The Outsider's Redemption

“So Todd just took off and left you stranded?”

“Something like that.”

“He isn’t the first man to walk away and leave an expectant mother to shift for herself. Guess fatherhood puts too much of a damper on some men’s lifestyles.”

Sarah had the strange feeling that Cody was no longer talking about her at all. His tone had taken on an intensity that seemed too personal for conversation between strangers.

But then nothing about their being together was normal.

“Were you in love with Todd?” The question took her by surprise. If he’d asked her three months ago, the answer would have been an unqualified yes. “I thought I was at the time. Now I think I was only in love with being in love. A woman dreams of that all her life. Romance. The perfect man. I mean, songs, poems, movies—they’re all about falling in love.”

“So what changed your mind?”

“I expected to fall apart when he left. I didn’t. The truth was my life got easier with no one around to tell me that I couldn’t do anything on my own. Two years of hearing that constantly and you start to believe it.”

“Wait a minute. Are you saying you dated this guy for two years and then he just walked out of your life because you were pregnant with his baby?”

“Two years and three months to be exact. He counted it up for me when he left, just in case I couldn’t.”

“You must have been a teenager when you started dating him.”

“I’m a lot older than I look, twenty-seven on my next birthday. But Todd was my first serious beau.”

“Looks like waiting around didn’t improve your judgment.”

“I wasn’t exactly waiting around. My life was too busy to think of relationships before that. I worked my way through university, taking night classes until I could earn my degree in business.”

“Didn’t your mother help you pay for your education?”

“My mother?”

“Yeah, you know, your wonderful nurse mother who practically runs the hospital.”

She turned to stare out the window. “She wanted to, but she had quit her job at the hospital by then to do missionary work in Africa.”

“She sounds like quite a woman.”

“She is.”

Cody reached down and checked the beeper at his waist. “Looks like Dan is ready for us. Too bad your cell phone got destroyed in the attack.”

“Don’t you have one?”

“Not anymore.”

“What will you do?”

“Find a pay phone somewhere.”

“Last minute directions. Secret destinations.” She stretched her legs in front of her. “This is awfully intriguing, don’t you think?”

“I never thought of it like that.”

“That’s because you’re a cowboy who’s merely serving as a guide and bodyguard. You don’t have a full understanding or appreciation for the importance of this mission.”

He glanced her way and rolled his eyes. “No, ma’am. I’m just an ignorant cowboy at your service.”

He was making fun of her now. She’d never been able to pull off that sophisticated routine. But, this was exciting, whether Cody Gannon wanted to admit it or not. Living on the edge. Doing something important. She’d waited for this moment all her life. Too bad that Cody was the only one around to see her, and he apparently wasn’t impressed.

And too bad reality reared its ugly head every so often and reminded her what would happen if anything went wrong with this operation. Only nothing would go wrong. Dan Austin was one of the best agents the DPS had ever had.

They drove another ten minutes until they came to a gas station. Cody pulled off and parked near the phone booth. “I’ll only be a minute.” He killed the engine and yanked his keys from the ignition.

“I didn’t plan to leave you,” she said, as he jumped out of the truck, dangling the key ring from his fingers.

“I’m not taking any chances. Not with my truck.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. A not-at-all sophisticated thing to do, but he was way too cocky.

She watched as he deposited his money and punched in the number. His mouth moved, so he was talking to someone, but his scowl indicated he was not happy with the call. After a minute or two, he slammed the receiver into its cradle and climbed back behind the steering wheel.

“Did Dan tell you where we’re supposed to meet him?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t sound as if you like it.”

“Driving into Mexico with a pregnant woman is not my idea of fun, especially when we’ve spent the last two hours driving in the opposite direction.”

Without warning, her stomach turned inside out. “I didn’t bargain for going into Mexico.”

“You can always back out,” he said.

And if she didn’t know better, she’d think that was what he wanted her to do. But that wouldn’t make sense. He worked for Mr. Austin. “I won’t back out. I always keep my word. But I might pass out if we don’t stop for dinner soon.”

“Then dinner it is. Better to give the devil his due on a full stomach.”

“You know, Cody Gannon, half the time I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

“Then we should make a good pair, because I don’t have a clue what I’m doing here.”

He swerved out of the parking lot and onto the road. “The rest of the ride may be a little bumpy.”

“Why?”

“Look behind you.”

She did. “I see a highway, passing fence posts, and there’s some horses in that field we just passed.”

“There’s a blue car back there somewhere, too. He’s been with us for the past fifteen miles or so. When I slow down, he slows down.”

“So that’s why we’ve been racing along half the time and crawling the other half? Do you think it’s the man who attacked me at the airport?”

“Whoever it is, I plan to lose him. So make sure your seat belt’s buckled.”

She checked the buckle, excitement dancing along her nerve endings. A cute cowboy, a secret mission, and someone following them. If this were a movie, the action music would start up right now.

THE RESTAURANT where they stopped was little more than a clapboard shell with a roof, but the parking lot was crowded. New and old cars and several pickup trucks jammed into the narrow space in front of the building, and that was always a good sign. Eat where the locals chow down and you can’t go wrong.

Cody opened the door for Sarah and helped her out of the truck. She planted her feet on the cracked asphalt and then reached back for her coat.

“I don’t think you’ll need that.”

“Not for warmth, but if you think I’m going in there sporting bloodstains, you’ve got another think coming.”

“Well, excuuuse me. If I’d known I was dining with a fashion plate, I’d have wiped the dust off my boots. But I can tell you without walking in the door that no one in this place is going to get all bent out of shape over a couple of stains.”

“Nonetheless, I’ll wear my wrap. My mother always says that if you want to be treated like a lady, you should look and act like one.”

“Then I’m glad your mother wasn’t there to watch your performance in the airport.” But still he held her coat while she slid her arms into the sleeves.

Her hair brushed his fingers. The softness of the strands contrasted with the rough texture of the coat, and he jerked his hands away. She might look and act and even feel like a lady, but she wasn’t one. She was just another criminal playing innocent, and he was way too smart to fall for her act.

He opened the door to the restaurant and was greeted by an assault of odors and a sudden attack of homesickness. The peppers, the onions, the smell of freshly baked tortillas. It was like walking into Rosa’s kitchen back at the Smoking Barrel. Only it wasn’t his buddies sitting around the table but a room full of strangers.

A waitress with a tray laden with sizzling fajitas sashayed by them. “Welcome to Carmelita’s,” she said, flashing them a smile. “Sit where you like. I think there’s still some empty tables in the back.”

Sarah made her way through the maze of tables and mismatched chairs without waiting for him. He followed along behind, glancing about the room as he did. The place looked safe enough, mostly families and a few young guys still sporting ranch dust on their faded jeans. A pudgy woman in a flowered dress caught him staring her way and smiled. He smiled back.

All well and good. Not that he expected trouble in here. He’d watched his tail ever since they’d left the gas station, cut through a field and down a deserted road before pulling out on this highway. But the attack back at the airport had him spooked. And the first thing he’d learned from Mitchell Forbes had been to never let his guard down.

He’d made a mistake back at the airport, but he didn’t plan to make any more.

Sarah had already pulled out her own chair and taken a seat by the time he caught up with her. “Didn’t your mother tell you that a lady waits for a man to hold her chair?”

“I’m perfectly capable of doing that for myself.”

“Still, it makes me look bad.”

“I didn’t know you were into playing the gentleman.”

“A real cowboy doesn’t play at being a gentleman. It comes naturally.”

“Do tell. Then I may have to reconsider my opinion of the saying on my tote bag. I’m not used to dining with a gentleman.”

“I take it Todd wasn’t one.”

“He probably was in the beginning. You know how it is after you date the same person for a long time.”

“No, can’t say that I do. Not unless four or five dates qualifies as a long time.”

“Four or five dates? You could do that in a week.”

“Maybe you could. Ranching hours don’t lend themselves to that kind of courting, especially when the ranch is five miles past the end of the world.”

“So why aren’t you out on the edge of nowhere punching cattle tonight, Cody Gannon, instead of taxiing me around?”

The answer was simple enough, but he kept it to himself. He wasn’t punching cattle because he no longer had a job. He didn’t belong on the Smoking Barrel anymore. He didn’t belong anywhere, and even if he had, he wouldn’t be at liberty to discuss it with Sarah.

If she had any idea that he was one of the good guys, that this was a trap, she’d run like a hellion at the first opportunity, maybe even destroy the disk completely. Or worse yet, actually get it to Calderone.

The waitress set a basket of greasy chips and a white crockery bowl of salsa in the center of the table. “Watch that stuff,” she said, tapping a painted fingernail on the edge of the bowl. “It’s hotter than a honeymoon hotel.” She laughed at her own joke and then pulled a pencil and order pad from her apron pocket. “What can I get you folks? Everything on the menu’s good and the bartender makes a great margarita.”

“I’ll take a beer,” Cody said. “Whatever you have on tap, as long as it’s cold. Maybe the lady would like a margarita.”

“Indeed not.” Sarah stared at him as if he’d committed a cardinal sin. “Alcohol is strictly off-limits for pregnant women. Haven’t you read the warnings? They’re posted on the bathroom door of every ladies’ room in the country.”

“Sorry. I don’t spend a lot of time hanging out in ladies’ rooms. But I wasn’t trying to force a drink on you. It was just a suggestion. Drink and eat whatever you like.”

“Are you paying?”

“Sure. Why not?” She was awful tight for a woman who was about to collect more money than he’d probably accumulate in a lifetime. At least she thought she was about to get paid.

Of course, she might be busted, and if she really was hard up for cash, that might explain why she’d sold out to the enemy. An unmarried woman about to have a baby could probably feel pretty desperate if she didn’t have the money for medical expenses and diapers and such.

He listened while Sarah placed her order and then gave the waitress his, surprised to find that he was actually hungry. Rosa had accused him more than once of eating anything that didn’t eat him first, but since he’d left the Smoking Barrel, he’d lost his taste for food. At least working again gave him an appetite even if he didn’t take to the job. It had one pregnant woman too many for his liking.

As soon as the waitress walked away, Sarah dived into the chips, dipping one into the salsa before slipping it between her lips. “I absolutely love Mexican food. Don’t you?”

“I like it well enough.”

Sarah nibbled on another chip. “Actually I love anything hot and spicy. The first three months I was pregnant I got sick every time I ate a bite of food with a little zip to it. It drove me nuts. But now I can eat anything without getting sick. Well, most of the time anyway.”

A few minutes, and a couple of thousand words later, the waitress returned with their food and drinks. He ate and half listened to Sarah’s chatter. If she kept this up all the way to Mexico, he’d have to seriously consider gagging her or at least stuffing cotton in his ears. If they actually went to Mexico. He needed more reason to believe this whole operation was on the up-and-up before he sealed this deal.

“Have you ever been afraid, Cody?”

He looked up and met her gaze, wondering where the question had come from and when her tone had changed from light to deadly serious. “Not lately.”

“But you have been at some time in your life?” Old memories surfaced. He pushed them aside, back into the dead file where he’d buried them long ago. “I imagine everybody’s been scared of something at one time or another.”

“I’m scared now. Excited, but still scared, especially when I stop to think about what would happen if something went wrong.”

Her voice caught, and a protectiveness he didn’t want to acknowledge rattled inside him. “No one’s making you go through with this, Sarah.”

“You have a short memory, Cody. You said you wouldn’t let me out of your sight until you’d delivered me and the disk to Daniel Austin.”

He swallowed hard. He’d made a lot of mistakes in his life, but that’s all they’d been. Mistakes in judgment. He’d never jumped sides, never played on the team that wore the black hats. Yet here he was, aching to give comfort and solace to the enemy.

And all because the bad guy was a woman. A scared, young pregnant woman. “I’m just doing my job, Sarah.”

“I know. I guess we’re all just doing what we have to do. I don’t want to change anything. But, all the same, I’m a little scared.”

Silence grew thick and suffocating between them. He pushed his plate away, his appetite lost to an unexplained regret that had crept into his gut.

A few minutes later, he paid the bill and they left the restaurant, the silence still holding between them. And strange as it seemed, he missed her chatter.

SARAH WINCED, trying to bite back the groan that hung in her throat. She’d bragged about being able to eat anything, but Carmelita’s enchilada platter had proven her wrong. Her chest burned as if she’d swallowed fire, and her stomach was turning itself inside out.

She closed her eyes as a new wave of nausea washed over her. Cody turned his gaze from the road to her. “Is something wrong?”

“Just a little upset stomach. I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” Cody reached up and flicked on the inside light, knocking the edge off the grayness of dusk. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

“It’s nothing. I just get pale when I feel queasy.”

“You’re not about to do anything drastic are you? We’re a long way from a hospital.”

“Drastic?”

“You know, like have a baby.”

“No, cowboy. But maybe you better pull over for a minute. I might do something drastic like lose my dinner.”

He pulled over, only now he looked a little pale himself. Obviously he wasn’t used to tending a sick woman. He stopped the truck and jumped out, rushing around the truck to open her door.

“Try to breathe a little fresh air. Maybe that will help.”

She cradled her head in her hands. “Do we have much farther to go?”

“Half the night.”

She groaned.

Cody hunched down beside her. “Look, we don’t have to rush. Daniel’s the one who had us waste time driving in the opposite direction. He can just bide his time until you feel like traveling.”

“Thanks.” His concern surprised her. Todd had hated it when she first started waking up with morning sickness, always finding a reason why he couldn’t stay around, until the morning he’d just walked off for good.

“We can sit here as long as you need to. There’s no rush.”

“It’s all right, Cody. I can make it,” she assured him. “I just needed to stop for a minute. I feel better now.”

“Like hell you do.” He took her hand. “I don’t know much about having a baby, but I know when a woman’s hurting. You need to see a doctor, and I plan to find you one.”

“No. I have something to take.” She unzipped her purse and located the small bottle of antacid tablets. “A couple of these and I’ll be good as new.”

“You had a blow to the head earlier today. Now you’re nauseous. We’re seeing a doctor.”

“Dan won’t like that.”

“That’s just too bad.”

“I have a better idea.”

“We’re not calling your mother in Africa.”

“That wasn’t my idea. I was going to suggest calling my gynecologist in Washington. Dr. Marino knows my history and he knows how my stomach reacts to spicy food. If he thinks I should see a doctor, I’ll follow his advice.”

“Okay, but even if he says you don’t need to see a doctor, I’m finding a place for us to stay tonight. Tomorrow we’ll get up early and drive into Mexico. That makes more sense anyway.”

“Then you’ll have to get two rooms.”

“Why?”

“I can’t sleep with you.”

He dropped her hand. “Nice try, Miss Rand, but you and I are going to be real close tonight. I don’t buy your innocent gambit.”

She shuddered. “What does that mean?”

“That I have no intention of giving you the chance to run out on me like you did at the airport. I’ll be right beside you all night long, but you don’t need to worry about your virtue with me. I’m choosy about who I take to bed.”

She swung her legs back into the truck and folded her hands over her bulging stomach, suddenly aware of how her misshapen body must look to him. She’d have laughed out loud if she didn’t feel so bad.

Still, it would be her first time to spend a night with a cowboy. Maybe there was some kind of charm attached to carrying that tote bag.

Chapter Three

A half hour later Cody turned off the nearly deserted asphalt road and pulled onto a completely deserted dirt one. It was too dark to see anything except sporadic clusters of brush that bordered the road and an occasional stubby tree.

The antacid tablets had eased the stomach discomfort and her head no longer ached from the blow she’d received earlier that day. She was tough, always had been. It was only her petite size that fooled people, but she couldn’t deny that a bed would feel really good about now. They hit a hole, and she grabbed hold of the armrest to keep from falling over onto Cody. “Is this the most desolate place you can find?”

“On short notice.” Apprehension set her stomach rolling again. “You said we were going to look for a place to spend the night. You surely don’t expect to find a motel down this lousy excuse for a road.”

“Not a motel, but the sign back there said there’s a fishing camp down here with rustic cabins.”

“I don’t doubt the rustic part.”

“It won’t be the Holiday Inn, but we shouldn’t have to worry about anyone finding us down here.”

“That sounds as if you think someone is still looking.”

“I haven’t spotted anyone who looked even vaguely suspicious since we left the restaurant, but I don’t take chances unless I have to.”

She put her hand to her mouth, almost catching the end of her fingernail between her teeth before she jerked it away. It was no time to show weakness. “Mr. Austin failed to mention that delivery of the files would be this dangerous.”

“Would it have made a difference?”

She considered the question. “It might have. I wouldn’t have worried about myself so much, but I have my unborn child to consider.”

“Now’s a fine time to think about that.”

His attitude annoyed her. “Don’t you ever take risks, Cody Gannon?”

“All the time.” He nudged his Stetson back a notch, and a sprinkling of dark, wavy hair peeked out from under the edge of the hat. “I just don’t want tonight to be one of them.”

“That makes two of us.”

SARAH LEANED against the doorframe of the small office while Cody registered them as Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter. He paid the bill for one night’s lodging in advance—in cash.

She lost track of the conversation, as the middle-aged woman who’d introduced herself as the owner drawled on, more nosy than she had a right to be. Instead Sarah shuffled through memories, searching for something pleasant to latch on to.

A morning five months ago when she’d stood in Dr. Marino’s office and he’d told her that the test she’d taken at home had been accurate. She was carrying a new life inside her. The events that followed played in her mind, turning sour when she got to the point where she delivered the news to Todd.

“You don’t look so good.”

She jumped at the voice. The woman had walked over to stand beside her. “I ate some spicy food,” Sarah answered, looking away from the woman’s appraising stare. “I took a couple of antacid tablets. I’ll be fine. I just need a bed.”

“Hmmmph. I’d say you need a sight more than that.” The woman’s gaze traveled from Sarah’s swollen nose to the dried bloodstain on the front of her clothes. Then she looked back at Cody, disgust twisting her mouth and narrowing her eyes.

It took Sarah a few seconds to decipher her meaning. The woman believed that Cody had hit her. “This isn’t what it seems,” Sarah assured her and then wondered why she bothered. It was clear from the woman’s patronizing smile that she didn’t believe her.

The woman laid a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “I’ll be working until nine. If you need anything, just call me.” Her gaze shifted to Cody and then back again. “And you don’t have to put up with anything as long as you’re staying in one of my cabins. I have a night watchman on duty. He’s tough as a wild coyote. Nobody scares him.”

Sarah looked up to find Cody doing his own impression of a big, tough Texan behind the woman’s back. Any other time, she’d have had to laugh. Even now, she managed a smile. “If I need you, or the night watchman, I’ll definitely call.”

The woman stood in the door and watched them as they left the office and walked back to the truck. The cabin she’d assigned them was at the end of the road, set off by itself.

“That’s the first time I’ve been accused of being a wife beater,” Cody said, as he took her elbow and guided her around a rut in the path.

“She didn’t accuse you.”

“Oh, no? If looks could kill, I’d be waiting on morgue pick-up right now.”

“As it is, you better walk a thin, straight line or I’ll have her sic the night watchman on you.”

“She’s probably calling him right now, to put him on alert so he can start flexing his big, tough muscles. Of course, once he finds out its a looker he’s to protect, he might flex a new muscle. Then you’d be wishing you had me back.”

“Or maybe not. I haven’t seen the big, tough watchman yet.” But his comment stayed with her. Cody saw her as attractive. Interesting, especially since most of the time he treated her as if she had something contagious.

The night watchman stepped into the clearing surrounding the office just as they reached the truck. The woman hadn’t lied. The man was big, at least a head taller than Cody with muscles a body builder would have envied. A gun rested in a holster at his waist but it was the chainsaw he held in his hand that sent shivers up Sarah’s spine.

“It’s almost dark. Why would he be chopping down trees this time of night?” she asked.

Cody opened the truck door for her. “He’s probably cutting some logs into firewood.”

“Hmm. Does chainsaw massacre have any meaning for you?”