She let out a soft moan. “Oh, Riley,” she whispered.
He looked up and saw her eyes sparkled. He brought his hands down her back and stopped at her scar. Suddenly, she went rigid.
“Riley, stop,” she blurted out.
Startled by her words, he stopped. “What’s the matter? Are you okay?” he asked in a concerned voice.
“Yes. I’m fine. But, um, I’m not ready for this. Please leave.” Tears welled within her eyes.
“Marissa, what are you afraid of?”
“Nothing. I mean. I…I can’t do this.” She tore herself away with a choking cry.
“It’s just two people making love,” Riley said in her ear, attempting to hug her.
She yanked herself away, grabbed her robe that was laying on the bed, and threw it on. “I’m sorry, Riley. I know it’s difficult to understand, but I’m not ready for this. I’m not ready for any kind of relationship. I just can’t do this.”
“Okay, Marissa. I’m sorry if I pushed you too fast. You understand I would never hurt you, don’t you?” A muscle in his jaw twitched.
“Uh, yeah. I think I do. But I need to take this slow. I just…have a lot of stuff in my head to deal with.”
“We’ll take it as slow as you want. I won’t push you. But I wish you’d tell me what has happened to you.” Stroking his chin, he regarded her carefully.
“I can’t right now. Just know that what I’m going through is not your fault in any way, okay?” She turned her face away.
“Okay. I’m available any time you’d like to talk about what you’re going through.”
Riley turned and walked out to the dining room, and she followed him. He grabbed his hat and exited the house without looking back at her.
* * * *
Marissa sat on the edge of the bed hunched over, thinking about what happened and why. Everything had been going fine, and she’d enjoyed Riley’s kisses and his tender touches. The emotions and tingling sensations were all new to her, and she loved it. She was so enraptured with the moment. She couldn’t believe how badly she wanted to see him naked and to be joined to him. His hands had stroked up and down her back numerous times and left nothing but sensual sensations along the way.
But when he stopped at her scar and touched the ridge she had a flashback to when Mark hit her with the board and how the nail sliced through her skin and tore it open. She remembered the pain she’d felt—both physically and mentally—and the painful operation she had to repair the damage to her liver. The agony she went through after the surgery. Everything hit her all at once and like a ton of bricks. She took a sharp breath, and tears slipped from her eyes and ran down her cheeks.
She couldn’t tell Riley any of this, she just couldn’t. She didn’t want him to see the scar and be repulsed by it or feel sorry for her. She cringed inwardly. She couldn’t stand it if he pitied her. Would this always come between her and any man she wanted to have a relationship with? What if she wanted a future with Riley, would this affect their relationship? Would she always have trouble getting close to him?
Oh my God. What am I going to do? Riley is nothing like Mark. Mentally, she understood this, but could she convince herself emotionally that this was the case and he would never hurt her? During the time she spent with him, despite her reservations, she always had such a good time. She started to have a strong connection and feel safe with him. She knew better than to do that. Now she was in a bigger predicament.
* * * *
Monday morning Riley arrived at the office irritated.
“Good morning, Riley,” Liz said cheerfully.
“Good morning,” Riley said gruffly and walked into his office.
He felt frustrated with his relationship with Marissa, and threw himself into his work to get his mind off her. He was looking over the weekend reports to see if anything happened that he needed to deal with when his office phone rang.
“McCade, how can I help you?” Riley snapped into the phone.
“Hey, Riley, this is Conley. You left me a message?”
Riley’s mood lightened a little. “Yeah. Can you stop by my office? I have a job for you.”
“Sure. How about ten, will that work?”
“Yeah, that works. Thanks.”
Len arrived at ten o’clock sharp. “Good morning, Riley.” He reached out and shook his hand.
“Good morning. Have a seat.”
“What’s up?” Len asked.
“This is a personal request. I need someone investigated discreetly. I don’t want anyone aware I’m investigating her. I could investigate myself, but like I said, I want it done discreetly.”
“Okay. Who’s this person?”
“Her name is Marissa Simpson, formerly named Marissa Saxton. She grew up here, but left, went to a university in Nevada, and recently returned. I want to know about her divorce, and her role, if any, in Heartland Diamonds and their embezzlement case.”
“Do you know where she was married and lived?”
“I believe she was in Nevada all that time.”
“Heartland Diamonds is all but closed right now.”
“Yeah. She mentioned that they were being investigated for smuggling diamonds into the country, but she claims she wasn’t involved in any way. I’m concerned that her ex-husband may be blackmailing her for some reason. I’m pretty sure he abused her too. She may or may not be involved, but I want to be sure.”
“Okay, give me three to five days, and I’ll get back to you with what I find out.”
“Thanks, Len.”
* * * *
Riley spent the week dealing with issues and court cases and wasn’t able to connect back with Marissa until Friday evening. He pulled up in her driveway after he got off work and before she left to go digging with Campbell. He knocked at her door.
Marissa opened her door, and said, “Hi, Riley.”
Riley leaned inward with one hand against the doorframe. “Marissa. Are you going to the BBQ Challenge Kickoff tomorrow?”
“I hadn’t planned on it.”
“Would you like to go with me?”
“Um, Riley, do you think that’s a good idea?” She raised a brow.
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Well, considering the last time we were together I turned you away...”
“Yes, well. We’re still friends, aren’t we?” He gave her a half-smile.
“I’d like to think we are,” Marissa agreed, her face brightening.
“Then will you go with me to the BBQ Challenge Kickoff?” he asked again.
Marissa’s whole face lit up. “Okay, I’d love to go with you. Oh, and Riley, Sunday afternoon, Dave and Cindy and Katy, along with Heidi and her kids, and I are going to go to Red Rock River and use the inner tubes to float down the river. Would you be interested in doing something like that?”
“I haven’t done that since high school. Where are you meeting?”
“We’re meeting at Southerlyn’s Jewelry and Gem store at one. We figured the water should be above freezing by that time.”
Riley chuckled. “Above freezing? I don’t think so. Okay, I’ll stop by and pick you up, and we’ll meet them at Southerlyn’s, is that okay?”
“That’s great.” She gave Riley a megawatt smile.
“All right. I’ll pick you up tomorrow about two forty-five, and we’ll go try out some of the best barbecue this side of the planet.” Riley smiled as he watched her eyes sparkled.
* * * *
Marissa went over to the dig site and met up with Campbell. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Fine, fine,” Campbell said.
“Have your neighbors been bothering you?”
“Nope. Although someone has been over there trying to fix the trommel. Every so often I hear a few curse words.” Campbell showed a wicked smile.
Marissa shook her head and laughed. “You better be careful, or I’ll think you had something to do with that after all!”
After they worked at her site
for a while, they picked up and went over to Campbell site.
“We will need to move your digging now. We’ve come to the end of it as far as this area is concerned,” Marissa said.
“Where do you think we should go?” he asked.
“Hmm, let me study this for a bit. Why don’t you get the sluice going?”
“Okay.”
After carefully studying the terrain, Marissa dug a couple of test sites before telling Campbell, “Let’s start here and go this way. If it yields nothing when you search through the stones, then we’ll shift to the other side.”
“We’re moving more inland, it looks like.”
“Yes. I have to take into consideration where my dig site is and how this flows.” She motioned with her hands.
They started the dig in a new area and continued until it was dusk.
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to get away this weekend to do any more digging. I’m going to the barbecue challenge tomorrow, and Sunday we’re going to float down the river in inner tubes,” Marissa said.
“So you’re finally getting out and enjoying yourself. That’s good.” Campbell gave Marissa a half-smile.
“It seems that way, doesn’t it?” She stood with one hand on her hip.
“We don’t have to do any digging on the weekends if you’d like to modify our arrangement, just say the word.”
“Thanks, Campbell.”
* * * *
Riley picked Marissa up on Saturday afternoon, and they went to town for the Barbecue Challenge Kickoff. The first booth they came to, the vendor said, “Good afternoon, Sheriff. Try one of our pork ribs.”
“Okay.” Riley took the paper plate from him and shared a small rack of ribs with Marissa.
“Oh, yum. This is delicious!” Marissa’s eyes glinted.
“Yeah, it is,” Riley murmured between bites.
After they ate the meat off the ribs, they grabbed two towelettes to wipe their faces and hands. Riley held Marissa’s hand as they strolled by the next couple of vendors.
They came up to the booth for Rock Creek Inn. “Hey, Riley,” Bill Higgins, the owner, called out. “Want to try our New York strip in our new homemade barbecue sauce?”
“Hey, Bill. Sure, I would like to try it. Is it something different from your sauce at the restaurant?”
“Yeah, we spiced it up with some hot peppers.”
Bill sliced off two small pieces of the steaks and handed them to Riley and Marissa.
She bit into the meat. “Whoa, that’s hot.” Marissa pulled the bit of meat swiftly away from her mouth.
“Yeah, I like it though.”
“So, what do you think? Is it a winner for the restaurant?” Bill asked.
“Yeah, this is great!”
After visiting a few other vendors, they came to a vendor whose restaurant was in Helena, called Steven’s Ranch House. Riley had visited them a few times when he went to Helena. The owner, Missy Templeton, hollered out, “Sheriff, how about trying this pulled pork?”
Marissa and Riley walked over to the booth and sampled the pulled pork.
“This would be great in a sandwich,” Marissa said.
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“At least it’s not hot like the steak was—my mouth is still burning from the hot peppers.”
“Want some water?” Riley asked.
“Yeah, guess I better get some.”
They walked over to a tent that had bottled water. Marissa twisted the cap off and drank half the bottle. She put the cap back on, and they continued walking.
They came up to a booth that had Cajun hamburgers. “I’m going to pass on that,” Marissa said.
“What? Can’t handle the heat?” Riley teased. Her eyes met his in the shared humor.
“No, the barbecue sauce from the steaks was enough.”
Riley grabbed a paper plate with a tip of the Cajun hamburger on it and took a bite.
“What do you have in your hamburgers?” Marissa asked the vendor.
“Well, there’s ground chuck, ground pork sausage, diced onions, red and green bell peppers, ground red pepper, Cajun mustard, Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, and creole seasoning.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of stuff for a burger,” Marissa said, and the vendor smiled.
“It tastes pretty darn good too,” Riley quipped.
“What do they do with all the meat?” Marissa asked Riley after they left the vendor.
“The vendors pay twenty-five dollars and donate ten pounds of meat. They take the meat into the Mill Creek Restaurant and set it up so people can eat. It’s five dollars a person and children under ten can eat free. All the money collected goes to the Kitchen Pantry, a charitable group that gives food to those who need it. Unfortunately, even in this small community, there are folks in dire need of assistance.”
They continued to the next few booths.
“All this food makes me hungry. Have you ever done any barbecuing?” Riley asked.
“I’ve cooked some beef and added barbecue sauce to it, but never tried to make my own marinating sauce or barbecue sauce. Have you?”
“Yep. I have a great recipe for barbecue sauce that I make for my steaks and ribs,” Riley admitted. “I’ll have you over one day, and you can taste test it. But these guys here are pros at it. I could never compete with them.”
“It would be fun, though, to do a backyard barbecue cookout and have friends over,” Marissa said thoughtfully.
“Once a year I have a large cookout and roast a pig. There are almost as many people for that as we have here for this event.”
Riley and Marissa made their way to the restaurant. There must have been at least two hundred people standing in line. The line started at the restaurant door and ran down the sidewalk toward the center of town.
Damian McCade, the mayor and Riley’s brother, came up to them. “It’s a long wait for the food, especially if you have a hungry stomach,” he complained.
“Haven’t you ate anything today?” Riley asked.
“Not a thing. Didn’t even get a chance to eat breakfast. Things kept popping up all over the place.”
“About what? The barbecue challenge?”
“Yes. Registration was a mess. A lot of people came in at the last minute. Getting booths set up for people who didn’t have one. Getting the road commission here to redirect traffic, just lots of issues that probably should’ve been addressed before today. Looks like you got more officers on duty today.”
“Yeah, I hired two more for overtime to help supervise. With a band coming in at eight and free beer from the Frankenburg Brewery, I’m sure there will be agitation going on tonight.” Riley surveyed the area to see if the Ferguson boys were anywhere.
“It’s times like this you wish there was a law against open containers on the street,” Damian said.
“You mean there isn’t a law against it?” Marissa asked, the surprise obvious in her voice.
“No, not in this community. We’ve talked about it though. Well, you guys have a good day. I’m going to head to the front of the line and use my mayor card and see if I can get in first to get something to eat.” Damian gave Riley a wink.
Riley glanced at Marissa when she waved at Heidi and her kids, who were ahead of them in line. They came out with their plates full of food and the kids sat down on the curve of the road while Heidi sat on a bench behind them. After an hour wait, Marissa and Riley got in the restaurant and went through the food line. They piled their plates up with different meats and other food to go with it. Riley paid the ten dollars, and they walked out of the restaurant with their food and sat with Heidi.
“I had some of that rib. It tasted wonderful.” Heidi pointed at the rib on Marissa’s plate.
Marissa bit into the rib and moaned. “Oh, my goodness, this is good.”
As they sat eating, Rod and Casey walked by, and Casey looked over at Marissa and then lowered her gaze to the sidewalk.
“What kind of band is playin
g tonight?” Marissa asked.
“A group called The Town Rockers. Everyone seems to enjoy them, and most of the people get out in the middle of the road and dance,” Heidi said.
“Riley thinks there may be problems tonight,” Marissa commented.
“Oh, there are always problems when the community gets together like this. That’s the norm. I hired more deputies for tonight because of the Fergusons and the chopper gang,” Riley said.
Later in the day, Dave, Cindy, and Katy came over and sat with them and Dave said, “I hear you’re going with us tomorrow, Riley. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” he smirked.
“Why’s that?” Riley gave Dave a sidelong glance with an eyebrow raised.
“Well, I had all the ladies to myself, but now I gotta share them,” Dave said with a grin.
Riley chuckled. “I know one lady you aren’t going to get your hands on, Dave.”
“Can you believe these guys are talking about us like this?” Cindy said.
“Yeah, like we’re a conquest or something.” Heidi chuckled quietly.
“All right, guys, there are three of us to two of you. One of us is going to miss out.” Marissa smiled.
“I can get my ex to go, but you all will have to take him. I don’t want him.” Heidi whispered so the kids didn’t hear her.
“Whatever happened between you two anyway?” Cindy asked.
“We couldn’t get along. I worked during the day, he worked second shift. When we were together, we were always fighting. The only good thing about our relationship is the five kids we have.”
“All redheads like you,” Cindy quipped.
Heidi rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and a couple of them have my temper too.”
“Stephanie is the cutest little thing. I like holding her on my lap,” Marissa said.
“Yeah, she’s really a sweet-natured little girl. But my youngest, Robbie...I’m not ashamed to say he’s a little hellion. Lizzie and Katy are best friends, just as Marissa and I were when we were little. The two of them are inseparable.”
“I’m glad they’re friends. I was worried that Katy would have no friends,” Cindy confessed.
Blue as Sapphires Page 18
