Rancher's Dream

by B. J Daniels

  “You might want to sit down.” Hawk explained about Drey’s call in the wee hours of the morning, the pills, the search that ended in the surveillance room and what Cyrus had been able to find on the videos.

  “The camera on the pond that would have showed Jet Baxter being shot had been turned off that day. Someone has been watching Drey since day one—and fooling with her,” Hawk finished.

  Flint had known when he walked in that he wasn’t going to like this. “I knew you’d been at the Baxter house. Now you’ve gotten Cyrus involved, as well? The FBI is ready to haul you in—and your brother, too, now.”

  “Take a look at this. Jet Baxter was in that house. We saw it on the video. He’s trying to get Drey back on drugs.”

  “Back on drugs? Drey was on drugs?” Flint said as he took Hawk’s phone.

  “It was a long time ago and under extenuating circumstances,” Hawk said.

  “Isn’t it always?” He heard her coming back but didn’t look up as he watched the video. “It’s Jet, the brother.” Flint frowned. “Why would he do any of this?”

  “That’s what we don’t know,” Hawk said and looked up as Drey came down the stairs.

  Flint would have to be blind not to see the look that passed between them. He swore under his breath. What was going on between these two? All these years of pushing each other away and now they decide they’re still in love? He wanted to kick his brother’s ass. Drey was legally married, whatever her husband was up to.

  “Drey,” Flint said as she stepped to where she’d put down her purse and car keys.

  “Flint was just saying that the FBI isn’t happy that Cyrus and I were at your house,” Hawk said to her.

  “At this point, you and Drey have become suspects in their investigation,” the sheriff said. “I believe they’ve frozen all of Ethan’s accounts.”

  Drey looked up in surprise. “My credit card Ethan gave me isn’t working.”

  “You won’t be able to access your joint bank account either,” he said.

  She shook her head, looking close to tears. “Luckily, I don’t have to worry. Someone sent me a box full of hundred-dollar bills.”

  Flint didn’t like the sound of this. “I would suggest you not spend any of those.”

  “I don’t plan to. I still have some money of my own, fortunately.”

  “Baxter hasn’t skipped the country yet according to the feds, right?” Hawk said. “I was thinking that there might be a way to draw him out. If we shut off his surveillance room, he’ll come to see what’s going on.”

  Flint shook his head. “You have to stay out of this.”

  “I have to go,” Drey said as she picked up her purse and keys and started to leave.

  “Wait, I don’t want you going back to that house,” Hawk said as he got up to follow her to the door.

  Flint could hear them whispering, clearly arguing.

  It wasn’t until Drey left that Flint turned to his brother. “What’s going on, Hawk?”

  “She’s going back to that house. She won’t listen to reason.”

  “Reason? I keep having to remind you that she married Ethan Baxter and at this point, we don’t know that he’s guilty of anything.”

  “What about the FBI investigation?” Hawk demanded.

  “I have no idea why they are investigating him or if he’s personally responsible,” Flint pointed out. “They haven’t made an arrest even though they led me to believe it was pending.”

  “But we do know that his brother is trying to gaslight her,” his brother said angrily as he began to pace in front of the fireplace. “Who knows what he and his girlfriend are going to do next?”

  “So far they haven’t done anything that I can prove and arrest them for,” he said.

  “So far. That’s just it. Drey is in danger. And you expect me to sit back and do nothing?”

  Flint shook his head. “The FBI is watching the house. Drey knows what she’s up against. I suspect she’s safer right now than with you.”

  “What?”

  “You ready to put the past behind you now?” Flint demanded. “That’s right, Lillie told me your secret. So all is suddenly forgiven?” He swore. “Damn it, Hawk, you break that woman’s heart again and so help me...”

  * * *

  ETHAN’S HOUSE WAS the last place Drey wanted to go.

  Hawk had put up an argument, but ultimately, she felt she had little choice. If she had any hope of finding out what was going on, she had to stay, especially since she had the feeling that Jet wanted her out of that house.

  What she had to her advantage was that Jet didn’t know she wasn’t back on the drugs. Once the FBI moved on Ethan... And she had no doubt now that they would. But when? Within days—or hours? They’d frozen Ethan’s assets. Fortunately, she’d held back some money of her own.

  Ethan had been insistent that they have a traditional marriage. It had appealed to her after all of these years of being on her own. Also it was what her parents had had. No separate checking accounts. Ethan would handle the money, she would run the house. At that time, she’d thought the house would be a penthouse in New York City. She’d welcomed the change.

  Yes, she thought looking back as she drove toward Mountain Crest, Ethan had promised her exactly what she wanted, almost as if he’d already known.

  Lena, she thought with a curse. They’d shared their hopes and dreams, so of course Lena would know what a small-town, conservative girl Drey was—the drugs aside. Did she need any more proof that she’d been targeted? She was exactly what Ethan had been looking for.

  She slowed as she pulled up to the gate to the property. A chill ran up her spine as she put in the pass code. The gate yawned open and she drove through, telling herself she could do this. If Ethan was somewhere watching her through the surveillance equipment in the house, then he knew what Jet was doing. He condoned it, maybe even was in on the plan.

  So why didn’t she believe that? Maybe she had been targeted in some way. And even though Ethan wasn’t the love of her life, she didn’t believe he was that cruel. Unless all this had been a test to see if she would reach out to her former lover, Hawk Cahill.

  In that case, she’d failed miserably again.

  So what would happen now? she wondered as she pulled up in front of the house. The lights came on—just as they were programmed to do. She had to hand it to Ethan, he really had built himself a very technologically advanced house. No wonder he was so proud of it.

  She got out, not looking up at all that glass because this time she knew she was being watched. Being watched by the house, Ethan, Jet and Lena, and maybe the FBI, as well. Ethan’s car was still parked where he’d left it on their wedding night, the keys still in it.

  It struck her as odd that he’d left it there after opening the house for her that night. Ethan prided himself on taking care of his possessions. He would have put it in the underground garage beneath the house. He definitely would have put it away if he’d left for Mexico and hadn’t planned to come back soon.

  She supposed he could have been called away just as Jet had said. The helicopter could have picked him up and taken him to the airport where he flew to Mexico City. It was possible. Wasn’t that why she hadn’t packed up and left? Because she had to believe he would be back and then...

  She didn’t want to think that far ahead. First she had to survive another day.

  As she entered the house, she tried not to look for the cameras watching her. Act normal. Right. She no longer knew what normal was.

  All she could think about was being at Hawk’s ranch. If the neighbor hadn’t shown up when he did... She shook her head, telling herself it had given her time to come to her senses. This was not the way she wanted to start again with Hawk—if that was even possible. If there was a chance they could find their way back together, she didn’t want it beginning
with an affair.

  Drey brushed the painful thoughts away and steeled herself for staying in this house until... Until she knew why Ethan had married her, why he’d left her on their wedding night, why his brother was trying to destroy her, she couldn’t think about the future, especially one with Hawk.

  She spent the day keeping busy, figuring Jet and Lena wouldn’t make their move until that night. In the kitchen she made herself a cup of hot tea. She’d been tempted to look in the freezer, wondering if the thumb was back. Then, taking her tea, she wandered up to the master suite, going through the motions, all the time, knowing that Jet and Lena were watching her. Maybe Ethan, too. Watching her and waiting for her to do what?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  BILLIE DEE WAS surprised but delighted when the kitchen door opened the next morning and her daughter stuck her head in.

  “I heard you always have a pot of coffee going?” Gigi said.

  “You know it. Come on in. How do you take yours?”

  “Black and strong,” the young woman said. She took the chair at the table Billie Dee offered her.

  Carrying over two cups, she joined Gigi. Her heart was pounding. After yesterday she feared she might never see her again.

  “You have to understand,” Gigi said after they’d talked about the weather, Montana and AJ. “All this has happened so fast.” She stopped to take a sip of her coffee as if needing time to say what she came for.

  “I do understand. You had to be shocked when Ashley Jo—AJ—told you,” Billie Dee said. “I know how shocked I was when I saw you, when I opened my eyes...” Her voice broke. She, too, took a sip of her coffee, telling herself to let the young woman talk.

  “In a way, I feel as if this is disloyal to my parents and yet at the same time, I know they would be happy that AJ found you.” She looked away for a moment. “They would want me to have all the family I could.”

  “Gigi, I don’t expect anything from you. I mean that. We don’t know each other. I’m a stranger—”

  “That’s just it. I feel...something,” she said, looking up to lock eyes with her birth mother. “I know it’s crazy. Not according to AJ, of course. But it feels so odd, this...connection I feel.”

  Billie Dee held her breath. “I feel the same way.”

  “I have to get back to Houston,” Gigi said after another sip of her coffee. “The fire inspector says I can get back into my restaurant and work can start on gutting the part that was so badly damaged.”

  “I know you can’t stay.” Billie Dee pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. “I wrote down my phone number and address. I wasn’t sure I’d see you again, but I thought if I did...” She laid it on the table between them. “You don’t have to use either of them.”

  Gigi pulled the sheet of paper to her. There was a pen on the window ledge. She took it, tore off a piece of the paper and wrote down her phone number and address. She passed it over to Billie Dee.

  “Just give me a call sometime,” Gigi said.

  “You can take all the time you need.”

  The young woman hesitated. “AJ told me that you’ve been waiting to get married until you found your daughter.”

  “That AJ, what are we going to do with her?”

  Gigi smiled. “Let me know when the wedding is going to be. I’d like to come.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. She reached across the table and took her daughter’s hand in hers. “Thank you.”

  * * *

  DREY WOKE TO a text from Hawk, surprised that she’d slept fairly well and that nothing had awakened her in the night.

  Are you okay?

  Quiet, uneventful night. So yes.

  Good. I was worried. I still don’t like you being there alone.

  But I’m not alone remember?

  When this is over...I want another chance.

  You sure about that?

  Positive. I love you.

  We’ll talk then.

  Her heart was beating a little faster as she held the phone to her chest. Was it possible for her and Hawk to find their way back to each other?

  She couldn’t think about that now. She started to put her phone away but had an idea. The one thing she remembered about Lena was how she loved her coffee shop coffee first thing in the morning. She called the hotel, described the valet and a few moments later, Bobby, the valet, came on the line.

  “We met yesterday. You were going to tell me about someplace to get a good meal in the area.”

  He chuckled. “Auburn hair, cute as a button? Oh, you bet I remember you,” he said with a laugh. “You ready for that meal?”

  “Actually, there’s something else I need.” She told him. “I will definitely make it worth your while. And yes, I mean with cash.”

  He laughed. “You’re on.”

  Thirty minutes later, her cell phone rang.

  “She just left, headed up the street toward the coffee shop. It’s where she’s gone every day since she’s been staying here.”

  * * *

  DREY FOUND LENA sitting at one of the outdoor tables, drinking her coffee and staring at her phone. She walked over to the table. It took a few moments for Lena to look up.

  “Drey.” Lena quickly tried to hide her surprise. She looked around as if trying to determine whether Drey had come alone and then seemed to relax.

  “I thought we should have a talk. Mind if I sit down or are you expecting Jet?”

  “No, I’m alone, but I suspect you knew that before you approached me,” her former friend said. Up close, Lena wasn’t half as put together as her Baxter Inc. photo had made her appear.

  “You and Jet. How exactly did that happen?”

  Lena leaned back in her chair and gave her a look filled with attitude. “Actually, I met Ethan first.”

  “I see.”

  “Hmm, I doubt you do. We were married.”

  She hadn’t expected that. Then again Jet had kept calling Drey his brother’s new bride as if there had been an old one. “I thought you were in love with Brett Coldwell?”

  “He was a passing phase. I met Ethan and Brett was history.”

  “So it was love at first sight.” She thought of the way Ethan had swept her off her feet. She suspected it was the way he operated his business—and his love life.

  Lena smiled. “You could say that.”

  “But now you’re with his brother.”

  Lena looked away. “The marriage didn’t work out.”

  “Another woman?” Drey asked, half-afraid of what she would say.

  Instead Lena laughed. “You? Not hardly. I was young. He had his work. He never had time for me. I wanted more. He divorced me like I was one of his companies that wasn’t meeting his expectations.” Her words reeked of bitterness.

  “But you’re still at Baxter Inc.”

  “I got the job at Baxter Inc. as part of my settlement and I met Jet.”

  “And the rest is history.” Drey nodded. “This explains a lot. So you both have an ax to grind when it comes to Ethan. So where do I fit into all this?”

  Lena met her gaze. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Sure you do. How was it that Ethan just happened to come into the library where I worked here in Gilt Edge?”

  “I might have mentioned I knew someone who used to live in Gilt Edge when I heard that Ethan was building his monument to himself.”

  Drey had to smile. Wasn’t that the way she thought it might have gone down? “Playing matchmaker?”

  “Not hardly. No one could have been more shocked when Jet told me that Ethan was engaged—to you—and then so quickly married. It was like déjà vu. Ethan and another merger at the snap of his fingers. So how are you enjoying being married to him?” She chuckled. “Something tells me he never mentioned his first wife to you.”

 
“I’d rather talk about what you and Jet are doing.”

  “Vacationing here in Montana? You have a problem with that?”

  “I have a problem with the two of you trying to make me think I’m crazy. So, what is it you want?”

  The woman’s face remained expressionless.

  “Maybe what I should be asking is where does Ethan fit into all this?”

  “You’ll have to ask him that when you see him.”

  “Did you know he’s being investigated by the FBI? Oh, I see you did. Why do I get the feeling that I won’t be seeing Ethan?”

  Lena’s smile was filled with venom. “It could be the pills you’re taking.”

  “Sorry, but I quit those right after you moved out at college.”

  “My mistake. I thought I heard you were back on them.” Lena picked up her coffee, pushed back her chair and rose. “I’d stay but I think this conversation has run its course. Whatever problems you’re having, they have nothing to do with me.”

  “Really? You might want to tell Jet that I have him on video leaving those pills beside my bed.” She had caught the woman flat-footed. She hadn’t missed Lena’s surprised expression. She hadn’t known about the videos? Did that mean she didn’t know about the surveillance room? “I have other videos as well, of his...tricks. I’ve turned them over to the sheriff. So whatever else you have planned... I’m onto you. And so is the sheriff and the FBI.”

  * * *

  AFTER A RESTLESS night with little sleep, Hawk had awakened with only one thought: Drey. He’d texted and was now relieved that she’d had an uneventful night. But he couldn’t shake the one question he’d awakened with.

  Why was the FBI so convinced that Ethan Baxter was still in that house hiding somewhere? Of course they would be tracking any use of his passport and now they’d frozen his credit cards and accounts.

  Which meant he wasn’t going anywhere unless he’d planned ahead for this particular problem. Hawk thought of the money that had been sent to Drey and told himself Ethan had believed he had more time before the FBI moved in. He wouldn’t use that much money simply to involve Drey in his mess.