One Night Standoff - By Delores Fossen Page 0,58

soon,” he said with his back to her. He pulled on his boxers and jeans.

Enough of this. It was nearly two hours until he had to pull relief duty, and she wasn’t going to let him get away until she’d had a chance to explain.

Lenora got to her feet, too, and whirled him around to face her. “I’m not used to relying on anyone, okay? And I left your bed that night because I was afraid of what I might say to you.”

There. She’d bared her soul, but Lenora knew this wasn’t finished. No. Clayton wanted her to say the words that she’d been afraid she might blurt out that night. However, he didn’t have time to press her, because something else snagged his attention.

A shout.

It sent Clayton scrambling, first to turn off the lights, and then to the window. Since Lenora was still naked, she didn’t immediately follow him, but she did gather up her clothes so she could dress.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“I’m not sure, but some of the horses are loose. I think it was Cutter who shouted something.”

Relief washed over her body. After everything else they’d been through, loose horses didn’t seem like much of an issue.

Unless...

“Do you see anyone out there?” Lenora quickly put on her clothes. “Someone who could have let them out?”

He shook his head just as his phone buzzed. With his attention still fastened outside the window, he pulled his cell from his pocket and answered it.

“Cutter,” he said. “What’s going on with the horses?”

Lenora couldn’t hear what the ranch hand said, but she also didn’t see anything too extreme in Clayton’s reaction. Just the same concern that had been there since this entire ordeal started.

“I’ll have a look,” Clayton told Cutter, and he ended the call.

Now, that immediately upped Lenora’s concern. “You’re going out there?”

He nodded, finished dressing. “Cutter and the other ranch hands haven’t seen anyone, but I need to find out why the horses have broken the fence. It might be nothing,” he quickly added. Probably because he saw the fear in her eyes.

“It could be Johnny Lomax,” she reminded him just as quickly. “He could have come here to try to kill us.”

Clayton brushed a kiss on her cheek. “If it’s Lomax, I need to find him.”

He strapped on his holster and took another gun from the nightstand drawer. He handed it to her. “I want you to stay inside this room, away from the window. I’ll lock the downstairs door behind me and have one of my brothers rearm the security system. It’s not monitored by a company, but the alarm will alert us if anyone tries to break in.”

Lenora was already shaking her head before he even finished. “You need to have one of your brothers go outside with you.”

“I will,” he mumbled.

But she wasn’t sure he was telling the truth. Still, she couldn’t stop him. Besides, if it was Lomax or some other hired gun, then he needed to be stopped before he could shoot into the house.

“If I need to talk to you, I’ll call the landline.” He tipped his head to the phone on the nightstand. “Remember, stay put.”

And with that warning, he was gone.

Lenora shut the bedroom door and locked it, but pressed her ear against it, listening to the sound of Clayton’s footsteps. When she could no longer hear him, she went back across the room. Not in front of the window just in case someone did fire a shot, but off to the side so she could look out.

There were at least a dozen horses on the driveway in front of the house and in the side yard. The animals weren’t just milling around, either. They were moving as if they’d been spooked, not really going anywhere, just running. Still, she held out hope that this would all turn out to be nothing. After all, horses probably got out on occasion, and maybe this was one of those benign occasions.

She spotted Clayton in the backyard, and he wasn’t alone, thank God. Declan was with him. That meant Wyatt was no doubt inside and had rearmed the security. She guessed that he would stay with Kirby, Stella and the nurse. The housekeeper had already gone home, so that was one fewer person to be concerned about, if this did turn out to be something.

Lenora had to remind herself to breathe when her lungs started to ache, and as if protesting at her suddenly tight muscles, the baby kicked hard. She slid her