Jared went down the hall and paused at the door for a moment and then pushed it open. This room had been Tara’s father’s private space, and it still held an aura of him, almost as if the books on the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves had absorbed a part of him. It smelled of furniture polish.
He remembered clearly the day Tara’s dad had invited him into the study and proudly shown him the gun collection. Each weapon had a story behind it, and as he gathered a revolver, and one of the rifles, Jared reminded himself of its story. He found some ammunition and stood there for a while, wondering for the hundredth time why someone had taken the lives of such good people, people who wouldn’t harm anyone.
Jared took the weapons back to the patio and loaded them, and made sure Tara knew how to load them. “Keep the rifle where you can grab it. The revolver should go under your pillow where you can get it in a hurry.”
He wondered if her parents would have been alive if they had kept a weapon close to them that night.
Chapter 24
“I’ll go see if I can buy a CCTV system tomorrow and I’ll call an alarm company and find out what it’ll take to get the security system working in the house again.” Tara wondered about the cost. She had paid the outstanding feed bill, and not a lot was left in the bank.
“I can do the wiring for you. Don’t let them hire someone else. They’ll just charge you more.”
Jared had always been so capable. He seemed to be able to do just about anything. “Didn’t you know something about computer coding at school?”
“Sure. I was gonna major in Computer Science at college, but then all hell broke loose and everything got fucked up. I did get my Master’s degree while I was in prison. Why do you ask?”
“Our website needs work. I don’t think the merchants’ part is working. I tried to donate money to test it, but when I went back to check, nothing was taken out of my bank account and nothing went into the business account. I can write a little HTML, but this is an advanced WordPress site and you need to know how to code to work on it.” Tara clasped her hands together.
“I thought Randall was a WordPress expert,” Jared said.
“I don’t know much about him, but can you help, please? I’ll pay for your time.”
Jared shook his head and sighed. “You don’t have to pay me. I’ll take a look right now if you want.”
Tara tried not to look at Jared’s ass as he headed for the office. Her feelings were so conflicted. She’d thought of him as the enemy for so long and now—it seemed like he wanted to go back to where they had been ten years ago. But things had changed so much since then. She had grown up, and he was thirty years old now, no longer a kid.
She had looked into his eyes and seen that cold hardness in them. It scared her a little. She couldn’t blame him for being angry. He’d lost nine years of his life.
She took a swig of her beer. What was it about him that reduced women of all ages to flirtatious giggling? He had always had it—that special something—charisma or whatever it was that projected an aura of sexuality that women could sense.
He was already sitting at the computer when she slipped into the office and stood beside him. With all the clutter on the floor, there wasn’t much space for her. He looked up briefly and continued what he was doing on the keyboard. “This won’t take me long, but another time, I could revamp the whole site for you.”
While he was working, Tara looked around at the clutter in the office. “I’ve been meaning to go through all this crap on the floor.” She stared at the hair lying on his collar at the back of his neck and had an irresistible urge to run her fingers through it.
“I can see where it could use fixing and some improvement,” he said, his eyes glued to the screen and his fingers tapping the keys. “I’m only gonna do a little right now, but it may take a while.”
“Want another beer? Or some coffee?”
“Coffee, please.”
Tara left to brew a cup of coffee and made a cup of tea for herself. “Thanks,” he said, and sat back in the chair. “So, how does this look?”
Tara moved closer and leaned over his shoulder to read the introduction for the home page on the screen. She could smell him—that clean male, soap smell.
“Whether you are a horse lover or not, you cannot help being in awe of the amazing healing power of horses. From the time of the ancient Greeks, people have recognized the magical curative capabilities of equine therapy, not only for physical disabilities, but also emotional, social, cognitive, and behavioral difficulties, and even to improve speech and educational skills.”
“Nice, Jared. I much prefer it to the previous verbiage.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“Thanks. I think the rest is okay. Want to read it over?”
She read it and frowned at the last paragraph.
“Our Equine therapists must undergo special training and pass stringent state exams. They address various therapeutic goals by having patients ride in different positions: sitting or lying forward, backward or sideway; standing in the stirrups; and riding without holding. In addition, patients may be asked to stretch, reach, or play games—such as catch—while on the horse. Our horses are hand-picked for their gentle nature, and are safe and well-trained.”
“Looks good. I really like the way you’ve changed the layout, too.”
He clicked to the payment page. “I also fixed this. I made a five dollar donation and the money left my bank, so you need to login to yours and see if it arrived there.” He stood up and squeezed past her. There was so little space, his hips—and the distinct bulge below them brushed against her stomach for a moment as she slid into the chair.
She felt herself getting hot all over as she tried to concentrate on logging into the business bank account. “The bank gave me a new login and Randall was taken off a while ago. Yup. The five bucks is here.”
“I’ve also put it on a couple of non-profit sites to help people find you.”
She had to get out of there. She stood up fast. The space was so tight, their bodies were almost touching again. He didn’t move out of the way, and she looked up into his eyes. Bad idea. He held her gaze, reached out, and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Heat seared her face and traveled straight down between her legs.
“Jared,” she whispered, “I—” She wanted to tell him this wasn’t a good idea, but her whole body was a ball of jelly and she couldn’t get the words out. He leaned toward her and she was helpless to stop him. She watched his mouth come down to hers. She tilted her head and lifted her face, wanting him now. Desperate. The touch of his mouth on hers sent wild tingles down her spine. He nudged her lips with his tongue, and she opened her mouth and moaned. He tasted of mint chocolate.
He entwined his fingers through her hair, imprisoning her, and kissed her long and deep, dragging her body close—so close she could feel his heart beating.
“No.” She broke away, gasping, wanting him—needing to feel his hands on her body but she couldn’t. This couldn’t happen.
A cell phone call sounded.
“Fuck it!” he said as he dragged his cell phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. He was silent for a few seconds. “I have to take this. It’s a good customer.” He still hadn’t moved out of her way, and the heat between their bodies was a tangible thing. “This is Jared,” he said. He listened for a while. “Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He ended the call and stared at her. “That’s my biggest customer. They have a water break in their pipes and the hospital is flooding. The nearest plumber is in Groover and he’ll have to do the repair job, but I can stop the damage for the meantime.”
He backed out of the room. “Tara, I . . .”
“Don’t, Jared. It’s okay. Just go. Please.”
He turned and walked away from her. She stood the
re, unable to move until she heard the kitchen door closed behind him.
Holy crap, what had just happened?
Tara turned out the lights and locked the office, and then checked to make certain the windows and doors in the house were all secured. She climbed the stairs and stood in the shower, wondering if this feeling of wanton desire would leave her at all. There had been other men at college, but no spark of desire, and once they realized she wasn’t going to fall into bed with them, they lost interest. But Jared—he was something else.
She climbed into bed, her head filled with jumbled thoughts. She felt a little safer with the revolver under her pillow and the rifle standing in the corner.
She knew now, she couldn’t leave. Her initial plan to go back to Arizona was done. Cassie was someplace nearby. The killer had shown himself and he had Cassie. Tim would have contacted the detectives in Groover by now, and they would follow this new lead, and they would find Cassie and bring her home. She would never let them rest until she had her sister again, and the murderer was behind bars.
This place—the ranch, the Center, and Hardship—this was her home, and she wasn’t going to allow the killer to drive her out or get away with anything he had done.
She owed it to her mother and Aunt Lacey to keep the Center going.
Chapter 25
Tara entered the office and stared at the boxes and assorted crap lying on the floor. She’d been back in Hardship two weeks. She had looked through a few of them, and as she had expected, they were filled with tax records, invoices, paid bills, bank statements, and other business documents. A few checks had come in and she had managed to purchase a CCTV system that Jared installed, with six cameras around the Center. The alarm company had installed a new system in the house and allowed her to pay it off monthly with the monitoring bill. The ranch veterinarian, Doc Grainger’s invoice was still outstanding, as well as the utilities for the house and the Center.
She had some savings of her own, but she didn’t want to deplete that. Jules had told her a whole bunch of kids were coming from a special school in Dallas tomorrow. “They’re staying a week, so things are going to be quite chaotic,” she had said.
Tara looked up the school that was sending the kids Julia had mentioned and called the number they had on file.
“We tried to make a payment two weeks ago, but your website seemed to be down,” the woman said. “I was going to send a check with the teachers, but if it’s working now, we’ll try again. The parents have been extremely generous and I think you’ll be happy with the amount we send.”
“Apologies that the website was down, but it’s working now. If it’s okay with you, I’d be grateful if you would try it again.”
She hung up the phone. She wondered what the woman meant by generous. Enough to keep the place going, hopefully. For now.
Jules yelled, “Tara! Tara!”
Tara jumped up and ran out to the barn.
Jules and Roberto were staring at Kaitlyn, who was silently crying, tears running down her face. The child stood at the door of Button’s stall. It looked like she had pushed a wheelbarrow close to the door and climbed onto it, most likely to try and get over the door, but it had tipped over and she had fallen.
Jules crouched down. “It’s okay, Kaitlyn. You’re okay. But you must call me or Christy when you need help, okay?”
Button was their oldest, calmest horse. There was very little chance he would suddenly freak and hurt Kaitlyn. Tara groaned. “Oh, no. Not Button, please.”
He was showing the same symptoms as Copper. The tough thing about these attacks was that one minute the horse would appear to be completely normal, and then they suddenly changed without warning. She had walked through the barn and checked each horse in turn an hour earlier. Button had been as docile as ever. Now he rolled his eyes so the whites were showing and snorted, and then flattened his ears against his head. He almost looked like he was going to bite the child.
“Kaitlyn. Get away from there now.” The authority in Tara’s voice seemed to get through, and the little girl moved toward her. “You okay?”
She rubbed her eyes and stared up at the horse. Tara remembered Jared telling her Kaitlyn didn’t like to be touched.
“My guys are probably here for their therapy session by now,” Jules said. “Can you handle Kaitlyn? Her parents’ phone number is on the board in the office.”
Tara nodded. “Roberto!” she called.
He stuck his head through the entrance.
“Roberto, I don’t think Button is good. Please walk him around a bit and make sure he’s not coming down with colic.” Her stomach churned. She knew it wasn’t colic.
“Si, Señora.” Roberto grabbed a head collar.
“Come, Kaitlyn. Let’s go have cookies,” Tara said, holding out her hand.
The child pointed at the horse.
“You can’t ride now, but maybe later, okay?”
The child stared at the horse and there was no way of knowing if she had heard. “Cookies, Kaitlyn. Come.” Tara started walking toward the house. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw with relief that the child was following her, her face streaked with dirt.
“Go wash your hands and face and blow your nose, and then you can have Oreo cookies and a glass of milk.” Tara pointed to the bathroom.
She seated the little girl at the kitchen table and studied her while she ate. A sprinkling of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks, and her wavy blonde hair was done in two braids that looked a little worse for wear. She wore a pink dress with white polka dots, and a well-worn pair of pink sneakers. What kind of foster parents would allow their charge to escape so often? Surely they worried about her safety.
She found the number and called Kaitlyn’s foster mother.
“Hello, is that Ms. Barnard?” she asked. “I’m Tara Ericson out at the Taurus Center. We have Kaitlyn. Would you be able to come and pick her up?”
There was a moment of silence. “You didn’t let her ride, did you?”
Tara frowned. She had expected the mother to be concerned about Kaitlyn’s safety when she was wandering around who knew where to get to the Center. “No. She didn’t ride, but she almost got hurt by a horse again.”
“I’ll come, but it may take me a while. It’s a mammoth task to get three disabled kids into the car. “
“If you let me have your address, I’ll bring her home.”
Tara called Doc Grainger and asked if he could come out and take a look at Button. “I’d like you to do all the tests again, please.”
After Kaitlyn was done with her milk and cookies, Tara said, “Come on, Kaitlyn. Let’s take you home. Your mom’s waiting for you.”
The child climbed off the chair and followed her out the door.
“Hey, Jules,” Tara yelled as she headed for her vehicle. “Would you check on Button whenever you’re free? Doc Grainger’s on his way.” She managed to get Kaitlyn in the back seat of the vehicle by allowing the dogs to jump in and ride with her. She let them out at the end of the driveway and expected Kaitlyn to cry, but she remained stony-faced. Tara fastened the seat belt as best she could.
She found the house and parked outside on the road. She let Kaitlyn out and she rushed to open the door. It was locked. Tara couldn’t contain the rush of emotion that flooded through her at the sight of the skinny little girl with her shoulders held high, ringing the doorbell like nothing was wrong.
The door was opened by a short woman with her hair tied up in a ponytail. “What were you thinking, Kaitlyn? I told you what’ll happen if you keep doing this. Now go to your room and don’t come out until I say.”
She turned to Tara. “I’m so sorry she bothered you. I have three special needs kids here and it’s not always possible to keep track of them. I’d offer you something to drink, but I need to go a
nd watch them.”
Three special needs kids. How could anyone be expected to keep tabs on all of them? Still, she had to ask. “Ms. Barnard, do you think . . . ?” She wasn’t sure how to go on.
“It’s Lou, and I know you’re wondering how I can handle all of them, but no one wants these children and someone has to show them some love and give them a home.”
“I’m . . . Are you sure you can watch three of them all on your own? Don’t you need some help?”
“Well, sure it would be nice, but it all costs money. And there are actually four of them including my own child, Alicia, who has cerebral palsy.” She wiped a stray wisp of hair from her face, and a child whimpered somewhere down the hallway. “Sorry, gotta go. Thank you for your help.” She turned and left Tara standing in the hallway.
“I’ll see myself out,” she said to no one.
She couldn’t shake the worry. She didn’t want Kaitlyn to go back into the system, but it was wrong for Lou and her husband to have her if they couldn’t keep her safe.
It started to drizzle as she arrived home. Doc Grainger had just arrived, tall and rake-thin, with graying hair covered by a black Stetson. She watched him work.
He gave Button a sedative, which calmed him down almost immediately, and took samples as he had done previously with the other horses that had shown the same symptoms. “I still don’t know what it is, but maybe this time we’ll get lucky and find something in these samples.”
She took a call from Detective Moore and answered some questions. He said he would come out and meet with her, but he was tied up with a murder case in Groover and he would let her know when he would be free.
“Can I offer you something to drink?” Tara asked after Doc Grainger had taken a little of Button’s water and feed from his stall and put it into specimen bottles.
Tempestuous Taurus Page 10
