Delores Fossen - The Cowboy's Son

Dylan would have questioned exactly what those things were if he hadn’t seen the smoke ahead. Collena obviously saw it, too; she pointed in that direction.

“That’s where I left my car,” she said.

With the snow and the wind, it wasn’t a day to burn brush. Besides, he’d given all the hands the day off. Dylan took the last turn, dreading what he would see.

There, off to the side of the narrow dirt road sat a dark blue compact car, engulfed in flames.

Chapter Four

Collena saw the fire and smoke.

She felt the instant slam of adrenaline, and she reached for her gun, which wasn’t there. Because Dylan still had it in his pocket.

Dylan reacted, too. He caught on to her shoulder and shoved her down onto the leather seat. Hard. Then, he drew his own weapon, threw his truck into Reverse and sped backward to put some distance between them and her burning vehicle.

It was a good decision. With the flames already eating through the interior, the car could explode.

“Do you see anyone?” she asked, trying to get up. But he merely used his muscled body to keep her in place. Protecting her.

More than likely, it was an automatic response, something he would do for anyone who happened to be in danger. And there was no doubt in Collena’s mind that this was a dangerous situation.

Someone had set fire to her car.

And that someone could still be around to do even more damage to them.

“No, I don’t,” Dylan relayed to her. He pulled his phone and her gun from his pocket and handed both items to her. “Call nine-one-one and ask for the fire department.”

Surprised, she blinked. “Not the sheriff?”

“Dispatch would only send Jonah back out.”

Collena understood. The bitter and perhaps incompetent deputy obviously had some kind of personal grudge against Dylan. Besides, this was a fire, and the fire department would be able to tell whether it was from natural causes or arson.

She had a bad feeling it was the latter.

Collena made the call, and the emergency dispatcher told her that she would send a fire-response team right away.

And then she lay there on the seat, waiting for Dylan to make a decision about what to do. Unfortunately, he was practically lying on top of her. For reasons Collena didn’t want to explore, she didn’t want to be this close to Dylan. She could feel parts of his body that she shouldn’t be feeling.

“I’m a cop,” she reminded him. “Let me up so I can see if I can spot any evidence.”

He did, reluctantly. “Stay low,” he warned. “If someone’s out there, he could be armed.”

That didn’t do much to steady her breathing or heart rate.

While Dylan kept his gun aimed and ready, Collena did a visual search of the immediate area. There were trees, most of them bare from the winter, but there was also a thick clump of massive live oaks, complete with thick branches and green leaves. They completely obscured the view of the ranch. It was the main reason she’d chosen the spot, so that her car wouldn’t be seen when she parked it.

Those trees could now be hiding an arsonist.

But who would do something like this?

One answer immediately came to mind. Curtis Reese, Sean’s father. Collena hadn’t told him that she’d found Adam, but with Curtis’s resources, he could have learned that information. Maybe this was his way of warning her not to try to keep Adam from him.

But that’s exactly what she was going to do.

“See anything?” Dylan asked.

“It’s what I don’t see that bothers me. There are no other tire tracks that lead directly to my vehicle.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

She turned her head, and their gazes met. There was plenty of concern in the depths of his green eyes. “The snow might have covered the tracks,” she said.

His attention drifted toward those live oaks. “Or someone could have taken this path. Or that one,” he said, shifting his focus to the other side of the road where the bare trees were.

He was right, of course. There was another dirt road less than a quarter of a mile away, and it paralleled this one. Someone could have parked there and walked over. Too bad the snow would almost certainly wipe out any tracks there.

“We need to get out of here,” Dylan announced.

Collena glanced at her car and saw why. The flames were even higher now. If the gas tank blew, they were a safe enough distance away, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t get pelted with debris.

Dylan began to drive in reverse down the road. He took it slowly to avoid slipping into the ditch. If an arsonist was truly still around, Collena didn’t want them to be in the woods on foot.

“Both my sister, Abigail, and fiancée, Julie, died in car accidents where fires were involved,” he mumbled.

“You think this is related to their murders?” she asked.

A muscle flickered in his jaw. “No one was ever arrested. In fact, the police ruled them accidents. But in both cases, the cars caught fire and that caused the accidents and their deaths. Neither was able to get out alive.”

“But why would whoever killed them want to set fire to my car?”

Collena was certain he would dismiss any connection. Just as he’d dismissed the danger earlier.

However, he didn’t dismiss it now.

“Most of the women I’ve been personally involved with have encountered some kind of violence.”

“Excuse me?” And Collena held her breath.

“You heard me,” he snapped. His posture and tone became defensive. “That’s why I’ve sworn off having a relationship, and it’s the reason I adopted a son and not a daughter.”

She shook her head. “But Adam—”

“There hasn’t been an incident since I adopted him.”

Collena pointed to the fire. “What about my car? You don’t think that’s an incident?”

“That might not be related to the other fires.” And he didn’t add anything else, as if waiting for her to confirm or deny it.

Sweet heaven, she couldn’t.

Dylan finally made it to the end of the dirt path and turned onto the main road that would take them back to the ranch.

“Now you understand why I can’t consider your marriage proposal,” he continued. “Though my past is only one of many objections I have.”

Collena understood. In fact, his past terrified her. But not as much as the alternative of losing Adam. “We might both lose custody if we don’t work together.”

“Working together,” he repeated. “I’ll give you that. But marriage is out.”

Not being married to Dylan would put a serious wrinkle in her plans. Besides, this fire might not have anything to do with his past or with Sean’s father. “Maybe this was some kind of prank. Kids are out of school for Thanksgiving. Maybe someone was bored and decided to light a match.”

Dylan didn’t answer right away. “Maybe.”

Collena released the breath she’d been holding and hoped they weren’t deluding themselves.

Individually, they both had some old baggage, but she hoped that it wouldn’t surface. Above all, she had to do whatever was necessary to keep Adam safe. And if that meant taking her son and fleeing, she would.

But she also knew an action like that would heavily impact her little boy. After all, she’d be taking her child from the only parent Adam had ever known.

That was the very thing Collena was trying to avoid.

While they sat in silence, Dylan drove through the gates to the ranch. There was still no sight or sound of the fire truck. Of course, it was winter, and the weather wasn’t cooperating. Her car was gone, as was everything inside it—including the copies of the documents to prove she was Adam’s mother. The only thing left for the fire department to do was tell them how the fire had started.