“Too many questions going through my head,” he answered. “I’ve tried and tried to make sense of everything, but I can’t”
“Me, too,” she admitted. She wrapped her fingers around the cup, seeking the warmth as her thoughts provoked a chill to sweep through her. “What frightens me is that I don’t know how to protect myself against an unknown entity. How do you fight an anonymous opponent?”
“You trust no one. Not your friends, not your workers, not even your sisters.”
Belinda looked at him aghast. “Surely you can’t think Abby or Colette would have anything to do with this. If you think that, you’re crazy.”
“I’ll tell you what’s crazy. Somebody sending me those notes, that’s crazy. Somebody trying to kill you, first by shooting at you, then with a knife, that’s crazy.” Sharp as gunfire, his words exploded out of him. “Until we know why all this is being done, we can’t know who…and that means we trust nobody.”
He leaned back in his chair and raked a hand through his hair. “No, Belinda, I really don’t think your sisters have anything to do with any of this, but you have to stay on your toes, be suspicious of everyone.”
Logically, she knew he was right, but she also knew with certainty there was no way her family was involved in any of this. She took a sip of her coffee, her mind once again whirling in a dozen different directions. “So, what do we do now?” she finally asked.
Derek stood and went to a drawer. “I think we start by making some lists,” he explained as he withdrew a notebook and pen.
“Lists of what?”
“Of people.” He sat once again at the table. “Potential suspects.”
“I don’t even know where to begin.” She remembered their conversation from the night before. “Maybe you should start the list with Bear’s name.”
He frowned, a shadowed darkness blanketing the warm brown of his eyes. “He might be a suspect in the fire that burned us out, but what could he possibly have against you?”
“I don’t know. But I don’t know what anyone might have against me. Bear knew where you were living, he could have sent you those notes.”
He looked at her for a long moment, then wrote Bear’s name on the paper. “Okay. Let’s talk about the workers on your ranch. Who worked for you three years ago that’s still with you?”
“Derek, I don’t see how any of those men would have anything to gain—”
“Indulge me,” he interrupted her. “We have to start somewhere. At least if we write out some lists I’ll feel like we’re trying to do something.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “Okay…” She frowned thoughtfully. “This isn’t going to be a very long list, you know how transient ranch help is.” She pictured the workers in her mind, trying to remember who had been there three years before. “Bulldog, of course, and Billy Sims.”
Derek wrote each name in the notebook. “Philip Weiss…and I think that’s it.” She flushed slightly. “We’ve been down to a skeleton crew for the last couple of months.”
“What about Roger Eaton?”
“What about him? He’s only been at the ranch for about six months.”
“Isn’t he the one who’s professing to be a brother to one of you?”
Belinda nodded. “Junior checked him out and he’s who he says he is. His father really is a senator who’s ill. All Roger seems to want is to find out which of us is the senator’s long-lost daughter. I can’t imagine why he’d try to harm me and he certainly had no way of knowing about our relationship in order to send you those notes.”
Derek nodded and stared at the three names she’d given him moments before. “Have you had run-ins with any of these men?”
She shook her head. “Bulldog has been upset, scared about us selling the ranch, but I can’t imagine him trying to harm any of us.”
“I think we can safely mark Bulldog off. He doesn’t have the mental ability to pull off something like this.” He drew a line through Bulldog’s name.
“Philip Weiss is so old. He should have retired years ago, but he doesn’t want to so Abby has kept him on.”
“You don’t have to be young to set a fire, or drive a car, or break into a house,” Derek said gently. He got up and poured them each more coffee. “Billy Sims…didn’t we catch him one time spying on us?” he asked as he sat.
“Oh, my gosh, I’d forgotten about that,” Belinda exclaimed. Now that he’d mentioned it, the memory exploded in her mind. She and Derek had been in the old shed just in back of his house. They’d met there at dusk, sneaking away from their families to enjoy a few moments alone.
As always between them, it had taken only a kiss or two, only a single caress for passion to flare. And in the middle of their passionate interlude, a noise had alerted them to the fact that they were not alone in the shed.
Apparently Billy had crawled behind a stack of old crates to sleep off the effects of a bottle of cheap whiskey. Belinda remembered at the time she wasn’t certain who was more surprised, she and Derek, or Billy. He’d stumbled out of the shed, muttering and cursing beneath his breath. Belinda and Derek had dissolved into a fit of giggles that momentarily dispelled their passion.
“It was about a month after that when the fire was set,” Derek said, breaking into Belinda’s memories.
“But why would Billy want to set fire to your ranch? We didn’t tell anyone about him sleeping in the shed. What would possibly make him do such a thing?”
“As I recall, Billy spent more time drunk than sober. Who knows, maybe in some drunken state he irrationally thought we would get him into trouble, or cause him to lose his job—” Derek broke off, the skeptical tone in his voice letting her know he didn’t believe his own reasoning.
“But Billy is sober now,” Belinda said.
“Does he have any reason to be angry with you? Is it possible he’s nursing some sort of grudge?”
“Nothing that I can think of…at least not with me personally.”
“What do you mean, not with you personally?” Derek leaned forward, bringing with him a clean, recently showered scent mingling with the subtle aroma of his cologne.
Belinda frowned, irritated by the emotional, almost physical reaction she had to his familiar scent. She got up and began to pace, trying to ignore the sudden heat his familiar smell had stirred inside her. “A couple months ago Billy’s drinking really got out of hand and Abby fired him,” she said as she walked back and forth in front of the window.
“Then why is he still at your ranch?”
“He left for a couple of weeks, apparently tried to work elsewhere, but couldn’t find anyone willing to hire him. He wrecked his truck, lost visitation to his children, then came back and begged Abby to rehire him. He promised to join a program to help him stay away from the booze. She agreed to give him another chance.” She stopped pacing and looked at Derek once again. “If Billy Sims has a grudge, it would be against Abby, not me.”
“But maybe in his twisted mind, the way to harm Abby is to hurt you. You’re more vulnerable than Abby. You make an easier target,” he observed.
“What does that mean?” Belinda asked, irritated at the notion that somehow Abby was stronger, better than her.
Derek grinned, as if he recognized her irritation and understood it. He stood, walked over to her and gently touched her cheek with his index finger.
“Don’t worry, I’m not casting aspersion on your character. I meant nothing personal. Abby and Colette are married, they have husbands and children around them, so are rarely alone. That makes them less vulnerable than you.”
For a moment she was frozen, captured by the sensation of his finger slowly tracing back and forth along her jaw. He stood so close to her she could feel the heat radiating from his bare chest. Once again his sexy scent seemed to surround her.. The combination made her head spin with memories and her body respond as if with a mind of its own.
His hand moved to the hollow of her throat, where she knew he would be able to feel
the rapid pulse that beat there. “Of course, our marriage will make you less vulnerable.” He leaned even closer, his breath warm in her ear. “This house is secure, and as long as there’s danger, I’ll never be far away from you. I’ll keep you safe, Belinda. I swear I won’t let anyone harm you.”
Their gazes locked, and for a moment there was nothing else in Belinda’s mind except the fire in his eyes. The fire of hunger…a hunger that flared in her, as well. Her breath caught, her pulse raced and more than anything she wanted him to kiss her.
It was her want-her need-that brought her back to reality. She stepped away from his caress, away from the heat of his bare chest. He dropped his hand, his smile faltering slightly. “I hope you don’t intend to flinch away from my every touch once we’re married.”
“You said there would be no intimacy in the marriage,” she countered, annoyed by the unsteadiness of her voice.
He nodded, his eyes shuttered from showing anyand all emotion. “That’s true, but I expect us to display a certain amount of mutual affection to maintain the facade for the public and for the children.”
Belinda turned toward the window, where the colors of first dawn had transformed into the bright light of full morning. “I need to get home. The workers will be wondering what happened.”
“I’ll drive you.” As he went to retrieve a shirt, Belinda remained in the kitchen staring out the window.
Although she would have preferred to walk home, she knew to do that would be incredibly foolish. And she had a feeling she’d already done the most incredibly foolish thing possible in agreeing to marrying Derek.
IT TOOK TWO DAYS for them to prepare for the simple wedding. It wasn’t flower-ordering or dress-shopping that stole the time away, but rather the hammering out of a prenuptial agreement.
Belinda wanted to make certain that Derek would follow through on his promise to invest in the ranch. She also wanted to ensure that when their temporary marriage ended, there would be no repercussions to her sisters or the financial welfare of the ranch.
Derek had his own agenda. He made sure the stipulation was that she remain in the marriage until the adoption of the children was finalized. Both of them agreed that the terms of the prenuptial agreement would remain a secret.
On the morning of the ceremony, Derek waited in the lobby of the city building where Justice Randall Turkington’s office was housed. He stood at the windows, staring out at the street, watching for Belinda’s car.
He’d dressed for the occasion in a charcoal suit and a dress shirt, the shirt collar tight enough to be uncomfortable. Looking at his watch, he frowned. It was nearly time for the ceremony, but it would be difficult to perform without a bride.
Maybe she’d changed her mind. Maybe she wouldn’t show up. He knew he was taking advantage of her, preying on the financial weakness of their ranch to achieve his own goals. But somehow he felt as if they were merely puppets, fulfilling some sort of destiny that had been written in the stars.
The moment he’d gotten the first note threatening Belinda, the moment he’d uttered her name to the judge in charge of the custody case, he felt as if his fate had begun a spin out of his control.
He’d once dreamed of marrying Belinda, of building a life with her, but those dreams had evaporated in the searing heat of fire. Now the marriage to her was simply a vehicle to try to attain what dreams were left in the ashes of those flames.
And if she didn’t marry him…somehow, some way, he’d do whatever it took to get custody of those kids. They had become his reason for living. They were the only people who made him forget he was less than a whole man.
He leaned toward the window as a familiar truck pulled up and parked just outside the building. With an agility that belied his size, Bear got out of the truck and bounded up the stairs and through the door next to where Derek stood. He stopped in surprise as he. saw Derek.
“Whoa…don’t we look dapper,” he exclaimed with a grin. He looked at the floral bouquet Derek held in his hand, then back at Derek, his eyes wide. “Don’t tell me. She said yes.”
Derek nodded and Bear clapped him on the back. “Why in the hell didn’t you tell somebody? We’d have thrown you a bachelor party.”
Derek smiled. “Somehow that didn’t seem appropriate under the circumstances. And please, Bear…it’s important to us that nobody know this is more of a business dealing than a real marriage.”
Bear nodded and reached out to straighten Derek’s tie. “Don’t worry, buddy. Your business is nobody else’s.”
“So what are you doing here?” Derek asked.
“I’ve got a couple building permits to straighten out.” Bear shook his head and frowned. “Bureaucracy, it makes me crazy.”
“Yeah, but you seem to be doing pretty well.” Derek eyed his friend curiously, the conversation he and Belinda’d had two nights before still fresh in his mind. “I’d say the fire at my place was the best thing that could have happened for you.”
Bear’s face paled slightly. “I guess you could say that, but I certainly don’t like to think of my fortune being built on your family’s misfortune.”
“Life works out funny sometimes, doesn’t it?” Derek tried to keep his voice light, but recognized the hollow ring.
Bear looked at Derek intently. “You’re my best friend, Derek. If I could give you my leg, I would.” His face colored slightly and he broke eye contact. “I’ve got to get upstairs and straighten out my permit mess. I’ll see you later.”
Derek watched as his friend disappeared into an awaiting elevator. Had Bear or his father had something to do with the fire? If I could give you my leg, I would Had that been guilt talking? The guilt of a man responsible for Derek’s injuries?
Bear knew his address in California. He could have been the one who sent the notes to Derek. But why would he want to hurt Belinda? It just didn’t make sense. Nothing did.
Once again he turned his attention to the window, relieved to see Belinda’s car pulling into a parking space. So she had come after all.
As she got out of the car, the sunlight danced on her pale hair, causing it to shimmer like spun gold. She hadn’t braided it for the occasion, but rather wore it loose and flowing down her back. His fingers tingled, as if remembering the sensory pleasure of tangling in the soft, sweet-smelling strands.
Clad in a two-piece beige suit, she walked with purposeful strides through the front door. She stopped at the sight of him, and in her eyes he saw her doubts.
He could almost hear what whirled inside her head just by looking in her eyes. Certainly this arranged marriage had little to do with the youthful dreams they’d once shared of their wedding day. There would be no family, no friends, no white dress or reception. It would be just her and Derek and two paid witnesses watching their exchange of vows…vows based on need…vows based on lies.
“I wasn’t sure you’d really go through with it,” he said.
She smiled, the gesture not quite alleviating the shadows from her eyes. “I almost didn’t. I had to fight to keep from turning around and driving back to the ranch.”
“You won’t regret this, Belinda. I swear, the time will go fast and we’ll both get what we want.” He held out the bouquet. “These are for you. Every bride should have flowers.”
She took the bouquet of white roses and pale ribbon, her expression letting him know he’d touched her with the gesture. His heart suddenly felt too large for his chest, ached in a way he hadn’t thought possible. For the first time, he wondered if he was making a mistake.
He’d believed he could do this…live each day with Belinda and not want her as he’d wanted her in the past. He’d thought he’d put those crazy, passionate emotions behind him, but apparently a residual remained to taunt him. He steeled himself against it. “Come on, we’d better go. They’ll be waiting for us.”
“Have you talked to your family?” he asked as they rode the elevator to the sixth floor.
She shook her head. “I haven’t he
ard from them for a couple of days. I’m assuming they’re on their. way home.”
“Do you think they’ll believe that we fell madly back in love and impetuously decided to get married right away?”
“They’ll believe it because they’ll want to believe it. Both Abby and Colette are romantics at heart. They’ll be disappointed that they missed the ceremony, but they’ll be happy for me.” Her gaze refused to meet his. “Later, when it’s time, I’ll simply pretend to fall out of love and we’ll divorce like so many other couples do.”
Although it was exactly what they’d agreed on, the words sounded cold when said aloud. The elevator doors opened and Derek put all his own doubts aside. It took them only a minute to find Justice Turkington’s office. “Ready?” He took her hand in his, unsurprised to find hers cold as ice.
“Ready,” she agreed, her voice faint. Together they stepped inside the office.
The ceremony was brief, and for Derek went by in a blur. The two witnesses, both elderly women, beamed their approval as Justice Randall Turkington solemnly performed the service.
“You may now kiss your bride,” Justice Turkington said to Derek to indicate the end of the ritual.
He leaned down and captured Belinda’s lips. He intended to make it a cool, perfunctory kiss, but the moment his mouth touched hers, he lost control. He didn’t just kiss her, he took possession of her mouth, invading its sweetness with his tongue.
He was vaguely aware of the witnesses tittering but did nothing to end the kiss. Instead he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her more tightly against him. For this single moment, he wanted just to feel her close to him, taste her lips without rational thought interfering. For just this single moment in time, he wanted to feel like her husband in every sense of the word.
At first, she remained stiff and unyielding in his arms, but as the kiss continued, he felt her surrender as she leaned into him, her mouth eager and responsive.
He finally, reluctantly, broke the kiss. “Let’s go home, Mrs. Walker.” She nodded and together they left the office.
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