East of Easy

by Linda Bleser

  Lights?

  Before she could answer Max, she realized that the lights were coming from outside the truck. And they were coming closer. She reached to the seat beside her and grabbed her shirt, barely able to clutch it against her naked breasts before the truck door was yanked open.

  The glare of a flashlight beam blinded her, but she recognized the voice at the other end of the light.

  “Well, what have we here?” Deputy Ed snickered. “Thought I was gonna catch me a couple of frisky teenagers neckin’ in the woods.” He flicked the light over Kate, who desperately tried to cover herself with the material. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to find you here,” he sneered. “Once a slut, always a slut.”

  Max made a dangerous sound, pushed Kate off his lap and lunged for the deputy. “That’s it!” he growled. “Badge or no badge, you’re a dead man, Tate.”

  Kate made a grab for Max. “No!” she cried. But it was too late. She heard the dull thud of Max’s fist connecting with Tate’s jaw, then the flashlight went spinning end over end and she was all alone in the front seat of the truck. She managed to get her shirt on, pulling it closed with whatever buttons she could reach as she scrambled across the seat to Max’s aid.

  Outside on the ground, the two men rolled around in the dirt. Blinking her eyes to adjust to the darkness, she could just barely make out blood on Max’s face. Tate’s hands were tight around Max’s throat. The sight paralyzed her at first then sent her into a white-hot rage.

  Without thinking, she dove for the flashlight. The sound of grunts and thrashing filled the air as her hand closed around the metal handle and she turned it heavy side out.

  “Stop!” she screamed, raising the flashlight over her head like a bludgeon, ready to bash Tate’s head in if she had to.

  “Kate, NO!” Max called out, wrenching away from Tate’s grasp. He scrambled to his feet, planting himself between her and the deputy.

  “He hurt you,” she sobbed. “You’re bleeding.”

  “Shhh…I’m okay.”

  “Drop the flashlight,” Tate shouted behind Max.

  Kate glanced over Max’s shoulder and saw Tate crouched on one knee, pointing his gun at Max’s back. “Are you crazy?” she screamed. “You can’t shoot him!”

  “Drop the flashlight,” he warned her again. “And move out of the way.”

  “Do what he says,” Max cautioned.

  Slowly Kate backed away. “Don’t shoot him,” she pleaded. “Please don’t shoot him.”

  Tate ignored her. He rose to his feet and motioned Max over to the patrol car. “Lean over the hood and spread ’em,” he snarled. “One wrong move and I’ll do what I shoulda done a long time ago.”

  Max shot a warning glance at Kate then did what he was told.

  Still aiming the gun at Max’s back, Tate advanced on him. “You should know better than to attack an officer of the law, Connors.”

  Despite Max’s warning, Kate couldn’t stand still and watch him being humiliated. She rushed toward the car, screaming at Tate. “Get away from him!”

  Tate pushed her out of the way and she fell sprawling in the dirt.

  “Leave her alone,” Max shouted over his shoulder. “This is between me and you.”

  “Not anymore,” Tate growled, slapping handcuffs over Max’s wrists. “It’s between you and the courts.” He laughed, an evil snickering sound. “I told you not to mess with me, Connors. Now you’re gonna pay.”

  Then he turned to Kate. “Stay out of my way or I’ll haul you in for obstructing justice.” He snorted. “Might not be a bad idea, now that I think of it, since you’re nothing more than a cheap piece of ass.”

  Max made a sound of outrage, but Kate was too stricken to respond. The words shouldn’t have mattered. Not now after all she’d learned. But even coming from Tate, that was a low blow.

  Sitting in the dirt, she dropped her head into her hands and let the tears flow, wishing she’d never come back to town, never dragged Max into this mess. What had she done?

  She heard a car door slam and realized Tate was really hauling Max off to jail. She couldn’t waste time feeling sorry for herself. She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hands and stood up, watching in disbelief as Tate started the patrol car and backed up, dome lights flashing as if he had a hardened criminal in tow.

  She stood there for a moment, dazed, fighting the temptation to rush off after the patrol car and throw herself onto the hood. That would only make things worse. Tate seemed to get a perverse thrill out of tormenting Max in front of her. She needed help if she was going to get Max out of jail.

  Even in her muddled state, it hadn’t taken Kate long to realize she had to get to Otis if she wanted to free Max. The drive took less than ten minutes, but it felt like hours before she finally pulled into the driveway. She shifted into neutral and set the parking brake then jumped out without turning off the ignition.

  Sue met her at the door. Her eyes widened in shock as she took in Kate’s appearance. “What happened to you?” She looked behind Kate at the empty truck idling in front of the house. “Where’s Max?”

  “He…Tate…fighting,” Kate stuttered, trying to make sense of what happened.

  Otis came rushing in, pulling on his suspenders as he entered the room. “What’s going on out here?”

  Kate rushed to him. “Ed Tate arrested Max!”

  Otis led her to a chair and helped her sit. “Arrested Max? For what?” He turned to Sue. “Get her some tea or something.”

  Kate shook her head. She never wanted to see a cup of tea again in her life.

  “It’s okay,” Otis said, patting her back as if she were a hysterical child. “Just calm down and tell me everything.”

  She did, blushing as she admitted that she and Max had been parking out at Whiskey Creek. When she reached the part where Ed Tate stormed in and called her names, Otis swore under his breath.

  “And then they fought,” Kate said, nodding gratefully as Sue placed a glass of water on the table. “Max was bleeding. I tried to help, but then Tate pulled a gun on Max and hauled him off to jail. He said…he said…” She couldn’t go on. It seemed like a surreal nightmare. She looked at Otis pleadingly. “Max was just defending me, defending my reputation. He shouldn’t be in jail.”

  Otis nodded. “That Tate boy’s been holding a grudge close to his chest for a long time.”

  “What are we going to do?” Kate asked.

  Otis stood and hitched his pants up. “First I’m going to make a phone call. I think Sheriff Jackson might like to know what his deputy’s been up to.”

  Sue stood nearby, her lips pulled into a tight, disapproving line. “It’s not your fault,” she said, but the words were as sharp as shattered glass.

  Kate couldn’t help blaming herself, but her own feelings weren’t important now. They had to get Max away from Tate.

  She could hear Otis recounting the entire episode over the phone to Sheriff Jackson from beginning to end. Hearing it again filled her with shame.

  Sue turned her attention to Kate. “Did I hear Max say you were going to the reunion with him tomorrow night?”

  Kate nodded, puzzled as to why Sue would care about something so trivial when Max was in jail. Who cared about the reunion? Who cared about anything except getting Max safely home?

  *

  Kate and Otis arrived at the County Municipal Center in record time. The sheriff’s car was in the parking lot. He’d made even better time than Kate and Otis.

  Kate was relieved to see that Max wasn’t stuck in a jail cell. Both Max and Tate sat in chairs, looking like two truants who’d been called into the principal’s office. Sheriff Jackson, a grizzly bear of a man, paced back and forth in the office.

  He looked up as Kate and Otis entered the room. “Good, we’re all here. Now maybe we can get this mess straightened out.” He motioned Kate to a chair and took his place behind the desk. “Let’s see those papers Otis told me about.”

  Kate du
g through her purse until she found the cancelled check and deed signed over to Anne Connors. Along with that, she handed him the judgment lien that Tate had served her with.

  Otis read the papers carefully. Then he turned to his deputy. “You had these papers served in your official capacity as deputy sheriff?”

  Puffed up with importance, Tate agreed that he had.

  The sheriff made some notes on a yellow lined tablet and then pinned Ed Tate with a steady glare. “First, that’s a conflict of interest. You should have gone through the proper channels. Those channels being me.”

  “But—” Tate started.

  “Second,” the sheriff continued, holding up his hand for silence, “the claim is null and void according to these documents. I’ll have the lien removed from the docket and you’re hereby notified to cease and desist any and all spurious claims on the property.”

  Tate’s mouth dropped open. “You’re going to take their word over your own deputy’s?”

  Sheriff Jackson shook his head. “I’m not taking anyone’s word. I’ve got a signed and notarized deed and cancelled check for payment of Jebediah’s share. That’s all the proof I need. You have no claim on the property.” He turned to Kate. “I’ll have these documents filed and put on record at the courthouse.”

  Kate nodded gratefully, ignoring Tate’s narrow-eyed glare. If looks could kill…

  Sheriff Jackson turned to an open folder on his desk. “Now, it says here that the business in question was closed for a period of two days due to an electrical hazard.”

  Tate, obviously feeling more sure of himself in this area, leaned across the desk. “The paperwork is all in order. The shop was closed because of faulty wiring. You can see the electrical inspector’s notes right here.”

  Sheriff Jackson nodded, flipping through the paperwork and noting it was all in order. “Chuck Hitchcock,” he said, reading the name at the bottom of the document. “Friend of yours, Tate?”

  Before Ed Tate could answer, Sheriff Jackson turned to Max. “It says you were able to fix the wiring. What exactly was the problem you found?”

  “The main breaker panel had been tampered with,” Max noted. “A lead wire had been stripped, which caused the wires to short out. I repaired the wires and put a padlock on the box.” Max’s gaze shifted momentarily to Tate before he added, “That way the wires can’t be tampered with again.” He came just short of accusing Tate of directly causing the problem, and the implication wasn’t lost on anyone in the room.

  Sheriff Jackson leaned back in his chair, glancing from Max to Tate thoughtfully. “Seems to me that if Max was able to find the problem with these wires easily enough, your electrician friend should have been able to do the same, right? Was it really necessary to close down a tax-paying business for a problem that could have been fixed in a matter of minutes?”

  Tate shrugged, his eyes shifting back and forth. “That was out of my hands. The electrical inspector made the call, I just followed through.”

  “Followed through,” Sheriff Jackson repeated. His voice was deceptively low, the voice of a man who wasn’t easily fooled. “This is beginning to sound an awful lot like harassment to me, Tate. We don’t do things that way in my department. Anyone who thinks that they can use the law for their own personal agenda has got some serious rethinking to do.”

  He made some more notes on the tablet as Tate sunk a little lower in his chair. More papers slid neatly into his folder. It was obvious to Kate that Sheriff Jackson was building a case against Tate and collecting all the evidence he needed to make it stick.

  Kate wondered how long this confrontation had been coming to a head. Sheriff Jackson wasn’t a stupid man, and he looked like he’d about reached the end of his rope as far as Ed Tate’s interpretation of the law was concerned.

  Sheriff Jackson stood up, dwarfing everyone else in the room. Kate smiled, realizing he wasn’t above using his size to intimidate others when it was necessary.

  “Now,” he said. “About this little episode tonight—”

  Tate leaped to his feet and pointed at Max. “He attacked an officer of the law. I was within my rights to bring him in.”

  “Sit down,” the sheriff yelled, pointing his finger dead center in Ed Tate’s chest. “I’ve about had enough of you and your so-called rights. After the things you said to this little lady, Max Connors would have been a coward not to take you down a peg. I’d have done the same thing, only I’d have made you get down on your knees and apologize to her first. Now this may come as a surprise Tate, but for your information, a badge doesn’t put you above the law.”

  Tate flushed, his lips pulling into a thin, hard line. But he sat down and shut up.

  “Now, as I was saying,” Sheriff Jackson continued, “seems to me this is a personal problem, not police business. If you boys want to have a pissing contest, take it outside. Don’t bring your personal problems into my department.”

  He signed some papers and handed them to Max. “You’re free to go home with your family. All charges against you are dropped.”

  Then he turned back to Ed Tate. “As far as you’re concerned,” he said, “you’re walking a thin line, and I’m not so big a fool that I can’t see it.” He planted his palms flat on the desk, leaning forward until he was nose to nose with Tate. “You can be sure I’ll be conducting an official investigation into this whole matter. Until then, consider yourself on probation. You’d better watch your step,” he warned. “One more wrong move and I’ll have your badge. Trust me on that.”

  Tate stood with his jaw clenched. A vein throbbed on the side of his neck and his face was flushed with fury, but he didn’t dare speak back to his superior.

  Kate realized that all of his anger—which included being chastised in front of “civilians”—would now be directed at her and Max.

  This wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.

  Chapter Nineteen

  After dropping Otis back off at the ranch, then explaining the evening’s events to Sue, Kate gathered up her things to leave.

  Max walked outside with her. “I’ll drive,” he said.

  “But my car—”

  “It’ll be fine right here for the night,” he insisted. “I want to be sure you get home safe and sound.”

  Kate started to argue, but Max shushed her with a finger to her lips. “Humor me, okay?”

  Kate nodded then climbed into Max’s pick-up and wrapped her arms around herself. Now that the danger had passed, she was more embarrassed over being caught than afraid of what Ed Tate might do.

  Max settled in beside her then pulled her into his arms. He ran his hands along her back. “You’re trembling.”

  She wrapped her arms around him, holding on tight. Although she’d lost her desire to make out in the front seat of Max’s truck, she hadn’t lost her desire for Max.

  “Maybe we should go someplace more private next time,” he said.

  Kate slid her hand to his chest, resting her palm over his heart. “Take me home.” The words came out even before she realized what she was saying. Yet nothing had ever felt more natural before. Home was wherever Max was.

  “Buckle up, darlin’,” he said. “I’ll have you home in no time.”

  Instead of returning to the passenger side, Kate strapped herself in the middle so she could stay close to Max. He put the truck in gear with Kate’s head on his shoulder and her hand resting on his thigh. They drove in silence, yet the air sizzled with sexual desire.

  “Are you coming in?” she asked when they pulled up in front of her place.

  He shot her a heart-stopping grin. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  He unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted her out of the truck, holding her close for a long moment before setting her on her feet again. She slid down the length of his body, feeling his immediate response.

  Whether it was adrenaline, hormones, nerves or just plain lust, the minute they stepped inside Max and Kate were all over each other. Everything else was forgotte
n in a tangle of arms and legs and hot, hungry kisses. They left a trail of discarded clothes from the front door to the bedroom, falling onto the bed naked and ready to pick up where they’d left off.

  Over the past few days, Kate had been making up for lost time, discovering ways to pleasure and please, to give as well as take. Max was an excellent teacher, and Kate was a more than willing student. She’d discovered ways to touch him that drove him half mad with desire, and was adventurous enough to search for new sensations—a tug of his hair, the scrape of fingernails along his skin, a swirl of the tongue, the dip and flicker of fingertips. Hearing the way he groaned when she touched him only made her bolder. She couldn’t get enough of him.

  With a low moan, she rolled him onto his back. He stretched out, letting her take charge easily, effortlessly. Kate felt that familiar moment of breathless wonder as she admired the long, hard line of his body. She could eat him alive, starting from his toes and working her way up.

  Neither one of them would last that long.

  She stretched across him, reaching for the condoms on the dresser. This was another thing he’d taught her and already she was an expert at turning a necessity into foreplay. She knelt between his legs, her fingers feathering along his inner thighs. His body jerked as she worked her way upward, exploring his contours with a possessiveness that surprised them both.

  When she curled her fingers around him, he sucked in a harsh gasp. “Baby, you’re killing me.”

  She peeked up and smiled. “Not yet.” Then she leaned over, teasing him with a swirl of her tongue. His body arched, rising to meet her, and still she teased, loving him in a way that was part instinct and part lifelong fantasy. The quivering along his body was all the encouragement she needed and his moans were a testament to her newfound skill.

  When she felt his body tighten she eased off, waiting until his breathing settled again before finding new ways to please him. And when she couldn’t take another second of sexual torment, she sat up and curled one hand around his base, using the other to ease the condom onto the tip of his shaft. She stroked and smoothed, working it downward with a deft, teasing touch. She took her time, feeling him throb in her hands.