RESCUE AT CARDWELL RANCH

by B. J Daniels

  “Yes. My job isn’t eight to five. Nor five days a week.”

  “Neither is mine, so I get it,” he said, and finished his wine. His gaze met hers and she felt that bubble of excitement rise inside her, along with a longing that she knew only this man could fill. She wanted him, but not like this. Maybe once this was over...

  As if sensing her thoughts, he said, “It’s late. We should get some rest.” He got to his feet.

  “The bed is made up in the spare room. There are towels in the bathroom cabinet....”

  “Thank you. I’m sure I have everything I need.”

  Wasn’t that what the man at the open house had said?

  Hayes met her gaze. “I’ll be right down the hall if you need me.”

  She nodded. She did need him. It was that need that kept her silent as she watched him head upstairs. She heard him go into the bathroom and turn on the shower. She could hear water running and closed her eyes at the thought of Hayes naked in her shower. The Texas cowboy had done something no other man had. He’d reminded her she was a woman, a woman with needs other than her career.

  McKenzie poured herself another glass of wine, finishing off the bottle. Normally, she had only one glass before bedtime. Tonight, she didn’t mind indulging. Better to indulge in wine than in what she would have liked to indulge in. Her life was complicated enough without getting any more involved with Hayes Cardwell than she already was.

  The wine made her feel lightheaded. Or was that her fantasies? Upstairs, Hayes came out of the bathroom. She heard him walk down the hall to the spare bedroom. She waited for him to close the door, but he didn’t.

  Shutting her eyes, she tried not to think about him lying in bed just down the hall from her own bedroom. A wild yearning raced through her as out of control as a wildfire. Her need quickly became a burning desire as it mixed with the wine already coursing through her veins.

  McKenzie had always prided herself on thinking logically. She assessed every situation, looked at it from every angle then made a decision based on the facts—not emotion.

  With Hayes, she knew she wasn’t thinking rationally. She wanted him, needed him, like no man she’d ever met.

  But she wouldn’t act on it. Couldn’t. At least until the crazy after her was caught. Even then, she wasn’t sure she could let herself go. She’d been so wrapped up in her business that she hadn’t given much thought to men. Now she couldn’t stop thinking about Hayes Cardwell, but she would force herself to. She needed her wits about her and if she gave in to whatever this was between them... The thought made her ache.

  She wouldn’t let herself go there.

  Feeling on moral high ground, she took the empty bottle and the glasses into the kitchen. She tossed the bottle in the trash and hand-washed the glasses, dried them and put them away before she went up to bed. Alone.

  * * *

  HAYES WOKE TO the sound of a phone ringing. He’d had a devil of a time getting to sleep, knowing McKenzie was just down the hall—and that there was a psychopath out there after her. If the man who’d come to the open house was her attacker, then he was definitely brazen. He was practically daring them to catch him.

  The phone rang again. He heard McKenzie fumbling to answer it.

  “Hello?”

  Silence.

  “Hello, who is this?”

  Hayes was out of bed and down the hall to her room in a matter of a few strides. He reached for the phone. She handed it to him, those amazing eyes of hers wide and terrified. All the color had drained from her face and the hand that relinquished the phone had trembled.

  He could hear heavy breathing as he put the phone to his ear. The man on the other end of the line chuckled softly. To his surprise, McKenzie jumped out of bed and ran to the window.

  “Who is this?” Hayes demanded.

  The chuckle died off. He could almost hear the anger in the breathing just before the call was disconnected. He checked caller ID. Blocked.

  “It was him,” McKenzie said, turning from the window. She wore a short cotton nightgown that left little to the imagination—not that Hayes’s imagination needed any help.

  He’d always thought of himself as a strong man. But right now he felt helpless against emotions that threatened to overpower him when he looked at this woman. “McKenzie.” He said her name as if that alone could put distance between them and keep him from taking her in his arms.

  She turned to him, her voice breaking as she said, “I heard something else besides his breathing.” Her gaze locked with his. “I heard my neighbor’s wind chimes. He called from those pines below my bedroom window.”

  Chapter Nine

  Gus Thompson was lost. He’d driven around town tonight feeling as if his life were over. The last place he’d wanted to go was home to an empty house. He still couldn’t believe everything had changed in an instant.

  He was thirty-eight years old. Not even in his prime. He would get another job. At least that’s what he told himself. And yet just the thought of approaching other Realtors had turned his knees to jelly. He’d never had to actually ask for a job before. His mother had seen that he had jobs from the time he was sixteen. Nepotism wasn’t something he’d ever thought about—until now.

  If his mother were alive, she would have put in a call, got him on somewhere and he’d just show up for work. She’d had those kinds of connections. Even better, his mother would have made McKenzie pay. Her wrath would have rained down like a firestorm on M.K. Realty. She might even have put dear McKenzie out of business just for spite.

  But his mother was gone and he was jobless and lost. And all because of McKenzie Sheldon.

  He hadn’t known where he was driving until he found himself in her neighborhood. Parking down the block, he’d cut the engine, having no idea what he was going to do when she returned. Their “talk” earlier had left him cold. He needed more from her than a lukewarm recommendation. He was a great salesman, but if there were even a whiff of gossip that he was difficult to work with or that he hit on women in the office, it would kill the deal.

  McKenzie had to hire him back. It was the only way.

  As that thought settled over him, he’d seen her come up the street and pull into her drive. He’d started to get out, afraid how far he would have to go to get her to agree to rehire him, when an SUV had pulled up in her drive next to her vehicle.

  Gus had ducked back into his car as he watched the Texas cowboy get out. McKenzie and the man headed for her front door. “What the—” They’d disappeared inside. A few minutes later, the cowboy had come back out and driven his vehicle into her garage.

  It was the same cowboy he’d seen her with at Big Sky. The same man he’d followed to the Cardwell Ranch only to have neither appear again even after Gus had waited an hour.

  Determined to wait this time, though, he settled in. The cowboy would leave before daylight, he told himself. He must have fallen asleep because something awakened him. He sat up to find it was the middle of the night. All the lights were off inside the condo—just like the other condos on the block.

  Angry and frustrated and feeling even worse, he was about to leave when he noticed something odd. A man had been sitting in an old panel van up the street. Gus watched him get out and head into the trees next to McKenzie’s condo. A few moments later, Gus saw a light flash in the trees. Not like a flashlight. More like a small screen, making Gus suspect the man was making a call on his cell phone next to her condo.

  How many men did McKenzie have on the string? he wondered. Definitely the cowboy.

  So who was the man in the trees? His heart began to pound as he realized it could be the same guy who’d attacked her.

  Before he could react, the man came out of the trees, walking fast. He jumped into the van. Gus hurriedly started his car, a plan crystallizing as he drove. If th
is guy was McKenzie’s attacker and he could catch him, she would have to give him back his job.

  * * *

  HAYES, DRESSED ONLY in jeans, ran back to his room and grabbed his gun after the call and what McKenzie had heard on the other end of the line. He raced down the stairs and out the front door. If she was right, the man had been right outside her condo in the dense trees.

  But as he reached the trees, he heard tires squeal and looked out on the street as a large car sped past. This time, though, the car passed under a streetlamp and he was able to get the license plate number.

  Back in the condo, he found McKenzie wrapped in a fluffy white robe and matching slippers. She stood hugging herself at the front window.

  “Did you...” Her words died off as she saw his expression. “He got away.”

  “I got his license plate number as he was speeding off.” Hayes was already dialing the police. He asked for the same officer who they’d talked to earlier and told him about the phone call and the car.

  “Give me a minute,” the cop said as he ran the plate. “The car belongs to Ruth Thompson. Wait a minute. It’s the same car Gus Thompson admitted to driving the night Ms. Sheldon was attacked.”

  “She has a restraining order on him.”

  “I see that. I’ll make sure he gets picked up.”

  “Thank you.” Hayes hung up and turned to look at McKenzie. “Did you actually see him in the trees?”

  She shook her head. “He was just a shape. Large.”

  “The car that I saw racing away was Gus Thompson’s mother’s.” She groaned. “Is it possible he also made the phone call?”

  She seemed to think for a moment. “The man didn’t say anything, he just...breathed.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “It would be like Gus to try to torment me. He’s furious that I fired him. So you think it wasn’t the man who attacked me?”

  “Not unless that man was Gus Thompson.”

  * * *

  “WHAT THE DEVIL?” He looked in his rearview mirror, surprised that the car he’d seen earlier was still following him. He knew it couldn’t be either McKenzie Sheldon or the cowboy he’d seen her with before. So who was it?

  Not the police or they would have already pulled him over.

  He had spotted the tail right away, but hadn’t thought anything of it. He had too much on his mind to care. What was the cowboy doing at her house? He could only imagine. He gritted his teeth, remembering the male voice on the phone. The Texas accent had been a dead giveaway. It had to be the same cowboy, the one who’d rescued her at the grocery-store parking lot. The same one he’d seen her with before. And now the man was in her condo with her? Close enough he’d gotten on her phone?

  A wave of disgust and fury washed over him like acid on his skin. He’d never taken women out of any kind of anger. If anything, it was about control. So this scalding fury made him feel impotent. He had to do something about this situation and soon.

  But how could he get control again—and quickly? If he acted out in anger, he would be more likely to make a mistake, one that could cost him dearly. No, he had to rein in his emotions. He couldn’t let this woman and her hero cowboy get to him.

  But even as he’d thought it, he felt his blood boiling. How dare the two of them! It was as if they were laughing behind his back. Mocking him. Now the cowboy had something that belonged to him. The woman was his, not some stupid bystander’s who’d come to her rescue.

  He had to think, plan. The woman had known he was outside her window. How? He remembered the way she’d stood at the window at the open house, watching him leave. He’d sensed her watching him. Had she also sensed how close he was to her tonight?

  Or had it been something else? That’s when he remembered the wind chimes. He’d noticed them when he’d been waiting in the trees. They had been tinkling lightly so he hadn’t paid much attention. But right when she’d answered the phone, a gust had caught them...She’d heard the wind chimes. The woman was more astute than any of the others, a worthier prey. It should have filled him with pride since she was now his.

  The only thing spoiling it was the cowboy.

  He thought of how he’d planned it, borrowing the old van he sometimes used at work, waiting until she’d be asleep before he’d called. He’d wanted to wake her, to catch her off guard. He hadn’t known she wouldn’t be alone.

  A curse on his lips, he glanced again in his rearview mirror. The car was still with him! The driver had been staying back, but clearly following him. It was one reason he hadn’t gone home. Instead, he’d been driving around, trying to clear his head and ditch the tail. But the fool was still with him.

  It couldn’t be the cowboy, could it? No. Then who? He reached under the seat for the tire iron he kept there, and was about to throw on his brakes and see just who was following him when he caught the flash of cop lights behind them.

  Fear turned his blood to slush—until he realized that the cop wasn’t after him, but whoever had been following him. He kept driving up another block before he turned and circled back. He had to know who’d seen him at the condo. Who was stupid enough to put himself in jeopardy?

  Fortunately, as he drove by, neither the cop nor the man bent over his car’s hood being handcuffed paid any attention to him.

  The man being arrested wasn’t the Texas cowboy, but he did look familiar.

  * * *

  AFTER HAYES LEFT the condo this morning, McKenzie locked the door behind him as he’d ordered. She was still upset that the man who’d called last night had been right outside her condo. He knew where she lived!

  But if the man was Gus... She still couldn’t believe that even though the police had called to tell her that the car Hayes had seen speeding away belonged to Gus Thompson and that Gus had been arrested, but was expected to be out on bail soon.

  “I really don’t like you doing this open house,” Hayes had said this morning before he left. “This nutcase is going to strike when you least expect it.”

  “Then I will have to be on guard all the time.”

  Once ready for the open house, she called to remind him that she had to stop at her office.

  “I’ll meet you there,” he said.

  “That really isn’t necessary.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that.”

  Only Cynthia and another real-estate saleswoman were in the office this morning. The others either had open houses or had taken the day off. She’d always felt a sense of euphoria when she walked into her office. She’d worked hard for this agency and felt a sense of pride that she’d done it alone through hard work.

  But today she felt edgy. She couldn’t forget for a moment that she was being hunted like an animal. It set her nerves on end and made her start whenever the phone rang.

  McKenzie knew she had to pull it together. Last night she’d been angry, filled with a determination to track down this bastard and stop him. But in the light of day, she was too aware of how ill-prepared she was. She’d gotten lucky the other night and had been able to fight the man off—at least long enough that Hayes had seen what was going on and had saved her.

  She couldn’t count on his saving her again. That’s what he was trying to tell her earlier at the condo.

  And yet when she saw him drive up, she’d never been so happy to see anyone. “I told you I was driving myself,” she said, glancing at the clock. The open house wouldn’t start for several hours.

  “There’s somewhere we need to go.” He sounded mysterious, but she followed him out to his SUV and climbed in. He drove out into the country, down a narrow dirt road until they were back into the foothills away from town.

  When he stopped, she glanced around. “What are we doing?”

  “You really think you’re ready for this?” he asked as he pulled out a gun.

  She felt her ey
es widen in alarm. He held the gun out to her. “You ever fired one before? I didn’t think so. You think you can kill someone?”

  “Is this really necessary? I have pepper spray that I carry—”

  “Pepper spray isn’t going to stop this guy. I’ve seen the way you grip your keys when you get out of the car. If he gets close enough to grab you, your keys aren’t going to stop him, either. You’re going to have to kill him or he is going to kill you.”

  She stared at the gun for a moment. Then she swallowed the lump in her throat as she reached for it. Her hand trembled. She stilled it as she got a good grip on the pistol.

  “Will you show me how to fire it?”

  He’d raised a brow. “You really think you can do this?”

  “I don’t think I have a choice, do you?”

  He took the gun from her. “Come on, then.” Climbing out he led the way to a gully where he set up a half-dozen rusted beer cans on rocks. “Familiarize yourself with the gun. Here is how you load it. Here is how you fire it.”

  Turning toward the cans, he showed her how to hold the gun and take aim. She did as he had done, looked down the barrel and pulled the trigger. The gun kicked in her hand, the shot going wild.

  “Don’t close your eyes when you pull the trigger,” he said.

  She tried again, holding the gun tighter. The next shot was closer. The third one pinged into a can, knocking it to the ground. She felt a surge of satisfaction, missed the next shot, but centered the cans on the next two.

  Feeling cocky, she turned to look at him. “Well?”

  “You killed a few old beer cans. You will have only a split second to make the decision whether to pull the trigger or not—and that’s if you can pull the gun fast enough when the man surprises you,” Hayes said. “He’ll be counting on those few seconds when you hesitate.”

  * * *

  “WHERE ARE YOU?” Tag asked, not long before noon. “I checked your cabin. It hasn’t been slept in.”

  Hayes was driving north, leaving Bozeman and traveling out into the country past wheat fields broken by subdivisions. “I stayed at McKenzie’s last night. Quit smirking. Nothing happened—at least not what you’re thinking.”