Straightening to his full six-foot-two-inches, he glared at Carter, who halted about three feet away from him. Most people, when he assumed that stance, automatically backed off. But she didn’t. He’d entertained the idea many times in his head kidnapping her and taking her to the cabin he’d built in the Salt River Mountains.
“You want somethin’?” he demanded, a wet cloth in his right hand.
“Yes,” she said. “Let’s go to the hallway, out of everyone’s earshot. You go first and I’ll follow you.”
He wanted to spit into her calm-looking face. Nothing rattled that bitch. Absolutely nothing. Cree grabbed the plastic tray filled with dirty dishes and glasses, moving around the table and heading toward the swinging doors. Once inside the hall, he went to the kitchen and set the tray aside, waiting for her to appear. She wore a man’s clothing, but that didn’t hide her femininity in the least, which Cree saw as a weakness. Women weren’t better than men. They never had been. His hands tightened at his sides.
Sarah came to a halt just within the opened door to the kitchen, settling the hat on her head, keeping her gaze steady on him.
“Tara Dalton has left the military and is home for good.” Her voice lowered. “And you need to know that a restraining order against you was just put into service.” She pulled it from the clipboard she carried, handing a copy of it to him. “You can’t be within five hundred feet of her at any time. You even so much as look at her? And you’re in Lincoln County, my turf? I’ll take you down so damned fast it will make your head spin.”
He grabbed the piece of folded paper. “I didn’t know she was back.” That was a lie, but he didn’t care.
“My advice, Elson? Stay the hell away from my county. If I find you in it? I’ll have a deputy tailing you wherever you go. Got that? You’re to leave Tara Dalton alone. Don’t speak to her. Don’t approach her. I’m just waiting to take you in and haul your ass into court again. And this time, there won’t be any leniency on breaking your probation. Got it?”
Glaring at her, he stuffed the paper into his back pocket. “Yeah, I got it, Sheriff.” He saw her eyes go a darker jade color, her voice low.
“You come into Lincoln County? We have a drug-sniffing dog team now. We know your truck and license number. My deputies have standing orders to pull you over and search you and that truck any time you cross the county line. Got it?”
“Yeah,” he snarled, “I got it, Sheriff.” He hated her calm expression, hated that game face she always wore. “I have a right to visit my mother!”
“Sure you do. Just expect our drug-sniffing team to be all over you when you do.”
Hatred pooled deep within him. Right now, he was torn between who to go after first: Tara Dalton or this bitch of a sheriff. Nothing would give him greater pleasure than to hurt Sarah Carter real bad. “That’s harassment,” he grunted.
Shrugging, Sarah said, “But it’s justified. Let’s see, Elson. How many times had you gone to jail for a couple of weeks to a month for selling drugs or having them on your person before kidnapping Tara?” She held up her hand. “Six times in the span of three years you were in juvie. You’re not careful. But if I catch you? I’m asking the state attorney general to go after you with everything we can and put your ass in prison for a long, long time.”
His upper lip lifted and he barely rasped, “You gotta catch me first.”
*
Tara wished her stomach would relax. Sarah had dropped by in the afternoon with the signed papers. She had taken a copy of them over to Shay, who was in her office at the ranch house. Asking her to stay, they’d walked to the kitchen. Tara could smell a beef stew cooking on the stove. She’d met Reese earlier and he’d gone to town with Noah to get more grain for the horses boarded in the ranch stables.
“How are you doing?” Shay asked, carrying cups of coffee to the kitchen table and sitting down.
Tara sat opposite her. “Not good today. Sarah coming to fill me in on Cree just brought up everything I was trying to ignore.”
Shay nodded. “Yes, it’s a sticky, awkward situation you came home to. But wipe that worry out of your eyes, okay? Sarah’s on top of this. She’s working closely with the Teton County sheriff. All you have to do is be alert. Plus, we’ll discuss this when Libby drops by for our Friday-night get-together tomorrow night.”
“Yes, everyone needs to know what’s going on,” Tara said glumly. “I just wish things were different. That Cree was out of here. Gone from my life forever.”
“I know.” Shay sighed and gave her a sympathetic look. “It’s sort of like our ongoing legal issues with my father. He lives in Wind River now. We have a restraining order against him; he can’t come to Bar C land again, but I hate the possibility of meeting him at the feed store or at Kassie’s Café. I’m always nervous about it.”
“I forgot about that,” Tara admitted. “Even though your father isn’t going to kidnap you, that’s still a terrible stress for you.”
“It sure is. And every day, people in Wind River who see him say he’s getting stronger physically. He wants to get rid of his limp and the weakness from that stroke he had and prove to the court that he’s fully capable of retaking the Bar C. Reese thinks it will eventually culminate in a jury trial.”
“I remember my dad talking about Ray and his father when I was growing up,” Tara murmured. “He said Ray was always getting the tar beaten out of him by his old man. And before I went into the military Ray was well on his way to destroying the ranch. It was already beginning to die.”
“It was. I got the shock of my life when I came home on a hardship discharge to take over the Bar C because he was in a nursing home, incapable of doing much of anything after that stroke.”
Looking around the warm, large kitchen, Tara said, “Well, you’ve done so much good, bringing the Bar C back to life. You deserve all the credit, Shay; you had a dream, a vision for your home.”
“There’s days when I feel good about it,” Shay admitted. “If not for Reese’s love and support, I don’t think I could have taken on my father and made a stand against him.”
“Reese is a great guy, but then, all the men of the Bar C are.”
“Speaking of them, do you think you’ll get along with Harper?”
Tara smiled a little, sipping her coffee. “Yes. He’s very nice. I don’t see any problems arising between us. It’s just me getting used to the tempo and pace of the ranch at this point.”
“Well, we’ll let all the wranglers in on your kidnapping and the fact that Cree Elson’s still around; plus, they need to know about the restraining order. Sarah sent me an updated photo of Elson, and I’ve passed it to everyone’s cell phone so they can spot him if they see him around town or anywhere near our ranch.” Reaching over, Shay touched Tara’s hand. “Don’t worry. Everything will settle down and start smoothing out the more you get used to your new, fixed routine known as civilian life.”
Giving a weak smile, Tara said, “There’s a lot of military here at the Bar C, which makes it a lot easier to make that transition, Shay. And I really do want to contribute.”
“You will, in time. I just need you to breathe, take it easy and let Harper guide and integrate you into our ranch rhythm.”
“I’ll sit down with him tonight and tell him what happened. I don’t want to blindside him at the Friday-evening meeting.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Shay said.
*
Harper sat in the living room with Tara after dinner. She appeared nervous and tense, as if she had something on her mind.
Sitting at one end of the couch, she poured out the story of her kidnapping by Cree Elson. It took every bit of his control not to reach out and drag her into his arms, to give her a sense of safety. It was painfully obvious that Tara didn’t feel safe at all after Sarah Carter’s visit and the signing of the restraining order.
Opening her hands, she uttered, “I’m really sorry to drag you into this, Harper. But I felt you needed to know firs
t, not last, what was going on in my life. It wouldn’t be fair for you not to be aware I have an enemy out there who could jump me at some point. I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt by Elson. He’s crazy and flies into unexpected rages and lashes out.” She touched her nose. “When I was with him and tried to escape, he punched me in the face and broke my nose. He told me after I regained consciousness that he didn’t know what had happened, that he had no memory of striking me.”
Moving slowly, Harper sat up, elbows on his thighs, his hands clasped between them, studying her in the lulling silence. There was such fear in her eyes, and he could feel the tension and anxiety swirling around her. “I think you’re pretty brave, coming back here,” he said quietly, holding her anguished gaze. “Did you know Elson would be around when you came home?”
Shaking her head, she whispered, “I put him deep down in myself to the point where I buried it all. When I finished my enlistment, my whole life was in tatters. The PTSD was tearing me up and that was my focus. When I got home and my dad told me that Cree was still in the area, that’s when it hit me like a sledgehammer. Up until that point, I honestly hadn’t thought of him in years.”
“Because your focus was on surviving missions and combat,” he said, nodding.
“Yes …”
“How do your parents feel about this? About Elson being in your backyard?”
“My mom worries he’ll do the same thing to me, kidnap me or try to kill me. My dad has full belief that law enforcement will keep me safe.”
“The difference between a judge and a mother,” Harper said, his mouth pulling inward at the corners for a moment. “What do you want to do, Tara?”
“I wanted to come home, Harper. Have I thought about leaving since I found out about Cree? Yes. But I love this valley. I love all the people I grew up with and I want to be home to try to get well.”
“I agree with you. When you come from a happy home, plus a town of people who know and love you, it’s good to stay.”
“But it’s an awful price, Harper. What if Cree attacks me in this house? What if he hurts or kills you? Or Shay, Reese or anyone else who lives on the ranch? I couldn’t bear to have that happen. And I know Cree is capable of killing.”
“But he hasn’t.”
“No, not so far, but I saw it in his eyes. He gets angry, snaps and he’s a wild man without control.” She touched her nose. “I know from experience. I pushed him too far and this is what happened to me. I still feel to this day that he’s obsessed with me, and he could kill me if the situation was right.”
Seeing the helplessness in her expression, he said, “You have a right to come home. You have a right to be with your family. No one should be able to chase you away.”
“That’s how I feel, Harper. I’m angry, I’m scared and my imagination is tearing the hell out of me. My PTSD makes it worse because now I’m in a different form of combat, but it’s still life and death. I thought by coming home I’d find peace. Healing.”
He heard the anguish in her whispered tone, saw the defeat in her eyes. “Look,” he said gently, “Rome wasn’t built in a day and you coming home after so many years, I’m sure, seems daunting. I believe you couldn’t be safer than here on the Bar C. We’re all combat-trained vets. Once everyone gets Elson’s photo and you share your story on Friday night, you’ll have a vanguard of vets surrounding you. We all live with PTSD, which makes us hyperalert.” He grinned a little. “And in this case? With Elson potentially skulking around again? Our alertness will keep us more aware than most other people. You’ll be safe. And if you have to go into town, one of us can go with you. You don’t need to be by yourself, feeling like there’s a target on your back. We’ll figure something out that works for you. Okay?”
She gave him a grateful look. “Thanks … I hadn’t thought about our hyperalertness. You’re right. I just hate imposing my problem on all of you. And it’s not a little one; it’s nasty with awful consequences if Cree tries to come after me again.”
“Well,” he counseled, straightening up, “let’s just see what the gang has to say on Friday night. Okay? Because, whether you like it or not, men are very protective of women and children.” He held up his hand. “And I know you can take care of yourself, but in this case, the more eyes and ears on the situation can be a huge plus. It will keep everyone safe. If we know who the enemy is, that’s ninety percent of the battle.”
She looked mollified by his words. Harper wished he could do a helluva lot more for Tara. There was magic between them; he could feel it. He already knew what love was, and his heart was opening for the first time since Olivia had divorced him. He’d never blamed his ex-wife for her actions. At the time he was a certifiable emotional and mental wreck. Now, years later, he’d worked through a lot of his PTSD, he’d matured and life didn’t seem quite so threatening to him.
He watched Tara collapse against the sofa, her knees drawn up against her body, her arms around them, afraid. At least she had some hope in her eyes, and if his words, his quiet tenor, could do that to ease her mind, that was good. She was more worried about others being harmed by Elson than herself.
Harper understood that reaction to being part of a team. Serving in the military molded a person to care for their team, squad or platoon equally, usually more than themselves. It was the ability to sacrifice for their comrades that set them apart from people in the civilian world. He knew Tara, without ever thinking, would put her own life in jeopardy to save any one of them from Elson.
His heart opened and the sensations flooded his chest in a way he’d never experienced before. Tara was so damned brave, but she didn’t see herself like that. All she saw was that she was a catalyst waiting to get one of them hurt because Elson might stalk or attack her again. Every cell in his body wanted to protect her, shield her from her thoughts and agony and worry. He needed to find a way to focus her attention on something other than the drama of this bastard threatening like a lurking shadow over her life. Harper wanted desperately to hold Tara. She looked so alone, so frightened leaning against the couch. Silently, he promised her that he’d be there for her in whatever capacity she’d accept him into her life.
Understanding he was no pick of the litter because he’d already lost a marriage and a woman he’d loved deeply, Harper held no rosy, idealistic goals for a romantic relationship with Tara. Right now, she needed a steadfast friend who could support her and get her focus off what could hurt her and on to something far more healthy and hopeful. Harper could do that for her. He knew he could.
Chapter Five
April 5
Harper made a point of watching the vets as they pulled the chairs, sofa or folding seats into a loose circle for their Friday-night chat at Shay and Reese’s ranch home. Libby, her red hair in a topknot, ran the session after dinner. She was in her midforties, and Harper, as all the other vets, entrusted the psychologist with their vulnerable, combat-injured emotional wounds. Maybe it was Libby’s pale green eyes, several shades lighter even than Tara’s beautiful willow-colored ones, that made her look like a hawk. She was intense and attentive. Libby was a very good listener.
He’d wanted to sit next to Tara but had decided not to do that because he didn’t want anyone to know how protective he had become toward her. And he instinctively knew she would pick up on it herself. It was too soon to let her know he was seriously interested in her. Libby would have picked up on that instantly, too. Women had all-terrain radar. Harper wasn’t ready to admit to anyone, much less fully to himself, that Tara was opening doors that had slammed shut in his heart. He was still getting used to his heart acting up, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. He’d failed miserably at marriage before and didn’t feel he had the necessary skills to be an equal partner in a serious, emotional relationship with another woman. At least not yet. Tara was making him want to engage with her on that level, though. Maybe it was just as simple as that he was lonely and Tara, by accident, was filling that spot in his heart.
> Everyone warmed to Tara immediately, especially Kira and Dair. And when Tara finished her explanation of Cree Elson kidnapping her, both women got up and walked across the room to give her hugs of support and sympathy.
He’d wanted to do the same thing but had anchored his butt to the chair instead. At least Kira and Dair could give Tara what she really needed right now: a sense of acceptance and care. He could see the relief in Tara’s eyes that she wasn’t alone in this ongoing predicament, that she had stalwart friends standing with her. Still, he fought an urge to go over and hold her because he sensed that was exactly what she needed.
Garret Fleming, who was going to marry Kira, gave his fiancée a concerned look when she sat down after hugging Tara. He studied Tara and then said, “There isn’t anyone here who won’t have your back, Tara. You need to know that.”
“Thanks, Garret. My mind knows that, but right now, I’m pretty rocky about the whole issue.”
Libby leaned forward, giving Garret and the rest of them a kind smile. “Tara, you’ve just left the world you’ve known for many years and stepped back into civilian life. That’s enough of an emotional adjustment. But then to find out Cree Elson is still around, and the sheriff insisting on a restraining order to keep you safe; it’s enough to make anyone reel. Your reactions are normal. You need to lean on all of us while you make these external and mental adjustments.”
“That’s right.” Noah Mabrey spoke up, giving his fiancée, Dair, a loving look before he held Tara’s distraught gaze. “We’re all here for you. Anything you need, just ask us.”
“Oh,” Kira said, her gray eyes stormy with emotion, “you can cry on our shoulders, Tara. Dair and I are great listeners.”
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