by Alice Sharpe
“Your father? He’s okay, isn’t he? And Adam?”
“Yeah, they’re good. Dad’s knee is better—the limp is all but gone. And Adam’s shoulder was wounded, but it’s mended now. He has other news, though.”
“And Bonnie? How is Bonnie?”
He laughed softly. “She’s fine. Follows me around everywhere but I think she’s looking for you. She may technically be my dog, but we both know where her heart is. No, trust me, the changes are good. Let’s check for a room on the outskirts, away from the convention center.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
They finally found a Vacancy sign displayed at the Woodwind Inn, located near a shopping plaza that was currently closed. Cody parked directly under the overhead lights and unnecessarily reminded Cassie to lock the doors of the truck behind him while he went inside and registered.
She locked the doors and scanned the shadows, her gaze returning at once to the strong, retreating figure of her husband.
Was it too late for them? Had her pride cost her a husband? Worse, had it cost her child a complete family?
She suddenly realized she’d been scratching her head and it wasn’t because of deep thoughts. Caked soap and ash—what a sight she must be. Although she was pretty sure she’d left her brush beside the sink, didn’t she have a comb somewhere?
She flicked on the cab light and opened her hobo bag. She found the comb after a little digging. She also found a half of a candy bar and realized how hungry she was—had Cody forgotten about dinner? She knew she had, but now she was suddenly ravenous and quickly devoured a few bites of chocolate and peanuts.
Patting around inside for the snack package of crackers she was almost positive she had, she detected something bumpy on the zippered side and angled the bag toward the light to see what it was.
She saw nothing and was about to investigate further when Cody beeped the locks open and once again slid behind the wheel.
“They only had one room,” he said, as he handed her a small courtesy package that included a toothbrush and toothpaste. “I think that’s better anyway. Considering everything, I mean.”
“One room is all we need,” she said, ignoring the flutter in her stomach at the thought of hanging out all alone with him in a small room with no diversions. Still, that was better than laying awake all night by herself waiting for someone to break down the door and throw a hand grenade into her room…?.
JUDGING FROM THE UNEASY glances the girl at the front desk had thrown at him as he registered, Cody had to assume he looked as charred and tired as Cassie did.
The room was unexpectedly nice, with lots of extras like fluffy linens and even a small gas fireplace, which he ignited as Cassie took the first shower. He dug his novel out of his duffel and sat near the gas fire, the flickering flames immediately reminding him of the aftermath of the explosion.
Setting the book aside, he dug the small jewelry box out of his pocket and opened it again. Should he give it to her?
He could have lost her today, finally and irrevocably. And he could have lost a son or daughter he’d known about for less than twelve hours.
Who would try to kill Cassie and why? He needed to know what she knew—why was the old lady upset before her death? A premonition? And why did Cassie say she wondered if she should have done things differently? What, exactly?
He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn’t hear the shower go off and was surprised when the door opened and Cassie emerged, a towel wrapped around her head, a white robe, compliments of the inn, belted above the baby bump.
His hand closed around the little box and he slipped it into his pocket as he got to his feet. With everything that had happened, the miracle of being in the same room with Cassie was hard to grasp. For several seconds he just stood there staring at her until he finally mumbled, “I’ll take a short shower, then we can hit the hay.”
“What about dinner? Aren’t you hungry?”
He hadn’t thought about food. “Not particularly, but let me clean up and we’ll go get you something—”
“No. I was hungry earlier, now I’m too tired to eat. I’ll make up for it at breakfast.”
He stared at her a second longer, then took himself off to the shower where he could bury his confusion under a deluge of very hot water.
AFTER COMBING OUT her hair, Cassie upended her purse on the bed and watched as everything she owned spilled out on the bedspread.
Okay, that wasn’t true. She’d left tons of stuff at the ranch. Cody had probably boxed it all up and stored it, but her clothes and keepsakes would all be there somewhere. Things she’d missed at first, like old photos. Things she’d eventually stopped missing as the miracle of creating a new life took precedence over everything else.
The bag was empty and yet still felt hefty.
She patted it down again. There was something hard and lumpy inside the lining. In fact, when she held the bag under the lamp, she could see where the lining had been stitched with a different color thread. It was pos sible it had been done by the previous owner—after the theft a few months before, she’d bought this bag at a thrift store.
However, in light of what had shown up stitched inside her suitcase…
A pair of cuticle scissors took care of the seam.
With a growing sense of dread, she pulled out an emerald, diamond and platinum ring that shone with such intensity it was as though the central stone harbored licks of green fire.
And that wasn’t all. There were two other pieces: a ruby broach and a sapphire necklace. Each piece was familiar, as Mrs. Priestly had shown them to her. And each piece was worth a bundle.
The shower went off.
Not entirely sure why her gut reaction was to hide the jewelry, Cassie quickly slipped it all back where she found it. Then she carefully layered all her own belongings over the contraband, finishing just seconds before Cody exited the bathroom wearing sweatpants and nothing else.
A jolt of longing for him hit her with such force she was pretty sure the air in the room clouded.
He was towel-drying his short dark hair, the muscles in his chest and arms flexing with each movement. A flood of memories, all involving him naked and aroused, delivered another punch, and she took a deep breath.
Oh, the times they had had!
“You okay?” he asked, as he crossed the room and checked the locked door.
“Fine. Um, tired.”
She put the purse on the floor by her side of the bed and, still wearing the robe, slipped under the covers and lay on her side, looking away from him. A few moments later he got in beside her, his big body steaming hot and smelling of soap and aftershave. She squeezed her eyes shut as the mattress burned between them.
The light went out and she lay there trying to figure out what to do about the jewelry. Why hadn’t she just shown it to Cody? It wasn’t like she’d taken anything. Oh, man, how was she going to get it back to the family? She knew the ring in particular was intended for Donna, Mrs. Priestly’s granddaughter, and heaven knew Donna would treasure it.
Or sell it—who knew? The point was, it belonged to her now.
So, who stuck it all in Cassie’s handbag? She laboriously rolled onto her back and stared up into the dark.
“Can’t sleep?” Cody asked. He sounded as awake as she was.
She wanted to talk to him about the jewelry. She wanted to share her fear that she was being set up and it would never stop until a pair of handcuffs were snapped around her wrists.
The bed shifted. When she glanced his way, the ambient light that crept through the gap in the drapes revealed he’d turned on his side to face her.
“No,” she whispered.
“Anything I can do to help?”
His question kind of hung there. In years gone past, the answer to that question was a hearty yes followed by an hour or so of unbridled passion. But this wasn’t then; they were still feeling their way with each other.
“Cassie?”
“Tell
me about the changes on the ranch.”
“Well, for one thing, Pierce is home. Not right now, but he’s moving back very soon.”
Cassie’s erratic thoughts were instantly galvanized by this news. “I thought your brother hated ranching and Wyoming and your father, too, for that matter.”
“Well, he came home the first time I left in a hurry. He got there a little while before a party of visiting royalty were due to land, and in my rush to leave I forgot to tell anyone about the visit. To make a long story short, he and Dad spent some time together but, most importantly, Pierce fell in love with the princess of Chatioux.”
“He fell in love with Princess Analise?”
“Yep. And she with him. Turns out her idea of a dream life is living somewhere where she’s free to be who and what she wants. I don’t know if Pierce all of a sudden saw the ranch through her eyes, but he sold out his share of his business and moved home. They’re getting married in a few weeks, after Thanksgiving but before Christmas.”
“Wow.”
“I know. And then there’s Adam. He fell in love with our stepcousin, Echo DeGris. They’re getting married, too.”
Cassie stared at him in the dark. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.”
“This is amazing.”
“There are also people excavating the burial cavern at the old cave, remember, I took you up there once. There are strangers around the ranch now, cars coming and going, people with their own agendas. It’s weird, but in an odd way it’s also kind of nice.”
“And your father agreed to this?”
“It took a little convincing.”
She thought she understood what he meant about it being weird but nice. Nice that there were new people around, hustle and bustle beyond the cattle and the ongo ing responsibilities of the ranch. She’d never admitted it to him, but she’d found the place a little lonely at times.
She saw the shape of his hand right before his fingers touched her face.
“And there’s more, too,” he said, gently stroking her cheek. He probably wasn’t aware of the fireworks shooting off under her skin. “My uncle Pete is back at the ranch after thirty years of exile, but the biggest news is we found out what really happened to my mother. It kind of shook the world at the Open Sky.”
“I can’t believe all this.”
His voice grew thoughtful. “I can’t, either. But truthfully, everything happened in a haze for me. I was too preoccupied trying to find you to pay proper attention to what was going on right under my own nose. I feel like I’ve been trapped in a fog bank.”
She swallowed hard. “Cody—”
“I just want you to know I’ve missed you.”
“I’m—”
“I know, I know. The deal was we concentrate on keeping you alive and figure out our future later, right?”
After a moment, she whispered, “That’s right.”
His fingertips brushed her lips as he withdrew his hand. “We need to talk about what happened at the Priestly house. The old lady’s death must have a direct link to what’s happening to you.”
“I’m not sure things are related,” she said, and her voice sounded wobbly. Too many emotions too fast.
“Will you talk about it?”
“Maybe it could wait until morning.”
“Okay. Sure.” He turned back on his other side while she, feeling like a beached whale, stayed on her back. The small fortune in jewelry sent out pulsing vibes she was surprised Cody couldn’t feel.
Or maybe the vibes were coming from her. She hadn’t even thought about sex in six months, and now it was practically all she could think about.
That and the pain in Cody’s voice.
And then another thought struck like a lightning bolt. Someone had to have taken everything out of her purse in order to open the lining and hide the jewels. That meant someone could have looked in the zippered compartment in the lining and found the tiny slip of paper with Cody’s name and phone number. She’d stuck it in there as a precaution in case something happened to her but not the baby. She’d wanted to make sure her child would have a family just in case—
Cody had mentioned telling the Banners his first name. It wouldn’t take a genius for that someone to link him to the name Cody Westin on the paper, and presto—they’d know her last name.
Someone could know who she really was.
Or maybe that someone hadn’t looked in the zippered pocket or written down the phone number—who knew?
She lay there for what seemed like a lifetime, sure she would never sleep, until she suddenly awoke to find Cody seated on a chair, pulling on his boots. Sunlight peeked through the crack in the curtains.
He offered to bring breakfast back to the room. Cassie appreciated the offer; she wasn’t anxious to come face to face with old acquaintances just yet, and Woodwind was, after all, the closest town to the Open Sky Ranch. She’d been shopping in it on a regular basis up until six months ago.
But she had another motive for asking for the asparagus frittata she knew Cody would have to drive across town to find. Before she’d fallen asleep the night before, she’d finally had a brainstorm.
“Lock the doors, stay away from the windows,” Cody implored before driving away. As soon as he was gone, she opened his duffel bag and dug through looking for sweats. She was in a hurry—
But her fingers came into contact with a small velvet box, and she extracted it with wide eyes. Was there a woman alive who could withstand the temptation to peek inside such a thing? She knew she couldn’t…
“Holy-moley,” she whispered, as diamonds and emeralds dazzled her eyes. There were six of each, staggered one after the other, each embraced in a ribbon of white gold leaves. An eternity ring, she realized, delicate and jaw-dropping at the same time.
What was Cody doing with something like this? She turned the box over and saw a gold sticker on the bottom—it had come from Woodwind’s one designer-jewelry store, Wild Iris. It must have cost him a bundle.
Had he bought it for her? The emeralds could represent May, the month they were married. Had he bought it for their anniversary, which she’d missed? Or was it intended for someone else?
No, that wasn’t Cody’s style. So why hadn’t he given it to her?
Maybe he wasn’t as sure as he pretended to be…
Why had she snooped? Now she was miserable. She put it back where she found it and abandoned the idea of his sweatpants. She didn’t want him to suspect she’d seen his secret.
That meant dressing in her slacks from the night before, which she did in a hurry. She would forget about the emerald-and-diamond band for now—didn’t she already have more than her share of jewelry problems?
A few minutes later, she walked as fast as she could to the post office, which was just a block over. She’d never felt so exposed, not even the night she left Mrs. Priestly’s house for the last time.
But no one stopped and talked to her, and no killer jumped out from behind a bush. Keeping her head down, she took the jewels from her purse. She’d wrapped them in one of the inn’s plush washcloths, and she quickly stuffed everything in an overnight delivery envelope, which she addressed to the Banners at the Priestly house. She insured it for the maximum amount.
Cody would come unglued if he found out she’d done it this way. He would insist she give everything to the sheriff, that it was evidence of some kind.
And he was right. Undoubtedly it was. But she didn’t plan to talk to the sheriff.
On the way back to the inn, she found a real honest-to-goodness pay phone and called her old landlord’s number, which she’d found on a receipt in her wallet. She was relieved when his answering machine picked up, and she left a quick message about being frightened when her apartment blew up and deciding to move on, assuring him she was fine.
She also called Emma Kruger and once again got a machine, and she left a quick explanation of why she hadn’t checked in per their arrangement. Then a quick call to her
cousin Lisa. A third answering machine. She left yet another message, but at least no one would worry about her now.
Most likely the explosion would be viewed as a gas-leak accident. Most likely the Banners would forget all about her if she didn’t try to claim any inheritance. And even if they knew her real name, why bother with her? With the return of the jewelry, the Banners would have no reason to hunt for her. And no one could really be lieve she had anything to do with Mrs. Priestly’s murder, could they?
She just couldn’t risk jail, not with the baby coming, not without making sure she’d done everything she could to avoid it.
She hurried back to the hotel, closing and locking the door behind her with a huge sigh of relief. Within a few minutes, Cody arrived carrying a newspaper and two bags from which the most wonderful aromas wafted. They cleared off a spot at the small table by the window and dug into frittata, fresh fruit and steaming coffee. Her appetite overcame her tension. It was the first meal Cassie had enjoyed in months, and in a way she felt as though she was emerging from her own fog.
He opened the paper as she split the last of the coffee between them. As he scanned the front page, she picked up the second section, and for a second it was like old times, them sitting quietly together, the day stretching ahead. Danger seemed a million miles away…?.
Her gaze landed on a grainy black-and-white photo of a recovery scene downriver from Cherrydell. A body had been discovered. Male, it said, identity unknown. He’d been in the water for several days, the article continued, cause of death as yet undetermined.
“Cassie, what is it?” Cody asked.
She looked up at him.
He gestured at the newspaper she held in her hands. “You suddenly got very quiet,” he added. “Is there something about you in here?”
“No, not really, but…” She stood abruptly.
“But?”
“Let’s get out of here, Cody. It’s time you heard what Mrs. Priestly thought she saw through her bedroom window.”
Chapter Five
He grabbed the newspaper as Cassie hustled into the bathroom to gather what few possessions she had with her. He scanned the section she’d been reading but could see nothing that would have spooked her.
