Linda O. Johnston - Colton 911 - Caught In The Crossfire

“Why? Are they on the move?”

“Looks that way,” Melody affirmed. “And they’re heading even farther from this area. The ranch is five hundred acres, a lot of it in that direction.” She waved in front of them as he mounted Witchy once more. “But my suspicion is that those missing cattle are beyond that far end already or will get there soon.”

Melody found herself looking away immediately as Casey handed back her wallet. Had he opened it? Was he that nosy?

Of course, it could have opened by itself when it fell from her pocket.

Maybe she should have shoved it into her saddlebag back at the stable, but she liked having a couple of things on her—her phone and her wallet.

She hadn’t noticed whether he’d snooped into it or not, of course. She’d been studying the GPS map on her phone app, as much as she could, at least. The map sort of indicated major differences in the terrain such as deep ravines, moderate hills and high mountains, but not minor things like the usual rolling hillsides, waterways like streams, or any landmarks, although she wasn’t aware of any out here. But it did provide the general direction of where the cattle were heading, and the distance of maybe fifteen or more miles from her current location with Casey.

Now she knew the cattle were farther away than they’d been, as well as the direction they’d gone, but whether Casey and she could follow directly would depend on that unfamiliar terrain. And if she was correct in her interpretation, they’d at least come to steep hills on the way that they’d navigate.

Melody now felt certain they would be spending at least this night out in a pasture on the way to catching up with the missing herd. She’d ridden out this way several times before since beginning work here, just to get the lay of the land, with one or more of the other hands with her. But she was far from knowledgeable with regard to the actual topography.

“I’m not really sure how difficult our route will be,” she told Casey when he was back in the saddle and they were moving again. “Although the direction we’re taking still looks right.”

“Guess we’ll just have to figure the rest out as it comes.” His tone was somewhat curt, and she wondered why.

If he had been nosy enough to look in her wallet, he might have questions he wasn’t asking aloud. Just as well. Since she had just finalized her divorce six months ago, her old Texas license still had her married name—Ellison. Thanks to the nasty, cheating jerk she’d been married to.

Which was dumb on her part, in many ways. She never should have married him in the first place. And once she had, she should have ended it faster. She’d had a sense sometimes that Travis was cheating on her, and it had hurt.

Well, at least being called a “country girl” had helped her make that final decision, and now she appreciated that, as a ranch hand here, she really was a country girl.

But one of the first things she should have done upon moving to Arizona was to at least get a new driver’s license, so she’d never have to look at that old, unwanted name again.

At least Clarence had accepted her official divorce documents and hired her under her real name, which she’d returned to using, Melody Hayworth.

But she’d become so involved in her new job, so busy…well, that was her excuse, anyway.

And now, with this reminder, true or not, she knew she would do something about it soon.

Should she bring up the subject, explain it now to Casey?

No. If he’d been snooping, that was his problem. And she hadn’t talked about her prior life much since she’d moved here, didn’t necessarily want to do so now. Wanted to keep that difficult time behind her. She had definitely moved on.

If Casey asked about it, she’d answer. But right now, he just seemed to be quiet and didn’t interrogate her as a sheriff’s deputy might.

Not that her prior ID should have made him suspicious of anything. She was a good, law-abiding citizen who was now trying to find whoever had stolen her employer’s valuable cattle, get those cattle back to the ranch where she worked and then go about her usual life once more. She hadn’t been involved in the theft, and to her knowledge no one had even considered the remote possibility that she was.

Except, perhaps, for Casey. He was a law-enforcement officer and he might have seen something that didn’t quite fit with what he’d previously been told.

Whether or not that was the case, it now felt uncomfortable just riding beside Casey so quietly. They’d at least chatted before about the pasture and where the other cattle were currently ranging and what it was like to work on a ranch.

Working on a ranch. She had an idea how to start a potentially lighthearted conversation.

“Okay.” She glanced over at Casey. His handsome face, which looked as if it had been chiseled from stone, was expressionless as he stared forward. Then he turned his head to look at her.

“‘Okay’ what?” he asked, still straight-faced.

“I like how you’re now doing on horseback out here. Let’s see how you do when we find the cattle. Of course, you’re the law-enforcement guy and I know you’ll need to take the thieves into custody.”

“I intend to,” he said, remaining solemn. “If there are a lot of them, I’ll call for backup, assuming I get phone service out here as Clarence said we would, and if not we’ll just follow carefully behind them until I can get a team to join us and arrest them.”

“Right. But meantime, I’m now considering that you should have an alternate career. You’re doing great riding. I’ll have to see how you do with the cattle when we find them, but you look good up there, sitting on the horse and scouring the pasture with your gaze. I think you should consider becoming a ranch hand. Maybe even a cowboy yourself someday.”

He pulled slightly on Witchy’s reins, stopping her.

“You’re kidding.” He stared at Melody, and she stopped Cal. Casey’s brown eyebrows arched even higher over his attractive blue eyes, a quizzical expression on his face—a good change from before, when he had no expression at all.

“Could be.” She grinned widely at him. Then she attempted to grow more serious. “But what do you think of being here on the ranch? I mean, if you weren’t trying to find stolen cattle, would you like riding here? Not just riding a horse, but riding one in this kind of environment? You don’t necessarily have to herd cattle to be here, either.”

“So you think I should become a ranch hand? You don’t think I’m a good sheriff’s deputy?”

She laughed and gently kicked Cal to get him moving again. Casey also gave Witchy a slight nudge so she started walking again, too.

Melody then looked at Casey. “I’m still sizing you up, Deputy. As far as I know, you’re good at what you do. I think you’d be good at this, too. Could be that you can handle anything that life throws your way, right?”

“That’s what I believe. In fact, I’m sure of it, but—”

“Great. I wanted to be sure that the man accompanying me on this potentially dangerous outing is smart and brave enough to handle it.”

“I assumed you already thought so or we wouldn’t be out here like this.”

“As I said, I wanted to be sure.” With that, she again gently kicked her horse and Cal’s speed increased.

So did Witchy’s, beside them.

Oh, yes, she’d already accepted that Casey was one good deputy, or his boss wouldn’t have allowed him to be the one to take on this chase out here in the kind-of wilderness. To be the one to find the bad guys in this situation and either take them down himself—with her limited help—or get some colleagues to sneak in wherever they happened to be and help him out.