by Kat Martin
They left the mine supervisor’s office and climbed into the truck. Ellie’s seat belt clicked into place as Kade slid behind the wheel and fired the engine.
“Maybe Keller isn’t our guy,” Ellie said.
“Maybe not. We need to know more about him. He only worked the roundup a week or so before he was fired. Around the middle of September, I think.”
“If he was working in a different mine somewhere before that, why would he come back to Coffee Springs?”
“Good question. Maybe he was raised around here. He knew how to ride, how to handle himself out there or Wyatt wouldn’t have put him to work.”
“I’ll get on it as soon as we get back,” Ellie said. “I know someone who might be able to help.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ELLIE HAD A SECRET WEAPON WHEN IT CAME TO INFORMATION. Zoey Rosen was a friend from college, her roommate in the dorm their first year at the University of Colorado. They’d shared an apartment in the years that followed and become even better friends.
The good news was Zoe was an internet whiz. She’d majored in computer science in school and now worked as a systems security engineer. Zoe knew her way around the digital world. She’d been fascinated by computers, gaming, and the internet since she was a kid so she could find just about anything. Legally or otherwise.
Ellie didn’t want to take advantage of their friendship, but Zoe loved a challenge, and she was always glad to help. In this case, there was a man out there who could be setting off explosives and shooting people, possibly a man named Frank Keller. Though the sheriff had put a statewide BOLO out on Keller as a person of interest, so far he hadn’t been found.
And she planned to ask Zoe about the sheriff himself. Carver had been secretly dating Heather Logan. If she had ended things, maybe the sheriff hadn’t taken the news so well. Maybe they had fought about it and he had killed her. It was worth checking out.
Ellie watched the passing scenery as Kade drove his big Ford truck from the mine back toward home. The mid-October weather was chilly, but the sun was shining as he turned onto the road just south of Coffee Springs out to the ranch. Twenty minutes later, the big timber gate welcomed them. On the slope of the hill, the tall stone chimneys, plate-glass windows, and covered porches of the ranch house loomed ahead.
Kade pulled in behind the house and turned off the engine. Ellie climbed out as he rounded the front of the vehicle and walked toward her, all long legs, snug jeans, and cowboy boots, his hat pulled low on his forehead.
Kade stopped in front of her, and her gaze slid over him. Kade didn’t miss much, and unfortunately, he knew exactly what she was thinking.
He propped his hands on his hips, his silver belt buckle gleaming. “I hope you like what you see, darlin’.”
Color washed into her cheeks, and she glanced away. “Sorry, my . . . umm . . . mind was wandering.”
Kade’s eyes slid over her breasts, making them peak inside her sweater. “Mine too,” he said gruffly.
Embarrassed, she glanced away, spotted the black-and-white border collie rising from the blanket he had been lying on in the sun. “Looks like Smoke is doing a little better.”
Kade’s attention swung to the dog limping toward them, his head cocked as he looked adoringly up at Kade.
“Easy, boy.” Kade stroked his thick black-and-white fur and gently rubbed behind his ears. “You can stay out a little longer, but as soon as the afternoon starts getting colder, you gotta come inside.”
Ellie smiled. “You think he knows what you’re saying?” She reached down and ran a hand over Smoke’s furry head.
“Probably. He’s pretty damned smart.”
As Kade continued to pet the dog, Billy walked up. “I been taking real good care of him, sir. You don’t have to worry.”
“I know that, son. I never worry about Smoke when he’s with you.”
Billy gazed down at the injured dog he clearly loved, and his features hardened. “I wish I’d been there when Smoke got shot. I would have gone after that guy myself.”
“He’s a dangerous man, Billy. Better to let the cops deal with it.”
“You and Ms. Ellie went after him.”
“We did. Unfortunately, we didn’t find him.”
Billy looked hard at Kade. “You won’t give up, will you?”
Ellie knew the boy had a bad case of hero worship, which, on occasion, she fought not to feel herself.
A muscle ticked in Kade’s jaw. “Not a chance.”
Apparently satisfied with Kade’s answer, Billy and Smoke wandered away, the dog hobbling along beside his friend.
“That’s Maria’s car,” Kade said, spotting the older-model Honda compact SUV in front of one of the log cabins. There were three on the property. One belonged to Mabel. The other two were used for guests.
Kade started walking, with Ellie beside him. He stepped up on the porch beneath the overhanging roof and knocked.
Maria opened the door. “Señor Kade. Ellie. Please come in. Alejandro’s sleeping. If you want, I can wake him.”
Kade took off his Stetson and held it in his hand. “I hate to do that, but I need to talk to him. How’s he doing?”
Maria smiled wistfully. “Alejandro’s a very good patient. He’s been no trouble at all.”
Ellie bit back a smile. She figured the man could behave like the devil himself and Maria would still think he was wonderful.
“What about you?” Kade asked. “You doing okay?”
“Sí, I am fine. They were very nice at the hospital. They put a cot in Alejandro’s room so I’d have a place to sleep.”
Kade’s eyebrows pulled together. He was worried about Maria’s infatuation with a man who, according to rumor, collected women like exotic butterflies. So far, Kade hadn’t interfered.
At a noise from inside the bedroom, Maria glanced toward the door. “Alejandro must be awake. I’ll tell him you’re here.” Smoothing a strand of glossy black hair back into her single long braid, Maria disappeared into the bedroom.
She returned a few minutes later. “Alejandro would like to see you, Señor Kade.”
Kade nodded. Hat in hand, he walked into the room, and Ellie followed. She hadn’t been hired to investigate the shooting, but she was involved in it now. She wanted answers as much as Kade did.
The room was sunny and cheerful, with a dark green quilt on the big, king-size log bed and framed petit-point pictures on the yellow pine walls. Alejandro rested comfortably, a pillow behind his back propping him up a little. His face looked pale, his black hair was mussed, and a scruff of dark beard lined his jaw. It only made him more handsome.
The sheet was pulled up to his waist, and a bandage was wrapped around his chest and shoulder, the white making his olive skin look even darker.
“I didn’t figure they’d let you out for at least another few days,” Kade said.
“I hate hospitals,” Alejandro grumbled as if that explained everything. “Maria told them she’d look after me at the ranch, so they let me go.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Like a cattle truck ran over me.”
Kade moved closer to the bed. “You ready to talk about what happened?”
Alejandro sighed. “There isn’t much to say. I was working with the men on that downed tree in the east pasture. I heard a gunshot and felt a punch in my back that slammed through my chest like a cannon ball. I went down hard. I don’t remember much after that. I saw Wyatt running toward me, then Slate was there. I remember Wyatt tearing open my shirt. Then I must have passed out. That’s all I remember.”
“Doc said the boys did a good job patching you up. Stopped the bleeding and got you back to the house. Ellie and I went after the shooter, but we couldn’t find him.”
“I wish I could tell you more.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll find him. In the meantime, you just get well.”
“Is there anything special you want?” Ellie asked. “Maybe some cookies or something?”
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“No, Ms. Ellie.” All the guys called her that now. She thought it was kind of cute. “I don’t need anything. By the time I think of something, Maria already has it for me.” His black eyes wandered toward the door, where the girl stood watching, anxious for her patient’s welfare. A look passed between them, and Maria’s cheeks went pink.
Maria was as beautiful as Alejandro was handsome. The attraction between them shouldn’t have been a surprise.
“Alejandro needs to rest,” Ellie said, picking up the vibes. “We should go.”
Maria looked at Ellie. “I’ll get Alejandro settled, then be over to help with supper.”
“The important thing is for your patient to get well,” Ellie said. “You don’t need to worry. Turtle’s been helping me in the kitchen. Between the two of us, we’ve got it under control.”
Kade looked at Alejandro. “Let me know if you think of anything else. In the meantime, just rest and take it easy.”
Turning, he started for the door, waited for Ellie, and followed her out, then fell in beside her as they walked back to the house and went in through the kitchen. Ellie forced herself not to glance at the oak table as they walked past.
“I’ve got some work to do on my computer before I start supper,” she said. “I’ll see you later.”
Kade’s golden-brown eyes sparked with heat. “I’m looking forward it.”
Ellie’s stomach curled.
* * *
A problem came up that afternoon. Roy rode in to say something seemed to be wrong with the waterhole up near Bear Tooth Ridge. With all the trouble they’d been having, Kade was afraid the water might have been poisoned. Grabbing a sample kit, he and Wyatt set out on ATVs to take a look. Slate joined them on his own ATV, pulling a small trailer with enough makeshift fencing to keep the cattle away from the drinking hole.
Unfortunately, by the time they got there, two of the cows were down, bawling in pain, alive, but clearly sick.
“Sonofabitch,” Kade said.
“We need to get that water sample, see what’s going on,” Wyatt said as they turned off their four-wheelers’ engines.
Kade pulled a pair of glass vials out of the kit he’d brought and knelt at the edge of the drinking hole. The surface was smooth and flat. The water was clear and looked clean, but there was no way to tell without testing it in a lab.
Kade filled the vials and put them back in the kit. “We need to get these two cows back to the barn so the vet can have a look at them.” If they stay alive that long, he thought, and silently cursed.
“I’ll go back and get a truck and trailer,” Slate said, “bring it around through the gate at the far end of the pasture.”
“Sounds good.” But it would take a while. In the meantime, there wasn’t much they could do for the animals without knowing what was wrong with them. They needed to keep the other cows away from the water until they found out what was going on.
While Slate headed back to the ranch, Kade and Wyatt unloaded the fencing and went to work erecting a barrier around the waterhole.
Wyatt smoothed his handlebar mustache and glanced over at Kade. “You think the guy who shot the steers poisoned the water?”
“Could be,” Kade said. “Other ways it could have happened too.” Using a post hole digger, he dug a hole, set one of the fence posts, shoveled the dirt back in, and tamped it down. “Won’t know for sure till we get the lab report.” Had Frank Keller poisoned the cows? Or was the man smart enough to be long gone from the area?
The test results would take a few days. In the meantime, even with the security patrol he’d hired, the hands needed to stay alert. Nineteen thousand acres was a big chunk of land. Fortunately, the cattle had been brought down to the lower pastures for the winter, which meant the patrol was less spread out.
Slate returned with the pickup and trailer. They loaded the sick cows, and Slate drove them back to the ranch. Kade and Wyatt finished building the fence, then drove the remaining cattle north toward another waterhole they hoped would be safe. They didn’t find any sick cows in the area, and the second waterhole was more remote, which made it somewhat safer.
By the time they were finished and on their way home, it was pitch-dark. There was no moon and only a few stars overhead.
Kade’s stomach growled. Supper was long over, but with any luck they’d find something left for them in the kitchen. He thought of Ellie and what he’d had in mind for her tonight. He was hungry, but not just for food. Unfortunately, it was after midnight when he and Wyatt walked tiredly into the ranch house kitchen.
Ellie was nowhere in sight, but a platter of roast chicken and potatoes waited for them in the oven. There was a salad in the fridge and hot rolls in the warming drawer. Kade smiled. A detective who could cook and run a kitchen. Best luck he’d had in some time.
Thinking of why Ellie had come to the Diamond Bar had his smile slipping away. She was there to find a killer. She’d been sidetracked into helping him track down Frank Keller, but there was nothing more either of them could do right now.
In the meantime, tomorrow was Friday. He had promised to take Ellie to the Elkhorn Bar and Grill. She had come to Coffee Springs in search of a murderer. She wanted to meet some of the locals, eliminate them as suspects, if nothing else. He could help with that.
And when he brought her home after the dance, they could continue where they had left off. He’d have Ellie back in his bed, and until this was over, he planned to convince her to stay there.
It was a thought that would get him through a long, worrisome night.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ELLIE WAS GRATEFUL TO HAVE MARIA HELPING AGAIN IN THE KIT chen. The hands ate breakfast and set off for work, while Kade went over the books in his study. When Maria left to take a plate of ham and eggs to Alejandro, Kade returned.
“We’ve got security covered and the hands on the lookout for Keller, but unless someone spots him or the sheriff comes up with something, there’s nothing more we can do right now.”
Ellie looked up at him. “I’m waiting for a call from a friend. She’s a whiz at digging up information. I’m hoping she can come up with something useful. But you’re right. Unless something turns up, we’ve got nothing.”
“There’s one thing we can do.”
“What’s that?”
“I promised to take you to the Elkhorn, introduce you around. You came here to do a job. Maybe that will help you do it.”
Ellie started nodding. Kade was right. She needed to get back to the murder case she was there to solve. “All right. That sounds good.”
Ellie’s eyes widened when Kade framed her face between his hands, leaned down, and captured her lips in a very thorough kiss. “I’ll see you at supper.”
Her heart was racing. The man could just look at her and make her want him. She watched him stride across the kitchen, long legs encased in his worn, rough-out chaps. They outlined the heavy bulge beneath the fly of his jeans, and Ellie bit back a moan.
Kade grabbed his work jacket off the coatrack, plucked his battered cowboy hat off a peg, settled it on his head, and tugged it low. With a last hot glance, he turned and walked out of the kitchen.
Ellie took a deep breath. She was in way over her head with Kade Logan. Kade wasn’t interested in more than a physical relationship. Which should be exactly what she wanted.
She didn’t trust men, not after her lying, cheating ex-husband. She’d had the same bad luck with every serious relationship since college. She’d met David Richmond her third year. He was the love of her life—or at least so she’d thought. David had professed eternal devotion and hinted at marriage. All the while, he was screwing one of the grad students.
Two years later, the promising relationship she’d had with a young doctor turned sour when she found him cheating with one of his patients. It seemed the word gullible was stamped on her forehead.
The woman Ellie was now refused to let herself be fooled again. Added to that was the not so small matt
er of her independence. She would surely lose it with a man like Kade. Better to keep her distance from him, enjoy that hard male body and all that masculine virility, and say goodbye when the time came.
The sound of her cell phone returned her thoughts to the moment. She had called Zoey Rosen last night, but her friend hadn’t picked up. Unlike Ellie, Zoe never let a man make a fool of her. She took what he offered and felt no remorse when she ended things. Zoe dumped her lovers without a second thought.
Ellie grabbed the phone off the kitchen counter and checked the caller ID. “Hey, Zoe, thanks for calling me back.”
“I’m glad you phoned. It seems like it’s been forever. What’s going on?”
“Actually, I’m on a job.” Phone against her ear, Ellie left the kitchen and headed for her bedroom, where she wouldn’t be overheard if Maria came back to the house. “I’m working undercover on a ranch, trying to find the guy who murdered the owner’s wife eight years ago.”
“Wow, that sounds like an interesting case.”
“You could . . . umm . . . say that.”
“Okay . . . what’s that I’m hearing in your voice? What’s going on? Aside from work, I mean?”
There was no way to avoid the truth with Zoe. They’d been roommates for years, best friends for what seemed like forever.
Ellie sighed. “I’m sleeping with the owner. It’s highly unprofessional, I know, but somehow it just happened.”
“What’s his name?”
She hated to answer. Zoe would be on the internet the minute they hung up. “Kade Logan. He owns the Diamond Bar Ranch near Coffee Springs.”
Zoe was already typing away on her keyboard. “Oh, my God. Seriously? If he looks half as good as his picture, you’d be crazy not to sleep with him.”
Ellie thought of Kade’s hungry kiss that morning, and her stomach contracted. “It’s just physical. Neither of us is interested in a relationship.”
“Be careful, girl. You can tell yourself you aren’t interested in anything but sex, but part of you has been searching for the right man since you broke up with David.”
