“I’m just wondering why you’re wasting your time trying to scare me off. What does it matter to you if I get paid or not?”
“Her husband was a good friend of mine. I don’t like the idea of her out there, going about her life like nothing happened, like she didn’t kill a good man in cold blood.”
“Then prove she did it,” Matt said. “Trying to scare me off isn’t going to get that done.”
The deputy’s face went dark red, his whole body tensing, and for a second, Matt was positive the man wanted nothing more than to deck him, was just about ready to throw that punch.
Matt held his ground, not about to back down, ready to take the blow if he had to. He was ready and willing to go toe to toe with this arrogant ass, but raising a hand against a Texas deputy was a surefire way to get in trouble, and there wasn’t much he could do for Elena if he landed in jail his first day in town.
Finally, Gerard took a step back, giving his chin a belligerent tilt. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Don’t worry, Deputy,” Matt returned coolly. “I consider myself warned.”
With a curl of his lip, Gerard turned on his heel and stomped away.
Matt watched him go, the knot of tension in the pit of his stomach only tightening. He didn’t feel the slightest bit of relief that the deputy had backed down, his awareness of just how bad the situation was weighing down on him too heavily.
Whether or not Travis Gerard was right about the rest of the town—and the slashed tires indicated he just might be—the fact that the local law was gunning for Elena was confirmation enough that she needed help. Damned if he was going to stand by and watch her be railroaded. Unfortunately, she probably needed more help than he alone could offer, he had to admit. Luckily he might know someone who could provide some assistance.
Climbing into his truck, he pulled the envelope out of his pocket, found a pen in the glove compartment, then reached for his phone, hitting the speed dial.
A familiar voice answered after a few rings. “Triple C.”
“Piper, it’s Matt.”
“Matt, where are you? Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” he said, dodging the first question. “I just need you to give me Pam’s phone number.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment, and he braced himself for her answer. “Everything can’t be fine if you want to talk to an FBI agent.”
“I just have a little bit of a situation here and I’m hoping she’d be willing to do something for me.”
“Is there anything Cade and I can do to help?”
He had no doubt that if he said the word, she and Cade would hightail it to Western Bluff as fast as they could, no questions asked. That was the kind of people they were, not just the people he worked for but his closest friends in the world. “You can give me Pam’s phone number,” he said simply.
She fell quiet again, then slowly began to recite the digits. He immediately jotted them down on the back of the envelope. “Do you need me to repeat it?” she asked when she was done.
“No, I got it.”
“We’re here if you need us, Matt.”
“I know,” he said gently. “I appreciate that, Piper.”
“Take care of yourself,” she said, then disconnected the phone.
Swallowing a sigh, he dialed the number she’d just given him and waited for someone to answer.
The call was picked up on the third ring. “This is Pam,” a voice almost exactly like the one he’d just spoken to said in a no-nonsense tone.
“Pam, it’s Matt Alvarez.”
She fell silent for a few moments much like her sister had. “Matt,” she said flatly, her voice devoid of Piper’s natural warmth. “This is a surprise.” She gave no indication whether it was pleasant or otherwise.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m in a situation and could use your help.”
“What is it?” He quickly outlined Elena’s circumstances. “This case doesn’t fall within federal jurisdiction,” she said when he was finished. “There’s nothing I can do officially.”
“I know that. I was just hoping for some information.”
“What kind of information?”
“For now, anything you can give me on the town, on Elena and her husband, the sheriff and whether he can be trusted. Obviously, you have resources that I don’t. I’m not asking for anything illegal or that would get you into trouble. Just anything you can give me that you think I need to know, though I might need to come back to you later the more I learn here.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment again. “This woman must mean a lot to you.”
His mind instantly wanted to deny the idea. Elena didn’t mean anything to him. Not anymore.
He couldn’t exactly say that. It would raise far more questions, ones he wasn’t sure he was ready for and didn’t like the answers to.
Instead, he simply said, “She’s a friend.”
Another silence. When she spoke again, all she said was “Give me a number where I can reach you.” Matt quickly gave it to her. “I’ll see what I can find.”
“Thank you,” he said, only to realize she’d already hung up. With most people the action would probably be considered rude, but he didn’t take any offense at it. That was Pam—brisk, blunt, to the point. She was willing to help. That was all he cared about.
Lowering his phone, he glanced up, his eyes suddenly meeting those of a woman standing down the street a short distance away.
He could tell she’d been watching him for a while, her face reflecting surprise at having been caught. If he hadn’t been so focused on the call with Pam he might have sensed it. Still, she didn’t immediately glance away, continuing to look at him. He looked right back. Given the way he’d felt people watching him since he and Elena had arrived back here to change her tires, he figured he should get used to people staring at him. That didn’t mean he was going to let them think they could intimidate him or make him in any way nervous.
But as he absorbed the woman’s attention, he realized it was different somehow. She was an attractive woman in her fifties with dark hair and eyes and a nice face. There was a warmth to it, and her attention wasn’t cold or judgmental. It was like she was studying him closely, looking for something. He half wondered what it was, not caring all that much. Maybe she was just curious about a stranger. It didn’t seem like she meant him any harm, and as long as that remained the case, she could look as long as she wanted.
As though finally realizing just how long she had been staring, she abruptly looked away and started down the sidewalk in the other direction.
He watched her go for a few seconds before shaking his head and dismissing her strange behavior. He had bigger things to worry about.
Pam could likely get information that he couldn’t, but he’d meant what he’d said. He intended to learn as much here as he could. It might still be early enough that word hadn’t gotten out about who he was and why he was supposedly in town, so there might still be time to find someone willing to talk to him. And there was one place around here he figured was his best bet to find someone who would.
Chapter Five
Her hands were shaking.
The realization came with a strange sense of detachment, as though she was noticing something that was happening to someone else. Elena glanced down at the hands that were gripping the steering wheel tightly. Yes, they were shaking, she registered, barely feeling it. The steering wheel was shuddering beneath them.
No,
she corrected faintly. Her hands weren’t shaking. Her whole body was.
She looked back up at the road, only to discover that she was already outside of town. Blinking in shock, she tried to draw in a breath. It was impossible. Her lungs were too tight.
She quickly swung over to the side of the road and sat there, still clutching the steering wheel in a death grip, trying to catch that elusive breath. Thankfully, there were no other vehicles in view, no one in front of or behind her, no one to witness her meltdown. She was alone, truly alone for the first time since Matt’s sudden reappearance in her life.
She wasn’t surprised that she’d managed to get all the way outside of town without noticing where she was. From the moment she’d driven away from him, there’d been only one thing on her mind.
Matt.
Matt was back.
The image of the way he’d looked on the street came back to her.
She hadn’t wanted to say goodbye. Not again. Not yet.
Suddenly, the flood of memories she’d barely managed to keep at bay when he was near finally broke free, filling her head with a million different thoughts, pictures, impressions. Things she hadn’t thought about in years. Things she hadn’t let herself.
Eight years. She could feel every one of the years that had passed since he’d left, and yet it seemed as vivid as if it were yesterday.
She’d been working at the diner that summer. She hadn’t wanted to come back to Western Bluff, but she’d needed to save as much money as possible for school and it hadn’t made sense to pay rent for an apartment when that money could be saved. Even with the scholarship she’d managed to get, she was barely making her way through college as it was. So she’d come home and waited tables. She’d worked at the diner all through high school, having been forced early on to get a job. Not only had she known she was going to have to pay her own way through college if she wanted to get out of this town, but her father hadn’t been the most reliable of providers. She’d spent too many years experiencing the fear of not knowing if the bills would be paid and their needs would be met. College was her number-one priority, but if push came to shove, she would have something to dip into to cover any shortfall.
Lavonne had been nice enough to keep a job open for her and hire her on over the summers. The diner’s owner had been the closest thing Elena had had to a mother figure after her own mother abandoned them. If there was one person Elena could imagine sending Matt the newspaper article to bring him back to help her, it was Lavonne, but she’d died five years ago, shortly after Ed.
It had been a fairly typical night. She’d been doing her best to stave off the boredom and her unhappiness about being in this town she’d hated so much, just trying to make it to the end of her shift, dreaming about being back at school.
He’d come in with a few other hands from the Nolan ranch. It wasn’t uncommon for hands from the area ranches to make their way into town on their nights off. Lord knew there wasn’t much else around here. Usually, they’d hit the bar on the edge of town, then make their way to the diner for dessert if they needed to sober up a bit before making their way home. Most of them would flirt with her. She’d always be friendly, keeping her tips in mind, but not
too
friendly. She had no interest in cowboys, in any guys from the area for that matter. Her future lay far from here, and she was too aware of that fact to get overly attached to anything she found here.
She hadn’t seen him or his group when he’d come in, only registered that some people had. After finishing with the table she’d been taking care of, she’d picked up a few menus from the counter and turned to head over to the newcomers.
And then she’d seen him.
He’d been sitting at the corner booth with three other cowboys, but he was the only one she saw. He was beautiful. Not in a way that she ever would have associated with that word before. He wasn’t pretty. There certainly wasn’t anything feminine about him. He was young, in his early twenties, not much older than she was, but there was no denying he was a man. He had thick black hair and deep bronze skin, his features strong and masculine. It wasn’t a flawless face, not in the conventional sense. He was no model. No, he was too real, his face had too much character. And yes, to her eyes, he was, quite simply, beautiful.
Whether he’d sensed her attention or simply chosen to raise his head at that moment, he’d suddenly looked up, his eyes automatically and unerringly meeting hers.
In an instant, everything around them seemed to disappear, leaving only the two of them, looking at each other. Even across the restaurant she’d seen his eyes widen slightly. To an outsider, it might have looked like the reaction was surprise, and maybe that was part of it. But only a small part. Because staring into his eyes, she felt it, the same thing he must have, a click deep inside, an instantaneous connection, a cord formed between them and pulled taut.
Yes.
She didn’t hear the word in her head so much as she felt it deep in her body, every cell sighing with rightness as she looked into this man’s eyes.
Yes.
She knew immediately that he wasn’t the kind of guy she was looking for. She didn’t want a cowboy. She didn’t want anyone even remotely connected to this town.
She also knew immediately that it didn’t matter. Because the moment she saw him, the moment their eyes met, she knew. Whatever this was, it was right.
Yes.
She’d done her best to do her job and not let the rest of his table see her response to him, even as she felt his eyes on her every time she was in the main room of the diner, even as she couldn’t stop sneaking glances at him every possible moment. And every time, he’d be looking back at her.
He’d lingered after they’d paid the check and the rest of his friends stepped outside, waiting at the end of the counter for her. She’d known why, too, as she walked over to him.
He’d leaned close. “Can I see you later?” he asked, low under his breath, directly into her ear, and she’d nearly shuddered. “Maybe give you a ride home?”
“Sure.” She hardly lived far enough away to need a ride, but she wasn’t about to turn down the offer.
“What time do you get off work?”
“Midnight.” She’d told him about a spot at the end of the block, instinctively knowing she didn’t want word getting out—getting back to her father—that she’d met some cowboy after work and driven off with him. That spot was close enough to be convenient, yet far enough away no one should pay much attention.
“I’ll be there,” he’d promised.
She should have been nervous. He was a complete stranger, and undeniably a man. She knew nothing about him. The prospect of being alone with him should have made her wary. But it hadn’t.