by Renee Rose
Responsibility.
I didn’t like that word. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t told Clint in the first place. I didn’t want to get tangled in a relationship just because we were having a kid together. I wasn’t one of those people who believed having a kid out of wedlock was a sin, even though my parents did. I believed marrying the wrong person was a sin.
One I’d been paying for… for years.
They were all watching me again, so I offered them a fake smile then owned up. “I’m sure the baby will appreciate that, but I’m not jumping into a relationship just because a condom didn’t work. You know what I mean?”
Marina’s eyes widened slightly, like she was taken aback.
“I don’t want to just be Clint’s responsibility. I want to be… more.”
Audrey jumped to my rescue. “Of course, you do. I know you’re still in the middle of a tricky divorce.” She covered my hand with hers. “I’m sure this seems like terrible timing.”
My bank account had been wiped out, and I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to pay the rent this month. Sure, I’d have the money with my next paycheck, which I’d have to get cashed then give the landlord money in an envelope to ensure Todd didn’t get his mean fingers on it. I frowned at how much of a pain that would be. Yet I had no extra money. I literally had nothing to my name. Wasn’t that fucking depressing?
I nodded at Audrey, a lump in my throat forming.
“I hope you don’t feel like Clint is pressuring you. These ranch guys come on strong—we can all attest to that.”
Marina and Willow nodded.
I released a watery laugh. “He definitely comes on strong. I told you about why I’m divorcing my ex, but not the latest with him. Todd is causing all kinds of trouble right now. Clint caught him looking in my bedroom window, so Clint pretty much made me pack a bag and move in with him. He said it won’t hurt us to get to know each other while he’s protecting me.”
The women all looked concerned. “Todd was looking in your window?” Audrey asked. “That’s creepy. I’m so glad Clint was there to help.”
“Yeah, and that was right after Todd drained my bank account and slashed my tire. God, I just wish he’d meet someone else and get over me. Or drop dead,” I added.
Marina put another cheese puff on my plate, as if feeding me would solve my problems. “Well, I think Clint’s right. I’m glad you have him to protect you,” she said.
“Me, too,” Audrey concurred.
Willow also nodded gravely. “Do you have a gun? I could teach you to shoot.”
I remembered Audrey telling me she was former D.E.A. and smiled. She’d pretended to be the new next-door neighbor to investigate a drug runner who’d bought the adjacent property. I didn’t know where the neighbor was now. Willow had only said she still hadn’t moved to the ranch.
“No, I’m not a fan of guns. But thanks.” I gobbled down the cheese puff and half the glass of water. Even after eating two helpings of lasagna, I was hungry. Marina’s snacks were so good, even without any little hot dogs. “Anyway, the bottom line is that my life’s a freaking mess. Clint and I are going to stay in the getting-to-know-you phase until it’s not. End of story.”
Willow nodded, watching me thoughtfully. “Right. That makes sense. Hopefully Clint can dial it back.” Her gaze tracked to my neck.
I found myself reaching up to cover the place he’d bitten me even though I didn’t think it showed under my shirt. Now all three of them stared at the spot. I quickly put my hand down and grabbed a stuffed mushroom from the loaded plate.
“Let me ask you this.” Marina leaded forward on her forearms. “If circumstances were different—if the divorce was in the past and there was no pregnancy—would you be interested in Clint?”
I thought of every interaction I’d had with the hot horse wrangler—which granted, hadn’t been that many—and how they’d all left me aglow. He’d been attentive, hot, sexy, dominant. His kindness showed through in the way he handled me. The way he handled that sweet foal. Unlike Todd, he seemed humble—he didn’t boast or show off. Like how he didn’t get upset about having his nose broken at the bar. It hadn’t been about him proving anything, it had been about me. Protecting me.
Then there were the times he wasn’t overly gentlemanly. When he laid me over a hay bale, parted my thighs and ate me out until I screamed his name. Or fucked me rough and wild up against a storage room wall, completely lost to the pleasure he got from me and my body.
My pussy clenched at the idea of more of both the hot cowboy and dirty talker. “Definitely,” I answered. “I would definitely want to explore things with Clint.”
“Well, let’s explore, sugar,” Clint said from the doorway, and I blushed to my roots.
I narrowed my eyes and pointed at Marina. “You knew he was there.”
She looked sheepish but not sorry.
I turned, balled up a napkin and tossed it at him. “You weren’t supposed to be listening!”
He shook his head even though he was grinning. “I didn’t hear a thing. Just something about exploring.” He waggled his eyebrows like I’d been talking about sex. I was glad he couldn’t read my thoughts. “I’m down for anything, so long as it involves you.” He held out his hand, like I was a lady in Regency times who required a man’s assistance to stand.
These were the little things he did that made me feel like a queen. Maybe I could explore things with him. A relationship. A real one. Maybe this one time, life wouldn’t fuck me over.
“Willow, thanks for feeding my girl, but we’ve got to get back to town. She works in the morning, so she’s got to get to bed early.”
Audrey laughed. “Yeah, Boyd says the same thing, but it never means to sleep!”
Based on what Clint promised in the barn, I didn’t think it meant to sleep either.
16
CLINT
* * *
The next day, I knelt next to Starshine to check on him, and my mind flooded with images of Becky. No way I could ever get rid of this foal now. He would forever remind me of my mate. I’d worked hard all morning mucking out the stalls and riding four of the horses, but my mind had never left her.
She was scheduled to work today. While I wished she’d have called in sick, I’d agreed the hospital was safe enough after she’d explained to me that the Labor and Delivery and Mom/Baby areas were kept on lock-down. The security there was tight, and no one could get on the floor without proper ID. Even her ex, or so she promised me. She knew what he could do more than me, and I trusted her that she was thinking of her safety when I’d dropped her off for her shift.
But when Rob came into the stable, and I caught the urgency in the way he said my name, my wolf took notice.
“Audrey called,” he told me. “She wanted to get a message to you. Sheriff Duncan went to the hospital and picked up Becky for questioning.”
“What?” I barked. My chest puffed and my hands clenched into fists. My wolf howled in anger.
Rob was calm, as usual. “He had a deputy with him. While she wasn’t under arrest, they read her her Miranda rights and took her to the station.”
The stable spun. I may have partially shifted because my vision sharpened like I was on a hunt. The growl that filled the stable made the horses whinny with fear. I reached out, set my hand on a hay bale. I gripped it in my fingers, lifted it with one hand and tossed it across the stable.
“For what?” I demanded, my breath coming out in ragged pants. I couldn’t lose my shit here. My mate was in fucking jail, and she needed me.
He didn’t step closer, just gave me room to lose my shit.
“Her ex was found murdered in her place last night.”
I was already moving, jogging out of the stable to my truck assuming he’d follow. “What? Murdered? In her house? What the fuck was he doing there, and how did he get inside?”
“I don’t know that. I only know what Audrey told me,” he called from behind me.
“Tell her I�
�m on my way.”
“Hold up, Clint,” Rob barked. He must’ve used alpha command because that was the only thing that would’ve stopped my feet, and they skidded to a halt. I stood in the packed dirt area in front of the stable. My truck was a hundred feet away in front of the bunkhouse. I could get in it, get to town and be with my mate within thirty minutes. Except my alpha commanded me to wait.
“Listen to me,” he said. “The guy had his throat ripped out.”
I spun around to face him. “What the fuck? Who rips—oh shit.”
“This was a message.” He came up to me, set his hands on his hips. “I think Donald found you. Scented you. Followed you to Becky’s. Knows she’s yours.”
My eyes widened at what he was saying.
No.
No!
I opened my mouth to bellow, but Rob shot out more of that alpha command. “Keep your damn head.”
“It’s my fault. My mate and unborn child are in jail because of me. This was why I tried to keep my distance. I knew all along I was nothing but trouble for her.”
I spun around, faced my truck and kicked a huge dent in the side panel. Then I ripped off the side view mirror, hurled it across the parking area.
He clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder, grounding me. Stopping me. “You need to call Selena to meet you at the jail. Becky needs a lawyer who knows human law and understands what the fuck really happened.”
I was seething, but his words penetrated. They made sense. Selena could deal with the sheriff and the questioning. Becky had been with me for over twenty-four hours when I dropped her off at the hospital. I had no idea when Todd had been killed, but it had to have been in that window since he’d gone into her house after he’d been released from custody. That meant Becky wasn’t a suspect, only the dead guy’s widow. Being a shifter, Selena would recognize the cause of death and know it was shifter related and put it together.
Selena’d have Becky out fast, but that didn’t make it any better knowing she was there alone right now. And that wouldn’t solve the issue with Donald.
“Get your mate out of there and somewhere you can protect her. I’ll update the council. They’ll want to know about this.” He didn’t release his grip on my shoulder. “Your wolf is still showing,” he said.
My eyes must’ve still been silver. I was growling, too. A low, menacing rumble meant to tell the world to back the fuck away from my mate.
Becky.
Fates, she must be so scared. So traumatized. Her ex, murdered in her own home.
And it was my fucking fault!
I brought this on her.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“I knew I should’ve stayed away from her, but I just couldn’t help myself, could I?”
“Clint.” Rob gave me an alpha growl, and my mind settled.
“What would you do if this was Willow?”
“You’d tell me the exact same thing,” he countered. “Pull it together, man. Your mate needs you to have a clear head.”
I nodded. Yes. He was right. I sucked in a deep breath through my nostrils and blew it out. “I’m good,” I promised.
He studied me. “Are you? Because I’m not letting you go to the station if you’re gonna go silver there.”
I swallowed. “No, I’m good. I’m good. Let me go.”
Rob released his hold on me. “Keep it together.”
“Yeah. I’m good,” I chanted, opening the truck door. I wasn’t going to kill anyone at the station. Even if I wanted to. I would save it all for Donald Brown. The guy who dared threaten my mate. The guy who entered her fucking house last night.
The guy who was going to die. Very soon. I wasn’t a council enforcer now. I was a mate whose female was in danger.
I got on my phone as I drove into town. “Selena,” I said in a tight voice when she answered. “The police have my mate. Her ex was murdered in her house.”
“Where is she being held?”
“The Cooper Valley station.”
“I’ll meet you there. They aren’t going to let you in, so don’t kick up a fuss when you get there. Tell them her lawyer is on her way. Let me handle things.”
I growled, not thrilled with what she said. “Fine. There’s something else. Something you need to know. Consider it client-attorney privilege.”
“Oh Fates. Tell me you didn’t kill him.”
I gripped the steering wheel until it cracked. “I didn’t. But it was a wolf shifter, for sure. His throat was torn out.”
She sighed. “What else?”
“I’m a council enforcer. I think I brought this on Becky. Someone’s out for revenge, and they’re fucking with my mate to make me sweat.”
“That’s a problem. A very big problem. Because if I can get Becky released from there today—”
“You mean when,” I snarled.
“I’ll do my best. But when I do, you won’t be able to leave town or go into hiding. She’ll need to stay where the police can contact her. If she’s a suspect in this murder case, she won’t be allowed to leave town.”
“Which means we’ll be sitting ducks.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
I roared my fury, stepping on the gas. Things couldn’t be any more fucked up. And all I knew was that I had to get Becky into my arms. I had to know she was safe and provided for, or I was going to lose my ever-loving mind.
17
BECKY
* * *
“Trash can,” I croaked, hand over my mouth.
Sheriff Duncan shoved it toward me as I lurched from my chair to puke again.
I couldn’t believe Todd was dead. Not just dead. Murdered. In my house!
They seemed to think I’d done it.
My body shook involuntarily, the nerves turning me into a rattling cage. I glanced down at my lavender scrubs. God, they’d come for me at work. I’d been late the other day and now this. No question I’d lose my job, and I’d be getting a call from the nursing board.
“Are you all right?”
I turned my head and glared at the deputy who had a gun on his hip but probably wasn’t old enough to buy himself a drink.
“So, you’re saying you haven’t been to your house at all in the past thirty-six hours?” Sheriff Duncan asked. The room was full of officers—the sheriff from Meade as well as probably every Cooper Valley deputy on duty. It wasn’t as if murder ever happened in this small backwater town. Until now.
I blinked away tears, feeling alone. Scared. I had no idea what to do. Todd had harassed me while he was alive, and he was still messing with me when he was dead. I stood and hugged the trash can to my chest.
“I left right after you took Todd away the night before last,” I explained, for the fourth time, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “Clint took me to his parents’ place for lunch yesterday, and we stayed at Wolf Ranch until around seven. We stayed at Clint’s parents’ rental last night. Together.”
Clint. Clint. I’d told him I couldn’t have a relationship, and he’d seen why firsthand. Todd had destroyed my life, and I hadn’t wanted to pull Clint into it. I’d told him! He’d see my words for what they were: the truth. There was no way he’d want to be with me after this. I wasn’t worth his time and energy. He should have listened to me before taking me to Wolf Ranch, letting me get a glimpse of what a real family was like. To fall for not just Clint but his mom and dad, too. Then to hang with the girls last night and get a glimpse of what it would be like to be in a relationship with Clint—because being with Clint meant being with his family and friends, too. He had a lot of them. It had been hard to push him away the other day. Now?
Fuck, I’d fallen for him. Stupid.
“Why didn’t you stay at your house?”
I took a deep breath, tried to swallow my tears and keep them and the dregs in my stomach, down. “Because Clint didn’t want Todd to know where I was.”
“So you were in danger from Todd? I’ve heard from witnesses it was the other way around.”
“What?”
“You threatened him in the parking lot of Bishop’s Mechanic’s Shop.” He looked at a piece of paper. “I’m going to kill you for this. You’re a dead man.”
He glanced up, waiting for my response.
“He slashed my tire then cancelled my credit card and emptied my bank account. I was angry.”
“Angry enough to kill?”
We were talking in circles. I’d already been asked this, just in a different way.
“Can I get a cup of water?”
A knock came on the door, and a gorgeous brunette breezed in the room. “Selena Jennings.” She nodded to the two sheriffs when they stood. “I represent Rebecca Nichols.”
My mouth dropped open. Could this day get any stranger? “You do?”
I’d never seen her before in my life. I didn’t even have the cash to call my divorce lawyer for help.
“I’m a friend of Clint’s,” she said. Stupidly, I experienced a moment of blind jealousy, despite the fact that she was here to help me. She was just so over-the-top beautiful. Why did all his female friends have to be so stunning?
But if she was here, that must mean Clint… what? Cared? That he was here for me even though I was being accused of murder, had no job, no money and there was a dead body in my house? Fresh tears, this time of relief, filled my eyes. If this woman had been sent by Clint, I could let go of some of the panic in my brain. I wasn’t alone.
“Clint Tucker, the man you say you were with for the past two nights?” the Meade sheriff asked.
This, too, I’d gone over. The local sheriff had seen us together, even knew Clint personally.
“My client is pregnant,” the lawyer said. Every pair of eyes swiveled my way. My scrubs were loose enough to hide my condition, and I was hugging a trash can. “The death of her estranged husband has come as a terrible shock, especially considering he was found in her house, which he should not have had access to. I will make sure she doesn’t leave town, but at this point, you’ve been questioning her for hours. She has an alibi with numerous witnesses from the time Sheriff Duncan saw her until you collected her earlier from her place of employment. Can we wrap it up here?”
