The Cowboy's Claim Read online

  Everyone had hoped that Candy’s murder had either been committed by her boyfriend or perhaps a drifter passing through town. The latest murder seemed to blow the drifter theory out of the water. She set her glass down and fought against a shiver that threatened to walk up her spine as she realized the odds were good that the killer was a local. She might have even served him a meal.

  She shook her head to dispel thoughts of murder and smoothed a hand down the T-shirt that marked her as a Cowboy Café waitress. Hopefully it was just a strange coincidence that both of the murder victims had worked here.

  It was just before seven when Mary walked over to her. “You can go home now. Thanks for filling in at the last minute. This flu bug that’s going around seems to be getting people down.”

  Courtney nodded, but she wondered if the two waitresses who had called in sick had really been sick or had been afraid to come in after the latest murder of one of their own.

  She’d heard through the grapevine that Shirley’s funeral was set for next Wednesday, and as far as Courtney knew everyone from the Cowboy Café planned to attend. Mary had already said she intended to close down the café for several hours that day.

  “I’ll see you Monday at noon,” Courtney said as she handed Mary her order pan and pen. “Good night.”

  She’d almost made it to the door when a firm hand wrapped around her arm and stopped her. “We need to talk.” Nick’s voice simmered with barely controlled emotions just behind her.

  She slowly turned to face him and realized she hadn’t imagined that moment earlier when his eyes had flamed with anger. Now they were a cold, icy blue, and she knew if she didn’t think fast on her feet, he’d know the secret she’d planned on taking to the grave.

  Chapter 4

  Nick held tight to her arm, not wanting to release her until he could bend her to his will, force her to tell him what he wanted to know.

  “I told you before, we have nothing to talk about,” she replied, her face taking on an unhealthy paleness.

  “Oh, I think we do,” he said, his voice deceptively soft and calm. “I think we have a lot to discuss.”

  She glanced around frantically and jerked her arm from his grasp. “I can’t imagine what you’re talking about. I’m tired. I just finished up a busy dinner shift. Leave me alone, Nick.”

  He watched as she stormed out the door, and he sensed his brother moving to stand just behind him. “Problems?” Adam asked.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Nick said as the two left the café. “Drop me off at the motel.”

  “At the motel? Why? You want to tell me what’s going on?” Adam asked as Nick tossed him the keys to the truck.

  “I think Courtney and I have a little unfinished business.” Was it possible? Adam had told him he thought Courtney’s baby was about ten months old, but Mary had mentioned she couldn’t believe that Courtney’s son was already fifteen months old. Was she mistaken?

  Fifteen months? Was it possible the child was his? They’d always been so careful about birth control, except that last night when he’d come to her consumed with grief.

  There had been no thought of birth control that night. There had been no thought in his mind except his need for Courtney’s arms around him, his need for her to swallow him, to engulf him so as to somehow take away at least a little bit of his pain.

  “Unfinished business? I didn’t know you had any starting business with her,” Adam said as he got in behind the wheel. He didn’t start the engine but rather turned and looked at Nick in the passenger seat. “Again, you want to tell me what’s going on? And this time, be a little more specific.”

  “At least start the engine so we can get some air-conditioning going,” Nick replied. He drew a deep sigh and stared out the window, his brain whirling with suppositions. Was it possible she’d gotten pregnant that night?

  If that was the case then why hadn’t she called him? Why hadn’t she let him know immediately? That was a question that had haunted him even before now.

  In the time that he’d been gone he’d never changed his cell phone number, and even though he’d decided not to contact her, to let her go, he’d been surprised and more than a little hurt that she’d never attempted to call him.

  Now there was a part of him that was infuriated that she hadn’t called to tell him she was pregnant with his child. Slow down, he told himself. He couldn’t be sure about the facts. He couldn’t be sure that the child was his.

  As the interior of the truck began to cool, Nick turned to look at his brother. “Before Cherry’s death, Courtney and I were sort of seeing each other.”

  Adam frowned. “Sort of seeing each other? You mean like dating?”

  Nick gave a curt nod of his head.

  “Why didn’t I know about it? I never heard anything about you and Courtney Chambers.”

  “That’s the way we wanted it. We kept our relationship a secret. Her parents would have freaked out if they had known she was dating a no-count rancher like me.” A small burn set off in the pit of his stomach. Had the truth been that she’d been ashamed of their relationship and had only used the disapproval of her parents as an excuse?

  “So, what’s the unfinished business?”

  “Courtney’s baby.”

  Adam raised a dark eyebrow. “What about the baby?”

  “Didn’t you hear Mary mention that Courtney’s boy was fifteen months old?”

  “Fifteen months...” Adam’s voice trailed off as he did the mental math. “The kid is yours?”

  “I can’t be positive.” Nick’s gut churned. “But, I intend to find out. Just take me to the motel, and I’ll find my own way home from there.”

  Adam left the café parking lot and shook his head ruefully. “You and Courtney, it’s hard to wrap my mind around it. You just don’t seem like her type.”

  “I wasn’t. We were just having fun together for a while.” The words felt like a lie as they left Nick’s lips. “We had no contact after I skipped town.”

  “What are you going to do if the boy is yours?” Adam asked.

  A child.

  A son.

  “I’m not sure.” Nick’s head whirled at the thought of the child, but he couldn’t find any real emotional purchase. He was numbed by the very idea. At the moment the thought of him having a son was merely a theory, and until that theory was proven he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it.

  Adam pulled up in front of the motel. “It doesn’t look like she’s here.”

  Nick opened the passenger door to step out. “She’ll be here.” Sooner or later she had to come home, and he wasn’t about to leave here without answers.

  “You want to call me when you’re finished here and I’ll come back for you?” Adam asked. Nick frowned as he saw his brother lick his lips and look in the direction of The Corral.

  “Adam, go home and I’ll call you when it’s time to pick me back up.”

  For a long moment Adam stared at him, then with a weary sigh of resignation, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll go home and wait for you.”

  “I’ll call you for a ride home,” Nick agreed. Nick got out of the truck, and as he watched Adam drive away he admitted to himself that he had momentarily worried that Adam would leave here and drive directly to The Corral for a few drinks. The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for Adam drinking and driving.

  He moved to the side of the motel and stood beneath a stand of trees, half-hidden by the deepening shadows of the night.

  If she saw him waiting for her she might just turn right around and drive away as quickly as she could.

  He figured she’d gone to pick up the boy from wherever he went when she worked. The boy. He didn’t even know his name. But, he still didn’t know if he even had a right to know his name.

  He’d known in some part of his grieving heart when he’d left here that he’d hurt her, but he’d thought it was best for both of them. She’d been ashamed of him. He’d convinced himself that she’d needed her parents’
approval more than she’d ever needed him.

  He’d been stunned when he’d realized he was her first lover. But, there was no reason to believe since that time that he’d been her only lover.

  He tensed as he saw her car pull in and park in front of her unit. He didn’t immediately approach her but instead remained where he was and watched as she got out of the car and then opened the back door to retrieve the baby.

  She hurried inside as if afraid somebody might see her, as if somehow afraid that he would see her. He’d certainly seen enough to know that the baby wasn’t some wee little thing she carried in one arm. He’d been a little chunk who had to be older than a year.

  Timing was everything. He needed to know the timing of her pregnancy. And the time to find that out was right now. He didn’t want to go another minute without knowing the truth.

  Drawing a deep breath, still more than a little bit numb at the possibility of what he might discover, he approached her door and knocked firmly.

  A curtain shifted slightly and then dropped back in place at the window. “Go away,” her voice said through the closed door.

  “I’m here now, Courtney, and I’m not going away,” he replied.

  “I’ll call Sheriff Evans,” she replied.

  “I have a feeling with two murders on his hands you’ll have a hard time getting his attention.”

  His comment was met with silence, and for several long moments he thought she intended to ignore him. But he wasn’t going to be ignored tonight.

  Just as he was getting ready to knock on the door once again, she opened it and slid outside into the hot night air, pulling the door halfway closed as she had the last time he’d shown up here.

  “I’m curious about your son,” he said, cutting to the chase. He noted that her full, lush lips tightened into a thin slash of irritation. The flash of the nearby red neon sign advertising the Grady Gulch Motel cast a faint blush over her features.

  “Why would you be curious about him?” Her entire body language was one of intense defensiveness, but her gaze met his boldly.

  A tight pressure filled Nick’s chest, a pressure that was both severe and painful. He knew what the pressure was...it was the question that begged to be answered, and he somehow knew that the answer might change his life forever.

  “Is he mine?” He felt as if his heart stopped beating, as if by merely asking the question all the air in his lungs had been completely depleted.

  She raised her chin. “Of course not. No,” she added more firmly.

  The air he thought was gone whooshed out of his lungs.

  “Did you really think I just sat in my room night after night and cried my eyes out when you left here?” Her voice quivered slightly, and in that quiver Nick recognized that she was lying.

  “There have been other men in my life since you left, Nick. In any case, it doesn’t matter who Garrett’s father is. It doesn’t matter if he’s somebody from Evanston or a cowboy who traveled through town. He’s my son and I’m all he needs.”

  “I’d like to see him.”

  Her gaze darted away from his. “There’s no reason for you to see him. Besides, he’s sleeping.”

  “I can be quiet,” Nick said persistently.

  “I really don’t want him disturbed.” She tucked a strand of her shiny dark hair behind her ear, still not quite meeting his gaze.

  “I plan on being in town for a while, Courtney. Why wouldn’t you want me to see your son? Most mothers can’t wait to show off their kids. Why do I get the feeling that you’re intentionally trying to hide him from me?”

  Suddenly he couldn’t wait another minute. He had to know the truth, and the truth was she wasn’t the kind of woman who would have fallen into bed with just anyone... With a lot of anyones from Evanston or some dusty cowboy riding through.

  Without warning, he pushed past her and into the room. “Nick, stop!” she cried sharply. “You have no right.”

  The only light in the room was the one hanging over a small table on the other side of the room from the crib, but it was enough illumination for Nick to see the little boy who pulled himself up to stand in the crib and eye Nick with a sleepy blue gaze and tousled dark curls.

  Nick froze at the sight of the bright blue eyes, the colorful cowboy pajamas and the little cleft chin, so like the one that greeted him in his mirror each morning.

  The entire world stopped. There was nothing else in the room, in the universe but him and the little boy he knew now with certainty was his son. He hadn’t quite believed Mary. He hadn’t really thought it possible. He had a son!

  Garrett.

  A joy he’d never imagined possible filled his very soul. Even though he and Courtney had talked about someday having a family, a boy first and then a girl, he’d never really seriously considered fatherhood.

  And yet here it was in front of him, a drooling, grinning little boy who looked just like him. This changed everything. Any plans he had to return to Texas disappeared. He’d build a life here, a life his son could share with him.

  He turned to look at Courtney, whose face was as pale as a ghost’s and whose eyes were wide with anxiety. “Now we definitely need to talk,” he said, a small knot of anger beginning to build in his chest.

  She should have called him. Dammit, she should have told him that she was pregnant with his child. He would have come back, he would have been a part of it.

  He’d missed so much already, not just the pregnancy and the birth itself, but also the first fifteen months of his child’s life. He’d missed the first word, the first step...so many firsts that would never, could never be repeated.

  He was determined not to miss anything else. He could see by the look on Courtney’s face that she didn’t want to talk, that she just wanted him to go away and stay away. But that wasn’t about to happen.

  “Tomorrow morning, around nine o’clock at the park,” she finally said in resignation.

  “And you’ll bring my son with you.” It wasn’t a question but rather a statement of fact that brooked no argument.

  She hesitated a long moment and then nodded.

  It wasn’t enough for him. He had a hundred questions for her, but the anger grew tighter in his chest and he knew now wasn’t the time to ask his questions, to demand answers.

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” he said.

  She didn’t reply as he stepped back out the door. Instead the door closed behind him and he heard the click of the lock being engaged.

  He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and punched in Adam’s cell number. He answered on the first ring. “Ready for me to come back for you?”

  “Ready.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Nick pocketed the phone and then moved toward the trees at the edge of the complex where he’d previously stood to await her return home.

  A son.

  He had a son.

  The thought thrilled him but also inspired more than a little bit of terror inside him. What in the hell did he have to offer a child? The family ranch needed so much work, Adam was in a fragile state of mind and Sam was in jail awaiting trial on attempted murder charges.

  Some family tree.

  Hell, he couldn’t exactly use his own upbringing to help him in how to be a parent. His own mother and father had been cold, distant people who seemed content with each other but didn’t know how to connect with any of their children.

  When Nick had been almost fifteen they’d planned a getaway trip to Kansas City for their anniversary, but on their way home had been involved with an accident with a speeding big rig that had left them both dead.

  At twenty-two years old, Sam had petitioned the courts to be guardian of his three younger siblings and had managed to convince the powers that be that he was capable. So, the siblings had stayed together and finished raising themselves. And now he had a son to raise.

  Garrett.

  Nick still couldn’t wrap his mind around it. Fatherhood was all too new to
him; he didn’t know exactly what happened next. What did he know about being a father?

  All he knew for certain was that Courtney had been part of his past until he saw that little boy in the crib. Now, at least for the next eighteen years or so, he and Courtney were forever bound by the child who had been conceived in a barn stable amid a cloud of grief.

  One thing was clear. There wasn’t going to be a happy reunion between him and Courtney. Their time together had come and gone, they’d never been right for each other and he wasn’t about to attempt a new relationship with her for Garrett’s sake.

  But, he needed to get the ranch in shape, make one of the rooms into a little boy’s playroom. He needed to be the man that little boy needed in his life. One way or another he intended to be an integral part of Garrett’s life, with or without Courtney’s approval.

  * * *

  Courtney awoke just after one in the morning, her heart racing as if trying to jump out of her chest. The room was in total darkness and she heard nothing unusual, but an icy chill stole over her, a cold that felt like her body’s response to a nearby threat.

  For the hundredth time she cursed the fact that she hadn’t yet bought a small lamp to go on the nightstand next to her bed. What had wakened her? What caused her breath to catch with barely suppressed panic?

  She could hear the faint sounds of Garrett’s sleep breaths, normal and slightly calming. Sitting up, she once again looked around, trying to pierce the darkness of the room in an effort to find a reason for her edge of panic.

  At that moment, against the faint red light that radiated through the thin curtains at the window, she saw a shadow pass by. Once again her heart banged painfully hard against her ribs.

  Had somebody been standing there outside her window? Attempting to peer inside? She jumped out of the bed, silently cursing when she stubbed her big toe on the foot of Garrett’s crib as she hurried to the motel room door. She checked to make sure the lock was in place and then went to the window and with trembling fingers pulled the curtain aside.