by B. J Daniels
He was reasonably sure he’d pulled it off without a hitch. He’d wiped off most of the blood on his hand in the hay, having cut the man’s throat from behind him. Then he had slipped out of the barn to wash his hands in the hose on the back side of the barn.
He’d been careful not to leave any footprints next to the faucet. The police would suspect that he had to clean up. The creek would probably be their first choice, the hose behind the barn too obvious.
Either way, he’d managed to clean himself up and leisurely walk back to the house without causing anyone to take note of him.
All in all, it had been an amazing day. He felt better about everything. Now all he had to do was finish McKenzie Sheldon and life would be back to normal. Well, as normal as his life could be, under the circumstances.
But he was in no hurry. Killing Gus Thompson had filled his growing need. Now he could just relax and watch McKenzie sweat. With her former salesman’s death, she would be terrified. He chuckled. And her cowboy would realize he was no match for him.
Soon he would call and ask to see a house. He knew exactly which one he would want to see. When he’d gotten home from the open house, he’d searched the paper and internet for a listing in the area that would work to his advantage.
As he picked up her card and ran his fingers over the dark engraving, he had no doubt that Ms. McKenzie Sheldon would accommodate him in every way possible.
Chapter Twelve
Dana met them at the ranch house door. “I am so glad you decided to come back.”
McKenzie couldn’t help being touched by the warm welcome, but she still had misgivings about being here. It must have showed in her face because Dana hugged her and said, “I have something I want to show you in the kitchen,” leaving the men in the living room. Because it was late, the children were already in bed. The large, two-story ranch house was quieter than McKenzie had ever heard it.
“I know that you didn’t want to come here,” Dana said, the moment the kitchen door closed behind them.
“Only because there is a killer after me. I couldn’t bear it if I brought my troubles here and put your family in danger.”
“We’ve had our share of trouble at this ranch, believe me, and I’m sure we will again,” Dana said. “For me this place has always been a sanctuary. If it can be for others...” She smiled and took McKenzie’s hands in her own. “Then I’m glad. My mother loved this ranch, fought for it. It’s that Old West spirit that lives here in this canyon. Hayes did right bringing you back here.”
McKenzie wasn’t as sure of that. But she had to admit, she felt safer here and more at home than she did even in her condo as the two of them joined the men.
“We’re going down to the Corral tonight,” Dana said as if the idea had just come to her. “You dance, don’t you, McKenzie?”
She started to shake her head.
“Not to worry,” Hayes said. “I’ll teach you Texas two-step.”
“It’s Saturday night in the canyon,” Tag said. “You really do not want to miss this. Isn’t that right, Lily?” His fiancée laughed and agreed.
McKenzie couldn’t help but get caught up in their excitement. “Saturday night in the canyon. How can I say no?”
Hayes smiled at her. “It’s going to be fun, I promise.”
She didn’t doubt it. The Cardwells were a family that had fun; she could see that. She found herself smiling as they all piled into a couple of rigs and drove up the canyon to the Corral Bar.
“I forgot to mention that my father and uncle are playing in the band,” Dana said as they got out.
McKenzie could hear the music, old-time country, as they pushed through the door. The place was packed, but Hayes pulled her out onto a small space on the dance floor, anyway.
The song was slow, a mournful love song. He took her in his arms, drawing her close. She’d danced some in her younger days, mostly with her sisters, though.
Hayes was easy to follow and she found herself relaxing in his arms and moving with the music.
“You’re a fast learner,” he whispered next to her ear, making her smile.
They danced the next couple of songs, the beat picking up.
“Are you having fun?” Hayes asked.
She was. She laughed and nodded as he spun her, catching her by the waist to draw her back to him. She loved being in his arms and it wasn’t just because she felt safe there. She was falling for Hayes Cardwell.
“Here, you need this after that last dance,” Tag said, handing each of them a beer as they came off the dance floor. “Some nice moves out there, little brother.” He winked at Hayes. “Who knew he could dance?”
“He is a man of many talents,” McKenzie agreed as she tried to catch her breath. Just being around Hayes made her heart beat faster and her pulse sing. When he looked at her like he was doing now... “He just taught me the Texas swing.”
“Come to Texas and I’ll teach you all kinds of things,” Hayes said, meeting her gaze and holding it.
She laughed that off but she could tell he was serious. Texas? She didn’t think so. She hadn’t spent years working her tail off to get her business where it was to pack up and move.
And yet when she looked into his dark eyes, she was tempted. She told herself it had only been an off-handed remark. They hardly knew each other. A woman would be crazy to pack up and move clear across country because of a man, wouldn’t she?
* * *
HAYES COULD HAVE bitten his tongue. He’d seen his brother’s surprised expression. He’d been joking. Or at least he thought he had when he’d started to suggest it. But by the time the words were out of his mouth...
He shook his head and took a long drink of his beer. From the moment he’d looked into McKenzie Sheldon’s eyes he’d been spellbound. He couldn’t explain it but the woman had cast a spell on him.
The band took a break and Dana and McKenzie headed off to the ladies’ room together. He decided it was as good as any time to go over to say hello to his father and uncle.
“I heard you were in the canyon,” his father said, giving him a slap on the back. Harlan Cardwell was still strong and handsome for a man in his sixties.
Tag had bonded with their father on his visit to Montana last Christmas. Hayes only had vague memories of occasional visits from his father while growing up.
“Good to see you,” he said, then shook his uncle Angus’s hand. The two had been playing in a band together, Tag had told him, since they were in high school.
“I’ve gotten to know Dad better,” Tag had said when their father’s name had come up. “He’s a loner, kind of like Austin. He and his brother are close, but Uncle Angus doesn’t even see his own daughter Dana that much.”
“So you’re saying our uncle is just as lousy a father as our own?” he’d asked Tag. “That’s reassuring.”
“I’m saying there’s more to them. Dad cares, but neither he nor his brother, it seems, were cut out to be family men.”
Several locals came up to talk to Harlan and Angus. Hayes told his father he would catch him later and went to find McKenzie.
Hayes had always wondered about his father. What man let his wife raise five boys alone? Not that their mother wasn’t one strong woman who’d done a great job.
“That’s your father?” McKenzie asked, studying the elderly cowboy.
“That’s him.” Hayes had only recently learned that his father and uncle had spent most of their lives working for various government agencies. Both were reportedly retired.
He didn’t want to talk about his father. “About earlier when I suggested you come to Texas...”
“I might come down just to see what all the fuss is about sometime,” she said and quickly added, “Just to visit.”
Fortunately, the band broke into a song. Mc
Kenzie put down her beer and, taking her hand, he led her back out on the dance floor.
As he pulled her into his arms, though, he couldn’t bear to think about the day he would have to go back to Texas without her.
* * *
“ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?” Hayes asked as they walked toward their cabins after they’d closed down the Corral. Tag had stayed behind to talk to Hud on the porch, while Dana had gone into the house to see how the kids were. Her sister Stacy had come up from Bozeman to watch all the kids for them.
The night was cool and dark in the pines. Only the starlight and a sliver of white moon overhead lit their way through the dense trees. In the distance, McKenzie thought she could hear the river as it wound through the canyon. It reminded her of the music back at the bar and being in Hayes’s arms.
“I’m fine,” she said and breathed in the sweet summer night’s scents, wishing this night would never have to end.
He took her hand, his fingers closing around hers, and instinctively she moved closer, their shoulders brushing.
“I enjoyed visiting with your father tonight. He seems sweet.” She glanced over at Hayes. “He said he wants to get to know his sons. I can tell he’s sorry he missed so many years with the five of you.” She saw that it was a subject he didn’t want to talk about. There was hurt there. She wondered what it would take to heal it. With Hayes in Houston and his father here, well, that was too many miles, too much distance between them in more ways than one.
“I had a great time tonight,” she said, changing the subject. She didn’t want anything to ruin this night. She felt still caught up in the summer night’s festivities. If anything, she had fallen even harder for the Cardwell family tonight.
“Me, too. So you aren’t sorry I brought you here?”
She laughed as she looked at him. He wore his gray Stetson, his face in shadow, but she knew that face so well now that she knew he was pleased she’d had fun. “I’d rather be here with you than anywhere else in the world tonight.”
He squeezed her hand then drew her to a stop in the pines just yards from her cabin. A breeze swayed the boughs around them, whispering softly, as he pulled her to him. The kiss was warm and soft and sweeter than even the night.
“McKenzie, that isn’t just the beer talking, is it?” he joked.
She cupped his face in her hands, drawing him down to her lips. All night she’d wanted his arms around her. All night she’d wanted him. As she put into the kiss the longing she had for him, he dragged her against him with a groan. Desire shot through her blood, hot and demanding.
When she finally drew back, she whispered on a ragged breath, “I want you, too, Hayes Cardwell, and that isn’t the beer talking.”
They were so close she could see the shine of his dark eyes in the starlight. Without another word, he swept her up in his arms and carried her into the cabin.
* * *
AS THE CABIN door closed behind them, Hayes lowered McKenzie slowly to her feet. His need for her was so strong that he would have taken her right there on the floor. But not their first time, he told himself as he looked into her eyes, losing himself in the clear blue sea.
“Last chance,” he said quietly.
“Not a chance.”
She started to unbutton her blouse, but he stopped her, moving her hands away to do it himself. He was determined to take it slow. As he slipped one button free, then another, he held her gaze. Her blouse fell open. He slowly lowered his eyes to her white-laced bra against the olive of her skin.
He brushed his fingertips over the rise of her breasts. She moaned softly as he dipped into the bra. Her nipple hardened under his thumb, making her arch against his hand. Her skin felt as hot as his desire for her. He released the front snap of her bra, exposing both breasts. Need burned through him, making him ache.
He’d wanted her for so long. When his gaze returned to her face, he saw her own need in her eyes. In one swift movement, she unsnapped his shirt, making the snaps sing. She pressed her palms to his chest.
He felt heat race along his nerve endings. He bent to kiss her then drew her against him, feeling her full breasts and hard nipples warm his skin and send his growing desire for her rocketing.
His mouth dropped to her breast, his tongue working the nipple. His hand slipped up under her skirt and her panties. She arched against him, rocking against his hand until she cried out and sagged against him.
He unhooked her skirt. It dropped to the floor. Her white lace panties followed it. Naked, she was more beautiful than he could have imagined. He swung her up in his arms again and carried her into the bedroom. As he started to lower her on the bed, she pulled him down into a hot, deep kiss and then her hand was on the buttons of his fly.
Lost in the feel of her, he made love to her slow and sweet, but it took all of his effort to hold back. The second time, he didn’t hold back. They rolled around on the bed, caught up in a passion that left them both spent.
Later, as they lay on the bed staring up at the skylight overhead and trying to catch their breath, he looked over at McKenzie. She was smiling.
* * *
PATIENCE. HE KNEW things would be hot for a while with the cops, which meant there was no going near McKenzie’s condo or office. Killing Gus came at a cost. Now he had to live with the consequences.
Tonight he sat on his porch considering his options. One would be to go back to work. It would look better should he find himself on the suspect list. Anyone who’d been to the open houses would be scrutinized. He wasn’t worried. He looked great on paper.
Gus hadn’t told the police anything—just as he’d sworn before he died. He’d had to make sure the police didn’t have the license plate number of the van he’d been driving that night outside McKenzie’s condo. Gus hadn’t given the police even the make of the vehicle he’d been driving. He couldn’t believe his luck—or Gus Thompson’s stupidity. Gus was the only one who could have identified him and now he was dead.
Luck was with him. It buoyed him in this difficult time. He could last a couple of days without seeing McKenzie, without going near her. Unless there was another way.
The idea came to him slowly, teasing him in its simplicity. The only way he could get to McKenzie Sheldon sooner would be if her attacker were caught. He thought of the men he’d seen at the open house. A couple of them had looked familiar. In fact, there was one he knew. He was the right size. All it would take was a couple of pieces of incriminating evidence to be found at the man’s house. The police would think they had their man.
So would McKenzie Sheldon.
There would be no reason for her not to go back to work as usual.
He felt good as he got up and went to bed. When he closed his eyes, he relived every moment from the time he hit Gus Thompson and knocked him to his knees until he saw the life drain out of the man. It had been a good day.
But he couldn’t stop himself from dreaming about the day he would take McKenzie Sheldon for his own. Normally, he only spent a few hours with each one. Too much time increased the chance of being caught.
With McKenzie, though, he wanted to take his time. He would have to find some place where they could be alone for more than a few hours.
MCKENZIE LAY IN the bed, the stars glittering like tiny white lights through the skylight overhead, Hayes Cardwell lying next to her.
“So I have to know,” McKenzie said, rolling up on one elbow to look at him. “What makes good Texas barbecue?”
Hayes smiled over at her. “Are you serious?”
“Come on. You can tell me your secret. Isn’t that how you and your brothers got your start? It has to be some kind of special barbecue.”
He nodded as he rolled up on his side to face her. “You have to understand. We were raised on barbecue.” He closed his eyes for a moment and sniffed as if he could smell it
. “You’ve got to have the smoke,” he said as he opened his eyes and grinned at her. “And that takes a pit and a lot of patience. Most people don’t know this, but cooking whole animals over smoldering coals is thought to have originated in the Caribbean. The Spanish saw how it was done and called it barbacoa. It’s been refined since then, of course, and every region does it differently. Texas is known for its brisket, cooked charred black and bursting with flavor.”
She laughed. “What makes your brisket so special?”
“We cover them with special seasonings and then smoke them for twelve to eighteen hours in wood-burning pits.”
“Secret seasonings, right?”
“You better believe it. But wait until you taste our barbecue sauce.”
“I can’t wait. Am I going to get a chance to taste it?”
“Count on it,” Hayes said and kissed her. It was a slow, sexy kiss that sent a throbbing ache of desire through her. She knew it wouldn’t take much to find herself making love with him again. He’d been so tender the first time. The second time he’d taken her in a way that still had her heart pounding.
Just the thought brought with it the remembered pleasure. But as intimate as their lovemaking had been, she needed to know more about this man. She’d put her life into his hands. She felt as if he had done the same.
“I heard you started with just one small restaurant,” she said.
He nodded. “We opened the first place in an old house with the pit out back. It was just good ol’ traditional barbecue like we grew up on. You can take a cheap piece of meat and, if you cook it properly and with the right wood, it becomes a delicacy. One whiff and I can tell whether hickory, post oak or mesquite was used. But in the end, give me a piece of marbled pork shoulder and I will make you a tender, succulent pulled pork sandwich like none you’ve ever had before. The secret is that you’ve got to have smoky pork fat.”
She smiled at him, hearing the pride in his voice. “Coleslaw?”
“Of course. You have to slather some sweet slaw on the pulled pork along with our spicy barbecue sauce to cut the richness of the pork. We also do a mean Southern potato salad and you are not going to believe our beans.”
