Page 37 of Christmas Ransom

“She’s strong. This is hard for her. She’s always been so independent and self-reliant. She’s anxious to get back her old life.”

“I’m sure you are too,” Lori said. “Don’t you have a ride coming up right after Christmas?”

They all turned as Carla came into the room. When Davy saw her expression, he knew that she’d heard the last part and was just as keen as everyone else to hear his reply.

“There are other rides,” he said and got up to pull out Carla’s chair.

The moment he was seated again, she said, “He isn’t going to miss any rides.” Carla was smiling as she looked over at him, but he caught the unshed tears glistening in her eyes. “I appreciate how wonderful he’s been, but he’s a rodeo cowboy. He has to do what he was born to do.”

“But what if the killer hasn’t been caught by the time he has to leave?” Bella asked, sounding worried.

Davy started to say something, but Carla cut him off. “Neither of us can put our lives on hold until that happens. It might be months, even years or never. Once the investigation is over, I’ll be going back to work.”

She said it with such ferocity that Davy couldn’t help staring at her in surprise before she added, “The bank has put me on administrative leave until then.”

He hadn’t known. He reached for her hand under the table and squeezed it, but after a moment she pulled it away. He could see her fighting tears. She’d worked so hard to get where she was. This was so wrong. None of this was her fault.

His cell phone rang. He checked the screen, apologizing as he pushed back his chair and stood. “I need to take this. I’ve been waiting for this call.”

Once outside the room, he accepted the call from the delivery company. Earlier, he’d left a message, needing to know which delivery drivers worked in Carla’s area. Now he listened as a woman told him. No name that started withJ.

“Thank you for getting back to me. Merry Christmas.” He disconnected. Another dead end. He’d been so sure that there was something strange about the man he’d seen standing on her doorstep with the package. It might have just been a case of a wrong address as the man said.

Davy sighed. He had to question his instincts. He’d also thought for sure that James would find out something suspicious about the nurse, Debra Watney, but he hadn’t. Apparently, he’d been wrong about her as well. He’d become so suspicious since the robbery, since there was a killer out there who’d hurt Carla and might still be in town and not finished with her.

But he knew the kiss also had him worked up. The earth had moved for him. But had it for her? If so, then how could she keep denying what the two of them had together? She seemed anxious to get rid of him again.

He felt that old frustration. But he also had to admit that there was some residual anger in him because she hadn’t given them a chance ten years ago. He regretted the years they’d spent apart. He looked over at her. Had he really thought anything had changed? He told himself that he couldn’t do this again.

She wanted him to leave right after Christmas? Wouldn’t that be the smart thing to do? But as he thought it, he knew it was already too late to keep his heart from getting broken all over again.

Davy took his seat again and looked into her eyes. He realized that he wasn’t going to let her push him away. Not this time. He reached over and took her hand as he leaned close. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Not this time.”

HISWORDSSENTa shiver through her. He squeezed her hand. Their gazes locked, stealing her breath. The kiss earlier proved how dangerous it was for them to be together any longer. Why postpone the inevitable? He needed to go back to the rodeo circuit, and she needed to get her job back.

But at the back of her mind, she kept hearing that voice of reason. What if the robber wasn’t caught? What if she couldn’t go back to her job? For years she’d lost herself in her pursuit of a career. Even with the detour back to Lonesome when her mother got sick and later died, she’d managed to stay in a job using her degree.

Her mother used to joke that her daughter would thrive no matter where she was planted. Often Carla felt like a stubborn weed that fought its way to the sun no matter what she had to overcome. She wasn’t one to give up easily.

Yet she’d given up on Davy.

She looked into his eyes and knew that she couldn’t again. As painful as it would be when they finally parted again, she wanted this time together. She concentrated on the food as dinner was served by chef Roberto. She’d heard Bella saying what an amazing cook he was. Everything was delicious.

For the rest of the meal, the conversation stayed clear of the robbery. Bella wanted to know if Carla would like to come out and ride horses with her. Carla said she would love that. She hadn’t ridden for years but hoped it was like riding a bike.

“You used to love riding,” Davy said. “It was something we had in common.”

“With any of the Colt brothers you have to love horses,” Bella said with a laugh. “Fortunately, I do.”

The conversation moved on to babies, with Lori pregnant with a daughter and Bella and Tommy trying to get pregnant. Carla again felt Davy’s gaze on her, but she didn’t dare look in his direction. Was he thinking that if they’d gotten married right out of high school, or even after she’d finished college, they could have had children of their own now?

The thought made her sad and stirred that desire in her for a family of her own. But there was only one man she’d wanted to have kids with. Davy Colt. Except with Davy on the rodeo circuit, she would have been a single mother—like her own mother.

That wasn’t what she had wanted. That hadn’t been part of her dream. But the passion of their kiss still thrumming through her veins demanded to know why she was still hanging on to that old dream, since she’d never been able to fit Davy Colt into it.

THENIGHTWASBLACK. Low clouds pressed down on the road between the banks of dense pines that lined the road. The pickup’s headlights punched a shallow hole in the darkness ahead. Inside the truck cab, Davy felt too close, and yet Carla could feel an ocean between them.

“I know you’re angry with me,” she said at last, needing to break the tense silence. She didn’t know what to blame. The kiss? Or what she’d said at dinner?

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