Читать книгу Colton Cowboy Hideout - Carla Cassidy - Страница 9
ОглавлениеJosie stood and looked out the window from the small bedroom. Instead of getting settled into the guest room next to Tanner’s suite, he’d shown her to the bedroom next to his with an adjoining door into the twins’ nursery.
He’d given her the choice between the two rooms and she’d decided to take this one inside his suite. If she was going to play nanny to the two little girls, then she intended to do the job right and that meant being 100 percent available whenever they needed her. This room just made the most sense.
She didn’t want to think about the fact that a lingering fear still coursed through her and it might have been that fear that had prompted her not to stay in the room next door all alone.
She placed her suitcase on the twin bed and quickly unpacked the few clothes she’d brought with her, then placed them in the chest of drawers. She’d packed for a couple nights’ stay, not knowing what to expect when she got here.
She’d assumed she’d either be treated as a guest and given a room while she was here, or she might need to find a nearby motel to stay in until she could unearth the watch.
She set her toiletries aside for the time being. Tanner had told her to feel free to claim the guest bathroom across the hall from the nursery as her own.
He’d also told her to take her time getting settled in and she could officially start her nanny duties in the morning. At the moment he was entertaining his daughters in the living room.
She’d revealed a lot of her past to Tanner, but not all of it. She hadn’t seen any reason to share with him the crime that had taken place so many years ago, a murder that had eventually forced her into the witness protection plan.
If things went the way they were supposed to, he’d never know about that part of her life. She shook her head ruefully. So far nothing had gone as she’d planned.
She finished unpacking her suitcase, pulled her cell phone from her purse and sat on the edge of the bed that was covered in a sunny yellow spread that matched the bright curtains hanging at the window.
She needed to call her brother Trevor. He would be expecting her to be back in Granite Gulch before nightfall, hopefully with the cursed watch in hand.
It had been only in the last month or so that she’d finally gotten the opportunity to get to know all of her siblings. They’d been separated first by the foster system and then by her fear of bringing danger into their lives.
Most of her siblings had gone into some form of law enforcement in an effort to protect their community from killers like their father. They worked hard to earn respect in the small town of Granite Gulch.
With a deep sigh, she punched the number that would connect her to Trevor. He answered on the second ring. “Are you already home?”
“Not even close,” she replied. “We have a problem. Actually, we have several problems.” She quickly told him about the missing Eldridge and Tanner and the man who had accosted them by the tree.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” His deep voice held concern.
“I’m fine,” she assured him, making an instant decision not to tell her big brother about the gunshot wound. “A little shaken up, but I’m okay. I just wanted to let you know Tanner thinks we shouldn’t go back to dig up the watch for the next couple of days and I’m in lockdown here until the sheriff says I can leave, so I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be back home.”
“Josie, the last thing any of us want is for you to get hurt. Take the time you need to assure you’re safe. Now, tell me what this creep looks like.”
She gave him a description of the gunman and he assured her he would do everything in his power to check out former cell mates and cohorts their father might have had in his years of incarceration.
When Josie finally ended the call she had no grandiose illusions that Trevor would manage to identify the man in the woods. There had been plenty of shady characters in her father’s life. Dark dirty hair and a snarl weren’t great details for Trevor to go on, but they were pretty much all she had.
She reminded herself that despite all the odds, Trevor and his pregnant wife had managed to take down the Alphabet Killer. They had put their own lives at risk, but had managed to get the vicious woman off the streets and into jail, where she belonged.
A smile curved Josie’s lips as she thought of the ceremony she’d attended only the night before. Trevor and his wife, Jocelyn, had renewed their wedding vows and now Trevor was not only a real husband, but also a happy father-to-be.
She knew with certainty Trevor would be the kind of wonderful father the Colton children had never had in their lives. He and Jocelyn had a beautiful future before them and Josie couldn’t be happier for her oldest brother.
Her smile fell away. Although Trevor had told her to be smart and play it safe, he’d also told her that Matthew’s health was deteriorating a little more each day, adding a small ticking time bomb to the job of getting the watch to their father before he passed away.
She checked her watch and saw it was just a little before three. Tanner had told her before she’d begun to unpack that dinner was at five thirty and served in the staff dining room.
She kicked off her sandals, stretched out on the sun-kissed bedspread and closed her eyes. She’d gotten up early to make the drive here, and with the traumatic morning events a quick catnap sounded like a great idea.
Closing her eyes, she became aware of the high-pitched giggles of the little girls and Tanner’s deeper, intensely pleasurable voice drifting back from the living room.
A nanny. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever considered a job taking care of children. The truth was she hadn’t thought much about what kind of a job she wanted to get, although she needed to get one pretty quick.
Her nanny job was temporary, she reminded herself. Hopefully this new reality would exist for only a couple of days or so. She’d get the watch and then go back to Granite Gulch and figure out what she intended to do for the rest of her life.
* * *
Blood. There was so much blood. Mommy? Mommy, why is your dress so bloody? The shovel made funny noises as it bit into the hard Texas ground and Josie’s mother stared up unseeing into the late afternoon sun.
Mommy? Mommy, wake up. Look, Mommy, there’s a blue sky on the fence. Why is that funny writing on your forehead? Mommy? Please wake up and smile at me...
Josie came awake with a sharp gasp, for a moment disoriented as to where she was and what was happening. Her breath hitched in her chest as the horror of the nightmare completed its hold on her.
She remained still, allowing the gruesome visions from her sleep to fade as her breathing finally returned to normal. It hadn’t been a crazy nightmare of strange images that made no sense, but it had been memories of the day her mother had been killed and buried by her father.
He’d shot her in the chest and then marked her forehead with a red bull’s-eye. Josie had been with her father when he’d buried her next to a fence near the barn on the old family homestead.
Josie had often played by the old fence, and one day her mother had given her some paint. Josie had splashed blue color on it to make a pretty sky, and it had been that particular reclaimed memory that had solved the mystery as to where her father had buried her mother.
Matthew Colton had played a game with his children, forcing each one of them to visit him in prison, where he gave them clues as to where he’d buried his wife. His final clue had been “blue,” and that had finally jolted loose the old memory in Josie.
It had taken her twenty years to access the memories and now they wouldn’t leave her alone. She was haunted far too often by a three-year-old’s perspective of that terrible day, when her father had dug a shallow grave for her mother near a fence with a splash of blue paint.
Her stomach growled and she sat up and looked at her watch. Almost five. Her catnap had been far longer than she had intended. Her tummy growled again to remind her that she’d missed lunch and had eaten only half an apple that morning for breakfast before she’d hit the road.
She got up from the bed and grabbed her toiletries and her purse, then headed out of the bedroom. She heard no noise from anyplace else in the suite as she went into the guest bathroom and closed the door behind her.
Her upper arm held a dull ache she hoped would be gone by morning. She didn’t even want to think about the close call they’d had.
Sluicing cool water on her face in an effort to fully awaken and leave the dreams behind, she hoped the staff didn’t dress up for dinner. She’d packed only a couple pairs of shorts and a few T-shirts along with a short, sleeveless nightgown.
“It is what it is,” she muttered to her reflection in the mirror. A quick brush through her hair and a dab of lip gloss later, she left the bathroom and frowned at the silence. Had Tanner and the girls left?
She tossed her purse on her bed, then went back through the nursery, walked up the short hall and stepped into the living room. Tanner sat on the sofa thumbing through a magazine. He looked up at her.
“It’s so quiet I thought maybe I was here by myself,” she said and sat in the chair opposite him. “Where are the girls?”
“Peggy, one of the maids, is doing me a favor. She took them for a walk and then she’ll bring them back here and feed them dinner,” he replied. “By that time we should be back from eating.”
“Is she walking them outside?” Josie asked with a touch of alarm.
“No, she’s just taking them down some hallways to give them a little bit of time out of the nursery.”
“Do the girls eat dinner here rather than in the staff dining area?” she asked. “If I’m going on duty tomorrow, then I need to know what their usual schedule is.”
He nodded, his blond hair glinting attractively in a shaft of sunlight that danced through the nearby window. “They get up in the mornings around six thirty and eat breakfast here in the suite. They usually go down for a short morning nap around ten or so. Brianna always took them to the staff dining room for lunch and then they go down for an afternoon nap around two thirty. They eat dinner here in the suite and then it’s bath-and bedtime around seven thirty.”
“And what about your schedule as ranch foreman?” she asked.
“Up and out by six thirty or seven in the mornings and I’m usually back here in time to play with the girls for a little while before their bedtime. On Saturday and Sundays my days are considerably shorter.” He cocked his head, his gaze curious. “What about you? What kind of work do you do back in Granite Gulch?”
“I’m between jobs at the moment,” she replied. She wasn’t prepared to tell him that she’d been out of witness protection for only a month and had yet to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She’d worked as a waitress in Missouri while she’d finished up high school and then taken some college courses, but waitressing wasn’t something she wanted to go back to. “Has there been any word on Eldridge while I was napping?”
“No, nothing that I’ve heard. If there is anything new we’ll probably hear it at dinner.” He glanced at his watch and stood. “We can head for the staff dining room. I know you didn’t have a chance to eat lunch. You must be starving.”
As she stood her stomach growled loud enough for him to hear. He grinned, a wonderful flash of straight white teeth and warmth. “Ah, yes. You are starving.”
“Excuse me.” She placed a hand over her rumbling belly as a wave of heat filled her cheeks.
“Come on. Let’s get that noisy animal fed.”
They exited the suite and once again wound through a labyrinth of hallways. “I don’t suppose you want to leave bread crumbs for me so that I can find the staff dining room again,” she asked ruefully. “This place is huge.”
“All you have to remember is to take two rights and two lefts and you’ll wind up in the kitchen area, where the staff dining room is located,” he explained.
Josie’s stomach rumbled yet again as the scent of tangy barbecue filled the air. “At least you won’t starve while you’re here,” Tanner continued. “Bettina Morely, the head cook, makes magic when it comes to all kinds of food.”
Tanner led her through double doors into a room with two long tables. There were already three women and two men seated at one of the tables and they were helping themselves to fill plates from the platters and bowls of food in the center of the table.
Their conversation halted at the sight of Josie and they all stared at her with unabashed curiosity. Tanner made the introductions and then he and Josie sat side by side.
“You picked a fine time to show up here,” Linda, one of the maids, said to Josie. “The whole house is in an uproar.”
“So, I’m assuming there’s no news about Eldridge’s disappearance?” Tanner handed Josie a basket of large sandwich rolls.
“Oh, there’s news and plenty of talk,” Linda replied. She was a slightly plump middle-aged woman. Her brown eyes glittered brightly.
“Ms. Marceline came waltzing in while Sheriff Watkins was here and she refused to answer any of his questions. I heard she even told the sheriff to mind his own business. Nobody knows where she was all night. You know she’s always hated her stepdaddy.”
Becky, another maid with strawberry blond hair, leaned back in her chair and shook her head. “And then there’s the fact that Mr. Fowler had that big fight with Mr. Eldridge last night. It was definitely heated. Most of the staff and the family heard them yelling at each other.”
“What was the fight about?” Tanner asked.
“The usual. He wanted his daddy to retire and name him CEO. They both screamed at each other. I’m surprised you didn’t hear them all the way in your suite,” Becky said.
“And don’t forget Mrs. Whitney,” Linda added. “I heard her alibi was she went into her private media room and watched a TV show and fell asleep with her earbuds in so she didn’t hear anything.” Linda rolled her eyes. “A little convenient, don’t you think?”
“Sheriff Watkins is going to have his hands full with this investigation,” Jeb, one of the ranch hands, replied.
Josie added pulled pork to her bun and it felt as if her brain crashed around in her head. She had a gunshot wound in her arm and a mission to accomplish. However, as she listened to the gossip shooting around the table, she realized this Colton clan was a pit of vipers, one of whom very possibly committed murder.
* * *
Tanner didn’t approve of gossip, but he knew there was nothing he could do to halt the wild speculation that was like an extra side dish served up with the evening meal.
“Everyone knows Mr. Fowler wants his daddy to retire and name him CEO and chairman of the board of Colton Incorporated,” Linda continued. “Last night wasn’t the first time the two had fought about it.” She looked at Tanner. “But that’s not the biggest news of all. Did you hear Mitchell Flunt was taken into custody for more questioning?”
Tanner sat up straighter in his chair in stunned surprise. Mitchell Flunt was a groundskeeper who had been working for the Coltons for years. “Why?”
“Mitchell has been angry ever since he didn’t get the big raise he asked for at the beginning of the year,” Becky said. Her blue eyes grew wider. “And when Sheriff Watkins was interviewing him, he noticed Mitchell had some blood on his work boots. Mitchell said the blood was his own, that he cut himself on a lawn-mower blade, but I guess the sheriff didn’t believe his story. He took Mitchell right into custody.”
“There was blood in the master suite,” Linda said as if to remind everyone of the scene of the crime. “I heard there was tons of blood.”
“Not tons,” Tanner replied. “I saw it and there wasn’t a lot.” He frowned thoughtfully. “But what could Mitchell hope to gain by kidnapping or hurting Eldridge?”
“Might have just been a case of revenge,” Becky said. “People do crazy things when they’re angry, and Mitchell has been ticked off about that raise for months.”
Tanner shook his head. “I just find it hard to believe Mitchell would do something like this because he didn’t get a raise, especially when there are plenty of other people who might have a lot more to gain by Eldridge’s death.”
“It’s going to be hard to know who might gain something from Mr. Eldridge’s death,” Linda said. “You two weren’t around when Hugh Barrington showed up and told the sheriff that Mr. Eldridge left specific instructions, which he updated each year. His will is not to be opened until his death and not without a body. Mr. Barrington got all choked up about everything that’s happened. He was practically sobbing like a baby when he talked to Sheriff Watkins.”
Hugh Barrington had been Eldridge’s attorney for years and Tanner knew the two had shared a close friendship. He wasn’t surprised Hugh was upset by Eldridge’s disappearance.
Would the blood on Mitchell’s boots prove to be Eldridge’s? Or was the groundskeeper innocent and the culprit much closer to Eldridge? Would Eldridge be found someplace alive, or would his dead body turn up? Tanner certainly didn’t envy Troy Watkins’s job of solving the crime.
“Could you please pass me the potato salad?” Josie’s voice suddenly reminded Tanner of her presence beside him.
He grabbed the large bowl in front of him and moved it to where she could serve herself. “I’m sorry. This hasn’t exactly been pleasant dinner conversation for you.”
“It’s all right,” she assured him with one of her gorgeous smiles. “I understand everyone is upset about what’s happened.”
Yes, everyone was upset, but there had also been a touch of glee among the merry maids with their gossip. There was no question the arrogant Fowler and snooty Marceline weren’t favorites among the Colton staff.
Through the years there had also been a lot of speculation as to why an attractive woman like Whitney would marry a man over twenty years her senior. More than one member of the staff believed Whitney to be a gold digger who had married for money, not love.
“Surely we can find something better to talk about while we finish our meal,” he said to everyone around the table.
“And we know your favorite topic of conversation is those little dolls of yours,” Becky said with a smile. “Is Brianna still working out okay? She seemed a little unsettled earlier at lunch.”
“Actually, she quit this afternoon, but Josie has agreed to act as temporary nanny until I can hire somebody else,” Tanner replied.
“That’s nice of you,” Linda said with a speculative look at Josie.
“I’m stuck here until the sheriff tells me I can leave, so I figured I might as well help Tanner out,” Josie replied easily.
“Where are the girls now?” Linda asked.
“With Peggy. You know she’s always willing to step in when I need a little extra help.” Tanner couldn’t help but smile as he thought of the maid who was at least five years past retirement age, but still had a spring in her step and a twinkle in her eyes.
Peggy insisted she’d work for the Coltons until she died. Her husband had passed away three years ago and they’d had no children. Although officially she was still a maid, her time was mostly her own. She lived in one of the staff rooms down the hallway from Tanner and nobody required much work from her.
He relaxed a bit as the conversation remained on the twins and then shifted to the hot weather that showed no sign of breaking.
“That was interesting,” Josie said a half an hour later as the two of them walked back toward his suite.
“A healthy portion of gossip is always part of the staff meals,” he replied.
“It just makes me wonder what gossip might be swirling around about me,” she mused.
“You’ll probably never know.” Certainly he’d suspected that before his wife left him there had been plenty of rumors and speculation about him and the state of their marriage, even though he’d been oblivious to the truth.
“It doesn’t matter to me. I learned to live with gossip a long time ago,” she said.
As the daughter of a serial killer, he couldn’t even begin to guess what she must have endured growing up. The fact that she seemed so well-adjusted only spoke of an inner strength he found admirable.
He also hadn’t forgotten her sole concern after being shot had been for his safety and the welfare of his daughters. Josie Colton might have had a lot of bad breaks in her life, but she appeared to have a good heart. And she smelled like a wonderful dessert and fired more than just a little bit of lust inside him.
He paused with his hand on the doorknob to his suite. “Are you prepared for the chaos of an evening with the twins?”
“Bring it on.” Her eyes shone with a warmth he found far too inviting.
He opened the door, hoping the girls’ presence would tamp down the edge of desire that had unexpectedly welled up inside him.
“Dada-love, home!” Lily squealed from her seat in her high chair.
“Dada-love, home,” Leigh echoed from the high chair next to her sister. Both of their mouths and bibs were smeared with red sauce from the spaghetti meal they were obviously enjoying.
Peggy smiled from her chair between the twins. Strands of her gray hair had sprung loose from the bun at the nape of her neck and a bit of spaghetti sauce clung to the front of her blue-flowered dress.
“You can always be sure of a grand reception when these two see you,” she said.
Tanner smiled. “Hi, Lily-love. Hi, Leigh-love,” he said as he touched the nose of each of the girls. “We’ll see how long the good times last. I imagine when they’re teenagers they won’t always be so happy to see me.”
Peggy got up from her chair and held out an arthritic gnarled hand to Josie. “I’m Peggy Albright, and I know you’re Josie Colton and I understand you’re going to be taking care of these two sweet peas for a while.”
Josie gripped her hand and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, Peggy. Tanner has told me wonderful things about you.”
A smile lit Peggy’s wrinkled face. “Any man who loves his babies like Tanner does is a good man in my book.” She looked at Josie. “They are sweet little girls and you should find them a real joy to be around.”
“Thanks, Peggy, and I really appreciate you seeing to the girls this evening. I know it’s past time for you to get some dinner.” He looked at Leigh and Lily and then back to the old woman. “I think I can handle things from here.”
Peggy nodded and started toward the door. “There’s leftover spaghetti in the fridge and plenty of applesauce and green beans if they want more, but they both ate like little ranch hands. I think they’re finished because they’re playing with what’s left on their plates instead of eating it.”
“Hand,” Lily said and held up a spaghetti-sauce-covered little hand.
“Spoon,” Josie said and picked up the small spoon on Lily’s tray and handed it to her. Lily laughed, turned to her sister and released a long string of babble. Leigh responded in kind and they both giggled like misbehaving schoolgirls.
Peggy laughed and shook her head, then said her goodbye and went out the door.
“So, which one do we hose off first?” Josie asked in good-natured humor.
A bubble of laughter rose to his lips. It surprised him. He rarely found laughter anymore unless it was at the antics of his daughters. “Maybe we should tag-team them. If you could wipe down Lily and I’ll get Leigh?”
A few minutes later he and Josie were armed with warm washcloths and prepared to attend to the business of cleaning up the twins. “I’ll just warn you—they hate to have their faces washed,” Tanner said.
“No, Dada-love,” Leigh said with a stern look as he approached her.
“We have to wash our faces so we can kiss Daddy,” Josie said brightly.
“Kiss, Dada-love,” Lily replied and raised her face to Josie’s ministrations.
Leigh watched her sister then smiled up at Tanner. Tanner’s heart exploded with love. He would do anything for his children. Since the day Helen had walked out on him—on them—Tanner had vowed his daughters would be his number one priority and he would fill their worlds with as much love and happiness as humanly possible.
He certainly had no desire to marry again; his life was full enough with his two girls. Besides, he’d failed miserably at marriage once, so he wasn’t willing to try it again.
A half an hour later he and Josie sat on the living-room floor helping the girls build block towers. To be more precise, he and Josie built the tall towers and Leigh and Lily took great pleasure in knocking them down.
“Which one is older?” Josie set a blue block on top of his red one.
“Leigh. She’s three minutes older than Lily,” Tanner replied.
“Leigh,” Lily said and threw her arms around her twin’s neck. The two girls toppled over on their backs.
“No, Lee-lee,” Leigh protested and struggled to get back to a sitting position.
“However, Lily is usually the ringleader if there’s any trouble,” Tanner said with an affectionate glance at the little girl in purple.
“Trouble,” Lily echoed with a delightful grin.
Josie laughed, a musical sound Tanner found intensely attractive. “She’s a bundle of trouble and she’s proud of it. It’s sweet how they call you ‘Dada-love’ each time they see you.”
“I didn’t realize how often I said it to them until one day they started saying it to me.” He smiled at the girls. “At some point in time I’m going to have to break it to them that our last name isn’t ‘love.’ But for now they’re my Lily-love and my Leigh-love.” The girls laughed and swatted yet another block tower down to the floor.
They remained on the living-room floor until just after seven, when Tanner got to his feet. “I’m going to get these two into the bathtub and ready for bed. Feel free to make yourself at home in here or relax in your room.”
He needed a little distance from Josie. The last hour had been far too pleasant with her company. It almost felt as if they were a normal family and he knew better than to get caught up in that particular silly fantasy.
He’d learned from Helen that he wasn’t man enough to make a woman happy. He didn’t have what it took to be a life partner. However, even if he were in the market for a woman in his life, he knew with certainty it wouldn’t be the very young, very beautiful Josie Colton.
By eight o’clock the twins were asleep and he went back into the living room, where Josie was curled up in the chair and staring out the window. Twilight was quickly turning into deepening night.
