Authors: Kerri Nelson
Wyatt turned and looked around
to make sure no one was listening. The only soul within earshot was a junior
deputy taking a few last photographs of the scene before the body was removed.
“Doc, have you ever seen a
nurse faint like that at the sight of a little blood?”
Dr. Walters grinned wordlessly
at Wyatt as he exited the stall. He motioned to his assistants he was ready to
move the body into the transport van. Then he turned back and studied Wyatt for
a minute.
“If I didn’t know you better,
Sheriff, I’d think you were worried about the little lady.”
Wyatt shook his head but didn’t
answer.
“I’ll call you when I know
something.”
Wyatt turned back to his deputy
and indicated he could stop taking pictures. Alone for a moment with the dead
body of Leon Rinks, he let his mind scroll through the list of potential
suspects. It was a short list and he didn’t like any of the choices.
****
Baylor felt like a complete
idiot. She felt even guiltier when she saw the look on her elderly aunt and
uncle’s faces when she met them in the waiting room of the hospital. They’d
jumped up and hugged her like she’d been at death’s door.
“Let’s get you home to bed,
honey,” Aunt Mel had said as she led her outside and to the car.
“I’m totally fine. Just
surprised by the sudden turn of events is all.” Baylor tried to shake the
images of the dead man and reassured them she didn’t need babysitting.
She’d already been thinking
about heading out to find Wyatt. She wanted to know what was going on around
her family’s ranch. This was not the thing she wanted happening with them
around. It wasn’t good for their health. Apparently, it wasn’t good for her
health either.
She swallowed back anxiousness
as she thought about it. Seeing that dead body had brought back painful
memories, and she wasn’t ready to go back down that road again so soon.
But beyond the memories, she
wanted to make sure her family was safe.
“Have you called Chris?” she
asked as she slid into the waiting car. Uncle Duane had pulled up to the
patient loading zone just outside the sliding doors.
Her aunt and uncle looked at
each other in silent communication.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Listen, Baylor. We don’t want
you to tell Chris about what you saw today.”
“Why not?”
Melba turned around in the seat
and looked back at Baylor as her uncle pulled the car away from the curb and
toward the hospital’s parking lot exit.
“We’ve been having some strange
occurrences at the ranch lately. This isn’t the first one.”
“Strange
occurrences?
Like dead
bodies showing up in the field house?” Baylor could hear the condescending tone
in her voice and instantly regretted it.
“No, of
course not.”
Melba
began to nervously twirl a wayward strand of hair around her finger as she
spoke.
“Things have shown up missing.
We just thought we had a dishonest employee or something. That’s why we asked
Wyatt to come work with us part-time. Having the sheriff around has deterred
all the bad behavior, and things have finally settled down.”
The sheriff?
Baylor hadn’t known Wyatt was
the sheriff. Maybe that’s why he’d been watching her with such a disapproving
eye. He was a cop and he saw suspicion in everyone. Maybe he thought she was a
gold-digging opportunist and was here to cheat her aunt and uncle out of their
money.
“Wyatt is the sheriff?” She had
to confirm what she was hearing.
“Oh, yes. Didn’t we tell you?”
Melba laughed nervously.
“No, I think I’d remember that.
I thought he just worked at the ranch.”
“Well, he’s been helping us out
and seems to love it, and we really like having him around. We miss Chris so
much.”
Baylor leaned forward and
squeezed her aunt’s shoulder.
“He wants us to move to
Florida.”
“Wyatt thinks you should move?”
Baylor asked.
“No, Chris wants us to move. He
thinks we’re too old to run the ranch. He’s been after us to retire to Florida
and live near him for some time. If he found out about the thefts and now the
murder, he’d come up here and get us himself.”
“Murder!”
Baylor practically screamed in the
backseat, making her uncle jump slightly at the wheel.
“Well now, honey, we don’t know
for sure, but the medical examiner said he’s looking into it. We can’t rule out
that foul play might be involved.”
Baylor began to bite her nails.
She’d just assumed the man had some sort of work-related accident. She’d never
even thought about it being murder. Suddenly coming to Kentucky didn’t seem
like such a good idea.
“Maybe Chris is right. Maybe
you should go to Florida.”
Her aunt and uncle exchanged
glances again.
“Well, that’s something we
wanted to talk to you about.”
****
Baylor excused herself to her
room after they arrived back at the ranch. She needed time to think.
A lot of time.
She’d come to Kentucky looking
for a fresh start. After all she’d been through back home, she needed to start
over. But she’d never come looking for more drama and death. And she’d
certainly never intended to stay on permanently at the ranch.
The news that her aunt and
uncle wanted to sign over their family homestead to her came as yet another
shock for the day. She had no idea how to run a ranch and at first couldn’t understand
why they’d want her to have it.
Then they’d explained. Apparently
Chris had no intention of returning to the ranch and they wanted to keep it in
the family. They’d told her there was no pressure for her to accept, but…she
was their last hope before they had to sell to someone outside the family.
She lay stretched out across
her bed with her arms above her head. The thought of her staying here
permanently and being a ranch owner seemed like such an odd concept. She
couldn’t possibly accept their offer. Could she?
Images of Sheriff Wyatt and his
tough-as-nails sneer danced behind her closed eyes, swiftly followed by flashes
of those arms rippling with muscles and that hard chest. She rolled over on her
side and slid her hand between her legs. Placing pressure on her groin with the
palm of her hand, cupping herself with moderate pressure, she started to gently
caress herself as she thought about him.
The warmth and roughness of his
hand when they’d met last night, the wink and smile as he’d greeted her this
morning wearing that apron. The concerned look on his face when he’d found her
crouched over the dead body. She’d passed out cold but not before he caught
hold of her to prevent her from hitting her head.
The smell of his clean skin returned
to her with jolting clarity as she envisioned him in her mind. She wondered
what his skin would taste like. She increased the pressure against her aching
clit and rubbed back and forth, creating a spark of friction that caused her
panties to pool with wetness.
She wanted Wyatt. There was no
denying that. She wanted him to touch her with those hands and look at her with
those eyes.
She thought of the way his ass
looked in those jeans as he’d stood at the stove. She imagined reaching down
and grasping his buttocks as he pushed inside her, driving her to completion.
She was teasing herself into a
slow frenzy with the rubbing and rocking against her hand. She was so close to
coming she bit her lip and squeezed her eyes more tightly shut. So close. So
close.
A knock on the door harshly yanked
her back from the fringe of her fantasy. She opened her eyes and listened.
Another soft
knock.
She sat up and tried to get her
breathing under control. She felt like she’d been running a race and she knew
her face would betray the signs of being all hot and bothered. She didn’t want
her aunt or uncle to see her looking all sex-faced.
She took a couple of deep
breaths and pushed off the bed to make her way to the door. Opening it with a
smile, she gasped in surprise at her visitor.
Wyatt stood there filling up
the doorframe, and he didn’t look happy.
Chapter
Four
Wyatt had come by to check on
Baylor. He was busy down at the station with all the reports a dead body
demanded. He was also impatiently waiting for the autopsy report from the medical
examiner in order to decide how to proceed with his investigation.
Until he had the official word
it was an accident, he had to proceed as if foul play was involved. This meant
he’d have to take a statement from Baylor, since she was the one to discover
the body.
A part of him was looking
forward to seeing her again and making sure she was okay. Yet another part of
him held the small hope this would scare her away. He didn’t need her here
distracting him, and he sure as hell didn’t need her here getting in the way of
his offer to purchase the ranch.
He’d worked too long and too
hard to help the
Markums
with their ranch and to get
in good with them over the past year. He’d spent every nonworking hour with
them, gaining their good graces. He knew it was just a matter of time before
they gave up the ghost and moved south with their son. And he was the one who
was going to take over when they left town.
But now, because Baylor was
here, they had another option. They could give her the ranch, and then he’d
have to start all over in convincing her it was in her best interest to sell to
him. As far as Wyatt knew, nothing had been decided yet, but he really didn’t
want to have to start over with an unknown person. And Baylor already seemed far
more complicated than the
Markums
.
When she opened the door to her
bedroom, nothing could have prepared him for the look on her face. She had the
appearance of a woman who’d just been fucked. Her eyes were glossed over and
her hair was tousled. She was breathing a little too heavily for someone who
was just resting and recuperating.
He shot a glance around the
room, searching for the man who’d just had his hands on her, but she was alone.
Then he looked back to see her staring down at her feet. She was embarrassed.
That was when he realized what
she’d been doing behind closed doors, and his cock grew instantly hard at the
thought. His gut instinct was to reach out and take her into his arms and give
her body what it really needed, but he opened his mouth and spoke instead.
“Sorry to interrupt.”
She looked up quickly, her face
flushing a deeper shade of pink. She turned and made her way over to the
window. She kept her back to him, but he could see her crossing her arms over
her chest.
Crap.
His big mouth was not going very
far in ingratiating himself with the potential new owner of the ranch.
“Did you need something,
Sheriff?”
Her voice had turned a shade of
icy he hadn’t heard from her before now. And the way she said “Sheriff” wasn’t
at all endearing.
“Uh…I really just came by to
check on you and see if you’re ready to give your statement.”
She turned around. Her face had
recovered and taken on an expression meant to be stern, but it made him want to
smile all the more. He thought better of it and tried for a compassionate look
instead.
“I don’t know what your problem
is with me. I barely know you. But every time I see you, you’re scowling at me
and looking like your best friend just died.”
Wyatt felt a little pang of
remorse at the bullheaded attitude he’d harbored toward her over the past day.
She was right. He was taking out his frustrations on her, and she had no
inkling as to what was going through his mind. Maybe he should tell her about
his plans. Maybe she’d help him smooth it through with her family. Maybe he’d
been going about this the wrong way.
“I apologize, ma’am. I have
been rude. Will you forgive me?”
She’d seemed poised and ready
for a fight, but now he caught a glimpse of uncertainty in her eyes. She didn’t
know what to make of his sudden change in tack.
“Fine.
What kind of statement can I give? I
walked into the stall and saw a dead body. I fainted. I’m mortified.
The end.”
She turned back around to look out the window at
the expanse of rolling green hills.
Wyatt walked up behind her. He
reached a hand out and softly touched her shoulder. She flinched only slightly
at his touch, but then stilled.
“A number of people would have
had the same reaction. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”