by B. J Daniels
“She drugged you?”
He met Georgia’s gaze. “Nicci does whatever it takes to get what she wants.”
“She must have been desperate, afraid of losing you. If she loved you that much—”
Dalton laughed. “It wasn’t about love. It was about losing. Her father walked out on her and her mother. Her mother killed herself.”
Georgia gasped. “She told me about how close she was to her parents.”
He was shaking his head. “She seldom saw her father and her mother, well, Roslyn was an alcoholic. Her mother committed suicide not long before her father was killed in a car wreck with his girlfriend. Nicci was raised by a string of nannies. I suppose that’s why she can’t stand to let go of people. She’s desperate to hold on to someone in her life, even if it’s a strangle hold. It’s when you realize your mistake in getting that close to her and try to pull away that the real Nicci comes out. A psychiatrist would have a field day if he could get Nicci on his couch.”
“How awful,” Georgia said, feeling worse than before. She’d hoped talking to Dalton would relieve her mind. Apparently this wasn’t about anything as simple as signing divorce papers. “You realize you’re scaring me.”
“Sorry, but you need to know what you’re up against,” he said as they started back toward their vehicles. “Nicci will be served divorce papers in the next day or so. If that’s what she came here for, then all she has to do is sign them and leave town.”
“You don’t believe that’s going to happen.”
“No, I wish it were. If I knew her real reason for being here—and where she’s been…”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been more help.”
They had reached the pickups.
“Hopefully, she will be out of your hair soon,” Dalton said. “I feel responsible for this. If I had stayed in Texas—”
“I befriended Nicci. You had nothing to do with that. I can ride this out if you can.”
He smiled at her. “I like your spirit.” His smile faded. “In the meantime, I would suggest you play it cool. If you try to pull away from her, it will only make it worse.”
“I’m going to the movie with her and another friend tonight. I thought it best if I didn’t try to get out of it.”
“I think that’s smart.” He sighed and looked hesitant. “I need to warn you about something else. Nicci has a friend. She calls him Ambrose. If you see her with a man you don’t recognize as a local or hear her on the phone with him, I’d appreciate if you let me know. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have come here without him.”
“This man is also dangerous?”
Dalton nodded. “And I wouldn’t mention our meeting to Nicci.”
Georgia laughed. “Not a chance.”
“Oh, one more thing,” he said looking sheepish. “I wanted to make sure neither of us was followed. I disabled her rental car. She’s probably going to be upset. But if you are horrified by my behavior, it might help between you and Nicci.”
Georgia couldn’t believe this. “Nicci’s going to be furious with you.”
“I couldn’t take the chance she might follow you,” Dalton said. “I already know how she feels about me. I didn’t want to take any chances with you.”
Georgia felt her face heat. “Thank you, I guess.”
He chuckled. “Just watch yourself around her. I’m trying to get this resolved as quickly as possible for your sake.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m fine.”
His look said he wasn’t so sure about that. “I want you to stay that way.” His gaze warmed her to her toes. “Look, if for any reason, day or night, you need help, call me. I put my cell phone number on the card with the roses I gave you. Do you still have it?”
“I never saw any card. It must have fallen out when I took the roses upstairs.” Her eyes widened with the realization of who had found it.
Dalton shook his head. “Of course, that’s how Nicci got my cell phone number to call me. She must have found the card and taken it.” He pulled out a business card and handed it to her.
She took the card hoping she wouldn’t need help. She felt a little better as she climbed behind the wheel and headed back toward Whitehorse. At least she didn’t feel as if she was in this alone anymore. All she could hope was that once Nicci received the divorce papers she would leave town.
A woman like Nicci would want to move on, wouldn’t she? But then again, Georgia didn’t know what had really brought her here to begin with. That worried her as she drove back to town.
She wished she hadn’t agreed to go to the movie tonight because she’d involved Rory. But Dalton had said to play it cool and it was just a movie. She planned to keep busy in the meantime and be busy from now on until Nicci left.
As she pulled into her parking space behind the yarn shop and cut off the engine, she reached for her cell phone to call Rory and tell her the news.
The tap on her side window made her start, but nothing like what it did when she saw who was standing next to her truck.
Nicci smiled and motioned for her to lower her window.
Since she already had the keys out of the ignition, Georgia opened her door, forcing Nicci to step back to let her exit.
“Hi, Miss Thorp said you’d gone out on a delivery. Not one of your students from class?”
“No. An elderly woman I know.” She realized the bag with the yarn in it was still on the seat—and Nicci had seen it. “She decided she’d like to come in next week and pick out something else,” Georgia said, improvising.
“That was rude of her.”
“Oh, I don’t mind. She’s a good customer.” Georgia couldn’t tell if Nicci believed her. It angered her that she was forced to lie to her renter about where she’d been and what she’d done.
Soon, it would be over, she told herself. Nicci wouldn’t want to stay in this small western town much longer. Already she seemed restless.
“We should go to dinner before the show, some place fun, my treat,” Nicci said.
“I’m sorry, I can’t.”
“Oh?”
Georgia came up with the first thing that crossed her mind, determined to spend as little time as possible with Nicci. “I’m having dinner at a friend’s.”
“Rory’s?”
Georgia was caught in one lie, she didn’t want to make it worse by involving another friend. This was getting ridiculous. She hated lying and she was tired of having to explain herself to Nicci. Nor was she going to feel guilty for not including Nicci. Especially when Rory had never even invited Georgia.
“Yes, Rory.” Georgia picked up the bag from the seat and headed toward the shop. Once inside, she struck up a conversation with Miss Thorp. If Nicci followed her inside, Georgia didn’t see her go up the stairs.
Then she remembered. Dalton had disabled Nicci’s car. Georgia braced herself. All hell was about to break loose.
“I JUST HEARD from the chief of police in Harvey, Tennessee,” Lantry said when Dalton returned to the ranch after seeing Georgia. “He faxed me Nicci’s mug shot. She was going by the name Nicci Sherwood.”
“That was her mother’s maiden name,” Dalton said and took the sheet of paper his brother handed him.
“Is that her?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“She was arrested for speeding, resisting arrest and trying to bribe an officer in Tennessee two weeks ago. It probably made the news because it was a small-town scandal.”
“Was she alone?” Dalton asked and held his breath for the answer.
“Funny you should ask. Her traveling companion was a Taylor K. Ambrose.”
Ambrose. So only two weeks ago Nicci had been with him.
“Nicci skated on the charges after bringing in a high-priced lawyer and paying a load of fines.”
“Any way to get a description of this Ambrose?” Dalton asked.
“The chief didn’t have any more information than that since the passenger was released at the scene. The arresting officer i
s on vacation, not expected back until the end of the week. I’ll see if I can reach him. In the meantime…”
“Yeah, I’ll cool my heels.”
“Want to tell me where you went earlier?”
“I met with Georgia Michaels. She didn’t know much about her renter. Nicci’s starting to scare her.”
“We’ll get the divorce and you’ll be free of her. So will Georgia Michaels.”
Dalton nodded, but he feared just as Nicci had said when they’d met that it wouldn’t be that easy—especially since he now had a pretty good idea that Nicci was still traveling with her sidekick, Ambrose.
If she’d been with him just two weeks ago, then what were the chances Ambrose wasn’t close by, waiting?
Waiting for what, though?
GEORGIA HAD CALLED ahead to let Rory know about the myriad lies she’d been telling—including the one about dinner.
Now as she pulled up to Rory and Devlin’s ranch house, she could tell Rory had been waiting impatiently for her.
Before Georgia could get out of her pickup, Rory came out to meet her with a look Georgia knew only too well. Rory looked way too pleased with herself.
“What? Did you actually cook dinner yourself or something?” Georgia asked her best friend. Rory was notorious for her lack of interest in cooking. “You shouldn’t have cooked.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t,” Rory said with a laugh. “We’ll go to a fast-food place before the movie. Anyway, I have something much better than food.”
“Something better than food?” While Rory didn’t cook, she did love to eat. “This must be good.”
“You are not going to believe what I found out.”
Georgia laughed. Rory, who was very pregnant, looked as if she was bursting at the seams in more ways than one.
“You mentioned that Nicci told Jim Benson about a sailing school in Seattle?” Rory said excitedly. “Well, I called it to see if they’d ever heard of Nicci.”
“I’m not sure that was a good idea.” Georgia had warned Rory earlier that Dalton felt Nicci was dangerous. It was just like Rory not to take that seriously.
“What did you say to the people at the school?” Georgia asked, worried.
“Just that I was interested in classes when I come out to Seattle. I asked a lot of questions. The classes are really expensive, definitely only for the wealthy. Then on a hunch, I said, ‘I know someone who spent some time at your sailing school.’ I described her and said, ‘Her name was Nicci, spelled N-I-C-C-I. Oh, what was her last name?’ ‘Corbett?’ asked the woman. Bingo!”
Georgia grabbed her friend’s arm in surprise.
Rory nodded and grinned. “She taught sailing there under the name Nicci Corbett nine years ago.”
Georgia let go of Rory, stunned. “She hid in plain sight. Still, she’s rich, or at least she was according to Dalton, so why would she go to work at a sailing school?”
Rory was like a little kid on Christmas morning, practically jumping up and down. “What better way to meet your next husband?”
“No.”
“Yes. I came up with a story about how Nicci and I had become really close friends while I was taking lessons at another sailing school where she taught and that I would love to get in touch with her.”
“Rory,” Georgia said, getting scared for her friend. “What if Nicci finds out?”
“Don’t worry, I used a fake name. Anyway,” Rory said, ushering Georgia onto the ranch house porch, “the woman told me that Nicci had gotten married. His name was Michael Farmington, a wealthy real estate investor ten years Nicci’s senior.”
“She’s a bigamist!”
Rory was shaking her head. “Not technically. At least not anymore. The husband died in a boating accident on their honeymoon. What if she killed him?”
“Rory—”
“She could be a black widow.”
Georgia was shaking her head. “Nice theory, but clearly she doesn’t kill all her husbands.”
“Maybe Dalton Corbett was the exception.”
Chapter Nine
Dalton hadn’t expected to hear from Georgia so soon.
“I have to talk to you. It’s about Nicci,” she said. “I’ve found out something. I’d rather not get into it over the phone.”
“Of course.” She sounded strange. “You’re all right, though?”
“Yes, it’s just some information that my friend Rory discovered that I thought you should have right away.”
“Tell me where to meet—”
“I’m almost to your ranch.”
“Great. See you soon then.” He hung up filled with a mixture of dread and excitement at the thought of seeing Georgia Michaels again.
“Dalton,” Lantry called from the cabin next door. “You going up to supper? Come on, I could use a drink.”
“Georgia is coming out.”
Lantry raised a brow.
“It’s about Nicci.”
He groaned. “You want me to wait?”
“No,” Dalton told him. “Tell the family I might be late, but not to wait on me.”
“Bring her up. I’ll tell Juanita to set another plate,” Lantry suggested. “Whatever she wants to talk to you about, it can wait until after supper. Juanita made sour-cream chicken enchiladas and pork-chile verde with homemade refried beans and Spanish rice.”
Dalton laughed. All of the Corbett brothers loved Juanita’s cooking. Their father joked that it was her cooking that had got them to Montana—and enticed them to stay—instead of anything to do with him and family.
Turning at the sound of Georgia’s pickup, Dalton couldn’t help being worried. She had sounded strange on the phone. Whatever she’d come out to tell him was bad news, he could count on that. Otherwise, Georgia would have told him on the phone.
But at least he knew she was safe—as long as he could keep her here on the ranch.
His stomach growled. “Okay, I’ll ask her to supper. Warn the family.”
THE LAST THING Georgia expected was to be invited to supper. She’d tried to decline, but Dalton wasn’t having any of it.
“Whatever you’ve come to tell me is going to spoil my appetite, sure as hell,” Dalton said. “So do me this one favor, have supper with me and my family, then we can talk.”
“Thank you, but—”
“I’m starved and Juanita cooked my favorite meal,” he’d said, a twinkle in his eye as he gave her a rundown of the menu. “Tell me you like Mexican food. Please.”
“I’ve never had anything more than a taco at a fast-food restaurant and I suspect that’s not what you’re talking about,” she said, embarrassed.
“What?”
“I’m a Montana girl. I’ve lived in Whitehorse, Montana, all my life except for a few years in college in Havre and if you haven’t noticed we’re a little short on Mexican food restaurants.”
“The closest one I’m told is two hours away.”
She laughed. “So there you go.”
“Okay, then you are in for a treat. No one makes Mexican dishes like Juanita.” He took her arm and steered her toward the main house.
“What will your family say with me dropping by right at suppertime?”
“You’re about to find out,” he said, grinning over at her as he opened the front door.
Georgia was hit with the most delectable smells. As she breathed in the wonderful aromas, she heard voices. “Dalton, your family will think I have no manners.”
He laughed as they came around a corner and into a large living room that looked out over the ranch. “My family will be delighted.” Georgia had never been in the main house at Trails West Ranch. It was wonderfully Western from the patina wood floors to the rock fireplace and original log walls.
The room was full of people. Georgia stopped short, but Dalton took her hand and drew her in.
“Everyone, this is Georgia. I invited her to supper.”
“That’s wonderful,” said a blond, blue-eyed, fifty-something woman Georgi
a took for Dalton’s stepmother. “I’m Kate,” she said warmly, taking Georgia’s hand. “We’re delighted you could join us.”
“Told you so,” Dalton whispered next to Georgia’s ear.
“Juanita made Dalton’s favorites tonight,” Kate said. “But I’m sure he told you that.”
“He did,” Georgia said, feeling some of her shyness evaporate as she was introduced to each member of the Corbett clan. Dalton’s father Grayson, a handsome gray-haired man welcomed her as warmly as the rest of the family and so did Dalton’s brothers.
Georgia knew from her friends Maddie and Faith that all the Corbett brothers were gorgeous. Shane, a local sheriff’s deputy, was engaged to Maddie Cavanaugh; Jud, the former stuntman, to Faith McKenna. Lantry Corbett was the lawyer and Russell the rancher.
“Georgia owns the yarn shop in town,” Dalton said after she’d been introduced to everyone. “She teaches knitting and crocheting and embroidery as well.”
She had to smile that he remembered what she’d told him the second time they’d crossed paths.
“Tell me about your knitting classes,” Kate said excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to learn.”
Georgia did, surprised by how comfortable she felt after being so embarrassed about arriving at suppertime. The Corbetts had that effect on people, she thought as she looked around the room, her gaze coming to rest on Dalton.
He seemed like a different man here with his family. Happy. Content. Nicci could have had all this, Georgia thought. Or maybe she couldn’t have. Maybe Nicci had never found any place that she could be content, let alone happy.
“Well?” Dalton said after dinner when they were walking back to his cabin. “What do you think of Mexican food? Be honest. I can take it.”
“I loved it. All those flavors. It sure beats meat and potatoes.”
He laughed, a wonderful sound in the cool summer night. Somewhere close by crickets chirped in the tall green grass. The evening sky swept from horizon to horizon with a vastness that made everything about this moment seem extraordinary.
“My family loved you,” Dalton said quietly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Kate didn’t show up at your next knitting class.”