Page 35 of Wyoming True

Sheriff Cody Banks was tall, dark-eyed, dark-haired, a handsome man with a rodeo rider’s physique. Authority sat on him like a mantle. He was afraid of nothing on earth, and he’d been sheriff of Carne County for over nine years, reelected every time he ran with a unanimous vote. He was incorruptible, which kept him in office.

Ida invited him inside.

“Your cowboy said you had a suspicious injury to a horse,” he said without preamble.

“Yes,” she replied, all business. She folded her arms over her breasts. It was still uncomfortable being alone with a strange man. She trusted no one these days. “First it was one of my palominos. Now it’s my older saddle horse. Both have deep cuts on their flanks, but there’s no way they could have been injured accidentally.”

He pushed his hat back over his thick dark hair. “You think it was done intentionally?”

“Yes.” She shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry. I have to sit down,” she said after a minute. “I have metal screws in my hip and metal screws holding a metal rod into the bone in my thigh. This cold weather makes for a lot of pain.” She sat down, grimacing as the simple act sent a bolt of pain right through her body.

Cody scowled. “You never told me what sort of injury would cause that much reconstructive surgery,” he said flatly.

She sighed. “Being thrown over the side of a parking garage. It works quite well.”

He looked shocked. “That’s what your ex-husband did to you?” he added, outrage showing on his hard face.

“My ex-husband,” she agreed simply. “All the wealth is mine. He felt he was entitled to half of it. I divorced him while he was in jail awaiting trial for assault. There were no witnesses the first time, when he threw me over the wall, but he made the mistake of slugging me in front of a witness a few weeks after I got out of the hospital.” Her face was drawn with pain and bad memories. “He was supposed to serve five years for it, out of a longer sentence, but they let him out in three for good behavior.” She laughed without humor. “He phoned me the day he got out, demanding money again.” She looked up. The sheriff seemed unsettled. “He said some gangsters are after him for a gambling debt, and I owe him because he went to jail on my testimony.” She gave him a sardonic smile. “The photos and X-rays of my injuries were fairly convincing to the jury that convicted him.”

“Good Lord,” he said heavily. He hadn’t known all this about her. The bare facts he’d been told by her the night she was screaming from a nightmare were nebulous at best, not explicit. Despite all that, he was still just a little wary of her because of her reputation.

“I see,” she mused, studying him. “You’re still buying into my masquerade. It probably was a stupid idea, but at least it keeps most men at bay.” She wrapped her arms around herself again. “I never want to end up in a relationship like that again, and I seem to have no judgment about men at all. So it’s easier to keep them at a distance.”

He cocked his head. “I don’t quite get it.”

She gave him a worldly look. “I’m just dynamite for all men, and I judge their performances and gossip about them. I’m very vocal about my so-called ex-lovers. Most men won’t risk the damage to their reputations, so they find excuses not to pursue me. It’s a double-edged sword, but it does actually work quite well as a deterrent.” She put a hand to her back and grimaced. “Probably won’t be necessary for a lot longer. I expect the pain or the anti-inflammatories will kill me one day anyway.”

He was getting a very different picture of Ida than the one he’d carried. He did remember the screams when her neighbor called him and said Ida must be in danger. She’d met him at the door, very quiet and pale, and said that it was just a nightmare. He hadn’t questioned it or said anything much to her. She’d told him about her ex-husband, but not a great deal. Now he began to understand the nightmares.

“So that was why,” he murmured out loud.

“Excuse me?”

“The nightmares.”

SHERECALLEDTHEnight he’d come to check on her. She grimaced and nodded. “Life with Bailey Trent was quite memorable,” she replied quietly. “Beatings were only the tip of the iceberg.” She looked up at him with cold eyes. “Men can be animals. Worse than animals.”

“They can,” he had to admit. “I’ve seen my share of wife beaters. I’ve locked up quite a few and sent several to prison. I hate a man who takes out his anger on a woman or a child.”

She’d heard that he was notorious for his pursuit of such offenders. It made her feel safer. “Bailey has made threats,” she said. “My attorneys in Denver have an operative who’s keeping track of him, since he lives in the city. But they felt I was in more danger here, so they insisted that I have a bodyguard. The man who spoke to you about the horse, Laredo, is the man they hired on my behalf.”

“A bodyguard.” His dark eyes narrowed and he nodded. “Not a bad idea. You’re pretty isolated here, and in bad weather, it might take us a while to get to you, even though we have chains and plenty of experience driving in snow. It’s just that accidents multiply. Some people come here from warmer climates. They don’t adjust quickly to bad road conditions.”

“I know what you mean,” she replied. “My first husband and I spent a week in the Appalachian Mountains, in north Georgia. It snowed just a couple of inches, and the local police were overwhelmed with collisions.” She shook her head. “I wonder how in the world they’d fare out here, where snow is measured in feet.”

“Badly, I expect,” he said, and he smiled for the first time. “Your bodyguard, the law firm checked him out, of course?”

“I’m sure they did,” she replied. “They’ve looked after me very well all these years. They manage my estate.”

“They’re civil attorneys, not criminal, right?”

“Right. Estate planners, things like that.”

He didn’t say anything, but he had a strange expression on his face.

“They have a firm of detectives that they employ,” she said quickly, anticipating his next remark. “It’s a very good one. They check out new employees for the firm, as well.” She smiled.

He laughed. “You read my mind.”

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