Seeking Justice (10 page)

Justice giggled. "I was thinking about the garden behind your parents' house."

He sighed, and she wondered if he would argue with her. "That will work," he said finally. "We'll ride down here afterward and make love for the first time as husband and wife under this tree."

"Perfect." She thought he might make love to her now, but he stayed where he was, his arms tightening around her. They were silent for a while, and the comfortable feeling that replaced her nerves reminded her that she'd made the right decision.

The gentle night breeze built around them, and finally Zander kissed the top of her head. "We need to take the horses back to the stable and go home. I have work to do tomorrow, and you need to try and find the mysterious man from the article I heard you talking about with Miss Agatha."

"You have good ears," she said with a grin. He was standing now, reaching for the blanket she was still sitting on.

"I want to stay here," she said. "It's so quiet and beautiful."

"We'll come back tomorrow, and the next night, and the next night," he said. "The stables at Miss Agatha's house are in disrepair and need work. After they are up to code, we can stable a few horses there and go for an evening ride all we want."

Zander helped Justice to her feet. He cupped her face and kissed her deeply, his tongue dipping into her mouth, making her feel as if they were one.

Justice never wanted the kiss to end, but she knew with the decision she'd made today, she would be kissed like this daily.

The thought made her tingle with pleasure.

* * * * *

It took Justice several hours to find Abel Gunner. He wasn't listed in any phone book, or online directory, and she worried for a while that the older man had passed away in the time since the article had been written. But then she thought of calling the author of the magazine article, and she hit pay dirt.

Abel Gunner was still alive and living with his daughter in Austin. The author, whose name was Skylar Lancer, had been curious about why Justice was asking about Mr. Gunner. When she'd explained herself, the author had seemed very intrigued.

"If you find it, let me know. It would make a great follow up to the original article."

"Yes, it would," Justice had said. "If we happen to stumble across it, I'll let you know. But I have a feeling the chances of our finding what people around here refer to as 'the loot' is highly unlikely."

"It has been quite a few years," the author said. They agreed to keep in touch, and after Justice hung up the phone, she did some math. A few years turned out to be one hundred and sixty two years.

"There's no way," Justice said as she pushed away a few papers. But as she did, she decided to fight away her negativity. After all, archeologists found things all the time, things that had been hidden from view for thousands of years. "Look at King
Tut's tomb," she whispered to herself.

She picked up her pen and using the information Skylar Lancer had given her, she called Abel Gunner's daughter, Louisa. The woman was hesitant at first, but then seemed to do an about face. Her father was suffering from dementia, and talking about the past always seemed to cheer him up.

They made an appointment for the next day, and Justice texted Zander to let him know she was going to Austin for the day.

I'll go with
, he texted back.

She responded that would be nice. She asked him about lunch, he told her he was working through it, but would see her at dinnertime. Tonight they would be on their own. His parents were taking Miss Agatha into San Marcos to visit a friend, and Emily and her family were going to her in-laws' house for the evening.

She told him she'd check the fridge and decide what to cook. After they were done, she pushed away the papers, found the fixings for spaghetti, and wondered about greens for a salad. There were none, except the ones she tossed because they were wilted.

A quick trip into Bluefield would solve that problem. It would also give her a chance to stop by the house and ask Priscilla about what needed to be done for Bandit Days.

As she cleaned up, though, she realized she hadn't done anything about her quitting her job, or getting out of her apartment lease in Dallas.

Those things could wait for a few days, she decided. Right now, the priority was the task Miss Agatha had set for her. She needed to keep on track.

She hated to see the look of disappointment on Miss Agatha's face when they failed in their quest.

* * * * *

Zander slipped the bandana out of his pocket and wiped the sweat from his face. It had been a long day, and Justice had just emailed him to let him know she was going to Bluefield to stock up on groceries. That gave him time to get to the house and set up a little surprise he had for her.

Chase wouldn't be happy he was leaving, but then again, if Brice's brother had his way, they would work 24/7. It was a good thing Zander didn't have to answer to him.

He nudged Bandit in Chase's direction. The older man was watching two of the younger hands reunite calves with their mothers. They'd separated them earlier in the morning so they could check them out and make sure they were healthy.

As he drew closer, Zander could see Chases frown. Chase needed a woman, he decided. He'd been divorced for a few years, and the marriage had been so bad that he'd stayed away from women every sense. Maybe if Chase saw how happy Zander was right now, he would change his mind about women being devils.

Chase looked at Zander, and Zander gave him a short wave. "Going in now."

"So this is what I can expect now that you've got a woman waiting on you? You going to cut out early every day?"

"Hey," Zander said, trying to keep his tone light. Zander didn't want to remind Chase that he was an owner, and technically, Chase worked for him. "We're almost done for the day, and what there is left the crew can do."

"Taking off tomorrow, leaving early today…." As Chase's words trailed off, Zander could tell his friend was giving him a hard time. It was the perfect in.

"Jealous?" Zander asked. "You know, there are lots of women in Bluefield who would jump at the chance to see you, and I'm not talking about just using their eyes."

"Get," Chase said, his tone irritable. "I'll see you later in the week."

Zander leaned forward in his saddle. "You know, Chase, your attitude might improve if you got laid. Just saying."

Before Chase could answer, Zander turned Bandit toward the stables. When he arrived, he handed him over to Colt, one of Chase's sons and a young man who had a way with horses. Zander was grateful that he was staying with his dad for the summer.

"Brush him good, and give him a few handfuls of sweet feed," Zander said. "He's worked hard today."

"Will do," Colt answered as Zander hurried toward his pickup. He wanted to have everything set up before Justice got back from the house so that she wouldn't see his surprise until it was time to go to bed, when she was naked, and he could do with her as he pleased.

The last spanking he'd given her had been pretty hard, but she hadn't shown any signs that it was still affecting her. Still, it had only been yesterday, and it was better to wait to give another one. That's why this surprise was purely sexual in nature. He would have her screaming so loud they would hear her up at the big house, or so he hoped.

Once at home—it was so strange to think of this as his home—he made quick work of setting up his surprise. He wanted Justice to know their sex life wouldn't become boring just because they were married. Tonight's activity would definitely be a showstopper.

After he was done, Zander took a shower. When he came out, he heard movement in the front end of the house. As he was drying himself off, Justice's voice sounded from the bathroom doorway.

"Need help with that towel, cowboy?"

"What you got in mind, future Mrs. McMillian?"

He savored the smile that spread across her face. For a minute, it seemed as if she wasn't going to be able to talk, but then she laughed and said, "The spaghetti sauce is simmering. We have time for a quickie."

"A quickie?" He dropped his towel, revealing his cock, which had hardened the minute she walked into the room. "Is this what you want?"

"You know it is." She crossed the room in a flash, taking his dick in her hand when she was near him. She squeezed gently, and Zander groaned.

"You're making this hard on me," he said.

"I noticed." Her fingers tightened just a little more. "I can turn the sauce off."

"Can you?" Zander narrowed his eyes a little. "I had something planned for later this evening, so I'm thinking, you have to wait."

"Zander!"

"Release me, woman, or you won't find out what the surprise is."

The look she gave him said she knew that wasn't true, but she let go of him anyway. His dick wouldn't be any happier with waiting than Justice was, but he was a big boy, and waiting always provided more bang for your buck.

They went to the kitchen, where he sat down while she started making a salad.

"By the way," she said as she worked, "Ben called a bit ago. He said Leroy Butler called to see how things were going with his mare."

"Matchstick has made her acquaintance twice now," Zander said. "Let's just say he was very happy to meet her."

He watched as Justice cut a tomato. After that, she picked up a green pepper. "So there will be a Matchstick junior running around in a little while?"

Zander winked at her. "This is not our normal breeding time, but she was ready. Would you like me to enlighten you on how long it takes the mare to foal? About eleven months. After Matchstick has done his thing, she'll go back to Butler's. We'll get pictures to put on the website to show what beautiful children Matchstick sires."

Justice moved around the kitchen with ease, and as Zander watched, his cock continued to throb. He thought that it would go down, but he supposed he was more excited about tonight's event than usually was.

When dinner was ready, they ate slowly. As they ate, he considered the space they were in.

"What do you think of this kitchen?" he said as he moped up spaghetti sauce with a piece of bread.

"It's not bad," she replied.

After he'd swallowed his food, he wiped his mouth. "I think it's the first room we need to redo. These appliances are old, and I would like to see you with a state-of-the-art kitchen."

"So I can produce state-of-the-art meals?"

"Exactly." He took a drink of his iced tea and leaned back in his chair. "I don't want to wait too long to get married. Do you?"

"No, I don't." Zander loved the look on her face, which showed she was just as excited about getting married as he was. "In the fall?"

"How early? I think October would be nice. It would be cooler and that means we could have it outdoors, which is what we want. Have you asked your parents about us using the garden?"

Zander took another slice of bread. "They said yes, of course."

"That's one thing off the list, then." She twirled spaghetti around her fork, and Zander thought she was a little distracted.

"What's wrong?"

"This whole bandit thing." She put down her fork with the food still attached. "Miss Agatha seems to think we can find it in a few weeks, when people have been searching for years."

"I know." Zander put down his own fork. "But I think she will understand."

"I don't." She picked up her fork, and then put it down again.

One of the things he loved about Justice so much was the way she involved herself in things. He was pretty sure it was because no one had taken an interest in her while she was growing up, so she compensated by taking an interest in everything she came across. "Don't worry so much," he said. "Things will work out."

After she agreed with him, they worked together to clean the dishes. When the kitchen was done, they spent time talking about a redesign, how they could blow out a wall and put in a
kitchen island. They were in the middle of arguing about color, blue or red, when Zander gave the familiar signal for a time out.

"What?" she said, innocently.

"If we have to, we'll flip a coin," he told her. "But right now, we have other things to do."

He pulled a fresh bandana out of his pocket and started to fold it. After a few minutes, he could tell she got the drift.

"You're blindfolding me?"

"Yup." He moved behind her and wrapped the cotton over her eyes. "Not for long. I just want you to be surprised when we get there."

He took her hand and stared for the back door.

"Where are we going?"

"To the old barn," he said. "I spent the afternoon setting up something that will be a lot of fun for us."

He guided her down the three stairs, and then started toward the old barn. It would have to be reworked, since no one had kept any animals there since his grandfather's death ten years ago. Miss Agatha liked to ride, but she wanted her horse kept in the main stables, so it could be around the other animals. He always thought she used it as an excuse for her to come out and see people, too.