by B. J Daniels
She knew the woman was right. She couldn’t protect him any more than he could her from the horrible Juliette and her thugs. Once Juliette had set her sights on Cyrus...
* * *
JULIETTE PRETENDED TO be surprised to see Cyrus standing on her doorstep early the next morning. Fortunately Arthur had left on an errand. She’d thought she’d be seeing Cyrus so she’d told her ex-husband to be sure when he returned to look to make sure that the cowboy’s pickup wasn’t out front.
Arthur had been getting on her already frayed nerves. Why the man didn’t give up on her, she’d never understood. She’d asked him once why he stayed around when all she did was use and abuse him.
You need me, he’d said simply. You’ve always needed me. I’m the one person you can count on when things get bad. And they are going to get bad, Julie, if you don’t stop this.
Juliette, she’d snapped. I’m Juliette. Why can’t you remember that?
He’d smiled his goofy smile. You’ll always be Julie to me.
Like that was a good thing, she thought now. The man was impossible. She’d married him to get out of a bad situation she’d gotten herself into. Arthur had helped dispose of the problem. She’d divorced him when she’d met a man with money. It hadn’t taken long before she was sick of that man and wanted rid of him. Arthur had been there, as always, ready to clean up her messes.
Otis had come along later after he’d been part of the investigation involving one of her deceased husbands. He’d seen right away that it would be much more lucrative to join her than stay with the police force.
But like Arthur, he wanted more than she had to offer and that was becoming more of a problem, especially now. Otis had called earlier. He’d stolen a pickup and new identification and would see her soon, he’d said.
She kept telling herself that when this was over, she would free herself of both of them.
First she had to free herself of Cyrus Cahill, something she thought she’d done that night on the ship when Arthur and Otis had returned saying her husband had gone overboard.
“Good morning, my husband,” she said brightly now.
Cyrus scowled and pushed his way past her. “Where is he?”
“Where’s who?” She closed the door and turned, folding her arms over her ample chest, to look at him. Clearly, Cyrus was upset—just as she’d planned. His precious AJ had been victimized. Juliette smiled. Shouldn’t he have realized by now that she didn’t play fair?
“Otis. Or was it Arthur?”
“I’m not sure I know what you’re—”
Cyrus swore and moved to her so quickly that she choked on the last of her words. Seeing the look in his eyes, she stumbled back, banging into the door behind her. He stood so close she could see the flecks of gold in his gray eyes. Maybe there was more to this man than she had originally thought.
“You’ve misjudged me,” he said quietly. “I might have come like a lamb to the slaughter for some reason when we first met, but that man drowned at sea. If you or one of your hoodlums ever touch AJ again, I will kill you.”
She tried to laugh, but he grabbed her by the throat with one large hand, strangling the laugh before it reached her lips.
“I have no life. No memory. I have nothing to lose.”
Juliette knew that wasn’t true. She grabbed his wrist and with great effort pulled his hand from her throat and shoved it away. She coughed and said, “You still have AJ. You kill me and you lose her forever.”
He smiled. “If I married you without you holding a gun to my head I will lose her anyway, let alone if that baby inside you is mine.”
She met his gaze and couldn’t help smiling again. He wasn’t so sure now, was he. “Then you’ve lost her.”
Cyrus shook his head. “Not yet. We’re ending this today. Let’s do the blood test. It’s a little early, but I’m betting that baby was in there before you met me.”
Juliette hadn’t expected this. “What will you do when you find out it’s yours?”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Grab your coat. It’s getting colder outside. I heard there is another storm coming in,” he said.
The last place she wanted to go was a hospital lab. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Funny, but I thought you might say that.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a check.
She felt her eyes light up. “What’s that?”
“It’s a check for every dime I have.”
Instantly, she knew it wasn’t going to be enough. She wanted his part of the ranch. She started to tell him as much when he laid the check down on the small table by the door next to the Happy Holiday Cabins and Kitchenettes notepad and pen. The amount was better than she’d thought.
“Take the check,” he said, seeing her eye it. “It’s all you’re going to get. Once we get the results of the blood test and I prove that baby isn’t mine, if you haven’t signed the annulment papers that will be delivered today, I’m going to stop that check and you’ll get nothing. Now get your coat. If I have to, I’ll drag you down to the lab or I’ll find a way to take your blood right here in this cabin.”
She could see that he was dead serious. She was trying to come up with a way to put him off when she heard the sound of the back door of the cabin opening onto the sleeping porch. A moment later, Arthur called, “I looked all over for that face cream you wanted, but—”
He stopped in midsentence when he saw them and, dropping the two bags of items he’d bought, turned and crashed out the back door at a run.
She grabbed Cyrus’s sleeve, holding on tight enough that he had to waste valuable seconds getting her off him. He tore after Arthur, busting through the bags on the floor, sending the contents shooting in all directions. He hit the sleeping porch door at a run. It banged open and then he was gone.
Juliette stood holding her breath. If he caught Arthur...
* * *
ARTHUR DAVIS CRASHED through the trees ahead of him and dropped out of sight. Cyrus had recognized him from the photos Flint had shown him. He ran into the pines, shoving branches aside, determined to catch the man. He hadn’t gone far though when he realized why he’d lost sight of Arthur.
The land behind the cabins dropped down to a creek. He could see where Arthur had fallen, rolling through the snow to the bottom of the steep hillside. From there the man’s tracks crossed the frozen creek and disappeared in the adjacent woods.
Cyrus grabbed a tree limb to keep from falling down the steep hillside as Arthur had done. He stood, his heart hammering in his chest. What would he have done if he’d caught the man? The violence Juliette and her crew brought out of him scared him. He didn’t know who he was, but he was sure he was not this man. He shook his head and turned back to the cabin, half expecting Juliette to be gone.
Opening the back door, he walked through the screened-in porch, kicking the bags of groceries and sundries aside as he stalked in. He found Juliette in the bedroom packing.
“Going somewhere?” he asked from the doorway. She had been throwing things into the suitcase.
Now she jumped, dropping something on the floor in her surprise.
He saw a flash as light caught what had fallen from her fingers. She was quick, but not quick enough. He got to the object before she could retrieve it from the floor.
Picking it up, he stared at the FBI badge in his hand. Blinking hard, he slowly looked up at her. It was as if his mind had been closed off and suddenly opened. First Arthur’s voice. Now this badge.
“I remember,” he said. “I remember it all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“I REMEMBER.” CYRUS stared at the woman standing in front of him, all of it coming back in a hot rush. Once the door opened, memories rushed in at breakneck speed. The doctor had said it might happen like that because of the trauma he’d experienced. But he’d been afr
aid the memory loss was due to striking his head on the railing as he fell and lack of oxygen before he’d surfaced at sea. He remembered those frightening moments in the rough ocean, the waves trying to push him under again, the terror that he was going to die.
“The hotel bar,” he said more to himself than to Juliette. He could see it so clearly, it was like he was there again. The smell of alcohol. The dim lighting. He hadn’t wanted a drink but the breeder who’d sold him the bull insisted. All he really wanted to do was go upstairs to his room and pack. If he left early, he would be home by supper tomorrow night.
Billie Dee was making his favorite. Her version of chicken and dumplings. AJ said if he was late that she’d save him some. Just the thought of her made him even more anxious. He hadn’t been able to get her off his mind since he’d left Montana.
Being away from her had made him even more convinced about how he felt for her. He was in love. He’d been so happy that evening, anxious to get home and see her. He knew he had to tell her how he felt and, even though that scared him, he couldn’t wait. He’d never felt like this before.
Now he looked down at the FBI badge in his hand. Then up at Juliette. “I saw you when I came into the bar. You were sitting alone in a booth.”
She said nothing, merely stared at him as if frozen in place. Had this been her fear? That he would remember? That he would know that she’d tricked him?
He saw himself walking into the dark hotel bar. He couldn’t wait to get the drink over with. The breeder was a large, jovial man with a ruddy complexion and clearly enjoyed the celebrating-over-a-drink part of the bargain. Cyrus had never been much of a drinker. A few beers around a campfire in the summer. A gin and tonic at a wedding or a cattlemen’s meeting dinner.
But that night, he agreed to have one drink before going upstairs to pack. If only he had turned down the drink. If only...
His memory felt almost painful. He could smell the alcohol in the dimly lit bar. The breeder, a man named Harry Winston, slid into the booth next to the blonde’s and waved to the bartender.
Harry was a talker. He pulled out the check Cyrus had written him and grinned. “Best damned bull I ever raised. Worth every penny of the three hundred grand you paid for it.” He nodded and put the check away as the bartender came over to see what they wanted.
Cyrus started to order a beer, but Harry reminded him that they were celebrating and he ordered a gin and tonic with lime. Harry ordered a rum and cola, light on the cola he told the bartender with a wink and pulled out a hundred dollar bill to pay.
“You overheard the conversation,” Cyrus said to Juliette now and shook his head. “You targeted me.” If Harry had kept his mouth shut about the damned bull, none of this would have happened.
Juliette seemed to defrost. She pushed past him.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Cyrus said, still holding the badge as he followed her.
She stopped in the middle of the room. All the haughtiness was gone. She looked scared.
After two drinks, he’d managed to get away from Harry. As the breeder left, Cyrus had started out of the bar when the blonde from the next booth stood and caught him by the arm. It happened so fast and was so out of the blue that all he’d been aware of was the pressure of her fingers on his arm and her whispered words as she leaned closer to his ear.
“FBI. Come with me quietly. See the man in the lobby in the dark suit? He’s also an agent.”
He’d looked up and seen Otis. He’d looked so much like law... “What is this about?” Cyrus asked, glancing toward the man waiting just outside the bar at the edge of the lobby. He saw the man signal the blonde.
She flashed her badge with her free hand so only he could see. “I’ll be happy to explain. You don’t want me to have to draw my weapon. Let’s just walk out of here so I don’t have to use the cuffs and make a scene.”
He looked at the badge again now. It said Federal Bureau of Investigation on the top. It was gold. And the words Department of Justice were printed on the bottom of the badge. It and her credentials had looked real, right down to her agent number. But then again, it was the first time he’d laid eyes on an FBI badge.
“I bought it, hook, line and sinker,” Cyrus said now. “If I had checked it out with your field office...but you didn’t give me a chance, did you? I had no reason to question your badge or anything you told me. You played your part perfectly.”
“No, not perfectly obviously or you wouldn’t have figured it all out and forced my hand,” Juliette said.
“You took me into custody on some trumped-up money laundering scheme.” He frowned, remembering her reaching into the pocket of his coat after the three of them were in the elevator, and pulling out a small thumb drive.
“You had the thumb drive in your hand the whole time, right?” She didn’t confirm or deny it. “Was there anything on it?” Juliette gave him an impatient look. “I kept asking for a chance to call my lawyer.” He frowned. “Then you made me a deal. Help you catch the man who’d set me up by putting that drive in my pocket, the real person you were after.”
“I can be quite convincing.”
“Apparently.”
“All that was required was your silence.”
“I signed something saying I would never divulge any of it.” He shook his head and laughed. “You had me spotted as a fool right off the bat.”
“Actually, you were one of the tougher ones I’ve had to deal with. Arthur kept saying we should cut you loose.”
“Oh, you cut me loose, all right. When you had them throw me overboard.”
“You were getting too close to the truth,” she said as if killing people were something she did on a regular basis. Apparently it was.
“Well, you had me.”
“At least for a while,” she said.
“You got me on the flight to Miami and then onto the cruise ship,” he said and frowned. “You told me I had to take part in some operation to prove my innocence.”
“I told you I needed a cover and that I thought the captain of the ship was in on the money laundering since he was able to move from country to country without any suspicion.”
He chuckled. “Which explained the marriage. You told me it wouldn’t be legal. And I bought that?”
“You were being to doubt all of it. That’s why I drugged you and forced you to go along with it, promising that your part would be over and you could fly back to your precious Montana.”
Cyrus thought about all of it, remembering how real it had felt. “I admit, I was scared. I’d never been in trouble with the law, let alone the FBI.” He laughed and shook his head again, furious with himself. “You got me to marry you, telling me it was all fake, all part of the plan. I even believed that there were other FBI agents aboard the ship, all waiting to take down the money laundering criminals in this huge string you had going. How could I have been so stupid?”
“You were naive, yes, but not stupid. And Otis and I were very convincing.”
“So you planned to kill me all along.”
“Not as quickly as we had to. You were asking a lot of questions. We knew we had to move fast.”
“So all of this was just about money?” he asked, still having a hard time believing it.
Juliette glared at him. “Spoken like someone who has never had to worry about money. You were born on a ranch. You had food and clothes and a good standing in the community.”
Clearly she didn’t know about his father, Ely, who was considered the town nutcase. He felt a stab of pain as he realized that his father was gone. Dead and buried while he’d been lost at sea and beyond.
Juliette was angry, seething as she glared at him. “I grew up with nothing. I went to bed hungry. I was cold and miserable. My clothing, like my bedding, was threadbare.” She lifted her chin and he saw that there were tears in her eyes. “I never had a new piece o
f clothing until I ran away from home. So yes, it was all about money. Money I thought you had.”
He stared at her. “You’re a monster.”
Juliette wiped at her eyes. He watched her bite her lower lip for a moment. “I swore when I left home that I would do whatever I had to do to never be cold or hungry again. Unless you’ve been in my shoes...”
He glanced around the cabin. “Well, you have guts. You really came back here pretending to be my wife to con money out of my family?”
“Oh, we are husband and wife. That at least is real.”
“Not for long. After what Flint has discovered about your past, I get the picture. Well, take the check, Juliette. It’s all I have. You don’t deserve a dime of it. But it’s worth it to get you out of my life.”
Her laugh was bitter and sharp. “It wasn’t even about you. It was the ranch I wanted. I thought anyone who could afford a three-hundred-thousand-dollar bull was worth my effort. I should have asked how many siblings you had. But still, I almost talked your family into paying me over a million for your share of Cahill Ranch.”
“But then you found out I was alive.”
“Yes, that was unfortunate, but it wasn’t personal.”
“Not personal?” He laughed as she launched herself at the couch where she grabbed her purse and began to dig in it.
Cyrus caught her in two long strides. He grabbed her arm and squeezed until she dropped the gun she’d pulled from her bag. He emptied the bullets in the gun, dumped the weapon back into her purse and tossed it to the other side of the room.
She glared at him and rubbed her arm. “You hurt me.”
“Seriously?” He shook his head. “You’re lucky we’re landlocked. If we were near an ocean, you’d be getting some of your own medicine.”
“I can’t swim.”
He smiled at that. “I’d toss you a buoy to try to hold on to for hours and hours.”
“If you’re waiting for me to say I’m sorry—”
