The Black Sheep and the Hidden Beauty

by Donna Kauffman

  “Maybe. But if I had told the authorities what I knew, there was no way to prove it hadn’t been me. I didn’t see anyone on my way out there or back. No one saw me go back to my trailer, either, so I had no alibi, no witnesses. And, like you said, I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure it wasn’t an accident.”

  “So you decided to take off and hide out anyway?”

  “I didn’t decide to leave until I got confirmation on Springer’s pregnancy,” she told him. “I was going to go anyway, but yes, that pretty much decided it for me.”

  “And if someone had seen you or they determined you were there?”

  “I would have told them what I just told you. Then hired a lawyer, most likely. But it didn’t. And I wanted to leave, anyway. Springer decided it for good. I just wanted to put all of it behind me. I had a few options lined up, but they didn’t work out, then I heard about the position here and thought it sounded like the perfect place for her, and I would use the time to figure out what to do next.”

  He glanced over at her. It all made perfect, logical sense. Except his instincts hadn’t quieted one bit. “And that’s it?”

  She lifted her shoulders. “Isn’t that enough?”

  A nonanswer, but as they were almost back to Dalton Downs, he opted to let it drop. For now. She was still harboring something, but it was only a matter of time now. She’d trusted him enough to tell him this much. He’d figure out a way to get her to tell him the rest.

  “So,” he said, at length, “all this time, you never told anyone about this?”

  “No,” she said. “No one.”

  “Not even Kenny?”

  “Not anyone. I was harboring a big secret, yes, but I also knew that I had nothing to do with Geronimo dying or the tank exploding. I also didn’t see anyone out there who might have done it. So, it didn’t make any sense to put myself at risk when I really had nothing to offer, other than to corroborate the fact that JuanCarlo wasn’t out there. But since it was well documented that he was at the main barn when the tank blew, they didn’t need my statement for that, either.”

  “Did the investigator ask you anything about JuanCarlo, or any of the other barn help that night?”

  “No. Not specifically. He just went over all the same questions I was asked back when it happened, the questions we were all asked.”

  “I know you think it’s my digging that triggered this, and I’m not prepared to say otherwise at this point, but think hard. Is there anything else that might have triggered his renewed interest? Are you sure it’s not anything else? I just don’t want us not to see something right in front of us, because we’ve already concluded it had to be something else.”

  “All the angles. I know. But I honestly can’t imagine what else it could be. Trust me, I asked myself that a hundred times during the call, and after. They’ve been at this for quite some time now. They’re probably grasping at any straw. I don’t want to be a grasped straw. But I also don’t want the truth of my whereabouts that night to come out now, all this time later. If I would have looked suspicious then, imagine what it would look like now? That’s why I was so freaked out. Springer is close to foaling, and I thought everything was fine. Done. In the past. So yeah, it rattled me.”

  “So, if all they wanted to know was the same old rehash, then why move the horse?”

  “I told you, for medical reasons.”

  “That’s it? It was just coincidence?”

  She didn’t bristle this time, which was good. She was finally seeing that he was only prodding her to make sure there wasn’t anything left unconsidered. “She was having some problems. I was already a little concerned, which was why I’d told Kate about having Kenny come out to take a look at her. But after the call, yes, it did rattle me, and now that someone might show up here asking more questions, well, who knows what that might stir up? If, for whatever reason, the media picked up on it, I can’t have that kind of stress around Springer, not when we’re this close. She’s already restless just feeding off my renewed anxiety.”

  “What about—”

  “Kate? Don’t worry. If any undue attention comes my way, I’ll leave. I wouldn’t do that to her or the kids.”

  It was what he’d expected her to say, but he hadn’t expected the pang of panic that accompanied it. It was one thing, earlier tonight, to suspect she was taking off and plan to stop her. Now…things were different, and he’d be more than a little pissed off if she tried to pull a stunt like that. But he didn’t think this was the time to get all territorial or proprietary. Though he’d be lying if he didn’t admit to feeling more than a little of both. “And go where?”

  She lifted a shoulder. “Springer is safe, so as long as I don’t bring down the wrath of the press on Kate, it doesn’t really matter. Somewhere until it blows over, I guess, then I’m not sure. Frankly, I haven’t had the chance to think that far ahead.”

  “You wouldn’t go to Kenny?” he asked.

  “Depends on how close Springer is at the time. I certainly don’t want anyone trailing me to his farm. I moved her there for the express purpose of keeping her out of any media glare.”

  Rafe slowed as they reached the entrance to Dalton Downs. Neither of them spoke as he pulled around the long, narrow road leading down to the barns. “Where do you want to park this thing? Do you want it out in the trailer lot, or all the way out by the employee stables?”

  “We can leave it here for tonight. I’ll move it in the morning. Or later in the morning, as the case may be.”

  “I don’t mind parking it out there now.”

  She shook her head. “You’ve done enough. This way you just have to hike up the hill to the house.” She looked at him. “You do live in the main house, right? I mean, I know Mac has his own little place down past the back fields, with Kate, but…maybe it’s none of my business.”

  He smiled. “Since I plan on having you on my million-thread-count sheets, I suppose it would be handy if you knew where they were.”

  She smiled then, and he was glad the mood had shifted. “Million-thread-count, huh? Wow, you are spoiled.”

  He just grinned. “Care to be spoiled with me?”

  She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure it will be a test just to get to my own bed tonight. I’d rather wait until there was a better-than-average chance I wouldn’t be snoring two seconds after lying down on your bed. Wouldn’t want to tarnish your reputation or anything.”

  He didn’t rise to the bait. “I’ve done enough tarnishing all by myself, thanks, but I understand. At least let me see you to your bunk.”

  “You never told me where yours was.”

  “Right. Well, Mac has the cabin, and Finn has a wing pretty much to himself. We use another wing for our offices.”

  “And you? You have a wing, too? Are you afraid I’ll trail barn droppings in with me?”

  “No, no wing for me.”

  “Hmm, I’m intrigued. Where do you live, then?”

  “I, well, I live in the pool house.”

  “You live in the—” She broke off on a laugh. “I’m sorry, really. It’s just…”

  “No, I know how it sounds. But I like it out there. It’s small, but private, and close enough that I can jump in any direction when I need to.”

  “Workaholic, are you?”

  “Always plenty to be done. And I like what I do.”

  She popped the door open. “Pool house.” She glanced back at him and her lips twitched. “You’d make an okay cabana boy.”

  He opened his own door. “Just okay?”

  She lifted a shoulder. “You’re a little intense for a laid-back job like that, but you could probably adapt. Maybe.”

  He slid out of the truck and closed the door behind him, then rounded the back of the trailer and truck just as she slid out.

  “So, good night,” she said, a distinct huff in her tone.

  Did she really think he’d just walk off? He smiled in the moonlight when she turned and bumped directly into him.
<
br />   “Oh! I didn’t see you, sorry.”

  He crowded her back a little, until her back was against the truck door. “Intense, maybe,” he said, his voice low. “But I serve a mean martini.”

  “I—I’ve never had one. A martini, I mean.”

  “Then we’ll have to rectify that. Tomorrow evening, perhaps? Or, actually, this evening, given the sun is going to rise in a few short hours. I’ll cook dinner. We can even make it a business-free zone.”

  “You cook?”

  “You sound surprised.”

  “I—I guess I am. And I have no idea why. The great chefs are men. And you’re a bachelor, so of course you need to eat, and…” She trailed off on a sheepish smile. “I’m babbling.”

  “You’re tired. And worried about your horse. Come on.” He turned and offered his arm.

  “Come on, where?”

  “I’ll walk you to your ladder.”

  “Thank you, but I don’t need—”

  “I think we’re well past what you need and what you don’t. I want to walk you out, okay? It’s what I need.”

  “Old habits.” She held out her arm. “And for the record, I have nothing against it being about what you need.”

  He grinned. “Good to know. Now let me be a gentleman, will you?”

  She snorted a little, but allowed him to lead her toward the far stables.

  He sighed. “We men really do have our work cut out for us in the public relations department, don’t we?”

  “What, you’re saying that all your intentions are pure and innocent?”

  “Is that what being a gentleman means to you?”

  “What’s your take?”

  He opened the paddock gate for her and swept his arm gallantly in front of him. Then, immediately after closing it behind him, he snagged her arm and spun her neatly around and directly up against him. “It means we ask before we take.”

  “Take what?”

  “This.” He lowered his head, but paused just before his lips touched hers. “May I?”

  “Rafe—”

  “Elena,” he whispered, “it’s been hours. Let me taste you.”

  “Just kiss me already.”

  He took her mouth, but gently this time, almost reverently. His body, which was tired, cramped, and spent, should have been perfectly happy with a nice good-night kiss. So that didn’t explain why it roared to life the instant she opened her mouth beneath his.

  What had happened in the cab of her truck should have been awkward and uncomfortable, by any description…but all he could remember was the way she’d clutched at him, holding on to him so tightly, and the way her body had taken his, holding him there so tightly, too. He wanted more, so much more, already knowing it would be, between them, the way it had never been for him with anyone. She was one hell of a woman.

  And she was his.

  As the kiss slowly deepened, the battle raged between libido and common sense. It was late, they were both tired, there was another long day ahead of them with little sleep to go on, and who knew what other surprises lay in store. She hadn’t told him the whole story—he’d bet on that.

  “Rafe,” she whispered against the corner of his mouth. “I think you have me bewitched.”

  “Bothered, and bewildered?” he finished, with a little half smile.

  She smiled, looking up into his eyes. “That, too. A lot of that.”

  She was so easy to talk to, to play with, to spend ridiculous amounts of time in bed with. His hold on her tightened slightly. “Thank you,” he said, never more sincere.

  “For?”

  “Trusting me. I know it’s not easy. I hope you know it’s well placed.”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  “I’m going to bring Mac in on this—Finn, too, if he gets back anytime soon.” He’d expected her to stiffen, but she didn’t.

  “What will they say? Will you tell them about…this?”

  He smiled. “I won’t have to.”

  “And…that’s not going to complicate things?”

  “They’ll have their fun, but they’ll also be in your corner, because they’re in mine.”

  “You’re sure of that?”

  “As sure as I am that the sun is going to rise in a few hours and you need some rest.”

  As if to underscore his words, she was overtaken with a yawn just then. Both of them laughed. “Come on.” He walked her inside the paddock, then opened the door to the barn.

  Before they stepped inside, she turned to him and put her hand on his arm. “I don’t want to complicate things for you. With Mac or Finn, or with anything else. What I said earlier stands. If you don’t want to be involved, I’ll understand.”

  “I’m involved. And I’m not going anywhere. I know it’s complicated. That’s how life works. I’m not expecting simple.”

  “That’s the problem. You’ll have expectations. I don’t know that I can fulfill any of them. I don’t know what you want beyond right this moment and I can’t make you any promises.”

  “I don’t recall asking for any. One moment at a time, okay? You’ve enough to deal with. We’ll take the rest as it comes. Not everything has to be planned out.”

  “I just—” She stopped herself. “Okay.” She smiled a little. “You can tell I’m new at this.”

  He tugged her close, bumped hips with her, making her eyes widen a little. “You can tell I don’t mind in the least.” He slid a hand beneath the heavy braid lying on her neck and tipped her head back as he lowered his own. “Maybe tonight you’ll have sweet dreams. If I can do that, it’s enough.” He kissed her then, and put all the promise he felt behind it. Things he couldn’t yet put words to. And when she kissed him back, so easily, so honestly, his own barriers began to crumble, ones he hadn’t even been aware were there. So that by the time he’d broken the kiss, he felt compelled to say, “Okay, so that was a lie.”

  She frowned. “What part?”

  “That it’ll ever be enough.” He backwalked her into the barn. “The more I want, the more I want. I want to know everything about you. What your favorite food is, what position you like best in bed, what you’re still not telling me about the situation with Geronimo.”

  “Rafe—”

  “I can even claim I’ll be patient, but that’ll probably end up being a lie, too, though I’d certainly try. I’m a pit bull, as you said, always have been.” He kissed her again, until she was making those soft, little moans that made him crazy. Then he was sliding his hands down over her hips and tugging her thighs, urging her to wrap her legs around his waist and let him press the once-again rock-hard length of himself more deeply between her thighs. Sweet almighty, he might never have enough of her. Bewitched, indeed.

  And then she was kissing him back, voraciously, digging her nails into his shoulders, hooking her ankles at the base of his spine, urging him closer, and once again, they had way too many layers on between them. Only this time, there was a bed. A mere ladder-climb away.

  “Hold on,” he told her, wrapping one arm around her back, the other hand closing around the nape of her neck, keeping her mouth fused to his as he stumbled them both closer to the ladder leading to her loft.

  He bumped up against it, jarring her loose. She grabbed for his shoulders, her ankles slipping down over his backside.

  He leaned them into the ladder. “Invite me upstairs, Elena.”

  She laughed a bit breathlessly. “You have to ask?”

  “I am a gentleman,” he said, as he nipped at her earlobe.

  “And if I don’t?” she teased, tilting her head to allow him even greater access.

  He let her feet drop to the ground as he turned them so he leaned back against the ladder with her sprawled across him. His grin felt lazy, and he knew his gaze was just a touch more than a little proprietary as he stroked the side of her face, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. “I’ll be taking a very long, very lonely cold shower back in the pool house.”

  She made a fake moue with her lip
s. “The horror.”

  “Certainly feels like it at the moment, but I’ve survived worse.”

  “Heroic of you.”

  “So I’ve thought.”

  She smiled up into his eyes. “I have no business getting sidetracked by you, you know, much less letting you get sidetracked by me.”

  “Sometimes it’s the side paths that prove the most rewarding. You coming here to Dalton Downs, for instance.”

  “But there are better times than others to involve other people on your journey.”

  “Ask me upstairs, Elena.”

  “Pit bulls are pussycats compared to you.”

  He grinned without a hint of remorse. “If it gets me what I want, I can be relentless.”

  “I’m getting that.”

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her snug between his legs. “You could be, but apparently you like to torture me.”

  “Only on horseback.”

  “Kinky.”

  She swatted at him, but she wasn’t making any move whatsoever to disengage his tight hold. Which only had him drawing her closer still. “I do want you, Elena.” He moved his hips. “Hard to deny that one. But I’ll want more than just that.”

  “Maybe if you only wanted me for my body, this would be easier.”

  “I don’t compartmentalize.”

  She smiled. “Wear your heart on your sleeve, do you?”

  “Typically, never. With you? It’s fast becoming something of a struggle.”

  His direct answer, coupled with his very direct gaze, seemed to catch her off guard. He wasn’t flirting now. And she knew it.

  “I don’t know what to do with that,” she said. “Or what to do with you.”

  “I have a few ideas,” he replied, a hint of the teasing smile coming back, but still keeping his gaze focused tightly on her.

  “Rafe—”

  He tugged her mouth close and kissed her. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “Famous last words.”

  “Is that what’s holding you back? Is that the other part of the story?”

  “No.”

  He wanted—badly—to push, but he’d crossed so many boundaries in the past twenty-four hours, he had to find some control at some point.

  “Invite me upstairs, Elena.” He went to tug her mouth down to his again, but this time she pressed her fingers across his lips and stopped him.