Cowboy Retribution, page 4
“There’s a lot to process here,” she said.
“What can you tell so far from the scene?” She might not tell him anything, but it never hurt to ask.
“That one person is responsible for the crime. There’s only one set of footprints aside from Tess’s. He’d planned to kill her based on the noose but not before he punished her in some way.” She shot an apologetic glance at Tess. “I’m sorry. This must sound scary and cold to you. Profiling the man responsible for this will help us know where to concentrate our efforts.”
“Does this guy have a grudge against Tess?” he asked.
“That or a fixation. The hut could symbolize their ‘home’ that he envisioned. He obviously likes the woods and the leaves must mean something. Right now, the picture is still blurry, but this gives us a lot to work with,” the sheriff said.
This furthered his thinking that Tess shouldn’t go home to her ranch until this jerk was caught. She would argue the point, but he had every intention of lobbying a case for his opinion. Then again, based on the way she’d tucked herself behind him, this scene did its damage.
He’d talk to her about finding new accommodations, at least until her father returned from Dallas and the meetings he had there.
She’d been vague about what her father was doing out of town. Of course, she had no reason to confide in A.J. even though a little piece of him liked the breakthrough they seemed to be having more than he probably should. This was more like a shattering of the barriers that had them constantly on the other side of issues.
He told himself that dealing with her on ranch business would be a helluva lot easier if they had a tentative relationship and a baseline of trust. He also told himself that he would help anyone in a crisis—and that much was true.
What he couldn’t easily write off was how right it felt to hold her hand or stand so close he could almost feel her breathing.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sheriff’s next question.
“Do you know anyone who has a grudge against you?” she asked Tess.
Tess stood there for a moment. Every muscle in her body had gone rigid and he felt it through her hand. He also felt her heart beating wildly, so he tugged her closer to him and looped his arms around her. She sidestepped, which put her in front of him. Then, she grabbed hold of his clasped hands before leaning into him, her back to his chest.
Now, he could really feel her heartbeat. He could also feel her body as it trembled. Despite facing what must be the most horrific memory, her chin was held high.
Pride surged.
“I can’t think of anyone off-hand who would want to torture me but that obviously doesn’t mean that he doesn’t exist.”
“There’s another possibility. That he somehow wanted to play house with you. The hut might represent a fantasy that the two of you would be a couple. Have you noticed anyone stopping by the house without a reason or showing up in town at the same places as you?”
She shrugged. “No one that I can think of.”
“Let me know if you think of anyone,” the sheriff said. “What about dates? Has anyone asked you out recently?”
Tess was beautiful and intelligent, and when she wasn’t coming at him with fire and flames, she was incredibly attractive. He could only imagine the number of men ready to line up for a chance at a date with her.
“Not lately, no. I’ve been on a break after the last guy I dated, who turned out to be a jerk. Honestly, I’ve been taking a little time off from the whole dating scene,” she admitted.
His loss. A.J. bit back the comment on his tongue.
“And I haven’t noticed anyone hanging around unusually, but I do come into contact with the opposite sex a lot during my days at the ranch. I go into town to run errands frequently because my dad’s getting older and I take on as much work around the ranch as I can to relieve him. Oh, and I drive to Austin every other week to volunteer at a crisis center there,” she stated.
The more he got to know Tess, the more he realized he’d underestimated her before. He’d viewed her as someone who’d grown up with a silver spoon in her mouth, a princess who always had to get her way.
He never would have believed she drove all the way to Austin every other week to volunteer or that she worked so hard to take the load off her father’s back. A.J. respected her even more now.
“What’s the name of the crisis center where you volunteer in Austin?” the sheriff asked.
“AustinCares. It’s all one word,” she supplied.
“In a case like this, we usually start looking at the people who are closest to the victim. Husbands, boyfriends, or anyone who came into intimate contact. If those people check out, then we widen the circle.”
The thought sat heavy on A.J.’s chest.
“Did you have a fight with anyone in the past couple of days?” Sheriff Justice continued down the line of questioning.
“Yeah. I’ve argued with someone in the last week.”
The sheriff perked up. “And who was that?”
“A.J. McGannon,” Tess replied.
5
“And what did you fight about?”
A.J. issued a sharp sigh as Tess stepped away from him.
“You can’t be serious, Sheriff,” he stated.
“I’m doing my job, A.J.,” she warned. “I’m good at what I do for a reason and that’s because I close every loop.”
Tess felt bad mentioning their argument, but she’d been honest. “I’ve been asking him to cut down a tree that hangs over one of my buildings. It’s too close to my property line and now I’m having foundation issues.”
“We talked about this. You shouldn’t have built that building so close to the fence anyway. The tree was there first and—”
He seemed to stop himself.
“He was the one who found me. I don’t know if I’d be alive right now if he hadn’t. There’s no way he would’ve tried to hurt me and then been the one to come to my rescue,” Tess stated before the argument got out of hand. She didn’t want to frustrate the person who’d been so kind to her. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“What were you doing on this side of the property this morning?” the sheriff asked anyway.
Tess steadied herself in case A.J. picked that moment to blow.
He didn’t, though. He kept his casual and calm demeanor—the same stance that usually infuriated her when they were going toe-to-toe.
“I was riding fences like I do almost every morning this time of year.” He was calm as a person could be when he responded and especially considering the implication was that he somehow had something to do with the crime committed against her. “I volunteer to check the area near the creek because that’s where I found Bear almost three years ago, and we stop by for old time’s sake. It reminds me to be grateful for the unexpected things that just show up in life.”
Tess had never seen this softer side to A.J., a side that had him rescuing dogs and people. She couldn’t afford to soften her stance toward him. She didn’t want to care for any McGannon.
Of course, she couldn’t go down that path with anyone and especially not someone she’d been fighting with for so long she forgot how many years had passed. It was strange, though, to realize just how much of a good heart A.J. had.
Normally, guys as good-looking as him ended up more stuck on themselves than anything else. She’d tried to pin that label on him, as well as on the other McGannons. Heck, each one looked like he could walk right off the pages of a magazine. But no matter how hard she tried, the label didn’t stick. Each one was honest and considerate, and those were traits that fell in short supply.
A.J. was the best looking of the bunch, in her opinion, and that was saying a lot, considering the genes in that family. There was something special about those hazel and brown eyes of his that could be disarming. Which was exactly why she needed to remind herself to armor up around him. She wouldn’t put it past him to use that chiseled jaw and just enough stubble to be sexy face to get his way in an argument.
Now that she was spending time with him under different circumstances, she realized there was so much more to him than she’d ever given him credit for. And that made him so much more dangerous to her.
It was strange, she realized, to live right next to someone for her entire life and truly know so little about them other than the basics. She was beginning to see there was so much more to A.J. than met the eye, and that her tunnel vision when it came to him had caused her to miss out on all of the good.
“Thank you, A.J., for cooperating,” the sheriff finally said, and Tess could’ve sworn she felt him exhale a long, slow breath.
She would’ve made certain that he wasn’t classified as a suspect. The words caused another shiver. Everything had happened so fast she was barely beginning to process. She couldn’t even imagine what her father would say or think when he found out.
It was probably nothing, but she’d been even more concerned about him lately. His memory was slipping and that wasn’t like him at all.
She would have to find a way to accept the fact her father wasn’t the young man she’d grown up around. He was getting older and that was half the reason she’d worked herself to the bone around the ranch. He wouldn’t agree to hire help if she asked because he didn’t realize how much he was letting slip through the cracks.
“I’d been thinking about giving up my volunteer work lately. The ranch has been keeping me so busy it’s hard to make time for the center,” she said to the sheriff.
“Has anyone there been the cause of concern for you or threatened your personal safety?” the sheriff asked.
“We don’t turn anyone away who needs help and my degree in social work allows me to council a variety of people. I doubt anyone there knows where I live, Sheriff.” Tess loved her work at the center. She felt like she made a real impact there.
“You have a degree in social work?” The shock in A.J.’s tone caused her to laugh, breaking some of the tension.
“Yes. I’m realizing there’s a lot we don’t know about each other.” Tess bit back a yawn. Exhaustion was wearing thin and she wanted to take a hot shower. Her stomach picked that moment to growl, reminding her she hadn’t eaten in…days.
Noises came from the direction where they’d come an hour or so ago and it didn’t take long for Tuck to come into view. He was accompanied by a handful of deputies.
“If you guys are good here, I’d like to take Tess back to the ranch to eat and rest. She’s been through an ordeal.” A.J. must’ve read her mind. Then again, he was standing right behind her and probably heard her stomach growl.
“You know the way out,” the sheriff confirmed.
“I do.” A.J. shook a few hands, including Tuck’s, on the way back to the trail leading to the ATVs.
Without saying anything else, he got them back to the big house in what felt like record time.
“Could I borrow the shower?” Tess asked as they walked back inside the house through the back porch. She noticed a line of boots in perfect order as A.J. added his to the collection.
She kicked off her shoes, and then followed him inside.
“You can have anything you want.” Those words were tempting.
“I have a request that might sound a little strange,” she hedged, not wanting to be alone in the big house.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“Could you stay in the bedroom while I have a proper shower?”
He grunted, and she was pretty certain she heard him say something about not needing the image of her naked in his head.
It should have offended her, but the comment made her smile. She liked the fact she was having an effect on him. Because being close to him made her pulse do things she hadn’t felt in years and maybe never to this degree.
The last thing A.J. needed was the image of Tess Clemente naked in the guestroom shower stamped in his thoughts. But he wouldn’t deny her request, so he sat on the edge of the bed while he listened to the water running in the shower.
Control wasn’t normally something he wrestled with and yet there he was wishing he could be under that showerhead with her.
Well now, that really made him crack up. The thought that he’d want to be in the same room with Tess, let alone naked, wasn’t something he thought would ever occur to him. Getting to know her was definitely changing his opinion about her, but what did that mean exactly?
Hell if he knew. He was still trying to get over the fact he wanted to see her in a different light at all. It was probably just his protective instincts kicking in that had him off-kilter.
The spigot turned off in the next room and he prepared to see her walk out in a towel. Thankfully, she entered the room ten minutes later in a warm-up suit that he’d laid out for her on the counter.
“Thank you,” she said almost immediately.
It was good that she spoke because he’d become fixated on a water droplet that was running down her neck, needing to trace the water trail with his tongue. He chuckled at himself because he was certain that move would get him slapped.
“You would’ve done the same.” It was true. The ranching community might have their differences, but anyone would step in and offer assistance to someone in need.
A.J. stood.
“I need to figure out a proper thank you for Bear, too.” The vulnerability in her voice was sexy.
“He’d be good with a head scratch and a bone.” A.J. turned to head toward the kitchen but her hand on his arm stopped him.
“This is probably going to sound crazy coming from me, but I’d like to kiss you.” Before he could mount an argument—believe him when he said that might take a while—she pressed up to her tiptoes and feathered her lips against his. Her thick silky lips against his sent his pulse into overdrive. The peck only lasted a few seconds but left a trail of damage in its wake. She opened her eyes and locked onto his gaze. He turned his body toward hers and then looped his arms around her waist as she closed the gap between them, her body flush with his.
Her full breasts pressed against his chest. He took in a deep breath, fearing they both were caught up in the moment and might regret these next actions later. But right now, he couldn’t care about that. All he could focus on were her sweet lips that were still a little chapped. He liked the rough feel of them against his own.
She brought her hands up to his chest, and her fingers began outlining his muscles. Her fingertips left a heated trail.
A.J. dipped his head and captured her mouth, swallowing the moan of pleasure she issued.
Suddenly, her hands were on his shoulders and her fingernails were digging into his skin as she pulled him toward her. There was no room in between their bodies as it was, but she somehow managed to close what little gap that might have been left.
Body-to-body, he could feel her breathing against him, air coming out in rasps. Her pulse matched the tempo of his as it skyrocketed toward the sun.
She parted her lips and he deepened the kiss. She tasted like peppermint toothpaste, which was now his favorite flavor.
The air in the room around them charged with electrical impulse and suddenly the fact there was a bed right next to them entered his mind. Considering this kiss had the kind of passion that had been lacking in all the ones that had come before it and he didn’t want to take advantage of the circumstances, he pulled back.
Looking into her glittery eyes didn’t help matters. If this was down to primal need and she wanted proof of life he’d happily oblige in consensual, no-strings-attached sex.
But something down deep warned him this would be so much more than that. Having sex with Tess would be a game-changer.
She practically panted against his lips and that didn’t help him with what he needed to say next.
“We should get some food in you.”
She nodded but there didn’t seem to be much conviction there.
Taking a minute to catch his breath, he finally clasped their hands together and asked if she was ready.
Again, she nodded, and he wasn’t sure if it was a good sign that she seemed to lose her ability to speak. That wasn’t normally a problem for Tess. She generally had more words than he wanted to hear, but he could admit to stoking the flame every once in a while, just for fun.
There was something about the passion in her voice when she was furious that made him smile. Passion was missing in most people. She had it in spades. And it was one of her more attractive traits. Of course, he didn’t always see it that way when he was on the wrong side of a dispute with her but in this light, it was damn sexy.
By the time they returned to the kitchen and fixed her a plate of leftover enchiladas that Miss Penny had made, the back door opened, and the sheriff filed in. The look on her face said she had news.
A.J. fixed himself a cup of coffee while the sheriff finished up a call. He returned to the table about the same time she ended the conversation. He offered coffee, which she quickly no-thank-you-ed. Not a good sign.
Her expression was set and there wasn’t a smile for miles around on her stone face as she clasped her hands together.
“You might want to sit down, Tess.” The sheriff’s tone fired up all A.J.’s warning signals.
Tess complied.
“We got an immediate hit on the crime scene the second I filed a report.” The sheriff’s gaze had been steady on her own hands. She looked up at Tess when she said, “This isn’t his first time to strike. A victim was found in Round Rock last week.”
Round Rock was a city just north of Austin that the Dell Computer Company had put on the map. It was largely responsible for the suburban sprawl that it was today.
“The victim was believed to have been abducted from outside her residence. She was taken into the woods on the outskirts of town where she was kept in a hut made from tree branches and stones.” The sheriff held eye contact with Tess like she needed to make sure it was okay to keep going. “There was a pile of leaves circling the hut, just like here.”
“Did she make it out before he…” It was like Tess couldn’t say the rest of the words out loud.
