His Defender

by Stella Bagwell

  “Nevada, my nurse, is setting up the next patient for an examination,” Victoria explained. “I have a few moments until she’ll have her ready and I want to talk to you.”

  “If you’re sure,” Isabella said uncertainly.

  Victoria yanked on Isabella’s arm, forcing her to follow the doctor down the hallway and into a brightly lit office filled with plants and books and a large, cluttered desk.

  “I want to know what happened last night,” Victoria quickly fired the request at her.

  Isabella looked at her with raised brows. “What do you mean? Nothing happened.”

  Disappointment washed over Victoria’s pretty face. “Oh. I was so hoping—but then I saw this and didn’t know what to think.”

  The doctor turned, picked up a copy of the local newspaper and tapped her finger on a picture in the left-hand corner.

  “Look at this! Ross always garners social attention wherever he goes and I guess the paper just couldn’t resist snapping a photo of him last night,” she said, handing the paper to Isabella. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s sickening.”

  Isabella couldn’t have described the sight any better as she stared down at the black-and-white photo of Ross with a dreamy-eyed Angela Bowers in his arms. Just to see the image of him dancing with the woman was enough to send a fresh spurt of jealousy slicing through her.

  “I thought he took you to the dance!” Victoria exclaimed.

  Isabella drew in a deep breath and let it out. “He did.”

  Victoria rolled her eyes. “Then why was he dancing with Angela?”

  “It was a duty thing, he said. Her father is on the board of directors.”

  Victoria groaned as if she’d never heard a more flimsy excuse in her life. Isabella was inclined to agree with her. But she wasn’t going to. She didn’t want Victoria, or anyone, to know how far she’d fallen for the biggest playboy in San Juan County.

  “Oh, spare me. Angela is a piranha. She’s been after Ross for ages. I’m sure she’s going to frame that picture in gold!”

  Her heart heavy, Isabella walked over and placed the paper on the corner of Victoria’s desk. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I didn’t expect Ross to dance with me exclusively. I’m his lawyer, Victoria. Not—well, not anything else.”

  Victoria walked over to Isabella and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Maybe you don’t think you are,” she said softly. “But I’ve been seeing the way Ross looks at you. And I don’t believe your feelings for him are all that indifferent.”

  Isabella was forced to clear her throat as emotions threatened to choke her. “Look, I wouldn’t worry about him getting seriously involved with Angela. Ross isn’t a dumb man. I’m sure he can see right through her.”

  “I’m not talking about Angela. I’m talking about you, and how you feel about my brother.”

  Isabella’s gaze connected with Victoria’s, then skittered awkwardly away to the other side of the room. “That doesn’t matter, either. Ross is a bachelor. And I—I’m a career woman. The two don’t mix.”

  “I’m a career woman and Jess is a lawman and we mix just fine.”

  Isabella gave Ross’s sister a faint smile. “That’s because Jess loves you.”

  Victoria picked up both of Isabella’s hands and squeezed them tightly. “Did you ever stop to think that Ross might love you?”

  Isabella’s mouth fell open and she was fighting the mocking laugh bubbling up in her throat when a knock sounded on the open door leading in to Victoria’s office.

  Both women turned around to see Nevada, Victoria’s young Hispanic nurse.

  “Doctor, Mrs. Sutton is ready,” she announced.

  “I’ll be right there,” Victoria told her, then turned back to Isabella. “I wish we had more time to talk about this, but I’ve got to go. But before I do, I want to say that you’re the first woman in Ross’s life that’s been good for him.”

  Isabella’s heart winced with sadness. “I’m not sure there’s a woman alive that’s good for Ross,” she said, then before Victoria could say more she hurried out of the room and out of the medical clinic.

  To avoid running into Ross, she ate lunch at the Wagon Wheel before she finally drove back to the T Bar K. Once she got there, Marina was grumbling that no one had shown up to eat the meal she’d prepared for lunch.

  “Where’s Ross? Didn’t he eat?” Isabella couldn’t help asking.

  Frowning, Marina shook her head. “He’s gone today. Him and the men are vaccinating cattle in the north meadows. He probably won’t even be back for supper.”

  Disappointment swallowed her up like a dark cloud. Which didn’t make sense, when she’d told herself all day that she needed to stay away from the man.

  “Oh. Then don’t bother fixing anything for me, Marina. I’ll find something in the refrigerator.”

  Marina shrugged as Isabella started out of the kitchen. “Okay. I’ll go home early. Before the storm hits.”

  Isabella paused to look at the older woman. “A storm? Marina, it’s clear as a bell outside.”

  “Don’t matter. We’ll have rain tonight.”

  “You’ve been watching the weather forecast on television?”

  The woman snorted. “Don’t have to. There was a ring around the moon last night. Didn’t you see it?”

  No, Isabella thought. She’d had other things on her mind. Mainly Ross.

  “I really didn’t notice. And anyway, a ring around the moon is just an indicator of rain coming in the next few days. That doesn’t mean it’s going to storm.” At least that was what Grandfather Corrales had always told her.

  Marina gave Isabella a patient smile. “I’m going home early just the same. I just hope Ross and the men get back before it hits.”

  Since it was still very early in the day and the weather couldn’t have been more beautiful, Isabella put Marina’s storm prediction out of her thoughts and went down to the horse barn with a basket full of apples and carrots.

  As she fed the treats to the few horses stabled there, she didn’t see anyone about the long shed row. After the visit with her four-legged friends was finished, she walked over to the cattle barn just to see if everyone was gone to the north meadows, or if someone had stayed behind to watch over things here at the ranch yard.

  The big barn was quiet and dim, the smell of hay and manure pungent as she walked through the maze of cattle pens situated along either wall of the building. Eventually, she found Skinny feeding two calves from bottles filled with specially prepared milk.

  The old man glanced at her as she pulled up a wooden stool and took a seat a few steps away from where he was working. “What are you doin’, Bella?”

  “I’ve been feeding the horses a few apples. I came over here to see if anyone was left on the ranch.”

  The old cowboy’s wrinkled face creased into a faint smile. “Just me. Well, that ain’t exactly right,” he corrected. “Cook is in the bunkhouse. And Linc is around here somewhere. He’s strictly a horse man, he leaves all the cattle work to Ross.”

  She took a moment to digest Skinny’s information. “It takes that many cowboys to do vaccinating?” she asked.

  “Nope. Ross sent a couple of men to Farmington for a load of feed.”

  “Oh. I see,” she said, then inclined her head toward the white-faced Hereford calves. Both babies were tugging on the bottles with an enthusiasm that made Isabella smile. “I haven’t seen that breed here on the ranch.”

  “That’s cause Ross don’t raise Herefords, he raises Black Angus.”

  “Did their mothers die?”

  Skinny’s sun-splotched hand stroked the calf nearest to him between the ears. “Yeah. Poor little dogies. But we’ll take care of ’em.”

  “I don’t understand, Skinny. If Ross doesn’t raise Herefords, what are those two orphans doing here?”

  The older man chuckled. “It was sale day yesterday at the livestock barns in Farmington. Ross always goes just to see if someone might try to slip Snip through the
ring. He saw these little orphans and brought ’em home. That’s just the way he is. He’s got a soft heart when it comes to animals.”

  But what about a woman? Isabella wondered. What about her? He’d made it pretty obvious that he wanted her physically. But was there anything in his heart for her that would even come close to love?

  She was rubbing the frown marring her forehead, when Skinny asked, “What’s the matter, Bella? You look like you’ve gone a long way aways.”

  Shaking away the questions pestering her mind, she focused her attention on Skinny. “Nothing is wrong. I was just thinking.”

  “You gotten any closer to figuring out who shot Jess?”

  With a helpless shake of her head, she said, “No. And I’m certainly not a detective by any means, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. And I—” She paused, uncertain of how much she should say in front of the older man. Not that for a moment she suspected Skinny of ever doing anything to harm Ross. She knew the cowboy thought of Ross almost as his own son. But if he inadvertently said something to the other men about her snooping, it might not be so good.

  Skinny didn’t prod her to say more, he simply looked at her in the same way Naomi looked at her when she understood something was on her goddaughter’s mind.

  Releasing a heavy breath, she said, “I’ve been worried, Skinny. The more I think about the whole thing, the more I’m certain it’s not over. Like I said, I’m not a detective or a private investigator, but I have spent time around criminals and I can tell you that they rarely stop with just committing one crime. It worries me that the Ketchum family might still be in danger. Especially Ross.”

  A shadow fell across Skinny’s face. Obviously her words had disturbed the old cowhand, but she couldn’t help it. If Skinny kept his guard up and his eyes open, he might help save Ross’s life.

  After a moment, he said, “I wouldn’t worry, Bella. Ross isn’t the sort of man to lay down and let anyone roll over him. He might not be acting like it, but he’s watching his back and he’s ready to fight.”

  Isabella cast him a wistful smile. “I hope you’re right.”

  Skinny suddenly grinned. “You kinda like him, don’t ya?”

  Isabella hadn’t realized just how much until today. Yet that didn’t solve the problem of what to do about her feelings.

  “Yeah, I do kinda like him,” she said softly, then rising from the stool she leaned down and kissed Skinny’s cheek. “I kinda like you, too.”

  Once she raised up, she could see awkward color spreading beneath Skinny’s three-day whiskers and she wondered how long it had been since someone had shown him a gesture of affection. He was obviously lost for words, so she quickly spared him.

  “I’ve got to get back to the house. See you later, Skinny.”

  For the next several hours, Isabella tried to put her tangled emotions for Ross out of her mind and make use of her time. In the study, she pulled out the notes she’d made over the past few days and went over the list of men who worked on the T Bar K.

  Beside each name she wrote an age, a physical description, an attitude and a possible motive. Yet by the time she reached the last man, she felt dissatisfied and no closer to solving the crime than she had the very first day she’d walked onto the ranch.

  Tossing down the pen she’d been using, she left her seat at the desk and walked over to the wide windows that not only gave her a view of the mountains, but also a part of the bunkhouse and connecting ranch yard.

  Twilight was falling and from the looks of the activity around the barns, the men were back from their work in the north meadows. The notion lifted her spirits. Ross would soon be coming up to the house.

  In spite of her rush to get home early, Marina had left him a meal on the kitchen stove. Isabella would warm it for him and make him a pot of coffee. She’d sit down and hear about all that he’d done today, and the sound of his voice and the sight of his face would fill her heart with gladness.

  Because she loved him. Because being with him was all that really mattered. When she’d exactly decided that, she didn’t know. But sometime between their kiss last night and now, she’d faced up to her feelings and to Ross’s accusation.

  He was right—she’d allowed Winston Jones to wreck her life, to shade all the choices she’d made since she’d become a woman. Her father’s rejection had made Isabella fear and mistrust every man who’d tried to get near her. And Brett’s duplicity hadn’t helped matters. But that was all over and done with. She couldn’t change any of it. Now it was time she put the past in the past and started following her heart.

  Quickly, Isabella locked her notes away in a file cabinet that Ross had given her to use, then went to the kitchen to wait for him.

  Thirty minutes later, night had completely darkened the landscape and Ross still hadn’t returned to the house. Troubled and wondering what could be keeping him, she walked through the house to the living room where a plate-glass window gave a full view of the ranch yard.

  Through the darkness, she could see that the bunkhouse was brightly lit and another dim light was slanting out the open doors of the horse barn. Ross could be having supper with the rest of the hands. Or he could be helping Linc with a mare. Surely he wasn’t avoiding her. He wouldn’t do that to her just because she’d resisted having sex with him. No. He wasn’t that sort of man, she thought. Besides, this was his house, he certainly wouldn’t allow any woman to keep him from the comforts of his home.

  Restless and edgy, she went back to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. The brew had just finished dripping when she heard a rumble of thunder in the distance.

  Shocked by the sound, she walked onto the back porch and stared out at the sky. A network of lightning streaks illuminated the western horizon, giving her just a glimpse of the roiling black clouds hanging low over the mesa.

  It was the storm Marina had predicted, she thought incredibly. She should have known the old woman was far wiser about these things than she’d ever be.

  Three minutes later, large drops of rain began to speckle the red dust out in the yard. For a few moments, Isabella watched as the drops gained momentum, then, realizing she was a lightning target, she hurried back into the kitchen and waited for the wind to hit.

  When it did, it hurled a curtain of water against the windows with a force that made Isabella jump in her chair. Seconds later, the loud drumming of the rain drowned out the sound of the radio playing atop the refrigerator.

  Clutching her coffee mug with both hands, she hurried through the house and walked onto the front porch. The lights were now off in the bunkhouse. So was the light in the horse barn. Had the electricity gone off?

  She looked over her shoulder to see that the lamp she’d turned on in the living room was still burning. That meant the men in the bunkhouse had gone to bed. So where was Ross? she wondered. He couldn’t be doing any sort of work in the dark.

  What was she to do? she wondered as she stepped back into the house. Go to bed and tell herself it was none of her business if Ross was not in the house? After all, she tried to reason, there were a countless numbers of things he could be doing. He might even be gone from the ranch completely.

  But she didn’t think so. His truck was parked at the back gate and it hadn’t moved from that spot all day. And he always let Marina know ahead of time if he was going to be gone.

  An idea suddenly clicked in her head. There were telephones in both barns. Marina kept the number by the wall phone in the kitchen. She’d dial it and hope for an answer!

  Anxiously, she headed to the opposite side of the house. She’d reached the end of the long hallway and was about to step into the kitchen when she heard a door click shut.

  Relief flooded through her and she hurried into the room, expecting to find Ross shaking the rain off his clothes. Instead, she found the room empty.

  Puzzled, she walked out to the mudroom to see if he might be there removing his boots or wet clothing. Yet the small space was dark and empty. Had she s
imply imagined she’d heard the door closing? Or maybe the wind of the storm had caused something to bump together on the porch.

  Goose bumps danced along her skin as a creepy chill washed over her. I see a knife. Cutting. Naomi’s vision unexpectedly crept into her mind and sent a lump of fear to her throat.

  She had to find Ross. She wouldn’t rest until she knew he was safe.

  Snatching a plastic poncho from the mudroom, Isabella pulled it over her head and started to the kitchen door that led out to the back porch. She was contemplating searching for a flashlight, when she glanced down and saw muddy boot tracks on the tile.

  Someone had been in the house! Had Ross come in and gone to his bedroom?

  Urgent now, she rushed down to the wing where Ross’s bedroom was located. All was dark and quiet. And slowly, as Isabella stood in the hallway trying to make sense of it all, the hair on the back of her neck began to stand on end.

  Like a rabbit fleeing a hound, she raced out of the house and into the stormy night. The ground was uneven and wet from the rain, several times she slipped as she tried to run as fast as she could toward the horse barn.

  The light she’d spotted earlier was gone. Apparently the storm had knocked out the power. To add to her frustration, Ross was not there among the stabled horses, so she hurried over to the big cattle barn.

  As soon as she stepped inside the building she raised her voice as loud as she could and began to call, “Ross! Are you in here?”

  Lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the dusty walkway between the metal pens. Isabella rushed several feet forward, then stopped abruptly as total darkness enveloped her.

  “Ross! It’s Isabella!”

  Her frantic call was muted by the deafening sound of the rain drumming against the corrugated iron roof, but she must have been heard because the beam of a flashlight wavered in her direction.

  “Bella!”

  The sound of Ross’s voice caused her nearly to wilt with relief. She wiped the rain from her face and stepped toward the light.