Three Cowboys

Chapter Five

Morgan was driving the property line, his mood grim at the sight of all the destruction, when Bull called.

“Tracked down the guy who has Brittany’s phone. A teenager. He says he found it by the side of the road when his mother sent him to town for medicine.”

“When?”

“The day Brittany disappeared.”

“Calderón’s men could have been driving her through there. They probably took the phone from her and tossed it from the car.”

“That’s what I figure. No sense trying to follow any trail here. We know they’ve moved her since. I’m heading home. Any progress there?”

“Not even a small step. See you at dinner.”

He hung up and drove east where he could see two men dragging burned brush the wind had blown into a shallow creek. The branches were damming up the water. They were struggling to restore free flow.

He brought the SUV to a halt and jumped out. “Need any help?”

“That would be good about now,” the older one said, soaking wet. He’d probably taken a tumble earlier.

“Morgan McCabe.”

“Any relation to the boss?”

And still, saying Justice was his father didn’t come easily. “I’m Wyatt’s brother,” he said instead.

“Dick Martinez.” The older guy nodded in greeting.

The younger one heaved. “José Delgado.”

Morgan kicked off his boots before he waded in and grabbed a tangle of branches, put his weight into the pull. The silt lay slippery under his feet. He made sure to keep his balance. He didn’t want to end up in the drink like Dick had.

Clearing the brush took the better part of half an hour. Then they stopped for a break. There was more debris up creek, smaller tangles. The men should be able to handle that without him.

“We had a problem at the cabin last night. I don’t suppose either of you seen anything.” Morgan threw some cold water from the creek on his face to wash off the sweat.

Dick peeled off his wet shirt. “Like what?”

“Somebody going outside. Walking around.”

The man shrugged. “I sleep at night.”

José seemed to be hesitating over something, rubbing a hand over his mouth.

“What?”

“I might have seen something,” he said with reluctance, looking more away from Morgan than at him. “I thought one of the guys went out.”

“Do you know which one?”

“Not sure.” He kicked at the mud. “Might have been Alvarez.”

“Alvarez?”

“Juan Alvarez.”

“What time?”

“Didn’t look at the clock. Middle of the night.”

“Do you know where Alvarez is working today?”

“Down in the yellow gulley. We found a couple of burned cows there. He’s burying them.”

As uneven as the road was, an hour passed before Morgan reached the gulley. He probably could have gone faster, but he didn’t want to kill his rental. Alvarez was hard at work with a Bobcat, swearing up a storm.

Morgan questioning him didn’t cheer him any.

“To hell with José.” He spat, chewing tobacco distending his cheek. Flies buzzed all around them.

“You didn’t go outside last night?” Morgan held his breath the best he could, wishing those cows had been found a little sooner. “You say you never left the bunkhouse?” Not that he thought he was on the right track here. Alvarez was shorter than the man he’d grappled with in the dark.

“José wants to mess me up, that’s what he wants. Word is they might make one of the temporary jobs permanent. He and me both want it.”

Morgan asked a few more questions, then mentally crossed the guy off his list.

He didn’t have any better luck with the rest of the new ranch hands, either, although tracking them over hundreds of acres wasted the rest of his day. Which left him with a very uncomfortable thought—that the would-be killer was someone who’d been on the ranch for years, someone they trusted.

Maybe he wouldn’t go to Mexico tomorrow, either. He could stick around another day. Now that he knew where to look, he should be able to figure out who the assassin was. He didn’t want to leave the ranch while his family and Dakota and Cody were in direct danger.

He had a new idea. Something else they could check.

He reached for his phone, ready to dial his connection. Then thought of his brothers who wanted to work as a team. He had better connections, but maybe he didn’t have to rub it in. Brittany was a sister to all of them. They all had equal stake in the game.

He dialed Bull. “You got a quick way to get a few more phone records?”

“Could be.”

“Why don’t we see if anyone from the ranch has been making calls to one of Calderón’s businesses? Check everyone. I don’t think our man is one of the new hires.”

A moment of silence on the other end, then, “I’ll take care of it.”

There. They could work together in peace.

He drove back and stopped in at the main house to tell Justice and Wyatt what he had so far. Pitifully little. Then he headed over to the cabin in the settling dusk and knocked on Dakota’s door.

She was cleaning up the kitchen while Cody watched some cartoon, half-asleep on the couch. Cody, who’d accepted him from the first moment, had taken him at face value. Cody, who trusted him with childish innocence. Which scared the hell out of Morgan.

Who was he kidding? He didn’t belong here. He belonged on some secret mission, alone. That was where his expertise lay.

“I don’t suppose you have a cup of coffee handy?” He planned on staying up all night and staking out the buildings in case Calderón’s men tried to hit again.

She raised a slim eyebrow as she reached for the pot. “You could have gotten coffee from Miguel.”

He took off his hat and sat at her kitchen table, feeling right there and more at home than he ever had over at the big house. There was something about her that filled the place and made it nice to be in it. “I like the company better here.”

He wanted to at least spend some time with her before he left.

“Flattery might get you coffee, but it won’t get you anything more,” she warned.

He wanted to pull her onto his lap and kiss her so badly he ached with the need. But Cody was still semi-conscious, and Morgan was covered in dirt from the day.

“Maybe not today.” He shot her his cockiest smile. “But I’m a patient man.” He played along.

She laughed as she set a mug in front of him. “You’re such a liar.”

Okay, fine, he wasn’t patient. Not when it came to wanting to kiss her again.

“Find anything?”

He drank in silence.

“That bad?”

“I’ll have him tomorrow. And you’ll be safe tonight. I promise you that.”

She nodded. Then stood. Cody had finally passed out. She carried the little boy to bed, murmuring something sweet. The sight touched some deep longing inside Morgan’s chest.

He finished his coffee and was standing by the time she came back. She walked over to the door with him so she could lock up behind him. He looked into her eyes. His lips were clean enough, he decided, and leaned in for a kiss.

If he couldn’t get all he wanted, at least he would take what he could get.

* * *

SHE WAS IN LOVE with Morgan McCabe.

Still, in love. Because if she wanted to be honest—and if you couldn’t be honest with yourself in your own bedroom in the middle of the night then when and where could you be—she had to admit that she’d never fallen out of love with him.

How was that possible? Dakota lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, reevaluating everything she knew to be true.

All this time, she’d blamed Morgan for being too withdrawn, blamed him for the breakup of their relationship years ago. But she’d been the one to make that decision.

Had she really chosen Billy because he was more romantic, or because he was safer? Morgan demanded all of her. She could lose herself in Morgan. Which had scared her back then, and still scared her now. With Billy, everything had been more manageable.

Had she told Morgan about Billy back then to make him jealous? So he would declare himself? Instead, he’d taken off.

She’d been so young and stupid.

But what now, that she was marginally smarter?

For starters, she wasn’t going to push him away again.

He had his job. He had other things going on in his life. But he cared for her. He wanted her. If there was a chance that he could love her again...

She was a single mom. Ever since Cody had been born, she had always played everything safe. She could do that again. But would she be doing Cody a favor? Would she be doing herself a favor?

She wouldn’t, she decided.

Morgan McCabe was worth some risk.

* * *

MORGAN WAS AT THE FARTHEST of the outbuildings, the one that housed farm machinery, catching up with the last of the older ranch hands when Bull called. He’d driven into San Antonio that morning to pick up the phone records in person. They wouldn’t send it in email. Needed his signature and police ID.

Morgan stifled a yawn. He’d patrolled the grounds all night, but not as much as a stray coyote had stirred.

“I got three guys with frequent calls to Mexico, but Wyatt says they all have girlfriends on the other side.”

“We’ll check them, anyway.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“You know what’s weird? I talked to every one of the men now, and I got no vibes that one of them was a hard core, professional killer.” Morgan thought that over. “Maybe I’m looking for the wrong thing.”

“How so?”

“Don’t know yet. But I’ll figure it out.”

He glanced toward the buildings that made up the heart of the ranch.

“You think...” Bull was saying, but Morgan barely heard his brother. A plume of smoke rose from the old cabin’s roof, snaking to the sky.

He took off running as he yelled into the phone. “Get home now! We got a fire!”

* * *

DAKOTA WAS SHOWING Justice the spreadsheets in the living room at the big house. Wyatt had gone off to administer the sick horse his medicine. Cody took a cold soft drink and some hunting magazines up to Julio, who’d been complaining about being stuck upstairs.

“Everything looks good,” Justice said. “I appreciate all the hard work you do around here.”

“And we appreciate that you’ve given us a home.”

“Even as messed up as it is these days?”

“Family business is always messy.” She gave him a half smile. “I’ll tidy up these charts, then send them over to you as an email attachment.” She headed toward the stairs to say goodbye to Cody for a few more hours and get him back down to Maria in the kitchen.

She looked through the front window completely by chance, and her blood froze for a second. “Fire!”

The cabin was on fire. But she didn’t run to save her valuables. She was running up, needing to make sure Cody was okay, that he hadn’t somehow gotten outside through the back door and gone home.

Justice was running outside, yelling for Maria in the kitchen to call 911.

She was at the top of the stairs, bursting into Morgan’s old room. “Cody!”

He was there. Standing in front of Julio. Rusty Fisher was up there, too, pointing a gun at the two of them.

Which didn’t make any sense. Then understanding dawned, and her stomach clenched.

“Mom!”

Fear sliced through her. “I’m here, honey.”

“And you’ll stay right there, too,” Rusty said.