Defending the Rancher's Daughter

by Carla Cassidy

  It was so much easier to be alone, so less risky. The women in his life never hung around for long. His mother had died, Jaime had left him and Melissa had died. Too much pain in one lifetime. He never intended to put himself in the position to feel that kind of pain again.

  He was aware that it was getting late and Katie would have the evening meal waiting for him. Conscious of the fact that he needed to get showered and changed for the council meeting, he knocked on the front door and waited for Katie to let him in.

  What bothered him more than anything was that despite his desire to remain unconnected, in spite of his desire to stay emotionally absent from Katie Sampson, the last couple of nights when he’d entered the house he’d had the feeling of coming home.

  Chapter 14

  Kate felt as if she had earned parole from prison as she and Zack left the house for the town council meeting. She wasn’t accustomed to being cooped up inside for so many hours and days. The past week had been difficult as she’d tried to run the ranch from her kitchen table.

  She’d dressed for the evening in a blue dress with a flirty ruffle across the hem. Matching sandals adorned her feet and despite the fact that they were attending the meeting and coming right back home, she looked forward to the outing every bit as much as if they were attending a party.

  The only fly in the ointment was that her “date” for the evening appeared to be in one of his foul moods. He’d been silent as a tomb as he’d eaten dinner, then had disappeared into the bathroom to shower and change.

  She cast him a surreptitious glance as they got into his truck. He might be in a foul mood, but he was devilishly handsome in a pair of jeans, a navy dress shirt and a lightweight jacket. She knew beneath the jacket he wore his shoulder holster and the thought that he was attending the council meeting armed reminded her of the danger that still surrounded her.

  “It feels so good to be out of the house,” she said as he started his truck and they pulled away.

  “Even though you’re dressed in your party clothes, this isn’t exactly a social outing.” His tone was curt.

  He was in a mood, she thought. “What did you do? Come down wrong in the saddle while you were out riding today?”

  A small smile curved one corner of his mouth although he didn’t look at her. “No, I didn’t come down wrong in the saddle.” The smile disappeared. “I’m just frustrated. I’m no closer to figuring out who killed your dad than I was on the day you called me to come to the hospital.”

  “Surely sooner or later somebody will show their hand.”

  “I hope it’s sooner than later,” he replied.

  She turned her attention out the passenger window, wondering why his words caused a tiny pain to resonate inside her.

  Of course he wanted it to be sooner. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life guarding her, didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary on this particular job. She didn’t need him underfoot, didn’t need the tension that simmered between them each and every night.

  She’d spent every night since the last time they had made love tossing and turning, wishing he were next to her in the bed, wanting him with a desire that seemed to consume her. Surely things would be easier when he was out of her life. Surely then she could forget about what they had shared so briefly.

  She turned to look at him again. “What are your plans after this? Will you go back to work for Wild West?”

  “To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t decided what I’ll do. If Jim Ramsey would retire, I might throw my hat in the ring for sheriff.”

  “Really?”

  He flashed her a quick glance. “Don’t look so surprised. Surely I could do the job at least as well as he had.”

  “No…I mean, of course you’d make a terrific sheriff. I’m just surprised that you aren’t going back to work for your family’s business.”

  He frowned. “I’m tired of living life on the road, constantly being in different cities, responsible for different people. I’m ready to put down roots and I can’t do that if I’m working for Wild West.”

  “Do you think Ramsey is going to retire?”

  He shrugged. “Rumor has it he’s been thinking about it.” He flashed her a wry grin. “But you know about the rumor mill in this town. You can only believe about a fourth of what you hear.”

  “When Jaime Coffer left town the rumor was she was pregnant with your child.” She’d always wondered about the pretty blond who had chosen to leave town, leave Zack years ago.

  He looked at her in surprise, then chuckled. “I hadn’t heard that one.”

  “Was it true?” She knew it was none of her business and wouldn’t be surprised if he told her so, but she had a hunger to know everything about him, all the forces that had shaped him into the man he’d become.

  “Nothing could be further than the truth,” he replied. “Jaime and I weren’t even lovers.” It was her turn to gaze at him in surprise. “Oh, I know everyone assumed we were,” he continued. “Even though we dated for a long time, we both knew from the beginning there was no future there.”

  “Why not?”

  “Jaime couldn’t wait to get out of Cotter Creek. She wanted to travel. She was a big-city girl with big-city dreams. She’d spend hours poring over travel magazines, making lists of places she wanted to go, potential places she’d like to live.”

  “And even though you dated her all that time, you weren’t in love with her?”

  This time when he shot her a glance it was dark and filled with an unspoken warning. “I’m just not the loving kind, Katie.”

  His words sent a ripple of disappointment, of unexpected sadness through her. Oddly enough she wanted to argue the point with him. She’d never known a man with more potential for loving than Zack. He’d shown that potential with his respect and attention to her father. He’d shown it when he’d talked about Melissa and the trauma of her death.

  “Hopefully tonight we can get a handle on who is behind your problems, then I’ll worry about what I’m going to do with the rest of my life,” he said as he turned into the community center parking lot.

  Foolish woman, she berated herself as she got out of his pickup. She’d been the first one to tell Zack that their lovemaking meant nothing, that she had no expectations of any kind of relationship with him other than that of a working one.

  But if she were to look deep inside herself, examine the feelings that lived in the very depth of her, she’d have to acknowledge that Zack had touched her in ways no other man had ever done in her life.

  It went far beyond the fact that his lovemaking had been magnificent. In the evening hours when they played cards and talked, he’d shown himself to be a man firm in his convictions, committed to making a difference in the world and intensely loyal to his family.

  As they started walking toward the one-story brick building, he placed a hand in the small of her back. “Stay close to me,” he said softly. “I don’t want you wandering away from me for any length of time.”

  In that instant she recognized her love for Zack West. She loved him. He was the man she wanted in her life, by her side forever. She wanted to laugh, she wanted to shout with joy and she wanted to weep. Not even three minutes before, the man she loved had told her that he wasn’t the loving kind.

  She had little time to indulge in wistful what-ifs or to berate herself for her own stupidity as they walked into the throng of people already in the community center.

  Friends and neighbors greeted them as they made their way inside. Zack kept his hand firmly on her back as he steered her toward the back row of chairs set up for the meeting.

  They were just about to sit when Smokey Johnson and Zack’s father approached them. “How you doing, Kate?” Smokey asked as Red and Zack took a step away and conversed in soft undertones.

  “I’m hanging in there, Smokey.”

  “Our boy treating you all right?” Smokey’s grizzled gray eyebrows danced up with his question.

  He’s tre
ating me so well I’ve fallen in love with him. He’s treating me so well I can’t imagine what my life will be like when he’s gone. She swallowed the words before they could actually fall from her lips and instead merely nodded.

  “He’s a good man. Was hell on wheels when he was younger, but he managed to turn out okay.”

  Before she could reply, Zack and his father moved closer. Red smiled at her. “Good to see you here, Kate. We can always use a voice of reason at these meetings.”

  She slid a pointed look at Zack. “There are some people who think maybe I speak my mind a little too much.”

  “Nothing wrong with that,” Smokey replied. Kate fought back a grin. Smokey had a reputation for being painfully outspoken and cantankerous to boot.

  “We’d better find ourselves a couple of chairs,” Red said. “It looks like Mayor Sharp is about to call the meeting to order.”

  As Kate and Zack took their seats, Red and Smokey went to a couple of empty chairs near the front. As she sat, she realized Bill Garrett was in the seat in front of her. She fought the impulse to punch him in the back of his head. She hadn’t forgotten how disrespectful he’d been to her dad when they’d made the decision not to use his pesticides on their crops.

  Bill Garrett wasn’t the only person in the room who had the capacity to boil Kate’s blood. Although Sheila Wadsworth sat across the room, her affected girlish laughter rang through the air.

  Zack appeared to be relaxed but Kate noted the way his alert gaze swept the floor, never lingering long on any one person. Kate followed his gaze, looking at first one person, then another.

  Friends and neighbors, the room was filled with people she had known for most of her life. But she had to keep in mind that it was quite possible somebody in this room had wanted her father dead. Somebody nearby might want her dead.

  Mayor Aaron Sharp was a man who loved the sound of his own voice. Zack didn’t know the handsome middle-aged man well, having met him only on a couple of occasions. Aaron had struck Zack on those times as an ambitious go-getter, a political smooth-talker who enjoyed his position of power in the town. Aaron was certainly dressed for success in a charcoal suit that complemented his dark hair and blue eyes.

  As the mayor droned on and on, Zack found his attention drifting. They’d arrived late enough that there had been little time to socialize before the meeting had begun. He expected that after the meeting people would mill about and visit with one another. Perhaps then he’d see something in somebody’s eyes, hear something in a tone of voice that would indicate a murderous rage directed at Katie.

  Twice Mayor Sharp called for discussion and he sensed Katie getting ready to speak. Each time he grabbed her hand and squeezed to keep her silent. If she spoke up and made somebody mad, it would only complicate things.

  The last time he’d grabbed her hand he hadn’t released it and her fingers now twined with his. She had the hands of a woman who knew a day’s work. Although her fingernails were clean and lightly glossed with a pearly pink, they were short and blunt-cut. He thought her hands were as pretty as any he’d ever seen.

  He frowned at his wayward thoughts, pulled his hand from hers and focused once again on the meeting. It was obvious that what Katie had told him about the mayor having delusions of grandeur for their small town was correct by the agenda he was attempting to push forward.

  He brought up wanting a Cotter Creek exit off the freeway, which met with mixed reaction from the audience. Most were afraid that the exit would increase unwelcomed traffic through the town.

  It was also obvious that Sheila Wadsworth was on the same page as the mayor. She argued each and every point in favor of his recommendations. Zack found himself wondering if the mayor and Sheila were lovers. There was something in the way their gazes met and held that made him think something was going on between the two. Although Sheila was probably fifteen years older than Aaron, she was still an attractive, vibrant woman, if you liked flash and glitz in a female.

  The fact that the mayor was supposedly a happily married man wouldn’t stop Sheila who had a reputation for going after what she wanted and damn the fallout.

  Zack knew the meeting was starting to wind down when he smelled the scent of fresh-brewed coffee coming from the kitchen area of the community center. According to Katie, the ladies auxiliary provided cookies and coffee after every meeting.

  Zack had a feeling that was the time the discussions got interesting and people let down their guard. An edge of frustration gnawed at his belly.

  What if he never figured out who had killed Gray? Who had tried to kill Katie? How long could he spend the night on her sofa thinking about the taste of her, the feel of her naked body against his and not lose his mind?

  He’d told her he was in this for the long haul, but there was no guarantee the guilty party would ever be caught. His own mother had been murdered twenty-five years ago and her murder had never been solved.

  These thoughts still worried him as the meeting broke up and people began to move around the room, heading for the refreshments and visiting with each other.

  “How about we join the others?” he suggested, wanting to mingle and to see what gossip he might pick up.

  “Okay.” She leaned closer to him, so close he felt like his heart had jumped up into his throat. “A word of warning,” she whispered. “Stay away from Millie Carter’s oatmeal cookies. If you eat any you’ll have indigestion for a month.”

  He felt as if he would have stomach problems for a month just because her warm breath tickled his ear.

  There was no doubt about it, Katie Sampson bothered him in a way she had never bothered him before and he didn’t like it. He needed to be done with this job, with this woman, before he lost his mind.

  He and Katie made their way to the kitchen area where they found Sheriff Ramsey with a plateful of cookies in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

  “Zack, Kate.” He greeted them with a friendly nod. “Good to see you both here this evening.”

  Zack gave the sheriff a curt nod, wishing the man would spend more time investigating and less time socializing. He knew he was being irrational, but his frustration level with this case grew by the second.

  As Katie and the sheriff visited, Zack once again swept his gaze over the people in attendance. What worried him more than anything was that for the past couple of days he’d felt a sense of impending doom, that somehow they were about to get kicked in the teeth and he had no idea from what direction the kick might come. How could he protect Katie when he couldn’t identify the source of the danger?

  He felt Katie stiffen next to him as Sheila Wadsworth approached them. As usual, Sheila wore enough rhinestones to make Las Vegas look dull.

  “Just the woman I wanted to talk to,” Zack said in greeting.

  She preened with pleasure and smiled. “And just what can I do for one of the sexiest cowboys in Cotter Creek?”

  Zack flashed Katie a warning glance, knowing she would love to spout off some remark that would alienate Sheila. “I was wondering about the Wainfield property.”

  The flirtatious smile on Sheila’s face disappeared. “What about it?”

  “I heard a businessman from back east bought the place, but I noticed nobody has moved in yet,” Zack said.

  “I just sell property, Zack, I don’t regulate when folks move in.” She turned her attention to the sheriff and Katie.

  Zack wasn’t sure why, but something about Joe Wainfield’s accident bothered him. Was he grasping at straws? Trying to make something out of nothing? Somehow, some way, he felt as if he’d lost his objectivity and that bothered him more than anything did.

  Sheriff Ramsey wandered back toward the cookies and Zack stepped closer to Katie as Sheila excused herself. For the next few minutes he watched as Katie was greeted by several of the other ranchers.

  “I figured you would have sold out and disappeared from Cotter Creek by now,” Raymond Harris said to Katie.

  “Why would you fi
gure that?” She looked at the older man in surprise.

  He shrugged big shoulders and moved the toothpick in his mouth from one side to the other. “Just figured you weren’t the type to stick it out, ranching being hard work and all.”

  “Hard work never scared me, Mr. Harris,” she replied.

  Harris looked at her dubiously. “Heard you lost a lot of your men. You need something, don’t hesitate to ask. We take care of our own in this town.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Harris,” Katie replied, her throat sounding thick with suppressed emotion.

  As Harris wandered off, Zack leaned closer to Katie.

  “You ready to get out of here?” he asked. He felt like he was spinning his wheels, wasting his time.

  “Okay,” she said, obviously surprised by his abrupt need to leave.

  They were headed out the door when Sheriff Ramsey stopped them. “Katie, I just got a call from one of my deputies. He had to arrest one of your hands.”

  “Who?” Katie asked.

  “Brett Cook.” Ramsey brushed cookie crumbs from the front of his protruding stomach.

  “Let me guess, drunk and disorderly,” Zack said.

  Ramsey nodded. “He’s asking to talk to Katie.”

  She looked up at Zack, her brow creased with worry. “Maybe I should go over to the jail and speak with him.”

  He nodded. He had a feeling Brett probably thought Katie would be a softer touch than Gray and would bail him out. Zack didn’t intend to let that happen. In fact, he intended to encourage Katie to fire the man.

  Minutes later they were in his truck and headed for the sheriff’s office down the street. “Katie, the amount of work you get out of Brett isn’t worth the hassles. The man is more trouble than he’s worth.”

  “I know.” Her voice was soft and when he looked at her his heart constricted. She looked small and vulnerable. He parked in front of the sheriff’s office and turned to her.