Wyoming Bold

“I don’t very often see women in dresses these days,” he replied with a gentle smile. “I think you look lovely.”

She flushed and then laughed. “Thanks.” She indicated her shoes. “I can’t wear high heels. I suppose this looks peculiar...”

“It looks fine.” He didn’t question the odd remark. “Ready to go?”

“Yes.” She peered into the living room. “See you later, Mom. Lock the doors,” she added firmly.

Clara laughed softly. “I will. Got your key?”

“Yes.”

“Have fun.”

“Thanks.”

Tank stuck his head in the door and grinned. “I’ll take good care of her,” he promised.

“I know you will,” Clara replied.

* * *

ROURKE HAD ARRIVED the day before. He got to work at once on the security cameras, swept the house for bugs—and found several—and swept the truck just before Tank got in it for his date.

“We’re going to Powell to have supper,” he told her. “Sorry, but we’ve had a hitch in our security.”

Merissa was very still. “It was him. The man in the suit.”

He glanced at her quickly. “Well...yes, we think so.”

“How ironic,” she said breathlessly. She shook her head. “He’s very confident.”

“He is, but it will be his undoing,” he said coldly.

She didn’t speak. Her face was drawn.

He stopped the car at a red light as they approached Powell. “What do you see, Merissa?” he asked very softly.

She swallowed. “Something bad.”

“Can you be more specific?”

She glanced at him. “I don’t know.” Her face contorted. “It’s just a feeling right now. I can’t...I can’t see what it is.”

He reached across the seat and caught her soft hand in his. “It’s all right. We’ll handle it.”

She felt a jolt all the way to her feet at his touch. His hand was big and warm, callused from work. She looked down at it in the light from the streetlamps. It was a beautiful hand, very masculine, with neatly trimmed and clean flat nails.

“You have beautiful hands,” she burst out.

He chuckled. “Thanks. Yours aren’t bad, either.”

She grinned.

He felt the same electricity that she did. It was comforting, to have that physical contact with another human being. Tank had imagined himself in love a couple of times, but it had never been this intense. He wanted to protect her, take care of her. She was a strong, capable woman. She could support herself, and did. But she made him feel taller, stronger.

“What are you thinking?” she asked suddenly.

He squeezed her hand gently. “That this is one of the best ideas I’ve had in years.”

She laughed. “Thanks.”

“You’re comfortable to be around.”

“Not many people in Catelow would agree with that.”

“They don’t know you. People are afraid of the unknown, of anything that isn’t scientific.”

“Well, this certainly isn’t scientific,” she agreed. “I’ve spent my life seeing things that terrify me.” She glanced at him. “So many people want to know the future. But if they could see what I see, they wouldn’t. It’s never good to know what lies ahead.”

“I have to agree.”

“I mean, it’s one thing to have a handle on the weather, or what fashions will be in vogue the next year, or if you’re going to meet someone who will change your life. But to want to know what’s going to happen to you in a year, two years... You should never want to know those things.”

He rubbed his thumb gently over the back of her hand as he drove. “You never talk about your father.”

Her hand jumped, as if it had been jolted by electricity.

He looked toward her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She swallowed. “You’ve...heard things.”

He pulled into the parking lot at the Chinese restaurant and cut off the engine. He turned to her. “Honestly, yes, I have.” He searched her eyes, huge in that pale face. “You don’t have to talk to me about him if you don’t want to. We barely know each other.”

She hesitated. “He was...brutal.”

“Was?”

She bit her lip. “We haven’t seen him in years,” she said. “We don’t know where he is. But we’re always afraid that he might come back.” She closed her eyes and shivered. “He was a big man. He was so strong...!”

“He hurt you.”

She looked up at him with tragic eyes. “Me, and Mama,” she agreed heavily. “I was so happy when he left. She threatened him. She told him what would happen if he stayed in Catelow. She knew, you see, and it wasn’t only a premonition. He beat up one of our farmhands and almost killed him. Mom told him that the man would press charges and he would go to jail. It’s the only reason he left.”

“I see.”

She drew in a breath, and shook her head. “No, you don’t. I lived in terror all my life that he would kill my mother.” She closed her eyes. “Once, I got brave, and tried to stop him.”

“With almost fatal results,” he added.