"Put her down and get away from her," Phil bellowed.
Dev set her gently on a rock, then brushed a kiss over her forehead. "Get behind one of those bushes, then run like hell out of here."
She squeezed his hand, then laid back on the rock as if she was faint. He gave her tiny smile, then stood and faced Phil again.
"You get over here, McAllister. Get away from her."
Devlin walked back across the stream, deliberately placing his body between Carly and Phil. He glanced back once to see that Carly had slid her body off the rock and was now sitting behind it.
"What's going to happen once I'm out of the way?" he asked Phil.
"I'll get the water I need, then the Tall T will be the ranch it should have been all along," the other man replied with fierce satisfaction.
"Shea might have something to say about that." Dev spoke without any inflection in his voice.
Phil spat out of the corner of his mouth. "She's a woman. What does she know about ranching? I'll deal with her, then I'll own the source of the water."
Devlin watched the other man's face redden. As long as Phil was ranting, Carly might be able to slip away without Phil noticing. He'd add a few logs to the fire.
"I don't know why you'd think so. It looks to me like Shea's done a pretty good job with the Red Rock."
Phil's face trembled with fury. "That ranch should have belonged to me when your father died. I made a fair offer. You weren't interested in running the place. But that sister of yours insisted on taking over the ranch herself. Now we'll see how she does when you're not around to bail her out."
Devlin sensed Carly's movement behind him. "Planning on killing Shea, too?" he asked Phil.
Phil spat again. "I won't have to do that. She'll turn tail and run after a few months of handling the place on her own."
Phil didn't know very much about Shea if he thought that was going to happen, Dev thought with grim satisfaction. "Do you think Dusty, Joe and Levi are going to stand by and let you get rid of Shea?"
"Those old cowboys of yours aren't worth the boot leather it'll take to kick them off the ranch. They won't be able to stop me, either."
Devlin hoped Carly was safely concealed behind the foliage. Phil was ranting like a madman, but he'd notice pretty quickly that one of his victims was missing.
"I've had enough of your questions, McAllister." Phil gestured with the shotgun. "It's time I dealt with you and the reporter."
"Are you going to shoot us here?" he asked, desperate to buy Carly a few more moments. "Or do you want our bodies found right away?"
"I'm taking you to the same place the Whitmore boy was found. Once folks know that Carly was his brother, they'll understand why you took her there to shoot her. A murderer always returns to the scene of his crime. And you know what they say. Like father, like son."
He cackled for a moment, then gestured with the shotgun. "Start moving. You too, Carly."
Devlin watched as Phil looked over at the rock where he'd left Carly sitting. She had vanished, and fury erupted in Phil's eyes.
Carly heard Phil's bellow of rage and paused for a moment. She'd been trying to circle around in back of Phil, hoping to take him by surprise. She knew that all Dev needed was a momentary distraction and he'd be able to subdue the older man.
The rock beneath her hands was hot, and the air was filled with the scent of sagebrush and mesquite. Dust coated her legs and arms and filled her mouth, and she brushed it out of her eyes as she began to edge along the ground again, moving more quickly. Clearly Phil had discovered that she had disappeared. She didn't think he would kill Dev before he found her, but urgency pounded through her blood.
She heard footsteps close by, and she froze. Flattening herself on the ground, she stared through the dense branches of the mesquite to see Phil waving the shotgun at Dev. He'd stepped closer, but still too far away for Devlin to push the gun to one side.
Her hand closed around a rock on the ground, and she desperately wanted to throw it at Phil, to draw his attention away from Dev. But she was too far away. She wasn't sure she could hit him, and if Dev acted too soon, he might get hurt.
So she waited, forcing herself to be patient. Phil sounded like he'd gone completely over the edge. His words didn't make sense anymore as he kept the shotgun aimed at Dev.
Suddenly Phil stopped the stream of invective. "It doesn't matter," he said to Devlin. "Let's go. I'll take care of you, then come back for her. She's not going to be able to find her way out of here."
There was no way she was going to let him take Dev away. Grabbing a handful of pebbles from the ground, she threw them behind Phil. He spun around. Carly saw Dev gather himself to jump Phil, but then Phil spun back around to face him. "I'm not that stupid," he taunted. "You think I'm going to turn my back on you?"
Staring at Dev, he called, "You can come out any time, Ms. Fitzpatrick. Or you can stay hidden and watch me blow a hole into your boyfriend. A shotgun is a messy way to die, you know. There won't be enough of McAllister left to scrape into a box."
Carly picked up another handful of pebbles and threw them in a different direction. Phil spun around to look, then quickly turned back to Dev. "I hear you moving back there, Carly," he called. "I'm losing my patience. How much longer do you want McAllister to live? Don't you want to give him one last kiss?"
Carly threw another handful of pebbles in a different direction, then another. Devlin smiled at Phil, seemingly perfectly calm. "She's not alone back there, Hilbert. I radioed my deputies first thing this morning and told them where to find me. Do you still think you're going to get away with this?"
"You're lying," Phil said, but Carly watched as his eyes scanned the area. "I would have heard if anyone else was out there."
"You wouldn't have heard Ben Jackson. No one hears or sees Ben if he doesn't want to be heard or seen. Tracking is in his blood."
Phil swung the gun wildly in one direction, then another. Carly threw another handful of rocks away from her, and Phil whirled and fired his gun into a clump of sagebrush.
Before he could turn around, Dev had leaped on top of him and knocked him down. Phil struggled beneath him, and Carly watched with horror as he tried to turn the double-barreled shotgun and fire the other load into Dev.
Scrambling out of her hiding place, she ran toward the two men on the ground. She reached down and picked up a rock, but found herself standing over the two men, unable to use it. Dev and Phil were rolling around in the dust, and she couldn't get a clear shot at Phil.
"Run, Carly," Dev panted. "Get out of here."
Ignoring his command, she clenched the jagged rock in both hands. But Dev's head was too close to Phil's, and she couldn't take a chance on hitting Dev.
Phil managed to get one hand away from Dev, and he swung his arm around. In moments the gun would be pointed directly at Dev's chest. Without thinking, Carly crashed the rock down on Phil's arm.
He bellowed with rage and pain, but the gun dropped to the ground. Carly kicked it away, then picked it up.
Phil used both his hands to claw at Dev's face and eyes in a desperate attempt to free himself. But Dev was younger and stronger, and he grabbed Phil's wrists in his hands. He managed to flip the older man over, and he brought his hands behind his back.
"Carly, come here and help me."
Holding the shotgun carefully away from herself, she stepped over to Dev's side.
"Put the gun down, way behind us, and take the handcuffs out of my belt."
She set the shotgun down on the rock where she'd been sitting, then pulled the metal handcuffs out of the pocket on Dev's belt. "All right, I have them."
"Open them up, and snap one of them around Phil's wrist."
She fumbled with the unfamiliar device, but finally managed to open the bar on one of the handcuffs. Dev held Phil's wrist steady, and she placed the cuff around it and pressed the latch together.
"Tighter than that," Dev instructed. "Squeeze it together."
S
he squeezed until the cuff couldn't tighten any more, and Dev nodded.
"Good. Now do the other wrist."
It took only moments for her to secure the handcuff on Phil's other hand, and when it was tightened, Dev gathered himself and stood up.
He drew his gun from his holster and pointed it at Phil, who was still lying on the ground. "Don't move a muscle, Hilbert." He recited the Miranda warning, then he turned to her. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. What about you? You're the one who was rolling around on the ground with him."
"I'm okay." He reached out to push her hair behind her ear, almost as if he couldn't stop himself from touching her, then he let his hand drop away. "You're sure you're not hurt?"
"How would I have gotten hurt?" she demanded, needing his touch and angry at herself for her weakness. "I was hiding behind a bush the whole time."
Finally he smiled. "If your mouth is working, I guess the rest of you is, too. Are you ready to start walking?"
"Yes." Her voice was too fervent, she knew, but suddenly she ached all over. The scratches on her arms and hands burned, her throat was dry and her legs felt weak and wobbly. She wanted Devlin to wrap his arms around her and keep her safe. And she wanted to go home.
She must have spoken the last wish aloud, because Dev gave her an unreadable look. "You can go home as soon as we have all this settled. Let's get started."
As they began to walk, she opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again. It didn't matter anymore. But when she said she wanted to go home, she hadn't meant to New York. She'd meant the Red Rock Ranch.
* * *
Chapter 17
«^
As soon as they reached the road, Dev radioed to Ben. "I've got Hilbert," he said. "We're on the road back to the ranch. Come and pick us up."
He turned to her. "Ben will be here soon. Do you want to sit and wait for him?"
"I'm fine, Dev." She glanced over at him, then back down the road again. "I'd rather keep walking." If she stopped, she wasn't sure she'd be able to start moving again. "But what about Phil? Maybe he needs to rest."
"He managed to hunt us down in the mountains," Dev said grimly. "He can keep walking."
"Think you're pretty clever, don't you, McAllister?" Phil sneered. "We'll see what my lawyer has to say about that."
Dev glanced over at him. "Your lawyer is going to be talking plea bargain faster than you can blink, Hilbert. If I were you, I'd keep my mouth shut. You've done more than enough talking to put yourself away for the rest of your life."
Phil shot Dev a look filed with hatred, but he didn't say anything more. Carly almost wished he would. It would take her mind off Devlin and what he was thinking.
Dust swirled around them as they walked, and the sun beat down relentlessly. Her blouse was sticking to her back, and sweat trickled down the side of her face. When she reached up to push her damp hair off her forehead, she saw Devlin watching, a frown on his face.
"I'm going to radio Ben again and have him call Doc Ellis," he said. "I want him to meet us at the ranch so he can take a look at your arms and your hands."
"Don't be ridiculous, Dev. There's nothing wrong with me that some soap and water won't cure. These are just scratches." She smiled wearily at him. "If you make Doc come and look at me, he's going to think I'm nothing more than an accident waiting to happen."
He scowled at her, but didn't answer. They walked on in silence, the air between them becoming more and more charged. But there was nothing she would say with Phil as an audience. And even if they were alone, she acknowledged, she wasn't sure there was anything that Dev wanted to hear from her.
Except perhaps that she was leaving Cameron.
Her heart contracted at the thought. She'd only been here for a little while, but the town felt like home to her. She would miss Shea, who already felt like a friend. She'd miss Gladys Jones, and Melba, and Phyllis, the waitress at Heaven on Seventh. She'd even miss Janie, the aloof owner of the restaurant, and the interesting non-relationship she had with Ben Jackson.
She wasn't sure how she'd become so attached to a small town in the middle of nowhere, but she had. And now she had to think about leaving. She'd accomplished what she'd come for, after all. She knew the truth about her brother's death, and the man responsible had been arrested. She should be looking forward to getting back to her life in New York. Nothing could have prepared her for the wrench of leaving Cameron. She couldn't have imagined how difficult it would be to leave.
She glanced over at Dev out of the corner of her eye. But she couldn't have imagined that she'd find Devlin McAllister in Cameron, either. He was the real reason she didn't want to leave. He was the reason she'd be leaving her heart behind when she drove out of Cameron for the last time. Dev was the reason that Cameron felt like home.
"You look serious, all of a sudden." Dev's voice roused her from her thoughts.
She tried to smile. "I'm thinking about some serious food and water," she said lightly. "A stack of pancakes from Heaven on Seventh would be perfect."
"Trust me. Maria will be setting huge platters of food on the table as soon as we walk in the door, and insisting that we eat it. That's her answer to any kind of crisis."
"Sounds good to me." She kept her voice easy and full of banter.
A few minutes later they heard the sound of a powerful truck engine, then Ben's police Blazer came into view. Ben looked worried as he jumped out of the truck and looked at them.
"Are you both all right? Anyone injured?"
"We're fine, Ben. Let's get back to the ranch."
Ben and Dev settled Phil in the back seat, then all three of them crowded onto the front bench. Sitting in the middle, between Ben and Dev, Carly held herself rigidly upright, trying not to brush against Dev. But every time they hit a bump or rounded a curve, she slid into him. It was only for a few more minutes, she told herself. She could survive anything for a few minutes.
But her heart wasn't sure that was true.
Dev didn't seem to notice the fact that she was practically sitting on his lap as they bounced down the road toward the Red Rock. He was too busy telling Ben what had happened with Phil Hilbert up by the stream. At one point, Ben turned to her, his serious dark eyes approving. "That was quick thinking up there, Ms. Fitzpatrick, to fake that you were going to faint."
"I wasn't faking." She gave him a weary smile. "Dev was just good enough to take my weakness and be able to run with it."
Ben's assessing brown eyes moved from her to Dev, then back again. "It sounds like you make a good pair," he murmured.
Before she could respond, the Red Rock ranch house came into view. Dev sat up straight and looked over at Ben. "You call the rest of the deputies and let them know we have Phil, then take our guest of honor into the office. I'll meet you there later."
Ben nodded. "Will do."
When the truck stopped in front of the house, Dev slid out, then turned and held out his hands to her. She only hesitated for a moment before taking his hands. But he slid his hands around her waist and gently lifted her out of the truck.
She wanted to tell him that she was perfectly capable of getting out of the truck by herself, but it felt too good to have him holding her, even if it was only for a moment. Too soon, he dropped his hands and turned away. Leaning into the truck again, he gave Ben a few more last minute instructions, then slammed the door and stood back as the truck pulled away.
Phil was gone and there was no one else around. Carly wanted to look over at Dev, wanted to know what he was thinking, but he said brusquely, "Let's get you something to eat and drink."
She wanted to scream at him that food and water was the last thing on her mind right now, but she didn't open her mouth. Maybe it was better to give them both some time, let them recover before they talked. If he looked at her right now, or touched her again, she was afraid she'd break down and embarrass herself. And him.
He didn't want to know that she loved him. He'd made that very cle
ar this morning in the cave, and even more clear later on, when she'd challenged him about it. His lack of an answer had been all the answer she'd needed.
"Dev! Carly!"
Shea's voice came from the barn, and she turned around to look. Shea was loping toward them, her blond ponytail bouncing behind her. "Are you two all right? I was worried sick about you."
She threw herself into Dev's arms and held on tight. After a moment, she leaned away, holding his shoulders, and looked him over. "Are you hurt?"
Dev leaned down and planted a kiss on her cheek. "We're both fine, but we could use some water. And some food."
Shea turned to her and gave her the once over. She stilled when she saw Carly's arms, then grabbed her hands. "You're not okay. Look at her poor arms."
"It's all right, Shea. They're just scratches." Carly wanted to hide her arms behind her back. "They just need to be cleaned."
"Then come into the house and let's take care of that."
Shea swept them away and cleaned Carly's arms, applying antibiotic lotion and bandages to the deepest cuts. Then she stayed with them while they ate lunch, listening to the story and expressing outrage at Phil Hilbert's actions.
Finally Shea stood up, saying that she had work to do. When the door banged behind her, silence settled over the dining-room table. It was the middle of the afternoon, and Carly ached with weariness. Dev sat rigidly at the dining-room table, watching her.
"I imagine you'll want to leave soon," he said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"Yes," she said, but her heart ached. "I accomplished what I set out to do."
"Are you going to include this in your story about Cameron?" he asked stiffly.
"There isn't going to be a story about Cameron, Dev." She shifted and looked out the window at the magnificent mountains behind the house. "It was just a convenient reason to come to Cameron to begin with, but now I see that you were right all along. I don't want to share this place with the world."
"Thank you for that," he said after a while. He shifted on the chair. "You're welcome to stay here on the ranch, of course. Until you leave."
COWBOY WITH A BADGE Page 23
