Sheltered by the Cowboy

by Carla Cassidy

  Trisha had married Dusty Crawford in a private ceremony about two months before. Dusty worked with Brody on the Holiday Ranch. Mandy could only hope to follow in her footsteps, having the café as her work and Brody continuing his work on the ranch.

  Abe Breckenridge and his wife walked in with their grandson, Harley, between them. The boy had gotten into trouble not long ago. He and some of his friends had broken into the convenience store in the middle of the night and had stolen a bunch of liquor. Dillon had figured out who was responsible, and although the owner of the convenience store hadn’t pressed charges, Harley had been in hot water with Abe and Donna since then.

  None of this was public knowledge, but Mandy had heard it from Butch, who worked on the Breckenridge ranch. Butch...was he the person who had murdered her father in a twisted way to make her life easier?

  Had his love for her become so warped that he had tried to kill Graham and now wanted her dead because she hadn’t run back into his arms? It was hard to imagine, but she knew Brody was right...those kinds of horrible things happened in real life.

  She certainly didn’t want to believe it. Although he hadn’t been the prince she’d been looking for, she genuinely liked Butch. He was a nice guy and someday he’d make some woman a wonderful husband...if he wasn’t a murderer.

  A shiver raced through her. She’d tried to keep thoughts of a killer out of her mind. The bruising around her throat had faded to a faint yellow and she didn’t want to dwell on such negative thoughts.

  But fear crept up on her in unexpected moments. She’d be pouring a cup of coffee for a customer and suddenly fighting a nauseating terror. Looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she got ready for the day, she’d be overwhelmed by the horror of never seeing her reflection there again. And in the minutes before she fell asleep, she would wonder if she’d wake up the next morning or be killed.

  One of her worst fears was that the killer would attack Brody and kill him. If that happened she wouldn’t care if she lived or died. The last thing she wanted was for Brody to become collateral damage in a game of death she couldn’t begin to understand.

  “Abe, Donna, how we doing today?” she asked.

  “Doing fine,” Donna replied.

  “And what about you, Harley? Enjoying the holiday time off from school?”

  “It’s okay,” he replied.

  “He’d like it a lot better if his grandma and me would let him run wild like half the other kids his age in town,” Abe replied with a stern look at his grandson. Harley’s face turned red in response.

  It was almost two thirty when her brother came in. The Breckenridges had left and the café was quiet. He hurried toward her, a wide smile on his face. “Mandy, you have to come with me. I need to show you something.”

  “I can’t just leave. I’m working, Graham. Can you tell me what it is?” she asked.

  He shook his head, his eyes glittering brightly. “It’s a wonderful surprise, Mandy. It will only take a half hour at the most. Surely Daisy will let you off for that short time.” He looked around. “Besides, this place is dead right now.”

  “This can’t wait until I get off?” What did he want that couldn’t wait?

  “I need to show you now. Mandy, it’s going to blow your mind.” Graham grabbed her hand and squeezed tight. “Come with me.”

  “I need to talk to Daisy,” she said, a bubbling excitement rising up inside her. What on earth could he have to show her that would be such a wonderful surprise? Was it something that might solve everything? Oh, that would be great.

  Graham released her hand and followed her across the floor to speak with Daisy, who was seated behind the counter, reading the morning newspaper while sipping on a cup of coffee.

  “Daisy, I want to steal my sister away from here. I swear I’ll drop her back off here within a half hour or so. Can I steal her away?”

  Daisy frowned. “This is something that can’t wait for her to get off work?”

  “It is,” Graham replied. “Half an hour...you have my solemn promise.”

  “All right, go on then,” she said to Graham and then looked at Mandy. “I’ll see you back here in half an hour.”

  Before she could respond, Graham grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door. “Wait! What about my coat?” Mandy said.

  “You won’t need it. The car is warm,” he replied and yanked on her arm.

  They got into the car and Graham took off. “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “To the ranch. I finally figured out what Dad did with the cash he got from Jimbo.”

  “What?”

  “I’m not going to tell you. I want to show you.” He flashed her a boyish grin that reminded her of their childhood days.

  “I’m definitely curious,” she replied.

  “You’re going to be shocked in a good way,” he replied.

  For the next few minutes she tried to wheedle more information from him, but he refused to say anything more. “You’ve got me half crazy,” she laughed.

  “You’re going to be full crazy when you see what I have to show you,” he replied with a laugh of his own.

  She sat up straighter in the seat as he turned in to the ranch’s long driveway.

  He didn’t stop at the end of the driveway but rather drove onto the pastureland and headed toward the tree line, where she spied a silver car she didn’t recognize.

  “Who’s that?” she asked.

  “A friend of mine. Don’t worry, Mandy, he’s here to help us.”

  “Help us what?”

  “You’ll see.” There was still a simmering excitement in Graham’s voice.

  As Graham drove closer to the other vehicle, a man opened the driver’s door and stepped out. He was a big guy with a bald head that gleamed in the afternoon sunshine. He was clad in a pair of worn jeans and a black wool overcoat. Mandy had never seen him before.

  Graham brought the car to a halt and the two of them got out. “Mandy, this is Guy Templeton. Guy, this is my sister, Mandy.”

  The two nodded to each other. She wrapped her arms around her body in an effort to stay warm and looked at her brother. “So, what’s the big surprise? What did you want to show me?”

  “You’re standing on it,” he replied.

  She moved her feet and stared down with a frown. “Standing on what?”

  “Oil, Mandy. This land is filthy rich in oil.”

  She stared at him in stunned surprise. “Really?” Oil? What could this mean for the two of them? Her mind couldn’t quite wrap around it.

  Graham nodded. “Dad sent a money order for twenty-five hundred dollars to a man named Greg Michaels. Greg lives in Texas and specializes in building oil wells.”

  Her head spun as she tried to digest all this information. “Do you think this is why Dad was murdered? Why we’ve been attacked?”

  “It’s only part of it.” Graham took a step closer to her.

  “Dad was murdered because I wanted him dead.” The glimmer in Graham’s eyes turned to something dark and ugly as he held her gaze.

  “I didn’t run away from here, Mandy. I was only fourteen years old and he threw me out, and every day for all these years I dreamed of his death.”

  Mandy stared at him, her brain simply unable to process the horror of his words. “I—I don’t understand. You—you killed him?”

  “No,” Graham scoffed. “I try not to get my hands dirty whenever possible. That’s why I have my friend.”

  “I killed the old man,” Guy said.

  Confusion clouded her brain as she once again looked at her brother. “But—but you were beaten. Somebody attacked you.”

  A low rumble of laughter escaped him, a particularly unpleasant sound. “I told Guy just to rough me up a little bit. He was a little too en
thusiastic.”

  Danger. Oh God, she was in danger. She didn’t even have her phone with her. It was in the pocket of her coat at the café. “Why, Graham? Is the story about the oil really true?” Good grief, why was she asking about that when he’d just told her he was responsible for their father’s death? It was as if her brain had just gone haywire.

  “Damned straight it’s true. I saw a report years ago...before that son of a bitch threw me out. I’ve been biding my time to take him out.” Graham’s face reddened as he continued.

  “He kicked me to the curb and kept his precious daughter. You didn’t ever have to worry where your next meal was coming from or where you were going to sleep for the night.”

  “But what about your foster family?” she asked.

  “There was no foster family,” he retorted angrily. “I scrabbled and stole to survive the streets. You were the golden child worth keeping and I was a big fat nothing.”

  “The golden child? You’re out of your mind. He only kept me around so I could cook and clean for him. He abused me mentally and verbally every single day of my life. You were the lucky one. You got away from him.” The words tumbled from Mandy’s mouth at the same time alarm bells were ringing loudly in her head.

  “I deserve this.” Graham’s eyes narrowed. “I deserve it all. I’m sick of working long hours and having to do what other people tell me to do. I’m going to be rich, and the only thing standing in my way now is you.”

  “Tell me this is some kind of a joke,” she said desperately. “Please, Graham, don’t do this.” As Guy took a step toward her, she turned and ran.

  The frigid wind sliced through her, but it was the sound of Guy’s and Graham’s malicious laughter just behind her that filled her soul with an icy terror.

  She ran as fast as she could, cursing the heels of her shoes and the rough terrain. She wasn’t fast enough. They were going to catch her and then what?

  Death. It was now chasing her down in the form of a brother she had trusted. He’d been so devious, setting up alibis for himself, even going to the length of allowing himself to be beaten so that no suspicion would fall on him.

  What had happened to him that had broken him so badly? Had her father really thrown him out of the house or had he run away? It didn’t matter now. All that mattered at this moment was surviving.

  Her lungs ached with her exertions and the cold, and more than once she threatened to lose her footing and stumble to the ground. If she could just get to the big house there was a lockbox on the door and she knew the combination.

  She could get inside. The phone service hadn’t been shut off yet. She could call for help. She could call Brody. Oh, Brody! His name crashed over and over again in her head. Brody would save her if she could just get inside the house.

  The hopeful thought barely had time to take full form when she was tackled from the back. Her elbows and knees hit the ground hard with one of the men on top of her.

  Tears of pain and horror blurred her vision as Guy got off her and then roughly yanked her up and back to her feet. Her eyesight cleared enough to see Graham standing in front of her, a grin on his mouth.

  “We haven’t come this far to let you screw it all up,” he said. “If somebody had done their job right the first two times you wouldn’t even be an issue now.”

  “My bad,” Guy replied with another one of his vile laughs.

  “You won’t get away with this,” Mandy cried. “Daisy is expecting me back at the café. She knows you came and picked me up.”

  “And I kept my promise to her and dropped you off in front of the café. From there I have no idea what happened to you,” Graham replied with a self-satisfied look on his face.

  “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you right away,” Guy said as he tightened his hand around her upper arm.

  “We have it all worked out,” Graham continued. “I’m leaving here now to head to the Watering Hole and Guy is going to wait three or four hours before he kills you. I’ll have a solid alibi for your time of death and nobody knows anything about Guy.”

  Mandy stared at her flesh and blood, not believing how matter-of-factly he was talking about her murder. “You’re insane,” she said.

  Graham laughed. “Yeah, maybe. But you’ll be dead, the ranch comes to me and I’ll get to enjoy the real riches of the land.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to leave your body someplace where it will be discovered quickly,” Guy said. “We don’t want any wild animals to make the time of death harder to determine.”

  “Now I’m heading back into town,” Graham said. “I trust you have all of this under control,” he said to Guy.

  “I’ve got you covered,” Guy replied and then yanked on her arm. “Come on. I can at least keep you warm in the car before I slit your throat.”

  Graham walked back to his car as Guy dragged her toward his. Mandy would have screamed, but she knew there was nobody to hear her. The closest neighbor was Aaron, and even if he heard her scream she doubted he’d do anything to respond. Still, screams filled her head as Guy threw her in the passenger seat and slammed the door.

  She waited until he’d left the side of the car and then scrabbled for the car handle, intent to run again. Only there was no handle to open the door.

  Her heart stopped. She was trapped with a killer and had only hours left to live.

  * * *

  “Heading out?” Sawyer asked as he met Brody at the barn door.

  “Yeah, it’s about that time.” Brody pulled his coat collar more tightly around his neck and set his hat more firmly on his head. There was a cold wind blowing and a possibility of snow over the next couple of days.

  “Tell Mandy hi for me,” Sawyer said.

  “Will do.” Brody headed for his truck and minutes later was on his way into town and the café.

  As he drove, his mind wandered, as it had for the past two days, to the night of their lovemaking. He’d been so adamant that it wouldn’t happen again. But it had, and she’d been so eager, so passionate. That night the woman was indelibly etched into his heart. Into his very soul.

  He could admit now that his physical desire for Mandy was beyond his control. It was a force of nature that he couldn’t rein in.

  It wasn’t just a physical desire that plagued him. If he allowed himself, he could see a future with her. He could easily imagine waking next to her in bed and then sharing their morning coffee together. In the evenings with her, he wanted to sit and exchange the events of their days.

  He wanted to lie next to her in bed each night and make love to her and then just listen to her breathe until he fell asleep.

  Dammit, that night they’d gotten stranded at the motel, he’d never dreamed she’d become so important in his life after such a short period of time. He’d never thought that having a relationship with a woman could be so easy, so effortless.

  There was no question about it—he would be a changed man when he walked away from her. Perhaps a bit bitter because he had experienced love and would never allow himself to experience it again. Of course, Mandy hadn’t actually said she loved him, but he knew she did. He’d never experienced loving a woman before, but he knew he loved Mandy.

  He would have wonderful memories of her...her joyful laughter, the smiles that warmed him from head to toe and the inner strength that was so admirable.

  It was as if already his soul was dying a slow and painful death. He was grieving deeply for the loss of the future he chose not to have.

  He tightened his hand around the steering wheel, hating himself for thoughts of love and Mandy. Dillon had believed the killer was getting desperate. Although Brody would never wish any harm to Mandy, he needed something to break that would put an end to the crazy relationship he’d found himself in.

  Even as he thought about the need to
end things with Mandy, his heart quickened with the anticipation of seeing her again in mere minutes. She’d twisted him up thoroughly in the head.

  He found a parking space down the street from the café and then hurried toward the door, looking forward to getting in out of the brutal wind.

  There were several couples seated at tables and booths and no sign of Daisy at the cash register. Mandy wasn’t in the dining room, either, and he assumed she was in the kitchen.

  He sat on one of the stools at the counter and released a deep sigh. He’d been heartsick since the night they had made love again because he wanted to do it again and again...

  Somehow he had to be strong enough for the both of them. It was vital that he start distancing himself from her. There could be no more lovemaking. He had to go back to the man he’d been before he met her.

  Daisy came around the corner from the kitchen and stopped in her tracks. “Mandy isn’t with you?” she asked in surprise.

  He looked at her in confusion. “Isn’t she here working?”

  “She was, but Graham came in here and stole her away. He said he’d have her back here within a half hour, but she didn’t come back. I just assumed she was someplace with you.”

  Dread thundered in his heart and spread through his entire body. “What time was it when she left?”

  “I think it was around two or so. Graham seemed real excited. Maybe something came up and she couldn’t get away to come back to work,” Daisy replied.

  “Did he say where they were going?” He got to his feet.

  Daisy shook her head and worried her hand through a strand of her bright red hair. “Do you think she’s in some kind of trouble?”

  “I don’t know,” Brody replied. “All I know is that I need to find her right now.” He grabbed his cell phone and punched in her number. It rang three times and then went to her voice mail.

  “Mandy, when you get this message, call me immediately.” He hung up and didn’t wait to say another word. He raced for the door, a frantic pounding in his head.