Debra Webb - Colby Law

The dogs, one by one, got up and moseyed out to the barn to see what their master was up to. Lyle stood, settled his hat into place, and followed. Her soft voice stopped him at the wide-open barn doors. She’d set her shotgun aside and filled a bucket with feed. One by one she served the stabled animals. Chatted softly with each one and gave the old horses a scratch behind the ears. When she’d finished she walked right past Lyle and released all but one horse into the pasture.

The barn and the house were a little run-down. In all likelihood there was fencing that needed mending. Had she been trying to handle this place all alone the better part of the time? The thought made his gut clench. Damn Gus Gilmore. Lyle shook his head. Damn him . She hadn’t deserved the raw deal she’d gotten from him anymore than from her daddy.

Sadie made eye contact with him as she strode back to the front of the barn. “You haven’t left yet?” Her arms went over her chest as her chin lifted in challenge.

“I’m afraid leaving isn’t an option.”

“You’re something.” She shook her head, fury blazing in those green eyes her grandmother had sworn came from her Irish roots. Lyle knew different. Sadie was the only one of the Barker girls who had her biological mother’s green eyes. “You take off, stay gone for seven years and now you show up needing my help. I don’t know what you’ve been smoking, but I think you’d better find some place to clear your head.”

“Like I said before—” he folded his arms over his chest, matching her stance and, partly, to keep from grabbing her and shaking her or worse, kissing the hell out of her “—I was wrong.”

“Like you also said,” she echoed, “you were wrong about a lot of things, but that changes nothing.”

“I really need your help, Sadie. This isn’t just about Gus.”

A frown furrowed her soft brow. Damn, she looked good in those work-worn jeans and that pink button-up shirt that hugged her body the way he had dreamed of doing for too many years to count.

“All right, I’ll bite. What’s this about then?”

At least her question was a step in the right direction. “The trouble involves you, too.”

She rolled her eyes and made a sound of disbelief. “I don’t believe you. Besides, I’m always in trouble. What’s new?”

“This could get ugly fast.” Urgency nudged him. “There’s no time to say what I need to say the polite way.” Might as well spit it out. “I’ve been sent here to protect you 24/7, until this is over.”

He’d expected her to get her shotgun, maybe rant at him a little more, and attempt running him off. He was prepared for that kind of reaction. He wasn’t set for her laughter. The sound burst out of her. “You really are out of your mind, Lyle McCaleb. You should go now, before I lose my sense of humor.”

He had one last ace up his sleeve. “You think you’re unhappy to see me.” He chuckled. “Imagine how Gus will feel when he finds out I’m back.” Lyle grinned, couldn’t help himself. “He’s really going to hit the roof. You know how much he hates me. I’ll bet word has already climbed its way up to that pedestal he lives on.”

That gave her pause and maybe a little anticipatory pleasure. It flashed like a neon sign across her pretty face. “I’m not saying you can stay or even that I believe anything you’re saying,” she countered, but her resolve had weakened ever so slightly. He heard it in her voice. “But I’ll hear you out and then I’ll make my decision.”

“Rumor has it you’re out here all by yourself.” That worried him the most.

Anger darkened the features he knew by heart, yanking the step he’d gained right out from under his feet. “I don’t appreciate you checking up on me. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“I’m just doing my job, Sadie. My orders are to make sure you’re protected. To do that I have to know what I’m up against.”

Suspicion made an appearance amid the other emotions visibly tugging at her. “Who sent you here? You working for the law again? I thought you went off to be some hotshot security specialist.”

The Colby Agency never failed its clients, particularly not where their safety was concerned. Yes, he was here representing those high standards. He supposed one could reason that he was operating under Colby Law. “The answer’s complicated, Sadie. There’s no simple way to explain it.” He didn’t dare say more, much less breathe. All he needed was half a chance to protect her with her cooperation … to do right by her this time.

“Well.” She dropped her arms to her sides, hooked her right thumb in a belt loop and pursed those perfect bow lips the way she had at fifteen. The image made him ache to trace those sweet lips with his fingers, then with his lips. “You’re right about one thing. Gus ran off all my help and there is a lot of work to be done. I can’t deny your conclusions there.”

“It’s been a while.” He glanced around, noting the repairs that immediately jumped out at him, such as the barn’s old tin roof. It could use a little TLC. He shrugged. “Just like riding a bicycle. Point me in a starting direction and I’ll get back in the swing of things faster than old Dare Devil used to toss his riders.” He’d noticed the old champion among those under her care. Dare Devil was the only one she hadn’t let out to roam in the pasture. Had to be a reason for that. Gus, he suspected. And more trouble.

Something wicked glittered in her eyes as she pointed up to the barn roof. “The extension ladder’s in the toolshed. You’ll find anything else you need there, too. Long as you stay busy and out of my way. You’ve got a deal. For the day .”

Lyle surveyed the first step toward gaining her cooperation if not her trust, three stories up at the very least. Nothing he hadn’t done before.

Sadie headed back into the barn. “Come supper,” she called back at him, “I’ll expect some answers, and then you’ll have my final decision.”

Lyle pointed his boots in the direction of the tool-shed. If it kept her alive, he could walk a tightrope all the way across Texas.

If he was lucky, he would live through the experience.

Five Hills Apartments, 2:00 p.m .

What now? What now?

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. She had a plan, a carefully laid plan. This could ruin everything! She paced the small studio apartment. Back and forth, back and forth. Perhaps the problem was only temporary.

At the window, Clare Barker peeked through the slats of the yellowed blinds covering her one portal to the outside world. The car was still there. Oh, no, no, no. Who was this man watching her? The warden had relished telling her that as soon as she was delivered to this location she was on her own. She knew what he wanted—he wanted some vigilante to carry out the justice the whole world believed had been denied by an appeals court. Her lips tightened. But this man had not gone away. He was not supposed to be here! He changed everything.

Her fingers knotted together as the worry rose in her throat once more, the taste as bitter as yesterday’s coffee dregs. He had sent this man to kill her. She knew it! She just knew it. It was the only way to stop her, that was for sure. He would know his options were limited. Had he prepared so well?

Rage boiled in her belly. But he would fail. The fury stretched her lips into a knowing smile. He would fail .

More than twenty years she had planned this moment. He would pay for what he had done to her. No force on earth could stop her without sending her to hell first.

Time was her most fierce enemy. There was no room for distractions. Clare turned away from the window. Her reflection in the mirror mounted to the bathroom door of her efficiency apartment snared her attention. She was old now. The lines of her frown were deep and ugly. Her hair more gray than the blond it had once been. She touched the shaggy ends she had bobbed off to her ears. No use making it easy for anyone looking for her. She studied the hollows beneath her eyes and the crow’s feet nothing short of a face-lift would remedy. All those years within those stark, punishing walls had stolen her youth, her beauty. She had nothing left, save for this long-awaited final act of retribution.