Her Cowboy Distraction

by Carla Cassidy

  As he flew through the door his gaze automatically tracked through the crowd, seeking a single glimpse of the woman that would slow his heartbeat to a more normal pace, that would ease the roar in the back of his head.

  He saw Mary standing behind the counter, her pretty features strained and her eyes showing the obvious aftermath of tears. Lizzy usually worked the counter. Why was Mary there when Lizzy should be there? Everything else fell away as Daniel tried to control an inner tremble and approached her.

  “Mary?” Her name came out of him on a hoarse gasp. “Lizzy?”

  Mary pointed to the far side of the café to a small table for two. A sweet rush of relief whooshed out of Daniel as he followed her finger and saw the woman he’d most needed to see sitting alone, her shoulders hunched forward as if she were trying to disappear into herself.

  He beelined toward the table, and when he was still several feet away, she turned her head as if she’d sensed his very presence in the room.

  Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears and she looked achingly fragile. As he took the last few steps toward her she stood, and when he was within reach, she threw herself in his arms and began to sob.

  Daniel stood stiffly for a moment, stunned by her actions, by her very nearness, and then his arms moved up to embrace her. She burrowed against him, her face hidden in the front of his T-shirt as she continued to cry.

  As his relief at finding her alive and the shock at having her so intimately close to him slowly ebbed away, he tightened his arms around her and lost himself in the vanilla scent of her hair, the warmth of her body against his and a sharp pleasure he knew he shouldn’t be feeling under the circumstances.

  He’d forgotten the simple pleasure of a woman’s body so close to his, of how female curves felt when fitted so intimately against his own male physique.

  As her crying began to ease, he became aware of other things, such as the fact that the café was quieter than usual in spite of the crowd and that people were darting interested glances in their direction. He’d just wanted to make sure she was okay. He hadn’t expected to have her in his arms.

  She finally raised her face to look up at him, and a hysterical half sob, half laugh escaped her. “Oh, Daniel, you really shouldn’t be in here like that. You still have your hat on.”

  “I don’t think Mary will mind this time,” he replied, surprised that he felt oddly bereft as she stepped away from him and sank down in the chair where she’d been seated before he’d arrived.

  He pulled his hat from his head and walked back to the wall of hooks by the front door, where he hung it among the many others already there.

  When he returned to the table, he sat in the chair opposite Lizzy. “Are you okay?” He still didn’t know exactly what had happened or who had been murdered. He only knew he was grateful it hadn’t been Lizzy.

  She nodded. “I found her. She was dead in her bed and there was so much blood…so very much blood.” She looked positively haunted, her eyes so dark it was as if the horror of what she’d seen had crept deep inside her.

  “Who? Who was killed?” he asked.

  “Candy.” Lizzy’s eyes welled with tears. “Somebody cut her throat, Daniel.”

  Shock winged through him as he thought of the waitress who had served him so many times. Murdered? He couldn’t remember the last time there’d been a murder in Grady Gulch. “Does Cameron know who did it?”

  “He’s not saying. They’ve been working out in her cabin all morning and Cameron has been in and out of here questioning people, but that’s all I know right now.” Her eyes were so dark as she looked at him. “It was awful, Daniel. I don’t think I’ll ever get that vision of her out of my head.”

  He wasn’t conscious of reaching across the table until one of her small, trembling hands was in his on the tabletop. “I’m so sorry you had to be the one to find her.”

  She gave a curt nod and squeezed his fingers. “It wasn’t exactly one of the things on my bucket list.” She released his hand and leaned back in her chair, looking weary and yet frightened.

  “Have you eaten anything today?”

  She looked at him blankly for a moment. “No. To be honest, I haven’t even thought about food.”

  Daniel looked around, noting that Mary must have called in most of her staff to handle the crowd and cover for the traumatized Lizzy and the missing Candy. He motioned to Dana Maxwell, one of the waitresses buzzing around the tables. She hurried over to him, order pad in hand.

  “How ya doing, hon?” She gave Lizzy a sympathetic smile.

  “She needs to eat something, Dana,” Daniel said.

  “Course she does,” Dana agreed. “Poor little thing.”

  “I’m fine,” Lizzy replied.

  “How about a bowl of soup?” Daniel didn’t wait for Lizzy’s response. “Yeah, a bowl of that chicken rice soup for her and a burger for me.” He was hoping that she’d not only eat some of the soup but might also pick at the French fries that would come with his burger. It was almost three o’clock, which meant she’d already missed two meals.

  “Coming right up,” Dana replied and left the table.

  “How do you know if I even like chicken and rice soup?” Lizzy asked when the waitress had left.

  “Everyone likes chicken soup,” he replied, glad to see a bit of a spark back in her eyes.

  She shrugged as if it didn’t matter to her and released a deep sigh. “I just can’t believe I was right next door sleeping while somebody was killing her. Maybe if I hadn’t been sleeping so soundly I might have heard her cry out and been able to help her.”

  The very idea of Lizzy running out of the safety of her own cabin and into Candy’s to confront a killer chilled him to his very bones. “Thank God that didn’t happen, otherwise we might be sitting here talking about two dead waitresses.”

  Lizzy nodded and looked toward the counter, where Mary stood with an arm around her son, as if attempting to shield him from anything harmful or ugly. Unfortunately, there was no way to keep from the young man that a murder had occurred in his backyard.

  “Mary has been really upset about all this. She was going to keep the café closed all day, but people kept showing up at the door and finally Cameron encouraged her to go ahead and open up the doors. I think he wanted to force her to think about work instead of the murder, at least for a little while.”

  “Maybe you need to think about something else for a little while,” Daniel said gently.

  “It’s hard to think about anything else. I hate to say it, but I’m hoping her boyfriend is responsible and that the case is all tied up in a neat and tidy bow by the end of today.”

  “Who was she dating?” he asked.

  “Kevin Naperson.”

  Daniel frowned. “The Napersons are good people. Tom works as the postmaster and his wife, Nadine, works for the mayor. I hope you’re wrong about their son. It would destroy them if he’s responsible for this.”

  “All I know is that Candy used to tell us that Kevin liked to drink a lot and the two of them fought like cats and dogs.”

  “I’m sure Cameron will figure it all out,” Daniel said in an effort to smooth some of the tension that had her nearly vibrating in the chair.

  At that moment Dana arrived at their table with his orders. She placed the soup in front of Lizzy and the burger and fries in front of Daniel. “Let me know if you need anything else,” Dana said just before she hurried to tend to the needs of other diners.

  “Murder is good business,” Lizzy said as she looked around the café. “I’ve never seen this place so busy at this time of the day.” He was pleased when she picked up her spoon and dipped it into the soup.

  She ate several spoonfuls of soup and then set her spoon down to open a package of crackers. “I don’t know what’s drawing more attention, me for finding her body or you just sitting across from me right now.” Her gaze held his steadily. “What are you doing sitting across from me right now?”

  “I heard about the
murder while I was in the hardware store. Leah, the store clerk who was working, didn’t know who had been killed but knew it was somebody who lived in the cabins.” His throat seemed to narrow a bit. “I was afraid it was you. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.” He was surprised by how difficult it was for him to admit that not just to her, but to himself.

  Her hand reached across the table and covered the back of his. He was pleased to realize her fingers had warmed up in the past few minutes.

  “Thank you,” she said simply. She glanced down at their hands for a long moment and then pulled hers away from his and once again leaned back as if in an attempt to get a little distance from him.

  “I was going to give Mary my two-week notice this weekend, but I’m wondering if maybe this isn’t a sign that it’s time to move on from here right away.”

  “Surely Cameron is going to want you to stick around for a while,” Daniel protested.

  She looked at him in surprise. “I don’t know why. I’ve told him everything I know about the whole situation. All I did was have the misfortune to be the first person to knock on her cabin door this morning.”

  “But, now isn’t the time to leave.” He glanced toward the counter and wondered what in the hell he was doing. He looked back at Lizzy. “Mary needs you right now. She’s just lost one waitress, and she’s looking pretty fragile.”

  As she turned to gaze at Mary, once again Daniel wondered why in the hell he was trying to talk any woman, but especially this woman, into staying in Grady Gulch.

  Chapter 5

  The day was hellish and Lizzy thought it would never end, but end it finally did. When Mary turned the sign in the door from Open to Closed at ten that night, all Lizzy wanted to do was curl up in a fetal ball and sleep for at least the next twenty-four hours.

  The only people left in the café were Mary, Cameron, Lizzy and Courtney, who held her sleeping son in her arms. The sheriff looked as if he’d aged ten years throughout the day. They all sat around a table as Cameron sipped the last of the coffee before heading out for the night.

  “We processed the scene and got every fingerprint, hair or fiber we could. Hopefully we’ve got something that will identify the killer,” he said.

  “Did you talk to Kevin Naperson?” Courtney asked.

  Cameron nodded and expelled a weary sigh. “I’ve got to tell you, when I spoke to him he seemed shocked and genuinely broken up about her death.”

  “Yeah, but did he mention where he was between one and three last night?” Lizzy asked. She’d heard the town coroner had pinned Candy’s death between those hours of the early morning.

  “In bed at his house. According to what Kevin told me, he and Candy went to The Corral last night, but they had a big fight and he dropped Candy off at her cabin around ten. I’ve got dozens of witnesses that saw them arguing and then leave the bar around that time.”

  The Corral was a bar on the other end of town. Lizzy had been there a couple of times since arriving in Grady Gulch. It was a huge place with a large dance floor that on the weekends was filled with two-stepping or line-dancing cowboys and cowgirls.

  “Anyway,” Cameron continued, “according to Kevin, he went back home, where he said he and his father watched a couple of movies and then went to bed around one. Tom, Kevin’s father, confirmed the story, and I have no reason to believe Tom would lie to cover for his son, but we’re going to look at everything and everyone until we have an answer.”

  He took another sip of his coffee. “And Candy never talked about another man? Maybe somebody giving her trouble here at the café or around town?”

  Almost in unison the others told him no. “And if there was anyone giving her problems, trust me, Candy would have said something about it,” Lizzy said. “Candy wasn’t one to hold things inside.”

  “Are we safe staying in the other cabins?” Courtney asked.

  “There’s no reason to believe you aren’t,” Cameron replied, his expression dark. “The method of the kill looked…personal. But, I’ll have one of my deputies do hourly drive-bys all night long just to make you feel comfortable.”

  He drained his coffee cup and stood. “I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got reports to write and a crime to solve.”

  Mary walked him to the door as Lizzy and Courtney remained seated at the table. “I don’t want to sleep in my cabin tonight,” Courtney said softly. “I’m just so creeped out about all this, and an hourly patrol doesn’t make me feel any better.”

  Lizzy knew exactly how she felt. “Why don’t we stay together tonight in my cabin? We can have a slumber party.”

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind?” Courtney looked down at the sleeping little boy in her arms. “I can’t guarantee that he’ll be this quiet all night long.”

  “I don’t mind at all, and if he wakes up and wants to play, then we’ll play. Neither of us has to come in tomorrow morning, so it will be fine.”

  Lizzy realized she didn’t want to be alone through the rest of the long night. She’d almost hoped that Daniel would have offered to stay with her, or would have invited her home with him when he’d left after dinnertime. But, a small part of her knew that either scenario would have been foolish for both of them.

  He’d been right about one thing. There was no way she would tell Mary tonight that she was leaving town. As Mary returned to the table, Lizzy noticed how achingly fragile her boss looked, how her hands trembled as she picked up the cup Cameron had recently held.

  “What a day,” she said, her blue eyes still haunted.

  “It’s like a horrible nightmare,” Courtney said. “Only when we all wake up tomorrow morning, we’ll realize it wasn’t just a bad dream.”

  “Hopefully by this time tomorrow night Cameron will have the person responsible in jail and we can all relax,” Mary replied. “I can’t imagine what Candy’s parents are going through.”

  Her face paled and Lizzy knew she was probably thinking about her own son, Matt, who had gone to bed only minutes before. Mary got up from the table. “Either of you want anything from the kitchen before I call it a night?”

  “Not me,” Lizzy said. Courtney shook her head. “Courtney and I have decided to have a slumber party tonight and stay in my cabin together.” Lizzy got up from the table and touched Courtney’s slender shoulder. “Come on, girl, let’s get out of here so Mary can go to bed.”

  It was nearly an hour later that Garrett slept peacefully in the playpen Courtney had set up next to the sofa sleeper in Lizzy’s cabin and the two women sat on the pullout bed in their pajamas, talking in low tones so as not to disturb the little boy.

  “I still can’t believe she’s gone,” Courtney said. “And no matter what Sheriff Evans says, I think Kevin did it. It’s the only thing that makes any kind of sense.”

  Lizzy nodded and desperately tried to keep her last vision of Candy out of her head. “Hopefully it will be like Mary said, by tomorrow night we’ll know who killed her and whoever it is will be behind bars.”

  “I’m just glad we’re staying together tonight,” Courtney said with a glance at her son. “I was just too freaked out tonight to want to stay by myself.”

  Lizzy pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Trust me, I wasn’t looking forward to being here all alone tonight.”

  “If you’d played your cards right you might have had a handsome man here in this bed next to you instead of me,” Courtney said teasingly. “Everyone who was in the café all day couldn’t miss how Daniel and you were together.”

  Lizzy’s cheeks burned as she remembered those moments of being held in his arms, of his hard masculine body so close to hers. She’d wanted to stand in his strong, warm embrace forever.

  “I’ll admit that I have a crazy attraction to him,” Lizzy replied.

  “He didn’t exactly look completely immune to you, either,” Courtney replied. She tucked a strand of her long dark brown hair behind one ear. “I think everyone was shocked to see
him with you today. He’s been totally shut off from everything and everyone for a long time.”

  “It’s just a friendship kind of thing,” Lizzy replied, although the jump in her heart whenever she thought of him or said his name aloud told her otherwise. “Besides, it doesn’t matter that he was there for me today. I’m leaving town soon, and he’s still hung up on his wife. That’s a festering wound, and who knows if it will ever heal.”

  “Even so, it’s nice to see him coming alive again. He’s never been the same since the car accident.” Once again Courtney’s gaze went to Garrett. “Nothing has been the same since then.”

  “I know Garrett’s dad isn’t in your life, but is he in the area? A homegrown boy?” Lizzy desperately wanted to talk about something other than murder, and she didn’t want to think about Daniel because thoughts of him pulled forth a deep yearning inside her that was almost scary.

  “He’s a homegrown guy,” Courtney replied after a long moment of hesitation. “But, he doesn’t know about Garrett. He left town before he even knew I was pregnant.”

  “So, he doesn’t know he’s a daddy? Don’t you know where he is? Can’t you get in contact with him to let him know?” Lizzy knew that Courtney was estranged from her parents. The young woman had nobody to help her, either financially or emotionally.

  Courtney’s pretty features hardened. “Even if I could call him to tell him right now, I don’t think I would.” She sighed and her eyes filled with pain. “Daniel’s life wasn’t the only one that changed with that damned car accident. Garrett’s father is Nick Benson, but you have to promise you won’t tell anyone that. Nobody knows this.”

  Lizzy looked at her in surprise. “Nobody knew you and Nick had something going on?”

  Courtney shook her head. “It’s a long story and I don’t want to go into it now, but no, nobody knew Nick and I were dating, and then he left town on the day of Cherry’s funeral and I’ve never heard from him since.”

  There was no disguising the bitterness that laced Courtney’s voice as she said his name. “And he broke your heart,” Lizzy said softly.