A Good Man for Katie (16 page)

“I’m not happy with you, Mr. Hunter. You expected me to blindly follow your order as if you were my father. Well, I’m a grown woman. I make my own decisions and going back to Washington isn’t one of them. I’m staying. Nothing you say or do will make me change my mind.”

His grin widened and something flashed in his eyes. Gratitude she hadn’t left? Appreciation for the feistiness that landed her in trouble more often than not? He didn’t comment on her statement. Instead, he requested, “Won’t you call me Chase again? I thought you and I were friends. At least, I hope we are.” A warm glow lit his eyes and the charming smile on his face made her suck in her breath. Despite the rules of her employment, despite the knowledge that her last love affair had cost her dearly, she couldn’t help her growing attraction for him.

“We are…Chase,” she conceded.

“Good. And who is this? Another friend?”

“Sarge, get down,” she ordered and the dog dutifully obeyed, but he still danced around Chase’s legs, pushing his big head at Chase’s hands. “I apologize. This is Sarge. He doesn’t normally jump on people.”

“It’s all right. I like dogs. They like me, too.” This time, she couldn’t deny the admiration she saw in his soft gray eyes as he gazed at her. “Did you talk to Sheriff Townsend about the Willow Creek boys?”

“I promised, didn’t I?”

A dark eyebrow rose. “And?”

Kathryne sighed. “As I suspected, he didn’t do anything, especially after I mentioned how you came to my aid. In fact, he made it seem like it was my fault they accosted me.” Her hands balled into fists as she remembered the expression on Townsend’s face and the warning he’d issued. “He made me so angry, I threatened him.”

Chase stiffened, the smile disappearing from his lips, his face draining of color. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, one hand resting on the fence post, the other lost in the soft fur behind Sarge’s ears. “You…you what?”

With no small sense of satisfaction, she said, “I told him if he couldn’t do his job, we’d find someone who would.”

A long sigh escaped him. One of exasperation? Or fear? Or something else? “Katie, Townsend is not the kind of man—”

“I don’t care what kind of man he is or isn’t, Chase.” She straightened to her full height and placed her hands on her hips. “The good people of this town pay him to keep law and order. He needs to do his job. I should be able to walk through town at any hour and be safe. I should be able to report someone accosting me and at least have the sheriff act like he gives a damn!”

Surprised, both by the depths of her dislike for Townsend and the fact that she cussed, warmth rushed to her face. Indeed, the heat came all the way from her chest and rose upward to burn her neck as well as her cheeks. “My apologies. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Chase chuckled, surprising her again. “I’m afraid you may have made an enemy of the sheriff, but I think he’d do better being afraid of you.”

Kathryne folded her arms across her chest and her chin rose up a notch. “Well, he made me angry.”

“Have you had any more trouble?”

“Not trouble, really. I’ve been watched though. I can feel eyes on me, following me, watching everything I do. It’s disconcerting, but so far, no one has approached me or tried to push me into an alley. Sarge doesn’t allow it. Shows his teeth and growls if anyone he doesn’t like gets too close.” She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She didn’t want to talk about this to him. She wanted—she didn’t know what she wanted. “Would you like a cup of coffee? I was ready to take a break. I made some cinnamon streusel cake. It’s not very good but you’re still welcome to a piece.”

“As much as I’d like to, Katie, I don’t think I should.”

She wanted to know why. Was it because of the rules she had agreed to follow? Or because of some other reason? Maybe the growing affection she had for him wasn’t reciprocated. Maybe what she saw in the soft glow of his eyes was just her imagination. Or wishful thinking.

“I just stopped by to see how you were,” he said and once again, the devil-may-care grin spread across his face as he changed his mind. “All right. One cup. And one piece of cake.”

Sarge preceded them up the walk, his tail wagging as he skipped the steps and jumped directly onto the porch. He scrambled for the bone he’d been chewing on, flopping down onto the wooden floorboards, right in Kathryne’s way. She glanced at the dog as she carefully stepped over him. “Truly, Sarge? You have the whole porch so why must you lie right there?”

The dog just looked at her, eyebrows and ears twitching as Chase chuckled and dropped his hat on the table. He pulled out a chair as Kathryne let herself into the cottage. “Do you need help?”

“No, I’ll be right out.”

A few moments later, Kathryne slid a serving tray in front of him. “Nice view. You can see the whole town from here,” he commented but his eyes weren’t on the view—they were on her face as she removed the coffee pot, cups, plates and silverware from the tray and placed them on the table. Proud of her accomplishment in actually baking a cake from a recipe and not burning it, though it did list to the side, she put the confection on the table last.

Sarge dropped the bone in Chase’s lap and let out a muffled woof. His tail fanned the air, the expression on his furry face comical, clearly an invitation to play.

“He wants you to throw it for him,” Kathryne said as she poured coffee into cups and handed him one.

He removed the bone from his lap and dropped it to the floor. “Go get me a stick,” he said and laughed as Sarge darted off the porch in search of the requested item, nearly knocking Kathryne over in his enthusiasm.

With the reflexes of a snake ready to strike, Chase jumped from his seat and wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling. The heat of his body so close to hers, the power and strength of his embrace, the scent of soap and leather filling her brain, caused a quiver of longing to surge through her. His mouth was so close, his lips so tempting…for a moment, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t form a coherent thought. She wanted to feel his lips on hers, wanted to taste him again. She caught the expression on his face, the warm glow in his eyes and knew, without a doubt, her growing attraction toward him wasn’t one sided. He felt the same toward her, but it didn’t matter what either of them felt—she’d signed a contract, promising to obey the rules of her employment and he…he wasn’t exactly welcome in this town.

“Thank you.” She sucked in her breath and struggled to maintain her composure as he released her. She sank into a chair and shivered against the cool autumn air without his heat to keep her warm. An awkward, uncomfortable silence stretched out between them as Chase took his seat once more. Kathryne said the first thing to pop into her head to cover her embarrassment. “That dog! He’s the most amazing animal. Smart. Affectionate. A wonderful companion, but he has a bad habit of trying to trip me or knock me down.”

Chase said nothing, though a blush stained his cheeks. And he wouldn’t look at her. His gaze focused on the dog trotting up the walkway, a thick stick in his mouth. He took a sip of coffee and sighed. He took another sip then sank his fork into the cake and took a bite. “Mmmm.”

Sarge dropped the stick on the floor beside him, tail fanning the air, his big body tense, anxious for a game of fetch. Without a second thought, Chase picked up the piece of wood and threw it past the picket fence, past the little bridge spanning the stream. It landed in the schoolyard. The dog bounded off the porch in pursuit.

He finally glanced at her as he wiped his hands on a napkin. Kathryne’s heart thundered. His expression held so many emotions, so many feelings he tried to hide. Yes, she detected longing and desire in the softness of his eyes. And loneliness. Such loneliness, it made her heart hurt. He opened his mouth then closed it. Kathryne wondered what he was about to say.

His words weren’t what she expected when he finally spoke. “I heard you had an interesting conversation with Edna.” He shoveled another forkful of cake into his mouth and swallowed. “Are you trying to get yourself in trouble, Katie?”

Kathryne jerked. The coffee in her cup sloshed against the rim. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His eyes narrowed and his expression changed. The longing and desire she swore she’d seen in his eyes disappeared, as did the loneliness, replaced with weariness and trepidation. “Yes, you do. You were asking her about Sheriff Townsend and his deputies, asking about the murders.” He let out a long sigh and reached out to grab her hand, his thumb lightly caressing her knuckles. “She’s concerned about you. So am I.”

“She has no reason to worry about me, Chase, and neither do you.”

“Katie.” Her name slipped from his lips, not as an endearment, but a warning. “You know as well as I do what happens to people in this town when they ask too many questions. I can’t…there are some things…”

He didn’t finish his sentence. Perhaps, he hesitated because he couldn’t find the right words. Or maybe because what he had to say wasn’t the most pleasant. Kathryne pulled her hand out of his grasp as she studied his face. She sensed, rather than saw, there was more he had to tell her, wanted to tell her. A full confession from Chase Hunter? Did she really want to know about his past? Did she want all her illusions that he
was
a good man shattered?

No, she didn’t want to know. Whatever had happened in his past should stay there. Certain he wasn’t the same man he was a year ago, or even a month ago, she shook her head and blurted, “Don’t tell me.”

“Tell you what? Tell you to stop asking questions? I know how well you respond to a direct order so it would be a waste of my breath. All I’m asking…”

She wasn’t listening, wasn’t paying the least bit attention. She couldn’t. The feeling she’d grown accustomed to, the feeling that eyes were boring into her, grew. Kathryne sat up straighter and scanned the horizon but saw nothing except Sarge, the stick in his mouth, trotting up the walkway.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“We’re being watched,” she whispered. “Can you feel it?”

Chase quieted and scanned the horizon much as she had done. “Yes.” A tight answer, one that didn’t invite conversation. His look didn’t invite conversation either. His eyes narrowed even more and his lips pressed into a thin line beneath his carefully trimmed mustache and goatee. Kathryne saw the tension filling him as every muscle, every sinew tightened in his body. “Go inside, Katie, and lock the doors.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

She shook her head. “I’m not going to let them scare me. Or intimate me.” Brave words and she meant every one.

“Please. For once, just do as I ask,” he said as he rose from his chair, grabbed her arm, and escorted her into the house.

“But…”

“No buts, Katie. Stay inside.”

Kathryne took one look at his expression and sucked in her breath. If this was Chase angry, she didn’t want to see it again. The color of his eyes, the soft gray she liked so much, had changed to the color of polished pewter. His entire body seemed to vibrate. “Sarge!” he bellowed.

The dog dropped the stick and trotted into the house behind her. “Lock the doors.”

She did as he asked, flipping the lock on the door then moved to the window as Chase left the porch at a run. His long legs carried him across the bridge and into the schoolhouse. He came out a moment later then ran around the side of the building and disappeared into the trees.

Hours passed as she stood at the window, waiting for him to return. Darkness fell, hiding the coffee service still on the table on the porch. Nothing moved outside and silence, except for the lonely hoot of an owl in the distance, deafened her. Kathryne lit the sconces on the wall then built a fire in the fireplace as Sarge lay on the rug and chewed on one of the hambones Edna had given him. The flames brought a much needed warmth to the room and managed to chase away some of the coldness seeping into her bones.

She’d just about given up on him when a knock sounded at the back door. Kathryne jumped then raced to the kitchen. She pushed aside the curtain covering the window and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw his face through the glass. She opened the door and let him in while Sarge danced around their legs, issuing his happy little growl-groan.

“There was no one there,” he said, his voice gruff and filled with tension.

“But there was. I felt him staring at us…at me. I felt his hatred.” She fell into his arms. “Maybe I’m just imagining things.”

“No, Katie, you’re not.” He brushed the hair away from her face, tucking the strands behind her ears. “We
were
being watched. I felt it, too.” He released her then and moved further into the house. “I still would like you to stay inside and keep the doors locked.”

“How am I to teach? How am I to do anything?” She followed him into the parlor then out the front door where he piled everything from their afternoon coffee on the tray and handed it to her. “No, Chase. I can’t allow my fears to keep me from doing what I need to do. I have a classroom full of students eager to learn. I have friends in the community. I will not be a prisoner in my own home.” She felt him following her from the parlor back into the kitchen then give a sudden, muffled cuss as he banged his shin on the trunk she kept moving from place to place.

“Do you want me to put that trunk back in the attic?”

She shook her head as she placed the dirty dishes in the sink and filled the basin with hot water from the stove’s reservoir. “No, I still want to go through it and see what’s inside.” Kathryne turned around and leaned against the counter. She studied his face and sighed. “What would you like me to do, Chase? Go back to Washington? Let them make me so frightened I give up on my dreams? Leave the children I’ve become fond of?” She almost said,
“
Leave you?
”
but stopped herself in time.

He took three steps and swept her into his arms. His gaze held hers steady and she saw, within the depths of his eyes, that he didn’t want her to go, didn’t want her to leave. “No.” He shook his head. “Stay here and fight the good fight, Katie.” If there had been any doubts in her mind about his reputation as a bad man, they were erased in one fell swoop. Why would a gun for hire tell her to “fight the good fight” if he was anything but a good man? “You’re making a difference with the children. And with me.” He traced the side of her face with his thumb then leaned forward and captured her mouth with his.