Cowboy Cool: Book 5 (Cowboy Justice Association) (11 page)

“I need to get back to work,” Brent said. “I’ll see you at the next meeting.”

Just that quick he was gone. She stared at her phone for a few seconds wondering if there was another way she could have handled that, a less hurtful way, before stowing it in her purse. Reed had already turned back to their task and was hunting through the pumpkins again.

“This one looks good,” Reed observed, lifting up the massive gourd for her inspection.

“It’s fine.” Kaylee wasn’t interested in pumpkins anymore. Shit, this was why she didn’t date often. She had no flipping idea what she was doing. “Dammit, I feel like the Wicked Witch of the West.”

Reed set the pumpkin into the wagon and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Your friend Brent is a grown man, honey. And grown men know they are taking a chance when they ask a woman out on a date. Sometimes you get turned down. He’ll be okay, I promise you.”

“How would you know? I bet you’ve never been turned down in your life.”

She couldn’t imagine the woman that would say no to Reed.

Reed lifted up the handle on the Radio Flyer and they both started walking back to the cashier.

“I’ll have you know that Allison Avery broke my heart. I asked her to be my girlfriend and she turned me down flat.”

Allison Avery needed her head examined. “Was this recently?”

“I was thirteen and passed her a note after history class. By gym I’d received a resounding no. Turns out she liked sensitive, poetry writing blonds.”

“That was a long time ago.” Kaylee laughed, liking the fact that he could be self-deprecating. “It hardly counts.”

“It was at a very crucial time in my development. But I did learn something important from it.”

“What was that?” she teased. “Teenage girls are fickle?”

Reed stopped in his tracks, his expression quite serious despite their levity. “I survived. I thought it was the worst thing in the world but it turns out it wasn’t even close. The survival instinct is more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

That statement left Kaylee with only two questions.

What terrible thing had happened to him that made him close off his emotions? Was Reed Mitchell living or only surviving?

*   *   *   *

Reed pounded on the laptop keyboard later that day but the results didn’t change. Kaylee was not going to like this. Hopefully she wouldn’t kill the messenger.

“Are you getting hungry for dinner?”

They were sitting in her kitchen, Reed on the laptop and Kaylee bustling around the kitchen. She opened the oven and the heavenly aroma of chocolate cake wafted around him, his stomach growling in approval.

“I can always eat so, whenever you get hungry let me know and I’ll put the steaks on the grill.”

They were currently marinating in the refrigerator along with some diced potatoes mixed with garlic and shallots and then wrapped in foil. The chocolate cake was going to be the perfect end to a great meal.

“I love a man with an appetite. You’ve been tapping away for at least three hours and your shoulders have to be killing you. I have a heating pad you can use if you like.”

Reed had noticed the little nagging aches and pains she had from being bent over a keyboard so much. She was constantly rubbing at her neck and shoulders and rotating her wrists, saying they felt stiff. What she needed was a relaxing massage.

Reed swallowed hard as the image of Kaylee barely clad, her skin shiny from oil, floated through his mind. Damn, he needed to focus. It was almost as if he was torturing himself on purpose. After spending the last few days with this woman he found himself wanting more. More time, more intimacy. Neither was a very good idea.

“Reed?” Kaylee prompted, giving him a strange look. “Did you hear me?”

“I did. I’m okay though. I’ve been working on these background checks.”

“By the tone of your voice you’ve found something. Few people live perfect lives, you know.”

God knows I haven’t.

“Your friend, Brent? The one you felt so sorry for this morning? He sure hasn’t.”

Kaylee stopped wiping her hands on a dishtowel. “Brent? What could he have done?”

“How long have you known him anyway?” Kaylee talked about how she couldn’t trust men but outside of relationships she was too trusting by far. Reed shuddered at the things he’d found out about the people that had been in her home just yesterday.

“I met him a few months ago through Linda and Cheryl. He does website design and development. He freelances.”

“So he might know how to spoof an email server in the Ukraine or Hong Kong.” Reed didn’t make it sound like a question because it wasn’t.

“He might,” Kaylee said defensively. “Is that all you’ve got because that’s pretty flimsy evidence.”

“Did you know that he was recently a resident of the Vandalia Correctional Center? It’s a minimum security prison in southern Illinois.”

“I know where Vandalia is,” she said sharply, her lips pressed into a line. Reed could tell she was trying to keep herself from asking what he’d been in for. Finally she groaned and tossed down the dishtowel in disgust. “Just tell me already. What did he do?”

“He was selling drugs at his last place of employment.”

Letting the words sink in, Reed watched a parade of emotions flit across her expressive features. First there was clear denial, then anger—probably at not knowing, but acceptance won the day. Damn, she was a sweet woman. The urge to confess his own sins and receive her tender absolution was strong and unexpected but he ruthlessly pushed it away. The time for mercy had long passed.

“That doesn’t mean he’s a stalker.”

“You’re right,” he agreed, not wanting to argue with her when they had a pleasant evening planned. “It doesn’t mean a thing except that he’s someone to keep an eye on.”

“Anything else? Anyone else?” she asked reluctantly, her usual smile wiped from her face.

“Yes.” Reed handed her a stack of papers he’d printed up earlier. “A few of your writer friends like to drink and party. A couple have records for theft which might be a reason not to have these little get-togethers at your home any longer. I’m still working on the rest of the list we made yesterday.”

Kaylee scanned the pages, her complexion paler than before. Reed felt crappy having to do this to her but right now she had to be aware of everyone she came into contact with.

“I hate this,” she said, her voice choked and her eyes bright with tears. “Dammit, these people are my friends. I doubt my life could stand up to this kind of scrutiny. I wonder what people would think about me?”

Kaylee had been the first person he’d checked out and she was clean as a whistle other than a few points on her driver’s license for speeding. “They’d think you were a good person. All these people are probably good, honey. I’ve seen some of the best people make a mistake and get themselves into a bad situation. It doesn’t make them evil, it just makes them human.”

“Then why are we doing this?”

“Because some asshole has forced us to,” he answered heavily, not any more thrilled about the task than she was. “When this is all over we’ll have a burning ceremony and send those papers up in flames.”

“Promise?” Her expression was hopeful and this was something he could give assurance on.

“Cross my heart. Now how about those steaks? I’ll heat up the grill.”

Kaylee nodded and Reed headed to the back yard. He needed to talk to Jared and see if he’d found anything, but most of all he needed for this guy to make another move, to reveal more about himself. It was the only way Reed would be able to find this person and stop them. He could investigate everyone around Kaylee and he could stay here and protect her, but the ball wasn’t in his court. It was a waiting game and Reed hated games.

Chapter Ten

R
eed hadn’t mentioned any more about her friends, background checks, or her stalker so the evening had turned out quite pleasant. They had eaten dinner and were now ensconced on the couch watching
Young Frankenstein,
having already finished the Peanuts special. Kaylee had her head on Reed’s shoulder and his arm was on the back of the cushion but his fingers were playing idly in her hair. It was a cozy, domestic scene, but despite the veneer of serenity her heart was thumping and her breath was shallow. She wanted this man badly.

Breathing in his heavenly male scent, she snuggled closer into the heat of his body, loving how his muscular frame wrapped snuggly around her. Watching television had never been this exciting before.

“Are you cold?” His voice was low and close to her ear. He pulled the cotton throw more closely around her, tucking it under her feet.

“Not now,” she whispered, loathe to break the companionable silence between them. She felt warm and protected here in his arms, never wanting it to end. Of course it would but she was determined to make the most of the present and let the future take care of itself. She was almost asleep when the living room was suddenly flooded with light. She heard the splintering of breaking glass and the roar of an engine along with squealing tires.

She sat up, almost falling off the couch as Reed leapt to his feet. Standing up to see what had happened behind them, she was instead pushed back down onto the sofa with a strong hand on her shoulder.

“Stay,” he commanded before striding toward the front of the house where her dining room table sat overlooking the front yard. Peeking over the back cushions, her heart pounded in her chest as she crouched down waiting for word from Reed. He’d flipped on all the exterior lights and she could hear him walking around the perimeter of the house.

Shards of broken glass lay on the oak top of her dining table and on the floor as well. A cold breeze was wafting through the damaged window and she pulled the throw closer around her body. No glass company was going to come out this time of night. They’d have to nail some boards over the opening until tomorrow.

When he came back into the house his expression had turned grim and his jaw was tight. He assessed the damage to the window and then frowned, leaning over to pick up something from the floor.

He held up the brick wrapped with paper and heavy twine. The word “Slut” was scrawled across the side. “More escalation. Hopefully we got the asshole on camera.”

She’d forgotten about the cameras he’d set up. The rush of light must have been the motion-sensor lamps he’d placed around the house. Her heart was still racing but she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She trusted Reed to take care of this. Being alone and independent wasn’t looking all that attractive right about now. It felt good to have someone to lean on, someone who knew about these things.

She watched as he dug into his laptop bag he’d stowed in the foyer, pulling out rubber gloves wrapped in plastic. He tugged them on before using a pocket knife to slice through the twine and unwrapping the heavy brick.

“Does it say anything?” she asked, not really wanting to know but needing to at the same time.

He didn’t answer her right away, instead studying the thick cream colored paper. It looked like something that her butcher would wrap around steaks.

“It says ‘your turn’ and has another drawing.”

If Reed’s thunderous expression was anything to go by, it wasn’t something she wanted to see. But she was a grown woman and she needed to face this head on. She walked to his side and steeled herself.

“Show me.”

Reed sighed and angled the paper toward her. Acid rose in her throat and her stomach churned at the sickness displayed. The words had been cut letter by letter from magazines. She’d always thought that was something they only did in movies. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The sender had hand-drawn another picture—as crudely rendered as the last. This one featured a figure that she supposed to be herself lying in a coffin with a rose on her chest while mourners gathered around.

It was sick. And twisted. And it terrified her. Why did someone want to do this to her? What had she done?

Reed set the brick on the table and pulled her into his arms. Rubbing her back, he let her draw strength from his nearness.

“You okay, honey? This guy is just trying to get you rattled. Don’t let him get inside your head.”