She eyed Farley, wondering if he’d been a part of it. But he looked so stunned and suddenly forlorn, she had a pretty good feeling that he didn’t know a single thing about any of this.
“You’d best get a lawyer, Mr. Clark. I promise, you’re going to need one.”
When she got to the cruiser, she said to Duke, “I’m off to Tracy Babcock’s house. Will you be okay?”
“I’ll be just fine.” Looking at Rory with more than a small amount of satisfaction, Duke added, “Matter of fact, I’m almost hoping that Rory here gets a little frisky. I’d love to take a turn at a little hog tying.”
Dinah chuckled as she watched him leave and then went to make another arrest.
It was a very good night, indeed.
Chapter Nineteen
The stallion’s body seemed to shake with suppressed anticipation as Austin carefully climbed on his back with the handlers’ help.
After grabbing the rein with his right hand, Austin shifted slightly, tightening his thighs, mentally preparing himself as much as his body attuned itself to the animal.
“Feel okay, Wright?”
“Perfect,” he replied to Custer, one of the handlers who seemed to have been around forever. “Feels just like old times,” he said, his tone full of bravado in spite of the fact that he was about to go eight seconds—he hoped—on the back of a bucking bronc.
“And now, Austin Wright, on Black Magic, a horse with an attitude,” the announcer declared with more than a bit of humor lacing his voice.
You got that right, Austin thought as the buzzer went off and the gate opened, and Black Magic burst out of the chute like a bat out of hell. Immediately, Austin shifted so he was marking out, taking care to keep his left hand up while his right held tight to the rigging.
And that was about the last coherent thing he thought before old Blackie did his thing.
He twisted, he spun, Austin felt himself be jerked forward and back. Spun and bucked hard enough to feel as though he was riding a jackhammer one-handed.
His body sang in protest.
And he also had the terrible feeling that only four seconds had gone by.
Then old Black Magic did some sort of twist and bucking combination, snorted his pleasure and slammed his front hooves down hard on the arena floor.
The next thing he knew, Austin was flying off of that horse’s back as if a spring had been loaded under his butt.
He landed with a smack on the ground, and the dirt under his body seemed to lift to meet him. A split second passed. He was half-aware of the clowns guiding old Black Magic away. Another wrangler helped him to his feet.
The crowd cheered as the announcer got back on the microphone with a whoop. “Old Black Magic proved once again that he’s not fooling around! He got the best of Austin Wright in five seconds flat!”
Hobbling out of the arena, Austin shook his head. Bells were ringing in his ears.
“You okay, Austin?” Beau asked.
“Yeah. Sure,” he said as he leaned against the fence and tried to not only find his breath but his bearings, too. “Damn, but I’m getting too old for this.”
Beau laughed. “I’ve thought that a time or two.”
Austin knew Beau was only being kind. Beau Adams lived for the adrenaline rush that came from time in the arena.
It used to be Austin had helped himself to a bit of that himself. But now he was only thinking that there was a whole lot better ways to make a buck.
“You want to meet us for a beer?”
Austin was tempted to keep things simple, but in the end, he decided to tell all. “I’m not drinking any longer.”
“What?”
“It was getting a little out of control,” he murmured. “I think I’m going to get cleaned up and head on back. I’m done.” And he didn’t want to be near any more temptation.
But to his surprise, Beau just slapped him on the back, his brown eyes shining with respect under the black felt rim of his hat. “Does this have anything to do with Dinah?”
“Not really. It was something I wanted to do for myself. Why?”
Beau looked at his boots, then met his gaze slowly. “It’s just that the word is out that you’ve been spending time with my cousin.”
Austin felt the muscles tense up in his shoulders. “And?”
“And I feel like I’m speaking for all of us Harts when I say don’t screw around with Dinah.”
“I don’t intend to,” he bit out.
Looking satisfied, Beau nodded. “Good. Hey, maybe one day soon we can go get a burger or something and catch up. You still eat meat?”
Giving him a sure sign with his finger, Austin laughed. “I’ll call you soon, Adams. See ya.”
Less than an hour later, he was sipping a Mountain Dew and pulling his truck onto the highway. He was sore and stiff, but a lot of the tension and anxiety that had been pent up in his body was gone. Now all he wanted to do was get close to Dinah and relax a bit.
Maybe that Black Magic had done his job in more ways than one.
He had now gone to three AA meetings, and he’d stayed sober, too. It had been the longest he’d gone without a drink since he was in his teens, Austin figured. His drinking hadn’t gotten the best of him until lately, but back when he and Dinah and everyone else in their crew had been together a lot, it had been a common enough thing to hit it hard come Saturday night.
It was the weekend again, and because he didn’t want to go home, and all his friends were at the bar, he’d decided to lie low and keep his hands and his mind busy.
But that had been the nature of his life, he supposed. He’d taken the difficult path instead of the easy one. Somewhere in there he figured it meant he had some gumption. But now he couldn’t help thinking that maybe if he’d taken a little bit more care, he might be feeling ahead of the game instead of constantly ten steps behind.
Except for Dinah. Just thinking about how she’d felt in his arms made him smile. There was something to be said for a teenage crush.
His cell phone chimed just as he reached Roundup’s city limits. “Austin Wright.”
“Austin, it’s me.”
“Dinah, how’s it going?”
“Great. We got them, Austin.” Before he could ask her to explain, she started talking in a rush, each word practically tumbling over the next. “It all started with a call from the Churchills. You remember when we were at Angie’s and I got called away?”
“I do.” He couldn’t keep the smile from his face. She sounded seriously cute. Almost giddy like a schoolgirl.
“When I got there, Mr. and Mrs. Churchill and Casey and Jimmy and Garnet all started talking at once.”
“They were excited, too?”
“Yep. Listen to this, they’d all seen Rory’s truck! The tricked-out silver Silverado! And they saw Rory and Tracy inside!”
He whistled low. Then kept his mouth shut as she continued, talking a mile a minute herself. “Rory tried to shake me off, but I got him to the floor in about ten seconds flat. It was awesome!”
He would have liked to have seen that. “I bet it was.”
“And then Duke and I did the same thing with Tracy. Now all we got to do is figure out where they stashed all the gear. And Midnight, of course.”
“Of course,” he murmured as she started talking again, telling him about search warrants and photographs of saddles. Austin listened avidly. He was so proud of her, and her excitement was contagio
us. No matter how sore he was, she was making his problems seem minor.
Then, all too soon, she paused and added, “So that’s what happened.”
Braking at a stoplight, he said, “I couldn’t be happier for you.”
“You’re…you’re not mad at me right now, are you?”
“Why would I be?”
“Because, you know…I suspected you at one time.”
She had, indeed. “Thanks to you, I got to spend the night in lockup.” Now it didn’t seem like that much of a problem, but he sure wasn’t going to let her know.
“You know I’m sorry about that. Hey, I just realized you’re probably still at the rodeo.”
“Nah. I’m almost home. I got out in the first round.”
“I’m real sorry about that, too.”
“Heck, I’m not. If I was scoring points, I wouldn’t be almost home. So…are you sorry enough to come apologize in person?”
“What?”
“Come spend the night with me, Dinah.”
“You sure about that?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more sure. Come on, D. I’ll be home in ten minutes, tops.”
“Well…”
He could tell she was carefully weighing the pros and cons of this. And there were a whole lot of cons and probably not too many pros. But that’s what happened when a person overthought things too much. “Just come on, Dinah. I’m the best offer you’re going to receive tonight. I promise. Come over and I’ll heat you up some soup and tell you how impressed I am that you solved your case.”
“We just finally got lucky, that’s all.”
“Don’t underestimate the value of luck, Dinah Hart. As a man who’s spent most of his life looking to get lucky, I can promise you that it doesn’t come around all that often.”
“Getting lucky, hmm? Somehow I think that phrase has multiple meanings for you.”
“Maybe. So, what do you say?”
She hesitated for all of three seconds. “I say I’ll be there soon. Fifteen minutes or so. That will give you a moment or two to get organized.”
Since he’d just parked his old truck, he smiled. “I’ll be ready for you.”
“And I’m walking over, so be on the lookout.”
He still didn’t care for her habit of walking alone in the dark. “How about I come get you? Then we can walk over here together?”
“Austin, if someone tries to accost me right now, I’m so keyed up, I’ll probably be tempted to shoot them.”
“Then in that case, I’ll be sure not to sneak up on you.”
“I’m fine.”
“And I’m home. And by the way? I’m already out the door. Look for me.”
* * *
HE WOULD’VE SAID THAT HAVING Dinah in his arms was like old times, but there was nothing familiar with the feel of her. The way her hair fell over her bare shoulder caught his eye; the way her hazel eyes had widened then turned dark with passion while they were making love had been mesmerizing to him.
In short, everything about Dinah was special. She made everything in his past not matter anymore. He knew no other woman was ever going to hold a candle to her. He was falling in love with the woman who used to barrel race like lightning, who used to laugh so uproariously that the whole room would go quiet and who still possessed a sweet strand of doubt inside of her that she tried so hard to hide.
He loved that she was everything feminine in his arms, and everything tough and confident to the rest of the world.
Pulling away from him as dawn lightened the sky, she stared at him with regret. “I need to get up.”
“I know you do.”
Even though he’d completely agreed with her, she tried to explain herself some more. “Duke and I have a lot of paperwork to take care of. And a lot more questions to ask. I want that stolen merchandise back.”
He rubbed her arm, gently letting his fingers slide down her silky smooth skin, enjoying the play of her muscles just underneath. “I hope you get the answers.”
“And then there’s the horse. Where do you think they stashed Midnight?”
He dropped his hand, preferring now to simply watch her mind click away. “No telling.”
“I hope they didn’t sell him someplace far away. That would just about kill my family. Colt, especially.” She scooted a little farther, obviously intending to get up.
But then she looked his way with a bit of surprise in her eyes. “You’re just letting me blather away.”
“You don’t blather, Sheriff. You weigh the pros and cons and make deductions admirably.”
“Are you making fun of me?”
“Never.”
“I really need to leave.”
“I know.”
“Except…”
“What?” he asked, right before she slid back down under the covers and pressed herself against him. “Ah,” he said. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her closer and pressed his lips to her neck. “Now, this I can help you with,” he teased.
And then he proceeded to make love to her again.
Thirty minutes later, when she was running out the door, cell phone on her ear and cheeks slightly pink from his morning beard, Austin realized he could get used to this. He could get used to her. To a life with her.
Maybe he already had.
Chapter Twenty
The boys’ lawyers were good. Dinah would give them that. But even the men with designer suits and expensive haircuts seemed to realize that the case against the boys was pretty strong.
However, no matter how hard they tried to bargain for leniency, they wouldn’t budge on one thing: Midnight.
“We didn’t touch that horse,” Tracy Babcock said. Again. “I never even saw him.”
“He went missing right after you two hit Thunder Ranch,” Duke pointed out easily. “Right after you stole my uncle’s saddle.”
Dinah bit her lip. It was rare to see Duke so riled up about anything. Usually she was the one who went off half-cocked and he was the one calming her down. But Duke’s impatience with the boys’ high jinks mirrored her own. They might be small-town sheriffs, but they both were professionals, and they both had personal stakes in the events that had taken place.
“We didn’t take the horse,” Tracy said again, looking at his lawyer. “We didn’t have any way of transporting him, anyway.”
“Besides, that horse has a mind of its own,” Rory Clark added. “It’s not like we could have led him into a trailer without him causing ten kinds of a fuss.”
Dinah had to reluctantly admit that Rory probably had a point. Midnight not only was a beautiful horse and a fine bucking performer, he was also as stubborn and willful as stallions came. No way would he have gone into a trailer willingly or easily for strangers.
In fact, it was far more likely that it would have taken at least an hour for Ace or Colt to coax him into a transport vehicle. There was no telling how long it would have taken these two knuckleheads.
The interview lasted another two hours. By the time they were done, she and Duke had a good start on where most of the stolen goods had been sold.
During this, she’d spoken to the district judge and set bail. It was high—but Dinah had a feeling that the boys’ parents wouldn’t think twice before posting the money and getting their sons home.
By the time the boys and the lawyers left, it was going on four o’clock, and both she and Duke were starving.
“I never
thought I’d say this, but I’ve never been so tired just from sitting in a room.”
“I agree one hundred percent.” Rubbing her neck absently, she said, “I’d give my left hand for something to eat.”
“Snickers stash empty?”
She chuckled. “Unfortunately, it’s as dry as the Sahara.” Plus, her stomach had been a little off lately. She was hoping that since the stress of the investigation was over she would get back to normal. But until then, Snickers bars weren’t quite doing the job on her insides.
“How about I go get us some burgers from the Number 1?”
For a moment, she considered pushing aside the offer. But she needed to eat, and her usual salad option didn’t sound appetizing at all. “You sure you don’t mind?”
“Not in the slightest. Besides, I’ve got to take Zorro out anyway.”
“Thanks.” Looking at the list in front of her, Dinah knew she wasn’t going to get to have a break for hours yet.
As she looked at the stack of messages, she debated who to call first. The mayor? Her mother and Ace? The Neimans?
She chose Austin. It didn’t make sense at all. But perhaps that was okay. Right now, all she wanted was to smile for a minute.
* * *
“DINAH, HOW YOU DOING?” Austin said as he put down the stack of jeans he’d been sorting and held the receiver closer to his mouth.
“I’m so exhausted I think I could sleep for a week.”
She did sound exhausted. He frowned, worried about her. “Why don’t you come over tonight?”
“I better not.”
“Sure?”
Amusement entered her voice. “When we’re together, sleeping seems to be the last thing on our minds.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way.” While it was true that he hadn’t been shy about wanting to make love with her, he sure didn’t want her to think that he had no manners. “I can look after you, too, Dinah. Shoot, I can even come to your place if you want. I can be there in a few minutes. I’ll make you some tea or something and give you a back rub.” Actually, he would enjoy pampering her a bit. He now knew that Dinah didn’t let her guard down for many people. He liked knowing that he was one of the chosen few.
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