The Reluctant Rancher~Badlands (Contemporary Western Romantic Suspense) (7 page)

“Tuna casserole,” he announced. “I haven’t had this since my mom was alive.” He kissed her temple and sat
down at the head of the table.

She passed the casserole dish to him, glad he was able to recognize it. “And peas…We have peas.” True, they had been frozen and she had nuked them into tenderness, but they had a somewhat balanced meal. Okay, so cooking wasn’t
her thing, but she would learn.

“Great meal, honey.”
Breck beamed his appreciation at her.

A flow of warmth to her insides gave her one more reason she was glad she had given up her dream career in Houston.
Got a new dream.

~*~

That night, E.J. was ready to turn in, when the house phone rang. It was a physician calling from his dad’s prison. He informed E.J. that Eldon was severely depressed and anxious. Eldon wanted his son to visit and was asking if someone named Camryn Carmichael was going to be coming too.

“I…I’m not sure. I asked her, but she didn’t sound eager to see him.” E.J. heaved out a huge sigh. “You know that he confessed to killing her great aunt, don’t you?”

There was a silence on the other end of the line. “No, I wasn’t aware of that. Perhaps he wants her forgiveness.”

E.J. shook his head. “I can’t imagine, but I’ll ask her again.” He hung up feeling restless and far from sleepy. He paced around the house, looked in the refrigerator and then closed the door. Eventually, he made his way to the front of the house and spied his leather jacket; the one which he had lent to Jenna. A smile spread across his face whenever he thought of her. He put on the jacket and her soft floral scent enveloped him, gentle as
a whisper, warm as an embrace.

He went out to the stables to check on the horses. At least these were animals he could understand. All they needed was to be fed and watered, given some exercise and a little love.

When he gazed into the eyes of these gentle giants, he could see why his dad enjoyed living on the ranch. He knew that part of Eldon’s drive to possess this land, was rooted in his desire to leave his son something of value; something tangible as his legacy.

“Well, you sure did that,” he muttered. But instead of feeling entitled, he felt encumbered. The sprawling ranch and surrounding land holdings felt more l
ike a burden than a birthright.

In Dallas, there was a large home…a beautiful home where his mother had lived while Eldon was running the roads in the panhandle and west Texas. His mother had raised him with her gracious style, and with very little input from Eldon. His father had been proud of his grades, but rolled his eyes over the
sports in which E.J. excelled.

“What the hell is dressage anyway? Isn’t he just riding horses? And why is he playing soccer instead of football?” Eldon would shake his head, muttering that tennis was a sissy game.

The one passion he and his father had shared was their love of horses. When Eldon had gone riding with him, he had been careful to ride western style. “Don’t let me see daylight between your ass and that saddle, son.”

His memories of Eldon involved some resentment that his father had not been there for him as a teen, and he had not been available for his mother especially during her illness. He also felt resentful for the general feeling that he had
disappointed his father.

And yet, other people always told him that Eldon was very proud of him. He wished his father had found a way to show him.

He rubbed the nose of the handsome black stallion, Stryker, his father’s favorite horse. Tomorrow he would have to broach Cami again and try to convince her to visit his old man in prison, although he could see no reason why she would agree to it.

He secured the stables, and strolled back toward the house. Glancing up at the overcast sky, he noted the clouds scudding by, shrouding the moon.
Dark night
. He went into the house to try and get some sleep.

~*~

CHAPTER FIVE

Sara Beth sat in her darkened house, the doors and windows locked. She rocked her daughter Cami Lynn, although the infant had fallen asleep some time ago. Sara Beth’s stomach was tied up in a knot. She was frightened and it was dark outside with no moon showing. She kept hearing noises, but when she crept to the windows to peer out in the darkness, she could see nothing moving except the wind blowing the tree branches.

But
, the feeling persisted that she was being observed.

She steeled herself against her fears and laid her daughter in
the crib. She snuggled a soft blanket around the baby and stretched to relieve the tightness in her back.
Nothing to worry about. It’s all my imagination.

Sara Beth pulled the door almost closed and stepped into the hallway.
I just wish Nick would come home...or at least call me.

She made her way into the kitchen without turning on the lights. She picked up the cordless phone to hear the last message Nick left, but the phone was dead. She clicked the on button several times, but there was no dial tone. A whisper of fear touched her skin, igniting a blanket of goose
flesh. Being alone in the country with a young baby and no communication was dangerous. She turned on the pendant lamp suspended over the small table and fumbled in her purse for her cell.

A barrage of gunfire exploded around her, shattering windows and smashing the crockery on her counter. The pendant lamp went out, but the gunfire continued. Sara Beth fell to the floor, clutching her cell. She edged her way toward the hallway and pressed one of the b
uttons; the last number called.

“Hello?” a sleepy Doctor Cami answered.

Sara Beth let out a little yelp. “Someone’s out there! Someone’s shooting at me!”

“Sara Beth? Is that you
?...Breck, it’s Sara Beth.”

Sara Beth rushed to pick up her daughter and carried her to the relative safety of the hallway. She curled up on the floor, shielding her baby. “Doctor Cami...I think I’ve been shot.”

~*~

Breck called the sheriff’s office and threw on his clothes. He pulled on his boots and went to his office where he kept his gun safe. He removed his Winchester 30-30 rifle and a handgun and was on his way out the door when Cami caught up with him. “And where do you think you’re going?”

She made an impatient sound and stepped out onto the porch, shoving her arms into a jacket. “She said she’s been shot. Of course I’m going.”

“I called the sheriff, but this could be dangerous. I can’t let you take any chances.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I will either go with you or I can take the Lincoln. Your choice.”

The set of her jaw made him roll his eyes. “Get in the truck.”

He slid the rifle into the gun rack and the handgun in the console along with a box of ammunition.
Nothing like being prepared
.

Cami climbed in and slammed the door.
“Hurry!”

He started the truck and pulled out onto the road toward the Jessup place. They rode in silence, each with their own thoughts. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would take a shot at a sweet young thing like Sara Beth Jessup. Her asshole husband was another matter. Nick just didn
’t have a lick of common sense.

When Breck turned off the main highway onto the caliches road leading to the Jessup place, he could see lights up ahead. The sheriff had beaten him there. He pulled in clear of the two vehicles with flashing lights. He saw the house dark in one side with flashlights beaming around and all lit up on the other side. There were a couple of deputies outside working with flashlights and the wash of headlamps of one of the sheriff’s department vehicles. Breck too
ted the horn a couple of times.

The sheriff himself stepped into the doorway to frown out at him, a revolver pointing in the general direction of the truck. “Who’s there?”

“Breckenridge Ryan,” he shouted. “And my wife, the doctor. Do you need any help?”

The sheriff holstered hi
s weapon and waved them inside.

Breck climbed out, but not before Cami had thrown open the passenger door and taken off at a run toward the house with her medical bag tucked under her arm. Feelings of exasperation and pride
duked it out in his chest. On the one hand, he didn’t want her involved, but on the other hand, he knew she would throw herself into any opportunity to save a life. He just hoped there would be lives to save.

~*~

Sara Beth still sat on the floor in the hallway, clutching her baby in one arm and a kitchen towel to her neck with her other hand. She felt nothing, no fear, no pain...nothing...

She was distanced from the events taking place around her. Like an alien being from another planet, she observed without emotion from inside the life form she had chosen to inhabit.

The lights were on in the rest of the house except for the kitchen, where the hanging fixture had been demolished by the gunfire. Large uniformed men tromped around her tiny home, their boots like hammer blows on the worn wooden floors. Their presence miniaturized everything in the dwelling.

She watched silently, a dwarfed creature in a giant world.

“Sara Beth...honey…are you okay?”

It was Cami, the doctor. She was reaching for the baby. Sara Beth gazed at her dispassionately.

“Here, Breck. Take the baby.”

Sara Beth screamed when Cami removed he
r daughter from her hands. She grabbed her infant and curled over her protectively.

The infant cried out, that sound that all
new creatures know how to make.

Insistent hands reached to ta
ke the baby, to lift Sara Beth.

“Let me look at her neck. Is that the only place she’s bleeding?”

“Lay her on here.”

She heard the sound of something being swept to the floor and she was stretched across her table with Cam
i inspecting her by flashlight.

“I knew,” she said. “I knew.”

“Knew what, Sara Beth?” Cami asked. “She’s got shards of glass all over her. See if there’s a hairbrush or a comb to get this out of her hair.”

“I knew there was someone out there.” Sara Beth said. “They’ve been watching me for days.”

“Someone was watching? Who?” Cami demanded.

“I don’t know. But I could feel someone was out there.”

Cami looked at Breck. “Comb through her hair to get the glass out...gently now.”

“Where is she shot?” he asked.

“I don’t think this is from a bullet. I think the flying glass nicked her neck. I’m just cleaning it up now.”

“Lucky,” he said.

“Extremely.”

She felt the comb dragging through her hair. It
was comforting, like when she was a little girl and mama had done her hair for her.

“Sara Beth, I’ve butterflied your wound. C’mon off the table and let me make sure this is your only place you were injured.” Cami held out her hand and Sara Beth reached to take it, but when she saw how her own hand
shook, everything crumbled inside her. She began to shiver all over and tears sprang to her eyes. She allowed the doctor to pull her to her feet and then felt her knees give way. Arms reached for her and she succumbed to the terrible fit of trembling that had been waiting to devour her.

“She’s in shock. Take her to the truck, Breck. I’ll bring the baby.”

The sheriff stepped forward. “I haven’t questioned her yet.”

Cami put the baby up to her shoulder and covered her with a blanket. “Come to my place tomorrow, sheriff. You can question her then.”

~*~

Jenna awoke in her own bed. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that after awakening the previous morning naked and enfolded in the muscled arms of the sexy E.J. Kincaid.

I did him! I had wild, passionate sex with the best looking asshole in the entire known universe.

She closed her eyes and wrapped the exquisite feeling around her.
The lushness of E.J.’s hunky body; the intensity of his kisses. A rush of lust swirled low in her belly. Her heart pumped a little faster with the recollection.

“No-o-o-o
!” she moaned. “I cannot be falling in love with E.J. Kincaid.” She threw back the covers and placed her bare feet on the floor. She dropped her head into her hands and considered her uncharacteristically wild and wanton behavior. She acknowledged that E.J. had been solicitous and kind, lavishing affection on her, even when she had been resistant. Her initial embarrassment had given way to a grudging acceptance. Perhaps it was the fact that a gorgeous man was paying attention to her after a long absence of any such considerations.

He’s treating me like a…a girlfriend.

In her recent history, even the men she had casually dated had not had any such ideas about an even tentative commitment. She exhaled as though ridding herself of a heavy burden.

“Not E.J.” she whispered. Not the man she had derided for his city ways since he had arrived on the scene with his fancy degree in hand. She supposed he was qualified to manage the huge property his father had built, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was a
city boy with city boy tastes.