Julie did just like Sam had instructed her, her heart pounding in her chest, she resisted the urge to turn and look back to where Sam was just slamming the tailgate. He jumped into the truck just as the men came around the corner, got in and started the engine. The men were clearly very drunk, stumbling around the parking lot, fighting over who should drive, so they barely noticed Sam and Julie as they pulled out.
But only a few seconds later, she could hear shouts from the parking lot and the sound of gun fire. Sam stomped on the accelerator and the truck shot down the street, but not before Julie saw one of the men, shotgun in hand come running out into the street. There was silence in the truck as they watched the man lower the gun and fire, but they were too far away, and other than the sound of the gunshot nothing happened.
Only seconds after the man fired the gun, the sheriff’s car came tearing around the corner, three cruisers behind him. “That ought to keep them busy for a while,” Sam said, a satisfied look on his face.
“You could have gotten us killed,” Julie said, not sure whether to be angry, scared, or turned on by what Sam had just done.
“But now they’re going to have to explain all those weapons to the sheriff, that ought to make them think twice about poaching around here,” Sam said, not the least bit sorry about what he’d done.
“You took the only piece of evidence there was that they were poachers,” Julie reminded him.
Sam paused for a second, then took the map out of his jacket and handed it to Julie. “It’s not enough to prove that they’re the poachers, you know that,” he said, then waited while she looked at the map.
“We have to get this to Scott and Marissa, they’ll want to know,” Julie said, deciding to let the it go, Sam would never change, would always fight, she couldn’t change that if time hadn’t.
Only then did she let all the emotion she’d been holding back out, hands shaking she folded the map back up and set it between them on the seat. Taking several deep breaths, she chased away the fear, let go of the anger, and left with only the desire which made her suck in a quick breath.
“I’m sorry I scared you, Julie, but we have to fight back any way we can. I would never let anything happen to you,” he said, taking one of her hands in his. Immediately Julie felt better, whether because of his words or the touch of his hand, she could breathe normally again. “Besides, if I remember right, you’re perfectly capable of defending yourself.”
Julie knew exactly what he was talking about and had to smile remembering all the self-defense lessons Sam had given her that summer. Most had ended up with them in bed, but she had learned what she needed to by the end of the summer, had in fact used what he’d taught her several times over the years.
“Well, I had a good teacher,” she said, and squeezed his hand.
“Hmm, if I remember right you were a good student,” Sam said, then laughed when Julie blushed.
When they got back to the canyon, Sam took the old road and went directly to Honey Hills, Scott and Marissa Terrell’s restored farm house. It was the first property in the canyon to be renovated and the pride of its owners, but today Julie knew that they wouldn’t be happy. Marissa, always an excellent judge of emotions, was worried when she first saw the two of them, their faces grave that they were going to quit, but then she saw that they were holding hands and smiled.
After she’d gotten them coffee, they recounted their trip to town for she and Scott. “I’ve got their map, maybe it would have been better if the sheriff had found it,” he said, looking at Julie.
“No, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it. It’s not illegal to have a map,” Scott said, then added, “This is definitely better, we’ll post men in all the areas they’ve marked, eventually we’ll catch them.”
“Just tell me where you want me and I’m there,” Sam said, eager to confront the poacher again.
Scott thought about that for a second then said, “I want you and Julie to do what you came here to do. We’ve got enough men to cover where we need to. I think it’s more important that we find those moose and document them, right now we have no concrete proof that they’re really out there.”
Sam thought about that for a second. “I guess you’re right,” he finally said, sorry that he was going to be missing the fight.
Chapter 5
Back at the lab, they unloaded Julie’s purchases as well as the guns and satellite phones Scott had given them. Julie carried her gun inside still in the case. “I hate guns,” she said, setting it down on the table.
“I know, but we have to be able to protect ourselves, your tranquilizer gun isn’t going to be enough if we get in trouble,” Sam said, setting his gun down next to hers.
“It’ll stop one of them cold,” she said, looking down at the guns on the table.
Sam could see that Julie was scared. “Do you want to postpone our trip?”
Julie looked up at him horrified. “No way. I’ve been working for this my entire life, I’ll be fine,” she said, squaring her shoulders, now was not the time to be fragile.
Sam watched as Julie’s body language changed, gone was the fragile woman, replaced by the determined one he knew so well. Now if he could just get back the woman who laughed and teased him like she used to, the woman who had been so free and easy around him, who talked to him about her dreams and aspirations. It was a shock to realize that in all the time they’d spent together over the last few weeks, they’d never had a personal conversation, but now wasn’t the time for that, now was the time for them to concentrate on the job they had to do.
“I know you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. I know some of the places you’ve worked, heard some of the stories. If you can face down a mountain lion, I think you can handle some poachers,” Sam said, hoping to bolster her confidence.
Julie stared at him for a second, surprised to hear that he’d been keeping track of her. “How did you know about the mountain lion? I didn’t tell very many people about that, I was afraid I’d get my funding pulled.”
“It’s not that hard to get information when you know who to ask,” Sam said, dismissively then added without thinking, “I needed to know you were okay.”
Julie could see the honesty in his words and a little piece of her broken heart mended, leaving her a bit breathless. Sam saw it happen and was very glad that he’d spoken out loud what he’d been thinking. Very slowly he gathered her in his arms and held her, hoping that she wouldn’t pull away. When she relaxed in his arms, he pushed a bit further, tipped up her chin and kissed her.
Julie let Sam kiss her, her body instantly responding to his lips on hers, the outside world fading as memory became reality when Sam’s tongue parted her lips and delved into her mouth. Julie let him kiss her, loving the taste and feel of Sam, but knowing that it was a bad idea. Finally, she managed to pull away from him, she had to put a stop to this and quickly or it might go much farther than was wise.
“Sam, we shouldn’t… I mean… This isn’t a good idea,” Julie stammered, her blood pounding in her ears, the desire making it hard to put a coherent sentence together.
Sam opened his mouth to argue that it was the exact thing they should be doing, but there was a knock at the door. “Who would be here at this time of night?” Sam said, crossing the room to open the door, clearly not pleased that they’d been interrupted.
When he opened the door, three men were standing on the porch. The oldest of the three was the first to speak, “We heard that you ran into the poachers in town,” he said, his Australian accent clear by the time he was half way though the sentence.
It took Sam a minute to absorb the fact that his brothers were standing in the doorway of the lab. “Umm, oh yes,” he managed to say, then opened the door and let them in.
He watched speechless as they crowded into the lab, making the room look small once they were all gathered. Julie wasn’t sure what was wrong with Sam, he’d suddenly become mute, only uttering a few syllables, so
she took over. “I’m Julie and that’s Sam. We’re the new research team who’s going to be working with the moose.”
“I’m Jake Montgomery, and these are my brothers Flynn and Owen, we run the sheep ranch.”
“It’s nice to meet you. How can we help?” Julie noticed that Sam had moved across the room away from the men as if he were afraid of them.
“Actually, we wanted to volunteer our services,” Jake said. “We cover a lot of country up where you’re going to be looking for the moose, our herders can keep an eye out and if they see moose contact you,” Jake explained.
“If you’ve got a map, I can show you where we’ll be for the next few weeks,” Owen said, looking at Sam curiously.
“Oh sure, give me a second to grab the one we’ll be taking with us,” Julie said, then disappeared down the hall.
There was silence in the room when she left and Sam knew that he had to say something, “Have you seen the poachers?” he finally asked.
“No, but we’ve seen their leftovers. These are some nasty men we’re dealing with,” Flynn said. “I’ve moved to Colorado, but when Scott called I decided to give my brothers some backup.”
“We’ll all be with the sheep until these guys are caught or the poaching stops,” Jake said, stepping up closer to Sam. “You look really familiar, have we met?”
“I though he looked familiar too,” Owen said.
Sam started to panic. “Umm, well I don’t think so.” Then he got an idea. “But I’m a well-known ecologist from here in California, you probably saw my picture somewhere.” He held his breath, hoping it had worked.
“That could be it,” Owen said, then turned away, clearly satisfied with Sam’s answer. Jake didn’t look quite as convinced, but Julie returned then with the map and the conversation moved back to the moose.
When they finally left, Jake studying Sam closely as they walked out the door, Sam could finally breath again. Julie noticed the change, but kept quiet, whatever was going on, she’d have plenty of time to ferret it out of Sam on the trail. “That was nice of them to offer to help,” she said, rolling up the map. “And that was a good idea Owen had.”
Sam had been deep in thought trying again to figure out if he should tell his brothers who he was when Julie touched his arm, she could no long ignore his strange behavior. “Sam, is there something wrong?”
Startled out of his thoughts, he looked at Julie. “What? No nothing is wrong,” he said, then picked up the map, all business again. “So, we’ll split up the canyon and contact all the ranchers and get their help.”
Julie let it go, if Sam wanted to talk, he’d talk. “Yep, I think that’s a good plan. If what Owen says is right, we’ll have eyes in a lot of upper search area.”
“We’ll find those moose in no time,” Sam said, a huge grin splitting his face.
Julie sucked in a breath, Sam looked so handsome, his smile lighting up his face, making his eyes twinkle. Before she could stop him, he’d swept her into his arms and twirled her around the room. When he set her on her feet his mouth came down on hers as if it was the most natural thing in the world. They both sucked in a deep breath when their lips met, but Julie lips parted on a sigh and Sam slid his tongue into her mouth.
The kiss ignited a fire between them that had been smoldering for years, suddenly careening them back into the past and the passion they’d shared. Unable to stop herself, Julie wrapped her arms around Sam and clung to him as her knees buckled, the desire racing through her like a stampede of wild horses. Sam kissed her until she was breathless, then reluctantly pulled his mouth from hers, then he cupped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since the day you walked into the kitchen,” Sam said, searching Julie’s eyes for a sign that she felt the same way.
“Oh, Sam. We shouldn’t do this. Think about what could happen to the project. It’s just not a good idea,” Julie said, trying to pull away, but firmly locked in Sam’s arms.
“Tell me that you don’t want it too, tell me that you don’t care about me anymore and I’ll stop,” Sam said, putting everything on the line.
Julie looked up into his eyes and knew that she’d never be able to tell him that. “I can’t,” she whispered, then pulled out of his arms and crossed the room, afraid that if she stayed in his arms she’d give in. With one more look back at him, she went into her office and closed the door.
Sam stood stunned, he’d never meant to push things that far, the risk he’d just taken had been huge. But he realized, he’d known what her answer would be, had felt it in that first kiss. Now more than ever he knew that Julie still cared about him, he’d have to be patient, give her time to see that he wasn’t the same man he was all those years ago. That he’d learned that sometimes someone else’s happiness is much more important than your own, that making sacrifices is how we show someone we love them.
After two days of riding all over the canyon, Julie was exhausted, but excited. Every rancher she’d talked to had agreed to keep an eye out for the moose and contact them if they saw it. She’d just gotten back to the lab and was updating the map when Sam came through the door looking just as exhausted as she was. He went straight to the couch and collapsed on it, putting his feet up on the pillows, boots and all.
“I’ve eaten two lunches, three dinners, and had at least a gallon of coffee today,” he complained rubbing his stomach.
Julie laughed. “That bad, huh? I can’t top that, but I did eat about a dozen cookies today.”
“But?” he asked, hoping she had good news.
“Everyone wants to help. We’ve got people all over the canyon looking for the moose now,” Julie said, pointing to the map.
“You can add all my people to the map too,” Sam said, sitting up.
“And I’ve got more news. We’ve now got a moose hot line,” Julie said handing Sam a pink piece of paper.
Sam read it, then began to laugh. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope, Mary Anne Turner, who by the way likes to be called by her full name, set the whole thing up. She’d got people minding the phones day and night, it seems we’ve started something in the canyon,” Julie said, trying to keep her face blank, then burst into laughter.
“What do you think about hitting the trail tomorrow. I’m ready to go,” Sam said, standing up and stretching.
It took Julie a long time to answer, first because she was too busy watching Sam’s muscles rippling under his shirt, and then because the desire washing through her body left her speechless. Finally, though she managed to squeak out, “Tomorrow?”
“Why not, we’ve got everything ready. We could hit the trail tomorrow,” Sam said, taking the map down off the wall. “We should head here.”
Julie looked to where he was pointing. “Yeah, that makes sense. We start there and work our way down, it’s the only place we don’t have covered.”
“Exactly,” Sam said, and began rolling up the map. “So, what do you say?”
Julie couldn’t think of a good reason to say no and she wasn’t going to tell him that she wasn’t ready to be alone with him, so she simply nodded her head and said, “Okay, I’ll see you at dawn.”
They’d been on the trial for two weeks with nothing to show for their time, not a single track or even droppings. Their network of moose spotters, as they’d come to call them, had come up empty as well, it was as if the moose knew they were looking for them and gone into hiding. Juliette wanted a hot shower and some clean clothes more than anything, and Sam was so tired of trail food that he was thinking about shooting them something for dinner.
Sam was poking at the pot of beans on the fire, thinking that they needed a break. “I don’t know about you but I could use a break, two weeks is about long enough to go without a shower and some decent food,” he said, scooping up a spoon full of beans and letting them splatter back into the pot.
“I hate to go all the way back down the mountain though,” Julie said, mentally going o
ver the supplies they had. “We have enough food for another week.”
“How about a compromise, let’s take a day off and have some fun,” Sam suggested, getting excited about the prospect of a day without thinking about the moose. “We’re missing something, a day away from it might help clear our heads.”
“What did you have in mind?” Julie said, thinking his idea might have some merit since nothing they’d been doing had helped. Hours of staking out one spot after another had gotten them squat, it was like the moose had disappeared.
“How about a day at the spa?” Sam asked, a wicked glint in his eye.
“And how exactly are you going to pull that off?” she asked, suspiciously.
“Well, I have it on good authority that there’s a hot spring not far from here,” he said, grinning like a little boy.
“What? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Julie demanded, already thinking about soaking her tired muscles in the hot water.
“I was saving it for a surprise,” Sam said, then ducked when she threw a cup at him.
The hot springs were only a couple hours’ ride from their camp and Julie couldn’t believe her eyes when they got there. Not only was there a hot spring, but there was a waterfall; no matter how cold the water was, she was going to wash her hair first thing. There was also a lake with water so clear you could see the fish swimming in the shallow areas, big fat trout that looked just about the right size for dinner.
They set up camp in record time, only unpacking what they’d need for a few days of rest and relaxation, the horses happy to graze on the high grass of the meadow put up little fight when they tethered them. “I’m not getting back on that horse for two days, and nothing you can say will change my mind.”
“Fine with me. I think we can keep ourselves entertained here for a few days,” Sam said, but in his mind, he was thinking of all the places he could make love to Julie in this beautiful place, the hot spring number one on his list.
Have My Child: BWWM Romance (Brothers From Money Book 14) Page 5
