by Eve Gaddy
Sam kissed him, rubbed her delectable body against him. He was hard and hot and wanted her right now. Wanted to drive inside her again and again, deep inside with her heat and her sheath gripping him tight, milking him until he came.
Instead of taking off her panties, she pushed them aside and sank down on him, drawing him in, riding him to a crescendo. He came like a geyser and she followed moments after, with a soft cry against his neck.
“Good God,” was all he could manage.
“My thoughts, exactly.” She climbed off of him and looked around for her clothes.
He began to get dressed. “I need to get back to Trouble. I’m supposed to be picking up a saddle.” Although he figured Connor had a pretty good idea what could be taking him so long.
“They were fine right before I came in. He and Connor look like they’re getting along pretty well.” She gathered up her scrubs and put them on. “I don’t think it’s been very long.”
Buckling his belt, he grinned and started to agree when he heard a commotion from outside. Yanking open the door, he went out to the round pen where all the noise was coming from.
Complete chaos met his eyes. The noise was deafening—shouting, neighing, barking all contributed. Connor and Al were both in the round pen. Obviously spooked, Trouble was rearing and Connor was hanging on to the lead rope, doing his best to calm down the horse without getting killed. In front of Trouble, in a protective stance from something unseen, was Shadow, snarling, barking and growling. Al held on to his collar with difficulty, restraining him from going after God knew what.
“What the hell is going on?”
Sam barely had time to take in the scene before Shadow broke free from the ranch hand who was attempting to hold him. The dog scrambled under the fence and took off down the barn’s stone walkway.
“Shadow, come!”
He didn’t even pause. She yelled the command again. Already three-fourths of the way down the aisle, Shadow slowed, stopped and turned to look at her. Obviously reluctant to let his prey go free, he looked behind him several times. Of course, she had no idea what he was going after. He whined as if asking if he could go.
“Come, Shadow.”
Very slowly, he walked back to her, whimpering and growling as he continued to look back over his shoulder. When he reached her, he sat and looked pitiful.
Sam knelt beside him, patted his head and talked softly and calmly to him. “Good boy, Shadow. What’s got you so upset?”
He whimpered and looked at the walkway. Sam saw a flash of movement and barely had time to grab him before Shadow took off again.
While she was taking care of Shadow, Dylan had gone to Trouble. Connor had left the horse to Dylan and stood nearby, shaking his head. The stallion was quivering and sweating, but he’d stopped rearing up and seemed to be listening to Dylan, who was talking to him softly.
The other ranch hand had come out of the pen to talk to her. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I couldn’t hold him. That dog is stronger than he looks.”
“Yes, he is. It’s not your fault. Al, isn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What the hell happened here?” Dylan asked, but he said it quietly so as not to upset the horse further.
Connor and Al both started talking at once.
“One at a time,” Dylan interrupted. “Connor?”
“It was the damnedest thing, Boss. I was out here with Trouble and Al was cleaning the stalls. I saw Jim and told him to bring me a rake. Well, the minute Jim came near us, Shadow started barking and going batshit crazy. He got in front of Trouble like he was gonna protect him, or maybe both of us. Anyway, Trouble started freaking out too.”
Al took over. “By the time I got out here Shadow was freaking out and looked ready to go after Jim. Like he couldn’t decide between protecting the horse and taking a bite out of Jim. Damned if Jim didn’t just stand there smiling. Swear to God, Boss, he was egging the dog on.”
Connor interjected, “I yelled at him, asked him what the hell he thought he was doing, upsetting the animals like that. I had my hands full, trying to calm down Trouble, so I didn’t hear what he said.”
“But I did,” Al said. “He was cussing the dog. Told him to come and get him, but the way he was holding that rake, I was afraid he’d skewer Shadow with it. So I grabbed a hold of the dog before he got hurt.” He cast an apologetic glance at Sam. “Jim coulda just been talking, probably was, but I know how much you love that dog, ma’am.”
“You did exactly right, Al. Thank you for protecting him.”
Connor continued, “Al grabbed Shadow and I was still hanging on to Trouble and while we were trying to calm them down, damned if the son of a bitch didn’t take off.”
“Took off where?”
“That way,” Al said, pointing toward the barn.
“What the hell did he do to Shadow? I knew Burt didn’t like him but I’ve never seen him around Shadow.”
“That’s because he usually stays out of Shadow’s way,” Connor said. “Him and Shadow were having it out one day not too long ago. Jim had a shovel and I swear to God, if I hadn’t been there I think he’d have hit him with it.”
“Sam, can you come hold Trouble while I look him over?”
She opened the gate to the round pen and Shadow followed her inside. Taking hold of Trouble’s halter, she talked soothingly to him while Dylan checked him over.
“He’s okay. Physically, anyway.”
“What are you going to do, Boss?” Connor asked.
Dylan looked angrier than she’d ever seen him. “Do? I’m going to fire his ass. I can’t keep a ranch hand that my animals hate. How do I know he hasn’t been abusing them?”
“It does seem odd that Shadow’s taken such a dislike to him,” Sam said. “Unless he’s given him reason.” She hadn’t noticed Shadow acting like he was hurt. But she’d been awfully busy, especially since the fire. And Shadow had spent a good portion of time with Dylan instead of her. Could she simply have missed it?
Damned dog. He should’ve taken care of it long ago. But Jesus, who knew the son of a bitch would freak out just seeing him? He hadn’t touched the damn thing. Of course, if that dipshit Connor hadn’t showed up he’d have taught the animal a lesson. Still, why did it flip out? The dog couldn’t know that he’d been the one to set the fire. Not unless it had ESP.
Shit. Maybe it had smelled him. Whatever. Just to be safe, he’d keep out of the bitch’s sight. He was fairly sure she wouldn’t recognize him, but why take the chance?
Now, how was he going to take care of the bitch? The fire hadn’t worked, more’s the pity. He could try to cut her brake line, but that wouldn’t necessarily kill her, or even hurt her. Same for trying to make the horse she rode have an accident. Not a sure thing. And he wanted a surefire way to get rid of her.
She had to die.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It didn’t take Dylan long to track down Jim Monroe. He was getting in his truck. “Going somewhere, Monroe?”
“I was looking for you. Thought I’d go up to the house.”
“No, I was in the round pen trying to calm down my animals. What the fuck is the matter with you?”
“Me? That goddamn dog would’ve killed me if he got to me. And if he didn’t, the horse would’ve. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“That’s debatable. According to Connor, you and Shadow have tangled before. Makes me wonder what you did for him to respond that way.”
“Not a fucking thing. You’re going to believe that dipshit Connor? He’s had it in for me since I got here.”
“Apparently he had reason. I’m thinking Shadow does too.”
“He’s got a reason all right. That animal’s crazy. You need to get rid of it.”
Dylan stared at him, wondering if he was serious. “Are you shitting me? How about I get rid of you instead?”
“What do you mean, get rid of me?”
“You’re fired, Monroe. I’ll pay you for the rest of the
week but you’re done here.”
Monroe stared at him with his mouth hanging open. Then his expression changed to anger. “You’re firing me because of a goddamn dog? You can’t do that.”
“Watch me. Besides, Shadow isn’t the only reason, he’s just the catalyst.” Being short a man was bound to be better than paying this asshole to do nothing. “You don’t do shit. You’re gone half the time and when you are here you’re either half-assing whatever job I asked you to do or you’re standing around with your thumb up your butt.”
“That’s a damn lie. I’ve worked hard here.”
“We must have completely different definitions of hard work.”
“You’ll be sorry for this.”
“No, I won’t be. Come by the office and I’ll cut you a check before you leave.” He started to walk off, then turned around and added, “By the way, Burt doesn’t like you either.”
“Who the hell is Burt?”
“The big mixed breed we call the barn dog. The one who’s always with the horses.” He turned his back, grinning when he heard the man cursing. He should have fired him a while ago. To be honest, he’d been worried almost from the beginning, since Connor had taken such a dislike to him. Connor had pretty good instincts about people.
He went to the office and wrote out the check immediately. The sooner Jim Monroe left, the better. A few minutes later, his soon to be ex-employee, came in.
“I ought to sue you,” he said belligerently.
“For what? You haven’t been here long enough to collect unemployment.” He handed him the check.
“Because of that goddamn dog.”
“Did he bite you?”
Monroe hesitated. “Not exactly.”
“Let me know when you find a lawyer to take that case. Suing someone over a dog who barked at you isn’t going to have lawyers falling all over themselves to help you.”
Monroe snarled something under his breath. Probably “fuck you” if he had to take a guess. He jerked open the door and Sam stumbled into him.
“Oh, I’m—” Sam started to say but halted mid-sentence. They stared at each other for a long moment, then Monroe shoved her aside and went out the door.
Dylan was beside her in an instant. “Goddamn it, what’s the matter with him? Are you okay, Sam?”
She rubbed her arm, where she had hit the door when he shoved her. “I’m fine. I take it that was Jim.”
“How’d you guess? Yeah, that’s him.”
“When I ran into him I had the strangest feeling. He—It sounds melodramatic but I swear he radiated hate.”
“I believe it. He’s pissed as hell. I just fired him.”
“I thought you were just talking when you said that. Don’t you need him since Clay is still in treatment for his cancer?”
“I need someone. Monroe has been pretty damn useless. None of the hands like him and obviously Shadow hates him.”
“Do you think we overreacted? I mean, Shadow’s a dog. Maybe Monroe reminds him of someone who scared him.”
“You heard what Connor said about the two of them getting into it before. I’m not taking a chance that the son of a bitch will hurt one of my dogs. Or my horses. Burt doesn’t like him either. I don’t know why he wanted to work on a ranch when it’s obvious he doesn’t even like animals.”
“Dylan, is that why you told him you fired him? Because the dogs don’t like him?”
Dylan shrugged. “Yeah, so?” Sam simply stared at him and he laughed. “Don’t worry. I gave him other reasons too.”
“No wonder he’s so pissed.”
Dylan drew her close and kissed her. “We’ve wasted enough time on Jim Monroe. Let’s go tend to our animals.”
The next day Sam got a call from May when she was in surgery. She called her back as soon as she could. After exchanging greetings she asked, “Have you found something new?”
“Not exactly knew, but we can rule out one of the suspects. Gary Baxter’s body was positively identified. They ran a DNA test. Don’t ask me why they didn’t do that in the first place, but they didn’t.”
Sam pulled off her scrub cap and tossed it on the table in the doctors’ lounge. “So it isn’t Baxter.”
“No. We’re back to the other suspect list. Unless you’ve thought of anyone to add.”
“No one.”
“All right. Of the seven other suspects, the ones I sent you pictures of, four of them have alibied out. We can’t find the remaining three. Rand Lewis, Bill Wade, and Arthur Fitz.”
“I’ll look at those three again, but I’m not holding out a lot of hope.”
“I know it may not seem like it, but we’re doing everything we can to find out who the arsonist is and arrest him.”
“I’m sure you are, but you can’t guarantee you’ll find him, much less when you’ll find him.”
“The department is on it, Sam. I’m on it.”
“And I appreciate that. I really do. But May—” Sam asked her the question that had worried her for some time, but especially since the fire. “He’s not finished, is he? He won’t stop until he’s killed me.”
“We can’t be certain that’s his goal. He might be trying to scare you and didn’t necessarily mean to harm you.”
“You don’t believe that.” In Sam’s mind, anyone who would set fire to someone’s house was intent on harming that person.
May sighed. “No. Unfortunately, the escalation from acts that could be classified as pranks to arson is especially concerning.”
“He won’t stop unless we can stop him first. Do you think Dylan’s in danger?”
May hesitated. “It’s possible.”
“More than possible, isn’t it?”
“Sam—”
“Never mind, I know I’m right. I’m moving out. I’m not going to put Dylan and everyone at the ranch in danger more than I already have.”
“Sam, you can’t live in your house. Where are you going to go?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
“Dylan’s going to have something to say about that.”
That was undoubtedly true. “It’s not Dylan’s decision. It’s mine and I’m not willing to risk his safety. Or worse, his life.”
“You let me know how that works out,” May said wryly. “I’ve known Dylan since we were six years old. Something tells me he’s not going to be down with you leaving, especially while you’re in danger.”
We’ll see about that. Sam hung up, resolving to talk to Dylan the moment she got back to the ranch.
On her way out she ran into Bianca. “I’m glad we ran into each other. Want to have a drink? I feel like we haven’t talked in forever.”
Sam started to say no, but Bianca was right and they hadn’t talked for more than a few minutes since the fire. Besides, she definitely needed a friend to talk to. Bianca not only knew what had been happening in Marietta, she knew all about what had occurred in Dallas. “Okay, but I can’t stay long. I need to get back to the ranch.”
They went to Grey’s and got a table in the corner, out of the way. Once they ordered and had their drinks Bianca said, “What’s wrong? Besides the fact that a crazy person is after you and burned down half your house.”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“For most people. But I sense something else is going on.”
Sam fiddled with her drink before taking a sip. “Dylan could be in danger. Living with him—I shouldn’t have done it. Hell, you could be in danger just from talking to me.”
“That seems a tad melodramatic.”
“So’s a fire.”
“Good point. But what can you do about it?”
“Move out. Break up.”
Bianca stared at her. “Dylan’s not going to go for that.”
Irritated, Sam snapped, “I’m aware. May said the same thing. But it isn’t up to Dylan, it’s up to me.”
“Is this an excuse because you feel like you’re getting too close to him? You’ve started to care too much so you’re
pulling back?”
“No, it’s because I don’t want Dylan to be hurt.”
Bianca looked at her skeptically, then took a drink and said, “Let’s leave that aside for a moment.”
“Gladly.”
“How many suspects do the police have?”
“Two of my patients’ husbands and one patient’s significant other. But there’s no physical evidence on any of them. Other than the note, and forensics didn’t get anything from it. It does indicate it’s someone from my past, but that’s all it does.”
“Let me look at their pictures. Maybe I’ve seen one of them.”
Sam doubted it but got out her tablet, pulled up the pictures and handed it to her friend.
Bianca stared at them, then shook her head regretfully and gave the tablet back. “I’ve never seen any of them.”
“I’d have been surprised if you had.” She tucked the tablet away. “I know what I should do, but it won’t be easy.”
“Hmm. Let the police handle it. If I were you I’d go home and jump Dylan’s bones, and try to forget about all this.”
Sam had to laugh. “You would not. You worry more than I do when things go wrong.” Bianca merely shrugged. “Speaking of love lives, what’s going on with yours?”
Her friend’s face clouded. “Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada.”
“Weren’t you dating the guy who was with you at your birthday party? What’s his name?”
“His name is ‘piece of shit’. He is off my list forever.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing much. Just pretended he wasn’t married. When I figured it out and called him on it, he tried to convince me that we had the real thing and besides, he was divorcing her as soon as he could. Yada, yada. The slug.”
“I’m sorry, Bianca.”
“I did get a little satisfaction. I was having a glass of red wine at the time. I tossed it in his face. I laugh every time I think about him explaining to his wife how he spilled an entire glass of wine all over his shirt. Especially since he doesn’t drink red wine.”
Sam laughed, but she added, “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“It wasn’t that serious. I’m fine. Just pissed.”
