by Debra Webb
He got up, blocked her escape. “I need to know I can count on your cooperation, at least for a little while. Until we know what Clare’s intentions are.”
“I have to think about this. You can stay the night in the barn or in your truck.” She met his gaze then, anger simmering in hers. “I’ll give you my decision tomorrow.”
At least he had the night. That was a beginning.
Sadie stopped at the bottom of the steps and turned back to him. “Does Gus know about this?”
More dicey territory. “The fewer people who know, the less likely the waters will be muddied. You know Gus, he’ll have his own security folks trying to track down Barker. That would be a mistake. It’s imperative that we catch her in the act so that she can be properly prosecuted. Otherwise she may get away with more heinous crimes.” Like Janet Tolliver’s murder. He kept that to himself for now. “There’s a lot we haven’t nailed down yet. Revealing our hand too soon could send this woman into hiding, and then you might never be safe again.”
Sadie started for the barn once more. “What can I do to help?” he called after her. When she glanced back at him, he added, “With the rest of the chores.”
She shook her head. “I’ve got this.”
One step forward, two steps back. He’d expected shaky ground. He just hoped the ground didn’t crack open and swallow him up before this case was solved.
Simon had called with an update on Janet Tolliver’s great-niece. Nothing appeared missing from the house as best she could determine. Her aunt had no safe-deposit boxes and no known attorneys. For some reason, Tolliver had decided to move back to the home that had belonged to her own aunt a few months back. She’d told her niece it was the one place she’d always felt at peace. The niece had nothing more to offer. Whatever else Tolliver knew, that information had died with her.
The rumble of engines dragged Lyle from those troubling thoughts. With the dust flying it was difficult to make out how many vehicles were roaring toward Sadie’s house, but he estimated three. The first, then the second and third skidded to a halt not twenty feet from the porch. He recognized the driver of the first vehicle before the man launched out the door, rifle in hand.
Gus Gilmore.
The man was obviously losing his edge. Lyle had anticipated an appearance hours ago. Word traveled fast to men like Gilmore. Lyle took his time walking out to meet him. No need to hurry into trouble. From beneath the porch, Sadie’s herd of dogs yapped that strange harmony of high-pitched Chihuahua and deep, booming Lab.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Gus stopped in front of his truck, four of his cohorts lined up around him. Lyle recognized only one—celebrity bronc rider Billy Sizemore. He’d been a cocky bastard before. Lyle doubted that caveman flaw had evolved much.
“Hello to you, too, Gus. It’s been a while.” Lyle braced his hands on his hips. His weapon was secured in his truck. As smart-mouthed and bullish as these men wanted to appear, Lyle wasn’t afraid of one or all. It took more than mere guts to shoot an unarmed man. These bozos were lacking in that department, along with a few others, like morals.
“I warned you once before,” Gus threatened. “You better stay away from my little girl.”
Lyle glanced toward the barn, hoped Sadie stayed put. “Your little girl is a grown woman now. She can make decisions for herself. Word is, she doesn’t take orders from you any more than I intend to.”
Sizemore started forward. Gus stopped him with an uplifted hand. “I’ve kept up with you, McCaleb. Just because you work for some fancy P.I. agency doesn’t make you any better than the green deputy you were before.” His face tightened with his building rage. “I don’t know what you’re doing back here, but I will find out. Meanwhile, you’d better watch your back.”
The unmistakable racking of a shotgun punctuated his warning. “Lyle is my guest.”
Lyle’s gaze swung to his right. Sadie. The woman had a way of sneaking up on a man. Not a one of the bunch had heard her approach. She stood a few feet away, her shotgun readied for use. If she spilled the beans…
“You go on in the house, Sadie,” her daddy ordered. “This is between me and him. The fact that he’s standing here proves you don’t have a lick of sense, much less any pride.”
Lyle resisted the urge to grin. Gus should have known better than to take that approach. Lyle braced for the inevitable explosion.
Sadie, shotgun still positioned and ready for firing, walked right up to her daddy. “This is my property, in case you’ve forgotten, Gus Gilmore. Now take your low-down friends and get off my ranch.”
Gus moved closer to her, allowing the muzzle to burrow into his chest. Lyle held his protective instincts in check. Any move he made would escalate this scene and wouldn’t have a good ending.
“I ran him out of town once,” Gus reminded her. “I’ll do it again. And that horse you stole from me, I will get him back, one way or another.”
“You’ll try,” she countered fearlessly. “But I bought him fair and square. The sheriff already told you the papers were good. So don’t waste your time, old man. That horse is done, just like you.”
Gus glared at her another five seconds before turning back to Lyle. “You heed what I say, boy. Or you’ll wish you had. Your connections back in Houston don’t carry any weight here. This is my county.”
Lyle didn’t rise to the bait. He held his temper and let Gus and his minions go on their way. There would be a day when he and that old bastard resolved their differences. Just not today.
When the dust had settled, he considered the woman caught up in all this turmoil. How did she deal with that man on a regular basis? Living right next door, though hundreds of acres separated Gus’s mansion from her modest home, had to be a real pain in the butt.
“You okay?” He noted the slightest tremor in her arms.
“Course.” Sadie lowered the business end of her gun. “But he’ll be back.” She shook her head. “Once he gets his teeth into something he never lets go.”
Now Lyle understood why Sadie hadn’t permitted Dare Devil to roam the pasture with the other horses. “What’s the deal with Dare Devil?”
“His rodeo days are done.” She dusted the front of her shirt, removing the hay that had stuck there during her work in the barn. “Gus had him parading around in all kinds of absurd trick shows. Dare Devil couldn’t take it. A friend of mine who works for Gus loaded him up with the horses for auction and I bought him. Gus can’t prove I tricked him. The only thing he can prove is a series of mistakes that more than one of his employees made. Even the sheriff had to agree with me.” She pointed a knowing look in Lyle’s direction. “Trust me, that was a first.”
Prior to his arrival, Lyle had discovered there was some frivolous trouble between her and her daddy, but this felt more complicated than he’d been led to believe. As much as he disliked Gus, he couldn’t see him hurting his daughter physically. But then, she wasn’t his daughter. Had his own mother’s choosing Sadie as her heir over him been the last straw? If so, why hadn’t he shattered Sadie’s world by telling her that truth? “Doesn’t sound like he’s ready to let it go,” Lyle suggested.
“That’s his problem.” Sadie climbed the porch steps. “I’ll be sleeping in the barn tonight. Sleep where you want.”
Since the house wasn’t nearly close enough to the barn to suit him, he’d be sleeping in the barn, too. “I figure there’s plenty of room for both of us out there.”
Sadie glanced back at him, opened her mouth to say something then snapped it shut. Halfway across the porch, she mumbled, “Suit yourself.”
He planned to. The air was too thick with the trouble brewing to let her too far out of his reach. He just had to remember that every square inch of that gorgeous little body of hers was off-limits. There would be no finishing what they’d started that final night seven years ago. She deserved better.
Keeping her safe was the easy part, as long as he maintained his focus. It was the part that came after
that tore him up inside. If there was any way in the world he could protect her from what was coming he would…but there wasn’t.
The only thing he could do was keep her safe until the imminent physical threat passed. He couldn’t shield her from the rest. Not without kidnapping her and disappearing. But then, someone had already done that once, and look how that effort turned out.
Clare Barker wanted her girls back. Whether to finish the job her husband didn’t complete or for a happy reunion, Lyle couldn’t say just yet. But she wanted something, and the only side of the story they had was her husband’s.
Between Lucas Camp watching Clare and two of the agency’s researchers digging through the Princess Killer case files, they had to piece together the truth soon. For Sadie’s sake. As well as the others.
For now, anyone who tried to get to Sadie—Clare Barker or Gus Gilmore included—would have to go through Lyle.
Chapter Six
May 22, 2:00 a.m.
Sadie stirred from the dreams plaguing her sleep. She swiped at her nose and frowned. The sweet scent of hay sifted into her groggy senses. Scrubbing her face with the back of her hand, she sat up. It was dark. Darker than when she’d bedded down in the vacant stall closest to Dare Devil.
What happened to the light she’d left on in the tack room? She felt for the shotgun lying next to her, untangled herself from the blanket and stumbled to her feet. A low sound brushed her awareness. She froze.
Listening for the faint rasp to come again, she maneuvered her way out of the stall by touch. The barn doors were closed, blocking out the glow from the moon and stars. She stilled a second time and listened. Scratching? Whimpering?
The dogs.
Bewildered, Sadie moved slowly along the corridor between the stalls. One of the horses shuffled, likely awakened by the same noise that had dragged her back to consciousness. She checked each stall she passed, sliding a calming hand over the animal’s forehead. The urge to call out to the dogs burgeoned in her throat, but she preferred not to give her position away if trouble was lurking around outside.
Damn that Billy Sizemore. If he’d come back to try to scare her, she might just shoot his sorry butt this time.
Sadie sensed the stall closest to the big entry doors was empty before she felt around on the fresh haystack and found Lyle’s abandoned blanket. Where the hell was he? It wasn’t enough that he’d invaded her dreams. He had to be missing in action now that she might actually need him?
That was just like a man. All talk and no action of the right kind. When had honor become obsolete?
At the doors, she crouched down to calm the mutts. She whispered softly to them and gave each a soothing back rub. Allowing them outside would be a bad idea, seeing as the three were all bark and no bite whatsoever. Ushering them into the stall with Lyle’s blanket would be futile. They’d only follow her right back to the doors.
What she actually needed was a vantage point with a view to assess the situation before barging out those doors anyway. She glanced around the dark barn then looked up, and a smile slid across her lips. Of course. The loft.
Slipping back to the center of the barn as quietly as possible with three dogs on her heels, she listened for any sound coming from beyond the old batten-and-board walls of the barn. Satisfied that all was quiet for the moment, she climbed the ladder to the hayloft. The loft door at the front of the barn that provided access for loading hay was open, allowing enough light for her to make her way there without tripping over any misplaced bales. She surveyed the grounds between the house and the barn. If anyone, including Lyle, was out there, they were well hidden. The only vehicle was her old truck and his shiny new one. No lights in the house.
Where the heck was he?
Sadie heaved a sigh. The man had her on edge. He was probably out there taking care of necessary business and she was in here worried about intruders and him.
“Ridiculous, Sadie,” she muttered.
Picking her way back to the handmade ladder, she cursed herself for being such an idiot. Why had she let him stay? His explanations for his sudden appearance after all this time were far too vague. If he couldn’t tell her exactly why he was here, why was she assuming he was on the up-and-up? She stepped off the final rung and walked back to her makeshift bed.
If she were honest with herself about her own motives, she would have to confess that she was curious, hazardous to her health or not, about him. Still had a crazy attraction to him. And she loved that his presence drove Gus nuts. None of those were good reasons for this situation. She lay back on her blanket. Then again, who said she had to have a good reason? The tightening sensation in her chest warned that the wrong reason could set her up for more of the heartache that still twisted her up into knots from time to time.
The distant sound of splintering wood fractured the silence. Gator, Frisco and Abigail burst into unharmonious barking. Sadie shot to her feet, shotgun in hand, and was at the barn doors before her brain had completed an inventory of the possible sources of the racket. Grabbing back control in the nick of time before she burst out of the barn, she eased one door open just far enough to scan the darkness. Still no lights on in the house. The two vehicles hadn’t moved. No one swaggering about. Where in blazes was Lyle?
Squeezing out that same narrow crack, she pushed the door back into place before the dogs could hurtle out after her. The big pecan tree was her first destination, the disabled tractor next, then the toolshed and the outhouse as she crept closer to the house. She stilled, listened hard to determine the source of what sounded like distant thudding or pounding. Thump, thump, thump. The sound grew faster. Someone was running…in the woods that stretched out from the edge of her side yard all the way to the road.
Sadie summoned her courage and sprinted to the back corner of the house. She flattened against the peeling clapboard siding. The hurried footsteps had stopped…but there was a different activity now. Thrashing, maybe. The distinct splat of flesh slamming against flesh smacked the air. Fighting.
Her movements painstakingly slow, she rounded the corner of the house and moved toward the trees beyond the clothesline. The sound of running started again, accompanied by the crash of underbrush being disturbed.
Enough with the tiptoeing around. She couldn’t see a damned thing, but this was her ranch and she intended to protect what belonged to her, especially the animals. Heart pumping hard, propelling the adrenaline-infused blood through her veins, Sadie dashed across the backyard and into the acres of woods that separated her house from the road.
Gunfire split the air.
She hit the ground, knocked the breath out of her. A third shot, then a fourth.
Oh, damn.
Staying in a low crouch, she scrambled forward. Fear pressed in on her. Did Lyle even have a gun? She hadn’t seen one. Who knew? He could have anything stashed in that truck. Surely Gus and his men had not stooped to this level.
The ensuing hush had her pushing back to her feet and moving forward more quickly. Damn it, if Lyle was lying out here bleeding somewhere…
A trig snapped.
She froze. Leveled her aim in the direction from which the crack had resonated.
Close. That was really close. Her finger readied on the trigger. Her heart quieted, allowing complete focus. Someone was coming straight at her.
“Sadie, it’s me.”
Her heart dropped all the way to her bare feet. “What in the hell is going on, Lyle?”
“Let’s get back to the house.”
The fingers of one hand curled around her arm, and for a whole second she felt helpless and her knees went all rubbery. He lugged her back in the direction of the house, mumbling something about hurrying.
Reason abruptly slapped her in the face and she stalled, yanked against his hold. “What the hell is going on?” she repeated. “I am not a child. Stop treating me like one!”
“We’re not safe out here like this,” he urged in that deep voice that possessed the power to make her
tremble. “Let’s get inside first.”
Furious for the wrong reason and just a little dazed, she trudged and stumbled alongside him, part of her attention on their backs even as they moved forward. Who had he chased off? Had someone broken into the house? Why hadn’t he awakened her before he left the barn? It was her house!
Why was it men always thought they could boss her around? She was a grown woman and she was smart. There wasn’t a damned thing in this world that she couldn’t handle just as well as any man, including the shotgun she carried.
Lyle shoved the back door aside and hauled her into the kitchen. She staggered to a stop. “What…in the world?” The back door was hanging on only one hinge. The knob and locking mechanism as best she could tell hung slightly askew from their standard position. Who kicked her door in? Or out? Even the frame was no longer square and plumb.
He set her aside and proceeded to lift the door back into its damaged frame. Wood scrubbed against wood. “You got a hammer and some nails in the house?”
Her mind reeled with questions and conclusions, and her heart fluttered with the evaporating bewilderment and no shortage of fear. She wrestled it back the best she could and bobbed her head up and down. “I’ll round them up.”
Sadie flipped on the overhead light and gasped. The kitchen table was overturned, a couple of chairs had gone down with it. Her grandmother’s antique stoneware sugar bowl lay in shards on the floor. Oh my God! Someone had been in her house! Her fear and confusion morphed into fury.
“Lock the front door and bring me those tools.”
The stern order prompted her from the churning emotions making her feel disoriented. That was the first time she got a look at Lyle in the light. He was bleeding! “You’re hurt!”
“It’s just a scratch.”
Closer inspection confirmed his typical male proclamation. “We need to clean it. At least.”
He waved her off. “We’ll deal with that when we’re secure.”
Secure. Did he think trouble was still out there? “Fine.” That was just like a man. He could be bleeding out with the enemy bearing down on him and he’d swear he was good to go before he’d permit a glimmer of weakness. And he’d leave her in the dark about the trouble as long as possible. She locked the front door and stalled. Why was her door unlocked? She expressly remembered locking it before going to the barn for the night.
