The Cowboy Who Strolled Into Town (34 page)

Chapter Three

Dangerous Times

Sonya kissed Diesel goodbye. She had never liked the fact that Diesel had to work weekends but that was the nature of law enforcement and she made do with visiting him for lunch on Saturday and Sunday.

She pottered around the house for a bit, getting the laundry out of the way, during the house and fixing the bed. She pointedly ignored the phone in the living room. She whipped up some bread and baked a batch of cookies. When the dishes were cleaned and the cookies stored away she finally had nothing to do and sat down on the sofa staring at the number on her planner.

“Good help me,” she mumbled before closing her eyes and dialing the number. She bit on her nails as the phone rang once, twice, thrice. She decided to hang up after the fourth ring but a click told her it had been picked up.

“Hello,” the voice was deep, like Diesel’s. Sonya froze. Her panic was creeping up her throat choking her. “Hello?”

“He… hello,” Sonya said. “I’m looking for Andrew Wake. Is this his store?”

“Yes this is Wake and Son’s,” the man said. “Dad’s out for lunch. Can I take a message?”

Dad… Sonya shook her head. Of course he must have a family; what was Sonya expecting?

“No that won’t be necessary,” Sonya said. “I’ll call back this afternoon.”

She hung up before the man could say anything more. Her heart was beating wildly and she felt hot flashes suffuse her body. She picked up the cookies from the counter and got in her car. Sonya was in two minds about the whole thing. She felt guilty because every time they had talked about their parents Diesel had never expressed a desire to find his father, but Sonya was sure that she’d felt a need in him since she’d gotten pregnant.

And why not?

Sonya missed her father, and even considered calling her own mother just to have someone to share the news with, someone who could share their experience. But her mother was never the loving kind; she had left Sonya and her father when Sonya had been very young, saying Sonya was a mistake.

Sonya parked outside the Sheriff’s office. She didn’t bother locking her car. The office was warm and cluttered. Sonya cleaned it up every two months but it went back to being messy almost immediately.

“Hey Bill,” Sonya said and Bill grinned up at her.

“Cookies!” he said with glee. “You sure know how to spoil us.”

“Don’t eat them all,” Sonya warned. “Where’s Diesel?”

“Oh, he’s in the armory with Mel,” Bill said chomping in to the biggest cookie in the tin. “Giving her one of the Tasers.”

“Is she really as hot as all that?” Sonya asked.

“Why don’t you go find out?” Bill said scarfing down his second cookie.

Sonya flicked him on the forehead playfully and walked to the back of the office where the Sheriff’s office kept its armory. She heard laughter and playful tones from the room, when she walked in she saw a tall woman with the body of a runway model and the face of a goddess clutch her belly and lean on Diesel, she was laughing so hard.

Diesel was smiling like a goof, his I-didn’t-think-it-was-that-funny-but-okay face that Sonya knew so well. The woman, Mel, ran her hand on Diesel’s chest as she tried to stay on her feet, the gesture over familiar and Sonya knew that she would never like this woman.

“Oh God,” Mel had a husky voice, that low sexy tone that drove men mad. “Oh, you’re so funny!”

“What’s the joke?” Sonya asked pointedly and watched with growing anger as Diesel stiffened, his eyes big round orbs of surprise, and Melanie frowned at her, he hand still on Diesel’s chest as if it belonged there.

“Excuse me,” Melanie said pugnaciously, “Civilians aren’t allowed back here. Please wait in the front to lodge your complaint.”

“No, Mel,” Diesel said stepping away from her, taking her hand off of him gingerly. “That’s my girlfriend. Sonya this is Mel, I told you about her.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sonya said giving Melanie a stiff smile. “How are you Melanie? How do you like Shifter Grove so far?”

“Fine,” the woman said crossing her arms on her chest. She was looking at Sonya with narrow hooded eyes as if she wasn’t very impressed by Sonya’s status of girlfriend. “The place has its merits,” she said with a sly smile, glancing at Diesel and Sonya had to marvel at the woman’s obviousness.

Diesel shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the next.

“Lunch?” Diesel asked holding Sonya’s hand. “How about we go to that new place in Waterville?”

“Won’t that take too long?” Sonya asked turning away from Melanie, guiding Diesel out of the room and in to the main office. “Don’t you have to be back in a few hours?”

“Nah,” Diesel said waving at Bill who was stuffing the last of the cookies in his mouth. “My deputies can handle things.”

“Yeah,” Bill said swallowing quickly, “Take the rest of the day off! Go on, I’m feeling generous today.”

Sonya laughed. Melanie came and sat on the edge of Diesel’s desk. Sonya could feel her gaze boring in to the back of her neck.

“You know what?” Sonya said. “I’m going to take you up on that offer, Bill.” She entwined her arm in Diesel’s. “I was hoping to get some shopping done for the baby and if we’re headed to Waterville we might as well make the trip worthwhile.”

“Don’t you work in Waterville?” Melanie asked suddenly and Sonya turned to regard her. “I mean you could get your shopping done any time.”

Sonya raised her eyebrows. Diesel and Bill were looking at Melanie quizzically.

“I’m just saying I find women who wait for their husbands or boyfriends to take them places are really taking feminism back,” Melanie said pleasantly.

“That’s not how our relationship works,” Sonya said. “I’d love to explain it to you but we’re running late for lunch.”

Sonya walked out and Diesel followed her. She didn’t say anything till they were a mile down the road.

“What a bitch!” Sonya spat. “What the hell is wrong with her?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Diesel said. “She was fine before you came.”

“Of course she was fine before I came,” Sonya muttered, “She had her hands all over you!”

“Hey,” Diesel protested, “Don’t you trust me?”

Sonya didn’t know what to say. She was fuming because Diesel had put her in this position. He was working with a bombshell who was obviously interested in him and she hadn’t seen him discouraging her. And even now he was making excuses for her!

“Well don’t you?” she could tell he was hurt, it was ringing clear as a bell in his voice.

“Of course I do,” she said grudgingly and Sonya knew that Diesel had heard her reluctance.

She hated this. Everything had been roses before Melanie Beal had come along to ruin it. Sonya looked down at her bloated misshapen body, a body that still had two more months of growing to do and it would be a year before she would look like her old self.

‘Even my old self was a whale compared to Mel the super model bitch,’ she thought gloomily.

Diesel drove beside her in a prickly quiet that was making both of them uncomfortable. Sonya wanted to scratch her skin then Melanie’s eyes out.

Chapter Four

Who’s Your Daddy?

It was snowing and Sonya was biting her nails. She was in her knee length socks and an old sweatshirt that had belonged to her father. She took the phone and a mug of hot chocolate and waddled to the back porch. The snow melted on her face but she didn’t mind. Her body temperature was so high the entire winter had been a very pleasant affair.

She sipped and considered what she was about to do. Diesel’s birthday was in three days and she needed to get this done now if she wanted Diesel’s father at the party. She stiffened her shoulders and dialed. She bit her lip, her eyes screwed in concertation.

“Hello?”

“Hi, may I talk to Andrew Wake please?”

“Speaking,” the voice was self-assured and deep.

“Oh,” Sonya felt stupid calling up a man and asking him, hey did you have sex with Martha Cousins in the late 70’s?

“May I ask who’s calling?” Andrew asked politely.

“My name is Sonya Blackpaw,” she said.

“And how may I help you Ms. Blackpaw?” Andrew sounded friendly enough and Sonya felt encouraged.

“I’m a relative of Martha Cousins of Albany,” Sonya paused. Usually at this point the men had professed they hadn’t known any Martha, or if they had she had been an aunt, a second cousin or their third grade teacher.

“Oh,” the man said in guarded tones. “And how is Martha?”

“I’m sorry,” Sonya had to take a minute to tamp down the flood of feelings that was erupting somewhere in the region of her groin. “You knew her?”

“Well, yes, Martha Cousins and I dated for a while in ’79. Why is she trying to contact me after so long?”

“She isn’t,” Sonya said and had to kick herself for sounding like such a fool. “I mean she didn’t ask me to find you, her son did. Mr. Wake, I’m afraid Martha wasn’t very honest with you.”

“She had a baby?” he asked.

“Yes,” Sonya said carefully, “A Shifter.”

“She wouldn’t have liked that,” the man laughed grimly.

“She didn’t,” Sonya said.

“So what is this regarding?” Andrew asked, “My son wants to see me now? How can I even be sure he is my son?”

“I can’t say,” Sonya said. “None of us can because Martha has long severed ties with Diesel and he is too afraid to find you,” Sonya bit her lip.

“So he isn’t trying to find me,” he said.

“He’s too afraid,” Sonya said quickly. “If you had been rejected by your mother would you be open to other parental relationships or afraid of them?”

Andrew Wake sighed at the other end of the line.

“And who are?” he asked finally. “Are you his wife?”

“His girlfriend,” she said. “We’re having a baby and I just felt that Diesel needed to connect with his father as well.”

There was a longer pause then he finally said.

“I have a family now,” he said. “Grown men. A grandkid too. I have a wife and she won’t be pleased that I had an illegitimate son tucked away somewhere.”

“I understand,” Sonya said, disappointed.

“Let me talk to them,” he said. “Give me your number. Let me talk to them and I’ll get back to you.”

“Okay,” Sonya said eagerly. She recited her number, confirmed that he had the right one and hung up. She hugged the phone to her ample chest thinking about the birthday three days from now and if Andrew came… she shook her head to get it out of the clouds.

~*~

Melanie clambered up the hillside to stand beside Diesel at the summit. She observed him looking at the track marks in the sodden earth. It had been snowing all day. The Tyler family had lodged a missing report. Their son, Henry, had gone shifting last night but never made it home. He was a WereWolf and still new to it. His father usually accompanied him with every shifting but had been out of town last night and Henry had gone on his own.

Melanie was bored. She stifled a yawn but followed Diesel deeper into the woods. The wood smelled of pine and snow, the smell pure and fresh in her nose. The sky was stark and grey and the gloom got deeper as they progressed. If the Tyler boy was alive he’d soon be dead of exposure.

She sighed deeply and twirled her hair. She’d tied it up in a ponytail today, her striking features coming in to sharp focus. She’d seen Diesel stare at her lips earlier and it had thrilled her. For the hundredth time she wondered why he was with that dumpy girlfriend of his. Maybe if she hadn’t gotten pregnant Diesel wouldn’t be stuck with her.

‘She must have jumped his bones when he was drunk,’ Melanie thought. ‘How else do you explain a hunk like Diesel falling for her? How would anyone fall for a tub of lard like that?’

She flipped her hair back and took the lead, bending where a few mushrooms had been trampled underfoot. She knew her ass was on display in her tight slacks. She could feel Diesel staring. ‘Good,’ she thought, ‘Get a good look at what you’re denying yourself.’

They should seriously be together, was her thinking. They were both devastatingly good looking, both WerePanthers and both working as law enforcers. They could be making steaming love in the snow right now instead of looking for a stupid kid who was already dead because of his stupidity.

Melanie had no sympathy for the stupid.

“I think he went that way,” Diesel said and Melanie turned her head to see that Diesel wasn’t facing her at all but to the left of them in to a deeper section of the woods that sloped dangerously down in to a ravine.

Melanie straightened up, annoyed.

She huffed down alongside Diesel, watching her step, the slope slippery and pretty soon her leggings were wet and she was miserable. Half way down she angled herself deliberately so she went crashing in to Diesel, their bodies falling over each other and they went rolling down the hill clinging to each other.

“Ouch,” Melanie moaned.

“Are you okay?” Diesel asked. He was crushed below her, her head nuzzled in to the crook of his neck. Melanie stayed there for a while, moaning petulantly, squirming her hips till she felt a rise in his pants. “Melanie,” he croaked.

“I think I hurt my thigh,” she moaned, “It feels bruised.”

“Let’s get you up and have a look,” Diesel said then thought better of it when Melanie started pulling her leggings off. She pulled them partly down so he could get a good look at her shaven pussy; it was nice and pink from the exposure to the cold, her flesh creamy and inviting.

Diesel looked away.

“Is it bad?” he asked looking intently up and down the ravine.

“Yeah,” Melanie said gritting her teeth. “I might need you to carry me.”

“Okay,” he said distractedly. “You should sit here and rest your leg. I’ll go see where Henry might have gotten to.”

Melanie wanted to stomp her feet and scream.

Diesel came back ten minutes later. He was carrying Henry, small for his fifteen years, who he had covered in his jacket.

“We need to get him to a hospital now!” he said and rushed up the slope as fast as he could while still trying to maintain his balance.

Melanie followed, furious that she hadn’t managed to seduce Diesel. The kid dying of hypothermia never even registered as something she should care about.