The Color of Forever: Book Two: Forever Cowboys Series (22 page)

“Oh, Sam, you were so brave!” Marielle exclaimed.

“And how,” Trey said, admiration in his voice.

Samantha scrunched her face into a puzzled look. “But why did he come back? I don’t understand. And,” she went on, “I don’t understand what happened after that.”

Just then there was another knock at the door and Trey got up to answer it, admitting his foreman, Bandy. The elderly man was bearing a large bottle which he waved toward Samantha.

“The boss stopped and told me where they was going when they left to come over here, Miss Samantha,” he said, “and a little bit of what happened here tonight. So, bettin’ you didn’t have nothing stronger than that hot chocolate stuff you’re drinkin’ and knowin’ you’re bound to be in shock like, I brung this whiskey.”

He went into the kitchen and came back with a generous measure of the amber liquid in a tea glass, handing it to Samantha.

“Now, just you go ahead and get you a slug o’ that,” he told her firmly. “It’ll soon put you right, I guarantee it.”

Meekly, Samantha did as she was told. When the fiery liquid went down, she spluttered and gasped. “Whew!”

But almost immediately, she felt warmer and more calm than she had since the men grabbed her outside. She took another swallow and was gratified when it warmed her even more, making her feel better and stronger.

Draining the glass, she set it down on the table and leaned back against the couch cushion with a sigh.

“It was a nightmare,” she said, “the whole thing seems surreal, like a bad dream. But what gets me the most right now is that I don’t understand what happened after Ben crashed through the front door. Everything happened so fast and I didn’t see him do anything but then the next thing I knew, the men were handcuffed together and flat out on the floor.”

She looked at her three guests, her face a mask of confusion. “What did he do? One of the men said that he’d heard Ben wasn’t somebody to mess with but Bobby Lee, the leader I guess you’d call him, he was laughing just before Ben showed up and saying Ben was a coward who walked away and wouldn’t fight some guy at a club. So I don’t understand.”

Bandy snorted indignantly. “Ol’ Ben a coward? Not hardly. If you wanna know what happened , Miss Samantha, I can tell you without even being here. Ben came in and opened a can of whoop-ass on ‘em is what happened, pardon my language. That’s why we wasn’t worried about there bein’ two of them and one of him. He learned all that fancy hand to hand combat and karate and such as that when he was a Navy SEAL.”

Samantha was stunned. Ben? Sweet, gentle Ben? A Navy SEAL? She gave voice to her thoughts. “Ben? A Navy SEAL?”

“You’re durned straight,” Bandy told her, grinning. “He was in on them Special Ops missions against terrorists. Come back home with all kinds of medals and such-like, didn’t he Boss?”

“He sure did,” Trey affirmed.

But Samantha found that this information only added to her confusion. “But … but, I don’t get it. If Ben is trained in all of that, why is he afraid to fight?”

“It ain’t that he’s afraid to fight, Miss Samantha. It’s that he don’t wanna hurt no liquored up cowboy that wants to prove he can whoop a SEAL. He feels like he’s got a unfair advantage, and he’s right on about that. It takes a big man to let some ignorant blowhard call him a coward and just walk away. Especially when he knows he could shut the feller up in a couple a seconds!”

Samantha sat quietly, trying to absorb this news. Then she thought of something else.

“But, the day we first saw the poachers, Ben had us hide from them in the meadow. We stayed down until they were gone.”

Bandy heaved a sigh of impatience. “Girl, you’re not using your head besides a place to hang your hat. If you and Ben was in a meadow, was the horses tethered some place else?”

She nodded. “Yes, they were tied back in the trees. Out of sight from the poachers, thank goodness.”

Bandy nodded sagely. “And I’m bettin’ Ben’s rifle was with his horse, right?”

She nodded again.

“So, what was he supposed to do? Get the both of you up and runnin’ across that wide open meadow—makin’ easy targets for them lowdown fellers—and get you and him killed afore you could make it to the trees and your horses?”

His words hit Samantha with force. Of course! Bandy was exactly right. Why hadn’t she seen that before?

“He’d a gone after ‘em right then if you hadn’t been with him, you can count on that,”

the foreman went on, his wizened face wearing an earnest expression. “But he didn’t wanna risk getting you hurt, so he got you back home first.”

“Oh, I’ve been such a fool,” Samantha cried.

Bandy leaned across and patted her back soothingly. “Now, girl, don’t go to takin’ on. You bein’ from the city and all, you just don’t understand the way things work out here, that’s all.” He broke into a broad grin. “You’ll get the hang of it,” he told her. “Ol’ Ben will soon have you up to snuff, don’t you worry.”

Trey and Marielle both smiled and Samantha saw them exchange a knowing look.

Goodness! They must think she and Ben were an item. She’d need to rectify that misapprehension, but not tonight. She was too tired.

They all looked up as Ben’s truck came up the driveway and stopped in front of the house. He crossed the distance to the front door in a few swift strides, not standing on ceremony and knocking for admittance, just coming on in. He went immediately to Samantha and Marielle moved over to make room for him to sit beside her friend.

He looked into Samantha’s eyes anxiously, his concern evident. “Are you okay, Samantha?” he inquired.

She stared back at him and nodded. “I t-think so,” she said. “Bandy gave me some whiskey and it burned like fire but made me feel better.”

Ben laughed. “That was good thinking, Bandy,” he told the older man approvingly.

“I know what’s good for shock,” Bandy replied, “and Miss Samantha had done had a bad shock.”

“That’s the truth,” Ben stated vehemently. His next words were spoken directly to

Samantha and he looked directly at her, making sure he had her full attention, as they were delivered. “They’re locked up, Samantha. Locked up tight and they’ll stay that way for a long time. They won’t ever bother you again.”

She stared into his eyes, even in her dazed state noting that tonight they appeared to be as deep gray as storm clouds. What she saw there caused some of her tension to dissolve and the mind-numbing fear to begin to recede.

“Okay, Ben.”

“Hey, Ben,” Bandy spoke up, “how did them rascals come to be here at Miss Samantha’s?”

“Their ATV broke down and they missed their prearranged pickup, so they needed transportation to get back to town. I found the Bad Boy Buggy they’d been using off the side of a trail this afternoon and knew they had to be on foot. When I came by this evening to see Samantha, I knew something was out of whack. Her voice didn’t sound right. So I pretended to leave, parked the truck up on the road and sneaked back on foot.”

“So you didn’t believe me” Samantha asked.

“No, not for a minute,” Ben replied. “I could tell by your voice something was wrong. But why did you do that? Why didn’t you want me to come in?”

Samantha sat silently, trying to find the right words for what she had done.

Bandy spoke up. “I can answer that question, Ben,” he said. “Samantha told us before you got here. She knew those skunks aimed to take you by surprise and kill you, so she wouldn’t tell you to come in like they told her to. Now I’m tellin’ ya straight out, that’s about the bravest thing I’ve ever heard tell of right there. I mean, that’s one gutsy little woman!”

Ben sat as though turned to stone. Finally, he cleared his throat and spoke. “I agree, Bandy, that’s the bravest thing I’ve ever heard of, too. But you haven’t heard the rest of the story. Talk about brave!”

He regaled them with how Samantha had gamely fought the two men and of the injuries she had inflicted on them. “When she came out of the bedroom with that shotgun, they both begged me not to leave them alone with her,” he finished.

Bandy laughed until he cried, slapping his leg to illustrate his amusement. Trey and Marielle also had a good laugh. “But Sam, you could have been killed!” she admonished her friend.

Samantha shrugged. Apparently Mari wasn’t getting the big picture. They were going to kill her anyway so she had nothing to lose.

Ben looked at Samantha. “I’ll get the door fixed for you tomorrow,” he told her, “and I’ll stay here tonight to be with you.”

“I can stay here with her, Ben,” Bandy offered. “This here couch is comfortable.” He laughed. “I spent a many a night on it when ol’ Dan was alive.” Dan had been Marielle’s great uncle that had left her this ranch in his will.

“No further than it is back to our ranch,” he told Trey, “I ain’t never been one to drive nowhere when I’m a mite liquored up. So when me and ol’ Dan passed the jug too many times, I just slept here.”

Trey, sitting next to Marielle, felt her elbow him discreetly. Catching on, he said, “No, that’s alright, Bandy. I imagine Ben and Samantha have things they want to talk about. So let’s go on home now and leave them alone.”

Bandy started to protest but catching the look Trey flashed his way, lapsed into silence, understanding finally that Ben and Samantha should be left alone together.

Trey, Marielle and Bandy took their leave, Samantha as well as Ben thanking them profusely for coming over to be with her. They stood together on the porch watching their friends leave.

“Tell you what,” Ben said. “I’ll get some wood in and build a fire if you’ll run me a hot bath and rustle me up a sandwich. I always keep a clean change of clothes in the truck so I’ll just bring them in.”

“Okay,” Samantha replied. She still felt bruised and battered to the depths of her soul, and was glad of being given something to do. It might distract her from her turbulent thoughts.

Ben seemed to sense that she needed something to do, something to take her mind off the traumatic episode she had lived through tonight, she thought. But that was Ben, always so thoughtful and attentive to her needs.

Ben, whom she had misjudged so badly. Ben, who had saved her life tonight. Ben, who had known she was lying when she told him she didn’t want him here and called him a pest.

How had he been so sure she wasn’t telling the truth?

Ben relaxed in the bathtub, letting the hot water soak away some of his weariness and stress. He’d have preferred a long shower but wasn’t about to leave Samantha alone even long enough to run home and take one. He was thankful that he had gotten into the habit long ago of keeping spare clothes in his truck. As a game warden, he never knew what sort of messes he might get into that would make spare clothing, socks and boots a good thing to have on hand.

His blood run cold as his thoughts turned again to Samantha’s ordeal tonight. God! What a thing for her to have to go through! It was bound to have a traumatic effect on her and he hoped she wasn’t too proud hearted to admit it and get help working through the incident if she needed it.

The blood in his veins went from ice cold to red hot and boiling with rage as soon as his thoughts turned to the two men who had mistreated her so badly. He hoped they got the max sentence and felt reasonably certain they would as each had a rap sheet of priors as long as his arm. His lips twitched when he thought about how she had gamely stood up to her captors. She had fought valiantly but the sad truth was that she wouldn’t have been able to prevent what they intended to do to her.

Rape, certainly, and in Ben’s best guess … murder. He had serious doubts that they’d have left her alive to alert the authorities and furnish names and descriptions of them, even if it was only first names. As much trouble as he’d found out they had already been in, a description along with a first name would have been more than enough to put law enforcement services wise as to their identity.

He’d stay here tonight in the capacity of a good friend concerned for her welfare, which he was, even if he wanted to be a whole lot more. After what she had been through this evening, she wouldn’t need him making any sexual overtures. He needed to be nurturing and supportive, but no more. He could do that. Hell, he was tired anyway. But if he was being honest with himself, the truth was that even bundled up in those flannel pajamas, thick furry robe and fuzzy slipper socks as she was, he still found Samantha O’Brien almost irresistibly sexy. He’d love to remove those layers of clothing that stood between him and her silken skin and lush body, then show her how much he loved and desired her with his lovemaking.