Standoff at Mustang Ridge (10 page)

Royce didn’t move. He stood there, knowing full well that it wasn’t a good idea to be this close to Sophie. She had bedroom hair, bedroom eyes and a mouth he wanted in his bedroom. The rest of her, too.

“That’s right,” he answered.

“Days,” she repeated in a mumble, and she slid her gaze over their touching arms and to his face.

Yes, as in days Sophie and he would be alone. Well, except for his father and the ranch hands. Maybe her brother, too. Stanton had already called twice and requested a visit. So perhaps their alone time wouldn’t be so alone after all.

Royce tried to remind himself that was a good thing.

Of course, the weather could work against them, as well. The second wave of the snowstorm was moving in, and it might be worse than the first. Sophie and he didn’t need the weather trapping them, just in case he decided to move her elsewhere.

Or in case he needed a break from her and all those bedroom reminders.

“Amarillo P.D. questioned the loan shark Teddy Bonner,” Royce said, forcing his mind back on his triple bad news he had to tell her. “They found no evidence that he was connected to the attack on us.”

Sophie blew out a long breath, and he heard the frustration in that simple gesture. Yeah, this would have been so much easier if Bonner had been the culprit because the loan shark could have been arrested and off the street. Of course, Sophie would have still had to contend with Travis, but that would be much easier if he wasn’t a would-be kidnapper or killer.

“Lott was right about Bonner being a criminal informant. Amarillo P.D. doesn’t use him often, but they’ve found him ‘reliable in certain situations.’” That was the cop’s exact wording. Which was no doubt code for Bonner being a snitch to help Amarillo P.D. nab someone much worse than the loan shark himself.

“What about the wounded gunman?” she continued. “Did Lott get anything from him?”

Here was the second dose of bad news. “The guy died before Lott could even question him.”

No long breath this time. She groaned.

“They did get an ID with his fingerprints,” Royce explained. Which could have potentially been good news if he’d lived and hadn’t had such a long criminal past. “He was a low-life thug who’s worked for a lot of people over the years.
A lot,
” he emphasized.

“But not Travis?” she pressed.

Royce shook his head. “There’s no obvious connection to Travis.” Nor to any of their other suspects except for her father, and Royce figured Eldon wasn’t even on Sophie’s suspect list. However, her father was on Royce’s.

“We’ll keep looking for a money trail,” Royce continued. “Someone paid him to attack you, and there’ll be a record of it.”
Maybe.
“Plus, we might catch the second gunman.”

Sophie didn’t look very hopeful about that. With reason. It’d been twenty-four hours since the attack, and the guy could be out of the country by now.

Of course, that was better than the alternative.

That the gunman was nearby and planning to come after them again.

Royce glanced out of the corner of his eye and realized she was studying him. “Something else is wrong,” Sophie concluded.

Bingo. And it was this something else that troubled him more than the other bad news he’d already delivered to her.

“I have a friend in the FBI, Kade Ryland. And I called him yesterday and asked him to quietly look at Lott’s investigation into Travis’s criminal activity.” He paused. “There is no official investigation.”

Sophie blinked. “Maybe it’s classified or something?”

“Ryland has the authority to check for that sort of thing.” He turned so they were facing each other. “In fact, there weren’t even any flags or files on Travis that would have triggered a federal investigation.”

“But Travis was doing illegal stuff,” she quickly pointed out. “I saw the papers for two illegal land deals, and I copied them and gave them to Lott.”

Now here’s where things could get sticky. “Did Lott ever say why he suspected Travis of those deals?”

Sophie hesitated again before she shook her head. “Lott only said that Travis was under investigation and that he was a dangerous man. I think it was the dangerous part that convinced me to get those papers. I sensed something was wrong, that Travis couldn’t be trusted, so I wanted to see what he was up to.”

“And you were maybe looking for a way out of the engagement?” Royce asked.

“That, too.” She groaned softly and stepped away from him. “I knew marrying him would help my father, but I didn’t trust Travis. I wasn’t sure he’d actually pay my father the money if I went through with the marriage.”

And he might not have. The marriage might have been Travis’s way of getting his hands on Sophie’s money. “You were right not to trust him.”

“But maybe wrong to trust Lott,” Sophie finished for him.

There it was in a nutshell. Lott’s unauthorized investigation was bad news number three, but Royce didn’t know just what level of bad it was. Maybe Lott was a dirty agent. Or maybe he had someway found out about Travis’s illegal activity and had bent some big rules to go after him. Either way, the agent had put Sophie in danger, and in Royce’s book, that made Lott
bad
.

“So what do we do about Lott?” she asked.

“We don’t trust him.” That was the obvious part. The next would take a little time, and during that time, they’d just have to do their best to avoid Lott. “Agent Ryland is going to do some more checking and talk with Lott’s supervisor.”

“Lott won’t like that,” she mumbled.

No. And Royce was sure he’d hear from the agent as soon as he found out that Royce had gone behind his back to get answers about the investigation.

“Good thing I didn’t leave with Lott yesterday when he was here,” Sophie added.

Royce shrugged. “It’s hard to argue with that, but I can see why a peace officer would want to stop a guy like Travis. Hell, I want to beat him to a pulp for hitting you.”

Sophie’s hand went to her cheek, and he could tell she was reliving that particular bad memory. “You were right. I should have filed charges against him for assault.”

“It’s not too late. Maybe we can tack it on to the other charges against him.”

Before the last word left his mouth, his phone rang. Royce put his coffee aside and looked at the screen, bracing himself for more bad news. And maybe it was. Stanton’s name was there, and Royce showed her the screen before he answered the call on Speaker.

“Royce,” Stanton immediately said. “Where’s Sophie? I need to speak to her.”

Royce looked at her to see if she wanted to respond. She huffed softly and moved closer to the phone. “Stanton, is something wrong?” she asked.

He didn’t answer right away, and that tightened Royce’s stomach. “I have to tell you some things,” Stanton finally said.

“I’m listening,” Sophie assured him.

“I can’t talk about this over the phone. I need to see you. You need to know what I did.”

The tightening in Royce’s stomach turned to a big knot. “What’d you do, Stanton?” he demanded.

“I’ll tell you when I see Sophie.”

Royce figured that wasn’t the best option here. “It’s not safe for Sophie to be out and about. If you’re worried about someone eavesdropping, then call me back on my landline.”

“No. This has to be done face-to-face. Can you meet me at the sheriff’s office in two hours?”

Royce checked his watch, though time wasn’t the issue. Sophie’s safety was. “You’re positive this is worth risking your sister’s life?”

Stanton cursed. “What I have to tell you might be the reason Sophie’s in danger. So you decide. If it’s worth the risk, be at the sheriff’s office.”

And with that, Stanton hung up.

“Any idea what that’s about?” Royce asked her as he put his phone back in his pocket.

“The pictures, maybe?” Sophie didn’t hesitate, either. “Travis seemed to believe that Stanton had something to do with that.”

Maybe he did. After all, Stanton had been at the Outlaw Bar that night. But Royce couldn’t see how that would be so critical that Stanton had to tell Sophie in person. Maybe it was something more. Something that pertained to the investigation.

Or it could be a trap.

Royce hated to think that, but Sophie’s brother could want her dead so that Eldon and he could inherit all the money. Sophie was worth millions, more than enough to pay off Eldon’s debts and get the Conway ranch back on track. People had killed for a lot less, and if Stanton was as devoted to Eldon as Sophie was, he might be willing to sacrifice his sister for their father.

Yeah. This could definitely be a trap.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to meet him,” Royce let her know.

The surprise flashed through Sophie’s eyes, and she opened her mouth. No doubt to defend Stanton as she’d been doing with her father. But she closed her mouth and stared at him.

“It’s too risky,” she whispered, and it wasn’t exactly a question.

Royce made a sound of agreement. “If it’s as important as Stanton seems to think it is, we’ll make other arrangements to hear what he has to say. A video call, maybe. But I really don’t want you leaving the house and going into town where you could easily be spotted by someone.”

Like the surviving gunman.

She nodded, eased her cup to the table and leaned her head against the window. “I don’t want to believe my brother would harm me.”

Royce understood. “He’s not our primary suspect,” he reminded her.

But Stanton
was
a suspect.

And Sophie’s heavy sigh let him know that she was well aware of that. Good. At least she was starting to see her brother through a cop’s eyes. Maybe soon she’d do the same for her father. Royce wasn’t convinced there was a solid reason to distrust either Stanton or Eldon, but until he knew who was behind the attack, he didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.

She turned and eased right into his arms. Royce didn’t back away. Just the opposite. And that caused huge alarms to go off in his head.

He ignored them.

Royce also ignored the lecture he’d been giving himself for the past twenty-four hours—the one that insisted he should avoid getting any closer to Sophie. Heck, he ignored everything he shouldn’t ignore and brushed a kiss on her forehead.

She groaned softly, probably because she’d been telling herself the same thing—stay away. Run. Don’t get too close. But since she didn’t budge, it was clear her body was having the same stubborn reaction that his was.

“I’ve been trying to avoid this,” she mumbled.

“Yeah. So have I.” He was failing so badly that he might have to give
failure
a whole new name. Worse, he wanted to fail even harder.

She looked up at him, shook her head. “What are we going to do about this?”

Since the answer on the tip of his tongue was
have sex,
Royce didn’t say it out loud. Though judging from the heated look she was giving him, maybe it was on the tip of her tongue, too.

He’d never really had a type of woman he preferred. Hair and eye color didn’t matter, and he’d dated both thin and those with curves, but now looking down at Sophie, he knew he’d finally found his type. Maybe it was that tumbled hair. That face. Or those curves hidden in his clothes. Whatever it was, Sophie was it.

Man, he was toast.

Royce fought the urge to kiss her and felt himself losing that battle, too. “When this is over, maybe we can have dinner or something.”

She blinked. “You mean like a date?”

“Exactly like a date.” It seemed like a good place to start, anyway, and it was something he could put off until Sophie was no longer “the job.”

Well. He could put it off if he kept his hands and mouth to himself. That was a big
if
since she was already in his arms.

“We seem a little past the first-date stage,” she pointed out.

“We are.” Especially after making out at the Outlaw Bar. “But I’m figuring we can backtrack.” It seemed more sensible that going full steam ahead, something his body was encouraging him to do.

Sophie nodded hesitantly. “I’m not your type,” she reminded him. “I’m a city girl, like your mother.”

“Yeah,” he settled for saying. “I didn’t say a date was a good idea.”

And neither was the kiss he pressed on her mouth.

It wasn’t quite the same as having her for breakfast, but it felt like a good start. Even when Royce knew he shouldn’t be starting anything sexual with her.

He pulled back, enjoying the nice little buzz of heat that went through the middle of his body. Royce enjoyed the flash of surprise in her eyes, too. Not from fear or hearing bad news. This was surprise of a sexual nature. Maybe Sophie had gotten a buzz, as well.

“Yes,” she mumbled.

She moved away, nervously sliding her hands down the sides of the pajamas, and the motion stretched the thin fabric over her breasts. No bra. Because he could clearly see the outline of her nipples.

That buzz got stronger.

Royce felt his resolve get weaker. Of course, that always seemed to happen whenever he was around Sophie.

Yeah, she was his type, all right.

Their gazes met again. Held. There was a split second of time when Royce thought he could put a choke hold on the ache burning in his body. That split second came and went. And Royce moved toward her at the same time she moved toward him. It wasn’t slow. Certainly not tentative. They moved like two people who seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

That couldn’t have been further from the truth.

This time, there was no restraint, no holding back. Willpower and common sense vanished, and Royce helped keep those things at bay when he hooked his arm around Sophie’s waist and hauled her to him.

They collided—too crazy from the need to give this make-out session much finesse. But they adjusted, automatically, as if they’d done this so many times that they knew exactly how and where to move. Not a comforting thought.

The kiss was instant and hot. Openmouthed, hungry. It felt as if they were starved for each other and even as the sensations roared through him, a little voice inside Royce’s head kept telling him this was a bad idea.