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Pat was working in his arena when he heard the sound of a vehicle he recognized coming up his driveway. Suzanne coming home from work. She had moved into his house ten days ago. Now that she was here, he loved getting up in the morning and going to bed at night.
They both had changed in subtle ways in the aftermath of the Mitch episode. Suzanne seemed to need him more, which made him work at being closer to her. Their relationship had changed, too. Believing Mitch had vanished as a threat, Pat felt more relaxed, freer to be himself. The need to defend his manhood had disappeared. He no longer felt Suzanne was leading him around by the nose. They functioned as a unit. He was a happy man.
He began to wind down his workout with Blue Streak. An hour later he entered his house to the aroma of Italian spices. Country music played from the kitchen. He found Suzanne stirring something in a pot on the stove. She looked casual and at ease, wearing boxer shorts and an oversize T-shirt, her feet bare and her long blond hair in a ponytail. “Hey,” he said.
She gazed up at him with a huge smile. “Hey, yourself, cowboy.”
“Whatcha making?” he asked, glancing into the pot.
“Spaghetti. Quick and easy.”
He looped an arm around her shoulder, bent down for a kiss, which turned into more than just a peck. His interest veered from food to something else entirely. “I’m gonna get a shower,” he said. “Wanna join me?”
She grinned. “I just got out. I still have to make a salad. We can eat as soon as you finish.”
He squeezed her bottom and trekked to the bathroom. He showered away the sweat and dust of the day and shampooed his hair, made a quick pass with his electric razor to knock down his end-of-day stubble, pulled on sweatpants and a T-shirt and returned to the kitchen. Suzanne was at the sink washing lettuce under the faucet. He walked behind her, wrapped his arms around her and pressed himself against the cleft of her bottom. She smelled of soap and water and Suzanne. Almost instantly his dick turned to stone.
“Hmm,” she said. “You must be really glad to see me.”
“Left over from this morning,” he murmured against her ear. With both of them having overslept, they hadn’t had sex this morning. He cupped her breast with one hand, gave her neck a nip, then soothed the spot with his tongue.
“If there’s anything I like, it’s a man with a one-track mind,” she said with a low giggle.
He slipped his other hand inside the elastic waistband of her shorts and caressed her flat belly, learned she wasn’t wearing panties. “Hmm, soft,” he whispered, and moved his fingers down. She made a little noise and leaned back into him. He parted her sex with his fingers and found her wet and hot.
“Pat,” she said in a tiny voice.
“Shut the water off,” he said, his own voice coming out hoarsely. “Let’s go to bed.”
“Are we talking a quickie?”
“Only if that’s what it has to be.”
“There’s no such thing as a quickie with you, Pat Garner. Wait a minute.”
She pulled away from him, turned off the faucet and the burner under the pot on the stove and he led her to the bedroom. In no time they were skin to skin, sensually rubbing against each other. If he lived to be a hundred, he would always be amazed at how well they fit together.
Limbs and mouths entangled, they rolled together over his king-size bed until he was behind her, his body curved around hers, his hands caressing her breasts, her belly, his fingers sliding between her thighs and stroking her into little kittenish whimpers. “There... yes, there...oh, Pat... don’t tease me....”
Running his hand along her firm hip, he hooked her knee and pushed it high, positioned his cock and eased into her. She moaned softly and her hot muscles latched on to him. Sensation whooshed through him. He gritted his teeth and held his breath to keep from coming. On a grunt, he seated himself all the way to the hilt, then hesitated and drew a deep breath, fighting for control. “God, Suzanne . . .”
She fidgeted against him. “Pat . . .”
“Shh-shh . . .” He splayed his fingers over her belly and pressed her closer to him.
“I need . . .”
“I know,” he murmured. He moved his fingers down and began to stroke.
“Oh...oh, Pat...”
“Easy, now,” he whispered against her neck. “Nice and slow.” He took control and with great effort, kept the pace excruciatingly measured, losing himself in the smooth slide of his hard flesh against the walls of her slick, hot channel.
Her hips began to move against him. “I don’t want slow,” she said in a tiny, desperate voice.
“Relax,” he whispered.
“I can’t,” she said, but she stopped struggling against him.
“That’s it...sweet, sweet baby...that’s it.” He stroked her nape with his tongue, gently bit into her shoulder while he blindly played with the tender petals of her sex, deliberately avoiding the core of her.
Her breath began to hiss between her teeth. She gripped his wrist tightly, trying to move his hand. “Pat...touch me.”
He resisted her effort, didn’t want her to come yet. When she did, he would, and he wanted to enjoy her as long as possible. He sensed she was on the edge and pulled out. She gave a frantic little gasp, but he quickly turned her to her back, crawled between her thighs and pushed into her again. She lifted her knees, clutched his biceps and peaked at once, sobbing out and panting. He barely lasted through her contractions powerfully pulling at him. After she finished, he let go, too, breathing her name as his own orgasm tore through him and he filled her with his semen.
They lay silently, clinging tightly and soothing each other with gentle caresses and tender words. In time, he tilted his head back and looked into her clear blue eyes. “Your eyes are like the Texas sky,” he said. “Sometimes, when I’m outside and there’s not a cloud in the sky and all I can see for miles is blue, I think of your eyes.”
She kissed him. “I love you,” she said softly.
“I love you, too,” he said.
She traced his lower lip with her fingertips. “You’re terrible, you know that? When we were doing it, you were talking to me like I’ve heard you talk to your horses,”
He smiled, covered her fingers with his hand and kissed the tips. “Sometimes you’re like them. Sometimes you need gentling just like they do.”
“Is that so? Now I have to decide if I do or don’t like being compared to a horse.”
“You know how much I love my horses.”
“I do. And I’m glad I’m part of what you love....You hungry?”
“Uh-uh.”
“We should get cleaned up and eat before that spaghetti turns into garbage.”
Later they sat at the table, eating. “Oh, I meant to tell you something as soon as you got home,” she said, “but you distracted me.” She looked up from her plate and gave him a mischievous look.
He gave her a wink. “Tell me what?”
“Today, when Jolie Jensen came to town and bought groceries, Jake Strayhorn was waiting for her in broad daylight across the street from the grocery store.”
“What does that mean?” Pat asked, not quite getting it and knowing he was being obtuse.
“I thought you might know since you’re friends with him. In front of God and everybody, she got in his pickup with him and they drove away.”
“The hell,” Pat said, puzzled.
“Later he brought her back,” Suzanne said, “and she got in the Circle C’s pickup and drove toward the sheriff’s office. Never have I seen Jake associate with a woman in Lockett.”
“Me, either. Not since that schoolteacher, which was before you came back here. But what the hell? Jake likes women as much as the next man.”
“I’m amazed, aren’t you? I mean I’m amazed about him picking Jolie. She’s a really nice person and really pretty, but I just never expected Jake would go for her. She must be a lot younger than he is.”
“Jake’s thirty-six.”
“And I’ll bet she’s under thirty.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Pat said. “I get the feeling Jake’s a lonely guy. Maybe he thinks it’s time to settle down. His friends are getting hitched. First Brady, now me. Maybe he feels left out.”
Suzanne huffed. “That’s no basis for a relationship. You make it sound like he would just pick anybody out and say, ‘Okay, I’ll take this one.’”
“That isn’t what I mean at all, Suz. All I’m saying is Jake’s not the kind of guy who would dive off a cliff over a woman, but that doesn’t mean he’d be cavalier about his feelings for someone.”
“You mean he’d take up with somebody just to have somebody around?”
“Not at all. But he’s a planner. He would be thoughtful and decisive about what he wants. Then he’d make a decision.”
“Well, he must be serious about her. He didn’t seem to mind at all that everybody in town probably saw her get into his pickup.”
***
LYING IN THE DARK IN his king-size bed, his fingers interlocked behind his head, Jake pondered the afternoon with Jolie. Lord, she was something. Her total honesty and openness were as refreshing as a drink of cool water. And she was a pretty woman. He had thought so the moment he saw her. A man could get lost in those searching deep brown eyes.
A few years ago, he would have called her “hot,” but words like that no longer came to his mind when he thought of women. Not that he didn’t enjoy a sexy, good-looking woman, but nowadays, he sought specific characteristics, such as loyalty and a companion he could trust. Affection and unselfishness. In terms of relationships, it was a relief to finally know what he wanted.
Since half the world was female, the qualities he required should have been easy for him, or any man, to come by, but until Jolie Jensen, he hadn’t found them all in one person. In Jolie, he saw even more than he required. She was brave and strong. He had always respected bravery, always admired those willing to push the envelope and take personal risk to break away from a bad hand life had dealt them. But Jolie, even while being brave, retained a vulnerability that pierced him deeply and made him want to love and protect her and her daughter. Originally, he had hoped that the woman he finally chose to spend the rest of his life with would be a little closer to his age, but now he had concluded that a thing like age wasn’t quite so important.
He couldn’t identify the moment his wants had evolved from “just sex” with a hot woman. God knew he had found sex whenever he wanted and to whatever erotic degree he fancied, but that evidently hadn’t been enough. Not since he was a kid and had married at twenty-one had he desired to take a relationship farther. Maybe he had simply grown up and started looking for something different.
Odd that from out of the blue, someone would turn up in Lockett who seemed to be all that he wanted. But that was the way life was, he had learned. Unplanned things happened at unexpected moments. Now that he had found Jolie, he had to figure out how they could spend more time together.
He dropped off to sleep, but after spending a restless night, awoke before daylight. He would be alone in the office most of today, so he had no time for his run, nor would he be able to go out for breakfast. He brewed coffee and nuked a frozen egg and sausage burrito in the microwave, then went to his office.
He had no sooner arrived than the phone rang. He picked up to hear the driller from AmDril Exploration Company, one of the drilling companies in town temporarily, reporting that all of the company trucks parked in their yard had been broken into overnight. Jake locked the office and drove out and investigated.
He found few clues that would lead him to make an arrest. A vandal had obtained entry to the trucks by smashing the drivers’ and passengers’ windows. Missing mostly were small electronic items that could be sold for quick cash, though not anywhere in Lockett that Jake knew about. He returned to his office with the evidence he had gathered, but suspected finding the guilty party would be an accident. Nevertheless, back at his desk, he wrote a report, laid a copy on Chuck’s desk and gave a copy to Amanda.
“Now, who do you suppose did this?” she asked disgustedly, scanning the report and shaking her head. “I can’t think of a soul around here who would. Not even kids.”
“Somebody passing through, I suspect,” Jake told her. “The yard’s right on the highway and they don’t have security night lighting. After this, they probably will.”
He returned to his office. Glasses perched on the end of his nose, he sat at his desk shuffling through the faxes that had come across while he had been out. Most of them were BOLOs out of various Texas cities. Most severe crime in Texas occurred in and around the population centers. Most rural people were too busy to be criminals. His pulse rate escalated when he saw Billy Dean Jensen’s name. He wasn’t surprised though he hadn’t expected it.
He pulled the sheet out of the stack, sat back in his chair and studied Jensen’s picture, recognized the dead-eyed look of a drug user. He read further—known drug user, history of mild violence and domestic abuse, a few more facts typical of young men like Jensen. He was alleged to have stolen enough money to be called grand theft from an individual several days back and since he was on probation, the Dallas PD wanted him ASAP.
Every one of Jake’s cop instincts told him Jensen couldn’t be found in Dallas because he was headed for Willard County and his ex-wife. He plucked his cell phone from his belt and keyed in Jolie’s number. She didn’t answer, so he left a message for her to call him.
He strode to the front office and showed the BOLO to Amanda, took a seat in a chair beside her desk while she studied it. Her eyes widened as she read down the page. “Oh, my God,” she said. “I knew Jolie had problems, but I had no idea she was married to someone like this. I thought they just had a few fights.”
“Exactly how are you related to Jolie?”
“My mother and her mother are cousins. Jolie’s actually my distant cousin and I don’t even know her that well. I’m ten years older than she is. I just remember hearing my mom say it was shameful all the work and responsibility Evelyn shoved off on Jolie while she gallivanted around with this man and that. Jolie practically raised her two sisters and she’s had a job for as long as I can remember. Mom always said Evelyn treated Jolie more like her slave than her daughter.”
Jake already had the picture of how Jolie had been raised, but Amanda’s conversation only redoubled his admiration for her as well as his determination to protect her. He pulled his notebook from his shirt pocket and read her the description of Jensen’s vehicle. “Have you ever seen Jensen’s truck?” he asked.
Amanda shook her head, still studying the picture on the BOLO.
Jake handed her his notebook. “Here’s the description of it. Either make a copy or write it down and be sure Chuck gets it.”
While Amanda jotted down the notes from his notebook, Jake checked his watch, made a mental note that school would let out soon. “We need to keep an eye on the school,” he said, getting to his feet.
“You think he’s coming after her, don’t you?” Amanda said.
“Just being cautious.”
“Do you think he’d hurt her?”
“All I know is she’s afraid of him. And that tells me he could hurt her.”
Jake returned to his office, plucked his cell off his belt and tried Jolie’s number again. Still no answer. He didn’t want to alarm her, so he left another message for her to call him, telling her nothing about the reason for his call. He weighed just how much potential danger there could be for her and Danni, if it was worth him driving to her cottage on the Circle C Ranch, a place he hadn’t been in twenty-four years. For all he knew, he could be wrong about Jensen. Even though he was an alleged thief, the guy could have been tamed by the system.
But not likely.
***
JOLIE HAD BEEN BUSY all day. She and Irene had thoroughly cleaned the appliances in the kitchen. She was dirty and tired, but she still had to prepare supper. She had never paid much attention to her cell phone, but hoping Jake might call her and invite to spend Monday with him again, she pulled it from her apron pocket and turned it on.
She saw two messages from Jake, which chased away her fatigue. She walked into the big pantry and speed-dialed his private number. She heard only two burrs before he picked up. “Jolie, you okay?”
She gave a low laugh. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I’ve called you a couple of times today.”
“I just now saw your messages. I’ve had my phone off all day.”
“Jolie, a fax BOLO on Billy came into my office today out of Dallas County.”
Her heart began a quick tattoo. “BOLO?”
“It means be on the lookout. He’s out of jail on probation, but he’s accused of stealing some money and he’s in violation of his probation.”
Jolie closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. “I was afraid it meant something like that. Did it say where he is?”
“They don’t know. If they did, they’d pick him up.”
“Right,” Jolie said, feeling as if a band had tightened around her chest.
“Jolie, does Billy have a gun?”
“A gun? N-no. I mean he never has. Does he have one now?”
“I just asked because I hadn’t heard you say if he has one. Did you tell Jude and Brady your circumstances?”
“No. Everyone has been so busy, including me. I haven’t had a chance.”
“What time do you go home?”
“Usually by nine. I don’t like for Danni to get to bed later than that on a school night.”
“Are you afraid to stay alone?”
“I wasn’t, but I might be now. If Billy’s got money, he’s probably smoking meth.”
“How would you feel about me talking to Brady and telling him you need to sleep in the ranch house until we resolve this?”
“I don’t think I can do that. Danni has to get ready for school tomorrow and I have to get ready for work, too. I’ve been through a lot with Billy, Jake, but I’ve always tried to not let it affect Danni’s routine. I don’t want to change that. Besides, I’m not sure I’d be comfortable sleeping here in this house. “
“Well, keep your cell phone close by. When you get home, call me and let me know you’re there. Be sure to lock your doors. I’ll be waiting for your call.”
“If I have a problem, can’t I call 9-1-1?”
Jake chuckled softly. “Sweetheart, I am 9-1-1.”
“Oh,” she said. “I hadn’t thought of that.” She heard Reuben come into the kitchen and begin speaking to Irene in Spanish. “I—I guess I should get off the phone. I’m in the pantry and I need to help Irene finish up.”
“Be sure to tell Jude and Brady what’s going on.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be thinking about you. If I don’t hear from you by ten o’clock, I’ll assume something’s not right.”
“Okay,” she repeated.
And then what? she wondered.
They disconnected. She stood in the pantry a few minutes, organizing her thoughts. Stay calm, she told herself. After all, she had known the day was coming when Billy would show up, hadn’t she? And hadn’t she dealt with him and his antics for years?
She went through the motions of finishing supper, left the serving of it up to Irene and Reuben. She was so rattled she might spill something on someone. After supper, Mr. Strayhorn went to his room, as he always did. Jude and Brady sat at the table talking, which wasn’t unusual. They rarely watched the huge TV in the family room or used the study, she had noticed. She couldn’t imagine having so many wonderful things and never using them.
Irene went to the family room and brought Danni in to eat supper with them at the round breakfast room table, but Jolie had no appetite. She walked into the dining room and said to Jude and Brady, “Can I speak to the two of you for a minute?”
“Of course,” Jude said.
“Is something wrong?” Brady asked.
In a matter of a few minutes, Jolie blurted the sorry tale of her life with Billy Jensen, including the fact that he might be on his way to Willard County. And if he was stoned enough, a simple barrier like a barbed-wire fence would do nothing to keep him from coming onto the Circle C. She even told them about exchanging her license plates with another car’s.
Brady laughed. “Jude wondered what happened to your license plates.”
“Have you talked to Jake?” Jude asked.
She nodded. “He’s keeping an eye out. But I understand he can’t be everywhere at once.”
“You and Danni are welcome to stay in the ranch house,” Jude said.
Jolie shook her head. “I don’t want to disrupt Danni’s life any more. I’ve always gone out of my way to make sure everything for her is as normal as possible. Billy doesn’t know where we live. I don’t think he’d start knocking on the door of every house on this ranch....And besides, we don’t know for sure if he’ll come here.”
