“What do you want me to do?” Pecos had never seen this in any manual.
“I don’t know. He needs more medical attention than we can give him. I got the two men in-training practicing on stopping the blood, but he’s fighting them off with his one arm that seems to be working. Maybe you could call the sheriff, get him to wake the doc, and talk him into opening the clinic early.”
Pecos tapped in the sheriff’s number. While it rang, he asked Sam, “Was he attacked?”
“No, I don’t think so. He claims Big Foot came out of nowhere and tossed him ten feet. He’s been yelling it so loud I’m starting to believe him.”
Another ring from the sheriff’s home phone. Pecos enlightened Sam. “You tell the guy that Big Foot doesn’t live in Texas?”
“I can’t tell him anything,” Sam added, “he’s only got one ear to hear and one eye that’s not swollen closed. The man doesn’t seem to be interested in debating.”
The sheriff’s voice came through the speaker. “This better be important!”
Sam boomed back, “We got a problem, LeRoy. I don’t know if it’s medical, criminal, or if we’re dealing with a drug case, but you’ve got to come get him.”
“I’m on my way. Got a name?”
Sam sounded relieved. “Said he’s Joey Hattly.”
“Hellfire,” the sheriff roared on the speakerphone. “Last time I heard from Joey he was claiming he shot his ass off. I drove all the way to Someday Valley to find out that it was just his left butt cheek.”
Pecos fought down a laugh. It was nights like this that made him want to be a deputy.
The sheriff ordered Sam to stop as much blood as he could from dripping out of Joey, while he’d pick up the doc and meet them at the clinic.
Both lines went dead and Pecos leaned back in his chair, already thinking how he’d tell Kerrie all about Joey at breakfast.
He thought of all the things he loved about being married. She cooked omelets for him. They talked about everything. He loved holding her. She told him he was her best friend.
Pecos’s smile faded.
Her best friend, nothing more. Her kiss each night was a fast peck. Pecos was twenty, he was a man, he wanted more. He had a feeling when the baby, whom he’d claimed as his, was born, Kerrie would still think of him as her friend.
He knew he was lucky to be married to her. She was beautiful and smarter than he’d ever be. Her family was rich. He was going to college because of her. He had bigger dreams than he’d ever imagined because she said she believed in him.
But . . . he was his wife’s best friend, nothing more.
Pecos dropped his head so fast his forehead hit the book he’d been reading. He was in hell.
Chapter 4
Marcie
Marcie Latimer curled up on an old leather couch at Brandon Rodgers’s small ranch house and cried while he checked on one of his mares about to foal in the barn. He’d turned on the lights and lit a fire before he’d left, but her world still felt cold and dark.
In her mind she kept envisioning what would have happened if Brand had not come back to her trailer. If he hadn’t stopped the drunks.
Her body shook with fear. They would have hurt her and then called her names. They would have threatened her if she said anything about what they’d done to her. It was her word against all theirs. One would probably tell her to forget what happened; after all, she wasn’t really hurt, just bruised a bit. Another would whisper that he’d be back for seconds.
She couldn’t remember when she’d been so tired. Bone weary all her life would probably be carved on her headstone. She saw no way out, just day after day of trying to survive. She’d been burned by her last boyfriend so badly, she’d never even wanted to try loving again. She was a grown woman, but tonight she felt like a child huddled in the woods, shivering and afraid.
When she heard Brand’s boots stomping across the porch, she pretended to be asleep. She couldn’t stand the thought of him asking questions. She’d seen worry in his brown eyes at the bar. She didn’t want to see pity now.
He stepped inside, removed his muddy boots, and came straight toward her.
Marcie couldn’t breathe. She thought she could trust him. Suddenly she wondered why. Maybe she never heard of him dating because he killed all his girlfriends and buried them out by the barn. Maybe he wanted what Joey and his friends wanted, all to himself.
As he leaned toward her, she balled her hands, then realized what chance did she have in a fight? He’d taken on five men. Running seemed her only answer. But where? In the dark she’d never find the main road, much less her way back home.
His big hand grabbed the quilt on the back of the couch and lifted it.
Suffocation? That’s how he’d kill her. He’d never been very friendly, and now he probably thought putting her out of her misery was being kind. She was simply a wounded animal no one seemed to want around.
As he straightened, he floated the quilt over her. Like a cloud it drifted down, adding a layer of warmth.
Marcie took in air and opened her eyes slightly. As usual, her imagination had taken over. Brand was just a man helping out someone in trouble. She thought of him as someone she knew from school years ago. No one special. Barely remembered.
She watched him walk away from her. He turned the dead bolt, lifted a shotgun from a shadowy corner, and checked that it was loaded before putting it back. Then he turned off all the lights except the lamp by the couch.
“Good night, pretty lady,” he whispered as he reached the hallway.
“Good night,” she answered in a voice he’d never be able to hear.
The fire slowly died and sleep finally came to her. Even a broken heart has to rest.
Chapter 5
Piper
Mayor Piper Mackenzie pulled the key from a nail just above the back door of the Honey Creek Café. The only sound at the closed café, on the edge of town, was the lapping of the river almost spilling over its banks.
“My cousin reminds me regularly where the extra key is so we can use the bedroom upstairs if you ever come home.” Piper laughed. “I think she’d like to have you in the family someday.”
He stopped nibbling on her ear long enough to ask, “You’re not sleeping here? Every night I imagine you here, waiting for me to make it back.”
“No, I’ve been staying at Widows Park since you left. I guess cuddling with all the old dears isn’t near as sexy. Lately they seem to need me more.”
“I need you,” he added, then pulled a few inches away. “Are all the old girls okay?”
“Yes, except for a cold or two. I just get lonely here without you, and they love having me around.”
Colby hugged her. “I try to make it back, but I swear one, or both, of your brothers have something they think I have to check out every weekend. If I didn’t know better I’d say they were trying to keep us apart. They both protect their little sister like grizzly bears.”
“I’m not surprised. They like you, Colby, but they think no man is good enough for me. Between them they’ll make you a great Texas Ranger, but they’ll have to get used to the idea of you being their little sister’s boyfriend.”