The Lady's Man

by Linda Turner

  Wanting to bolt, she forced a smile that didn’t come easily for her. “Actually, I think I’ve had enough dancing for one night, but thanks for the offer. I’m going to call it a night. It’s been a long day and I have to be in the office early in the morning.”

  With a shaky good-night, she turned away and headed for the coatroom to retrieve her coat, then forced herself to walk, not run, to the nearest exit. And with every step, she felt the touch of his eyes on her. Tempted to look back, she didn’t dare.

  He’d danced only one dance with her. Just one, dammit. Considering the crowd that packed the VFW, no one should have noticed. But the second he and Merry headed home, she started in on him. Little sisters, he thought with a groan. They saw everything.

  “I must say, I’m impressed,” she said as she settled into her seat with a broad grin. “The lady isn’t the fluffy, brainless type you usually go after.”

  “I didn’t go after anyone.”

  “Sure you did,” she retorted, chuckling. “You turned those baby blues of yours on her and expected her to fall into your arms. And all you got was one dance.” Delighted, she laughed. “I always knew there was something about Elizabeth Davis I liked. She’s going to make a great addition to the family. Mom’ll love her.”

  “Whoa, girl!” he said, shocked. “It was one dance, for God’s sake! Who said anything about bringing her into the family?”

  “Nobody. But I know what I saw.” Pleased with herself, she snuggled down into her coat and started humming the wedding march.

  His lips twitching, Zeke gave serious thought to killing her. “Don’t start planning the reception yet,” he growled. “It’s not going to happen.”

  Not if he had anything to say about it, he added to himself as he continued to Joe’s place after dropping Merry off at the small house she’d built next to her clinic. He’d already tried the engagement thing and still had the scars on his heart to prove it. God, what a sap he’d been! He’d thought he was a pretty damn good judge of character, but Rachel had proven him wrong. She’d swept into his life like a tornado, convinced him she loved him and lived for the day she could be his wife. Then just days before they were to be married, he’d found her in bed with another man.

  That was two years ago, and although he’d learned to let go of the hurt, bitterness still burned in his gut like old battery acid. Rachel, horrified that she’d been caught, had claimed it meant nothing, that she’d just missed him because he was halfway across the country and she’d foolishly turned to someone else out of loneliness. He was the man she loved. The man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

  Yeah, right! If that was her definition of love, then he’d wanted no part of it. Or her. He’d walked away from her without a backward glance, canceled all the wedding plans and promised himself then that he would never again make the mistake of letting a woman get close enough to him to hurt him.

  Oh, he still liked women. He enjoyed everything about them...the scent and feel and mystery of them...and the day he didn’t, he’d be six feet under. But that was all there was ever going to be to it—just liking.

  Given that, he should have fallen asleep later, without giving a second thought to any of the women he’d charmed and flirted with at the dance. But when he crawled into bed in the guest room in Joe’s house and turned out the light, it wasn’t any of the old girlfriends who had swarmed him earlier in the evening that kept him awake. It was the scent and feel and mystery of one woman in particular. Elizabeth. He couldn’t close his eyes without remembering the way she’d felt in his arms. It was, he thought grimly, going to be a long night.

  The following Monday, Zeke got the lab report on the poisoned meat that had been left outside the wolves’ holding pen. It was laced with a pesticide that, while not uncommon, wasn’t normally used in that area of the country because it was too difficult to obtain. Anyone buying it had to not only have training in the use of pesticides, they couldn’t purchase it without signing for it because it was so lethal.

  Spending the morning on the phone at the desk Nick had cleared out for him at the sheriff’s office, Zeke called every source of supply within a hundred-mile radius, without much success Only four people had bought the pesticide within the past six months, and none of them lived anywhere near Liberty Hill.

  Still, he wasn’t taking any chances. He made a quick trip up toward Aspen and Glenwood Springs and talked to all four in person. None of them claimed to know much about the wolf project, which wasn’t surprising, considering how far they lived from Liberty Hill. Upfront and honest, they answered his questions without reservation, and Zeke had no reason to suspect any of them of lying.

  Returning to Liberty Hill, he could only conclude that the pesticide had, in all likelihood, been stolen. There was no way of tracing it unless the theft had been reported, which, he discovered after talking to Nick when he got back to town, it hadn’t. So once again, he was back to square one, without a single lead to follow up.

  Disgusted, he should have faxed the lab report to Elizabeth. But when he called her office to get her fax number, her line was busy. When he tried two more times and got the same busy signal, he hung up and sat back in his chair to frown consideringly at the report. Getting it to her wasn’t a high priority since there was nothing in it that she could use to protect her wolves, but he hadn’t seen the lady in three days, ever since the dance. And in a town the size of Liberty Hill, where you couldn’t cross the street without running into half the population, that was pretty amazing.

  She was avoiding him. All because of a simple little dance that he was sure she hadn’t forgotten any more than he had. A smart man would have kept to his side of town, let her have hers, and accepted that it was for the best. But he’d never had any patience with playing it safe. Pushing to his feet, he picked up the lab report, grabbed his coat and headed for the door. Maybe it was time he dropped in on the lady for a little visit.

  Resisting the urge to slam the phone back down on its base, Elizabeth gritted her teeth and with a civility that cost her dearly, thanked the rancher on the other end of the line for calling. But when she hung up, it was all she could do not to throw something. The last three days had been the worst of her life. And the best. After all the planning and hard work, not to mention the opposition, the wolves were finally running free, and she was so thrilled, she wanted to laugh out loud with joy. Just as she had promised over and over again, they were doing what wolves did best, feeding on elk and giving the coyote population fits. Not one single cow or sheep had been harmed. In fact, from all reports, the wolves hadn’t even spared the local livestock a glance. Their food of choice was elk, and that was all they were interested in.

  She’d expected the ranchers in the area to be thrilled. After all, none of their fears had come true. Granted, the wolves had only been on the prowl for three days, and there was always the possibility that things could change. But that wasn’t likely to happen. With a healthy population of elk to feed on, there was no reason for the wolves to go on a wild killing spree of livestock.

  But no one seemed to care that the wolves had lived up to their advance billing. It was their early release that still had some people in a snit. Despite all her efforts at damage control, they called, they stopped by the office to register their dissatisfaction in person, they came up to her in the grocery store. She couldn’t even go home to escape. The phone was usually ringing when she stepped inside her front door, and it didn’t stop until she unplugged it at bedtime.

  She was, she told herself, a reasonable person. She knew people were upset because they felt as if the government was shoving the project down their throats whether they wanted it or not, and it was that, not the early release of the wolves, that they had a beef with. So when they called her names to her face and shunned her on the street as if she was some sort of home wrecker, she hung on to her temper and tried to act as if it didn’t matter. But her patience was wearing thin, and if one more person came into her office a
nd tried to read her the not act, she wasn’t going to be responsible for her actions!

  The bell over the front door rang just then, and with a muttered curse, she looked up, braced for another confrontation. But the man who walked in had a crooked grin on his face, not a scowl, and she couldn’t for the life of her hold back the smile that formed on her lips. Then she remembered a dance that left her hot and breathless and, after three days, still haunted her dreams. In a heartbeat, her smile switched back to a scowl.

  “What do you want, McBride?”

  Wriggling his brows, he leered at her playfully. “I’m not sure you want to know, Lizzie, darlin’.”

  Amused in spite of herself, she struggled to hold on to her frown. “State your business, McBride. I’m busy. This is the first time all morning that the phone hasn’t rung, and I’ve got work to do.”

  “I heard you were still getting flak over the early release,” he said, sobering. “Any calls I should know about?”

  She knew what he was asking—whether she’d heard from the creep who’d left the poisoned meat outside the holding pen—and shook her head. “No. It’s just the usual, nothing vicious like the other night. So how’s the investigation coming? Have you found anything?”

  Dropping into the chair in front of her desk, he said in disgust, “Not yet. He’s a clever bastard—I’ll give him that. But he’s not as smart as he thinks he is. The wolves are free, and nothing he did could stop it. That’s got to eat at his craw. You didn’t knuckle under to his threats, and he’s not going to accept that lying down.”

  “You think he’ll come after me?” she asked, surprised. “But why? The wolves are free.”

  “Exactly. And you’re the one who opened the gate. If he’s looking for someone to blame, you’re it. So just be careful, okay? We don’t know what this nut’s capable of.”

  She appreciated the warning, but she’d been taking precautions ever since she first moved to Liberty Hill. From her past experience at Yellowstone, she knew better than to relax her guard just because the wolves were now free to go wherever they liked.

  Nodding at the oversize envelope in his hand, she said, “What’s that?”

  “The lab report. I brought you a copy, not that there’s much in it that can help us,” he added. “Our boy used strychnine, but God only knows where he got his hands on it. It’s not used much—it’s too lethal—and the government requires strict records on everyone who purchases it. I checked out everyone who bought it within the past six months, and they all turned out lily-white.”

  “Could it have been stolen?”

  “If it was, there were no reports of the theft.”

  “Then maybe it was bought more than six months ago Or up in Denver. Is there a possibility that whoever laced that meat with the stuff could have already had it on hand? Does it go bad if it’s not used within a certain tune period?”

  “I’ll check it out,” he promised, “but I don’t think so.” Holding out the report to her, he said, “This is your copy to keep. I figured you needed it for your files.”

  “Yes, I do. Thanks.”

  She leaned forward to take it from him and, in the process, inadvertently brushed his fingers with hers. That’s all it was, just an innocent touch that didn’t last a split second, but instantly the heat that had flared between them on the dance floor three days ago was back stronger than ever. And this time, there was no pretending it didn’t exist. The warmth of it was right there in both their eyes.

  “This isn’t going to go away, you know.”

  She felt a blush stealing into her cheeks and knew it was too much to hope that he hadn’t noticed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said stiffly.

  “Yes, you do,” he said bluntly. “There’s this crazy chemistry between us. And don’t tell me you don’t feel it, too, because I know better. Go out with me.”

  He’d asked her a half dozen times before, always teasingly, but this time there was no spark of mischief dancing in his eyes, no grin flirting with that sensuous mouth of his. He was dead serious. He really wanted her to go out with him.

  Her mouth dry and her heart thumping, Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t think that would be a very good idea.”

  “Why not? Because you’re as fascinated with me as I am with you?”

  Her cheeks hot with embarrassment, she narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. “Don’t go there, McBride.”

  She might as well have saved her breath. “It threw me for a loop, too,” he said honestly. “I don’t have to tell you that you’re an incredibly attractive woman. But I’m only here for a vacation, and I was supposed to spend it working with my brother on the ranch, riding fence and getting ready for spring. Instead, when I’m not trying to figure out who the hell is threatening your wolves, I’m thinking about ways to talk you into going out with me. Every time you turn me down, it only encourages me to ask you again. If you really want me to stop, say yes.”

  It was the most convoluted reason Elizabeth had ever heard for going out with a man. “Let me get this straight. I’m supposed to go out with you so you’ll quit asking me? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Pretty much,” he retorted. “Think about it. We’ve worked together some, but that’s it. Given the chance to spend some time with each other in a social setting that doesn’t involve work, we may discover that we don’t even like each other. In that case, whatever chemistry there is between us will die a swift death, and we can forget that we ever looked twice at each other.”

  If any other man had suggested such a thing, she might have been willing to concede he had a point. But this was Zeke McBride, and she wasn’t quite sure she trusted him to behave himself. “Why do I have the feeling you’re setting me up?”

  “Me? C’mon, Lizzie, you know me better than that. It just seemed like the logical solution, but if you don’t want to go out, hey, that’s okay.” He shrugged, as if he couldn’t care less one way or another. “We can just go on the way we are.”

  It would have served him right if she’d called his bluff. But she couldn’t sleep for thinking about the man as it was now. She spent her nights dreaming of him, her days hopmg to catch a glimpse of him. And it had to end. He was driving her crazy! If going out with him would put an end to this ridiculous fascination she had for him, then it was worth a shot.

  “All right,” she said, giving in abruptly. “How about dinner Thursday evening? We can go to the diner.”

  Since it was the only restaurant in town, that was a given. Grinning broadly, he said, “Wear something sexy.”

  “To the diner?”

  “Hey, this could be our one and only date. Let’s do it up right. I’ll pick you up at seven at your place.”

  Already going through her closet for the most conservative outfit she had, she nodded, her eyes twinkling. “Seven it is.”

  Chapter 5

  Spring was still weeks away, but over the course of the next few days as she, Tina and Peter tracked the wolves through the mountains and valleys and forests surrounding Liberty Hill, Elizabeth could have sworn she smelled the changing of the season on the air itself. There was a freshness, a sense of expectancy that made even the grayest day brighter. Then a late-winter thaw set in, the temperature started to rise, and the steady drip of snow melting from the eaves was like music to her ears. She found herself smiling for no reason and looking and listening for other signs of spring...sandhill cranes gracefully skimming the treetops, the haunting call of Canada geese, the happy bubble of the creek in the meadow behind her house as a winter’s worth of ice thawed.

  Then, just as quickly as the snow had begun to melt, the weather changed overnight the day before her Thursday-night date with Zeke. A fresh storm blew in from the north, bringing with it a wet, heavy curtain of snow that fell all night long. The next morning, old man winter was once again firmly entrenched in southwestern Colorado.

  The winds were gale force, the conditions almost whiteout, so for most of the morn
ing, Elizabeth and her team had no choice but to hole up in her office and keep track of the wolves by monitoring the radio beeps that emanated from their collars. It was Elizabeth’s least favorite way to track the animals, but with roads closed all over the county, she had to wait for the storm to blow itself out before she could head out in her Jeep to observe the wolves in person. By noon the sun was peeking through the clouds, the wind had died, and the snowplows were out, going to work on the roads. An hour later, armed with her camera and binoculars, Elizabeth ventured out with Tina in search of the wolves.

  As expected, she found three members of the pack down in the valley below Eagle Ridge. The younger animals in the group hadn’t strayed very far from the holding pen once they were released, choosing to spend their time feeding off a large herd of elk that made their home in the area. On most days, they could be seen slipping in and out of the trees, stalking their prey.

  However, Elizabeth really longed to see Queeme and Napoleon. The most adventuresome of the pack, they had roamed up and down the Hawk River Valley, sometimes ranging as far away as forty miles in their exploration of their new home. Merry McBride, acting as the project veterinarian, had gone up with Tina in the chopper earlier in the week and caught sight of them, but Elizabeth hadn’t seen the pair since they were released over a week ago.

  There was a good chance that today would be her lucky day. Peter had picked up their radio signals north of Eagle Ridge. After a week of nearly constant travel, Queenie and Napoleon had finally come full circle.

  “Let’s pull into the overlook and see what we can see,” Elizabeth told Tina as the road leveled off at the top of the ridge. “They were heading south when we left the office. If they didn’t make any turnoffs, they should be making their way up Beaver Creek right now.”

  The highway that cut through Eagle Ridge was the main pass to towns farther north and one of the first roads plowed in the county. Still, driving conditions were far from ideal. Concentrating on the snow-covered road, Tina nodded. “I’ll try, but we might have trouble getting in if the plows didn’t leave the entrance clear. Sometimes they don’t, especially after a storm.”