The Ranger And The Widow Woman

by Bagwell, Stella

  Justine’s truck was already headed back down the road when Charlie started to the house. Violet didn’t bother to move. She expected he’d already seen her standing there. It would look ridiculous to try and hide her curiosity now.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked Charlie as he stepped into the house.

  He looked at her oddly. “No. Why would you think something was wrong?”

  Because things had been wrong in Violet’s life for so long now she could hardly think anything else.

  She shrugged, hoping Charlie wouldn’t pick up on her uneasiness. “I was... just surprised your mother didn’t stay for a while.”

  He unfolded the square of paper his mother had given him, glanced at it, then stuffed the note into the pocket of his red T-shirt. Violet wondered what kind of message he could have gotten that his mother couldn’t give him verbally.

  “She had things to do. She’s expecting Dad home this afternoon. Even after all these years a night apart is torture for them.”

  A night apart from Brent had been torture for Violet, too. But for totally different reasons. Once she’d learned he’d been unfaithful, she knew his nights away meant he was spending time with another woman.

  “I think that’s wonderful,” she murmured.

  Charlie’s gaze slid from her face, down the creamy line of her neck to where her robe made a vee between her breasts. The hint of soft cleavage stirred unbidden visions in his head and he could only imagine what it would be like to come home from a stakeout and find her in his bed.

  Violet’s green eyes scanned his face. “You say that like...you’re almost jealous.”

  Shrugging, he turned away from her. “I guess I am. A little.”

  “But they’re your parents! You should be thrilled they’re so in love.”

  He turned around to face her, and Violet was struck by the emptiness on his face. “I didn’t say I was jealous of them. I’m jealous of what they have,” he said, then let out a bitter snort. “Damn stupid of me, isn’t it?”

  It wasn’t stupid. It was sad and human and something she wasn’t expecting from Charlie. “Why is it stupid? I think everyone wants to be loved and wanted and needed.”

  He turned his back to her, and Violet watched his shoulders lift and fall as though he were heaving out a deep breath. And at that moment she knew she’d been right last night when she’d told Charlie his heart was full of tears.

  The unexpected need to comfort him was stronger than the inner warning to keep her distance from the man. She moved over to him and placed her palm against his back. The contact caused his head to twist around in surprise and his blue eyes caught her gaze.

  “What are you doing?”

  The blunt question should have put her off, but she kept her hand against the hard warmth of him, anyway. “Trying to tell you that you’re not alone.”

  He made another mocking sound in his throat. “Hell, I’ve got a family as huge as Texas. I’m not alone. And even if I was, it wouldn’t make me unhappy. I like my own company.”

  “If that’s the case, then you shouldn’t be jealous of the closeness your parents share.”

  “I’m not. Really. I don’t even know why I said that. And I sure as hell don’t know why you’re continuing to harp on it!” he said sharply.

  Violet didn’t know what was wrong with her or what it was inside her that made her want to push him, goad him to open up to her. She didn’t need to know what was underneath this man’s tough hide. If she really knew she might just begin to care. And that would be a disastrous mistake.

  “Are Texas Rangers permitted to lie?”

  His face like dark slate, Charlie whirled around and grabbed her by the shoulders. “You don’t know anything about me or the way I have to live! If you did you would see that I’ll never have the chance to be like my father. To have a woman who understands and supports his need to be a lawman.”

  “There are thousands of women who have lawmen for husbands. If you’re using your job as an excuse for not being able to hold on to a woman, then you’re lying to yourself.”

  A snarl exposed his white teeth. “Oh, yeah. I’m sure you’d be more than ready to hitch yourself to another man who was gone three-fourths of the time. I’m sure you’d feel real secure with a relationship like that.”

  The awful sarcasm in his voice was enough to make her want to slap him. Yet she didn’t. She couldn’t even bring herself to be angry with him. Because there was a scary truth to his words. And they both knew it.

  Unable to pull her gaze from the grip of his, she stared at him, and her voice quavered with emotion when she spoke. “Maybe I couldn’t. But there’s a woman out there who could.”

  The mockery on his face deepened. “Sure. And what kind of woman would she be, Violet? Is she beautiful and vibrant and sexy and smart? Is she someone I’ll want to spend the rest of my life with?”

  For some odd reason Violet didn’t want to think of him spending his life with any woman. She didn’t want to imagine some other woman in his arms, smiling up at him, kissing his lips and making love to him. The proprietary feeling was like a lance of fear driving right through her. She wasn’t the woman he was needing. She couldn’t let herself be. If he knew of the horrible things she’d run from, he wouldn’t simply frown upon her, he’d probably want to arrest her!

  “I have no idea what kind of woman turns you on. Besides, you’ve already told me several times you’re not looking for one.”

  A sudden light gleamed in his eyes, and Violet’s heart shoved itself into overdrive as he moved closer. “What if I said you turned me on?” he asked, his voice low and gruff.

  “I’d say you were a man who was either bored or didn’t know what he wanted.”

  To her amazement he chuckled low in his throat. “Right at this moment I know exactly what I want. It’s the afterward that has me all tangled up.”

  Before she could digest the meaning behind his words, Charlie’s fingers slid to where the edge of her robe met the skin of her collarbone. The intimate contact caused Violet to draw in a sharp breath.

  “You don’t know...what you’re saying or doing,” she murmured in protest.

  A mocking grin curved his lips. “Oh, I know, and I also realize I’m damn crazy. But that doesn’t stop what I’m feeling.”

  Violet couldn’t block the next question from passing her lips. “What are you feeling?”

  From the corner of her eye she could spot Sam out the living room window. Thank goodness he was still safely playing with Buster and totally oblivious of the two adults inside the house.

  Charlie’s eyes roamed her face as his fingers slipped lower. “It should be obvious to you. I’d like to make love to you. For a long, long time.”

  Heat suffused her body and turned her face a warm pink. “What’s stopping you?” she asked boldly.

  His blue eyes widened just a fraction, and then his hand was suddenly on her breast, circling its roundness, then cupping it in his palm.

  “I thought you would,” he said. Then, before she could respond, his head dipped and he was gently biting her nipple through the thin fabric of her robe.

  Stunned motionless, Violet couldn’t move away. And then she didn’t want to, as a hot flood of need filled her up and left every muscle in her body lax and helpless to his touch.

  His mouth eventually deserted her breast, and she could feel his warm rapid breaths against her as his lips skimmed a trail over the bare skin exposed by her gaping robe. “You would stop me, wouldn’t you? If I lifted you in my arms and carried you to my bed?”

  Would she? The way Violet felt at this moment she wasn’t sure she could deny him anything. No man had ever made her feel so heady and reckless, so much a woman. It was a powerful feeling that urged her to forget the logic in her head and lose herself in the magic of his touch. But a part of her knew making love to Charlie was akin to an alcoholic reaching for a bottle. The first drink would never be enough.

  “Sam is just outside
. He could come in any minute.”

  His lips moved across her cheek and hovered over hers. “Is that the only thing stopping you?”

  Her knees began to quiver, and she realized her hands were gripping his forearms. “No. I...”

  He didn’t let her finish. Suddenly she was crushed against his chest, and his lips were consuming hers. Not with anger, but with white-hot desire.

  She was clinging weakly to him by the time he let her breathe again. The first thing she saw when her eyelids fluttered open was the glitter of his mocking smile.

  “Now who’s lying?” he asked.

  She shoved against his chest. It was like pushing against a six-foot boulder. “Let me go! You don’t want me. Any woman would satisfy you. Just so long as you could keep her under your thumb and know she’d stay safely at home while you were out playing with your six-shooter.”

  In the short time she’d known him, Violet had never seen his face go so hard and threatening. “What would you know about it?”

  The cool softness of his voice left her insides shivering. “Justine said your woman left you. And from all you’ve just told me, I can make my own deductions. Your job comes first, and anything else is just an afterthought.”

  “Angela was never my woman. And what could you know about my job?”

  Her chin lifted a fraction. “Not much. Why don’t you tell me?”

  He studied her with icy calmness. “Because I don’t want to,” he said, then turned his back to her and headed out of the room. “Go make breakfast. I’ve got a phone call to make.”

  Violet stared after his retreating back as the weight of rejection enveloped her like a heavy, black cloud. The only thing Charlie wanted from her was a plain ole romp in the hay. Nothing more. In his own way he was just as selfish as her father had been, as Brent had been and then, later, Rex. Now Charlie. Was it her lot in life to be used by men?

  Doing her best to swallow away the raw tears in her throat, Violet headed to the kitchen to make breakfast.

  Violet lifted her head and flexed her aching shoulders. She’d been sitting at the kitchen table for nearly two hours, pouring over the ledger and the checks and receipts Justine had given her nearly two weeks ago.

  She liked keeping books for Charlie’s mother. The older woman was so laid-back and undemanding that Violet had to remind herself she was actually working for her. But each night after Sam went to bed and Violet pulled out the ledger, she was haunted by all she’d left behind in Amarillo.

  By now Rex had to be enraged over her leaving and taking his grandson with her. He’d probably already sent some of his hired thugs out to search for her. Thank God they hadn’t caught up to her yet.

  With a weary sigh, she rubbed her eyes and glanced down at the open pages of debits and credits. Justine’s was a simple bookkeeping system, one that a high school student could easily understand. Rex’s books at the O’Dell Packing Company had been a different story. Everything was on computer file, where hundreds of entries were made during a work week.

  There were times Violet wished she wasn’t so good with numbers. Otherwise she might never have picked up on the fact that Rex and his friends had been running stolen cattle through the slaughterhouse.

  She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes as she recalled the moment she’d confronted her father-in-law about her discovery. At first he’d laughed at her accusations. But the moment she’d informed him she was going to contact the law, he’d turned dangerous and threatening.

  Furiously, he’d told Violet he wasn’t about to let her take him down over a few measly head of cattle. And he had no intentions of allowing her to leave with Sam. He wanted his grandchild near him and he’d go to any means to see that he kept him. Even blackmail.

  The agonizing thought propelled Violet out of her chair, and she walked barefoot over to the screen door leading out to the backyard.

  She didn’t know how Rex had found out about her brush with the law back in Georgia, but he had and he wouldn’t hesitate to use it in a custody battle over Sam. True he might not win. But a judge would hardly look at a mother favorably when she’d been caught attempting to hawk stolen goods. Of course she hadn’t known anything her father had given her to take to the pawn shop had been stolen. She’d done it to please him, to help him because he was broke and hungry. Violet’s mistake had been in thinking her father had been hungry for food rather than liquor.

  Forcing the humiliating scrape to the back of her mind, she pressed her nose against the screen and gazed out at the summer night. The sun had fallen behind the mountains more than two hours ago, but Charlie still wasn’t home. Since the morning his mother had brought him a message, he’d gradually been away from the cabin more and more every day. She didn’t know what he was doing. And she hadn’t asked. But she wondered. And she missed him. Terribly.

  The sound of a truck became a steady hum in the distance, and then she heard it pull to a stop in front of the house. She told herself to stay put. If it was Charlie, she didn’t want to rush to the door and give him the idea she was eager to see him. Since he’d taunted her about making love with him, she’d purposely stayed a safe distance from him and kept her thoughts to herself.

  “What are you doing still up?”

  She turned around to see him standing in the doorway leading into the kitchen. His jeans and blue chambray shirt were covered with dust, and beneath the brim of his straw hat, she could see lines of exhaustion on his face.

  Telling herself he would resent any sort of comfort she might offer him, she jammed her hands down in the pockets on her shorts and moved back to the table where she’d left her bookwork.

  “Working on your mother’s ledger.”

  He frowned. “She doesn’t expect you to do all that in a few short days. Besides, it’s only for tax purposes. She won’t need it until the middle of August.”

  Violet began to gather the papers together and stuff them back into a box. Behind her, Charlie went to the refrigerator and pulled out a soft drink.

  “That’s more than six weeks away. I won’t be here the middle of August. And, anyway, I don’t like to leave work undone.” She carried the box and the ledger over to a cabinet and safely stored them away. When she turned back, Charlie had taken a seat at the table. She didn’t know why it felt so good to look at him or why it was unbearable to think of the time she would eventually leave here.

  “Speaking of work,” she told him, “this afternoon I finished hanging the last bit of wallpaper in the bathroom.”

  With a tired groan, he propped his dusty boots out in front of him. “You should have waited until I could help you. I don’t expect you to do things like that on your own.”

  “If I waited on you, things would never get done.”

  “Getting in a hurry to leave?”

  With each day that passed, leaving was becoming more and more on Violet’s mind. Her car was being repaired, and though she hadn’t done enough work to warrant the cost of repairing her engine, she was considering giving the mechanic a check on her bank account back in Amarillo.

  Rex would eventually receive her bank statement in the mail and the canceled check would be a giveaway as to where she’d been staying. But by then she could be long gone. Maybe even all the way to northern California. It might be worth the chance if it would get her and Sam out of this house sooner. Because each day, each hour, that passed told her she and her son were becoming far too entrenched in this Texas Ranger’s life.

  “Maybe,” she said quietly.

  He studied the bottle of cola in his hand. “What’s the matter? You don’t like the jobs I’ve been giving you?”

  She turned her back to him and picked up a cracker from a basket on the counter. The little paint and papering jobs he’d given her to do so far had been next to nothing. It was him and her growing feelings for him that she didn’t like.

  “I don’t mind work. I just...feel the need to get back on the road. We need to find a place soon. I want
Sam to be settled into a home and neighborhood before he enrolls in kindergarten. Starting school is an important time for a child, I want him to be happy and secure.”

  “If you’re so concerned about Sam’s security, why the hell did you run off from Amarillo in the first place?” he growled at her.

  His unexpected question shocked Violet and she whirled around to face him.

  “Because I...” Her mouth opened, but the words jammed in her throat. She couldn’t tell this man anything! If she told him she’d discovered her father-in-law was a thief and had done nothing to stop it, he would consider her just as guilty as Rex! He’d certainly want to know why she hadn’t gone to the law before now. But she couldn’t tell him. The whole thing was too humiliating, and she doubted he would believe her innocence, anyway.

  She swallowed and glanced away from him. “I didn’t like living with my father-in-law,” she said bluntly.

  Charlie didn’t say anything as he studied her for long moments. “Did you always live with him or has it been just since your husband died?”

  She let out a small sigh. “Brent and I always lived with his father. He had a huge house, and his wife had died years before. When we first married it seemed the sensible thing to do. The house was nice, and Sam had plenty of space to play. Rex didn’t really stick his nose into our business. But things changed after Brent died.” Frowning, she shook her head. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. It’s not important.”

  “It was important enough to make you run.”

  Run. Funny that he should use that particular word, because that’s exactly what she’d done. Run as hard and fast as she could.

  She didn’t make any sort of reply. She was afraid to. Something about Charlie brought everything to the surface in Violet, and she knew it wouldn’t take much for her to break down and tell him the whole nasty lot of her past life.

  “Did your father-in-law make sexual advances toward you? Is that the part you’re not telling me?” Charlie moved closer.