Sweet Talking Lawman (4 page)

“This is the first time
you’ve seen me since then,” she reminded him quickly.

His arms tightened again,
pulling her closer still.  His mouth hovered near her ear.  “Except
in my dreams and fantasies.  You’ve been a prominent figure in my mind
since that afternoon.”

“For real?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he replied. 
“For real.”  His voice had dropped a note and sounded coarse.

Neither of them spoke for a
minute, Rafe savoring the feel of her body against his and Mesa unable to
believe that after all the years of him hardly knowing she existed, she was
finally in his arms.

She shut her eyes and tried
to absorb the feel of his arms around her, one of his hands resting against her
lower back.  The other hand was clasped around her fingers, holding her
hand against his hard chest and the heat of his breath feathered her hair near
her ear.  Heat coursed through her body.  Her entire life, Rafe Storm
Horse had been the standard by which all other men had been measured and none
of them had even come close.  His Indian blood reflected heavily in his
features.  It showed in his swarthy skin, his high cheekbones, his black
hair and his penetrating chocolate eyes, but his classic, straight nose lacked
the prominence reflected by many of his ancestry.  His masculine beauty
was tempered by the testosterone laden virility that radiated from him, but
Mesa knew him also as a man deeply committed to his family and his country with
strong values and a sense of honor.  She’d never before experienced the
need to seek a more intimate contact with a male body but now she was almost
overwhelmed as he guided her through the slow movements of the dance.

Good Lord in heaven, she
thought, I’ve gotta slow this down a bit.  A bit?  A lot!  Being
in Rafe’s arms had her heart racing like crazy and she was totally overdressed
in the heavy gown she was wearing.  She managed to lift her head away from
his.

So,” she finally spoke. 
“Tell me about Jenny.”

He stepped back enough to
look down at her, his coffee brown eyes sparked.  “Guess who she married.”

Mesa tried to conjure up
faces from her past.  “She had an awful crush on Walter Cunningham the
third.  She called him Trey.”

Rafe laughed.  “That’s
what he goes by now.  He became a lawyer, and I think he opened an office
in Liberty.   Thank God, she did not end up with him!”

“So who did she marry?”

“She married Russ
Barnett.”  He answered easily, his smile filled with pride.

Mesa’s eyes went round, her
brows arched and her jaw dropped as she gasped in surprise.  “Your friend
Russ?  You’re kidding me!  She hated Russ.  They couldn’t be in
the same building without yelling at each other.”

The music ended and keeping
her hand in his, they walked back to the table and sat down again.

He shrugged.  “I guess
all that yellin’ was all the pheromones sparkin’ between them.  After
you…left, she started classes in the junior college.  Russ went into the
Navy about the time I joined the Marines, remember?  They didn’t see each
other for a couple of years.  I was able to be home for Christmas one year
and Russ was on leave, too, so he came over to pay his respects to Uci and to
see me.  We went out drinkin’ and took Jenny with us.  I got
shi…plastered, so my memory was a bit vague, but it seemed to me that they just
connected.  Seriously, and when Russ was home again, they got married and
she moved around with him until his stretch was over.  When he got out of
the Navy, they came home and he helped his old man run their place until his
father died, so now Jenny, Russ and their little boy live in that big house
with his mother.  Jenny loves it and they could film a remake of the Brady
Bunch there.  All of them as happy as a cat with a bowl of fresh cream.”

Mesa shook her head in
disbelief.  “I gotta agree that I’m glad she didn’t hook up with
Walter.  He was such a jerk, but Jenny wouldn’t even hear that.”  She
shook her head negatively.  “But I just can’t picture her with Russ. 
I can’t get past the picture of them standing nose to nose, yelling at the top
of their lungs over any and everything.”

“Oh, they still yell. 
When they have a disagreement almost everybody in the county knows it. 
But when night falls…well, Jenny says they never go to sleep angry at each
other.”  He smiled, thinking about the happiness that glowed on his little
sister’s face when she talked about her big strong husband.

“I’m glad they’re
happy.  I guess I always knew that Jenny would marry a rancher.  She
loved growing up on the ranch.”  She hesitated, but then tossed her head
with an air of dismissal.  “I thought I might, too, but not where my
mother lived.  I could never have survived there.”

Rafe squeezed her fingers
gently.  “Is she the reason you left?”

Mesa frowned, the action
knitting a furrow across her forehead.  “Not directly.  She had a new
boyfriend that couldn’t keep his hands to himself.  He wanted to give me
something really special for my graduation.  She was passed out drunk in
her room, Uncle Rance was, of course, at his house and couldn’t help me. 
I kneed the s.o.b. in the groin and when he dropped, his head hit the edge of
the dresser.  I thought he was dead.  I took all his money, all of
Mama’s that I could find, threw a few clothes in a bag, took my dad’s old guitar
and ran.  I didn’t know I hadn’t killed him for weeks.  When I got a
job in Richmond, I went to the library and used the computer to see what I
could find out and couldn’t find anything on it, so I assumed then, that he
hadn’t died.”

Rafe was shocked at what had
happened to her.  “I’m so sorry, Mesa.  Someone should have been
there to help you.  Why didn’t you call Jenny?  You know Uci would
have looked after you.  Hell, when I got home I probably would’ve killed
him!”

She smiled and
shrugged.  “I was young and scared.  It’s all water under the bridge,
Rafe.  None of us can turn back the clock or change the past.  It’s
best just to move on.  Who’s to say that things didn’t work out for the
best?”

He lifted his free hand and
one finger stroked her cheek gently.  “Jenny missed you.”

“I missed her, too. 
Still do.  When you get home, you’ve gotta give her my address.  I’d
love to reconnect with her.”  She pushed her chair back.  “I have to
do another song.  Will you stay?  I’d really like to visit with you
some more.”

He nodded and reluctantly
released her hand.  “I’ll be right here.”

His eyes followed the
movement of her slender body as she moved up the steps to resume her seat on
the stool.  He couldn’t ever remember seeing Mesa in a dress before and he
wasn’t sure if what she was wearing was even called a dress.  That
sparkly, deep plum, red material wrapped her body close from her throat down to
her toes not showing an inch of skin to fuel a man’s imagination, but on her,
it looked sexy as hell.  He shifted uncomfortably in his chair.  He
really needed to get a grip on himself.  He couldn’t help remembering the
sight of her glistening wet body standing in the bathroom and knew he should be
ashamed of the way it still affected him.  She’d been just a kid. 
Someone he’d watched grow up along with his sister.  But after that one
glimpse of her, he’d never been able to think of her as anything except a
tempting woman.

Her voice was lilting,
haunting, immersing him in memories.  Rafe wasn’t aware of time
passing.  The only thing in his universe was the woman on the stage and
the sound of her voice.  When the song ended, he watched as she crossed
the room and spoke to Jory sitting at the bar.  When she straightened and
walked toward him, he had to concentrate to remember to breathe.

She paused beside his
chair.  “Rafe, have you eaten supper?”

He shook his head negatively
and stood up.  “Can we go somewhere?  I’d love to buy you supper.”

“How about I cook you
something?” she asked, smiling.  “I have an apartment upstairs and it’s
been a long time since I cooked a meal, but I bet I can throw something
together, or maybe we can order a delivery.  I’m finished for the night
down here and we can visit as long as we want.”

He grinned.  “Sounds
like a winner to me, as long as you don’t mind.”

She turned and waved to Jory
who had moved to join the girl behind the bar, then beckoned Rafe to follow
her.

She led him to a door behind
the stage which she unlocked with a key.  They climbed the steep staircase
and stopped at a second door, this one at the top where she used the key again,
then pushed it open and they entered a small, modern kitchen.

Mesa smiled up at him as they
passed into her apartment.  “Jory insists that I maintain the two locked
doors, for security from within.  I also have a rear entrance that he
insists I keep secure.  Motion sensor lights and a camera that is
monitored.  He’s a worry wart, but he’s been looking out for me for
several years now.  Don’t know what I’d do without him.”

Rafe looked around in
surprise at the plants growing in profusion from every nook and cranny of
space.  “I’m glad you have someone lookin’ out for your safety.” 
Still following her, through an arched doorway into a larger room he noted the
change of color from warm, rich orange and browns in the kitchen to subtle tans
and aqua in the living room.  A comfortable couch faced a closed fireplace
with a large southwestern landscape painting taking up most of the wall above
it.  A cozy recliner sat at an angle from the couch, a table at the side
of it.  It was a relaxing room furnished with a blend of colors and décor
that lent a simple, elegance to it.

“Relax and make yourself at
home, Rafe.  I’ll only be a minute.”  Mesa walked past him and
disappeared through another door.

When she emerged again a few
minutes later, he found it even harder to breathe.  Now she looked like
the Mesa he’d known.  She wore jeans and a tank top but her bare toes were
sticking out from the legs of her pants and suddenly naked toes were the most
sensual sight he’d ever seen.

“What do you feel like
having?”  She smiled at him from the doorway to the kitchen.

 He was filled with such
longing.  He walked over to look down at her, his body on fire. 
“You, Mesa,” his voice rough as sandpaper.  “I want you.”

The phone at his elbow rang,
snatching Rafe back from his memories.  He lifted it.  “Storm Horse.”

Beth’s voice held a trace of
laughter.  “Sheriff, Archie Spitzer is on the phone.  He wants to
know about the rapist you arrested and would like to get a statement from you
for the paper.”

He frowned.  Archie
Spitzer was not his favorite person and he didn’t want to deal with him at all
today.  “Tell him I’ll have something for him tomorrow morning.”

“Rafe, did you ever know
Spitzer to take an answer like that?  If I give him a brush off he’ll be
over here, fifteen minutes tops, in person and frankly, I don’t want to have to
deal with him either,” Beth scolded her boss.

“Alright.”  His voice
was just short of terse.  “Ask him to give me 30 minutes to get my
information confirmed and I’ll call him back, then get Levi on the line for
me.”

“Alrighty then,” her voice
carried the hint of her smile.

Rafe shuffled through the
papers on his desk, looking for the paperwork on last night’s arrest.  The
report was almost on top and at the first glance the rapist’s name jumped off
the page at him.  A frown drew his black brows almost together in the
middle of his forehead.  He’d known he was tired last night and hadn’t
given the perp more than a glance, but he couldn’t believe he hadn’t recognized
the man.  Especially if the name was right.  He pushed his chair back
and marched across his office. He stuck his head out the door and looked at
Beth.  “You got Levi on the phone yet?”

“He’s coming to it,” she
nodded.  “He was in the cell block.”

“When he gets there, just
tell him to come on up here.  When you copied these papers, did you see
who we arrested?”

She nodded.  “Wondered
when you’d notice that.  Are you gonna call his brother?”

“Damn,” Rafe swore
softly.  “Do you think he doesn’t know?”

“I know none of our people
have called him.  They’re all standing back waiting for you to do
it.”  Beth was silent for a few seconds, then continued.  “If you
wait much longer, I suspect he’ll be in here himself, filing a missing person
report.”

Rafe shook his head.  “I
don’t know what I’ll say, but get him on the phone for me, will ya?”

“You got it.”  She
watched him pull his head back into his office and the door closed again. 
Working the phone lines, she looked up to see Heather and Spur coming in the door. 
Without pausing she buzzed his line.

“Storm Horse,” he answered.

“Your dog is back and I’m
sending him to your office and Heather back to the break room to finish her
assignment.”

“Thanks.”  He replied
absently and hung the phone up.  Who in their right mind would ever dream
that the serial rapist that had been terrorizing the town for three months was
the mayor’s brother!

Rafe wanted to throw
breakable things and shout curses at the top of his lungs.  This was not
part of the job he wanted to do.  It should be reserved for someone with
more people skills, maybe a psychologist or someone with special
training.  He didn’t like the mayor, never had, but how the hell was he
going to tell the man his brother had been arrested for several rapes and assaults?