Taming a Texas Devil - Katie Lane Page 0,37
that you didn’t much care for Deputy Meriwether.”
He didn’t much care for her, but damned if he didn’t want her. The kiss at Mesquite Springs proved it. But that had been a mistake. One he wasn’t going to repeat. No matter how good she had felt in his arms. Or how sweet she had tasted. Or how much he’d wanted to lay her down in the high grass and sink deep inside of her.
“She’s trouble,” he said.
Chester laughed. “Aren’t all women? But there’s nothing wrong with a little trouble. Especially if it comes wrapped up in a package like that. If I was forty years younger, I’d be chasing after that woman like a coyote after a rabbit, trouble or not.”
“Beauty isn’t everything.”
“True, but I think the deputy has proven she’s not just a pretty face. From what I hear, she’s doing a damn good job while Sheriff Willaby is out. She’s showing up in town every day and has taken a real interest in people’s well-being. She gets after folks when they need it, but doesn’t hand out tickets right and left like that idiot Willaby. And she found Boomer after he ran off.”
She was doing a good job. Lincoln couldn’t help wondering why. It couldn’t have been his lecture. She had proven she liked doing the opposite of what he wanted. But something had caused her to start taking her job seriously. Now he was worried she was going to take it too seriously. After she identified the bone as human, she had become almost ecstatic. Like she had discovered a diamond ring on a beach with a metal detector. He didn’t need the deputy butting her cute little nose into his investigation. It was his job. He would do it. Which meant he needed to stop beating around the bush and worrying about hurting Chester’s feelings.
He took a deep breath and got straight to the point. “The day you came back to check on Val, you talked to Sam, didn’t you?”
Chester spit a stream of tobacco onto the ground. “We’ve been over this, boy.”
“I know. I need to go over it again.”
“Why? I thought you’d given up on finding Sam Sweeney.”
“I was hoping to, but now I can’t. Boomer had a bone when the deputy found him.” He paused. “A human bone.”
Chester showed no surprise. He just stared ahead and kept riding. “And you think it’s Sam’s?”
“Yes. I also think there’s something you’re not telling me about Sam. And I need to know what it is, Chester. This might not be a missing person we’re dealing with anymore. It could be a murder.”
Chester glanced over at him. “And am I a suspect? Do you think I would kill a man for pulling some mean-spirited pranks, boy?”
“You threatened to fill him full of holes if he ever came back to the ranch. And he came back.”
“That was just my temper talking. I was angry about what he’d done to you boys . . . and angry at myself for not seeing what kind of man he was sooner.”
“But something happened that day between you and Sam, didn’t it? And I need to know what it is, Chester, in case the bone does turn out to be Sam’s.”
They rode in silence for several minutes before Chester finally spoke. “No wonder you’re a damn fine Texas Ranger. You’ve got good instincts, boy.” Lincoln had always loved getting praise from Chester, but not now. Now he wished he’d been wrong.
“Why did you lie to me and say you only saw Sam from a distance?”
“Because I did only see him from a distance. Like I said, he was leaving when I got there and there was no way I could’ve caught him before he left the ranch.” Chester shit another stream of tobacco. “It was only after he left the ranch that I caught up with him. And it took some mighty fast riding to do that.”
“You rode after him?”
“Damn right I did. I told him to stay away and he didn’t listen. So I rode hard and cut him off before he reached the highway.”
“But you swore you didn’t speak to Sam.”
“I didn’t. I just shot a few holes in his truck to teach him not to mess with the Double Diamond boys.”
“Jesus Christ.” Lincoln covered his face with his hand and massaged his temples.
“Now don’t be gettin’ your panties in a bunch. I didn’t hit him. Back then, I wasn’t half blind like I am now and I hit exactly