by Unknown
She might have been murdered along with Rodney Blake or she could have committed the murder and ran. Somehow, he couldn’t see Jillian getting her hands bloody or even have the strength to slice Rodney’s throat as deep as it was cut.
Cutting off a man’s dick and stuffing it in his mouth sounded like a crime of passion though.
Jealous wife?
Jealous husband?
Jealous lover?
Male lover?
Female lover?
Hell, the possibilities were endless. He honestly didn’t know if Rodney’s dick swung bisexual or if he was straight.
What he did know was Rodney fucked every female he got the chance to nail. And his wife, Mary Lou, knew it. So she was at the top of the list of suspects even if she was far along with her pregnancy.
Pregnant women’s hormones were explosive and unpredictable as hell. A cheating husband just might send one over the edge enough to commit murder. He frowned.
A cheating husband!
Three words he’d never thought would ever apply to him. Shit. How people changed. He didn’t think Jace would give two hoots that Jillian might have gone missing though. There was bad blood between her and her eldest stepson, but no one knew the reason why. He didn’t even know the reason, and Jace had been his best bud since first grade. Danger had his opinion of the woman, but right now his opinion didn’t matter squat. He had a murder to investigate and all paths led to the Dancing Star.
He parked his Jeep in the circle drive at the Star and stepped onto the gravel driveway. Jace took the front steps two at a time and approached him.
“Danger, it’s been a long time.” Jace shook his hand. “Lacey keeping you domesticated?”
“Hell, it keeps me busy trying to domesticate her. Maybe if she was home more, I could get her to settle into out marriage.” He frowned. What was he thinking? It was much too late for that. “Found out just this morning she’s going back to Alaska on another shoot the end of February.” Which was why they’d quarreled so bitterly before he’d left for work. If he was lucky, by February, he’d be free to marry Karen and Lacey could go to whatever exotic spot she thought was ripe for a shoot, and stay for all he cared.
Jace frowned. “You don’t sound too happy about the prospect.”
“No.”
“What brings the County Sheriff out to the Star?” Jace asked. “I haven’t done anything wrong since I was twelve. You remember? When you and I threw rocks through Widow Martin’s bedroom window to see if she really slept naked?”
Danger chuckled. “She did have a beautiful, bare ass. Didn’t she?”
They laughed, recalling how they ducked in the rose bushes waiting to get a peek.
“You happen to know where Jillian might be?”
“Haven’t a clue. What’s up?” Jace folded his arms across his chest and shifted a toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. “I’m not sure I like the look on your face.”
“It’s the only face I have, Jace.”
Amusement glittered in Jace’s dark eyes. “You’re wearing your poker face, bud. Something’s up. And if you want a piece of advice, cut the cord on Gertie Mae’s mike. ”
“Shit,” Danger muttered. “You have a police scanner?”
“Sure do, Mighty Dong.”
Danger kept a straight face, but it was all he could do to keep from snorting with laughter. “About Jillian?”
Jace nodded. “Okay. Keep your secrets.”
Danger chewed on his bottom lip and shifted his weight from one hip to the other. “Jillian’s T-bird was found parked at the Pine Cone Inn this morning, the back seat piled with luggage. You kick her off the ranch?”
“Nope. I couldn’t make her leave if I wanted to. She’s part owner, as I’m sure you know.”
“Didn’t know for certain, but I figured your daddy was dumb enough to leave his share to her.”
“He was. And he did.”
Danger watched several snowflakes drift around their heads, then land on the ground. “Odd thing, one of her shoes was lying on the ground not too far from her car. At least, I assumed it was one of her shoes. The heel was broken off. Her car keys were lying there by the shoe, and there was a puddle of blood. Not a big puddle, but enough to concern me.” He reached inside the Jeep and pulled out a plastic bag with a shoe, a heel and a set of car keys with the gold initial ‘J’ on a pink heart inside it. “You recognize any of this stuff?”
“The keys are Jillian’s. The shoe looks like something she’d wear, but she probably has two hundred pairs. It’s not something I pay much attention to where she’s concerned. You think the blood is Jillian’s?”
“I don’t know yet. Maybe she’ll show up. Maybe she was a little drunk and wandered off or took off with some man. A man was found dead in his truck this morning.”
Jace frowned. “What the hell does that have to do with me? And why do you think this is something I should know?”
“His truck was parked at the Pine Cone Inn, same as Jillian’s. Seems a little too coincidental that someone gave Rodney Blake a bloody necklace, and Jillian can’t be found, and both vehicles left parked at the inn.”
“Rodney Blake? I know that name.”
“Yeah, you know him, bartender at the Brown Bear. Likes the ladies. Keeps his pretty wife knocked up. You remember Mary Lou Miller, prom queen, cute as a button, pregnant at graduation? Cynthia Hemphill was big as a barrel with her first baby when she attended Mary Lou and Rodney’s wedding.” Danger shook his head. “Hell, everyone there knew the kid Cynthia carried belonged to Rodney, everyone, but Mary Lou. Right after the I do’s, Rodney disappeared. He and Cynthia were caught in the men’s bathroom at the church. Cynthia was on her knees giving Rodney a blowjob and Coe walked in on them at the crucial moment.” Danger laughed. “I can still see the sheepish look on my brother’s face as he came out of the bathroom.”
Jace blinked. “Jesus. I’d forgotten about that.”
Danger laughed and shook his head. “Well, the thing is we got us a murder in Rimrock and a missing woman missing a shoe and her keys. Call me if Jillian shows up.”
“Will do.” Jace watched Danger climbed back in the Jeep and leave. “Shit.” He turned to see Dianna standing on the porch. “You heard?”
She nodded.
“Don’t you have to get back to New York?”
“Not today.” Dianna folded her arms across her breasts and gave him a stubborn look.
“Don’t you think it’s time you go back to New York?”
“Not today. I took a leave of absence from…er…my modeling. I’m not leaving, Jace, so stuff it. And I’m calling Duel and Wild.”
“Damn it, Dianna!”
She held up her hand as though she were halting traffic. “Roar all you like, but you’re not in this alone.” She turned on her boot heel, then stopped, and looked over her shoulder. “And if you love the woman you’re married to, you better think of something to win her back. ‘Cause if you don’t, Jace, she’ll be out of your life before God has time to get the news.”
“I love her,” he said softly. “She’s not going anywhere.”
“Then you better tell her, ‘cause I just saw her tossing luggage in the back of that damn rattle trap she calls a truck. You need to buy her a decent car.”
He felt his heart drop. Jesus. How could he be so dumb? Here Jillian zipped all over the place in her hot, little T-Bird he’d bought and paid for, and his wife drove a piece-of-shit truck that looked like one gust of wind might blow it apart. He whirled and headed to the back of the house and out through the back door.
Jace ran, hurrying across the back yard and toward the sorry-ass house he’d put Kaycee and her brother in. He couldn’t blame Kaycee if she left him. So far he hadn’t proved to be very good husband material.
His boots slipped and slid in the green grass, and he stumbled in his haste. “Shit!”
* * * *
“You lying, little bitch!”
Dianna spun
around to see Taylor sitting inside the doorway. His blue eyes blazed at her, fierce and hot as lightning bolts. “Why did you lie to Jace about my sister?”
She shrugged and stepped around him. “I thought it might light a fire under his ass, get him motivated to win Kaycee back.” She paused on her way past him. “One more thing, don’t ever touch me again. Don’t come near me.”
“Or what?”
“Or I might take a leaf from the pages of the book your sister goes by and start carrying a knife.”
Taylor stared after her, his blue eyes wide with shock.
Kaycee carries a knife?
It was news to him. Why the hell would his sister carry a knife? Dianna was lying. She had to be lying. He snorted and rolled his chair to the office Jace had given him. The little bitch had to be lying. He wasn’t even going to bother to question Kaycee about it. There was no way his little sister packed a knife.
Why would she?
His eyes widened, and he glanced down at the sudden stirring of his manhood. “Jesus!” His cock stretched, swelled and bumped his zipper. His jaw dropped in stunned surprise. Sweat popped out on his forehead. He doubled over in the chair as excruciating pain raced up and down his legs. It felt like someone was stabbing him with red-hot needles.
Beating his thighs with his fists, he groaned. Nausea bubbled in his stomach leaving a green and greasy brew inside his gut. Abruptly the feeling left his legs as quickly as it had started. His dick hung as limp as a string of boiled spaghetti.
Fuck!
He was as dead from the waist down as he’d been for the past year.
Chapter Twenty-One
The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult.
~Madame du Deffand
Dancing Star Ranch
Saturday 9:00 a.m.
Kaycee flung back the covers and sat on the side of the bed. So she overslept. Jace already fired her. It wasn’t like he could do it again. She shouldn’t have stayed outside with him so long last night.
When she finally fell asleep, it was five a.m. It would have been simpler to stay up, but she felt tired most of the time. Nausea hit at odd times of the day and night. It left her feeling drained and listless.
Why Taylor hadn’t awakened her was beyond her understanding. A quick shower, teeth brushed, a fast swipe of the hairbrush, and she was ready to face another miserable day.
It started immediately with nausea.
She made a dash to the bathroom, hugged the commode, and emptied what meager contents were in her stomach. The retching didn’t stop. It went on and on until her belly clenched and ached and her ribs hurt.
“Kaycee?”
Retch.
Swearing.
Retch.
She moaned and tried to hold her head up.
Retch.
“Aw, sweetheart.” Jace was beside her in a second. He held her head, sponged her face with a damp cloth. She heard the scraping sound of him pulling open a drawer on the tiny vanity.
She glanced up in time to see him paw thorough hair clips, rubber bands and other feminine things she’d shoved inside the drawer.
He gathered the tangled strands of her hair and plastered them to her scalp with the clips. Well, at least she didn’t have to worry about her hair falling into the commode she had her arms wrapped around.
Silently, he left and returned with a glass of water. When the retching finally stopped, he merely lifted her in his arms and cradled her. She groaned as her sore muscles protested the movement of her body.
Briskly, he made his way down the narrow hall to her bedroom. Lowering her on the faded bedspread, he turned to leave. “Don’t move,” he tossed back over his shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
She watched him leave. She couldn’t have moved if her life depended on it.
True to his word, he was back in a few minutes carrying a tray burdened with a teapot, teacup and saucer, and two slices of dry toast. He poured her a cup of tea and handed it to her. When she managed to drink one cup, nibble on a slice of the toast, and keep it in her stomach, he asked, “Better?”
She nodded and laid back, content to keep her head on the cool pillow.
“I remember my mother being sick when she was pregnant,” he said, brushing a curl back from her damp forehead.
He sat down on the side of the bed beside her and took her hand. “Wild was the worst for her. She died giving birth to him. He was a big baby, almost eleven pounds, and she was at the ranch alone when she went into labor.”
Sadness swept over his face. He blinked, inhaled deeply, and continued, “Dad had decided to take Duel, Dianna, and me camping, to give Mom a break from us kids. She wasn’t due for another month.”
Kaycee felt herself holding her breath, waiting for the rest of his story. He stared off into the distance, dredging up childhood memories. She knew from the look on his face what he was going to tell her wasn’t going to be good.
“We came home to find Mom lying on the kitchen floor barely breathing. She’d managed to cut the baby’s cord and wrap him in a towel. He was screaming his little heart out, thrashing his short chubby legs.” He shuddered. “To this day, I can still hear Dad yelling and cursing. Wild crying. And my mother’s last, ragged breath.”
“I’m sorry,” Kaycee said.
“It was a long time ago now.” He looked up at her. “There was a storm. The phone lines were down. She couldn’t call for help. The storm had sent us back to the house earlier than Dad planned. Wild would have died if we hadn’t come back early.”
He swallowed hard, a faraway look in his eyes. “Dad stepped over the little guy, completely ignoring him. He just left him there on the floor, screaming. I picked him up.”
“Dear God.” Kaycee felt tears sting her eyes.
“I was ten years old, but the baby was mine from the minute I held him in my arms. I named him Wilder, because he was born during one of the wildest storms in history. Over the following three years, Duel and Dianna became mine, too.”
“You became the father?”
“Yes.” He gave a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “It became my goal in life to keep the three of them safe from harm. Jillian was their greatest threat. She took me, sexually, when I was fourteen. Once I was hers, she threatened those babies with every filthy thing you can imagine. She even threatened to smother them while they were sleeping. I was terrified she’d do it, or do to them what she was doing to me. I used to sit in their rooms and guard them at night, too afraid to sleep, terrified she’d do it, smother them.”
He shuddered. “My father knew what was happening between Jillian and me, but he blamed me for her sexual appetite and infidelity. I took his beatings without protest. He liked to use his quirt, that’s how I got the scars on my back, but I was more afraid of Jillian than I was of him. The scar on my groin? My Dad used a knife on me after he caught me banging Jillian in the hay loft.”
He paused, drew a long breath and slowly exhaled. “It was the day before my eighteenth birthday. It was the last time I had sex with Jillian, not because of what Dad did to me. I had it coming, but because I was finally old enough to say no to her and make threats of my own. I’d spent years scared of Jillian, afraid of what she might do to my babies. I would have done anything she demanded of me to keep them safe from her. Anything.”
He looked up at her, pain in his eyes. “And I did do just about everything and anything with Jillian your mind can dredge up. I’d do it all again, Kaycee, to keep Duel, Dianna, and Wild safe. I’d do it all again.”
He brushed his dark hair back out of his eyes. “I can’t apologize for what happened between Jillian and me back then. I won’t apologize for keeping my brothers and sister from harm.” He stared into her eyes. “I can tell you, from the moment I saw you, you were deep in my heart. I claimed you. Made you mine. When you’re near me, when you’re in my arms, everything is right. I can breathe. The dirty world I grew up in becomes clean and pure. I love you, Kaycee,�
� he finished softly, humbly.
His dark gaze silently pleaded for understanding and forgiveness. “I swear to you, the door to my bathroom was locked. Jillian somehow got it open and sneaked in. I was standing there with the water beating down on my head, shower pounding full blast, my eyes closed.”
He paused, searched her eyes, started again. “I’d guzzled a fifth of Jack and swallowed two pain killers. I was so wasted and missing you so damned much. I stood underneath the water and dreamed about the first time we made love. I could taste your mouth. Feel you in my arms, my body locked deep inside you. I was hard, aching for you, and then I felt her mouth on me. I swear to God, it took me several moments to realize what I felt was real and not my alcohol-induced imagination.”
Jace hesitated, searching for a grain of understanding in her eyes. “I don’t remember everything that happened, but once I realized she was there in the shower with me, I grabbed her and slung her out. I don’t know how long she was in the shower with me. I don’t remember. I just remember picking her up and tossing her across the bathroom. The mirror shattered, but the sound of her crazy laughter was all I heard when I left. I felt so damned sick. I was newly married to a beautiful woman I adored and I felt as if I’d just betrayed you in the worst way. I dropped to my knees and puked right there.”
He picked up her hands, brushed her fingers with his. “You’re still wearing the ring I gave you.”
“Yes.”
“Does this mean there might be a chance for us to make this work?”
“I don’t know.”
“I want you in my life, Kaycee. You’re the only decent thing I’ve ever had in my world. I want our baby. Will you give me a chance to prove myself? Forgive me for what happened. Please?”
He dropped his head to his fist and closed his eyes as though he were as weary as she felt.
She struggled against the tears threatening to fall. There it was. So like the man. He didn’t shift the blame off himself. He didn’t make excuses. He simply told it like it was.
It happened. It was over.
