The Trailblazer

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “Then why the hell is Eb Whitlock telling the environmental engineer they’re still down there?”

  Freddy looked startled. “He did?”

  “Yesterday. And unless I miss my guess, this is a deliberate tactic on his part to keep my partners and me from buying the ranch.”

  “That’s stooping pretty low, Ry. I can believe he’d carry on about the curse to discourage you, but lie about petroleum drums? I doubt it.”

  Her defense of Whitlock irritated him. Whitlock wasn’t really a rival, but Ry wished Freddy would be a little less generous with her opinion of the guy. “Then I’d appreciate it if you’d set him straight. Unless you want to help him in his obstructionist cause.” He paused, then said, “Maybe I should ask that first, and not make any faulty assumptions. How do you stand on my purchase of the True Love?”

  Hurt shone from her hazel eyes. “Do you really have to ask?”

  He was instantly contrite and reached for her. “I’m sorry. Really sorry,” he said, pouring his heart into his gaze. “If you still wanted to stop me, last night wouldn’t have happened.”

  “No, it wouldn’t.”

  So now she trusted him, with herself and her ranch, which were almost the same thing. He felt a sharp stab of guilt that she still didn’t know his ultimate plans. He’d look for a good time to tell her and make her see that selling the ranch was the most sensible course of action for everyone concerned. Somehow, he’d work through her initial resistance to the idea. He had to. Too much was at stake now.

  “We’ll go to the house and call Eb,” she said. “I’m sure this is a big misunderstanding.”

  Ry didn’t think so, but he kept his opinion to himself this time. He’d love to be proven wrong.

  13

  WHEN FREDDY ENTERED her office and walked around behind her desk, Ry remained leaning in the doorway, his hat shoved to the back of his head. They hadn’t talked much on the way back to the ranch house, as if each knew an argument could easily break out over the subject of Eb’s character.

  She picked up the receiver and glanced at him. “I know what you think, but Eb would not say something like this unless he believed it was true.”

  Ry’s expression gave nothing away, but he didn’t agree with her, either.

  Freddy punched in the Whitlocks’ number. She knew it by heart. She’d spent hours over there as child, back when Eb’s wife, Loraine, was still alive. Eb and Loraine had been childless, and so they’d become honorary aunt and uncle to the Singleton girls, especially after Freddy and Leigh’s mother died. Ry didn’t know all that history, and besides, he was from New York. New Yorkers were famous for their suspicious natures.

  Eb’s housekeeper, Doreen, answered the phone. “Sure, I’ll get him, honey,” she said. “He’s just out back working on the horseshoe pit he wanted to put in before the next party.”

  Freddy smiled. Eb loved to entertain, and he usually invited at least a hundred people. His barbecued beef was legendary in the valley.

  In a few moments, his voice boomed into her ear. “Freddy! Gonzales called me about that alfalfa. Your horse okay? I meant to phone you, but I got distracted. Which one was it?”

  “Tumbleweed, our little dun mare, and she’ll be okay. Luckily, we got to her in time.”

  “I found mold in my alfalfa, too, but I hadn’t given any to my horses, thank God,” Eb said. “Gonzales is giving us credit on a new load, of course. I made sure he’d do that for all of us.”

  “Thanks, Eb. Listen, I understand you talked to the environmental engineer who was out here yesterday.”

  “Just happened to run into him while I was out riding fence. Nice fella. Hated to tell him about those drums, but he was asking questions, and I’m a lousy liar.”

  “Well, I think your memory’s playing tricks on you, Eb.” Freddy put a smile in her voice. “Dad had those hauled out when we stopped using them. Nothing’s buried at the True Love.”

  “Freddy, you were only a little thing then. I believe I remember better than you do. He decided not to go the expense. We didn’t have so many regulations back then, of course.”

  “I was ten years old, Eb, and I remember the trucks coming in to haul them away.”

  A cajoling note came into Eb’s voice. “I would do anything for you. You know that. But I have to tell the truth. Those drums are still there.”

  “Eb, they’re not, either!”

  “Well, I hope you have some paperwork to prove it, sweetheart, or somebody will have a little digging to do.”

  Freddy sighed. “I’ll look through the files. Talk to you later, Eb.”

  “Good luck. By the way, you and Leigh are coming to the party next week, aren’t you?”

  “We’ll be there,” she said. “Goodbye now.” She replaced the receiver and stared at the phone. “I know Dad had the drums taken out.”

  “I’m sure he did, too,” Ry said from the doorway. “Old Whitlock’s trying to screw up the deal.”

  She glared at him. “Stop assuming that, Ry! We’re talking about something that happened twenty-two years ago. He could have forgotten, and in all honesty thinks he’s telling the truth.”

  Ry folded his arms. “Pretty convenient that he happened to run into the engineer yesterday, wouldn’t you say?”

  “He was checking his fence for breaks. Is that a crime?”

  “I wouldn’t think a fellow of Whitlock’s stature would be inspecting his own fence. Doesn’t he have hired hands to do that?”

  Freddy pushed away from the desk and rounded it to open a file cabinet drawer. “You have to understand old cowboys. They can’t sit around, and sometimes the most satisfying work is the most mundane. I can easily imagine Eb worrying about his own fence. Now, if I can just find some record of those drums being hauled away, we’ll take it into town and clear up this business once and for all.”

  “You think there might be a receipt in there?”

  She shoved the stuffed files apart. “I think there might be.”

  “Looks like you could use a second file cabinet.”

  “You’re right. But I’d have to find another battered one like this, so they’d match. A brand-new one would spoil the ambience.”

  He laughed and walked over to brace one arm against the top of the cabinet. “At least we have a great excuse to go into town today,” he said in a low voice.

  Heat washed over her, but she kept her head down as she closed one drawer and opened another. “Do you think so?”

  “When I first came down to the corrals and saw you, I completely forgot about Ballesteros. And you know how important this deal is to me. But one look at you, and all I could remember was last night.”

  Freddy realized her hands had stilled and she’d been staring sightlessly at the mashed files for several seconds.

  “I’ve never spent a night like that in my life, Freddy.”

  She risked looking into his eyes. What she saw there made her grip the edges of the file cabinet to keep from throwing herself into his arms. She swallowed. “You’d better go find something to do for a few minutes or I’ll never finish this search.”

  The corner of his mouth tilted up.

  “I mean it, Ry. And don’t forget, this office is in the middle of all the activity around here. People come and go constantly. We may not be able to keep our relationship a secret, but I’d rather not flaunt it.”

  He smiled softly. “You’re right. Another five seconds and I’m liable to throw you down on the floor and rip your clothes off.”

  She believed every word of it. “Take a hike, cowboy.”

  He tipped his hat. “I’ll be on the front porch,” he drawled.

  A half hour later, Freddy gave up. If the receipt was in the bulging file cabinet, she wouldn’t be able to find it without going through every piece of paper in every aging folder. That could take hours, even if she enlisted some help. She went looking for Ry and found him sitting with Dexter and Chloe, Dexter’s dog.

  “It’s like the old ne
edle in a haystack,” she said, dropping into a chair next to Ry. “I tried all the logical places, but no luck.”

  “Dexter remembers the drums were hauled away,” Ry said.

  Freddy leaned around Ry. “You do? The day those big trucks came and took the drums, the ones Dad used for gas?”

  Dexter nodded. “Yep.”

  “I sure wish Eb Whitlock remembered it.”

  Dexter made a face.

  “Oh, Dex!” Despite her frustration, Freddy laughed. “You just don’t like him because he kissed Belinda.” She glanced at Ry. “Let’s go see Mr. Ballesteros. On the way, I’ll try to remember the name of the trucking company. They might have records. Do you remember the name, Dexter?”

  “Nope. Used to.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Freddy reached across Ry’s ankles to pat the dog. “See you later, Chloe.”

  “Chloe,” Dexter said, nodding. “That’s it. That’s her name.

  “What about Duane?” Ry asked. “Has he been here long enough to remember the trucking company?”

  “No, but Belinda has.” Freddy jumped up and headed for the kitchen.

  “I’ll come with you,” Ry said.

  But to Freddy’s disappointment, Belinda had been too busy with cooking chores back then to take note of the removal of the drums.

  “Let’s drive in and see Ballesteros,” Ry suggested as they left the kitchen. “Maybe he’d take a notarized statement from you.”

  Hope filtered through her gloom. “You think so?”

  “It’s worth a shot.”

  “Okay.” She took her leather purse from a bottom drawer of the desk. “Let’s go.”

  Ry looked surprised. “That’s it? You don’t have to fix your face, or anything?”

  She paused in confusion. “Why, do I have a smudge of dirt on my nose?”

  “No, you’re perfect, but I’ve never known a woman who’d walk right out the door without taking time to primp a little.”

  Freddy hooked her purse over her arm and grinned at him. “That’s because you’re used to city girls. Welcome to the country, greenhorn.”

  * * *

  THEY TOOK Freddy’s truck into town. “Let’s hit the drugstore first,” Ry said. “I don’t want to forget the most important part of this trip.”

  “As if you would.”

  He loved the warm color on her cheeks and wondered if he could intensify it. “Actually, there’s no chance I’ll forget. There is a chance I’ll try to seduce you somewhere along the way, and I want to be prepared.” As he’d hoped, she blushed even pinker.

  “Ry, for heaven’s sake. It’s broad daylight and we’re heading into the heart of the city.”

  “Which presents a challenge, I’ll admit, but I’m getting used to that with you.”

  She wheeled the truck into the parking lot of a strip shopping center that contained a chain drugstore. “Okay, Mr. One-Track Mind. If you’ll make the purchase, I’ll use that pay phone to call Ballesteros and tell him we’re on our way. It’s getting close to lunchtime and we don’t want to sit and cool our heels waiting for him.”

  “Good point.”

  Moments later, he returned to the truck with a small plastic bag. “All set with Ballesteros?”

  She leaned one arm against the steering wheel and gave him an assessing glance. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you planned this, but I guess it would have been virtually impossible, even for a man of your imagination.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

  “Ballesteros has left for lunch, and after lunch, he has an appointment that will keep him occupied until two.”

  Awareness flickered in his blue eyes. “Really?”

  “We could drive home and come back, but that would take almost an hour by itself.”

  “I see.” Ry turned casually and peered down the road. “I could take you to lunch.”

  “That’s a possibility.”

  He pointed to a hotel a few blocks down the road. “Ever been there for lunch?”

  “They don’t have a restaurant.”

  He turned back to her, his gaze intense. “Exactly.”

  Tension coiled within her. “Ry, I’ve never checked into a hotel for two hours in the middle of the day. I’d feel like—”

  “Someone’s lover?” He didn’t touch her, but his glance caressed her with bold intimacy. “You are.”

  Her fingers trembled as she turned the key in the ignition. “I suppose you’re used to this sort of interlude, a big-city boy like you.” She checked the rearview mirror and backed out of the parking space.

  “Right. Two-hour lunches with the well-stacked secretary are commonplace with me.”

  She hit the brake. “They are?”

  He chuckled. “No, Freddy.”

  She pulled into traffic with the deliberate care of someone who’d had one too many drinks, which was the way she felt—high. “But I’ll bet you’ve done this before.”

  “I think I can handle the registration and checkout without blushing, if that’s what you mean,” he said.

  “Won’t they ask you about luggage, and when you’ll be checking out, and stuff like that?”

  “I’ll tell them the luggage is in the truck and we’ll be checking out in the morning. Then when we leave, I’ll explain that we had a sudden change of plans.”

  “But they’ll know. The maids will see the bed’s been...”

  “Well-used?” he supplied.

  She nodded as her heart pounded furiously.

  “Does that mean you’d rather find a coffee shop and have lunch?”

  She took a deep breath. “No.” She flipped on her turn signal and swept into the hotel’s drive-through entrance.

  “Want to come in with me while I get us the room?” he asked.

  “No.”

  He chuckled again. “Be right back.”

  Freddy sat in the truck trying to figure out what she’d say if anyone came by who recognized her sitting there in plain sight with the True Love Guest Ranch brand on the truck’s door panels. She ran a guest ranch. Why would she be parked at a hotel in town? She thought for a minute. She was...comparing room rates. That was it. She and a friend were checking out the going rates in Tucson, to decide if their own pricing structure was reasonable.

  But no one came by, and within minutes Ry was back, a key in one hand. “Drive around behind the place,” he said, climbing in. “I thought you’d rather not park the truck where anyone on the road could recognize it.”

  Freddy let out a breath. “Thank you.”

  “I want to give you pleasure, not embarrassment.”

  Pleasure. The word echoed in her mind as they parked the truck in the nearly deserted lot behind the hotel. The rooms all opened to the outside, and Ry guided her toward one on the ground floor, put the key in the lock and opened the door. She stepped into the cool interior with a shiver of anticipation.

  Behind her, the lock clicked into place and the curtains swished closed, throwing the room into twilight. The air conditioner hummed in a unit beneath the window. In front of her was a king-size bed, quilted spread neatly tucked under the pillows. Now that they were here, alone and undetected, the thrill of being sinful took hold.

  “Stay there,” she said to Ry, her command coming out in a sultry murmur, “while I redecorate.”

  “Be my guest.”

  She laid her hat on the built-in that held the television set as she walked past it to the far side of the bed. In one movement, she swept back the spread and the top sheet, destroying the atmosphere of neatness. Then she plumped the pillows against the headboard.

  “Finished?” Ry stood watching her with his thumbs hooked through his belt loops.

  “Just getting started.” She reached down and pulled off her boots. “Do you come into town often, cowboy?” she asked as she began undoing the snaps on her shirt.

  “Not often enough, obviously.”

  “Gets lonely out on the trail, I imagine.” She held his
gaze while she popped the snaps at her wrists and took the shirt off with sensuous rolls of her shoulders.

  “You can’t imagine how lonely.” Passion blazed in his eyes.

  She unbuckled her belt and pulled it slowly through the loops. “Days without the soft comfort of a woman’s body can take its toll on a man.”

  “It can make him crazy.”

  “And are you going crazy?” The jeans slithered over her hips and she kicked them away.

  His reply was husky. “Insane.”

  “Good.” She unhooked her bra. “That’s how I like my men.”

  “So I figured.”

  She dropped the bra to the floor and cupped her breasts. “How long has it been since you touched a woman?”

  “Too long.”

  “Well, I hope you have some staying power.” She smoothed her hands down her rib cage, hooked her thumbs in the elastic of her panties and tugged them down her body in one continuous motion. “I’d hate for everything to be over prematurely.” She held her panties dangling by two fingers. “If you know what I mean.” Then she tossed them across the room toward him.

  He caught them without taking his gaze from hers. “I don’t think you’ll have any complaints.”

  “Now, that sounds promising.” She stretched out on the bed and propped her cheek on her fist. “Would you care to make good on that boast, cowboy?”

  He took off his hat and dropped her panties into the crown before setting the hat next to hers on the built-in. “Reckon I would.”

  He leaned against the built-in to pull off his boots. Then he rounded the end of the bed, working on his shirt buttons as he walked. She lay back against the pillows as he came to stand beside her and placed the box of condoms at the precise center of the bedside table. “Your underwear was damp,” he said.

  Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. “Is that so? I wonder what could have caused that?”

  He unbuckled his belt and gave her a tight smile. “I think we’re about to find out, Liebchen.”

  “A cowboy who can speak German. Oh, my.” Freddy ran her tongue over her dry lips as he eased the zipper past the bulge of his arousal. Her heart was chugging like a freight train going up a rise, and the ache within her grew with each bit of magnificent man Ry revealed. When his manhood sprung free, so ready for her, she sucked in her breath.