Her Cowboy Avenger

“Help her out with what?” Travis asked, a sneer in his tone.

“The ranch,” Matt said smoothly without missing a beat. “It sounded like she could use some help around here with things.”

“Did she tell you why she needed help?” Walt asked, the question clearly leading somewhere.

“Her husband recently died and the men he’d had working for him moved on.”

“Did she tell you her husband was murdered?” Travis demanded. “Shot to death in that very house? Or did you already know that?”

“As a matter of fact, she did tell me that,” Matt said.

“And that doesn’t make you nervous about working for her? It sure scared off the rest of the hands.”

“I guess I’m made of stronger stuff than they are.”

“What’s your name again?” the sheriff asked, even though they all knew full well Matt hadn’t offered it.

“Alvarez,” Matt said. “Matt Alvarez.”

Deciding she’d had enough of this, Elena spoke up. “Is there something I can help you with, Sheriff? Something must have brought you out here, since you didn’t come about my truck.”

Walt smiled thinly. “We just thought we’d stop by and see if you remembered anything else about the night Bobby was murdered.”

“No, I haven’t,” she said simply.

“In that case, I guess we’ll be going.”

He shot one final glance at Matt, then turned and headed back to his car. It took a moment for Travis to do the same, glaring at Matt, then Elena before following the sheriff.

She and Matt didn’t speak as the two men climbed back in their vehicle. They watched in silence as the sheriff backed up, then headed down the driveway.

When the car was nearly out of sight, Elena finally spoke. “Why did you tell them that?”

“As soon as I saw who it was, I figured we were going to have to explain what I was doing here. That seemed like the best explanation.”

“But now it’ll look bad if you don’t stay.”

“I’m not going anywhere, not until I have some answers.”

The determination in his voice sent a shudder down her spine. “I’m not sure your staying here is a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“If anyone finds out about our…prior relationship,” she said delicately, “it will look really bad that you suddenly showed up so soon after Bobby’s murder and are staying here.”

“It’s been eight years. I doubt anybody will remember. I was nothing more than a ranch hand passing through, and we were careful about not being too public because you didn’t want your father finding out, remember? Only a few people knew in the end anyway. Are the Nolans still around?” he asked, referring to the people who’d owned the ranch where he’d worked that summer.

“No, they sold out a few years ago,” she admitted.

“What about Weston? Would he have told anybody about me?”

She glanced away. “I don’t think he knew. I never told him and he never mentioned it.”

“So it’s unlikely anyone remembered.”

“Small towns have long memories, especially this one. And at least one person in town clearly knows.”

“Somebody who probably wanted to help you. Why else would they send me that article?”

“To cause trouble for me? Like I said, it could look bad having you here. Not to mention, how could they know you would come here to help me if they sent you a newspaper article?”

“Guess the only way to find out what that person’s motives are is to find out who it is. Another reason for me to stick around.”

She eyed him doubtfully, unable to shake the notion that this was a bad idea. The idea of having him here, so close at hand. Yes, she could use the help, if that was what he was truly here for. If the incident with her tires was any indication, it might be a good thing to have someone nearby.

But having this particular man, with his inexplicable motives and dark, compelling eyes, so close suddenly seemed infinitely more dangerous.

He met her gaze seriously. “Look, if you don’t want me staying here, that’s your call. This is your place. I can’t force myself on you or your property. I can try to find somewhere in town to stay. But I’m not going anywhere until I have some answers. I want to know who sent me that article—and yes, why.”

Elena felt her resistance—and most likely, her common sense—weakening. Yes, it could be a bad idea to have him here. No, she didn’t understand what he was doing here, or why he would want to help her. But she believed he wanted answers, and with the rest of the town seemingly having already made up their minds, that gave them a common goal. Perhaps that was reason enough to keep him close, despite all the reasons she wasn’t sure she should.

“All right,” she said softly. “You can stay.”

If he wondered why she’d caved, he didn’t show it, simply nodding once. “Good. I was thinking we should go back into town and get your truck.”

Elena automatically frowned at the suggestion. She was in no hurry to go back into Western Bluff after her last visit, especially so soon. But as she considered the idea, she realized he was right. They shouldn’t leave her truck sitting on Main Street. God only knew what someone might do to it in the middle of the night, or if it would even be there the next day. Even if it were, she wouldn’t put it past Walt or Travis to give her a parking ticket or trump up some other infraction just to cause her trouble.

“We’ll need to change the tires,” she noted.

“Do you have any spares?”

“There’s one in the truck bed, and a few others in the barn.”

He nodded. “Great. I’ll load a couple in my truck and we can go.”

“I’ll show you where they are in the barn.”

He automatically turned and headed in that direction. Elena waited a few seconds before following, watching him walk away with that same strange sense of unreality washing over her again. Her whole world seemed to have been upended again in a mere hour. It didn’t seem possible that this was happening, yet evidently it was.

Matt Alvarez was back in her life, as suddenly as he’d once left it.

And it seemed, for the moment at least, this time he intended to stay.

Chapter Four

“Tell me about the sheriff,” Matt said as they headed back into town.

Elena glanced over at him from the passenger’s seat, grateful he’d raised the subject—any subject. Anything to distract her from her still unsteady emotions, and his closeness in the truck’s cab. “All right. What do you want to know?”

He kept his eyes on the road, his profile hard as stone. “Is he good at his job?”

Elena considered the question. “I’ve always figured he was. Walt’s been the sheriff for, I’d say, at least six years now, and he was a deputy for years before that.”

“So there’s a chance he might remember me from back then.”

Elena frowned at the memory. “There’s a chance,” she agreed.

“We can worry about that when we need to. Ever had any trouble with him before?”

“None. I didn’t have that much direct interaction with him, and when I did, he was always nice enough to me. When I was a teenager, there were a few times when he brought my father home, and he was always nice about it.” Too nice, she thought with a trace of irritation. The kind of niceness that was really just pity. Far too many people had looked at her like that back then, if they’d acknowledged her existence at all.

Poor girl. Mother took off. Father’s a drunk.

Of course, that was a lot better than the way people were looking at her now, she thought, as a grim smile touched her lips. She’d never imagined a day when being Ed Reyes’s outcast daughter would seem like a step up to her. Or maybe that was the natural progression of things in some way. She’d turned out to be the bad seed her disreputable beginning had always made them think she’d be.

“So there’s no reason to believe this is personal for him and he’s not just trying to do his job.”

“Not for him, no.”

“But for someone else?” he concluded. “The deputy?”

“Travis is—was,” she corrected with a wince, “Bobby’s best friend. Was ever since they were little kids.”

“No wonder he’s gunning for you, if he thinks you killed him.”

“It probably doesn’t help that he never liked me to begin with.”

“Why not?”

“He didn’t think I was good enough for Bobby. But then, most people didn’t. After all, he was a Weston. His great-great-grandfather was one of the founders of this town and Bobby’s family was practically royalty around here. People used to say the town should have been called ‘Weston’s Bluff.’ He was golden in this town. He could have had any girl he wanted.”

“And he wanted you.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment. “Yes,” she said, her tone distant. “He did. In the beginning, at least.”

As soon as she’d said the last words, she wished she could take them back. There was too much she didn’t want to get into, things she didn’t want to explain.

But if he wondered what had changed, he didn’t ask. Maybe he didn’t want to know any more than she wanted to get into it. A tiny bit of relief pierced her uneasiness.

“Did you ever think there might be another reason one of them is so determined to pin the murder on you?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What if one of them is the killer?”

The idea was so absurd she nearly laughed. “Neither of them have motives.”

“That you know of. You said nobody had a motive to kill your husband, but clearly somebody must have. After all, if you didn’t kill him, somebody did, and there had to have been a reason. You just don’t know what it is.”

He was right, of course. She’d spent more than one sleepless night wondering who had killed Bobby—and why. The first answer depended on the second, but she hadn’t had any luck answering either one, hadn’t even come up with any remote possibilities. Rather than find a solution to her situation, her efforts had merely confirmed how dire it was.

She tried to wrap her mind around the idea of Walt or Travis killing Bobby in cold blood. It just didn’t make sense, and not just for the lack of motive.

“If it were Walt or Travis, then why wouldn’t they have left the gun, or planted it somewhere they could claim to have found it? Somewhere that would have made me look bad? The fact that the gun is missing is one of the only things keeping them from making an arrest. If one of them is the killer, then that person has the gun.”

He fell silent for a moment, and she sensed him considering her words. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “That’s a good point. I’m just trying to keep an open mind. We can’t dismiss any possibility out of hand, no matter how far-fetched. We can’t afford to overlook anything or anyone, not if we want to get to the bottom of this.”

He was right, she acknowledged. This was the way it had to be. Sure, it didn’t seem like anyone had a motive to kill Bobby, but someone clearly had. Until they figured out who it was, everyone had to be looked at as though they could be the killer.

It was only fair. After all, that was how everybody in town was looking at her.

“OKAY,” MATT SAID, PUSHING himself to his feet. “You’re good to go.”

Elena glanced at the two fully inflated tires, the truck now perfectly balanced on all four. “Thank you. Let’s get out of here.”

Matt had no trouble understanding her relief. He’d had his attention on the tires most of the time since they’d arrived back at her truck, but he’d been able to feel people watching them. No one had approached or said a word. It hadn’t mattered. He’d known they were there. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling.

Still, he wasn’t ready to retreat just yet. Getting her truck fixed had been just the first item on his agenda when they got to town. He had other business to take care of.

“You go on ahead,” he told her. “I want to poke around here a bit.”

Her attention already drifting to the street and their unseen watchers, she turned back to him in surprise. Not that there was any reason for her to be surprised. It was, after all, what he was here for.

As if realizing it, she slowly nodded. “All right.”

“I’ll see you back at the house.”

He waited, expecting her to turn and get into the truck. She didn’t. She simply stood there, her eyes searching his face, her expression suddenly uncertain. It seemed as though she wanted to say something else.

And in an instant, he understood.

They were already saying goodbye, so soon after meeting again after so long. The strangeness of it hit him. It had always felt strange saying goodbye to her. He’d never been quite ready to do it. It didn’t matter that they would see each other again in a little while. Or was she wondering if that was true, if she should say something, a more definitive goodbye than the last time, just in case?

This was actually a lot like the last time they’d said goodbye. They’d been on the street, not too far from here in fact. The difference was it had been night.

And they’d both had no reason to think he was ever coming back.

He was coming back, he almost felt like reassuring her. But he knew it wouldn’t matter. Some part of her still wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him, any more than it ever had been. And he realized maybe he wasn’t ready, either, as the same innate sense of connection he’d had with this woman from the first moment he’d seen her clicked deep within him.

Eight years. It should have been long enough to wash away whatever feelings he’d once had for this woman. But as he peered down into the eyes staring back at him, took in her upturned face, he felt it just the same.

Whatever she might have wanted to say, she didn’t. With another tight nod, she finally turned and rounded the front of the truck to the driver’s side.

Stepping away from the vehicle, Matt watched her climb in and start the engine. He remained where he was as she backed out of the space. There was no reason for him to stay there. He needed to get going, needed to get started poking around.

But something held him in place, and he watched her drive away, the truck slowly heading down the street and fading into the distance.

“She’s not somebody you really want to get mixed up with.”

Matt recognized the voice without seeing the speaker behind him. It was the deputy who’d come by Elena’s ranch earlier—Travis, she’d said his name was. He had the same sneer in his voice.

The man’s tone rankled. The fact that Matt wasn’t sure he disagreed with the statement did, too.

Not letting his expression show the slightest reaction, Matt slowly turned to face the man.

The sneer was on the deputy’s face, as well. He peered at Matt, eyes narrowed as they studied him, like the guy was trying to figure him out. The scrutiny lasted long enough Matt was sure the man hadn’t managed it.

“Is that so?” Matt said mildly.

“She’s a murderer. Killed her husband in cold blood. Is that really somebody you want to be working for?”

“I figure if you had any proof against her she’d be locked up already.”

“It’s only a matter of time,” Travis practically spat. “Everybody in this town knows she did it, and nobody’s going to let her get away with it.”

“Well, until that happens, she’s still somebody with a job that needs to be done.”

“As soon as she’s locked up, you might find it hard getting paid for whatever work you’ve done.”

“Guess I’ll worry about that when the time comes.”

The man grimaced, his mouth tightening with barely controlled anger. “Even if you don’t believe she’s a killer, take my word, she’s no good. Probably no surprise there—her family wasn’t, either.”

The man let the comment hang in the air, probably expecting Matt to be curious enough to ask for more details. Heck, most people probably would be after a comment like that. But Matt already knew all about Elena’s family. He’d met Ed Reyes himself, knew full well what kind of man he was. And Elena herself had told him more than this man could begin to, just as he’d told her things…

Not that he could admit that to this man. But even if he could, he wasn’t about to. He didn’t like bullies, never had. And Travis Gerard had bully written all over him. It made Matt wonder what kind of man Elena’s husband had been, if this was the type of person he’d considered his best friend in the world. Matt’s reflexive dislike for Bobby Weston grew deeper.

“Her old man was a drunk,” the deputy finally said when the silence went on too long. “Her mother took off when she was just a kid. With a background like that, probably makes sense that she wouldn’t consider her own marriage worth much.”

“What’s your point?”

“I’d think you’d want to know the kind of person you’re working for.”

“Why would her family make a difference when it comes to working for her? That’s her family, not her.”

Travis Gerard’s eyes narrowed, fresh contempt shining from them. “So you’re that kind of guy, huh? Doesn’t matter what kind of person you work for?”

“I’m just wondering why you’re wasting your time trying to scare me off. What does it matter to you if I get paid or not?”

“Her husband was a good friend of mine. I don’t like the idea of her out there, going about her life like nothing happened, like she didn’t kill a good man in cold blood.”

“Then prove she did it,” Matt said. “Trying to scare me off isn’t going to get that done.”

The deputy’s face went dark red, his whole body tensing, and for a second, Matt was positive the man wanted nothing more than to deck him, was just about ready to throw that punch.

Matt held his ground, not about to back down, ready to take the blow if he had to. He was ready and willing to go toe to toe with this arrogant ass, but raising a hand against a Texas deputy was a surefire way to get in trouble, and there wasn’t much he could do for Elena if he landed in jail his first day in town.

Finally, Gerard took a step back, giving his chin a belligerent tilt. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Don’t worry, Deputy,” Matt returned coolly. “I consider myself warned.”

With a curl of his lip, Gerard turned on his heel and stomped away.

Matt watched him go, the knot of tension in the pit of his stomach only tightening. He didn’t feel the slightest bit of relief that the deputy had backed down, his awareness of just how bad the situation was weighing down on him too heavily.

Whether or not Travis Gerard was right about the rest of the town—and the slashed tires indicated he just might be—the fact that the local law was gunning for Elena was confirmation enough that she needed help. Damned if he was going to stand by and watch her be railroaded. Unfortunately, she probably needed more help than he alone could offer, he had to admit. Luckily he might know someone who could provide some assistance.

Climbing into his truck, he pulled the envelope out of his pocket, found a pen in the glove compartment, then reached for his phone, hitting the speed dial.

A familiar voice answered after a few rings. “Triple C.”

“Piper, it’s Matt.”

“Matt, where are you? Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” he said, dodging the first question. “I just need you to give me Pam’s phone number.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment, and he braced himself for her answer. “Everything can’t be fine if you want to talk to an FBI agent.”

“I just have a little bit of a situation here and I’m hoping she’d be willing to do something for me.”

“Is there anything Cade and I can do to help?”

He had no doubt that if he said the word, she and Cade would hightail it to Western Bluff as fast as they could, no questions asked. That was the kind of people they were, not just the people he worked for but his closest friends in the world. “You can give me Pam’s phone number,” he said simply.

She fell quiet again, then slowly began to recite the digits. He immediately jotted them down on the back of the envelope. “Do you need me to repeat it?” she asked when she was done.

“No, I got it.”

“We’re here if you need us, Matt.”

“I know,” he said gently. “I appreciate that, Piper.”

“Take care of yourself,” she said, then disconnected the phone.

Swallowing a sigh, he dialed the number she’d just given him and waited for someone to answer.

The call was picked up on the third ring. “This is Pam,” a voice almost exactly like the one he’d just spoken to said in a no-nonsense tone.

“Pam, it’s Matt Alvarez.”

She fell silent for a few moments much like her sister had. “Matt,” she said flatly, her voice devoid of Piper’s natural warmth. “This is a surprise.” She gave no indication whether it was pleasant or otherwise.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m in a situation and could use your help.”

“What is it?” He quickly outlined Elena’s circumstances. “This case doesn’t fall within federal jurisdiction,” she said when he was finished. “There’s nothing I can do officially.”

“I know that. I was just hoping for some information.”

“What kind of information?”

“For now, anything you can give me on the town, on Elena and her husband, the sheriff and whether he can be trusted. Obviously, you have resources that I don’t. I’m not asking for anything illegal or that would get you into trouble. Just anything you can give me that you think I need to know, though I might need to come back to you later the more I learn here.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment again. “This woman must mean a lot to you.”

His mind instantly wanted to deny the idea. Elena didn’t mean anything to him. Not anymore.

He couldn’t exactly say that. It would raise far more questions, ones he wasn’t sure he was ready for and didn’t like the answers to.

Instead, he simply said, “She’s a friend.”

Another silence. When she spoke again, all she said was “Give me a number where I can reach you.” Matt quickly gave it to her. “I’ll see what I can find.”

“Thank you,” he said, only to realize she’d already hung up. With most people the action would probably be considered rude, but he didn’t take any offense at it. That was Pam—brisk, blunt, to the point. She was willing to help. That was all he cared about.

Lowering his phone, he glanced up, his eyes suddenly meeting those of a woman standing down the street a short distance away.

He could tell she’d been watching him for a while, her face reflecting surprise at having been caught. If he hadn’t been so focused on the call with Pam he might have sensed it. Still, she didn’t immediately glance away, continuing to look at him. He looked right back. Given the way he’d felt people watching him since he and Elena had arrived back here to change her tires, he figured he should get used to people staring at him. That didn’t mean he was going to let them think they could intimidate him or make him in any way nervous.

But as he absorbed the woman’s attention, he realized it was different somehow. She was an attractive woman in her fifties with dark hair and eyes and a nice face. There was a warmth to it, and her attention wasn’t cold or judgmental. It was like she was studying him closely, looking for something. He half wondered what it was, not caring all that much. Maybe she was just curious about a stranger. It didn’t seem like she meant him any harm, and as long as that remained the case, she could look as long as she wanted.

As though finally realizing just how long she had been staring, she abruptly looked away and started down the sidewalk in the other direction.

He watched her go for a few seconds before shaking his head and dismissing her strange behavior. He had bigger things to worry about.

Pam could likely get information that he couldn’t, but he’d meant what he’d said. He intended to learn as much here as he could. It might still be early enough that word hadn’t gotten out about who he was and why he was supposedly in town, so there might still be time to find someone willing to talk to him. And there was one place around here he figured was his best bet to find someone who would.