by Cora Seton
“Let’s get back to the house.”
“I need to check on the dogs.”
“Did you get a good look at him?” Lena demanded as Jo fumbled in her pocket for her keys.
“No.” Jo shook her head, taking two tries to unlock the door. “He had a ski mask on. I think he was on something—drugs. He was wired.”
“We should call Cab,” Autumn said.
Sadie nodded. She pulled out her phone and placed the call, but while she waited for someone to answer, she said, “We should really get inside.”
“Not until I check on the dogs.”
Sadie was thankful for the presence of all the other women as she waited for Jo to check on the animals. Only when she had determined they were all safe, and had locked them back in again, did Jo consent to return to the house.
Everyone stayed to give their statements when Cab arrived, and he spent some time checking out the carriage house and its surroundings.
“Can you bring the dogs inside for the night?” Cab asked Sadie. “I’d like to keep this area as intact as possible and come back in the morning to check it again.”
“I can do that.” Her sisters helped move the animals inside and down into the basement, where it was easiest to set up an area the puppies couldn’t destroy overnight. The other women headed home, promising Cab to contact him if they remembered any details they hadn’t already mentioned. When they were gone, and Lena was inside brewing a strong pot of coffee for the all-night vigil she insisted on mounting, Cab asked Sadie to walk him to his cruiser.
“Where’s Connor tonight? I’d have thought he’d be here guarding the place.”
“I’d have thought that, too.” Sadie tried not to betray the worry and bitterness warring within her. Where was Connor? It was late—he’d been in town for hours.
“You two have a fight?” When she shot him a sharp look, Cab held up his hands in a placating manner. “People talk. He talked,” he admitted when she didn’t back down. “It’s pretty obvious he’s carrying a torch for you. He came to see me a while back. He didn’t say anything outright, but it didn’t take much to see where his attention had wandered.”
“I don’t know about that.” A few hours ago she’d been sure she and Connor were made for each other, and she still wanted to believe that he’d stayed in town this long to keep out of their way while they entertained their friends, but was she fooling herself? Sadie wasn’t sure how to tell. After all, she’d proved she wasn’t too smart where men were concerned.
“You could do a lot worse.”
Sadie turned on him. “You mean I’ve done a lot worse in the past. I know that, Sheriff. I don’t need you to rub my nose in it.”
“That’s not what I meant at all. I’m just saying he’s worth fighting for if you’ve had a little tiff.”
“That’s just the thing.” Her aggravation mounted. “We didn’t have a little tiff. But he’s not here. Where the hell is he?”
“You expected him home before now?”
“Yes! No—I don’t know.” She couldn’t hide her frustration.
The sheriff studied her. “I’ll keep an eye out for him. I’ll be back first thing in the morning, too. Now you get inside, lock those doors tight and keep inside until morning. I’ll keep some men here overnight.”
“Thank you.”
Inside she found Lena cleaning her shotgun. “I’m calling it a night,” Sadie told her. “Cab’s got some men outside. Try not to shoot them.”
Lena didn’t rise to the bait. “Get some rest.”
But when Sadie headed upstairs to her room, she knew she wouldn’t sleep a wink.
Chapter Nine
‡
Knowing he’d drunk too much to drive home, but not feeling like calling a taxi, either, Connor had decided a good long walk would help clear his head and help him make sense of what Steel Cooper had told him. Besides, he needed time to sort out what to tell Sadie about Tracy—and what not to mention.
If Steel hadn’t accused him of trying to sleep with Tracy, he wouldn’t have thought twice about his encounter with the bartender, but now he was worried that word would get back to Sadie about him… flirting.
Which he hadn’t been.
Except he had, in order to get information out of the woman.
He never really thought about the tricks he’d used to gain intelligence in the past. Or the way he flirted with women constantly, if he was truthful. It came easily, and he liked the extra perks he got when women were attracted to him. A free drink at a bar, an upgrade to first class on a plane…
A fun weekend when he was on leave somewhere halfway around the world from his home.
Now his life had changed. He didn’t want fun weekends; he wanted the whole deal. He hadn’t gone to the Dancing Boot looking for anything more than information. Still, when Tracy started flirting it had felt…
Comfortable.
And he wasn’t sure what to make of that. Nor could he stop trying to puzzle it out. He didn’t like the answers he came up with. Tracy couldn’t hold a candle to Sadie—not just in looks, but in personality, intelligence—the whole package. Neither did Lila, or Bridget—or any of the other women he’d dated. So why had he been with them?
Because he didn’t think he deserved the real deal?
After all, his mother had sent him packing at ten—
Connor stopped in his tracks, an ancient sorrow pressing hard on his chest. His hands clenched and flexed. His breath came fast.
She’d let him go.
Kept Dalton, but let him go.
Why?
Alone, on the side of an empty road, the darkness pierced only by the glint of starts, Connor asked the question.
But received no answer.
When he patted his pocket, he realized he didn’t even have his phone. If he did, would he call and ask her outright?
He didn’t know.
But for the first time, he didn’t push the painful question away. He let it expand until it filled him—swallowed him whole. Still, under the vast canopy of the star-studded sky, his pain was just a tiny spark. There was room for him to feel it—and let it go.
He could feel compassion for the child he’d been when he’d left Ireland, feel compassion for the father who’d wanted to go home, and the mother who’d done her best to be fair.
None of them had meant to hurt each other, but they’d all done so anyway.
The same crystal clarity made him realize he’d prolonged his suffering—surrounding himself with women, but allowing none of them near him. Not really.
That had to stop. If he wanted to move forward—to marry Sadie—
He had to open his heart.
Nodding in the dark, Connor started walking again, picking up his pace.
He wanted to get home to Two Willows. To see Sadie. To tell her—
A sheriff’s cruiser came around a bend toward him. Its blue and red lights swirled, and a siren tapped on and off. Connor stopped and waited for Cab to pull over, get out, cross the road and confront him.
“I should give you a ticket for asshole-ism,” Cab said, giving him a baleful look. “I could do it, too. No one would deny you deserve it.”
“What’s got your knickers in a twist, Sheriff?” His expansive mood faded fast.
“You think to check in back at the ranch after you decided to go have yourself a good time? Or do you get off acting as self-absorbed as a seventeen-year-old?”
Connor bristled. Here he’d been fielding epiphanies. He didn’t need this kind of abuse. “Just needed to clear my head, Sheriff.” If Cab had an accusation to make, he could make it. He hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Well, while you were clearing your head, someone snuck onto Two Willows property. And those women you left behind took it on themselves to chase him off. He got Jo pretty good.”
Connor sobered in an instant. “Someone hurt Jo?”
“Slammed her up against the carriage house. She’s a little bruised. A little freaked ou
t, too. Watch yourself going home; Lena’s armed and waiting to shoot someone. I’ve got a unit out there, too.”
“What did he want?” He didn’t like the sound of this at all. If those drug dealers were back—
“Looked like he was going for Jo’s dogs.”
Dogs? “Grant Kimball?”
“Nope. Some other guy. No one got a good look at him, but Jo was pretty sure it wasn’t Grant.” Cab looked him over. “What the fuck were you thinking? The General gave you a mission. A pretty damn simple one. Did you think you deserved a night off?”
“Fuck.” He’d really screwed up. Left his post. Left the women vulnerable. What if the man had come in, guns blazing—?
What if he’d hurt Sadie?
Killed her?
Connor swallowed hard. He couldn’t lose her—not when he’d just found her—not when he’d just figured out—
“Yeah, now you get it.” Cab shook his head. “You’re supposed to be with Sadie. So why aren’t you? She said you didn’t have a fight—she couldn’t figure out why you hadn’t come home.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. “She was worried?” Why had he left at all? He could have hung out in the barn and gotten some work done. Gone to town another time—
“Of course she was worried. She cares about you. God knows why.”
Connor braced himself. He knew what the sheriff would ask next.
“Where were you?”
“At the Boot.”
“With another woman?”
“No.” He’d answered too quickly, and felt even worse. “Yes. Kind of. Look, the bartender is a flirt. She gave me a couple of free drinks, that’s all—I was trying—”
“That’s all—?”
The sheriff looked ready to haul off and knock him into next week. Worst thing was, Connor was beginning to think he deserved it. His intentions had been good, but he’d gotten too caught up in the game. A misunderstanding between him and Sadie could undo everything.
Cab got his temper under control with a visible effort. “You make up your mind. You’re either with Sadie, or you call the General and tell him you’re not the man for the job. Let him find someone else. Shit or get off the pot. Got it?”
“Got it.” He did. Cab was right; he had to get his head together. He couldn’t flirt with anyone anymore. No matter what the cause—for information, or for perks. Not because he’d gotten caught, or because Cab had told him so.
Because that wasn’t the kind of man he wanted to be.
He wasn’t his father. He didn’t want to turn tail and run when things got hard. He didn’t want to settle for halfway good enough when everything he wanted was possible. Even if he’d been hurt in the past, even if his own mother had let him go too soon, he was making his own choices now and he was choosing to be with Sadie.
“I’ve got it,” he said again.
Cab backed down. “Good.”
“Give me a ride?” Connor asked, suddenly eager to see Sadie—to tell her how he felt. To make sure she understood he wanted a lifetime with her.
“Fuck no.” Cab strode off, climbed in his cruiser and took off without a second look.
It took Connor another hour to make it home, nod to the sheriff’s deputies as he passed them on his way up the driveway to the house, and announce his presence to Lena before she shot him. Inside, he found the house quiet and he snuck up to bed, hesitating at Sadie’s door a moment before he acknowledged to himself it was too late for heart to heart conversations now, and entered his own room. He only slept a few hours before he woke with the certain knowledge he needed to head back to town, get his truck—
And buy Sadie a ring.
He needed to propose today. He needed to settle this now.
And he was going to do this right.
He slipped out past a snoozing Lena, made sure the duo in the sheriff’s department cruiser near the end of the lane spotted him and waved hello as he approached and passed them.
The long walk back into town cleared the cobwebs from his brain, and he was gratified to find his resolve remained perfectly firm. He wanted to marry Sadie. Wanted to be her husband. Wanted to make Two Willows his home.
He would break the pattern of unhappiness that his parents had begun. He’d use his wedding to bring them together again, too. He’d do everything he could to throw them together as much as possible while they were here.
He couldn’t ask for a better future. He and Sadie would help run Two Willows. He’d have Brian for a brother-in-law. Together with Lena they’d get the cattle operation tip top and he’d do whatever it took to help Sadie tend her gardens and run her farm stand. During the weeks after the disaster in Syria, Connor had thought his life was over. He’d known getting kicked out of the Air Force would put a blot on his future it would be hard to remove.
Now he saw it as a gift. He hadn’t known what he wanted until it was handed to him on a silver platter.
He’d make sure to treat Sadie as she deserved and ignore every other woman in the world. No more flirting. No more charming the ladies to get what he wanted. Straight dealing from now on.
When he finally stood in front of Thayer’s Jewelers, however, a twinge of doubt insinuated itself into his mind.
If and when Sadie heard the rumors about him and Tracy, would she be angry with him? Would she believe him when he told his side?
If not, he’d do what it took to make her love him again, he promised himself, but he felt another twinge at the word love. He’d never told Sadie how he felt about her.
And she’d never said the word to him, either.
They barely knew each other. He hadn’t even been here for two weeks.
Connor’s heart sank. Was he jumping the gun?
He thought about all the time he’d spent with Sadie. The way he couldn’t take his eyes off her when she was near. The way he thought of her all the time when she wasn’t.
The way it felt to make love to her.
Sometimes you just knew. That’s what his father had said about meeting his mother, right? That he knew she was the one the moment he laid eyes on her.
But his parents’ love hadn’t been enough to hold them together.
Was he fooling himself if he thought the connection that he had with Sadie could go the distance?
A few days spent in the garden, a few kisses.
An encounter or two—or three. He smiled, thinking of their shared shower yesterday.
A pretty, petite woman with dark hair greeted him. “Feel free to look around. I’m just setting up for the day. We only opened a few minutes ago.”
“No hurry.” Connor wandered among the glass cases, his worry growing again. How was he supposed to choose a ring for a woman he’d known for less than two weeks?
What if he was just like his father—unable to commit to a lifetime with a woman? What if he had inherited some defect that made commitment impossible? It was strange Sean hadn’t married again. In fact, he’d barely dated as far as Connor knew. It was like he’d tried love once, found it too difficult and never tried it again. Like he’d chosen loneliness as the easier alternative.
Connor didn’t want to make that choice, but choosing love—choosing forever—
Laid all his worried bare.
He looked at the glass cases around him. Even this first step seemed almost impossible. What if Sadie hated the ring he chose? Would she turn him down? Maybe—
“Looking for something special?”
“An engagement ring,” Connor said slowly.
“Right over here. Take your time. I’ll pull out anything that catches your eye.”
Stunned by the array of choices, Connor tried to focus on one that Sadie might like.
“Who’s the lucky lady?” the woman asked.
“Sadie Reed,” he said reluctantly. Now it was out there. This woman knew. Which meant he had to go through with it—
Which he wanted to, of course. But—
“Oh, congratulations! What about this one?” She pointed toward
a ring Connor hadn’t noticed yet. It wasn’t nearly as flashy as some of them, but he knew instantly why the woman had chosen it.
“You know Sadie?” he asked as she brought it out and showed it to him. Some of his anxiety drained away as he took it in his hand. Several thin bands wove together around a large diamond. It reminded him of a vine winding around a flower. The woman was right; it seemed made for Sadie.
“Of course. I’m Rose Johnson—Cab Johnson’s wife. He’s the local sheriff.”
Connor choked on the words he’d been about to say, coughed to cover his surprise and got control of his tongue. “I’ve met him.”
Rose smiled. “Sadie loves her garden.”
“That she does.” He lifted the ring and examined it up close. It would suit her perfectly. “Okay—I’ll take it.”
“Great.” She held out her hand and Connor placed the ring in it. As she folded her fingers over it, her eyes took on a distant look and she hesitated. Then frowned.
“Something wrong?” Connor asked. He looked over his shoulder to see if someone had come in behind him. When he looked back, Rose was staring at him, her brows furrowed.
“Um… I… Do you want me to tell you—you know?” She stumbled over her words and Connor’s confusion grew.
“Want you to tell me what?”
Rose bit her lip. “Right, you’re new here. You don’t know that I… I mean—nothing,” she said quickly. “I mean—do you want a case for the ring? Most men do.”
“Sure.” But Connor was sure that wasn’t what Rose meant to say at all. Trouble was, he couldn’t guess what she had been getting at. “Is there something I’m forgetting?”
“Do you plan to propose soon?” Rose busied herself pulling out a black velvet box and nestled the ring inside.
“Yes. Today.”
Rose kept fussing with the ring, not meeting his eye. “Well… that’s wonderful. It’s just… I always suggest… that people make sure they’ve cleared the air first. If they’ve had any issues in the past. You don’t want to carry trouble into an engagement. That’s the advice I always give.” She spoke quickly—obviously flustered, her words tripping over each other. Something was going on here Connor didn’t understand. Rose put the rest of the rings away and motioned him over to the cash register.
