Colton Cowboy Hideout

Sluicing cool water on her face in an effort to fully awaken and leave the dreams behind, she hoped the staff didn’t dress up for dinner. She’d packed only a couple pairs of shorts and a few T-shirts along with a short, sleeveless nightgown.

“It is what it is,” she muttered to her reflection in the mirror. A quick brush through her hair and a dab of lip gloss later, she left the bathroom and frowned at the silence. Had Tanner and the girls left?

She tossed her purse on her bed, then went back through the nursery, walked up the short hall and stepped into the living room. Tanner sat on the sofa thumbing through a magazine. He looked up at her.

“It’s so quiet I thought maybe I was here by myself,” she said and sat in the chair opposite him. “Where are the girls?”

“Peggy, one of the maids, is doing me a favor. She took them for a walk and then she’ll bring them back here and feed them dinner,” he replied. “By that time we should be back from eating.”

“Is she walking them outside?” Josie asked with a touch of alarm.

“No, she’s just taking them down some hallways to give them a little bit of time out of the nursery.”

“Do the girls eat dinner here rather than in the staff dining area?” she asked. “If I’m going on duty tomorrow, then I need to know what their usual schedule is.”

He nodded, his blond hair glinting attractively in a shaft of sunlight that danced through the nearby window. “They get up in the mornings around six thirty and eat breakfast here in the suite. They usually go down for a short morning nap around ten or so. Brianna always took them to the staff dining room for lunch and then they go down for an afternoon nap around two thirty. They eat dinner here in the suite and then it’s bath-and bedtime around seven thirty.”

“And what about your schedule as ranch foreman?” she asked.

“Up and out by six thirty or seven in the mornings and I’m usually back here in time to play with the girls for a little while before their bedtime. On Saturday and Sundays my days are considerably shorter.” He cocked his head, his gaze curious. “What about you? What kind of work do you do back in Granite Gulch?”

“I’m between jobs at the moment,” she replied. She wasn’t prepared to tell him that she’d been out of witness protection for only a month and had yet to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She’d worked as a waitress in Missouri while she’d finished up high school and then taken some college courses, but waitressing wasn’t something she wanted to go back to. “Has there been any word on Eldridge while I was napping?”

“No, nothing that I’ve heard. If there is anything new we’ll probably hear it at dinner.” He glanced at his watch and stood. “We can head for the staff dining room. I know you didn’t have a chance to eat lunch. You must be starving.”

As she stood her stomach growled loud enough for him to hear. He grinned, a wonderful flash of straight white teeth and warmth. “Ah, yes. You are starving.”

“Excuse me.” She placed a hand over her rumbling belly as a wave of heat filled her cheeks.

“Come on. Let’s get that noisy animal fed.”

They exited the suite and once again wound through a labyrinth of hallways. “I don’t suppose you want to leave bread crumbs for me so that I can find the staff dining room again,” she asked ruefully. “This place is huge.”

“All you have to remember is to take two rights and two lefts and you’ll wind up in the kitchen area, where the staff dining room is located,” he explained.

Josie’s stomach rumbled yet again as the scent of tangy barbecue filled the air. “At least you won’t starve while you’re here,” Tanner continued. “Bettina Morely, the head cook, makes magic when it comes to all kinds of food.”

Tanner led her through double doors into a room with two long tables. There were already three women and two men seated at one of the tables and they were helping themselves to fill plates from the platters and bowls of food in the center of the table.

Their conversation halted at the sight of Josie and they all stared at her with unabashed curiosity. Tanner made the introductions and then he and Josie sat side by side.

“You picked a fine time to show up here,” Linda, one of the maids, said to Josie. “The whole house is in an uproar.”

“So, I’m assuming there’s no news about Eldridge’s disappearance?” Tanner handed Josie a basket of large sandwich rolls.

“Oh, there’s news and plenty of talk,” Linda replied. She was a slightly plump middle-aged woman. Her brown eyes glittered brightly.

“Ms. Marceline came waltzing in while Sheriff Watkins was here and she refused to answer any of his questions. I heard she even told the sheriff to mind his own business. Nobody knows where she was all night. You know she’s always hated her stepdaddy.”

Becky, another maid with strawberry blond hair, leaned back in her chair and shook her head. “And then there’s the fact that Mr. Fowler had that big fight with Mr. Eldridge last night. It was definitely heated. Most of the staff and the family heard them yelling at each other.”

“What was the fight about?” Tanner asked.

“The usual. He wanted his daddy to retire and name him CEO. They both screamed at each other. I’m surprised you didn’t hear them all the way in your suite,” Becky said.

“And don’t forget Mrs. Whitney,” Linda added. “I heard her alibi was she went into her private media room and watched a TV show and fell asleep with her earbuds in so she didn’t hear anything.” Linda rolled her eyes. “A little convenient, don’t you think?”

“Sheriff Watkins is going to have his hands full with this investigation,” Jeb, one of the ranch hands, replied.

Josie added pulled pork to her bun and it felt as if her brain crashed around in her head. She had a gunshot wound in her arm and a mission to accomplish. However, as she listened to the gossip shooting around the table, she realized this Colton clan was a pit of vipers, one of whom very possibly committed murder.

* * *

Tanner didn’t approve of gossip, but he knew there was nothing he could do to halt the wild speculation that was like an extra side dish served up with the evening meal.

“Everyone knows Mr. Fowler wants his daddy to retire and name him CEO and chairman of the board of Colton Incorporated,” Linda continued. “Last night wasn’t the first time the two had fought about it.” She looked at Tanner. “But that’s not the biggest news of all. Did you hear Mitchell Flunt was taken into custody for more questioning?”

Tanner sat up straighter in his chair in stunned surprise. Mitchell Flunt was a groundskeeper who had been working for the Coltons for years. “Why?”

“Mitchell has been angry ever since he didn’t get the big raise he asked for at the beginning of the year,” Becky said. Her blue eyes grew wider. “And when Sheriff Watkins was interviewing him, he noticed Mitchell had some blood on his work boots. Mitchell said the blood was his own, that he cut himself on a lawn-mower blade, but I guess the sheriff didn’t believe his story. He took Mitchell right into custody.”

“There was blood in the master suite,” Linda said as if to remind everyone of the scene of the crime. “I heard there was tons of blood.”

“Not tons,” Tanner replied. “I saw it and there wasn’t a lot.” He frowned thoughtfully. “But what could Mitchell hope to gain by kidnapping or hurting Eldridge?”

“Might have just been a case of revenge,” Becky said. “People do crazy things when they’re angry, and Mitchell has been ticked off about that raise for months.”

Tanner shook his head. “I just find it hard to believe Mitchell would do something like this because he didn’t get a raise, especially when there are plenty of other people who might have a lot more to gain by Eldridge’s death.”

“It’s going to be hard to know who might gain something from Mr. Eldridge’s death,” Linda said. “You two weren’t around when Hugh Barrington showed up and told the sheriff that Mr. Eldridge left specific instructions, which he updated each year. His will is not to be opened until his death and not without a body. Mr. Barrington got all choked up about everything that’s happened. He was practically sobbing like a baby when he talked to Sheriff Watkins.”

Hugh Barrington had been Eldridge’s attorney for years and Tanner knew the two had shared a close friendship. He wasn’t surprised Hugh was upset by Eldridge’s disappearance.

Would the blood on Mitchell’s boots prove to be Eldridge’s? Or was the groundskeeper innocent and the culprit much closer to Eldridge? Would Eldridge be found someplace alive, or would his dead body turn up? Tanner certainly didn’t envy Troy Watkins’s job of solving the crime.

“Could you please pass me the potato salad?” Josie’s voice suddenly reminded Tanner of her presence beside him.

He grabbed the large bowl in front of him and moved it to where she could serve herself. “I’m sorry. This hasn’t exactly been pleasant dinner conversation for you.”

“It’s all right,” she assured him with one of her gorgeous smiles. “I understand everyone is upset about what’s happened.”

Yes, everyone was upset, but there had also been a touch of glee among the merry maids with their gossip. There was no question the arrogant Fowler and snooty Marceline weren’t favorites among the Colton staff.

Through the years there had also been a lot of speculation as to why an attractive woman like Whitney would marry a man over twenty years her senior. More than one member of the staff believed Whitney to be a gold digger who had married for money, not love.

“Surely we can find something better to talk about while we finish our meal,” he said to everyone around the table.

“And we know your favorite topic of conversation is those little dolls of yours,” Becky said with a smile. “Is Brianna still working out okay? She seemed a little unsettled earlier at lunch.”

“Actually, she quit this afternoon, but Josie has agreed to act as temporary nanny until I can hire somebody else,” Tanner replied.

“That’s nice of you,” Linda said with a speculative look at Josie.

“I’m stuck here until the sheriff tells me I can leave, so I figured I might as well help Tanner out,” Josie replied easily.

“Where are the girls now?” Linda asked.

“With Peggy. You know she’s always willing to step in when I need a little extra help.” Tanner couldn’t help but smile as he thought of the maid who was at least five years past retirement age, but still had a spring in her step and a twinkle in her eyes.

Peggy insisted she’d work for the Coltons until she died. Her husband had passed away three years ago and they’d had no children. Although officially she was still a maid, her time was mostly her own. She lived in one of the staff rooms down the hallway from Tanner and nobody required much work from her.

He relaxed a bit as the conversation remained on the twins and then shifted to the hot weather that showed no sign of breaking.

“That was interesting,” Josie said a half an hour later as the two of them walked back toward his suite.

“A healthy portion of gossip is always part of the staff meals,” he replied.

“It just makes me wonder what gossip might be swirling around about me,” she mused.

“You’ll probably never know.” Certainly he’d suspected that before his wife left him there had been plenty of rumors and speculation about him and the state of their marriage, even though he’d been oblivious to the truth.

“It doesn’t matter to me. I learned to live with gossip a long time ago,” she said.

As the daughter of a serial killer, he couldn’t even begin to guess what she must have endured growing up. The fact that she seemed so well-adjusted only spoke of an inner strength he found admirable.

He also hadn’t forgotten her sole concern after being shot had been for his safety and the welfare of his daughters. Josie Colton might have had a lot of bad breaks in her life, but she appeared to have a good heart. And she smelled like a wonderful dessert and fired more than just a little bit of lust inside him.

He paused with his hand on the doorknob to his suite. “Are you prepared for the chaos of an evening with the twins?”

“Bring it on.” Her eyes shone with a warmth he found far too inviting.

He opened the door, hoping the girls’ presence would tamp down the edge of desire that had unexpectedly welled up inside him.

“Dada-love, home!” Lily squealed from her seat in her high chair.

“Dada-love, home,” Leigh echoed from the high chair next to her sister. Both of their mouths and bibs were smeared with red sauce from the spaghetti meal they were obviously enjoying.

Peggy smiled from her chair between the twins. Strands of her gray hair had sprung loose from the bun at the nape of her neck and a bit of spaghetti sauce clung to the front of her blue-flowered dress.

“You can always be sure of a grand reception when these two see you,” she said.

Tanner smiled. “Hi, Lily-love. Hi, Leigh-love,” he said as he touched the nose of each of the girls. “We’ll see how long the good times last. I imagine when they’re teenagers they won’t always be so happy to see me.”

Peggy got up from her chair and held out an arthritic gnarled hand to Josie. “I’m Peggy Albright, and I know you’re Josie Colton and I understand you’re going to be taking care of these two sweet peas for a while.”

Josie gripped her hand and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, Peggy. Tanner has told me wonderful things about you.”

A smile lit Peggy’s wrinkled face. “Any man who loves his babies like Tanner does is a good man in my book.” She looked at Josie. “They are sweet little girls and you should find them a real joy to be around.”

“Thanks, Peggy, and I really appreciate you seeing to the girls this evening. I know it’s past time for you to get some dinner.” He looked at Leigh and Lily and then back to the old woman. “I think I can handle things from here.”

Peggy nodded and started toward the door. “There’s leftover spaghetti in the fridge and plenty of applesauce and green beans if they want more, but they both ate like little ranch hands. I think they’re finished because they’re playing with what’s left on their plates instead of eating it.”

“Hand,” Lily said and held up a spaghetti-sauce-covered little hand.

“Spoon,” Josie said and picked up the small spoon on Lily’s tray and handed it to her. Lily laughed, turned to her sister and released a long string of babble. Leigh responded in kind and they both giggled like misbehaving schoolgirls.

Peggy laughed and shook her head, then said her goodbye and went out the door.

“So, which one do we hose off first?” Josie asked in good-natured humor.

A bubble of laughter rose to his lips. It surprised him. He rarely found laughter anymore unless it was at the antics of his daughters. “Maybe we should tag-team them. If you could wipe down Lily and I’ll get Leigh?”

A few minutes later he and Josie were armed with warm washcloths and prepared to attend to the business of cleaning up the twins. “I’ll just warn you—they hate to have their faces washed,” Tanner said.

“No, Dada-love,” Leigh said with a stern look as he approached her.

“We have to wash our faces so we can kiss Daddy,” Josie said brightly.

“Kiss, Dada-love,” Lily replied and raised her face to Josie’s ministrations.

Leigh watched her sister then smiled up at Tanner. Tanner’s heart exploded with love. He would do anything for his children. Since the day Helen had walked out on him—on them—Tanner had vowed his daughters would be his number one priority and he would fill their worlds with as much love and happiness as humanly possible.

He certainly had no desire to marry again; his life was full enough with his two girls. Besides, he’d failed miserably at marriage once, so he wasn’t willing to try it again.

A half an hour later he and Josie sat on the living-room floor helping the girls build block towers. To be more precise, he and Josie built the tall towers and Leigh and Lily took great pleasure in knocking them down.

“Which one is older?” Josie set a blue block on top of his red one.

“Leigh. She’s three minutes older than Lily,” Tanner replied.

“Leigh,” Lily said and threw her arms around her twin’s neck. The two girls toppled over on their backs.

“No, Lee-lee,” Leigh protested and struggled to get back to a sitting position.

“However, Lily is usually the ringleader if there’s any trouble,” Tanner said with an affectionate glance at the little girl in purple.

“Trouble,” Lily echoed with a delightful grin.

Josie laughed, a musical sound Tanner found intensely attractive. “She’s a bundle of trouble and she’s proud of it. It’s sweet how they call you ‘Dada-love’ each time they see you.”

“I didn’t realize how often I said it to them until one day they started saying it to me.” He smiled at the girls. “At some point in time I’m going to have to break it to them that our last name isn’t ‘love.’ But for now they’re my Lily-love and my Leigh-love.” The girls laughed and swatted yet another block tower down to the floor.

They remained on the living-room floor until just after seven, when Tanner got to his feet. “I’m going to get these two into the bathtub and ready for bed. Feel free to make yourself at home in here or relax in your room.”

He needed a little distance from Josie. The last hour had been far too pleasant with her company. It almost felt as if they were a normal family and he knew better than to get caught up in that particular silly fantasy.

He’d learned from Helen that he wasn’t man enough to make a woman happy. He didn’t have what it took to be a life partner. However, even if he were in the market for a woman in his life, he knew with certainty it wouldn’t be the very young, very beautiful Josie Colton.

By eight o’clock the twins were asleep and he went back into the living room, where Josie was curled up in the chair and staring out the window. Twilight was quickly turning into deepening night.

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