Maybe, With Conditions

by Mariella Starr

  "Excuse me?"

  "She's too young to date a grown man!"

  "I have news for you. Kay is a grown woman, whether you see it or not," Nicole declared.

  "He's taking advantage of her. He was her teacher!"

  "Kay says nothing happened between them as long as she was in high school. They were aware of the attraction but avoided each other. It was a responsible reaction considering his position. If they had met outside of the classroom, you probably wouldn't have any objections. There's nothing you can do to stop them from seeing each other."

  "I don't like it!"

  "Tough!"

  He glared at her. "You lied to me and now Kay has lied to us. The college courses were a ruse, so she could spend time with him."

  "They're not exactly having an illicit affair, or if they are, I don't know about it."

  "Aw, crap," growled Dalton looking uncomfortable.

  "Oh, get over yourself. You're sleeping with someone, namely me. Stop acting so sanctimoniously. Kay's an adult, whether you, Helen or Roy Mac face it or not. She's doing excellent work in her classes and only sees Mark when they're both free."

  "Kay needs to concentrate on her education. She needs to have time to grow up!"

  "I hate to give you a wake-up call, but what part of her being an adult don't you understand? She's not doing anything wrong. She wants to date Mark Treberly. From what I know about him, he's a really nice guy. It's none of your business!"

  "I still don't like it," Dalton grumbled.

  "Did you think they were going to ask for your permission?" Nicole demanded. "I'll tell you one thing, Dalton Calloway. If you don't stop acting like a villain in a bad soap opera, she's going to be his wife before you know it! By objecting to their dating, you're pushing them together!"

  "I only want what's best for her. She's too young to know what she's doing," Dalton exploded. "I don't want her making mistakes she'll regret later."

  Nicole sucked in a long breath. "Everyone makes mistakes, some a lot worse than others. If I were you, I wouldn't pretend mistakes don't exist in your world. You have a quite a record of them yourself!" She turned and stalked away from him.

  Dalton stood silent and angry at her reprimand. It was a direct hit right between his eyes. She was right. If there were ever anyone who could win prizes for colossal mistakes, he would be the winner. He followed Nicole across the floor and pulled into his arms. His biggest mistake was letting go of her the first time. He wasn't going to let it happen, again.

  "Okay, I'll butt out, but Gran and Roy Mac are going to be furious with her."

  "They're her parents, you aren't. Technically, Kay is your aunt. It's still not your business."

  "Right. We have enough issues between us without taking on others. Kay will have to handle her own love life. If he hurts her, though, all bets are off."

  Chapter Nine

  Nicole roused in her sleep and realized Dalton wasn't beside her. Once she had wrestled his mind off Kay's romance and onto her, they had a stimulating evening. Parts of her were still slightly tender, but she didn't have a problem with it. Suddenly she leaped from the bed, dragged on a robe, and raced down the hall to Matty's room. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it wasn't her son that had awakened her. Over the years, she had become so attuned to his sounds of distress, it was miraculous to realize he was sleeping peacefully. The dry, moderate desert temperatures had greatly relieved his symptoms of asthma. The summer months were upon them and the daily temperature was rising. Some days, they were already in the high nineties. Matty was thriving in the dry heat.

  She wandered through Dalton's wing of the house and stood beside the window at the end of the hall overlooking the barnyards. There were lights on in the building Dalton used for his veterinarian practice. She saw lights go on in other buildings, and then in the barn where they housed larger animals. Mostly, he only housed horses, but he was currently doctoring a llama and a donkey in addition to the horses and steers. She pulled her robe around her tighter and slipped on sneakers.

  As she crossed the barnyard, the light in another barn came on. She was following the lights and entered the structure. She saw Dalton leaning over Sam Rutherford, an older man who was the night attendant in his practice. She ran to them.

  "What's happened?"

  Dalton spun around with what looked to her like a Billy club before she realized it was a length of pipe. "Jesus, Nic, what're you doing out here? I thought you were the intruder. Run to the house and lock yourself in. Call for an ambulance. Someone has clubbed Sam. Call the Sheriff's office, too. Tell them someone has broken into my clinic, attacked Sam, and broken into my drug cabinets."

  "Can I help?"

  Sam groaned and Dalton's attention went to him. "Lie still, and don't move until I come back," he ordered the man on the ground. Dalton grasped Nicole's arm still holding the pipe in his other hand. He took her to the barn door. "Run! I'll watch until you are safely inside!"

  Nicole ran. She knew he would not go back to Sam until he was sure she was safe. She skidded into the kitchen to find Helen awake.

  "What's wrong?" Helen demanded.

  "Someone has attacked Sam Rutherford and stolen drugs from Dalton's office," Nicole exclaimed as she dialed 911. "He told me to call an ambulance and the Sheriff's office."

  "I'll take care of the calls," Helen said taking the phone. "You need to get dressed."

  Nicole looked down and gasped as she saw her robe was open and she was exposing herself. Once dressed, she returned downstairs to find Helen and Roy Mac dressed and about to head over to the clinic.

  "I sent Kay to Matty's room to watch over him," Helen informed Nicole as she pushed her husband's wheelchair outside.

  Dalton was in his clinic. Sam Rutherford was lying on the examination table usually occupied by smaller four-legged patients. Dalton held a cloth to Sam's head.

  "What happened?" Roy Mac demanded.

  "Someone broke into the clinic," Dalton answered never taking his eyes off the man he was attending.

  "I heard a commotion in the examining room," Sam said. "When I came in here, he threw one of those metal stools at me, and by the time I got to my feet, he was running. I chased him, but when I rounded the corner to the arena barn, I was smashed in the head with something. It was lights out for me."

  An ambulance arrived thirty minutes later. Dalton had already bandaged the abrasion on Sam's forehead, braced and wrapped what he already knew was a broken arm. He had used his portable X-ray machine to verify the break. As the two paramedics took his worker's vitals, he argued with Sam, who didn't want to go to the hospital in an ambulance.

  "You're going," ordered Dalton settling the argument. "I may not be a human doctor, but you have a broken arm. You need another X-ray and probably a CT scan or MRI for your head injury. I'll come to the hospital as soon as I finish with the sheriff."

  "We'll follow the ambulance and stay with him," Roy Mac said gruffly.

  "I'll call his daughter," Helen offered.

  They watched as Sam was put into the ambulance and it sped away.

  "Are you all right?" Roy Mac demanded of his grandson.

  "I'm not the one who was hurt, Granddad," Dalton replied. "I only came out because I thought I heard a disturbance in the horse barn."

  "Sam's a tough old bird. He'll be okay," Roy Mac said as he followed Helen to their handicapped-enabled van for the drive to Mount Grant General Hospital.

  "Will he be all right?" Nicole questioned Dalton when the older couple was gone.

  "I think so unless the head injury is more severe than I suspect. It will take his arm six to eight weeks to heal." Dalton's head rose and he looked in the direction of the ranch lane when he heard a police siren. "You can go back to the house, Nic. I don't have much to tell Sheriff Shifflett."

  Nicole stayed and listened. Sam was the only eyewitness, but he had already told Dalton he hadn't seen the thief's face. The sheriff's deputy took photographs of the clinic's broken
door latches and the smashed cabinets. The thief had pried off the hasp and lock on the refrigerator to open it and dumped the contents onto the floor.

  "Someone was probably after drugs," Sheriff Shifflett said matter-of-factly.

  "They got them, but they aren't for human use. Antibiotics are missing: Baytril, Pen G, Liquamycin, and vaccines. I'll have to make a complete inventory," Dalton agreed. "He reopened the refrigerator and stared at the shelves with the disarray of previously organized drugs.

  "Anything bad missing?" the sheriff asked.

  "Yeah, sedatives and tranquilizers: Xylazine and Thiopental, horse and cattle tranquilizers, as well as anesthesia. You had better put out a warning, Sheriff. Those dosages are meant for horses and cattle weighing anywhere from twelve to twenty-five hundred pounds."

  "What would happen if a person took them?"

  Dalton met the sheriff's eyes steadily. "They would die."

  The sheriff surveyed the room with its broken locks and cabinets. "No one can say you didn't take precautions, Dalton. We haven't had this kind of trouble around here for a while. I'll head into town and stop by the hospital to see Sam. Maybe I can get something from him."

  "He said he didn't see a face, only someone running away. He was pretty groggy at the time," Dalton warned.

  "I'll see what I can do," the sheriff promised.

  * * *

  The sheriff finished what he could of his investigation. He said he would return in the morning. He told Dalton not to move or damage any evidence.

  "Get real," Dalton exclaimed. "You know ranch work starts at daylight. I can close the clinic for the day, but I can't keep the men out of the barns and I won't turn down emergency calls."

  Sheriff Shifflett nodded his head in agreement. He had a small place, under a hundred acres, but he knew what it took to keep it solvent. He also knew Dalton Calloway, as his veterinarian. "Do the best you can. My department isn't exactly CSI equipped. I'll stop by the hospital and talk to Sam. I'll be back early in the morning."

  Roy Mac called to say they were on their way home. Sam was being taken to Carson City for an MRI and would spend the rest of the night in the hospital under observation, and his daughter was with him.

  Dalton gathered the remaining of his medical supplies and they carried them to the main house. He changed the message on his phone to say his office was closed the following day due to an emergency. He called his assistant, Neeley Franks. He didn't have any doubt that most of the residents of Hawthorne would know of the burglary by morning.

  Nicole went back to bed, but a few hours later for the second time that night, she awakened to find Dalton not in bed with her. She dragged on her robe, again, and went to look for him. She found him in his office peering over spreadsheets on his computer.

  "What are you working on? Can't it wait until morning?"

  "I'm trying to track down my medical supply lists for the last few months," Dalton admitted. "I need to find out what's missing by comparing what we've used versus what we ordered.

  "Can't it wait? Doesn't Neeley deal with most of this stuff? She can probably find the information in thirty seconds when you'll be hunting for hours."

  Dalton rubbed his eyes wearily. "It's true, but I'm worried. If those drugs get into the wrong hands, they'll be deadly."

  "Most drugs have the potential to be deadly, even the most innocuous ones. If someone takes those drugs, it won't be your fault. I know you would feel for them, but there's nothing you can do to prevent it. To quote Forest Gump, 'Stupid is as stupid does.' Drug addicts have major issues. You can't single-handedly save the world from the mistakes people make willingly."

  Dalton saved his files and looked at his watch. "I know tomorrow will be a long day. It will be worse for Neeley than me. I hate dealing with insurance claims. Let's try to get a couple hours' rest."

  Nicole smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I had another idea on how to use a little bit of time."

  Dalton slid his hands inside her robe and gripped her naked buttocks. "This is the second time tonight you've been naked and running around in only this old bathrobe of mine. I may have to take you to task for being so tempting."

  "What did you have in mind?"

  He turned, walked to the door, and closed it. She heard the lock click.

  Nicole let the robe fall into a puddle at her feet and was rewarded by the look of admiration and lust in Dalton's eyes. He came to her and covered her mouth with his, invading hers with his tongue. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist while he carried her as he systematically closed the blinds on the windows before depositing her on a large white bear rug on the floor. He hit a remote, and the gas fireplace lit.

  "Is this thing real?" Nicole demanded as she looked at glassy eyes in the bear's head.

  Dalton chuckled as he kicked off his boots. "No, it's fake. Gran and Roy Mac have been arguing over it for years. Forget about what it is. It's soft, it's sexy, and I'm making love to you on it."

  Nicole stretched on the rug and giggled as she motioned him to her with a crook of her finger. "Come here, big boy."

  Dalton tossed his pants over a chair arm and joined her on the rug.

  The next time she woke, she was snuggled into Dalton's side and he was snoring softly. Neither of them had slept much, but Nicole felt it was worth it. She had taken his mind off his worries as their coupling once again reached new heights. She had another one of those long, out-of-control orgasms. This time, Dalton performed oral sex on her the entire time and smothered her cries of release when her body finally stopped convulsing.

  She moved her hand slowly down his chest until she reached for his sex and began to fondle it. As it grew, he groaned and opened his eyes.

  "Didn't you get enough last night?" he teased.

  "Did you?"

  "Never!" Dalton rolled on top of her before backing off on his knees, turning her face down, and raising her to her knees. He pulled her arms into a prostrate position, raised her bottom, and lowered her back. He liked to see her stretched out in front of him, fully exposed allowing him access to give and take as he pleased. With a quick glance at the clock, he knew he had, at least, an hour before anyone else awakened. She was his for the duration, all his.

  When Dalton grabbed for his pants to take a condom from his wallet, Nicole wished he wouldn't. They both preferred him to be bareback. When he slipped on the condom, she knew what was coming and arched her back to give him more access as he gently entered her from behind. She buried her face in fake bearskin rug to muffle her moans and cries. She had never been one to hide her sounds of pleasure, but she did not want to shock anyone who might hear them in the house.

  Dalton marveled at her joy in his intrusion and his satisfaction as he buried himself into her tightness. She writhed under his ministrations as he admired the lines of her body and the swelling of her sex as he fondled it. He held her in position as he thrust back into her sex and began to hammer into her again. She rose as her body reacted to another orgasm, but he pushed her down. He wanted to feel what she was feeling and suddenly his cock was seized as her vagina contracted and convulsed.

  It was the most exhilarating feeling he had ever experienced beyond his own orgasms. Her body sucked his into her deeper and when he came, it was a battle for who was in control. As their orgasms settled and the tremors subsided, Dalton looked over at Nicole and he pulled her over on top of him gently.

  "That was fantastic," Nicole moaned.

  "It was crazy fantastic."

  "I want to do it again," she whispered.

  "Me, too," he agreed. "But it's going to take me a couple of hours to recover. God, Nic, you are one hell of a woman."

  Nicole smothered her laughter. "Don't you ever forget it, either, bubba!"

  * * *

  Dalton was swamped in the morning hours. Sheriff Shifflett returned, took more photographs, and interviewed him, Neeley Franks, and even Nicole since she had been the second person on the scene.

>   The sheriff was honest about the slim possibility of catching the thief. There were no witnesses and, dangerous or not, the drugs probably had been sold minutes after the perpetrator reached a town or a city. An all-points bulletin had been issued to the area hospitals to be aware of anyone coming into the emergency rooms for what they would assume was a drug overdose. Drug screenings in laboratories looked for heroin and cocaine, not pharmaceuticals used for large animals.

  By noon, Sam was already at home being nursed by his daughter. Dalton called a security company and hired a temporary replacement until Sam could return to his job full time. Having already arranged for another local veterinarian to take over his patients for the day, Dalton found himself at loose ends.

  "Neeley, would you mind if I took the afternoon off?"

  His assistant looked at him over her half glasses. "I would consider it a blessing if you left, so I could finish the inventory and figure out what's missing."

  Dalton tried to contain his grin. "Am I bugging you?"

  "You are," his able assistant snapped. "With you gone I might finish this today and be able to tell the insurance company exactly what was taken. If you stick around with no doctoring to do, it might take me until next week."

  "I'm gone," Dalton promised. "If you need me for an emergency…"

  "I have you on speed dial," his assistant said dolefully giving him a look of exasperation.

  Dalton went to the house and found his son taking a nap. He brought Roy Mac up to date on what the sheriff had said before going into his office. With nothing to do there, he wandered back outside. It was a rarity when he wasn't swamped with work. He considered calling the veterinarian subbing for him but changed his mind.

  Going to the greenhouse, he slipped inside quietly. Nicole was standing on a stepladder painting an enormous canvas. Even in the early stages of development, he could tell it was a larger than life-sized portrait of a woman. He wondered if she was to remain naked.

  Nicole gave a start when she glanced over her shoulder and saw Dalton. "Oh, hi." She stepped down and looked up at him.

  "Is she going to stay naked?" Dalton asked.