Chapter Ten

Carla could see that Matt was disappointed that they’d had to end the day so soon. He waved to her as he drove away from the Melrose Motel, and she could still taste his heartfelt kiss on her lips.

“Just a minute, missy!” Trevor Melrose caught her as she tried to dodge past him to go to her room. The sickly feeling she had had in her gut since Dyson announced the news from his call suddenly became ten times worse.

She forced a smile as she turned back to face the grumpy old man.

“Hi, Mr. Melrose.”

“What did you say your name was again?”

He pointed to her scribble in the register.

“Carla,” she replied, knowing that this was the name the guys would have given him this morning.

“I thought you said Paulette?” He eyed the signature curiously.

She shook her head, trying to look casual. “Nope, Carla. Perhaps you thought I said Paula?”

He pursed his lips thoughtfully, frowning at her scrawl in his book. “Hmm, sure looks like a ‘P’ to me,” he mumbled.

She sniggered. “My handwriting’s atrocious, especially when I’m tired.”

He narrowed his eyes as he looked back up at her. “Sheriff was in here earlier asking after you,” he announced.

Carla felt her blood run cold as a knot coiled in her stomach. “Th-the sheriff? Did he say why?”

The old man shook his head, eyeing her suspiciously. “Not in any trouble, are you, missy?”

She feigned a laugh, which came out more of a hysterical screech.

“No, of course not. What did he say?” Her heart was in her mouth.

He shook his head again. “Nothing.”

Although desperate for more details, she forced herself to smile and shrug before setting off to her room.

Her fingers trembled as she forced the key into the lock. Why in hell was the sheriff after her? Had someone searched her room? Reminding herself that there was nothing of interest in her room now that she had deposited the cash as well as her journal in Almondine, she calmed slightly and resumed the job in hand.

Nothing appeared out of place and she sighed with relief as she checked her belongings. She didn’t have much, just a few clothes, and it was good that nothing seemed to have been rummaged through or moved. Even her nightie was in exactly the same spot on the pillow where she had left it.

She had planned to go over to the café for supper, but had suddenly lost her appetite. Slumping onto the bed, she stared up at the cracks in the ceiling, her mind in a whirl. Her first instinct was to run. If she checked out of the motel now it would certainly raise suspicion, but would it amount to anything? People would obviously talk about her, wondering what she was hiding, but could they actually act on it? It all depended on the reason the sheriff was looking for her. If he’d wanted to arrest her for taking the money then surely he would have come after her today? He wouldn’t just leave her to come back to the motel in her own time. And how would the sheriff of a small county like Cavern find out about her anyhow? South Dakota was miles away from Sheridan—surely word wouldn’t have spread this far? She assumed that the whole town must have been alerted of the stranger’s presence being as someone had even rung the guys on the farm. Why would everyone be so concerned about someone just visiting the area? None of it made any sense.

She stood up and strolled over to the window. It was dark now but she could still make out the shadow of the mountain in the distance. Her mind drifted back to the wonderful time she had had up there just a couple of hours ago. Those guys certainly were special and she sure as hell didn’t want to run off and leave them. They meant way too much to her. But Matt’s words kept ringing in her ears. He’d said that strangers usually brought trouble with them and he was right. She might have brought a whole heap of trouble right to their doorstep. If that bastard had caught up with her he would be baying for blood by now. There was no way she would be able to convince anyone that she was innocent—she’d run off with the money, for heaven’s sake, there was no escaping the fact. Panic surged through her. Was Jerome Pearson the stranger in town? Had he figured out her whereabouts already? Fuck!

Carla quickly moved away from the window. Although she knew that no one could see her she still felt more vulnerable there. Her mind reeled and she felt herself breathing heavily as a feeling of dread filled her bones. It had to be him. Especially as the sheriff had come looking for her. He would have given his version of events and the whole town would have her labeled a thief. It was only a matter of time before the guys were told all about her—and they’d hate her more than ever after getting so close today!

Tears trickled down her cheeks as she reluctantly pulled her duffle bag from under the bed and began stuffing her clothes into it. It would break her heart to leave those gorgeous guys behind but staying here could well be putting them and the rest of the town in grave danger.

It was lucky that she had paid for her stay already, as her funds were really low now. She had been looking forward to getting paid at the end of next week, but that wasn’t going to happen after this.

Mr. Melrose was bound to be downstairs still, so she threw her bag out of the window, pulled on her jacket and strode down.

“Just going for some supper,” she told him with a smile.

As she suspected, he was waiting in the foyer. He grunted as she passed him but didn’t make conversation.

Once outside, she dived around to the back of the building and retrieved her bag from where it had fallen among the bushes. She had to use the torch on her cell phone to see it—it was almost pitch black out there now. The smell of sausages beckoned her as she went back to join the main road, and she glanced longingly at the little café. She would miss Maggie—they had already become good friends.

With a deep breath, she forced herself to keep on walking and she soon immersed herself in the darkness of the night as she took the road out of town. The back road seemed eerily quiet tonight and not half as welcoming as it seemed in the daylight. The ground was uneven and rockier than she recalled, and she stumbled a few times on the loose surface. Trees with sharp branches reached out for her as she tried to keep close to the edge, and the long grass whipped her legs through her worn jeans.

Seeing lights in the distance, she dived onto the verge, hiding behind a bush until the vehicle had passed. Regaining the road, she tried to hurry to make up for lost time. If that car had been the sheriff looking for her it wouldn’t take him long to check her room at the Melrose and realize she had left. The sign for Pelican’s Heath pulled on her heart strings as she reached the fork in the road and quickly went the opposite way.

She couldn’t stop the tears which continued to stream down her cheeks as she thought of the two gorgeous guys she was leaving behind. They had been nothing but kind and loving to her and here she was, deserting them. She could still taste Matt’s unforgettable kiss on her lips, and the vision of his sad but beautiful face taunted her. She knew the guys hadn’t wanted today to end any more than she did. They were expecting to see her again tomorrow night, and Delores and Frank would be shocked when she didn’t turn up for work in the morning. The more she thought about how much she was letting everyone down, she worse she felt. That feeling in her stomach was getting sicklier by the minute, and the knot which had settled there just seemed to keep on growing.

It was starting to rain and Carla was now trudging through unknown territory. She had left Almondine and Pelican’s Heath far behind her and was venturing deep into the countryside. There were no lights as far as the eye could see and the dark night seemed to get blacker by the minute. It was becoming cold now, too, and she pulled her thin jacket around her shivering frame as she strode on into the unknown. Every muscle in her body ached, but not as badly as her heart.

She was trying to manage without the light from her cell phone, as she would have no way of charging up the dying battery and needed to conserve every ounce of power left in it. Her face felt numb and her eyes were flooded with tears when she suddenly stumbled on the uneven track. Pain wracked her body as she felt herself falling much deeper than she expected, and she dropped her holdall as she tumbled headlong down a sharp crevice.

****

When she opened her eyes it was already becoming light and she cursed as she did a mental inventory of her sore body. Her head ached and she guessed she must have passed out for a while, but apart from that she reckoned on just a few bumps and bruises.

The grass around her was wet and she was surrounded by thick mud. It took a few seconds to realize that she had fallen into a deep ditch in the dark. She must have lain in the dirt all night. Her fingers shook with cold as she grabbed at some tree roots jutting from the rocks to haul herself up the side of the track.

“Hold on, beautiful.” A familiar voice was calling to her over the edge.

She stared up in horror as the blurry figure of a man reached down to her. His hand was big and warm and she felt his strength as he pulled her up the sodden bank.

“A-Aiden?” His handsome face slowly came into focus as she gawped up at him, her feet finally finding purchase on terra firma.

“You’ve had us all dang worried,” he told her, studying her face carefully as he held her steady by her arms.

“What?” None of it made sense and she felt her body slump heavily as everything suddenly turned black again.

****

“We should never have let her go like that,” Dyson moaned for the umpteenth time.

“What choice did we have? We couldn’t have known there’d be some connection with her and this dang stranger.” Matt sounded weary as he jumped out of the truck and followed his brother into their house. Dyson had pulled the SUV alongside it on their yard and stretched as he reached the front door.

“I’ll get some coffee on.” Dyson made straight for the kitchen where he grabbed himself some toast as well as a much-needed mug of strong black, as he heard Matt in the shower.

There wasn’t time to sleep but they badly needed to take a break and regroup before deciding their next move.

Dyson plunked himself onto a stool at the kitchen counter and played the messages on his cell phone on loudspeaker as he had his breakfast. No matter how many times he played them, the news never sounded any better.

“Sounds like a nasty piece of work,” Matt remarked, coming to join him. He looked a lot more refreshed in clean clothes, his wet hair leaving a damp rim around the top of his collar.

“You can say that again, bro.” Dyson yawned, glancing up at the kitchen clock. “The cops from Wyoming should be arriving soon. I suppose I should get back to the office to wait for them.”

“Take a shower first, buddy. I don’t wanna be rude or nothin’ but…”

“Yeah, I get it.” Dyson shook his head as he headed for the door. He knew he was sweaty and couldn’t wait to freshen up. His nerves had been on edge all night as they trawled every street and back road they could find just looking for that poor girl.

If the cops way over in Sheridan were right about Jerome Pearson it was imperative they found Carla before he did. Armed robbery never sat well in any community, but when they revealed their suspicions that Carla had put herself right between the bastards and the money his heart had almost stopped beating.

As the warm water trailed over his worn-out body he remembered the feel of her hands on it just a few hours ago. That girl had been so loving and responsive—he had never felt anything like it. He and Matt could tell she wasn’t used to having more than one guy at a time, but she sure took to it like a duck to water. Thank God! When he thought of how she nearly ended up with Aiden Fielding he seethed.

“Aiden Fielding.” As if sharing his thoughts, Matt appeared around the bathroom door with the cell phone in his hand.

“What?” Dyson frowned in confusion.

“Said he’s found her. She’s collapsed. He’s taking her back to his place.”

“I think she’s okay.” Aiden’s voice came over the speakerphone. “Fell down into a deep ditch and hit her head by the looks of it. She regained consciousness while I was there but not for long. I’ll get her back to my place and call the doc out from there. It’ll be quicker than the ER.”

Dyson pursed his lips. He was glad she’d been found, but did it have to be Aiden who discovered her?

“Okay. We’ll meet you there.” He knew it made sense, though he didn’t like it much.

“He’s a good friend, remember?” Matt switched off the connection, and Dyson knew his twin was reading his mind.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll get dressed.” Dyson did know. They wouldn’t have got this far without Aiden and his older brother’s help—not only with the practicalities of running the farm once their parents had passed on and his arthritis had flared up, but they had been great company, too. He sighed as he pulled on his uniform. Becoming the sheriff of Cavern County had been one of the best decisions of his life. It wasn’t quite as physical as working on the farm, and the money was good. He enjoyed it, too. Dyson had always been sociable, although not quite as outgoing as his brother. Matt was a great guy, but was far too friendly with everyone to hold down a position like sheriff. He’d never be able to arrest anyone as they were all his buddies!

Dyson grimaced at his reflection as he took a quick shave. That fuckwad Jerome Pearson sure as hell wouldn’t be a friend of his brother—neither of them would have any problem arresting him and flinging his sorry ass in jail for the rest of his days on earth. He would be glad of the support of the cops from Wyoming on this job, too. Being even remotely personally involved in a case was never a good thing, and he certainly had an axe to grind over this one. He guessed his brother wouldn’t exactly be accountable for his actions either, should things get out of hand, and he frowned.

“Doc’s on his way over to the Fielding Ranch,” Matt informed him as soon as he joined him in the kitchen.

“Good. We’ll go in my car—it is official business after all.”

Dyson grabbed an apple on his way out the door and climbed behind the wheel of the SUV. It was still quite early but there were plenty of cars on the road.

“Everyone’s been out looking for her all night,” Matt muttered.

Dyson grinned. Community spirit was a big deal in Cavern County, and part of the reason he loved the place so much. As soon as word got out that there was a stranger in town the local folks were on their guard, and when he later got the report from Sheridan Police that a guy they suspected of armed robbery was headed their way practically everyone had sprung into action. It seemed the cops had been watching this Pearson guy for several days, after getting a tip off from one of his accomplices. Having recognized one of the men from the CCTV footage in the drug store, they had already made an arrest and were quite happy to divulge the whole sad story.

It would appear that there was definitely no honor among these thieves—once one had been caught he was quite happy to rat on the rest of the gang. The other two guys involved were brothers and the cops were quite satisfied that they, too, had been caught on camera. Pearson had been smart enough to stay out of sight of the ‘roving eye’ so they didn’t have any evidence of his involvement, apart from the vehement claims of the other three. The bastard had also conveniently disappeared just after the raid—as had the cash, by all accounts. The three other guys claimed that he’d made off with the stash, but the cops were even more concerned about the girl who had left town at just around the same time. They had no leads on Carla’s whereabouts, and all their evidence showed that Pearson was travelling alone.

Dyson would never forget the relief in the voice of the cop when he told him that Carla was actually here in Cavern County, as they had feared for her safety, knowing Pearson’s violent tendencies.