Two Cowboys in Her Crosshairs [Hellfire Ranch] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (17 page)

“No shit,” Jake drawled.

Hudson nodded. “Why would he try to blow you up instead of just shooting you?”

Olivia shifted on the rocker and set up a slow, easy motion. “He must have thought I had the package with me. He probably wanted to destroy it.” Her gaze flew to Jake’s, and she stopped the rocker. “He’ll come here next.”

Jake nodded. “Yep.”

Hudson raked a hand through his hair as he stared into the darkness. The cattle sounded restless. The insects weren’t humming. The night was bleak and oppressive. Or maybe that was just his imagination.

He remembered Deputy Wallace’s stiff body and shivered. It was definitely
not
his imagination.

“Why kill Wallace?” Olivia asked.

Jake tapped the beer bottle. Hudson could sense the roiling anger in his friend. He’d lived with that tension for three years. But it felt much stronger now.

“I don’t know. Maybe Wallace ID’d him or something? Might have stopped him for a traffic violation?”

“Maybe,” Olivia said. “You need to be prepared, Jake. Call Tag in and have some deputies stake the place out.” She bit her lip and sniffled a little. “I can call Cap and have someone sent from DC, too.”

“Tag only had Wallace. He borrows from Kerr County, though. I bet Sam would help out.” Jake scowled. “And I don’t want any Feds.”

She rolled her eyes. “Too damn bad. Whoever is behind this tried to kill a federal officer. As soon as Cap hears about this, he’ll roll them out himself.”

Hudson leaned forward. “Do you have to tell him?”

She gave him a dumbfounded look. “Of course I do.”

He shrugged. “Okay, do you have to tell him about it
now
?”

“What are you suggesting?” Jake asked.

Hudson kept his gaze firmly on Olivia. “I think you should stay with us for a few days. You and Jake can go round and round on this and try to figure it out.” He swung toward the brooding cowboy. “You already have an idea.” He held up his hand. “Don’t try to bullshit me, Jake. I know you. I saw it on your face this evening when you glued the damn thing back together.”

“What is he talking about?” Olivia asked. “You know where that statue is from, don’t you?”

Jake’s sigh was long and hard. He rose and stretched then set his bottle next to the untouched bag of chips. “Maybe. That’s why I came to the Queen to see you. But, uh, I was distracted. I want to do some more digging before I say anything for certain.”

Olivia stood, too, and caught his arm as he turned toward the house. “Don’t shut me out again, Jake. I need you right now.” She cast a furtive glance down at Hudson, and he looked away, pretending to study the honeysuckle vine wending along the porch rail. “Forget the other stuff. Just like last time—we pretend it never happened.”

Hudson caught Jake’s sudden stiffening from the corner of his eye.

But like the idiot he was, his friend remained silent.

“We find out who is behind this and why. It all rests on that damn statue. So whatever ideas and maybes you have running through your muleheaded brain, you’d better freaking share. I don’t want anyone else hurt.”

A cricket chirped a couple of times.

“Shit,” Jake finally said. “You’re right. But we’ve been through enough tonight. Let’s go to bed. You can bunk in the guest room. We always keep it made up.”

“Yeah, his mom likes to drop in. A lot,” Hudson said. He was glad the tension seemed somewhat broken and that Jake wasn’t going to be a hard-ass about letting Olivia into his head. One thing about Jake was his inability to trust or rely on anyone. Even him, to some extent.

But Jake was the closest thing he had to family, and Hudson had no intention of losing him to some whack job with an agenda.

He stood and gathered up the bottles. “Come on, Olivia, I’ll show you to the room. We’ll go into town tomorrow and find some better fitting clothes.” He raked her with a smoldering glance and winked when he met her blush. “Not that you don’t look finer than frog hair split four ways in that get up.”

“Finer than…? What the hell does that mean?”

“I have no idea,” Hudson admitted. “But it sure rolls off the tongue.”

She laughed and shook her head. “I knew you were a buttload of flirting from the moment I met you.”

“Damn straight.”

“Let’s get inside,” Jake snapped. “We shouldn’t have been sitting out here exposed like this.”

Hudson rolled his eyes, but he headed toward the house. “Don’t you think if he knew where you were he’d have been here already?”

“Probably,” Olivia said.

“Inside,” Jake repeated. “Now.”

They trooped inside, and Hudson emptied the rest of his beer into the sink then tossed the bottles into the recycle bin. He closed up the chips and stashed them in the pantry.

Jake and Olivia stood in the foyer. Their bodies were close but not touching. He felt the simmering awareness arcing between them.

He turned back to the pantry and looked blindly inside.

He heard Jake shuffle toward the back of the house.

“Looking for the secrets of the universe?” Olivia asked softly.

Hudson shut the door and swung around. He forced a grin. “Nah, the answer is forty-two. Everyone knows that.”

She looked puzzled. “Okay. Sure.” She cast a quick glance over her shoulder. “I’m going to call Tag and see when he can get some protection out here.”

“You said you’d wait.”

“No, I said I’d wait to call Cap. I don’t like the idea of us being isolated out here. Too many opportunities and no one would know what’s going on for days.”

Hudson could see the worry and stress she was holding. “Not true,” he said. “We have men who come in to help work the cattle on a regular basis as well as a housekeeper who’s here once a week.”

“Oh, okay, that’s better. So, should something happen they’ll find our bodies sooner rather than later.”

Hudson laughed and moved closer. He cupped her shoulders and squeezed. “Funny girl.”

She tried to shrug, and his hands slipped to her elbows. His fingers grazed the outer edges of her unbound breasts through the thin T-shirt she wore.

He didn’t move his hands.

“Hudson,” she said then fell silent.

He edged closer until he crowded her personal space and inhaled the musky scent surrounding her. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt, Olivia.”

“Me, too,” she whispered. Her hands lifted and pressed to his chest, but she didn’t push him away.

Confusion raced in her eyes, chased by a sensual awareness she couldn’t disguise.

“One kiss,” he murmured and lowered his head.

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “No, I can’t.”

“Just one,” he whispered. He pressed his lips to hers and groaned at her softness. Her mouth trembled beneath his. Hudson scattered light, butterfly kisses all along her full bottom lip. He kissed the corners of her mouth, the tip of her nose, and then covered her mouth fully. He caught her waist and wrapped his fingers into the folds of her borrowed T-shirt.

She moaned, and her arms crept around his waist, and she inched a step closer.

Hudson kissed her softly, gently. He teased her mouth with sweet touches that drove him wild. She was as enticing as ambrosia and twice as intoxicating.

He delved a bit deeper, sliding his tongue along the seam of her lips. He flicked gently, tapping with light pressure.

He opened his eyes and found her staring at him. “Open for me,” he murmured.

She inhaled deeply, and then her eyelids fluttered down as her lips parted.

He groaned and swooped immediately. Hudson rimmed her bottom lip then slid inside and found her tongue with his. She shivered and tightened her grasp.

Hudson explored the inner recesses of her mouth, drew back, and placed more tiny kisses along her cheek and jaw. Her head tipped to the side, and he trailed his lips down the elegant column of her neck and back up before taking her mouth one last time.

He pulled back and smoothed his hand over the wild tangle of her hair. “Thank you.”

Olivia’s eyes were slow to open, and when they did, he found them filled with emotions racing by too fast to identify.

Except one—confusion.

He dropped his hands to his sides and stepped back. Clearing his throat, he waved toward the hallway. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

She shook herself then rubbed a palm over her face. “I’m sorry. That shouldn’t have happened.”

“Why not?”

She flicked a glance toward the hallway but didn’t answer.

Hudson tapped her on the nose. “Don’t be sorry. I’m not. Come on. This way.”

He moved down the hall and past Jake’s room. Low murmurs drifted from beneath the door, and he stopped.

“Who’s he talking to?” she asked. Worry once more lined her pretty features.

“Probably Tag,” he said.

“What if
he
is in there?”

Hudson looked at the door. He knocked.

Seconds later it swung open, and Jake stood in the doorway. He wore only his black boxers and a scowl. He held a cell phone in his hand.

He looked from one to the other. “I thought you were in bed.”

“Getting there,” Hudson said. “We heard voices and wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Yeah.” He lifted the phone. “Talked to Tag. He’s got Deputy Carson on gate duty for tonight. She’ll be relieved in the morning. He’s going to have the place watched night and day until this is resolved.”

Hudson breathed a small sigh of relief. Deputy Carson might be a pain the ass most of the time, but she was a damn fine lawman.
Lawwoman
?

“Good,” he said. “Try to get some sleep. We’ll talk in the morning and then head to town.”

Jake’s gaze focused on Olivia. “Good night.”

“Night,” she said.

Jake shut the door with a soft click.

Hudson looked at her and cursed at the look of longing on her face. He headed down the hall. She followed him into the room.

“This is lovely,” she said.

The room was done in a soft butter-yellow with a large queen sleigh bed on one wall. A matching dresser and two nightstands also occupied the room. The opposite held a bay window with a cushioned bench and a light in the wall. “Paula likes to read,” he said as he gestured to the window. “She’ll spend hours on that thing with a book or e-reader in her hand.”

Olivia smiled. “I like to read, too.” Her look turned wistful. “Too bad I won’t have the opportunity to relax there. It looks heavenly. Of course, so does that bed.”

He smiled. “Grandpa made that, too. It was a wedding gift to Grandma. He gave it to her for their fourth anniversary.”

She laughed. “Perfection takes time.”

Hudson flipped on the side lamp and patted the gleaming headboard. “I guess it does. He was a master craftsman, that’s for sure.”

“You sound close to him. To the whole family.”

He shrugged. “Yeah. I am.” He moved toward the door. “Well, I’ll let you rest. The morning and the mess will come soon enough. Good night, Olivia. Sweet dreams.”

She snorted. “Doubtful.”

He cocked his head and studied her. He wouldn’t have pegged her for the nightmares type. “I’m right next door if you need me. Just knock. Or call out. I’ll hear you.”

She nodded. “Thanks.”

“Door open or closed?”

“Halfway?”

He smiled. “Best of both worlds, right?”

Something like surprise chased along her face, and then she laughed. “Wouldn’t that be lovely?”

He waited, but she wasn’t going to share her private joke. He lifted a hand. “Night.”

Hudson melted into the dark shadows of the hallway and waited until he heard the squeak of her climbing into bed.

He squelched the desire to join her.

But it was the hardest thing he’d had to do.

* * * *

An hour later, Hudson looked up from the spy thriller he was attempting to read. Despite the pull of the story, his mind was focused solely on Olivia. Well, maybe not solely. His libido had been working his imagination overtime, thinking of all the things he’d like to do with and to her. A small banging sound came from the wall he shared with Olivia. Not much, but the noise grabbed his attention. He shut the book, tossed back the sheet, and headed for the door. Just as he opened it he caught her soft whimper.

Hudson loped down the hall and into her room. The bedside light bathed her dark hair and olive skin in a soft golden glow which emphasized the frown creasing her brow. Sweat beaded at her temple, and she thrashed lightly.

“Olivia,” he whispered. He hovered over her shoulder. Given her extreme reaction to sudden noise on the porch, he hesitated. He sure as hell didn’t want to find himself flat on the floor because he woke her suddenly. “Olivia,” he said louder.

She groaned and sucked in tiny gasps of air but didn’t open her eyes.