The Lawman's Noelle

“Thank you. I—” Before he could finish, a wave of woozy weakness came over him. He instinctively reached out to her to brace himself.

He heard her mutter a curse under her breath as she grabbed his arm to steady him. “Come on,” she said in a gentler tone. “I’ll help you to the phone.”

With a supporting hand on his arm, she guided him out of the hallway and into a cozy living room. Along the way, he noticed she’d taken off the ranch coat, and he was surprised to catch the faint, mellowed scent of flowers emanating from the wool sweater she wore. The garment was tattered at the neck and the cuffs, and the Nordic weave across her breasts had faded. She hadn’t bothered with makeup or fussed with her clothing, but she’d taken time that morning to put on a feminine scent. Evan had always found it difficult to understand a woman’s thinking, but this lady was far too complex for him even to try to unravel.

He sank heavily onto the cushion of a short red couch. Noelle handed him a cordless phone from a nearby table.

“I’ll look at your head after you finish your call. Do you think you can drink something? Water? Coffee or hot chocolate?”

She was standing in front of him, her legs slightly apart and one hand resting on her hip. The faded denim outlined her strong thighs and rounded hips, while the sweater clung to her breasts. She was more woman than he’d ever had in his arms. In spite of the throbbing pain in his head, he had to admit to himself that there was something very sexy and sensual about her.

“Do you have any aspirin? I’d take two of those with a cup of coffee.”

“You think it’s wise to medicate yourself?”

He reached up and tentatively touched his fingertips to the lump above his ear. “I’ll make sure the doctor knows—whenever I see him.”

“You’re going to see him as soon as I can drive you into town. So make your call. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She turned to leave the room.

He quickly asked, “You’re planning on taking me to town?”

She frowned at him. “That’s right. You’re not up to riding or driving. How else would you get there?”

He did his best to straighten his shoulders. “There’s no need for you to trouble yourself. I’m about to call my office. Someone will drive out to pick me up.”

“No,” she blurted. “I don’t want any more lawmen around here.”

Although each word he spoke seemed to intensify the ache in his head, he attempted to joke, “What’s the matter? Is there a stack of warrants out on you or something?”

Her nostrils flared as she stared at him. “No. I simply don’t like you people. That’s all.”

Too stunned to make any sort of reply, Evan watched her walk out of the room.

You people? Through the ten years he’d worked for the sheriff’s office, he’d met plenty of folks who disliked lawmen. But they were usually drunks, drug users or hardened criminals. Not a decent woman like Noelle Barnes.

What had a lawman ever done to her? he wondered. Put her in jail? Broken her heart?

Mentally shaking his aching head, Evan punched in his partner’s cell number and lifted the phone to his ear.

It didn’t matter whether Noelle Barnes loved or hated law officials, he told himself. Once he got back to civilization, he’d never see her again.

Chapter Two

More than an hour later, as Noelle paced restlessly around the large waiting area of the hospital emergency unit, she was still trying to figure out what had come over her.

Like Evan had told her, there’d been no real reason for her to drive him into town or to see that he got to a doctor. There were plenty of deputies in the sheriff’s office who would’ve come to Noelle’s house and collected him. Instead, she’d insisted she drive him herself. Now, as the long minutes continued to tick by, she began to worry that his injury might have been more serious than either of them had suspected.

She’d seen people before who had taken severe licks on the head. Once her brother, Andy, had been hit in the temple with a hard-thrown baseball, but the only bad effect he’d suffered was a black eye. Then a girlfriend of hers had fallen and banged her head against a concrete wall while she and Noelle were roller-skating. But the only injury she’d sustained was a minor cut on the scalp.

On the drive into town, Evan Calhoun had told her that his mother had died from a head injury after a simple fall on the staircase. And though he didn’t appear to be connecting her demise with his own injury, just hearing about it had shaken Noelle. No matter whether he worked as a carpenter, a cowboy or a law officer, she didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

The sound of a crying baby drew Noelle’s attention. Across the room, a young woman was trying to pacify a fussy infant and control a rowdy toddler at the same time. The mother looked completely frazzled, yet Noelle couldn’t help but envy the woman. She had someone to love, someone who needed her. She had a family.

Jamming her hands into the front pockets of her jeans, Noelle looked down at her boots and tried to keep her mind from slipping back to Phillip and the short year they’d been married. For a while, she’d been naively in love. Like most new brides, she’d been dreaming and planning for their future. One with two or three children they would raise on a small ranch outside Phoenix. But those wonderful dreams had been flattened when she’d discovered Phillip was as phony as her father’s integrity.

With a weary sigh, she looked away from the mother and children and glanced for the umpteenth time at the double doors where Evan had disappeared with a nurse. He’d been back there nearly two hours. Something had to be dreadfully wrong.

Determined it was high time to get some answers, she marched over to the admission desk, where two nurses were dealing with ringing phones, paperwork and people who were just as weary and worried as she.

Trying to hold on to the slender thread of patience she had left, Noelle was waiting in line to speak with one of the nurses when the double doors suddenly opened. Relief flooded through her as she spotted Evan in a wheelchair, being pushed by a male nurse. Evan looked pale and wrung out, but that was far better than lying flat on his back in a hospital bed.

Stepping out of the slow-moving line of people, she intercepted the two men before they reached the middle of the waiting area.

“The doctor isn’t holding you over?” she asked in surprise. For the past half hour, she’d been thinking he’d be admitted to a room for a night of observation, at the very least.

“No, thank God.” He slanted her a weak grin. “I didn’t think you’d still be here.”

She lifted her chin. “Why would I run out on you? I’ve already wasted most of the day. What’s two more hours?”

He chuckled before cringing in pain. Noelle was surprised at how much empathy she felt for him. Up until she’d found him in the gulch with his face in the gravel bed, she’d never met him. Having this much concern for a complete stranger wasn’t normal.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the nurse making a survey of her rough work clothes and dusty hat. No doubt he wondered what connection she had to this Carson City detective.

“Are you taking this man home?” the nurse asked Noelle.

“That’s right.”

“Then park your vehicle next to the curb and I’ll bring him out.”

Noelle exited the building and hurried to fetch her truck. Cold wind swept across the crowded parking lot. She tried not to imagine what would’ve happened if she’d ridden in a different direction today. Even if Evan had awakened without her help, he might not have been physically capable of tracking down his horse and riding out of the gulch on his own. The plummeting temperature tonight would’ve surely caused him to suffer hypothermia. Noelle had always believed that things happened for a reason. It was clear that she was meant to rescue the detective, although she couldn’t imagine why.

A few minutes later, after Evan was safely buckled in the passenger seat and she had the heater blowing on their feet, she put the vehicle in motion.

“Okay, you need to give me a clue where you live,” she told him as she directed the truck toward the nearest exit of the parking lot. “I’m not familiar with the residential streets around Carson City, so you might start with some general directions.”

“Sorry, but I don’t live here in town. Just take me by the sheriff’s office. Someone there can drive me home.”

Glancing over, she saw that he’d removed his hat. The hair around the wound had been clipped down to the scalp, and a row of stitches now held the gashed skin together. The man was tough to be up and walking, she thought. She’d give him that much.

“Is there some reason you’re trying to get rid of me?” she asked.

Wiping a hand over his face, he said, “No. Just trying to save you a long trip. I’m sure you have things to do at home.”

“The daylight hours are gone. The only thing I’m going to do when I get home is feed the horses and tend to a sick cow.”

He didn’t say anything until the traffic cleared enough for her to pull into the street. “Okay. Go to 395 and head north.”

Noelle didn’t know why she’d made it her responsibility to see this man to the doctor and then home. She could have let a coworker deal with him. But something about finding him on her property and rescuing him from hypothermia, or worse, had left her feeling a bit possessive. Like finding a wounded animal and not wanting to let go until she was certain it could survive without help.

“A deputy has already gone out and collected my truck and trailer from where I parked them on the side of the road,” he informed her. “Someone will pick up my horse tomorrow. And don’t worry, it won’t be a lawman. It’ll be someone from the ranch.”

She darted another glance at him. This time his eyes were shut, his head resting against the back of the seat. Even with that angry wound above his ear and a pale face, he still managed to look incredibly strong and handsome.

Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked, “You have a ranch?”

“It belongs to my family.”

“So you do ranch work along with being a detective for the sheriff’s office?”

“Since about ten years ago, I haven’t done much cowboy work. That’s when I started working as a deputy.”

He was telling her that he lived on the ranch but didn’t work there. How did that situation sit with the rest of his family? she wondered. And what kind of family did this man have? Did it include a wife and children? Somehow she didn’t think so. He didn’t have the look of a man who’d been roped and tied by a woman.

What the heck has come over you, Noelle? Whether this man, or any man, is married should mean nothing to you. You don’t want one in your life. He wouldn’t be worth the heartache.

Shutting her mind to the mocking voice in her head, she asked, “What did the doctor say about your injury? They kept you back there so long I thought you must’ve been going through brain surgery.”

“Sorry you had such a long wait. After the doc finally studied the scans of my head, he said I have a concussion. He prescribed something for the pain and ordered me to take it easy the next few days. And not to get another lick on the head. I told him I wouldn’t be riding Lonesome anytime soon.”

Lonesome. The horse’s name fit Noelle perfectly, she thought. Aloud she said, “I liked your paint. You wouldn’t think about selling him to me, would you?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him looking at her with comical surprise. “Are you kidding me?”

“I don’t do much kidding, Detective Calhoun.”

“My name is Evan. Call me that, will you?”

In her mind, she’d already been calling him Evan. But he hardly needed to know she’d been thinking about him in such a familiar way. “All right, Evan. Now what about the horse? While I was unsaddling him, I looked him over. He has big strong bones, great withers and a nice soft eye. The two of us have already decided we like each other.”

He studied her for a long, thoughtful moment before he finally replied, “I’ll have to ask my brother. He handles the ranch’s remuda.”

She frowned as she maneuvered the truck into the passing lane. “Your ranch has a remuda?”

“Why, yes. Every ranch has a remuda.”

She supposed he was technically right. Even a small spread like hers needed a horse. Only the word remuda meant a collective string of them. And her string consisted of three.

“Now that we’re talking about ranching,” he went on, “I’m still trying to figure out if I heard you right today. You work that place of yours all by yourself?”

“That’s right. I can’t afford help. And even if I could, I prefer doing things my own way and at my own pace.”

He lifted his head to look at her. Though she could see him only in her peripheral vision, the sight was enough to rattle her senses. Without even trying, he was one of the sexiest men she’d ever crossed paths with. Being confined in the truck cab with him reminded her just how long it had been since she’d felt a man’s arms around her.

“How do you manage it all alone?” he asked. “As we rode to your house, I spotted a fairly large herd of cattle.”

He sounded clearly astounded. Noelle figured the women in his life were probably a different breed from her. Most likely they were the soft, delicate sort who looked great in lingerie but acted helpless in a feedlot. Sometimes in the quiet darkness of the night, she wished she could be that woman, if only for an hour or two. But that wouldn’t pay the bills or put food on the table. She had to be strong and capable. Always.

“Only a hundred fifty head. Doesn’t take much work to feed that many cattle in the winter. In the summer, when grass is available, I can concentrate on other things. And when it comes time for branding and working, I call on the day hands who work over on the Double X.”

“Hmm. So how long have you had your place?”

Ever since her beloved aunt and uncle had died and her snake-in-the-grass ex had shown his true colors, she thought grimly. To Evan, she said, “Four years—give or take a few months. My aunt Geneva and uncle Rob willed it to me with the stipulation that I use it to produce livestock. And that I never sell the property.”

“You said ‘willed it.’ Did they die?”

She winced as a pain of regret traveled through her. “Together. In a car accident.”

“That’s too bad. They must’ve thought a lot of you.”

“They didn’t have any children, and the three of us were always close. To be honest, I was shocked when I found out they’d left the place to me. They owned a little ranch of their own in the Prescott area, but I had no idea they owned land here in Nevada.”

“So Prescott is where you’re from originally?”

“No. I lived in Phoenix. But I spent every summer and weekend I could with my aunt and uncle. That’s where I learned about horses and cattle. Uncle Rob had done that all his life. He taught me a lot.”

“I see. So you decided to take on the challenge of turning the land here in Nevada into something.”

Actually, she’d first thought of her move from Phoenix to Nevada as an escape, not a challenge. She’d wanted to get away from the crushing pain of her divorce and her clueless parents. But it hadn’t taken long for her to begin to see the property as the future instead of a refuge.

“Something like that,” she murmured.

He didn’t say anything more. After a few moments passed, she looked over to see he’d closed his eyes and was once again resting his head against the back of the seat. No doubt his injury was causing him some misery. Talking probably made it worse.

That was okay with her. She’d already shared more about herself with this man in the past few minutes than she’d ever told anyone. What in the heck was that about? Since her brother, Andy, was killed five years ago, looking at any person wearing a law-enforcement badge had left her cold. So why was she spilling her personal life to this one? It didn’t make sense. Except that he seemed different somehow from the cool, professional policemen who’d tried to explain away an eighteen-year-old’s death.

Doing her best to shove the confusing doubts and questions from her mind, she concentrated on the traffic and hoped Evan didn’t drift off to sleep before giving her directions to his home.

As if reading her thoughts, he suddenly spoke. “Before you get to the Washoe Lake turnoff, there’s a gravel road that goes west. Take it. Three miles in, you’ll see the entrance to the Silver Horn. Cross the cattle guard and stay on that road until you reach the ranch house.”

“Got it.”

Twenty minutes later, Noelle was wondering whether she’d made the correct turn a few miles back or she was driving them deeper into the wilderness. In the past half hour, the only thing she’d seen was a dark dirt road. But she was loath to wake her passenger and question him. He needed the rest. And the absence of his low, rich voice made it easier for her to keep her mind on driving.

Eventually, she spotted a cattle guard up ahead. As she drove closer, she could see it was flanked on either side with rock pillars. A sign that simply read Silver Horn swung from an arch of metal pipe spanning the entrance. She steered the truck over the metal ridges and hoped the ranch house wasn’t far off.

Another fifteen minutes passed before Noelle finally caught a glimpse of lights on a far-off hill. When Evan had told her it was a long drive from town to his place, he hadn’t been exaggerating. But that hardly mattered now. In a few minutes, she’d finally be rid of Detective Calhoun. The idea left her torn between extreme relief and unexplainable sadness.

* * *

Someone was beating the side of his head with a hammer. Evan fought as hard as he could to defend himself until the nightmare eventually had him bolting forward in the seat, causing the seat belt to latch tight against his throat.

“What the hell?” he muttered as he struggled to thrust the nylon strap away.

“You were having a dream. You’re okay.”

The feminine voice was strong and steady and enough to break through the last vestiges of the disturbing dream.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. Suddenly every­thing came rushing back to him. “Oh. It’s you. Noelle.”

“That’s right. You’ve been asleep. But I think you’re almost home now.”

Wiping a hand over his eyes, he drew in a long breath and scooted up in the seat. Ahead of them, he could see the tall pines and poplar trees lining the driveway to the Silver Horn ranch house. For a few moments today, after Noelle had found him in the gulch, he’d wondered if he would ever see this place or his family again. But now that he realized he was going to live, he dreaded the berating he would surely get from his grandfather Bart Calhoun.

Realizing the truck was slowing, Evan glanced over to see Noelle gazing past the trees to the three-story brick house and the blaze of Christmas lights decorating its face, the lawn and the long walkway.

“This is where you live?”

“Ever since I was born,” he answered easily. “Why? Is anything wrong?”

She turned her attention away from the house and back to the circular driveway. “No. I’m relieved that I didn’t make a wrong turn and you’re finally home.”

He said, “Just park at the end of the sidewalk and I can make it the rest of the way.”

She stopped the truck at the walk lined with low-growing juniper bushes. The evergreens were threaded with tiny, twinkling lights, turning the walkway into a dazzling trail.

“I’d be honored if you’d come in and meet my family,” he said. “Greta, our cook, will have leftovers from dinner. After everything I’ve put you through today, you must be hungry.”

Her tight hold on the steering wheel never lessened. “No thanks,” she said bluntly. “I have to be getting home.”

Even though the effort caused the gash in his head to hurt, he attempted to smile. “I promise I’m the only lawman that lives here. The rest make their living off cattle and horses.”

Clearly not finding his remark amusing, she stared straight ahead. “I’m sure your folks are fine people. But I have chores waiting on me.”

For some reason, the thought of her going back to that windswept hill and modest little house struck him hard. There wasn’t much there but a barn full of hay, a handful of horses and a small herd of cattle. Why had she chosen such a hard, isolated life for herself? he wondered.

That’s none of your business, Evan. And she clearly isn’t about to let it become your business. So forget it and let her be on her way.

He reached over to shake her hand. She dropped the steering wheel long enough to oblige him. Her grip was strong, but brief.

“Well, thank you for all your trouble, Noelle. I can truly say I’d rather we met under different circumstances, but I’m very grateful you came along when you did.”

“Forget it,” she said curtly, then looked at him. “You never did say what you were doing out there riding in the hills. It had to be more than following four-wheeler tracks. Don’t you think I have a right to know?”

“Actually, you should know. A few weeks ago, a body was discovered just a few miles from your place. I was following up on some leads regarding that case.”

Her brows lifted slightly. “I read about it in the newspaper. But I didn’t think it was that close—and the article didn’t say anything about it being a homicide.”

“I’m not saying it was a homicide, either. That detail hasn’t been determined yet. But it’s a fact that gangs sometimes meet out in the area not far from your property. To avoid the law coming down on them, we think. Have you ever seen anything suspicious? Especially around the dry gulch where you found me?”

“No. Never. Sometimes when the weather is nice, there might be a few teenagers sitting around smoking and drinking beer. Not far off the county road, on the property next to mine, there’s a rock formation with a cave beneath. The kids use it as a place to hang out.”

Feeling the need to caution her, he said, “Those might not be innocent teenagers, Noelle.”

She turned a hard look on him. “I might’ve known you’d say something like that. A group of kids, cigarettes and beer. That instantly makes them gang members, thieves or murderers, doesn’t it?”

There was more than sarcasm in her voice. There was downright anger. Her reaction made him wonder whether, as a teenager, she’d been targeted by the law. Though the notion hardly seemed likely, it was clear that something had hardened her toward police officers.

“No. I’m only saying it would be wise of you to use caution. A woman alone is—”

“No different than a man alone,” she finished briskly. “Now, do you think you can get to the door under your own steam or do I need to help you?”

In his line of work, Evan was used to dealing with belligerent people. Some reacted out of fear, others out of downright meanness. No matter the reason, he’d been trained to keep his patience and let the barbs and jabs hit the invisible armor he always kept around him. But in Noelle’s case, he found her unfounded resentment hard to take.

“I think I can manage,” he said stiffly, then reached for his wallet. “Let me pay you for bringing me home and tending to my horse. I’d like to believe the rest of your help was a Good Samaritan act.”

“I don’t want your money. And as for being a Good Samaritan, I don’t walk away from wounded animals. Or humans.”

“Fine.” He opened the truck door and climbed out. “Thanks again. Maybe we’ll see each other again sometime. I know that would make you happy.”

“Deliriously so,” she muttered, her eyes focused on the windshield in front of her.

“Goodbye, Noelle.”

She didn’t reply, so he simply shut the door to the truck and started walking toward the house. But halfway there, he glanced over his shoulder at her disappearing taillights and wondered why it even mattered that she hadn’t told him goodbye.