Chapter Nine
Callie stormed in from the mudroom, stood in a square of dying sunlight that brought out the prettiest glints in her sunflower gold hair and glared at Cody. “Just so you know,” she said dramatically, propping both fists on her slender hips, “I am not laughing at your latest uncouth behavior, cowboy.”
Cody paused in the act of unpacking the groceries that had just been delivered via a store in town. “Well, I’m not guffawing, either,” Cody retorted tongue-in-cheek as he paid the apple-cheeked teenage delivery boy and sent him on his way. Of course, he thought, mildly amused, he hadn’t a clue what she was talking about, either.
Hands on her hips, Callie watched as he shut the door, locking them in together once again. “All right. What have you done with them?” she demanded irately. Clearly, he thought, her patience with him was just about gone.
Cody set a head of lettuce and a package of broccoli on the table, then tilted his head to the side. “What have I done with what?” he asked as their glances collided like firecrackers on the Fourth of July.
“My clothes!” Callie stormed in something akin to a fishwife’s screech. “They were in the dryer, along with yours. Now there are only yours there,” she elaborated when he continued to regard her with an irritatingly innocent look.
Cody shrugged, telling himself he could have cared less what she wore—or in some cases, didn’t — and continued to unpack the groceries, pulling out a luscious porterhouse steak, a bag of potatoes and a loaf of fresh bread. “Don’t look at me.” Though who else might have taken them was certainly something to chew on....
“Who else should I look at?” Callie demanded hotly as she edged closer to Cody, who was putting the milk, butter and mushrooms in the refrigerator. “We’re the only two people here and those clothes couldn’t have just walked off by themselves.”
True. “Did you check your closet upstairs?” Cody calmly folded the paper sack and put it in the recycling bin. “Maybe you took your clothes up there and forgot.”
“I think I’d remember that if I had done it,” Callie snapped back.
Cody begged to differ. “Maybe not. You have been behaving pretty curiously,” he drawled. Which was exactly what had him so worried. If Callie wasn’t up to something herself, someone clearly was. The real question was, was she involved up to her pretty little neck, as circumstances and evidence thus far indicated.
“Fine. You want me to show you my closet upstairs and prove that my clothes aren’t there? I’ll show you!” Callie raged. And she headed off to do just that.
CALLIE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW why she was doing this as she dashed up the stairs and Cody followed, fast on her heels. But if he wanted to play this farce to the bitter end, then so would she. But one way or another she was finding something else to change into! The scent of his cologne on the shirt she wore was driving her wild, making her recall with disturbing clarity all she would have preferred to forget about their noontime activities.
Once in her room, she threw open a bureau drawer. “You see,” she demonstrated hotly. “My clothes are not—” She stopped in shock and stared at the array of lacy, very transparent, very sexy lingerie. Aware she had not put the sexy garments there, she slammed the drawer shut and glared at him, wondering what kind of hellion’s game he was playing with her now.
He lifted his brow in silent query. “What’s wrong now?”
Ha! As if he didn’t know. Callie tossed her head and stormed over to the closet. She flung open the door. Previously, the closet had been completely empty, as she hadn’t had anything clean to hang up. Now it was filled to the brim with western wear in just her size. The clothes were beautiful, but after the way he had just treated her, resenting all she had done to make his home a little cozier and a lot more welcoming, she was not happy to see them hanging there. “I suppose you’re going to deny having a part in this, too?” she said softly. Was he trying to make her think she was crazy? Pay her off and assuage the conscience she was sure he still had in there somewhere for the lovemaking? Or did he just hope to buy her cooperation for future escapades, since he seemed to be laboring under the considerable misconception that it was money, not love and self-respect, that drove her.
“You’re darn right I’m denying it,” Cody growled back, apparently, Callie thought, having his own reasons for being upset. His jaw set, he swung away from her and stalked furiously toward the door.
Exasperated, for now she felt she was really in the dark, Callie fell in line behind him again. She was getting very tired of this game of chase. “Now where are you going?” she demanded. She didn’t like the fact he was now behaving as shocked, upset and disgruntled by this latest turn of events as she felt.
Cody rapidly tackled the stairs, two at a time. “Downstairs, to call Cisco.”
Callie sprinted after him. Did Cody know something she didn’t? And why was he suddenly so angry? “Why Cisco?” she asked.
“I don’t care if he is Uncle Max’s attorney.” Cody spoke through clenched teeth. “He has meddled in my life, in my uncle’s stead, for the last time.”
CALLIE RETURNED to her room, shut the bedroom door and went back to the closet. Since the clothes weren’t from Cody, and she knew they weren’t from Buck and Pa—it wasn’t their style to ever give her anything — she supposed it was okay to put them on. After all, they were beautiful garments and they were obviously meant for her. The question was, What should she wear? Her glance traveled over the dizzying array of quality garments, finally settling on a soft, doe-colored split skirt, ecru silk blouse and red, gold, beige and bone tapestry vest. It would go perfectly with her red cowgirl boots.
As she took it out of the closet, a note fell out of the pocket. It was on Uncle Max’s personal stationery and had obviously been written at the time he concocted his plans to see both his nephews and niece wed.
Dear Callie,
You always were a spunky gal and, whether Cody knows it or not, just what an uncivilized cowpoke like him needs. Use the cowgirl duds like the lethal weapon they are, and go for the brass ring. Remember—I’m a-rootin’ for you. I always was.
Max.
Recalling how kind Max had always been to her, Callie’s eyes welled with tears. Oh, Max, she thought, if only it was as simple as me wanting Cody, I’d go after him in a Montana minute.
But Cody didn’t want her or anyone else. He’d made that clear by the cruel and ungrateful way he had reacted to her efforts to brighten up at least a small part of his ranch house.
And yet, Callie thought, recalling the way he had leapt to protect her from Zeus, there was a part of him that was still gentle and kind. A part of him that didn’t hesitate to aid her in bandaging her wounds. A part that made love to her with incredible passion and tenderness, even when he didn’t want to desire her.
Cody had so much to give, if only he would allow himself to do so. Max had been counting on her to civilize Cody, to bring that part of him back to life. It was why Max had brought her back to Montana, why Max had left her the bull’s-eye property. If she was entirely honest with herself, Callie knew there was a part of her that yearned for Cody’s complete recovery, too. She didn’t want to go through life feeling responsible for his downturn. She wanted to bring him back to the way he was when they’d first met: happy-go-lucky, if a bit on the shy side when it came to revealing himself, and chivalrous to the core. She wanted him to have the full, happy life he had always wanted for himself. And initially those plans of his had centered around the two of them and the ranch they would build, the marriage they would have, the kids they would bring into this world.
Deep down, Callie felt Cody still had all those dreams, just as she did. Getting him to admit any of that wouldn’t be easy, but then, when had anything worthwhile ever come easily, Callie wondered with a smile as she began to undress.
CALLIE HAD ON her fighting clothes as she swept down the stairs some thirty minutes later. A movement on the front porch caught her eye. Pa? Oh, no, she thought. Please—
Callie glanced toward the rear of the house. Cody was in the kitchen. She could hear him moving around. Cooking.
Hoping she could get rid of her father before Cody noticed they had company, Callie eased open the front door and slipped out onto the porch. “I was just getting ready to ring the bell,” Pa said.
Callie stood her ground as fiercely as a marine sentry. “You have to go.”
“Now, Callie, is that any way to treat your kin?”
“I mean it, Pa.” Callie looked him straight in the eye, distressed at the lack of morality she saw, the lack of concern for anyone but himself and his own comfort. “Cody will have you arrested if he catches you here.”
“For what?” Pa gave her a sly look.
Callie clenched her hands as she thought of the destruction Pa and Buck had already wrought and would not hesitate to do again. “Trespassing. Arson.”
Pa mocked her smugly. “So you noticed our little blaze?”
Callie trembled with anger and fear. “That was a rotten thing to do,” she asserted in a low voice.
“It got your attention.” Pa reached behind him and pulled a small black handgun from his pants. “We wanted you to know we mean business. We want a lot more dowry from Cody than a puny hundred-grand bull.”
Her insides turning to mush, Callie stared at the gun in his hand. Since when had her pa started carrying a weapon on him? “I don’t have any money.” Bravado lent a defiant edge to her voice. “I’m not going to get any, either.”
Pa grabbed her roughly by the arm and squeezed until she winced. “Don’t snow me, gal.” He put the muzzle of the gun against her chin and cocked the trigger. “That groom of yours is loaded.”
“Maybe in terms of cattle and land,” Callie countered, beginning to perspire, “but not ready cash.”
Pa released her as suddenly as he had grabbed her. “I’ll take a big hunk of land.” He looked around him with appreciation and without warning became very genial. “Say the whole ranch. Then I can sell it off piece by piece. I can get me plenty of cash that way.”
“Why are you doing this?” Callie asked miserably. She hid her fingers in the folds of her skirt so he would not see her trembling.
Pa merely smiled at Callie as if they were discussing the weather and continued to thoughtfully stroke the barrel of his gun. “Because Cody McKendrick owes us for the lowdown trick he pulled on us in Mexico.” He lifted his gaze and glared at Callie meaningfully, letting her know in a second just how far he’d go to extract revenge. He straightened the brim of his hat with a dapper touch. “What goes around comes around, I always say.”
Callie’s blood boiled. Before she knew it, she was speaking her mind. “What happened in Mexico is not his fault. After all, you started it,” she accused, then realized too late she had just revealed to Pa how much she cared about Cody. Big mistake, she thought miserably. Now that he knew, he would use it against her. And once again, Cody would be hurt just by his mere association with her.
There was a long, deadly silence. “And your brother Buck and I are gonna finish it.” Pa smiled complacently, having found her vulnerable spot in Cody. “With or without that man of yours.” Eyes gleaming greedily, sure now he was going to get what he wanted, he pocketed his gun casually. “Remember what I told you, gal. You find a way to get us a big cash settlement as dowry, or else.”
His threat delivered, Pa slipped off the porch and moved away from the house.
“Callie?” Cody’s voice sounded behind her.
Her heart jumping in her chest, Callie whirled around. Smoothing her hair, she fixed a bright smile on her face and headed for the door. Cody could not know what had just gone on. She had to have time to think. She had to have time to devise a plan. She was going to fight for Cody like she had never fought for him before. She was going to protect him like he had once protected her. She owed that to Max and more.
He looked at what she knew must be the unusual paleness of her face. His tone gentled. “What are you doing out here?”
Callie shrugged self-consciously and did her best to act nonchalant. “I wanted to take a look at the sunset.” She smiled at him blithely. “There’s nothing like the sun going down in a blue Montana sky.”
His eyes drifted over her soft, doe-colored split skirt, silk blouse and tapestry vest before moving back to her face. He stared at her as if he had never seen her dressed up before. As his eyes roved over the just brushed softness of her hair and the hint of color on her lips, something in him gentled. “That’s the way I feel, too.”
“About the clothes in my closet, the clothes I’m wearing now...” Callie struggled not to get lost in the ocean blue of his eyes. “They’re from Max.”
“I know,” he said. “Cisco Kidd told me.”
“I found a note.”
He struggled to break the spell that had them so aware of each other. “Mind if I see it?”
A self-conscious blush heating her cheeks, Callie pulled the note from her pocket and handed it over to Cody for his perusal. As she watched him scan the note, she noticed he did not look surprised or even displeased at anything in it.
“So,” Cody said eventually, the barest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. In no hurry to go back inside, he leaned against one of the square posts that supported the porch roof. “Max is a-rootin’ for you.”
He’s a-rootin’ for us, Callie thought.
“And he wanted you to have a trousseau.”
And quite a trousseau it was, Callie thought, mulling over the sexy nature of some of the nightclothes that had been provided for her. She leaned against a post opposite him, marveling at the fact Cody didn’t seem to resent the sentiment plainly displayed in Max’s note. “How did the clothes get in there?” she asked, wrapping her arm around the sturdiness of the wood. “And when? Were you able to find out?”
Cody nodded. “Cisco brought them over while we were out at the wheat fields this afternoon. He has a key to the ranch house, since technically it still belongs to Uncle Max and is part of the estate, so it was no problem for him to let himself in.”
“And my old clothes?”
“That’s the funny thing.” Cody gave Callie the note back, his fingers brushing hers in the process. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, the unconscious action drawing the fabric tighter across his lower torso. “Cisco said he wasn’t anywhere near the utility room.”
Callie sighed and tore her glance from the front of his jeans.
“Any idea what might have happened to them?” Cody asked curiously.
Yes, Callie thought, blushing all the harder. Pa or Buck could have stolen into the house and removed them from the washer and dryer. They would probably think a prank like that was downright hilarious.
But not wanting to share her suspicions with Cody for fear it would spoil his newly amiable mood toward her, Callie shook her head. “Maybe Max arranged that, too. With someone else like Pearl or Shorty. With Cisco running interference for all three couples, he has a lot to do.”
“You’re right about that,” Cody said, mulling the possibility over.
And speaking of the others, Callie asked, “Have you talked to Patience or Trace?” She wondered if things were faring any better for the other two McKendrick heirs.
Cody shook his head. His eyes locked on hers. It was clear he had noticed the pains she had taken with her appearance and appreciated the way she looked; he could barely take his eyes off her. Max was right. These clothes were lethal weapons.
Cody lifted a hand and tangled it in the ends of her hair, caressing the tousled waves gently. It was a teasing gesture, one he had bestowed upon her often in the past. “Dinner’s almost ready. Come on in the kitchen.” He took her hand, tugging her forward playfully when she hesitated, and led her into the house and back to the kitchen.
The table was set for two, Callie noted. Another good sign. Or was it? she wondered, considering that Cody still suspected she’d had a part in the prank involving Zeus and the fire in his wheat field. She studied him warily, hoping she wasn’t falling into a velvet-lined trap. “You cooked for both of us?”
Cody lifted his broad shoulders in a careless shrug. “Thought I owed you for what you did to make the ranch house more of a home. One good turn deserves another and all that.”
Callie looked into his eyes again and was immediately disappointed. Cody hadn’t done all this because be loved her. He had done it because he didn’t want to be beholden to her. And because she had made him feel ashamed of his bad behavior.
Score one for her civilizing influence on him.
“Besides,” Cody said over his shoulder as he checked the meat for doneness and took the sizzling steak out of the broiler, then teasing her with a lighthearted wink, “I figured it was safer than letting you near the stove again.”
Callie made a face at him. “Cute.”
She edged closer, knowing she probably should not be so quick to forgive his rude behavior, and yet she figured any reason for a truce between them was better than none. After all, she reasoned, every journey began with a single step. Maybe Max was right. Maybe there was reason for them to hope for a happy ending after all, since their mandatory prenuptial period was only half over. Cody had done this much. She could go the rest of the way and at least try to make this a civil, if not downright romantic evening. “Can I lend you a hand?” she asked quietly.
“Just have a seat.” He slid the sautéed mushrooms onto the steak with the ease of an accomplished cook, brought out twice-baked potatoes, broccoli and a tossed salad.
“It all looks delicious,” Callie said as Cody poured the wine. He had gone to an awful lot of trouble, she thought appreciatively. Was it simply to make up for his unkind words to her earlier? Or because, deep inside, he was tired of fighting, too?
CODY DIDN’T WANT TO SEE the admiration in Callie’s eyes as she propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her palm, any more than he wanted to notice how intimate sharing quarters with her had become. But there was no denying either.
“Where did you learn to cook like this?” she asked softly, looking as if her simply being there with him like that, so romantically, were a dream come true.
Welcoming the chance to talk about something not connected with their forced marriage, Cody spread his napkin across his lap. “Susannah, Trace’s first wife, got me started when the two of them were first married. I was only twelve at the time, but she took a special interest in me and showed me the basics. We were both a little lonely at the time — Trace was almost never home—and it was a way for us to pass the time. Max liked it, of course, ’cause it kept me out of trouble. Later, when I began spending a lot of time on my own, it just made sense to be able to cook something for myself besides freeze-dried camping food and frozen TV dinners.” And it had taken the edge off the loneliness, Cody thought as he spread steak sauce liberally on his meat. “What about you?” he asked curiously as he cut into his meat. “How come you never learned to cook?”
Callie shrugged. “I don’t know. I always meant to, but I never got around to it.” She paused, a dark cloud passing across her face. “I guess it just seemed like an awful lot of effort to go to for just one person.”
Cody stared at her. Had she been as lonely as he had been all this time? The notion was as comforting as it was distressing. Silence fell between them.
“Cody?” Callie asked finally.
“Hmm?”
“I have something to ask you.” Something she did not seem to think he would appreciate being asked, Cody noted emotionlessly. Curious as to what that could be, he gave her the go-ahead with a single look.
Suddenly looking a little nervous, Callie wet her lips, put her fork down and forged on. “What did you do to my pa and Buck in Acapulco to make them so angry with you?”
Cody gave Callie a considering look, his mouth set in a grim line. “I thought you had nothing to do with all that.”
“I didn’t.”
He waited.
Callie toyed with a piece of broccoli. “I guess I want to know how much I was worth. What kind of ransom did you have to pay to get me back?”
Not a lot, she obviously hoped. Cody didn’t know why, but he took heart at that, too. “Twenty-five thousand,” Cody said.
Callie did a double take. “That’s all they asked?” She appeared not to be able to imagine that.
“No,” Cody clarified with a disgruntled frown. “They asked a million.”
Callie’s emerald eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “But you didn’t know it was my brother and Pa doing the asking at that time, did you?”
Cody sighed. He figured they might as well discuss this. “Sad to say, I hadn’t a clue,” he admitted.
Callie’s teeth sank into her lower lip. “Weren’t you worried that the kidnappers would get angry when they found out how little money you showed up with?”
No, all I worried about was you and your safety, Callie, Cody thought. Unwilling to give that much of his feelings away just yet, he replied in a deliberately careless tone, “That’s all I could get on short notice.” He looked deep into Callie’s eyes and was pleased when she didn’t flinch in embarrassment or look away. “Besides, I had it bundled so it would all look authentic.”
To Cody’s surprise, Callie began to look a little pale. “Did Pa and Buck know how little you were giving over to the alleged kidnappers?”
Cody frowned, remembering how well be had been duped. “No, as far as they were concerned, I had gotten together one million dollars.”
“Why did you tell them that?”
At the time, Cody really hadn’t been able to say. Now he knew. “Because I didn’t trust them, even then,” he said gruffly.
Callie started to take a bite of her broccoli, changed her mind, put her fork down and took a sip of wine instead. “What happened when you went to make the exchange?” she asked, a little nervously.
Cody scowled, recalling. “We were supposed to go to this beach around three in the morning. Your brother and father had been instructed not to come. Of course they were there anyway, supposedly to help grab the kidnappers once I had gotten you safely out of the line of fire, but they were out of sight, some distance away.”
Callie was completely enthralled by his tale. “Then what happened?” she pressed.
“The kidnappers showed up with a young woman in a long white dress and cloak, a hood over her face. She had her hands tied behind her. They had a gun in her ribs.”
Callie paled even more. “And you thought it was me.”
Cody felt the blood leave his face. “Yes.” Abruptly needing to get up and move around, he stood and poured himself some more wine. “They asked me if I was ready to make a deal. I said yes. But I also told them they weren’t getting all the money from me until the deal was complete and I had you safely out of the way.” Cody downed his wine in a single gulp. “The next thing I know, I’m surrounded by Mexican police and being hauled off to jail as the prime suspect in a murder-for-hire scheme.” Cody regarded Callie contemptuously. “Apparently they’d had a tip—probably from Buck and your pa, I realize now—that I was really the one responsible for the mysterious disappearance of my bride and was paying to have her killed so I could collect on the insurance. So the police brought a decoy to the beach, as bait, to lure me out into the open. Then arrested me on the basis of the cash and illegally obtained weapon I had.”
Callie looked utterly miserable. “Didn’t you explain?” she asked, incensed.
Cody poured himself another glass of wine. “For all the good it did me. It took me three weeks and Uncle Max’s help to get everything straightened out. By then, your brother and father were long gone, allegedly chasing down a lead they’d gotten on you. The briefcase full of cash had mysteriously disappeared from the evidence room, along with the crooked Mexican cop who had set up the bust. Max and I tried and were unable to turn up anything on you that indicated you were still in Mexico or actually had been kidnapped.
“So we headed back for Montana. Shortly after we arrived, who should turn up again but Buck and your pa. Claiming no luck in finding you, either—their lead had turned out to be a wild-goose chase—they asked me for money. But I had nothing left in my own accounts to give them, and besides—”
Callie regarded Cody gravely. “You were suspicious, weren’t you?”
Cody nodded grimly and then explained why. “In Mexico they’d been beside themselves with grief over your alleged kidnapping and disappearance. One month later, they displayed no grief whatsoever and only a sort of vague, nervous curiosity about you. Had you turned up? they wanted to know. Had I heard from you or anyone pretending to be you? They seemed curiously convinced you were still alive and well, despite all other indications to the contrary. So following my gut instinct, I promised to let them know if anything did turn up and I sent them away empty-handed.”
Callie sighed and rubbed her eyes. Either she was a very good actress, Cody thought, or she was really distressed.
Finally, she said, “I think you’re right in figuring Buck and Pa tried to pull a con on you, but if it makes you feel better, I don’t think they ever saw any of the cash. I think the Mexican police—or whoever helped them—got it.”
Cody took another sip of wine. “Don’t expect me to feel sorry for them for being double-crossed.”
Callie’s chin jutted out stubbornly. “I’m glad they got double-crossed,” she said passionately. “I only wish that they’d ended up in jail instead of you. Maybe it would have taught them something.”
“Unfortunately,” Cody drawled, not sure whether he should believe her, only knowing that, deep down, somewhere, he did, “it didn’t happen that way.”
She met his eyes beseechingly. “If only I’d known what was going on at the time, I would have come forward to save you, implicate them and set the record straight.”
Wary of being suckered in again—he could feel his defenses slipping away with every moment he spent with Callie—Cody studied her bluntly. “That’s what Max said, too,” he said tersely as he sat back down at the table. He had gone to enough trouble to cook this meal, he figured he might as well finish it, particularly since Callie did not look as if she had an enormous appetite, either.
“What do you mean?” Callie said, completely stunned. “Are you telling me that Max didn’t know about my kidnapping, either?”
Cody nodded reluctantly. He knew how it had been a mistake for him not to go to his uncle from the start; that was one of the reasons he and Max had quarreled and never made up. Cody scowled. He knew that for the rest of his life he was going to regret the fact that Max had died before the two of them could make up.
But his actions had been inevitable, Cody realized with regret. His guardedness, his inability to let others in on what he was thinking and feeling had started when his parents had died.
But to his increasing frustration, dealing with his grief and getting on with his life hadn’t been as easy for him, then or now, even though he was made of the same rough-and-tumble McKendrick stock as his brother and sister.
Not wanting to let his Uncle Max and the others down, knowing it was what they all expected of him, Cody had drawn on every ounce of willpower he had and forced himself to toughen up. To his pleasure and surprise, he’d eventually found he could be every bit the sturdy westerner that the rest of them were. Unfortunately, there’d been a downside to all that self-imposed toughness.
Since recovering from his grief, Cody had found it almost impossible to open up, to let himself love anyone except Patience and Trace. Callie had almost changed that once. She was trying to change it again. He just wasn’t sure he should let her. He didn’t want to go back to feeling like he could take a shot through the heart again. He didn’t want to put himself at risk of being hurt, or abandoned, however involuntarily, again.
Aware Callie was still waiting for an explanation and that she wouldn’t rest until she got one, he went on reluctantly. “When your pa and Buck showed me the ransom demand, it specifically mentioned Max. It said his phone lines were tapped and if I tried to go to him for help in rescuing you, you’d be dead within minutes. Because I didn’t want to take a chance of anything happening to you, I didn’t confide in him. I just withdrew all the cash I could get to on my own and tried to bluff my way through the rest.”
Callie sighed. She regarded him with compassion. “Max must have been hurt when he found out what had happened.”
“Yeah, he was, but he also knew I’d done what I felt I had to do then. Just as I’ve gotta do what I feel I have to do now.”
Callie held her breath. “And that is?”
“Much as we want to, we can’t go back and change things, Callie,” Cody said tightly, reining in the heartfelt passion he felt for her and replacing it with good old-fashioned horse sense. “We can’t pretend the kidnapping and my setup by your con artist family never happened. Because it did.”
19:00
MAYBE THEY COULDN’T change the past, Callie thought as she began to clear the table, but she had a chance to influence her and Cody’s future, if only she could find a way to get rid of her brother and father. They had ruined her chances with Cody once. She didn’t want it happening again. And she knew if Cody saw either one of them hanging around, he would go ballistic.
“I’m going to call down to the bunkhouse and the cattle barns, make sure everything is okay,” Cody said gruffly.
Callie knew, after all the intimate talk just now, that he wanted to put some physical distance between them. And maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. She didn’t want to feel she was in a marriage or a relationship on her own, with her doing all the giving and getting nothing in return. Yet Cody, with his challenging manner and surprising vulnerability, was tempting her to take the risk and do just that.
“Cisco is supposed to stop by in a few minutes with some papers for me to sign. He usually comes in the back,” Cody continued. “In the meantime, I’ll be in the study.”
Callie set the dirty dishes in the sink. “I’ll let you know when he gets here,” she promised. In the meantime, maybe she could figure out how to handle him.
Callie wasn’t used to charging in where she wasn’t wanted. She wasn’t sure she liked the sensation. But too much was riding on the outcome of their forty-eight hours for her not to give it at least one last concerted try. And she was no longer too shy to admit it.
She wanted to own a ranch, some place of her own, something strong and solid. She wanted to have a fresh start so she could make something of herself. And she wanted a family, and a good, strong, honest husband who wasn’t afraid to stand up for what was right, someone who would not neglect to show his love for her.
Having seen her video, having known her, Max had been aware of all that. He’d felt that because of her love of animals and the outdoors and riding and roping and Montana, the bull’s-eye property on the Silver Spur was the perfect place for her to build her nest. And he had known it was the ideal place for her to raise the kids she wanted to have, with Cody.
The problem was the past.
If she had a chance to do it all over again, she would not have leaned on Cody so much or let him try to save her by helping her run away. Instead, she would have saved herself first and then gone to him, but only when her life was in good shape. Instead, she had ended up inadvertently making her problems—Buck and Pa—his problems, and she was very sorry about that, because that experience seemed to have hurt and embittered Cody in a way that might not ever be undone. No matter how much Max, or she, wanted it so, Callie thought as she finished loading the dishwasher.
She had just started on the pots and pans when Cisco Kidd showed up, a sheaf of legal documents in hand. Hat in hand, he entered the kitchen. “Hi, Callie.”
“Could I talk to you a minute, privately?” Callie asked, waylaying him before he had a chance to head back to the study.
The germ of an idea was beginning to form. If she was going to get rid of Pa and Buck, she would have to do it on her own. And the sooner the better.
“Sure.” Cisco Kidd set down his hat and briefcase genially and pulled up a chair at the kitchen table. He watched her with thinly veiled interest. “Max asked me to be of assistance to all of you in any way I could.”
Too nervous to sit with him, Callie paced back and forth. She was taking a risk here, but she had no choice, she reminded herself sternly. “Is there any way you can find out if there are any outstanding warrants on my pa and my brother for me?” she finally blurted out.
Cisco’s brows rose. “I can call Sheriff Anderson,” he offered.
Callie raked her teeth across her lower lip. “But can you do that without Cody finding out?” she specified worriedly.
“I’m a lawyer, Callie. Of course I can be discreet.” Cisco paused to study her bluntly. “Are you sure you should be keeping secrets from him, though? I have a feeling Max wouldn’t approve. He reined you two together for forty-eight hours to bring you closer, not the other way around.”
Callie’s spine stiffened in indignation. She knew Uncle Max’s attorney meant well, but she didn’t need him making her feel guilty, too. Nevertheless, as she exhaled wearily, she was all too aware she needed Cisco Kidd on her side if she was going to accomplish what she wanted. “Believe me, Cisco, I have no choice.”
Besides, whatever secret activities she had to indulge in now would be worth it if she could just get rid of Buck and Pa before the wedding, Callie thought as she picked up a scouring pad and resumed cleaning the broiler pan. Buck and Pa had bilked so many people out of their life savings they deserved to be in jail, even if they were her kin. Not to mention what they had done to Cody and to her in Acapulco, Callie sighed regretfully. If not for the two of them, she and Cody might be happily married now.
Cisco watched Callie resume scrubbing the broiler pan with more than necessary force. Obviously realizing the utmost discretion was called for in this situation, he pushed back his chair and closed the distance between them. He stood looking down at her, his arms folded in front of him and his back to the counter. “What do you want me to do if I find out there are warrants?” he asked very quietly.
Callie swallowed against the knot of fear in her throat. As she looked up into the young and handsome attorney’s face, she reminded herself she was only doing what was right. “Let the sheriff know they are in the area.”
Cisco did not look surprised at her decision. Rather, he seemed to support it wholeheartedly, even as he, too, tensed in concern. “Are you saying your pa and brother are here?” he asked her point-blank.
Callie nodded, flushing all the more as she marshaled her resolve to see justice done. Would she ever stop feeling embarrassed that Buck and Pa were her kin?
“I thought you were going to tell me when Cisco arrived, Callie,” Cody interrupted smoothly from the doorway.
At the sound of Cody’s voice, Callie jumped a mile. Though she had done nothing wrong, she felt as if she had been caught red-handed in a secret tête-à-tête, Cisco looked equally uneasy; it was clear he didn’t like going behind Cody’s back. Well, there was nothing to do but brazen it out. A cordial smile plastered on her face, she turned to face Cody. “Well, as you can see for yourself, he’s here,” she said politely.
“And I’ve got the papers you wanted.” Cisco picked them up from the tabletop and held them out.
His eyes still on Callie and Cisco, grimly studying them both for any sign of deception, Cody took the papers. His manner even more tense and unapproachable, he perused them carefully. Finally, he sighed. “These look fine.” Reaching into his pocket for a pen, he scribbled his name authoritatively at the bottom.
“Well, if that’s all...” Cisco took the papers back and slipped them into his briefcase. Anxious to be on his way, he snapped shut the lid. “I’ll be going.”
Cody nodded, his eyes still on Callie. “Let me know if there’s any more problems with the ranch tonight,” he told Cisco.
“Will do.” Cisco tersely smiled his adieu and slipped out the door.
Cody turned back to Callie. A taut silence stretched between them. She knew at once the gloves were off. “Are you going to tell me?”
Feeling guilty for excluding Cody, for she knew he hated being cut out of the action and relegated to the sidelines more than anything else, Callie picked up the mesh bag of baking potatoes and took it back into the walk-in pantry. I have no choice but to do this on my own if I want him back, she told herself firmly. And she was honest enough to admit to herself that she did want him back, had for years and years now. Even if he hadn’t exactly welcomed her with open arms.
Slender shoulders squared, her back to Cody, she put the potatoes on the shelf and mentally braced herself for the thorough interrogation she knew was coming. Cody was not the type of man anymore to let anything drop, never mind her tête-à-tête with Cisco Kidd.
Cody followed her inside the small space, his large, muscular frame solidly blocking the only exit from the storage closet. “What was going on here a few minutes ago?” he demanded.
Refusing to let either his size or his strength intimidate her, Callie focused on the suntanned column of his throat. She did not want him to see how much she yearned to tell him everything. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said stubbornly.
Cody planted his hands on either side of her head and backed her against the wall. He towered over her, his blue eyes intent. She could see the pulse working in his neck, feel the evocative warmth of his body. “I think you do,” he said, very softly.
So what? Callie knew that to give Cody an inch in terms of explanations would be to give him a mile. She did not want him to think he could goad her into submission. She was her own person these days. He might as well know and accept that before they took their relationship even one step further. She angled her chin up at him defiantly and said with complete honesty, “In all the time I’ve known you, Cody, I have given you no reason to distrust me.”
Cody’s lips curved cynically. He leaned closer, so they were touching in one long, electricity-filled line. “Now that,” he drawled, “is a matter for debate.”
For whom? Callie’s temper flared. It was bad enough being kin to Buck and Pa without being blamed for everything lousy that they did. She planted her hand on the solid wall of his chest and pushed with all her might. It was like trying to move a five-hundred-pound boulder. “Look, either you trust me not to hurt you or you don’t, Cody.” Either he knew her heart and soul—as she felt deep down he did—or he didn’t.
“The only thing I really trust,” Cody said, ignoring her efforts to disengage herself as he gathered her in his arms with the same careless strength with which he had made love to her earlier, “is the passion we share.” The vulnerability fading from his eyes, he dipped his head to hers and began to kiss her.
Savoring his hunger and his impatience, Callie leaned into the sensuous caress. Her heart pounded as his palms slid up her back to her shoulders, then down again to her breasts. She opened her mouth to the probing of his tongue, fitting herself more accurately to him and moaning softly in the back of her throat. She had never imagined she could feel this way, would want to feel this way, but she did, and that brought home the stark reality of the situation like nothing else.
“Uh-huh,” Callie told him breathlessly as, hand to his chest, she tore her mouth from his and decisively called a halt. “If we’re going to make love again, Cody,” she said firmly, her mind made up, “we’re going to do it on my terms.”