“Like I said, you’re seeing things through a fog. You’d better ease up on your work schedule.”
Neil cursed. “Okay. You tell me, Quito. What happened last night? Did you two enjoy each other’s company?”
Damn it, Quito thought, as he felt hot color creep up his neck and into his face, it shouldn’t bother him to talk about Clementine. But that was hard to do when memories of last night were eating him up inside. “Of course, we did. We’re not juveniles, cutting each other down for what happened in the past. Clementine is a special woman to me.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know. Where did you go to eat? Over to Farmington to some fancy place with dim lighting and low music?” Neil asked with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.
“That’s really none of your business. But—” He shrugged one shoulder as if conceding to his friend. “Clem wanted to go on a picnic, so that’s what we did. Fried chicken, the whole lot.”
Quito expected Neil to burst out laughing but instead he leveled a serious look on him as he said, “Look, Quito, a lot of men don’t get a second chance in life. You’ve just been given two. Don’t waste them, buddy.”
Quito’s gaze slipped from Neil’s face to latch on to the distant mountains framed by the windows across the room. Neil didn’t have to tell him what two chances he was talking about. One was cheating death by surviving his bullet wounds. The other was having Clementine back in town.
Maybe he should be feeling lucky and good about the future. But all he could think about was the day Clementine would be leaving again.
Chapter Six
Later that morning, Clementine sat in her hotel room, staring out the window as she waited for an answer on the other end of her cell phone. She was calling a family friend, Oscar Ramirez, a lawyer who oversaw her father’s business dealings and also tended to anything legal that the Jones family needed.
During her divorce, Oscar had made sure she contemplated everything with a level head, instead of her emotions. Which had been a lifesaver considering she wanted to buy a gun and go after Niles. Now she was happy she hadn’t killed him. Life wouldn’t be much fun living inside a prison cell. And life right now felt downright wonderful.
“Oscar here.”
Clementine jerked her thoughts off the flowers and the meadow and Quito’s strong arms around her.
“Oscar. It’s Clem. How are things going? Do you have time to talk a minute?”
“For you, all the time you need, Clem,” he said. “And as for things here, they’re going good. I heard from your parents yesterday. They were in Greece for a little two-day tour. Will didn’t sound all that enthused but he says Delta is having a blast.”
“Daddy would rather be in south Texas hunting white-tailed deer,” Clementine said with a little laugh, then asked, “nothing else has happened down there? You haven’t had any calls asking about me, have you?”
Oscar didn’t have to be told that she was talking about Niles and Clementine’s spirits fell flat as Oscar deliberately cleared his throat. “Sorry to tell you this, Clem, but I had a visit here at the office rather than a call.”
Jumping to her feet, Clementine gripped the phone. “Niles came to your office? Dear God, Oscar, what did he want?”
The lawyer let out a long breath. “The usual. He threw around a lot of threats. Said he’d do bodily harm to me if I didn’t tell him where you were.”
“Did you?”
“Of course not! The man would have to kill me first, Clem. I don’t want that monster around you any more than your parents do. And they’re depending on me to keep you safe. Although, I don’t really know how I’m supposed to do that with you up there in New Mexico.”
Her shoulders sagged as a fatalistic weight suddenly dropped upon her. “Oscar, don’t be worrying about me. I won’t have you hurt just because of me. It’s not your fault that I married a man that turned into a monster. How did you get rid of him?”
“My secretary had enough good sense to call security after he barged into my office. Niles was just getting wound up good when they came in and carted him away. He was flinging a few curse words over his shoulder at me when they strong-armed him out of here.”
Clementine let out a heavy sigh. “I’m so sorry, Oscar. I just don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Hon, you’ve already tried everything you could think of. Short of killing the man, the best thing you can do is stay away from Houston. If he catches wind of where you are, well, I don’t have to tell you what will happen.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Clementine pinched the bridge of her nose and tried her best to keep anger and weariness from overtaking her. “No. I’ve already been through it too many times before. Only this time, if he came up here…I’m not sure what would happen. Let’s just say the county sheriff is a modern-day Wyatt Earp.”
Oscar’s chuckles were far more cunning than humorous. “Hmm. Maybe that’s exactly what Niles needs—to face a tough cowboy with a gun on his hip.”
No! Dear God no, Clementine thought desperately. She didn’t care what happened to Niles, but she wasn’t about to chance Quito’s safety. He’d nearly lost his life once. And if Niles should ever learn that she and Quito were once lovers, he would no doubt try to kill him. Niles was a psychopath. It wouldn’t take much to push him to commit murder. For as long as she lived, Clementine would never forget the blows of his fists upon her face. Yet in his sick mind, he believed he’d been doing it out of love.
Shuddering at the dark thought, Clementine said, “Oscar, if he corners you again, just lie. Send him to the East Coast, or anywhere, except here.”
“Got it, hon. So now that we have that out of the way, how are things going up there? Do you have things settled with a real estate agent yet?”
Moving closer to the window, Clementine looked down upon the rooftops spanned out over the high desert town. Two blocks over, Quito was probably sitting at his desk, going over arrest warrants, or discussing a case with his chief deputy. Had she entered his mind this morning? she wondered. Heaven help her, he was all she could think about.
“Uh, no,” she answered Oscar’s question. “Not yet. I’m still trying to decide what to do with the place.”
“What do you mean? You told me you were going to sell it.”
Clementine grimaced. She was losing her focus, she thought. She’d come up here to New Mexico with a purpose, but one look at Quito and her senses had spun out in all sorts of crazy directions. “I know I did. But I’m beginning to wonder if that’s the right thing to do. I really love it up here. I have old friends around the county. And the house would make a nice getaway for me. I always was partial to the place.”
The line went silent for a few moments and she realized Oscar was contemplating everything she’d just told him. That was always one of the things she liked about him the most. He thought before he spoke.
“Well,” he finally said. “That’s for you to decide. And I’m certainly not going to urge you to come back to Houston. Not as long as Niles is breathing.”
It wasn’t like Oscar to be talking so tough and the corners of her lips tilted upward as she thought about Quito and how he would describe her father’s lawyer. Milksop. Dapper dandy. But he was fiercely loyal and he loved the Jones family as much as he did his own.
“I’m going to drive out to the house this morning and see if I can do a bit of cleaning,” she told him. “I think I might have the utilities turned on and stay a few days. The weather is much nicer here than in Houston right now. And with Mother and Daddy away, there’s not much reason for me to be there.”
“Sounds all right to me, Clem. But I really wish you’d let me send a bodyguard up there for you. For some reason, I have this feeling that something is about to happen.” He chuckled as though he realized his words might upset her and he needed to soften them. “Maybe I should just read my horoscope and check the stock market. The past few days crude oil has been spiking. Delta will be glad to hear Wilfred can buy
her another new Cadillac for Christmas.”
Clementine chuckled. “It’ll probably be diamonds this year. Or a ski trip to Telluride. So many stars have homes there she thinks she’ll get a glimpse of one.”
Oscar laughed outright and then the two of them began to wind down the conversation. By the time Clementine said goodbye and hung up the phone, she felt a bit better.
After all, she told herself, as she picked up her handbag and headed out of the hotel room, she’d dealt with Niles’s threats for three years now. There wasn’t any point in letting him get her spirits down now.
But things were different now, she argued with herself. She was back in Aztec. And for a few minutes last night, she’d been back in Quito’s arms. A place where she’d often prayed to be. And this morning when her eyes had first fluttered open, she’d actually felt a spurt of happiness, she’d even had a glimmer of hope that her life was finally going to head in the right direction.
Niles could do more than hurt her physically now. He could ruin everything. And no matter what, she couldn’t allow that to happen.
One day was all Quito could stand before he had to go looking for Clementine. He’d expected her to drop by the sheriff’s department yesterday and maybe even invite him on another picnic, or at least to dinner at the diner. But she hadn’t appeared and he’d gone home feeling a little hurt and cross with himself. Which was stupid really. Just because he’d had sex with a woman didn’t mean she would start falling all over him and begging for more.
Now he was headed for the Jones house. It was the last place he could think of where to look. Unless she’d decided to run back to Texas, he thought, grimly.
Minutes later he found Clementine’s dark sports car parked beneath the stone steps leading up to the yard surrounding the big house. He parked his own vehicle next to hers and started the steep climb up to the yard. Once he’d reached the porch, he could see the windows to the house were all raised and the front door was standing wide-open. He could hear the muted tones of music coming from one of the rooms and the sound of Clementine’s melodious voice singing along.
He paused on the threshold and simply listened. For years he’d thought of her voice, hungered to hear its sweetness, and now it washed through him like warm rain on a dusty day.
Enough moments passed for him to begin to feel foolish, so he lifted his fist and rapped on the door facing.
“Clementine? You have company.” He walked through the large foyer and stood at the edge of the living room.
The singing suddenly stopped and he caught the rapid sound of her footsteps coming from the wing of bedrooms.
A few seconds later, she appeared, hurrying toward him with a smile on her face that made his heart flutter like a damn teenager. He’d always believed that once a man got past a certain age, he’d lose all those strong reactions to the female gender. And for the most part, he had lost them. For the past few years women hadn’t held that much of an interest for him. Thanks to Clementine. But now that she was back, his libido seemed to be coming to vivid life again.
“Quito! What are you doing here?”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “Searching for a missing person.”
Concern crossed her face and then her mouth formed an O. “You mean me?”
“You’re the only person I haven’t been able to locate,” he said.
Laughing softly, she began to brush dust from the thighs of her jeans. “I’ve been busy. Besides, I didn’t figure you wanted me pestering you.”
She was a pest all right, he thought, but in the sweetest kind of way. “I thought you might have gone back to Texas.”
Surprise jerked her head up and her blue eyes scanned his face. “Without telling you goodbye? Quito, you know me better than that.”
Did he? All he knew that deep down, he’d somehow known she would return to him someday. What he didn’t know was just exactly how long she would stay. And that question was already tearing at his heart, consuming his thoughts.
“Well, it’s not like we’ve communicated all these years.”
The slant of her smile was full of regrets. “No. But we’ve—uh, communicated since I’ve been here.”
That was an understatement, Quito thought. The information her body had sent him the night of their picnic had been frank and fiery. So much so that the memory of it still caused a flame to burn low in his belly.
“Yeah,” he mumbled, then forced himself to look away from her and glance around the room. The dust covers had been taken down from the furniture and the oak floor was shining. The drapes and blinds had been removed from the windows, allowing streams of evening sunshine to slant across the polished floor.
“What have you been doing? Cleaning?”
She laughed at the skeptical note in his voice. “Why, yes, Quito. In spite of what you think, I do know how to handle a mop and broom. I’ve even learned how to use a scrub brush,” she said with exaggerated pride.
He looked back at her, his lips flattened with a tight grimace. “That’s not what I meant. Why are you cleaning? I thought you were putting this place up for sale.”
She moved forward, bringing her body within inches of his. Quito instantly felt himself reacting to her feminine scent and the tanned bare shoulders exposed by the gypsy blouse riding on the curves of her upper arms.
He drew in a deep breath and released it while he wondered how he was going to keep his hands off her or if he should even try.
“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” she said simply.
His brows drew together. “Isn’t that why you came up here?”
It was the excuse she’d given herself, Clementine thought. But the more she thought about her motives, the more she realized she’d wanted any reason to see Quito. For years, she’d done her best to put him out of her mind. She’d done her best to make a life apart from his. It hadn’t worked. And though she didn’t expect Quito to pick up where they’d left off, she needed this time with him to heal. To look back on all her mistakes and forgive herself for making them.
Feeling unexpectedly shy, her gaze fell to their feet. “At first the house was my sole reason for driving up here. But then I saw you in the diner.” Lifting her eyes back to his face, she smiled in a bittersweet way. “You always were impossible for me to resist.”
Knowing he was being seduced without her even trying, Quito breathed deeply once again and stepped around her. “The place is beginning to shape up. How long have you been working on it?”
“I started yesterday. It’s hard to do anything without electricity. But the power company promised they’d be out tomorrow to turn it on. In the meantime, I’ve done what I could with just a broom and a mop. Want to look at the other rooms?”
The last thing he needed to do was take a waltz with her through several bedrooms. Especially if she’d stripped the dust covers off the mattresses. He probably wouldn’t be able to stop himself from tossing her onto the bed and making love to her until neither one of them could move or talk. But he was a smart enough man to know that the more he made love to her, the more he would want to.
“No. Maybe later. I really need to get home.”
Disappointment drooped the corners of her mouth. “Oh.”
That one simple word from her lips was enough to make him feel awful. Why was it, he wondered, that to make Clementine smile was enough to fill his own soul with sunshine?
“But I thought you might like to go with me and have supper. I’ll cook you an Angus steak. Rib eye or T-bone. Your choice.”
The invitation both surprised and pleased her and she was suddenly smiling widely. “Really? Well, I’m going to hold you to that, Quito Perez. I want to see if your New Mexico beef is as good as ours down in Texas.”
She quickly glanced down at herself. “But I’m so nasty. Maybe I should clean myself up first.”
Shaking his head, Quito slipped his arm around her bare shoulders. “Forget that. You look beautiful. Even with dust on your nose. And no one is goi
ng to see you but me.”
Chuckling happily, she slid her arm against the back of his waist. “What a liar you are,” she murmured.
At the door Clementine paused long enough to lock it and then the two of them made the climb down the hill to where their vehicles sat parked together.
As Clementine started to climb into hers, Quito said, “Don’t bother with taking your car. I’ll bring you back.”
With her hand on the door handle, she arched a brow at him. “Are you sure? That’s a lot of bother.”
He made a scoffing noise. “The ranch is only about five miles away. We’ll be there in no time.”
Clementine had never been inside a law enforcement cruiser before and at first she was a little taken aback by all the paraphernalia attached to the dashboard and nestled on the floorboard between the seats.
The two-way radio crackled with static even before Quito started the engine and as he maneuvered the SUV around the sound of a female dispatcher could be heard talking to a deputy about a truck that had been abandoned on a dirt road.
As soon as Quito had the vehicle moving forward he reached over and shut off the sound of the communication device. “Sorry about that,” he said.
Half grinning, she said, “I’m really not supposed to be riding with you, am I? This is a government work vehicle.”
He sent her an amused look. “I’m working. I just found my lost person. Now I’m taking her to a safe place of shelter. I’m not breaking any law.”
Smiling, she snuggled back in the seat. It was so nice to feel like a damsel being saved by a dark knight. Quito had always made her feel that way. Safe, loved, protected. She’d been crazy to leave all those years ago. She knew that with certainty now and had known it for quite some time. But the past couldn’t be changed. And at the time, she’d been very young and very insecure. Especially where a man like Quito was concerned. He’d been too masculine, too sexy, too everything for her to handle with confidence. She’d been so afraid of marrying him, then failing as a wife and messing up both their lives. Yet it seemed as though she’d done that anyway.
From Here to Texas Page 8
