Sweet Talking Lawman (21 page)

Mesa’s eyes stretched
wide.  “Oh no.  Rafe, I am so sorry.  Was she angry?”

He shrugged.  “I don’t
think angry is the right word.  I think she was disappointed in me. 
I got a lecture about not showin’ you proper respect.”

Mesa smiled and stretched out
one hand to gently stroke his chin.  He’d shaved after his nap and she
figured he was headed back in to the office to finish a long day.

“You know Uci is a little old
fashioned,” she said softly.

He nodded.  “Yeah, she
is.  Do you feel like I’ve not treated you with respect?”

Mesa shrugged.  “I don’t
think you’ve been disrespectful to me.  Things are different than when she
was a young woman.”

Rafe looked at her, searching
her face for any hint of mendacity.  He wasn’t sure she was being totally
truthful about her feelings.  “Yeah, Uci is old fashioned, but she raised
me, so I guess I’m kinda old fashioned, also, and I’m thinkin’ she might have a
point.  Maybe I’ve been so busy thinkin’ about my wants, I haven’t been
concerned with what’s right.”

Mesa frowned.  “What
does that mean?”

It was his turn to
shrug.  “Maybe we should approach this….whole thing…the old fashioned
way.”

“How old fashioned?” Mesa’s
brows knitted tightly.  “You aren’t thinking about offering my mother some
of your horses to pay for me, are you?” she teased.

He chuckled. 
“How many do you think she’d want?”

She punched him quickly in
the side.  “Not funny, Storm Horse!  I would not make a very
submissive squaw.”

A deeper shade of
brown melted his eyes.  “A submissive squaw would get borin’ in a hurry,
darlin’.  There’s nothin’ wrong with a good healthy disagreement,
occasionally.”  He leaned toward her, his mouth pausing near her
ear.  “Makin’ up could be so much fun.”

Mesa laughed
softly.  She wasn’t about to argue with that.

At the sound of the
door being pulled open Mesa stepped away from him and Rafe frowned.  He
had no intention of hiding their new relationship from anyone, but then his
thoughts paused for a reality check.  He’d been all for hiding it from
Uci.  That needled his conscience, going against what he’d always thought
his character to be.  He didn’t like seeing himself as less than
honest.  He’d have to fix that.

“Well Sheriff Storm
Horse, have you found out who ran me off the road?”  Shirley Howell asked,
facing them with her hands on her still slender hips.

Rafe shook his head
negatively.  “I’ve got the forensic team from Liberty goin’ over your
car.  We’re hopin’ some of their tests on the paint flecks they were able
to get will at least narrow down the year and the color, maybe the manufacturer
of the truck.”  He shrugged his shoulders.  “Of course, everybody and
his brother around here has a brown truck, so finding
the
brown truck
will still be a shot in the dark.”

“What are the chances
it was just a drunk driver?” she asked him finally.

He pulled the cap he
was wearing off and raked his fingers through the thick black hair atop his
head.  “Slim to none.  I walked the highway a good piece along there
and it was easy to see where the truck rammed your car, from behind and from
the side.  You have an enemy, Miz Howell, and you need to try to help me
figure out who it is.  And the more I think about it, I think it has
somethin’ to do with the Circle H.”

Her brows arched
suspiciously.  “What makes you think that?”

A hard vein of steel
edged his voice and the touch of his eyes.  “First Rance’s horse is shot
out from under him, then someone runs you off the road, and now that kid that
worked here has been murdered.  Is there somethin’ I need to know about what’s
goin’ on here at the ranch?”

Shirley
frowned.  “Like what?  You think we’re into something illegal?”

“No ma’am.  But
maybe somebody else is.  Have you noticed anything out of the
ordinary?  Anything that just might seem a little….off?”  Rafe was
worried about Mesa and her family.  All of them.

Mesa watched her
mother’s face, trying to determine how candid the older woman’s answer would
be.

The tension in
Shirley’s shoulders was nothing unusual but Mesa had not noticed it today,
before this conversation started.  It was the tightness around her mouth
that made it noticeable.  Mesa’s stomach tightened in fear.  “Mom,
what are you not telling Rafe?  He needs to know, and so do I.  I
have a child to think about and if you have any idea who killed Hal Cartwright,
you need to start talking.”

The older woman
glared at her daughter in quick anger.  “Don’t start giving me
orders.  You might think you’re running this ranch, but my life is another
matter!”

Rafe grasped Mesa’s
elbow and held her in place as he put the other hand between the two
women.  “I don’t need another cat fight,” he hissed quickly.  Turning
his attention to Shirley Howell he hesitated, but when he spoke, his voice was
rigidly soft.  “If there’s somethin’ you haven’t told me, now would be the
time.  My child and your child are livin’ here and if they’re in danger, I
need to know it.”

Shirley’s body seemed
to shrink before his eyes.  When she looked up at him, her eyes looked
older and he could see the fear in them.  Still she hesitated for a minute
and then her voice was almost a whisper.  “I was dating Ralph Shivers, for
a while.  He wanted to buy the place and I suppose he thought romancing me
would give him an edge, but Rance wouldn’t even consider selling.  Ralph
got a little nasty about it but then Rance had the accident.  Ralph
started putting pressure on me to sell since Rance wasn’t going to be able to
run the place anymore.”  She lifted her eyes and looked at Rafe.  “He
made a tempting offer.  More than the place is worth and I knew I wasn’t
going to be any kind of manager.  I was waiting for Rance to realize that
selling was best.”  She swung her head and looked at Mesa.  “Then you
came home and to be honest, I was relieved.  I know you’ve always loved
this place.  It was your daddy’s pride and joy and it was your
heritage.  I told Ralph to take a hike.  The ranch was staying in the
family.”  Her head dropped and she pushed her hair back from her face
before looking up at Rafe again.  “He totally freaked out.  I never
dreamed Ralph could be so abusive.  I was petrified of him that night.
 Before he left, he told me I’d regret making that choice, but I can’t
believe he’s to blame for Rance’s accident, or for killing poor Hal.”

“But you do think he
could be responsible for runnin’ you off the road?”  Rafe’s chocolate eyes
were penetrating.

She nodded.  “He
left me with a black eye and split lip, the night he freaked out.”

A sharp note of anger
put a note of cold steel in his voice.  “And why am I just now hearin’
about this?  You should have filed charges against the bastard.”

Mesa put a hand on
his arm and squeezed gently.  She knew Ralph wasn’t the first man to slap
her mother around.  In fact, since Mesa’s father’s death, Shirley had
seemed to attract that kind of man.

“That’s not something
a woman wants to share with the world.”  Shirley frowned up at Rafe. 
“I thought Ralph was different, but after that night, I was glad Mesa had come
home.  It gave me the courage to tell him to go to hell.  I’m
finished with that part of my life.”  Tears filled her eyes and spilled
down across her cheeks.

Rafe was only mildly
surprised when Mesa released his arm and gently folded her mother in a
comforting embrace.  “It’s alright, Mom.  We’re a family now, and
we’ll get through this together.”

“My shrink says I’ve
been punishing myself for not being with Billy the night he died, and maybe
she’s right.  We’d had a big disagreement because he wanted to go out and
I didn’t.  If I’d gone with him, he wouldn’t have gotten so drunk and I
could have kept him out of that fight.”  A heartbroken sob shook her
body.  “He might still be alive if I’d gone with him.”

Rafe watched Mesa
holding her mother, providing comfort and offering strength.  The
invisible barrier that had grown between the two during Mesa’s childhood had
somehow disappeared since Mesa had returned home, except now it was the child
providing the solace she’d never received from the mother.  His heart
swelled with pride and a much deeper feeling, knowing that Mesa’s heart was
filled with love and compassion and she would never be capable of treating
their child with the cold treatment she’d received from the woman she now
comforted.  He wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her how proud he
was of her.

Instead, he waited
silently until Shirley regained her composure before he spoke again and then
his voice was soft, without a hint of steel.  “Miz Howell, Billy died
because Stanley Swartz drew a knife and stabbed him durin’ an argument. 
If you’d been there it wouldn’t have changed a thing.”

She nodded and
stepped back from Mesa.  “I’m trying to accept that, Rafe, but these
things take a while.”

“Don’t you let anyone
push you around again.  You let me know, and I’ll throw their asses in
jail, you hear me?”  He reached out one hand and gently patted her
shoulder.

She nodded and one
side of her mouth lifted in a tentative smile.  “Thanks.”

Surprising Mesa, he
then used that same hand to stroke her cheek gently.  “I’ve gotta get
home.  I’m goin’ back in to the station to pull the late shift, so I might
not see you and Raale until tomorrow after lunch, but if you have any trouble
out here or need help, call my cell first and then have someone call 911. 
It’ll only take a few minutes for me to get here.”

She nodded, warmth
spreading through her veins just from the touch of his fingers against her
skin, but then she realized he wasn’t going to leave it at that.  His hand
slipped behind her neck and with her mother standing there, he slowly drew her
head toward his.  His lips parted and covered her mouth for a brief but
intimate kiss.  When it ended, his kept his face close, his eyes warm with
desire.  “I’ll probably call you before I go in tonight.  How late
can I call?”

She shrugged. 
“Anytime.”

“I don’t want to wake
you up.”

Shirley smiled a real
smile.  She could feel the air snapping between them.  “Geeze,
Rafe!  It’s obvious that the time wouldn’t bother her, as long as she gets
to talk to you.”

He grinned at Mesa’s
mother for maybe the first time in his life.  “Just want to keep the water
smooth.  No ripples.”

Mesa laughed softly,
her face rosy.  “Just go.  Call me before you go to work.”

Rafe nodded and
winked at her.  With a quick nod to Shirley, he turned and walked back to
his truck.  When he drove away he looked in the rear view mirror and could
see the two women were standing on the porch watching his truck disappear.

Mesa was only a
little uncomfortable that her mother had seen Rafe kiss her.  Thinking
about the kiss she knew it was his way of bringing their relationship, whatever
it might be, out into the open.  He’d never liked the idea of them keeping
it quiet and there was absolutely no chance of that now.  He’d known that
before he kissed her.

“So,” Shirley turned
to face her daughter, a smile lighting her face.  “How long has this been
in the making?”

One corner of Mesa’s
mouth lifted.  “In the making?  Probably all my life.”

“Oh, you told me he’s
Raale’s father, but I’m talking about this time around.  Is this
new?”  Shirley’s brown eyes sparkled with interest.

Mesa shrugged and she
felt her face burn.  “Yeah, it is.  In fact, it’s new enough, I’m not
going to be comfortable talking about it, if you don’t mind.”

A cackle burst from
Shirley’s throat and she was only half successful in stifling it. 
“Okay.  I guess I can understand that, but I gotta tell you, all the
single women in the county are gonna hate your guts.  Rafe Storm Horse has
been turning female heads for years.”

Mesa nodded.  “I
don’t doubt that.  There’s no doubt he’s a testosterone laden, alpha male
and just the kind of man women are attracted to.  I can’t imagine how he’s
remained single all these years.”

“Because he’s always
made it known right up front that he’s not interested in commitments,” Shirley
said solemnly.

The younger woman
looked at her mother in astonishment.  “And you know this, how?”

A deep laugh escaped
Shirley at the question.  “Rest easy, child.  Even in a drunken
stupor, I know I’m too old for him.  But I used to hang out in the same
bars and places where women who wanted to know him better hung out.  Talk
gets around.”

Mesa frowned, her
dark browns puckering between her eyes.  “I’m sure it does.”

One of Shirley’s
hands lifted and stroked Mesa’s cheek gently.  “I don’t guess I’ve ever
told you how proud I am of you, have I?”

Mesa pulled her eyes
away from Rafe’s truck fading in the distance and looked at her mother, her
eyes stretched wide in surprise.  “No, I don’t think you have.”

Shirley’s smile was
filled with warmth that radiated from her eyes.  “Well, I am.  Even
when you were out there on your own, making your way in the world without the
support of a family, I was proud of you.  Your daddy would be proud,
too.  You know that don’t you?”