Tall, Dark and Paranormal: 10 Thrilling Tales of Sexy Alpha Bad Boys

by Opal Carew

  Thad leaned around the post to get a view.

  Sayde sat on a pile of straw with Mazie’s head on her outstretched legs. Cheyenne, kneeling next to her, put her hand on the horse’s forehead. “I’m not sure. I’ve had some contact with animal spirits in the past, but they were usually attached to their humans.”

  Thad listened to that statement with a few blinks. Before he’d met Cheyenne, he would have been barging in and telling her to get her voo-doo mumbo-jumbo ass off the High Paradise. But she had a gift. Something he couldn’t deny. And a level head to go with it. She’d help Sayde see reason.

  The horse’s breaths came irregularly and with long, drawn-out inhales.

  “Do you think I’m being cruel?” Sayde broke down in sobs. After a few seconds, she slowed to sniffles. “Keeping her alive like this, I mean.”

  “No.” Cheyenne slid to her butt, crossing her legs in front of her. “She knows how much you love her. How hard it is to let her go.”

  “I just want a few more minutes with her.” Sayde leaned down and kissed the horse’s head. “Just another hour.”

  “I think that’s a good idea.” Cheyenne rubbed Sayde’s arm. “How about at sunset? That’d be a fitting time to usher her on to her next adventure.”

  Thad had to swallow back a knot in his throat. That woman was so damn amazing.

  “Okay.” Sayde’s voice was barely a whisper.

  “Now, will you eat something?” Cheyenne reached for the bottle of water Thad had set on the railing next to Sayde. “Have some water.” She cracked open the bottle and handed it to Sayde. “I bet that nice Mr. McCade put that there for you.”

  Sayde chuckled once as she took the bottle from Cheyenne. “That nice Mr. McCade is hovering over me like a guardian angel.”

  Cheyenne turned her head and winked at him.

  He cleared his throat. “I’ll leave you two. Be in the tack room. Just yell if…” He turned and walked away. Thank heavens Cheyenne was willing to drop everything and ride to the rescue in her company’s helicopter.

  Her idea of a sunset euthanization was brilliant and kind at the same time. Mazie could last days like this, and setting a goal was the perfect way to help Sayde say goodbye to her old friend. He never would have thought of it. Cheyenne was a very smart woman.

  Thad walked into the tack room expecting to find some leather that needed cleaning, or saddles that were unpolished. But everything was clean and shiny. Even the floor was spotless. Clint must have had the same idea—keep busy while he waited. Sitting on an old office chair, he accessed his emails. Nothing but ranch business, but who was he kidding? He never gave his email or phone number to any of the women he…spent time with.

  He’d been ignoring his friends for so long, they’d given up on him, had stopped dropping in with a case of beer on football Sundays. All he had in his life was this job, Sayde, and the ranch hands.

  Cheyenne.

  How did she always creep into his thoughts? From the day he met her, she’d been in the back of his mind. And since he’d driven to Helena and spent the afternoon with her, she had also been in the front of his mind, and making things uncomfortably hard in his jeans.

  “Thad?” Cheyenne’s voice rang through the barn.

  He jumped to his feet and ran through the barn, skidding to a halt at Mazie’s stall. “Ma’am?”

  Sayde looked up at him through red eyes. “Let’s say our goodbyes.”

  He choked on the emotion in his throat. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll call Clint.”

  “Thank you.” Sayde rocked back and forth, singing softly into the horse’s ear.

  He stepped away and dialed.

  Cheyenne stood and followed him through the barn. “Thad?”

  He held up a finger. “Clint, would you come to the horse barn? It’s time.” He blinked back the moisture in his eyes as he disconnected the call. “Sorry, ma’am.” He turned to Cheyenne.

  “It’s back to ma’am now, huh?” She shrugged. “What can I expect to happen to Mazie? What’s going to go on in there when Clint comes?” Her eyes shifted and she bit her lip.

  He wanted to pull her in for a hug, but held back. “It’ll be easy and quick. A needle to sedate Mazie first, then a second with the final dose. It won’t take long before she’ll fall asleep permanently.”

  Her eyes welled with tears and they flowed over. “Okay.” She looked around. “This is going to sound strange, but is there somewhere I could pick a few flowers, just to set on her.” She sucked in choppy breaths, trying to hold back her tears.

  “Yeah.” He took her hand. Their eyes met. A slice of his heart went directly into her possession. “Come on.” They walked out of the barn and out to one of the corrals. He leapt the fence in one bound and grabbed up a handful of wildflowers in yellows, purples, and blues. He handed them over the fence to her. “Is that enough?”

  She smiled through her sniffles. “Perfect, thank you.” She held them to her lips, brushing the soft petals against her chin.

  In the setting sun, he’d never seen anything as beautiful. He spotted Clint walking into the barn. “Let’s go.” He jumped over the fence and led her back into the barn.

  Cheyenne walked the length of the barn holding the flowers like she was a bride.

  Thad stood watching her as he waited for Clint to come out of the tack room.

  Days like this were awesome wonderful, and hell-fire difficult. But they gave life meaning, and heaven knew he needed that right about now.

  ****

  Cheyenne hadn’t cried that hard in years. She stood at Sayde’s bedroom door as her friend shooed her out and picked up the sandwich Cheyenne had made for her. A few of the flowers Thad had picked for her stood in a vase on Sayde’s dresser, the rest of the flowers graced the neck of the beautiful horse they’d just said goodbye to.

  Walking down the thick carpet of the hallway, she thought about dropping onto the guest room bed completely clothed and shutting her eyes for a few hours, but remembered her purse and bag were in Thad’s truck. She wandered down the long staircase, thinking about a glass of wine.

  “Hey.” Thad’s voice came from the living room at the bottom of the staircase.

  She jumped a bit, but didn’t do anything as graceless as tripping and rolling ass over boot heels down the steps. “Hey.”

  He sat in a big leather chair in front of a roaring fire, a beer bottle dangling from one hand. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “You didn’t. Much.” She went to the small bar in the corner and poured ruby red wine from a crystal decanter into a big glass. She consciously poured a whole lot of it. “Hungry?” She turned toward him.

  He grinned. “Not this second, but in a bit.”

  She sat on the couch near his chair. “That wasn’t as horrible as I expected.”

  “It would have been hard to watch Mazie try to live through the night. Your idea of sunset was really good. For everyone.”

  She swirled the wine in her glass, watching the flames through the red liquid. “It seemed fitting.”

  “You did good. Thanks for coming.” He downed a healthy portion of his beer. He looked at home here, like he’d done this before. Like he was comfortable here. Too bad Melissa hadn’t left him enough money to buy this ranch. Cheyenne had looked into Thad’s finances, just a tiny bit unethical, but she rationalized it that she would probably be the one to help him find a ranch, when he finally took that big step.

  While he had a nice-sized bank account, he’d be about ten million dollars short of being able to afford High Paradise. Too bad. He seemed part of the land. Rooted to it.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” He watched her, his eyes hooded, like he was more than tired.

  She had to think of something other than his bank balance. “What’ll happen to Mazie now?”

  “In the morning, one of the hands, probably Clint, since he was pretty attached to her, will dig a hole in the horse cemetery.”

  Her brows lifted. “You have a horse cemetery?�
�

  He shook his head. “Nothing fancy. Just plots covered in wildflowers and wooden crosses with the important information.”

  “How many horses are there?”

  “Five.” He frowned. “Maybe six.” He looked at her. “My wife’s horse is there.”

  Cheyenne’s heart thundered. He wanted to open up to her? “What happened to him? Her?”

  “Her. Wise Acre.” Thad tipped his beer, but there was nothing left. He set the bottle aside and stared into the fire. “Melissa and Wise died together.”

  Cheyenne couldn’t help sucking in a breath. Her body tensed, waiting for the story.

  “Melissa was riding her, went too fast through the woods.” His voice was low and choked.

  The woods? That explained Thad’s mad rush after her that day they were riding together. When she’d gotten too close to the forest.

  “The horse broke a leg in a washout next to a tree root. She fell, threw her into a tree and she…”

  Please, God, have him say she died instantly. Cheyenne’s vision darkened and she realized she was holding her breath. She took a few deep gulps of air and one healthy gulp of wine.

  “She died instantly, but we didn’t find her for hours.”

  “Oh Thad, I’m so sorry.” She wanted to go to him, wrap herself around him, and share his pain with him.

  He stood and walked to the fireplace, sat on his heels, and poked at a log with an iron rod. “We had search parties out, but it was dark. When they found her, they sent up two shots, and we turned that direction. Then there was another shot, and I knew Wise Acre was gone.”

  She could see it in her mind’s eye; Thad racing across the land to get to his wife, terror written all over his expression.

  “When we spotted the flares, I raced in, jumped off Gator, and looked for where they would be working on Melissa. Where they would be trying to save her life.” He stood and put a hand on the mantel, a booted foot on the hearth. “But everyone was standing, moving back from the little body lying next to the tree.”

  Cheyenne let tears flow. Her heart broke for him. “So sad.”

  He turned, stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets. “She was gone. Our baby with her. The horse had been put out of its misery. And God help me, if I’d had a gun, I would have put a dozen more rounds into the thing.” His voice grew loud.

  She set down her glass and stood, not knowing if her comforting touch would be wanted. “I don’t blame you.”

  He blinked a few times, as if coming back from a long ways away. “I don’t understand why it had to happen.” He looked lost, so much like a little boy, she couldn’t stay away.

  “Thad.” She walked to him, arms out.

  He hesitated a second before taking that last step into her arms, wrapping himself around her, and holding her tight. “I’m not usually this dramatic.”

  “Or talkative.” She laid her cheek on his chest.

  A half-laugh shook his body. “Yeah, or this talkative. But tonight, with Mazie, it just all came rushing back. Seems so close again. Like it’s hanging in the air.”

  “It might be, Thad.” She leaned back to look at him. “Maybe this would be a good night…for me to visit your house again.”

  Chapter Nine

  Thad stiffened. “I don’t know.”

  Cheyenne pushed out of his arms. She wouldn’t be offended by his words. A lot had happened today, emotions were raw. Maybe he didn’t want to overwhelm himself, let too many emotions flap in the breeze. “Why don’t we let everything cool down a bit. I’ll make us something to eat, then we’ll decide.”

  With a quick nod, he gestured for her to precede him into the kitchen. “Can’t chase ghosts on an empty stomach.”

  She grabbed her wine glass on her way out of the room. “That’s the…spirit.”

  He groaned, she laughed, and the mood instantly lifted.

  ****

  A half hour later, they stood on his porch. Thad reached for the screen door.

  “Wait.” She touched his arm. “The first time I was here, I could almost read your emotions.”

  Thad backed away a step. He sure didn’t care for that.

  “The last time I was here, when Melissa wasn’t, I couldn’t read you, nor did I sense anything coming off you any other time we were…together.” She said the last word very quietly. As if she didn’t want Melissa to know about their afternoon in Helena.

  “And now?” He tried to calm his thoughts.

  She drew in a breath. “I can feel your anxiety, your doubt, and your hopefulness.” Cheyenne looked up at him, the porch light highlighting how her eyes were nearly black now. “I love that you’re hopeful, Thad. I want this to work for you.”

  “Me, too. You don’t know how much.”

  She opened the screen door. “Probably not half as much as I do.”

  He watched her walk into his house. What the hell did that mean? Madam Ruby wanted to wrap up this haunting so she’d have another reference on her resume? Or Cheyenne wanted to get his deceased wife squared away so they could…

  No. She’d told him flat out he didn’t belong in her world. He had to suck that up and swallow it whole.

  She stood in the kitchen looking at the sink.

  When he stepped over the threshold, a chill raced through him.

  The ceiling light dimmed.

  “He knows that. He will when the time is—” Cheyenne turned to him. “She needs you to follow her wishes, Thad. She says time is running out.”

  He held up his hands, looking around the room. “I’m not ready. Sayde just lost Mazie, the cattle need to be brought in for the winter, the hay isn’t—”

  The light bulbs exploded in their glass globe on the ceiling, and the room went dark.

  “Shit.” Thad opened the refrigerator door, looking around the floor to see if there was any glass. “You okay, Cheyenne?”

  She didn’t say anything, just breathed fast and shallow. After a few minutes, she laid her hand on her chest, over her heart. “I will. I promise.”

  “What? What is it?”

  Cheyenne’s business card, which he’d fished out from under the stove, dropped from under the magnet on the freezer door and slid under the stove. “Why?” He asked Melissa, hoping she’d speak to him through Cheyenne.

  A soft breeze blew through the room and out the screen door, opening it slightly, then the room grew still.

  Thad took Cheyenne’s arm and led her into the living room. He turned on a lamp and sat her on the couch. Taking a knee in front of her, he stared at her, waiting.

  Her eyes slowly turned from black to light blue.

  “Do you want a beer?” He wished he’d thought of buying wine. Or borrowing a bottle from Sayde. “Wine? I can run to the big house and get a bottle.”

  She waved her hands. “No. Thank you, though.” She rubbed her temples. “She’s adamant that you need to get this land purchase done, Thad.” She stared at him, her brows lowered. “Concentrate on that because it’s the only way Melissa will be able to be free.” Her words snapped out like she was frustrated.

  He didn’t care as much for what Melissa felt as he did for what Cheyenne was going through.

  He got to his feet. “I don’t understand. Why all the sudden—”

  “I don’t know either.” She stood and pushed past him. “I only relay what she’s told me to share with you.” She hurried toward the front door.

  “Wait…” He followed her. “Are you saying she said other things to you? Like secrets she doesn’t want you to tell me?” Had Melissa told her why she’d run out of the house that day five years ago? Why she was running her horse too recklessly? Why he’d never been able to forgive himself for her death?

  Cheyenne stopped at the screen door. “She didn’t reveal any secrets, Thad. She just wants this to come to an end. For you to seek out your dream of having your own ranch.” She stepped out onto the porch. “Please, just do this for her.”

  “Don’t go, honeybee.” His voice roll
ed low, his feelings for Cheyenne taking over every thought. He wanted her here with him. He wanted her in his bed, and at his kitchen table, and riding the range with him. “Stay the night.”

  “I can’t.” She breathed like she was hyperventilating. “I just can’t.” She turned and ran off the porch, raced down the driveway.

  “Cheyenne, wait for me.” He grabbed his gun and a flashlight, running across the porch, leaping over the steps and hitting the ground hard. He twisted something in his ankle, but ran on it anyway. “Cheyenne!”

  He could see her yards ahead of him, moving fast. He struggled to keep up as the pain in his leg became worse. He slowed as she neared Sayde’s house, stopped when the front door opened, her silhouette stepped inside, and the door closed.

  “What the fuck, Cheyenne?” He hobbled back to his house, changed the light bulbs, then took off his boot and surveyed the damage. His ankle doubled in size as he watched. “Shit.”

  He grabbed an icepack from the miraculously functioning freezer, three ibuprofen, and two beers, and headed for his recliner. Once he was settled, he stared at the blank TV screen. He needed to think. To plan. And the sports stations would only delay the inevitable. So would thoughts of Cheyenne… Maybe that’s why her business card got shoved under the stove. Melissa wanted him to concentrate on one thing. Buying his own spread.

  “All I want to do is go after Cheyenne and bring her back here.” He spoke to himself. To Melissa. To whatever mystical being was out there listening to him. But he would do what needed to be done first.

  “Fine. Here I go.” How the hell could one little ghost be forcing him to change his life completely?

  Pulling out a notepad from the table next to his chair, he clicked open a pen. “Okay, Melissa. I hope this makes you happy.”

  ****

  Cheyenne sat in the chair Thad had vacated in Sayde’s living room, staring into the nearly-dead fire. The wine warmed her, but the alcohol kept her emotions on high-beam. She’d felt Thad’s frustration with his wife’s spirit, but then, when he’d knelt in front of her, she’d felt more.