Outlawed!

by BJ Daniels

  Cooper looked up to find Delaney coming down the hall toward him. Just the sight of her made his pulse quicken. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what made her so desirable. “Two days. Then I’m out of here.” He hung up and opened the door.

  “Where are you staying?” Delaney asked as they were leaving the hospital.

  It seemed like days since he’d parked his pickup, camper and horse trailer in a wide spot off the county road and saddled up to do a little snooping around. “I’m camped on the west end of the ranch.”

  Delaney didn’t appear surprised to hear he was camping out. In fact, he saw her shake her head and mutter “rodeo cowboys.” She was probably comparing him with her father again. One of those damned rodeo cowboys, who’d rather have stars over his head than a roof. No ties. Nothing to hold him down. Always looking to see what was over the next rise.

  She wasn’t far from from the truth, he realized.

  “I need to drop off the blood we took from the mares at the veterinarian’s and then I’ll take you home,” Delaney said.

  Home. He liked the image that came to mind when she said it. He told himself that when this job was over he’d finally have enough money to buy himself a real home. He could settle down. But as he looked up the night sky, he wondered if he ever would. Somewhere along the line he’d become hooked on the freedom. The adventure. Even the danger.

  Stars brighter than any he thought he’d ever seen sparkled in the soft blue velvet. They drove toward the mountains, now etched deep purple against the sky. As they neared the campsite, the moon rimmed the Big Belt Mountains with its own kind of gold.

  “What a night,” Cooper said, looking over at Delaney. “But then, it’s been quite a day.” He couldn’t help thinking about earlier in the canyon when he’d held her, when he’d almost kissed her. The sudden, overpowering desire he felt surprised him. What was it about this woman?

  He smiled to himself as he realized it was more than physical attraction, more than plain-old lust. He liked her. Liked her spunk. Her determination. Her fire. She reminded him of some of the broncs he’d tried to ride.

  He just hoped she was tough enough to protect herself from what was happening on her ranch. Someone was set on hurting her. Maybe Ty Drummond. But Cooper would put his money on Jared Kincaid. There was nothing about the man he liked, and he’d seen the way Kincaid looked at Delaney. Like a predator. And Cooper recognized predators; he’d been one long enough.

  Delaney slowed for his campsite. “What in the world?” she cried, and hit the brakes.

  Cooper swung his gaze to his camp, expecting for just an instant to see Martians waiting for him beside his weathered camper. Instead, munching grass next to the horse trailer, was Crazy Jack.

  Cooper shrugged apologetically. “Crazy Jack’s never been wild about being corraled for long.”

  Delaney laughed, shaking her head. “That’s some horse you got there, McLeod. He’s a lot like his owner, huh?”

  Cooper smiled, opened the pickup door and stepped out. He hesitated in the darkness, thinking about the woman in the truck, wanting suddenly to warn her. But warn her about what? He didn’t have the faintest idea who was behind her problems. All he knew for sure was that it wasn’t him. Yet. He leaned back into the pickup.

  She looked more beautiful than she had earlier that day when she’d interrupted his nap. There was a softness and a strength about her in the lights from the dash that tugged at him in a way no other woman had.

  “About tomorrow—”

  “We start work at five a.m. There’re fences that need mending, hay to get in and those mares to get down out of the high country.” She shifted the pickup into Reverse. “Good night, McLeod.”

  “Good night, Ms. Lawson.” He closed the pickup door and stood in the middle of the road, watching the vehicle’s taillights disappear over the next rise, until Crazy Jack gave him a good hard nudge.

  “Don’t say it,” he told the horse. “I’m not getting involved.”

  Crazy Jack let out a snort and wandered off, probably in search of dinner. Cooper stood in the dark, telling himself Delaney’s problems were none of his business. In a couple of days he’d be gone. And Delaney Lawson and the Rockin’ L would be forgotten—just like other women he’d conned, other ranches he’d acquired.

  Chapter Five

  Delaney awoke with a start. She lay in bed, listening to the night sounds beyond her second-story window, listening for the one sound that had brought her abruptly from her sleep. The pines along the creek behind the house let out a sigh in the breeze. In the distance, a horse whinnied softly. No other sound disturbed the night. She closed her eyes. Instantly they flew open as she heard the familiar creak of the old barn door. She sat up, slipping out of bed to go to the window. What was someone doing in the barn this time of the night?

  Through the glass, Delaney could see the old barn hunkered behind the house. The door stood open. She reached for her robe, but the soft chenille fabric fell from her fingers as the night outside the window exploded and the barn burst into flames. A dark figure hurried along the edge of the burning structure, disappearing into the darkness.

  Without thinking, Delaney raced down the stairs and out into the ranch yard. The aged, dried wood of the barn blazed, hot and fiery. Flames licked up the sides. Smoke billowed up into the starlight. She stared in horror, stunned that someone had deliberately set her barn on fire. Anger made her want to chase after the shadowy figure, but common sense held her back. She didn’t even have a weapon. Nor was she dressed, she realized, looking down at her nightgown and bare feet.

  She grabbed the garden hose from the side of the house, knowing it would do little to save the barn but afraid the near flames would catch the side of the ranch house on fire. She turned the icy water on the log siding, praying it would do some good. Smoke and sparks showered the darkness.

  Delaney wasn’t sure if it was the cold spray from the hose or the memory of the figure sneaking into the night that gave her a sudden chill. With a start, she turned to find Cooper standing behind her.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded, startled to realize he’d sneaked up behind her without her hearing him. Like her, he was only half-dressed, his feet bare. Nearby, Crazy Jack stood without a saddle, his flanks sweaty as if he’d just been run hard.

  “I SAW THE FIRE,” Cooper said, taking the garden hose from her. “There’s nothing else you can do,” he said softly. The barn was now little more than a black skeleton. Flames ate up the last of the fuel, then began to die back as a portion of the barn collapsed in a pile of charred wood.

  He watched her stare at the destruction, her arms at her sides. Her face was flushed from the heat. Her hair fell around her shoulders, free as the night breeze. She wore a flannel nightgown that hung to her ankles. Her muddy bare feet peeked out the bottom. All the fight seemed to have gone out of her. She looked small against the night, small and vulnerable.

  He resisted the urge to take her into his arms and try to comfort her.

  “I saw someone out here right after the barn went up in flames,” she said quietly. “It’s not going to stop, is it?”

  Cooper watched the fire die away and darkness take back the night. Having orchestrated enough of these kinds of “series of accidents,” he knew that once they started happening—

  Slowly he dropped the hose and touched Delaney’s arm. “I think you’d better call the sheriff.”

  Under normal circumstances, calling the sheriff would be the last thing he’d suggest. But nothing about this was normal, he realized. This job would have to be handled differently. He’d seen the suspicion in Delaney’s eyes. He would have to be careful around her. Very careful.

  Delaney looked over at him. Her gaze met his. He groaned softly, amazed how sexy she was even in all that flannel. “I’m not sure calling the sheriff will do any good, McLeod.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Jared Kincaid is the county sheriff.”

  “WHAT
TERRIBLE LUCK,” Jared said as he entered the kitchen, the early-morning sun filling the room with warmth. Jared didn’t appear much different from the way he had earlier. He still had that hungry look in his eye when his gaze fell on Delaney, and the sheriff’s uniform, which did little to hide his growing gut, seemed only to increase his arrogance.

  “Someone torched my barn, Jared,” Delaney said wearily. She’d dressed in jeans, a western shirt and boots. Her fingers shook as she curled them around her coffee cup. “It had nothing to do with luck. I heard someone in the barn. When I looked out, the barn exploded. I saw a figure running away.”

  “Now, Del,” Jared said as he reached out to pat her hand.

  She moved her coffee cup, avoiding his touch. “Dammit, Jared, I don’t need your sympathy,” she said, her voice full of anger. “I need you to find out who’s behind the vandalism on my ranch.”

  Jared pulled back his hand, rubbed his jaw and turned his gaze on Cooper, who stood against the wall trying to be as invisible as possible. “When did you get here?”

  “Not until the barn was almost to the ground,” Cooper said carefully. Any officer of the law made him nervous. Jared Kincaid scared the hell out of him because Kincaid was too personally involved.

  “Is that right? Can you prove it?”

  “Jared! It wasn’t Cooper I saw out there.”

  Jared lifted an eyebrow at her. “Then just who was it, Del?”

  FEAR PRESSED against her heart as Delaney thought about the figure she’d seen sneaking along the side of the burning barn. She glanced toward the window. She couldn’t be sure who she’d seen. So why had she defended McLeod so quickly? Because she didn’t want it to be him, she told herself. “The person was smaller than Cooper and didn’t move like him,” she said with less conviction that she’d hoped for. Cooper moved like a big mountain cat, sure, swift and powerful. She thought of the person she’d seen from her bedroom window. If only she could be sure.

  Jared must have heard the hesitation in her voice, seen the doubt in her eyes. A muscle in his jaw twitched.

  “Smaller and didn’t move like your ranch hand. That tells me a lot, Del. What I really want to know is who you think burned down your barn.”

  Anger bubbled up inside her as hot and fierce as any passion she’d ever felt. “Maybe the same person who’s been causing all the accidents on the ranch, including setting off a rock slide yesterday afternoon that could have killed me.”

  Jared turned a shade of gray that didn’t become him. “Why didn’t you tell me about this, Del?” he demanded between gritted teeth. “I am the sheriff, you know.”

  Delaney brushed her hair back and looked toward the window again. Then act like the sheriff, she wanted to say. Stop acting as if you want to own me. “I don’t have any proof, but I’m willing to wager Ty Drummond is behind it” Ty had something to gain by tormenting her. Cooper McLeod didn’t, did he? she wondered, shooting him a quick glance.

  “Your half brother?” Jared asked, surprised.

  “Alleged half brother.”

  “Del, why would your brother want to burn down part of a ranch he’s inherited?” Jared asked, even more incredulous.

  How did Jared know about the will? Obviously Ty had been shooting his mouth off around town. Delaney started to argue that the will Ty said was from her father hadn’t been proven authentic in a court of law, but decided to save her breath. “It was an old barn, Jared. We hardly used it for more than storage. Ty would know that as well as you or anyone else. And whoever is behind this seems intent on not costing the ranch too much money—just in driving me out, or possibly killing me. In my book, that makes Ty a suspect, because he’s the only one who’d benefit from my death.”

  “Where’s Buck?” Jared demanded, sounding more than a little testy. “What kind of ranch manager is he? Never around when you need him?”

  She stared at Jared. Buck and Jared had always gotten along well. Where was all this animosity coming from? “Buck wouldn’t have been here anyway.” Jared knew her ranch manager lived in her father’s old rodeo trailer down the road, several miles from the ranch. “He couldn’t have even seen the fire from his place.”

  Jared glared at her, no longer sympathetic. “That doesn’t really answer my question, Del. Where is Buck?”

  “Surely you don’t think Buck—”

  He cut her off with an oath. “Tarnation, woman, everyone is a suspect” His gaze glanced over Cooper as if to make his point. Delaney realized Cooper was being awfully quiet, and she found that more than a little strange, since he usually couldn’t seem to keep his two cents to himself around her. Nor did he seem nervous, which surprised her even more. If Jared considered her a suspect, she’d be as nervous as the devil in the company of angels.

  “Buck had some personal business to attend to in Helena,” she finally answered. Buck had been acting strange lately and she suspected he had a woman in Helena he was seeing.

  “When’s he supposed to be back?”

  Jared was all business now and she realized she’d hurt his feelings as usual. Probably not a good idea, all things considered.

  “Sometime tomorrow.” Was it her imagination, or did Cooper finally seem a little worried?

  “While you’re looking for suspects, Jared, you might add the people who’ve been trying to buy my ranch,” she said.

  “What people?” he snapped.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Cooper tense. “A man named Jamison, Thomas Jamison, from a company that calls itself Rattlesnake Range. They’ve made a couple of offers on the place.”

  “I didn’t think your ranch was for sale,” Jared said, appearing even more peeved than before. “I believe I’ve made you a couple of offers myself.”

  She glared at him. “It isn’t for sale. That’s the point.”

  With a curse, Jared pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll get an arson expert out of Helena to come take a look at your barn. And I’ll see if your brother has an alibi. I’ll even run a check on this Rattlesnake Range. That’s about all I can do, Del, other than come camp outside your house.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Cooper said, making Del turn and stare at him in surprise. “If it’s all right with Ms. Lawson, I’ll be moving my rig out here.”

  She gaped at Cooper, amazed and at the same time almost relieved that the outspoken, too-bold cowboy she’d found sleeping on a rock had returned. While his pushiness. had irritated her to no end, he made her even more nervous when he was silent.

  “And you think that’s going to make you feel safe?” Jared asked Delaney quietly as he reached for his western hat, which he’d hooked on the back of her chair. “Well, it’s your life, Del. But you know what they say—crawl in a cave with a grizzly and you’re liable to get eaten alive.” He slammed the door on his way out.

  She looked over again at the cowboy leaning against the wall. Jared was right. A grizzly might be far safer than getting too close to this man.

  “You realize, McLeod, that was probably the worst thing you could have done,” she said, shaking her head at him. “He’ll try to hang all this on you now for sure.”

  Cooper shrugged. “I’m not worried about me.” He met her gaze.

  She felt the shock, a surge of wild current that rushed through her veins. Something in his blue eyes pulled at her, tempting her with unspoken desires. She dragged her gaze away, fighting the sudden heat that fired her skin. “And don’t think that this show of chivalry is going to make any points with the boss.”

  He laughed. “Never crossed my mind. I just thought it would help me get to work on time.”

  “Good thinking, McLeod, because we have a lot of work to do.”

  COOPER CUSSED all the way back to his camping spot. Cussed Rattlesnake Range for going behind his back and making an offer. Several offers. This had never happened before, so why was it happening now?

  But mostly he cussed himself for his impulsiveness. What had he been thinking, telling Delaney
he’d camp next to the ranch house? Especially with Buck coming back tomorrow.

  “You’re acting like a damned fool,” he told himself. Crazy Jack jerked the reins as if in agreement. “Don’t you start in on me, too,” he told the horse.

  Taking a deep breath, he looked across the Rockin’ L and reminded himself how many times he’d done this sort of thing before, and successfully.

  The whole idea was to get closer to Delaney, right? That’s what he got paid to do. What better way than being camped right outside her door? Also, he could protect Delaney from Jared Kincaid. He didn’t trust the man and wasn’t convinced Kincaid wasn’t behind her problems, sheriff or not. He assured himself keeping Kincaid away from Delaney had nothing to do with anything but business.

  And by camping on the ranch, Cooper would have the pickup handy in case he had to make a run for it. By the time Buck got back, he’d be gone anyway. He hoped. He rubbed his thigh, figuring that the way things were going he was apt to get shot again before this was over. And once was enough.

  By the time he got his rig loaded and Crazy Jack in the horse trailer, that little voice in his head that had saved his butt numerous times was telling him to hit the road and not look back. He almost had enough money to buy that little place he’d always talked about owning. Almost. All he needed was this last job.

  He started the pickup and sat looking out at the valley—and the Rockin’ L. He could call Delaney from town and tell her he’d quit. She couldn’t expect a hand to stay at a ranch with the kind of problems she had. He’d cut his losses and walk away while he still could. He’d ask Rattlesnake Range for another assignment, one far away from here. Shifting the truck into gear, he headed for York.

  At a phone outside the York Bar, he dialed the agency. York was nothing more than a spot in the road that had once been named New York, Montana, before the “New” was dropped sometime in the previous century. The only business in town was the York Bar, a quaint little place with log walls, a couple of pool tables, some poker and Keno machines and a few tables for eating the burgers the bar served. Houses dotted the narrow valley along Trout Creek from York seven miles up to where the road dead-ended.