One Tough Cowboy

by Sara Orwig

  After half an hour Becky said good-night and left. As she walked out of the room, the phone rang, and when Josh answered, he talked for twenty minutes. When he replaced the receiver, he explained to Laurie, “That was Ben. He’s a sophomore at Texas A & M, and he’ll be here next Saturday. But I won’t see him until the wedding, after which he’ll come back out here. He’ll spend Saturday night and Sunday here on the ranch before he returns to school.”

  “Will I crowd you by being here? I can go back to town and stay in a hotel. Now that I’ve been released from the hospital, the doctor really doesn’t have a say about where I go.”

  “No, you stay right here. You’ll like Ben.”

  “What about your other brother?”

  “The last I heard, Kevin will be here Saturday, too. He’s a junior at Tech, and he’ll stay with his mom until Friday. But Saturday night he’ll come out here.”

  “Now I really think I should find a hotel.”

  “Nope. You’ll be fine. They’ll just be here Saturday night after the wedding, and will be gone by midafternoon Sunday. All of them are staying at the ranch Saturday night—Caroline, Ben, Nina, Kevin, and Nina’s husband, Ethan.”

  “Then I should definitely move out! Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He ran his finger along her collar. “You don’t need to move out. We have plenty of bedrooms, and Endora will have everything ready. I want you here and that’s that.”

  “All right, but I’ll feel like an intruder.”

  “Not with my family, you won’t. They’re as friendly as puppies. Believe me, they’ll love having you here. Didn’t Becky make you feel welcome?”

  “Heavens, yes! She’s been wonderful.”

  “You’ll see. They’re all like that. My dad could really pick winners.”

  “Maybe it’s better to have loved all those women than to never love at all,” Laurie said softly.

  Josh raised an eyebrow. “Maybe, but it causes lots of pain at times. I’m a war-scarred veteran of divorces and separations and battles.”

  “You survived and turned out to be a very nice guy.”

  “Thank you. Now what’s Becky got planned for tomorrow?” he asked. The conversation went from Becky and the wedding to questions about his life, and when Laurie finally stood to go to bed, he was surprised to glance at a clock and see it was again after two in the morning.

  “Do you get this little sleep when I’m not here?”

  “Nope. I turn in about eleven or twelve.” He didn’t care to tell her that since he had met her, he was losing vast hours of sleep. And what sleep he had was troubled by dreams of her.

  “See you in the morning, Josh.”

  “Wait. I’ll go with you.”

  “To my bedroom?” she asked, giving him one of her saucy looks.

  “I’m going to my bedroom,” he corrected. “You seem to like trouble, Laurie. Whatever you’re mixed up in, I bet you brought some of it on yourself.”

  “Flirting with you is a very different sort of trouble than doing something to cause someone to want to kill you,” she answered solemnly as he switched out lights and walked to the stairs with her.

  “I guess it is, but you’re playing with fire here and you know it.”

  “That’s because you’re going to see to it that nothing happens.”

  “Maybe,” he said, giving her a look that made her draw a deep breath. “See you in the morning,” he said as they reached her door. He strolled to his room and closed the door behind him, wondering if she had any idea what a turmoil she had left him in.

  The following Monday he stepped out into the cold, crisp dark of early morning and strode toward his truck, his mind on Laurie. He had given her a safe place to stay, and Becky had befriended her, but that was as far as it could go.

  “Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” he said aloud as his boots crunched on the gravel drive. He was attracted to her more than any other woman he could remember, but she was completely off-limits. With her living under the same roof with him, the only defense he had was distance. When Becky moved out, Laurie would have to entertain herself, because he wasn’t about to come in early and spend long evenings with her. He wasn’t too certain how he was going to survive Becky’s wedding. When it came right down to it, the evening would be a date. The two of them would be a couple, for he couldn’t abandon her at the reception.

  Common sense told him that attending the wedding would be safe for her. No one knew where she was, and the chances of her running into someone out to hurt her were unlikely. Unlikely, but not impossible, and the closer they got to Saturday, the more concerned he became.

  His arm was still hurting him and ranch work was hard physical labor that often caused his wound to twinge. The bullet wound was a steady reminder of the danger.

  Why hadn’t someone turned her in as missing? There had to be a reason. A woman like her couldn’t live inconspicuously, so where were the friends and co-workers she had seen every day? Where was her family? Where were the people—or man—who loved her? Josh was certain there had to be more than one person who cared about her. Something was keeping them from searching for her, and that was as disturbing as everything else about her. The questions spun repeatedly, and no answers came.

  “Someone come claim her!” Josh said aloud, impatiently. He wanted her off his hands. Every day added to the tension around them. Who was after her? How was he going to get through an entire evening with Laurie as his date?

  The man shifted impatiently, looking out the window of his office at landscaped grounds lightly dusted with snow. She was alive, but where was she? The wreck was roped off with yellow police tape. A cowboy had found her. Where was she hiding now?

  Had she gotten another car and moved on, driving farther and farther from him as each hour passed? Would she leave the country?

  He clenched his fists, feeling hot rage well up. She had survived. He knew it. He could feel it. He wanted her dead and he wanted absolute proof that she was gone.

  He tugged on his collar, sweat making his shirt stick damply. It was a cool morning, but he was hot with rage and frustration. The car had been completely smashed, yet she had lived. If she had died in the wreck, he was certain there would have been mention of it. The only mention in the hick papers had been a small article about a car wreck. No details. No death.

  He didn’t think she would leave the country. She had too much at stake here to run away and leave it all. She had family here; it was probably tearing her up to be away from them. This was the only life she had ever known.

  He slammed his palm against the smooth surface of the desk with a bang. She had to die, had to!

  Rage enveloped him, making him burn. She would regret every rejection, regret every success, regret all she had done. He tugged at his tie, loosening it. He would find her. She couldn’t hide from him forever, and she couldn’t come back to her regular life.

  Moving toward a corner of his office, he opened the doors to a wet bar. He uncorked the whiskey, tilting the bottle to drink several big gulps. When he lowered the bottle, he wiped his mouth with his hand. His nights were sleepless because of the little bitch. Tomorrow night was the symphony benefit, and he would have to look relaxed, in control.

  She had led a charmed life, surviving each attempt to destroy her. The next time he would see to it that she didn’t survive. There would be no more failures. His reputation was spotless, and no one would suspect him. Not ever, no matter what happened to her or where she was when it happened.

  It was going to pay big dividends to have her dead. The police had already questioned him over the fire in her condo, and he had been cleared because he had been at a party with a large group of people. He had reliable witnesses from the cream of society, and his time for the entire evening had been accounted for.

  He had to think, to plan carefully so there was not a breath of suspicion, so nothing went wrong, so she could not possibly escape again. He wanted her to know, wanted her aware that he was stil
l after her and would not quit until she was dead.

  Think, he told himself. She was not invincible. Far from it. She was alone now, on the run. All he had to do was corner her where she couldn’t escape and then finish the task.

  The phone rang and he dashed across the room, knocking over a lamp in his haste to grab the receiver from his desk.

  “I may have found her,” a deep, masculine voice announced.

  Aware of a bubbling anticipation, Laurie dressed with care. It was her first outing since leaving the hospital, an evening with Josh. For two weeks he had been cool and distant. No more flirting between them. She seldom even saw him. In spite of his remoteness, when they were together the air became electric. She was intensely aware of him and she suspected he was of her. And she understood his coolness, which she had tried to match. Her past remained a dark void that kept a wall around her, made any chance at a relationship complicated.

  She felt uneasy, worried. Her memory was as blank as ever. Occasional headaches bothered her, but no memories had come back.

  What had she been running from? She wondered if she really wanted to discover the truth. Since no one seemed to be searching for her, her foreboding had increased. What terrible thing had she been mixed up in that no one seemed to want her back? And why did someone definitely want her dead?

  Becky had moved out this morning. All her clothes were still here and she would come back later to get them, but now Laurie and Josh were alone in the house, and Laurie was acutely aware that he was only a room away down the hall.

  She brushed her hair, then caught it up, looping and twisting it so the locks in front cascaded loosely over her forehead. She studied the effect in the mirror, satisfied that her hair hid the injury on her temple fairly well. The deep cut was healing, but the scar was visible.

  She was wearing a deep blue, sleeveless dress Becky had bought for her. Even though Laurie had begged her not to, Becky had insisted on paying for everything.

  Laurie stepped into high-heeled pumps, pulled on her watch, then applied a smattering of eye shadow and liner and lip gloss. She gazed at the image of herself, turning first one way and then another, pleased with her image and relieved to see the bruises and small cuts from the wreck had healed.

  Finally she dabbed on perfume, picked up a small black purse and left the room. She noticed Josh’s open bedroom door and headed for the family room.

  When she passed his office, he was standing inside, searching through his desk. He looked incredibly handsome in a snowy shirt and black tux, and the sight of him stole her breath. As she entered the room, she smiled. “I’m ready to go.”

  He glanced up, and she saw he had a pistol in his hands. A chill enveloped her until her gaze flew back up to meet his. When she looked into his green eyes, all worries about a gun faded completely.

  “You look gorgeous,” he said in a husky voice, his gaze slowly trailing over her. “There’ll be a reporter at the wedding from the local paper. There won’t be any way to keep him from taking your picture.”

  “I hadn’t thought about a reporter.” Laurie’s initial pleasure at his compliment changed to worry as she realized that she might be running a terrible risk. What if the man who was trying to kill her saw her?

  Chapter 6

  H e studied her without answering, and her worry and fear increased. Since Becky had talked her into going, Laurie had put qualms aside and looked forward to going out with Josh. Now the gun in his hand brought the reality of danger crashing back.

  “You want to go, don’t you?”

  While she weighed the choices, the question hung in the air. “I want to live. That’s what’s important.”

  “It’s up to you. I just didn’t think about the press paying attention to you.”

  “I still have my brunette wig. I can go put it on—do a few things to change how I look.”

  “It would be safer,” he agreed.

  Laurie nodded and returned to her room, tossing her purse on the bed and getting out the brown wig. In minutes she had changed to a deep green dress with a long skirt and long sleeves. She removed makeup and earrings, studying herself in the mirror. Now brown hair hung to her shoulders and turned under slightly. Her legs were almost totally concealed. Her arms were covered and she didn’t think she would be as noticeable as she would have been in the other dress. She picked up the purse and went in search of Josh, this time finding him in the family room.

  He stood by the mantel and his gaze swept over her hungrily. “You’ll attract about one percent less attention now. You’re a very beautiful woman and there’s no hiding it,” he said in a husky voice, crossing the room to her.

  Her pulse jumped. Since she’d arrived at the ranch, he had rarely come close to her. “Thank you,” she answered. “You’re a handsome man yourself, Josh Kellogg.”

  He gave her a wry smile. “I still hope to keep the press away from you. If you can possibly avoid it, don’t let them take your picture.”

  “I won’t,” she said. “Are you taking your gun?”

  “It’s out of sight,” he answered casually. “Let’s go.” He took her arm and she was intensely aware of him at her side. She could smell his aftershave, feel the warmth of his arm though his clothing, the brush of his hip against hers as they walked to the door. He was taller than she was and she glanced up at him.

  “It’ll be nice to get out.”

  “Just as long as you’re safe. With no memory, you don’t know whom to be worried about.”

  She caught his wrist. “I’ve ruined your evening, haven’t I? Now you’ll be on guard and you can’t enjoy yourself and all the friends and family you’ll see.”

  He gave her a long look that caused her insides to flutter. “You haven’t ruined my evening at all,” he said in a low voice. He gave her a faint, crooked smile. “It’s the first wedding I’ve ever looked forward to attending.”

  She smiled in return, but she was worried. Laurie had the sinking feeling she might be making a mistake that would jeopardize her safety and Josh’s.

  All the way to San Antonio, they kept conversation light, on general subjects. The moment they arrived at the church, all Josh’s attention was focused on watching for any sign of danger.

  Guests mingled in the foyer, and several of Becky’s friends spoke to him. As he introduced Laurie to other guests, he searched for any sign of recognition in their expressions. She was easily the loveliest woman there, and she attracted the eyes of every male in attendance. Josh’s nerves were on edge while he tried to keep a constant watch over the crowd. The ceremony was to be performed in a chapel, with only about fifty guests attending. A large reception would be held afterward.

  Josh and Laurie sat at the back of the chapel, and he was hardly aware of the ceremony or of Laurie as he looked out for trouble.

  Becky wore a short, pale green silk dress and entered from the side, with her brother escorting her. Latimer, who was waiting at the front, took her arm as they turned to the minister for the ceremony.

  The moment Becky and Latimer were pronounced man and wife and walked back up the aisle, Josh grabbed Laurie’s arm and left by a side door, slipping out of the church to their car to avoid the other guests. As they drove toward the club for the reception, he glanced at Laurie.

  “Enjoying yourself?”

  She gave him a solemn look. “You wish I were back at your ranch, don’t you?”

  He shrugged one shoulder. “We’re doing all right so far.”

  “If it makes you feel better, you can let me off at a movie, or at a hotel, where I could wait in the lobby while you go to the reception.”

  He shook his head. “No, I’m not leaving you in a hotel lobby or a movie theater,” he answered dryly. “Men would be trying to pick you up while you waited. And Becky would have a fit.”

  “No, she wouldn’t. She’s too busy now being a bride. I know you don’t want to take me with you, because of the danger you think I might be in. And I know you’re not worried about you
r own safety.”

  “No, I’m not. You’re the one who’s in danger, not me. There’s a killer after you. And he’s out there somewhere.”

  “You don’t have to remind me.”

  He glanced at her. “I’ll admit I’m concerned about the danger, but so far, there doesn’t seem to be any. No one came up to you and recognized you.”

  “No, no one did,” she said, sounding disappointed. “I wish someone had.”

  Josh took her hand. “Let me be the one to worry. You’re supposed to be having an evening out. Relax and enjoy it. I’m your bodyguard and I’ll keep watch. You have a good time. Becky’s parties are always worthwhile.”

  Her hand was soft and warm in his, and Josh drew a deep breath, glancing at her before returning his attention to driving. But she had smiled as she squeezed his hand. He didn’t want to let go of her, and she didn’t pull away, so he continued to hold her hand.

  “Did anything stir any memories?” he prodded.

  “There are odd things I recall. Like two of the songs that were sung at her wedding tonight. I knew the words.”

  “Maybe you were a singer.”

  She laughed. “I don’t think so. I sing in the shower and my voice isn’t bad, but it doesn’t sound professional.”

  Josh was immediately barraged with images of Laurie singing in the shower—her lush breasts, her long legs, her silky skin, with water pouring over her. He realized he was running his thumb back and forth over her knuckles, which he continued to do until they turned into the sweeping drive in front of the club where the reception would be held.

  A valet opened the door for Laurie, and Josh went around to take her arm. They strolled into the club and were directed to the area for the reception.

  “We’re early,” he said. “I’ll get you something to drink—what’s your preference? Champagne, wine, punch?”