On Deadly Ground (Dan & Chloe Book 2) (3 page)

Dan popped the rear door
of the Volvo and loaded his purchases in to the spacious rear compartment. Chloe slipped her bags next to his and Dan closed the door. Chloe stepped in to his open arms and reached up. She linked her hands behind his head, even his neck was tight with hard tendons and Chloe smiled up at her husband.

Over the last three years Dan had grown very strong. For a while there they had been concerned that the wounds he had suffered at the hands of his brother would have a long-term effect on him but even the limp in his leg had all but gone and now it only showed in the coldest moments of winter.

Chloe raised herself up on to her toes and tilted her face up to Dan’s. He kissed her softly and she felt his strong, elegant hands caressing the small of her back through the almost-gossamer material of her summer dress.

Chloe pushed her tongue between Dan’s lips and flicked the tip of her tongue against his.

Dan’s hands roamed lower, down over her buttocks and finally beneath the hem of her dress. Chloe smiled in to the kiss as Dan’s hands caressed her bare buttocks. He squeezed her ass hard and Chloe groaned; she loved it when Dan got a little rough and his firm grip on her naked ass jogged her memory and she realised what day of the week it was.

Chloe broke the kiss but didn’t pull back from Dan’s face. She grinned at him.

‘I just remembered what day it is, you do know what that means don’t you?’

Dan chuckled.

‘I hadn’t forgotten: “date-night” right?’

Chloe groaned louder still as Dan turned them so that Chloe’s back was to the Volvo. She growled when she felt Dan’s right thumb pushing against her puckered ass-hole. Dan’s thumb went away and he continued to squeeze and caress her naked buttocks.

“Date-night” was a monthly ritual that they had come up with, it was the one night where she would give herself over to any and all of Dan’s sexual desires. A day never passed where they didn’t fuck or fool around but Chloe really looked forward to their monthly “date-night”.

On “date-nights” Chloe would relinquish her sexual aggression and she would submit herself totally to Dan. The last couple of “date-nights” things had got very interesting as they explored the world of bondage and submission.

Chloe especially liked it when Dan would spank her ass until she was almost crying. Pushing themselves to explore had also helped Dan lose some of his everyday sexual inhibitions. Until recently Dan would never have groped her so openly in public, hidden by the Volvo or not, it still carried the risk of them being caught by some passing resident.

Dan raised his left hand and caressed Chloe’s breasts. Her nipples, which were already hard, grew larger and harder and pressed against the dress. Chloe had to bite her bottom lip to prevent her squeal of delight. Dan pinched her right nipple through the dress and Chloe grunted.

‘Fuck!’ Chloe whispered.

Dan kissed her softly on the mouth and then released her. He took a step back and Chloe sighed in disappointment. She leaned back against the Volvo.

‘I know I once told you that you could do whatever, whenever you liked to me, but I do so look forward to “date-night”, they make me feel
naughty
.’

Dan laughed.

‘Baby, you’re always
naughty
.’

‘True, but you know what I mean.’

‘I know,’ Dan checked his watch. ‘Do you want to get some lunch here in town or do you want to head home?’

‘Let’s get some lunch here, we still have plenty of time to get everything ready before our friends start to arrive.’

Chloe was referring to the weekly barbecue that they held every Friday evening. It was a ritual that had come about by accident but they had enjoyed the first one so much that it had soon become a weekly tradition. The friends that they had made in Rockspur would descend on the ranch and everyone would have a good time. It usually lasted until around eleven and Chloe (who enjoyed the barbecues a lot), couldn’t wait until eleven o’clock had come and gone.

She wanted “date-night” more than the companionship of their small circle of friends.

                                                        *****

CHAPTER FOUR.

They never did get to
the diner that they had chosen for their lunch. As they walked hand-in-hand along the sidewalk enjoying the hot summer day they saw a youth running towards them. The runner was in his late teens and he appeared to be running from someone or something.

The young man was fast and was quickly closing on Dan and Chloe. A young mother with a pushchair stepped out from the pharmacy directly in to the path of the young man and she yelled out as the teenager knocked her and the pushchair over on to the sidewalk.

The woman’s cries were joined by the toddler that she had been pushing. Dan was relieved to see the little two year old kid getting to his knees and the mother, now crying, swept her child in to her arms.

Alerted by the young mother’s cries people turned to stare and traffic on the street came to a halt.

Dan could now see a uniformed deputy chasing after the youth; the deputy was a good fifty yards behind the athletic youth. The deputy was out of shape and quickly losing ground.

‘Hey stop,’ someone yelled but the youth had no intention of stopping, he barrelled in to a male pedestrian who had stepped out from the cafe to intervene.

The youth’s momentum and athletic build sent the would-be hero staggering backwards where he crashed in to, and then through, the glass front of the café. Glass shattered and the man cried out as shards of glass cascaded down over and around him.

The young man saw Dan and Chloe up ahead and Dan could see the look in the youth’s eyes. Dan had been around enough addicts in his time to know that the runner was high on something and would not be stopping for anyone.

Dan placed his left arm against Chloe and they both took a step to the side leaving the sidewalk clear.

Dan and Chloe stepped back out of the young man’s path and the youth snarled in victory.

Chloe looked up at Dan and he offered her a brief nod.

Dan stepped back out on to the sidewalk just as the young man reached them. Dan braced himself and snapped his right arm out. The young man’s upper chest connected with the solidity of Dan’s forearm.

Dan had never watched wrestling but if he had he would have right then known that he had executed the perfect “clothes-line” manoeuvre.

The runner was flipped cleanly from his feet and nanoseconds later he face-planted on to the cement sidewalk. Dan clearly heard the sound of the runner’s nose break as it impacted with the hard ground.

Dan stepped to the side of the downed man, ready to restrain the teenager but he quickly realised that the youth was out cold.

Chloe joined Dan on the sidewalk and smiled up at her husband. All along the high street store owners and shoppers began to applaud Dan’s intervention and moments later the deputy arrived.

The deputy was red faced and panting heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead, the brown shirt of his uniform was soaked through. The deputy dropped his hands to his knees and leaned over. The deputy took an age to get his breath back.

‘Th-th-thanks mister, I’ve been chasing the l-l-little fucker for almost a m-m-mile.’

‘No back-up?’ Chloe asked.

The deputy glanced up at Chloe, and even though he was exhausted from the chase, he did a double-take before straightening himself.

The deputy tried to look rugged and every inch the lawman in front of Chloe but he made for a pitiful sight.

Dan was used to this sort of thing from men when they came in to contact with Chloe; she had that kind of effect on the male of the species.

‘No ma’am, they’re all t-tied up, or so dispatch informed me.’

Right then sirens were heard and a Sheriff’s car turned on to the main street and seconds later the vehicle screeched to a halt at the kerb. The driver’s door swung open and Dan watched as the sheriff climbed out. The sheriff was overweight and Dan saw the man hoist up his pants. The sheriff adjusted his weapon and slammed shut the patrol car’s door before joining his fellow law enforcement officer on the sidewalk.

Dan made brief eye contact with Chloe and she nodded her head once. Dan knew that she’d had the same thought as him; that they were both carrying concealed weapons, weapons that they were not licensed to carry. Dan noticed Chloe tug at the hem of her dress and he smiled reassuringly at her.

‘What happened here Lee?’

Dan watched the deputy stand fully erect and he cleared his throat.

‘I was out on my routine patrol when I saw this kid dealing up at the high school, in the south car-park, near the football field.’

The Sheriff nodded his head and toed the unconscious youth with his right boot. The drug-dealer was still out cold.

‘You recognise him?’

‘No sir, I’d say he’s an out-of-towner hoping to make a little extra on the side.’

The Sheriff nodded his head in agreement. ‘We see that every year up here, so what happened?’

‘The minute he saw my car he ran. The group of kids around him scattered too, and he headed in towards the football field so I had to take to my feet. The little bastard ran me ragged for a damned mile before this fella here intervened.’

The Sheriff looked from his deputy to Dan and after a cursory appraisal he returned his attention to his deputy.

‘Intervened, how’d that go?’

‘Clothes-lined him, just like The Undertaker.’

‘Undertaker?’

The deputy reddened.

‘Wrestling boss.’

‘Ah right, well I can’t say as I watch it but I think I get what you mean.’

The Sheriff turned back to Dan, this time the officer held Dan’s gaze for several moments before offering up a small smile.

‘I know you, y’all bought the old Madison place right?’

Dan nodded his head and held out his left hand.

‘Daniel Constantine, and yeah we bought the old Madison ranch, going on four years now.’

The Sheriff shook Dan’s hand, he noted Dan’s solid grip and he offered up a more sincere smile. He liked that Dan’s handshake was firm but not aggressive, his daddy always told him that you could tell a lot about a man from the way he shook your hand.

‘The Englishman, I’ve heard Harry mention you on occasion.’

‘Yes sir, he’s coming out to the ranch for a barbeque later today.’

‘I’ve heard about that too, seems quite a few folk around here like you.’

Chloe stepped out from the front of the antique store and stood beside Dan.

‘Why don’t you join us today Sheriff, ‘bout time we got to know our local officers of the law.’

Dan flicked his gaze to Chloe and she smiled at him playfully.

The Sheriff released Dan’s hand and turned his attention to Chloe.

‘Ma’am, and you are?’

‘Chloe,’ she held her left hand out.

The Sheriff took Chloe’s hand in his meaty paw. He was surprised by the strength in her grip, he looked her up and down, for such a petite thing she had as firm a handshake as any man’s.

‘Chloe Constantine, Dan’s my husband.’

‘Sheriff Lawson.’

Lawson let go of the young woman’s hand and glanced from Dan to Chloe and back again. He figured the husband was at least a decade her senior but he didn’t hold it against Dan.

Hell, look at her
, Lawson said to himself:
she’s a pure forest fire, damn; I never knew women could be that beautiful
.

‘Sheriff?’

Lawson snapped his head around to his deputy who had squatted next to the unconscious youth, ‘I think I better call for the medics.’

Lawson nodded his head.

‘Sure thing deputy, use my car to call it in.’

Right then the young mother that had been knocked over came up to them, she offered her thanks to Dan, and then she started to talk rapidly at Sheriff Lawson.

‘See Pete, I told you this would happen sooner or later, you and your department are too soft on these damn tourists...’

Dan and Chloe stepped back from the confrontation, putting several metres between them. Dan turned to Chloe and cocked his head to one side and asked in a whisper what she was thinking asking the cop out to the ranch.

‘Have you forgotten that there are men buried on our property, hell Chloe, we’re not exactly your average Mr and Mrs?’

Chloe chuckled softly, she knew Dan wasn’t angry at her; he was just playing it safe.

‘I know all that baby, but I figured it’s time we got to know who it is that keeps the peace in these parts. You never know when we may need them and if we’re on good terms with the local Sheriff’s department then that can’t be a bad thing can it?’

Dan frowned at Chloe as realisation dawned on his face.

‘Baby, we’re safe, I told you that, and we’ll ride out tomorrow and check out our precautions but...’