Cowboy Country (96 page)

His words lit her insides and she opened the condom and rolled it over him with shaking, eager fingers.

As he eased over her, and the head of his cock prodded her opening, he hesitated. “Are you ready? Need to ride me instead?”

Even if it hurt like hell again, she wanted him like this. “I’m okay.”

He eased inside, inching forward until he filled her fully. Her nails raked down his back and over his tight buttocks.

Freezing, he asked, “You okay?”

“Yes.”

“Am I hurting you?”

A little uncomfortable, but no pain. “No.”

He pulled out a fraction, then eased back in. When she didn’t flinch or protest, he picked up the tempo. He kissed her again, his tongue matching the rhythm of his pelvis. She lay still until he guided her hips to meet his thrusts and her bottom rose off the bed. Each drive eased her discomfort until it vanished, replaced by pleasure.

He reached between them to pinch her distended clit.

Nothing had ever felt so good, and as her body shook and clenched around him she cried into his mouth, “I love you.”

With a final, tremendous shove deep inside, he shuddered and came. Collapsing on top of her, he gasped. “Baby, you’re something.”

She ran her fingers through his hair as he lay on her breast. Had he heard her admission of love? If he did, he didn’t reply in kind. God, please let it have gone by him. No matter how she felt and no matter how good sex was between them, he planned to move on without her.

Ava blinked back tears.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Levi woke with Ava draped over him like a kitten. He smiled thinking of the night before. They’d made love all night long. So many times he lost count. How could he be hard again this morning?

She said she loved him.

During or right after an orgasm.

He hadn’t replied. He had to see her safe before he could give her his whole heart. If he handed it to her, and—God forbid—something happened to her, he couldn’t live through it twice. Finding Ava had been a blessing that put Beth’s death in the past.

He wouldn’t get so lucky again.

His hold on her tightened. Losing her wasn’t an option.

A pounding on the front door dragged him completely awake. “Who the hell?”

Ava woke with a sleepy frown. “Is someone knocking?”

“Yeah. I’ll get it. Stay right there.” He rose, pulled on his jeans and shirt then ran downstairs before whoever it was broke down the door.

He wrenched the door open and glared, expecting to see one of his brothers or Liberty. Instead, he faced the sheriff—who looked grim.

“Good morning, Mr. Callahan. May I come in?”

With a stiff nod, he moved aside. “How did you know to find me here?”

“Your brother told me where you were.” She glanced at his bare chest and undone top button of his Wranglers. Color tinged her cheeks, but he stubbornly refused to close his shirt or jeans.

“What can I do for you?”

Ava spoke from the top of the stairs. “Is everything okay?”

“No.” The sheriff said. “Would you mind coming down, too?”

“I’ll be right there.”

Levi moved to the kitchen and started coffee while they waited. Soon, the aroma of brewing coffee filled the air, hopefully covering the scent of lovemaking. Or maybe only he noticed because he knew what happened inside these walls last night.

Ava joined them, dressed, her hair in a messy knot. He longed to take it down, to run his fingers through it, to wrap his fists in it when he came buried in her sweetness.

“I’m sorry to intrude,” the sheriff said. “But I have news.”

Levi moved to Ava’s side and wrapped his arm around her waist. She trembled and he braced for both of them. “Let us have it.”

“The body you found was my deputy.”

Although they had expected nothing less, Levi’s stomach turned. “Damn.”

Ava’s indrawn breath sounded harsh in the room.

“Yeah.” The sheriff looked a little green around the gills. “I need a formal statement from both of you about what happened that night.”

“We already told you,” Levi said.

“I need to go over it again,” the sheriff said. “So it’s formally on record.”

Ava slipped out of his arms and poured them each a cup of coffee. “Do you want cream or sugar?”

The sheriff looked surprised at Ava’s offer. “Both. Thanks.”

“Take off your coat, and we’ll tell you what we know,” Levi said.

She nodded. “Thanks.”

They gathered around the table and she withdrew a laptop from a slim case. “Start from when you left my office with my deputy.”

Ava began speaking, only stopping when she came to the part when they dove out of the cop’s car into the snowbank.

Levi picked up the story. “Your deputy told me he was going after Abruzzo, or whoever was driving that car. That was the last we saw of him until Ava tripped over his body the next day.”

“So neither of you have any idea how he got there, in the snow, with a bullet in his back? Or what happened to his car?”

“Not at all.”

“No.”

The sheriff typed a few more words, then closed her laptop. “I need to ask you to stay put a few more days, Miss Demassi. I’m going to contact the FBI and make them aware Dario Abruzzo has allegedly murdered a law enforcement officer. When we capture him, you’ll be free to leave town.”

Ava opened and closed her mouth. “You do realize I’m no longer safe here?”

“As long as you stay hidden, you’ll be secure.”

“I can’t put Levi and his family in that kind of danger any longer. If Dario’s willing to kill a cop, he’ll go to any lengths to get me.”

“We don’t have the resources to protect you here,” the sheriff said. “There’s WITSEC…”

“Life in hiding, working at a box store?” Ava shuddered. “Never.”

Levi grasped her hand. “You’re not going anywhere. Sheriff, two days ago, you threw us out of your office when we came to you about Dario Abruzzo. Why should we believe you’re going after him now?”

“With what you told me then, there wasn’t enough evidence to go after him.” She met his cold gaze. “Now he’s murdered one of my men, Mr. Callahan. I’ll hunt him to the ends of the earth to make him pay it.”

“Ava’ll stay with me until he’s caught.”

The sheriff stuck her laptop in her bag and zipped it. “Thank you for your time. I’ll be in touch as soon as I know something.” She stood and pulled on her coat. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry I couldn’t help you before.”

Levi followed Sheriff Faraday to the door. When he turned around, Ava stared at him with her wide, honey-colored eyes that glimmered. “What now?”

“Just what we said: you hang here until Abruzzo is caught.” He buttoned his shirt and tucked it into his jeans. “Go back to bed. Get some rest. I’m going to the ranch and help Mom feed the stock. Lock the door behind me.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“Don’t worry, sugar. It’s going to be okay. I’ll see to it.” He kissed her, pulled on his coat and gloves, then let himself into the frigid morning.

It was time to gather the Callahan brothers.

Together they were going to track a renegade coyote and shoot him like the rabid beast he was.

~*~

Ava carried her coffee upstairs, stomach churning.

Levi might not tell her it wasn’t her fault, but if she hadn’t come here, a deputy wouldn’t be dead, and the Callahan family wouldn’t be in danger right before the holidays.

Her heart was breaking, but her decision was made. She had to leave. Immediately.

Someone knocked on the door.

Thinking it was Levi, she hurried to the open it. “What did you forge—”

Dario Abruzzo stood there, in a suit, a gun pointed at her. “Hello, Ava.”

She staggered back. “How…how did you find me?”

“Let me in.” He pushed his way in and slammed the door behind him. “You, my girl, are easy to track. Hard to kill, though. You have more lives than a cat.”

“That was the idea.” She lifted her chin, unwilling to show him how scared she really was. She looked around her borrowed love nest, at all the beautiful western art, but didn’t see a weapon of any kind. A paintbrush wouldn’t do much against a madman. “You’re going to gun me down here?”

He chuckled, the sound sending a tap dance of fear up and down her spine. “Hardly.”

“Levi will be back any second.”

Again, the eerie chuckle. “No, no. Don’t try that game. I saw him leave, heading for the family farm. I’d bet he’s going to feed pigs, or some other equally charming endeavor.”

“Horses. He’s going to feed horses.”

Dario shrugged. “Horses, pigs. All the same to me.”

Her brain screamed
run!
She backed up a step.

As if he knew what she planned, Dario grabbed her sore arm and she whimpered. “Don’t even try it. Find a piece of paper and write your boyfriend a note. Tell him you’ve decided to go back to Vegas.”

“He’ll never buy that.”

Pressing the gun to her ribcage, he snarled, “Just do it. Try anything funny and you’ll die right here, right now.”

On weak-as-a-kitten legs, she moved toward a desk.

In a drawer she found a piece of paper and a pen. What could she say?

Thanks for everything?

I love you.

She laid down the pen, unable to put into words her feelings. There was no way to express her grief over leaving the man who had stolen her heart.

What would he say when he found her gone? Would he remember her fondly? Or would he be bitter? Would another lover’s death destroy him? She forced back a sob.

She’d never know.

Dario pressed the gun into her back. “Do it.”

Reluctantly, she picked up the pen again. “I don’t know what to say. Levi’s not going to buy any of this, you know.”

“Make him believe it.”

“You don’t want to do this, Dario. I’ll keep my mouth shut. I promise.”

He laughed shrilly. “You expect me to believe that?”

“Please. I just want to be left alone.” She hated begging, but maybe he’d let her go. “Where are you taking me?”

His cackle sent waves of dread through her. “Oh, that’s the best part. We’re going to that empty house out in the woods. No one will think to look for you there. And when your cowboy eventually discovers another young woman he loved there, well, it’ll be poetic justice for all he’s put me through the last few days.”

The homestead? He was going to kill her in the same place Beth died? Levi would be destroyed.

“Write your letter.”

In a shaky scrawl she barely recognized as handwriting, Ava wrote…

Levi~

I’ve put you and your family in danger long enough.

Going home. Don’t follow me.

Ava

She forced back sobs as she finished.

“That’s a good girl. Get your coat.”

“I’m not going there.” She grabbed the back of the chair. “Kill me here if you’re going to.”

The barrel of his gun slammed against her head so fast she never had time to duck.

~*~

Levi threw another bale off the bed of the flatbed. His mind was on Ava, and had been since he’d left her alone. The minute he left the house, he’d called his brothers. Two of them were already here for the holiday, and Colt would pick up the fourth with his plane. By mid-afternoon they’d all be together and could make a plan what to do once and for all about Dario Abruzzo.

A nagging in his gut told him something wasn’t right with Ava. Leaving her alone had been a big mistake. He should have made her come with him.

As soon as Travis parked the truck back under the shed, Levi jumped down. “I’m going to check on Ava. I shouldn’t have left her. When the boys get here, come find us, okay?”

Travis nodded. “Will do.”

The road back into town was icy and Levi drove fast, but cautiously. His skin felt too tight. He spun around the corner and tore toward the house. A second set of tire tracks put his senses on high alert. Even before he stopped, he knew she was gone. He felt her absence as much as if his arm had been cut off.

“Ava?” he called as he raced through the door.

As expected, only silence greeted him. His heart pounded harder than the first time he’d thrown a leg over a bronc. She was gone. Why? Stumbling up the stairs, he eyed the unmade bed.

No!

She wouldn’t have told him she loved him last night, then left him today. He skidded back down the stairs and took a deep breath. There had to be a logical explanation.

A piece of paper on the table caught his eye. He skimmed it. Ava had left him? It suddenly felt like a bronc had thrown him hard. He couldn’t breathe and his body hurt like hell.

He didn’t buy a word of it. Where was she?

She’d been taken.

There was no other explanation.

He had to find her now. But how? Where to begin?

He dialed the ranch, and as soon as his mother picked up, he said, “Abruzzo has Ava. Send the boys everywhere you can think of to look for her.”

“Did you call the sheriff?”

He snorted. “No.”

“Call her, Levi. I think she’ll help.” She didn’t give him time to refuse. “Never mind. I’ll have Travis do that. Where are you going to start?”

He paced. “I don’t know. Colt should be in anytime. Have him fly toward Denver. Maybe Abruzzo’s headed back to Vegas.”

“Okay. Son, we’ll find her.”

“I have to, Mom. I can’t lose her.” He hung up before his voice broke.

Steadying himself, he tried to think of where Abruzzo would take Ava. His frantic gaze covered the floor, the walls. A painting jumped out of him. He’d never seen it before. An empty ranch house, surrounded by autumn-colored trees.

The homestead.

As sure as Beth’s voice breathed it in his ear, Levi knew. Maybe the mobster somehow heard about Beth, maybe he’d tracked them there the other night. Either way, that was where he’d taken Ava.

He called his mother. “He’s at the homestead. Send the boys with rifles. I’ll meet them there. We’re going to take care of this once and for all.”