Colby Law

Nineteen months later she had created the life she wanted, just outside her father’s reach yet right under his nose. They had been at all-out war since. Fact was, they had been immersed in battle most of her life. The stakes had merely been upped with her inheritance. Gus, being an only child, had assumed he would inherit the small five-hundred-acre ranch that adjoined his massive property. But life had a way of taking a man down a notch or two when he got too big for his breeches.

Sadie poured a second cup of morning-survival liquid and savored the one thing in the kitchen she was pretty good at—rich, strong coffee. She divided up the eggs and biscuits with her worthless guard dogs and collapsed at the table. Mercy, she was running behind this morning. If that low-down Sizemore hadn’t shown up, she would be feeding the horses already instead of stuffing her face.

First things first. She had to calm down. The animals sensed when she was anxious. And fueling her body was necessary. Gus’s pals had intimidated the last of her ranch hands until they’d all quit, leaving Sadie on her own to take care of the place. She didn’t mind doing the work, but there was only so much one woman could do between daylight and dark. She’d narrowed her focus to the animals and the necessary property areas, such as the barn and smaller pasture. Everything else that required attention would just have to wait. Things would turn around eventually. As long as she was careful, her finances would hold out. Between the small trust her grandparents had left and donations for taking care of her rescues from generous folks, she would be okay in spite of her daddy’s determined efforts to ensure otherwise.

Gator and Frisco stared up at her from their empty bowls. Abigail stared, too, but she hadn’t touched her biscuit. Not that Sadie could blame her. Maybe her ranch hands had fled for parts unknown to escape her cooking. Sadie didn’t like to waste anything, unlike Gus, so the dogs were stuck with her cooking until she figured out how to prepare smaller portions.

Before she could shovel in the final bite of breakfast, all three dogs suddenly stilled, ears perked, then the whole pack made a dash for the front door. Sadie pushed back her chair, her head shaking in disgust. If Gus had decided to show up in person and add his two cents’ worth, he might just leave with more than he bargained for. Or maybe less, depending upon how well her trigger-finger self-control held out.

Shotgun in hand, she marched to the door and peeked out around the curtains her grandmother had made when Sadie was a little girl. The black truck wasn’t one she recognized. Too shiny and new to belong to any of the ranchers around here, at least the ones who actually worked for a living. Ten or so seconds passed and the driver didn’t get out. The way the sun hit the windshield, it was impossible to tell if the driver was male or female, friend or foe.

She opened the door and the dogs raced toward the truck, barking and yapping as if they were a force to be reckoned with. If the driver said a harsh word, the three would be under the porch in a heartbeat. Sadie couldn’t really hold it against them. All three were rescues. After what they’d gone through, they had a right to be people shy.

With the shotgun hanging at her side, she made it as far as the porch steps when the driver’s door opened. Sadie knew the deputies in Coryell County. Her visitor wasn’t any of them. A boot hit the ground, stirring the dust. Something deep inside her braced for a new kind of trouble. As the driver emerged her gaze moved upward, over the gleaming black door and the tinted window to a black Stetson and dark sunglasses. She couldn’t quite make out the details of the man’s face, but some extra sense that had nothing to do with what she could see set her on edge.

Another boot hit the ground and the door closed. Her visual inspection swept over long legs cinched in comfortably worn denim, a lean waist and broad shoulders testing the seams of a shirt that hadn’t come off the rack at any store where she shopped, finally zeroing in on the man’s face just as he removed the dark glasses.

The weapon almost slipped from her grasp. Her heart bucked hard twice then skidded to a near halt.

Lyle McCaleb.

“What the … devil?” whispered past her lips.

Unable to move a muscle, she watched in morbid fascination as he hooked the sunglasses onto his hip pocket and strode toward the house—toward her. Sadie wouldn’t have been able to summon a warning that he was trespassing had her life depended on just a simple two-letter word. The dogs growled while matching his steps, backing up until they were behind their master.

“Sadie.” Lyle glanced at the shotgun as he reached up and removed his hat. “Expecting company?”

As if her heart had suddenly started to pump once more, kicking her brain into gear, fury blasted through her frozen muscles. “What do you want, Lyle McCaleb?” Somehow, despite the outrage roaring like a swollen river inside her, the words were frail and small. It still hurt, damn it, after all these years, to say his name out loud.

“Seeing as you didn’t know I was coming, that couldn’t be for me.” He gave a nod toward her shotgun.

This could not be happening. Seven years he’d been gone. This was … this was … “I have nothing to say to you.” She turned her back to him and walked away. Who did he think he was, showing up here like this after all this time? It was crazy. He was crazy!

“I know I’m the last person on this earth you want to see.”

Her feet stopped when she wanted to keep going. To get inside the house and slam the door and dead-bolt it.

“We need to talk.”

Sadie closed her eyes. Why was she standing here listening to anything he had to say? This was crazy all right. Crazy of her to hesitate like this. Hadn’t she been a fool for him one time too many already?

“It’s about your daddy.”

She whipped around and glared at him but still couldn’t find her voice. For Pete’s sake, she hated the way her eyes drank in every single drop of him. His hair was as dark and silky as before. Those vivid blue eyes still made her want to sink into him, as if wading deep into the ocean with no care for how she’d stay afloat since she’d never learned to swim. He’d changed in other ways though. The cute boyish features had developed into rugged, handsome male assets. And in the face of all she had suffered because of him, he still made her body burn with need. With the primal urge to run into his arms.

Seeing him somehow made her momentarily forget those years of misery she’d endured because of something he had refused to give her seven years ago, and he damned sure wasn’t here to give her his heart today.

She kicked the momentary weakness aside and grabbed back her good sense. “What about him?” she demanded. To her immense relief she sounded more like herself now. In charge, independent. Strong, ready to do battle.

“There’s an investigation under way that I’m hoping is groundless.” He flared those big hands that as a wild teenager she would have given anything to feel roving over her body. “I don’t know if I can help him, but he’s in way over his head. The only chance I’ve got of derailing the situation is with your help. I need your help.”

Narrowing her gaze, she searched his face, tried her level best to look beyond the handsome features and see what he was hiding. He was hiding something. Didn’t matter that it had been seven years. She knew Lyle McCaleb. He’d never been able to lie to her, even when she would have preferred his lies to the truth. He couldn’t love her.

Whatever he wanted, he could forget it. Her heart had mended in time. She wasn’t giving him a second shot at that kind of pain. “I hope you didn’t drive all the way here from wherever you came from just for that.”

“Houston.”

If he’d sucker punched her, her physical reaction couldn’t have been more debilitating. He’d been that close all this time? Gus had told her he’d moved to California, had a wife. Someone mature enough and smart enough to hang on to a man like him. A new rush of anger blasted her, obliterating the ache he’d resurrected with that one word. “Whatever. You wasted your time. Go away.”

Before she could turn her back a second time and escape this surreal encounter, he opened his mouth again. “I was wrong not to call.” He shook his head, stared at the ground a moment. “I was wrong about a lot of things.”

Now she was really mad. “Let me tell you something else you’re wrong about, McCaleb.” She propped the barrel of her shotgun on her shoulder. “You’re wrong if you think I give one damn about what kind of trouble my daddy might be in, because I don’t.” She amped up the go-to-hell glare in her eyes. “And you’re dead wrong if you think for one second I care what you need.”

LYLE WATCHED, HIS HEART somewhere in the vicinity of his throat, as she stamped up the steps and across the porch. She stormed into the house, slamming the door, without even a glance over her shoulder. The dogs stared after her, then turned to him in expectation.

That didn’t exactly go the way he’d planned. Not even close. There was no denying that she did have every reason to hate him. He’d foolishly hoped that wasn’t the case.

He blew out a breath and opted for plan B. Sit on the porch and wait. The dogs did the same, keeping their distance and eyeing him curiously but not bothering to bark. She wouldn’t call the sheriff’s office and have him escorted off her property. Not considering what he’d learned about the war going on between her and the rodeo kings around the county. Sheriff Cox was a good man as far as Lyle knew, but he held an elected position, and in this territory the rodeo kings ruled.

Lyle chuckled. Sadie Adele Gilmore had always been a hellion. In that respect she evidently hadn’t changed one bit. She liked bucking the status quo, particularly when it involved the good old boys. She and her father had never really gotten along, not since she was old enough to have a mind of her own anyway. The best he recalled, she’d been damned independent since the age of six. His heart swelled a little more at the idea of what had been hidden from her all these years. He hated like hell to be the one to turn her life upside down like this, but he sure wasn’t allowing anyone else to do the job. He owed her that much. He’d hurt her, but he’d made the only choice he could at the time. Nothing he said or did now would change that tragic fact, but he had to protect her.

He couldn’t not protect her.

Her daddy wasn’t going to like it. The last exchange between Gus and Lyle had been several degrees below amicable. The old man would be livid when he learned Lyle was back. The one thing Lyle could absolutely guarantee was that he wasn’t walking away this time. For Gus or any other reason.

Wrestling aside his emotions, Lyle focused on what he’d come here to do. Whatever happened from this moment on was his responsibility. Whether she liked it or not. That part he’d just have to figure out. This battle between her and Gus had gone too far, if all he’d discovered was accurate. That was a whole different ball of wax and complicated an already dangerous situation. It pained him that she had been fighting a man like her daddy alone all this time. Lyle had left seven years ago when he should have stayed. He dropped his head. Staying hadn’t been possible, no matter how he looked at the past. Things had been far too volatile. He’d had no choice but to leave.

By God, he was here now.

Sadie had a soft spot for animals, all of them. He surveyed the herd of furry critters lounging around his feet. Apparently she’d made it her life’s mission to save every one she could, especially those involved with the rodeo that, for one reason or another, were neglected or otherwise abused. That decision had made a lot of folks unhappy around here, particularly Gus Gilmore. She’d gotten more than one, including her daddy, fined by the rodeo association for crossing the line when it came to the treatment of the animals they owned. Many times the incidents were mistakes or oversights, but others were intentional acts intended to ensure a crowd- pleasing performance. The latter could prove hazardous to the person or persons who got in the way.

Lyle stared at his hat, turning it in his hands as if an answer could be pulled from there, but there was no easy answer. Sadie’s troubles with the ranchers were the least of her problems right now. Making her understand that reality without revealing too much too soon would be the hardest part. Her cooperation was absolutely essential, but he despised keeping anything from her for any reason.

The fact was he couldn’t protect her fully if she didn’t cooperate. The situation presented a precarious balancing act. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her again. Or to let anyone else hurt her. Unfortunately, whatever happened, protecting her from the shocking truth was not possible. She had to know all of it, eventually.

Movement beyond the end of the house caught his eye. He watched her march out to the barn, her shotgun still propped on her shoulder. She’d captured her long, silky blond hair into a haphazard ponytail that hung to the middle of her back. She’d worn it that way for as long as he could remember. The scrap of leather she used to tie it back always ended up barely clasping that gorgeous mane below her shoulders, as if she didn’t possess the patience to bother with securing it adequately at the nape of her neck. Her grandmother had scolded her about never staying still long enough to properly brush her hair, much less prepare a suitable ponytail. The memory of running his fingers through her hair warred with the logic required to stay on track. He banished those snippets of lost moments the same way he’d been doing for the past seven years.

The dogs, one by one, got up and moseyed out to the barn to see what their master was up to. Lyle stood, settled his hat into place, and followed. Her soft voice stopped him at the wide-open barn doors. She’d set her shotgun aside and filled a bucket with feed. One by one she served the stabled animals. Chatted softly with each one and gave the old horses a scratch behind the ears. When she’d finished she walked right past Lyle and released all but one horse into the pasture.

The barn and the house were a little run-down. In all likelihood there was fencing that needed mending. Had she been trying to handle this place all alone the better part of the time? The thought made his gut clench. Damn Gus Gilmore. Lyle shook his head. Damn him. She hadn’t deserved the raw deal she’d gotten from him anymore than from her daddy.

Sadie made eye contact with him as she strode back to the front of the barn. “You haven’t left yet?” Her arms went over her chest as her chin lifted in challenge.

“I’m afraid leaving isn’t an option.”

“You’re something.” She shook her head, fury blazing in those green eyes her grandmother had sworn came from her Irish roots. Lyle knew different. Sadie was the only one of the Barker girls who had her biological mother’s green eyes. “You take off, stay gone for seven years and now you show up needing my help. I don’t know what you’ve been smoking, but I think you’d better find some place to clear your head.”

“Like I said before—” he folded his arms over his chest, matching her stance and, partly, to keep from grabbing her and shaking her or worse, kissing the hell out of her “—I was wrong.”

“Like you also said,” she echoed, “you were wrong about a lot of things, but that changes nothing.”

“I really need your help, Sadie. This isn’t just about Gus.”

A frown furrowed her soft brow. Damn, she looked good in those work-worn jeans and that pink button-up shirt that hugged her body the way he had dreamed of doing for too many years to count.

“All right, I’ll bite. What’s this about then?”

At least her question was a step in the right direction. “The trouble involves you, too.”

She rolled her eyes and made a sound of disbelief. “I don’t believe you. Besides, I’m always in trouble. What’s new?”

“This could get ugly fast.” Urgency nudged him. “There’s no time to say what I need to say the polite way.” Might as well spit it out. “I’ve been sent here to protect you 24/7, until this is over.”

He’d expected her to get her shotgun, maybe rant at him a little more, and attempt running him off. He was prepared for that kind of reaction. He wasn’t set for her laughter. The sound burst out of her. “You really are out of your mind, Lyle McCaleb. You should go now, before I lose my sense of humor.”

He had one last ace up his sleeve. “You think you’re unhappy to see me.” He chuckled. “Imagine how Gus will feel when he finds out I’m back.” Lyle grinned, couldn’t help himself. “He’s really going to hit the roof. You know how much he hates me. I’ll bet word has already climbed its way up to that pedestal he lives on.”

That gave her pause and maybe a little anticipatory pleasure. It flashed like a neon sign across her pretty face. “I’m not saying you can stay or even that I believe anything you’re saying,” she countered, but her resolve had weakened ever so slightly. He heard it in her voice. “But I’ll hear you out and then I’ll make my decision.”

“Rumor has it you’re out here all by yourself.” That worried him the most.

Anger darkened the features he knew by heart, yanking the step he’d gained right out from under his feet. “I don’t appreciate you checking up on me. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“I’m just doing my job, Sadie. My orders are to make sure you’re protected. To do that I have to know what I’m up against.”

Suspicion made an appearance amid the other emotions visibly tugging at her. “Who sent you here? You working for the law again? I thought you went off to be some hotshot security specialist.”

The Colby Agency never failed its clients, particularly not where their safety was concerned. Yes, he was here representing those high standards. He supposed one could reason that he was operating under Colby Law. “The answer’s complicated, Sadie. There’s no simple way to explain it.” He didn’t dare say more, much less breathe. All he needed was half a chance to protect her with her cooperation … to do right by her this time.

“Well.” She dropped her arms to her sides, hooked her right thumb in a belt loop and pursed those perfect bow lips the way she had at fifteen. The image made him ache to trace those sweet lips with his fingers, then with his lips. “You’re right about one thing. Gus ran off all my help and there is a lot of work to be done. I can’t deny your conclusions there.”

“It’s been a while.” He glanced around, noting the repairs that immediately jumped out at him, such as the barn’s old tin roof. It could use a little TLC. He shrugged. “Just like riding a bicycle. Point me in a starting direction and I’ll get back in the swing of things faster than old Dare Devil used to toss his riders.” He’d noticed the old champion among those under her care. Dare Devil was the only one she hadn’t let out to roam in the pasture. Had to be a reason for that. Gus, he suspected. And more trouble.

Something wicked glittered in her eyes as she pointed up to the barn roof. “The extension ladder’s in the toolshed. You’ll find anything else you need there, too. Long as you stay busy and out of my way. You’ve got a deal. For the day.”

Lyle surveyed the first step toward gaining her cooperation if not her trust, three stories up at the very least. Nothing he hadn’t done before.

Sadie headed back into the barn. “Come supper,” she called back at him, “I’ll expect some answers, and then you’ll have my final decision.”

Lyle pointed his boots in the direction of the tool-shed. If it kept her alive, he could walk a tightrope all the way across Texas.

If he was lucky, he would live through the experience.

Chapter Four

Five Hills Apartments, 2:00 p.m.

What now? What now?

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. She had a plan, a carefully laid plan. This could ruin everything! She paced the small studio apartment. Back and forth, back and forth. Perhaps the problem was only temporary.

At the window, Clare Barker peeked through the slats of the yellowed blinds covering her one portal to the outside world. The car was still there. Oh, no, no, no. Who was this man watching her? The warden had relished telling her that as soon as she was delivered to this location she was on her own. She knew what he wanted—he wanted some vigilante to carry out the justice the whole world believed had been denied by an appeals court. Her lips tightened. But this man had not gone away. He was not supposed to be here! He changed everything.

Her fingers knotted together as the worry rose in her throat once more, the taste as bitter as yesterday’s coffee dregs. He had sent this man to kill her. She knew it! She just knew it. It was the only way to stop her, that was for sure. He would know his options were limited. Had he prepared so well?

Rage boiled in her belly. But he would fail. The fury stretched her lips into a knowing smile. He would fail.

More than twenty years she had planned this moment. He would pay for what he had done to her. No force on earth could stop her without sending her to hell first.

Time was her most fierce enemy. There was no room for distractions. Clare turned away from the window. Her reflection in the mirror mounted to the bathroom door of her efficiency apartment snared her attention. She was old now. The lines of her frown were deep and ugly. Her hair more gray than the blond it had once been. She touched the shaggy ends she had bobbed off to her ears. No use making it easy for anyone looking for her. She studied the hollows beneath her eyes and the crow’s feet nothing short of a face-lift would remedy. All those years within those stark, punishing walls had stolen her youth, her beauty. She had nothing left, save for this long-awaited final act of retribution.

Clare went to the tattered sofa, where her most prized possessions were arranged like a shrine. She lit the small candle on the end table and dropped to her knees. Confident in her ability to overcome all blockades thrown in her path, she studied the photos lined up against the back of the worn cushions. Each one would soon know the truth. Each one would feel her pain and finally understand what only a mother who had sacrificed so much could.

And before they answered to their maker for their sins, each one would realize that it had never been

what if wicked old Clare won one of her many appeals. It had always been simply a matter of time.

There was no escaping destiny.

Clare bowed her head and began to pray. She prayed for strength, for courage to stay her course. Once it was done, she cared little what happened to her.

She lifted her gaze to the photos worn by time and the caress of her fingers. Mommy was here now. The waiting and wondering would soon be over.

Chapter Five

Second Chance Ranch, 6:00 p.m.

Sadie washed up and tossed the hand towel aside. What was she doing? Her reflection didn’t give her the answer she wanted to see. All she saw in the mirror was a woman who still wanted the only man she’d ever loved. The man who’d left her with painful words that rang in her ears to this day.

I can’t do this, Sadie. You’re just a kid. I don’t have time for games.

Anger and hurt—yes, hurt—twisted her heart. He’d left and she’d cried herself to sleep every night for months. What the hell was she doing allowing him to worm his way back into her life for any reason? The answer resonated in her brain as clearly as the last words he’d uttered to her all those years ago. Despite their miserable history, a tiny piece of her wanted to believe that it could be different now. Yeah, he was still six years older than her, but she was twenty-two—soon to be twenty-three—a lifetime away from fifteen.