Grayson

by Delores Fossen

  The dead man was still there, of course, sprawled out among the clumps of dried leaves and fallen tree limbs. Grayson snapped a couple of pictures and checked the signal. Still too weak to send the photos, but he made a mental note to keep checking. He made another mental note not to do any more looking at Eve. No thinking about Eve. No more need for her that was generated below the belt.

  Hard to do with her standing there in that body-hugging dress.

  “Thank you,” she whispered when he went back to her.

  He didn’t want to hear this. “Don’t,” Grayson warned. “Don’t say anything.” He wasn’t a man who dwelled on regrets, but by God he could make an exception.

  She stepped in front of him and forced eye contact. “Thank you,” Eve repeated, and she leaned in pressed a chaste kiss on his cheek. His cheek!

  Here his body was still burning for her, and she had risked giving him a brotherly kiss like that. The woman really was playing with fire.

  Grayson stepped back and fastened his attention on the area where the dead man was. “Did I hurt you?” he growled.

  “No.” Eve answered it so quickly that she’d probably anticipated the question. Which meant he’d been too rough. Grayson shot her an over-the-shoulder glance to let her know that.

  She shrugged. “I don’t mind a little rough. But you’re aware of that.”

  Yeah, he was. He knew every inch of her body and could have gotten her off with just a touch. But Grayson had tried to keep the pleasure factor out of this. For him that was impossible. His body was humming, and well satisfied, even though his brain was confused as hell.

  “How long before you know if this worked?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask my doctor.” She hesitated. “I figured I wouldn’t call you or anything with the results. I thought it would be easier that way. Is that okay?”

  Was it? Grayson didn’t have a clue what was okay. His brain was a mess right now. “Yeah,” he settled for saying.

  She pulled her coat around her and shivered. Eve was obviously cold, but Grayson intended to do nothing about that. He’d already done enough for the day.

  “I don’t want you to tell your family about this,” she insisted. “As soon as we’re out of here, I’ll leave so you won’t have to see me.”

  He gave her another look that was probably more scowl than anything else.

  She huffed. “Grayson, I’m not stupid. I know what’s going on in your head, and you’ll want to put as much distance between us as possible.”

  True. But distance was going to be a problem until he figured out why the man had wanted her dead. Grayson was about to remind her of that when he heard Dade call out to them.

  “Over here!” Grayson answered. With Eve right behind him, he went in the direction of his brother’s voice.

  Eve raked her hand through her hair, trying to fix it, and she brushed off the bits of leaves and twigs from her coat. Grayson tried to do the same.

  He soon spotted Dade, and he wasn’t alone. Deputy Melissa Garza was with him. Mel, as she liked to be called. And Grayson was thankful Dade had brought her along.

  “You okay?” Dade asked when he was still a good twenty yards away.

  Grayson nodded, but he was far from okay. He tipped his head to the body. “Single gunshot wound to the chest, and he bled out. It’s the man we chased into the woods behind Eve’s cottage.”

  Mel began to trudge her way through to the dead man, but Dade stayed on the path that led directly toward Grayson. As his brother walked closer, he glanced at both Eve and him. Not an ordinary glance but a suspicious one.

  “I have the photos,” Grayson said showing Dade his cell. Best to get Dade’s suspicious mind back where it belonged—on the investigation. “Is the medical examiner on the way?”

  “Yeah. He and his crew are right behind us.” Dade volleyed more glances between the two of them.

  “Good. Mel can stay with the body, and you can get Eve and me out of here,” Grayson instructed. “I want to get the photos to the Rangers.”

  Dade called out Grayson’s instructions to Mel, and the deputy nodded.

  “Are you really okay?” Dade asked Eve as the three of them headed back toward the road.

  “You mean other than the raw nerves, the tear-stained cheeks and adrenaline crash?” The corner of her mouth lifted. “Yes, I’m okay.”

  Dade hooked his arm around her shoulders. “I wish you could have had a better homecoming.” He shifted his attention to Grayson but didn’t say anything. Dade’s left eyebrow lifted.

  Grayson ignored him and kept on walking. Thankfully, they soon reached a spot where the cell signal was stronger, and he fired off the photos. If the dead man had a police record, then it wouldn’t take the Rangers long to come up with an ID.

  It took a good ten minutes for them to get back to the road where Dade had a cruiser waiting. Dade helped Eve into the front passenger’s seat, closed the door and turned back around to stare at Grayson.

  “Don’t ask,” Grayson growled in a whisper.

  Dade lifted his shoulder. “Hey, you got my vote if you’re getting back together with Eve.”

  “It’s not a vote.” Grayson cursed. “And what part of ‘don’t ask’ didn’t you understand?”

  “The don’t part.” Dade smirked as only a younger brother could manage to do.

  Grayson cursed some more. “Look, I’m in a bad mood. The kind of mood where I’d love to beat someone senseless. My advice? Stay out of my way, or that someone will be you.” He threw open the door and climbed into the driver’s seat.

  As soon as Dade got in, Grayson sped back toward town. His mood improved a little when he saw the ME’s van approaching from the opposite direction. That meant Mel wouldn’t have to stay out there very long, and that was good. He needed all his deputies back at the station so he could figure out what the heck was going on.

  “Any idea how the dead man tracked you down?” Dade asked from the backseat.

  Grayson was about to say no, but then he groaned. “Probably a tracking device. He put one on Eve’s car, we know that, and I’m guessing he put one on the truck, too.”

  Eve made a small gasping sound of surprise.

  “I’ll have someone check when they fish your truck from the creek,” Dade assured him. But Grayson heard the hesitation in his brother’s voice. Dade was no doubt wondering why Grayson hadn’t thought of the possibility of a tracking device before he’d driven the truck away from his office.

  Grayson didn’t need another reason to put some distance between Eve and him, but there it was. He was thinking like a rookie, and the stakes were too high for him to make another mistake.

  This mistake could have gotten Eve killed.

  He wouldn’t forget that.

  Since Eve was shivering, Grayson decided to turn up the heat, though the adrenaline was probably more responsible than the chilly temperature. Eve apparently had the same idea because she reached at the same time he did. Their hands collided. And she pulled back as if he’d scalded her. Ironic, since just a half hour earlier he’d been deep inside her. Still, it was good they were in agreement about this no-touching thing.

  “Uh, I’m guessing Eve’s in protective custody?” Dade wanted to know. It sounded like a loaded question.

  Eve turned in the seat to look at Dade, and Grayson nodded. “She can stay at the ranch.”

  “At the ranch?” She shook her head. “That’s probably not a good idea.”

  Yeah. He was in agreement with that, too. The sex against the tree had only created more tension and friction between them, but there couldn’t be any more mistakes.

  “You might not have to be there long,” Grayson explained. “We just need to tie up some loose ends on this case.” He looked in the rearview mirror so he could see Dade. “Any more news on our DB, Nina Manning?”

  “Still waiting on the preliminaries. Once we have the next of kin identified, we can talk to them, as well.”

 
Grayson shook his head. “You said there was a missing person’s report filed on her a year ago. Who filed that?”

  “Her mother, Theresa Manning. She was a single parent, no record of the father, and Theresa died about a month ago. Yeah,” Dade added when Grayson glanced at him in the mirror. “Theresa was diabetic and died from an insulin overdose. Could have been an accident, but I asked the Houston cops to look into it.”

  Yes, because the timing was suspicious.

  Grayson’s phone buzzed, and he saw the caller was from the Texas Ranger lab. “Sheriff Ryland,” he answered and put the call on speaker so Dade could hear.

  “Ranger Egan Caldwell,” the man identified himself. “I have a match on the photos of the dead man.”

  Grayson released the breath he’d been holding. “Who is he?”

  “Leon Ames. He has a record, obviously. Seven years ago for assault with a deadly weapon. He spent two years in a Bexar county jail and is still on probation.”

  Well, prison hadn’t rehabilitated him, that’s for sure. “He tried to kill me twice today, and he’s in the photograph with the dead woman, Nina Manning. Is there a connection?”

  “Nothing obvious, but he’s got a history with the other man in the photo, Sebastian Collier.”

  “How?” Dade and Grayson asked in unison. Eve leaned closer to the phone and listened.

  “Leon Ames works…worked for Sebastian’s father, Claude. He was a handyman at their San Antonio estate.”

  Handyman. That was an interesting word, considering the photograph with the dead woman and the attempts to kill Eve and him.

  “I’m faxing you the rest of the report,” the ranger continued. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think Leon Ames was working alone. From everything I can see, he was nothing more than a lackey.”

  “What makes you think that?” Grayson asked.

  “A large sum of money deposited into his bank account the day after the murder. Twenty thousand dollars. We can’t trace the money because he made the deposit in cash. My guess is that money was a payoff for services rendered.”

  Grayson suspected as much. “So, who hired Leon— Claude or Sebastian?”

  “Either is possible,” the ranger answered. “But I think all roads in this investigation lead to the Colliers, and that you’ll find a killer at the estate.”

  Chapter Ten

  Eve needed a friendly face, and she saw one the moment Grayson pulled to a stop in front of the Collier estate. His brother, Lieutenant Nate Ryland, was there waiting for them on the sidewalk in front of the towering black-iron fence that fronted the equally towering Collier estate.

  Nate smiled, his dimples flashing, and the moment she stepped from the car, he pulled her into his arms. “Even under these circumstances, it’s good to see you,” Nate whispered.

  “It’s good to see you, too.” And Eve meant it. She’d never felt more at home than in the arms of a Ryland, and Nate was no exception.

  She inched back to meet his gaze and return the smile. The Ryland DNA was there all right, etched over his perfectly chiseled face, black hair and storm-gray eyes. But Nate was smooth around the cowboy-edges in his dark blue suit, which was a job requirement for San Antonio P.D. Like the rest of the Ryland clan, he was more at home in Wranglers and on the back of a horse.

  Would her baby be the same?

  Her baby, she mentally repeated. And she felt her smile deepen. Yes, a pregnancy was a long shot, but it was possible that she was well on her way to getting the child she’d always wanted.

  “Eve?” Nate said, drawing her out of her daydream. “You okay?”

  “Of course. I was just distracted for a moment.” Eve stared at him, and her smile faded when she remembered what Nate had gone through. “I’m sorry about your wife’s death,” she whispered.

  Eve was even sorrier that she hadn’t gone to the funeral or spoken to him about it before now. Nate had always felt like a brother to her, and she’d let him down at a time when he no doubt needed all of his friends. “How are you handling things?”

  His smile faded, too. “It’s, uh, complicated,” he mumbled. Nate’s gaze swung in Grayson’s direction, an indication to her that this conversation was over. “Are you ready to do battle with the Colliers?”

  “Considering their hired gun tried to kill us, yeah, I’m ready.”

  Nate gave a crisp nod. As a lieutenant, he’d no doubt done his share of interrogations. He was also a cop with some clout when it came to handling an investigation.

  And Grayson.

  If Nate hadn’t had some influence, Eve wouldn’t have been allowed to tag along. As it was, she’d practically had to beg Grayson to let her come. He’d wanted to tuck her safely away at the ranch. Eve wanted to be safe, but she didn’t want that at the expense of learning the truth. She had taken the incriminating photo, and she wanted to confront the person responsible for what was going on.

  “Anything I should know before we go inside?” Grayson asked his brother.

  “Well, they haven’t lawyered up. But I doubt that means you’ll get a lot of cooperation, especially when you link the dead woman to their now dead employee.”

  Eve hoped Nate was wrong. She wanted answers today so she could start distancing herself from Grayson. She couldn’t keep leaning on these Ryland shoulders.

  “So, Claude and Sebastian know that Leon was killed?” she clarified.

  “They do. And when I spoke to them over the phone, I also told them that Leon tried to murder both of you.” Nate walked toward the gate and flashed his badge at the monitor. Seconds later, the gate creaked open.

  “I’d like to handle the interview myself,” Grayson insisted.

  “Figured you would. But if we learn anything we can use to hold either one of them, I need to make the arrest since we’re not sure where this murder occurred.”

  An arrest. Eve hoped that would happen, and then things could finally get back to normal. Well, maybe. If she was indeed pregnant, then nothing would be normal again.

  Nate shot her a glance. “And I hoped you would say as little as possible. I want them to see you, so they’ll know that the picture you took is no longer a reason to come after you. That’s the only reason I’m allowing you in the middle of a murder investigation.”

  She nodded, mumbled a thanks.

  “Eve knows the rules,” Grayson said, and it sounded like a warning. He walked ahead of them toward the porch that stretched the entire width of the three-story house. There were dozens of white columns, each of them ringed with fresh holly, and a five-foot-tall vertical wreath hung on the door.

  Nate fell in step alongside her. “Did something happen between you two?” he asked.

  What—did she have a big sign stuck to her back proclaiming that she’d had sex with Grayson? Of course, sex was a very loose term for what had happened between them. It had seemed more like a biology experiment.

  And that, she reminded herself, was exactly what she’d asked of Grayson.

  No strings attached. No emotion. No discussion.

  Well, she’d gotten all of that. He had hardly said two words to her when they’d gone back to the sheriff’s office to change his clothes. Or on the drive from Silver Creek to her San Antonio condo so she could get a change of clothes, as well. Ditto for more of his silence on the drive to the Collier estate.

  And that was just as well.

  He was making it easier for her to walk away.

  “Nothing happened,” she lied.

  Nate made a sound that could have meant anything and joined Grayson on the porch as he rang the doorbell. Eve stayed just behind them. A maid wearing a uniform opened the door, and without saying a word, she ushered them through the marble-floored foyer and into a sitting room where two men waited for them.

  The room was decorated in varying shades of white and cream. A stark contrast to the floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree that was practically smothered in shiny blood-red ornaments. After the real blood she’d seen today, the sight of tho
se ornaments twisted her stomach a little.

  Eve recognized both men in the room—Claude from his photos in the newspapers and Sebastian from the picture she’d taken of him at the rodeo. Both men were dressed in suits. Claude’s was black. His son’s, a dark gray. Both men were sipping something from cut-crystal glasses that looked and smelled expensive.

  “Sheriff Grayson Ryland,” he said, stepping ahead of Nate and her. “This is my brother, Lt. Nate Ryland from SAPD, and Eve Warren.”

  “Ah, Ms. Warren, the woman who took the photo in question,” Sebastian quickly supplied. He crossed the room and shook all of their hands. His expression and greeting were friendly enough, but Eve wondered just how long that would last.

  The friendly demeanor didn’t extend to the other Collier in the room. Claude was a carbon copy of his son, but he was at least twenty pounds thinner and his scowl bunched up his otherwise classic features. His navy blue eyes were narrowed, and he watched them as if they were thieves about to run off with the family silver. He also didn’t ask them to sit, probably because he hoped this would be a short visit. Or maybe he was just naturally rude.

  “Yes, I took the picture,” Eve answered when Sebastian continued to stare at her. “How did you know about that?”

  That question earned her scolding looks from Nate and Grayson, who obviously didn’t want her involved in this questioning, but Sebastian only flashed that thousand-watt smile. A smile that probably worked wonders on his business associates, but to her it felt slimy.

  Just like the man himself.

  “A journalist friend told me,” Sebastian volunteered. “I understand it was going to be printed in tomorrow’s newspaper. But then you managed to ID the unfortunate victim.”

  “Yes,” Grayson verified. He kept his gaze pinned to Sebastian. “Mind explaining what you and your handyman were doing in the photo with Nina Manning?”

  Sebastian opened his mouth to answer, but his father’s voice boomed through the room. “Leon Ames is not my handyman. I fired him three days ago.”

  Grayson and Nate exchanged glances. “Why?” Grayson demanded.