The Cowboy She Never Forgot

by Cheryl Biggs

  Sleep slipped slowly from Kate’s grasp as the warmth of the sunlight flowing through the windows touched her closed eyelids. She moaned softly in protest, but her dreams continued their steady retreat. She tried to burrow her head deeper into her pillow and call them back. When they eluded her, she slid a hand out in search of Shane, wanting to snuggle up against his length, feel his warmth and strength wrap around her again. But her fingers found only the soft rumples of the sheet. A faint frown touched her brow. Had it all been a dream?

  Her body instantly told her no. She rolled slowly onto her back and let her eyelids flutter open. Sunlight assaulted her eyes. She blinked, rubbed at them, then sat up.

  Shane didn’t move.

  Kate smiled at seeing him sitting in the chair, watching her. It made her feel protected, a feeling she hadn’t experienced for a long time. “Shane,” she said, almost shivering at how good his name sounded on her lips, at how good she felt after being made love to by him again. “What are you doing over th—?”

  “You had a phone call this morning,” he interrupted her, his tone a chilling lash. “Captain Aames.”

  Kate felt the blood slip from her face as every molecule in her body went still and cold. He knew the truth. The realization robbed her of breath. She stared at him as her heart raced, but her mind remained blank, offering up no excuse, no lie, no alibi, no reasoning.

  His foot crashed to the floor and he sat forward. “Why did you lie to me, Kate?”

  “Shane, I didn’t mean to—”

  Fury darkened his eyes, turned every line and curve of his face steel hard, his body rigid. “Didn’t mean to what?” he sneered. “Get caught?”

  “Shane, please, let me explain,” she said hurriedly, not sure how she was going to do it even if he let her.

  “When were you going to mention it, Kate? When I asked you to marry me again? Is that what you were waiting for? Or maybe you were just going to wait and spring it on me on our wedding night. Oh, by the way Shane, hope you don’t mind, but I forgot to tell you something.”

  “Shane, please, I—”

  A muscle in his neck tightened. His jaw clenched. “You’re still a cop,” Shane snapped, his tone quiet, yet rippling with rage.

  “Yes, but—”

  He shoved to his feet. “You’re still a cop,” he repeated, his contemptuous rage stabbing at her. “Which means there’s nothing else to say.” He turned abruptly and stalked to the door. “I’ll send someone back with your Jeep,” he threw over his shoulder, and disappeared into the hall.

  Kate scrambled from the bed, biting her lip as she put weight on her injured foot and pain seized her. Tears blinded her and her hands trembled as she grabbed for her robe. “Shane, wait. Please.”

  The front door slammed.

  She stumbled and hopped her way hurriedly down the hall. This couldn’t be happening again. A sob ripped its way from her throat. He couldn’t be leaving her again. Not again. “Shane.”

  The roar of her Jeep’s engine split the air.

  “No,” she cried softly. “No.” She threw open the front door just in time to see the Cherokee spin out of the driveway and shoot down the curving mountain road. “Shane,” she called softly, even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. “Please don’t go.”

  Kate closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to the doorjamb as a sense of desolation swept over her. Quiet tears began to flow slowly down her cheeks and fall on the hardwood floor.

  Long moments later she stumbled to the couch and collapsed onto it. Why had she let this happen? Why hadn’t she turned him away, forced him to leave last night, refused to let him drive her home? She dropped her face into her hands. Why had she let him rip out her heart again?

  Shane set the two-hundred-pound weight back on its cradle, then grabbed a towel from the weight bench he’d been using and wiped it across his forehead. He’d thought a good workout at the gym would help him calm down. He’d been wrong. Fury still roiled through him like an angry bull trapped in a steel cage.

  He should have known. Blast it all, he should have known. Hadn’t she always sworn she would never give up that job? But he’d wanted so damned desperately to believe this time it was going to work.

  After finishing his workout, he showered, dressed, and drove to the arena. It was nearing midafternoon as he walked through the pen area. “Hey, Josh,” he said, spotting the teenager lazing against one of the fences. “Want to earn a few bucks and do me a favor?”

  Josh’s eyes sparked with interest. “Sure, man. Anything’s better than hanging around here when nothing’s going on. What do you need?”

  Shane handed him Kate’s car keys. “Get somebody to follow you up to Kate Morgan’s ranch and return her Jeep Cherokee, would you? It’s parked out in the lot.”

  “Sure. No prob, man.”

  He described the Cherokee, gave the kid quick directions to her ranch, watched him walk away, then headed for his trailer. As he approached he noticed that Cody had gotten the tire fixed.

  “Hey, bro,” Cody said, when Shane entered, “found yourself somewhere better to sleep last night, huh?” He chuckled. “Like maybe with a beautiful lady with reddish hair and blue-green eyes?” Cody shifted his seat at the tiny kitchen table. “This mean I might be looking for somebody else to travel the circuit with?” He grabbed for his coffee cup as it jiggled across the table in reaction to Shane’s crashing closure of a cupboard door.

  “No,” Shane snapped. “And shut up.”

  “I’ve missed you so much, Shane.” Her words, her hands on his chest, her body pressed close to his. He pulled her into his arms, his need savage. She was ecstasy in his arms, her body soft and warm, her curves filling his planes, melding with his lean length until no space separated them.

  His mouth closed over hers.

  “Love me, Shane. Please, just love me.”

  He slammed the mug he’d just retrieved down on the small counter next to the sink and moved past Cody toward his bunk, his body as twisted with the pain of his memories as his mind.

  Cody’s eyebrows flew upward as he shoved aside the magazine he’d been flipping through. He smiled knowingly. “Had a fight with Kate, huh?”

  Shane turned and glared down at him. “I told you to shut up, didn’t I?”

  “Okay, okay.” Cody held up a hand. “Damn, you are touchy this afternoon.”

  Shane cursed softly and practically ripped himself out of the shirt he had on, trying to ignore the faint scent of Kate’s perfume that clung to the fabric. He jerked a clean shirt from its hanger in the closet.

  “You drawn your rides for tonight yet?” Cody chanced. “I got that new Brahma Westmeister brought in, Wild Fire. Looks pretty good.”

  “You make sure no one fooled around with Samson last night?” Shane asked, ignoring Cody’s question and shoving an arm into the sleeve of his shirt. “Or Dancer?” he added begrudgingly.

  Cody set his coffee cup down. “They’re both fine. Now are you going to tell me what the hell burr’s up your—?”

  Shane turned and practically shoved his face into his brother’s. “No.”

  Chapter 11

  The ringing of bells filled Kate’s head. She saw Shane waiting for her at the end of the aisle and smiled. It was her wedding day. Her heart soared, filled with joy. He stretched out a hand toward her. She reached to take it.

  The bells rang again. Kate moaned in protest as the dream started to shatter. She rolled over, nearly burying herself between the loose, overstuffed pillows of the sofa and struggled to hang on to the fading image.

  The bells chimed again, this time accompanied by a knocking sound.

  Kate’s eyes opened slowly as something in the far reaches of her mind alerted her to the fact that the bells weren’t part of her dream, it was her doorbell she was hearing. Reality pushed in on her as the bell rang again. She pushed herself up. Shane. Her heart skipped a solid beat Brushing a hand through her tousled mane of hair, and rubbing her hands over her face in an a
ttempt to erase the sleep from it, she grabbed a crutch and hurriedly hobbled to the door.

  “Coming,” she called breathlessly, as the bell rang again. She practically fell against the door, jerked at the bolt lock, and stumbled against the wall as she yanked the door open. “Shane, I—”

  “Hi, buttons. We were just about to figure you weren’t here,” her father said.

  Disappointment instantly filled Kate, but she forced a smile to her lips. “Oh...Daddy, Lorie, you’re back from your honeymoon.”

  “Yep. Brought you a present from Arizona, too.” A flash of humor lit her father’s craggy face as he looked at her. “Woke you up, huh?”

  “Oh, Harry, look,” Kate’s new stepmother said, her gaze jumping from the bandage on Kate’s temple, to the crutch, to the bandaged leg she was holding up off the floor. Lorie Morgan clutched Kate’s arm, concern drawing at her classically pretty features. “Honey, what happened? Are you all right? You’re not hurt anywhere else, are you?”

  Harry Morgan glanced down, the humor replaced by a deep frown of indignation that anyone would dare hurt his little girl. “You get shot?” he asked gruffly, finally noticing her injuries.

  She smiled and shook her head. “No, Dad. I fell off my horse and got a cut on my head and a twisted ankle, that’s all. No big deal.” She turned and hobbled back into the living room. “Come on in.”

  “You fell off your horse?” Lorie echoed. “That’s a little hard to believe.”

  “Actually, my cinch broke,” Kate said, certain that if her father knew the truth his recent retirement from the force wouldn’t stand in the way of his barging into the precinct to demand answers and rake Aames over the coals for sending her undercover with no immediate backup.

  Harry set the box on the coffee table. “I smell coffee. You want some?”

  Kate looked up. “It might be pretty strong, Dad. It’s been on for hours.”

  “Well, you know me, buttons. If a spoon can’t stand up in the stuff, then it ain’t real coffee.” He laughed and walked into the kitchen. “Looks like you were about to fix something to eat,” he called back.

  “Oh, I’ll do it,” Lorie said, jumping up from the chair she’d just taken. “You stay off that foot, Kate, and no arguments.” She hurried into the kitchen.

  “Open your present,” her father ordered, walking back into the room and sitting on one of the overstuffed chairs.

  Kate pulled a beautiful Navajo pot from the box.

  “Thought that cactus you’ve been babying along might look good in there.”

  Kate nodded and settled back onto the couch with a sigh. “Thanks, Dad, it’s beautiful.”

  Her father set his coffee down and leaned forward, arms on his thighs, and looked at her closely. “Okay, give. What’s wrong?”

  She threw him a smile, but knew it wasn’t a very convincing one. “Nothing, Dad, really. I’m just tired, that’s all. And sore.”

  He shook his head. “Nope. Spill it, Kate. There’s something else going on. You know I could always see it in your eyes when you weren’t telling me something. Now what’s happened while we were gone? What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head, then wished she hadn’t when a dull throbbing started somewhere deep down inside.

  “Kate,” her father said, a warning thread in his tone, “I may be retired, but I still have friends on the force who’ll talk to me, do me favors if necessary. Now, do I have to call one of them to tell me what’s going on with my own daughter, or are you going to explain?”

  The sound of sizzling vegetables drifted to her from the kitchen, along with their tantalizing fragrance and Lorie’s humming rendition of “Home on the Range.”

  “Kate?” Harry Morgan snapped.

  “It’s not work, Dad,” she said, hoping he’d let it drop at that, even though she had a feeling she knew better.

  “Then what is it?” he persisted.

  Kate sighed. “Okay, I guess technically it was workrelated. I was working undercover at the rodeo.”

  Harry’s blue eyes narrowed and he sat forward.

  “I was barrel racing and the cinch on my saddle broke.”

  “Kate, are you all right? Talk to me, sweetheart. Are you all right?”

  She reached out for him, her hands shaking. “Shane?”

  He pushed the clown nearest her aside and drew her into the circle of his arms, pulling her close, laying her head against his chest. “I was so afraid you were...”

  “Undercover for what?” her father repeated, yanking her from her memories.

  Kate sighed. “There’s been a series of sabotage incidents, starting two days before the junior rodeo opened. Captain Aames knew from my record that I’d participated in the rodeo as a teenager, and still do a little barrel racing and western showing now and then, so I was sent in, undercover, to find out who was doing it, and why.”

  Harry nodded. “Good. Who’s your backup?”

  The question she’d been afraid of. “I don’t have one. I mean, the rodeo has security and...”

  “You have no backup?” Harry said, controlled anger heavy in his voice.

  “Dad, it was an accident.”

  “Was it?” His eyes narrowed. “How do you know your cover wasn’t blown? That your cinch wasn’t cut?”

  Kate shrugged. “I wondered about that too, but I’m pretty sure my cover is intact. No one at the arena knows I’m a cop except the manager, Jim Hodges, and he was adamant no one else know, which frankly has hampered my investigation. I was afraid for a while that I’d run into a dozen people who knew me when...when I was with Shane, but I’ve only seen a few, and they seemed to believe me when I said I’d quit the force.” She took a deep breath. “As for my cinch, I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, but Aames had my gear picked up and taken to the lab.”

  Harry’s well-lined brow drew together. “But taking a spill and hurting your ankle isn’t why your eyes are all red from crying, is it, Kate?”

  A swell of emotion attacked her and she shook her head. Sometimes she hated the way he could practically see right through her. “No,” she said softly, a moment later, fighting off a new surge of tears.

  “Breakfast is ready,” Lorie sang, walking into the room.

  Harry waved her off. “Kate?”

  “Shane’s back.”

  The words hung on the air between them like a thundercloud in the center of a clear, spring sky.

  Finally, Harry nodded and cleared his throat. “I always did like that boy.”

  Lorie moved to stand beside Harry’s chair. “Have you seen him, Kate? Talked to him?”

  “He was here last night,” she said, wiping at her eyes, which had begun filling with tears again as images of Shane filled her mind. She had never felt so lonely, so alone in her life. “I never should have let it start again, but I did, and that was stupid. But last night was so...” She swallowed a small sob and looked up at her father. “This morning he heard a phone message Captain Aames left on my answering machine while I was asleep and realized that I’m still a cop. I had orders not to tell anyone....” She looked at her father, certain, because he’d been a cop too, that he’d understand. “I was going to anyway, the other day, but then Shane was almost killed and I—” She swallowed a sob. “I thought it would be more dangerous for him if the saboteur realized a cop was on the grounds, on the case, and especially if that cop was with Shane so...” She sighed and shrugged again. “I didn’t tell him, and when he heard that message he was furious.”

  “I can see why,” her father said.

  Kate looked up, surprised.

  “You didn’t tell him because you were afraid he’d still object.”

  “You still love him, don’t you?” Lorie asked.

  Kate closed her eyes, saw Shane again, and nodded. Was she going to feel like this for the rest of her life?

  Harry moved to sit next to her and took one of her hands in his big, beefy ones. “You need to go talk to him, buttons,” he said, his gruff voice
unusually soft and coaxing. “You need to—”

  She shook her head. “He still won’t accept the fact that I’m a cop, Dad.” Anger at Shane’s stubbornness suddenly overrode her tears. “And that is what I am. Who I am. I can’t give that up. I won’t.”

  Harry frowned. “Even if it means losing Shane again?”

  She’d never told her father about overhearing the argument he’d had with her mother the night before she’d killed herself, and she couldn’t do it now. She couldn’t hurt him like that, but she couldn’t make the same mistake her mother had made. Pushing herself up from the couch, she grabbed her crutches. “Why don’t you two start on that omelette, and I’ll go wash up and get dressed?”

  Kate finished blow-drying her hair and hobbled her way out of the bathroom, where she’d found taking a sponge bath, to keep water off her bandages, was not nearly as enjoyable as taking a real bath or shower.

  Flapjack, curled on her bed, meowed, drawing her attention.

  Kate looked at the rumpled sheets, the comforter lying on the floor. Her eyes moved to the pillow that still seemed to hold a slight indentation where Shane’s head had lain.

  An ache of loss hit her, so sudden and hard she nearly doubled over.

  “Love me, Shane, please.”

  His lips traveled in tender, nipping forays down the long column of her neck, awakening the passion that had lain asleep within her for the past three years.

  A yearning ache invaded her body, pervading and conquering, all thought or consideration of anything other than Shane instantly disappearing from her mind. Fiery heat moved through her rapidly, consuming every cell, every muscle.

  “Kate,” he whispered, his voice ragged. His mouth ravaged, working a magic upon hers that was deeper than anything she had ever felt, soothing the loneliness she had endured since he’d walked out of her life, filling the void of emptiness in her heart, filling her with only one need...one desire...to be loved by him forever.

  His hands cupped her breast, his thumb roaming in a seductive circle around the taut, rosy nipple. He pressed a path of burning kisses down the curve of her rib cage, into the turn of her waist and across the flat, sensitive surface of her stomach.