Winchester Christmas Wedding (8 page)

“While I'm being honest with you…I wasn't always a cook's helper. I came here to find an extortionist,” TD said.

She opened those gray eyes a little wider. “Why would someone want to extort money from you?”

He grinned. “Did I say this was about me?”

 

L
IZZY HAD HAD ENOUGH
of his games. She pushed off the rocks and headed for her horse. As she started past
him, he caught her by the arm and turned her in to him. She felt just how strong he was even though his touch was gentle as he drew her to him.

She went like metal to a magnet, as if she had no choice, had never had a choice. He brushed his lips over hers, light as a snowflake, and she felt her lips part of their own accord. Then his mouth covered hers and she felt as if he had lifted her off her feet.

Then the kiss ended as quickly as it had begun. Her feet hit the ground again and she stumbled back, stunned that she'd actually not only let him kiss her, but that for a moment she had been kissing him back.

She looked into his dark eyes and felt him try to steal a little piece of her heart. And he would have, too, if he hadn't grinned just then, making her want to wipe it off his face.

“I've been wanting to do that since you and your horse almost totaled my pickup,” he said. “Now that we got that over with, could we level with each other?”

The sun caught in his dark hair, making it shine like obsidian. His eyes shone just as brightly as he looked at her. She was reminded again of who this man was. Not just an agent, but a rogue agent, a very dangerous man. That kiss proved it.

“I told you what I was doing here,” she said, reminded that he'd just told her she was a terrible liar. “I had a good reason to follow her. Did you have as good a reason to follow one of your employers?”

He smiled at that. He had one of those smiles that threatened to melt something inside her. “All right, if that's the way you want to play it, I'll tell you what I think she has on Worth Winchester. She saw him from
that third-floor room down there,” he said motioning toward the lodge. “She looked across the deep ravine to that ridge.”

She followed his gaze remembering what the sheriff had asked the sisters—about some binoculars and what the two of them had seen. Anne swore she hadn't seen anything. But Janie said she had seen something. Trace Winchester murdered?

“I've heard that Pepper Winchester suspects one of the family was a coconspirator in her youngest son's murder—and was on the ridge that day,” he continued.

“If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on Worth Winchester.”

Lizzy'd had the same thought when she'd heard Janie threatening Worth. “So go to the sheriff.”

“I think even up here in the Wild West they still require evidence,” he said.

“So this extortionist brought you to Montana?” she asked. “Is it possible Janie has something on you? Or is it Worth Winchester who does?”

He laughed. “I told you what I suspected. Don't you owe me something in return?”

“I think the kiss makes us even,” she said as she started past him again. She thought he might grab her again, but he didn't.

As she walked to her horse, she heard him chuckling behind her and knew he was looking at her behind. The man really was incorrigible, she thought as she touched her fingers to her lips.

 

B
ACK AT THE LODGE,
TD found Enid in the kitchen and fell in beside her, picking up a spatula and seeing to the home fries she had going on the griddle.

“She eats like it might be her last meal,” she complained as she pulled the eggs out of the refrigerator.

“Virginia asked for an omelet. An
omelet.
She acts like she's staying at some fancy hotel.”

“I can make the omelets,” he said. “She say what kind she wants?”

If looks could kill, Enid's would have made him deader than a doornail.

He shrugged under the heat of it. “Just thought keeping them happy might prevent the murder.”

Her face seemed to crack open as she laughed. “Can't make these people happy.” But she added, “Ham-and-cheese omelet.” She was already digging both out of the refrigerator.

He made the omelets on the griddle, moving the potatoes to a skillet on the back burner as she set about getting orange juice and glasses ready.

She was good and worked up and complained the whole time. He listened to her gripe about the family and gathered that she hadn't had anyone to complain to since her husband died a few months before.

He slid four perfect ham-and-cheese omelets onto a platter around a pile of home-fried potatoes and held them up for her approval.

She let out a snort, then picked up the tray with the orange juice and glasses and they headed for the dining room.

This morning, he noticed as he put down the food, only one person was missing, Worth. Was he just running late? Or was he skipping breakfast as he tried to figure out how to come up with twenty-five thousand dollars?

“Excuse me?” Pepper said to him.

TD looked up into Pepper Winchester's dark eyes and remembered Lizzy's visit last night and Worth seeing her. He now wondered if he'd been right about Worth tattling to his mother. He figured he was about to find out.

“Enid tells me you made the pies yesterday,” the elderly matriarch said.

“Yes, ma'am.”

“I just wanted to tell you that they were delicious.”

“Thank you.” He heard Enid make a rude sound nearby.

“I assume you also made the omelets this morning?”

“Yes, I've been trying to help Enid as much as possible. She's got enough on her hands as it is.”

Pepper Winchester smiled, a light coming into her dark eyes. “That is very kind of you. You are the first help Enid has allowed me to hire for her. I'm glad the two of you are getting along so well.”

“Enid's teaching me,” TD said.

As Worth entered the dining room, TD took his leave, Enid trailing along behind him. The minute the door closed, Enid demanded, “Why didn't you take all the credit in there?”

“I just spoke the truth. This is way too much for one person to do.” He smiled at her. “Can I make you something for breakfast? Would you like an omelet?”

“Why not? I can be as snooty as that Virginia. Why not let someone wait on me for a change?”

“My thought exactly,” he said as he made them both
breakfast. “I saved us a couple pieces of apple pie if you're interested.”

She smiled, a real honest-to-goodness smile, and took the slice of pie he offered her.

“Enid, I heard someone mention the Whitehorse Sewing Circle,” he said as he sat down, watching her devour her omelet before he cut into his. “What's the deal with it?”

“A bunch of old women who make quilts for all the babies born around Old Town Whitehorse,” she said.

What could that have to do with him? He didn't remember ever having a quilt. But maybe they kept track of births in the area.

“Why are you asking about them? You haven't knocked up your girlfriend, have you?”

He started to say he didn't have a girlfriend. So why did Lizzy Calder come to mind?

Before he could deny it, Enid said, “Is that really why you came to work out here? I knew you were too good to be true,” she snapped, but she sounded relieved, as if she had suspected he had a lot worse to hide. “So you're looking to get rid of this kid.”

He stared at her in shock. “Are you trying to tell me that this Whitehorse Sewing Circle does—”

“Under-the-radar adoptions. Don't act like you didn't know that.”

He couldn't hide his relief. He'd been thinking something entirely different. Adoptions. Under-the-radar adoptions. If he really was adopted, then the adoption hadn't been legal. This was starting to make more sense.

“I'm just having trouble imaging a group called the Whitehorse Sewing Circle involved in—”

She laughed. “I know it's hard to believe a bunch of old-lady quilters are running an illegal adoption ring. That's probably how they've been able to get away with it for years. Remember, you didn't hear any of this from me.”

“You have my word. Where would I find this sewing circle?”

 

P
EPPER
W
INCHESTER SAT AT
the head of the long wooden table and studied her sons and daughter as they finished their breakfast. It had been another uncomfortable meal. She wondered how many more of them she could stand.

Fortunately Christmas and the wedding were only two days away. Unfortunately she was no closer to finding out which of her wonderful children was a killer. Maybe the person at this table hadn't struck the blow that killed her son Trace, but he or she had still been part of it.

She looked around the table.
Which one of you helped get my precious Trace killed?
She'd thought that once she had them back at the ranch, she would just be able to look into their faces and see the truth.

How naive she'd been. Had she thought one of them would break down and confess? It was laughable now.

No, whoever it was intended to take their crime to the grave with him. Or her, she thought, eyeing her daughter before shifting her gaze to Brand, then Worth. Brand had always been the quiet, easygoing one. Still waters
ran deep, she thought, though she couldn't imagine him doing such a thing.

Worth she could easily imagine getting involved in murdering his younger brother. Virginia…she definitely had it in her. Actually, all three of them did, she thought, remembering that they had her blood running through their veins. Her blood and Call Winchester's.

Against her better judgment, Pepper was considering giving Worth at least enough money that she didn't have to worry about him doing anything crazy and spoiling McCall's wedding. It went against the grain. She didn't like being blackmailed. Nor was it the first time. She thought of Enid.

Enid Hoagland had her over a barrel, so to speak. And for years Pepper had been thinking about putting the miserable wretch out of her misery.

As each of her offspring excused themselves and left, Pepper started to leave as well, but stopped when TD Waters came in to clear the table.

“I'm sorry,” he said seeing her still sitting there. “I can come back.”

“No,” she said quickly. “I'd like a moment of your time.” She looked past him to see that Enid had come into the dining room. “Alone, if you don't mind, Enid.”

 

A
S
P
EPPER MOTIONED FOR
him to sit down, TD didn't like the feel of this, but pulled out a chair and joined her.

Enid scowled, shooting TD a suspicious glance before leaving and letting the kitchen door slam.

In the quiet that followed, the matriarch merely
studied him. “You're not from Whitehorse.” It wasn't a question, but he answered anyway.

“No, ma'am.”

“How is it you ended up in my kitchen?” she asked pointedly when he didn't elaborate.

He'd known this was probably coming. He'd seen her watching him closely, a little too closely. “I just kind of stumbled onto the job,” he said truthfully.

“Are you a cook?”

“I like to cook.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Is it just me or are you being purposely evasive?”

He scratched the back of his neck and considered telling her he'd come here to look for a blackmailer-extortionist.

“I'm a federal agent when I'm not cooking.”

Her eyebrows shot up.

“I was wounded, had some time to kill and ended up in Montana.”

“Wounded?”

“My last assignment didn't go like I thought it would,” he said, the words like sand in his mouth. “Another agent was killed. I took a slug but survived.”

“I see.”

He thought she really might have seen how a state of mind like that had landed him in her kitchen.

“Well, I wanted to tell you how much we all have enjoyed your cooking,” she said and reached for her cane as she pushed back her chair to stand.

He rose as well, seeing that he was being dismissed. “Thank you.”

“What did she want?” Enid demanded the moment he stepped into the kitchen.

He suspected she'd had her ear to the door and had heard most if not all of what had been said. “She wanted to know what I was doing here.” He shrugged.

“And what did you tell her?”

He repeated what he'd told Pepper and Enid grunted, clearly unimpressed that he was a government agent, preferring to believe this was about his pregnant girlfriend.

“Like it is any of her business,” the cook said, making him want to laugh. Enid was much nosier than her employer.

 

L
IZZY RODE BACK TO THE
McCormick Ranch, wondering if there was a chance Waters had been telling the truth about why he was in Montana. He'd said it was extortion. Clearly Janie had been blackmailing Worth Winchester.

If the two were connected, then why hadn't Waters admitted it?

He likes playing games, she thought. Did he not realize that he was considered a rogue agent and that his little trip to Montana had put him in danger from his own organization?

She remembered the call she'd gotten from Roger Collins giving her the assignment. He'd been perfectly clear: agent TD Waters was to be considered armed and dangerous. He had left against orders. He was considered a rogue agent and because he was highly classified, extreme measures might be needed.

What had TD Waters done prior to coming to Mon
tana that had led the agency to believe he'd gone rogue? She needed more information and yet she knew it wouldn't be coming from Roger Collins. Her job was to report on Waters's activities and to stand by for further orders.

Lizzy had always done as she was ordered. Because she looked harmless, she'd been an asset to the agency on those jobs that required finesse, her boss had told her.