Gray Wolf Security: Wyoming

by Glenna Sinclair

  “Well, that’s a pity. Everyone should make time for a little pleasure.”

  “I don’t think you really appreciate my position.” She gestured to the fence and the land beyond it. “You come in here and buy up this ranch from a family who owned it for generations and call yourself a rancher. I inherited this place and it is all my daughter has of her father and his family. This is her legacy. If I lost that for her, I would never forgive myself.”

  “But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a life of your own, does it? Do you really think your husband would want you to be a spinster for the rest of your life?”

  It was a question she’d asked of herself before, that Rachel had asked more than once. And she knew the answer, she knew Mitchell, her fun-loving husband, would want her to find happiness. But something had to move to the backburner and that seemed the most logical thing at the moment. Maybe someday... if someday ever came.

  She turned away, started to head back toward the house and the wake that was taking place there, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. For a moment, she thought... she wasn’t sure what she thought. But when his lips touched her, all thought disappeared for a moment. All thought, all grief, all the pain that had weighed down her shoulders these past few days. She hadn’t been kissed in so long, she’d almost forgotten what it felt like. To have her first kiss in all that time to be from such a man as Bodhi Archer... she almost felt like Juliet standing on that balcony.

  He was a little breathless when he pulled back.

  “Call me when you’re ready to remember what pleasure feels like. Just don’t wait too long.”

  She watched him vault that fence and remount his horse before she moved. And when she did, her knees were so weak she wasn’t sure they’d carry her.

  She was in trouble. Deep, deep trouble.

  Chapter 20

  Eve

  How do you go back to normal life after someone dies?

  I sat at the front counter of the motel where I grew up, in the same place my mom sat every day for as long as I could remember, trying not to think about the fact that Momma would never sit here again. She’d never walk through that door again, she’d never say my name again. There was no more hope, no more praying that today would be the day when she remembered who I was, when she would return to the woman she’d been my entire childhood. When she would be Momma again.

  She was gone. Over a week now, she was gone and I was just sitting here, staring at an inspector’s report I couldn’t make myself care about, trying to remember why I fought so hard for this place.

  I couldn’t even get out of bed the first few days. If not for Grainger whispering in my ear, pulling me into the bathroom, forcing me to put one foot in front of the other, I would probably still be there. If it hadn’t been for his arms around me at the funeral home, his hand in mine at the gravesite, I might have just given it all up, taking my mom’s road out of this world.

  But Grainger was here, so I had to be, too.

  I picked up the report and read it a third time, the words finally making sense to my befuddled mind.

  Foundation sound. Cracks must be repaired. No missing stone.

  Grainger would understand all this better than me, but I was sure it was good news. We’d have to hire a contractor to repair the cracks in the wall where Jim Bob’s old car slammed into it, but the impact didn’t move the building off the foundation. That was the biggest concern. Good thing was, insurance would pay for most of it. That was probably the best part of the news.

  Life went on after death, as crazy as it may seem. Momma was gone, but I still had decisions to make, a motel to run. I still had employees who depended on me and bills to pay.

  And I had Grainger.

  I touched my wedding ring—not the cheap one he’d given me the first day he came here, but the new one he bought, the one with the tiny slivers of diamond embedded in the gold—reminding myself that I had a future to look forward to. I had a man who cared enough to drag my depressed ass out of bed every morning. He suggested this morning that we plan a honeymoon. He said he’d always wanted to go to the Florida Keys.

  “Didn’t you get enough of beaches out in Santa Monica?” I asked.

  “But you weren’t there. And the idea of you in a bikini makes the beach seem like a whole new place.”

  He made me smile for the first time since everything had happened. It was like he knew exactly what to say and how to say it. I honestly didn’t know what I’d do without him. But I felt a little guilty because we hadn’t been together since... well, it just didn’t seem right.

  Maybe things would seem better tonight.

  I picked up the report and turned to slide it into the file cabinet behind me. I heard the door open—with the bell ringing over it, I couldn’t really miss it—and when I turned, there was a beautiful woman standing at the counter, looking down at me with something like a bored, but annoyed, look on her face.

  I stood up, tugging the hem of my shirt down over my hips. She was so beautiful—the kind of woman who had the power to make me feel like a dumpy old broad. She was about my age, maybe a year or two older, with porcelain skin and perfect features, including a nose that looked as though it’d been sculpted by a great artist. When she smiled, my self-confidence took a horrible blow. There was nothing unattractive about this woman and that was like the final blow to all average women. And I was at the top of the list.

  “Can I help you?” I asked as politely as I could.

  “You don’t happen to have any rooms, do you? I don’t have a reservation or anything, but the lady at the bed and breakfast in town said I probably didn’t need one.”

  Even her voice was beautiful, melodic, like I imagined all famous singers sounded like in their private lives.

  “We do have a couple of rooms. A double or single?”

  “A single. For now.”

  I nodded, turning to the computer to check if room five was clean. It was the best room in the place, just to the left of the office. It was slightly bigger than the other single rooms and the bathroom had just been remodeled because of a nasty leak last year.

  “I’ve been in town ten days, hoping to find my former fiancé and convince him that we should get back together. When his former boss told me he’d come up here, I thought he was crazy! Who would voluntarily come to a place called Midnight? Right? But then I ran into him last week and couldn’t believe my eyes!”

  “Midnight’s not a bad place.”

  “Yes, well, if you have to come to Wyoming, you should stick with the big cities, right? I mean, there’s not even a mall here. And if I have to eat another taco at that Dairy Queen, I think I’ll become a vegan.”

  I just smiled, trying not to allow her to see just how ridiculous I thought her tirade was.

  “But he’s worth it, you know? You just can’t let a good man go and I finally realized just how good a man he really is. That other guy... it was a mistake. I thought I was bored with my man, but I wasn’t. I was just being stupid, which is so unusual for me, but we all do that from time to time, don’t we? Haven’t you ever done something so stupid that you can’t even explain it to yourself?”

  “Can’t say that I have.”

  “Well, maybe it’s a big city thing.”

  I smiled again, her beauty fading a little with every word that came out of her mouth. What a self-centered woman! Did she never have a thought for another person?

  “Room five is open. Would you like to put that on a credit card, or pay cash?”

  “Oh.”

  She tugged her wallet out of her small bag and handed over a Visa card. I glanced at the name: Misty Carter. I wondered if the name should sound familiar. She looked as though she might be a model or an actress, but I didn’t really look at fashion magazines and it’d been awhile since I’d seen a new movie. But there was something about her that said second rate. Maybe it was my jealousy over her looks. Or maybe my instincts were right on point.

  “After I ran
into my fiancé last week, I called his job and got his cell phone number, but you know, the man won’t take my calls! He answered the first one, but hung up on me and hasn’t answered another since. I think he puts his phone on silent. Or he blocked my number. But I’m not going to let him get away with that. I’m going to stay here until he agrees to talk to me.”

  “Good for you.”

  “That’s why I decided to switch motels. I heard he spends a lot of time over here, so I thought I’d be most likely to run into him if I stayed here, too.”

  I finished putting her information into the computer before I looked at her, her words slowly sinking in.

  “He spends time here?”

  “Yeah. I think he might work here.”

  “What’s his name?”

  For some strange reason, my mind went straight to Marko. I was trying to imagine Marko cheating on Cyndi, but I couldn’t. Especially not with a woman like this. But that only left…

  “Grainger North.” She smiled brightly. “You must know him. I mean, once you meet him, you could never forget him. He’s crazy handsome, blond with these amazing dark blue eyes.”

  I nodded, my eyes falling to the ring on my finger. “I know him.”

  “Yeah? Maybe you could tell him I’m here and I’m not leaving until he agrees to come back to Santa Monica with me.”

  I slid her credit card back across the counter to her, along with the key to her room.

  “The ice machine is just over here,” I said, gesturing over my shoulder, “and we have vending machines in each of the alcoves along the walkway. If you need anything else, the number for this desk is on your phone.”

  “Thanks,” she said, picking up her things and breezing out the door as though she hadn’t just shattered my world.

  Her words kept playing in my mind. I hadn’t been paying that much attention, but now every word was engraved on my mind like she’d carved them there with a chisel. She’d been here ten days and she ran into him over a week ago. He knew she was here and he hadn’t said anything. She’d been calling his cell phone and he hadn’t said anything.

  What else hadn’t he told me?

  Why hadn’t he told me?

  And then it was so obvious and I felt so stupid! Look at her. Look at me! There was no comparison.

  My mom died. He had to stick around until that was over. What kind of human being wouldn’t? But it was over now and she was here and... why would he stick around now? Hell, he only married me to help save the motel. I didn’t need him to fight my fight anymore. I’d done this alone before he came, I could do it after. I didn’t want him to stay just because he thought it was the right thing to do. I wasn’t that desperate to be loved.

  Chapter 21

  Grainger

  I was tired when I arrived at the motel, but the day wasn’t even near done. I’d been stuck at the ranch longer than expected, helping Kirkland go over surveillance tapes on a new case Gray Wolf took on yesterday. He was working with one of the two new operatives, a former Green Beret, Lance Griffin, trying to get the guy to stop balking every time he had to step foot on a ranch. The guy was deathly afraid of large animals, but he was one of the best with a sniper rifle I’d ever seen. I joked with Kirkland that maybe he should have taken my place with Ash’s group back in Santa Monica. Kirkland didn’t seem to find it all that amusing.

  Marko offered a vague salute when I came through the office door.

  “How’s it going, boss?”

  “Keeping the world safe.”

  Marko smiled. “Good. Maybe you can keep it away from this part of town, though, huh? No more rednecks running their cars into the side of the building?”

  “That’s the plan.” I gestured toward the back door. “The lady boss back there?”

  “Yeah. She quit early tonight. Said she had a headache.”

  I nodded, not missing the worried frown on Marko’s dark face. “She’s doing better, but it’ll take time.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  I let myself into the narrow corridor between the office and the apartment. I hesitated at the door, each time I stepped through it now an image of Rachel’s lifeless body filling my head. I didn’t do anything to help her do what she did, but I didn’t do anything to stop her, either. And that knowledge haunted me. I wished I’d said something, if not to Eve, to someone. But how could I have known she’d have a lucid moment after such a long, broken couple of weeks? How could I have known that she would pick that moment to be lucid, to do such a thing while we were so conveniently distracted?

  But I should have known.

  I took a deep breath, pushing those thoughts away, aware that Eve needed lightness and consideration around her right now. There’d be time later to indulge my guilt, but that time wasn’t now.

  I opened the door, a forced smile on my lips. But the smile disappeared the moment I caught sight of my duffle packed and waiting by the door.

  “What’s this?”

  Eve was perched on the edge of the couch, her hands clutched between her knees.

  “It’s time, Grainger.”

  “Time for what?”

  “For us to face reality. For you to go back to your life and for me to go back to mine.”

  I stared at her, thinking for a moment that she’d somehow found out that I knew her mother was suicidal. But that wasn’t possible. No one knew but Rachel and me. But what else would make her do this?

  “This is my reality.”

  She shook her head, refusing to look at me. “You married me to fix my problems. But my reason for holding on to the motel is gone. My mother is gone. There’s no reason for me to stay here anymore.”

  “Eve…”

  “So, there’s no reason for you to stay.”

  “But this is your home. This is the only home you’ve ever known.”

  “I wanted to keep it in order to keep Momma here, in order to slow the progression of her disease. But she’s gone.”

  Her voice shook a little when she spoke, hinting to the emotion ripping through her. I knew this wasn’t what she wanted, knew there was more to holding on to the motel than just her mother. And knew she didn’t want me to leave. Everything that had happened between us these last few weeks screamed her desire to stay with me. Why was she doing this?

  “I’ve decided to take their offer. I’m going to the developers in the morning to sign the papers.”

  “No, Eve, I know this isn’t what you want!”

  “How do you know? You don’t know anything about me.”

  That hurt. I did know her. I knew her better than I knew myself.

  I felt sick. I didn’t understand.

  “What about Angel and Marko? What about Sara and her college plans? What about you? Where will you go? What will you do?”

  She shook her head, her eyes still pointed at the floor. She hadn’t looked at me once since I came through the door. I wanted to go over there, to force her to look at me. But I was afraid that if I did, it would only make her more determined to do this. Besides, I was rooted to the floor, unable to move.

  “I don’t want to go,” I said softly.

  She shook her head again, tears staining the dark material of her jeans. “Don’t make it any harder than it has to be,” she said.

  “That’s not possible. It’s already the hardest thing anyone’s ever asked me to do.”

  She stood and turned her back to me. Her shoulders shook a little as she hugged herself.

  “Don’t do this, Eve. Whatever you think, whatever happened to make you say these things, you know it’s not right. I didn’t marry you because of the damn motel! I married you because I wanted to be with you. I know you know that.”

  “Please go.”

  “Eve, I—”

  “Leave!” she cried, a sob escaping her lips. “Just go!”

  I couldn’t. If my heart had been broken when I walked into that apartment and found Misty with Jake, it was completely pulverized now. I couldn’t move, couldn’t
breathe. She was crying and I couldn’t go to her. She’d just shattered my entire world and all I could do was stand there and stare at her back. She wouldn’t even look at me.

  What could I do?

  I picked up my bag.

  “This isn’t the end,” I said. “I’ll leave for now, but it isn’t over. I’ll be back.”

  “I won’t be here.”

  “You will because this isn’t the end. This can’t be the end. I won’t let it.”

  I walked out, somehow managing to keep my head up high because I couldn’t let myself believe it was over. Marko said something as I passed him, but I didn’t hear him. My ears were ringing too loudly, my head spinning too quickly. I carried my bag out to my Bronco and tossed it into the back, walking with my head down to the driver’s door.

  She was there, like some sort of nightmare come to life.

  “I knew I would run into you if I came here.”

  And that’s when it began to make sense.

  “What did you say to her?” I demanded.

  Misty’s eyes widened with surprise. “Who?”

  “My wife,” I growled, all the anger, all the pain coming out in those two words.

  She cocked an eyebrow, suddenly revealing the woman I’d always known her to be.

  “That frumpy little thing is your wife?” She laughed. “Boy, your tastes have really gone into the gutter, Grainger.”

  I grabbed her around the throat and threw her up against the side of my truck, my anger too much to ignore anymore.

  “Don’t ever come near me again. Don’t speak to her ever again. If you do, I swear, I won’t stop next time.”

  I tossed her aside and climbed into the Bronco and peeled away, so angry I didn’t even care if she’d gotten out of the way or not.

  I drove around for a while, my thoughts a jumbled mess. When I saw the neon lights of the small bar, it seemed like a sign from God. A drink would be real nice right about now. My life was a fucking mess, why not make it better with a bottle of Jack Daniels? I sat at the bar and ordered, demanding the bartender leave the bottle. His eyebrows rose, but he didn’t argue. Drunks leave better tips.