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Chapter Seven

Carey laid on his back in his sleeping bag, his hands behind his head as he looked up at the stars. These were the same stars he saw every night on the wide, unbroken expanse of sky back home, but there was always something magical about seeing them on the drive. It was times like this when he understood his dad’s love of the old style cattle drive, the way he felt connected to all the generations of Carsons who’d worked this ranch before him. It was easy to forget what it was like for those cowboys, the days of hauling water and cooking all of the meals over a fire in the yard having long since been replaced by modern conveniences.

He usually had no trouble sleeping on a drive, even on the hard surface beneath the grassy area, because the days of backbreaking work and spending hours in the saddle tended to make anyone pass out before hitting the ground. But something was different this time, and it wasn’t just missing his brother, Casey. He knew it had to be that girl, and he knew that was dangerous ground. She’d be returning to her real life in a couple days, so what was the point in getting closer to her?

But the way she’d felt when he kissed her, shy but wanting, wasn’t a feeling Carey could easily forget. He’d been too surprised and too respectful to move past anything other than that kiss but the scent of her, the feel of her smooth skin beneath his hands, weren’t sensations he was likely to forget any time soon.

You just have romance on the brain since Dad started his pet project, Carey told himself. You’re here to work, not to hook up with a girl who came out here to find herself for a week.

As if even fate was working against him, Carey was startled by a rustling noise nearby. He turned his head to find the source of the sound, but couldn’t make out anything in the dark of the moonless night. Finally, the rustling grew closer and a warm hand reached out to touch his bare shoulder.

“Shhh, it’s only me,” Amy whispered, leaning close enough to him that he caught the wonderful scent of her as her loose hair brushed his skin. He reached up and pulled her closer, cradling her to him as his mouth found hers.

“What are you doing here?” he asked finally, his breath hot against her ear as he whispered to her.

“I’m doing what you said,” she answered in a confident whisper. “I’m letting you know what I want, and hoping you want the same thing.” Carey could practically hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. He quietly unzipped his sleeping bag and let her slip in with him, pulling the thick fabric around their shoulders as he cradled her close to his chest.

“I know what I want,” Carey replied in a husky voice, thick with want and emotion, but spoken so softly as to not call attention to them. “But not here, not some quick romp in the middle of all these sleeping people. You’re worth waiting for, even if patience is painful!”

“Painful?” she asked coyly, placing a long kiss on the underside of his jaw and smiling triumphantly to herself when he shuddered.

“Deadly, even. I might actually die, and it would be on your conscience,” he whispered.

Carey pressed her to him, entranced by the way their bodies fit together perfectly. Even in the close quarters of his sleeping bag, he felt like he couldn’t bring her close enough, wanting to pull her even closer somehow.

He kissed her for what seemed like hours, Amy running her hands over the muscled ridges in his arms and his chest, exploring him in the darkness. She wondered at the heated softness of the skin beneath his t-shirt, tracing the pronounced muscles in his back with her delicate fingertips. She finally worked her way up to place her hands on his neck, joining them behind him and twirling locks of his luxurious hair between her fingers.

The sound of a rock being kicked across a patch of dirt nearby made Amy and Carey freeze, him putting one fingertip to her mouth as he listened. Carey looked up to see the beam of a flashlight shining across the ground in wide arcs, sweeping over the forms of sleeping cowboys. He pulled the edge of his sleeping bag up over Amy’s head, suppressing a giggle when she used the cover of darkness to place the ends of her fingers on his ribs, knowing he couldn’t say or do anything to stop her.

“Carey?” Bernard called out quietly, looking over the sleeping ranchers for him.

“Yeah, Dad?” he called out in a voice heavy with false sleepiness. Bernard turned toward Carey’s voice and approached him, stepping around different bodies in his path.

“I need you to get up and come meet me in the RV.”

“What’s wrong?” Carey asked, forgetting his romantic antics for a minute and sounding concerned. He kept the cover over Amy, but was troubled by the sound of his dad’s worried voice.

“We’ll talk when you make it inside. Hurry.” Bernard switched off his flashlight, freeing Amy to come up for air. He turned and went back to his truck without waiting for Carey to get dressed and follow him.

“Is everything okay?” Amy whispered against Carey’s neck, letting her lips pause there as he answered. Carey hugged her close, but shook his head.

“I’m not sure. He doesn’t usually do that, and he sure sounds worried. I’m sorry, but I’d better go see what he needs.” Carey unzipped his sleeping bag and helped Amy out, then followed her, shaking out his boots and sliding them over his sock feet. He kissed her passionately one last time, then took off at a light run to the well-lit truck.

“What’s up, Dad?” Carey asked, pulling the door to the RV shut after watching to make sure Amy made it safely back to where she was supposed to be sleeping.

“There’s been trouble back at the house,” the older man said darkly, anger on his face. He held the satellite phone tightly in his hand, listening for his younger son to come back on.

“What kind of trouble?” Carey demanded, immediately concerned. Only a handful of the staff had stayed behind, mostly women and older ones at that, people who had no interest in riding all day and sleeping on the ground every night. Plus, Anders had stayed behind, as usual, to help oversee the business end of things, which was good considering his health problems and his allergies, very real concerns that had plagued him since his difficult birth.

“They think Crazy Mack came out there. He started shooting up the house, screaming like…well…a crazy man.”

“Are you kidding? He shot at them? Is everyone okay?” he stormed, beginning to pace back and forth within the small space of the RV. “Who’s out there now?”

Anders’ tiny voice came through the speaker. “Sheriff Matthews came out, but Mack took off when he saw the helicopter. No one’s really hurt, but Meg had to go into town to the doctor. She cut her hand trying to clean up some of the glass but she’ll back in the morning, just had to get a few stitches. It looks like he shot out about eight or nine of the windows, and I haven’t been outside to see if he did any damage to the other buildings or if he shot any of the animals that are still around here.”

“Don’t go out there, Anders!” Bernard yelled. “Stay in the house, and keep everyone else inside, at least until Matthews has a chance to find this lunatic!”

“Okay, Dad,” Anders replied. He could be heard through the connection talking to some people in the background before coming back to address them. “The sheriff is going to leave someone here tonight, but the deputy will have to go back to town in the morning.”

“Don’t worry, son, we’ll have someone home by late tomorrow night, maybe the next morning. You guys try to get some sleep and have everyone sleep in the main house. Don’t let any of the staff go back out to their quarters until this is all cleared up.”

Bernard signed off and switched off the phone before turning to Carey. “Son, I need you to head back home.”

“Really? Why?” he asked, confused for a moment before realizing for the hundredth time that he was the oldest now. “Oh, right. Sure, I’ll get my stuff and leave right now.”

“No, you need some sleep before you can head out. Take my bed in there. I want you to be well rested because you’ll most likely have to drive straight through. I’ll sleep out here on the bench seat.” Carey nodded, then went into the bedroom at the far end of the RV and did as he was told, so worried about his younger brother and the staff back home that he had to force himself to close his eyes and get some much needed rest.

He was awakened by someone shaking him softly, calling his name over and over. Carey opened his eyes to see his father’s face above him, a pitch-black sky still visible outside the windows. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and pulled his t-shirt on over his head, getting out of bed and finishing getting dressed before stepping over to the coffee maker on the small kitchen counter.

“Take the truck,” Bernard said. “and call me along the way. I’ll let you know what Anders has reported. Do you need to take Dwayne with you?”

“Well, it’d be nice to have another driver and to have some more muscle on the ranch when we get there, but I’m afraid you can’t spare him. No, you’ll need him for the rest of the drive, especially without Casey or me. I’ll just have to go on through.”

“Promise me you’ll pull over and nap if you get tired, Carey,” his dad pleaded sternly. “Nothing will be resolved if you don’t make it there in one piece, and I sure don’t want anything to happen to you out on the road.”

“I’ll be fine. I promise I’ll be careful,” he assured him, but he was too keyed up with worry to guarantee he’d be that cautious. Knowing that Mack hadn’t been found meant he was more than likely still hiding out somewhere on the ranch, and there was no telling what he’d be stupid enough to try once darkness fell again.

Carey stepped out of the RV and immediately spotted Amy, rolling up her sleeping bag by the remains of last night’s campfire. He felt a pull in his gut at the thought of not seeing her for the rest of the ride, and of just leaving things hanging with this stranger he’d only just met. He walked up to her, completely undone by her bright smile, only to feel crushed when her face fell, sensing that something was wrong by the look on his face.

“I have to leave,” Carey began. “I’m sorry. I hope you have a great rest of your trip, and a safe trip back home.” He started to turn to leave, but she put a hand on his arm to stop him.

“Carey, is something wrong? Why are you leaving?” she asked calmly, not so much for her own benefit but because she could see something was really troubling him.

“Um, it’s just some problems back at the ranch. My younger brother is there and there’s been a…an incident. Kind of an emergency. I’m driving back now, and hope I get there without having to stop anywhere. Again, I really am sorry we didn’t get to spend more time together. I would really have liked to get to know you better.” He turned and walked toward the truck, turning back once sadly to see Amy still standing, watching him go.

“Carey, wait!” She finally called, running behind him. “I’ll go with you.”

“What? You can’t just cancel your trip. No, don’t be silly. Stay here and enjoy the rest of the drive.”

“Have you seen me on a horse? What part of that looks like I’m enjoying it? And I know for sure the horse isn’t loving it. We’ll switch off driving and you can get there faster if you don’t have to worry about being rested.”

“Amy, really, I appreciate it, but…”

“…but you don’t want me to go,” she finished for him, dropping her voice. “Oh. I see. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude. Go ahead.” She stepped back and looked around awkwardly, embarrassed at Carey’s rejection.

“No, that’s not it!” He promised, coming back to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “I just can’t ask you to get involved in this. There’s a…situation…back home. Someone’s already attacked the house, and I can’t put you in danger.”

“I don’t mind that, as long as you’re sure that’s all it is. If you don’t want me to go, I’ll butt out, but if you want to make it there before dark, I can help. I want to help.” Amy looked at him confidently, none of her former wallflower showing through anymore. Carey watched her face for only a moment, then nodded.

“Come on, throw your stuff in the truck. We have to leave in about five minutes. I’ll wait over here.”

Amy nodded, all business now that she was helping out, and ran to retrieve her things. Not even a nasty remark from Karen about how Amy was chasing after him and throwing herself at an “oppressor” could dampen her mood. She was glad to be getting off this rather difficult and disappointing cattle drive, no matter how desperate the circumstances that caused it, and the added benefit was that she would be spending this time with Carey.

By the time she returned, Carey was stepping into the driver’s seat of a rather large truck. She shook her head, jerking her thumb at the passenger seat. “Uh-uh, mister, you only had a couple of hours’ sleep. Let me start out first, and you can sleep in the back seat.”

“Amy, I just realized something. You have to have a CDL license to drive this kind of truck. I don’t think you’re going to want to manage it,” Carey said, wincing at having already promised her she could help out.

“For your information,” she began sarcastically, jutting out her hip and slapping her hand on her waist. “I happen to have a CDL license. And I’ve driven vehicles far bigger than this little thing. So slide yourself over there, get that sweatshirt under your head, and let me hear some snoring, cowboy!”

Amy flashed Carey a knowing look and climbed in the driver’s seat, leaving him dumbfounded as he resorted to getting in the back. He started to tell her how to use the GPS, but realized she probably knew how to work something as simple as that. After peeking over the top of the seat to make sure she was headed in the right direction on the highway, he laid back and closed his eyes for just a moment but sat ramrod straight when he felt how fast they were going.

“Amy! Slow down! You’re doing almost a hundred miles an hour!” Carey called out nervously.

“It’s okay, Carey, I have this. This is nothing for me,” she answered calmly, checking her mirror before crossing the centerline to pass someone in her lane. She moved back over and kept going, the wind rushing past the windows making a dull roar that followed them.

Within only minutes, a police car pulled out behind them, lights and sirens blaring. Carey began to sweat, aware for the first time that he couldn’t actually remember Amy’s last name from her paperwork. Amy pulled over and reached into her purse for her wallet, appearing as calm as if she were simply looking for a pack of gum.

“Hi, Officer,” Amy began, flipping through her wallet for her identification.

“I hope you have a really good explanation for the way you’re driving, missy,” the older deputy said with a drawling sneer.

“I do, sir. My name is Officer Amy McDade, Detroit PD,” she said, handing over her badge. “This passenger is Carey Carson, of the Carson Hill Ranch outside Hale, Texas. There’s been a shooting and attempted home invasion at his family’s ranch, and the only family member on the premises is a minor child, aged sixteen, in the care of some of the family’s ranch staff. The local sheriff’s department has already been on the scene but the shooter wasn’t apprehended. We have reason to believe he may be hiding on the property, and because the motive for the shooting was revenge, we need to get there in a hurry.”

The officer took her badge and looked it over, holding it up to the light, alternating between looking at the badge and the driver’s license, and looking at Amy’s sweet face. Carey sat still, his mouth open in shock.

“Lemme call this in,” the officer said, moseying back to his squad car. He returned only a few minutes later, handing the badge and ID through the open driver’s window. “If you’ll put on your hazard lights, ma’am, I’m to escort you to the county line, where the Cangor County sheriff’s deputy will take over. We’ll get you to Hale in no time.”

The officer returned to his car and put on his lights and siren, then flew around their parked truck, waving her on. Amy pulled back out onto the highway and followed the officer as closely as she dared.

“You’re supposed to be asleep, you know,” Amy said playfully after spotting Carey in the rear view mirror.

“Are you kidding? How am I supposed to sleep at a time like this? Why didn’t you tell me you’re a cop?” Carey asked in succession, surprised at every new piece of information he slowly learned about this woman.

“Was that information you needed?” She asked, a smile still playing at the corners of her mouth. “It just never came up, what with all the kissing and the touching and the tongues in each other’s mouths.”

“But tell me this…if you’re some bad-assed big city cop—pardon my expression, sorry—why are you out here trying to build your confidence up? It’s the cows that should have been afraid of you, not the other way around, right?”

Amy was quiet for a long pause, staring straight ahead at the yellow dotted lines on the road as they disappeared under the wheels of the truck. She finally got up the nerve to explain something she had told very few people. “Because I was shot, and now I’m pretty much worthless as a patrol officer. I work at a desk all day, despite being one of the most highly trained and highly decorated women on the police force. I needed to get out of my comfort level and do something risky, something I’ve never tried before.

“I tried skydiving but I didn’t really have to do anything there except fall. I’ve tried scuba diving but unless I wanted to actually get in a giant tank filled with sharks, it was just a swim during a gorgeous vacation. I have to try something new that will make me feel like I can do anything, just so I can get back to doing the thing I used to love. Now, go to sleep, you’re taking over in six hours.”

Carey did as he was told but instead of closing his eyes, he stared at the back of Amy’s neck as she drove, watching the way one sweaty curl had escaped from her ponytail and was plastered to the back of her neck. He wanted to reach out his hand and free that sprig of hair, then caress the skin that ran down into her shirt collar, disappearing down her back, following that hand with his mouth…

When he awoke hours later, Carey sat up with a start and looked around at the landscape. He stretched as best he could in the cramped back seat, then climbed over into the front and buckled himself into the passenger seat.

“Hi, Sleeping Beauty,” Amy said with a smirk. “I never pegged you for a snorer.”

“I don’t snore,” he retorted, “that’s my alarm system. I’m simply letting everyone know not to bother me because I’m asleep. Where are we?”

“Well, I don’t know a lot about this part of the country, so you’ll have to check the GPS. I do know we’re on our eleventh cop, so we’re at least eleven jurisdictions from where we started out. Are you ready to drive for a little bit? We can swap when you’re good and awake.”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine. Amy…thanks.” He ducked his head, suddenly embarrassed.

“You’re welcome,” she answered with a sweet smile. “But for what?”

“For all of this. For offering to come along, for arranging our very own police escort…you’re pretty amazing, you know that, right?” Carey looked over at her with a sincere look of appreciation, one arm resting on the seat back between them and playing with a strand of hair that had fallen out from under her hat at some point during the long drive.

“I don’t know about amazing. How about competent? I’m competent, I can admit to that.” She smirked at him without taking her eyes off the road.

“You’re not giving yourself enough credit. We’ll meet in the middle with incredible, "how’s that?”

“That’s not a compromise!” Amy said, laughing and swatting at Carey playfully. “There’s no way that incredible is the halfway point. How about ‘semi-mediocre’?”

“Nope, not good enough. I’m the one giving compliments around here, so I get to have the majority vote. And I say that ‘celestial status’ is up on the list, along with extremely kind, very quick thinking, and stunningly beautiful.”

Amy didn’t speak for a moment, watching the squad car in front of her intently. Finally, she spoke, but when she did, her voice was somewhat hoarse with emotion. “Thank you, Carey, for what you said.”

“You don’t have to thank me, it’s the truth,” he replied, rubbing the back of her neck with his hand. She rolled her shoulders under his soft touch and stretched her back forward. “Are you ready for me to drive?”

“Sure,” she answered, engaging the cruise control and checking the mirrors. “Slide over here.” Carey looked around nervously before taking off his seat belt and sliding across the bench seat toward her. “Hold the wheel, don’t touch the brake but be ready to hit it if necessary.” Carey held the steering wheel as Amy unbuckled her seatbelt, then used her feet to push against the seat and slide over into the back seat directly behind her. Carey slid into place and buckled up as Amy came back over the seat on the passenger side.

“That was a pretty slick move, Officer McDade. How’d you learn to do that? Is that a cop thing?” he asked, watching her get comfortable in what had been his seat only seconds before. She shrugged her shoulders before responding.

“I’ve had years of defensive driving training, but that particular move is just something that my brothers and I would do if we needed to take turns. We used to deliver products all over Michigan for my dad’s company, and the route could get pretty tedious if you didn’t have someone to trade off with.” Amy reached her arm across the seat back that had held Carey’s arm before. “Weren’t you sitting somewhere like this, maybe?” she asked, toying with Carey’s shaggy hair, running her nails gently up his scalp and causing him to lean into her hand.

“Something like that, maybe a little bit to my left. Yup, that’s what I was doing,” he answered, smiling at Amy without taking his eyes off the road.

“I don’t know,” she argued in a smooth voice. “I think maybe you were over here, right?” Amy demonstrated by moving closer to Carey, close enough to breathe heavily on his neck before placing her lips against his shivering skin. She moved up his neck to his ear, where she bit down gently on his earlobe before soothing it by sucking it into her mouth.

“I would love to tell you not to stop,” Carey began, forgetting to finish his sentence as Amy bit down gently on the muscle that ran on the outside of his neck.

“Yes? You were saying something about me stopping?” she asked innocently enough.

“Um…no, no I wasn’t.”

“I’m pretty sure I heard you say the word ‘stop’,” she said with a laugh, a seductive sound that was almost as maddening as what she was physically doing to him.

“No, that must have been some other guy. Don’t stop,” Carey half-begged, gripping the steering wheel so hard with both hands that his knuckles turned white.

“Actually, I think I should sit over here and behave myself,” Amy suggested, sitting up and sliding back to her side of the truck. “That policeman won’t be too happy with you if he looks in his rear-view mirror.”

“Me? I’m just sitting here, innocently driving a truck over a hundred miles an hour. You’re the incredible vixen sucking on my neck.”

“It’s just so suckable,” she shot back with a satisfied giggle as Carey struggled to keep his composure. “But truthfully, I shouldn’t distract you when you’re driving. It’s not very responsible of either of us. Tell me about your ranch instead.”

Amy kept Carey talking, partly to keep him awake and focused, but also because she was genuinely interested in life out west. She was shocked by some of the things ranching required, like homeschooling because the town was so far away, and Carey learning to shoot a gun at only seven years old. Other things made the farm seem so natural and normal, mostly the way he talked about his life like it was so commonplace.

“But what about you, Miss Big City Policewoman? You must have more than enough excitement to last you a lifetime.” Carey kept his eyes focused on the squad car in front of him so he wouldn’t have to look at the speedometer.

“Well, it used to be exciting. I’m kind of gun-shy now, I’m afraid. I am spooked too easily, I’m too cautious.” Amy looked straight ahead, not focusing on anything in particular as her mind wandered to her job.

“How can being cautious be a bad thing when you’re an armed policeman? Doesn’t being alert and careful mean everything in that line of work?”

“Yes, but you can be too careful. I reached the point that I’d call for back up just to check out a simple domestic dispute or a shoplifting. It wasn’t fair to my partner to be saddled with someone who couldn’t evaluate the situation and determine the level of risk. So I took myself off the street and agreed to work the desk. But I’ve been at that job so long, now I’m afraid I’ll never go back.”

It was Carey’s turn to ask the questions without being rude or prying. “And the cattle drive was supposed to cure you? That’s a pretty tall order for some very large, not very bright animals, don’t you think?” he asked.

“Not cure me, exactly, but make me realize that I am capable and strong, that I can make decisions on my feet and assess a situation in the right frame of mind.”

“Wow. Now I feel bad for letting you talk me into coming to the ranch. Maybe you needed a few more days on the drive, and you could have gotten your head back where you want it.”

“I don’t think that would have done it,” Amy admitted sadly. “The drive was kind of a last-ditch effort to figure out my next career move. If I didn’t come back to work as a whole new person, I was going to put in for a transfer or start looking for another jurisdiction. Maybe that gun shot came at just the right time in my career…I’d already proven I’m tough and I’m capable, and that may have been what I needed on my résumé to get my foot in the door somewhere else, somewhere a little less…intense.” Amy looked out the window and was quiet after that, a fact that Carey couldn’t help but think had less to do with talking herself out and more to do with a heavy weight pressing down on her.

“Then you know I do need you on this trip, and I don’t just mean for the driving. We’re walking straight into the lion’s mouth on this, what with Mack possibly hiding out somewhere on the ranch.”

Amy went into full-on investigative mode without even realizing it. “Do you have any idea of why he’d be out there for revenge? What prompted him to start shooting up the place?”

Carey told Amy the long story of two of Mack’s girls showing up on the ranch and seeking shelter. He even told her where the girls were at that moment, how far from the property they would be, who knew about their whereabouts, and such. Amy nodded as Carey talked, taking it all in.

“So your dad just gave them a cabin to stay in, and hired a counselor to look after them? He’s either a saint or he has an interest in getting those girls away from Mack for some reason.”

Carey bristled slightly, not sure what Amy meant but had the impression that she insinuated Bernard’s involvement went beyond just helping out. “What are you saying about my dad, exactly?”

“I’m saying he’s putting himself and his entire family and staff at risk by taking in two females with a history of drug addiction and criminal activity. And judging by the very circumstances we’re speeding into, I’d say he either didn’t know the full extent of his actions, or he had a reason to act in the first place.”

Carey chewed that over thoughtfully, fighting the urge to let his anger boil up at the callous way Amy assessed people she’d never even met. “You’ve met my father, even if it was only for a few minutes at a time. There’s not an evil, hard-hearted bone in his body. Two pitiful, frightened girls—still practically kids—showed up on his doorstep after having walked almost forty miles to warn his family of a threat, and he gave them food, shelter, and assistance. I don’t want to meet the man who wouldn’t do exactly the same thing.”

Amy was quiet, staring out the window as she thought about Carey’s reaction. True, she didn’t know his father at all, and true, she might have let her work get in the way of seeing someone’s basic human kindness. Had her years as a cop and her struggles to fit in with some of the more aggressive, streetwise officers really made her so jaded that she couldn’t believe an elderly man might do something kind for two strung out, teenage runaways?

“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound judgmental, and I certainly didn’t mean to imply that your dad was anything but an honest, caring person. It’s easy to see where you get your sensitive side.” Amy smiled genuinely and waited, not pressing the issue after upsetting Carey so much. He paused before answering her, but finally spoke.

“I’m sorry, too. I guess I just got really defensive. And I can admit that the whole thing might look suspicious to an outsider, but you’d just have to know my dad the way I do. He would rather die than turn someone away, especially someone in so much need.” Carey looked a little relieved to hear her explanation, but was still on edge at where the conversation had gone. That’s why Casey’s so good in these situations, he thought, wishing, once again, that his older brother was there to handle all of these things. He’s better at being…diplomatic…and boy, could I use someone who can take charge right now.