The Reluctant Rancher~Badlands (Contemporary Western Romantic Suspense) (13 page)

She had mixed feelings about his confession the night before. Glad that he told her the truth, but still irked he had pulled the prank. If he hadn’t though, she wouldn’t have gotten to know him and would most certainly not be cuddled in his arms right now.

“What are you thinking about so early this morning?” His deep voice rumbled in his chest, setting off vibrations of another kind.

“Mmm…just thinking.”

He kissed her shoulder and the side of her
neck. “Good thoughts, I hope.”

“Yeah, pretty good,” she said.

“I was having some pretty good thoughts too,” he said. “Thinking about jumping on you while you’re still half-asleep.” He slid his hand down her torso, skimming the side of her breast, her ribcage, her waist, and her hip. He cupped one butt cheek and gave it a squeeze. Kissed her shoulder again.

She grinned in the dark. “Knock yourself out, big boy. Just don’t expect a lot of participation. You used me up last night.”

“Great!” he breathed. “My plan is working.”

She turned toward him. “You have a plan?”

He chortled. “Mmm-hummm.” He rolled her onto her back and crouched over her. “First, I’m going to…”  He kissed her lips and down her neck to her shoulder. “And then, I’m going to…” He circled one nipple with his tongue and then took it into his mouth to gently suckle. “Followed by…” He kneed her legs apart and covered her mound with his palm, the warmth of his hand sending a rush of heat to her core.

She sucked in a breath as he pressed his fingers into her wetness.
Damn! He is so good at this.
She reached up to him and he pressed closer, grazing her nipples with the fine hair on his chest. Arching toward him, she pressed her breasts against his muscled torso. A laugh of satisfaction escaped her lips when she heard him groan. She drew her legs up to encircle him, urging him to take possession of her body, to own it the way he had the night before. Another gurgle of laughter bubbled out as she realized she held him in the same leg lock she used to ride bareback. She held back the urge to slap him on the flank and make a clicking noise with her tongue.
Giddy-up, Cowboy!

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” he said.

“I aim to,” she agreed pleasantly.

This time
, he chortled close to her ear. “I’ll see what I can do to accommodate you.”

~*~

After breakfast the next morning, Cami sent Sara Beth to town in Breck’s company. He seemed to be eager to drive Sara Beth and voiced that he was glad Cami would be spending some time at the house. He urged her to rest and not to worry about anything. But as soon as they had driven off, she asked Frank to saddle Red, the big paint stallion her Great Aunt Silky had favored.

“You want me to ride with you, Miss Cami?” he asked.

She nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, Frank. That would be nice.” She wasn’t sure why, but she had an urge to visit the site of her near-death experience at the hands of Eldon Kincaid and she didn’t want to do it in the company of her husband. He just wouldn’t understand. And, in case she did decide to follow through with Eldon’s request, she didn’t want Breck to be involved in any skirting of the truth.
Eldon sure does know how to saddle others with his guilt.
She hoisted herself up on Red and tightened the reigns as he danced a little sideways. “Easy,” she crooned.

“He sure does need some exercise, Miss Cami,” Frank said. He mounted up on
Romeo, the horse he usually rode and they started out. She led the way and decided not to beat around the bush. She rode straight to the rise near the mouth of the caves and dismounted.

Frank followed and pulled up short.
“Hey, Miss Cami. Are you sure you want to be here? I mean, this is where we found you and...and Mr. Kincaid after he tried to kill you?”

“No, I’m okay, Frank. I just needed to lay some old demons to rest. After all, this is part of the property Aunt Silky left to me. I need to get rid of the bad memories.”  She dropped Red’s reins and he began munching on the natural grasses. “Besides, Silky wa
s planning on letting the Boy Scouts explore the caves. I want to make that happen since the weather is getting nice.” She pulled her high beam flashlight out of her pocket. “Mr
.
Irwin Grimes
,
the scout leader has some experienced spelunkers from Austin standing by with the right equipment to guide the boys.”

“That sounds real nice, Miss Cami.” He dismounted and followed her toward the caves. “I’m sure Miss Silky would appreciate you for following through with her wishes.”

“I wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything left behind from the incident with Eldon Kincaid. Nothing that would be alarming to the scouts.”
Like a couple of mummified bodies.

“Yeah, that would be bad,” Frank agreed. He rummaged in the pocket of his jacket and brought out a small
LED flashlight, holding it aloft for her approval.

She started climbing up the rise that marked the entrance to the caves. Her throat felt tight when she recalled her introduction to the caves, when Eldon had pointed a gun at her, intending to toss her body down into the depths of the caverns to join his earlier victims. She drew a shaky breath and pressed her lips together.

“Miss Cami, if this is bothering you, I can check out the cave and see if there’s anything left from your run-in with Mr. Kincaid.”

She managed a smile. “I’m fine, thanks.” Taking in a deep breath and blowing it out, she headed up to the
entrance to the cave. She squared her shoulders, recalling the nightmare of her struggle with Eldon. That she had survived was a miracle in itself. She switched on the flashlight and stepped into the mouth of the cave. It felt much cooler, even a few feet into its depths.

Frank was right behind her.

Now, all she had to do was discover the mummified remains and let Frank witness her find.
Not fair, but it wasn’t fair of Eldon to saddle me with this.

Frank splayed the beam of his flashlight all around the large cavern. “I don’t see anything here, Miss Cami. The sheriff’s men must have cleaned up the crime scene before they left.”

“Yes, they must have,” she said thoughtfully. “I understand there are some interesting formations a little deeper into the caves. Maybe some paintings on the walls from early tribes that inhabited this area.”

“Really, Miss Cami?
I didn’t know you were interested in that stuff.”

She gripped the flashlight and edged deeper, the closeness seemed suffocating. She remembered the bats and was afraid to raise the
light to illuminate the ceiling.

“Be careful, Miss Cami,” he said. “You don’t want to take a tumble.”

“Right,” she breathed. Moving carefully, she tried not to dislodge any of the loose rocks. The musty odor of the cave and whatever else was living there gave way to another smell. Sharp and acrid it roiled her senses.

She stopped s
hort and Frank bumped into her.

“Sorry, Miss Cami.
I didn’t mean to run over you.”

“Do you smell that?”

“Phew! It don’t smell too good.”

She swallowed hard. “It’s
decomp...Rotting flesh.”

Frank was silent for a moment, again washing the walls and crevices with his flashlight beam. “Probably some animal crawled in here to die.”

Carefully, she located the rim of the crevasse that gashed into the floor of the cave. The deep rocky gorge she had almost fallen into not too long ago. She edged closer and peered over the lip. Her heart thundered in her ears, beat against her rib cage like a frenzied animal trying to escape.

“Damn! Would you look at
that?” Frank let out a low whistle.

She
couldn’t locate the mummified corpses she had seen in this very crypt a few months earlier. She peered cautiously over the side, a wave of vertigo roiling her head. “What?”

“It’s a body...No, two of them,” he said. “There!” He aimed his light into the fissure and onto a pile of human rubble stained dark
with what must have been blood.

“Oh, my god!”
She screamed and teetered precariously. The taste of bile rose in the back of her throat. She stepped backward abruptly, accidentally aiming her light to the ceiling. Her scream echoed off the rock surfaces and stirred the life forms affixed to the roof of the cave into action. High-pitched shrieks mimicked her cries and the bats peeled off the surface and flew toward her. She fell back on her rear, scrabbling away from the edge of the crevice, slipping on the slimy substance underfoot.

Frank squatted close to her, shielding her from the flying army. He spoke
near her ear. “Keep your head down, Miss Cami and turn out your light. They’ll settle down a lot faster in the dark.”

She flicked it off and pressed her forehead to her knees with Frank crouching over her. The sound of a thousand wings fluttered overhead and the shrieking horror bounced around their enclosure. She held her breath and remained
like a statue, frozen in place.

In time
, the only sound she heard was her own heart pulsing in her ears. She exhaled the breath she had been holding.

Frank switched on his mag lit
e, aiming it downward. Cautiously, he stood up and held out a hand to her.

She was shaking all over, but the hand that gripped hers and pulled her t
o her feet was firm and steady.

“Let’s get out of here.” Frank led her toward the larger chamber and the
daylight.

When they rounded the bend she almost ran outside and collapsed on the rocky ground.
“Oh, my god! What was that?”

Frank squatted beside her. “Miss Cami. There were some dead people in there. Someone must have fallen down in that big hole along the side.”

Cami nodded. She had been expecting to find dead people, but not freshly dead. She examined her shaking hands and saw they were covered with the slime from the cave floor.

“It’s bat guano, Miss Cami. You got it all over your pants too.” He reached in his pocket and drew out a bandana. “Here, you can
clean your hands on this rag.”

She reached for it and began scrubbing at the revolting mess on her hands, wishing she had hand sanitizer with her. She blew out a deep breath, trying to gather her wits.

  “Take it easy, now. Do you have your cell with you? We got to call the sheriff.”

She nodded and gingerly fished it out of her pocket with her finger and thumb.

Frank made the call and then called Breck, something she would have preferred not to do just then. He handed the phone back to her. “They’re coming.”

This wasn’t how she had thought this day would play out. This wasn’t anything she would have wanted to be a part of...
Damn you, Eldon Kincaid. I could kill you for getting me into this.

~*~

CHAPTER NINE

The air was clear and the sky blue, with only a few thin clouds overhead. Visibility was excellent. The entourage, consisting of two sheriff’s department vehicles and
a silver double-dually pick-up, were blazing a trail down the long, straight highway, and coming in her direction. The two in the lead had lights flashing, while Breck brought up the rear. She could almost see steam rising off the truck.

The ache in her chest made
it difficult to draw a breath.

Damn Eldon Kincaid straight to hell
! How did he know about the fresh kills in the cave? Why did he connive me into discovering them?
She tried to swallow the boulder in the back of her throat. She wondered if her ‘friend’, E.J. knew anything about the bodies. She dismissed that thought. If he knew about the fresh bodies, he would have to know about the earlier ones...and their relationship to him.

“Don’t worry, Miss Cami,” Frank said. “The
sheriff will handle everything.”

She nodded absently.
Sure he will...

The parade of vehicles veered off the highway and onto the hard baked natural grassland, bumping along the trail usually reserved for horses or four-wheel drive transportation.

The din of approaching sirens was like far-off bagpipes skirling a dirge. As they neared, the sound shrieked in her head, a little less horrifying than the bats, but enough to send her stomach into rebellion.

Breck pulled around the sheriff’s vehicles, his four-wheel drive giving him the lead. He skidded to a stop and threw it into gear. His face wore his every emotion as he raced to her.

“Cami! My God! Are you all right? Whatever possessed you to come here?” He grabbed her in an embrace that lifted her off her feet.

“I...I’m sorry...I just wanted to...” Her voice wavered.

“It doesn’t matter.” He soothed her, his hand stroking the back of her hair as he held her clutched against him.

Tears clogged her throat, kept her from blurting out the truth. “I’m so sorry,” she finally blubbered.

“Baby, it’s not your fault. If some poor fools trespassed onto private property and fell into a hole, it’s beyond our control.”