License to Love Series:Trilogy (Contemporary Western Cowboy Romance)

by Rose, Amelia

  Melinda had spent the bulk of last night replaying the way that Cale had reacted when she’d stumbled, how his lips had brushed against hers. Shaking her head she tried to clear the memory. Getting involved with Cale would not result in anything good.

  She flipped on her computer and waited for it to boot up. As she did, she looked around her office. There were a variety of pictures and plaques given to her by people in town, family and friends. Reaching across the desk, she picked up the small wooden plaque that Shad and Woody had given her when she’d gotten elected. It was just a slice of wood that had been lacquered, with the phrase “Our Sister the Protector” etched into the front of it.

  At the time it had been a joke, an inside family reference to the way that she kept tabs on all of them and kept them in line. However the words now took on a whole new meaning. Rubbing her fingers across them, she heard a faint beep that indicated the computer was ready.

  The keystrokes clicked in the room, a loud abrasive sound in the otherwise hushed atmosphere. In less than five minutes she had the drive plugged in. Her fingers were hovered over the mouse as she debated whether or not to download it.

  If she went through with this, then she would be going outside the scope of the law. Until this moment it had all been theoretical. However this would be a defining moment for her, the first time she had ever stepped outside of her comfort zone.

  As she waited she heard the bell at the door, immediately followed by Agent Davidson’s booming voice, “Is the sheriff in yet?”

  There was a brief pause as someone, probably Edna’s early morning equivalent answered him, but the voice was too soft to make out for sure. Then she heard his answer, “Well, I’m not waiting around all day for her to get here. We need to get this show on the road.”

  Even as the last words were coming out of his mouth, she pushed her finger down on the button and downloaded the back door to the computer system. Cale had assured her that it would embed itself in a file directory within the network, allowing them access to everything that was stored on that network, no matter which computer it was logged in at.

  He’d also told her that it could easily be eradicated once the case was over, and she was banking on his honesty on this point. However, the department was also due for an upgrade at some time in the near future, so if she couldn’t get rid of it, she would make sure that the improvement fund was completely used up this year.

  When the download was complete, she shut her computer and used her phone to take pictures of any remaining evidence in her office that she hadn’t yet handed over. Just as she was putting this away and shuffling the papers on her desk back into order to shove them back into the folder the door to her office swung open.

  “So you are here. One of the deputies thought they saw your SUV in the lot,” Davidson said as he leaned against the doorframe, using his entire body to barricade the small space.

  Melinda hadn’t had much of a chance to size him up the night before when she’d seen him in the parking lot. Now, however, she could see that he stood at least six foot three with very broad shoulders. His eyes were equally dark pools and in the pale fluorescent light of the office they seemed to shimmer.

  Walking up to him, she attempted to brush past him in the doorway and for a moment it looked as if he might not move. Melinda smiled up at him and she could feel the tension and the aggression rising in her voice as she spoke.

  “Step out of my way, Davidson, or I will have one of my deputies remove you from my office. You may have the lead on the investigation, but this room has no bearing on that,” she told him through gritted teeth.

  Holding up both hands he smirked and stood away just enough so that she could squeeze through the gap. “Whoa, whoa, I wasn’t trying to stir anything up. I was just wondering why you hadn’t notified us you were in the office.”

  “Oh I see, so I should tell you every little thing I do. Wouldn’t it just be easier for you in the long run to just put a tracker on me? That way at least you wouldn’t even have to pretend to be my friend.”

  Now she could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks and temples, and she put her hands on her hips as she spoke. She was fairly pissed, but she was also trying to ham it up enough so that when she took her “leave of absence” later it was believable.

  Davidson didn’t say another word as she stalked past him and went up to Edna’s desk, laying out some notes and files for her. Then,Melinda turned and went into the room that they had commandeered as their command center in the search for Charles Sanders.

  Sure enough, one of the large pegboards was sitting in the far corner of the room with notes, messages, and photographs tacked to it with push pins. There weren’t that many people in the room yet but even so, Melinda could feel the energy and tension buzzing into high gear when she walked in.

  At least the dislike is mutual. she thought as a slow smile spread across her face. Walking over to the pegboard she looked over all of the information they had assembled since yesterday. It didn’t look like they had gained any ground since her initial assessment. Nothing had been disturbed in the area, and there had been no other contact with him.

  So far it appeared that they hadn’t even been able to find the car he’d stolen from Alyssa.

  “I thought we would hit the ground running today,” Davidson’s voice was booming and authoritative behind her. “We haven’t gotten a hit on the car, but I went ahead and directed the officers to start checking other farms in the area to see if the car was there. We are supposed to get overhead support from the chopper today as well, which will help us to cover more ground.”

  When he spoke about the chopper he leaned down over her shoulder. It was clear that he was trying to intimidate her again and show her that he was in control and giving the orders. She moved to the side and continued to walk around the room, ignoring him while she soaked up the information.

  There were pictures of Charles from different periods in his life on one side of the board, clustered together. She paused in front of these for a moment, studying them intensely while thinking back to the story that Cale had told her yesterday about his past and his mother. In the photos that appeared to be from middle school he was smiling slightly, a tilting and wistful look to his face. Even so there was something about his gaze that always appeared a little off. The haunting quality to his gaze lingered through adolescence, but as she progressed through the photos she noticed a change. In those pictures from a few years ago his gaze had turned darker, clouding his features completely.

  As she turned away from the board, she noticed an unmarked manila folder that was lying on the table. Reaching out for it, she had her fingers over the top of it when it was yanked out of her grasp. Melinda’s fingers automatically curled into a fist as she struggled to keep herself from lashing out at the big lug.

  A blinding hot rage shot through her body with each pump of her heart as she reminded herself to breathe. It was imperative that she get control of the situation. She knew how bad things would become if her temper took over and flared out of control.

  This is why you’re going to work with Cale she reminded herself as she looked up at Davidson and smiled, trying to convey the epicenter of calmness and serenity. When she looked at his furrowed brow, she saw that he was expecting her to have a public fit.

  “I’m sorry. I was working under the assumption that my office was still the primary in this investigation. Was I mistaken in that belief?” Melinda asked her voice still as steady and as confident as possible.

  In response, a slow smile spread across Davidson’s face and Melinda felt her heartbeat quicken for a second as she imagined that this might be how a hunter looks at his prey. A tight band of apprehension formed in the pit of her stomach but her facial expression remained the same. She was not about to give him the upper edge and show any fear.

  When he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to intimidate her, he continued. “Cale Winters is Charles Sanders’ lawyer, but he is also his st
ep-brother, did you know that?”

  “Yes, that is common knowledge.” The band grew tighter as she worried that they had found out about their plan. If she were confronted now she would have to call it off. There was no way that she could go in search of Sanders with Cale if they suspected anything.

  “Well, no one told us. I had him here yesterday, but I let him go. When we realized what had happened I had them run a complete background on him.”

  “And did you find anything?” she asked, smiling. She knew exactly what they had found, and that was nothing. Cale had been the model student and excellent lawyer. There was not even a blimp on the screen until he had taken a leave of absence as an associate from his law firm to come to Stanhope and represent his brother.

  “You know what we found,” he said, eyeballing her. “But don’t accuse us of running an uneven investigation if you aren’t sharing all of your information either.”

  Melinda struggled to suppress her smile when she responded. “I wasn’t here yesterday, so I have no idea what you were or weren’t told about Cale Winters. My guess is that you assumed he was just another lawyer, and you know what they say about assuming something.”

  She turned away from him at the end of the statement because she could no longer control her smile.

  Chapter 7

  A brief buzzing came from Melinda’s shirt pocket. Pulling out her phone, she pressed the button so that the screen lit up. In it was a text with just a simple two word message, Well Done. That was the code they had set it, and it meant that Cale had finally broken through the last of his brother’s encryption and had gotten the ball rolling on a way to track him.

  It also meant that Melinda needed to start wrapping things up here. If he was ready to go, then that meant he had a lead, and she knew he wouldn’t wait around too long for her before following up on it.

  Just then she heard Agent Davidson approach her from behind, and reach out for her arm. Timing it perfectly, she spun around and stared him in the face. “I will thank you to keep your hands off me,” she said, never raising her voice, but carefully challenging his position.

  Davidson took a step back when she turned on him. A moment later he realized what was going on, and he leaned back in, trying desperately to make up for the ground he’d lost when he’d startled her.

  “You are doing your best to cut us out when you are aware that you are supposed to be sharing all information. Now why don’t you show us that text you got a second ago?”

  Melinda held in her smile as she reached for the phone in her pocket. This was what she had been waiting for and why the code from Cale had been so cryptic. She had anticipated that Davidson would either ask to look through her phone or just blatantly snoop through it at some point. So last night she had made Cale’s number show up on her contact list as a number related to her brother Shad. Then they had exchanged several messages so that the conversation read like this:

  Don’t worry, we’re going to catch him and when we do you guys can come home.

  As long as we get some steak to celebrate!

  I’ll have them on the grill when Sanders is in the bag. How does Clara take her steak?

  Well done

  It wasn’t much but the point of the messages had just been to create some chain of dialogue that would clear her of suspicion and would make Davidson look like a fool. Melinda watched as the crimson crept up his collar and thought that she had made the right decision.

  “Do you want to read my conversation with my brother out loud, or should I? Then everyone in the office can rest easy knowing how Clara takes her steak,” Melinda taunted as she held her hand out for her phone.

  Davidson grew so flustered that it looked for a moment like he might actually try to spit on her when he handed back her phone. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing sheriff, but I don’t like it.”

  Melinda turned her back to him and continued to walk around the room, taking that opportunity to make sure that she hadn’t missed out on anything. When she assured herself that she had all of their information so far and with the backdoor planted in the server, she would have access to it later.

  “See, Davidson, I just don’t know how we will ever be able to work around all of these trust issues. I mean, I can’t even get a text from my brother without you second guessing me.”

  She struggled to suppress another smile when she noticed how badly his nostrils were flaring.

  “What do you want me to do, apologize for being diligent?” he asked.

  “No,” she quipped with a noted defiance in her voice. “What I want you to do is to back off. However, since we both know that isn’t going to happen I’m thinking that another arrangement might have to come about.”

  “And what would that be? “ He challenged. “You want us to pack up and leave, I suppose?”

  “Ah, that would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Melinda teased, “But that would be an impossible feat. I’ve tried to dig out of the trenches of the big agents before. I know how that song and dance goes. Instead I think I’ll just bow out this time.”

  Davidson was ramping up as if preparing for a fight and when she said bow out it was if the wind was suddenly stripped from his sails. His massive shoulders suddenly rolled forward, temporarily diminishing his great size.

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” he managed to finally ask once he had regained his composure.

  “I said I would just bow out,” Melinda reiterated. “I’ll leave my Lieutenant in command, and I will go out of town for a few days. That way you can control the manhunt, and I can be with my family.”

  There was a silence so tremendous in that room that you would have been able to hear ants crawling across the desk. No one moved. No one even breathed heavy. It was as if she had just announced that she was dying.

  “So, you’re just giving up?” Davidson clarified.

  “Giving up, backing down, and making sure the department is free from all of these games so that the lunatic terrorizing my family can be caught. You can label it however you want. I’m just letting you know that I’m taking some personal time off.”

  At this point she walked toward Davidson, closing the gap between them effectively in three quick steps. “I’m giving you one week. If that insane madman isn’t caught by then, I’m coming back and I’m kicking you and your goons the hell out of my office. Do we have a deal?”

  This time Davidson smiled because he thought he realized her end game. She was giving him a time frame to catch Sanders. It seemed like a reasonable time frame as they expected this injured “lunatic” to be an easy target. They were underestimating both him and her. But he didn’t realize this as he smiled and stuck out his hand. “Sure, we can even shake on it.”

  Melinda looked down at his hand for a moment before staring him straight in the eye. “I don’t need to shake on anything. I’m telling you how it is. I will be back in one week, and his ass better be locked up by then and you had better be the hell out of here. Are we clear?”

  She turned and walked away without waiting for an answer, Davidson’s hand still hanging in the air. When she walked by Edna’s desk she winked at the desk clerk. Edna caught it and smiled back. Melinda knew that she had two ins to the investigation. One was the technology she had installed this morning: the other was Edna.

  By the time she reached her SUV, the smile that had spread across her face was so wide that it actually hurt. As her door shut, the laughter started next and by the time she pulled into her drive and went to switch out vehicles, she had laughed so hard that the tears were streaming down her face and her side was burning.

  After a few short minutes inside, where she changed into her street clothes and grabbed the bag she had packed the night before, she emerged feeling like a new woman. In fact, she felt as if she could conquer the world as she climbed into her old Volvo and headed down the road to pick up Cale.

  The tiny voice of doubt and worry that she had lived with most of her life remained curiously s
ilent on the issue.

  Chapter 8

  Cale stood at the edge of the motel parking lot and watched the old dusty Volvo approach. He had nothing on him but a gym bag and a shoulder bag for the laptops. They had one week to find his brother, and he was determined to bring him in. Charles had been his responsibility for so long that he’d forgotten what it was like to live life without his malcontent shadow.

  He was a man torn. If his brother were hunted by the agency and killed in some kind of shootout, then he would be forever free of his burden. Charles would have died and it would have been no one’s fault but his own. But he knew that he would feel guilty for not taking this chance and doing everything he could to bring Charles in alive and well.

  And he wasn’t sure that he could live the rest of his life with that kind of burden.

  Cale was still deep in thought when the tan car pulled up next to him and Melinda leaned across the seat to flip the lock. When he looked down and saw her, he had to suppress his sharp intake of breath. Her dark brown hair fell down around her shoulders in a wavy cascade of shadows. She was wearing a red ribbed tank top that seemed to perfectly accentuate her bronzed skin, and jeans.

  It was as if she had shed the skin of Sheriff Brandt somewhere else and this new woman had completely emerged. Cale tossed his luggage into the back and climbed into the passenger seat. His rear had barely made contact with the cushion when the car shifted into gear and she took off.

  “Whoa!” he exclaimed as the door slammed when the car gained forward momentum.

  “Sorry,” she looked over at him and smiled, her eyes hidden behind her dark glasses, “but I don’t want to risk having anyone see you jump into an unmarked car. They would probably assume that you were meeting up with your brother and then we would become the hunted instead of the hunters.”