She started to take a step back, but a long, powerful arm slid around her shoulders, holding her gently in place.
“What are you afraid of?” he asked quietly, and when she lifted her eyes, he captured them.
It was a moment out of time. Everything stopped around them. The distant sound of cattle lowing, the whip of the cold wind, the rattle of a windmill just beyond the barn that pumped water into a cattle trough. The sounds just vanished, like Josie’s will.
The hand at her back drew her closer. “You smell of flowers,” he said at her ear as his lips brushed it. He could feel hertrembling. She might be a criminal, but she was no rounder. He could feel the tremor run through her body, the same sort of tremor that one felt on a colt when it was first born and felt the touch of a human hand for the first time.
“Flowers?” she stammered, staring at him with her heart beating feverishly in her chest.
He nodded slowly. His gaze fell to her soft mouth and lingered there, curious, quiet, hungry.
“You aren’t what you seem, Josie,” he said, his voice deep and slow, the sound of her given name on his tongue exciting.
Her hands flattened on his soft shirt under the jacket. “I’m... I’m not a nice person,” she managed, her voice sounding odd even to her.
He lowered his head. His mouth was almost touching hers. Almost. Almost! She could smell coffee on his breath, so close, so tempting.
“Whatever you are,” he whispered as he stepped closer, “you take my breath away.”
She should move. Scream. Back up. Run for her life. Not get involved. She couldn’t get... involved. But he was close and warm and strong, and she ached for him. Ached to have his mouth come down over hers and take possession of it, soothe the ache that was consuming her, that was making her tremble all over.
A soft choked little sound escaped from her lips.
“Josie,” he breathed. His head bent.
“John?”
The call broke them apart as firmly as a baseball bat. John turned toward the back door. “I’m out here, Mom,” he said. His voice sounded odd to Josie. It must have sounded odd to him, too, because he cleared his throat before he continued. “I just put the bull back up!”
“Oh, okay,” Heather said, coming down the steps. “Are you two going to finish decorating the tree with JJ?”
John blinked. “Sure!” he replied. “I’ve got men working on the grate,” he added, waiting for Josie to catch up as he walked toward the back door.
“JJ can’t reach high enough to put theStar Warsornament,” Heather laughed. She’d noticed the strange hesitation of the two people beside her and guessed that something was smoldering there. It made her happy. She was sure that Josie wasn’t a bad person. And finally, John was looking at a woman who wasn’t married to his brother. It was such a relief. She’d been sad for John. He’d really suffered over his infatuation with Stasia, but this pretty little redhead was taking him in a different direction. It would be the right one, Heather was sure.
“I likeStar Wars,” Josie said as John held the door open for her and Heather.
“Me, too,” John replied. “But I likeThe Mandalorianbest.”
Josie grinned. “Me, too.” She only glanced at him, but she flushed at the same time.
He felt a foot taller when she looked at him like that. He grinned to himself as he followed the women into the house.
Thirteen
Despite the best efforts of the sheriff and Big Spur’s cowboys, the mystery driver was never found. But other exciting things happened. A date was set for Odalie’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera, so the whole family started planning for it. It was decided that Josie would stay at the ranch with JJ and Mercedes to watch over the boy while the rest of the Everetts were away. Josie was happy for Odalie. It would be a very exciting time for her, the beginning of a whole new life.
She thought about her own life, but without much enthusiasm. She loved the excitement of her job, the adrenaline rushes, the pleasure of doing something useful in the world. But she still missed her mother, and she felt guilty about the death of her partner. If she’d made another decision, would he have lived? Could she have found another way? It was far too late now to consider that. But it haunted her. He’d been such a good man. Josie had loved his wife and little girl, too. After the funeral there had been no more contact. Josie understood. Her name would be a knife in the other woman’s heart forever.It hurt more than she’d ever revealed. She laughed. Who would she have revealed it to? She had no close friends, no real family. Her small triumphs, her great tragedies, existed only in the privacy of her thoughts. During the worst period of her life, she’d never had comfort.
She thought about that when the unexpected phone call came from Raines while she was sitting on the fence watching one of the cowboys work a new horse on the leading rein.
“How’s it going?” Raines asked her.
“Boring,” she lied. “I’m just sitting around here...”
“Boss wants to talk to you.”
Her heart jumped. “The same guy I talked to last time?” she asked.
