RESCUE AT CARDWELL RANCH (13 page)

“Come on. You can tell me your secret. Isn’t that how you and your brothers got your start? It has to be some kind of special barbecue.”

He nodded as he rolled up on his side to face her. “You have to understand. We were raised on barbecue.” He closed his eyes for a moment and sniffed as if he could smell it. “You’ve got to have the smoke,” he said as he opened his eyes and grinned at her. “And that takes a pit and a lot of patience. Most people don’t know this, but cooking whole animals over smoldering coals is thought to have originated in the Caribbean. The Spanish saw how it was done and called it barbacoa. It’s been refined since then, of course, and every region does it differently. Texas is known for its brisket, cooked charred black and bursting with flavor.”

She laughed. “What makes your brisket so special?”

“We cover them with special seasonings and then smoke them for twelve to eighteen hours in wood-burning pits.”

“Secret seasonings, right?”

“You better believe it. But wait until you taste our barbecue sauce.”

“I can’t wait. Am I going to get a chance to taste it?”

“Count on it,” Hayes said and kissed her. It was a slow, sexy kiss that sent a throbbing ache of desire through her. She knew it wouldn’t take much to find herself making love with him again. He’d been so tender the first time. The second time he’d taken her in a way that still had her heart pounding.

Just the thought brought with it the remembered pleasure. But as intimate as their lovemaking had been, she needed to know more about this man. She’d put her life into his hands. She felt as if he had done the same.

“I heard you started with just one small restaurant,” she said.

He nodded. “We opened the first place in an old house with the pit out back. It was just good ol’ traditional barbecue like we grew up on. You can take a cheap piece of meat and, if you cook it properly and with the right wood, it becomes a delicacy. One whiff and I can tell whether hickory, post oak or mesquite was used. But in the end, give me a piece of marbled pork shoulder and I will make you a tender, succulent pulled pork sandwich like none you’ve ever had before. The secret is that you’ve got to have smoky pork fat.”

She smiled at him, hearing the pride in his voice. “Coleslaw?”

“Of course. You have to slather some sweet slaw on the pulled pork along with our spicy barbecue sauce to cut the richness of the pork. We also do a mean Southern potato salad and you are not going to believe our beans.”

She had to laugh. “You’re making me hungry.”

“Me, too.” His gaze locked with hers, making it clear it wasn’t just barbecue he was hungry for.

“So the business just took off.”

He nodded, almost sheepishly, as if embarrassed by their success. “None of us saw that coming.”

Just like they hadn’t seen this coming, she thought as Hayes kissed her. This time she let nature take its course. She couldn’t bear the thought, though, that with a killer after her, this could be the last time they made love.

* * *

“W
HAT
’
S
GOING
ON
, H
AYES
?”
Tag demanded.

Hayes started as his brother stepped out of the trees next to his cabin a few hours before daylight. He was surprised and more than a little irritated. “Have you been waiting for me this whole time?”

“Don’t try to avoid the question. What’s the deal with you and McKenzie Sheldon?”

Hayes thought about telling him it was none of his business. But since the five brothers had been little, they’d taken care of each other. He knew his brother was asking out of concern, not idle curiosity.

“I don’t know.”

“This is moving a little fast, don’t you think?” his brother asked.

“Oh, you’re a good one to talk, Tag. You come up here for Christmas and the next thing we know, you’re engaged to be married and want us to open a barbecue joint up here.”

“I fell in
love.
It happens and sometimes, it happens fast.” Tag studied him for a moment. “Are you telling me that’s what’s happening to you?”

Hayes looked out at the mountains, now dark as the pines that covered them, then up at the amazing big sky twinkling with stars. Had he ever seen a clearer sky—even in Texas?

“What if I am falling in love with her?” he demanded.

Tag laughed and shook his head. “The Cardwells just can’t do anything the easy way, can they? Bro, there is a killer after her and probably after you, as well, now.”

“Don’t you think I know that? I have to find him before...” He pulled off his hat and raked his fingers through his hair. “I have to find him.”

“Okay, and then what?”

Hayes met his brother’s gaze. “I don’t know. I think about Jackson and his marriage—”

“It doesn’t have to end up that way,” Tag said as he followed him into the cabin. “Jackson was blinded by first love. He didn’t see that all she really wanted was his money. Does McKenzie Sheldon want your money?”

“No.” He let out a chuckle. “I’m not even sure she wants me for the long haul.”

It was Tag’s turn to laugh. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you. You’re her hero.”

“Yeah. That’s what bothers me. I’m no hero. What happens when she realizes that? Worse, what if I get her killed?”

Chapter Thirteen

Hayes looked toward the house where McKenzie and Dana had just disappeared inside.

“Sorry I came down on you like I did last night,” Tag said. “It’s none of my business.”

In the clear light of day, Hayes now understood why his brother had been so upset with him the night before. “Last night shouldn’t have happened. It’s all my fault. I should never have let it go as far as it did. My life is in Texas.”

“Shouldn’t you be telling her this instead of me?” his brother asked.

Hayes barely heard him. “Her life is here. She’s spent these years building up a business she is proud of. I couldn’t ask her to give that up. Not that I would. Not that things have gone that far.”

“Take it easy, bro. You made love to her. You didn’t sign away your life in blood.”

“I take making love seriously.”

Tag laughed. “We all do.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Did you tell her you loved her?”

“Of course not.”

“Because you don’t?”

“No, because we barely know each other. I don’t even know how she feels or how I do, for that matter.”

Tag shook his head. “You’re falling for this woman.”

He could see Dana and McKenzie inside the house. They seemed to be having a heart-to-heart. He could almost feel his ears burn just thinking what McKenzie might be telling his cousin about last night.

“If you care about her, you should tell her,” Tag said. “It sounds to me like you need to figure out how you feel about her.”

“It’s complicated.”

“It always is,” Tag said. “But God forbid if anything happens to her, you’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t tell her.”

* * *

D
ANA
HAD
PACKED
them a picnic lunch and offered to help saddle horses for the ride up the mountain to the lake. “It’s beautiful up there. Crystal clear and surrounded by large boulders. There is one wonderful rock that is huge and flat on top. Have your picnic up there. Or there is a lovely spot in the pines at the edge of the water. I think that is my favorite.”

McKenzie gave Dana a hug. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” She smiled as she looked out the window to where her two Cardwell cousins were standing by the corral after a huge Montana breakfast of chicken-fried venison steaks, hash browns, biscuits with milk gravy and eggs peppered with fresh jalapeños from Dana’s garden.

Tag was handsome as sin, but nothing like Hayes, McKenzie was thinking.

“He’s special, isn’t he?”

She gave a start, but didn’t have to ask who she was referring to.

“Hayes reminds me of Hud.” Dana met her gaze. “He’s a keeper.”

“His life is in Houston.”

“So was Tag’s,” she pointed out with a grin. “It wouldn’t hurt to have two Cardwell cousins up here, making sure this barbecue restaurant is a success. Wouldn’t hurt to have a private-investigative business here, either.”

“You’re a shameless matchmaker,” McKenzie joked.

“Just like my mother. Did I tell you that she made a new will before she died, leaving me the ranch? Unfortunately, she was killed in a horseback-riding accident and no one could find the will. I almost lost the ranch. If Hud and I hadn’t gotten together again I would have never found the will and been able to keep this place.”

“Where was the will?”

“In my mother’s old recipe book marking the page with Hud’s favorite cookie recipe,” Dana said and laughed. “Love saved this ranch.”

McKenzie had to laugh, as well. The more she was around Dana Cardwell Savage, the more she found herself wanting to be a part of this amazing family. For a few moments, she could even forget that there was a killer after her.

* * *

T
HE
HIGH
MOUNTAIN
lake was just as beautiful as Dana had said it would be, Hayes thought as he swung down off his horse.

“It’s breathtaking,” McKenzie said as she dismounted and walked to the edge of the deep green pool.

“
You’re
breathtaking,” Hayes said behind her.

She smiled at him over her shoulder, then bent down and scooped up the icy water to toss back at him. He’d told himself that last night had been a mistake, that he wouldn’t let it happen again. But right now all he could think about was McKenzie being in his arms again.

The droplets felt good, even though he jumped back, laughing. He loved seeing her like this, relaxed and carefree as if she didn’t have a care in the world. He doubted she’d ever been like this—even before the attack. The woman had been driven in a single-minded determination to succeed. He couldn’t help but wonder if any of that mattered now. Was it the attack that had changed her? Or could it possibly be that she had feelings for him? Long-lasting feelings?

He’d spent the morning on the phone with the police and doing some investigating online. The police had run the license plates of those who had attended, but with Gus Thompson’s murder, they weren’t giving out any information. All they’d told him was that they were checking into everyone who’d been there both for the attack on McKenzie
and
Gus Thompson’s murder.

Hayes had run checks on the two men who had provided McKenzie with their names.

Would her attacker be so brazen as to give her his real name, though?

The first name he ran was Bob Garwood. The man had a military background, special ops, and had received a variety of medals before being honorably discharged.

If anything, it showed that he had special training, something that could be an advantage for a man who abducted women and killed them.

Bob Garwood had no record, not even a speeding ticket. He looked clean. Maybe McKenzie was right and he
had
been merely looking for a date the two times he’d come to her open houses.

Or maybe not, Hayes thought, as he saw that Bob Garwood owned a gym-equipment business. Did that mean he traveled? Hayes bet it did. The company he owned was called Futuristic Fitness, promising to sell the most up-to-the-moment, technologically advanced equipment on the market. That could explain why the man was in such good shape.

The next name he ran was Jason Mathews. He was an antiquities appraiser, another job where he no doubt traveled. Like Bob Garwood, Jason Mathews looked clean. He was married, owned his house and volunteered for several charitable organizations—not that any of that cleared him, Hayes thought, reminded of Gacy who dressed as a clown at charitable functions.

The police hadn’t found anything suspicious about any of the other viewers who’d attended the open house from what he’d been told. They were still investigating.

Hayes had finally given up in frustration. He couldn’t even be sure that McKenzie’s attacker had driven to the open house. He could have come by foot; in fact, that seemed more likely since when he stumbled upon Gus Thompson, he hadn’t hesitated to kill him, even though it was a dangerous thing to do.

“I guess swimming is out,” McKenzie said wistfully.

“Not necessarily,” Hayes answered as he began to pull off his boots. He could use a cold dip in the lake. Not that he thought it would help. “Dana packed towels as well as a blanket.” He raised a brow and McKenzie laughed as she hurriedly began to undress.

“Last one in has to unpack the lunch.”

* * *

T
HE
CALL
CAME
forty-eight hours later. The police had received an anonymous tip from a neighbor. When they’d gone to a man by the name of Eric Winters’s house to talk to him, they’d spotted incriminating evidence in his car and gotten a search warrant. Inside the house, they’d found the knife believed used to kill Gus Thompson along with items believed to have belonged to female victims that he’d kept as souvenirs—including McKenzie’s red, high-heeled shoe.

McKenzie began to cry when she got the news as she thought of his other victims. The name Eric Winters meant nothing to her. Even when the police described the man to her, she couldn’t place him, but apparently he’d come through the open house for the ranchette. He’d just been one of a dozen men who could have been her attacker.

“So it’s definitely him?” she asked, weak with relief.

“Given the evidence we found at his house, we have the man who attacked you. Your shoe will have to be kept as evidence.”

“It’s all right. I won’t be wearing those heels again, anyway. Thank you so much for letting me know.” For so long she’d thought they would never find him, that she would always be looking over her shoulder. She hung up and turned to look at Hayes. Her eyes welled again with tears as she said, “They got him,” and stepped into Hayes’s arms.

Dana threw a celebratory dinner complete with champagne that night. “Stay,” she pleaded when McKenzie thanked her for everything and told her she would be moving out of the cabin in the morning.

“I wish I could stay. I love it up here, but I have a business to run. I’ve been away from it for too long as it is.” The business had been her world just a week ago. It had taken all of her time and energy as well as her every waking thought. Until Hayes, she hadn’t realized what she was missing.

But now he had no reason to stay and she had no reason not to return to her life, even if it did suddenly feel empty.

“And Hayes?” Dana asked, as if sensing her mood.

McKenzie looked across the room where the men were gathered. “I guess there is nothing keeping him in Montana now,” she said.

Dana lifted an eyebrow in response. “You could ask him to stay... Otherwise, he’ll be back next month for Tag’s wedding....”

McKenzie smiled at her new friend. “He
has
asked me to be his date.”

Dana grinned knowingly. “That’s if he can stay away from you until the wedding. I guess we’ll see.”

“I guess we will,” she agreed. The thought of the wedding buoyed her spirits a little, but there was no denying it. Things had changed.
She
had changed. While she had to get back to work, it wasn’t with the same excited expectation that she usually felt at the prospect. True, she would never feel as safe as she had, not in Bozeman, not in her condo. But it was more than that.

She’d fallen for the man, for his family, for even this ranch lifestyle. Not that she was about to admit that to him or his cousin, for that matter. As she’d told Dana, Hayes had a life in Houston. She had a life here. He hadn’t asked to get involved. He hadn’t even wanted her to know he was the one who’d saved her that night, she reminded herself.

As Hayes turned to look at her, he smiled and she felt her heart rise up like a bubble. She smiled back, fighting tears.

* * *

W
HERE
WAS
SHE
?

The words had been rattling around in his brain for four days now. It had taken the police several days to arrest Eric Winters. But now two more days had passed. Hadn’t the police told her that her attacker had been caught? What was she waiting for? She should be back at work—and so should he. He couldn’t afford to take much more time off. As it was, people were starting to notice. He couldn’t keep saying he was taking off time to look for another house.

Unfortunately, his Realtor had disappeared. He’d expected her to hide out for a while after poor Gus Thompson’s death. But that was almost a week ago. She hadn’t been staying at her condo. Nor had she been going to her office. When he’d called the office, he’d been told that she couldn’t be reached. He’d declined another real-estate agent, saying he had talked to Ms. Sheldon and only she could answer his questions.

From the exasperated tone of the receptionist’s voice, he gathered that he wasn’t the only one trying to reach her. Like him, surely she couldn’t be away from work too long. Not a woman like her. She must be champing at the bit to return. These days away must be driving her insane.

Her absence was certainly pushing him over the edge. He didn’t know how much longer he could stand it. He had to find her and finish this.

His instincts told him that she was with the cowboy. Before he’d killed Gus Thompson, he’d found out that the cowboy’s name was Hayes Cardwell and that he was from Houston, Texas. He was considering opening a restaurant at Big Sky.

Cardwell. Wasn’t there a ranch up there by that name? That had to be where McKenzie Sheldon was hiding. It would be too dangerous to go to the ranch. No, he had to find another way to flush her out.

He picked up the phone and called her office. He’d been careful not to come on too strong with the receptionist. He hadn’t wanted to call too much attention to himself. But this time— “M.K. Realty, may I help you?”

“I sure hope so. I’ve been hoping to reach Ms. Sheldon, but now another house with another Realtor has come up—”

“I would be happy to put you through to her—”

“I’ve already left messages for her.”

“Ms. Sheldon is at her desk this morning. I’ll put you right through. May I say who’s calling?”

* * *

H
AYES
LOOKED
OUT
the office window at the Houston skyscape. Just hours ago he’d been in the Gallatin Valley looking out at the mountains as his plane banked and headed south. Now here, he couldn’t believe there had ever been a time that this had felt like home.

“What’s bothering you?” Laramie demanded behind him from his desk. “If you still have doubts about opening a restaurant in Montana—”

“It’s not that,” he said, turning away from the view. The offices for Texas Boys Barbecue had started out in a corner of an old house not all that long ago. Now, though, it resided in a high-rise downtown with other corporations that pulled in millions of dollars a year.

“What is it, then?” Laramie demanded. “You’ve been acting oddly since you walked into my office.”

“It’s nothing.” He didn’t want to talk about McKenzie. It only made it harder. Better to put her and Montana behind him. “Have you talked to Austin?”

“You really want to talk about Austin?” his brother asked as Hayes took a seat across from him. “I’ve never seen you mope around over a woman before.”