Operation Cowboy Daddy (6 page)

“If I had an apartment, then I could put him in day care and then have a nice place to keep him overnight.”

“I’m good with the arrangement we have right now.” She tightened her arms around Joey. “And I’ll give you a heads-up when it’s not okay with me.”

“You promise?” His dark gaze held hers intently.

“I promise,” she replied.

He reached out a hand and her heart stopped in her chest as she anticipated his touch, but he stroked a finger down Joey’s cheek, making him wiggle and coo. He dropped his hand back to his side.

“Maybe by tomorrow night the private investigator will have some news for me.”

“It would be nice to have some answers,” she replied. “We’ll see you tomorrow night.”

He nodded and went out into the night.

She closed and locked the door and then returned to the living room, where Halena sat on the sofa. “I’m just going to give Joey his bottle and then tuck him into bed.” She went into the kitchen and then returned a moment later and began to feed Joey.

“You like him,” Halena said.

Mary smiled at her. “Don’t you?”

“I like some things about him, but my final verdict is still out.”

“It really doesn’t matter whether we like him or not. He’s only going to be around until he can sort out this mess,” Mary replied.

“He looks at you with lust in his eyes.”

Mary couldn’t help the quickened thump of her heartbeat at her grandmother’s words. She forced a light laugh. “He’ll get over it.”

“And will you?” Halena’s dark gaze bore into her.

“I don’t feel that way about him,” she replied.

“And tomorrow I might wear a live chicken on my head,” Halena retorted. Mary laughed and her grandmother raised her chin. “It could happen,” she added and got up from the sofa. “And now I’m going to bed.”

“It’s still early,” Mary said.

“It seems lately I only sleep in fits and starts. For the last two nights I’ve gotten up at two to check my blog. I’m hoping I can catch up on some sleep tonight.”

“Good night, Grandmother,” Mary said.

“Good night, my granddaughter. May you dream-walk only to happy places.” Halena left the room.

Mary finished feeding Joey and then carried him into her bedroom, where she changed his diaper and put him into a pair of pajamas.

She then took him into the spare room and placed him in the playpen. He had yet to cry when she put him down for a nap or for the night. She leaned over and rubbed his back and he wiggled around for a moment, then closed his eyes. Within minutes he was sound asleep.

Mary went back into her own bedroom and got ready for bed. As she took off her clothes, she turned her back to the dresser mirror. She never looked at her reflection when she was naked. She hated the woman in the mirror.

She pulled on an oversize T-shirt and then crawled into her bed. Like Halena, for the past couple of nights Mary had battled with a bit of insomnia.

She didn’t have to look far to find what caused her restless sleep. Each night thoughts of Tony and Joey filled her head. They were forbidden thoughts of family and love and created an ache inside her that kept sleep at bay.

After a while, she felt she must have fallen asleep, because she awakened to Halena yelling from the kitchen. What was going on? Had Halena suffered another heart attack?

Her heart crashed against her ribs as she jumped out of bed. She ran down the hallway, through the living room and into the kitchen to see her grandmother, clad in a short hot-pink nightgown with orange-striped sleep pants beneath, running out onto the porch with her shotgun in her hands.

“Come back here, you stinking thief—come back here and let me fill your black heart with buckshot,” she yelled into the darkness of the night.

“Call Chief Bowie,” she said to Mary over her shoulder. “A shadow being tried to enter our home tonight.”

A shadow being...an evil entity.

A deep chill swept through Mary as she heard the unmistakable fear trembling in her grandmother’s voice.

Chapter 5

“Y
ou missed all the excitement here last night,” Mary said to Tony the next evening as he gave Joey a bottle. It was just the two of them in the room as Halena had disappeared into her bedroom right after dinner.

“Excitement?” He gazed at her expectantly. He’d been in a state of simmering excitement since the day he’d appeared on her doorstep. There was just something about Mary that enticed him, that delighted him.

“We had a break-in at two thirty in the morning,” she replied.

“A break-in?” He sat up straighter, unconsciously pulling the bottle nipple from Joey’s mouth. Joey fussed a complaint and Tony rectified the problem as he continued to stare at Mary. “What happened?”

“Whoever it was slit a screen on the back porch and got inside and then broke a pane of glass in the kitchen door. Thankfully, Grandmother heard the tinkle of glass and grabbed her shotgun. Before he could get into the house she confronted him and he turned and ran.”

“Did you call Dillon?” He was horrified that any danger might have come close to anyone in this house.

She nodded, her hair rippling like black silk. “He came out and we made a report, although it’s doubtful he’ll find the person responsible. Grandmother didn’t get a good look at him. It was too dark and she said he had on dark clothes and a ski mask.”

“Why would somebody break in here?” A sense of alarm still rang inside him. They were two women all alone in this house.

“Dillon speculated that it was possible the person wanted to steal some of my baskets and other things. The craft fair is coming up and lots of people around here know this house fills up with items we intend to sell.”

“Would it be worth a thief taking such a chance?”

She smiled at him, that warm, beautiful smile that made the blood in his veins heat with a torturous desire. “You obviously don’t know the worth of my baskets. People love them because they’re made by a full-blooded Choctaw and because I use the traditional river-cane reed. My pottery brings even bigger prices. So, to answer your question, yes, it would be worth it to somebody to steal from us.”

“Have you ever thought about a security system?” He wished he’d been here. He would have chased after the thief and gladly turned him over to Dillon for charges to be pressed.

“Never,” she replied. “But we’ve never had an attempted break-in before. Besides, an alarm probably isn’t a good idea. Grandmother would have it ringing ten times a day and through half the night because she would forget how to disarm and rearm it again.”

Her eyes lit with humor. “And I don’t think our thief will be back. I’m sure he didn’t expect to be met by a crazy old Native American woman wielding her shotgun and a very sharp tongue.”

“Mary, it isn’t funny,” Tony replied. “What would have happened if Halena hadn’t awakened when she did?”

“I imagine he’d come inside, take what he wanted and then leave. There have been lots of break-ins in this area and so far nobody has gotten hurt.”

Tony was vaguely surprised to realize that the surge of protectiveness he’d felt for Joey was also there for Mary and her grandmother.

“Don’t look so concerned, Tony. I had both the screen and the door window fixed today and I really don’t think he’ll be back. Now, you mentioned at dinner that you’d contacted Mick Blake about finding Amy?”

“Yeah, but unfortunately there wasn’t much information I could give him about her to help in the search. I don’t have an address for her and I don’t know if she had a job or not. If she was living with somebody else, then it’s possible she’s been off the grid completely. I did tell him the make and model of her car, but that’s pretty much the only clues I could give him and that will only help if she’s still driving the same vehicle.”

Joey finished his bottle. Tony set it on the coffee table in front of him but continued to hold Joey in his arms. His little body snuggled against Tony’s chest and he smelled of a sweet scent that Tony could only identify as baby innocence and unconditional love...something Tony had never known in his life.

“Did Mick think he could find her in spite of the lack of any real information?” Mary asked, pulling him from his momentary reverie.

“He was optimistic that he could get me results but cautioned me that it might take some time.” He placed the now sleeping baby into the bouncy chair and strapped him in. He stroked a finger down the little boy’s plump cheek. He sat back up and gazed at Mary.

“You’re falling in love with him,” she said.

Tony looked at her in surprise. Was that what it was? The softening of his heart when he looked at Joey? The swell of his chest when Joey smiled at him? Was it possible that Joey had pulled forth a love that Tony hadn’t believed he was capable of possessing?

No, it couldn’t possibly be love. He’d vowed to himself that Joey wouldn’t get into his heart. Tony didn’t know how to love. He’d never had any love in his life, except from Cass, and her death had been a huge loss.

“I don’t love that easily,” he replied. “But I’ll admit he is a cutie.”

Tony didn’t love easily, but he definitely had a deep lust going on for the woman seated next to him on the sofa. She looked so gorgeous this evening, clad in jeans and a pale pink T-shirt that enhanced the dark richness of her hair and her beautiful long-lashed eyes.

“Why aren’t you married?” he asked.

Her cheeks flushed with a touch of color. “There are some women who are meant to be married and have a family. I just happen not to be one of those women.”

“Why not? You’re a beautiful, successful woman.”

“I’m happy alone. I have my work and Grandmother’s company and that’s enough for me.” She said the words firmly, but he didn’t quite believe them. “Why did you make the decision never to have a wife?”

“I love my horse—that’s the cowboy way and that’s enough for me,” he replied lightly.

She frowned at him. “I’m just trying to get to know you better, Tony. You blew into my life so unexpectedly and at least for now we’re bonded together by trying to do what’s best for Joey.”

There were some things she didn’t need to know...some things he just didn’t share with anyone. “Mary, what you’ve seen of me the last four nights is who I am. I’m not that complicated.”

Her beautiful eyes bore into his. “If you say so,” she replied, but he could tell she didn’t believe him. “So, tell me what happened on that ranch of yours today.”

“Have you heard that one of the skeletons has been identified?” he asked.

“No,” she replied, her eyes widening. “I haven’t been in town to hear any of the newest local gossip.”

Tony told her about Tim Hankins, the murdered runaway boy who nobody on the ranch knew anything about. When he was finished, he looked down at Joey and once again a wealth of protectiveness rose up inside him.

“If I have any part in raising him, I’ll make sure he never has a reason to run away from home,” he said.

“You were a runaway when you came to the ranch to work?” she asked, although he figured she already knew the answer to the question.

“Yeah, I had a pretty crummy family life and so when I was almost fifteen I hit the streets, and now it’s probably time for me to get home.” That was as much as he intended to share and now he felt the need to escape from her and any more questions she might have.

Her gaze was too soft and she was far too easy to talk to. Everything about her drew him in. He wanted to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling, and more than anything he wanted to know what her full lips would taste like beneath his own.

He got up from the sofa and she did the same. Together they walked to the front door. When he turned to tell her goodbye, she stood far too close to him and her lips were parted in a way that shot rational thought right out of his head.

Without giving her any advance warning, he threw an arm around her waist, pulled her tightly against him and then covered her mouth with his.

She released a small gasp, but she didn’t step back from him and, rather than telling him no, she opened her lips to him and responded.

Fire danced through his veins. Her lips were soft and warm and they only increased Tony’s appetite for more. Her breasts pushed against his chest and the heady scent of her surrounded him. The kiss went on for several long moments and then she broke it and stepped back from him.

The flames of his own desire shot out of her eyes, letting him know that she’d been as moved by the kiss as he had. “That wasn’t really a good idea,” she said, her voice slightly husky.

He grinned at her. “It wasn’t really a bad idea.” He reached out and tucked a strand of her long hair behind her ear, his fingers noting the silky softness.

“Tony, it wouldn’t be wise for us to indulge in any kind of a relationship other than what we have right now.” She took a step back from him.

“Do we always have to be wise?” he countered.

“I try to be,” she replied. Joey cried out from behind them. “I need to get him. Good night, Tony.”

The dismissal was evident in the firmness of her tone. He murmured a good-night and then headed for his truck. Moments later his headlights slashed through the darkness of the night as he drove toward the Holiday ranch.

On the surface, he and Mary seemed perfect for each other. Neither of them wanted marriage, and if he was to judge by her response to his kiss, then she was as attracted to him as he was to her.

He didn’t see how having an intimate relationship with her would in any way screw up things between them. They were both adults and seemed to be on the same page. Even thinking about making love to Mary had him half-aroused.

He rolled down his window to allow in the brisk night air to cool him down. He’d always believed that he found his peace sitting outside his bunk room or in the recreational area in the back of the cowboy motel.

But these nights shared in Mary and Halena’s company had filled him with a new kind of peace, one he’d never felt before. It was because her home was filled with love.

A chill walked up his spine as he thought of the break-in that had occurred the night before. She’d made light of it, but the whole thing concerned him.

Had it really been an attempted robbery? What else could it have been? Would the man come back to try again? Certainly there was plenty of merchandise inside the house that could be sold in places where it could never be tracked. Tony could only hope that a shotgun-wielding Halena had really scared the hell out of the man and he’d never return.

He rolled up his window and fought against a sense of deep foreboding. He had no idea where it came from or what it meant. He just knew that his senses were whispering to him that something bad was going to happen.

He’d felt this same way right before the cowboys had found Cass Holiday’s broken body on the lawn between the big house and the cowboy motel after the tornado.

The only thing the men could figure out was that she had been on her way to warn them about the impending storm, when it suddenly hit and sent a large tree branch at her that struck her in the head.

She’d died trying to protect them.

Had Tony brought danger to Mary’s house? He couldn’t imagine how her watching Joey could put her at risk. No, it had to have been a simple attempted robbery. Nothing else made any sense, but he also couldn’t fathom why he now felt that some sort of darkness was growing near, a darkness that would change them all forever.

* * *

“I’m heading out,” Halena announced the following Wednesday night.

Mary and Tony sat side by side on the sofa and Mary looked at her grandmother in surprise. “Heading out? Where are you going?”

“You’re leaving us on movie night?” Tony asked incredulously.

“Mabel just called and invited me to her home for a night of movies. She’s been so lonely since her husband died that I just couldn’t tell her no,” Halena replied. “The poor thing just needs a little company.”

“That’s nice,” Tony said.

“Her husband has been dead for four years and last time I saw her she was in great spirits,” Mary said drily. “Tell the truth, you two are going to the casino.”

“How do you know that?” Halena asked.

Mary laughed. “Grandmother, you have on your lucky casino blouse.” It was the ugliest blouse Mary had ever seen. The vivid blue had faded over the years and the huge sequined parrot on the front appeared to be smirking.

“Okay, we might stop into the casino for a few minutes,” Halena confessed.

“Last time you were stopping in for a few minutes you didn’t get home until after three in the morning.”

“And I suggest you don’t wait up for me tonight,” Halena retorted. “I think it’s going to be a lucky night.” She then moved to the front door. “And Mabel just pulled into the driveway.”

“Good luck,” Tony yelled as she flew out the door. He turned to Mary and grinned. “That was her lucky blouse?”

“Awful, right? It was given to her by one of her friends and the first time she wore it she went to the casino and won a little jackpot, so now it’s her lucky blouse.”

“Does she gamble a lot?”

“Not really. She seems to go in spurts. She’ll stay away for a long time and then go two or three times a week for a month or so.” She bent down and picked up Joey, who had awakened from his short nap and was now ready to interact. She placed him in her lap so he faced Tony and the little boy pumped his legs and arms with delight.

“Hi, Joey,” Tony said. “Did you have a nice sleep?”

Joey responded with a string of coos and grins. Mary’s heart swelled. Over the last couple of days it had been wonderful to see the growing relationship between Tony and the baby.

And over the last few days it had been impossible to ignore the simmer of desire that was like another person in the room whenever she and Tony were together.

The kiss they’d shared had haunted her. It had been years since she’d had a man’s warm lips against her own and tasted the sweet hot fire of desire. Tony Nakni definitely knew how to kiss.

She wanted him to kiss her again, and that was definitely foolish. A kiss was a promise of something more to come and she could never deliver on that particular promise.