Читать книгу Clandestine Christmas - Elle James - Страница 9
ОглавлениеChase rose before dawn, a terrible habit he’d picked up when he’d moved to the Lucky Lady Ranch. This far out in the mountains, when the sun went down, there wasn’t much to do but sleep.
All the years of late-night partying with beautiful women and staying up until dawn had taken their toll. The thought of going back to that lifestyle held no appeal to him. After a year on the ranch, he’d become accustomed to the slower pace and the clean, fresh air. After two years breathing clean mountain air, smoky bars would kill him.
He’d started getting up early when William sprained his ankle jumping down from the loft in the barn. He’d been forced to either take over the farm chores or hire out the work. Since he valued his privacy at home, he chose to take over some of the chores, rather than hiring additional ranch hands. Chase discovered a love of working with the animals. Even mucking horse stalls was a balm to his wayward soul.
For the two years he’d been forced to stay at the ranch his grandfather left him, he’d focused on the end of that time frame, thinking he’d leave when he’d served his sentence. Now he knew he couldn’t leave. He loved the place. William and Frances had become family to him and he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
As he crawled out of bed, he could feel every bruise and strained muscle he’d suffered from the bump he’d endured by the runaway vehicle the night before. He’d called the hospital before he’d gone to bed and learned Sadie was holding her own, but that she was still unconscious in the chemically induced coma.
How he’d break it to Jake that his only living relative was laid up in the hospital and they didn’t know when she’d come home, he wasn’t sure. First he had to help William take care of the animals.
Pulling on an old pair of jeans and his cowboy boots, he dressed in a chambray shirt and a sweatshirt, shoving a hand through his hair. He was long overdue for a haircut, but he hadn’t made a special trip to Fool’s Fortune during the day to take care of it. At the ranch, no one cared if his hair grew long. Reporters didn’t follow him around here. In fact his paparazzi days seemed to be over, for which he was eternally grateful. There was something to be said for becoming a hermit and guarding his anonymity.
He paused as he passed the room across the hall from his.
No sounds came from inside. Kate was probably still asleep, dressed in her oversize T-shirt and gym shorts. How a woman could make sloppy clothes look that sexy was a mystery to him. One he would love to explore, inch by incredible inch of her body.
He’d caught a glimpse of her crossing the hallway from the guest bathroom. The sight of her long, beautifully defined legs was enough to keep him awake until midnight, imagining what those legs would feel like wrapped around his waist.
Chase’s initial impression of Kate had been one of a take-charge woman who lived, worked and breathed her job as a protector and bodyguard.
He hadn’t been prepared to see her nearly break down when Jake had asked her to kiss him good-night. The tough-girl facade crumbled in that moment, and he saw the real Kate between the cracks in her wall. A soft, caring, heartbroken Kate. He wondered what had caused her so much pain that a child’s plea would carve a huge chink in her armor?
At the top of the stairs, he heard the faint sounds of pots and pans clanking and dishes being stacked as well as the murmur of voices.
Frances always rose with William and cooked the men a hardy breakfast.
As he descended the stairs and headed to the back of the house to the kitchen, Chase was surprised to see Kate gathering flatware while Frances cracked eggs into a skillet. William sat at the roomy kitchen table, pulling on his boots.
Frances turned with a spatula in her hand and a smile on her face. “There you are. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, the eggs will be done in a minute.” She returned her attention to the skillet and the bubbling eggs. “We were just getting to know Kate. She says she grew up on a ranch in the Texas panhandle and she learned how to ride practically before she could walk. She’ll get along fine around here.”
Chase frowned. Frances already knew more about Kate than he did. “She’s a woman with many talents.” And secrets. His gaze met hers as he passed the table to reach the coffeepot.
Frances cast a smile over her shoulder at Chase. “Now that you’re here, tell me how you two met. I’m sure it was purely romantic.”
Chase’s hand froze on the handle of the coffeepot. When he’d come up with the idea of Kate going undercover, he hadn’t completely thought through the entire story, and that he’d have to play it out with his most trusted employees and friends.
He knew how much Frances liked to gossip with the quilting ladies in Fool’s Fortune and word would get out quickly that way, cementing Kate’s story.
“Well?” Frances shot another glance over her shoulder and then flipped the eggs in the skillet.
Kate’s cheeks reddened. “I’ll let Chase tell the story. He’s so much better at it.” Her brows rose in challenge, her gaze pinning his.
Chase took his time pouring his coffee, while he scrambled to come up with a plausible story. “We met outside a bar.”
“A bar?” Frances grimaced. “Was it at least a swanky bar?”
Chase shrugged. “It was nice enough.”
“What did you do to get her attention?”
Chase chuckled and took a seat at the table, wrapping his hand around the coffee mug. “She barely even acknowledged my existence at first. She was busy helping someone else.”
“What was your first indication she might be the one for you?” Frances asked.
William frowned. “Frances, the kids might not like answering all your questions.”
“Oh, shush, William. I live vicariously through Chase. He’s had a much more interesting life than we have.” She scraped scrambled eggs onto several plates and set the skillet aside. Grabbing two of the plates loaded with eggs, toast and bacon, she carried them to the table. “Go on, Chase.”
“Well, you could say I fell for her the first time we met.” Chase caught Kate’s attention. “How could I not? I mean look at her. She’s beautiful, confident and capable of just about anything.”
“What about you, Kate?” Frances persisted.
Kate had pulled a chair back, a smile tugging at her lips over his responses when Frances hit her with the question. Chase fought the urge to laugh out loud at the way her smile faded when Frances addressed her and she grappled with an answer.
She looked up, her brows puckering. “I wasn’t sure what to think about him. He kind of bowls a woman over.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” Frances gave Chase an affectionate smile and returned to the counter for the other two plates. “Guess that’s why he could have had any girl he wanted.” She turned a grin at Kate and carried the plates to the table. “I’m glad he picked you. You seem so much nicer than the women he had all those pictures with in the tabloids. He was quite the ladies’ man before he came to live at the Lucky Lady Ranch, weren’t you, Chase?”
Kate’s brows rose again, questioningly. “He does have a way of making me do things I wouldn’t normally do.”
“Tell me about the proposal.” Frances pulled up a chair and sat next to her husband.
“Now, that’s enough. We need to eat and get outside to tend the animals,” William said. “Save some of the stories for the evening when we sit in front of the fireplace.”
Frances pouted good-naturedly. “Spoilsport.” Then she waved at Chase and Kate. “Please, eat. We can chat later.”
Chase spent the next few minutes shoveling his food down his throat. The sooner he got outside, the better. He and Kate needed to get their stories straight if this ruse was going to work. He debated telling Frances and William the truth about their engagement, or lack thereof, but he knew Frances. She couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. And he didn’t want to burden her with the responsibility.
In record time he polished off the eggs, bacon and toast, pushed his chair back and stood. “Take your time, William. I can get started.”
“I’ll help.” Kate had finished as well, eating heartily, unlike the women Chase had dated who picked at their food and wasted more than they ate, claiming they were always on a diet. Kate didn’t have a spare ounce of flesh on her bones, probably from working out.
“No need for you to get all dirty,” William said, pushing his half-eaten plate away. “Chase and I can do this.”
“I know my way around a barn, and Chase can tell me who gets what. Besides, I’d like to get to know the place.” She touched the older man’s shoulder. “Finish eating. Chase and I can handle this.”
William frowned. “Don’t seem right. You’re a guest.”
Frances chuckled. “Let the two young folks take care of the animals. Can’t you see? They’d like some time alone.”
The older man’s eyes widened and he harrumphed. “Well, then, I guess I could have that extra piece of toast.” He reached for the stack of bread in the middle of the table. “I feel like I’m playing hooky from school,” he said, shaking his head.
“You do more than your share around here,” Chase assured him. “It won’t hurt for you to take your time eating breakfast.” He grabbed a heavy jacket hanging from a hook near the back door and handed it to Kate. “Frances, do you mind if Kate wears your jacket until I can get her one she can work in?”
“I have my own coat,” Kate protested. “It will only take me a minute to get it.”
“No, honey,” Frances interjected. “Wear mine and save yours. No use getting it all dirty. And wear my mud boots. It gets pretty sloppy around the barn when it snows.”
“Thank you.” Kate pulled on the boots Frances indicated and shrugged into the jacket Chase held out to her. He handed her a knit cap and a scarf, pulled on his own coat, and they left through a mudroom off the kitchen.
Clouds choked the sky, hovering low enough to smother the mountains from view and it smelled like snow. The first snows had already melted and Christmas was just around the corner. Ski resorts were hurting—the owners, ski instructors and lodge workers all prayed for snow. Chase liked it when fresh snow covered the ground and made everything look clean and new.
The only time he didn’t like snow was when they still had cattle scattered in the upper pastures. Fortunately, they had herded them to the lower pastures before the first snows fell. Even the few stragglers had found their way down the mountainside in time.
Chase was thankful his animals were all accounted for. With the attack on Sadie last night, he had other concerns more pressing.
Once outside, Kate pulled the collar up on her jacket and adjusted her scarf around her neck.
“It’s a little colder in the high country than in Texas,” Chase noted.
She nodded, stuffing her hands into her pockets. “Why did you feel it necessary for me to do this job undercover? Especially around your employees?”
Chase expected the question and answered with, “I love Frances and William, but I don’t want to burden them with secrets I don’t want the rest of the town to know.”
“And why do we need to keep it from the rest of the town that I’m here to protect you, Sadie and Jake? For that matter, who am I protecting? If it’s Sadie, I should be at the hospital.”
“They have a security staff at the hospital. I’m certain no one will be able to get to her in the ICU.” Chase reached for the handle on the barn door and opened it, holding it for Kate to enter.
She paused on the threshold, face-to-face with Chase. “People have ways around loose security.”
Chase’s heart thumped hard against his chest at her nearness and he struggled for a moment to focus on her words. “We don’t know if last night’s incident was related to Sadie’s suspicions. Once we’ve taken care of the animals, we’ll go into town and check on Sadie. It should be visiting hours by then.”
Kate entered the barn and glanced around the dark interior. “Did Sadie say who she thought might be following her or why?”
“No. But she did tell me that she was afraid someone was watching her.” Flipping the light switch next to the door, Chase followed Kate inside and grabbed a bucket hanging on the wall. “I moved Sadie and Jake here when their house burned to the ground in Leadville. She and Jake didn’t have anywhere else to go.” He handed the bucket to Kate and pointed to a bin against the wall. “Half a bucket per stall.”
Kate nodded, her brows drawing together as she bent to fill the bucket with grain. “Her house burned. You said the fire department ruled it arson?” She crossed to the first stall and opened it to a sorrel mare. The animal whinnied, tossed her head and stamped her hooves, as Kate dumped the feed into the horse’s trough.
Kate reached up and stroked the horse’s neck, neither affected by the size and strength of the animal, nor the attitude the mare gave her.
Chase grinned. “Penance isn’t usually so easy to get along with.”
Her brow rising, Kate glanced back at the horse. “That’s the best you could do for a name for this poor creature?” She ran her hand along the mare’s neck and across her back as the animal munched on her feed. “No wonder she’s full of spit and vinegar.”
“She’s always been a bit high-strung. But she has a comfortable gait and she’s good at herding and cutting.”
Kate studied the horse. “Her confirmation is good and she seems sturdy enough for a work animal on hilly and rocky terrain.”
“I’m glad you like her. She’s yours to ride while you’re here.”
Her hand stilled on the mare’s neck. “Thanks, but I doubt I’ll be here long enough to take advantage of the offer.”
“I told you, I need you here. I want you to stay until well after Christmas, if Hank can spare you that long.”
Kate returned to the feed bin and scooped another bucketful of sweet feed, her gaze on the task. “Even if we resolve the issues sooner?”
“Yes. At this point, the less upheaval in Jake and Sadie’s lives, the better.”
“So what was the cause of Sadie’s fire?”
“Her house burned because of a gas leak. Fortunately, Sadie and Jake weren’t inside the house when it happened because they were late getting home. Had they been on time, they would have been caught in the middle of a terrible explosion.”
“Where is Jake’s mother?”
“Died in a car wreck six months ago.”
“Any connection to last night’s attack?”
“Not that I could tell.” Chase led a horse out of the second stall and tied it to the opposite wall. He reached for a pitchfork and entered the vacated stall. “You were behind the car that hit us last night. What did you see?” He scooped soiled hay from the floor of the stall and deposited it into a wheelbarrow.
“I would have gotten a license plate number if I’d known the vehicle was going to plow into the two of you.” Kate straightened from the feed bin, the full bucket dangling from her hand. “It happened so fast. One minute I was headed to the saloon to get a room for the night, the next, the SUV whipped out in front of me and then went all kamikaze. I thought the driver would swerve away from you at the last minute—instead he turned toward you as if aiming to hit you.”
Chase stabbed the pitchfork into the ground, his body aching with the residual effects of the hit. “Was the driver aiming for me or for Sadie?”
Kate shrugged. “I would think whoever was hurt the most was the target, if the driver was in fact sober.”
Chase returned to cleaning the stall and Kate went about distributing feed to the rest of the horses in their individual stalls.
“I’d like for you to go to the hospital with me today to check on Sadie.”
“Should someone keep an eye on things around here?” Kate asked.
“I’ll have William and Frances keep a close eye on the boy. I want you to go with me. Two heads are better than one and I might make a trip into Denver after the hospital.”
“Why Denver?”
Before he could answer, the dog let out a string of deep-throated woofs alerting Chase to the arrival of visitors to the ranch.
Chase leaned his pitchfork against the stall, wiped his hands down the front of his old blue jeans and stepped out of the barn into the gray light of morning.
“Expecting guests?” Kate asked, following him out of the barn.
“No.” After all that had happened the night before, he hurried around the house, determined to head off anyone who might be there to hurt the Quaids or Jake.
Kate kept pace, half walking, half jogging beside him.
Barkley had beat them to the front of the house where a truck pulled up in the driveway and parked. A man wearing a cowboy hat eased out of the driver’s seat and limped to the back door of the four-door truck. Barkley stopped barking and ran to greet the visitor, bumping his nose against the man’s leg.
No sooner had the man opened the rear door then a tiny pair of jean-clad legs appeared below the open door and a little boy dropped to the ground. He rounded the side of the truck, a huge grin on his face.
“Mr. Marsden, we came to play with Jake. Mrs. Quaid said it would be all right.” The little boy ran to Chase.
Chase dropped to his haunches and almost fell back when the boy flung himself into his arms. “Hey, there, Tad.” He chuckled. “You’re in good spirits.”
“Mom said I could stay all day if you’d let me. Angus is going to stay, too.”
Chase rose with Tad in his arms, his gaze meeting the cowboy’s. He held out his hand. “Good to see you, Angus.”
The cowboy took it in a firm grip. “Had word from a mutual friend you could use a little temporary help on the ranch.” His gaze shifted to Kate and he stuck out his hand. “Name’s Angus Ketchum.”
Kate took his hand. “Kate Rivers.”
“My fiancée,” Chase added.
Angus nodded toward Chase, the corners of his mouth lifting. “Congratulations. Reggie will be excited to know there will be another female close by.” To Kate he said, “Welcome to the high country. It has a way of growing on you.”
“That mutual friend you mentioned wouldn’t happen to be a guy by the name of Hank?” Chase asked.
Kate’s held out her hand. “Hank mentioned you. It’s good to have another CCI agent out here.”
Angus nodded. “I agree. But I’m only here to help for the short term. I have to be back at the Last Chance this evening. Reggie’s got me meeting with her and the contractor rebuilding her house since the fire.”
“You know you’re welcome to stay here until the house is complete.”
“Thanks, but Reggie and I don’t want to be a bother to anyone. The folks of Gold Rush Tavern have been good to us during this whole ordeal and we’ll be moving into a rental house in town just before Christmas. We’ll be all right there until the construction is complete.”
“The offer’s open if your plans fall through.”
Angus tipped his head. “In the meantime, Tad’s been champing at the bit to get together with Jake since he heard someone his age moved in nearby.”
Chase’s lips curled. “News travels fast around here.”
Angus grinned. “I’m sure your engagement has hit the grapevine by now.”
The boy in Chase’s arms squirmed. “Can I go play?”
“Of course. I’ll bet Jake’s awake and eating breakfast. If he isn’t, wake him up. He’ll be happy to have someone to hang out with.”
“Can I pet the bear?” Tad asked.
“Sure.” Chase set Tad on the ground and he was off like a shot.
Once the boy entered the house, Chase faced Angus. “Thanks for coming. I didn’t like the idea of leaving Jake. The Quaids don’t know that Kate is a bodyguard. I fed them the line that she’s my fiancée. I love them and trust them, but Mrs. Quaid has a hard time keeping secrets. I didn’t want to put her in the position to keep any more than she has to.”
“Understood.” Angus turned to Kate. “Hank wants you two to send any information you can find on the vehicle that hit Sadie and any clues big or small that come up. He’ll get his computer guy, Brandon, to dig into anything and everything he can. He already has him looking into Sadie’s and her daughter Melissa’s background to see if anything pops up.”
“Good.” Chase let out a long, slow breath. “In the meantime, Kate and I will be paying a visit to Sadie in the hospital. From there, we might take a drive up to Denver. I have something I need to check on.”
“I understand Sadie’s house burned down.” Angus snorted. “Seems like too much of that going around.”
“I only got involved in this when Sadie called in a favor. We got confirmation from the Leadville fire chief that they’d ruled the cause of the fire to be arson.” Chase’s lips thinned. “Had I suspected it was more than an accidental fire, I’d have called Hank sooner.”
Kate weighed in, “The sooner we figure out who started the fire and tried to make roadkill out of Sadie, the sooner Sadie and her grandson will be safe.”
Chase nodded. “You’re right.”
“I can help with the chores if you want to get to the hospital,” Angus offered.
“Thanks. We got a start, but there are more horses needing to be fed. William can help.”
“We’ll take care of it and I’ll keep an eye out for Jake and Tad,” Angus said.
Chase led Angus to the barn and showed him the chores needing finished.
William joined them. “We’ve got it covered. You two go check on Sadie. Frances is worried about her.”
“Thanks.” Chase met Kate’s gaze. “Ready to clean up and head to the hospital and then Denver? There’s something there I want to check on as well.”
She nodded.
He grabbed Kate’s hand and left the barn. She’d been quiet through it all. When they were alone between the house and the barn, she pulled her hand free.
“If Hank has Angus here, there’s no need for me to be around.”
“You heard Angus—he’s only temporary to help us out while we do some digging of our own.”
She hesitated. “Okay, but I just don’t think I’m the right person for this job.”
When she started for the house, Chase stepped in front of her. “Why do you think that? You were fine with it until we kissed Jake good-night. What happened in there?”
“It’s nothing.” Kate tried to step around him, but he refused to let her past.
“How can it be nothing when you want to run as fast and far away from here as you can? What is it that has you wound up tighter than a rattlesnake with a new button on his tail?”
“I’m not running and I’m not wound up,” she said, her voice rising. “We’re wasting time.” She turned away, her body shaking.
He gripped her shoulders and forced her to face him again. “It’s not a waste of time if I can get to the bottom of what’s eating at you. Maybe I can help.”
“You can’t,” she said, her shoulders sagging. “Nobody can.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Please leave me alone,” she whispered.
“At least tell me what it is.” He cupped her chin, brushing his thumb across her cheek. When her bottom lip trembled, it was all he could do not to lean forward and capture it between his teeth.
“It’s none of your business.” A single tear slipped from the corner of her eye. “It doesn’t matter, anyway.”
He pressed his lips together, fighting the urge to pull her into his arms. When the tear reached his thumb, he caught it. “Let me be the judge.”
“I don’t like to be around kids.” She jerked her chin away from his hand. “There. Satisfied?”
Chase shook his head. She wasn’t telling him something important and he refused to let go of her until she gave him the whole truth. Even if he had to kiss it out of her.
