Stricken by this thought, she whispered, “Oh, God, you’re right. Marti or me might not be the only target here. Ripp, what am I going to do?”
This time Ripp didn’t respond as a lawman to a citizen in need. Instead, he drew Lucita into the circle of his arms until her cheek was pressed against his chest and his hand was stroking down the long length of her hair.
“It’s not what you’re going to do, Lucita. It’s what I’m going to do. And I promise I’m not going to let you down.”
Chapter Four
Later that evening the living room of the Sanchez house was full of voices, the loudest belonging to Lucita’s brother, Matt, who also happened to be the head ramrod of the Sandbur now that Geraldine Saddler was in semiretirement.
Pacing from one end of the room to the other, he punctuated each word by slashing his arm through the air. “The best thing Luci can do now is quit that damn job at St. Francis. There’s no sense in her getting out on the highway and making herself a target for this predator.”
Grateful that her aunt Geraldine had taken Marti out for the evening and away from the discussion of this worrisome turn of events, Lucita stared in dismay at her brother.
Juliet, Matt’s wife, spoke up before Lucita had a chance to utter any sort of protest. “Matt, can you hear yourself? Lucita has a life! She loves teaching just like you love what you do. Would you want someone demanding that you quit?”
Matt’s brows arched. “That’s a ridiculous comparison! Can’t you understand that I don’t want my sister killed?”
Juliet sighed and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. Across from Lucita, her father, Mingo, leaned earnestly forward in his armchair.
He said, “Juliet is right, Matt. Luci can’t hide herself away. What sort of life would that be for her?”
In another part of the room, sitting alone on a cowhide-covered love seat, Lex Saddler, Lucita’s cousin and Matt’s right-hand man, suddenly spoke up. “I agree with Matt. At the very least, I think Lucita needs to take a leave of absence from her job. We can keep an eye on her here at the ranch.”
No longer able to keep quiet, Lucita rose to her feet and faced both men. “Leave of absence! Lex, I only signed my contract with St. Francis three months ago! I can’t let the school down right off the bat!”
“You’d be more than letting them down if you let someone kill you!” Matt stormed at her.
While Juliet tried to calm her husband down, Lex said, “I’m sure if you make the school aware of the problem the administration will understand.”
Behind Lucita, Ripp had been standing quietly near the fireplace hearth, but now he felt compelled to speak what was on his mind. “I don’t think any of you have stopped to consider whether this danger might spill over onto Lucita’s students. What sort of security system does St. Francis have, Lucita? Once you’re at work, could an intruder get in?”
Not surprised that he would see a problem from all angles, Lucita turned to look at him. All this evening she’d felt his presence in the room and she’d felt calmed and supported by it. Strange that she should find more comfort in a man she hardly knew than in the protective relatives surrounding her.
“St. Francis has very tight security. It’s located on the side of town that, unfortunately, has experienced gang violence, so once school starts the building is locked to outsiders, unless they can show valid identification and a pertinent reason for entering the school.”
Ripp nodded in approval while Lex looked thoughtful. “Maybe Luci just touched on something. Could this note be from someone in one of these gangs? Someone that knows Luci is from a wealthy family?”
Ripp glanced at the other man. “It’s sounds plausible, except for one thing—the note is signed ‘Derek.’ A gang member from Victoria wouldn’t be privy to the name of Lucita’s ex-husband.”
Juliet wrapped her arm through her husband’s as though the whole discussion was making her uneasy. “Perhaps Luci has a student named Derek. One that she’s had trouble with. Have you, Luci?”
Lucita considered Juliet’s question for several moments, then slowly shook her head. “I do have a Derek in an algebra I class, but he’s a sweet child, a bookworm who’s only interested in keeping his grades high enough to enter medical school someday. He wouldn’t harm a rattlesnake even if it was about to bite him.”
Rising from his armchair, Mingo addressed the whole gathering. “The way I see it, before we start trying to figure out who wrote the note, we need to figure out what we’re going to do about it.”
Lucita walked over to where her father stood. His stout, stocky figure was quite a contrast to what it had been only two years before when he’d been partially paralyzed and unable to speak. Thanks to God and a skillful neurosurgeon he was back to his robust self.
Yet now that Lucita had been threatened, she couldn’t help but think about how her father’s injury had been caused by a fight; an attack from two men that he’d never seen before. The offenders had never been caught, nor had the case been solved. Her father was a walking image of what happened when an enemy got too close. The whole notion dropped icy rocks to the pit of her stomach.
“What do you mean, Daddy?” she asked.
His big hand gently patted her cheek before he turned his attention to Ripp. “The demands. What are we supposed to do about depositing the million dollars? Put it there and see who draws it out? Wait?”
There was no doubt that the Sanchez family could easily produce a million dollars on their own without even having to draw in the Saddler family, Ripp realized. The Sandbur was worth millions many times over and to keep his daughter safe, Mingo would give up every penny he had. But Ripp understood that handing money over to an extortionist would never work.
“If we were one hundred percent certain that we could trace the money back to the perpetrator, I’d agree to setting him or her up and I’m sure Sheriff Travers would, too. But electronic withdrawals can sometime prove risky to follow. By the time we traced the electronic trail, the perpetrator could be long gone—with the million dollars.”
“To hell with the million,” Matt spoke up. “Money isn’t the issue here. We—”
“Need to give in to this lunatic’s demands?” Lex interrupted tersely. “You’re crazy, Matt, if you think dropping a million will keep this idiot away from Luci. He’ll only want more. If you ask me, that’s exactly what’s happened here. Derek has spent all the money he stole from Luci and now he wants more.”
Matt glared at his cousin. “I didn’t ask you, Lex, so butt out of this! Damn it, Luci is my sister and—”
Lex jumped to his feet and Lucita stared in horror as the words between the two men began to escalate into an all-out argument.
“Matt, if you think for one minute that you could love Luci more than me, then you’re crazy. She’s like my sister and don’t you be telling me—”
“Shut up! Shut up, the both of you!” Lucita yelled at the two men. Before anyone could stop her, she ran from the room and kept running until she was out the back door and on the beaten path to the guesthouse.
Back in the living room, Mingo looked at Ripp. “Maybe you’d better go smooth her feathers,” he suggested. “I don’t think she’s too happy with her family right now.”
Ripp wasn’t at all sure that he could lend Lucita much comfort, but everything in him wanted to try. From the moment the two of them had arrived on the Sandbur and her family had gathered around her in a smothering circle, he could sense she was close to collapsing.
“Yeah, Ripp,” Matt spoke up in a remorseful voice. “Tell her we’re sorry. I think we’ve all been too busy thinking about how we personally feel about the matter instead of considering Lucita’s feelings.”
Lex nodded with equal regret. “Matt’s right. We ought to be helping her instead of making her feel more miserable.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Ripp told them, then hurried out of the room.
By the time he caught up to Lucita she was walking down a
narrow stone walkway that led to the back of the guesthouse.
When he called her name, she turned and, with a faint frown on her face, waited for him to reach the spot where she stood next to a huge bougainvillea bush covered with scarlet-colored blooms.
Although the sun had long ago dipped behind the western horizon, there was still enough light left for him to clearly see her face. Tears had reddened her eyes and streaked her cheeks, but for the moment her crying had stopped and she studied him with faint annoyance.
“Why did you follow me? I want to be by myself.”
Her voice was so strained it was little more than a painful rasp. Hearing it made Ripp want to step forward and pull her into his arms, press her cheek against his heart and simply hold her. The urge still felt odd to him. Especially since it had been years since he’d felt anything toward a woman.
“I’m sorry. Lex and Matt asked me to speak to you. They wanted me to apologize for their behavior.”
“They couldn’t speak for themselves?” she asked with sarcasm. “They sure weren’t having any problems working their mouths a few moments ago.”
A faint smile touched his mouth. “The guys only got steamed up because they care about you. You should be happy that you’re loved that much.”
The frown on her brow deepened as his words tumbled through her mind and then without warning fresh tears brimmed onto her cheeks.
“Oh, Ripp—I realize they care. But I can’t take this! I don’t know what’s happening—what will happen! I want answers, not arguing about the best route to get them!” She paused long enough to swallow and wipe at the tears on her cheeks. “I think—I’ve made a terrible mistake by coming home to the Sandbur. Now I’ve put everyone in danger.”
“You’re talking foolish now. This is the time that you need your family around you. If this had to happen, at least it happened here, where you won’t be alone.”
The quiet firmness of his words broke through her chaotic emotions and as she looked at him as her shoulders slumped in surrender. “You’re right. But I just can’t take any more of their bickering this evening.” With a weary sigh, she looked toward the guesthouse then back to him. “Would you care to come in for a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea?”
The invitation surprised Ripp. Though he told himself it was nothing personal, he couldn’t help but take it that way. “I wouldn’t want to put you out,” he said.
She gave him a wan smile. “After all I’ve put you through this evening, a little refreshment is nothing.”
“All right,” he told her. “I could sure use a cup of coffee.”
“Good. Just follow me.”
She opened a back door to the house and they entered a mudroom equipped with a double sink and industrial-sized washer and dryer. Cowboy boots and tennis shoes, along with other odds and ends, lined one wall, while a pile of dirty laundry was waiting to be loaded into the washer.
Beyond the mudroom was the kitchen and once Lucita had turned on an overhead fluorescent light, she gestured for Ripp to have a seat at a long wooden farm table covered with a navy-and-white checked cloth. The small bouquet of fresh blue cornflowers and pink sweet peas sitting in the middle instantly reminded Ripp of how different this kitchen was from his own. And the difference was more than just the modern appliances and the intricately carved oak cabinets. The room had a woman’s touch, a softness that his had never seen.
Definitely feeling out of place, he took a seat at the end of the table, then pulled off his Stetson and placed it, crown down, on the floor next to his chair. While he raked fingers through his flattened hair, he watched Lucita fill a coffee carafe with water.
She’d not taken the time to change her clothes since they’d arrived at the Sandbur and Ripp was secretly glad. If he looked at her for days in that sexy pink skirt, it still wouldn’t be long enough. Like a clinging hand, the fabric hugged the shape of her hips and gentle slope of her thighs. She was classy and gorgeous in an understated way. The sort of woman that could have most any man she wanted. Yet she was alone….
“Do you like living here in the guesthouse?” he asked, mainly as a way to quiet his roaming thoughts.
“I do. When I finally decided to come home, Matt wanted me to move into the big house with the rest of the family. But with his brood growing and Cordero and Anne-Marie living there periodically with their baby son, I didn’t want to make the house more crowded. Besides,” she added as she glanced over her shoulder at him. “I like my privacy. Marti and I are used to being alone.”
Ripp hadn’t yet met her son, but he could tell from the tone of her voice and the softening of her features when she spoke of him that she loved the boy very much. Which was hardly a surprise. He didn’t have to ask; one look into Lucita’s gentle eyes had told him she was a person who loved others, rather than herself. She was the sort of woman who would put the safety and happiness of her child and her family before her very life, a quality that made Ripp even more concerned about her welfare.
“I can’t imagine what all of this has done to your son—losing his father in such a way.”
With the basket of ground coffee shoved in place, Lucita switched on the machine and walked over to where Ripp sat.
Having a man, especially one that looked like Ripp McCleod, in the kitchen was jarring to her senses. True, she was used to being around tough, brawny cowboys here on the ranch, but there was something more to this lawman that made her skin prickle and her heart beat far too fast.
Sighing, she pulled out the chair kitty-corner from him and sank gratefully onto the seat. “Time has helped soften the blow, but Marti’s not the same boy. Oh, he still smiles and laughs and does the normal things that boys his age like to do, but underneath I can tell that he’s confused and hurting.” Her eyes shadowed with unknown fears, she looked across the corner of the table and met Ripp’s blue eyes. “If something comes of this extortion note, I’m scared to think of how it might affect him.”
He shook his head and Lucita’s gaze was drawn to the thick hank of hair falling over the right side of his forehead and tumbling in unruly waves around his ears. The color was a rich blend of chocolate and copper and the strands glistened like the coat of Matt’s prize stallion. On the whole he was damned attractive. More than a man should have the right to be. And, though it was a stupid time for her mind to be straying, she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever been married or had a special woman in his life.
His voice broke into her unbridled thoughts. “Don’t put the cart before the horse, Lucita. This could be just someone wanting to scare you—to make your life miserable.”
Her lips compressed to a tight line. “They’re doing a darn good job of it.” Glancing over her shoulder, she could see the carafe was full of coffee. Quickly excusing herself, she went over to the cabinet and began to fill two yellow mugs with the hot brew.
“Cream or sugar?” she asked.
“No. Just plain will be fine.”
As she carried the drinks to the table, Ripp’s cell phone emitted a muffled ring from his shirt pocket.
After quickly flipping it open, he announced, “It’s Sheriff Travers, I’d better answer it.”
Lucita sank back into her seat and waited awkwardly for him to finish the brief conversation.
“Right. I think I should. I’ll tell her that,” he finally concluded.
Sensing the conversation pertained to her, Lucita hardly waited for him to end the call before she urgently asked, “What? Does the sheriff have new information regarding the note?”
Ripp frowned. “He’s verified that there is such an account number at the bank, but apparently the name and address given are phony.”
Lucita visibly wilted. “How could that be, Ripp? Wouldn’t the person that opened the account have to show identification?”
“Sure. But phony documents are easily obtained for the right price, from the right people.”
Feeling as though someone had whacked the oxygen from her lungs, she wi
ped a weary hand across her forehead. “So what does this tell us, if anything?”
“Well, we know that the account is listed as belonging to a female.”
Lucita stared wide-eyed at him, wanting to feel relief, but afraid to. “Female! Then it wasn’t Derek?”
Ripp’s expression was patiently indulgent. “We can’t assume that the woman worked alone. Could be Derek is connected to her.”
After a moment’s consideration, she nodded glumly. “It’s obvious that I don’t have investigating skills. Even if I do teach math, I can’t think of those types of angles.”
“Your line of work isn’t trying to think ahead of a criminal.” His expression thoughtful, he lifted the mug to his lips and took a careful sip. “Sheriff Travers sent another deputy over to the bank to interview the employee that supposedly opened the account. According to her, the person was a female with blond hair, but she couldn’t be sure. With all the faces that pass through the bank each week, the employee’s memory was fuzzy, to say the least.”
Lucita wanted to weep, but she wouldn’t allow herself the luxury. She’d already broken down once in front of this man. She didn’t want him to get the idea that her backbone crumbled every time she was faced with a personal trauma.
“I don’t want to be negative about this, Ripp, but none of this information sounds as though it will help.”
“It’s a start. Most crimes aren’t solved instantly. They’re done bit by bit with pieces of information that alone look worthless, but together form a picture.”
Just having him talk, hearing the quiet confidence in his voice helped soothe her. Leaning back in her chair, she regarded him with an interest she couldn’t hide.
“You like what you do, don’t you?”
With a wry grin, he replied, “I can’t imagine doing anything else. My father was Owen McCleod. Maybe you remember him—he was the sheriff of Goliad County for over fifteen years.”
“Owen McCleod,” she repeated thoughtfully. “Yes, I believe I do remember him. Wasn’t he the sheriff who had that shoot-out on Main Street with a pair of bank robbers?”
Her Texas Lawman Page 6
