The Colton Bride

by Carla Cassidy

  “Hang on.” Gray’s terse warning came an instant before he took a quick right-hand turn onto a narrow road. They went up over a hill and then their tires rattled over metal cattle guards set in the ground.

  Cath squeaked in heart-thumping terror as Gray maneuvered a U-turn that had them facing the cattle guard they’d just driven over. He threw the truck in Park, rolled down his window and held his gun, ready for anything that might come over the hill toward them.

  Neither of them said a word. Cath had a feeling she couldn’t have spoken if her very life depended on it. Her throat had closed up the moment he’d made the unexpected turn. She reached up and grabbed hold of the aquamarine stone of her necklace, as if it were a magic talisman that would ward off danger.

  Seconds ticked by. Gray was like a statue, eyes dark and narrowed in concentration, his gun arm sure and steady out the driver window. She knew without a doubt if he thought she was in danger he’d shoot first and ask questions later.

  More seconds passed and Cath could swear her heart wasn’t beating, that she wasn’t breathing at all as they waited to see if the suspicious truck would appear over the rise.

  After what felt like an eternity, Gray put his truck in gear and began to creep forward, his arm still extended out the window.

  Cath didn’t breathe again until they reached the main road and saw no other vehicles in sight. Gray set his gun on the seat between them and turned toward Dead once again.

  “Maybe we’re both a little paranoid,” she finally said.

  He flashed a tight grin. “A little paranoid is good when somebody is really after you.”

  “It was probably just some eighty-year-old rancher driving into town,” she replied, trying to diminish her tense fear.

  “Probably,” Gray agreed, although she wasn’t sure he believed it.

  Cath continued to grasp her necklace, realizing how easy it would have been for that truck to have crashed into them, for Gray to have been hurt and for her to have been dragged from the wreckage.

  “You know you’re risking your life for mine,” she said.

  “I know,” he replied, never taking his gaze off the road. “I’m thinking about making protecting people my business.”

  She stared at him in confusion. “You’re going to start a bodyguard business?”

  “No, I’m thinking about maybe going to the police academy in Cheyenne when this is all over.”

  She was stunned. “You want to be a policeman? But what about the ranch? What about your job as foreman?”

  “I’ve been burned out on ranch work for a long time now and just haven’t acknowledged it to myself. The Coltons can always find another ranch foreman, but for the first time in years I’m stoked about going in a new direction with my life.”

  “Would you work on the police force in Dead?” she asked. Even though she knew he was hers only temporarily, she couldn’t imagine once this was all over that she’d never see him again.

  “I’d go wherever I was needed.”

  She was glad he didn’t look in her direction for she felt a ridiculous burn of tears at her eyes. Drat her pregnancy hormones. She swallowed hard to suppress her unexpected rise of emotion. “Hopefully this all will be over soon and you can get on with pursuing your future,” she said, grateful that her voice betrayed nothing of her thoughts.

  “The future will wait for me as long as necessary. In the meantime my most important job here is to keep you and the bean safe from harm.”

  He pulled up in front of the Dead Police Station and that was the end of their discussion.

  When they entered the small building Gray asked for Chief Peters, who immediately greeted them and took them into a small private office.

  He gestured them into two chairs and then sat behind his desk and gazed at them curiously. “What brings the two of you here?”

  “The idea of a potential suspect in the two kidnapping attempts on Cath,” Gray said.

  Harry leaned forward. “Tell me more.”

  As Gray laid out his thoughts about Dirk Sinclair, he was pleased that Peters listened with interest and then wrote a couple of notes on a pad in front of him. “We’ll definitely check him out.”

  “I was also wondering if it would be possible for me to get copies of the files on all the murders that have taken place on the ranch in the past couple of months as well as the file on the cold case of the kidnapping of Cole Colton,” Gray said.

  Peters leaned back in his chair and looked at him in surprise. “Are you looking to take over my job?”

  Gray smiled. “I might be looking for a job on the force someday in the future. Right now I’ve got Cath’s safety to worry about and I thought in my spare time I’d go over the files and see if I can put anything together that makes sense.”

  “I could get you copies of the files, but they’re active right now and in any case they wouldn’t do you any good. Hank Drucker was the most corrupt officer of the law I’ve ever seen and what he left behind in those files can’t be trusted. I have my men reworking everything and so I can’t release anything to you because they’re all ongoing investigations.”

  Peters leaned forward again and shook his head. “I don’t like speaking ill of the dead, but Drucker left behind a mess...potential witnesses that were never interviewed, copies of interviews that never took place. I’ve got ballistic test results that I’m not sure ever came from a lab or the specifics of where the bullets were found.” He threw up his hands in frustration.

  “No offense, but he wasn’t the first dirty cop who’s ever been caught,” Gray said.

  “True,” Peters agreed, but a deep frown cut across his forehead. “What bothers me is that there’s usually a reason a cop goes bad and in Drucker’s case I haven’t been able to find one. His reporting of the usual crimes that have taken place over the years in Dead seems pretty much all right. It’s the ones that deal with anything concerning the Dead River Ranch that are dummied up.”

  “We’ve always believed somebody at the ranch is the head of the snake who is behind everything that’s happened there. Unfortunately we can’t figure out exactly who it might be,” Gray replied.

  “I’m determined to figure it out,” Peters said firmly.

  “That makes two of us,” Gray replied. He met Cath’s gaze and saw the shiver of apprehension that swept over her. How he wished he could take away any fear she might feel, but until they figured out who the true evil was at Dead River Ranch, there was no way he could ease her fears.

  After they left the police station, they decided to grab a late breakfast at the diner in town. Gray watched in amusement as Cath ordered eggs and bacon and a side of pancakes. She caught his amused gaze as the waitress left with her order.

  “I definitely feel like I’m eating for two this morning,” she said. “I’m ravenous.”

  “Are you going to have the doctor tell you if it’s a boy or a girl?” he asked as he settled back in the cheap plastic of the booth they shared.

  She took a sip of her orange juice before replying. “I haven’t decided yet. I guess it would be practical to know the sex of the baby ahead of time so I could start buying the appropriate clothes and such. But there’s a part of me that would like to be surprised.”

  “What would you prefer? A boy or a girl?”

  “Oh, I don’t care. As long as he or she is healthy I’ll be happy.” She looked at him curiously. “Do you want children of your own? You used to talk about it when we were young.”

  “We used to talk about a lot of things when we were young,” he countered. “Right now I don’t think about having kids much. I just want to make sure you and yours are safe.”

  As they ate their breakfast Gray tried not to think about the dreams he’d once shared with the woman across from him. They talked about the ranch, bandied around the names of potential suspects and then talked about their upcoming meeting with Dylan.

  “I wish we didn’t have to tell him anything we found out,” Cath said as s
he finished the last bite of her stack of pancakes. “I wish Mia and Jagger hadn’t set in motion the questions that they did about Faye and her past.”

  “I agree, but as hard as it’s going to be on Dylan, he has a right to try to find out the truth about his mother and himself.”

  “If he had no birth certificate then how did he get a social security card?” she asked.

  “Who knows? I imagine whatever social security number he has belongs to some baby that died at birth and somehow Faye managed to snag the number for Dylan,” Gray replied.

  Cath sighed. “It seems like every question brings up another question.”

  “The real question right now, Mrs. Eating for Two, is if you’re finished with your breakfast?” he asked teasingly. Her plate was completely empty.

  She looked down and then back at him, her eyes glittering with humor. “I guess I’m finished unless I intend to eat the plate itself.”

  “That probably wouldn’t be a good idea.”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  Together they left the café and headed back to the ranch to wait for the time that Dylan would come to Cath’s suite. Cath decided to take a short nap and Gray paced the sitting-room floor, dreading the conversation with the man he considered a brother.

  As he paced he thought about the question Cath had asked him over breakfast. Would he like to have kids of his own someday? Hypothetically yes, but he only wanted children if he were in a marriage of love, where those children would be raised in an intact family.

  If and when the time came for Gray to find a wife, he certainly intended to be picky about who he chose. She would have to be as committed as him to a lifetime together. He didn’t want to pick a woman like his mother had been, a weak woman who had decided she didn’t want to be a wife or mother. Nor did he want to make the mistake of marrying somebody like Cath’s mother, who had found the allure of a sexy rodeo cowboy far stronger than being a wife and mother.

  He wanted to marry somebody who wanted, who needed, to be a wife and mother. He shook his head ruefully as he stood at the window and stared outside. He wanted to marry somebody just like Cath.

  How ironic was it that he’d left Dead River Ranch years ago because he’d realized he’d never be good enough to marry a Colton heir and now he was her husband...at least for now.

  But now would end and he’d be back on his own. The idea of heading off to the police academy appealed to him, and once the drama and danger in this house and to Cath was resolved, he knew his days here were limited.

  Eventually they’d both move on with their lives but he had a feeling even if he met and married another woman, even if he had a houseful of kids, there would still be quiet moments when his thoughts would drift back to his first love. He would wonder if Cath was doing okay, if she had found happiness with another man and how tall the bean had grown.

  He turned away from the window and sat on the chaise with the notebook that held the notes Cath had taken, along with the few notes he’d gotten from Jagger before he and Mia had left town.

  He could ask Mathilda to see Faye’s employment application, but he had a feeling it would list the same information that Faye had told her son.

  Fifteen minutes before Dylan was due to arrive, Gray went into the bedroom to awaken Cath. She slept on her side facing him as he entered the room. Her beautiful features were softened with sleep and beckoned him closer.

  She made his heart ache. He crouched down by the side of the bed and gently ran his fingers over the side of her face. How he would have loved to crawl into the bed next to her and wake her with kisses and caresses that would lead to another bout of lovemaking. He pulled his hand back from her.

  “Cath,” he said softly.

  Her eyes fluttered and then opened fully. Her drowsy smile further ignited the fire inside him. He rose from the side of the bed and stepped backward. “Dylan will be here in about fifteen minutes.”

  With the message delivered he returned to the sitting room, wishing his body wouldn’t respond so automatically to hers, wishing he could turn off any and all emotion where she was concerned.

  Within minutes she came out of the bedroom, her hair brushed and looking ready to face the difficult meeting with Dylan.

  She sat next to him on the chaise, her scent attempting to muddy his senses, but he refused to allow it to happen. He needed his wits about him when Dylan arrived.

  “Are you ready for this?” she asked.

  “Not at all,” he replied honestly.

  At that moment a knock sounded at the door. Gray grabbed his gun and opened the door to admit Dylan. The smile he gave them was terse as he sat in the chair where Cath so often sat.

  “I’m assuming you have some information for me, otherwise you wouldn’t have called me here,” he said.

  “And you’re not going to like what we found out,” Gray warned him.

  Dylan nodded and gripped the ends of the armchair as if steeling himself for whatever might come. “Let me have it.”

  “First of all, we determined that a John Frick never worked at a ranch called the Bar None in Cody,” Gray began. “In fact we could find no evidence of a John Frick anywhere.”

  Dylan’s jaw tightened. “And the marriage certificate?” Even though he asked the question Gray knew he already suspected the answer.

  “Was a fake,” Gray replied.

  Dylan’s eyes darkened as he slouched back into the chair. “So, my mother made up a father and a marriage. Somehow in the back of my mind I always figured there was no John Frick. She was just too vague about him whenever I asked her questions.”

  “There’s more,” Cath said in a gentle tone as she gazed sympathetically at Dylan.

  “More? You mean it isn’t enough that my mother lied for all these years about being a widow?” Dylan frowned, his gaze going first to Cath and then to Gray.

  “Your birth certificate is a fake, too,” Gray said, pulling no punches and he saw the punch as if it were a physical one to the center of Dylan’s gut.

  A gasp whooshed out of him as he stared first at Cath and then back at Gray. “What do you mean, it’s a fake?”

  “You weren’t born at the Cody Memorial Hospital on the date listed on the certificate and the doctor listed on the certificate not only never worked at that hospital, but also doesn’t exist anywhere that we could find,” Cath said.

  Stunned disbelief worried Dylan’s features. He looked at them as if waiting for a laugh, a punch line to let him know this was all just a tasteless joke. When no laughter or smiles were forthcoming, he sat forward. “How do you know all this?” he asked, his voice husky with emotion.

  “Cath has a friend who does a little computer hacking,” Gray replied, his heart hurting for his friend. “We saw the Cody official records, Dylan.” He opened up the folder on the table before him and pulled out both the marriage and the birth certificates. “These aren’t real. None of the information on them is real.”

  “Then I’m not real,” Dylan said. Now his gaze darted frantically between them. “Then who am I? Where was I born? Where did I come from?”

  “I’ve been going over all the notes I managed to get and trying to remember everything Mia and Jagger told me after they took a trip Jackson,” Gray said. “And I have a theory, although at this point it’s just a theory.”

  “I’m all ears,” Dylan replied.

  Gray was aware of Cath’s curious gaze on him as well. This was something he hadn’t shared with her. “Mia and Jagger were looking for clues to Cole’s kidnapping, but I think they may have stumbled on to something concerning you.”

  Dylan frowned. “Like what?”

  “We know that after Cole was kidnapped Jethro’s sister-in-law, Desiree Beal, was rumored to be in Jackson with a baby and working at a greasy spoon diner. I’m not sure that anyone caught the fact that Desiree’s boss at the diner was named Faye Donner. Then months after Desiree’s murder, a Faye Frick shows up here with a year-old baby boy and Faye Donne
r has disappeared from the diner in Jackson.”

  Dylan stared at Gray. “So, what are you saying? That my mother murdered Desiree, who had kidnapped Cole, and that I’m the missing heir?” Dylan released a humorless laugh. “I already went through all this with Mia and Jagger. They thought it was possible that Desiree kidnapped Cole, then my mother kidnapped Cole from her and I’m Cole Colton, but how much sense does that make, that my mother would bring me back here to the ranch to raise and never tell anyone who I was. That makes no sense whatsoever.”

  “It doesn’t,” Gray agreed.

  “Maybe you should take a DNA test just to exclude the possibility,” Cath suggested.

  Dylan shrugged. “I don’t see the point but I’ll do it if it shuts the door on people suspecting that’s who I am.”

  Cath shook her head. “You’re right, it just doesn’t make sense, but I still think you should get a DNA test done and take that off the table altogether.”

  Gray knew she had a reason for requesting the DNA test...just in case Dylan might be Cole and might possibly be a donor match for Jethro.

  “I’ll call Chief Peters tomorrow and see what I need to do to get the test done.” He stood, appearing smaller than he had when he’d first entered the room. “You both have done enough for me and I thank you. I think now I need to figure out what I can about Faye Donner and maybe in her past I can find out exactly where I belong.”

  Gray stood and walked his friend to the door. He clapped Dylan on the back. “No matter what you find out, Dylan. You know you belong here.”

  “And you can never question how much Faye loved you,” Cath added.

  “I know,” he replied. “That’s the only thing I’m certain of right now.” He pulled open the suite door and a folded piece of paper was taped to the outside. “It looks like somebody left you a note.” He pulled the paper off the door and handed it to Gray.

  Gray didn’t open it, rather he pulled his friend into a quick embrace. “Let us know if you want us to dig further or if we can do anything for you. You know we’re here for you.”