by B. J Daniels
“Might as well earn your money,” she said.
He wondered idly how much he was making as he found the apples and set to work peeling them—and encouraging Enid to talk.
“This is an awful lot of work for one woman,” he said. “Am I your only help?”
“Pepper wanted to hire a cook from town,” the old woman said. “She’d just love to put me out to pasture. Well, I’m not about to make it easy on her. I told her I’d take some help, but that was it and only until the wedding is over. I figure most of them will clear out by then.”
“Those were her sons I just saw?”
“Brand and Worth. Worth is just here for the money. He’s hoping his mother drops dead so he can get his share of the Winchester fortune.” Enid laughed. “I wouldn’t count on that if I were him. Brand, he’s the younger one, he can’t wait to get out of here. At least the grandsons who are moving up here are building their own places on the ranch far enough away I won’t have to deal with them.”
“How many grandsons are there?” he asked.
“Legitimate ones? Depends on who’s counting. Four, I guess. Not to mention the granddaughter who’s the sheriff.”
“Pepper’s granddaughter is the sheriff?”
Enid shot him a look. “McCall. She’s the one getting married. Didn’t they tell you anything when you applied for this job?”
“Not really.” He watched her halfheartedly start to make the pie crusts. “You know my mother used to win blue ribbons at the county fair with her pie crust. She taught me her secret.”
The phone rang.
He snatched up the phone before Enid could dust the flour from her hands and answer it. “Winchester Ranch.”
The woman on the other end of the line was apologizing profusely because she’d just learned that the person she’d sent out to help at the ranch had gotten lost, then gotten stuck and was now waiting for a wrecker to get her out of the ditch.
“I know it’s late but do you want me to send someone else?” the woman from the employment agency asked.
“No. Not necessary. It’s quite all right.”
“Then you don’t need anyone?” She sounded relieved and he wondered if it was difficult to get someone to come out here to work. The locals would have heard all the horror stories about the Winchesters. Not to mention Enid.
“No, it’s no problem.” He hung up and saw Enid watching him with narrowed eyes. “Wrong number.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, then, “I’ll let you finish the pie crusts, if you’re sure you know how. But I’ll be watching you,” she warned as she dusted flour from her hands onto her apron.
She wasn’t the only one watching him, TD thought, as he sensed someone in the kitchen doorway and turned to see Pepper Winchester. She’d brought the tray back. He quickly took it from her and she left. But he wondered how much she’d heard. Too much, he thought, which could explain the suspicious look she’d given him.
“Now what?” TD asked later after the pies were baked and he’d helped serve an early lunch of soup and bread. Virginia, good to her word, had gone into town. The tension during the meal between Pepper and her two sons had been thick enough to cut with a hatchet.
It was hours before supper. Enid had said they were having steaks and he could grill them. She said she would put in the potatoes to bake and could make a salad while he did the steaks.
“I’m going to take a nap and get off my poor old feet,” she said. “You’re free to do whatever you want.”
“I see you have horses.”
“Hardly anyone rides them anymore,” she said. “Help yourself. Just don’t go too far. And don’t be late to help with supper.”
LIZZY CHANGED FOR LUNCH, dreading what she knew was going to be a tense meal. She was no fool. She knew that Janie didn’t want her here. Anne, either, for that matter. Something was going on between the sisters.
It made her sad to think how close she and Anne had been as girls and how they had drifted apart. She blamed herself. She’d been so lost after her father’s death and the ranch had been a painful reminder of that loss.
Later, after she’d gone to work for Roger Collins, she’d been so involved in her work that the few times she could get away, Anne had been busy.
Lizzy tried to put it out of her mind. She just needed to stay here until she could complete her assignment.
Lunch was as miserable as she’d anticipated. Both McCormick sisters seemed to be in a bad mood and said hardly a word.
“I think I’ll take another ride after lunch, if that’s all right,” Lizzy said when it was finally over.
“You really don’t have to ask every time,” Anne snapped. “Please, just make yourself at home.”
“Yes, you’re more like family than a guest,” Janie had said, shooting her sister a look of defiance.
Lizzy couldn’t wait to get away from the pair. She took the satellite phone to make the call to her boss once she had ridden far enough away from the ranch. Stopping on a hill out of sight of the house, she made the call.
“Agent Calder reporting in,” she said when Roger Collins answered.
“You made it to Montana without any trouble?”
“Yes, sir. We both did.”
“TD is there?”
“He’s apparently staying at the Winchester Ranch.”
“How did he manage that?”
She had no idea and said as much.
“If there is any way you can make contact, do. Just be careful. TD Waters will be suspicious of anyone who tries to get close to him right now. Keep me posted.”
Liz disconnected, thinking about the man she’d seen behind the wheel of the pickup—and the photograph of the boy. She realized she hadn’t mentioned that she’d found the photograph among Waters’s things. Or that the name on the back of the photograph was a different one, although the boy in the snapshot was clearly Waters.
She told herself the framed photograph was irrelevant. Her boss was more interested in what weapons he’d brought, where he was staying and what he was doing.
Why would Roger Collins care about some old photograph of Waters?
Lizzy was glad she hadn’t mentioned it as she put away the phone and considered how to get closer to Waters.
The one thing she wouldn’t let herself speculate on for long was why he’d gone rogue, and ultimately what she would be ordered to do to stop him if necessary. Best not to know too much, Agent Director Collins had always told her.
“Just do your job. No questions asked.” He had smiled at her kindly. “One of these days you’ll be tested. Don’t let me down, Elizabeth.”
She feared that day had come.
“MCCALL, MAYBE YOU should consider hiring some security for the wedding. I’m serious,” Luke said. They lay in the small double bed in his travel trailer after sneaking away for an impromptu lunch and lovemaking. Through the window, she could see the beautiful house he’d built for them. Luke had promised it would be finished and furnished by the time they returned home from their honeymoon. He’d also made her promise she wouldn’t peek until then.
McCall looked over at her handsome fiancé. “This is about the McCormicks?”
“You said you picked up bad vibes from them.”
She realized she shouldn’t have shared that with him. They were both in law enforcement, but Luke was also a man. He worried about her.
“Don’t you think my family is more dangerous than the McCormick sisters ever could be?” she asked, only half joking, as she lay back and stared up at the ceiling.
“I was thinking more of the bad blood between the two families,” he said, still way too serious. “This will be the first time that all of the Winchesters are together in one place.”
“The thought makes me nauseous. Maybe security isn’t such a bad idea. We’ll need someone to keep my mother and grandmother from killing each other. If I know my mother, she’ll head straight for the bar at the reception. All Pepper has to do is look at her
cross-eyed and all hell will break out.”
Luke sighed, his expression impatient. “Not to mention,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken, “the fact that your grandmother still believes that someone in the family was in on your father’s murder.”
As if she had forgotten. Her grandmother wasn’t the only one who still believed that. The problem was that her father was dead and nothing could bring him back. Add to that she didn’t like investigating her own family—the family she’d only recently even been accepted into.
But she was the sheriff and she had suspected that Sandy Sheridan had some reason for committing the murder within sight of the Winchester Ranch. Sandy had wanted someone to see it.
“Maybe the guilty family member is already dead,” she said halfheartedly. “You know my uncle Angus drank himself to death. He wouldn’t be the first person to drink because of guilt.”
“Maybe.” Luke sounded as doubtful as she felt. Everything she’d heard about Angus Winchester went against his being involved. “Now to find out that the McCormick girls were there that day and might have seen something. Everyone in the county knows that they blame Pepper for their mother going to prison.”
“And everyone knows that is just crazy,” she said as she leaned toward her fiancé and gave him a kiss. “But I do know what you’re saying. There could be trouble at the wedding.”
McCall had known that from the get-go. She needed to defuse at least some of it if possible before the wedding. She didn’t tell him that she’d been investigating Pepper’s three surviving offspring. The problem was that the wedding was looming and she still didn’t have any evidence against any of them.
Worth Winchester had started a Western rope manufacturing business after he’d left the ranch and had done well. Brand had worked at a series of ranches and finally settled down to manage one in Wyoming. Virginia was the only one who didn’t seem to have any visible means of support. From what McCall had been able to discover, she had gotten by through the largesse of a series of men.
If one of her father’s siblings had been a coconspirator in Trace Winchester’s murder, they’d keep that secret well.
“I don’t like that look in your eye,” Luke said. “I just want you to be careful. Think about security at the wedding. You never know what other skeletons could come clattering out of a closet.”
McCall nodded to her fiancé although she thought it would be a relief to not have any more secrets. Her fear was that they might never learn if there had been a coconspirator in her father’s murder—or who it was.
She couldn’t help but worry what that would do to her grandmother. Pepper Winchester was bound and determined to learn the truth or die trying.
LIZZY LET HER HORSE RUN. The afternoon was sunny and bright, the snow ablaze with sparkling ice crystals. The air, while cool, felt wonderful. She felt alive on horseback and for a few minutes she almost forgot where she was going—or why.
That was until she saw the lone rider headed toward her.
TD Waters.
She pulled up short, realizing she must be on Winchester Ranch land. Collins had warned her not to make him suspicious. She thought it might be too late for that. Taking in her surroundings, she was more than aware of how alone the two of them were out here—miles from either ranch house. She doubted anyone would hear a gunshot, let alone a scream—if there was even a chance that he suspected she was an agent after him.
Her horse danced under her as if sensing her sudden anxiety. The mare was ready to run again. All Lizzy had to do was give her free rein.
The rider was coming fast. Tall and dark and dangerous. She could feel the weapon in the shoulder holster beneath her flannel-lined jean jacket, but she knew she would never be able to get to her gun in time if she needed it.
But unless her cover was blown or she blew it now, she wouldn’t need to use her weapon. She reminded herself that if she were just meeting TD Waters, she wouldn’t know how dangerous he was. If she just played it cool…
The problem was, she thought as he barreled toward her, this was the second time he’d seen her on the Winchester Ranch. That alone could be cause for suspicion—especially if he thought she was going out of her way to run into him.
Making the split-second decision, Lizzy spurred her horse and took off back the way she’d come. The mare was fast and she was an excellent rider.
She hadn’t expected him to chase her—especially after she crossed the dry creek bed that marked the boundary to McCormick land. Both ranches were too large to fence and this part was only accessible by foot or horseback.
Lizzy knew she could outrun him on a horse. Riding like the wind, she let herself glance back, shocked to realize he was gaining on her. Nowhere in his dossier had it said he could ride. But this man was obviously as at home on a horse as she was—and he rode like her, as if he couldn’t go fast enough.
Her hat suddenly blew off, sailing back on the wind.
She turned around in the saddle, but didn’t slow. If she went back for the hat, for sure he’d think she’d dropped it on purpose.
To her amazement, he didn’t slow as he rode toward her hat, leaned down from his saddle as if he was riding in a Wild West show and scooped up it up from the snow. Was he crazy?
No, he was TD Waters, and she’d heard enough stories about him to know how capable the man was—as well as how unrelenting.
Lizzy realized she couldn’t keep going or they would reach the McCormick house. The last thing she wanted was for Janie and Anne to know about Waters.
She also knew better than to play coy with the man—even if she was the type who could pull off coy. Along with the stories of Waters’s exploits in the field, she’d also heard about his exploits when it came to women.
She could almost feel his horse breathing down her neck. Now or never, she thought, since it was clear he wasn’t going to give up. She reined in her horse.
It was time she and TD Waters finally met.
Chapter Five
TD reined in his horse as the woman came to a stop. He saw her through the steam coming off their horses. If anything, his first glimpse of her on the road this morning had been flawed.
She was more than a little striking with her flaming auburn hair, her full mouth and that angelic face. One look into those wide, pale gray eyes and he lost his breath.
“If you’re thinking of having me arrested for trespassing on Winchester land, I should tell you that you’re now on the McCormick Ranch and they tend to shoot first and ask questions later,” she said haughtily as their horses danced around each other as if sizing the other up—just as their riders were doing.
TD couldn’t help but laugh. Her cheeks were flamed from the heat of the race across the open country and her apparent anger. Her wild mane of red hair floated around her shoulders, as wild as the look in those gray eyes of hers.
“You dropped your hat,” he said and held it out to her.
She snatched it from his fingers and settled it on her head, her chin coming up in open defiance. “You could have gotten us both killed riding like that.”
He smiled. “I could say the same of you.”
“What do you want?” she demanded.
“I think you know.”
She leveled those eyes at him. Was that a warning? Or a dare?
“Can we quit pretending now that you don’t know who I am?” He caught her off guard and for a moment, he saw something else in those beautiful, thickly lashed eyes of hers. Uncertainty.
“I’ve never met you before in my life. I would have remembered someone as…overly aggressive as you are.”
Overly aggressive? He laughed again. “You’ve apparently already forgotten about this morning on the road when you and your horse practically took out my pickup with me in it.”
“Oh, was that you?”
As if she didn’t know. He had to admire her ease at lying, and right to his face. She looked so damned innocent another man might have believed her. But why would she
lie?
“When I saw you, you know what I said to myself?” he asked.
“I can hardly imagine.”
He cocked his head at her. “I said I had to find that woman and give her a piece of my mind.”
“You’re sure you have that much to spare?”
He shook his head but couldn’t help grinning. Didn’t she realize she was no match for him? “Do you always ride like that?”
“Yes.” Again that defiant upward tilt of the chin and that steely-eyed look that radiated both warning and challenge.
He studied her for a moment. Nothing could convince him, not even that angelic face or those sweet lies on her lips, that she hadn’t recognized him earlier this morning. But he could see he wasn’t getting anywhere with her. The timing felt wrong. Or maybe he just wanted an excuse to see her again.
Her horse moved restlessly under her, but the mare wasn’t half as restless as the rider was to get away from him, and it was no act just for his benefit.
“I like the way you ride,” he said.
A small smile curved her lips. “I could say the same of you.”
“So, where are you from?” he asked glancing around and seeing nothing but wild open country. “From?”
“You must live around here somewhere.”
“The McCormick Ranch over that hill,” she said.
“So you’re a McCormick.”
She shook her head. “A friend of the family. Are you a Winchester?”
“No, I’m just working there.” He held out his hand, moving his horse closer to hers. “Name’s TD Waters.” He waited for her reaction as she took his hand. None at the name, but he felt her wince at his touch—just as he’d seen her surprise when he’d said he was working at the ranch.
As cool as the woman was pretending to be, she was jumpy as hell. Understandable, he assumed, given that a stranger had just chased her down on horseback. But he wasn’t a stranger, was he?
“Lizzy Calder.” She pulled back her hand the moment he released it.
“Lizzy? Short for Elizabeth, right?”
