by Ruth Langan
“Doctored books.” Chance was watching her closely.
“Yes.” She nodded. “Doctored books. An elaborate set of phony receipts. I confronted Ray, expecting him to admit what he’d done and to apologize.” She shook her head. “The funny thing is, I still wasn’t concerned about the money. I made a good living. So did he. I figured I’d give him time to reimburse me, because I still considered him family. After all, he and my sister, Eve, had been married for more than five years. I guess that’s why I didn’t see any of this coming.”
Chance waited patiently, though his mind had already leaped ahead. It was an old story. One his father had warned him about repeatedly. The quickest way to lose everything was to take in a greedy partner.
She glanced up, then away. “Instead of an apology, Ray told me he had found a buyer for the restaurant. He had put it up for sale without even consulting me. When we’d started the operation, we had been equal partners, even though his money came from Eve. Now he was telling me he was selling what wasn’t his to sell. And when I mentioned the unpaid debts and the inflated income on the books, things turned ugly. He warned me that unless I kept quiet, I’d suffer the same fate as my sister.”
Chance saw the change in her. The sudden agitation. She turned toward the window, then began to pace. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. His words were so chilling, I couldn’t accept them at first. But they kept playing over and over in my mind.” She pressed her hands to her ears, as though hoping to shut out the words, the thoughts. “Had he had a hand in Eve’s death? It had never occurred to me to think such a horrible thing. But now I was beginning to doubt everything. Still, I wasn’t really convinced. I figured those things just happened in novels. They don’t happen in real life. Not to me.”
She hugged her arms about herself, suddenly cold. “How could I have been so blind?”
“What happened to change your mind, Maggie?”
“That same night, with Ray’s threat still ringing in my mind, I arrived home to find my apartment door unlocked. I pushed it open just far enough to see inside.” She shook her head, trying to blot out the image. “At first I thought it was just a random act of violence. There was broken glass, upended furniture. But then, I caught sight of an armed man waiting for me. He was trying to make it look as though the apartment had been ransacked and robbed, but he was really there to kill me. When he caught sight of me in the doorway, he raised the gun and aimed it directly at me. I ran, with nothing but the clothes on my back, and whatever money was in my wallet.”
“Why didn’t you run to the police?”
She shook her head. “You read that fax. Ray is on the police force. I couldn’t go to the police about one of their own.”
“Do you really believe they wouldn’t protect you from him?”
“I couldn’t take that chance. I was suddenly terrified of him. I thought I knew him. But I didn’t know him at all. If he had killed Eve, and if he had hired a gunman to kill me, he would stop at nothing to silence me. I needed to run, until I was far enough away that he couldn’t find me. I was so afraid. Afraid to take a cab. Afraid my movements could be traced. So I ran through back streets in the dark. All the way to the bus station. I was afraid to use my credit cards for the same reason. So I bought a one-way ticket on the first bus leaving Chicago. That’s how I ended up in Wyoming. I thought…” she shivered. “I don’t know what I thought. I was scared. No,” she corrected. “I was terrified, and looking for a place to hide until I could sort things out. The only trouble is, I still can’t see any solution to the problem. Even though everyone believes that I’m a thief, that’s better than returning to Chicago and having to face the man who could destroy me.”
He walked toward her, attempting to soothe. “Your instincts were right, Maggie. You did everything you could to buy some time. As for the location, it couldn’t be better. You came to the right place.”
She shook her head and backed away. “No. Don’t you see? I wasn’t thinking about anyone but myself. But now that I…” she took a deep breath “…now that I care about you and your brothers, I can’t stay here.”
“Why not?”
“What if I’m found here? I could be bringing my troubles to your doorstep.”
“Your troubles are already here, Maggie. I’m already involved. What affects you affects me as well.”
Shaking her head, she backed up until she bumped into the wall.
Chance caught her by the shoulders and stared down into her troubled eyes. “You don’t really think my brothers and I are going to let you deal with this alone?”
“But don’t you see?” Her voice rose on a note of hysteria. “All Ray has to do is notify the authorities here that I’m wanted by the police in Chicago, and they’ll arrest me. And your name will be smeared.”
“Do you think that would bother me?”
“All right. If you’re not worried about your reputation, think about this. Ray has a license to carry a gun. He can come here and arrest me himself. And I’ll have to go with him.”
Chance’s eyes grew hot and fierce. “Let him come.”
“Chance, if you tried to stop him, he’d have the right to shoot you. To shoot us both. He can kill us, because he’s already killed once.” Her eyes widened. Her voice took on a note of panic. “He killed Eve. He killed my sister. Oh God, Chance, how could this be possible?”
He could read in her eyes the shock and horror that had suddenly dawned. Until this moment she’d kept it all locked inside. Now, having spoken the words aloud, it hit her with all the force of a physical blow.
“Go ahead, Maggie. Let it all out.” He drew her into the circle of his arms and could feel her stiffen, determined to hold it all inside.
“I can’t. Don’t you see? If I start, I’ll never stop.” She shook her head, her spine rigid, her body trembling. “I can’t. I just can’t.”
She wouldn’t think about the fear. About the never-to-be-filled hole left in her life by her sister’s death. About the fact that her good name had been muddied by a man bent on destruction. If she did, she might become paralyzed with terror and grief.
“All right.” Chance watched as she took in a deep, shuddering breath and struggled to find some calm. Her strength in the face of such trouble amazed him.
“The first line of defense is to know your adversary. I’ll have Thorpe get us everything he can on Ray Collier. Then we’ll plan our next step.”
“Our next step?”
“How to get Collier before he gets us.” He smiled, and she was reminded of the first time she’d seen him. Hadn’t she known then that he’d be a dangerous opponent?
“Oh, Chance.” She closed her eyes a moment, feeling a welling of relief. “Of all the things you’ve said, the thing I like best is us. I’ve felt alone in this for so long.”
“See? And all along, you were trying to shut me out.”
She gave a shaky laugh. “Sorry.”
“Yeah. Me too.” He lifted her chin so that she was forced to look into his eyes. What she saw had her heart stuttering.
“You’re not alone any more, Maggie. You can count on my brothers and me. We won’t let you down.”
He scooped her up and carried her to the bed.
Before she could speak, he kissed her. Then he gently laid her on the bed and stretched out beside her.
“From now on, we’re a team. You’re going to have to learn to trust us completely. Deal?”
She stared up into his eyes. “You’re sure about this? You’re sure you want to get involved in something this vicious, this dangerous?”
“As sure as I’ve ever been about anything.” He held out his hand.
“Okay.” She took a long, deep breath. “You’ve got yourself a deal.” She placed her hand in his and watched as he took it to his lips.
“Now, partner, let’s seal this bargain.” He drew her into the circle of his arms and kissed her. And then, with exquisite patience, he slipped the shirt from her shoulders and sho
wed her, in the most profound way, just how much he cherished her.
“I have to let my brothers know what’s going on.”
“I wish you wouldn’t.” Maggie turned from the stove, where she’d already started breakfast. “Why can’t we keep this between the two of us?”
“Because.” He walked up behind her and began massaging the knot of tension in her shoulders. “They have a right to know.”
“What if they believe the lies that are being spread about me?”
His movements halted. He slowly turned her to face him. “Do you really expect them to think less of you when they hear the truth?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I’ll bet plenty of my old friends are reading about me in the press back in Chicago, and thinking the worst.”
“You can’t help what people choose to think, Maggie. But I’m willing to wager any amount of money that my brothers will become your staunchest defenders.” He tipped up her chin. “Besides, we need to alert everyone here at the Double W to be on the lookout for strangers.”
“But there are hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness. If Ray should find out I’m here, it wouldn’t be too hard for him to send someone after me.”
Chance had already come to the same conclusion. To put her at ease he merely smiled. “It’s one thing for Collier to send a gunman to your apartment in Chicago. With all the people in that city climbing stairs and riding elevators, it’s a pretty easy matter to go unnoticed in a crowd. But it won’t be the same here. First of all, Collier has to find you. Then he has to hire someone who can blend in with the locals. In case you haven’t noticed, everybody in Prosperous knows everybody else. Within days of hiring you at the E.Z. Diner, half the people in town and the surrounding ranches had been in to sample the newcomer’s cooking. Remember? We may be a small community, but we have a grapevine that handles gossip with the best of them.”
“But that’s just it. Everybody knew I was new to the area. And the word could have spread beyond Prosperous.”
“That’s true. But nobody from Chicago has come through town asking about you.”
Maggie nodded. “I guess you’re right.” She sighed, trying to talk herself out of the tension. “In all this time, nobody’s tried to contact me.” She turned away and began to pour fresh orange juice into several glasses.
Chance picked one up and drank. “You don’t mind then if I fill my brothers in over breakfast?”
She shook her head. “I guess it’s impossible to keep this to ourselves any longer. Go ahead and do what you have to.”
He’d already intended to do just that. But as he’d learned early on in business, it always helped if he could exact permission before going ahead and doing what his instincts told him was best.
Hazard and Ace listened in silence as Chance filled them in on what had happened to Maggie. When he was finished, Hazard glanced at the woman seated across the table.
“That’s a heavy load to have to carry alone, Maggie. I’m glad you decided to share it.”
She sighed. “I guess I’m glad, too. Though, until this moment I wasn’t sure just how I’d feel.”
Ace set down his cup of coffee. “How long do you intend to hide out here?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t really have a plan when I got off that bus. I guess I just wanted some time to sort things out. But with each passing day, it just got easier and easier to stay put and not face up to what’s going on back in Chicago. And then things got…” she avoided Chance’s eyes, “…even more complicated.”
“Yeah.” Ace and Hazard exchanged a knowing look. They were well aware of the complications. Chance and Maggie wore their feelings on their sleeves.
“Sooner or later you’re going to have to notify the authorities.” Hazard turned to Chance. “Do you agree?”
Chance nodded. “But I’d like to wait until we have all the facts. I’ve put Thorpe on the case. He claims to have a friend in the Chicago D.A.’s office. It would help if we could find out just what they have so far. And I’d like time to dig into Collier’s past. Why did a good cop turn bad? Is his motive money? Revenge? Lust? There’s always something going on in a criminal’s mind. And this didn’t happen overnight. He was taking his time, laying a trail of evidence that would lead directly to Maggie.”
“So.” Hazard drained his cup and shoved back his chair. “For now, we wait and watch. And report any strangers in town or here on the Double W.”
“Right.” Chance watched as Maggie walked to the counter to retrieve the coffeepot. “And we try to arrange our schedules so that one of us is always around.”
Hearing him, Maggie shook her head. “No. I won’t have you babysitting me. This is just what I was afraid of. You can’t start rearranging your schedules to accommodate me. There are enough people around the ranch all day that no stranger could ever sneak up on me.”
Chance was about to argue until he saw the determined look on her face.
He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Okay, Maggie. You’re right, of course. We’ll all go about our business and wait for Thorpe to come up with his report.”
“That’s more like it.” Maggie breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted was to disrupt everyone’s life and have them constantly watching her to determine the depth of her fear.
A short time later, as the three brothers walked away, Chance waited until they were out of sight of Maggie before halting. “If you’ll give me your schedules for the next couple of weeks, I’ll try to plan mine accordingly.”
Ace and Hazard wore identical grins.
“I’d advise you not to let Maggie know what you’re doing,” Ace muttered. “She just might drop a little arsenic in your soup.”
“Yeah.” Chance’s voice was warm with laughter. “She does have a thing about being independent, doesn’t she?”
“That’s right. And you heard what she said about hoping we’d continued with our usual plans.”
“I heard. I just don’t happen to agree.”
“I’m with you,” Hazard said.
Ace nodded. “Me, too.”
“All right. Then it’s agreed that one of us will try to be here at the ranch with Maggie at all times?”
“Agreed.” The three brothers gave solemn nods of their heads.
As Chance sauntered away, Ace turned to Hazard. “You think he knows he’s in love yet?”
Hazard merely grinned. “I don’t know about that. But I do know that he’s lost his heart to someone who’s his equal. I’d hate to have to make book on which of them is the stronger.” He shook his head at the thought of Maggie running from an armed man. “At least now we know why she freaked at their first introduction, when Chance walked into the kitchen carrying his rifle.”
“I’d forgotten about that.” Ace threw back his head and roared. “You know something? Our big brother is lucky he’s still got a heart to lose. If Maggie had been a little stronger, or her aim a little better…”
Hazard shivered at the thought.
The two of them walked away, still shaking their heads.
Chapter 12
“Chance.” Maggie looked up. “I was just making a list of things I needed from Korson’s Grain and Feed.”
He leaned down and glanced over her shoulder while he idly rubbed at the knot of tension in her neck and shoulders. These long days of freedom should have given her a reason to hope for the best but if anything, she seemed to be getting more tense by the day. She hadn’t left the ranch house in over a week. And each time the door slammed, he saw the fear in her eyes.
What’s more, he’d seen an increase in the frequency of the nightmares.
“Cumin? Coriander seeds? What are you trying to do to poor Kit? Make him feel like a backwoods hick?”
She flushed. “I didn’t know if he carried them. But since you mentioned a trip you once took to Morocco, I was thinking of making Moroccan spiced beef.”
“You were?” The previous night he had told h
er about the trip to Morocco, taken when he was young and eager to build WildeOil into an international competitor. It had started out to be the journey of a lifetime, but it had soon evolved into a disaster, with everything going wrong that possibly could. He had not only lost the contract, but was forced to sleep in the lobby of a fleabag hotel, and on the return home, his luggage had been lost.
He had told her the story in order to get her mind off her own troubles. But later, shortly after laughing at his troubles, she’d been awakened by her own, pursuing her like a demon in her dreams.
He studied her, then couldn’t help smiling. “I have a better idea. Why don’t we eat out tonight?”
“Out? You mean at the E.Z. Diner?”
He shook his head.
“But that’s the only place to eat in Prosperous.”
“Then we’ll just have to go somewhere else.”
“No. I couldn’t…” She looked up. “Where?”
He caught her hand. “Let me surprise you. Pack a bag.”
She drew back, embarrassed. “I don’t have a bag.”
“What about all the things a woman needs for survival? Clothes? Makeup? All those great-smelling soaps and lotions and perfumes?”
She shook her head. “All I have is what was in my purse when I ran, and what I could buy at the This N That Shop in Prosperous.”
He paused to give her a long, speculative look before plucking a cell phone from his pocket and punching in a series of numbers.
When he heard a voice at the other end he winked at her. “Hazard? You and Ace are on your own tonight. I’m taking our cook away.” He grinned. “That’s right. See you tomorrow.”
Then he dialed another number. “Alex? I’m on my way. And I’m bringing along a friend. Chill a bottle of Dom.”
