by Carrie Carr
"You'sve got a what?"
"A date."
"Really?" Amanda practically squealed, wrapping her arms around him tighter. "That's so cool." She looked into his eyes. "Is it someone I've met?"
"I don't think so. She's an interior decorator."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "I see. How long have you known this woman?"
"I, umm, just met her," Michael stammered. He found it rather odd that he felt like a teenager explaining himself to his parents.
"Don't take this wrong. But where did you meet an interior decorator? I've seen your apartment."
"I'm the typical bachelor, aren'st I? After Lex left, I was admiring how well the construction on the ranch house was going, when this woman stepped out onto the front porch."
Amanda got out of the car. "I hope you have a nice time. Tell me how it goes." She stretched back inside and kissed his cheek. "I love you."
"I love you, too." He watched as she climbed into the Mustang and drove away.
Chapter Seven
AFTER A SHORT argument with herself, Lex decided to walk back to the ranch. She had thought about breaking a window to get into the truck, but hated the thought of what the rain would do to the interior. She knew she could depend on Martha and Charlie to be at home at this time of the evening. Martha kept an extra set of keys to Lex's vehicles, in case of an emergency. As far as Lex was concerned, tonight was definitely an emergency. Although the couple would probably tease her endlessly about her situation, it would be better than having to walk all the way into town. She had only gone a few yards when the rain started to fall.
"Dammit." Lex started jogging along the road, her boots clomping loudly on the hard ground. She had traveled for almost half an hour before she finally crossed the old wooden covered bridge that led to her ranch. Once in the relatively dry structure, Lex considered staying inside until the worst of the rain passed. Another cold chill chased down her back, making Lex's decision for her. Tugging her soggy black hat farther over her eyes, she took off again at a quick jog.
The cold wind cut through her soaked shirt and jeans, which caused Lex to quicken her pace until she was running full speed down the muddy road. Deciding to think about more pleasant things, she let her mind wander back to last month, when Charlie and Martha made a surprise addition to their family. Although it had taken Lex the better part of a week to get all the paperwork in order, Martha and Charlie formally adopted Ronnie. They brought him into their family with a huge surprise party, and the young man had never been happier.
Despite the downpour and her soggy clothing, Lex felt lighthearted as she remembered Ronnie's face when he learned he had been adopted into the family. With renewed effort, she jogged up the hill.
"IT'S AFTER SEVEN o'clock. Where on earth could she be?" Amanda looked out the front window for the third time in as many minutes. "It's not like her to be this late without even calling." She allowed the curtain to close as she turned away and reached for the nearby phone. Hitting number one on the speed dial, Amanda waited patiently for someone to answer.
"Hello?"
"Martha? This is Amanda."
"Well, hello. It's so nice to hear from you. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Have you seen Lex today?" Amanda asked, hoping against hope her lover had decided to stay there for dinner and forgot to call. "She's not home yet, and I'm a little worried."
Martha was quiet for a long moment. "I saw her truck by the main house for most of the day, but I could have sworn she left over an hour ago. Did you try to call her on the cell phone?"
Mentally slapping herself, Amanda groaned. "Duh. I didn'st even think about it. Could you hold on for a second?"
"Sure. You go ahead. I'll be right here."
Hitting the "flash" button on the cordless phone, Amanda quickly hit the speed dial number for Lex's cell phone. After a moment, she heard a faint rendition of Bolero from the front entryway closet. Rolling her eyes, Amanda opened the door, seeing the new black duster hanging in the corner. She brought the phone out of the pocket. Another tap on the "flash" button, and she closed the closet door. "Martha? She left her phone in her coat pocket, again."
"It's nice to hear some things haven'st changed. She could have had car trouble. Do you want me to send Charlie out to check the roads, just in case?"
"Would you mind? I hate to bother him, but ever since the accident, I'm a little paranoid."
"Hush. There's nothing to be worried about."
Amanda heard Martha ask Charlie to look for Lex. She felt better all ready. "Tell Charlie I'll bake him the chocolate cake he's so fond of, for doing this." She quickly finished the conversation and resigned herself to a long wait.
CHARLIE SQUINTED AT the windshield, trying to see through the driving rain. The old police cruiser he was driving slid slightly on the muddy road, making him slow even more. He cursed the weather as the windshield wipers beat frantically. "Lexington Marie Walters, you'd better be in one piece when I catch you."
The road from the house was quickly becoming a churning quagmire, the torrential rain washing large parts of it away. Thinking about the woman possibly out in this mess, he slowly pressed on the accelerator. As the car started for the final hill, his headlights caught a tall figure rushing directly at him, and he hit the brakes to keep from hitting it. "Damn." He turned the steering wheel hard, which caused his car to slide directly at the form.
"What the hell?" Charlie jumped from the vehicle as soon as it stopped, when he saw the figure slip off the road and tumble down the sharp incline. "Aw, damn. Lex?" He stood at the edge, looking down the muddy slope.
"SHIT." LEX RAISED her head slightly. She was lying face down at the bottom of the incline, her body resting against a large tree. Reaching to wipe the water and mud from her eyes, she saw a dark form standing at the top of the slope.
Slowly climbing to her feet, Lex tried to wipe off the worst of the mud. The red clay-like substance was ground into her clothes, and she had a feeling it had seeped through to various parts of her body. "Ugh. Amanda's going to kill me." She was glad the heavy rain continued to pelt her body. She started up the steep hill, slipping and falling. "Damn." With her mouth full of mud, Lex stood again and spat.
"Lex? Is that you?" Charlie called from his position at the top of the incline.
Instead of answering, she wondered what else could go wrong. "Charlie?" Lex took off her drenched hat and used it to shield her eyes in order to make out the form. She crammed the black felt back onto her head and attempted to climb the hill again.
"What are you doing out in this storm?" Charlie asked, giving her a supporting hand and bringing the bedraggled woman beside him.
"Jogging," she grumbled, looking at her mud-covered frame. "What are you doing out here?"
"Looking for you. Do you expect me to let your filthy body in my car?" Charlie flicked a blob of mud off her shoulder.
"If you want, I'll walk the rest of the way back." She couldn'st suppress a shiver, as another blast of wind almost knocked her from her feet. "Get in the car, before you catch pneumonia. Martha will have both our hides."
"Not without you. Come on. I'll give you a ride to the house, and you can tell me why you're out in this weather."
MARTHA HUNG UP the phone. She had finished talking to her husband, who had called her and told her about his run in with Lex. "I swear that girl has trouble tattooed across her forehead." She looked outside at the raging storm. "I'd better call Amanda and tell her." Dialing the phone, Martha waited patiently until Amanda answered.
"Hello?"
"Amanda, honey," she started, but was quickly interrupted.
"Did he find her? Is she all right? What happened?" Amanda's questions were rapid-fire, before she realized how she had sounded. "Oh God, I'm sorry, Martha. I didn'st mean--"
"Lexie's fine. She had a little trouble with the truck and was on her way back here when Charlie found her."
"Trouble with the truck? What kind of trouble? She di
dn'st wreck it, did she?"
"No, no, no." Martha heard the sheriff's car park in front of the house. "She's fine. If you can wait for a minute, you can ask her yourself. They just got here."
Charlie opened the front door and took off his hat, shaking it off before coming inside. "Hi. Look what I found." He gestured behind him.
Martha's eyes widened at the mud-covered figure beside him. "Oh, my Lord." The hand that held the phone slowly dropped to her side, her conversation forgotten for the moment.
"Hi, Martha. Hope you don't mind if I don't come in." Lex felt like a child who had done what she wasn'st supposed to. "Most of it washed off, believe it or not."
"What's going on? Martha? Hello?" The distraught voice could be heard across the room. "Are you there?"
Taking the phone out of his wife's hand, Charlie put it to his ear. "Amanda? I'm sorry. I got back to the house, and Martha's a little, umm, shocked."
"Charlie? Could you please tell me what on earth is going on? I'm losing my mind, here." When the sheriff began to laugh, she growled. "It's not funny. What happened to Lex? Do I have to drive out there myself to find out?"
Charlie wordlessly handed the cordless phone to the woman standing on the front porch. She resisted Martha's attempts to drag her filthy body into the house and refused to come inside. Lex accepted the phone, but slapped Martha's hands away.
"Charlie?"
Lex felt bad at the frantic tone in her partner's voice. "No, it's me. I'm sorry if I worried you."
Amanda calmed immediately. "Thank God. I was going to send out another search party." She took a moment to take control of her emotions before speaking again. "What happened?"
Lex gratefully accepted a large towel from Charlie. "I had a flat tire and locked my keys in the truck. I was coming back to Martha's to get the spare key, when Charlie found me." It wasn'st quite a lie, just a slight omission of the truth. "I'm muddy, but as soon as I can get a ride back to the truck, I'll be on my way home."
"I'll have you a nice warm bath ready when you get here," Amanda promised. "And you can tell me about your day." After her discussion with her father earlier, Amanda knew Lex was going to need a little pampering, and she was more than happy to supply it.
"Umm, sure." Lex gave Martha a grateful look when she wrapped a thick blanket around her shoulders. "I'll be home soon."
"Be careful." Amanda hung up the phone, anxious to get things ready for her lover.
Martha adjusted the blanket around Lex's shoulders. "I ought to take a spoon to your backside, young lady. Going around without a proper coat. You know better than that."
"Martha, please," Lex handed Martha the phone. "It was a nice day when it started out--just quickly went downhill from there."
"You could at least come in and get cleaned up. I can'st even tell where the mud ends, and your skin begins." Martha looked at Lex's hands, which held the blanket closed. "How on earth did you get all that red mud all over you, anyway?"
Charlie wrapped an arm around his wife. "That's my fault, I believe." He handed Lex a set of keys. "She was running down the road, and I almost hit her. Poor thing slipped right off the road and down the side of the embankment."
"It's not your fault, Charlie. I shouldn'st have been running in the center of the road. The hill is dangerous." Lex accepted the keys. "Do you think I could talk you into a ride back to my truck? I'll clean out your car for you tomorrow." The smile didn'st quite reach her eyes.
Martha noticed the haunted look in Lex's face but didn'st comment. Deciding to give up trying to keep her with them, she wiped a spot clean on Lex's cheek. "You be careful going home." She rose onto her toes to kiss the troubled face. "I'd like for you two to come over for dinner tomorrow night."
"Yes, ma'am," Lex agreed, glad for the reprieve. She hated arguing with Martha but wanted to go home even more. She felt like she had mud in places it wasn'st meant to be. "We'll be here."
"You see that you are, young lady." Martha fiddled with the blanket around Lex's shoulders. She almost lost her composure when Lex kissed the top of her head.
"I love you, Martha." Lex quickly turned and rushed from the porch.
HIS MIND ON other things, Hubert didn'st even hear the back door to his office open. He was looking over an old copy of his father's will, hoping for his own sake the man hadn'st changed anything before he died. "Lex won'st be in complete control of the ranch anymore. She'll have to share it with me," he gloated. "And with the right amount of pressure, I could either get my sister to sell her shares to me, or buy me out. I'll win either way." Hearing a throat being cleared behind him, Hubert turned around and jumped up. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Are you surprised to see me?" The tall form was leaning casually against the doorframe.
Hubert glared at the intruder. "Not particularly. What do you want?"
"Maybe I wanted to visit." The figure stepped closer. "You're working late."
"Yeah, well. Some of us don't get things handed to them on a silver platter," Hubert grumbled, pushing the intruder back with his hand. "Get the hell out of my office. I'm a busy man." Surprise registered on his face when a fist connected with his nose. He fell back against the desk and covered his face with his hands. "What did you do that for?"
The angry intruder grabbed him by the front of his shirt, dragging the whining man to his feet. "I've had it with you, asshole." Another punch, this time aimed at Hubert's midsection, caused the man to fall to his knees. "You'sve crossed me for the last time."
"Wait," Hubert grunted, his arms wrapped around his stomach. "Have you lost your fucking mind?" A well-placed kick, and he felt his ribs give way. He groaned and rolled over onto his back, looking into the eyes above him. "Fuck you," he coughed, unable to take a deep breath.
Hubert saw a dark boot come toward his face, blacking out as it connected. He never felt the other blows land, as the tall figure's rage continued to be slaked on his unconscious body.
LEX STEPPED WEARILY through the front door of the house and leaned against the door after she closed it. She ached all over. She had bent to take off her boots when a voice startled her.
"Oh, Lex," Amanda cried, standing across from the muddied figure. "You look awful." Although the majority of the mud had been washed away, Lex's skin and clothes bore a reddish hue. "Come on, love. I've got the bath waiting." She had drained the cold water, and waited until she heard the truck come into the driveway before refilling the tub.
"Thanks. Sorry it took me so long to get home. I wanted to stop by the car wash and use a high-pressure hose to rinse my clothes off." Lex allowed herself to be guided into the bathroom. She smiled slightly as the busy fingers began to unbutton her shirt. "I can get it, Amanda. You'll only get dirty."
Amanda continued to work the wet shirt from her lover's body. "I don't care." She touched the chilled skin and looked into Lex's eyes. "You're like a block of ice," she commented.
"Yeah. The rain's cold." She eased out of her jeans, her stiffened muscles protesting the motion. "Damn." Lex removed the rest of her clothes and tried to blink away the fatigue that settled in her body.
"What's wrong?" Amanda pushed Lex to the tub. She helped her climb in and sat on the edge of the tub.
"Nothing. I'm a little sore." Lex sunk lower in the tub, allowing the fragrant bubbles to cover her. "This feels great."
Amanda reached over and brushed the damp hair away from Lex's eyes. "Why don't you soak for a while, and then I'll scrub your back?" She watched as the blue eyes closed. "I'll be back in a little while." Amanda kissed the troubled brow. She stood and left the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind her.
SEEING THE OFFICE light on, Doris Weatherby felt her ire rise. Her employer failed to turn off the lights before he left and complained to her when the electric bill came in. She carried her vacuum cleaner inside with her, backing into the small office. Hearing a pained groan behind her, the cleaning woman spun around. "Gracious sakes." She dropped the supplies she held and rushed to
the bleeding man, who was lying partially hidden behind the desk. "Mr. Walters? My goodness, what happened to you?" Afraid to touch him, she reached for his phone to call for help.
"Sheriff's Department, how may I help you?"
"This is Doris Weatherby. I clean the offices on Fourth Street." She was unable to look at the body on the floor. "I found Mr. Walters in his office, and it looks like someone tried to beat him to death." She wasn'st surprised. The man was obnoxious and hateful, and she couldn'st remember how many of the checks he had written to her had bounced.
"Hold on, Mrs. Weatherby. Let me get an ambulance moving." The dispatcher put the call on hold while she dialed the ambulance service.
Doris heard Hubert moan again, and she knelt to see what he was trying to say. "Stay quiet, Mr. Walters. Help is on the way."
"Hurts," he gasped, blood seeping from his mouth. One eye cracked open slightly, hampered by the congealed blood on his face. "Wha--"
"Shhh. You're going to be fine." Doris wasn'st too sure, though. He looked like someone had worked him over with a vengeance. The voice on the phone caught her attention. "What was that?"
"I said, I've got a deputy and an ambulance on the way, ma'am.'s Try not to touch anything."
The sight of flashing lights through the front windows caused Doris to stand. "They're here," she told the dispatcher, and hung up the phone. Going to the front of the office, she saw a short, stocky deputy step out of his car.
"ma'am," he acknowledged the woman as he went into the office. "I'm Deputy Thomas. Could you please wait here while I check out the scene?" He was new to the Sheriff's Department, having been transferred from a nearby county only last week. Deputy Thomas wasn'st impressed with the small town he found himself in. He missed the action of his previous job and couldn'st wait to get back to it. He had been volunteered by his boss for an exchange program between the two departments. Each county had wanted to see how the other one handled different situations, so they agreed to swap officers for a short period of time.
