Sherryl Woods - Courting the Enemy

But, then, there had been a lot of things she’d thought about Grady that she was discovering to be untrue. He was kind and thoughtful and unfailingly decent, at least in his treatment of her. She was beginning to doubt that he had ever been the thief and scoundrel Caleb had accused him of being.

More surprising than Grady’s behavior in the past few hours was her own. She had nearly made love with a man she’d been taught to distrust. More significant, she couldn’t seem to make herself regret it. In fact, if she was feeling any regrets at all, it was that she had faltered along the way and still didn’t know what sort of magic she might have found in Grady’s arms.

She moaned and covered her face. What was happening to her? How had she let this happen? How had she allowed it to go so far? And why didn’t she feel the least bit guilty about any of it?

Because she had no answers-and was fairly certain she wouldn’t like any of them, anyway-she hopped out of bed, took a quick shower, then joined Grady downstairs just as he hung up the phone. His expression was grim.

“What?” she said at once. “Have you found something?”

“Only that Tate McDonald is a very wealthy absentee owner, that your other neighbors are in debt, but no more so than any other small rancher, and that if anyone has a vested interest in ruining you, it’s me.” He shrugged. “That’s the consensus, anyway.”

“Well, we both know that’s not true,” she said.

He gazed into her eyes. “Do you know that?” he asked, his expression intent.

Karen nodded slowly, her gaze never shifting from his. “I do,” she assured him, startled to find that she meant it.

Satisfaction spread slowly across his face. He touched her cheek. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. You’ve more than proved yourself to me.” She reached for the pot of still-warm coffee and poured two cups. “Now we just have to determine who’s out to destroy me and ruin your reputation at the same time.”

He grinned. “Simple as that, huh?”

“I didn’t say it was going to be easy,” she said, getting a notebook and pen from a drawer by the refrigerator. “We just have to be systematic and logical.”

“In that case, I need that pie you promised me,” Grady declared. “I can only be logical on a full stomach.”

When she started to stand, he waved her back to her chair. “I can do it. Do you want some?”

“Of course.”

He cut two big slices, retrieved the ice cream from the freezer and added huge dollops on the pie. She grinned at the size of the portions.

“Obviously you’re planning on a long night,” she commented.

“A very long night,” he agreed.

One they wouldn’t be spending together in bed, she thought with more than a little twinge of regret. Oh, well, the die had been cast earlier in the evening, anyway, and it was for the best. They’d both decided that. At least for now.

She took a bite of pie, savoring the burst of apple and cinnamon and sugar on her tongue, then picked up her pen. “Let’s start with this McDonald person, since he’s a stranger. What have you found out about him?”

“Just what I told you, that he has a lot of money and he’s dabbling in ranching.”

“You’ve never had any dealings with him?” she asked.

“None at all.”

“Then we can assume for the moment that there are no grudges.”

“How about you? Have you had any run-ins with him?” Grady asked.

“Never met him.”

“Okay, then, how about the Fletchers? They’ve been the Hansons’ neighbors for years. Have they always gotten along?”

“Always,” Karen said, but her expression turned thoughtful. “Of course, there might have been a problem when Caleb decided to marry me. I think Maggie Fletcher had her eye on him, and her father really wanted the match.”

Grady nodded. “Jealousy. That’s always a good motive for revenge, but Maggie doesn’t strike me as the type of woman to go around poisoning cattle or cutting fences. How about you? What do you think of her?”

Karen considered the woman who’d made no secret of her infatuation with Caleb. Tall and slender, with a no-nonsense manner, Maggie had always been polite, if distant, with Karen. There had never been any question of them becoming close friends. Even if Caleb hadn’t stood squarely between them, their personalities were unsuited. Maggie wore a perpetually dour expression, made worse by the realization that she would never have the man she loved.

“I feel sorry for her,” Karen said. “I think she really did care for Caleb. I know she was distraught at the funeral.”

“Would she have tried to ruin him for not marrying her?”

“No,” Karen said slowly. “She might go after me, but never Caleb. I was the one she blamed for destroying her chances with him.”

Grady’s expression turned thoughtful. “Then she could be seeking revenge on you now,” he suggested.

“But why? Caleb’s gone. What does she have to gain?”

“She might still be hoping for some sense of satisfaction that she was right all along, that you were wrong for Caleb and that she would have been the better choice,” Grady said.

“I suppose,” Karen said, but it didn’t ring true.

“But that wouldn’t explain the earlier incidents. Remember, those happened before Caleb died.”

“What about Maggie’s father? Would he have wanted to get even with Caleb for spoiling his plan for uniting the two families?”

“Possibly,” Karen admitted, though she had a difficult time imagining either of the Fletchers deliberately trying to sabotage her cattle. “Let’s think about the Oldhams for a minute. There was a feud between them and the Hansons a zillion years ago. Something about water rights, I think.”

“Is it still going on?”

She shook her head. “It was settled ages ago. They have access to the creek that flows through our property. Caleb’s grandfather wrote up the agreement himself.”

“But if they had this land, the issue could never come up again, right?”

“True.”

“I’ll visit them tomorrow,” Grady said. “Maybe they don’t want to take a chance that you might renege on the agreement.”

“If you go, I’m coming with you,” Karen insisted. “This is my ranch that’s being targeted.”

“Fine. We’ll go right after we get the chores done in the morning.”

Once again, Grady’s assumption that the chores were his to share took her aback. At the same time, it gave her a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach to know that she was no longer facing everything-not the daily grind, not the battle to keep the ranch afloat-alone.

Grady rubbed a hand across his face. “It’s late. I’d better get out of here.”

Karen considered offering to let him stay in the guest room, the room they had almost shared earlier, but thought better of it. Her resolve where Grady was concerned was weak enough. It wasn’t fair to keep putting him in the position of having to hold back whenever their hormones got the better of them. She couldn’t let him stay here until she was ready to let him share her bed.

“It’s a long drive,” she said eventually. “How about another cup of coffee before you head out?”

He shook his head. “I’ll be fine, and the sooner I go, the more rest I’ll get, and the sooner I can get back here in the morning.”

She walked him to the door. He reached out and cupped the back of her head, then bent to kiss her gently on the forehead. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this. I promise you.”

But then what? she wondered when he had left. Was he only helping her to solve the puzzle, to tie up loose ends, so that the land would be free and clear of problems when he got his hands on it? That was possible, she told herself. Even likely. And yet, somehow she could no longer make herself believe it.