by Alice Sharpe
The sheriff ducked back into the room. “I’m heading out,” he said. “I’d appreciate it if you stayed inside the house tonight, Mrs. Westin. Considering the looks of that wheel on your truck, I’m having a hard time believing the bullet today wasn’t meant for you.”
“I’ll stay inside,” she assured him.
Echo walked back into the kitchen with the sheriff as Cody came out of the office. He looked at Cassie a long moment, hands jammed in his pockets. “The tree looks great. I’ll get a ladder and finish the top if you like.”
“Sure.”
“Who was on the phone?”
Now he was checking up on her?
“Let me rephrase that,” he said. “Was it the hospital about Sally?”
“Uh, no.”
“I’ll go get the ladder.”
“DID CASSIE SEEM ODD to you today?” Cody asked Adam a few minutes later. He’d found his brother refilling the pond from a hose, since the sheriff’s department was finished with it. Not long from now, the pond, like the lake, would freeze over for the winter. The uninsulated outbuilding pipes would freeze, too, for that matter, and filling the pond would be next to impossible until spring.
“She might have been a little quiet,” Adam said.
“She’s been that way since after the wreck last night.”
“Maybe it rattled her more than she let on.”
Cody stared at the stream of water for a few minutes. “She seems mad to me. Mad at me. Maybe she blames me for not keeping her safe. It was my big sales pitch, right? Come back with me, I’ll keep you safe. Hell of a job I’m doing.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“When did she start acting mad?”
“Last night. After dinner. Maybe even before dinner.”
“Like when she came to the barn to get us?”
Cody thought back and nodded, then he groaned. “You don’t think—”
“That she overheard you telling me you didn’t have any choices about being a father? What do you think?”
Now Cody swore softly. “I think I blew it.”
Adam chuckled, which irritated the heck out of Cody. “What’s so funny?”
“You. You spend your whole life keeping your feelings all bottled up, and then you get down-home honest one time and it bites you in the ass. Big brother, that just sucks.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re getting a laugh out of it,” Cody said, as he grabbed the hose from Adam.
Adam grabbed the hose back. “So use your head.”
“Will you just stop talking in riddles?” Cody snapped. “Will you do that for me?”
“Go inside and talk to her. Explain.”
“How do I explain—”
“Just do it. Now, or I’ll turn this hose on you.”
Cody jammed his hands into his pocket where his fingers grazed the jewelry box he’d taken from the safe a few minutes before. He’d planned on giving Cassie the ring, but then it had seemed to him she might view it as a bribe. He went back inside the house. Cassie was still decorating the tree.
“Will you please come with me for a minute?” he asked.
“Where’s the ladder?”
“I’ll get it later. Please, come with me.”
She set aside a garland of silver leaves and followed him into the office. He closed the door behind them, locking it as well.
“Sit down,” he said, and she took one of the leather wingbacks. He perched on the edge of the other, forearms resting on his knees as he looked at her.
“Did you hear me talking to Adam last night?” he blurted out, wishing he’d found a graceful way to segue into the topic but knowing he lacked the patience to accomplish such a thing.
She folded her hands on top of their baby and met his gaze. “Yes.”
“Did you hear everything?” he asked.
“I heard enough to figure out that you have resigned yourself to starting a family. I wouldn’t expect any less of you, but you have to understand, the thought of being married to a martyr doesn’t do a lot for me.”
“Listen, taken out of context—”
“Oh, no, don’t try that. I heard the context. You blame me for everything that’s happening. I’ve ruined your peaceful, self-indulgent, solitary existence that used to come complete with a no-fuss wife. You don’t trust me and what’s worse, you don’t trust yourself, and what’s even worse than all that is that I’m too damn pregnant and frightened to walk away. Again.”
“If you heard all that, then you heard me say that I love you. That hasn’t changed. That will never change.”
“I also heard you say you weren’t sure love was enough.”
He had said that. He could remember the words leaving his lips, and he could remember wondering if he was talking gibberish because if love wasn’t enough in this world, what was?
And it was like she read his mind. “Love doesn’t mean much if it’s not supported by trust and commitment. That’s what I took your comment to mean.”
He saw the hurt in her eyes, heard it in her voice. He’d caused it. In a heart-pounding flash of intense fear, he was on the floor, on his knees in front of her, arms wrapped around her middle, head on her stomach and damn if his eyes didn’t sting.
“Cass, stop, please,” he said, not sure his mumbling was even audible. “Okay, I said those things to Adam because they’d been chasing themselves around in my head and I didn’t want to say them to you. It was like I had to get them out to get past them. But, Cassie, I love you. You’re my wife. I’ll do anything to keep you safe, to make you happy.”
Her fingers touched the top of his head, then her hand slid down his face. He straightened up, and for several seconds they were eye to eye, her hand on his cheek, one of his arms still wrapped around as much of her as he could reach. He saw the fluttering of her heartbeat in her throat, the blush of her lips, the moistness of tears on her lashes.
“I don’t want to live without you,” he said, and the truth of the words hit him like a fire wall.
“I don’t want to live without you, either,” she gulped.
He cupped her cheeks, ran his fingers back through her hair, loosening the pins so the spun gold could fall around her face. The muscles in his arms and shoulders quaked with a surge of emotions that shook his core like the heart of an erupting volcano.
“Since the minute I laid eyes on you, you’ve been the center of my universe,” he said, startled with himself for expressing it like that. “When you left, the world was dreary. I didn’t know how I was going to get through another day. I think part of me can’t believe you could ever love me like I love you.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s the heritage you carry around. That you and your brothers always carried.”
“But we know the truth now—”
“Maybe intellectually, but there’s part of you deep down that doesn’t trust it. That’s the irony of all this.”
He leaned into her until their mouths connected. When her tongue touched his lips, it fanned that internal inferno.
He wanted to claim her, mate with her in a way that seemed almost primal. Not for ownership of her body, but of her heart—nothing less than total submission on both their parts was ever, ever going to be enough for him.
He ran a hand across her breasts, slid fingers between the buttons of her dress, connected with her warm flesh. She was fuller than before, softer. What he wouldn’t give to nestle his face in her cleavage. In fact, the nestling of body parts was suddenly all he could think about.
There was a wariness in her body still, a watchfulness. He wanted to drive it away.
He kissed her again and again, levering himself over her as she leaned back in the chair, every part of his anatomy swelling and throbbing with painful, exquisite desire, his need for her as acute as a drowning man’s need for a gulp of air.
And something about that need apparently got through to her, because her hands slid up under his shirt and across his back, across his hot skin and toward his waist.
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How could being with her seem so familiar and so alien at the same time? Where did the dream stop and reality begin?
“You are incredibly sexy,” he rasped against her ear.
“Belly and all?” she whispered back.
“Belly and all. I want you, Cass.”
“I don’t know…”
“Tell me to stop and I will.”
She didn’t say a word.
That was all he needed. Within seconds, he’d unbuttoned her dress from neck to hem, and as his hands touched every beautiful, exposed inch of her skin, she fumbled with his belt and zipper. When her hands touched his engorged flesh, he all but came right then, but he reined himself in, freeing her of her underwear, delighting in the changes her body had undergone, the ripening, the richness, that softened her angles.
“Oh, Cody, I’ve been afraid—”
“No more fear,” he whispered as his anxious hands roamed her curves. His lips and tongue explored every detail of her until her soft, satiated cries washed through his gut.
And as he wondered how he was going to find the same release, she scooted to the edge of the chair and pulled him against her. All the treasures that were hers to give were there for the taking, and he was dizzy with lust. He came to her carefully, crazy with desire.
“It’s okay,” she gasped against his neck. “You’re not hurting me.”
And for the first time in months, he let him himself go…
SHE AWOKE EARLY, even before the light hit the window. Her first thought was of Cody, and she turned her head to look at him. He was barely visible in the glow from the nearby night-light.
Sex had been a mistake. Being swept up in his need had superseded her better sense. Sex never really fixed anything; she knew that, but she was pretty sure Cody didn’t. He probably thought everything was all better, all their problems were behind them. Wasn’t that how men tended to think?
He’d hate her when he realized that the words he’d spoken to Adam still rang louder in her ears than his explanations.
How could she go to Cherrydell and meet with Robert? How could she leave the ranch without telling Cody? But how could she tell him and risk him saying no, which would make her furious and ruin everything they were struggling so hard to rebuild?
Bottom line: Was it dangerous? She did not intend to be stupid, but curiosity about what Robert needed to discuss concerning his sister was eating away at her. If he knew something that would help stop this madness, didn’t she have to go find out what it was?
Didn’t she owe that to Cody and their baby—and to Sassy Sally, for that matter?
She got out of bed carefully, trying her best not to rouse Cody. He looked beautiful in the dim light, his dark head on the pillow, his features soft in repose. And even though she accepted the paradox of it all, she felt a little faint with her desire for him.
Hormones. Damn their greedy hearts…
Dressing carefully, she went downstairs, delighting in the sight of the decorated Christmas tree. The laptop was sitting on the counter in the kitchen, and she brought it to the island after starting a pot of decaf coffee.
A call to the hospital revealed they were holding Sally for a day or two because of the head injuries, but she was expected to make a full recovery. That was a huge relief to Cassie.
Settling herself on a stool, Cassie typed “Idaho drowning victim, identity unknown,” into the search engine and up popped her man…so to say.
It was a news article dated just that morning. The body had been identified as a drug dealer named Bennie Yates. The rest of the article was a rehash of the snake tattoos, five on the torso, three on the arms, one descending to the back of his hand.
The back of his hand.
Why did that give her pause?
She heard a noise at the door and looked up, momentarily spooked, but the door quickly opened and Pauline came inside, wearing just slippers and a robe.
What had gone wrong now?
Chapter Thirteen
“I didn’t expect anyone to be up,” Pauline said.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Cassie explained.
“Any word on Sally?”
“They say she’ll be fine. Is something wrong?”
“Wrong? Oh, you mean because I was outside in my robe. No, everything is fine, or at least what passes for fine around here lately.” She immediately turned her attention to grabbing cups from the mug rack and setting two on the island. She poured coffee, slid one carefully to Cassie, picked hers up, looked back at Cassie and set it down so abruptly the contents sloshed over the lip.
“I can’t lie,” she said. “I was with Birch.”
“You mean—”
Pauline nodded as she mopped the spilt coffee with a dishrag.
“For the first time?”
“Heavens no, although he usually comes to my room. I went out there last night to tell him I was leaving the Open Sky and he asked me to stay and I said I couldn’t, and then the most amazing thing happened.”
Cassie smiled as she lifted the mug to her lips. “What?”
“He asked me to marry him. He said the preacher was going to be here to marry Adam and Echo and Pierce and the princess so why not me and him, too?”
“I knew it!” Cassie said, as she set the mug down. “Oh, Pauline! What did you say?”
“I said I’d think about it,” the older woman announced, and winking, picked up her cup and sashayed out of the kitchen toward her room.
Cassie closed the laptop and propped her chin on the heel of her hand. If they could just put an end to all the violence and find the missing jewels, then things around the Open Sky would look pretty darn rosy. There would be new marriages everywhere you looked, and that would mean renewed energy and enthusiasm and, eventually, from the two younger couples, children for her son or daughter to play with. And more than anything, there would be Cody, strong and sexy…
She wanted that future with a vengeance, and yet there were obstacles. An external one in the form of a would-be murderer and thief; an internal one in the form of trust…
She would not give up on overcoming either of those impediments.
She would go to Cherrydell.
But she wouldn’t go alone.
CODY WASN’T THRILLED to be traveling to Cherrydell. Not only were there a million details to iron out before riding out to get the herd, but the thought of Cassie back in Idaho filled him with dread.
And he didn’t trust Robert. How did they know this wasn’t some elaborate plan to get her back here so the Idaho police could arrest her for theft or worse?
And what if he was the bad guy? Was he delivering her into the lion’s den?
But she had asked him to take her. She’d asked him. And that meant the world to him. No way would he disappoint her.
“Where is this restaurant?” he asked, as a sign announced Cherrydell, Next Two Exits.
“Take the second turnoff. It’s out on the river.”
“Is the food any good?”
“I ate there just once. I had butternut soup and it was delicious.”
“Ah, soup.”
“Don’t worry,” she said with what he took to be a fond smile. “They have other things like cheeseburgers, okay?”
He knew it was too easy to say that a night of unbridled passion could mend every rift, but for him it had gone a long way toward cementing what they had, what they’d always had, and that was a very strong physical connection. And that physical connection overflowed into every other aspect of their lives. It was what made them, them.
But she was still reserved in that way she had, as though waiting to see what else he had to offer.
“Turn left up there,” she added. “It’s the wood building on the right.”
“Nice place,” he said. Built on a bluff near a bend in the river, the restaurant was a single-story wood structure with large windows. A sign over the door announced: River’s Nest. Cody parked among a few other cars.
“Not many cust
omers,” he said.
“No, there aren’t. Last time I was here the place was bustling. Robert said it hasn’t been busy lately. I wonder what’s going on?” She stared at the empty lot for a second. “I think I should go alone.”
“Now, wait a second—”
“Cody, listen. Robert doesn’t know you well. He’s asked me to come as a friend. Obviously, things are going poorly for him. What’s the point of being here if he won’t open up to me because he’s nervous about talking in front of you?”
“I see your point,” he said reluctantly. “How about I wait in the bar?”
“That would be great.”
There was no one behind the desk inside the door. Two couples sat at widely spaced tables in the dining room. Through the windows, they could see a deck where additional seating was undoubtedly available during warmer weather, and, beyond that and far below, the silver glint that marked the river.
They walked into the heavily paneled bar, where they found a man behind the counter and another two nursing beers in front of it. “Can I help you folks?” the bartender asked, as they paused in the doorway.
“I have an appointment with Mr. Banner,” Cassie told him.
He looked from her bulging middle to Cody and nodded. “Go on down the hall. His office—”
“I know where it is,” she said. “Thanks.” She squeezed Cody’s hand and moved off toward a hallway at the far end of the bar. Cody took a stool and ordered black coffee.
THE LONG, DARK HALL behind the bar jogged a few times before concluding at an outside exit that was kept locked from the inside. Cassie knew this because on the day she’d come to find Robert to tell him his grandmother was waiting in the dining room she’d gotten lost back here and had tried every door. Today she went directly to Robert’s office.
When there was no response to her light tap, she tried the knob, which turned easily in her hand. She called out his name as she inched the door open.
The office was small enough to tell her it was empty in a glance. She did notice a narrow opening to the left, but she wasn’t sure what to do. Maybe the opening led to a washroom or something. She looked a little closer and caught a glimpse of natural light coming from the end of a short passage and a whiff of fresh air beyond. It must be another exit.