The Counterfeit Cowgirl (3 page)

Aaron deliberately wiped the scowl off his face, all too aware a frown was enough to frighten his gentle sister. Tears streamed down her face as she clutched his arm; tears which burned Aaron’s heart. Her blue eyes beseeched him for information he couldn’t give her.

“We can’t find them anywhere. Oh, Aaron, do you think Tony could have taken them?”

“Now calm down, Deb,” Aaron said, in spite of his own fears. “He won’t take them while I’m around. He knows better.”

Deborah gave a small gasp as she fought for control. “What are we going to do? If Tony didn’t take them, and they didn’t fall down Mrs. Tucker’s old well, then where are they?”

It was natural for Deborah to lean on someone and just as natural for Aaron to lend support. Besides, taking care of Deborah was a long-established habit. He put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug.

“Let’s search the house one more time, then I’ll call Sheriff Darby,” he said. “There’s a chance the boys took off for a walk down the road.”

“But they know they aren’t supposed to leave the yard,” Deborah said, trembling. “Did you ask the woman next door if she’s seen them?”

“Remember, honey, she just got home,” he said, schooling his voice into a soft rumble. “She couldn’t possibly have seen them.”

Aaron felt a twinge of remorse. He’d been so worried about his two missing nephews, and so frustrated at the sight of Felicity in her sexy western outfit, he hadn’t asked.

He was well aware he was overreacting, but he had known Felicity Clayton was trouble the moment he laid eyes on her. Already angry because Joey had almost tumbled into the well barely two days ago, he was infuriated to realize Lureen’s granddaughter drove a new truck and wore fashionable, expensive clothes.

He had watched from his bedroom window while she arrived at Lureen’s house then spent the morning finding out all he could about her. When he happened to catch sight of her truck at the town’s only large grocery store, he hadn’t intended to lose his temper. But then again, he hadn’t expected his own physical reaction to Felicity Clayton. Accustomed to being in control at all times, Aaron was doubly angry with himself for finding the woman attractive. Lureen had told him her granddaughter thought of nothing but money.

Aaron reminded himself that Felicity had stolen money from an elderly woman, her own grandmother. What was more, she was too skinny, with brown-and-brown rather than blue-and-blond as he preferred.

His sister gave a mighty sniff and brushed tears off her cheeks with shaking hands. “Up until last week, they used to walk next door with you every day to see how poor Mrs. Tucker was feeling. I just thought maybe … ”

Aaron’s antenna went up. He should have thought of that. “We’ll go over there and ask right now. Barney Deshotel at the realtor’s place says her name is Felicity Clayton, and that she’s Mrs. Tucker’s granddaughter.” He kept his arm around his sister and guided her across the lawn toward Lureen’s old house. The situation was too serious to allow prejudice to rule his good sense.

“She seems so … so animated,” Deborah said hesitantly. “And so brave. Imagine staying all by herself in that spooky old house. And with all Mrs. Tucker’s papers and things still in there.”

He heard Deborah’s unspoken desire to fear no man and no junked-up old house like the cheeky Miss Felicity Clayton. His heart was wrung. After all she had been through in her young life, and now this. Aaron cursed inwardly. He had sworn to protect his sister and her children. He had failed.

Barely one month ago, Deborah had left her husband, Tony Sachitano. During that time, scarcely a day had gone by without Tony calling and demanding to speak to his wife, insisting he’d done nothing and issuing ultimatums that she return home instantly. Aaron privately thought Tony might possibly kidnap his two sons in hopes of forcing Deborah to come back to him, but common sense told him that hadn’t happened in this case. The dogs hadn’t barked a warning and both Deborah and the housekeeper had seen nothing. The boys had simply vanished from sight, probably by means of their own little legs.

Aaron had always liked Tony and would have sworn he was a gentleman, but who really knew what went on between a man and his wife? Whatever had happened, Tony had no business terrorizing Deborah by kidnapping the children, and so Aaron would tell him if that turned out to be the case.

“I think I would like her, Aaron. Do you think — ?” She broke off suddenly with a painful gasp.

“Do I think what, honey?” Aaron asked gently.

“It might be nice to invite her to your company barbecue tomorrow evening if — if … ”

“Sure, honey. We’ll ask her.” Aaron frowned. The last thing he wanted was Felicity at the annual barbecue he threw for his employees and customers, but he would have agreed to anything that lifted Deborah’s spirits. “And don’t worry. We’ll find the boys. I’ll bet they caught a ride to Dairy Queen to spend that five-dollar bill I gave Pete this morning.”

A shriek erupted from Deborah’s lips; adrenaline shot through Aaron. He prepared to fight or give chase. Deborah tore from his grasp and raced ahead.

Aaron stared after her and saw the two small boys with Felicity. As they drew closer, Aaron saw that Felicity held each child’s hand and that the children were wearing heavy armor and prepared for battle. If she thought she was going to get away with encouraging this sort of play with his nephews, she had better think again.

He thought longingly about lecturing her while his hands rested around her warm, slender neck. When his vision-self ended the lecture by dragging her against him for a kiss, Aaron knew he was in trouble.

He scowled heavily. It didn’t help to realize he longed to take his frustration out on somebody capable of giving him a good fight. Aaron bit back a sudden grin. Perhaps he should invite her to dinner so they could both enjoy themselves by trading insults.

“I just thought I’d return your two missing schnauzers,” Felicity called cheerfully. “They were hiding in a closet.”

“Oh, thank you!” Deborah cried. “Thank you. Thank you. Joey, Pete, I told you never to leave Uncle Aaron’s backyard.” She reached her sons and fell to her knees, hugging them. “We were so worried about you.”

Aaron smothered an exclamation of disgust with himself. He knew Lureen’s front door lock was broken. She had told him so last month. But he never thought the boys would defy his orders and enter her house without permission. He stood behind Deborah, scowling and considering the best way to handle the situation. There was no question he owed the feisty Miss Clayton a debt of gratitude.

She must have read his mind. She tossed him a sassy smile that almost blinded him with its brilliance. “I’m lending them the helmets, shields, and swords for the night since I’ll be eating out this evening. I’ll need the energy, because it’s going to take a while to get all the Elmer’s Glue off the woodwork.”

“Elmer’s Glue?” Aaron was certain he’d missed something in the aftermath of that smile.

“Your schnauzers glued my bedroom windows shut. It seems Jason, whoever he is, told them a ghost can come through any little crack, so they tried to glue up all the cracks in my bedroom. That means the windows, the door, the keyhole, the woodwork, the floor planks … ”

“What?” Aaron found himself totally baffled.

Deborah ceased kissing her sons’ small faces to look up at Felicity through tear-filled, smiling blue eyes. “Jason is their cousin. He’s a year older than Pete.”

“Jason knows a lot about ghosts,” Pete, the older boy, said. “They can come in through any hole, even a little bitty one.”

“Honey, there are no such things as ghosts,” Deborah said.

Three-year-old Joey waved the table fork. “I’ll get that bad old ghost. I’ll poke holes in him and let out all his air.”

Aaron noted the carefully suppressed smile twitching Felicity’s full mouth. He reminded himself this captivating woman had controlled poor old Lureen’s house and bank account, refusing to give the old lady enough money for basic household repairs. If he didn’t bear those things in mind, he might pay too much notice to those enchanting lips.

Before she died, Lureen had shared with him that Felicity refused to fix the lock on the front door. Therefore it was Felicity’s fault that the boys had gotten inside.

“Why don’t you ask your uncle for a garlic necklace?” Felicity asked.

Pete was all ears. “A garlic necklace?”

“Everyone knows a garlic necklace repels vampires, but not everyone knows it also repels ghosts.” Felicity demonstrated with her hands, and Pete’s unblinking blue gaze followed her gestures. “Get a piece of garlic from the kitchen and hang it on a string around your neck. No ghost can touch a person who’s wearing a garlic necklace.”

Aaron stared, fascinated, at Felicity’s highly visual demonstration of making a garlic necklace guaranteed to repel ghosts, vampires, and the evil eye.

Pete’s face brightened. He tucked his fork into his waistband. “Let’s go see Polly and get some garlic right now, Joey.”

“Are you sure it won’t let the ghost get us?” Joey asked.

“No ghost can get you with a garlic necklace around your neck,” Felicity promised, with a wink. “By the way, Pete, why is this ghost after you?”

“I’m going to have a little talk with Jason,” Deborah said sternly. “He has no business frightening the boys with nonsense like this.”

Felicity smiled at Pete. “Did Jason tell you a ghost was after you?”

“No, ma’am.” Pete looked trustfully up at her. “I heard Mama and Uncle Aaron talking.”

Deborah gasped. “Why didn’t you ask us what we were talking about, Pete? It certainly wasn’t about any ghost.”

Pete’s blue eyes were wide and guileless. “I did ask you. You said it was private, between you and Uncle Aaron.”

Aaron heard his sister’s sudden intake of breath as he recalled the conversation in question. They had been discussing the possibility, in carefully couched terms, that Tony might kidnap his two sons in order to get his family back home again.

“Well, we certainly weren’t talking about any ghost,” Deborah said briskly. “There are no such things as ghosts.”

“Jason says ghosts kill people.” Joey, unconvinced, held his fork at the ready.

“Ghosts don’t kill,” Felicity said. “You can take my word for it. And no ghost will even come into a room where there’s a garlic necklace.”

“I’m going to call Jason’s mother,” Deborah promised.

Felicity said nothing, but her lively face spoke for her.

Aaron’s fists clenched. The insolence of the woman. No doubt she blamed Deborah — and him — for intentionally creating the ghost in the children’s minds. Before Aaron could set her straight, his housekeeper, Polly Fitzgerald, approached them at a run. Polly was a distant cousin, a middle-aged widow with no children, and she had become deeply attached to the boys during the past few weeks.

“Thank the good Lord,” Polly cried. She arrived, panting, and promptly disguised her emotion with an air of exaggerated annoyance. “Now maybe I can get back to work. In case you folks have forgotten, we’re giving a barbecue tomorrow.”

“Do you have any garlic, Polly?” Pete asked.

Polly stared down at Pete’s intense face then glanced at her employer. “Of course I have garlic. I keep it so I can make that chicken cacciatore your daddy likes.”

Deborah’s face paled, and Aaron frowned his disapproval at Polly. In spite of everything, Polly persisted in thinking the best of Tony.

“You boys get on back to the house,” Aaron said. “I had better help restore Miss Clayton’s house to normal.”

“Actually, I believe Elmer’s Glue responds to soap and water,” Felicity said, with cheerful optimism. “It’ll probably come up when I scrub.”

“I’d better have a look at the damages just in case.” Aaron wasn’t a man to shirk his responsibilities. “Two little boys have ways of doing unintended damage.”

Deborah’s eyes followed her sons as they headed with Polly toward the house. “I’d better come too, Aaron. There’s no telling what they’ve done.”

“I’ll take care of everything,” Aaron said in his most soothing tones. “You go on back to the house and keep an eye on those two young devils.”

Felicity smiled at Deborah. “You’d better go talk to them right now about what they overheard. Otherwise, they’ll keep on being afraid to go to bed at night.”

“I’ll talk to them as soon as I get back,” Aaron said. “Go on back to the house, Deb. I’ll be there as soon as I’ve seen for myself what they did to Miss Clayton’s window sills.”

“I’m so sorry, Miss Clayton,” Deborah said, stretching out her hands to Felicity. “If they did any permanent damage, of course I’ll take care of it. And thank you so much for bringing them back immediately. I was absolutely petrified — ” She broke off, unable to continue.

“Please call me Felicity.” She clasped both of Deborah’s hands, smiling warmly. “I doubt Elmer’s Glue constitutes much of a threat to the woodwork. Besides, I enjoyed meeting your sons. They’re very intelligent, handsome young men.”

Aaron observed with disgust that Deborah was thoroughly won over. Felicity seemed to have a knack for getting on everyone’s good side. Everyone, that is, except him. He knew too much about her to be taken in by that warm, friendly manner.

“And please come to the barbecue we’re throwing tomorrow evening,” Deborah said. “My boys would love to show you around, wouldn’t they, Aaron?”

Aaron managed to second the invitation, although it went sorely against the grain with him.

Thankfully, Felicity waited until Deborah was out of earshot before firing the opening salvo in their battle.

“If you aren’t careful, you’ll just reinforce the ghost idea in those two little boys’ heads,” she said.

“And what makes you an expert?” How dare this woman tell him how to run his household? “I’ll have you know — ”

“I think you’d better hear some of the things they were telling me,” Felicity interrupted. “They think this ghost is punishing them because they were bad. That’s why their mother fled their own house to bring them here, and why their father hasn’t come to get them yet. They believe the bad ghost is what’s keeping their father away.”

Aaron’s fists clenched with a mixture of irritation with himself and fury at Felicity for pointing out his failings so starkly. He should have insisted that he and Deborah sit down with the boys and explain why they were staying with Uncle Aaron for a while, and why their father wouldn’t be coming to visit anytime soon.