Читать книгу Last Chance Reunion - Linda Conrad - Страница 14

Chapter 3

Lacie drove along the caliche road that crossed the range on the Bar-C through a dusky pink sunrise. She hadn’t come this way in over ten years but still could’ve negotiated the route blindfolded.

She would never forget those days gone by, afternoons spent with the boy who’d held her heart in his hands. Back then he’d been both a dream and a brilliant reality all wrapped into one. More important than being a rich and sexy cowboy, every teenage girl’s wish come true, he was the very first person who’d ever cared about what she thought and who she was inside.

This morning, negotiating her beat-up hatchback over cattle guards, a dry wash and past horses grazing in their pasture, she let her mind drift back. Back to those terrible teen years when the world had seemed determined to make her life miserable and every day looked darker and bleaker than the one before. It seemed everyone and everything had been set against her then, save for one bright and shining star. One person who kept her sane and alive through it all.

Colt Chance.

Last night she thought she’d been seeing ghosts when he appeared out of the darkness. But as she’d touched him and felt that same old sizzle, it’d been clear she wasn’t dreaming. Her past came back with a resounding thud, reminding her of the many questions that still had no answers.

It seemed Colt had his share of unanswered questions, as well. Last night his eyes had filled with curiosity every time his gaze turned in her direction. And she had noticed that he’d asked a lot more questions than he’d answered.

When his mother’s old office mobile home came into view under a stand of winter-whipped cottonwoods, Lacie thought of what she’d learned after spending a couple of hours on the internet last night. The first thing she’d looked for was evidence of Colt having a wife—either current or past. Nothing came up except pictures of him attending society events with various debutantes. Never the same one twice.

She’d also discovered that Colt had become a big-shot lawyer working for the justice department. Not so much of a surprise, as she’d always known he was smart. A “boy wonder,” some news article from a DC paper had called him. No doubt that was why he’d considered himself entitled to ask all the questions. Asking questions had been what he’d done for a living before his department’s sting went so horribly wrong.

But being a sheriff’s deputy gave her the right to a few questions of her own. In fact, in Chance County, her questions took priority.

Streaks of reddish-gold shot above the horizon and across the prairie as she pulled up next to a pickup she recognized from last night as being Colt’s. Instead of just watching him walk away after they’d left the sheriff’s office, she’d volunteered to drive him the half mile down the highway to the truck he’d hidden behind a couple of dried-up mesquite trees and a boulder. Obviously he hadn’t wanted anyone to spot him coming and going. But she still didn’t know why.

He had a lot to answer for this morning.

After turning off her car, she hopped out and headed for his door. But as she put one foot on the first step of the front porch, a noise originating in the side yard caught her attention. Something—or someone—had to be back there.

Out this far from civilization it could be anything. A coyote. A giant coon. Or maybe Colt had a pet dog. But she wanted to double-check before she went inside. Just to be on the safe side.

Carefully rounding the corner with her hand resting on her weapon, Lacie felt her heart skip a beat when she discovered what was there. Before her stunned eyes stood Colt, naked to the waist, straddling a bench and working out with a barbell. Earplugs, probably connected to music, had kept Colt from hearing her or her car’s approach.

Thinking she’d be unobserved, she let her gaze roam freely down his sweat-glistened chest to the dark hair that arrowed past his waistband and disappeared beyond his jeans. Heat flooded through her veins, bringing dampness between her breasts and at the apex of her thighs.

She wasn’t a naive young girl. She’d seen plenty of men working out, with and without their shirts, and never thought a thing of it. But the sight of Colt using his chest and shoulder muscles, bunching and rolling, left her stupefied and panting like some preteen girl.

He looked up just then and his gaze arrowed straight to her face. His eyes met hers and darkened as though he’d known exactly what she’d been thinking. He set the weight down, pulled the earplugs free and lifted his chin.

Her pulse began to race. “I...uh...” She knew her face had gone beet-red, but she couldn’t put a coherent thought together.

“Morning. You’re very punctual.” He grabbed a sweatshirt off the bench. “Go on inside. Coffee’s hot. I’ll be there in a sec.”

She turned tail and hustled into his kitchen, grasping for both air and calm. What was her problem? An old boyfriend, accent on the old, should not shake her up this way.

By the time Colt arrived and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge, Lacie more or less had her nerves under control. She’d come here to find out what was going on with him and why he’d been sneaking around the sheriff’s office. Not to start up anything between them.

Colt probably wouldn’t be interested in a relationship with her anyway. He’d been living in the big cities, the way he’d always claimed he wanted, and, according to the papers, had plenty of sophisticated girlfriends. Women who knew all about how to please a man.

As he took a long swig from the water bottle, her eyes locked on his mouth and throat. The blast of heat inside her ignited again and branded her as an idiot for a second.

She tore her gaze away and coughed. “You look pretty healthy to me.” What? That wasn’t what she’d wanted to say. “I mean, it’s good you work out. You’ll get back to health sooner that way.”

Colt set aside the water and took a deep breath. “My upper body never was a problem.” He didn’t want to talk about this with her. “It’s the lower body that may never heal. There was a time when the doctors claimed I would never walk again. Now they say the limp might be the best I can hope to achieve.”

Well, hell, he shouldn’t have said that much. “I’ve come this far. I’m not ready to give up yet.” Something about her felt so comfortable. So right.

“Good.” She moistened her lips and swallowed hard, and his body hardened in response. “We need to talk about last night. You have to tell me what’s going on.”

Jumping into things without thinking them through was one of his bad habits, and a tough one to break. But this time, his gut told him everything would work out all right. She hadn’t changed that much. So, she was a deputy. She hadn’t told anyone about last night, had she?

He pulled out a chair and sat down. “My career, the one I screwed up, was as an investigator for the...”

“Justice department. Yes, I know.” She sat at the table across from him.

He let a big, sloppy grin cross his face. “Been checking up on me, Deputy?”

“It’s my job.”

Before she could say anything else, he plowed ahead. “The job made me the inquisitive type. Do you ever wonder about things from our childhood? Things that never seemed quite right back then?”

“Stop doing that.” She screwed up her mouth and narrowed her eyes on him. “This is my time to ask questions.”

God, she was beautiful. Not classically gorgeous or sophisticated in her uniform and with a gun on her hip. But he’d always thought she was the most alive and vibrant person he’d ever known. None of that had changed.

“No, really,” he said, ignoring her complaint and urging her to answer. “Anything still bothering you about the past?”

“I’m a little curious about a few things.” She frowned but added, “That’s at least partially the reason why I came back to Chance—to exorcise old ghosts.”

The way she said that last sentence made him wonder if he counted as one of her ghosts. “Yeah, me, too. The thing that bothers me the most is wondering about what really happened that day when my mother was murdered.” He tipped the water bottle to his lips again, but watched for her reaction over the top of the rim.

“I don’t remember much about the murder,” she murmured quietly. “You and I were only ten at the time. It really made a major difference in your life, though. I do remember that.”

“Yeah.” Colt stood but had to hang on to the back of the chair to keep his balance. “Losing Mom was hard enough. God, I thought the pain in my heart would never go away. But within days, we’d lost Dad, too, when your stepfather had him arrested for the crime. There were lots of times those first few weeks when I wished I’d died along with Mom.”

Shaking out his leg, he felt a familiar twinge. He gritted his teeth and began to pace like a caged animal, determined the pain would not slow him down. “You were the only one I could talk to. Do you remember that?”

“What does any of this have to do with last night?”

Colt reached the sink and spun back around. “Now you’re doing it. That was a question not an answer. But I never believed my father could murder anyone. Especially not my mother. He loved her. I know he did.”

Nodding, Lacie seemed to agree. “I remember you saying that back then. All this time and you still think the same? Both your parents are gone now. What difference could it possibly make at this point?”

Limping over to the table, he stood beside her. “I have to know for sure. You can see that, can’t you?”

He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, gazed earnestly into her eyes and pleaded his case. “Help me, Lace. Together you and I can find the truth. I know we can.”

“Ah.” It hit her then—at last. “You were inside the sheriff’s office last night looking for old case files. Your father’s murder case.” She was shocked. “How in the world did you manage to break in?”

“Uh...I didn’t exactly break in.”

“But then how—” Amazed she hadn’t thought of it sooner, the answer came instantly. “Louanna. Our night dispatcher let you in. Why? Did you offer her a bribe?”

He backed up, ran a hand through his shaggy hair and ended up making it messier than ever. “She’s a second cousin. My aunt asked her do it for me. Seems everyone in town owes my aunt June for one thing or another.”

His expression changed suddenly—darkened. “You won’t mention that I told you? And you won’t turn her in to your stepfather? Louanna needs her job. I didn’t get a chance to find the files before you arrived.”

Lacie popped up out of her chair. “I won’t do anything to endanger Louanna’s job. Besides, nothing was taken or destroyed. Why can’t you talk to the sheriff about the old murder case? He was there and participated in the first investigation. He should...”

She lost her train of thought as she remembered finding Colt in tears behind the school one afternoon right after his mother died. Her heart had gone out to him then and there. Come to think of it, she may never have gotten her heart back. Not to this very minute.

But she couldn’t let him know that. They were not those same two kids. Far from it.

Colt took her by the elbow. “Can you really picture the sheriff helping me? You know he’s never been too crazy about the Chance family.” Touching her was making him crazy as the electricity between them zinged through his veins.

“True,” she said and suddenly looked uncomfortable. “I do remember my stepfather never liked it when you were hanging around. And he hated when I went to the Bar-C.”

She glanced down to where his hand was holding her arm. Trying to pull free, she drew in a breath. “I won’t say anything to the sheriff.”

At this point he almost didn’t care. All he cared about, all he’d ever cared about, was being with her.

But she went on to explain, “I make it a habit not to speak to him unless I’m forced to. We aren’t exactly a close-knit family. What would you need me to do?”

Hearing that should have relaxed him. “I knew I could count on you.” But there was no relaxing when her eyes grew wide and she licked her bottom lip.

A war was going on inside him. He needed to kiss her more than he needed to breathe. But he didn’t want to scare her off. He needed her help.

Sidestepping closer to her, he backed her against the kitchen counter. “Be my partner in the investigation,” he murmured against her lips.

Tightening both hands on her shoulders, Colt couldn’t help himself. He pulled her against his chest and leaned in even closer. “Be my everything—for now.”

He whispered a kiss over her lips. Instead of pulling away, she pressed against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. A dark lust roared in him. And when she moaned, he deepened the kiss.

Shuddering with need, his erection grew hard against her belly. He cupped her bottom with both hands and growled, deep and low in his chest. He couldn’t catch his breath. Had stopped thinking minutes ago.

“Wait a moment.” Suddenly she lifted her head and pushed at his shoulders.

He was too far gone to understand the change in temperature between them. Dipping his own head, he went back for another taste of those sweet lips.

“Whoa,” she said past a raspy voice and stepped out of his reach. “I... I’ll help you with your investigation because now I’m curious, too. But as far as—” she waved a hand between them “—anything else...it’s a no go. I don’t know who you are anymore. And you don’t know me. This isn’t happening. Not now. Maybe not ever.”

* * *

Much later that day, while Lacie finished up her paperwork, she found herself still mulling over everything she’d said to Colt. At that moment, kissing him, she’d wanted exactly what he wanted. The need had been racing headlong through every cell in her body. But she’d put a stop to things between them before they went too far. And she knew why.

She’d been scared. Afraid of getting too close. The two of them had changed. Maybe they could be friends again, and work together for answers, but any more than that and her heart wouldn’t stand it.

After he healed and did a little investigating, he would be going back to his previous life. He’d always hated the small-town ways of Chance, Texas. His talk about leaving had given her the backbone to leave town herself at the age of eighteen. But she’d tried the big city and found it wasn’t for her. She wanted to stay in Chance.

She’d get her questions answered—and now Colt’s questions, too—but after that she would be making a permanent home here. Colt would be long gone.

Her shift now over, Lacie filed her forms and stretched her cramped limbs. No one was left in the station but her and Louanna. Deputy Robert Lopez, the man who’d been the sheriff’s assistant for as long as she could remember, was in his cruiser, spending his shift making passes through town and waiting for any calls.

This might be a good time for her to do a little digging for Colt. Earlier today she’d asked the day dispatcher where the old case files were stored. Apparently, when the new station had been built, the old files were either destroyed or put in storage boxes and stashed in a closet. They’d all be put on the computer someday—when the county could afford the help. But as of now, they were just catching dust.

Heading down the darkened hall and turning on lights as she went, Lacie wondered what she would find in the Chance murder file. She remembered the day of the murder, though she’d been quite young. But she remembered it vividly because things in her own home had changed forever that day, too.

Flipping on the overhead light in the oversize closet, Lacie glanced around at dozens of cardboard boxes. They didn’t seem to be in any order. No wonder Colt hadn’t had the time to find the file last night. It might take weeks to sort through all this stuff.

She’d been at it for almost an hour when she heard a noise behind her back. Jumping up, she swung around, expecting to see Louanna.

“What are you doing, Deputy?” The sheriff’s deep voice startled her.

“Oh, nothing, sir.” She folded her hands together behind her back and stood at attention to stem her shakes.

“Your shift is over. And I don’t remember assigning you or anyone else to a cold case. Why are you in here?”

The sheriff’s face had developed soft edges and craggy lines over the years. His eyebrows grew together over his nose to the point where you couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. Lacie remembered a time when he’d been handsome. Her mother’s idea of the man of her dreams.

To Lacie, he’d been anything but a dream back then. Today she wasn’t sure what he was—beyond being her boss.

“I heard this closet was a mess,” she began as the words just spilled out of her mouth. “I thought I’d spend some of my free time straightening out the boxes and making them ready for entering on a computer someday.”

“Uh-huh.” The sheriff glanced around the room and then let his dark gaze land on her face. “You know I only hired you because of your mother. Why don’t you spend your free time going to visit her?”

The nursing home where her mother was a patient was a good two hours away. “She doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know anyone anymore. Even if she did, I doubt she would want to see me. They take good care of her. You shouldn’t worry.”

“I know what kind of care my wife receives. I do visit her. That’s not the point.”

Lacie wondered what the point was. And why the sheriff had chosen tonight to return to the station at this late hour.

“Go home, Deputy.” He swung his arm toward the closet door as though waiting for her to leave ahead of him. “I got a call saying lights were on in the station when no one but the dispatcher was supposedly on duty. I didn’t hire you to help in the storage closet. There’s nothing here of interest. This stuff is ancient history.”

She scooted out the door and waited for him to follow. “I was trying to be helpful.”

“Just do your job. That’s enough.” He turned off the lights as they left together. “And go visit your mother.”

Giving up, Lacie turned to leave, but her stepfather caught hold of her arm before she went very far. “You heard about that Chance boy being back in town? The one you used to be so crazy about in high school?”

“Yes, I know Colt’s living on the Bar-C.”

“Well, stay away from him. I didn’t like him when he was kid and I doubt he’s changed much. According to the record, he lost his job over a major screwup. His mistake. And it wouldn’t do your career any good to associate with someone like that.”

Her stepfather was checking up on Colt? Weird.

“Do you read me, girl?”

Angry now, and more curious than ever, Lacie pulled her arm free and fisted her hands. “I heard you, Sheriff.”

She stormed down the hall and outside to the parking lot, a sense of unease riding high in her chest as she headed for home. Nothing would stop her from helping Colt Chance find his answers.

Nothing and no one.