Sheltered by the Cowboy

by Carla Cassidy

  “I’m working for three days and then I’m off for several. Maybe then we can spend some time together and get the rest of the things packed up here.”

  Once again he smiled at her. “Just remember, Mandy, I’m back in your life for the rest of our lives. Call me when you’re ready to tackle some more of this mess, and in the meantime I’ll probably see you in the café.” He stepped out into the cold, dark evening. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Mandy watched until the taillights of his rental car disappeared from her view, and then she closed the door and returned to the family room.

  She flopped down on the sofa and once again expelled a deep sigh. She was exhausted, but there was so much to do. She hadn’t realized how much of a pack rat her father had been. She certainly hadn’t expected Graham to help her, but it was great that he’d offered, and he continued to catch her up on what she considered his lost years when they hadn’t been in contact.

  She leaned back, and instead of thinking about the work that still had to be done, her thoughts remained on her brother. She’d told him he could stay here in the house while he was in Bitterroot, but he’d insisted he was fine at the motel.

  Last night after the funeral, they had visited with each other until well after midnight. He’d told her about hitching a ride with a truck driver to Dallas, and about the foster family who had taken him in after the police had picked him up on the streets.

  According to him they had been a strict but loving family who had helped him through college and continued to be a part of his life.

  He’d talked about his fiancée, Nancy, who he obviously loved to distraction. She was also an accountant where Graham worked, and according to him she was one of the sweetest, most kind people on the face of the earth. Mandy couldn’t wait to meet her.

  She’d shared with him a lot of things about her own life, but she hadn’t told Graham about her father’s verbal and mental abuse. There was no reason for him to know about that now.

  She still didn’t know everything about the relationship her father and her brother had shared before Graham had chosen to run away. None of that mattered now. All that was important was the promise of having her brother back in her life for good.

  She pulled herself up off the sofa. She still wanted to pack a couple more boxes of books in her father’s bedroom before calling it a night. Tomorrow or the next day she would drop the books off at the local library, which always appreciated donations.

  As she worked, her thoughts went to Brody, which they had far too often since the night of the snowstorm. He’d been so wonderful through her shock at her father’s murder and then when she’d had to make the arrangements for the funeral.

  However, when she’d kissed him on the cheek, a river of unexpected desire had flowed through her. It had been sharp and aching, and she’d wanted desperately to press her lips against his.

  But she’d suspected that if she acted inappropriately as a friend, he’d run for the hills. He’d been quite firm when he’d told her he wasn’t looking for a woman in his life, and nothing he had done or said since the night of the snowstorm had made her believe he’d changed his mind.

  Suddenly oddly depressed, she went back to the bedroom, finished packing a box and then decided to quit for the night. She was just about to leave the room when she heard the whoosh that indicated the front door had opened.

  “Graham?” she called out. Maybe he’d forgotten something. There was no reply.

  “Graham, is that you?” She stepped out of the bedroom and into the hall. A horrified gasp escaped her as she saw a man at the other end of the hallway wearing a ski mask and holding a knife.

  For a brief moment her mind refused to work, and then questions slammed into it. Who was he? What did he want? Why was he in the house?

  It was only when he took his first menacing step toward her that she unfroze and raced back into her father’s bedroom. Her heart thundered so loud in her head she couldn’t hear anything else. She refused to take any more time to think about who the person was or why he was in her house. He had a ski mask and a knife...that was all she needed to know.

  With no lock on the bedroom door and no time to do anything else, she slammed the door and then sat with her back against it. She frantically fumbled in her sweatshirt pocket for her cell phone.

  She punched in Dillon’s number, but before he could answer the doorknob turned and the door pressed inward. She screamed, and she was still screaming when Dillon answered. “Hurry, Dillon, there’s an intruder in the house and he’s after me.”

  She barely got the words out before she was forcefully moved forward about an inch along the floor and the door opened just a crack.

  Screaming again, she dropped her cell phone and shoved with all her might against the door. It slammed shut once again, and this time she reached up over her head and grabbed the doorknob in an effort to keep it from turning.

  “I called the police,” she yelled. “They will be here any minute.”

  Another scream released from her as the doorknob jiggled beneath her grasp. She held tight as frightened tears blurred her vision.

  What was happening? Who was this person? What was he going to do if he managed to get in? “You’d better leave now if you don’t want to be arrested,” she cried desperately.

  The jiggling stopped.

  Several long minutes passed and there was nothing, no sound, no jiggling and no pressure against the door. But the lack of those things didn’t make her terror abate at all. She squeezed her eyes closed and held tight to the doorknob.

  Was he standing on the other side of the door, just waiting for her to let down her guard, to release her death grip on the doorknob? Or had he left the house and was now making his way to one of the two windows in the bedroom in an effort to get to her?

  Panic hitched her breath as her gaze shot to first one window and then the other. So far all she could see was the darkness of night in the cracks between the navy curtains that hung there.

  Her hands ached with her efforts to hold so tight to the knob. Frightened tears continued to fall, and she held on for dear life.

  She nearly wept with relief when she heard the sounds of sirens in the distance. Help was on the way and she just needed to hang on for a few more minutes. The sirens drew closer and then stopped.

  A moment of silence, running footsteps and then... “Mandy?” Dillon’s familiar voice drifted through the bedroom door.

  She got to her feet, grabbed her cell phone and opened the door. As she realized she was safe, a renewed terror gripped her by the throat. Dear God, somebody had come after her with a knife.

  “Call Brody,” she said to Dillon as her body began to shake uncontrollably and an icy chill filled her.

  “Let’s get you into the family room,” Dillon said gently.

  She nodded and followed him out of the hallway. Her trembling legs carried her just as far as the edge of the sofa, where she collapsed.

  She looked at the two officers who had accompanied Dillon. “Please, would somebody please call Brody and ask him to come over.”

  She desperately needed Brody beside her. She wanted him to wrap her in his big, strong arms and warm her, reassure her that she was really safe.

  “I’ll call him,” Officer Juan Ramirez said and disappeared into the kitchen.

  Dillon sat on the opposite end of the sofa and pulled out a small notepad and pen. “Now, tell me exactly what happened.”

  “Graham and I spent a couple of hours boxing things up. When he left to meet some buddies for drinks, I decided to work for a little while longer by myself.” She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. “I was back in the bedroom and heard the front door open. I stepped out into the hallway, and a man was standing there wearing a ski mask and holding a knife.”

  She paused fo
r a moment, the terror of that moment screaming inside her once again. She swallowed once...twice and then continued. “He started toward me, and I ran back in the bedroom and closed the door. I managed to call you, and then I held on tight to the doorknob and sat in front of the door so he couldn’t get in.”

  There was no doubt in her mind that if Dillon hadn’t arrived when he had, eventually the man would have gotten through the door. And God knew what would have happened to her then.

  “Was the front door locked?” Dillon asked.

  She frowned thoughtfully. Had she locked it after Graham had left or had she just closed the door? “I don’t remember,” she answered with frustration. “Maybe not.” How could she be so stupid in not consciously locking the door? Her father had been murdered in this house.

  “Did you recognize anything about the man?” Dillon asked.

  She shook her head. “Since he wore the ski mask, I don’t even know what color hair he had.”

  “What about his body type? What was he wearing?”

  She frowned. “Maybe a little bit tall and a medium build? I... I don’t know what he was wearing. Everything happened so fast. I saw the knife, ran back in the bedroom and slammed the door.”

  “Are you sure it was a man?”

  Mandy stared at him. “I can’t be absolutely sure, but I thought it was a man.”

  “It’s too bad all the snow has melted away. Otherwise we might have been able to get some good footprints,” Dillon replied, his own frustration evident in his tone.

  A vision of the slash across her father’s throat filled her head. Somebody had done that with a knife. Had it been the same man? If so, then why had he come after her? What had she done to warrant such an attack?

  “Excuse me for a minute.” Dillon got up and motioned for Officer Ben Taylor to follow him into the kitchen.

  One she was left alone, the memory of finding her father dead again filled her mind. The scent of death filled her nose and a faint nausea rose up in the back of her throat.

  A simmering hysteria pressed tight against her chest as she thought of those moments when she’d been sure the man was going to get inside the bedroom. And if he had...

  The sound of the front door opening shot a fight-or-flight response through her. She bolted up from the sofa, every muscle tensed.

  “Mandy?” Brody stepped into the room.

  “Brody.” With a sob, she launched herself into his arms.

  * * *

  Brody held Mandy as she cried and haltingly told him through her tears what had happened. He was still holding her when Dillon and two of his men entered the room from the kitchen.

  Ben Taylor nodded to him and then went out the front door. Dillon and Juan waited patiently until Mandy had pulled herself together enough to sit back down on the sofa.

  She held Brody’s hand in a death grip, and a simmering anger filled Brody’s chest. Who had come after her and why? The idea of any harm coming to her spiked his anger into a near rage.

  “It’s possible the intruder came in to rob the place,” Dillon said.

  “With a knife?” Brody replied with obvious disbelief.

  “Maybe he pulled the knife when he heard Mandy.”

  “If it was a robbery attempt then why didn’t he just leave when he heard her voice? Why come after her at all?” Brody asked.

  Dillon released a sigh. “Maybe he came after her because she saw him.”

  “But she said she called out. He must have heard her. Why didn’t he run then?” Brody pressed.

  “I don’t have the answers yet, but I’ll get them,” Dillon replied.

  “I hope you’re checking on where Graham was at the time of the intrusion,” Brody said.

  “Graham? He wouldn’t try to kill me,” Mandy protested.

  “I’ve already dispatched Ben to check on Graham’s whereabouts,” Dillon replied.

  “What about Aaron Blair?” Mandy asked. “He hated my father, and maybe his hatred has bled over to me.”

  Dillon frowned. “What makes you think Aaron hated your father?”

  Brody looked at her in surprise. “You didn’t tell him about what Aaron said on the day of the funeral?”

  Her cheeks dusted with a faint color. “With Graham showing up, I forgot.” She told Dillon about the bad blood between her father and his neighbor.

  “Mandy, I hate to tell you, but there was plenty of bad blood between your father and several men in town,” Dillon said.

  “Are these men suspects in George’s murder?” Brody asked. Dillon gave a curt nod of his head. “Then tell me who they are.” Brody wanted the names of the men who might be a danger to the woman holding his hand tightly as if it were a lifeline in a storm-tossed sea.

  Dillon sank down in the chair opposite them. “I’m assuming you know that your father owed Lloyd Green some money, but that’s not the only person in town he owed. He also apparently borrowed some money from Jimbo King.”

  Mandy’s eyes widened. “Jimbo King? Why on earth would Dad borrow anything from that man?”

  “That man” not only ran a sleazy cash loaning operation but also owned a pawn business/motorcycle shop that catered to a rough clientele.

  “I don’t know, but what I do know is that your father walked out of Jimbo’s business with a car title loan and two thousand dollars cash,” Dillon said. “That’s why I think the intruder tonight might have been looking for that cash.”

  “I certainly haven’t found any money around here,” Mandy said. “I have no idea what he might have done with the cash. I’ve seen his bank records and he didn’t deposit it.”

  “And then there’s Nate Cameron,” Dillon continued. “Apparently he and your father have had a beef with each other for years. They almost came to blows in the convenience store a week before your father’s murder.”

  Mandy held up her hand as if she’d heard enough. “Okay, my father had enemies, but that still doesn’t answer why that man came after me tonight.”

  “I know,” Dillon replied, his eyes dark and filled with aggravation. “Look, we’ve only been investigating your father’s murder for less than a week. As to what happened here tonight, I don’t have any answers. All I can tell you is that from now on, if you’re working here you need to make sure you have somebody with you.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll see that she’s safe,” Brody replied. He believed Dillon wasn’t taking this threat seriously enough, that the lawman truly believed it had been a robbery attempt gone bad.

  Brody didn’t know what to believe. He only knew that Mandy had nobody to depend on except a brother who had been gone from her life for years.

  She’d told him she needed a friend and he’d stepped into that role. Now she needed him to protect her from whatever the hell was going on.

  She didn’t have any real girlfriends, and the idea of her being all alone in her apartment over the garage on this isolated property was untenable, especially given what had just happened tonight.

  Dillon asked a few more questions as Juan worked on the bedroom door to see if he could lift any prints until Mandy remembered the man had worn gloves.

  “Why can I now remember him wearing gloves and can’t remember anything else about him?” she asked in frustration.

  “You might remember something else later,” Dillon replied. “And if you do, call me.”

  “And you’ll call me later and tell me about the alibis of some of the men you’ve mentioned?” Brody asked.

  “Yes, please call Brody,” Mandy said and rubbed a hand across the center of her forehead. “Are we done here? All I want to do now is get back to my own place.”

  “Yeah, I think we’re done here,” Dillon replied. He looked at Brody. “I’ll call you with an update later this evening.”

  Brody n
odded, but he doubted any answers would be forthcoming so soon. Once the lawmen were gone, Brody stood from the sofa. “Take a ride with me?” he asked.

  She also got up from the sofa and eyed him curiously. “Okay, but where?”

  “Back to the Holiday Ranch so I can pack a bag. I’m moving in with you, Mandy.”

  Her eyes widened and her lower lip trembled slightly. “You don’t believe it was a robbery gone bad?”

  He hesitated a moment and then replied, “I don’t know exactly what to believe. All I know is that right now, with everything that has happened, I’m not comfortable with you staying out here all alone.”

  He didn’t even want to think about how difficult staying with her might be on him. But he didn’t want anything happening to her, and the night’s events had scared him for her.

  “Maybe it would be nice to have you around for a day or two,” she replied. “Hopefully by then Dillon will have some answers for us.”

  They pulled on their coats, and minutes later they were in his truck and headed to the Holiday Ranch. “I’m being very selfish in wanting you with me,” she said. “Maybe I could just talk to Graham and have him stay with me.”

  “Would you be comfortable with that?”

  She released a small sigh. “Not really. I mean, he’s my brother and I love him and I’m happy he’s back, but we still don’t know each other very well.”

  Brody was glad she didn’t want Graham moving in. Right now he didn’t trust anyone with her safety except himself and the lawmen of Bitterroot.

  “Brody, what about your own work? The last thing I want to do is make things difficult for you,” she said with obvious concern.

  “Don’t you worry about me. The other men will cover for me until we figure things out.”

  “At least for the next couple of days I’m working full shifts at the café, and then I’m supposed to work the kissing booth for a couple of hours each evening.”

  “Then starting tomorrow I’ll take you to work in the morning and pick you up when your shift is over, and I’ll just hang out while you’re working the kissing booth.” His hands tightened around the steering wheel. He was surprised to realize he didn’t really like the idea of her kissing other cowboys even if it was for charity.