The Lawman's Promise (Buttermilk Valley Book 2)

by Rhonda Lee Carver

  “I’m an asshole for ever leaving. Can’t turn back time, though.”

  Looking at him again, his skin was almost gold in the dim lighting. “Do you plan to leave again?” It was best to be open about her thoughts.

  “I like living here.” His fingers rolled down the length of her back, then came up to nestle against the back of her neck.

  “You like being close to family?” Was she fishing? Probably so.

  “And I like being close to you. Is that too honest?”

  “Maybe a little fast.”

  “And you don’t call what we just shared a little fast?”

  She smiled. “It seemed natural.” Lifting herself up to her knees, she looked down at him.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Only far enough away so that I can look at you.” He was still naked, his olive complexion glistening, but there was a hardening between his legs. He was a beautiful man with nice bone structure, strong muscles and perfect skin tone. He smiled and his cheeks turned two shades of red.

  He reached out and swirled his fingers around her nipple, circling around the tight nub. He looked at her with such interest as if it was the first time. “You drive me wild.”

  A broad smile broke out over his face. “That’s my intention.”

  “My intention was to look at you—admire you in all of your glory—not have you cause havoc on my body.”

  “You expect to display that beautiful body so close to my face and not expect me to indulge. Crazy woman.” In a swift motion, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pushed her back, both collapsing onto the bed together with him sprawled on top of her.

  “I know it’s only been a few minutes, but you think…” She walked her fingers down his chest, between their bodies and touched his growing appendage. “My question is answered.”

  “You’re not too sore?” He lifted one brow.

  His amazing kindness and consideration always took her by surprise. “Only satisfyingly so.” She dragged him down for a kiss.

  ****

  “Are you hungry?” he asked later, still naked in bed, holding each other close. She wondered if he felt the same as her, that if they moved or disconnected their bodies, this would all disappear into a dream.

  “Famished.” She nibbled his neck.

  He laughed. “I was referring to food, but…”

  She pulled back. “I’ve worn you out. You need energy.”

  “Something like that,” he admitted.

  “I’ll take care of you.” She whirled around and bounced off the bed, and he watched her bare bottom. Nice ass.

  “That is definitely true.” He felt his body stiffen as he watched her at the side of the bed, not the least bit self-conscious about her nudity. He liked that she wasn’t bothered. She was a beautiful woman with a shape that deserved praise. It certainly did make him horny. She placed her hands on her hips and angled a curvy hip.

  “First feeding you, then I’ll take care of that later.” She dipped her gaze to his arousal. “Ham or turkey?”

  “Ham.” He groaned in disappointment when she pulled on a large T-shirt with the word “TROUBLE” engulfed in flames written across the front. She most certainly was trouble, and sexy, and many other things that he couldn’t resist. He watched as she sashayed across the room, certain she put an extra sway in her bottom just for his torturous benefit, then waved saucily before she left down the hall.

  He laid back, burying his head in the pillow and inhaling Blake’s sweet scent still lingering all over the sheets and on his body.

  Mike barked from downstairs.

  A second later he heard the crashing of glass.

  He jerked up out of bed, practically tore on his boxers and raced down the stairs. He rushed into the kitchen, finding Blake standing motionless, her back to him and her attention on the window looking out onto the backyard.

  He stepped closer, but stopped when he felt a slight pinch under his foot. The jar of mayonnaise was shattered at her feet. Carefully, he stepped behind her, swept her up into his arms and carried her away from the shards. “What happened, sweetheart?” She was trembling in his arms.

  Mike was still barking. “Hush, Mike.”

  The dog turned and looked at him. Understanding the command, he took a seat. Duff took her to the table, pulled out a chair and sat with her, still holding her in his lap. “Tell me what’s wrong.” He did a quick check of her feet and legs to make sure she wasn’t cut.

  “Someone was looking in through the window. I was at the refrigerator and Mike started barking. I turned to see what was wrong, and that’s when I saw someone, a man I think, standing at the window. I dropped the jar, then he disappeared.”

  “That’s what Mike was barking at.” His chest tightened. He was pulled between holding her, but his protective instincts took hold. “Listen, I need to go and check out the property. Will you be okay?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Go. I’ll stay with Mike.”

  He stood and carefully placed her on her feet. Kissing her on the forehead, he then quickly disappeared through the back door, not caring that he was barefoot and in his boxers. By the time he was outside, whomever was looking through the window was long gone. He stepped further off the porch and the breeze picked up. Duff inhaled sharply, catching a strong scent in the air. Smoke? He stood there, listening, but could only hear the sounds of the farm animals in the distance.

  Back in the house, he found Blake scratching Mike’s ears, but her worried expression dug into his gut like a sharpened blade. “Anything?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “I did see someone.”

  “I believe you.” And he did. But he didn’t like the sinking feeling in his gut. Not one bit.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  DUFF PULLED UP onto the McKenzie Farm, but didn’t drive on up to the house. He pulled his truck next to the horse barn and climbed out. Strolling toward the fence, he saw Amos brushing out one of the mares. When he saw Duff, the man lifted his hand, but there was a slight tightening of his jaw. The slight telltale sign would have gone unnoticed any other time.

  “What brings you out here? Blake’s in town doing one of her classes.”

  “Yeah, I knew that. I thought it was best to pay a visit when she wasn’t here.” He strolled toward Amos and patted the freshly groomed mare on the head. “She certainly is a beauty.”

  “Yes she is.” Amos dropped the brush into the bucket.

  “You have a minute, Amos?”

  He squinted. “Sure. Let me put her back into the stall first.”

  When the other man came back, Duff was casually leaning against the fence, trying to remain as relaxed as possible. The older man came to stand beside him at the fence, rested his arms over the top rail, and kicked his boot up onto the bottom rail. After a few tense seconds, Duff scratched his jaw. “Why, Amos?”

  “Why what?”

  “I already know. You own the typewriter and you were the one looking in Blake’s window last night. You smoke a certain brand of non-filter cigarettes that still lingered in the air, although that wasn’t what truly clued me in. You’re out here digging holes and that puts you in the spotlight, my friend.”

  A long hesitation passed. “It was never my intention to hurt her, Duff.”

  “Just threaten her? And that’s better how?” Duff had prepared himself not to lose his temper, but it took all of the control he had not to punch the man in the jaw. Being the sheriff meant maintaining control. He needed to handle this professionally.

  “It’s not how you think.”

  “Oh, then why don’t you fill me in. I think it’s cut and dried.”

  “I was only checking on her last night. I swear. I was up late because I don’t sleep at night, so I might as well be working or checking on the animals. I’ve done it for years. It was late, I saw the farmhouse lights on and I came up to check to make sure everything was okay. I didn’t mean to scare her.” His face turned three shades of red. />
  This told Duff that the other man had reason to believe that Blake could be in trouble. “And the letter? I stopped into Bart’s store today and he told me you bought a typewriter off of him a few months back.”

  Several expressions flickered across his features before he lowered his eyes to the ground. He kicked the dirt with the toe of his worn boot. “I know it wasn’t right.” He then brought his gaze up, looking Duff straight in the eye. “You know she can’t handle this place, man. It’ll drag her down, just like it did her grandma.”

  “She’s strong, Amos. You’re supposed to be her friend, her loyal employee. She’ll never forgive you, especially for killing the calf. And trust me, because I care for her, I won’t hurt you.”

  “Hey, I didn’t kill the calf.” He held up his hands in a defensive motion. “I wouldn’t do that. I love this damn farm and the animals. I love Blake too. I’ve watched her grow up.”

  Duff watched the man, watching closely for any signs of dishonesty. “You didn’t kill the calf?”

  “Hell, no.”

  “Then who did?’

  “I don’t know.”

  “How can I believe you?”

  “I’m telling the truth. I only wanted to push her off the property.”

  “For who?”

  He looked out into the field, clutching the wood so hard that his knuckles turned stark white under his tanned, leathered skin. “He promised me that she wouldn’t be harmed.”

  Duff’s gut twisted. A blizzard of emotions washed through him. “Ethan Branson?”

  “No, not Ethan.” The other man scrubbed his scraggly beard, his hand trembling. “I needed the money, Duff. I took a pay cut to stay on here and I’ve suffered financially. I saw an opportunity to buy my own place.”

  Something came over Duff that he couldn’t control. He grabbed Amos by the shirt collar and swiveled him around, pushing him hard against the fence rail. “Listen here, Amos. I’m about two inches away from using your ass to wipe up the dirt from this land. Blake trusted you, her grandparents have trusted you for twenty years. They took you in when you couldn’t get another job because you couldn’t pull yourself out of the bottle. And this is how you repay them? There’s nothing stopping me from dragging off this badge and becoming a man you don’t want to face. If you have any common sense left in you, even a smear of morals, you’ll tell me who in the hell convinced you to be a two-timing, rotten son-of-a-bitch before I forget that I promised to uphold the law.”

  His jaw shook. “The assistant. Patterson. He approached me and asked me to do a few things. It was even his suggestion that I shovel the property. Blake doesn’t believe the rumors of a treasure, but Patterson is convinced.”

  “Branson put him up to it?”

  Amos shrugged and crouched closer to the fence. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”

  Duff let go of his shirt and took a step back. “Pack your bags and get off this property. Otherwise, I’ll throw you off myself. Got it?”

  Straightening his torn shirt, Amos nodded and moved toward his truck parked next to the barn.

  Long after the hand disappeared, Duff stood there, using the silence to gather the whirlwind of thoughts swirling through his head. There was only one thing left that he needed to do…

  Duff was still reeling when he pulled up to the ranch and found Ross sitting on the porch. Duff parked, climbed out of his truck, and took a seat next to his dad in the wide rocker. “Did you get my message?”

  Ross stared out into the fields. “Yeah, I got it.”

  “It’s time you told me the truth. I won’t hold it against you, but it could help me figure out what’s going on with Blake.” Duff eased back into the chair, hearing the wood creak under his weight. He was a bit tense, had been all day as he was finding out more and more.

  Ross threw his toothpick out into the grass, then laid his wrinkled hands on the arms of his chair. “I’ll ask that you listen to everything before you ask any questions.”

  “Sure.”

  “McKenzie, Branson and I liked to party and have a good time. We were always into trouble, yet we never intentionally hurt anyone. One night we were out drinking well past midnight. We had just left a buddy’s house who lived over in Carlton. We stopped off at an old drinking spot that we’d heard about. We walked a good fifty feet until we came to a clearing and a lake. We weren’t there long when we saw the headlights of a car coming in our direction. Figuring it was the sheriff, we took off and hid behind the trees.. The vehicle stopped and eventually a man dressed in all black got out. Then another car pulled in and the first man started running, but he didn’t make it far before the three men from the second car had him on the ground, his hands bound behind his back. McKenzie wanted to take off, but once the arguing started among the group, we were curious. They interrogated him a good half hour. Something about the money he’d stolen and they wanted it back. The guy denied that he had the money. Eventually it got pretty ugly and they held him over the water, threatening to drown him if he didn’t tell them where he’d hidden it. This wasn’t something we wanted to be involved with, so we took off.” Ross scrubbed his jaw. “Hell, it wasn’t until three days later when the police found a dead man’s body floating in the water that we realized it was the poor son-of-a-gun from that night. The three of us were a mess, wondering what we should do, but the papers said it was a suspected mob hit. We were worried what would happen if we came forward. Hell, we were only seventeen and you know how a teen’s mind works.”

  Ross stood up and went to the porch rail, leaned over it on his elbows. “I don’t know, days had passed until one of us, I think Branson decided we should go back to the area and look for the ‘delivery’ that was missing. None of us really thought we’d find anything, but we still went there and spent a day searching and drinking. Then McKenzie remembered that there was an old abandoned house set clear back away from the road, deep in the woods. No one would know it’s there, and it was real close to where the murder occurred. So, we took the chance and looked, and found two black satchels full of money. More cash than you could ever imagine. Not counterfeit, either.”

  “And neither one of you thought you should turn it in?” Duff asked. “Damn, Dad.”

  Ross turned, nailing his son with a narrowed gaze. “We went back and forth on what we should do. We eventually decided to leave the cash stashed at the house and forget what we knew.”

  “And who decided to change the plans.”

  “I guess it was too much to think of that money sitting there, untouched. We hadn’t read anything in the papers that mentioned the missing money. So, after almost six months, Branson decided that it wouldn’t hurt if we each took a little…you know, to help out our family, pay for a used car. Not that he needed money. His family was already rich. I realize now he was always a greedy son-of-a-gun. Another frame of time passed, more bills stacked up and eventually we decided to split the entire loot three ways.” He dug his hands deep into the front pockets of his baggy overalls. For the most part, McKenzie and I lived modestly. Hell, I think he stashed most of it and felt pretty damn guilty, we both did. Wondering if we could have saved that man’s life in some way.”

  “You’d have gotten killed too.”

  “Probably so.”

  “Living modestly wasn’t in Branson’s vocabulary, was it?”

  Ross gave his head a jerky shake. “Nope. He flaunted the fact that he had extra money, throwing his cash around. That’s when McKenzie and I tried to convince the bastard to think about what he was doing, and to be careful. But he wouldn’t listen and he changed. We had to cut ties with him. ‘Fraid to say, his son is the same way. All that money and they still can’t stay out of debt.”

  “Ethan certainly seems to be doing well for himself,” Duff scoffed.

  Ross shrugged a thin shoulder. “Not from the conversation I had with his dad a few months back. I decided it was high time to bury the hatchet, so I went to visit him at the nursing home. He was having a good da
y and he seemed more like his old self, back when we were all buddies. He even mentioned Ethan and the trouble his sons had caused him, and that he thought they’d been cursed. You know about Cooper, but Ethan was following in his big brother’s footsteps. He’d spent all of their money and he was in way over his head, looking at filing for bankruptcy. We got to talking about the past, how McKenzie had been self-disciplined enough to not touch his reserve, at least most of it, and we joked about how much he must still have buried on his land.”

  “So there is a treasure buried at the McKenzie Farm?” Duff sat forward in his chair.

  “I’m guessing there must be. Every one of us buried our third underground. Couldn’t just drop it into the bank without questions.”

  “You have buried loot?” Duff laughed. What else could he do?

  “Well, I don’t have as much as I once did. When your mom got sick with cancer, we took her to the best doctors, she was on the best medicine, but none of it saved her in the end. I often wondered if the blood money had somehow cursed our families. We’ve all been surrounded in a dark cloud, except for the kids.” Ross went back to the rocker and plopped down. “You’re a man of the law, son, but you must see how important it is that you don’t let this secret out.”

  Duff scrubbed his jaw. “It’s been years…”

  “I’m not worried about me, son. But somewhere out there could be a couple of murderers, their descendants, still looking for a million dollars. I have a hard time believing these people would forgive us.”

  “They would have killed you if they thought you’d have testified against them.”

  “We didn’t see their face, I swear. It was dark and we weren’t close enough.”

  “So, you’re saying that old man Branson told you that Ethan is close to bankruptcy?” This puts a whole new spin on things. A man who loved living rich would have a hard time, even overcoming the embarrassment, announcing to everyone that he has nothing—especially no power. If Ethan knew of the buried money, what McKenzie had saved all of these years, he would want to buy the farm, find the stash, and have a free get out of bankruptcy card. How exactly did Patterson play a role? Duff knew Ethan like the back of his hand. He would have gone to Amos himself, just like hiring hands away from the McKenzie Farm. Ethan liked using his money to buy people.