A Lawman's Justice (Sweetwater Ranch Book 8)

by Delores Fossen

  “I agree. I’ll give you a call when the baby comes. In the meantime, Austin said he’ll alert the ranch hands and they’ll close the gate leading to the house after we leave for the hospital.”

  It wasn’t a foolproof plan, since their attackers could get through some of the fences and make their way to the house. It also was possible someone could sneak in posing as a ranch hand or with the delivery trucks that came to the ranch several times a week. The McKinnon ranch could be a beehive of activity.

  Still, staying put was safer than sitting in a hospital waiting room. Besides, he’d locked all the windows and doors and had set the security system. The ranch hands also would be armed, and with so many lawmen living on the grounds, they’d dealt with trouble before.

  Seth hoped that trouble didn’t continue tonight.

  “Stay safe,” Seth added. “And tell Rayanne I love her.”

  Seth was about to put away his phone when a text came in. It was from FBI agent Sawyer Ryland, and like just about every other message and call Seth had gotten about this case, this one wasn’t good news, either.

  “Your father was using a burner cell phone,” Seth relayed to Shelby. “No way to trace it.”

  A burner could mean two things. Either Whitt was intentionally trying to conceal his location or else that particular phone was the only one he had access to. After all, Whitt’s car had been left on the road at the Braddock ranch, so maybe his actual phone was in there. It was yet something else that Seth needed to verify.

  And later, he would.

  For now, though, he pulled Shelby to her feet so he could take her into the kitchen and get her something to eat. At least, that was the plan, but Shelby didn’t budge.

  “I’m so sorry I got you into this mess,” she said.

  Oh, man. They were back to that. “You didn’t get me into anything. The person trying to kill you is responsible for that. And don’t second-guess yourself about the article you wrote, your history with Hance or anything else.”

  Her forehead bunched up. “I hear the V-word in there somewhere. As in victim.” She groaned, stepped away from him. “I really don’t want to be one.”

  Neither did Seth, and he was about to tell her that when she whirled back around to face him.

  “I don’t want to be scared anymore,” Shelby added. “And I don’t want to keep hiding. I want to just go outside and demand a face-to-face with whatever idiot is behind this.”

  Seth had seen hard emotions in her eyes before, but this was a storm of a different kind. A storm that he was going to have to stop before Shelby made up her mind to do something stupid.

  So he leaned in and kissed her.

  A smart man would have come up with something a whole lot better, but Seth suddenly wasn’t feeling very smart. Heck, maybe he just wanted to kiss her. And it seemed to work. Shelby stopped talking about a deadly showdown and slipped right into his arms.

  It obviously wasn’t the first time Seth had kissed her, but like the other times he felt that kick of surprise. Surprise that anyone could taste this good. Or feel this way in his arms.

  Yeah, stupid.

  Because kissing Shelby wasn’t doing a thing to help them out of their dangerous situation.

  His body didn’t seem to care about that. And after the kissing had gone on for too long, the rest of Seth didn’t care, either.

  “You know this is a bad idea, right?” he asked as he shoved up her shirt and moved the kisses to the tops of her breasts.

  “It’s a terrible idea,” she agreed. Though she did add a silky little moan to her agreement that pretty much told him this was going to happen whether it was bad or not.

  Seth gave it one last-ditch effort and steeled himself to move away from her. But she didn’t do that. Shelby slid her hand around the back of his neck, anchoring him in place.

  With his mouth hovering over hers.

  Could he have still stopped?

  You bet.

  Did he want to?

  Not a chance.

  The hovering vanished, and Seth kissed Shelby again, knowing exactly where this kiss would take them.

  * * *

  SHELBY FIGURED THAT even though they’d just gotten started, Seth already had plenty of regrets about doing this. She probably should, too. But she didn’t. It wasn’t just her life that’d been turned upside down during the past two days.

  So had her heart.

  And her heart was telling her there was no place she wanted to be other than in Seth’s arms.

  Shelby just went for it. Thankfully, Seth did his part and cooperated. Or rather he continued to cooperate by kissing her until she was surprised she hadn’t turned into a pile of ashes.

  He was certainly good at this.

  He’d had plenty of practice, no doubt. Because even now with the fire burning inside her, she still took the time to savor that drop-dead hot face.

  And equally hot body.

  She got a nice jolt of more heat when she stripped off his T-shirt and saw his perfectly toned chest that had been fueling a fantasy or two for her. Shelby kissed him there. On his stomach, too, and felt a wicked ripple of pleasure when his muscles tightened and reacted to her mouth.

  “This would be a good time for us to come to our senses,” Seth said. But in the same breath, he stripped off her top and pushed down her bra.

  “Yes, it probably would be a good time. If I wanted to come to my senses, that is. I don’t.”

  Shelby especially didn’t want good sense when Seth kissed her breasts. Yes, he knew what he was doing.

  They pressed against each other. Body to body. So close that she took in his scent. Very nice. And she picked up the rhythm of his breathing.

  Too fast.

  Everything was moving too fast. There was no way to latch on to this kind of fire and hold on to it for long. Maybe, just maybe it would burn so hot that it would ease her need for him. But at the moment that didn’t seem very likely.

  Seth unzipped her jeans, pushed them off her. While fighting with her clothes, they tumbled onto the bed together. The kisses continued. Fast and frenzied. But somehow with all that frenzy Seth’s touch managed to stay gentle.

  Unlike hers.

  Shelby felt all thumbs when she fumbled with his jeans. In part because her hands were trembling. In fact, her whole body was trembling.

  Seth didn’t help with his jeans. Instead, he went after her bra and panties, removing them with what seemed to be little effort while he continued to kiss the breath right out of her.

  It didn’t take long for her to realize she was stark naked and he wasn’t. Her body put up a huge protest about that because more than anything she wanted him naked and making love to her.

  Seth cooperated with that part, too.

  “I want your jeans off now,” she insisted.

  He paused the touching and kissing just long enough to pull off his jeans and take a condom from his nightstand drawer.

  “No,” he said.

  And it took Shelby a moment to realize the reason he’d said that was because she’d stopped trembling and had gone a little stiff. Not only that, her attention wasn’t on his hot, naked body but rather the condom.

  “You’re the only woman I’ve had here,” he said as if reading her mind.

  She believed him, but even if she hadn’t, that wouldn’t have stopped her. Maybe that made her a fool. Another conquest in Seth’s bed. But at the moment she was willing to take the risk that this could be a whole lot more.

  That sent her arms around him.

  The kisses and touches returned with a vengeance. No more gentleness, and Shelby was thankful for that. Right now the only thing she wanted was to finish what Seth and she had started.

  Seth clearly wanted the same thing, because the mome
nt he had on the condom, he pushed himself inside her. The blood rushed to her head. To other parts of her as well, and Shelby couldn’t manage more than a moan of pure pleasure.

  Oh, yes. Seth was very good at this.

  He made love with the same intensity he did everything else in life. He took hold of her hands, gripped them in his. His gaze locked with hers while he slid, hot, into her.

  It was perfect.

  Well, except for the part about this not being able to last.

  Her body was already begging for release, and Seth was more than willing to help her with that. He moved faster, harder, working that same magic as he had with his kisses. Except this was a kiss times a million.

  Since she wasn’t sure if she’d ever get to have this with him again, Shelby tried to hang on. She tried to savor every second. Every thrust. But she felt herself slip toward the edge.

  And Seth quickly took her right over that edge and finished her.

  Shelby could only hang on. Could only catch a glimpse of that incredible face before her vision blurred and the pleasure closed in around her. But she didn’t need to see his face to realize something she didn’t especially want to know.

  Or feel.

  She was falling in love with him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Seth stood at the kitchen window of the guesthouse, sipping his coffee and trying to figure out just how badly he’d messed up.

  He was guessing pretty badly.

  Not the sex. That’d been the opposite of bad. Right up there on the top of the list of things that’d felt darn good. Still, that didn’t mean good wouldn’t make things worse than they already were.

  As an FBI agent he’d had it drilled into him not to get personally involved with an investigation.

  Well, this was as personal as it got.

  He only hoped it wouldn’t come back to bite him.

  Seth topped off his coffee and went to check on Shelby. She was still in his bed. Asleep and naked. Exactly the way he’d left her nearly an hour ago. Face down, hair a beautiful mess against the stark white pillow. The sheets were coiled around her as if she’d been fighting a fierce battle with them.

  Or rather fighting with the nightmares.

  She’d had a couple of them during the night. Bad ones. Seth had held her, but kisses weren’t going to put an end to this. What he needed was a break in the case. If they could just find Annette, Whitt or the shooter, he might get some answers. But all were still missing.

  He had just made his way back to the kitchen to check his emails on the laptop he’d left on the table when he heard the sound of a car engine. His body went on instant alert, but he soon saw the familiar truck pull to a stop next to the main house.

  It was Roy and his mother, both looking as tired as Seth felt.

  Jewell stepped out, her attention going straight to the window. She waved when she spotted Seth, said something to Roy, who headed for the main house. Jewell started walking toward the guesthouse.

  Oh, man.

  Normally, he would have enjoyed seeing his mother, especially now that they didn’t have to visit behind the Plexiglas at the jail, but he wasn’t especially eager for her to learn that Shelby and he had shared a bed. Still, he couldn’t ask Jewell to stand out on the small back porch and talk. Not with a gunman still out there who could target her with a rifle. So Seth quickly shut his bedroom door, turned off the security system and hurried back to the kitchen to let Jewell in.

  His mother managed a smile. A genuine one from the look of it. But he saw the fatigue in her eyes now that they were face-to-face.

  “There’s no baby yet,” she explained. “Rayanne’s labor stopped shortly after midnight, so she’s resting now. But the doctor’s keeping her because if the contractions don’t start up again on their own, he’s going to induce.”

  “Induce?” Seth asked, but he waved off the question. It didn’t seem like something he wanted to know, and he hated that his sister had to go through this.

  “Rayanne will be fine,” Jewell assured him. That sounded genuine, too. Good. One less thing for him to worry about. “Roy and I are here just for a change of clothes and to freshen up, and then we’ll head back.”

  “I’m sure Rayanne will appreciate that,” he replied. “You want some coffee?”

  Jewell nodded and sank down at the kitchen table as he poured her a cup. “Did Shelby and you have a...rough night?” she asked.

  The question seemed innocent enough, but his mother had a sixth sense when it came to her kids.

  “Yeah, it was a little rough,” he settled for saying. “Probably a lot better than yours, though. Your first night out of jail in months, and you ended up sleeping in a hospital room.”

  “It was still a good night.”

  Seth knew something about that, too, since that was the kind of night he’d had. Good mixed with bad. He also knew Jewell wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere other than with Rayanne while she was going through this.

  His mother glanced around the place. Not that it took too much glancing to see most of it. “I’d forgotten how little room there is here. When will you be moving to the new house?”

  “Soon.” He hoped. “I’ve got the keys to the place. Already hired the ranch hands. But I haven’t had time to look for livestock or furniture yet.”

  Their conversation seemed a little too much like small talk considering several thousand-pound elephants were in the room.

  “How are things with Roy?” Seth asked, sitting down next to her at the table.

  No genuine smile this time, though she did attempt one. One no doubt meant to reassure him. But as her son, he had a sixth sense about her, as well. So Seth kept staring at her to let her know he expected a real answer.

  “It’s complicated.” A heavy sigh left her mouth. She slid her hand over his, gave it a comforting pat. “I don’t expect him just to forgive me for abandoning him and the boys.”

  Well, Seth sure expected it. “You didn’t abandon them. You did what you thought was necessary to save Roy’s life.”

  “Maybe.” She drew back her hand and stared down into her coffee.

  “Maybe?” he questioned.

  “It was partly selfish, too. Leaving meant I didn’t have to deal with Whitt. It meant shoving all the hate and anger so deep that I didn’t have to feel it.” She paused. “Of course, I’ll have to deal with it now. All of you will. That’s why I’ve decided to forgive Whitt.”

  Seth was glad he was seated, because that gave him a jolt. “He doesn’t deserve your forgiveness.”

  He would have added more to his argument, but he heard footsteps.

  Shelby’s.

  They were coming from the bedroom, and Seth held his breath, hoping she wouldn’t come into the room bare butted. Thankfully, she was dressed.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said when her gaze landed on Jewell. She turned to walk away.

  “You didn’t interrupt,” Jewell assured her, and she got to her feet. “Stay, please. I need to be getting back to the main house anyway. After a shower and a bite to eat, Roy and I are going back to the hospital so we’ll be there when Rayanne has the baby.”

  “Seth’s right. You don’t have to forgive my father,” Shelby blurted out. “He doesn’t deserve it.” Obviously, she’d heard at least part of the conversation he’d had with his mother. “I’m not sure I could forgive him if I were in your place.”

  With that soft half smile on her face, Jewell went to her and pulled Shelby into her arms for a brief hug. “I’m not doing it for Whitt. I’m doing it for me. It’s the only way I can get on with my life.”

  Heck, that was too much logic considering that Seth was still seeing red over what Whitt had done to her. And he always would. One way or the other, Whitt would pay.
Not just for the rape, but for what he’d done to Shelby and the rest of her family.

  He stood and watched Jewell make her way back to the main house. Roy was waiting for her on the porch and even opened the door for her.

  “Roy and Jewell are getting back together?” Shelby asked, watching, as well.

  Seth had to shrug. “Hard to say. I know they got in touch with each other after Rosalie’s daughter was kidnapped over a year ago. They were trying to help her find the baby, and I think maybe that brought them a little closer.”

  It’d broken the ice between them anyway, and thankfully, it’d had a happy ending with Rosalie’s daughter being found. Now both his sisters were making homes at the ranch. Colt, Tucker and Cooper, too.

  Leaving Roy and Jewell alone in that big ranch house.

  If any fire was left between them, being under the same roof would certainly fuel it.

  As Seth had learned with Shelby.

  “Is everything okay?” she added.

  It took him a moment to realize she was no longer looking at Jewell and Roy but at him.

  “Fine.” And because he thought they both could use it, he brushed a kiss on her cheek. Then her mouth. “You?”

  “Better now.” Shelby’s smile didn’t last long. “Anything new about the investigation?”

  That was his cue to get down to business. “Nothing, but I need to check in with Colt anyway.”

  He reached for his phone, but reaching was as far as Seth got before he heard a sound he didn’t want to hear.

  His mother screamed.

  * * *

  JEWELL’S SCREAM SLICED through Shelby like a knife.

  Sweet heaven.

  What’d happened now?

  “Stay behind me,” Seth said, throwing open the door. “What’s wrong?” he shouted.

  No answer. That caused the skin on the back of her neck, to crawl and Shelby’s thoughts jerked back to another time, another place. Another attack.

  “Mom?” Seth tried again.

  When he didn’t get an immediate answer, he went outside, but then glanced back at her. Shelby saw the debate going on in his head. If he left her alone that could be dangerous, exactly what their attacker would want him to do. But his mother was clearly in trouble.