Rustling Up Trouble

by Delores Fossen

  Now the question was, had Gandy’s death been by accident or by design? It might be a while before the CSIs could give them an answer to that since Rayanne wasn’t even sure they’d be able to recover the bullet from Gandy’s head. Maybe fired by the sniper who’d been in the woods.

  Or maybe fired by someone much closer to him.

  Wendell, Caleb or even Woody.

  “Caleb claims he’s fine,” Blue went on. Obviously, he’d learned that from his call to the Sweetwater Springs hospital, the one he had made immediately before phoning Floresville.

  “‘Claims he’s fine,’” she repeated, studying Blue’s expression while she finished off her glass of milk. “Is that ATF code for something?”

  “Maybe.” Blue shook his head. “Caleb’s only slightly injured. In fact, the doc said it was superficial.”

  Sweet heaven. “So it could have been self-inflicted,” Rayanne concluded. “If so, Caleb could have done that to throw suspicion off himself for the attack. He could have not only set up the attack, he could also have been the one to kill Gandy.”

  Blue lifted his shoulder, winced a little. That brought Rayanne to her feet, and thankfully, she didn’t wobble too much. Well, it was still enough for Blue to catch on to her arm to steady her, but she caught on to him, too.

  “We’re a pair,” she mumbled.

  “A pair who should be getting some rest,” Rosalie added. “I’m not speaking as a sister now but as a nurse. Both of you are recovering from a trauma, and staying on your feet will only prolong that.”

  Rayanne couldn’t deny that Blue could do with some rest, but she also knew how mule-headed he’d be about this. So she turned the tables on him and played the baby card. She ran her hand over her belly and gave her sister a nod.

  Blue noticed the belly rub right away, and it caused a new level of alarm on his face. That got him moving, and with his arm hooked around her waist, they headed for the stairs.

  “I know the drill,” Rayanne said on the way up to her room. “You’ll tuck me in, try to soothe my nerves and then make an excuse to come back down and work. But just know that I’m not coming up the stairs for me or the baby. We’re fine. I’m doing this for you, and that means you’re getting some rest.”

  His eyebrow slid up. “Together?”

  Her eyebrow slid up, too, and she remembered the scalding-hot kissing session they’d had that morning. “Together we won’t get any rest,” she reminded him.

  Blue chuckled, brushed a kiss on her forehead and maneuvered her into her room. “We won’t if we’re apart. I know the drill. You’ll stew about this and wrongfully blame yourself for the danger.”

  “It won’t be wrongful,” Rayanne mumbled. “I should have figured out a way to stop the attacks. Heck, I should just leave, and at least that way, Rosalie might not be in danger—”

  Blue huffed. That was the only warning before he slid his hand around the back of her neck, dragged her closer and kissed her. All in all, it was a darn effective way to shut her up, but it didn’t stop the truth from being the truth.

  Nor did it stop the heat from trickling through her body.

  A simple kiss from Blue could do that, but it was because there was no such thing as a simple kiss from Blue. His mouth and every other part of him could cause her to melt with just a single touch. No other man had ever had that effect on her, and she prayed no other ever would.

  “You have a bad habit of kissing me at the worst possible time,” she mumbled against his mouth.

  He eased back and met her eye to eye. “Yeah, it is a bad time.” Blue glanced at the bed. Not in a let’s-land-there-now kind of way. But he was no doubt thinking about how to make sure she got that rest.

  She was thinking about that. And a lot of other things. Every one of those other things included Blue.

  Rayanne shook her head. Opened her mouth. And she realized that what she said—or didn’t say—in the next couple of seconds could change everything.

  It could bring Blue closer to her.

  Or keep him at bay.

  The question was, what did she want to do?

  She had a quick debate with her body. It didn’t give her much of an argument, though. Figures. Neither did her heart.

  And that created a huge problem for her.

  After all the pain, was she willing to take that kind of a risk again?

  She was still thinking about that when Blue’s mouth came back to hers for another of those white-hot kisses. Then she quit thinking and debating altogether. She did something that she rarely did.

  She went with her heart.

  Rayanne pulled him to her and kissed him right back.

  * * *

  BLUE KNEW EXACTLY what Rayanne’s kiss meant.

  And it didn’t include something she truly needed—rest.

  But he was already well past the logic point here, and besides, this wasn’t going to stop no matter what he said or did. There were a lot of things between Rayanne and him, and they weren’t based on logic.

  Blue could feel her raw need in that kiss. In the way her hand clutched him, pulling him closer and closer. Until they were plastered against each other. Since he knew this would lead them straight to the bed, he reached behind him and locked the door. If he was going to do this, then he didn’t want anyone walking in on them.

  “Your shoulder,” Rayanne reminded him when he took those kisses to her neck.

  Yeah, he was probably hurting, but his mind was shutting that out at the possibility of having Rayanne beneath him in that bed. But then he thought of another obstacle that could put this burning heat on pause.

  “The pregnancy?” he said.

  She huffed, pulled him right back to her. “Pregnant women can and do have sex.”

  Good. Because that was about the only red light that would have stopped this. That and Rayanne saying no, and it was clear from the way her grip moved from his waist to his butt that she didn’t have any plans to say no.

  She went after his shirt, fumbling with the buttons until she finally got it open, and her mouth landed against his chest.

  Instant heat.

  Not that he needed more, but Blue did take a moment to savor the feel of her lips and tongue on his bare skin. Unfortunately, that savoring turned up the urgency a significant notch, and he started to fumble with her clothes. Getting her naked became his top priority.

  Her shirt was easy. He pulled it over her head and sent it sailing to the floor. Her bra quickly followed, and Blue got to return the favor of sampling Rayanne’s breasts. They were full, perfect and, judging from the needy moan she made, very sensitive.

  She plowed her fingers into his hair, pulling his mouth even closer so he could kiss her the way that he wanted. He went lower. To her stomach. But Rayanne pulled him back up toward her mouth.

  “If those kisses go lower, we know what’ll happen,” she said. “This time, I want you with me.”

  Heck, no way could he turn down that offer. He was hard as granite, and he needed her in the worst kind of way.

  She left his shirt and vest on but tackled his zipper next. No kisses. Rayanne just stared at him as the zipper went down, and Blue was able to see the fiery need in her cool gray eyes. He was sure his eyes weren’t so cool when she slid her hand inside his boxers and touched him.

  Oh, man.

  The grunt he made sounded like pain. It wasn’t.

  Well, not regular pain, anyway.

  This was pure pleasure.

  And thankfully, Rayanne could tell the difference, because she kept touching him until Blue had no choice but to do something about the powder keg of heat that her touching had created.

  Blue unzipped her jeans, which were already low on her hips to make room for her pregnant belly. He shimmied them off her, her lacy panties, too, kissing her along the way, until Rayanne obviously met her own heat threshold.

  “Let’s do this now,” she insisted, the urgency clear in her voice.

  He turned, easing her onto th
e bed while Rayanne continued to work on his jeans. He helped by taking off his boots and shoulder holster, and in the back of his mind, Blue was already working out the logistics of this. He didn’t want to crush her and the baby with his weight, and judging from the way she was eyeing the bandage on his shoulder, she didn’t want to hurt him.

  Blue settled it by pulling her onto his lap. His back landed against the headboard, and Rayanne landed against him.

  In all the right places.

  With everything aligned just right.

  Even though he had all his memories of the other time they were together, Blue still felt the jolt of surprise when he sank into her. She felt even better than he’d remembered, and what he’d remembered had been pretty darn good.

  This was perfect. And mind-blowing.

  Blue caught on to her hips to get her moving. Not that he had to prompt her much. Rayanne met him, pushing against him harder and faster as he pushed into her.

  Still no kisses.

  Just that intense eye contact that made this seem even more intimate than it already was.

  “I can’t last long,” she said, like an apology.

  But no apology was needed. This couldn’t last long. The heat and the intensity just kept driving them.

  Harder, faster, deeper.

  Rayanne leaned in, positioning her hips, until he felt her body give way. Until he felt her slide right over the edge.

  She made a sound, a silky moan of pleasure, but he saw the other emotion in her eyes. The wish that this didn’t have to end so soon. Blue had the same wish, but he could only hope this wouldn’t be the last time he had her like this.

  Now she kissed him. Her mouth closing in over his. And that was all Blue needed to let himself slide right over that edge with her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  With her body slack from the climax, Rayanne collapsed against Blue, careful not to hurt his shoulder. Even though he didn’t seem to be feeling any pain, she didn’t want to take the risk of making his injury worse.

  Especially since she’d just done that to their situation.

  This would complicate things and therefore make things worse. No doubt about it. But she hadn’t been able to resist Blue five months ago, and she hadn’t had any luck resisting him now. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing, but this was far from normal.

  She eased off his lap, dropping onto her back, only to remember she wasn’t exactly in buck-naked shape. Rayanne reached to pull the covers over her, but Blue stopped her.

  “I’m guessing you’re not trying to cover up because you’re cold,” he mumbled, then lowered his head and kissed her belly. Just like that, it rebuilt the heat that she thought had been quenched.

  For at least an hour or two, anyway.

  “Not cold,” she agreed. “But not sure I feel comfortable with my body being sprawled out in front of you.”

  “Well, you should. You look amazing.” He kissed her again and gave her one of those melting looks, and Rayanne had to fight not to be seduced all over again.

  She pulled the quilt over her and sat up, hoping she wouldn’t feel so, well, vulnerable, but that feeling apparently didn’t have anything to do with nudity. She still felt it when she looked at Blue.

  Who was the true definition of looking amazing.

  Rayanne sighed. “It’d be so much easier if you were ugly or if I just hated you.”

  He chuckled, pulled her back to him so that she was in the crook of his good arm. “It’d be so much easier if we were in love.”

  She frowned, stared up at him.

  “You know what I mean,” he went on. “You don’t trust people because of your father’s abandonment, and I don’t love because I don’t think I deserve it.”

  That got her attention. “What do you mean?”

  He ran his fingers over the small pinholes on his vest. “When my father was alive, he rarely took off this vest. Even when it needed to be cleaned, he’d wait for it at the dry cleaner’s. He called it his good-luck charm.”

  “So do you,” she said.

  Blue nodded. “I was always begging him to let me wear it to school to show everyone the badge, and one day he gave in.” He paused, swallowed hard. “And that’s the day that two methheads gunned him down.”

  Rayanne shook her head. It crushed her heart to think of the pain Blue must have gone through, even if it had happened all those years ago.

  “You do know that wasn’t your fault and the vest had nothing to do with it?” she asked.

  “I know it here.” He tapped his head. “Not so much here, though.” Blue tapped his heart.

  “Kid logic doesn’t have to make sense,” he added when her mouth tightened a little. “You keep me at a distance because of your father, but I do the same thing. I’m afraid if I care that much for someone again, then... Well, you get what I mean.”

  Every word.

  But where did that leave them? Unable to trust or risk a commitment.

  Where did it leave their baby?

  “We’ll work it all out,” he said as if reading her mind, and dropped another kiss on her mouth just as the landline phone on her nightstand beeped.

  Since the beep meant someone in the house was trying to reach her, Rayanne slid over a very naked Blue to answer it.

  “It’s me,” Rosalie said. “Woody Janson called here asking to speak to Blue. I’ve got him on hold for now, but do you want me to put the call through to your room?”

  Obviously, Blue was still close enough to hear, because he answered, “Yes,” and took the phone. Rayanne moved right next to him so she could hear what Woody had to say.

  “Start explaining,” Blue snapped the moment Woody came on the line. “What happened to you after you left the ranch, and why are you calling on this line?”

  “Wasn’t sure your cell was safe. I still haven’t been able to prove Caleb’s innocent, and I didn’t want to take the risk that he was monitoring your phone with a tap. I figured you wouldn’t have let him in the house to do the same to the landlines.”

  No, they hadn’t let Caleb inside. Woody, either. Yet the attacks had still happened.

  “Did you kill Ace Butler?” Blue came right out and asked.

  “Yeah. He took a shot at me. I returned fire, and I hit him. He escaped in a car he had parked nearby. If what I just found out is true, Ace made his way to the hospital where he died.”

  “He did,” Blue verified. “Gandy’s dead, too.”

  “I heard. I hope you don’t think I’m all torn up about either Ace’s or Gandy’s death. They were scum.”

  “They were,” Blue readily admitted, “but what I want to know is did you have anything to do with the attack that left Gandy dead? Because it could have left Rayanne, her family, the ranch hands and me dead, too.”

  “No, of course not. I wasn’t responsible for that.” Woody paused, huffed. “Look, I know I’m not exactly high on the list of people you trust, but I want the same thing that you do. My name completely cleared and the person behind these attacks stopped.”

  Judging from Blue’s narrowed eyes, he had some doubts about Woody’s innocence. So did she.

  “I found out something else,” Woody went on a moment later. “I’ve spent the last half hour trying to verify it, but no luck so far. Still, I thought you’d want to know what I heard from criminal informants.”

  “I’m listening,” Blue assured him.

  “I think someone might try to set an explosive device in or near the county jail.”

  Oh, mercy. Rayanne’s heart skipped a beat. “My mother,” she managed to say. She scrambled out of the bed, located her jeans on the floor and took out her phone.

  “I want details,” Blue demanded from Woody.

  “Sorry, I don’t have them, but I’ve been monitoring some taps I have in place on two criminal informants, and they were definitely discussing a bomb. I can’t verify if they were doing that to find out if I was listening. In other words, a test. Or
if the threat’s real.”

  Rayanne’s hands were shaking so hard that it took her several tries to press Seth’s number, and her brother answered on the first ring.

  “Is Mom all right?” Rayanne immediately asked. Blue ended his call with Woody and hurried to her side. “Is there really a bomb threat at the county jail?”

  “I don’t want you to panic,” Seth answered.

  Which, of course, made her want to do just that. “There’s really a bomb?”

  “Maybe. Someone called in a bomb threat, and Mom and the other nine prisoners are being moved to another part of the building. The bomb squad’s on the way.”

  She could tell Seth was trying to keep his voice calm. For her sake, no doubt. But Rayanne could also hear the fear and the concern.

  “I don’t trust Sheriff Aiden Braddock,” Rayanne said. “If something goes wrong, I figure our mother is the last person he’d bother to protect.”

  Especially since Jewell was charged with murdering the sheriff’s father.

  “I’m down in Floresville,” Seth explained. “I was trying to get a lead on the person who tried to bribe the doctor. I’m heading to Clay Ridge right now.”

  Rayanne shook her head. “It’ll take nearly two hours for you to get there. That’s not soon enough if this is some kind of setup to hurt Mom.”

  “No,” Seth said. “You’re not going. Is Blue there?”

  “I’m here,” Blue verified.

  “Even if you have to hog-tie her, don’t let her go. I’m calling now to find some agents that I trust to work this.” And with that, Seth hung up.

  Rayanne didn’t waste a second getting to her feet, and she started to get dressed. Blue did, too, but he moved right in front of her, forcing eye contact.

  “You heard what your brother said,” Blue reminded her. “And I agree. You’re not going to that jail.”

  Everything inside was spinning so fast that it was hard to think. “I have to do something.”

  “Yeah. You have to wait here. Seth will have a team in place soon.”

  Maybe not soon enough. “This could be a way of getting back at me. At us,” she corrected. “If so, Wendell could be behind it.”

  Blue nodded, continued to dress. “And it could be a ruse to get you to panic. If it is, Caleb or Woody could be behind it. Both of them have access to criminal informants who could have faked this kind of info.”