“I didn’t expect to see you here,” came the low timbre of Dan’s voice.
She glanced up and warmth heated her through as she met his gaze. “At the last minute I decided that I wasn’t up for Mexican or Italian food.”
“It’s a shame for you to be here alone,” Dan said. “May I take a seat?”
Renee’s stomach flipped. What could a little conversation hurt?
She nodded and he sat in the chair across from her then set his Stetson on the seat beside her purse.
“I shouldn’t stay long,” Renee said when the hostess left. “I think I’ll just go for a drink and an appetizer.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” Dan gave a nod. “Would it be all right to have a drink with me?”
She pushed hair behind her ear. “That should be okay.”
A waitress stopped at their table and Renee saw that her nametag said Wendy. She was probably in her late fifties or early sixties with silver hair and smile lines at the corners of her eyes.
“Hi, Sheriff,” Wendy said before turning to Renee. “I’m Wendy, your waitress tonight.”
Dan smiled at the waitress. “I’m not sure you met Renee when she was just a young girl. She lived with the Camerons for a while.”
Wendy tilted her head to the side. “I think I might have babysat you.”
Renee thought about it then nodded as she remembered a young blonde woman who had watched her and the Cameron boys a few times. Her name had been Wendy. “I think you did.”
“Welcome back, honey,” Wendy said. “What would you like to drink?”
Renee glanced at the drink menu that was splayed open on the table. “A margarita would be wonderful.”
“The usual?” Wendy asked Dan.
“Yep,” Dan rested his menu on the table.
Wendy winked at Dan. “Dos Equis it is.”
The waitress left to get their drinks and Renee put her hands on top of her menu and looked at Dan. She had a hard time thinking of something to say, unlike last night when they’d all talked up a storm.
She met his gaze and she wanted to melt. He looked so damned good in a blue western dress shirt and dark blue wranglers. He was a big man and she was almost petite in comparison. The way he looked at her had her imagining what it would feel like being in his arms. She knew she would feel cherished and protected.
Mentally, she shook her head. She couldn’t let herself be thinking this way. As a matter of fact, she shouldn’t even be sitting with the man.
She held back a sigh. It really shouldn’t matter if she spent a little time with a friend. But she would only stay long enough to eat her appetizer and then she’d bid him good night.
“Did you enjoy yourself today?” he asked, breaking the spell he held over her.
She swallowed then found her words. “It was quiet and uneventful.” She touched her shoulder. “I may have been out in the sun too long. I managed to get a sunburn.”
“Yeah, you’re looking on the toasted side,” he said with a teasing grin.
Wendy returned with their drinks and took their order. Renee went with loaded baked potato skins and Dan picked out the chili cheese fries.
When their waitress left, Dan said, “I never knew the story of how you ended up with the Camerons.”
“When I was five my mother abandoned me.” A shard of pain dug at her belly. “She left me with the Camerons’ Aunt Grace and never came back. I had no idea where she went or if she’d ever return.”
Dan studied her. “That would have been a hell of a thing to go through.”
She sighed. “It was. After a while I started to enjoy living with the Cameron boys. My mother had mostly ignored me when I was little so the attention all of the Camerons gave me made me feel special.”
Dan swallowed a drink of beer. “How long did you live with them? Seems to me the last time I saw you was when you were nine or ten.”
“You’ve got a good memory.” Renee gave a little smile, forcing back feelings of sadness that always overcame her when thinking about those times. “It wasn’t long after you saved my life.” She continued, “I was just over nine when my mother showed up out of nowhere. She had a new husband in tow and she’d decided, some four years after dumping me on the Camerons, that she wanted me.”
“Must’ve been hard for you to leave after living with them for so long,” Dan said. “From what I understand, you were like a sister to the boys.”
“And they were like brothers to me. Aunt Grace, Timothy, Maria, and the boys were the only family I’d known during that time.” A lump rose in Renee’s throat. “I cried for weeks after my mother and stepfather picked me up and I begged to come back. Of course that didn’t happen.”
“You said something about living in Philadelphia.” Dan took another swig of his beer.
“That’s where they took me.” Renee shook her head. “Couldn’t have been much farther away.”
“No doubt it wasn’t easy being a country girl forced to live smack dab in the middle of one hell of a big city,” he said.
Renee didn’t answer for a moment. Instead she drank from her margarita glass and felt the tequila warming her as the drink rolled down her throat.
She set her glass down. “It was awful. But I managed to survive city life and here I am today.”
He held her gaze. “Are you planning on staying long?”
“Now that I’ve been back, I want to,” she said quietly.
“What about your boyfriend?” Dan asked.
She looked away from him. When she met his gaze again, she said, “No, he doesn’t want to stay. As a matter of fact, he wants to leave tomorrow for Phoenix when he gets back from Tucson with the rental car.”
Dan’s expression didn’t tell her anything about what he might be thinking at that moment. “What are you going to do?”
She clenched her hands beneath the table as she thought about the way Jerry had talked to her this morning. She wanted to stay in the San Rafael Valley and now she didn’t want to go anywhere with Jerry. “I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do,” she finally said.
Dan rested his forearm on the table, and he was running his fingers through the condensation on his beer bottle. She had the feeling he wanted to say something but he kept to himself whatever it was that he might want to express.
“You mentioned you were an office manager,” Dan said. “Did you like working for the advertising agency?”
“It was all right.” She shrugged. “I didn’t have the money to go to the university so finding something that paid well without a college education wasn’t an easy thing to do. I worked my way up through the ranks until I was running an office. It paid well, but not well enough that I could afford to travel here and visit like I wanted to.” She thought about how much she’d wanted to come back. “Even though I spent the majority of my life in the city, a part of me always wanted to return to country life.”
“It would be nice to have you here.” A wealth of meaning was in his gaze. Then he seemed to realize that he was making this too personal and he leaned back in his chair as if distancing himself. “Maybe your boyfriend will change his mind.”
“I doubt it.” She made herself smile, suddenly becoming uncomfortable at the turn in conversation. “Your turn. Tell me what’s been happening with you all these years.”
He pushed his hand through his hair. “I grew up helping my mama and daddy on the ranch. When I graduated from high school I attended the University of Arizona and got my bachelor’s degree then went into the police academy. I served on the Tucson force for twenty years before moving back and taking on a position as sheriff’s deputy. I decided to run for sheriff, got elected, and here I am.”
“And here you are.” She smiled.
Their appetizers arrived and Renee and Dan shared what they’d picked out. It was tasty and she found she was exceptionally hungry. She’d only eaten the tortilla chips while she’d been out and had purchased a second large bottle of water on the way back pa
st the general store.
While they ate they continued talking, catching up on some of what had happened in their lives over the past three decades. She shared with him how she’d ended up taking ballet lessons instead of riding horses and had been on the debate team as opposed to belonging to a 4-H club. Her family had traded dirt roads and grasslands for asphalt and concrete.
Dan, on the other hand, had been in 4-H from the time she’d known him until he was eighteen, had competed in junior rodeo competitions, and had played football in high school.
“Hell,” he said, downplaying that fact. “Our high school was so small that every kid big enough to fit into a uniform could be on the team.”
Renee laughed and touched a napkin to the corners of her mouth. “That was great.” She sobered. “I really should be going.”
“I interrupted your dinner and you didn’t even order a meal. I don’t think you came here for just appetizers.” He held her gaze. “I don’t want to be the one to run you off. I shouldn’t have kept you talking so long.”
She smiled. “I’ve enjoyed it and I’m happy I ran into you.”
“Why don’t I leave you here and you can order?” Dan said. “I know this is awkward for you because of your situation.”
She shook her head. “I had planned on a steak but I think I ate too much of the appetizers. I’m fine.”
He studied her. “I’ll give you a ride back to the bed and breakfast.”
With another shake of her head, she said, “I’d better walk.” She grasped her purse then felt the faint vibrations of her phone. It had to be Jerry. She felt a twist of guilt in her belly. She had lost track of everything and she shouldn’t have spent so much time with Dan. It had just gone by so quickly.
She reached inside her purse, drew out the cell phone, and looked at the caller ID screen. Her stomach swooped as she saw that it was indeed Jerry.
After taking a deep breath, she pressed the ON button then put the phone to her ear. “Hi, Jerry.”
“What are you doing? I’ve tried calling you six times.” She heard an edge to his tone. “Are you with someone?”
Dan studied her and she bit the inside of her lip. “I came to the steakhouse alone, but—”
“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you, Renee?” Jerry’s voice was deadly quiet.
“Of course not.” She started to tell him that she’d run into Dan at the restaurant but the call disconnected.
A shadow fell across the table. Her heart lunged into her throat as she looked up and into Jerry’s furious gaze.
Her voice came out small as heat flushed over her. “What are you doing here?”
“Messed up your plans, didn’t I?” Jerry’s blue eyes were like ice. He ignored Dan and spoke in a low, angry voice. “You were all set to fuck the sheriff tonight.”
The heat of embarrassment flooded through her. She felt so mortified that she wanted to shrink and slide under the table. “Jerry, stop.”
Dan stood and Renee felt anger rolling off of him as he spoke. “Why don’t we take this outside.” It was clearly a statement, not a question.
Jerry grasped Renee by the wrist and jerked her to her feet. His grip was so tight that pain shot through her arm. He bared his teeth as he glared at Dan. “Mind your own fucking business.”
“Renee is a friend which makes her my business.” Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He slipped out enough cash to pay for the drinks and appetizers then tossed the money on the table.
“Friend. Right.” Jerry kept his grip tight on Renee’s wrist as he turned and led her out of the restaurant. “Get lost, you country hick.”
Jerry had kept his voice down, but Renee was certain other restaurant patrons were watching them and her embarrassment magnified.
Dan followed them outside. Jerry didn’t release her arm as he went to the passenger side of a sedan, jerked the door open, and pushed her into the bucket seat. Her feet slid out from under her as she lost her balance and she landed hard.
Jerry turned and faced Dan. “You have no right to interfere.” With his fists clenched, Jerry took a step closer to Dan. “If you don’t stay out of our business, you will be sorry.”
“Are you threatening me?” Dan narrowed his gaze. “Maybe I should remind you who you are speaking with.”
“I could give a shit who you are. Fuck off.” Jerry backed up and headed for the car door.
A moment of crystal clarity brought all of Renee’s thoughts together. She could never be with someone who had so little regard for other people’s feelings, including her own. She could never be with someone who treated her the way he had been.
She was done with Jerry. It was over.
But another thought went through her mind. Her money. She couldn’t let Jerry leave and clean out her bank accounts. She had to figure out a way to get to her money first, before she left him.
Dan’s gaze rested on her. “Renee, come with me.”
She looked at Jerry and suppressed a shudder before she brought her gaze back to Dan. “I need to go with him.”
Dan had a hard look on his face. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Jerry sneered. “Stay the hell away from us.”
Her heart beat hard enough that her chest hurt as she slid all the way inside the car and closed the passenger door behind her. Jerry climbed in on the other side and started the engine. The car’s tires spun in the gravel as he backed up then took off.
She looked back once and her heart sank as she saw Dan watching them leave.
Chapter 5
“You little slut.” Jerry’s words sliced through Renee like a blade as he towered over her, his fists clenched at his sides. He was so big and she was so petite that she knew it wouldn’t take much for him to hurt her physically. “If I hadn’t come back when I did, you would have been fucking that sheriff tonight.”
“No.” She started to shake her head but he raised his hand, as if he intended to slap her. Cold washed over her skin. “Please, Jerry. He just happened to stop by the restaurant while I was there. We had a drink together. That was it.”
“I told you to stay away from him.” Jerry didn’t lower his hand and his gaze was fierce and unforgiving. “You’re nothing but a whore.”
She wanted to double over from the pain of the words spoken by the man she’d thought had cared for her. She should have recognized the signs long ago. The way he kept track of her; how he was jealous of any man she’d ever spoken to; his edginess around any of her friends, as if he didn’t want to be there; all of the times he’d gotten upset with her for making decisions without him. All were signs that he wasn’t the kind of man she had fooled herself into thinking he was. He wasn’t the kind of man she deserved.
Why had it taken her so long to figure it out?
Because she was too trusting. Too caring.
Too easy to manipulate.
The only thing she could do now was try to calm Jerry down and get him to think she was sorry for disobeying him. She would promise to do whatever he wanted while she figured out a way to regain control of her money.
“I’m sorry.” She did her best to appear as if she was really begging for his forgiveness. “Please don’t be upset with me. I won’t do it again.”
He lowered his hand and relief made her feel limp. He wasn’t going to hit her. But then he said, “I warned you there would be consequences if you disobeyed me and saw him again.”
She swallowed. “Please, Jerry. Let’s forget this and start over.”
“I don’t forget.” He moved his face closer to hers and she took a step back. “Ever.”
She closed her eyes for a moment but they snapped open when he took her by the shoulders and he shook her hard enough to jar her teeth.
“I’ve had enough,” she said a new resolve comes over her. “I’m leaving.”
He raised his hand. “You’ll never leave me and you’ll never disobey me again.”
> Her heart pounded. She tried to step back but couldn’t get out of his grip. He swung his hand and slapped her across the side of the face.
He hit her so hard that she almost fell but he had a tight hold on her. Her ear rang and her face stung. She felt slightly dizzy.
And then her skin started to prickle with anger.
Tears of fury pushed their way out. She didn’t try to stop them. Jerry would think that she was capitulating to him, maybe even that she was repentant for disobeying him.
She knew exactly what she would do. She would regain control of her money and then she would make sure he never hurt her again.
“Take off your clothes.” He shoved her toward the bed hard enough that she fell onto the edge of the mattress, barely keeping herself from falling onto the floor. “I’m going to fuck you and show you exactly who you belong to.”
“No.” She shook her head.
“No?” Jerry strode to her and grasped the front of her dress and yanked it down, exposing her breasts.”
With a cry, she crossed her arms over her chest, covering her nakedness. Tears rolled down her cheek and her voice rose, sounding almost hysterical. “I’m not going to have sex with you.”
Jerry looked like he was going to slap her again and she cringed. Instead he grabbed a pillow and blanket off the bed and threw them across the room and onto the floor. “You can sleep on the floor like a dog. You little bitch.”
It felt like blood was draining from her face as he looked at her as if he was going to beat her.
“I’m going out and I want you right here.” He bared his teeth at her. “You don’t so much as blow your nose until I come back. Do you understand?”
She nodded, feeling trapped and alone.
He jerked open the dresser drawer where she’d put her panties, bras, and nightgowns and he threw a gown at her. “Get changed for bed.” He watched her as she stripped off her sandals and dress. She hated his eyes on her naked form and she prayed he wasn’t going to try again to force himself on her.
The look in his eyes made her hurry to pull her nightgown over her head and then tug it down over her hips. She took off her jewelry and set it on the bureau, then started toward the bathroom where she was heading to wash off her makeup. He grabbed her arm and shoved her back toward the blanket and the pillow on the floor. “Lie down where you belong and don’t move until I’m back.”
Lingerie and Lariats (Rough & Ready#7) Page 4
