in my arms.”

  Clementine couldn’t stand it another second. She couldn’t bear for him to keep thinking all the wrong things about her.

  Lifting her head from his shoulder, she looked into his face and suddenly tears of emotion stung her eyes and forced her to swallow. “But I do love you madly, Quito. I always have. Always.”

  Chapter Ten

  Quito stared at her, his expression incredulous, his hands gripping her shoulders.

  “What—Clem, you don’t expect me to believe that, do you? Damn it, you’ve been gone for eleven years! If you loved me so much where were you? Why didn’t you let me in on it?”

  He sounded flabbergasted and a little angry and Clementine supposed she couldn’t blame him.

  Framing his face with both hands, she shook her head and searched his face with pleading eyes. “Forgive me, Quito. As I told you before, I’ve made such a mess of things! When I left here I thought I could get over you. I thought I could somehow stop my heart from grieving for you. I married Niles thinking it was the right thing to do, that I belonged in his and my parents’ rich world and that eventually I would forget you. I had plans to keep busy with social functions and raise children and forget that I ever knew a Quito Perez. It didn’t turn out that way. I guess Niles could always tell there was something standing between us. And that something was you.”

  Regret, real and painful, crumpled his face. “Oh, Clem. I’m so sorry. Sorry for you, for both of us.”

  Her tears found their way onto her cheeks and she wiped at them with the back of her fingers. “I don’t expect you to be able to forgive and forget overnight,” she whispered. “But just give us a chance, Quito. No matter what I say or do in the coming days, just remember that I love you. Will you do that?”

  A puzzled frown crossed his face. “Clem, you sound like you’re expecting something to happen. Why? What are you keeping from me?”

  Terrified that he might guess what was going on in her head, she pulled out of his arms and left the lawn swing. Walking to the edge of the pool, she stared down at the dark water and struggled to gather her resolve. She had to be strong. If she admitted her fear of Niles to him, she knew without a doubt that Quito would go on a manhunt. He would hunt him down and then what might happen was too horrific for her to imagine.

  “Clem? I asked you a question?”

  His husky voice was right behind her and before he could get a good look at her teary face, she slid her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. “Quito, I’m just being silly. I guess I’m just so happy that we’re back together that I’m afraid something will happen to tear us apart. Please don’t let that happen, Quito. Please!”

  Sliding his arms around her, he buried his face against her warm neck. “Darling, darling,” he murmured gently. “Nothing is going to happen. There’s no sense in all this fretting you’re doing.”

  He felt so warm and solid, so loving and gentle that she quickly began to relax in his arms. And after a few moments she lifted her head and studied his rugged face. “What are we doing wasting time out here when I’m dying to show you my new sheets.”

  A chuckle rumbled deep in his chest and he playfully swatted her bottom. “As long as you’re lying naked on them, they’ll be beautiful,” he murmured slyly.

  Laughing softly, she took him by the hand and led him into the house.

  The upstairs bedroom she took him to was the one she’d used all those years ago when she and her parents had lived in the house. She’d mopped and dusted every nook and cranny, polished the furniture and, along with the new sheets, added a fluffy white comforter to the bed.

  At the head of the bed, she clicked on a small lamp, then went to pull the shades at the windows.

  Quito began unbuttoning his shirt as he watched her. “What is that for?” he asked with faint amusement. “We’re out here in the wilds, away from everyone.”

  Clementine didn’t look at him as she continued to make sure the blinds were shut. “You never know. Someone was out to get you at one time—we don’t know if he’ll try again.”

  “Gee, that’s just what a man likes to hear before he makes love. That it might be his last time because tomorrow some sadistic maniac might kill him. Damn, Clem, when did you get so morbid? I don’t remember you being so wary and worried.”

  When I had to start fighting for my own life, she thought grimly.

  He let his khaki shirt fall to the floor and her gaze took in his bronze, muscled chest, the apparent strength of bare arms. He was the most beautiful, masculine man she’d ever known and as she went to him, she didn’t allow her eyes to linger on the jagged scar running along his ribs. She wanted to put all that out of her mind and pretend that for tonight, at least, that nothing was wrong, that the rest of their lives were going to be just as this moment.

  “Forget about that,” she whispered as she went up on her tiptoes and angled her mouth toward his. “And kiss me.”

  Her provocative order didn’t have to be repeated and soon the mating of their lips became a bold, hungry union that set both of them on fire. And as he began to undress her, as his hands began to worship the satiny curves of her body, Clementine realized her life would be over if she didn’t have this man in it.

  The next morning Clementine woke to realize dawn had come and gone and the space beside her in the bed was empty.

  Stiff and exhausted, she pushed herself out of bed and hurried out to the kitchen in hopes that she would find Quito there making breakfast, or at the least, brewing a pot of coffee.

  Instead she found a half-empty pot that was so old it smelled like burned rubber. She poured out the foul smelling contents and turned to the cabinet for a filter. It was then the corner of her eye caught the note attached to the refrigerator door.

  Dropping the coffeemaker’s basket, she hurried across the sma
ll space and snatched the paper from the appliance.

  It read:

  Clementine, Sorry I had to leave so early. I’d planned to cook breakfast for you. But Yuma needs my help with a hostage situation. See you when I get back, Quito.

  Clementine sank onto a kitchen bar stool as she felt the air drain out of her. Quito had gone to help with a hostage situation. This was not how she’d expected the morning to start. After the night they’d shared, she’d wanted to talk with him over breakfast, to make sure he still understood that her feelings weren’t fleeting. Instead he’d gone off to some dangerous job where bullets could be flying.

  Sighing, she slid off the stool and quickly began to gather the rest of the makings for the coffee.

  While the brew dripped, she paced worriedly around the room. She couldn’t continue on like this, she told herself. Eventually Quito was going to pressure her for answers and how could she tell him that the way wasn’t clear for them to be married? That her ex-husband would be standing in the way with a knife or gun, or any weapon he could get his hands on to prevent her from having any happiness with another man.

  Even if she did tell Quito about Niles, she didn’t think he would understand the gravity of the situation. He would probably think a few threats from the law or a restraining order would take care of things. But those tactics had been used on Niles long before and they had not had the power to stop him from finding her, threatening her, and harassing her until she was forced to run and run and hide.

  He’d been thrown in jail twice for ignoring a restraining order she’d had against him. The short amount of time Niles had been forced to spend behind bars hadn’t done anything but made him angrier with her. He was a highly successful businessman in Houston. He was well-known in all the social circles and everyone believed he was a stand-up guy. No doubt he’d been forced to hand out plenty of payoffs to make sure his short stints in a jail cell hadn’t leaked to the media and that his reputation would remain stellar.

  No, as far as Clementine was concerned, restraining orders were useless as a weapon against Niles. She had to think of some other way to stop his stalking and the only way she could imagine doing that was to kill him. But she couldn’t murder another human being. No matter how much she hated the man.

  Eventually she realized the coffee was finished brewing and she poured herself a cup and dropped a piece of bread into the toaster.

  She was sitting at the bar, slowly munching the small breakfast and wondering how she could get something on Niles, some sort of incriminating information she could use as leverage against him when her cell phone rang.

  Since she’d given Quito the number a few days ago, she desperately hoped to hear his voice on the other end as she snatched up the instrument and pushed a button to receive the call.

  “Hello.”

  “Well, well, I finally get to hear my wife’s lovely voice.”

  The sound of Niles’ sick drawl shocked her so badly that she dropped the phone onto the tiled floor. The instrument clattered and bounced for several feet before it finally came to a rest beneath the edge of the cabinet.

  She hurried over to the cell phone and as she bent down to pick it up, she could hear Niles shouting on the other end.

  “Damn you, Clementine! Pick up the phone, you bitch, or you’ll regret it later!”

  Clenching her jaw with resolve, Clementine picked up the phone and with a shaky hand placed it against her ear. “Sorry, Niles,” she pretended to apologize. “I accidently dropped the phone.”

  “Hmmp. Surprised to hear from me, no doubt.”

  She had to play this cool and calm, she told herself. If she acted just a smidgen congenial, he might start talking and she could perhaps get him to reveal how much he knew of where she’d been and where she was now.

  “Well, actually, I am,” she replied. “How did you get this number?”

  His low laugh was a sadistic sound that made her skin crawl and she couldn’t believe this was the same man who’d courted her in a gentlemanly fashion. When the two of them had married, she’d truly believed he’d cared about her. And maybe he had at one time. But over the course of their marriage he’d changed drastically into a demonic stranger.

  “Oh, I have ways, my sweet. Granted, it wasn’t easy. And it cost me a little fortune. But it was worth it. After all, what am I going to spend my money on, if I don’t spend it on you? Hmm?”

  She closed her eyes and prayed to God for strength. “Only Oscar and my parents have this number. And he wouldn’t have taken money from you,” she said.

  Niles laughed with genuine amusement. “Clementine, there are better, more technical ways of acquiring information than trying to shake down a weasly little lawyer who jumps at his own shadow.”

  Her teeth ground together. “Oscar isn’t afraid of you,” she said as calmly as she could.

  That caused a loud laugh to come back in her ear and she gripped the phone to keep from flinging it across the room.

  “Oh, no. That’s why he had security haul me out of his office the other day. But, honey pie, I’m not calling about dear old Oscar. I’m calling to see when you’re coming home. Back to Houston.”

  Her pulse picked up to a rapid, thump, thump. “How do you know I’m not there now?”

  He made a tsking noise with his tongue. “Now, now, sweetie, don’t try to fool your ol’ husband. You know that I’m smarter than that.”

  She bit down on her bottom lip as her mind leaped forward and searched for a way to deal with this maniac. “Niles, has something happened to your memory? You haven’t been my husband for a long time now. We’re divorced, remember?”

  “Hell, that’s just a piece of paper, sugar. You know you want to come back to me. You’re just playing hard to get. That pride of yours is keeping us apart. But you’re gonna get over that soon. I’ll bet on that.”

  Her brain keyed in on the word soon. It could only mean he was planning something. Trying to keep her voice as light as possible, she asked, “Oh? Why do you say that?”

  “Because—” He paused and laughed in an evil way. “I’m finally going to get rid of your problem. You’re finally going to be free to love me again. The way I’ve always wanted you to love me.”

  She suddenly felt cold. So cold that she began to shiver. “What, uh, what are you talking about now, Niles?”

  “Let’s not play games anymore, Clementine,” he said, his voice going sharp. “You know what I’m talking about. All that time…I knew there was someone else—some man you took to bed with you every night. You were never able to see me for him, right? You’ve been pining over him for years.”

  Fear was causing her heart to beat in her throat and she tried to swallow the quivering thickness. “Who?”

  The sadistic laugh was back, but it stopped abruptly and then he spat in a heated voice, “That half-breed sheriff! Quito Perez. How could you stoop so low, Clementine? You come from high-bred Houston stock. How could you have ever lain down with such lowlife scum?”

  At that moment she wanted to kill Niles and the reaction scared her. She couldn’t allow him to bring her down to his level.

  Sucking in a deep breath, she tried to calm herself, to think rationally. “How did you find out about Quito?”

  “You think I haven’t gone through that little box of yours? I found it a couple of months ago while you were out on one of your little tours of duty for the poor. That badge was laughable, Clementine.”

  “Why do you say that? Quito’s been a county sheriff for fifteen years now. He’s revered by his peers and the citizens he protects.”

  “Yeah, well, too bad they couldn’t protect him. That little ambush on the highway nearly got him. And next time, it will.”

  Niles had never ceased to shock her with his evilness, but this time he managed to buckle her knees and she reached out to grab the edge of the kitchen bar to steady herself.

  “How did you know about that?” she whispered the question hoarsely. She was certain the n
ews of the shooting hadn’t made the Houston news. The only way he could have known was because he’d been involved with it in some way.

  “Oh, come on, sweetie, use that pretty little noggin of yours,” he drawled in an all-too-pleasant voice. “Who might want the half-breed out of the way?”

  Bile rose in her throat and she slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from vomiting right there on the floor.

  “You!” she choked out.

  “Oh, sugar, sugar.” He clucked with disapproval. “I’m disappointed in you for having such thoughts about me. You know me better than that. I’d never be the trigger man. You know that I’m much smarter than that.”

  Clementine was gripping the phone so tightly her hand was aching and nausea had caused a cold sweat to break out on her face. The kitchen appeared blurry and she blinked her eyes as she tried to think, to absorb what this demonic man was saying to her.

  “So…so you—you hired someone to do the shooting for you?”

  “Of course. Keeps my hands cleaner that way.”

  She struggled onto one of the bar stools and closed her eyes as his sickly charming voice coiled through her like a poisonous snake.

  “If you didn’t shoot Quito, then who did?” she managed to ask.

  He laughed lowly as though he found her interest extremely amusing. “Honey, you wouldn’t know him even if I told you his name. So there’s really no point, is there? Let’s just say he’s a man who likes to live on the edge. Especially when he gets paid to do so. And I was happy to pay him well. In fact, he’s eager to finalize the task I’ve given him. You see, he’ll get a big bonus when the sheriff is finally dead.”

  Clementine couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer and she screamed at him. “What do you want, Niles? Are you calling just to tell me you’re an evil murderer?”