The Trouble With Lacy Brown (16 page)

Her impetuousness had taken over once more and she was just going to have to deal with it.

Cows were bellowing, shuffling about, adjusting to the movement of the rough ride. Lacy clung for dear life to the hard steel bars and for a split second she thought about dropping off. Then she found herself staring through the trailer bars at the huge dark eyes of a young heifer crammed inside the trailer. Its face was illuminated slightly by the red glow of the taillights, and as Lacy hung there it jabbed her cheek with its wet, slimy nose, as if asking for help.

“Okay, girl,” Lacy groaned, hanging on tighter. “I’m going to get you out of there.

“Lacy Brown, are you crazy?” Clint snapped, swinging onto the trailer beside her, not happy he’d been forced to chase after her. “You’re going to get yourself killed.” This was not his plan.

“I am not. These guys are cattle thieves. They’re not killers.”

“You don’t know that. Now, drop off while you still can,” he demanded. “Lacy, I won’t have you in harm’s way. Drop off
now.
”

“No.” She scrambled over the back of the trailer gate and balanced herself inside between the gate and
the side railing. Looking down at the dark shapes of the bumping, shuffling animals she felt a bit of fear, at least she saw no horns in this section of the trailer.

That was a good thing.

Clint dropped in beside her, muttering something she couldn’t understand, but in the darkness his anger was almost visible.

Well, he could just be angry. She’d started this dance and she planned to finish it. Clutching the rails like a monkey over an alligator pit, Lacy tried to ignore him, but when the truck came to an abrupt halt, she lost her grip and slipped.

Clint shot a hand out and grasped her around the waist and smoothly swung her up against his chest. Obviously he’d had much more skill in the back of a trailer than she had.

After the trailer started moving again, it hit a bump and Clint wrapped his arm tighter around Lacy. He gripped the rail for support with his free hand and fought to keep the shuffling cattle off of her with his body. One wrong move and they could easily be crushed by the huge beasts.

“Don’t you know when to control your impulses?” he asked, annoyed that she was here, but glad she hadn’t come upon the rustlers alone. He thanked God that He’d put him in her path tonight.

She twisted around to face him in the tight corner where he had her secured. Despite everything, he
wanted to kiss her right there. It didn’t make any sense; the woman drove him crazy with her spontaneity. She was uncontrollable.

But he loved her.

He had admitted this to himself that afternoon while he read his Bible.

He had no claim on her. She’d made that clear over and over. And after this little stunt, he was beginning to question his sanity in wanting to call her his…“forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

The words in Philippians 3:13 echoed through his heart. God had led him to that verse as he’d read His word. Clint knew it hadn’t been a coincidence that this was the scripture God had sent to him. His mother’s rejection was behind him and Lacy’s love, if he could hope, was before him. God was letting him know that he needed to move forward.

The terrifying question plaguing Clint was how could he live never knowing what she would do next? A little crazy driving, a cute, hot temper, mixed with a soft heart and a bewildering amount of determination to achieve her goals—these things, surprisingly enough, drew him to her. But this reckless willingness to endanger herself…he wasn’t sure he could handle.

Even with God’s assurances.

L
acy stared between the cattle trailer’s iron bars into the dark night speeding past. Clint’s nearness was making her senses wobble more than the trailer ride. She had to keep reminding herself how little he thought of her and that she had goals to achieve that had nothing to do with loving him.

She stole a thoughtful glance at Clint. He was on his cell phone talking to Sheriff Brady. Clint had been trying for the past fifteen minutes to get a call through to him, which was no easy task in these parts. Now that he’d connected, he was giving Brady as much information on their steadily moving location as he could, just in case they couldn’t get a connection again. Staring back into the darkness she fought to ignore his presence beside her.

Life had its little jokes.

Could she change Clint’s opinion of her? Could she prove she was worthy of his love, that she wouldn’t abandon him or their children if she were so lucky? It was something she’d pursue if she hadn’t gotten them into a situation they couldn’t get out of…

“Brady’s on his way,” Clint said, breaking into her thoughts. “Or at least on his way to this area. He’s going to call Ranger’s sheriff department for backup.”

“Do you know where we are?” Lacy asked, hoping.

“Not exactly. It’s hard to know in the dark, the last road mark I was able to give them was before we got on this dirt road. Hopefully this is the only gravel road off of a farm-to-market road near a power tower.”

Lacy tried not to worry. But she knew that she had gotten them into this by her impulsive lack of thinking.

After what seemed like forever, the trailer slowed. Clint placed a protective hand on her shoulder as the cattle shifted and bumped them around. The trailer passed over a cattle guard and Clint leaned close.

“We need to be ready to hop off this thing before they get to the corral,” he said near her ear.

Nodding, Lacy ignored the tingling sensation his breath sent skittering over her skin, and she started climbing out of the trailer.

“Be careful,” he said, holding her arm for support as she shimmied over the rail.

Lacy concentrated on keeping her footing. Once she had her feet securely planted on the bumper, she scooted out of Clint’s way. “Your turn,” she said, then watched him climb easily out beside her.

The trailer bounced over a rough spot but he maneuvered out onto the bumper with ease.

Holding her gaze, he suddenly leaned in and kissed her. “You are a beautiful woman, Lacy Brown. A handful of trouble, but beautiful.”

There he went, confusing her again!

“Come on,” he whispered, as if nothing had just passed between them. “Let’s get into the shadows of that barn.”

Feeling off balance, she waved a hand at him. “Lead the way.”

He grabbed her hand and they hopped from the trailer together. Fading into the night, they circled out of the way of the headlights.

“Where do you think we are?” she asked, once they were safely flattened against the wall of the barn. This was no time to figure out what was going on between them. That would have to wait, even though her heart was racing and it had nothing to do with rustlers.

Echoing moos and the heavy thud of hooves signaled the cattle were being unloaded. Clint snuck a peek and didn’t answer her. Lacy bent around him and snatched a look of her own. In the beam of a spotlight, two cowboys moved the cattle into an empty roping pen.

“Do you recognize either of them?” she asked softly.

“Get back, Lacy. I don’t want you getting hurt,” he said without answering her question.

Lacy straightened. “I’m not going to get hurt. Clint Matlock, you’re the most maddening man.”

“Not now, Lacy,” he sighed, grasping her arms and holding her still. Leaning forward he rested his forehead against hers.

The rising protest congealed in her throat. Seconds passed and she could only stand there, wondering at the thoughts passing through his mind.

At last, keeping his forehead against hers he said, “My plan was to find this place and wait for backup, it wasn’t to get caught standing here having this conversation. This isn’t your fight and I don’t want you taking any more chances. I want you to stay here while I get a closer look. Is that too much to ask?”

“It
is
my fight,” she whispered, glancing about, fearing Clint was right and they would be discovered because of her runaway mouth. “These men are threatening the good reputation of Mule Hollow. As a business owner and a citizen, that makes everything they do my concern.” She squared her shoulders. “I’ve already told you not to worry about me. I’m not
your
concern. Besides, I can take care of myself. And after all, I got us into this. Remember.”

Briskly he slid his hands up and down her arms, as
if fighting his own conflicting emotions, then he pulled her gently against him.

A shaking, she could have handled. A hug, caught her off guard, more so than the earlier kiss had and her heart swelled.

Breaking away, she stomped toward the far end of the barn away from the light. Away from Clint and the things he made churn inside her. One minute he was comparing her to his
mother
and the next he was kissing her, hugging her, playing with her heart. No! Do not allow this.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to find out where we are, and figure a way to catch these guys.” As she spoke, she concentrated on not falling over an old tire.

“I don’t want them knowing we’re here, Lace—”

His voice sounded funny all of a sudden and Lacy looked up to see why he’d quit griping.

The shotgun stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Too late,” said a voice from the darkness. “Looks like I already know you’re here.”

This is not good. Lacy stared at the barrel of the gun as the man behind the voice stepped from the end of the barn. He was tall, shrouded in black, with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. The red tip bounced with each word he spoke.

“Stay calm, Lacy,” Clint urged, touching the small of her back with his hand.

Too late, Lacy’s adrenaline was up, plopping her hands on her hips, she glared at the cigarette-smoking bandit. “
He
better stay calm.”

Clint jabbed her.

“Me?” Cigarette-butt chuckled wickedly. “I think you’ve got this little situation confused. I’m the one with the gun. Now move it.”

The cold metal against her shoulder brought a little sanity to Lacy’s insane behavior. He pushed her shoulder with the double-barreled shotgun and she decided maybe now was the time to do as he instructed.

“Don’t hurt the lady,” Clint said, a menacing edge to his voice that exceeded their captor’s.

“I’ll do what I want. And now I want you to move. If you don’t, I’ll shoot her.”

“Do as he says, Lacy.” Clint turned and Lacy followed him toward the sound of the cattle being unloaded.

Lacy decided she didn’t like the gun jabbing her in the back at all. “You’ll never get away with this,” she snapped.

“Lacy, be quiet.”

Even though fear was screaming inside of her, Lacy ignored it. “I will not be silent, Clint Matlock!”

“So that’s who you are,” said gun-toting Cigarette-butt. “Get tired of us ripping you off?”

“You’re right about that, bucko,” Lacy answered for Clint. “He’s tired of you jerks.”

“Lacy, for crying out loud—” Clint muttered in exasperation. “Would you cut it out? I’m trying to save you here. Or hadn’t you noticed the man has a gun pointed at you?”

They’d reached the front of the barn and stepped into the view of the other rustlers.

“Looky what I found draggin’ around the back of the barn,” Cigarette-butt called to his friends. Turning, they stared into the spotlight hanging on the barn behind Lacy and Clint, then sauntered over.

Lacy cringed. They looked like the big, the bad and definitely the
ugly.
Up close she could see that one even had a patch over his eye.

“Well, look what we have here,” One-eye said, leering at them.

“Knock it off, Austin,” Clint drawled.

Lacy shot a glare at Clint. “How’d you know his name?”

“The patch. Brady gave me some descriptions he’d come up with from the Cattle Raisers Association field inspectors. There aren’t too many rustlers with one eye. It seems Austin and his boys pull these scams off all over the country. The One-eyed Rustler is wanted in five states. We had a hunch it was them. The patterns matched their previous jobs.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lacy asked, stung by the fact that he hadn’t confided in her.

“Because it was my problem.”

She stared at him to no effect. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of the one-eyed Austin. “You could have told me.” She knew she was being childish…. They were standing in the middle of a bunch of could-be cutthroats and she was hurt because Clint hadn’t told her he knew who the thieves were.

“Yeah, Clint, you could have told her,” Austin mimicked, stepping up close to Lacy. When she moved to back away, he wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her against him. “This could be a fun night.”

In his arms, Lacy felt the first real fear that she had ever felt. Austin leaned his head in close to her; she twisted, averting her face from his hot breath. Her gaze met Clint’s and her heart stopped. His expression had turned murderous, his eyes, hard as stone.

When Austin ran a hand holding a pistol along her jaw, Clint lunged. “Keep your hands off her—” He never saw the butt of the shotgun as it slammed into his shoulder, barely missing his skull.

Lacy screamed as she watched Clint go down on one knee, saw the sick grin that played across Cigarette-butt’s face. She tried to bend down next to Clint but Austin held her firmly away. “Clint,” she cried as Austin placed the barrel of his pistol against Clint’s temple. She went very still.

Dear, Lord, please don’t let anything happen to Clint. And deliver us from this mess I’ve gotten us into.
She prayed like she’d never prayed before.

“Lacy,” Clint said, breaking into her prayer with a voice as hard as concrete. “Do exactly as they tell you. Austin, as far as I know, you don’t have killing on your record. I wouldn’t start now.”

Austin pressed the barrel more snugly against Clint’s skull. “I’ve never been in this situation before. If I had, I might have made my first kill a long time ago.”

His chuckle sent shivers down Lacy’s spine.

“We have backup coming,” she blurted out, hoping to distract Austin. She had to do something to get that gun barrel away from Clint’s head.

“Oh, do ya now? Did Clint here get through on a cell phone?”

“Yes, he did, and there will be cops swarming all over this place within the next few minutes.” Her voice held more mettle than she felt.

“Boss, maybe we better get out of here,” the third slug chimed in.

Austin shook his head and jabbed Clint in the shoulder with the pistol. “He’s bluffing. His odds of getting through on a phone line way out here are slim to none. Why do you think I leased this place?”

“But maybe he got lucky. Maybe that sheriff is on his way. They know who we are—”

“They won’t be telling anybody.”

Lacy saw the gleam in Austin’s eye and her heart stilled again. She couldn’t lose Clint—she had to draw
the gun away. She had to do something to distract Austin. His hand gripped the gun more tightly and her attention flew down to Clint who was looking up at her, watching her with steady eyes—probably willing her to control herself.

Or watching for the right opportunity to strike back.
She knew he needed her to distract them…. If she drew the gun, they had a chance.

Clint’s eyes hardened; steam practically started rolling from his ears and he shook his head oh so slightly. “No,” he mouthed, but she’d already started screaming…and she knew he was reading her thoughts. She knew she could distract them. She yanked hard against Austin and continued screaming. Her adrenaline spiked, she saw Cigarette-butt looking panicked. Felt Austin shift against her and she screamed louder and squirmed violently.

Austin’s hands were full, holding her in one arm and holding a gun on Clint. Though she was screaming she registered that he was a control freak or he’d have let Cigarette-butt hold the gun on Clint.

“Woman!”
Austin exclaimed, rewarding her screams by pointing his pistol straight at her. “Be still or you’ll get the first bullet.”

“Lacy, be still.” Clint’s voice was soft, drawing her gaze, quieting her screams.

The gun was at her temple, she could feel tremors racing through Austin’s body, knew he was near
breaking but felt no fear. She felt only love looking at Clint.

For a moment she’d succeeded and drawn the gun away from Clint. Only to see the now-alert Cigarette-butt level his gun on him.

“Austin,” Clint said, his words tight, clipped, “take the truck and go before the sheriff gets here. You can still get away and you won’t have harmed anyone. You do not want to harm Lacy.”

“Why? I’d be doing the world a favor getting rid of this magpie.”

Clint frowned. “No. You wouldn’t.” He slowly started to stand.

“Hold it right there, buster.” Cigarette-butt snapped, jamming his shotgun into Clint’s shoulder. “Nobody told you to move. Shoot her, boss, and let’s get out of here. Carl, load up,” he snarled at the man Lacy had decided didn’t have a brain of his own. Carl practically ran to the truck and hopped inside.

Angered, Austin pressed the cold metal harder against her temple and she could see the fury building in Clint. Her pulse screamed at high speed, fearing he was about to get himself shot. Shifting toward Austin, she focused on the control freak in him.

“Who’s the boss here?” she asked, cutting her eyes at him. “You or Smokin’ Joe over there?”

Austin grimaced. “Shut up. Dawson, we aren’t going anywhere until I say so.”

Dawson. He finally had a name.

“Look, we got plenty of cattle sold,” Dawson snapped. “I ain’t hanging around here so some officer can waltz up and handcuff me. I ain’t goin’ back to no prison ’cause you won’t admit it’s time to call it quits.”

“Yeah, boss,” Simple Simon chimed in from the cab. “Daw has a point.”