Kissing her hair, he slid his hands down Sky’s shaking shoulders, wanting to soothe her. Love her. There just wasn’t any question left in Gray’s world that he didn’t daily think about telling Sky he was in love with her. Patience told him to hold off. Sky had just taken the largest step of getting her PTSD under control. And it was going to take her months to adjust to no longer being anxious, alert and seeing a threat at every turn. Gray knew he had to wait, not wanting to put more pressure or stress on Sky right now. They had the time, and he was going to enjoy watching her step out from beneath the dark cloud of PTSD and take even more exciting steps toward healing herself.
Sniffling, Sky pulled a tissue out of her jean pocket and stepped out of Gray’s embrace to blow her nose. She blotted her eyes and looked up at him through her lashes. “I so want it to stay away,” she managed brokenly.
Gray’s voice became thick with emotion. “It will,” and he used his thumbs to dry the last of the tears on her cheeks. “This stuff works, Sky. Jordana is on the cutting edge of helping military vets, and others who have suffered abuse, with this particular symptom.” He saw her hope conflict with her worry. “Listen, in the next few days, you’ll see. You don’t have to believe me. It will just happen.” Her lower lip trembled, and Gray placed a soft kiss on her mouth, wanting her to believe a miracle really had happened. Because it had. His heart swelled with tenderness toward Sky because she’d been such a fighter to try to get back to normalcy. “Come on. Let’s walk back to the center,” he told her. “We have a group coming in shortly.”
In the second week of July, Sky got to take care of another young baby for a couple who had come for a vacation to the Elk Horn Ranch. Sam and Becky Cooper had been worried at first. Could Sky really take care of their red-haired four-month-old daughter, Adeline, or Addy, as they called her? They were less anxious when they found out from Iris that Sky was an R.N. During the day, if the parents were on a ride or taking a raft trip down the Snake River, Sky got to take care of Addy. And was it all right if Sky took the baby to the employee house across the street to care for her? Becky came to check out the premises and walked away happy, knowing her baby girl was safe and in caring hands.
Sky placed the baby bassinet in the living room. She could hold the baby, feed her, rock her, and when Addy fell asleep, Sky would gently place her in the bassinet. Every day, she would get to be with Addy for a few hours. It also gave Becky a chance to rest because new babies kept parents up quite regularly for the first three or four months of their lives. And once Becky entrusted her with her green-eyed little daughter, Sky watched the dark circles disappear from beneath Becky’s eyes.
Sky had just finished feeding Addy and burping her over her shoulder at her medical-dispensary office when she heard the snorts and whinnies of horses in the nearby dude corral. Becky and Sam were going on a long three-hour ride into the mountains with several wranglers. “I wonder if you’re going to be horse crazy, too, Addy?” she asked with a smile, sitting down in the rocking chair with her.
The baby’s eyes were barely open, her tiny bow mouth moving, emulating the sucking motion of a bottle between her lips. Sky laughed softly, cradling Addy in her arms, resting her elbows on the arms of the rocker, the baby snug against her body. Sky closed her eyes, feeling abnormally tired. Maybe because she no longer felt the anxiety.
Gray had told her after his anxiety left, he found himself sleeping longer, as if to catch up on all the sleep-deprived years he’d had the symptoms. The anxiety had kept him restless, sleepless, and he’d been lucky to get three or four hours a night. Sky grimaced. It had been the same with her. Constant sleep deprivation had worn her down, too. Now without that terrible anxious feeling, Sky had found herself sleeping eight hours without interruption. Or, she thought with a soft smile hovering on her lips, sometimes she needed more sleep because Gray and she couldn’t keep their hands off one another. Slowly rocking the chair, Sky sighed, the baby tucked safely against her, soundly asleep in her arms.
* * *
GRAY HAD MOUNTED the steps to the medical dispensary when he spotted Sky rocking the baby in her arms. His gut tightened. His heart bloomed with a powerful feeling of love toward Sky. God, she looked so beautiful. Warmth drenched Gray as he stood there, motionless, watching as she leaned over, placing a kiss on the infant’s tiny brow.
Her smile flooded him with new feelings. Throat tightening, Gray felt such a powerful wave of love and protectiveness toward Sky that it left him stunned. He swallowed hard and quietly backed down the steps, not wanting to disturb her or the baby. He didn’t want to interrupt the cherished moment. Gray turned and walked down the sidewalk to the main office instead.
Opening the door, Gray stepped in and saw Rudd behind the desk.
“Hey,” Rudd called, “did you get a call from Deputy Cade Garner earlier? He’s been tryin’ to reach you.”
Frowning, Gray halted at his desk and pulled out his cell phone. The battery was dead. “No. What does he want, Rudd?” Gray remembered last night after dinner he’d taken Sky to his bed for dessert, and he’d forgotten to plug in the phone to charge the battery beforehand.
Rudd held up the landline phone to him. “I’ll dial, and you can talk to him directly. He didn’t say what he wanted, just that it was important to speak with you.”
Thanking him, he heard Cade’s deep voice answer at the other end.
“Sorry I didn’t get your message. What’s up, Cade?”
“We had a jailbreak this morning, Gray. Those two men of Harper’s who assaulted you are gone,” he told him grimly.
Gray’s gut churned. His mind spun. Who had bailed them? And how? He had a lot of questions, and Cade sounded harried and frustrated. “How did that happen?”
“Someone, and we don’t know who, got past the guard, knocked him unconscious and stole the keys. I was made aware of the jailbreak at 5:30 a.m., and that gave those two convicts a half an hour’s head start.”
“You’ve put out an APB on them, haven’t you?” Gray demanded, his fingers tightening around the phone.
“Immediately.”
“Dammit,” Gray whispered. “This is Harper’s doing. I know it.”
“Wouldn’t disagree with you,” Cade said wearily, “but there’s no fingerprints, no nothing, to prove our theory. The man or men who came in here sprayed paint over the cameras so we have no video footage of who they might have been. There’s no foot or boot prints anywhere, either. We’ve basically had our hands tied. I have several deputies canvassing the area, talking to surrounding neighbors who might have been up at that time this morning. So far, we have no leads.”
“And so Harper springs them so they aren’t around for their trial.”
“That’s what the commander and I think. Yes.”
As he rubbed his face wearily, Gray’s mind leaped in several directions. “What’s your best bet on them? They leave the county? For good?”
“Most likely,” Cade said. “Probably are long gone over the Idaho or Utah border in a car provided by Harper. I’ve alerted Idaho, Utah and Montana police about the escape, sent photos and fingerprints to them. But they’re probably in a car, in civilian clothing, and they’ll never be identified unless they’re accidentally pulled over for a traffic stop.”
Mouth thinning, Gray looked out the front screen door of the office. “Or Harper could have paid them to come after me. To get even.”
“Doubtful. What would Harper stand to gain from that? His two guys screwed it up with you in the first place. Why would he send them after you again?”
“Makes sense,” Gray muttered, still feeling uneasy about it. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. This wasn’t over.
“I’m going over to pay Harper a visit right now, interview him. Of course, he’ll play dumb and claim he didn’t know anything about it and wash his hands of it.”
“Look, nothing for you to do on your end. You might clue Iris and Rudd in and let them know. You have a two-mile-long asphalt road from the main highway to your ranch. It’s the only entrance and exit to the Elk Horn, so ask them to keep their eyes peeled the next couple of weeks for unknown vehicles coming in?”
“I’ll do it,” Gray promised. “Anything else?”
“Not right now. Get your cell charged, eh?” Cade chuckled.
His teasing broke the tension in Gray. “Yeah, I’ll do that. We’ll be in touch,” he promised, handing the phone to Rudd.
* * *
SKY WAS AT the stove preparing their nightly meal when Gray walked in. She sensed rather than saw he was concerned about something. His mouth was set, his eyes hard. When she saw his game face in place, Sky knew something was up. It was just a question of what. She briskly stirred the red and green peppers along with the onion in the skillet. “Hey, are you up for beef stir-fry with noodles tonight?” she called, smiling over at him.
Gray threw his baseball cap on the peg and shut the door. “Sounds good,” he said.
Dammit, he didn’t want to have to tell Sky about the jailbreak, but he knew he had to. He wandered into the kitchen, absorbing her. The yellow apron was tied askew around her slender waist. Sky usually, when coming home for the night, would get a quick shower to wash off the sweat and dust of the day. Her hair was still slightly damp, framing her profile. She’d changed from Levi’s into a pair of soft, cream-colored sweats, a favorite of hers. Her small, bare feet stuck out from beneath them. She was heart-stoppingly beautiful.
Coming to a halt, he slid his hands across her shoulders, leaned down and kissed her temple. “Mmm, smells good, and so do you...”
“Iris gave me some elk stew meat before I left the office,” she said, turning and giving him a warm look. Her heart took off as she relished his large hands skimming her shoulders. Sky would never tire of Gray’s touch. Not ever. “She was cleaning out her freezer, so I told her I’d take it home and figure out a way to use it creatively tonight.”
Leaning over her, he looked into the skillet. “Makes me hungry.”
“You smell sweaty,” she murmured teasingly. But he smelled good to Sky.
Grumbling, Gray released her. “Yeah, I was out helping a crew of wranglers dig a ditch over at the main corral. That last rain we had washed part of it out, and we need that area to drain and dry. Do I have time for a quick shower?”
“Yep,” Sky answered, grinning. “Go for it.”
Gray waited until after dessert, pineapple upside-down cake and coffee, before he broached the jailbreak with Sky. He urged her to come into the living room and sit down on the couch with him. He chose a corner, and Sky came and settled into his arms, a look of contentment on her face. Her hair was dry, and he took a few of the strands, moving them away from her cheek as he held her warm gaze. God, he loved her. So damn much. His hand stilled on her shoulder, and he slid his other hand across her hip as she rested her head against his chest.
“Mmm, this is even better than pineapple upside-down cake,” Sky teased softly, moving her hand languidly up across his chest.
“It is,” Gray sighed. He wanted to forget Cade’s phone call and just sit here with the woman he loved in his arms. Gnawing worry forced him to speak. In as few words as possible, he told Sky about the jailbreak. Instantly, she tensed in his arms. When he was finished, she pulled out from beneath his arm and sat up, her hand on his thigh, studying him worriedly, her eyes filled with fear. Dammit anyway. Anger toward Harper simmered within him.
“What does this really mean, Gray?”
Hearing the fear in her husky tone, he slid his hand against her jaw. “Cade thinks they’re gone.” He scowled and dropped his hand. “I’ve already told Rudd, who will alert the other employees about strange cars coming into the ranch. We have rental cars in and out of here all the time because of the families vacationing here. Rudd said everyone will be a lot more alert.”
“Because those two men could drive in here?” She felt her heart beginning a slow pound of dread. And come after Gray again.
“Yes,” Gray reluctantly admitted.
Sky had tucked her lower lip between her teeth, worrying it. A sign he’d come to realize was an unspoken red flag that Sky was far more upset than she appeared. He moved his hand gently up and down her bare arm. “Look, I don’t need you to fret about this. We’ve got it handled.”
Sky’s brows fell, and she held Gray’s darkening eyes. He had his game face on. He always had it on when things weren’t going right. “Really,” she said. “It’s Harper. They were his drivers. He’s behind all of this, and although no one can prove it, he’s the one who hired those two guys to jump you, Gray.”
“No disagreement with you on that.” He took a deep breath and tangled his fingers through Sky’s hair. This was the part he hated saying. “Sky, you need to be more careful when you have to drive into town on errands. Neither Cade nor I think this is over. Harper is behind this, but there’s no proof. At least, not enough yet to get his ass in jail, where it belongs.”
Shaken, she stared at Gray. “But—”
“No, listen to me, baby. Harper saw you in the drugstore. He came in, walked up on you and scared the hell out of you.” His fingers tightened around hers that had grown damp and cool. “He’s a stalker. Cade and I both agree that Harper could go after you. It’s now common knowledge to everyone that we like one another. Harper would pick up on that.”
Startled, Sky whispered, “Me? Why?”
“Because it’s no secret in town that you and I have a relationship, Sky. People see us holding hands or having lunch at Mo’s together...” His mouth thinned. “It’s an angle, that’s all. Cade is the one that brought it up to me. I honestly hadn’t even thought in that direction. The attack was focused on me, not you. And Harper hasn’t tried going after you since that one time he stalked you in the drugstore.” He squeezed her fingers and brought her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it. “I just need you to be more alert, Sky, that’s all. I don’t want you driving into town alone while this is ongoing.”
She sat very quiet, absorbing the information. At least she still felt calm even though this was a potential threat. That amazed Sky, and she was glad that the cortisol had been tamed and no longer made her feel that sort of dreaded threat. But this was a genuine threat, and Sky saw the worry banked in Gray’s eyes. “Okay,” she promised him huskily, “when I go into town, I’ll make sure one of the wranglers comes in with me.”
“Yes. Rudd agrees that you should have a bodyguard of sorts around, another man if I can’t do it myself. This is just a precaution, Sky. You aren’t the target. I am.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better about this, Gray.” She held his unhappy gaze. Suddenly, Sky wanted to tell him she loved him, but withheld the words. If she admitted her love for him, it could become a distraction. It might make Gray feel even more responsible. More agitated. No, Sky decided, she would wait until this dark cloud was no longer hanging over them.
“How long do you think we should be more alert?” she asked.
Gray shrugged. “Cade has an APB out on those two in four states.” He slid his hands around her face, looking deep into her eyes. “This is just temporary, Sky. Nothing’s going to come of it, but you need to know, and we need to put some protection for you in place.” Because Gray couldn’t conceive of ever losing Sky. He’d lost his wife, Julia, to drug runners. Now he was thrown back into what seemed a tortured repeat of what had happened in Peru. Harper was a drug runner, too,
and Gray knew his type would kill without a second thought. He didn’t want Sky in the line of fire as Julia had been caught in. And died.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE MID-AUGUST SUN was hot, heating up the valley and making everyone sweat. Gray had a few minutes to spare after showing another group of families through the wildlife center, and he wanted to touch base with Sky. Above him, to the west over the blue-flanked granite Tetons, clouds were gathering. By late this afternoon, thunderstorms would start rolling across the wide valley, giving life-affirming rain to everything.
He hadn’t seen Sky since breakfast, knowing she was busy babysitting several young boys, ages seven and eight, over at the wrangler dining room. Sky had created a play center for the children in late July, and it was proving to be a highly popular place for restless little boys. Was she at the house yet? Or still over at the dining room? He saw the parents of these boys who had come back from the ride with their charges across the street.
Gray’s heart lifted as he pushed open the door. “Sky?” he called. Usually, near noon, if she could pull away, she would be over here making them sandwiches. Then they could spend a quality half hour or so with one another. Something he needed like breathing air. As he turned to close the door, he heard the bathroom door down the hall open. Frowning, he saw Sky coming out, wiping her mouth with a washcloth. What the hell?
“Hey,” he called, walking toward her, frowning. “Are you all right?”
Sky halted and lifted her head. “Gray...oh, I’m fine.” She managed a part grimace, the washcloth in her hand. “I must have a touch of summer flu.” She wrinkled her nose, her stomach still roiling.
Concerned, Gray halted, sliding his finger beneath her chin, lifting it a bit. Sky’s blue eyes were dark. Her golden skin was pale, and he could see perspiration on her brow. “You have a fever?” He pressed the palm of his hand gently against her forehead. “Nope, no fever.”
Making a disgusted sound, Sky slid her arm around his waist and urged him to walk down the hall. “Maybe food poisoning, but the cooks are so careful with the food prep.”
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