Big Sky Cowboy

by Jennifer Mikels

  “The best,” he murmured.

  She’d always hoped for someone special, someone who wouldn’t be afraid to be with her. But the more content she was with him, the more she wanted to have. And she felt suddenly afraid, aware how much she could be hurt from wanting too much. “Coffee’s done.” She slipped out of his embrace before he saw the frown stirred by her thoughts.

  With her movement, he swung toward the table and reached for his cup. Over her shoulder, she saw him grimace at the package of coconut-covered marshmallow cupcakes she’d purchased from a vending machine in town yesterday.

  “Get that, will you, Tessa?”

  A second passed before she heard the doorbell. Obviously he wasn’t concerned that Harriet’s killer stood outside his front door or he wouldn’t have asked her to answer it. Since he was busy at a cupboard, she rushed across the living room to the door. “I’m coming,” she called and opened the door. Sick. Immediately she felt sick.

  “Tessa Madison?”

  She heard the delivery man, but couldn’t stop staring at the long white florist’s box.

  “Here you are.”

  She couldn’t find her voice. The box was in her arms. She watched the man turn away without receiving a tip. How could the person trying to scare her know she was here?

  Chapter Nine

  Tessa swung around with the box cradled in her arms and saw Colby standing in the kitchen doorway. “Look.”

  By the expression on his face, she knew she’d paled. In a few strides, he crossed to her, enveloped her in his arms. “Tessa. They’re from me. I’m sorry. That was damn insensitive of me.”

  Still cradling the box, she shot a look at him. “You sent them?”

  “God, you’re white. I never thought you’d get scared when you saw them. It was a dumb idea.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” she quickly replied. She was becoming a weak little girl. When had she ever let herself become so unnerved so easily? “It was a great idea.” She needed to overcome the sense of dread she had every time she saw flowers. In an excited rush to see what he’d sent, she whipped the red ribbon off the box, then lifted the lid. Her heart quickened. A dozen perfectly shaped red roses and wispy-looking ferns were nestled in the green tissue. “Oh, Colby.” Her throat tightened. The tears came unexpectedly.

  With his fingertips, he caught her chin. “I didn’t buy them to make you cry. I thought you needed to get ones that would make you smile. Unfortunately they didn’t affect you that way.”

  Tessa laughed in response to the good humor in his voice. “Oh, but they did. These are tears of joy. Thank you. It was so nice of you.” She raised misty eyes to meet his. “Thank you for reminding me how wonderful it is to get them like this, how beautiful they are.” She lifted the flowers to take in their fragrance. “Do you have a vase?”

  “A vase?” He grinned wryly. “Now there’s something I’ve had a lot of need for.” Keeping her close, he walked her to the kitchen. “I have a glass pitcher.” He turned to retrieve the pitcher from a cabinet. “A big one. My mother told me it was for iced tea.”

  From the way he said that, she doubted he’d ever made any. She joined him by the sink, watched water fill the pitcher. “The pitcher is fine, really,” she said, not knowing what could be stirring his frown.

  “Can you take the day off? We need to get some answers. We might find some in Billings.”

  “Check florists? Find out who sent the dead flowers?”

  “It’s an idea.” He faced her. “You can’t live in fear. I brought this on you. I have to do something to stop it.”

  Tessa didn’t bother to argue. If she had, he’d have gone alone. He was hoping she might feel something at one of the florists if she went with him. She thought it might be a good idea. As much as she loved his attention, he couldn’t play her bodyguard twenty-four hours a day.

  When they drove through Whitehorn, Colby slowed the truck to practically a standstill for the posted speed limit outside Whitehorn Memorial Hospital. Tessa viewed the jagged peaks of the Crazy Mountains to the west. She’d stopped in this town when she’d arrived in Montana and had driven to the Stop N Swap. She’d expected only the owner of the junk store, Winona Cobb, to be there, but her niece, Crystal Cobb, now Ravencrest, had been there, too. They’d connected immediately. Because of their psychic powers, they were kindred souls. Tessa had visited Winona several times on days when she did her volunteer work at the hospital.

  It was afternoon when Colby drove them into Billings. In passing, Tessa noticed that a local park was empty. The heat smothered, discouraging summertime picnics or softball games. An American flag on a pole hung limply from lack of any breeze. At a lazy pace, Tessa strolled with Colby along the sidewalk and wandered into a florist shop.

  By four o’clock, visits to several similar shops had proven futile. “If the flowers weren’t ordered from a florist here, I doubt the pen was bought at one of the stores,” Colby said when they stepped outside again.

  Tessa stared at the display window still showing floral arrangements with Fourth of July colors. “The proverbial search for the needle in the haystack,” she said and fought drooping spirits. If they could discover the name of Harriet’s lover, the person who gave her the pen, they might narrow down possibilities. At the least, they might be able to eliminate Harriet’s lover as the killer. Tessa gestured toward a gas station with a quick-stop market. “Do you think they sell pens?”

  He scanned the street of businesses, then opened the truck door and removed the last box of dead flowers she’d received. “Let’s try that florist over there.”

  The woman inside the shop was a sweet grandmotherly-looking type with silver hair. “Roses are for lovers.” Since they’d entered, she’d repeatedly looked from Tessa to Colby. “You really are a lovely couple. I suppose everyone tells you that.”

  “Everyone,” Colby confirmed, slipping an arm around Tessa’s waist. “We were told it was written in the stars.”

  The woman beamed. “Oh, how romantic.” As she turned away to answer her phone, Tessa gently elbowed him in the ribs. “You’re an incorrigible tease, aren’t you?”

  “Guilty.” He grinned, still looking pleased when the woman returned to them. “We need help,” he said, bringing the conversation to the business at hand. He opened the box to reveal the flowers.

  “Oh.” The woman clucked her tongue. “They’re dead. I’d never send dead flowers. And I don’t use that kind of box,” she said, tapping a finger on it.

  “Do you know who might?”

  “Someone who buys inferior flowers for their arrangements.”

  Colby prodded. “Like?”

  “Morton’s Mortuary has a florist adjacent to their building. They’re not too particular there.”

  “Where is it?” Colby questioned.

  She gave them an address and whispered a departing suggestion to Colby. “Red roses. They’d be perfect for her.”

  The man at the mortuary, an Ichabod Crane look-alike who held his hands together in a gesture of prayer, informed them in his quiet, monotone voice that they acquired their flowers from a nursery in Boise. They made a quick check with the florist next door. It had no record of delivering any flowers in Rumor.

  Tessa sighed. “One dead end after another.”

  “I’ll check out Boise,” Colby said.

  She thought he might be wasting his time, but said nothing rather than go head-on with his stubborn streak. “Did you bring the pen?” Tessa asked, eyeing a greeting card shop across the street.

  “I have it.” He fished in his shirt pocket and removed the gold pen with its fine point.

  Tessa viewed it as a gift for a practical woman. Had Harriet’s lover understood she’d treasure that more than a bottle of perfume? Or had Harriet felt disappointment at not receiving something more romantic?

  “Let’s go over.” Colby placed a hand at the small of her back to urge her toward the store. “We might have some luck.”

  They had none.
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  “The pens can be bought in any stationery or greeting card store,” the woman manager in the nationwide chain store told them. “And engraving is usually offered.”

  “She made the pen as a gift seem like nothing special,” Tessa said when they stepped outside. “It might have been a practical gift, but if it was from a man Harriet cared deeply about, it would be special to her. Don’t you think so?” she asked when they were in the truck.

  Colby switched on the ignition. His lips curved in a wry grin that carried a hint of sadness. “She’d value something that was useful.”

  As he turned on the CD player, she dropped her head onto the headrest and listened to the music, country songs, mostly about love. “We came up empty today.”

  Colby looked away from the traffic. “I know a way to keep the day from being a total waste.”

  She saw the flash of his smile and laughed. “I know you do. So do I. Let’s go horseback riding.” She saw his look of surprise. “You thought I couldn’t?”

  “I thought you were a city girl.”

  “Fooled you.”

  Atop his horse, a deep brown with a patch of white on its chest, Colby took the lead. Slowly he rode Dancer down a trail that snaked around trees away from the ranch and toward a lake. He gave a sweep of his arm. “Best place in the world.”

  Tessa brought the roan alongside Dancer. “Oh, it’s lovely here,” she said as the lake came into view between the trees.

  Colby thought she was. Sunlight gleamed on her hair, casting silver streaks through the raven color. With her nearness, he caught her light, flowery scent. Desire was only a breath away, he realized. “It’s a great place to go fishing.”

  “Fishing?” A smile swept over her face. After hours that had held too much seriousness, she was grateful that he’d thought of a way to lighten their day.

  He reined Dancer at a grassy spot where wildflowers sprinkled color on a nearby path. “Where did you learn to ride?”

  “We lived in Texas for a while.” As Colby dismounted, so did she. Perspiration trickled down her back. “My mother had a brief relationship with a rancher.” So often her mother had gotten attached to some man and then watched him leave after one of her visions.

  He tethered the reins on a nearby tree branch. “Pick a spot.”

  While she chose two boulders near the bank and beneath a tree, he grabbed the fishing poles and tackle box from behind his saddle. “Is this a favorite spot of yours?”

  “Garrett and I used to skip school and come here. Until my dad caught us, I’d miss for days.”

  “And ace the tests?”

  “Usually.” Colby settled on the rock beside her. “Everything came easy,” he admitted. A gentle breeze fluttered her hair. With a featherlight touch, he tucked a strand behind her ear.

  “I always liked going.”

  He leaned over, kissed her gently, softly, tenderly. “Bet you were a cutie.”

  Tessa laughed. Pleasurable warmth moved through her. “Oh, stop.” She cast a look around. “Any girl’s initials carved on a tree in a heart?”

  “Nope. Want yours?”

  His question made her smile. When she’d been young, Tessa would have loved it if some boy had said that to her. How many girls had he made such an offer to? She wondered, aware he’d known his share while traveling the rodeo circuit. “Do you miss rodeo, Colby?”

  His head bent, he stared into his tackle box. “That was a different life. It gave me thrills. But this is just as satisfying, in a different way. Let’s see if you’re really any good at this.”

  Shifting on the hard rock, she raised her face to a bright sun. It promised to deliver another sweltering day. “I never back away from a challenge, Colby. I saw you, you know. Years ago.”

  “You mean—” He wiggled fingers in front of his eyes. “That kind of saw me?”

  Tessa stifled a giggle. “Yes. I saw you in a rodeo in Texas. Ten years ago.”

  Despite the brim of his hat shading his face, she saw his grin. “Why would you remember me?”

  “Because I was fourteen.” She took the rod from him, then peered into the tackle box for a lure. “Because you were eighteen and—”

  He looked away from the water, shimmering beneath late-afternoon sunlight. “And what?”

  And I was a dreamy-eyed teenager. Stalling, she pretended intense interest in the lures. “Gorgeous,” she answered while she chose a three-prong hook with a red-and-white stripe.

  He sounded pleased. “You thought I was gorgeous?”

  “Remember, I was fourteen. Easily impressed.” Tessa laughed at his pseudo-withering look.

  “Did you like the rodeo?”

  “It was fun.” She paused to cast her line. “I held my breath the whole time you were on the horse.” She’d sat on the bleachers, captivated by the lean, cute cowboy. She’d listened to the buzzer, the cheers of the crowd and hadn’t been able to take her eyes off him. “I plan to catch the first fish.”

  Colby hooked his line before slanting a look at her.

  “Are you trying mental telepathy to catch one?”

  “My magic power,” she teased.

  He leaned close and nuzzled her neck. “I know. It’s potent.”

  She turned her face so her mouth met his, but at the last second jerked back, letting his lips kiss air. “Oh! I think I’ve got one.”

  “You just put your line in. You couldn’t have—”

  Definitely she felt the tug on the pole. “Tell the fish that,” she said, reeling in the line. “Oh, Colby.” The fish splashed the top of the water. “Oh, look. Look what I’ve got.”

  “Reel it in.”

  “I am, I am,” she said excitedly. “It’s big, isn’t it?”

  He started laughing. “I don’t believe it.”

  “How big is it?”

  “Big enough. You’re amazing, Madam Tessa.”

  “Can you cook this?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the fish.

  “I know someone who can.”

  Colby waited until they were in the truck driving toward town before he made the phone call. As he expected, his mother was agreeable. With a goodbye, he set his cell phone on the seat beside him. “My mother said bring the fish. She’ll make the rest of the dinner.”

  “That’s nice of her.” Tessa sniffed hard. “I smell fishy.”

  He thought she smelled like wildflowers. “That’s because you hugged the fish.”

  Tessa pulled a face at his tease. “The way it was flopping around, I thought I’d lose it. I won’t be long, but I need to take a quick shower.”

  “Okay. I’ll go see Holt while you do that.” He braked in front of Mystic Treasures, thought about going in to check rooms but knew she’d resist. “I shouldn’t be too long.”

  “I’ll be waiting.” Leaning close, she placed a hand on his shoulder, pressed her breasts into him and kissed him hard.

  “Tessa,” he said when she drew back.

  On a laugh, she jumped out of the truck. “Later.”

  Effortlessly she knocked him off balance, he realized as he watched her dash up the stairs to the store. Sharp, conflicting emotions moved through him whenever he thought of her, was with her. She made him feel more than he had in a long time. In little ways, she managed to surprise him, made him laugh more than any woman ever had. It felt so damn good to feel good.

  He was still smiling when he entered the police department a few minutes later.

  “I was coming to see you,” Holt said in greeting. Sitting at his desk, the deputy sheriff was munching on a powdered sugar doughnut.

  “Got any news?” Colby asked.

  Holt’s expression remained grim. “You won’t like it.”

  “Did you learn more?” Tessa asked as soon as they were settled in Colby’s truck.

  “Some.” Driving, he kept his eyes on the dark road. “Holt’s been checking into Parrish’s past.”

  He’d been so quiet, too quiet. “You were hoping he could be linked to the murder.�
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  “He was my number-one suspect,” Colby said with a glance away from the road.

  Tessa shifted on the seat to see him better in the dark confines of the truck. “Was?” She ran a smoothing hand over her lap in the peach-colored dress with its scooped neck and short sleeves. “He isn’t anymore?”

  “I wish he was, but Holt told me that Parrish has an airtight alibi for the night of Harriet’s murder.”

  “Are they positive?”

  A trace of irritation edged his voice. “He has the best one he could have. He was in a Kansas City jail for disorderly conduct. My parents won’t be pleased.”

  Louise met them at the front door of her home. At Colby’s brighter than usual greeting, Tessa assumed he would stall before announcing what he’d learned.

  “Come in the kitchen,” Louise urged.

  Tessa stood in the living room of the country house and viewed the beamed ceiling and redbrick fireplace. She followed Louise across the highly polished wood floor and through a dining room with its bay window and window seat. “You have a lovely home.”

  “Thank you. It’s taken a lot of years of fixing it up.”

  The kitchen was enormous and sunny with a wallpaper design of little yellow teapots on the wall above the sink and a knotty pine floor.

  “This is one fine fish you caught, Tessa.” Colby’s dad lifted the fish Colby had cleaned at his house. “My son loves trout.”

  “They both do,” Louise said to Tessa.

  Colby gave her a grin before opening the refrigerator.

  “Do you plan on telling us what’s wrong?” Bud asked.

  Tessa was surprised by his father’s words. She’d thought Colby had done an admirable job of hiding his annoyance about Warren Parrish.

  He faced his parents while yanking the tab off the beer can. “I didn’t want to ruin dinner.”

  “You won’t. Tell us,” his mother urged. As he shared the news, her frown deepened.