Wind River Lawman

by Lindsay McKenna

  Flourishing her hand and waving it in Dawson’s direction, Gertie said, “Sarah, you know that two-story Victorian house half a mile to the south of here? You should, because you played often enough in that house as a child.”

  “Oh, that pretty yellow Victorian?” Gertie had three such homes on her property that had belonged to other family members until they passed on. All were well cared for, the 1900s’ furniture covered in white sheets to protect them but standing empty. “The one with the white trim and that huge wraparound porch?”

  “Yep, same one. Now, if you two decided to get married? I’d like to give you that home, deed and all. A wedding gift. I like having our family living close to one another. Besides? Dawson works here. All he’d have to do is walk half a mile to work or drive up here in snowy times. What do you think?”

  Sarah’s heart opened with love for her grannie. “That’s a stunning offer.” She looked at Dawson. “What do you think?”

  Opening his hands, he said, “That would be a wonderful gift, Gertie. But Sarah and I haven’t lived together that long. We’re still working out things between us, and I want to make sure when I do ask her to marry me, she’ll say yes.”

  “Well,” Gertie growled, giving them both a dark look, “you need to get married before I kick the bucket. How long do I know I have left? Sarah, I want to see you happy. You deserve it. And Dawson? You’re special. You’re not like most wranglers. You’re different, and you seem to fit each other like missing puzzle pieces. Ain’t that so?”

  Sarah saw Dawson’s cheeks redden and realized Gertie was embarrassing him. Placing her hand on her grandmother’s arm, she said, “I promise, we’ll discuss it. Okay?”

  “How soon will I know?” Gertie demanded. “I might stroke out tomorrow or have the big one come along. You wouldn’t want me to go to my grave without knowing, would you?”

  Sarah swallowed her smile. Gertie was known to manipulate. Oh, she wasn’t mean or selfish about it, but if she wanted something, she was like a chess player, planning strategically so she could get what she wanted. Patting her arm, she said, “Soon. We’ll talk about it tonight. I promise.”

  * * *

  Sarah slid into Dawson’s arms, and he tucked her in beside him. They were naked, a light sheet pulled up to their waists as soon as she got settled.

  “Mmm, you smell good,” he said, kissing her shoulder, inhaling the lemony fragrance of the soap she’d used earlier.

  Snuggling, she nestled her head below his jaw, spreading her fingers across the outline of his left shoulder. “You feel good.” She was aware of his erection, knew they would make love, but before that, she wanted to talk with him. His hand skimmed her spine, and her skin reacted to the roughness of his fingertips, tiny sparks of pleasure dissolving her mind, making her smile softly. “I like coming home and having you here at night. Did you know that?”

  “No, but it’s nice to hear,” he teased, sliding his fingers through her hair, smoothing it away from her face. “And I like it, too.” He slid his hairy leg across hers, keeping her close to him.

  “That was sweet of Gertie to make dinner for us tonight.”

  “Because she knows how busy and stressed for time you are.”

  Groaning, she closed her eyes, content to be in the safety of his arms. “Cade and I just finished a huge amount of paperwork on Hiram Elson and his gang. We’ve got everything legally recorded.”

  “Are all of those men still going to stay in the county jail?”

  “No. We don’t have that kind of room. I’ve gotten the judge to allow us to move all of them to Salt Lake City until their trial date can be set here.”

  “I don’t imagine the Elson family is in favor of that.”

  She snorted. “They don’t visit Hiram anyway.”

  “No? Why am I not surprised? Are the other two Elson boys continuing to keep a low profile?”

  “Yes. Roberta hired an attorney outside of the county and she’s suing the sheriff’s department for her husband’s death.” Her voice turned dark. “That won’t get anywhere in a court of law.”

  “She’s pissed and, like her sons, wants retribution.”

  “Like all the rest of the vengeful Elsons. Nothing new.”

  “Hey, let’s stop talking shop. Okay? You have no idea how much I look forward to this time of night when you’re in my arms. Everything else in the world goes away.”

  She pulled back just enough, her head resting on his shoulder, to fall into his shadowed gaze. “I’ve become addicted to it.” Caressing his sandpapery jaw, she whispered, “I love you so much, Dawson. You complete me, my life. I was thinking today that you were the man I’d always been unconsciously searching for.”

  “And there I was,” he said, amused, smiling into her eyes.

  “Yes, there you were.” She trailed her fingertips across his smiling mouth, watching that hungry look come to his face. There was no question they would love each other tonight. It didn’t happen all the time, but on the hard, stressful days she sometimes had, it was as if Dawson intuitively knew and became more protective and caring of her. She didn’t know how he knew; he just did. Her heart flew open as he caught her hand, turning it over, licking her palm, sending heat and the promise of things to come up her wrist and into her lower arm.

  He released her hand and settled her on her back, studying her. She could feel the intensity of his gaze, felt his need of her pressed against her hip. Caressing her cheek, he leaned down, capturing her lips, moving his slowly across hers, engaging her, pleasing her, his breath moist and warm against her cheek.

  Wrapped in the warmth and tenderness of his kiss, she languished within that cocoon that made her feel so loved. Never had Sarah felt this deep, ongoing emotion that smothered her with such happiness as with Dawson. He was so right for her in every possible way. Slowly, his mouth left hers.

  “Mmm, I love what we share,” she whispered, giving him a quick kiss.

  He studied her in the darkness of the room relieved only by a small nightlight near the closed door. Threading his fingers through her hair, he said, “Want to make it permanent?”

  Her heart banged once. Blinking, she stared up at him, his nose an inch from her own, his breath caressing her cheek. “As in marriage?”

  Nodding, he gave her a boyish smile. “Stay where you are,” and he rolled away from her and pulled open the top drawer of the bed stand.

  Mystified, she sat up, barely able to see what he was doing. The sheet pooled around her hips and she leaned against the headboard after placing her pillow between it and her back. The drawer closed and Dawson turned, beautifully naked, darkly shadowed and all male. He held something in his hand as he came back to her side. He settled next to her, back against the headboard.

  “Come here,” he urged gruffly, placing his arm behind her shoulders, bringing her into the curve of his arm.

  Sarah said nothing, melting against his hard body, absorbing the heat of his skin against her own. He lifted the box and held it out to her.

  “Open it?”

  She took it. “Is this what I think it is?” she asked him, looking up into his hooded eyes.

  “Probably so,” he answered, amused.

  “How long have you been hiding this from me, Dawson?”

  He shrugged and chuckled. “A month after I met you, I knew you were the woman I wanted in my life for the rest of it.” He grew somber as she opened the black velvet box and heard her gasp. “It’s a funny thing,” he told her as she touched the set. “These are my great-grandmother’s set of rings she wore for fifty years before she passed away at the age of ninety. Her name was Mary. My mother held them since she passed. I knew she had them because when I was a teen, she’d shown them to me. Mary was well known to be clairvoyant. She’d written down on a piece of paper tucked inside the box, ‘Give this set to Dawson when he’s found the woman who will live with him the rest of his life. She will have red hair.’”

  Sarah gasped. “Really?”

 
“Yes.” Shaking his head, he said, “When I met Lucia, who had blond hair, my mother didn’t say anything to me about the rings. She wasn’t going to give them to me even if I remembered them.”

  Giving him a pensive look, she moved her finger across the engagement ring, which had three gold roses, a small diamond in the center of each. The wedding band was a simple gold without any designs on it. She pulled the engagement ring from the box. “This is so beautiful. Who would have thought to create gold roses and then put a diamond in each one? I love that it lays flat across the finger, not high. I would worry while I was wearing it that it might get caught on something and either take my finger with it or maybe lose one of the diamonds.”

  She handed Dawson the ring. “Will you put this on my finger?” She saw him relax, and then realized he was probably holding his breath on her answer. She sat up, and so did he. Taking her left hand, he slid the ring on her finger.

  Dawson held her watery gaze. He wasn’t too steady himself. “You mean the world to me, sweetheart. You always did and always will. Marry me? Be my best friend? My partner? My life?”

  Whispering his name, she said, “You know I will. . . .” And Sarah wrapped her arms around him, kissing him long and deeply, wanting nothing more than this quiet man who always brought calm to her hectic world, allowing her to relax. As their mouths met and slid wetly against each other, she immersed herself in his strength, his care and that special tenderness she’d rarely seen in men. Never once had he disrespected her but had always held her up as equal to him. From the beginning, they had worked off their strengths, not their weaknesses. They had long, searching conversations she fed on, grateful he trusted her fully.

  Finally, she separated reluctantly from his mouth, eyes barely opening, drowning in his stormy gray ones. Their breathing had heightened, and she absorbed how good he felt against her. “I’m going to love wearing your great-grandmother’s rings, Dawson. They’re precious.”

  “Because family has always meant so much to you.” He cradled her in his arms, their heads against each other as he held her. “Since we met, you’ve gone through so much. Are you sure this decision isn’t being pushed by all of it, Sarah?”

  He was concerned, hearing it in his rasping voice. “No. Am I still struggling with nearly being killed by Brian? And then having to shoot him? Sure, I’m wrestling with it, Dawson. Any human being would. I didn’t become a law-enforcement officer to kill people. I want to help them, not hurt them.” Drawing in a ragged breath, her eyes tearing up, she whispered, “There are good days and bad.”

  He squeezed her gently. “The military taught us that.”

  “And it will always be with us. Having been in combat helps in a strange kind of way.”

  “Killing a human being changes you forever.”

  She pressed her face against the column of his neck, her arms around his torso. “My dad told me there would be times like that.”

  “I’ll be here for you, Sarah. The job you chose isn’t lightweight. It’s one of the most responsible ones on the planet. I don’t think you ever have an easy day.”

  “Oh,” she muttered, lifting her hand, wiping her eyes, “we do have good days, too. The program I put into place for the children of the county, so they won’t fear our uniform or fear us, is always a high for me. To give children a chance to see all our gear, to ride in a cruiser. With the way it is these days, there are people who hate and fear us. I’m going to continue to try to get the people of our country to trust and like us.”

  “You’re one of the most grounded, sensible people I’ve ever met. There’s still a lot for you to work through, but I’ll be at your side. I’ll listen to you. We’ll hash things out. You’re not alone on this journey anymore, sweetheart.” He caressed her hair, leaning back a bit to meet her glistening eyes. “I’ll walk with you. Always . . .”

  She sniffed, a trembling smile touching her lips. “I always felt so confident until I got shot. And then I felt myself shriveling up, wanting to hide, scared and out of control.”

  “I saw that,” he said heavily, sliding his arm across her shoulder. “It’s going to take time, Sarah. And everyone is different about it.” He moved his hand slowly up and down her arm. “Maybe now? We’ll get a window where peace will reign in the county and the Elsons won’t be stirring things up like they always do.”

  “I could use some quiet. Just today, we finished all the reports to all the agencies. I’m glad this is off my back, even though I’m not sure what the Elsons are going to do now.”

  “Cade said with Hiram, who was most like his father, being out of the picture, the other two boys might settle down. They’re followers, not leaders.”

  “I hope you’re right, Dawson. I really do. I need that window of quiet just to get myself together. I put on a brave face out there for my people, to the public, but inside I cringle like a frightened little girl at times. It just hits me in waves, out of the blue, and then it disappears as quickly as it came.” She grazed his cheek. “I’m so glad, every night when I leave the office, I have you to come home to.”

  He caught her fingers and pressed them against his heart, his hand over hers. “And no one’s happier than me to see you walk through that door, Sarah.”

  She sat up and looked down at the engagement ring, tiny sparkles of light shooting through the facets as she slowly turned it. Her voice became soft. “I feel as if I’ve come home to you,” and she lifted her lashes, meeting and holding his warm gaze. “I think I’ve loved you all my life, even though we hadn’t met yet. Maybe a dream I had, never believing it would come true.” She pressed her hand to her lips. “When Steve was killed, I thought I’d died with him. I was slowly falling in love him. It was the first time I’d opened my heart to the possibility of loving someone and having that love returned.” Wiping the tears streaming down her cheeks, her voice wobbly with emotion, she added hoarsely, “And then you walked into my life. I tried to ignore you, Dawson. You scared me. I wanted my hurting heart to remain hidden, not react when you came near me, or I listened to your voice, or I saw your gentleness and understanding with others. I didn’t want to. . . .” and she shook her head.

  “I could feel something going on within you,” he admitted quietly, reaching over, sliding his hand down her arm, and enclosing her right hand. “I couldn’t understand it, of course. I just felt this tug-of-war going on inside you. At first? I thought it was me. I thought you were having a pretty negative reaction to me being in your space.” He sighed. “Instead? It was that invisible thread pulling us closer to each other. And I was resisting it, too, Sarah. I’d made a mess of my marriage; I knew I was to blame for it falling apart. I didn’t feel ready to look at any woman, even you, because I lacked the confidence to try again.”

  “But you did try, and I’m so glad you did. I was scared, too. More scared than you, because you reached out to me in large and small ways. I guess I knew I had to cash my hand in when Gertie hired you and you lived at her home. I knew I’d be seeing you a lot because I always dropped over there once or twice, sometimes three times a week. “

  Mouth quirking, Dawson admitted, “And I was jumping up and down for joy that I knew I’d be seeing you. I could hardly wait, and that shocked the hell out of me.” He pulled his hand away and studied her in the lulling silence strung between them. “I was shocked because my head had already decided not to pursue you. That you would have to show me you were interested in me before I’d take that step toward you.” His mouth grew wry. “But my heart? Well, it had other ideas. It was celebrating, and I began counting the hours until you’d show up at Gertie’s. I needed to see you, Sarah. I needed to hear your voice. Hear what you thought and hear your laughter. I wanted to know the woman who hid behind that uniform.”

  “It happened, didn’t it?” and she managed a short laugh, looking up toward the darkened ceiling and then down at him. “I felt the same way. I knew Gertie needed someone like you, an organized, disciplined assistant who could help her run her
company in a leaner, better way. I tried to tell myself that.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. “Seeing you there, in her house the first time, I just melted like a marshmallow. I didn’t realize how hungry I’d become for you, your presence, your voice.... It was then I realized I was falling in love with you.”

  “I guess we kinda admitted it to ourselves about the same time. I got so I’d ask Gertie when you would visit again. She always gave me that look that told me she knew what was behind me asking her that question.”

  “Isn’t that interesting? Gertie began calling me, making excuses for me to drop over more often. Now I know why,” and she reached out, slipping her hand into his. “She knew.”

  “Don’t grannies always know?”

  Laughing, Sarah admitted, “You don’t get anything past Gertie or Nell.”

  He enclosed her hand with his, holding her gaze. “Tell me what you want to do now? Gertie’s about bursting at the seams wanting to hear from us.”

  “I wanted to talk to you about it, Dawson. Are you comfortable marrying sooner rather than later? Or do you want the time we thought we had here at my place to settle down and get to know each other thoroughly?”

  “I’m fine with whatever you need, sweetheart. I caved in and admitted not only that I loved you months ago, but I also, if things went good between us, was going to ask you to marry me at that time.”

  “Leave it to Gertie to upend the apple cart,” she groused, amusement and fondness in her voice. She laid her left hand over his. “I know Gertie and Nell are up there in age and no one knows when we’re leaving this planet. What would you think of getting married in mid-September? The colors of the fall leaves will be so beautiful around here. And it’s my favorite month of the year. We’d have a month to plan the wedding. Would your parents be able to come?”

  “They’d drop everything to see me married,” he teased. “That sounds good.”

  “I’m going to ask Gertie and Nell to work with Mom on all the wedding plans. With my job, I won’t have that luxury, and I trust those three to do everything that’s needed. Sound okay with you?”