The Doctor's Choice (16 page)

She parked the Lincoln and thought about the word,
home
. She wasn’t sure what that meant to her, but she supposed it was Aunt Silky’s, no…her house on the ranch. That had been her home since her parents died. She walked into the cluttered boutique and smiled when a pony-tailed pregnant woman called out to her.

“Hey, there. Come on in and make yourself at home. Is there something special you’re looking for?”

Cami thought this woman was about her own age. “I’m just looking around.”

“This is a good place to
look around,” the woman said cheerily. “I’m Sara Beth Jessup and this is my store. There are some things on consignment on the back wall. Everything’s marked but I’m willing to negotiate.” She looked Cami over from top to toes. “I haven’t seen you around here before.”

“I’m just
…visiting,” she said. “I’m Camryn Carmichael. Call me Cami. Oh, my!” She gasped and stared at a delicate quilt hanging on the back wall. It was done in shades of pink and white with the exact color of her new wall color included in the pattern. Cami reached out to touch it and admire the fine stitching. The pattern was a series of interlocking circles all around.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Sara Beth asked. “Old Mrs. Carter made it. She takes the blue ribbons every year for her quilts and fancy hand work.”

Cami smiled, recalling what she’d been told about the county fair by Aunt Silky’s three lady friends. “It’s lovely.” She turned it over and found a tiny print of roses on a pale pink background on the other side.

“It’s called
Double Wedding Ring.” Sara Beth ran her finger over the interlocking circles.

Cami knew she couldn’t leave the store without it. She could always take it with her back to Houston. She imagined it on her bed in her apartment
. No, it would look wonderful in her newly painted room at the ranch. Maybe, when she and Clay were married, she’d put it on the bed they would share. That thought made her frown. She knew Clay would balk at sleeping in a pink room.

She took cash out of the envelope and paid for the quilt. “When are you due?” she asked.

“Two weeks. I can’t wait to see this little one. My feet are so swollen I can’t stay on them very long.”

“What’s this?”
She pointed to where Sara Beth stretched to reach something on a higher shelf.

“The pillow shams.
They’re included in the price.”

Cami reached above her and unfolded the shams. They were a perfect match to the quilt. “I’m so happy to find this.”

“Look around,” Sara Beth said. “You might find you want something else.” She walked beside Cami and chattered amiably. “Are you staying long?”

Cami
considered the question and smiled. “I truly don’t know. I’m trying to decide. Were you born here?”

“Oh, Lord, no. I’m from Fort Worth. I met my husband in college.”

“Did you have a hard time getting used to this after living in a city?”

“Nope. The first morning I woke up and heard a rooster instead of ambulances and traffic I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”

“What do you do here to fill your time?”

The young woman stared at her blankly
.

“I mean,” Cami said, “there’s no museum, no mall, no theatre, no zoo.”

Sara Beth burst out laughing. “Well, we’ve got all that. When I want big department stores I drive to Lubbock or Amarillo. We have a movie theater right here and there are plenty of animals all around.”

“I see.”
Smiling, Cami took the quilt and shams that Sara Beth had wrapped in brown paper and tied with a length of raffia.

She drove back to the ranch thinking about the home she’d inherited. When she arrived
, she found E.J. Kincaid waiting for her. He was sitting in one of the wicker chairs, rocking amiably.

“Come in,” she said. “You must be cold.”

“Real men don’t get cold,” he said, a grin spreading across his face.

“Oho! Then I’ll just leave you on the porch. I wouldn’t want to undermine your masculinity.” She unlocked the door and carried her precious packages inside.

Shadow was waiting just near the door and emitted a low growl, his eyes never leaving E.J.’s face.

He
followed her and, ignoring Shadow, secured the door behind them. “Wednesday is the day I thought I’d get in touch with my feminine side, so I’ll come in out of the cold.”

Cami smiled at him. How could one man provide so much eye candy all the time? “Did you come over to exchange make-up tips on
Womanly Wednesday?”

“I came to see if you’d like to come for dinner with me and my dad sometime this week. He could make a fortune with his barbeque.”

“I thought he already had a fortune,” she said.

Hi
s eyes twinkled. “Yeah, he does.”

“So, why is the rich man’s son really here?”

E.J. gave her a dazzling grin. “I had to see you again. There’s not much to do around here. If you want, we could drive to Amarillo
for a few more choices. But, the main reason I’m here is because I wanted to see your pretty little face.”

“How does your dad figure into this?”

“He likes you. When he found out I was coming here he asked me to invite you over. Any chance you might like to take me up on that?”

“That would be nice,” she said. “I love to have men slave over a hot grill for me.”

“Tomorrow night? I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“Su
re,” she said. “I’ll be ready.”

E.J. left soon and Cami went out to invite Frank and T-Bone to dinner. She found them in the barn, both
peering under the hood of the ranch truck. They were happy to accept her invitation.

Before returning to the house she stopped by Red’s
stall and gave him an apple. “Hey, big boy.”

He always thrilled her. Something about his attitude told her this was no ordinary horse. Cami stroked his neck and said nice things to him. She wondered if Aunt Silky had talked to Red when he was her horse.
Somehow, she knew the answer was yes.

C
HAPTER THIRTEEN

Frank and T-Bone stomped up on the front porch and stood, hats in hands, waiting for her to open the door.

“Come in, guys. I left the door open for you.” She had
gathered all of the available liquor on a tray in the dining room and gestured toward them. “Help yourself to whatever you want. I’ll just be a moment.”

Cami arranged the heated enchiladas and rice on platters and added tortillas and salad. When she carried the food to the dining room, the men rushed
to take the platters from her.

“Miss Cami, this sure looks good.” T-Bone set the food on the table and pulled out the chair for
her.

“It was no trouble. I’m a city girl. I know how to do take out.”
She waved them to the chairs. “Please sit down, gentlemen.” She passed the platters, smiling as they loaded their plates.

“Miss Cami, it sure is nice of you to have us for dinner like this.”

“I appreciate the company,” she said. “And, after we eat, I need to ask your opinion about something.”

“Anything we can do to help, Miss Cami,” Frank said.

After the meal, she pushed the dishes to one side. “Okay, now down to business. I need to know why someone would want my aunt out of the way.”

Frank and T-Bone exchanged a look.

She went on. “There’s Eldon Kincaid. I know Aunt Silky stood in the way of his plans to buy this ranch and she discouraged other ranchers from selling to him. If it’s Kincaid, he had to know that I was the heir and that I might want to sell.” She looked from one man to the other. “But, he didn’t know the particular stipulations of the will. Would he go so far as to kill Aunt Silky, or have her killed?”

Frank spoke up, clearing his throat. “Kincaid’s boys have been responsible for some dirty tricks
, but nothing as bad as murdering a little old lady.”

“Are you telling us that Miss Silky was, for sure, murdered?” T-Bone stared at her with his bushy brow
s knit together.

“It looks that way,” Cami said. “The Medical Examiner matched the wound on her head to the
business end of a tire tool.”

“It wasn’t Red?” Frank asked.

“No, it wasn’t a horse.”

Frank
looked relieved. “Good. I’d hate to think it was Red.”

“I don’t know anyone else besides Kincaid who might want
Aunt Silky dead. Besides the land, what’s of value here to cause someone to commit murder?” Cami glanced from Frank to T-Bone.

“There’s the water?” Frank said. “When there’s a drought
, that’s a pretty valuable commodity.”

“And there’s the Pan-Tex Plant,” T-Bone said. “They d
o some sort of nuclear stuff up there.”

“I
understand that Kincaid is an old wildcatter,” she said. “Could there be some kind of connection there?”

“
Some big oil company had a lease on Silky’s land for decades,” Frank said. “It could still be in effect.”

“Them oil company fellers tested just about everything around here,” T-Bone said. “If there’s oil, they didn’t find it.”

“Are there any other minerals or valuable resources that could be exploited?”

Frank gave her a grin complete with dimples. “To a cattleman
, the most valuable thing is the thousands of acres of grazing land with water access. The underground spring comes right up out of the limestone and shale.
It provides clean drinkable water for both this ranch and the Ryan’s spread. When we’re having a drought both ranches use it for irrigation.”

“
You told me you baled hay for the stock, but what else is grown on this ranch?” Cami felt a twinge of guilt for not knowing.

“In the summer we grow corn, cotton
, wheat and sorghum and in the winter, rye grass.” Frank did the grin again. “If ethanol continues to be a prime commodity, we’ll probably grow more corn this year.”

Without warning tears welled in
her eyes. “What would I do without the two of you? I don’t know anything about ranching. Why did Aunt Silky want me to live here and take over this place when I’m such an idiot about every single thing to do with ranching?”

T-Bone reached out a worn and callused hand to
clumsily pat her shoulder. “Miss Cami, you can learn. If you can learn all about doctorin’ this ain’t nothin’.”

“Yeah, Cami,” Frank said. “You can count on us. We’ll help you. Just stay here and
we’ll make a go of it together.” Frank’s entreaty was delivered with his usual forthright manner as though just saying it could make it so.

“It’s not that simple,” she said. “I have some hard choices to make.”

“Your fellowship,” Frank said.

“And my fiancé
.” She tried not to laugh as he gave her an eye roll. “I really do have a fiancé and I have to consider him.”

“Yeah, like he’s considerin’ you?”
Frank scowled at her. “If you was my fiancé and you had a death in your family, I’d be right there along side you.”

T-Bone shook his head. “No, Ma’am. That just ain’t right. He
shoulda come with you. To help you out an’ all.”

Cami
shrugged but thought that, were the circumstances reversed, she would have been with Clay.

#

E.J. Kincaid knocked on her door at the stroke of seven. He was grinning when she stepped outside.

“You look beautiful.” He held out his hand and she hesitated a moment before placing hers in it.
He raised it to his lips. “Let’s go. My dad is excited that you’re coming. He’s been cooking like Martha Stewart.”

Cami laughed as they walked hand in hand to the
vehicle. “I’d better say nice things then.”

“I’m not worried. Dad’s a great cook.”
He handed her into his low-slung Jaguar, closing the door with a tight thunk.

The smell of new leather enveloped her and she couldn’t resist running her hand over the expensive interior.

He got in and started the car, smiling when a low-pitched whine responded to his touch.

“
This is such a nice car,” she said.

“Thanks. My dad thinks I should be driving a big double dually to prove my manhood. He hates this car.”

Cami shot him a sideways glance. “Is that why you drive it?”

He
chuckled deep in his chest. “You could be right.”

They drove the short distance with E.J. putting the car through its paces.

Cami felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on alert as he accelerated on the straight, flat road. She gazed out the window as fence posts flew by, determined to give no outward sign of distress.

He
took the turn through the imposing stone archway into the Kincaid ranch much too fast, but the Jag hugged the curve. She had to grin and a little sound escaped her throat as the rush of speed thrilled her. He shifted gears, flashing a toothy grin. They rounded another, gentler curve and Cami sucked in a deep breath.