Confessing to the Cowboy - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,39
became Mary Mathis and Mike became Matt Mathis.”
“And who were you before you were Mary?”
Her blue eyes went hazy with a hint of pain, as if she didn’t want to remember who she had been before she’d become Mary Mathis...owner of the Cowboy Café. “Samantha Roberts and then I was Samantha McKnight and then for a long time I was nobody. Finally I found my identity, my true self, as Mary Mathis, owner of the Cowboy Café and productive member of the community of Grady Gulch.”
She placed her hands back on the top of the table and he couldn’t help but notice that they still trembled. “So, what happens now?” she asked. “Are you going to take me to jail?”
“Do you have intentions of running again?”
“I’m finished running.” She said it with a certainty that he believed. “I’m tired of looking over my shoulders, waiting for karma or the law to catch up with me. It’s time I face the consequences of my actions.”
“You can relax, Mary. I’m not arresting you today.” He wanted to do a little research into all this. He needed to find out if a warrant had been issued for her at the time of the incident and what the original investigation had yielded.
The truth of the matter was, despite his professionalism, he wasn’t in a hurry to put a woman he cared about behind bars. Eventually it might come to that, but not until he had more information. For the moment she had a reprieve.
He got up from the table, still reeling a bit from what she’d told him. “Go on about your business as usual. I’ll be in touch later and we’ll see if we can sort all this out.” He pulled on his jacket and moved toward the door to exit, but she stopped him by grabbing him by the arm.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she said, her eyes burning with fervent need.
He frowned, unsure what she was talking about.
“Matt. Promise me, Cameron. Please, promise me that if something happens to me, when I have to go away, you’ll take care of him and raise him to be a good man like you.” Tears splashed on her cheeks and even though he’d just learned that he might have to arrest her, he couldn’t help himself, he pulled her into his arms.
She melted against him as she had so many times in his dreams, but he’d never dreamed he’d be holding her, smelling the sweet raspberry scent of her hair under these particularly strange circumstances.
In his dreams she’d always come to him with want, not need. But it was desperate need that emanated from her now, the need to know that whatever the future held for her, her son would be safe and loved.
“I promise,” he whispered against her ear. “I promise that Matt will be just fine.” He couldn’t promise her anything more than that. He couldn’t tell her that everything would be okay and that her life would continue as it had been.
Things were different now. There were obviously serious issues that needed to be addressed and at this moment he had no idea what her future might hold.
He held her tight until she finally lifted her face to look at him once again. Even with her cheeks tear-stained and her blue eyes rimmed with red, she took his breath away with her fragile beauty.
He had no intention of kissing her, but as he stared down at her and saw the tremble of her full lower lip, without thought he leaned down and covered her mouth with his.
She hesitated a moment and then returned the kiss, opening her mouth to his. Her arms wound tightly around his neck. It might have been wonderful if he hadn’t tasted such desperation in her kiss. It lasted only a moment and then he reluctantly stepped back from her. He wished he could hold her forever, that somehow he could unhear what she’d just told him about herself, about her past.
But he couldn’t ignore what she’d said and he couldn’t completely dismiss the idea that somebody from her past was now making her pay for her husband’s death by killing people she cared about. He needed to get to the bottom of the murder she’d confessed to and find out if she was a wanted fugitive.
With a murmured goodbye, he stepped out of her private quarters and into the bustling café, his head whirling with so many thoughts he felt half-nauseated.