West Texas Match (The West Texans Series #1)

by Ginger Chambers

  He got up restlessly and took the two steps to the edge of his porch. From where he stood he had an unrestricted view of the main house. The long front porch, the equally long upper balcony.

  The moon was starting to wane, its light no longer as bright as it had been earlier in the month. Part of the balcony was in shadow, hiding the upper portion of the glass-paneled door that led to Shannon’s room.

  Was she asleep? Or, like him, had the events of the day come back to haunt the night?

  It had been all he could do to control himself when he’d stepped into the office and found Rio pawing her. A black rage had taken hold of him, making him want to tear the young cowboy apart. He’d thought of Jodie and the way Rio was betraying her, but his primary focus had been on Shannon. On the way she was straining away from Rio’s lips, twisting in his arms, trying to escape. In that moment Rafe had reacted as if she was his...and she was under assault.

  Wouldn’t his aunt have a field day if she knew that! Neither of the women she’d brought to the ranch in the past few years had had that effect. They’d been easy to overlook. Nice, even pretty, but not...right.

  Once, a long time ago, his mother had told him that he’d know the right person when she came along. Of course, his mother had been trying to justify her own plans to marry a man she’d just met while on a cruise. His father had been dead for seven years, and his mother had been at loose ends. Mae hadn’t approved, but his mother did what she usually did where Aunt Mae was concerned—she smiled and nodded, then quietly did as she pleased. She’d taken on a new family—five children all younger than Rafe—and moved in with them at her new husband’s home in Phoenix. Rafe hadn’t objected, because he’d seen the rebirth of life in his mother’s eyes. But the right person had continued to elude him.

  As he gazed at Shannon’s balcony door, it slowly opened and she stepped outside to the railing. Not knowing she was being observed, she didn’t bother to do more than pull a wrap around her shoulders, letting it fall open in front. The enticing curves of her breasts exposed by the low sweep of her gown were there for him to enjoy. He couldn’t tell what color the gown was—it looked all smooth and silvery in the faint moonlight—but it graced her body with a loving caress. She was still too thin, reminding him of all she’d been through, but the weeks at the ranch had begun to have an effect. Some of the harsher lines were softening into a natural slenderness that looked right for her. Her hair, the color of ripe wheat, fell to her shoulders in a soft swirl, her heart-shaped face—filled in by his memory—lifted to the star-filled sky, then lowered to sweep the courtyard.

  Rafe pulled back into the shadows, to a place where he could still see her but she couldn’t see him.

  For several moments, she looked at Gib and Jodie’s house. Then, shifting, she looked at his. Rafe felt his heart quicken. What was she thinking? Was she wondering about him, as he had earlier wondered about her?

  What would she do if he came out of the shadows and climbed the wrought-iron support that led to her balcony? If, after swinging over the railing, he took her in his arms, felt the soft sweetness of her body as he ran his hands over that satiny gown, and claimed her lips...

  Almost as if his thoughts were transmitted, she shivered in the cool air, folded the wrap closer together, then disappeared inside her room.

  Rafe remained still, waiting for the clamor in his blood to quieten. When finally he moved, it was to resettle in his porch chair. If he’d thought it difficult to sleep before, it would be impossible now. He wanted her with a force that stunned him with its raw power. But it was more than sexual need. He wanted her to want him—fully, freely, completely. To not hold back, to not change her mind, to not be reminded of whatever it was that had previously caused her to draw away from him.

  Shep lifted his head to check on his human. When he saw that Rafe had returned to the chair, the dog let his head drop back to the floor.

  Love. The word terrified Rafe at the same time that it drew him. Was that what was happening to him? He’d never really been in love before. He’d loved for the moment, loved for a short period of months, but never the deep abiding emotion one person has for another. He felt that way about the land, but never about a woman.

  “Shit-fire!” he murmured softly, bemused and dismayed by even the slightest possibility that it could be true.

  ~*~

  Shannon tossed and turned for most of the night, but at least she didn’t have any tormenting dreams. Her thoughts were moving too quickly for sleep, leaping from one disturbing circumstance to the next. Not even a short spell outside had helped stop them.

  She thought about Jodie, about what the girl might do. She thought about Gib, about how badly he needed to stand up to Mae—for his own sake, as well as for Jodie’s. She thought about Darlene and Thomas and the son she’d never met. She thought about Mae, who, since she’d gotten to know her a little better, wasn’t quite the all-powerful unfeelingly manipulative person she’d thought her to be.

  There was more to Mae than that, and even though she tried to sit in stubborn command of those around her, pressing them to perform actions she thought were best for them, it wasn’t done without feeling, without a form of love. She truly thought she knew best.

  And Rafe...Shannon’s mind kept returning to him like a pin to a magnet. Was he the reason she was having so much difficulty recalling the full essence of James Colby? James was still there, a part of her, but little by little he was being relegated to a less prominent place in her everyday thoughts. As if he was someone she would always remember with equal measures of warmth and joy and sadness. A specter of what might have been—but was not.

  She thought of Rafe as she’d first seen him, busy with the roundup. Vibrant, alive, in command. Then later, as he stood below the balcony, when time had been magically altered. He’d been the essence of the Old West. And then, when they first kissed...

  Shannon drew a trembling breath. What did it all mean? How did it all fit in? Where did she fit in? On the ranch, as Mae wanted, or in the suburbs where she’d grown up? Holding on to James’s memory, or embracing life and starting anew—with Rafe?

  Shannon felt Mae invisibly nudging her, but she wasn’t ready yet to make that kind of decision. It still seemed traitorous to James to even consider it. And what did Rafe have to say about it all? He’d made his feelings abundantly clear in the beginning—he didn’t like his aunt telling him what to do. But Shannon knew he wanted her physically. He’d told her as much. Not that she’d needed telling.

  She rolled over onto her side and gave her pillow a good thump. Then she gave it another thump and another, until she started to laugh. What an angry little sparrow, her father would have teased her. And this time, instead of feeling a huge aching void that could never be filled, she held her father’s spirit close and let it lull her into tranquil slumber.

  ~*~

  Gib burst into the dining room, interrupting Shannon’s and Mae’s breakfast. “She’s gone!” he cried, sweat beading his forehead, fear contorting his features. “Jodie’s gone! When I went to her room this morning to check on how she was, she wasn’t there!”

  “Did you look for her?” Mae demanded.

  “Of course I looked for her! I wouldn’t have come over here if I hadn’t. She’s gone!”

  “Did she take any clothes with her?” Mae demanded next.

  Gib rubbed his brow. “I don’t know.”

  “Then go check,” Mae said calmly but with steel in every word. “She might just be out for a walk.”

  “Jodie?” Gib questioned, confused. “Go for a walk?”

  “Just do as I say,” Mae said sharply. “If some of her clothes are gone, then so is she. If not... There’s no use putting out an alarm until we know.”

  As Shannon watched Gib hurry away, her stomach twisted into a knot.

  “I should have spent the night over there myself,” Mae said tightly as she pushed from the table. She faltered slightly as she got up and had to reach for temporary
support.

  “Are you all right?” Shannon asked, concerned. Mae looked as if she, too, had had little rest last night. She was paler than usual, a little less crisp.

  “Of course I’m all right. I’m perfectly all right. But I’d be even better if Gib wasn’t such a fool.”

  “He’s not, you know,” Shannon said firmly, feeling the need to speak up for the man who’d brought her to the ranch.

  Mae shot her the look of a bird of prey—keen-eyed, waiting.

  “A fool,” Shannon explained. “He’s just...more of a dreamer.”

  “A painter, you mean,” Mae said scornfully. “An artist. Don’t look so surprised. I’ve known for years, but if he can have his little secret, so can I. These creative types—goofballs and oddballs each an’ every one. Most of ’em can’t do an honest day’s work, so they dress themselves up in a fancy title—artist, musician, writer—and expect everyone else to do the work for them.”

  “If Gib wasn’t here, who would you have to run errands for you?” Shannon countered. “Since I’ve been visiting, I’ve seen him do countless things.”

  Mae twitched. Shannon had hit her target.

  “He’s never out of sorts,” Shannon continued. “I’ve never seen him say a harsh word. He’s always cheerful and ready to help.”

  “He still should’ve watched Jodie better! I told him to. You heard me.”

  Gib rushed back into the room. “Her bag’s gone. So are some of the things in her closet. Those new outfits I got for her in San Antone—they’re gone, too.”

  Mae’s mouth thinned. “We’d better tell Rafe.”

  “I already did. I stopped by his place on my way back here. Had to wake him up. He was still sleepin’.”

  Rafe stumbled into the room, his dark hair mussed, his jaw unshaven. He’d pulled on his clothes in such a rush that he’d just started to snap together the lower buttons of his shirt, which hung free over his jeans. The gaping material exposed a nicely muscled chest and flat stomach.

  A ripple of awareness traveled through Shannon. Striving to govern it, she gave him a tight smile. For a moment, he stood transfixed, then he continued to put together the snaps.

  “Jodie’s gone?” he asked. “Did I hear Gib right?”

  Mae nodded.

  Rafe ran a hand through his hair. “All right,” he said. “We’d better get people out looking for her. Gib, go rouse Thomas and LeRoy. I’ll call Dub, then get together as many of the hands as we can. Aunt Mae, in the meantime, why don’t you try calling the Cleary place. See if they’ve seen her, or if that girl of theirs—Jennifer—has heard from her. She and Jodie are pretty close. She might know something.”

  “Should...should the police...?” Shannon stammered, drawing everyone’s attention.

  Rafe shook his head. “This is a family thing. We’ll see if we can take care of it ourselves first.”

  “Does anyone know where Rio is?” Gib asked.

  “No, but I intend to find out,” Rafe replied with grim determination.

  Everyone then set about fulfilling their assigned tasks. Everyone but Shannon, who had nothing to do but wait.

  ~*~

  Harriet and Darlene came over to the main house as soon as they heard the news. Harriet, with one arm around each child in an unconscious need to keep them close, said bracingly, “They’ll find her. She can’t have gone far.”

  “Mommy, did Jodie run away?” Gwen asked, her gray eyes wide.

  “Will she come back?” Wesley asked. “Is she gone forever?”

  “What nonsense! Of course she’ll come back,” Mae said firmly. “Harriet, why don’t you send the children outside to play? This isn’t the proper place for them.”

  Harriet’s arms tightened. “I want them here.”

  “There’s no use frightening them unnecessarily.”

  “The only one who’s frightening them is you!”

  Oddly it was Darlene who stepped in to settle the argument. “Harriet, Mae is right this time. The children would be far happier playing outside. And Mae, they can come in whenever they want, can’t they? To check on what we’ve heard?”

  “I never said they couldn’t,” Mae answered stiffly.

  Harriet, recovering from her momentary bout with fear, said to the children, “Just don’t go wandering off too far. Stay close to the house. I want you to hear me if I call.”

  Brother and sister wriggled free of their mother’s hold and hurried outdoors. Within seconds they were playing in the shade of a large tree that could be seen from the front windows.

  “It is best,” Darlene said quietly.

  Harriet bit her bottom lip. “They’re little for such a short time.”

  “Then they grow up and cause all sorts of problems,” Mae said bitterly.

  Rafe came into the room, followed by Gib. “What did the Clearys have to say?” he asked, looking directly at Mae.

  “She’s not there. They haven’t seen her.”

  “What about Jennifer?”

  “She swears she doesn’t know anything, her mother says. They’ve asked if they can help. I told ’em we’d let ’em know.”

  “One of the pickup trucks is missing. Jodie must’ve taken it.”

  Gib rubbed his arm. “What about Rio?”

  “J.J. says he saw him in town last night.”

  “Do you think that’s where Jodie went?” Harriet asked.

  “I’ve had the boys fan out. They’re checking all around here,” Rafe said. “I’ll go into town myself.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Gib insisted.

  “All right, come on. Let’s don’t waste any time.” The two men started for the door.

  “When you find him, I want him horsewhipped!” Mae barked.

  Rafe stiffened and turned. Eyes glittering, he said, “Aunt Mae, when this is all over I want you to do a lot of thinking about your part in it.”

  “My part! I’m not the one who ran away! I’m not the one who—”

  “That’s enough! We’ll settle it later. Right now the first order of business is finding Jodie.”

  Mae pressed her lips closed. She looked ready to pop, but she didn’t say another word.

  Rafe held her gaze, then turned away again.

  As Shannon watched Rafe and Gib leave the house, she knew she couldn’t remain here. Mae would explode as soon as Rafe was out of earshot, venting her anger at Jodie and Rio and now him.

  Without further consideration Shannon hurried after the two men. “Rafe, wait!” she called, bursting through the front door. “Please. I’d like to come, too.”

  Both Rafe and Gib turned to look at her.

  She pulled to a stop. “I—I want to help,” she stammered.

  Rafe looked at her—hard. He made his decision in an instant. “All right,” he said. “The more eyes and ears we have the better.”

  Shannon fell into step beside them, feeling ridiculously gratified. It was as if she’d passed some kind of test given by a man accustomed to sizing up people as to their ability.

  “We’re taking the Cadillac,” Rafe said. “All the other vehicles are in use.”

  They walked to a building between the barn and the pen area, just behind the bunkhouse. It was a garage with space for several cars and what amounted to a professional work area to one side. LeRoy’s domain. But it was empty now, except for the big black car Gib had used to drive Shannon from Austin.

  Gib jumped into the middle of the back seat, which left Shannon to sit in front. Had only a few short weeks passed since she’d come here? Somehow it seemed ages. She hadn’t known these people then. Now she was intimately involved in their lives.

  She glanced at Rafe as he settled into the driver’s seat and started the engine. It was comforting to be with him during a time of trial. He exuded competency and authority. If a job needed to be done, he would do it, and do it well. He was the kind of man you could rely on, trust your life to...

  Shannon’s heart gave a tiny leap. That was a view very similar to
Darlene’s, the one she’d expressed the night Shannon had heard her crying. The view that had bothered Shannon repeatedly the next day, that she’d refused to allow to take root. Now it seemed to come from deep within her, springing from a seed she didn’t know had been planted.

  Her heart leapt again. Did she love Rafe? Impossible!

  His hand brushed her shoulder as he turned to back out of the parking space. “Sorry,” he murmured.

  And she knew. But she put the knowledge away. Put the guilt on hold. They had a job to do first, and he trusted her to do her part.

  ~*~

  The drive to the nearest town was accomplished in far less time than even Gib could have managed. Shannon had glanced at the speedometer once and then quickly away again. She’d rather not know how fast they were going. But with Rafe’s steady hands on the wheel and his keen eyes fixed on the road, she didn’t worry.

  The town was little more than a wide spot in the road. Several two-story redbrick buildings clustered on either side of the ribbon of blacktop, while on either side of them, extending down the road, were squatter buildings of wood frame and mud brick.

  “Look over there!” Gib cried, leaning forward and pointing. He’d been chewing gum at approximately the same rate as Rafe had been driving ever since leaving the ranch.

  Shannon followed his finger. Across the way, in front of a brick building, was one of the ranch’s light green pickups.

  Rafe swung the Cadillac in and parked beside the truck. He jumped out and looked inside. “Keys are in the ignition,” he said.

  The ground-level portion of the brick building housed an establishment with the name Inez’s Café.

  “I’ll be out in a minute,” Rafe said, then stepped inside.

  Shannon and Gib could see his progress through the wide plate-glass window that made up most of the cafe’s front wall. Between the painted letters of the cafe’s name, they watched as he talked to the woman behind the counter. The conversation was short, then Rafe strode back to the car.