by Rebecca York
He wanted to look away. No, he wanted to scramble up and run for the hills. But his own discomfort was a secondary consideration. Now that they were face-to-face, and he could see her properly, he asked one of the questions he hadn’t bothered with earlier. “Who dug that pit?”
She took her lower lip between her teeth. “I have no idea.”
She looked genuinely perplexed and upset. Still, he pushed for answers. “It’s on your property.”
“Yes—but I haven’t been out this way in months. Except for trips into town, I’ve stayed close to the house since…”
“Since what?” he demanded. “Since the baby? Or have there been problems out here that you haven’t shared with me?”
She looked away.
Moments ago he’d vowed to keep his hands off her. Now he reached out and took her by the chin, bringing her face back so that she had to meet his gaze. “I think you’d better tell me what the hell has been happening on the ranch. And don’t tell me ‘nothing.’ I can see in your face that it’s not ‘nothing.’”
“I don’t owe you any explanations.”
“Yes you do—if you don’t want me to pack up and get the hell out of here.”
“Maybe you should,” she said in a small voice.
The flat way she said it made his insides knot, and he heard desperate words tumbling out of his mouth. “I thought you were a smart lady. What are you going to do, send me away because you’re afraid to level with me?”
He watched a war going on inside her. “No,” she finally said.
“No…what?”
“I’m not going to cut off my nose to spite my face.”
“Then tell me what the ranch manager at the Golden Saddle has to deal with—besides the normal business of running the spread.”
She sighed. “Some things have happened. I mean, like some fences down. A…a dead skunk at my back door.”
He swore. “Has anyone shot at you before yesterday? And don’t lie to me.”
“No!”
“Who do you think is responsible for the problems?”
“People from town.”
“Who specifically?”
She shrugged.
He sighed. He wanted to keep at her. He had a feeling she could give him some leads if she wanted to. But she had pressed her lips together.
“Why don’t you want to answer the question?”
“I don’t want to make things worse for myself in Spur City.”
He’d love to refute that logic. But they had more immediate issues to deal with. Turning, he gestured toward the old cabin. “What’s this place used for?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Then what’s it doing here?”
“Years ago my dad used to run some cattle. Ranch hands would come out here if they needed to stay with the herd. But nobody’s been here recently.”
“Not that you know of.” He raised his head toward the darkened windows. “I’m going to have a look.”
He saw fear leap in her eyes. “What are you worried about—that I’ll find out you’re lying?”
“No!”
He sighed, “Okay, you stay here. I’ll go inside.”
“What do you expect to find?”
“A smuggling operation? Drugs from Canada?”
She snorted.
Without inviting further conversation, he picked himself up, brushed off his clothing with as much dignity as he could muster and turned toward the cabin. If anyone was inside—like a militia man or ex-employee Greg Nichols—he hadn’t shown up to investigate the scene out here, which included the owner of the Golden Saddle and her new ranch manager rolling around in the dirt. Or whatever the hell they’d been doing.
Riley walked toward the cabin, focused on external threats, partly because he didn’t want to think about his personal relationship with Courtney Rogers.
Taking no chances, he crouched over, making himself as small a target as possible as he crossed the twenty-five yards that separated him from the weathered building.
As he moved cautiously forward, he divided his attention between the cabin and the ground under his feet, looking for additional booby traps.
Which was why he saw the innocent-looking wire lying on a patch of pine needles a split second after his foot had crossed it. Well-honed training snapped into place.
Without even thinking about what he was doing, he threw himself onto hard-packed dirt.
Chapter Six
Riley’s hat flew off as he went down. He covered his head with his arms, just as the cabin exploded in a massive blast that seemed to shake the mountains.
Wood, stone and metal rained down around him. He winced when something heavy landed on his butt. Twisting onto his side, he shook the debris off, then grimaced as an ax fell, blade down, a few inches from his shoulder.
His heart leaped into his throat as his thoughts turned to Courtney. Lord, had she followed his directions? Was she safe? He had to find out. Yet he knew it wasn’t safe to move yet. It felt like hours, although it had to be less than a minute before the deadly shower stopped.
Cautiously he lifted his head, then heard a high, anxious voice calling his name.
Courtney. She sounded scared—or hurt.
Rolling onto his side, he saw her picking her way toward him. He went rigid.
“Stay back!” he shouted, but she kept coming across the littered field…where all kinds of dangers might lurk.
“Stay back!” he ordered again. Clambering to his feet, he hurried toward her, cursing when his boot came down on a piece of twisted metal.
He stopped a few feet from her, and she looked as if she wanted to reach for him again. But he knew what had happened last time they’d touched. They’d ended up plastered together on the ground. So he clenched his hands into fists at his side and kept his distance.
Her gaze swept frantically over him. “Riley, are you all right?” she gasped out.
“I think so.” Taking inventory, he flexed his arms and legs. He’d have a few bruises. But everything seemed to be in working order.
While she was inspecting him, he was doing the same to her, his gaze inevitably descending to her middle, and he was amazed all over again how little her pregnancy showed under her man’s shearling coat.
She seemed to be all right. But he had to ask, “What about you—did you stay out of range?”
“Yes,” she answered, still sounding stunned.
While she was busy grappling with the aftermath of the explosion, he pressed his advantage again, “What happened?”
Her eyes grew big. “The…the cabin…exploded,” she stuttered.
“Yeah, that’s obvious,” he answered dryly. “The question is…why?”
“I…don’t know.”
He had to take her word for that. She wouldn’t have let him walk toward another deadly ambush. Would she? No. Not after that kiss. He hoped!
“So do you think the same guy who shot at you left a couple of booby traps? I mean the pit and the trip wire?”
She shook her head helplessly. “I told you, I haven’t come out this way much in the past few months. Creating dangers out here would be an inefficient way to go after me.”
“Yeah.” He would have liked to bombard her with questions about the militia. But she hadn’t been very forthcoming about her “survivalist” tenants.
What was going on out here exactly. Were the cabin and the pit part of a training exercise. That was pretty rough training. But he already knew that Boone Fowler played rough.
He turned and glanced at the rubble strewn over the ground. It might yield some clues. But looking for them was probably a dangerous plan, given the way things were going around the Golden Saddle.
“I think we’ve had enough excitement for one morning,” he said. “Maybe we should get back to the ranch yard. If the sheriff were anyone besides Bobby Pennington, I’d report this. Under the circumstances, we might as well not bother.”
Relief flooded her face. “Yes.”
&nbs
p; He made direct eye contact with her. “But perhaps you’d better stay close to the house until we find out what’s going on around here.”
“I can’t stay locked inside,” she objected.
Like you did yesterday and this morning when you were avoiding me? Again he kept the observation to himself.
“Stick around the ranch yard. And if you’re planning to go farther, check in with me.”
When she seemed to be getting ready to object, he played his ace in the hole. “If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for the baby.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “That’s not playing fair.”
“I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“You hardly know me.”
Before he could stop himself, he said, “But neither one of us is going to pretend that I don’t care, are we?”
He saw her swallow, then nodded. She looked as if she was going to ask him a question, but she kept silent.
“What?”
“Nothing. We should get back.”
So what issue was she ducking now?
She turned and hurried toward the stand of trees, and he caught up with her, his hand closing over her shoulder.
“Let me go first.”
“You don’t think something else could happen, do you?”
“At this point, I’m not taking any chances.”
She hesitated for a moment, and he held his breath, worried that she was going to demonstrate her stubborn, inconvenient, independent streak.
Apparently, common sense overcame pride, and she dropped back, allowing him to walk in front of her, scanning the woods as he went.
When a dry branch cracked, he stopped short and drew his gun. Then a small animal scurried away, and he breathed out a sigh.
Looking back at Courtney, he saw the tension on her face, but he didn’t bother to comment.
She’d tied her own horse, a palomino named Caramel, near where he’d left Monty.
They rode back to the ranch compound in silence.
As soon as they reached the barn, Kelly rushed up. “What happened out there?”
“One of the old line cabins exploded,” Riley answered, watching the younger man’s face.
He looked shocked.
Either he didn’t have anything to do with it. Or he was a damn good actor.
“I’m going inside. Would you mind taking care of Caramel?” Courtney said.
“Certainly,” the ranch hand answered.
Riley breathed out a little sigh, glad that she was following his advice for the moment. Despite his concerns, he couldn’t babysit her now. He needed to call Big Sky on his special cell phone and tell them about the new development—and that required privacy.
But when he walked off toward the bunkhouse where he might have some privacy, he saw that Jake had spotted him and was following. He changed course and pretended to be making a close inspection of the corral fences. Jake gave him a long look, then went back to the barn.
After spending some time “inspecting the fence,” Riley headed for a stand of trees not far from the ranch yard. Ducking behind one, he pulled out the special cell phone and made the call.
Joseph Brown answered.
“Riley, we’ve been waiting for you to check in. How’s the assignment going?”
“Not too bad,” he allowed. “How are things with the princess?”
Brown had crossed paths with Princess Veronika of Lukinburg when she’d first visited the U.S., and it looked like the two of them were getting close. His fellow bounty hunters had ribbed him mercilessly about his obvious interest in the princess, especially after the latest development where he protected her from a kidnapping attempt…and temporarily appointed himself her reluctant bodyguard.
His friend made a snorting noise. “Don’t you have anything better to do than poke into my private life?”
“It relieves the tension.” Maybe because he was feeling bad about grabbing Courtney Rogers and kissing her, he took another shot at his friend. “Oh, come on, you can tell me if you got to first base with her.”
Brown sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t tattle on royalty.”
“That’s a ‘yes,’ I gather.”
Brown’s voice changed. “I assumed you called to make a report. You got some problems?”
“Well, I almost got blown up an hour ago.”
His friend drew in a sharp breath. “Care to explain that?”
“I don’t have much time for jawing. You can get the details from the colonel. Can you put him on the line?”
“Sure.”
A few seconds later his boss, Colonel Cameron Murphy, came on the line. “Joseph looked shook up. Everything okay out there?” he asked.
Riley clenched his hand around the cell phone. He might have started with the pit and the explosion. Instead the first question he asked was, “Did you know Courtney Rogers was pregnant?”
The colonel made a small sound. “I heard a rumor to that effect. It wasn’t confirmed.”
“Well, I’m confirming it,” Riley said, hearing his own tone of annoyance.
“Is her pregnancy a problem?” Murphy asked.
“Not for me,” Riley snapped. “But apparently it’s set up an antagonistic situation with the prudish little town of Spur City.”
“Like what kind of situation?”
Riley cleared his throat. “Someone took a shot at her a couple of days ago when she was driving from town back to the ranch.”
Murphy swore.
“It could have been someone taking potshots at random cars and trucks. Or it could have been specifically directed at her. Either way, it complicates my assignment.”
“Uh-huh,” the colonel acknowledged. “Find out which.”
“I intend to.”
“So what about the explosion you mentioned to Brown?”
Riley gave him a brief account of the morning’s fun and games.
Murphy whistled through his teeth. “Give me more details,” he demanded.
Riley was about to answer when he heard a twig crack. “Gotta go,” he said quickly, then pressed the end button.
When he stuck his head around the tree, he saw a man advancing on him—gun in hand.
It was Jake.
RILEY HELD UP HIS HANDS, palms out. “It’s just me,” he shouted. “Put down the gun.”
Jake hesitated for a moment, then holstered the weapon. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Looking for some privacy. There isn’t any in the bunkhouse. Or the barn.”
“Privacy for what?”
“To call my mother.”
Jake laughed. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Honest,” Riley murmured. If you substituted Cameron Murphy for Mom. And he was kind of like a mother hen to the Big Sky guys—in a strictly military way, of course.
“Your mother! Oh, sure. What did she have to say?” Jake challenged.
“She’s glad I arrived safely at the Golden Saddle, and that I’m settling in. And she says that Great-Aunt Josephine’s love life is heating up.”
Jake stroked his chin. “That’s interesting, because we don’t have cell phone reception in the area.”
“This phone has a special satellite hookup,” Riley answered. “I got it so I wouldn’t be out of touch with Mom.”
Or course, he didn’t add that Big Sky was paying a lot more for the communications equipment and access than a ranch manager could afford.
Calmly he held out the instrument. “Too bad about the reception around here. Do you have anyone special you want to call? I always end up with lots of minutes left over. So if you want to make a call, you’re welcome to the phone.”
The ranch hand considered the offer. “No, that’s all right,” he answered offhandedly, but Riley knew he was still suspicious.
“So, did you want to talk about something?” he asked.
Jake shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “You rode out. Ms. Rogers followed you. Then I heard an
explosion. I was about to saddle up and see what happened out there when you both came back. But you didn’t say anything. What in the name of Sam Hill happened?”
Riley decided to play the scene differently than he had with Kelly. “How do you know it was an explosion? It could have been a jet plane breaking the sound barrier.”
“We don’t get military jets out here.” He scuffed his foot against the ground. “And I was in the army in Korea. I know what an explosion sounds like.”
Riley considered his options. Did Jake have something to do the “accidents”? Or was he genuinely worried?
“I rode out to have a look around the ranch—and found an old cabin in the bush,” he said, watching the man carefully. “About three miles northwest of here. You know the place I mean?”
“Yeah.”
“I dismounted to have a look. When I got halfway across the open ground between the cabin and the woods, I found out someone had rigged a bomb to go off like a Fourth of July rocket.”
The older man looked him up and down. “You don’t look any the worse for wear. You sure you’re not pulling my leg?”
“I’ve got military training, too. As soon as I stumbled over the trip wire, I hit the ground.”
Jake shook his head. “Mrs. Rogers didn’t say anything about it when she came in.”
“I thought we should keep it to ourselves.”
“Why?”
“That might be the best way to figure out why the cabin was rigged to blow up.”
“You think someone who works here would do that?”
“I don’t know.” He took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, doing a good imitation of a man who’s stepped into a situation he doesn’t much like. “I just took this job at the Golden Saddle three days ago. I’d like to keep my hide in one piece while I’m here.”
“Are you fixin’ to leave?” Jake demanded.
“Do you want me to?” Riley shot back.
They regarded each other in edgy silence.
Finally Jake answered, “I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out if I trust you.”
“What would I be up to? If you don’t mind my asking.”
Jake waited another moment before answering, “There are people in town who want Mrs. Rogers to clear out.”
“Just because she’s pregnant and unmarried?”
