Page 54 of Christmas Ransom

“Davy,” he said. “I’m Davy Colt.”

The elderly woman shrugged as if it was all the same to her. “I’m just glad you’re a decent shot. I used to listen to the lot of you shooting tin cans by the hour.” She shook her head. “All you Colt boys, you’re all the same to me. Wild and incorrigible.” But there was a twinkle in her eye.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Carla’s emotions veered off in every direction. She was so thankful to be alive. So thankful that Davy was alive. She would be forever grateful to Cora for helping them. The bank’s money had been recovered—at least most of it—from the cabin where Jesse had taken her. Both Jud and Jesse were dead. She didn’t know how to feel about that—guilty for being relieved that they were gone, angry that they’d done what they had, guilty for not being sorry that two people were dead and that she might have played a part in it.

She’d met with Agents Grover and Deeds one final time. Grover didn’t quite apologize, but at least he’d told her that she was no longer a suspect. A former employee at the bank had finally confessed that she’d given Jesse information while she’d been in labor at the hospital. She said that the woman she knew as Debra Watney had asked a lot of questions after learning that she had worked there. The woman said she had thought the aide was just trying to keep her mind off the labor. She had had no idea she was giving away information that would be used in the robbery—and key the agents to an inside job.

While Carla felt for the woman, she was grateful that she herself was no longer a suspect. Her boss had called to say that her job was waiting for her whenever she felt up to coming back.

For days all she’d wanted was for her life, and Davy’s, to return to normal. Normal meant she would go back to the bank, back to her house alone each night, back to spending her days crossing items off her to-do lists.

For Davy it would mean catching up on the rodeo circuit. The holiday was winding down. It was time. Yet neither of them mentioned it. Since coming out of the mountains, they’d spent every minute of the past few days together at her house. One of Davy’s brothers fixed the back door with a better lock and dead bolt and cleaned up the place.

If they ignored the bullet holes in the kitchen wall and refrigerator, they could almost pretend that none of it had happened.

But Carla couldn’t pretend that things were going to change. Doc Hull had put her in a walking cast and given her a scooter that she could use at work. She was able to get around by herself with little trouble, and it wouldn’t be all that long before even the walking cast would come off.

They’d fallen into a pattern over the days. Lying in bed in the morning until they felt like getting up. Having a breakfast one or both of them prepared. Making love. Cooking and going back to bed to make love again. She loved lying with Davy in her double bed together, her head on his shoulder, her cheek pressed against his skin.

“I love you, Carla. I’ve always loved you.” It was the day before he was to leave. He turned to kiss her deeply. “I was so afraid that I’d lost you. I never want to let you go again.” His blue gaze met hers and she felt that fire ignite at her center again.

“I love you, Davy. Always you.”

“Come with me,” he said, his expression brightening as if the idea had just come to him. He leaned on one elbow so he could look at her face. “We’re both still young. We have plenty of time to settle down. We can spend the next few years traveling around the country.”

She stared at him, unable to believe what he was suggesting—again. He’d suggested this ten years ago. Didn’t he remember how that had ended? “Davy, I have a job. A house. A—” She’d almost saidlife. “A...house that’s paid for.” These days living in this house, the two of them acting like a real married couple, had she let herself dream that he might see the life they could have here? That he might want it?

But from the look on his face, it was the last thing he wanted. He rose from the bed, his face suddenly stiff, his expression cold. “You thought that I would quit the rodeo.” He shook his head, the look ripping apart her heart. “I told you. I’m not ready to quit. I thought...”

“I thought since you were talking about only a couple more years...”

“That I would change my mind.”

There was no reason to lie. He knew from her disappointed expression that she’d hoped he would change his mind. She should have known better. One last night after making love ten years ago, they’d lain in bed talking. He’d romanticized about the two of them on the rodeo circuit going places she’d never been, seeing country she might never see again, eating food that she would never have in Lonesome, meeting people, being together.

At the time, she’d been tempted to chuck her life here and hit the road with him. But she wasn’t that girl from ten years ago and she certainly wasn’t going to chuck it all now, she told herself.

“You never considered coming with me, did you?”

She met his gaze and felt her heart shatter. When she spoke, her voice broke with emotion. “My job, my house... I can’t just pick up and leave like you can. I haveresponsibilities.” She rose from the bed to go to him, snatching up her shirt and pulling it on as she did. “Please.” How could he not see how much this was killing her? How could he walk away from her now? She tried to cup his cheek, but he took a step back. “Davy, I love you.”

“You love me?” he asked as he grabbed up his jeans and pulled them on. “How is that possible, since you want me to be someone I’m not? Or do you love the idea of me? Rodeo cowboy Davy Colt. Because if you loved me, you’d love all of me, whether you agreed with it or not. Hasn’t it always been about you trying to change me, so I fit into this perfect picture you have of marriage and our lives together?”

“I could say the same about you,” she said, drawing back from him. “You want me to give up everything for you. What’s the difference?”

“You’re not your job, Carla. Or are you going to tell me that your dream is to work as an executive loan officer in a bank in Lonesome, Montana?”

She took a step back as if he’d slapped her. “You know how I ended up in Lonesome working at the bank. I had to change my plans because it was the right thing to do.”

He nodded and took a step toward her, taking her shoulders in his hands. “You had to change your plans. How about changing them for us?”

She’d never wanted to say yes more than she did at that moment. “I’m not like you, footloose and fancy-free to go and do whatever you please.”

He shook his head and let go of her to pull on his boots. “You can’t blame your mother, Carla. She’s been gone now for over five years. But you’re still here. Why?”

He made it sound as if she’d chosen the path of least resistance. As if she lacked courage. “I’m not like you.”

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