Twelve-Gauge Guardian

by B. J Daniels

“Are you all right?” Cordell cried.

  All she could do was nod. She was shaking all over after almost being run down for the second time in two days.

  He turned to look back. She did the same, but she could see nothing but darkness. She could only think that she’d almost died on the road that she’d been abducted from so many years before. Was that how this was supposed to end? She was to die here sixteen years ago and had cheated the grim reaper—but only until now.

  “That was no accident,” Cordell said. “That means the driver of that truck knows that we went by the Ambersons. They must have tipped him off. Or whoever they called about Emily tipped the driver off. The Ambersons were upset. Of course they would call someone to see if it was true about her abduction by Orville Cline and tell the person that we’d been by.”

  Raine felt his gaze on her.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  She was trembling, still shaken by the near accident and that horrible feeling that this was where she was meant to die.

  Cordell unhooked his seat belt, then reached over, unhooked hers and pulled her to him. The night was dark as a cloak around them. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered against her hair.

  Raine drew back and looked up at him. “You are such a terrible liar.”

  He smiled, eyes crinkling in the faint glow of the dash lights, and suddenly it was as if they were the only two people left in the world. She leaned into him, wanting desperately to believe him. The night and the cottonwoods closed around the warm cab of the pickup like a cocoon.

  She looked into his dark eyes and willed him to kiss her. She wanted to forget everything for just a while, to lose herself in this man’s strong arms.

  As if in answer, he lowered his mouth to hers. She snuggled against him, relishing the heat of his mouth, his body. He pulled her closer. Her body melded into his as he deepened the kiss. His tongue brushed over her lips, the corner of her mouth.

  Her nipples hardened against the thin sheer fabric of her bra. She swore she could hear the quickened beat of his heart in sync with her own.

  She encircled his neck as he trailed kisses along her jawbone and down the column of her throat. A shiver of naked desire moved through her. Raine could feel her pulse throb under his touch, a primitive beat like drums in her ears.

  A moan escaped her lips as she felt his fingers unbutton her shirt. His mouth dipped to the tops of her breasts.

  She arched against him, felt his thumb flick over her aching-hard nipple. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as his mouth rooted out her naked breast from the sheer fabric of her bra.

  The windows steamed over even on the warm summer night. Raine lost herself to the sound of their combined frenzied breathing, the rocking of the pickup, the feel of Cordell’s body as he cradled her to him.

  Her release came with a cry of pleasure that echoed through the cab, followed shortly by Cordell’s own. They clung to each other, naked, breathing still ragged.

  “I didn’t mean for that to happen,” Cordell said after a few minutes. “At least not in the pickup.”

  Raine kissed him. “I did,” she said as she reached for strewn clothing.

  Her cell phone rang as she was pulling on her jeans. “Hello,” she said, still sounding winded.

  “You all right?” Marias asked. “You sound funny.”

  “I’m fine.” She glanced over at Cordell. “More than fine. What’s up?”

  A beat of silence that sent her heart off again, then Marias asking, “Then you haven’t seen the news?”

  “Have they found Lara English?” Raine asked, hope filling her.

  “Orville Cline,” Marias said. “He walked away from a work release prison program yesterday morning in Deer Lodge and hasn’t been seen since.”

  Chapter Ten

  Pepper Winchester studied each of her adult children as Enid served supper.

  None of the three looked in the least bit happy to be here. So why were they here?

  She could understand Brand coming. His son was in the hospital in a coma. But then if he was so miserable here at the ranch, then why not stay in a motel in town?

  He could have easily come to Whitehorse without seeing her—or setting foot on the ranch.

  “So has it changed that much from when you were last here?” she asked into the weighty silence.

  All three seemed to be startled out of their thoughts.

  “What?” Worth said. He was large like his father but without the extraordinary good looks that the other Winchester men had inherited.

  “The ranch,” she explained. “I was wondering if you’d missed it.”

  She saw Brand’s jaw tense. He looked back down at the food on his plate, his fork suspended over a piece of dried-out roast beef.

  Pepper felt oddly sad to see that he had missed the ranch. The sting of being sent away all those years ago was still there in his expression.

  They’d all been so vocal about getting away from the ranch and her, but they’d never left. She’d assumed they’d been waiting for their share of the infamous Winchester fortune.

  Now she saw, in at least one case, she’d been wrong.

  “You missed the ranch?” The question was directed at Brand.

  He put down his fork, clearly refusing to look at her. His anger when he finally spoke was edged with disappointment.

  “What do you expect, Mother? That we wouldn’t miss this place?”

  Not her, but the ranch.

  She glanced at Virginia, who merely looked confused by the conversation, then shifted her gaze to Worth.

  “What does this ranch mean to you?”

  Virginia frowned. Worth opened his mouth, then closed it before looking across the table at his brother.

  “We were the ranch,” Brand said through gritted teeth. “It was us. We lived and breathed this place from the time we could sit a horse.”

  Pepper remembered all of them, Brand, Worth, Angus and even Virginia, working the ranch—and complaining about it. Back in those days even Enid and Alfred saddled up to help with branding and moving cattle.

  “Don’t you remember the cattle drives?” Brand asked, finally looking at her. “I thought you actually enjoyed them.”

  She had. She felt tears well in her eyes and turned her attention to her plate as she reminded herself that one of these people at this table—or even all three—might have been in on their youngest brother’s murder.

  ACTING SHERIFF MCCALL Winchester had her hands full. Everyone was out looking for Lara English. Fortunately it was June and the warm weather was holding. If Lara was just hiding somewhere, she should be fine.

  And if she wasn’t… That was what had McCall worried, especially after she’d been advised that Orville Cline had escaped. The child molester had confessed to abducting and killing a ten-year-old girl just outside of Whitehorse sixteen years before.

  McCall would have been about the same age as Emily when the girl was taken. So why hadn’t she heard about it?

  She made copies of Orville Cline’s mug shot and called in the deputies and leaders of the volunteers on the search parties.

  “Pass this around,” she’d told her deputies when she’d given them photos of Orville Cline. “Make sure everyone is on the lookout for him.”

  The girl’s disappearance had made her cancel dinner at her grandmother’s as well as her talk with Raine Chandler. It bothered her that Raine had apparently let both McCall’s cousin and grandmother believe she was a reporter.

  What that might have to do with Cyrus’s attack she had no idea. Maybe nothing. Maybe it had been as cut-and-dried as Cordell believed. Or not.

  Suspicion came with the job, McCall thought as she nodded for the deputy to send in another of the children. She’d commandeered a room in the large farmhouse where the children lived with their foster mother. The foster father was a long-haul truck driver and on the road.

  McCall had wanted to talk to each of the children. She had a feeling that o
ne of them might know more than they told their foster mother.

  A moment later, a skinny boy who looked to be about twelve came in. The first thing she noticed was how nervous he appeared. According to her list, his name was Clarence.

  “So what is it you’d like to tell me, Clarence?” she said, smiling.

  He started to say something, but she stopped him.

  “I know you saw something. Don’t worry, it’s just between you and me and you’ll feel better if you tell me. You liked Lara, didn’t you?”

  He nodded and swallowed, before choking out the words, “It was the bogeyman. He took her.”

  McCall leaned back. “The bogeyman?”

  He nodded excitedly. “I saw him when we were playing hide-and-seek.”

  “What did he look like?” she asked casually.

  “He was really big. I’d seen him in the trees before.”

  “You say he was big? Fat or tall?”

  “Tall and big and strong.”

  “What color was his hair?”

  Clarence shook his head. “He always had his hood up.”

  “Did you see his eyes? Were they dark or light?”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t get that close because he saw me. If he finds out I told—”

  “He won’t. I promise. Did you happen to see what he was driving?”

  The boy looked confused. “He wasn’t drivin’ nothin’. He was hiding in the trees.”

  “He must have had a vehicle, though, right? Maybe parked over behind the hotel.”

  Clarence frowned and looked down. When he raised his gaze, she saw that he’d thought of something. “I guess that old brown van could have been his.”

  McCall felt her heart beat a little faster. “Did you see it last night when you and Lara and the other kids were playing hide-and-seek?”

  “I was the only one who saw it when it hit that guy.” The moment he’d let the words out, she could tell he wanted to snatch them and stuff them back into his mouth. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything about that.”

  “Who told you not to say anything?” McCall asked, though she could guess.

  He looked toward the door.

  “I’m sure your mother had a reason for telling you to keep it to yourself,” she added.

  “She didn’t want no one knowin’ we were outside playing that time of the night,” Clarence said.

  Understandable. So he’d seen the van being driven by the bogeyman hit Cyrus Winchester.

  “And you didn’t see Lara after that?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “She probably ran away after seeing the bogeyman hit that guy.”

  McCall figured that was exactly what his mother had thought, as well.

  She showed the boy Orville Cline’s mug shot, but he only shook his head. Even though he couldn’t identify Cline as the bogeyman, she had a bad feeling Orville was already in town.

  “THERE ISN’T ANYTHING ELSE we can do tonight,” Cordell said as he shifted the pickup into four-wheel drive and drove down the creek to a spot where he could get back on the road above them.

  Raine knew he was right. She was sure that the person who’d just run them off the road was more concerned with them than Lara. If Lara survived tonight she should be safe until after the Whitehorse Summer Gala tomorrow night.

  Unless, of course, you added Orville Cline into the mix.

  She told herself that something was going on between him and the couple who’d abducted her sixteen years ago.

  Raine could only hope it was a falling out and not some kind of deal.

  But as Cordell said, there was nothing she could do about it tonight. Who knew where Lara might be hidden. With all the old abandoned farmhouses and sheds around she could be anywhere.

  All Raine could do was pray that Lara was still all right. She had to believe that whoever had gotten here would finally make contact tomorrow night at the dance.

  They drove over to the hospital to visit his brother.

  Cyrus’s condition hadn’t changed. Raine could see the toll this was taking on Cordell and wished there was something she could do. Finding the person who’d done this was the only thing she could do. Tomorrow night at the dance, she promised herself. Someone would contact her. She had to believe that.

  “Are you all right?” she asked Cordell as they left the hospital.

  “Every hour, every day, that he doesn’t wake up…”

  He took off his Stetson and raked a hand through his hair. “I keep telling myself that Cyrus is strong and no one has more determination. If anyone can come back from this it’s him.”

  Raine took his hand as they walked out to his brother’s pickup.

  “Let’s get something to eat. No way am I going back out to the ranch. Want to take our chances at a motel?”

  She nodded and squeezed his hand. They needed each other. She didn’t kid herself that their lovemaking earlier had been anything more than that. But they had made love, tenderly and sweetly, and just the thought of being in his arms again warded off the chill of their circumstances for a while.

  Cordell pulled into the drive-thru at the Dairy Queen and ordered them dinner, then drove to a motel on High way 2. They ate sitting in the middle of the bed, eating and talking about anything but what was going on right now.

  He told her about growing up on ranches, moving from one ranch to another as the jobs changed with his father and brother. Raine told him about growing up in North Dakota, fishing with her adopted father.

  They watched the late news. Nothing new about Lara.

  Also no sign of Orville Cline, but law enforcement officers across the state were looking for him.

  They showered together, then made love, lying after ward spent in each other’s arms, and fell asleep comforting each other.

  CORDELL WOKE TO FIND the bed beside him empty. He sat up with a start. Raine stood silhouetted against the open curtains of the window. Star and moonlight glittered around her.

  He could see that she was hugging herself, staring out at the night. He could well imagine her thoughts. Lara was never far from his.

  Rising from the bed, he stepped up behind her to wrap his arms around her and look out into the night. She leaned back into him with a sigh and he felt the intimacy of this moment more strongly than even their lovemaking.

  She turned in his arms to look up at him. “I don’t know what I would have done without you and if it hadn’t been for your brother…”

  He kissed her gently.

  “Do you believe in fate?”

  Cordell smiled at that. She sounded like his brother. Even under the circumstances, Cyrus would have believed this was meant to happen. Cordell couldn’t accept that. “I don’t know why this has happened but I’m glad that you’re safe.”

  She smiled and closed the curtains, letting him lead her back to bed. They lay side by side, both staring up at the ceiling.

  “Who was she, the woman who hurt you?” Raine asked, turning to lean on an elbow to study him in the dim light of the motel room.

  “Who said…” His voice trailed off as he met her gaze. “My ex-wife.”

  Raine nodded. “She broke your heart.”

  He smiled at that. “Let’s just say she made me gun-shy when it comes to trusting women.”

  “I’ve noticed.” She pushed a lock of his hair back from his forehead. “How long has it been?”

  “Four years.”

  She let out a low whistle. “She really must have done a number on you.”

  He nodded and dragged his gaze away. “She wasn’t who I thought she was.”

  Raine lay back again to look up at the ceiling.

  “Neither am I.”

  “You’re Raine Chandler,” he said, pushing himself up on an elbow to gaze into her wonderful face. “One of the strongest, most determined women I’ve ever met.”

  She smiled at that. “I don’t feel very strong right now.”

  “You came back here even though you had to have suspecte
d it was a trap,” he said.

  “As corny as it sounds, I wanted closure. I thought if I could get justice, as well, then…” She shook her head.

  “Now I couldn’t quit if I wanted to.”

  No, and neither could he.

  “What will you do when we find the person who hit your brother?” she asked, looking concerned.

  Cordell shook his head. “If you’re asking me if I will want to kill him, hell, yes. Will I? No.”

  “It will be enough for you to just turn him over to the sheriff?” she asked, surprised.

  “It will have to be. I don’t take the law into my own hands.”

  She said nothing.

  “Raine? Is there something you’re planning to do that I should know about?”

  She met his gaze. “What if I was planning to kill the person responsible for Emily Frank’s abduction?”

  “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to.”

  “But you wouldn’t try to stop me.”

  He studied her for a long while before he said, “No.”

  She looped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her. The kiss was filled with passion and heat. He felt the fire catch flame inside him. This time their lovemaking was fierce.

  They weren’t so different, the two of them, Cordell thought later as they lay spent in each other’s arms. Both of them were afraid to trust, especially when it came to the opposite sex. And both of them wanted justice but could easily take vengeance.

  He feared that after tomorrow night there would be no going back for either of them.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next evening Cordell looked up and saw Raine standing at the top of the stairs at the ranch lodge. His breath rushed out of him. She was beautiful. The gown his grandmother had given her fit like a glove, running over her curves like flowing water.

  She hesitated, looking shy. But as their eyes met, she smiled and came down the stairs to take his outstretched hand.

  “Wow,” he said as he closed her hand in his. Something was changing between them. He could feel himself falling for this woman and it scared the hell out of him. With a start, he noticed she was wearing a tiny silver horse pin—the same one she’d been wearing the day she was abducted.