Confessing to the Cowboy - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,50

to him, raised up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Cameron.”

“For what?” he asked.

“For not arresting me the minute I confessed to murder, for taking the time to check things out and discovering the truth. Thank you for making me feel like a beautiful, desirable woman for the first time in years and reminding me that lovemaking isn’t all about pain and degradation.”

Her words created a lump in the back of his throat and as he kissed her on the forehead he swore that he’d do everything in his power to make sure that she and Matt survived to live a full and happy life in his town...hopefully with him.

Once back at the office, it didn’t take him long to get things rolling. He sent Ben to the printer with the photo of Jason McKnight and with the instructions to make enough flyers not only to be posted in Grady Gulch but in Evanston, as well.

It was possible that Jason McKnight could be staying in the neighboring town and only coming into Grady Gulch in the dark of night for his reign of terror.

He also assigned a couple deputies to check more closely into both Denver Walton’s and Thomas Manning’s financial records.

The fact that Denver was driving around in a brand-new truck with no means of visible support was troubling, as was Thomas Manning’s history with his waitress wife. Both needed closer scrutiny.

They could possibly be on Jason McKnight’s payroll. Denver might have joined the dark side in a desperate escape from Maddy and her money and Thomas for personal reasons of misguided revenge.

Once again he logged on to his computer to look up up Jason and Samantha McKnight. He wound up finding a grainy newspaper photo of their wedding. She was clad in a simple long white dress with beading across the bodice. She looked young and innocent and with the expectancy of love shining from her eyes. The photo broke his heart as he knew all her expectations had been shattered by a violent, abusive man.

Jason was suave and slender in a black tuxedo. His black hair was perfectly styled and he had the features of an aristocrat, but it was the flat, cold proprietary gaze at Samantha that turned Cameron’s stomach.

He had to find Jason McKnight, and if Jason wasn’t around but was rather pulling strings from afar, then Cameron had to find his puppet.

As he thought of Mary and the danger she was in, his heart crunched painfully in his chest. He had to protect her at all costs. He wasn’t about to lose something just as it had been found.

* * *

Concentration was next to impossible for Mary as the afternoon wore on. She screwed up two orders and, during every spare minute, found herself drifting off into thoughts of Cameron and what they’d shared.

The fact that she hadn’t murdered Jason was both a curse and a blessing. She would never again have to look over her shoulder waiting for a tap from a lawman with a warrant, and yet now she had to keep vigilant to make sure Jason didn’t get a chance to finish what she’d always thought he’d do during their marriage—kill her.

At some point during her marriage she’d begun to believe that she would die at Jason’s hand and her greatest fear had been that Matt would be left to live the horrendous life she’d lived with her husband. Even now the thought of Jason putting his hands on Matt shot sheer terror through her heart.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about what had happened between her and Cameron earlier that morning. Making love with him had been a gift, an amazing affirmation she’d desperately needed.

Was she in love with him? She wasn’t sure. She’d always admired not just his physical stature, but his intelligence, his morality and his solid dependability. She’d loved their late-night talks about movies and the weather and whatever else entered their minds.

Still, she’d spent so much time telling herself any kind of a relationship with him was impossible. It didn’t quite feel real and that made her realize she was in no way ready to jump into a relationship with any man. She felt as if she’d just been given back her life and now she had to make sure she stayed alive.

There was no way she could think about a relationship with anyone until the danger to her staff and herself had passed. As long as Jason was out there,