Out Of Control (37 page)

Dana
forced herself to think through the erotic haze she found herself in. Frighten
her? Maybe with someone else. But not with this man.

“No,”
she answered softly. “Not with you.”

“One
of these days when all this is over and there’s no question of anything at all,
I’m going to take you back here, Dana. But for tonight, this will be the best.”

The
head of his cock probed at her opening, touching the wet flesh. Then he glided
into her so slowly she thought she’d die before he was all the way in. His
hands gripped her hips, lean fingers holding her in place as he stroked in and
out. It was the most sensual thing she could imagine. She caught the rhythm and
moved with him, joining him in a dance they might have been doing forever. He rocked
slowly, gauging her reaction, the movement of her inner muscles.

One
hand moved around to her pussy again, finding her clit, stroking, stroking,
stroking. As he glided in and out, his balls slapped against her, another
tactile sensation that ramped up the fire burning inside her. He rode her for a
long time, holding back until he knew she was ready.

Tonight
she was ready for him, her body welcoming him. And after all the teasing in the
shower, it wasn’t long before her climax built within her. His body tightened, and
he drove hard into her, taking her over the edge with him, the orgasm shaking her
very bones.

She
had no idea how long it lasted. A minute? An hour? When the last aftershock
died away, when the thundering of their hearts slowed to an acceptable pace,
she felt as if she’d been bathed in magic.

Very
slowly, he eased from her body, turning her onto her back again. He left her
only long enough to dispose of the condom. Then he was back, pulling her
against him, wrapping her up in his arms, her head nestled on the pillow next
to his.

The
last thing she heard him say was, “You’re mine now. Don’t forget it.”

Then
he kissed her cheek.

Chapter
Thirty-Five

It
seemed they had hardly closed their eyes before reality intruded with the
ringing of Cole’s cell phone. Dana pried her eyes open and watched him stumble
out of bed. He cursed as he dragged it out of his pants pocket.

“Landry.”
He sat back down on the bed and held the phone so Dana could hear, too.

“Sheriff?
It’s Roy on dispatch. You asked me to call you.”

“What?”
he rubbed his eyes. “Okay, yeah. Thanks.”

“Agent
Clayton asked me to let you know the chopper’s here. And sir? Kelly wouldn’t go
home. She says she’s got some long lists for you, matched them up with those
names in the Chamber booklet. She won’t leave until you get here.”

Excitement
stirred inside Dana. Maybe they were finally getting somewhere. Her gut had
told her the clowns would provide the answer.

“I’m
on my way.” He pressed the End Call button and looked at Dana. “You heard. The
FBI chopper’s here. We’re going to see if we can find this asshole’s hidey
hole.”

She
started to push her way off the bed. “I’ll get up and make you some coffee.”

Cole
tugged her back against him, his arm curling around her. “No need. I’ll get
some at the office. But I do want you to get up long enough to chain and bolt
the door after me, okay?”

“Sure,
although I still can’t believe even
this
guy would be so bold as to go
after me in at your place.”

“Why
not? I don’t have any workers around here, and he knows our entire department
is focused on the killings. He’s probably counting on it. I haven’t exactly
advertised the fact, but a few people know you’re here and information has a
way of leaking out around here.” He kissed her, just a light touch of lips. “Give
me five to take a shower and dress.”

Dana
grabbed her sleep shirt from the chair where she’d tossed it the night before
and pulled it over her head. Looking out the window, she caught the dawn just
blossoming on the horizon, fingers of rose and gold reaching into the sky.
Prairie grass trembled in a breeze. She imagined Cole mounted on a horse,
riding flat out across the pastures. The scene was so peaceful she could almost
pretend all the ugliness was happening to someone else. Some
place
else.

The
shower stopped at the same time she saw the battered pickup stop at the barn
and a tall, skinny boy hop out and go into the barn.

“Your
helper’s here,” she called.

“Good.
I’ll stop and have a word with him before I leave. Maybe he can stick around.”

“Cole,
he’s just a kid. I don’t want him in any danger.”

“And
I don’t want
you
in any danger.”

“I
told you I’ll be careful. That’s a promise. And if anyone tries to get in, I’ll
call right away.”

When
he was shaved and dressed, his gun and holster in place, she walked him to the
door. He wrapped her in his arms, leaned his head down, and kissed her until
her toes curled. His tongue touched every inch of the inside of her mouth, and
his hands rubbed up and down her body as if imprinting himself on her. Both of
them were breathing hard when he let her go.

“I’ll
be checking with you during the day, just in case.”

She
frowned. “Just in case what?”

“Just
in case I can’t wait another minute to talk to you. Also to let you know what’s
going on.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Listen, Dana,” he began. “I
want…I feel…that is…”

She
smiled. “I know. Me, too.”

“When
this is over, we’re going to make plans.”

“Sounds
fine to me. Now get going before the FBI gives you a detention slip.”

He
smacked her bottom playfully then jogged to his truck.

“Lock
the door,” he yelled as he climbed behind the wheel.

She
waved one more time, then closed the door and fastened all the locks. There was
no going back to sleep so she headed for the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

****

When
Cole walked into the conference room, every deputy not on patrol was there as
well as the five Feds. Gaylen had printed out topographical maps of every
sector and pinned them up on the wall in. He and Scott and a third man were
studying them carefully.

Scott
turned just as Cole was helping himself to coffee and one of the leftover
donuts.

“Cole,
meet our pilot, George Fillipi. Gaylen and I were just going over the different
areas with him and trying to decide where to start. Any suggestions?”

Cole
looked at each picture carefully. “I’d say these two areas first.” He pointed. “They’re
the most remote and stand the least chance of strangers stumbling on them.
Mostly there’s nothing there but herds of cattle that have been moved from one
pasture to another. Both places are far away from the ranch houses.”

He
took the pencil out of Gaylen’s hand and marked each photo with a number.

“This
is the order I’d hit them. Gaylen? What do you think? Should I make some
changes?”

“No.”
The chief deputy shook his head. “I think you’ve got it pegged.”

“All
right.” Scott began pulling the photos off the wall then looked at Cole. “Okay
if I get one of your deputies to make several copies of each? We thought we’d
do land searches with air cover. That way if George spots something we can be
on it pretty quick.”

“Absolutely.
How do you want to split everyone up?”

Gaylen
cleared his throat. “I don’t want to overstep my bounds here, but Scott and I
discussed that. We’ll take our five best deputies and pair each one up with an
agent. Give them a route to drive.”

“Good.
And there’s no overstepping here. At all. Don’t even think about that.”

Gaylen
looked at him hard. “You’re all right, Cole. For a foreigner.”

Scott
lifted one eyebrow. “Foreigner?”

Cole
gave him a rusty laugh. “Not only not born in Texas but not born in the county.
It’s a heavy burden to carry.”

Gaylen
nodded, then turned to the deputies waiting in the room. “All right, guys. Let’s
get to it. Cole, I thought you should be the one to go up with George.”

Cole
shook his head. “I’d rather it was you. You know the lay of the land better
than I do and can spot things I’d miss.”

Gaylen
gave him a look. “You’re sure?”

“Absolutely.
Besides, I want to talk to Nita when she brings in her final report, and I’d
like to check on Grace and Stacy.” He punched Gaylen lightly on the arm. “Go
ahead. If I mess up the office, you can fire me when you get back.”

Just
like that Cole felt the atmosphere between the two of them shift again. Now he
not only had a coworker he could trust, he felt he’d made a friend.

He
walked out to the parking lot where the chopper had landed and waited while
Gaylen and the pilot climbed in and lifted off. Ten minutes later, everyone else
was sorted out and Scott opened the passenger door of the lead car.

“We’ll
get him before he strikes again. My SAC may be calling while I’m out. I told him
to ask for you. Also there could be stuff coming through on the fax machine.”

“Got
it. Good luck.”

Chapter
Thirty-Six

He
was so furious he wanted to break something. This was not going his way at all.
Not one bit. Who knew that Cole would end up being so besotted over Dana
Moretti? Or that the boy would decide to call in the FBI. They hadn’t done it
twenty-five years ago. Didn’t Cole understand that wasn’t the way things were
done around here?

He
didn’t have much time. The first thing he had to do was call Tony and tell him
all deliveries were off until this blew over. He didn’t care how he got rid of
the merchandise. Just so long as that snot-nosed kid didn’t bring it around
here. Then he had to figure out exactly how he was going to get his hands on
his little flower.

His
little escapade at her house had backfired, too. He’d just wanted to throw her
off her game. Make her more susceptible. But Cole had to play hero and move her
to his house. He was sure Cole had told her to lock herself in the house and
not let anyone in. That meant he had to find a way around it, and that couldn’t
happen until dark. At least Cole didn’t run cattle so there were no ranch hands
to get in the way.

Raging
at the bad luck plaguing him, he prayed that this would be over before anyone
located the cabin. Of course, it was very well hidden, so even the stupid
chopper probably wouldn’t spot it. And the road into it hardly looked like a
road at all. Still, he needed to be finished before he pushed his luck too
hard.

Chapter
Thirty-Seven

The
day dragged. The chopper radioed in, as did the cars, but they had no success
to report. It was slow going all around because thick stands of trees hid so
much. By dinnertime, they had barely finished searching two areas and started
on a third.

Cole
swore under his breath. At this rate it would take them a week and he had a
sick feeling they didn’t have that much time.

The
only new piece of information he got was on one of his calls to Dana.

“The
ladies came through,” she told him. “The clowns were hired through two agencies
in San Antonio. The bill from the agencies was one lump sum. Four clowns. But
no one was actually counting them at the events. Things were just too hectic
and who figured they had to keep track of clowns?”

“Damn.”
Cole felt his anger rising again. “Someone saw a good thing and made use of it.”

“Well,
Letha Milton is trying to find the names of the individual clowns so you can
run them down and eliminate them. Trouble is, who knows where they are now.”

“Always
a cheerful thought.”

He
called her so many times during the day she told him she might have to move
into the sheriff’s office to prove to him she was safe.

“Now
that’s not a bad idea,” he told her. “I can pick you up in ten minutes.”

She
laughed. “I’m fine, Cole. I’m starting to outline the book so I’m busy working.
And yes, everything’s locked up.”

He
took time to go by Grace’s house. She looked so old and drained he hardly
recognized her. Her friends had gathered around her and Barry had stopped by to
see her and check her over. She kept insisting on blaming herself for Gaby.

“I
should have listened to her,” she said over and over. “I shouldn’t have told
her she was imagining things.”

Cole
sat down opposite her and took her cold hands in his warm ones. “Grace, listen
to me. It wouldn’t have mattered. If he wanted her, he was going to find a way
to get her. If she started to leave town he would have followed her. If anyone’s
to blame it’s me for not catching him sooner.”