by B. J Daniels
* * *
THE CABIN WAS cold when Mariah got back to it. She’d gone for a long ride, needing to clear her head after she’d left Darby. Last night felt like a bad dream. The robbery and what she’d done was disturbing enough, but had she really gone to Darby’s?
The thought of being curled up against him, warm and secure, made her ache. Any other man would have tried to take advantage of the situation. Not Darby Cahill.
She pushed the memory of his tenderness away, telling herself she should be shocked at her own behavior. Her grandmother would have been mortified. Even more disappointed in her than she would have been for what she’d done before arriving on Darby’s doorstep, she reminded herself.
As if she had to remind herself that her disgrace was already stalking her. If she’d gotten caught in Darby’s bed...
Mariah shuddered now as she stepped into her cabin, glad it was her day off. She couldn’t face Darby. Stumbling to the bed, she stripped off her jacket and boots and climbed in. But when she closed her eyes, she had a flash of Darby sleeping so peacefully. She hadn’t wanted to leave him and that had made her get up and get out of there.
She’d awakened just before dawn and watched him sleep, fighting the urge to touch his handsome strong face. The cowboy drew her in ways she didn’t understand. She didn’t need anyone to tell her he was all wrong for her and yet...
He’d held her so gently last night, wrapping her in his arms. She’d known he wouldn’t go any further than that. He’d known what she needed and it wasn’t sex.
That alone made her soften again at the mere thought of him. The cowboy understood her and yet he didn’t even know her. Didn’t know what she’d done—let alone who was after her or what they would have done to her—or him—if they’d found her in his bed last night.
This morning, with Darby sleeping so peacefully, she’d known that she couldn’t let this go on. She’d planned to end it last night and look what had happened.
This morning, she’d thought about searching his apartment. But the second robber had looked and found nothing. She could assume that the bracelet wasn’t there.
All her instincts told her that Darby wouldn’t have gotten rid of it. The day she’d come to him asking for a job, he’d known what she was after. He would have told her if it was gone.
No, he still had it. What was he waiting for? For her to ask for it, she reminded herself. For her to open up to him. She shook her head at the thought, ashamed and scared. She’d stayed here too long.
* * *
DARBY LOOKED DOWN at the check in his hand. He could give it to Mariah when she came into work tomorrow. Or...
He folded the check and put it into his pocket as his sister refilled his coffee mug. Of course, she hadn’t taken no for an answer after rudely awakening him earlier. Knowing that he had no choice, he’d gotten up, dressed and come downstairs.
“What do you have planned on your day off?” Lillie asked as she cupped her mug in her hands and grinned at him. “You know I have some things out in my pickup that I thought you could use in your apartment. Now that you and Mariah are together—”
“We aren’t together. I told you. Nothing happened.”
“Whatever. It’s just some decorative pillows, a knit throw, some things to make your apartment more cozy.”
“It’s cozy enough. Anyway, I don’t have time to play house. I’m going on a horseback ride. After last night, I really need it.”
Though clearly disappointed, she nodded sympathetically. “I can’t imagine how scary that was. But it ended okay, huh.” She grinned again.
“Not the way you think it did, but... Why am I wasting my breath? You aren’t going to believe me anyway.” He took another drink of the coffee and then pushed his mug away. Getting to his feet, he headed for the door.
“I’ll just leave the things I brought—”
He didn’t catch the rest as the door slammed. Sometimes Lillie was so... Lillie. He really did need to be in the saddle, especially on such a beautiful summer day.
But once in his pickup, he didn’t turn toward the ranch. Instead, he drove down the road to the old cabin where he used to live—the same one Mariah was renting now.
He told himself she probably wouldn’t be home. Hell, for all he knew she could have skipped town after leaving his bed so early this morning. He still wasn’t exactly sure what that had been about last night. He wondered if he’d ever understand the woman. Last night was the most vulnerable he’d ever seen her.
Darby suspected it was one reason she’d left so early this morning without waking him. Sometimes he had to remind himself why she was even still around. It wasn’t for the job at the saloon any more than it was because of him—at least not directly.
Her motorcycle was parked out front as he turned in. She must have heard his pickup engine. He wasn’t even out of his rig before the door to the cabin opened.
“Darby?” Clearly she hadn’t expected to see him today even this late in the morning. He thought he’d been right about her not wanting to face him. He got the impression that Mariah Ayers didn’t allow herself to be vulnerable—at least not when anyone was around.
He couldn’t tell if she was upset with him for stopping by like this or not. She stood leaning against the doorjamb, cupping a hand to shield her eyes from the bright morning sunlight.
“I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”
“I just finished breakfast.”
“How do you feel about horses?” Darby asked impulsively.
Mariah frowned. “For breakfast?”
He let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry, I meant to say, do you ride?”
“I have ridden. It’s been a long time, but I like horses.” She smiled.
“I thought maybe you’d like to go for a ride with me this morning. If you don’t have anything planned.”
She seemed to think about it for a moment. He could see that she was fighting it, trying to come up with a good excuse not to.
“I thought you might like to see the ranch.”
She apparently couldn’t come up with a good excuse to say no. “Okay.”
“The horses are up at the family stables. You can go as you are unless you—”
“I’m good.”
They climbed into his pickup and he drove them up to the ranch. She seemed to enjoy the ride and the country. The ranch sat in the foothills of the Judith Mountains. He was glad that neither of his brothers, Hawk and Cyrus, were around when they parked and walked down to the barn.
The moment Mariah saw the horses, she looked excited. When one of the mares came right over to her, she rubbed the horse’s neck, leaning in as if enjoying the feel and scent of horseflesh. He couldn’t help but smile since he was quite fond of it himself.
He didn’t mention last night and neither did she. Instead, they busied themselves getting the tack out. When he started to saddle a horse for her, Mariah stopped him.
“I can do that.” She took the saddle from him. “I used to help my uncle. He owned a kiddie horse corral. Three laps around the corral for a dollar.” She shrugged. “They were just ponies, but I did most of the saddling and unsaddling.”
Darby loved these glimpses into her life before he’d met her. It made him wonder though what she was running from. Certainly not a kiddie horse corral. Whatever was chasing her had her afraid. For a woman who didn’t scare easily, it had to be a monster of a secret.
He watched her out of the corner of his eye, worried she might get the cinch too tight or too loose. But she knew what she was doing. He wondered if there was anything Mariah Ayers couldn’t do.
Saddled up, they road from the foothills up Maiden Canyon. The breeze whispered in the ponderosa pines and made the tall grass undulate.
“So is that where you learned to ride?” Darby
asked. “On ponies?” He knew so little about this woman, had no idea where she’d grown up or who or what she was running from now. So every little peek into her life felt like a gift.
She laughed. “My uncle taught me when I was young. He had an old mare I used to ride. She was a sweet horse.”
“Where was this?” he asked, and for a moment, he thought she wasn’t going to answer.
“Florida. That’s where I grew up. My uncle took me in after my grandmother died.”
“What did your uncle do for a living other than kiddie pony rides?”
“Odd jobs.” She looked over at him, their gazes locking. “He taught me everything I know about surviving against the odds.”
Darby raised a brow but didn’t ask if her uncle taught her to pick pockets. He had a feeling from the look in her eye that this uncle had.
“Are you asking these questions as my boss or just out of idle curiosity?”
“I’m...interested. It has nothing to do with your work.”
“Ah,” she said and smiled. Then she spurred her horse and took off at a gallop across the field.
He went after her, catching up as they reached the creek. She swung down out of her saddle and walked to the edge of the creek. He watched her hop across the rocks to the middle of the stream with such grace that he wasn’t about to join her. With his luck, he’d end up swimming.
Agilely she squatted down to dip her hands into the icy water pooling around the rock. She brought her cupped hands to her lips and drank heartily. She did everything that way, he thought as he watched her in a shaft of sunlight that made her black hair shine like a raven’s wing. He envied her, sensing that she lived each day as if it was her last.
Slowly, she stood, stretching as she looked upstream. He thought again of the bracelet and the Roma queen’s face carved into the gold. For a moment, he almost brought up the bracelet, but then she turned to look at him. He felt his heart do that thing it did from the first time he saw her. His throat tightened, his mouth suddenly dry.
He didn’t want this to end any more than he knew how to keep it from happening. But he held his tongue. Mariah would leave soon enough. He’d let this play out—no matter how it ended. He knew the risk he was taking. To spend as much time as he could with this woman, he’d take the chance.
Riding back to the ranch as the sun burned off the last of the night’s dampness, they talked about everything so long as it wasn’t anything personal. She wanted to know what it was like growing up here, if he’d dated the senior class president or the prom queen or both.
They’d laughed companionably as he told her stories about growing up with a father who’d reportedly been probed by “aliens,” what it was like having four brothers and Lillie for a sister, how he’d been restless until lately.
She’d met his gaze when he’d said that. “I’ve never stayed in one place except when I was young living with my grandmother. My uncle...moved a lot. I can’t imagine living in one place long even if...even if I could.”
“That’s too bad,” he’d said, pretending it didn’t make his heart drop. “This is a pretty nice place to plant roots.”
They rode the rest of the way in silence.
“Thank you,” she said as they unsaddled the horses. “I hadn’t realized how much I missed riding. I enjoyed seeing your family ranch and hearing your stories.”
“Maybe we could do it again sometime,” Darby said as they let the horses out into the pasture and the two of them walked back to his pickup.
He saw her look toward town, her earlier smile gone. “Maybe.”
* * *
BORED DURING HIS dull shift, Deputy Harper Cole pulled into Sue’s Diner. He knew he shouldn’t, especially after that warning the sheriff had given him earlier. But screw him. Harp was sick of taking orders. He couldn’t wait until he was sheriff and giving the orders. Anyway, it was a slow shift and if he was lucky, there would be pie and coffee and company.
The diner stayed open late so later it would have a few drunks on the six stools at the counter and a couple of old farts in one of the four booths. But being right after dinnertime, it was nearly empty. The owner, Sue Pence, would be home with her teenage daughter, Rickie Sue. Now there was going to be a wild one.
As Harp got out of his patrol SUV, he spotted the object of his affection, the cute little new waitress, Vicki Welch. She looked fifteen and while that should have been a turnoff, it wasn’t. She had big blue eyes like a doll and a mouth that turned him on just to think about it.
He pushed open the diner door and stepped in. “Got any of that apple pie left?” he called.
Vicki lit up at the sight of him, another reason he’d had to stop here this evening. With Sheriff Flint Cahill riding his ass again, he wasn’t sure how much more he could take. He knew Flint would love for him to quit. It was the main reason he was determined not to. So seeing Vicki calmed him down, made him think about other things...
“I saved a piece just for you,” Vicki said as he took an end stool.
“I like the sound of that,” he said, lowering his voice and giving her a wink.
Fortunately, the diner was nearly empty. There were four old ladies at one of the booths. They’d looked up as he’d come in but quickly lost interest.
“What’s up with the old biddies?” he whispered.
Vicki reddened and leaned closer so as not to be heard as she poured him a cup of coffee. “Bingo at the church.”
He chuckled at that and grabbed her arm before she could get away. He liked touching her, loved seeing the way her wrist was swallowed up by his big hands. He couldn’t wait to get her alone later.
“Your place?” he asked.
She pulled away. “My roommate’s back from visiting her mother.”
He didn’t really care if the roommate heard everything later tonight, but apparently she did. “My place, then. You know how to get there?” It was a small town and he was betting she’d driven by his place after the first time they’d done it in the back of his patrol SUV. Wouldn’t Flint lose his mind if he ever learned about that?
She nodded and looked shy. “I shouldn’t stay all night, though,” she whispered.
He shrugged. It wasn’t like he was going to make her breakfast anyway. “Whatever you want, baby. Daddy’s goin’ to give it to ya.”
She mugged a face at him, her pale skin reddening again. “I told you I don’t like that.”
She’d told him a lot of things, most of which he couldn’t remember. “Sure, baby, whatever you say.” He picked up the fork and dove into the pie she’d put in front of him, all the time watching her and getting excited. At times like this, he felt as if he ruled this town. Hell, he kind of did.
He was halfway through his pie when he got the call from dispatch.
CHAPTER EIGHT
MAGGIE WAS CLOSING up after her last client when she saw someone standing out front of the beauty shop.
Her heart rate quickened as the woman turned and she recognized Celeste Duma. She closed her hand over the keys in her hand, the sharp metal biting into her flesh as she moved to go around the front counter, wishing she’d locked up five minutes earlier.
Before she could reach the front door, just as she’d feared, Celeste stepped in.
“We’re closed,” Maggie said, stopping at the end of the counter. She could smell Celeste’s expensive perfume.
“You’re here later than usual,” the woman said, glancing around as if checking to make sure Maggie was alone.
That sick, frightening feeling she’d had before around the woman washed over her. She looked toward the street. It was empty with all the businesses downtown closed and little traffic this time of the evening.
Normally, Maggie didn’t stay here this late, but she’d been putting away boxes of product that had come
earlier. Then she’d gotten busy doing a little paperwork that was getting behind.
Now she gripped the keys harder in her hand and glanced toward her purse in the back where she’d left it next to her shop chair—and her cell phone inside it.
“I won’t keep you,” Celeste said, smiling as if she saw how nervous she was making her.
“What do you want?” She knew she sounded impatient. Better that than afraid, which she was.
“I saw Flint earlier. He’s so angry at me.”
Maggie shook her head. “That has nothing to do with me.”
Celeste narrowed her eyes. “I think it does.”
“Well, you’re wrong. I haven’t seen Flint in weeks.”
“Really?”
Maggie crossed her arms over her chest, the keys still clutched in her hand, anger making her feel less afraid. “What business is it of yours anyway?”
“You’re not good enough for him.”
Maggie blinked, then let out a laugh. “Talk about the kettle calling the skillet black.”
“You need to leave him alone.”
A chill raced up her spine. The threat in Celeste’s words hung in the air between them. “You need to leave.”
Celeste stood, her green eyes almost wide with innocence. “It’s nothing personal. You’re just all wrong for him.”
“Compared to you.”
The woman smiled. “I’m glad we understand each other.” With that she turned and went out the door, closing it softly behind her.
Maggie stood for a few moments, so full of outrage that she could hardly think, let alone move. All the things she should have said flashed through her head.
For just an instant, she almost went after Celeste, ready to chase her down in the street to tell her what she thought of her.
But, her heart still pounding, she stopped herself long enough to remember something about Celeste Duma. The woman was crazy.