The Reluctant Rancher~Badlands (Contemporary Western Romantic Suspense) (19 page)

Sara Beth tried to relax…tried to fight back the tears pricking her eyes. Reaching for her fork again, she concentrated on getting a bite of meatloaf speared and into her mouth.

Frank continued to talk to Cami Lynn as she nursed the bottle. She gazed up at him, apparently fascinated by the deeply resonant voice. “Such a pretty girl,” he said. “Like your mother.”

Sara Beth almost choked on the bite she was chewing. “Oh, I’ve never been pretty.” As soon as she said the words, her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. “I mean, I know I’m not pretty.”

Frank frowned at her. “Where did you ever get that idea?”

She shrugged. “My parents. They told me to be glad I was just a plain girl with a good spirit, that I might please the Lord.”

He didn’t speak, but continued to frown at her as though he was battling over some internal conflict. He set the bottle on the counter top and lifted the baby to his shoulder. He jostled her and patted her back until she gave up a huge burp. He grabbed a paper napkin and wiped a bit of milky foam from her mouth.

Sara Beth continued to eat quietly, appreciating the food and friendship Frank offered. She knew she was wrong to feel so fearful of accepting gifts from this man, who seemed to have no agenda whatsoever. She watched her daughter fall under his spell, gurgling in response to his words. Or maybe he was falling under her spell.

~*~

CHAPTER TWELVE

“E.J., darling,” Taylor trilled as she threw her arms around his neck. The scent of her expensiv
e perfume closed in around him.

He had opened the door and found a half dozen of his friends waiting.

“So sorry for your loss,” she said, planting a kiss on his cheek. She stepped around him and entered the house.

“Sorry, old chap. Condolences and all that.” Chip Benton, one of his friends from prep school bumped fists with him and followed Taylor inside.

“Um, thank you,” E.J. mumbled.

Marla slipped her arms inside his jacket and around his torso. She pressed herself against him, and then drew back, gazing up at him with yearning in her expression. “Missed you so much,” she whispered.

It felt strange, somehow wrong, for anyone other than Jenna to have her arms around him. “Uh, yeah. Me too.” E.J. slipped out of her grasp, reaching to accept the hand of another of his friends.

Gunnar
Heidricks shook his hand and slapped him on the shoulder and stepped inside. And then, only one person stood waiting to greet him.

“Hello Cory.” E.J.’s voice turned husky on him as he gazed at the woman he had be
en so enamored with in college.

“E.J.”
Her voice flowed with an almost musical quality. “I’ve missed you terribly.” Her lower lip quivered in a tantalizing way, full, glossy and perfect. She stepped toward him, her arms extended and he found himself embracing her.

“Uh, good to see you, Cory
.” He felt himself cringe at how lame that sounded. “Won’t you come in?” He stepped back, but Cory remained in his arms, gazing up at him with a rapt expression.

They stared at each other for a long moment and she lifted her ch
in, her mouth posed for a kiss.

He stepped back again, releasing her and
gesturing toward the interior.

A look of mild annoyance crossed her perfect face
. She turned and walked inside.

E.J. drew a breath and blew it out before following his guests. When he turned to the room his mother had called the drawing room, he found Chip helping himself to the eighty-year-old blended whisky. He poured it from a lead crystal decanter into one of the matching shot glasses.  E.J. remembered his mother telling him this set had been in his
family for several generations.

Cory walked with her particular grace to a chair by the marble fireplace. She turned and sank onto the chair, staring a
t him with large luminous eyes.

“Nice of you to drop by,” E.J. said.

Taylor spread her hands wide. “Surely you didn’t think we would abandon you in your hour of need. What kind of friends do you think we are?”

“No, I didn’t think anything of the kind.”  He crossed to take the decanter out of Chip’s hand and dispensed a substantial belt in
to one of the glasses. He poured the liquid down his throat, welcoming the smooth taste, the oak of the barrel.

“What are your plans, old man?” Gunnar stared at him, his brow knit in a particularly fierce frown.

“Yes,” Marla whispered. “With your father’s. . .untimely passing, surely you’re going to return to Dallas. I mean, you don’t have to hang out on a cattle ranch now, do you?”

E.J. tossed back the rest of the whisky. “No, I suppose I don’t.”

A provocative smile played around Cory’s mouth. “I mean, what is the appeal of a bunch of cows? Surely you can hire someone competent to manage everything…I mean, your place is here with the people who love you.”

A tight feeling in E.J.’s chest threatened to suffocate him.  Her words sounded tinny, her laugh echoed off the hard surfaces in the room, setting off the
others to chortle and snicker.

Taylor caught his eye and sobered. “Oh, shame on us. We’re
all so thrilled to have our fearless leader back, but we’re not respecting his feelings. The man just lost his father. Let’s be civil.” Her perfectly arched brows lifted in a parody of sorrow.

Chip’s mouth pulled down at the corners. “Yes, old man, is there going to be a service or a memorial? I’m sure all the old gan
g will show up to support you.”

E.J. shook his head. “No. No service. My father was interred beside my mother this afternoon in the family crypt. His will is being read in a couple of days.”

Another chilling silence.

Cory cleared her throat. “You know Tink and
Lissy got married, don’t you? I mean, he bought her the grandest diamond ring ever.” She smiled at him. “They’re having a little soiree the day after tomorrow and told me to make sure you attend. They’re so anxious for you to rejoin the world of the living.” She stopped abruptly. “Oh, my god! Did I say that? Well you know what I meant.”

E.J. nodded. He knew exactly what she meant. Perhaps another taste of that blended whisky would
make this all go down easier.

~*~

That evening the sheriff came to the ranch. Breck ushered him into the parlor and Cami brought the coffee service. Her hands shook when she poured coffee into her Aunt Silky’s porcelain cups.

Breck reached out to steady her, taking the cup and saucer to the sheriff. “Sit down, honey. Let’s hear what the sheriff has to say. I’m sure he didn’t drive all the way out here just to pass the time.”

Cami nodded and sat down on the brocade Queen Anne sofa, her hands clasped together, scarcely breathing.

The sheriff took a sip of coffee and then set the cup carefully
on  the saucer. “There have been some developments in the case. The dead Hispanic fellow appears to have been a Mexican national. The few papers on him showed him to be from the state of Chihuahua, but no name on them. We notified the border patrol and the Mexican government with a photo, in case someone is looking for him.”

Cami thought she might pass out from sheer anxiety. She tried to make herself breathe in and out in a semi-normal fashion.

“This won’t mean anything to you, Mrs. Ryan,” the sheriff said. “It was before your time. But Breck, you should remember the Atwaters.”

Breck frowned.
“Vaguely. I was just a youngster when they left town. My dad might be able to tell you something about them.”

“The
Atwaters, Brody and Marie, have been at the bottom of the caves for twenty-some-odd years. They’re petrified like mummies due to the conditions in the caves.”

Breck sank down on the sofa beside Cami. “How did you get a positive identification, Sheriff?”

“Brody got into a few scrapes with the law and his fingerprints were on file. The forensic lab had to rehydrate his fingertips but there was a match, pure and simple. Somebody shot ‘em dead and tossed them down in that old cave on Silky’s property.” He shook his head. “Talk about a cold case.”

A tremor gripped Cami, causing her to shake visibly.

Breck put an arm around her and drew her against his solid chest. “Here, now. You don’t need to be upset about these people. They have nothing to do with us.”

She sucked in a breath and nodded. “It was Eldon!” she blurted out. “Eldon Kincaid. He murdered them and threw them down in the cave.”

Breck gazed at her, shook his head and patted her shoulder. “Now, honey. I’d like to believe it was Eldon, but that’s a big stretch. What makes you think it might have been him?”

The sheriff frowned, as though entertaining the possibility. “That’s not as far-fetched as you might think, Breck. I remember Eldon filing a deed of ownership on the Atwater place right after they left…or so we thought. He claimed to have won the property in a poker game and had a hand-written quit-claim
deed signed by Brody Atwater. We sorta figured that was the reason the Atwaters left.”

Cami gasped for air. “He…he told me. That night, when he tried to kill me and…and Red broke his ribs…He told me Brody Atwater had come at him and he
’d killed him in the fight…and then he murdered the woman.”

Breck stared at her, his mouth
open as though he was groping for words.

The sheriff cleared his throat, frowning at her.
“Mrs. Ryan, why on earth would you keep silent about this for the past several months?”

“Because we had a deal.
When we were rescued and Eldon was in the hospital, he agreed to plead guilty to murdering my Aunt Silky. That was all I cared about. I know this was wrong, but there was no evidence to tie him to her death, or any other, so I thought as long as he was in prison, it didn’t matter.” Tears streamed down her face. “I’m sorry. I’m sure I made things more difficult, but I didn’t know what else to do.” She turned to Breck and buried her face against his neck.

Breck stroked her hair. “That’s enough, honey. Don’t say anything else.”

“Mrs. Ryan, if you could come in and make a formal statement tomorrow that would be acceptable”

Cami turned to face the sheriff, sniffling and dabbing at her eyes. “Acceptable?”

Breck blew out an exasperated sigh. “As opposed to the sheriff arresting you tonight for obstruction of justice.”

The full weight of her actions slammed
home.

Damn you, Eldon Kincaid!

~*~

The next morning, Jenna Lewis drove to the local airport. She had gotten a call from E.J. asking her to meet him there. She supposed he needed a ride, but then again, she thought he had driven to Dallas in his Jaguar. No matter. She was
just glad he was coming home.

She pulled her truck to the rear of the
designated hanger and parked, keeping well to the side of the runway. Quite a few small planes were lined up along the side or in hangers. A crop dusting company had two small, single-engine planes under tarps.

A Cessna Citation approached the runway with its wheels down, circled once
, and came in for a landing.

As it rolled to a stop, Jenna couldn’t control her grin. The door opened and E.J. stepped out, looking big and gorgeous. He cocked a grin at her and walked straight to where she was parked.

He opened her door and swung her out and into a bear hug. “God! I missed you.”

She could hardly speak,
partially because of the emotions choking her and due, in even larger part to the strong arms squeezing the breath out of her.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Ready for what?” she gasped out.

“Just lock your truck and come with me. I need you.”

“What? Come with you where?”

He drew a breath and pulled her away from the truck. “Dallas. Just for a few days. Please come with me.”

“I have appointments.”

The blue eyes drilled into her. “I would appreciate it if you could reschedule.”

“E.J., I don’t know what this is about, but…” she expelled a sigh. “If you need me to be with you, I’ll go.” She looked around. “I have nothing with me. Can I run home and get a few things?”

“Nope.
We can shop.” He drew her by the hand. “Let me show you my city. Let me spend some money on my girl.”

She
grinned. “Now you’re talking!”

He led her to the plane and ushered her inside. The door was closed and secured. She was seated and her seatbelt fastened for her. The pilot took off in a matter of minutes.
“Oh, my!” She hadn’t ever flown in a plane so small.

The pilot turned the aircraft, banking to the left and climbing. A dizzy feeling swirled through her he
ad. She gripped the hand rests.

E.J. clasped his hands over hers. “Don’t worry, Jenna. This is a very safe plane.”

She grinned at him. “Did you rent this airplane just to come get me?”